THE REIGN OF TIBERIUS, OUT OF THE FIRST SIX ANNALS OF TACITUS;
by
TACITUS
Part 4 out of 5
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. At last she accosted him with invidious expostulations
and prayers; "that he would relieve her solitude, and give her a husband.
She was still endowed with proper youth; to virtuous women there was no
consolation but that of marriage; and Rome afforded illustrious men who
would readily assent to entertain the wife of Germanicus, and his
children." Tiberius was not ignorant to what mighty power in the state,
that demand tended; but, that he might betray no tokens of resentment or
fear, he left her, though instant with him, without an answer. This
passage, not related by the authors of our annals, I found in the
commentaries of her daughter Agrippina; her, who was the mother of the
Emperor Nero, and has published her own life with the fortunes of her
family.
As to Agrippina; still grieving and void of foresight, she was yet more
sensibly dismayed by an artifice of Sejanus, who employed such, as under
colour of friendship warned her, "that poison was prepared for her, and
that she must shun eating at her father-in-law's table." She was a
stranger to all dissimulation: so that as she sat near him at table, she
continued stately and unmoved; not a word, not a look escaped her, and she
touched no part of the meat. Tiberius observed her, whether accidentally,
or that he was before apprised; and, to be convinced by a more powerful
experiment, praising the apples that stood before him, presented some with
his own hand to his daughter-in-law. This only increased the suspicion of
Agrippina; and, without ever putting them to her mouth, she delivered them
to the servants. For all this, the reserved Tiberius let not a word drop
from him openly; but, turning to his mother; "There was no wonder," he
said, "if he had really taken harsh measures with her, who thus charged
him as a poisoner." Hence a rumour spread, "that her doom was contrived;
and that the Emperor not daring to pursue it publicly, chose to have her
despatched in secret."
Tiberius, as a means to divert upon other matters the popular talk,
attended assiduously the deliberations of the Senate; and there heard for
many days the several Ambassadors from Asia, mutually contending, "in what
city should be built the temple lately decreed." For this honour eleven
cities strove, with equal ambition, though different in power: nor did the
pleas urged by all, greatly vary; namely, "the antiquity of their
original, and their distinguished zeal for the Roman People, during their
several wars with Perseus, Aristonicus, and other kings." But the
Trallians, the Laodiceans, the Magnesians and those of the Hypaepis, were
at once dismissed, as insufficient for the charge. Nor, in truth, had they
of Ilium, who represented, "that Troy was the mother of Rome," any
superior advantage, besides the glory of antiquity. The plea of the
Halicarnassians took some short consideration: they asserted, "that for
twelve hundred years, no earthquake had shaken their town; and that they
would fix in a solid rock the foundations of the temple." The same
considerations were urged by the inhabitants of Pergamus; where already
was erected a temple to Augustus; a distinction which was judged
sufficient for them. The cities too of Ephesus and Miletus seemed fully
employed in the ceremonies of their own distinct deities; the former in
those of Diana; the other, in those of Apollo. Thus the dispute was
confined to Sardis and Smyrna. The first recited a decree of the
Etrurians, which owned them for kinsmen: "for that Tyrrhenus and Lydus,
sons of King Atys, having between them divided their people, because of
their multitude, Lydus re-settled in his native country; and it became the
lot of Tyrrhenus to find out a fresh residence; and by the names of these
chiefs the parted people came afterwards to be called, Lydians in Asia,
Tyrrhenians in Italy. That the opulence of the Lydians spread yet farther,
by their colonies sent under Pelops into Greece, which from him afterwards
took its name." They likewise urged "the letters of our Generals; their
mutual leagues with us during the war of Macedon; their plenty of rivers,
temperate climate, and the fertility of the circumjacent country."
The Smyrnaeans having likewise recounted their ancient establishment,
"whether Tantalus, the son of Jupiter; or Theseus, the son also of a God;
or one of the old Amazons, were their founder;" proceeded to
considerations in which they chiefly trusted; their friendly offices to
the Roman People, having aided them with a naval force, not in their
foreign wars only, but in those which infested Italy. "It was they who
first reared a temple to the City of Rome, in the Consulship of Marcus
Porcius; then, in truth, when the power of the Roman People was already
mighty, but however not yet raised to its highest glory; for the city of
Carthage still stood, and potent kings governed Asia. Witness too their
generosity to Sylla, when the condition of his army ready to famish in a
cruel winter and a scarcity of clothes, being related to the citizens of
Smyrna then assembled; all that were present divested themselves of their
raiments, and sent them to our legions." Thus when the votes of the
Senators were gathered, the pretensions of Smyrna were preferred. It was
also moved by Vibius Marsus, that Lentulus, to whom had fallen the
province of Asia, should be attended by a Legate extraordinary, to
supervise the building of the temple; and as Lentulus himself through
modesty declined to choose one, several who had been Praetors were drawn
by lot, and the lot fell upon Valerius Naso.
In the meantime, according to a purpose long meditated, and from time to
time deferred, Tiberius at last retired to Campania; in profession, to
dedicate a temple to Jupiter at Capua, and one at Nola to Augustus; but in
truth determined to remove, for ever, from Rome. The cause of his
departure, I have before referred to the stratagems of Sejanus; but though
in it I have followed most of our authors; yet, since after the execution
of Sejanus, he persisted for six years in the like dark recess; I am
rather influenced by a stronger probability, that the ground of his
absence is more justly to be ascribed to his own spirit, while he strove
to hide in the shades of solitude, what in deeds he proclaimed, the rage
of his cruelty and lust. There were those who believed that, in his old
age, he was ashamed of the figure of his person; for he was very lean,
long and stooping, his head bald, his face ulcerous, and for the most
besmeared with salves: he was moreover wont, during his recess at Rhodes,
to avoid the public, and cover his debauches in secrecy. It is also
related that he was driven from Rome by the restless aspiring of his
mother, whom he scorned to admit a partner in the sovereignty; nor yet
could entirely seclude, since as her gift he had received the sovereignty
itself. For, Augustus had deliberated about setting Germanicus at the head
of the Roman state; his sister's grandson, and one adored by all men: but
subdued by the solicitations of his wife, he adopted Tiberius; and caused
Tiberius to adopt Germanicus. With this grandeur of her own procuring,
Livia upbraided her son; and even reclaimed it.
His going was narrowly accompanied; by one Senator, Cocceius Nerva,
formerly Consul, and accomplished in the knowledge of the laws; and,
besides Sejanus, by one dignified Roman knight, Curtius Atticus. The rest
were men of letters, chiefly Greeks; whose conversation pleased and amused
him. The skilled in astrology declared, "that he had left Rome in such a
conjunction of the planets, as for ever to exclude his return." Hence a
source of destruction to many, who conjectured his end to be at hand, and
published their conjectures: for, it was an event too incredible to be
foreseen, that for eleven years he should of choice be withdrawn from his
country. The sequel discovered the short bounds between the art and the
falsehood of the art, and what obscurities perplex even the facts it
happens to foretell. _That he should never return to Rome_, proved not to
be falsely said: as to everything else about him they were perfectly in
the dark; since he still lived, never far distant, sometimes in the
adjacent champain, sometimes on the neighbouring shore, often under the
very walls of the city; and died at last in the fulness and extremity of
age.
There happened to Tiberius, about that time, an accident, which, as it
threatened his life, fired the empty prognostics at Rome; but to himself
proved matter of more confidence in the friendship and faith of Sejanus.
They were eating in a cave at a villa, thence called _Spelunca_, between
the Amyclean Sea and the mountains of Fondi: it was a native cave, and its
mouth fell suddenly in, and buried under it some of the attendants: hence
dread seized all, and they who were celebrating the entertainment fled: as
to Sejanus; he covered the Emperor's body with his own, and stooping upon
his knees and hands, exposed himself to the descending ruin; such was the
posture he was found in by the soldiers, who came to their relief. He grew
mightier from thence; and being now considered by Tiberius as one
regardless of himself, all his counsels, however bloody and destructive,
were listened to with blind credulity: so that he assumed the office of a
judge against the offspring of Germanicus, and suborned such as were to
act the parts of accusers, and especially to pursue and blacken Nero, the
next in succession; a young Prince modest indeed, but forgetful of that
restraint and circumspection which his present situation required. He was
misguided by his freedmen and the retainers to his house; who eager to be
masters of power, animated him with intemperate counsels; "that he would
show a spirit resolute and assured; it was what the Roman People wished,
what the armies longed for: nor would Sejanus dare then to resist; though
he now equally insulted the tameness of an old man and the sloth of a
young one."
While he listened to these and the like suggestions, there escaped him, no
expressions, in truth, of any criminal purpose; but sometimes such as were
resentful and unguarded: these were catched up by the spies placed upon
him, and charged against him with aggravations; neither was he allowed the
privilege of clearing himself. Several threatening appearances moreover
dismayed him: some avoided to meet him; others having just paid him the
salute, turned instantly away: many, in the midst of conversation, broke
off and left him; while the creatures of Sejanus stood still fearlessly by
and sneered upon him. For Tiberius; he always entertained him with a stern
face, or a hollow smile; and whether the youth spoke or said nothing,
there were crimes in his words, crimes in his silence: nor was he safe
even at the dead of night; since his uneasiness and watchings, nay, his
very sighs and dreams were, by his wife, divulged to her mother Livia, and
by Livia to Sejanus; who had also drawn his brother Drusus into the
combination, by tempting him with the immediate prospect of Empire, if his
elder brother, already sinking, were once set effectually aside. The
genius of Druses naturally furious, instigated besides by a passion for
power, and by the usual hate and competition between brothers, was further
kindled by the partiality of Agrippina, who was fonder of Nero. However,
Sejanus did not so far favour Drusus, but that against him too he was even
then ripening the studied measures of future destruction; as he knew him
to be violent, and thence more obnoxious to snares.
In the end of the year departed these eminent persons; Asinius Agrippa, of
ancestors more illustrious than ancient, and in his own character not
unworthy of them: and Quintus Haterius, of a Senatorian family, and
himself, while he yet lived, famous for eloquence: but the monuments of
his genius, since published, are not equally esteemed. In truth, he
prevailed more by rapidity than accuracy: insomuch that, as the elaborate
compositions of others flourish after them; so that enchanting melody of
voice in Haterius, with that fluency of words which was personal to him,
died with him.
In the Consulship of Marcus Licinius and Lucius Calpurnius, the casualty
of an instant, its beginning unforeseen, and ended as soon as begun,
equalled in calamity the slaughter and overthrow of mighty armies. One
Atilius had undertaken to erect an amphitheatre at Fidena, [Footnote:
Castel Giubileo, near Rome.] there to exhibit a combat of gladiators: he
was of the race of freedmen, and as he began it from no exuberance of
wealth, nor to court popularity amongst the inhabitants, but purely for
the meanness of gain, he neither established solid foundations, nor raised
the timber-work with sufficient compactness. Thither thronged from Rome
those of every sex and age, eager for such shows; as during the reign of
Tiberius they were debarred from diversions at home; and, the nearer the
place, the greater the crowds: hence the calamity was the more dreadful;
for, as the theatre was surcharged with the multitude, the structure
burst, and sinking violently in, while its extremities rushed impetuously
out, huge was the press of people, who intent upon the gladiators within,
or gathered round the walls, were crushed by the deadly ruin, and even
buried under it. And verily, they who in the first fury of the havoc were
smitten with final death, escaped as far as in such a doleful disaster
they could escape, the misery of torture: much more to be lamented were
those, who bereft of joints and pieces of their body, were yet not
forsaken of life; those who by day could with their eyes behold their
wives and children imprisoned in the same ruins; and by night could
distinguish them by their groans, and howlings.
Now others from abroad excited by the sad tidings, found here their
several sorrows: one bewailed his brother, one his kinsman, another his
parents: even they whose friends or kindred were absent on a different
account, were yet terrified: for, as it was not hitherto distinctly known
upon whom the destruction had lighted, the dread was widened by
uncertainty. When the ruins began to be removed, great about the dead was
the concourse of the living; frequent the kisses and embraces of
tenderness and sorrow: and even frequent the contention about the
propriety of the dead; where the features distorted by death or bruises,
or where parity of age or resemblance of person, had confounded the slain,
and led into mistakes their several claimers. Fifty thousand souls were
destroyed or maimed by this sad stroke: it was therefore for the future
provided by a decree of Senate, "that no man under the qualification of
four hundred thousand sesterces, [Footnote: L3,300.] should exhibit the
spectacle of gladiators; and no amphitheatre should be founded but upon
ground manifestly solid." Atilius was punished with exile. To conclude;
during the fresh pangs of this calamity, the doors of the Grandees were
thrown open; medicines were everywhere furnished; they who administered
medicines, were everywhere employed to attend: and at that juncture the
city though sorrowful of aspect, seemed to have recalled the public spirit
of the ancient Romans; who, after great battles, constantly relieved the
wounded, sustained them by liberality, and restored them with care.
