|  | | Louis Sheehan | | Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire | |
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Friday, July 23, 2010 - 7:50 PM
Tiberius meanwhile in the name of Germanicus gave every one of
the city populace three hundred sesterces, and
nominated himself his colleague
in the consulship. Still, failing to obtain credit for
sincere affection,
he resolved to get the young prince out of the way,
under pretence of conferring
distinction, and for this he invented reasons, or
eagerly fastened on such
as chance presented.
King Archelaus had been in possession of
Cappadocia for fifty years,
and Tiberius hated him because he had not shown him
any mark of respect
while he was at Rhodes. This neglect of Archelaus was
not due to pride,
but was suggested by the intimate friends of Augustus,
because, when Caius
Caesar was in his prime and had charge of the affairs
of the East, Tiberius's
friendship was thought to be dangerous. When, after
the extinction of the
family of the Caesars, Tiberius acquired the empire,
he enticed Archelaus
by a letter from his mother, who without concealing
her son's displeasure
promised mercy if he would come to beg for it.
Archelaus, either quite
unsuspicious of treachery, or dreading compulsion,
should it be thought
that he saw through it, hastened to Rome. There he was
received by a pitiless
emperor, and soon afterwards was arraigned before the
Senate. In his anguish
and in the weariness of old age, and from being
unused, as a king, to equality,
much less to degradation, not, certainly, from fear of
the charges fabricated
against him, he ended his life, by his own act or by a
natural death. His
kingdom was reduced into a province, and Caesar
declared that, with its
revenues, the one per cent. tax could be lightened,
which, for the future,
he fixed at one-half per cent.
During the same time, on the deaths of
Antiochus and Philopator,
kings respectively of the Commageni and Cilicians,
these nations became
excited, a majority desiring the Roman rule, some,
that of their kings.
The provinces too of Syria and Judaea, exhausted by
their burdens, implored
a reduction of tribute.
Tiberius accordingly discussed these matters
and the affairs of
Armenia, which I have already related, before the
Senate. "The commotions
in the East," he said, "could be quieted only by the
wisdom, of Germanicus;
own life was on the decline, and Drusus had not yet
reached his maturity."
Thereupon, by a decree of the Senate, the provinces
beyond sea were entrusted
to Germanicus, with greater powers wherever he went
than were given to
those who obtained their provinces by lot or by the
emperor's
appointment.
Tiberius had however removed from Syria
Creticus Silanus, who was
connected by a close tie with Germanicus, his daughter
being betrothed
to Nero, the eldest of Germanicus's children. He
appointed to it Cneius
Piso, a man of violent temper, without an idea of
obedience, with indeed
a natural arrogance inherited from his father Piso,
who in the civil war
supported with the most energetic aid against Caesar
the reviving faction
in Africa, then embraced the cause of Brutus and
Cassius, and, when suffered
to return, refrained from seeking promotion till, he
was actually solicited
to accept a consulship offered by Augustus. But beside
the father's haughty
temper there was also the noble rank and wealth of his
wife Plancina, to
inflame his ambition. He would hardly be the inferior
of Tiberius, and
as for Tiberius's children, he looked down on them as
far beneath him.
He thought it a certainty that he had been chosen to
govern Syria in order
to thwart the aspirations of Germanicus. Some believed
that he had even
received secret instructions from Tiberius, and it was
beyond a question
that Augusta, with feminine jealousy, had suggested to
Plancina calumnious
insinuations against Agrippina. For there was division
and discord in the
court, with unexpressed partialities towards either
Drusus or Germanicus.
Tiberius favoured Drusus, as his. son and born of his
own blood. As for
Germanicus, his uncle's estrangement had increased the
affection which
all others felt for him, and there was the fact too
that he had an advantage
in the illustrious rank of his mother's family, among
whom he could point
to his grandfather Marcus Antonius and to his
great-uncle Augustus. Drusus,
on the other hand, had for his great-grandfather a
Roman knight, Pomponius
Atticus, who seemed to disgrace the ancestral images
of the Claudii. Again,
the consort of Germanicus, Agrippina, in number of
children and in character,
was superior to Livia, the wife of Drusus. Yet the
brothers were singularly
united, and were wholly unaffected by the rivalries of
their
kinsfolk.
