No More Learning

In his room he had preferred Cneius
Piso, a man of violent temper, incapable of subjection, and heir to all
the ferocity and haughtiness of his father Piso; the same who, in the
civil war, assisted the reviving party against Caesar in Africa with
vehement efforts; and then followed Brutus and Cassius, but had at last
leave to come home, yet disdained to sue for any public offices; nay,
was even courted by Augustus to accept the Consulship. His son, besides
his hereditary pride and impetuosity, was elevated with the nobility and
wealth of Plancina his wife; scarce yielded he to Tiberius, and, as men
far beneath him, despised the sons of Tiberius; neither did he doubt but
he was set over Syria on purpose to thwart the measures and defeat all
the views of Germanicus. Some even believed that he had to this purpose
secret orders from Tiberius, as it was certain that Livia directed
Plancina to exert the spirit of the sex, and by constant emulation and
indignities persecute Agrippina. For the whole court was rent, and their
affections secretly divided between Drusus and Germanicus. Tiberius
was partial to Drusus, as his own son by generation; others loved
Germanicus; the more for the aversion of his uncle, and for being by his
mother of more illustrious descent; as Marc Anthony was his grandfather,
and Augustus his great-uncle. On the other side, Pomponius Atticus, a
Roman knight, by being the great-grandfather of Drusus, seemed thence
to have derived a stain upon the images of the Claudian house; besides,
Agrippina, the wife of Germanicus, did in the fruitfulness of her body
and the reputation of her virtue far excel Livia, the wife of Drusus.
Yet the two brothers lived in amiable dearness and concord, no wise
shaken or estranged by the reigning contention amongst their separate
friends and adherents.

Drusus was soon after sent into Illyricum in order to inure him to war,
and gain him the affections of the army; besides, Tiberius thought
that the youth, who loved wantoning in the luxuries of Rome, would be
reformed in the camp, and that his own security would be enlarged when
both his sons were at the head of the legions. But the pretence of
sending him was the protection of the Suevians, who were then imploring
assistance against the powers of the Cheruscans. For these nations, who
since the departure of the Romans saw themselves no longer threatened
with terrors from abroad, and were then particularly engaged in a
national competition for glory, had relapsed, as usual, into their old
intestine feuds, and turned their arms upon each other. The two
people were equally powerful, and their two leaders equally brave; but
differently esteemed, as the title of king upon Maroboduus had drawn
the hate and aversion of his countrymen; whilst Arminius, as a champion
warring for the defence of liberty, was the universal object of popular
affection.

Hence not only the Cheruscans and their confederates, they who had been
the ancient soldiery of Arminius, took arms; but to him too revolted
the Semnones and Langobards, both Suevian nations, and even subjects of
Maroboduus; and by their accession he would have exceeded in puissance,
but Inguiomerus with his band of followers deserted to Maroboduus; for
no other cause than disdain, that an old man and an uncle like himself
should obey Arminius, a young man, his nephew. Both armies were drawn
out, with equal hopes; nor disjointed, like the old German battles, into
scattered parties for loose and random attacks; for by long war with us
they had learnt to follow their ensigns, to strengthen their main body
with parties of reserves, and to observe the orders of their generals.
Arminius was now on horseback viewing all the ranks: as he rode through
them he magnified their past feats; "their liberty recovered; the
slaughtered legions; the spoils of arms wrested from the Romans;
monuments of victory still retained in some of their hands. " Upon
Maroboduus he fell with contumelious names, as "a fugitive, one of
no abilities in war; a coward who had sought defence from the gloomy
coverts of the Hercynian woods, and then by gifts and solicitations
courted the alliance of Rome; a betrayer of his country, and a
lifeguard-man of Caesar's, worthy to be exterminated with no less
hostile vengeance than in the slaughter of Quinctilius Varus they had
shown.
Let them only remember so many battles bravely fought; the
events of which, particularly the utter expulsion of the Romans, were
sufficient proofs with whom remained the glory of the war. "

Neither did Maroboduus fail to boast himself and depreciate the foe. "In
the person of Inguiomerus," he said (holding him by the hand), "rested
the whole renown of the Cheruscans; and from his counsels began all
their exploits that ended in success. Arminius, a man of a frantic
spirit, and a novice in affairs, assumed to himself the glory of
another, for having by treachery surprised three legions, which expected
no foe, and their leader, who feared no fraud; a base surprise, revenged
since on Germany with heavy slaughters, and on Arminius himself with
domestic infamy, while his wife and his son still bore the bonds of
captivity. For himself, when attacked formerly by Tiberius at the head
of twelve legions, he had preserved unstained the glory of Germany, and
on equal terms ended the war. Nor did he repent of the treaty, since it
was still in their hands to wage anew equal war with the Romans, or
save blood and maintain peace. " The armies, besides the incitements from
these speeches, were animated by national stimulations of their own.
The Cheruscans fought for their ancient renown; the Langobards for their
recent liberty; and the Suevians and their king, on the contrary, were
struggling for the augmentation of their monarchy. Never did armies make
a fiercer onset; never had onset a more ambiguous event; for both the
right wings were routed, and hence a fresh encounter was certainly
expected, till Maroboduus drew off his army and encamped upon the
hills; a manifest sign this that he was humbled. Frequent desertions too
leaving him at last naked of forces, he retired to the Marcomannians,
and thence sent ambassadors to Tiberius to implore succours. They were
answered, "That he had no right to invoke aid of the Roman arms against
the Cheruscans, since to the Romans, while they were warring with
the same foe, he had never administered any assistance. " Drusus was,
however, sent away, as I have said, with the character of a negotiator
of peace.

The same year twelve noble cities of Asia were overturned by an
earthquake: the ruin happened in the night, and the more dreadful as its
warnings were unobserved; neither availed the usual sanctuary against
such calamities, namely, a flight to the fields, since those who
fled, the gaping earth devoured. It is reported "that mighty mountains
subsided, plains were heaved into high hills: and that with flashes and
eruptions of fire, the mighty devastation was everywhere accompanied. "
The Sardians felt most heavily the rage of the concussion, and therefore
most compassion: Tiberius promised them an hundred thousand great
sesterces, [Footnote: £83,000. ] and remitted their taxes for five years.