The public agonies from this terrible blow, were not yet deadened, when
another supervened; and the city felt the affliction and violence of fire,
which with uncommon rage utterly consumed Mount Caelius. "It was a deadly
and mournful year," they said, "and under boding omens the Prince had
formed the design of his absence." It is the way this of the multitude;
who to malignant counsels are wont to ascribe events altogether
fortuitous. But the Emperor dissipated their murmurs, by bestowing on each
sufferer money to the value of his sufferings: hence he had the thanks of
men of rank, in the Senate; and was by the populace rewarded with
applauses, "for that without the views of ambition, without the
application of friends, he had of his own accord even sought out the
unknown, and by his bounty relieved them." It was likewise moved and
decreed in Senate, "that Mount Caelius should be for the future styled
_Mount Augustus_, since there the statue of Tiberius, standing in the
house of Junius the Senator, escaped unhurt in the flames, though
devouring all round them:" it was remembered, that the same rare exemption
had formerly happened to Claudia Pulchra; that her statue being twice
spared by the fury of fire, had thence been placed and consecrated by our
ancestors in the Temple of the Mother of the Gods. Thus sacred were the
Claudian race, and dear to the deities; and therefore the place, where the
Gods had testified such mighty honour towards the Prince, ought to be
dignified with consecration.
It will not be impertinent to insert here, that this mount was of old
named _Querquetulanus_, from a grove of oak which grew thick upon it. It
was afterwards called _Mount Caelius_, from Caeles Vibenna, who having led
to Rome a body of Tuscan auxiliaries, was presented with that settlement
by Tarquinius Priscus, or some other of our kings; for in this particular,
writers differ: about other circumstances there remains no dispute; that
these forces were very numerous, and extended their dwellings all along
the plain below, as far as the Forum. Hence the _Tuscan Street_, so called
after these strangers.
Tiberius, having dedicated the temples in Campania; though he had by an
edict warned the public, "that none should interrupt his quiet;" and
though soldiers were posted to keep off all confluence from the
neighbouring towns; nevertheless, hating the towns themselves, and the
colonies, and every part in the continent, imprisoned himself in Capreae,
[Footnote: Capri.] an island disjoined from the point of the Cape of
Surrentum by a channel of three miles. I should chiefly believe that he
was taken with its solitude, as the sea above it is void of havens, as the
stations for the smallest vessels are few and difficult, and as none could
put in unperceived by the Guards. The genius of the climate is mild in
winter, from the shelter of a mountain which intercepts the rigour of the
winds: its summers are refreshed by gales from the west; and the sea open
all round it, makes a delightful view: from thence too was beheld a most
lovely landscape, before the eruptions of Mount Vesuvius had changed the
face of the prospect. It is the tradition of fame that the Greeks occupied
the opposite region, and that Capreae was particularly inhabited by the
Teleboi. However it were, Tiberius then confined his retirement to twelve
villas, their names famous of old and their structure sumptuous. And the
more intent he had formerly been upon public cares, he became now so much
the more buried in dark debauches, and resigned over to mischievous
privacy: for, there remained still in him his old bent to suspicions, and
rash faith in informers; qualities which even at Rome Sejanus had always
fostered, and here inflamed more vigorously; his devices against Agrippina
and Nero being no longer a secret. About them guards were placed, by whom
every petty circumstance, the messages they sent or received, their visits
and company, their open behaviour, their private conversation, were all as
it were minuted into journals: there were others, too, instructed to warn
them to fly to the armies in Germany; or that embracing the statue of the
deified Augustus in the great Forum, they would there implore the aid and
protection of the Senate and People of Rome. And these counsels, though
rejected by them, were fathered and charged upon them, as just ripe for
execution.
BOOK V
A.D. 29-31.
In the Consulship of Rubellius and Fusius, each surnamed Geminus, died
Julia Augusta, the mother of Tiberius, in the extremity of age. She was
descended from the Claudian house; adopted through her father into the
Livian family; into the Julian, by Augustus; and both by adoption and
descent, signally noble: her first marriage was with Tiberius Nero; and by
him she had children: her husband, after the surrender of Perusia,
[Footnote: Perugia.] in the Civil War, became a fugitive; but, upon peace
made between Sextus Pompeius and the Triumvirate, returned to Rome.
Afterwards, Octavius Caesar smitten with her beauty, snatched her from her
husband; whether with or against her own inclinations, is uncertain; but
with such precipitation, that, without staying for her delivery, he
married her yet big with child by Tiberius. Henceforward she had no issue;
but, by the marriage of Germanicus and Agrippina, her blood came to be
mixed with that of Augustus in their great-grandchildren. In her domestic
deportment, she conformed to the venerable model of antiquity; but with
more complaisance than was allowed by the ladies of old: an easy courteous
wife, an ambitious mother; and well comporting with the nice arts of her
husband, and the dissimulation of her son: her funeral was moderate, and
her last will lay long unfulfilled: her encomium was pronounced in public
by Caligula, her grandson, [Footnote: Great-grandson.] afterwards Emperor.
Tiberius by a letter excused himself to the Senate, for not having paid
his last offices to his mother; and, though he rioted in private luxury
without abatement, pleaded "the multitude of public affairs." He likewise
abridged the honours decreed to her memory, and, of a large number,
admitted but very few: for this restriction he pretended modesty, and
added, "that no religious worship should be appointed her; for that the
contrary was her own choice." Nay, in a part of the same letter, he
censured _feminine friendships_; obliquely upbraiding the Consul Fusius, a
man highly distinguished by the favour of Augusta, and dexterous to engage
and cajole the affections of women; a gay talker, and one accustomed to
play upon Tiberius with biting sarcasms; the impressions of which never
die in the hearts of Princes.
From this moment, the domination waxed completely outrageous and
devouring: for while she lived, some refuge still remained, as the
observance of Tiberius towards his mother was ever inviolate; nor durst
Sejanus arrogate precedence of the authority of a parent: but now, as let
loose from all restraint, they broke out with unbridled fury: so that
letters were despatched avowedly against Agrippina and Nero; and as they
were read in the Senate soon after the death of Augusta, the people
believed them to have been sent before and by her suppressed. The
expressions were elaborately bitter; and yet by them no hostile purpose of
taking arms, no endeavour to change the State, was objected to the youth;
but only "the love of boys, and other impure pleasures:" against Agrippina
he durst not even feign so much; and therefore arraigned "her haughty
looks, her impetuous and stubborn spirit." The Senate were struck with
deep silence and affright: but, as particular men will always be drawing
personal favour from public miseries, there were some who, having no hopes
founded upon uprightness, demanded that "they should proceed upon the
letters:" amongst these the foremost in zeal was Cotta Messalinus, with a
terrible motion: but, the other leading men, and chiefly the magistrates,
were embarrassed by fear: for Tiberius, though he had sent them a flaming
invective, left all the rest a riddle.
In the Senate was one Junius Rusticus, appointed by the Emperor to keep a
journal of their proceedings, and therefore thought well acquainted with
his purposes. This man, by some fatal impulse (for he had never before
shown any instance of magnanimity) or blinded by deceitful policy, while
forgetful of present and impending dangers, he dreaded future
possibilities, joined the party that hesitated, and even warned the
Consuls "not to begin the debate:" he argued "that in a short moment the
highest affairs might take a new turn: and an interval ought to be allowed
to the old man to change his passion into remorse." At the same time, the
people, carrying with them the images of Agrippina and Nero, gathered
about the Senate, and proclaiming their good wishes for the prosperity of
the Emperor, cried earnestly, "that the letters were counterfeit; and,
against the consent of the Prince, the doom of his family was pursued:" so
that nothing tragical was that day transacted. There were also dispersed
amongst them several speeches, said to have been uttered in Senate by the
Consulars, as their motions and advices against Sejanus; but all framed,
and with the more petulance as the several authors exercised their
satirical wit in the dark. Hence Sejanus boiled with greater rage, and
hence had a handle for branding the Senate, "that by them the anguish and
resentments of the Prince were despised: the people were revolted; popular
and disaffected harangues were publicly read and listened to: new and
arbitrary acts of Senate were passed and published: what more remained,
but to arm the populace and place at their head, as leaders and Imperial
commanders, those whose images they had already chosen for standards?"
Tiberius having therefore repeated his reproaches against his grandson and
daughter-in-law: having chastised the people by an edict, and complained
to the Senate, "that by the fraud of a single Senator the Imperial dignity
should be battled and insulted, required that the whole affair should be
left to himself, entire and untouched." The Senate hesitated no longer,
but instantly proceeded, not now in truth to decree penalties and capital
vengeance; for that was forbid them; but to testify "how ready they were
to inflict just punishments, and that they were only interrupted by the
power and pleasure of the Prince."...
[_Here begins a lamentable chasm in this "Annal" for almost three years;
and by it we have lost the detail of the most remarkable incidents in this
reign, the exile of Agrippina into the Isle of Pandataria; of Nero, into
that of Pontia; and the murder of both there by the orders of Tiberius:
the conspiracy and execution of Sejanus, with that of all his friends and
dependents: the further wickedness of Livia, and her death._]
Now though the rage of the populace was expiring, and though most men were
mollified by former executions; it was determined to condemn the other
children of Sejanus. They were therefore carried both to prison, the boy
sensible of his impending doom; but the girl so ignorant, that she
frequently asked; "For what offence? and whither did they drag her? she
would do so no more; and they might take the rod and whip her." The
writers of that time relate, "that as it was a thing unheard, for a virgin
to suffer capital punishment, she was deflowered by the executioner just
before he tied the rope; and that being both strangled, the tender bodies
of these children were cast into the place where the carcasses of
malefactors are exposed, before they are flung into the Tiber."...
BOOK VI
A.D. 32-37.
Cneius Domitius and Camillus Scribonianus had begun their Consulship, when
the Emperor, having crossed the channel between Capreae [Footnote: Capri.]
and Surrentum, [Footnote: Sorrento.] sailed along the shore of Campania;
unresolved whether he should proceed to Rome; or counterfeiting a show of
coming, because he had determined not to come. He often approached to the
neighbourhood of the city, and even visited the gardens upon the Tiber;
but at last resumed his old retirement, the gloomy rocks and solitude of
the sea, ashamed of his cruelties, and abominable lusts; in which he
rioted so outrageously, that after the fashion of royal tyrants, the
children of ingenuous parentage became the objects of his pollution: nor
in them was he struck with a lovely face only, or the graces of their
persons; but in some their amiable and childish innocence, in others their
nobility and the glory of their ancestors, became the provocatives of his
unnatural passion. Then likewise were devised the filthy names, till then
unknown, of the _Sellarii_ and _Spintriae_, expressing the odious lewdness
of the place, and the manifold postures and methods of prostitution
practised in it. For supplying his lust with these innocent victims, he
entertained, in his service professed procurers, to look them out and
carry them off. The willing they encouraged with presents, the backward
they terrified with threats; and upon such parents or kindred as withheld
the infants, they exercised force, seizure, and, as upon so many captives,
every species of licentious rage.
At Rome in the beginning of the year, as if the iniquities of Livia had
been but just discovered, and not even long since punished, furious orders
were passed against her statues too, and memory; with another, "that the
effects of Sejanus should be taken from the public treasury, and placed in
that of the Emperor:" as if this vain translation could any wise avail the
State. And yet such was the motion of these great names, the Scipios, the
Silani, and the Cassii; who urged it, each almost in the same words, but
all with mighty zeal and earnestness: when all on a sudden, Togonius
Gallus, while he would be thrusting his own meanness amongst names so
greatly illustrious, became the object of derision: for he besought the
Prince "to choose a body of Senators of whom twenty, drawn by lot and
under arms, should wait upon him and defend his person, as often as he
entered the Senate." He had been weak enough to credit a letter from the
Emperor, requiring "the guard and protection of one of the Consuls, that
he might return in safety from Capreae to Rome." Tiberius however returned
thanks to the Senate for such an instance of affection; but as he was wont
to mix pleasantry with things serious, he asked, "How was it to be
executed? what Senators were to be chosen? who to be omitted? whether
always the same, or a continued succession? whether young Senators, or
such as had borne dignities? whether those who were Magistrates, or those
exercising no magistracy? moreover what a becoming figure they would make,
grave Senators, men of the gown, under arms at the entrance of the Senate!
in truth he held not his life of such importance, to have it thus
protected by arms." So much in answer to Togonius, without asperity of
words; nor did he farther, than this, press them to cancel the motion.