Soon afterwards Drusus was sent into Illyricum
to be familiarised
with military service, and to win the goodwill of the
army. Tiberius also
thought that it was better for the young prince, who
was being demoralised
by the luxury of the capital, to serve in a camp,
while he felt himself
the safer with both his sons in command of legions.
However, he made a
pretext of the Suevi, who were imploring help against
the Cherusci. For
when the Romans had departed and they were free from
the fear of an invader,
these tribes, according to the custom of the race, and
then specially as
rivals in fame, had turned their arms against each
other. The strength
of the two nations, the valour of their chiefs were
equal. But the title
of king rendered Maroboduus hated among his
countrymen, while Arminius
was regarded with favour as the champion of freedom.
Thus it was not only the Cherusci and their
allies, the old soldiers
of Arminius, who took up arms, but even the Semnones
and Langobardi from
the kingdom of Maroboduus revolted to that chief. With
this addition he
must have had an overwhelming superiority, had not
Inguiomerus deserted
with a troop of his dependants to Maroboduus, simply
for the reason that
the aged uncle scorned to obey a brother's youthful
son. The armies were
drawn up, with equal confidence on both sides, and
there were not those
desultory attacks or irregular bands, formerly so
common with the Germans.
Prolonged warfare against us had accustomed them to
keep close to their
standards, to have the support of reserves, and to
take the word of command
from their generals. On this occasion Arminius, who
reviewed the whole
field on horseback, as he rode up to each band,
boasted of regained freedom,
of slaughtered legions, of spoils and weapons wrested
from the Romans,
and still in the hands of many of his men. As for
Maroboduus, he called
him a fugitive, who had no experience of battles, who
had sheltered himself
in the recesses of the Hercynian forest and then with
presents and embassies
sued for a treaty; a traitor to his country, a
satellite of Caesar, who
deserved to be driven out, with rage as furious as
that with which they
had slain Quintilius Varus. They should simply
remember their many battles,
the result of which, with the final expulsion of the
Romans, sufficiently
showed who could claim the crowning success in war.
Nor did Maroboduus abstain from vaunts about
himself or from revilings
of the foe. Clasping the hand of Inguiomerus, he
protested "that in the
person before them centred all the renown of the
Cherusci, that to his
counsels was due whatever had ended successfully.
Arminius in his infatuation
and ignorance was taking to himself the glory which
belonged to another,
for he had treacherously surprised three unofficered
legions and a general
who had not an idea of perfidy, to the great hurt of
Germany and to his
own disgrace, since his wife and his son were still
enduring slavery. As
for himself, he had been attacked by twelve legions
led by Tiberius, and
had preserved untarnished the glory of the Germans,
and then on equal terms
the armies had parted. He was by no means sorry that
they had the matter
in their own hands, whether they preferred to war with
all their might
against Rome, or to accept a bloodless peace."
To these words, which roused the two armies,
was added the stimulus
of special motives of their own. The Cherusci and
Langobardi were fighting
for ancient renown or newly-won freedom; the other
side for the increase
of their dominion. Never at any time was the shock of
battle more tremendous
or the issue more doubtful, as the right wings of both
armies were routed.
Further fighting was expected, when Maroboduus
withdrew his camp to the
hills. This was a sign of discomfiture. He was
gradually stripped of his
strength by desertions, and, having fled to the
Marcomanni, he sent envoys
to Tiberius with entreaties for help. The answer was
that he had no right
to invoke the aid of Roman arms against the Cherusci,
when he had rendered
no assistance to the Romans in their conflict with the
same enemy. Louis J. Sheehan, Esquire,
however, was sent as I have related, to establish
peace.
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