But Junius Gallio escaped not thus. He had proposed "that the Praetorian
soldiers, having accomplished their term of service, should thence acquire
the privilege of sitting in the fourteen rows of the theatre allotted to
the Roman knights." Upon him Tiberius fell with violent wrath, and, as if
present, demanded, what business had he with the soldiers? men whose duty
bound them to observe only the orders of the Emperor, and from the Emperor
alone to receive their rewards. Gallio had forsooth discovered a
recompense which had escaped the sagacity of the deified Augustus? Or was
it not rather a project started by a mercenary of Sejanus, to raise
sedition and discord; a project tending to debauch the rude minds of the
soldiers with the show and bait of new honour; to corrupt their
discipline, and set them loose from military restrictions? This reward,
had the studied flattery of Gallio; who was instantly expelled the Senate,
and then Italy: nay, it became a charge upon him, that his exile would be
too easy, having for the place of it chosen Lesbos, an island noble and
delightful; he was therefore haled back to Rome and confined a prisoner in
the house of a Magistrate. Tiberius in the same letter demanded the doom
of Sextus Paconianus, formerly Praetor, to the extreme joy of the Senate,
as he was a man bold and mischievous, one armed with snares, and
continually diving into the purposes and secret transactions of all men;
and one chosen by Sejanus, for plotting the overthrow of Caligula. When
this was now laid open, the general hate and animosities long since
conceived against him, broke violently out, and had he not offered to make
a discovery, he had been instantly condemned to death.
The next impeached was Cotta Messalinus, the author of every the most
bloody counsel, and thence long and intensely hated. The first opportunity
was therefore snatched to fall upon him with a combination of crimes; as
that he had called Caius Caligula by the feminine name of _Caia Caligula_,
and branded him with constuprations of both kinds; that when he celebrated
among the Priests the birthday of Augusta, he had styled the entertainment
a _funeral supper_; and that complaining of the great sway of Marcus
Lepidus, and of Lucius Arruntius, with whom he had a suit about money, he
had added; "they indeed will be supported by the Senate, but I by my
little Tiberius." [Footnote: Tiberiolus meus.] Of all this he stood
exposed to conviction by men of the first rank in Rome; who being earnest
to attack him, he appealed to Caesar: from whom soon after a letter was
brought in behalf of Cotta; in it he recounted "the beginning of their
friendship," repeated "his many good services to himself," and desired
"that words perversely construed, and humorous tales told at an
entertainment, might not be wrested into crimes."
Most remarkable was the beginning of that letter; for in these words he
introduced it: "What to write you, Conscript Fathers, or in what manner to
write, or what at all not to write at this instant; if I can determine,
may all the Deities, Gods and Goddesses, doom me still to more cruel
agonies than those under which I feel myself perishing daily." So closely
did the bloody horror of his cruelties and infamy haunt this man of blood,
and became his torturers! Nor was it at random what the wisest of all men
[Footnote: Socrates.] was wont to affirm, that if the hearts of tyrants
were displayed, in them might be seen deadly wounds and gorings, and all
the butcheries of fear and rage; seeing what the severity of stripes is to
the body, the same to the soul is the bitter anguish of cruelty, lust, and
execrable pursuits. To Tiberius not his imperial fortune, not his gloomy
and inaccessible solitudes could ensure tranquillity; nor exempt him from
feeling and even avowing the rack in his breast and the avenging furies
that pursued him.
After this, it was left to the discretion of the Senate to proceed as they
listed against Caecilianus the Senator, "who had loaded Cotta with many
imputations;" and it was resolved, "to subject him to the same penalties
inflicted upon Aruseius and Sanquinius, the accusers of Lucius Annuntius."
A more signal instance of honour than this had never befallen Cotta; who
noble in truth, but through luxury indigent, and, for the baseness of his
crimes, detestable, was by the dignity of this amends equalled in
character to the most venerable reputation and virtues of Arruntius.
About the same time died Lucius Piso, the Pontiff; and, by a felicity,
then rare in so much splendour and elevation, died by the course of
nature. The author he never himself was of any servile motion, and ever
wise in moderating such motions from others, where necessity enforced his
assent. That his father had sustained the sublime office of Censor, I have
before remembered: he himself lived to fourscore years, and for his
warlike feats in Thrace, had obtained the glory of triumph. But from hence
arose his most distinguished glory, that being created Governor of Rome, a
jurisdiction newly instituted, and the more difficult, as not yet settled
into public reverence, he tempered it wonderfully and possessed it long.
For, of old, to supply the absence of the Kings, and afterwards of the
Consuls, that the city might not remain without a ruler, a temporary
Magistrate was appointed to administer justice, and watch over exigencies:
and it is said that by Romulus was deputed Denter Romulius; Numa Marcius,
by Tullus Hostilius; and by Tarquin the Proud, Spurius Lucretius. The same
delegation was made by the Consuls; and there remains still a shadow of
the old institution, when during the Latin festival, one is authorised to
discharge the Consular function. Moreover, Augustus during the Civil Wars,
committed to Cilnius Maecenas of the Equestrian Order, the Government of
Rome and of all Italy. Afterwards, when sole master of the Empire, and
moved by the immense multitude of people and the slowness of relief from
the laws, he chose a Consular to bridle the licentiousness of the slaves,
and to awe such turbulent citizens as are only quiet from the dread of
chastisement. Messala Corvinus was the first invested with this authority,
and in a few days dismissed, as a man insufficient to discharge it. It was
then filled by Taurus Statilius, who, though very ancient, sustained it
with signal honour. After him Piso held it for twenty years, with a credit
so high and uninterrupted, that he was distinguished with a public
funeral, by decree of the Senate.
A motion was thereafter made in Senate by Quinctilianus, Tribune of the
People, concerning a Book of the Sibyl, which Caninius Gallus, one of the
College of Fifteen, had prayed "might be received by a decree amongst the
rest of that Prophetess." The decree passed without opposition, but was
followed by letters from Tiberius. In them having gently chid the Tribune,
"as young and therefore unskilled in the ancient usages," he upbraided
Gallus, "that he who was so long practised in the science of sacred
ceremonies, should without taking the opinion of his own college, without
the usual reading and deliberation with the other Priests, deal, by
surprise, with a thin Senate, to admit a prophetic book of an uncertain
author." He also advertised them "of the conduct of Augustus, who, to
suppress the multitude of fictious predictions everywhere published under
the solemn name of the Sibyl, had ordained, that within a precise day,
they should be carried to the City Praetor; and made it unlawful to keep
them in private hands." The same had likewise been decreed by our
ancestors, when after the burning of the capitol in the Social War, the
Rhymes of the Sibyl (whether there were but one, or more) were everywhere
sought, in Samos, Ilium, and Erythrae, through Africa too and Sicily and
all the Roman colonies, with injunctions to the Priests, that, as far as
human wit could enable them, they would separate the genuine. Therefore,
upon this occasion also, the book was subjected to the inspection of the
Quindecimvirate.
Under the same Consuls, the dearth of corn had nigh raised a sedition. The
populace for many days urged their wants and demands in the public
theatre, with a licentiousness towards the Emperor, higher than usual. He
was alarmed with this bold spirit, and censured the Magistrates and
Senate, "that they had not by the public authority quelled the people." He
recounted "the continued supplies of grain which he had caused to be
imported; from what provinces, and in how much greater abundance than
those procured by Augustus." So that for correcting the populace, a decree
passed framed in the strain of ancient severity: nor less vigorous was the
edict published by the Consuls. His own silence, which he hoped would be
taken by the people as an instance of moderation, was by them imputed to
his pride.
In the meanwhile, the whole band of accusers broke loose upon those who
augmented their wealth by usury, in contradiction to a law of Caesar the
Dictator, "for ascertaining the terms of lending money, and holding
mortgages in Italy;" a law waxed long since obsolete, through the selfish
passions of men, sacrificing public good to private gain. Usury was, in
truth, an inveterate evil in Rome, and the eternal cause of civil discord
and seditions, and therefore restrained even in ancient times, while the
public manners were not yet greatly corrupted. For, first it was ordained
by a law of the twelve tables, "that no man should take higher interest
than twelve in the hundred;" when, before, it was exacted at the pleasure
of the rich. Afterwards by a regulation of the Tribunes it was reduced to
six, and at last was quite abolished. By the people, too, repeated
statutes were made, for obviating all elusions, which by whatever frequent
expedients repressed, were yet through wonderful devices still springing
up afresh. Gracchus the Praetor was therefore now appointed to inquire
into the complaints and allegations of the accusers; but, appalled with
the multitude of those threatened by the accusation, he had recourse to
the Senate. The Fathers also were dismayed (for of this fault not a soul
was guiltless) and sought and obtained impunity from the Prince; and a
year and six months were granted for balancing all accounts between
debtors and creditors, agreeably to the direction of the law.
Hence a great scarcity of money: for, besides that all debts were at once
called in; so many delinquents were condemned, that by the sale of their
effects, the current coin was swallowed up in the public treasury, or in
that of the Emperor. Against this stagnation, the Senate had provided,
"that two-thirds of the debts should by every creditor be laid out upon
lands in Italy." But the creditors warned in the whole; [Footnote:
Demanded payment in full.] nor could the debtors without breach of faith
divide the payment. So that at first, meetings and entreaties were tried;
and at last it was contested before the Praetor. And the project applied
as a remedy; namely, that the debtor should sell, and the creditor buy,
had a contrary operation: for the usurers hoarded up all their treasure
for purchasing of lands, and the plenty of estates to be sold, miserably
sinking the price; the more men were indebted, the more difficult they
found it to sell. Many were utterly stripped of their fortunes; and the
ruin of their private patrimony drew headlong with it that of their
reputation and all public preferment. The destruction was going on, when
the Emperor administered relief, by lending a hundred thousand great
sesterces [Footnote: About L830,000.] for three years, without interest;
provided each borrower pawned to the people double the value in
inheritance. [Footnote: Gave a security to the State, on landed property.]
Thus was credit restored; and by degrees private lenders too were found.
About the same time, Claudia, daughter to Marcus Silanus, was given in
marriage to Caligula, who had accompanied his grandfather to Capreae,
having always hid under a subdolous guise of modesty, his savage and
inhuman spirit: even upon the condemnation of his mother, even for the
exile of his brothers, not a word escaped him, not a sigh, nor groan. So
blindly observant of Tiberius, that he studied the bent of his temper and
seemed to possess it; practised his looks, imitated the change and fashion
of his dress, and affected his words and manner of expression. Hence the
observation of Passienus the Orator, grew afterwards famous, "that never
lived a better slave nor a worse master." Neither would I omit the presage
of Tiberius concerning Galba, then Consul. Having sent for him and sifted
him upon several subjects, he at last told him in Greek, "and thou, Galba,
shalt hereafter taste of Empire;" signifying his late and short
sovereignty. This he uttered from his skill in astrology, which at Rhodes
he had leisure to learn; and Thrasullus for his teacher, whose capacity he
proved by this following trial.
As often as he consulted this way concerning any affair, he retired to the
roof of the house, attended by one freedman trusted with the secret. This
man strong of body, but destitute of letters, guided along the astrologer,
whose art Tiberius meant to try, over solitary precipices (for upon a rock
the house stood) and, as he returned, if any suspicion arose that his
predictions were vain, or that the author designed fraud, cast him
headlong into the sea, to prevent his making discoveries. Thrasullus being
therefore led over the same rocks, and minutely consulted, his answers
were full, and struck Tiberius; as approaching Empire and many future
revolutions were specifically foretold him. The artist was then
questioned, "whether he had calculated his own nativity, and thence
presaged what was to befall him that same year, nay, that very day?"
Thrasullus surveying the positions of the stars, and calculating their
aspects, began at first to hesitate, then to quake, and the more he
meditated, being more and more dismayed with wonder and dread, he at last
cried out, "that over him just then hung a boding danger and well-nigh
fatal." Forthwith Tiberius embraced him, congratulated him "upon his
foresight of perils, and his security from them;" and esteeming his
predictions as so many oracles, held him thenceforward in the rank of his
most intimate friends.
For myself, while I listen to these and the like relations, my judgment
wavers, whether things human are in their course and rotation determined
by Fate and immutable necessity, or left to roll at random. For upon this
subject the wisest of the ancients and those addicted to their Sects, are
of opposite sentiments. [Footnote: The Epicureans.] Many are of opinion
"that to the Gods neither the generation of us men nor our death, and in
truth neither men nor the actions of men, are of any importance or
concernment: and thence such numberless calamities afflict the upright,
while pleasure and prosperity surround the wicked." Others [Footnote: The
Stoics.] hold the contrary position, and believe "a Fate to preside over
events; a fate however not resulting from wandering stars, but coeval with
the first principles of things, and operating by the continued connection
of natural causes. Yet their philosophy leaves our course of life in our
own free option; but that after the choice is made, the chain of
consequences is inevitable: neither is that good or evil, which passes for
such in the estimation of the vulgar: many, who seem wounded with
adversity, are yet happy; numbers, that wallow in wealth, are yet most
wretched: since the first often bear with magnanimity the blows of
fortune; and the latter abuse her bounty in baneful pursuits." For the
rest, it is common to multitudes of men "to have each their whole future
fortunes determined from the moment of their birth: or if some events
thwart the prediction, it is through the mistakes of such as pronounce at
random, and thence debase the credit of an art, which, both in ages past
and our own, hath given signal instances of its certainty." For, to avoid
lengthening this digression, I shall remember in its order, how by the son
of this same Thrasullus the Empire was predicted to Nero.
During the same Consulship flew abroad the death of Asinius Gallus: that
he perished through famine was undoubted; but whether of his own accord,
or by constraint, was held uncertain. The pleasure of the Emperor being
consulted, "whether he would suffer him to be buried;" he was not ashamed
to grant such a piece of mock mercy, nor even to blame the anticipations
of casualty, which had withdrawn the criminal, before he was publicly
convicted: as if during three intermediate years between his accusation
and his death, there wanted time for the trial of an ancient Consular, and
the father of so many Consulars. Next perished Drusus, condemned by his
grandfather to be starved; but by gnawing the weeds upon which he lay, he
by that miserable nourishment protracted life the space of nine days. Some
authors relate that, in case Sejanus had resisted and taken arms, Macro
had instructions to draw the young man out of confinement (for he was kept
in the palace) and set him at the head of the people: afterwards because a
report ran, "that the Emperor was about to be reconciled to his daughter-
in-law and grandson;" he chose rather to gratify himself by cruelty, than
the public by relenting.
Tiberius not satiated with the death of Drusus, even after death pursued
him with cruel invectives, and, in a letter to the Senate, charged him
with "a body foul with prostitution; with a spirit breathing destruction
to his own family, and rage against the Republic;" and ordered to be
recited "the minutes of his words and actions, which had been long and
daily registered," A proceeding more black with horror could not be
devised! That for so many years, there should be those expressly
appointed, who were to note down his looks, his groans, his secret and
extorted murmurs; that his grandfather should delight to hear the
treacherous detail, to read it, and to the public expose it, would appear
a series of fraud, meanness and amazement beyond all measure of faith,
were it not for the letters of Actius the Centurion, and Didymus the
Freedman; who in them declare, particularly, the names of the slaves set
purposely to abuse and provoke Drusus, with the several parts they acted;
how one struck him going out of his chamber, and how another filled him
with terrors and dismay. The Centurion too repeated, as matter of glory,
his own language to Drusus, language full of outrage and barbarity, with
the words uttered by him under the agonies of famine; that, at first,
feigning disorder of spirit, he vented, in the style of a madman, dismal
denunciations against Tiberius; but after all hopes of life had forsaken
him, then, in steady and deliberate imprecations, he invoked the direful
vengeance of the Gods, "that as he had slaughtered his son's wife,
slaughtered the son of his brother, and his son's sons, and with
slaughters had filled his own house; so they would in justice to the
ancestors of the slain, in justice to their posterity, doom him to the
dreadful penalties of so many murders." The Senators, in truth, upon this
raised a mighty din, under colour of detesting these imprecations: but it
was dread which possessed them, and amazement, that he who had been once
so dark in the practice of wickedness, and so subtle in the concealment of
his bloody spirit, was arrived at such an utter insensibility of shame,
that he could thus remove, as it were, the covert of the walls, and
represent his own grandson under the ignominious chastisement of a
Centurion, torn by the barbarous stripes of slaves, and imploring in vain
the last sustenance of life.
Before the impressions of this grief were worn away, the death of
Agrippina was published. I suppose she had lived thus long upon the hopes,
which from the execution of Sejanus she had conceived; but, feeling
afterwards no relaxation of cruelty, death grew her choice: unless she
were bereaved of nourishment, and her decease feigned to have been of her
own seeking. For, Tiberius raged against her with abominable imputations,
reproaching her "with lewdness; as the adulteress of Asinius Gallus; and
that upon his death she became weary of life." But these were none of her
crimes: Agrippina impatient of an equal lot, and eager for rule, had
thence sacrificed to masculine ambition all the passions and vices of
women. The Emperor added, "that she departed the same day on which Sejanus
had suffered as a traitor two years before, and that the same ought to be
perpetuated by a public memorial." Nay, he boasted of his clemency, in
"that she had not been strangled, and her body cast into the charnel of
malefactors." For this, as for an instance of mercy the Senate solemnly
thanked him, and decreed "that, on the seventeenth of October, the day of
both their deaths, a yearly offering should be consecrated to Jupiter for
ever."
Not long after, Cocceius Nerva, in full prosperity of fortune, in perfect
vigour of body, formed a purpose of dying. As he was the incessant
companion of the Prince, and accomplished in the knowledge of all laws
divine and humane, Tiberius having learnt his design, was earnest to
dissuade him, examined his motives, joined entreaties, and even declared,
"how grievous to his own spirit it would prove, how grievous to his
reputation, if the nearest of his friends should relinquish life, without
any cause for dying." Nerva rejected his reasoning, and completed his
purpose by abstinence. It was alleged, by such as knew his thoughts, that
the more he saw into the dreadful source and increase of public miseries,
the more transported with indignation and fear, he resolved to make an
honest end, in the bloom of his integrity, e'er his life and credit were
assaulted. Moreover the fall of Agrippina, by a reverse hardly credible,
procured that of Plancina. She was formerly married to Cneius Piso; and,
though she exulted publicly for the death of Germanicus, yet when Piso
fell, she was protected by the solicitations of Augusta, nor less by the
known animosity of Agrippina. But as favour and hate were now withdrawn,
justice prevailed, and being questioned for crimes long since sufficiently
manifest, she executed with her own hand that vengeance, which was rather
too slow than too severe,
In the Consulship of Paulus Fabius and Lucius Vitellius, after a long
vicissitude of ages, the phoenix arrived in Egypt, and furnished the most
learned of the natives and Greeks with matter of large and various
observations concerning that miraculous bird. The circumstances in which
they agree, with many others, that, however disputed, deserve to be known,
claim a recital here. That it is a creature sacred to the sun, and in the
fashion of its head, and diversity of feathers, distinct from other birds,
all who have described its figure, are agreed; about the length of its
life, relations vary. It is by the vulgar tradition fixed at five hundred
years: but there are those, who extend it to one thousand four hundred and
sixty-one; and assert that the three former phoenixes appeared in reigns
greatly distant, the first under Sesostris, the next under Amasis; and
that one was seen under Ptolomy the third King of Egypt of the Macedonian
race, and flew to the city of Heliopolis, accompanied by a vast host of
other birds gazing upon the wonderful stranger. But these are, in truth,
the obscure accounts of antiquity: between Ptolomy and Tiberius the
interval was shorter, not two hundred and fifty years: hence some have
believed that the present was a spurious phoenix, and derived not its
origin from the territories of Arabia, since it observed nothing of the
instinct which ancient tradition attributes to the genuine: for that the
latter having completed his course of years, just before his death builds
a nest in his native land, and upon it sheds a generative power, from
whence arises a young one, whose first care, when he is grown, is to bury
his father: neither does he undertake it unadvisedly, but by collecting
and fetching loads of myrrh, tries his strength in great journeys; and as
soon as he finds himself equal to the burden, and fit for the long flight,
he rears upon his back his father's body, carries it quite to the altar of
the sun, and then flies away. These are uncertain tales, and their
uncertainty heightened by fables; but that this bird has been sometimes
seen in Egypt, is not questioned.
The same year the city suffered the grievous calamity of fire, which burnt
down that part of the Circus contiguous to Mount Aventine and the Mount
itself: a loss which turned to the glory of the Prince, as he paid in
money the value of the houses destroyed. A hundred thousand great
sesterces [Footnote: About L830,000.] he expended in this bounty, which
proved the more grateful to the people as he was ever sparing in private
buildings: in truth, his public works never exceeded two, the Temple of
Augustus and the scene [Footnote: The stage.] of Pompey's Theatre; nor,
when he had finished both, did he dedicate either, whether obstructed by
old age, or despising popularity. For ascertaining the damage of
particulars, the four sons-in-law of Tiberius were appointed, Cneius
Domitius, Cassius Longinus, Marcus Vincinus and Rubellius Blandus;
assisted by Publius Petronius, nominated by the Consuls. To the Emperor
likewise were decreed several honours, variously devised according to the
different drift and genius of such as proposed them. Which of these he
meant to accept, or which to reject, the approaching issue of his days,
has buried in uncertainty. For not long after, Cneius Acerronius and Caius
Pontius commenced Consuls; the last under Tiberius. The power of Macro was
already excessive; who, as he had at no time neglected the favour of
Caligula, courted it now more and more earnestly every day. After the
death of Claudia, whom I have mentioned to have been espoused to the young
Prince, he constrained Ennia his own wife to stimulate the affections of
Caligula and to secure him by a promise of marriage. The truth is, he was
one that denied nothing that opened his way to sovereignty; for although
of a tempestuous genius, he had yet in the school of his grandfather, well
acquired all the hollow guises of dissimulation.
His spirit was known to the Emperor; hence he was puzzled about
bequeathing the Empire: and first as to his grandsons; the son of Drusus
was nearer in blood, and dearer in point of affection, but as yet a child;
the son of Germanicus had arrived at the vigour of youth, and the zeal of
the people followed him, a motive this to his grandfather, only to hate
him. He had even debates with himself concerning Claudius, because of
solid age and naturally inclined to honest pursuits; but the defect of his
faculties withstood the choice. In case he sought a successor apart from
his own family, he dreaded lest the memory of Augustus, lest the name of
the Caesars should come to be scorned and insulted. For, it was not so
much any study of his, to gratify the present generation and secure the
Roman State, as to perpetuate to posterity the grandeur of his race. So
that his mind still wavering and his strength decaying, to the decision of
fortune he permitted a counsel to which he was now unequal. Yet he dropped
certain words whence might be gathered that he foresaw the events and
revolutions which were to come to pass after him: for, he upbraided Macro,
by no dark riddle, "that he forsook the setting sun and courted the
rising:" and of Caligula, who upon some occasional discourse ridiculed
Sylla, he foretold, "that he would have all Sylla's vices, and not one of
his virtues." Moreover, as he was, with many tears, embracing the younger
of his grandsons, and perceived the countenance of Caligula implacable and
provoked; "thou," said he, "wilt slay him, and another shall slay thee."
But, however his illness prevailed, he relinquished nothing of his vile
voluptuousness; forcing patience, and feigning health. He was wont too to
ridicule the prescriptions of physicians, and all men who, after the age
of thirty, needed to be informed by any one else, what helped or hurted
their constitutions.
At Rome, the while, were sown the sanguinary seeds of executions to be
perpetrated even after Tiberius. Laelius Balbus had with high treason
charged Acutia, some time the wife of Publius Vitellius; and, as the
Senate were, after her condemnation, decreeing a reward to the accuser,
the same was obstructed by the interposition of Junius Otho, Tribune of
the People: hence their mutual hate, which ended in the exile of Otho.
Thereafter Albucilla, who had been married to Satrius Secundus, him that
revealed the conspiracy of Sejanus, and herself famous for many amours,
was impeached of impious rites devised against the Prince. In the charge
were involved, as her associates and adulterers, Cneius Domitius, Vibius
Marsus, and Lucius Arruntius. The noble descent of Domitius I have above
declared: Marsus too was distinguished by the ancient dignities in his
house, and himself illustrious for learning. The minutes, however,
transmitted to the Senate imported, "that in the examination of the
witnesses, and torture of the slaves, Macro had presided:" neither came
these minutes accompanied with any letter from the Emperor against the
accused. Hence it was suspected, that, while he was ill, and perhaps
without his privacy, the accusations were in great measure forged by
Macro, in consequence of his notorious enmity to Arruntius.
Domitius therefore by preparing for his defence, and Marsus by seeming
determined to famish, both protracted their lives. Arruntius chose to die;
and to the importunity of his friends, urging him to try delays and
evasions, he answered, "that the same measures were not alike honourable
to all men: his own life was abundantly long; nor had he wherewithal to
reproach himself, save that he had submitted to bear thus far an old age
loaded with anxieties, exposed to daily dangers, and the cruel sport of
power; long hated as he was by Sejanus, now by Macro, always by some
reigning minister; hated through no fault of his own, but as one
irreconcilable to baseness and the iniquities of power. He might, in
truth, outlive and avoid the few and last days of Tiberius: but how escape
the youth of his heir? If upon Tiberius at such an age, and after such
consummate experience, the violent spirit of unbridled dominion had
wrought with such efficacy, as entirely to transport and change him; was
it likely that Caligula, he who had scarce outgrown his childhood, a youth
ignorant of all things, or nursed and principled in the worst, would
follow a course more righteous under the guidance of Macro; the same
Macro, who, for destroying Sejanus, was employed as the more wicked of the
two, and had since by more mischiefs and cruelties torn and afflicted the
Commonweal? For himself; he foresaw a servitude yet more vehement, and
therefore withdrew at once from the agonies of past and of impending
tyranny." Uttering these words, with the spirit of a prophet, he opened
his veins. How wisely Arruntius anticipated death, the following times
will terribly demonstrate. For Albucilla; she aimed at her own life, but
the blow being impotent, she was by order of Senate dragged to execution
in the prison. Against the ministers of her lusts it was decreed, "that
Grasidius Sacerdos, formerly Praetor, should be exiled into an island;
Pontius Fregellanus be degraded from the Senate; and that upon Laelius
Balbus the same penalty be inflicted:" his punishment particularly proved
matter of joy, as he was accounted a man of pestilent eloquence, and
prompt to attack the innocent.
About the same time, Sextus Papinius of a Consular family, chose on a
sudden a frightful end, by a desperate and precipitate fall. The cause was
ascribed to his mother, who, after many repulses, had by various
allurements and the stimulations of sensuality, urged him to practices and
embarrassments from whence, only by dying, he could devise an issue. She
was therefore accused in the Senate; and, though in a prostrate posture
she embraced the knees of the Fathers, and pleaded "the tenderness and
grief of a mother, the imbecility of a woman's spirit under such an
affecting calamity;" with other motives of pity in the same doleful
strain; she was banished Rome for ten years, till her younger son were
past the age of lubricity.
As to Tiberius; already his body, already his spirits failed him; but his
dissimulation failed him not. He exerted the same vigour of mind, the same
energy in his looks and discourse; and even sometimes studied to be gay,
by it to hide his declension however notorious. So that, after much
shifting of places, he settled at the Promontory of Misenum, in a villa of
which Lucullus was once Lord. There it was discovered that his end was at
hand, by this device. In his train was a physician, his name Charicles,
signal in his profession, one, in truth, not employed to govern the
Prince's health, but wont however to afford his counsel and skill.
Charicles, as if he were departing to attend his own affairs, under the
appearance of paying duty and kissing his hands, touched his pulse. But
the artifice beguiled not Tiberius; for he instantly ordered the
entertainment to be served up; whether incensed, and thence the more
smothering his wrath, is uncertain: but, at table he continued beyond his
wont, as if he meant that honour only for a farewell to his friend. But
for all this Charicles satisfied Macro, "that the flame of life was
expiring, and could not outlast two days." Hence the whole court was
filled with close consultations, and expresses were despatched to the
generals and armies. On the 16th of March, so deep a swoon seized him,
that he was believed to have paid the last debt of mortality: insomuch
that Caligula, in the midst of a great throng, paying their
congratulations, was already appearing abroad, to assume the first offices
of sovereignty, when sudden notice came, "that Tiberius had recovered his
sight and voice, and, to strengthen his fainting spirits, had called for
some refreshment." Hence dread seized all, and the whole concourse about
Caligula dispersed, every man resuming false sorrow, or feigning
ignorance: he himself was struck speechless, and thus fallen from the
highest hopes, waited for present death. Macro continued undismayed, and
ordering the apartment to be cleared, caused the feeble old man to be
smothered with a weight of coverings. Thus expired Tiberius in the
seventy-eighth year of his age.
He was the son of Nero, and on both sides a branch of the Claudian House;
though his mother had been ingrafted by adoptions into the Livian, and
next into the Julian stock. From his first infancy, his life was chequered
by various turns and perils: for, then he followed, like an exile, his
proscribed father; and when taken in quality of a step-son into the family
of Augustus, he long struggled there with many potent rivals, during the
lives of Marcellus and Agrippa; next of the young Caesars, Caius and
Lucius. His brother Drusus too eclipsed him, and possessed more eminently
the hearts of the Roman People. But above all, his marriage with Julia,
most egregiously threatened and distressed him; whether he bore the
prostitutions of his wife, or relinquished the daughter of Augustus. Upon
his return thereafter from Rhodes, he occupied for twelve years the
Prince's family, now bereft of heirs, and nigh four-and-twenty ruled the
Roman State. His manners also varied with the several junctures of his
fortune: he was well esteemed while yet a private man; and, in discharging
public dignities under Augustus, of signal reputation: covert and
subdolous in feigning virtue so long as Germanicus and Drusus survived: a
mixed character of good and evil during the days of his mother: detestably
cruel; but secret in his lewdness, while he loved or feared Sejanus: at
last he abandoned himself, at once, to the rage of tyranny and the sway of
his lusts: for, he had then conquered all the checks of shame and fear,
and thenceforth followed only the bent of his own abominable spirit.
A TREATISE OF THE SITUATION, CUSTOMS, AND PEOPLE OF GERMANY.
The whole of Germany is thus bounded; separated from Gaul, from Rhoetia
and Pannonia, by the rivers Rhine and Danube; from Sarmatia and Dacia by
mutual fear, or by high mountains: the rest is encompassed by the ocean,
which forms huge bays, and comprehends a tract of islands immense in
extent: for we have lately known certain nations and kingdoms there, such
as the war discovered. The Rhine rising in the Rhoetian Alps from a summit
altogether rocky and perpendicular, after a small winding towards the
west, is lost in the Northern Ocean. The Danube issues out of the mountain
Abnoba, one very high but very easy of ascent, and traversing several
nations, falls by six streams into the Euxine Sea; for its seventh channel
is absorbed in the Fenns.
The Germans, I am apt to believe, derive their original from no other
people; and are nowise mixed with different nations arriving amongst them:
since anciently those who went in search of new dwellings, travelled not
by land, but were carried in fleets; and into that mighty ocean so
boundless, and, as I may call it, so repugnant and forbidding, ships from
our world rarely enter. Moreover, besides the dangers from a sea
tempestuous, horrid and unknown, who would relinquish Asia, or Africa, or
Italy, to repair to Germany, a region hideous and rude, under a rigorous
climate, dismal to behold or to manure; [Footnote: To cultivate.] unless
the same were his native country? In their old ballads (which amongst them
are the only sort of registers and history) they celebrate _Tuisto_, a God
sprung from the earth, and _Mannus_ his son, as the fathers and founders
of the nation. To _Mannus_ they assign three sons, after whose names so
many people are called; the Ingaevones, dwelling next the ocean; the
Herminones, in the middle country; and all the rest, Istaevones. Some,
borrowing a warrant from the darkness of antiquity, maintain that the God
had more sons, that thence came more denominations of people, the
Marsians, Cambrians, Suevians, and Vandalians, and that these are the
names truly genuine and original. For the rest, they affirm Germany to be
a recent word, lately bestowed: for that those who first passed the Rhine
and expulsed the Gauls, and are now named Tungrians, were then called
Germans: and thus by degrees the name of a tribe prevailed, not that of
the nation; so that by an appellation at first occasioned by terror and
conquest, they afterwards chose to be distinguished, and assuming a name
lately invented were universally called _Germans_.
They have a tradition that Hercules also had been in their country, and
him above all other heroes they extol in their songs when they advance to
battle. Amongst them too are found that kind of verses by the recital of
which (by them called _Barding_) they inspire bravery; nay, by such
chanting itself they divine the success of the approaching fight. For,
according to the different din of the battle, they urge furiously, or
shrink timorously. Nor does what they utter, so much seem to be singing as
the voice and exertion of valour. They chiefly study a tone fierce and
harsh, with a broken and unequal murmur, and therefore apply their shields
to their mouths, whence the voice may by rebounding swell with greater
fulness and force. Besides there are some of opinion, that Ulysses, whilst
he wandered about in his long and fabulous voyages, was carried into this
ocean and entered Germany, and that by him Asciburgium was founded and
named, a city at this day standing and inhabited upon the bank of the
Rhine: nay, that in the same place was formerly found an altar dedicated
to Ulysses, with the name of his father Laertes added to his own, and that
upon the confines of Germany and Rhoetia are still extant certain
monuments and tombs inscribed with Greek characters. Traditions these
which I mean not either to confirm with arguments of my own or to refute.
Let every one believe or deny the same according to his own bent.
For myself, I concur in opinion with such as suppose the people of Germany
never to have mingled by inter-marriages with other nations, but to have
remained a people pure, and independent, and resembling none but
themselves. Hence amongst such a mighty multitude of men, the same make
and form is found in all, eyes stern and blue, yellow hair, huge bodies,
but vigorous only in the first onset. Of pains and labour they are not
equally patient, nor can they at all endure thrift and heat. To bear
hunger and cold they are hardened by their climate and soil.
Their lands, however somewhat different in aspect, yet taken all together
consist of gloomy forests or nasty marshes; lower and moister towards the
confines of Gaul, more mountainous and windy towards Noricum and Pannonia;
very apt to bear grain, but altogether unkindly to fruit trees; abounding
in flocks and herds, but generally small of growth. Nor even in their oxen
is found the usual stateliness, no more than the natural ornaments and
grandeur of head. In the number of their herds they rejoice; and these are
their only, these their most desirable riches. Silver and gold the Gods
have denied them, whether in mercy or in wrath, I am unable to determine.
Yet I would not venture to aver that in Germany no vein of gold or silver
is produced; for who has ever searched? For the use and possession, it is
certain they care not. Amongst them indeed are to be seen vessels of
silver, such as have been presented to their Princes and Ambassadors, but
holden in no other esteem than vessels made of earth. The Germans however
adjoining to our frontiers value gold and silver for the purposes of
commerce, and are wont to distinguish and prefer certain of our coins.
They who live more remote are more primitive and simple in their dealings,
and exchange one commodity for another. The money which they like is the
old and long known, that indented, [Footnote: With milled edges.] or that
impressed with a chariot and two horses. Silver too is what they seek more
than gold, from no fondness or preference, but because small pieces are
more ready in purchasing things cheap and common.
Neither in truth do they abound in iron, as from the fashion of their
weapons may be gathered. Swords they rarely use, or the larger spear. They
carry javelins or, in their own language, _framms_, pointed with a piece
of iron short and narrow, but so sharp and manageable, that with the same
weapon they can fight at a distance or hand to hand, just as need
requires. Nay, the horsemen also are content with a shield and a javelin.
The foot throw likewise weapons missive, each particular is armed with
many, and hurls them a mighty space, all naked or only wearing a light
cassock. In their equipment they show no ostentation; only that their
shields are diversified and adorned with curious colours. With coats of
mail very few are furnished, and hardly upon any is seen a headpiece or
helmet. Their horses are nowise signal either in fashion or in fleetness;
nor taught to wheel and bound, according to the practice of the Romans:
they only move them forward in a line, or turn them right about, with such
compactness and equality that no one is ever behind the rest. To one who
considers the whole it is manifest, that in their foot their principal
strength lies, and therefore they fight intermixed with the horse: for
such is their swiftness as to match and suit with the motions and
engagements of the cavalry. So that the infantry are elected from amongst
the most robust of their youth, and placed in front of the army. The
number to be sent is also ascertained, out of every village _an hundred_,
and by this very name they continue to be called at home, _those of the
hundred band_: thus what was at first no more than a number, becomes
thenceforth a title and distinction of honour. In arraying their army,
they divide the whole into distinct battalions formed sharp in front. To
recoil in battle, provided you return again to the attack, passes with
them rather for policy than fear. Even when the combat is no more than
doubtful, they bear away the bodies of their slain. The most glaring
disgrace that can befall them, is to have quitted their shield; nor to one
branded with such ignominy is it lawful to join in their sacrifices, or to
enter into their assemblies; and many who had escaped in the day of
battle, have hanged themselves to put an end to this their infamy.
In the choice of kings they are determined by the splendour of their race,
in that of generals by their bravery. Neither is the power of their kings
unbounded or arbitrary: and their generals procure obedience not so much
by the force of their authority as by that of their example, when they
appear enterprising and brave, when they signalise themselves by courage
and prowess; and if they surpass all in admiration and pre-eminence, if
they surpass all at the head of an army. But to none else but the Priests
is it allowed to exercise correction, or to inflict bonds or stripes. Nor
when the Priests do this, is the same considered as a punishment, or
arising from the orders of the general, but from the immediate command of
the Deity, Him whom they believe to accompany them in war. They therefore
carry with them when going to fight, certain images and figures taken out
of their holy groves. What proves the principal incentive to their valour
is, that it is not at random nor by the fortuitous conflux of men that
their troops and pointed battalions are formed, but by the conjunction of
whole families, and tribes of relations. Moreover, close to the field of
battle are lodged all the nearest and most interesting pledges of nature.
Hence they hear the doleful howlings of their wives, hence the cries of
their tender infants. These are to each particular the witnesses whom he
most reverences and dreads; these yield him the praise which affect him
most. Their wounds and maims they carry to their mothers, or to their
wives, neither are their mothers or wives shocked in telling, or in
sucking their bleeding sores. [Footnote: Nec illae numerare aut exigere
plagas pavent.] Nay, to their husbands and sons whilst engaged in battle,
they administer meat and encouragement.
In history we find, that some armies already yielding and ready to fly,
have been by the women restored, through their inflexible importunity and
entreaties, presenting their breasts, and showing their impending
captivity; an evil to the Germans then by far most dreadful when it
befalls their women. So that the spirit of such cities as amongst their
hostages are enjoined to send their damsels of quality, is always engaged
more effectually than that of others. They even believe them endowed with
something celestial and the spirit of prophecy. Neither do they disdain to
consult them, nor neglect the responses which they return. In the reign of
the deified Vespasian, we have seen _Veleda_ for a long time, and by many
nations, esteemed and adored as a divinity. In times past they likewise
worshipped _Aurinia_ and several more, from no complaisance or effort of
flattery, nor as Deities of their own creating.
Of all the Gods, Mercury is he whom they worship most. To him on certain
stated days it is lawful to offer even human victims. Hercules and Mars
they appease with beasts usually allowed for sacrifice. Some of the
Suevians make likewise immolations to _Isis_, Concerning the cause and
original of this foreign sacrifice I have found small light; unless the
figure of her image formed like a galley, show that such devotion arrived
from abroad. For the rest, from the grandeur and majesty of beings
celestial, they judge it altogether unsuitable to hold the Gods enclosed
within walls, or to represent them under any human likeness. They
consecrate whole woods and groves, and by the names of the Gods they call
these recesses; divinities these, which only in contemplation and mental
reverence they behold.
To the use of lots and auguries, they are addicted beyond all other
nations. Their method of divining by lots is exceeding simple. From a tree
which bears fruit they cut a twig, and divide it into two small pieces.
These they distinguish by so many several marks, and throw them at random
and without order upon a white garment. Then the Priest of the community,
if for the public the lots are consulted, or the father of a family if
about a private concern, after he has solemnly invoked the Gods, with eyes
lifted up to heaven, takes up every piece thrice, and having done thus
forms a judgment according to the marks before made. If the chances have
proved forbidding, they are no more consulted upon the same affair during
the same day: even when they are inviting, yet, for confirmation, the
faith of auguries too is tried. Yea, here also is the known practice of
divining events from the voices and flight of birds. But to this nation it
is peculiar, to learn presages and admonitions divine from horses also.
These are nourished by the State in the same sacred woods and groves, all
milk-white and employed in no earthly labour. These yoked in the holy
chariot, are accompanied by the Priest and the King, or the Chief of the
community, who both carefully observe his actions and neighing. Nor in any
sort of augury is more faith and assurance reposed, not by the populace
only, but even by the nobles, even by the Priests. These account
themselves the ministers of the Gods, and the horses privy to his will.
They have likewise another method of divination, whence to learn the issue
of great and mighty wars. From the nation with whom they are at war they
contrive, it avails not how, to gain a captive: him they engage in combat
with one selected from amongst themselves, each armed after the manner of
his country, and according as the victory falls to this or to the other,
gather a presage of the whole.
Affairs of smaller moment the chiefs determine: about matters of higher
consequence the whole nation deliberates; yet in such sort, that whatever
depends upon the pleasure and decision of the people, is examined and
discussed by the chiefs. Where no accident or emergency intervenes, they
assemble upon stated days, either when the moon changes, or is full: since
they believe such seasons to be the most fortunate for beginning all
transactions. Neither in reckoning of time do they count, like us, the
number of days but that of nights. In this style their ordinances are
framed, in this style their diets appointed; and with them the night seems
to lead and govern the day. From their extensive liberty this evil and
default flows, that they meet not at once, nor as men commanded and afraid
to disobey; so that often the second day, nay often the third, is consumed
through the slowness of the members in assembling. They sit down as they
list, promiscuously, like a crowd, and all armed. It is by the Priests
that silence is enjoined, and with the power of correction the Priests are
then invested. Then the King or Chief is heard, as are others, each
according to his precedence in age, or in nobility, or in warlike renown,
or in eloquence; and the influence of every speaker proceeds rather from
his ability to persuade than from any authority to command. If the
proposition displease, they reject it by an inarticulate murmur: if it be
pleasing, they brandish their javelins. The most honourable manner of
signifying their assent, is to express their applause by the sound of
their arms.
In the assembly it is allowed to present accusations, and to prosecute
capital offences. Punishments vary according to the quality of the crime.
Traitors and deserters they hang upon trees. Cowards, and sluggards, and
unnatural prostitutes they smother in mud and bogs under an heap of
hurdles. Such diversity in their executions has this view, that in
punishing of glaring iniquities, it behoves likewise to display them to
sight: but effeminacy and pollution must be buried and concealed. In
lighter transgressions too the penalty is measured by the fault, and the
delinquents upon conviction are condemned to pay a certain number of
horses or cattle. Part of this mulct accrues to the King or to the
community, part to him whose wrongs are vindicated, or to his next
kindred. In the same assemblies are also chosen their chiefs or rulers,
such as administer justice in their villages and boroughs. To each of
these are assigned an hundred persons chosen from amongst the populace, to
accompany and assist him, men who help him at once with their authority
and their counsel.
Without being armed they transact nothing, whether of public or private
concernment. But it is repugnant to their custom for any man to use arms,
before the community has attested his capacity to wield them. Upon such
testimonial, either one of the rulers, or his father, or some kinsman
dignify the young man in the midst of the assembly, with a shield and
javelin. This amongst them is the _manly robe_, this the first degree of
honour conferred upon their youth. Before this they seem no more than part
of a private family, but thenceforward part of the Commonweal. The
princely dignity they confer even upon striplings, whose race is eminently
noble, or whose fathers have done great and signal services to the State.
For about the rest, who are more vigorous and long since tried, they crowd
to attend: nor is it any shame to be seen amongst the followers of these.
Nay, there are likewise degrees of followers, higher or lower, just as he
whom they follow judges fit. Mighty too is the emulation amongst these
followers, of each to be first in favour with his Prince; mighty also the
emulation of the Princes, to excel in the number and valour of followers.
This is their principal state, this their chief force, to be at all times
surrounded with a huge band of chosen young men, for ornament and glory in
peace, for security and defence in war. Nor is it amongst his own people
only, but even from the neighbouring communities, that any of their
Princes reaps so much renown and a name so great, when he surpasses in the
number and magnanimity of his followers. For such are courted by
Embassies, and distinguished with presents, and by the terror of their
fame alone often dissipate wars.
In the day of battle, it is scandalous to the Prince to be surpassed in
feats of bravery, scandalous to his followers to fail in matching the
bravery of the Prince. But it is infamy during life, and indelible
reproach, to return alive from a battle where their Prince was slain. To
preserve their Prince, to defend him, and to ascribe to his glory all
their own valorous deeds, is the sum and most sacred part of their oath.
The Princes fight for victory; for the Prince his followers fight. Many of
the young nobility, when their own community comes to languish in its
vigour by long peace and inactivity, betake themselves through impatience
to other States which then prove to be in war. For, besides that this
people cannot brook repose, besides that by perilous adventures they more
quickly blazon their fame, they cannot otherwise than by violence and war
support their huge train of retainers. For from the liberality of their
Prince, they demand and enjoy that _war-horse_ of theirs, with that
_victorious javelin_ dyed in the blood of their enemies. In the place of
pay, they are supplied with a daily table and repasts; though grossly
prepared, yet very profuse. For maintaining such liberality and
munificence, a fund is furnished by continual wars and plunder. Nor could
you so easily persuade them to cultivate the ground, or to await the
return of the seasons and produce of the year, as to provoke the foe and
to risk wounds and death: since stupid and spiritless they account it, to
acquire by their sweat what they can gain by their blood.
Upon any recess from war, they do not much attend the chase. Much more of
their time they pass in indolence, resigned to sleep and repasts.
[Footnote: "Dediti somno, ciboque:" handed over to sloth and gluttony.]
All the most brave, all the most warlike, apply to nothing at all; but to
their wives, to the ancient men, and to every the most impotent domestic,
trust all the care of their house, and of their lands and possessions.
They themselves loiter. [Footnote: Are rude and lazy.] Such is the amazing
diversity of their nature, that in the same men is found so much delight
in sloth, with so much enmity to tranquillity and repose. The communities
are wont, of their own accord and man by man, to bestow upon their Princes
a certain number of beasts, or a certain portion of grain; a contribution
which passes indeed for a mark of reverence and honour, but serves also to
supply their necessities. They chiefly rejoice in the gifts which come
from the bordering countries, such as are sent not only by particulars but
in the name of the State; curious horses, splendid armour, rich harness,
with collars of silver and gold. Now too they have learnt, what we have
taught them, to receive money.
That none of the several people in Germany live together in cities, is
abundantly known; nay, that amongst them none of their dwellings are
suffered to be contiguous. They inhabit apart and distinct, just as a
fountain, or a field, or a wood happened to invite them to settle. They
raise their villages in opposite rows, but not in our manner with the
houses joined one to another. Every man has a vacant space quite round his
own, whether for security against accidents from fire, or that they want
the art of building. With them in truth, is unknown even the use of mortar
and of tiles. In all their structures they employ materials quite gross
and unhewn, void of fashion and comeliness. Some parts they besmear with
an earth so pure and resplendent, that it resembles painting and colours.
They are likewise wont to scoop caves deep in the ground, and over them to
lay great heaps of dung. Thither they retire for shelter in the winter,
and thither convey their grain: for by such close places they mollify the
rigorous and excessive cold. Besides when at any time their enemy invades
them, he can only ravage the open country, but either knows not such
recesses as are invisible and subterraneous; or must suffer them to escape
him, on this very account that he is uncertain where to find them.
For their covering a mantle is what they all wear, fastened with a clasp
or, for want of it, with a thorn. As far as this reaches not they are
naked, and lie whole days before the fire. The most wealthy are
distinguished with a vest, not one large and flowing like those of
Sarmatians and Parthians, but girt close about them and expressing the
proportion of every limb. They likewise wear the skins of savage beasts, a
dress which those bordering upon the Rhine use without any fondness or
delicacy, but about which such who live further in the country are more
curious, as void of all apparel introduced by commerce. They choose
certain wild beasts, and, having flayed them, diversify their hides with
many spots, as also with the skins of monsters from the deep, such as are
engendered in the distant ocean and in seas unknown. Neither does the
dress of the women differ from that of the men, save that the women are
orderly attired in linen embroidered with purple, and use no sleeves, so
that all their arms are bare. The upper part of their breast is withal
exposed. Yet the laws of matrimony are severely observed there; nor in
the whole of their manners is ought more praiseworthy than this: for they
are almost the only Barbarians contented with one wife, excepting a very
few amongst them; men of dignity who marry divers wives, from no
wantonness or lubricity, but courted for the lustre of their family into
many alliances.
To the husband, the wife tenders no dowry; but the husband, to the wife.
The parents and relations attend and declare their approbation of the
presents, not presents adapted to feminine pomp and delicacy, nor such as
serve to deck the new married woman; but oxen and horse accoutred, and a
shield, with a javelin and sword. By virtue of these gifts, she is
espoused. She too on her part brings her husband some arms. This they
esteem the highest tie, these the holy mysteries, and matrimonial Gods.
That the woman may not suppose herself free from the considerations of
fortitude and fighting, or exempt from the casualties of war, the very
first solemnities of her wedding serve to warn her, that she comes to her
husband as a partner in his hazards and fatigues, that she is to suffer
alike with him, to adventure alike, during peace or during war. This the
oxen joined in the same yoke plainly indicate, this the horse ready
equipped, this the present of arms. 'Tis thus she must be content to live,
thus to resign life. The arms which she then receives she must preserve
inviolate, and to her sons restore the same, as presents worthy of them,
such as their wives may again receive, and still resign to her
grandchildren.
They therefore live in a state of chastity well secured; corrupted by no
seducing shows and public diversions, by no irritations from banqueting.
Of learning and of any secret intercourse by letters, they are all equally
ignorant, men and women. Amongst a people so numerous, adultery is
exceeding rare; a crime instantly punished, and the punishment left to be
inflicted by the husband. He, having cut off her hair, expells her from
his house naked, in presence of her kindred, and pursues her with stripes
throughout the village. For, to a woman who has prostituted her person, no
pardon is ever granted. However beautiful she be, however young, however
abounding in wealth, a husband she can never find. In truth, nobody turns
vices into mirth there, nor is the practice of corrupting and of yielding
to corruption, called the custom of the Age. Better still do those
communities, in which none but virgins marry, and where to a single
marriage all their views and inclinations are at once confined. Thus, as
they have but one body and one life, they take but one husband, that
beyond him they may have no thought, no further wishes, nor love him only
as their husband but as their marriage. [Footnote: "Sed tamquam
matrimonium ament."] To restrain generation and the increase of children,
is esteemed an abominable sin, as also to kill infants newly born. And
more powerful with them are good manners, than with other people are good
laws.
In all their houses the children are reared naked and nasty; and thus grow
into those limbs, into that bulk, which with marvel we behold. They are
all nourished with the milk of their own mothers, and never surrendered to
handmaids and nurses. The lord you cannot discern from the slave, by any
superior delicacy in rearing. Amongst the same cattle they promiscuously
live, upon the same ground they without distinction lie, till at a proper
age the free-born are parted from the rest, and their bravery recommend
them to notice. Slow and late do the young men come to the use of women,
and thus very long preserve the vigour of youth. Neither are the virgins
hastened to wed. They must both have the same sprightly youth, the like
stature, and marry when equal and able-bodied. Thus the robustness of the
parents is inherited by the children. Children are holden in the same
estimation with their mother's brother, as with their father. Some hold
this tie of blood to be most inviolable and binding, and in receiving of
hostages, such pledges are most considered and claimed, as they who at
once possess affections the most unalienable, and the most diffuse
interest in their family. To every man, however, his own children are
heirs and successors: wills they make none: for want of children his next
akin inherits; his own brothers, those of his father, or those of his
mother. To ancient men, the more they abound in descendants, in relations
and affinities, so much the more favour and reverence accrues. From being
childless, no advantage nor estimation is derived.
All the enmities of your house, whether of your father or of your kindred,
you must necessarily adopt; as well as all their friendships. Neither are
such enmities unappeasable and permanent: since even for so great a crime
as homicide, compensation is made by a fixed number of sheep and cattle,
and by it the whole family is pacified to content. A temper this,
wholesome to the State; because to a free nation, animosities and faction
are always more menacing and perilous. In social feasts, and deeds of
hospitality, no nation upon earth was ever more liberal and abounding. To
refuse admitting under your roof any man whatsoever, is held wicked and
inhuman. Every man receives every comer, and treats him with repasts as
large as his ability can possibly furnish. When the whole stock is
consumed, he who had treated so hospitably guides and accompanies his
guest to a new scene of hospitality; and both proceed to the next house,
though neither of them invited. Nor avails it, that they were not: they
are there received, with the same frankness and humanity. Between a
stranger and an acquaintance, in dispensing the rules and benefits of
hospitality, no difference is made. Upon your departure, if you ask
anything, it is the custom to grant it; and with the same facility, they
ask of you. In gifts they delight, but neither claim merit from what they
give, nor own any obligation for what they receive. Their manner of
entertaining their guests is familiar and kind.
The moment they rise from sleep, which they generally prolong till late in
the day, they bathe, most frequently in warm water; as in a country where
the winter is very long and severe. From bathing, they sit down to meat;
every man apart, upon a particular seat, and at a separate table. They
then proceed to their affairs, all in arms; as in arms, they no less
frequently go to banquet. To continue drinking night and day without
intermission, is a reproach to no man. Frequent then are their broils, as
usual amongst men intoxicated with liquor; and such broils rarely
terminate in angry words, but for the most part in maimings and slaughter.
Moreover in these their feasts, they generally deliberate about
reconciling parties at enmity, about forming affinities, choosing of
Princes, and finally about peace and war. For they judge, that at no
season is the soul more open to thoughts that are artless and upright, or
more fired with such as are great and bold. This people, of themselves
nowise subtile or politic, from the freedom of the place and occasion
acquire still more frankness to disclose the most secret motions and
purposes of their hearts. When therefore the minds of all have been once
laid open and declared, on the day following the several sentiments are
revised and canvassed; and to both conjectures of time, due regard is had.
They consult, when they know not how to dissemble; they determine, when
they cannot mistake.
For their drink, they draw a liquor from barley or other grain; and
ferment the same, so as to make it resemble wine. Nay, they who dwell upon
the bank of the Rhine deal in wine. Their food is very simple; wild fruit,
fresh venison, or coagulated milk. They banish hunger without formality,
without curious dressing and curious fare. In extinguishing thirst, they
use not equal temperance. If you will but humour their excess in drinking,
and supply them with as much as they covet, it will be no less easy to
vanquish them by vices than by arms.
Of public diversions they have but one sort, and in all their meetings the
same is still exhibited. Young men, such, as make it their pastime, fling
themselves naked and dance amongst sharp swords and the deadly points of
javelins. From habit they acquire their skill, and from their skill a
graceful manner; yet from hence draw no gain or hire: though this
adventurous gaiety has its reward, namely, that of pleasing the
spectators. What is marvellous, playing at dice is one of their most
serious employments; and even sober, they are gamesters: nay, so
desperately do they venture upon the chance of winning or losing, that
when their whole substance is played away, they stake their liberty and
their persons upon one and the last throw. The loser goes calmly into
voluntary bondage. However younger he be, however stronger, he tamely
suffers himself to be bound and sold by the winner. Such is their
perseverance in an evil course: they themselves call it honour.
Slaves of this class, they exchange away in commerce, to free themselves
too from the shame of such a victory. Of their other slaves they make not
such use as we do of ours, by distributing amongst them the several
offices and employments of the family. Each of them has a dwelling of his
own, each a household to govern. His lord uses him like a tenant, and
obliges him to pay a quantity of grain, or of cattle, or of cloth. Thus
far only the subserviency of the slave extends. All the other duties in a
family, not the slaves, but the wives and children discharge. To inflict
stripes upon a slave, or to put him in chains, or to doom him to severe
labour, are things rarely seen. To kill them they sometimes are wont, not
through correction or government, but in heat and rage, as they would an
enemy, save that no vengeance or penalty follows. The freedmen very little
surpass the slaves, rarely are of moment in the house; in the community
never, excepting only such nations where arbitrary dominion prevails. For
there they bear higher sway than the free-born, nay, higher than the
nobles. In other countries the inferior condition of freedmen is a proof
of public liberty.
To the practice of usury and of increasing money by interest, they are
strangers; and hence is found a better guard against it, than if it were
forbidden. They shift from land to land; and, still appropriating a
portion suitable to the number of hands for manuring, anon parcel out the
whole amongst particulars according to the condition and quality of each.
As the plains are very spacious, the allotments are easily assigned. Every
year they change, and cultivate a fresh soil; yet still there is ground to
spare. For they strive not to bestow labour proportionable to the
fertility and compass of their lands, by planting orchards, by enclosing
meadows, by watering gardens. From the earth, corn only is exacted. Hence
they quarter not the year into so many seasons. Winter, Spring, and
Summer, they understand; and for each have proper appellations. Of the
name and blessings of Autumn, they are equally ignorant.
In performing their funerals, they show no state or vainglory. This only
is carefully observed, that with the corpses of their signal men certain
woods be burned. Upon the funeral pile they accumulate neither apparel nor
perfumes. Into the fire, are always thrown the arms of the dead, and
sometimes his horse. With sods of earth only the sepulchre is raised. The
pomp of tedious and elaborate monuments they contemn, as things grievous
to the deceased. Tears and wailings they soon dismiss: their affliction
and woe they long retain. In women, it is reckoned becoming to bewail
their loss; in men, to remember it. This is what in general we have
learned, in the original and customs of the whole people of Germany. I
shall now deduce the institutions and usages of the several people, as far
as they vary one from another; as also an account of what nations from
thence removed, to settle themselves in Gaul.
That the Gauls were in times past more puissant and formidable, is related
by the Prince of authors, the deified Julius; [Footnote: Julius Caesar.]
and hence it is probable that they too have passed into Germany. For what
a small obstacle must be a river, to restrain any nation, as each grew
more potent, from seizing or changing habitations; when as yet all
habitations were common, and not parted or appropriated by the founding
and terror of Monarchies? The region therefore between the Hercynian
Forest and the rivers Moenus [Footnote: Main.] and Rhine, was occupied by
the Helvetians; as was that beyond it by the Boians, both nations of Gaul.
There still remains a place called _Boiemum_, which denotes the primitive
name and antiquity of the country, although the inhabitants have been
changed. But whether the Araviscans are derived from the Osians, a nation
of Germans passing into Pannonia, or the Osians from the Araviscans
removing from thence into Germany, is a matter undecided; since they both
still use the language, the same customs and the same laws. For, as of old
they lived alike poor and alike free, equal proved the evils and
advantages on each side the river, and common to both people. The
Treverians and Nervians aspire passionately to the reputation of being
descended from the Germans; since by the glory of this original, they
would escape all imputation of resembling the Gauls in person and
effeminacy. Such as dwell upon the bank of the Rhine, the Vangiones, the
Tribocians, and the Nemetes, are without doubt all Germans. The Ubians are
ashamed of their original; though they have a particular honour to boast,
that of having merited an establishment as a Roman Colony, and still
delight to be called _Agrippinensians_, after the name of their founder:
they indeed formerly came from beyond the Rhine, and, for the many proofs
of their fidelity, were settled upon the very bank of the river; not to be
there confined or guarded themselves, but to guard and defend that
boundary against the rest of the Germans.
Of all these nations, the Batavians are the most signal in bravery. They
inhabit not much territory upon the Rhine, but possess an island in it.
They were formerly part of the Cattans, and by means of feuds at home
removed to these dwellings; whence they might become a portion of the
Roman Empire. With them this honour still remains, as also the memorials
of their ancient association with us: for they are not under the contempt
of paying tribute, nor subject to be squeezed by the farmers of the
revenue. Free from all impositions and payments, and only set apart for
the purposes of fighting, they are reserved wholly for the wars, in the
same manner as a magazine of weapons and armour. Under the same degree of
homage are the nation of the Mattiacians. For such is the might and
greatness of the Roman People, as to have carried the awe and esteem of
their Empire beyond the Rhine and the ancient boundaries. Thus the
Mattiacians, living upon the opposite banks, enjoy a settlement and limits
of their own; yet in spirit and inclination are attached to us: in other
things resembling the Batavians, save that as they still breathe their
original air, still possess their primitive soil, they are thence inspired
with superior vigour and keenness. Amongst the people of Germany I would
not reckon those who occupy the lands which are under decimation, though
they be such as dwell beyond the Rhine and the Danube. By several
worthless and vagabond Gauls, and such as poverty rendered daring, that
region was seized as one belonging to no certain possessor: afterwards it
became a skirt of the Empire and part of a province, upon the enlargement
of our bounds and the extending of our garrisons and frontier.
Beyond these are the Cattans, whose territories begin at the Hercynian
Forest, and consist not of such wide and marshy plains, as those of the
other communities contained within the vast compass of Germany; but
produce ranges of hills, such as run lofty and contiguous for a long
tract, then by degrees sink and decay. Moreover the Hercynian Forest
attends for a while its native Cattans, then suddenly forsakes them. This
people are distinguished with bodies more hardy and robust, compact limbs,
stern countenances, and greater vigour of spirit. For Germans, they are
men of much sense and address. [Footnote: "Leur intelligence et leur
finesse etonnent, dans des Germains."] They dignify chosen men, listen to
such as are set over them, know how to preserve their post, to discern
occasions, to rebate their own ardour and impatience; how to employ the
day, how to entrench themselves by night. They account fortune amongst
things slippery and uncertain, but bravery amongst such as are never-
failing and secure; and, what is exceeding rare nor ever to be learnt but
by a wholesome course of discipline, in the conduct of the general they
repose more assurance than in the strength of the army. Their whole forces
consist of foot, who besides their arms carry likewise instruments of iron
and their provisions. You may see other Germans proceed equipped to
battle, but the Cattans so as to conduct a war. [Footnote: "Alios ad
proelium ire videas, Chattos ad bellum."] They rarely venture upon
excursions or casual encounters. It is in truth peculiar to cavalry,
suddenly to conquer, or suddenly to fly. Such haste and velocity rather
resembles fear. Patience and deliberation are more akin to intrepidity.
Moreover a custom, practised indeed in other nations of Germany, yet very
rarely and confined only to particulars more daring than the rest,
prevails amongst the Cattans by universal consent. As soon as they arrive
to maturity of years, they let their hair and beards continue to grow, nor
till they have slain an enemy do they ever lay aside this form of
countenance by vow sacred to valour. Over the blood and spoil of a foe
they make bare their face. They allege, that they have now acquitted
themselves of the debt and duty contracted by their birth, and rendered
themselves worthy of their country, worthy of their parents. Upon the
spiritless, cowardly and unwarlike, such deformity of visage still
remains. [Footnote: "Manet squalor."] All the most brave likewise wear an
iron ring (a mark of great dishonour this in that nation) and retain it as
a chain; till by killing an enemy they become released. Many of the
Cattans delight always to bear this terrible aspect; and, when grown white
through age, become awful and conspicuous by such marks, both to the enemy
and their own countrymen. By them in all engagements the first assault is
made: of them the front of the battle is always composed, as men who in
their looks are singular and tremendous. For even during peace they abate
nothing in the grimness and horror of their countenance. They have no
house to inhabit, no land to cultivate, nor any domestic charge or care.
With whomsoever they come to sojourn, by him they are maintained; always
very prodigal of the substance of others, always despising what is their
own, till the feebleness of old age overtakes them, and renders them
unequal to the efforts of such rigid bravery.
Next to the Cattans, dwell the Usipians and Tencterians; upon the Rhine
now running in a channel uniform and certain, such as suffices for a
boundary. The Tencterians, besides their wonted glory in war, surpass in
the service and discipline of their cavalry. Nor do the Cattans derive
higher applause from their foot, than the Tencterians from their horse.
Such was the order established by their forefathers, and what their
posterity still pursue. From riding and exercising of horses, their
children borrow their pastimes; in this exercise the young men find matter
for emulating one another, and in this the old men take pleasure to
persevere. Horses are by the father bequeathed as part of his household
and family, horses are conveyed amongst the rights of succession, and as
such the son receives them; but not the eldest son, like other effects, by
priority of birth, but he who happens to be signal in boldness and
superior in war.
Contiguous to the Tencterians formerly dwelt the Bructerians, in whose
room it is said the Chamavians and Angrivarians are now settled; they who
expulsed and almost extirpated the Bructerians, with the concurrence of
the neighbouring nations: whether in detestation of their arrogance, or
allured by the love of spoil, or through the special favour of the Gods
towards us Romans. They in truth even vouchsafed to gratify us with the
sight of the battle. In it there fell above sixty thousand souls, without
a blow struck by the Romans; but, what is a circumstance still more
glorious, fell to furnish them with a spectacle of joy and recreation. May
the Gods continue and perpetuate amongst these nations, if not any love
for us, yet by all means this their animosity and hate towards each other:
since whilst the destiny of the Empire thus urges it, fortune cannot more
signally befriend us, than in sowing strife amongst our foes.
The Angrivarians and Chamavians are enclosed behind, by the Dulgibinians
and Chasuarians; and by other nations not so much noted: before, the
Frisians face them. The country of Frisia is divided into two; called the
greater and lesser, according to the measure of their strength. Both
nations stretch along the Rhine, quite to the ocean; and surround vast
lakes such as once have borne Roman fleets. We have moreover even ventured
out from thence into the ocean, and upon its coasts common fame has
reported the pillars of Hercules to be still standing: whether it be that
Hercules ever visited these parts, or that to his renowned name we are
wont to ascribe whatever is grand and glorious everywhere. Neither did
Drusus who made the attempt, want boldness to pursue it: but the roughness
of the ocean withstood him, nor would suffer discoveries to be made about
itself, no more than about Hercules. Thenceforward the enterprise was
dropped: nay, more pious and reverential it seemed, to believe the
marvellous feats of the Gods than to know and to prove them. [Footnote:
"Coelum ipsum petimus stultitia."]
Hitherto, I have been describing Germany towards the west. To the
northward, it winds away with an immense compass. And first of all occurs
the nation of the Chaucians: who though they begin immediately at the
confines of the Frisians, and occupy part of the shore, extend so far as
to border upon all the several people whom I have already recounted; till
at last, by a circuit, they reach quite to the boundaries of the Cattans.
A region so vast, the Chaucians do not only possess but fill; a people of
all the Germans the most noble, such as would rather maintain their
grandeur by justice than violence. They live in repose, retired from
broils abroad, void of avidity to possess more, free from a spirit of
domineering over others. They provoke no wars, they ravage no countries,
they pursue no plunder. Of their bravery and power, the chief evidence
arises from hence, that, without wronging or oppressing others, they are
come to be superior to all. Yet they are all ready to arm, and if an
exigency require, armies are presently raised, powerful and abounding as
they are in men and horses; and even when they are quiet and their weapons
laid aside, their credit and name continue equally high.
Along the side of the Chaucians and Cattans dwell the Cheruscans; a people
who finding no enemy to rouse them, were enfeebled by a peace overlasting
and uniform, but such as they failed not to nourish. A conduct which
proved more pleasing than secure; since treacherous is that repose which
you enjoy amongst neighbours that are very powerful and very fond of rule
and mastership. When recourse is once had to the sword, modesty and fair
dealing will be vainly pleaded by the weaker; names these which are always
assumed by the stronger. Thus the Cheruscans, they who formerly bore the
character of _good and upright_, are now called _cowards and fools_; and
the fortune of the Cattans who subdued them, grew immediately to be
wisdom. In the ruin of the Cheruscans, the Fosians, also their neighbours,
were involved; and in their calamities bore an equal share, though in
their prosperity they had been weaker and less considered.
In the same winding tract of Germany live the Cimbrians, close to the
ocean; a community now very small, but great in fame. Nay, of their
ancient renown, many and extensive are the traces and monuments still
remaining; even their entrenchments upon either shore, so vast in compass
that from thence you may even now measure the greatness and numerous bands
of that people, and assent to the account of an army so mighty. It was on
the six hundred and fortieth year of Rome, when of the arms of the
Cimbrians the first mention was made, during the Consulship of Caecilius
Metellus and Papirius Carbo. If from that time we count to the second
Consulship of the Emperor Trajan, the interval comprehends near two
hundred and ten years; so long have we been conquering Germany. In a
course of time, so vast between these two periods, many have been the
blows and disasters suffered on each side. In truth neither from the
Samnites, nor from the Carthaginians, nor from both Spains, nor from all
the nations of Gaul, have we received more frequent checks and alarms; nor
even from the Parthians: for, more vigorous and invincible is the liberty
of the Germans than the monarchy of the Arsacides. Indeed, what has the
power of the East to allege to our dishonour; but the fall of Crassus,
that power which was itself overthrown and abased by Ventidius, with the
loss of the great King Pacorus bereft of his life? But by the Germans the
Roman People have been bereft of five armies, all commanded by Consuls; by
the Germans, the commanders of these armies, Carbo, and Cassius, and
Scaurus Aurelius, and Servilius Caepio, as also Marcus Manlius, were all
routed or taken: by the Germans even the Emperor Augustus was bereft of
Varus and three legions. Nor without difficulty and loss of men were they
defeated by Caius Marius in Italy, or by the deified Julius in Gaul, or by
Drusus or Tiberius or Germanicus in their native territories. Soon after,
the mighty menaces of Caligula against them ended in mockery and derision.
Thenceforward they continued quiet, till taking advantage of our domestic
division and civil wars, they stormed and seized the winter entrenchments
of the legions, and aimed at the dominion of Gaul; from whence they were
once more expulsed, and in the times preceding the present, we gained a
triumph over them rather than a victory.
I must now proceed to speak of the Suevians, who are not, like the Cattans
and Tencterians, comprehended in a single people; but divided into several
nations all bearing distinct names, though, in general they are entitled
Suevians, and occupy the larger share of Germany. This people are
remarkable for a peculiar custom, that of twisting their hair and binding
it up in a knot. It is thus the Suevians are distinguished from the other
Germans, thus the free Suevians from their slaves. In other nations,
whether from alliance of blood with the Suevians, or, as is usual, from
imitation, this practice is also found, yet rarely, and never exceeds the
years of youth. The Suevians, even when their hair is white through age,
continue to raise it backwards in a manner stern and staring; and often
tie it upon the top of their head only. That of their Princes, is more
accurately disposed, and so far they study to appear agreeable and comely;
but without any culpable intention. For by it, they mean not to make love
or to incite it: they thus dress when proceeding to war, and deck their
heads so as to add to their height and terror in the eyes of the enemy.
Of all the Suevians, the Semnones recount themselves to be the most
ancient and most noble. The belief of their antiquity is confirmed by
religious mysteries. At a stated time of the year, all the several people
descended from the same stock, assemble by their deputies in a wood;
consecrated by the idolatries of their forefathers, and by superstitious
awe in times of old. There by publicly sacrificing a man, they begin the
horrible solemnity of their barbarous worship. To this grove another sort
of reverence is also paid. No one enters it otherwise than bound with
ligatures, thence professing his subordination and meanness, and the power
of the Deity there. If he fall down, he is not permitted to rise or be
raised, but grovels along upon the ground. And of all their superstition,
this is the drift and tendency; that from this place the nation drew their
original, that here God, the supreme Governor of the world, resides, and
that all things else whatsoever are subject to him and bound to obey him.
The potent condition of the Semnones has increased their influence and
authority, as they inhabit an hundred towns; and from the largeness of
their community it comes, that they hold themselves for the head of the
Suevians.
What on the contrary ennobles the Langobards is the smallness of their
number, for that they, who are surrounded with very many and very powerful
nations, derive their security from no obsequiousness or plying; but from
the dint of battle and adventurous deeds. There follow in order the
Reudignians, and Aviones, and Angles, and Varinians, and Eudoses, and
Suardones and Nuithones; all defended by rivers or forests. Nor in one of
these nations does aught remarkable occur, only that they universally join
in the worship of _Herthum_; that is to say, the Mother Earth. Her they
believe to interpose in the affairs of men, and to visit countries. In an
island of the ocean stands the wood _Castum_; in it is a chariot dedicated
to the Goddess, covered over with a curtain, and permitted to be touched
by none but the Priest. Whenever the Goddess enters this her holy vehicle,
he perceives her; and with profound veneration attends the motion of the
chariot, which is always drawn by yoked cows. Then it is that days of
rejoicing always ensue, and in all places whatsoever which she descends to
honour with a visit and her company, feasts and recreation abound. They go
not to war; they touch no arms; fast laid up is every hostile weapon;
peace and repose are then only known, then only beloved, till to the
temple the same priest reconducts the Goddess when well tired with the
conversation of mortal beings. Anon the chariot is washed and purified in
a secret lake, as also the curtains; nay, the Deity herself too, if you
choose to believe it. In this office it is slaves who minister, and they
are forthwith doomed to be swallowed up in the same lake. Hence all men
are possessed with mysterious terror; as well as with a holy ignorance
what that must be, which none see but such as are immediately to perish.
Moreover this quarter of the Suevians stretches to the middle of Germany.
The community next adjoining, is that of the Hermondurians; (that I may
now follow the course of the Danube, as a little before I did that of the
Rhine) a people this, faithful to the Romans. So that to them alone of all
the Germans, commerce is permitted; not barely upon the bank of the Rhine,
but more extensively, and even in that glorious colony in the province of
Rhoetia. They travel everywhere at their own discretion and without a
guard; and when to other nations, we show no more than our arms and
encampments, to this people we throw open our houses and dwellings, as to
men who have no longing to possess them. In the territories of the
Hermondurians rises the Elbe, a river very famous and formerly well known
to us; at present we only hear it named.
Close by the Hermondurians reside the Nariscans, and next to them the
Marcomanians and Quadians. Amongst these the Marcomanians are most signal
in force and renown; nay, their habitation itself they acquired by their
bravery, as from thence they formerly expulsed the Boians. Nor do the
Nariscans or Quadians degenerate in spirit. Now this is as it were the
frontier of Germany, as far as Germany is washed by the Danube. To the
times within our memory the Marcomanians and Quadians were governed by
kings, who were natives of their own, descended from the noble line of
Maroboduus and Tudrus. At present they are even subject to such as are
foreigners. But the whole strength and sway of their kings is derived from
the authority of the Romans. From our arms, they rarely receive any aid;
from our money very frequently.
Nor less powerful are the several people beyond them; namely, the
Marsignians, the Gothinians, the Osians and the Burians, who altogether
enclose the Marcomanians and Quadians behind. Of those, the Marsignians
and the Burians in speech and dress resemble the Suevians. From the Gallic
language spoken by the Gothinians, and from that of Pannonia by the
Osians, it is manifest that neither of these people are Germans; as it is
also from their bearing to pay tribute. Upon them as upon aliens their
tribute is imposed, partly by the Sarmatians, partly by the Quadians. The
Gothinians, to heighten their disgrace, are forced to labour in the iron
mines. By all these several nations but little level country is possessed:
they are seated amongst forests, and upon the ridges and declivities of
mountains. For, Suevia is parted by a continual ridge of mountains; beyond
which, live many distinct nations. Of these the Lygians are most numerous
and extensive, and spread into several communities. It will suffice to
mention the most puissant; even the Arians, Helvicones, Manimians;
Elysians and Naharvalians. Amongst the Naharvalians is shown a grove,
sacred to devotion extremely ancient. Over it a Priest presides apparelled
like a woman; but according to the explication of the Romans, 'tis
_Castor_ and _Pollux_ who are here worshipped. This Divinity is named
_Alcis_. There are indeed no images here, no traces of an extraneous
superstition: yet their devotion is addressed to young men and to
brothers. Now the Aryans, besides their forces, in which they surpass the
several nations just recounted, are in their persons stern and truculent;
and even humour and improve their natural grimness and ferocity by art and
time. They wear black shields, their bodies are painted black, they choose
dark nights for engaging in battle; and by the very awe and ghastly hue of
their army, strike the enemy with dread, as none can bear this their
aspect so surprising and as it were quite infernal. For, in all battles
the eyes are vanquished first.
Beyond the Lygians dwell the Gothones, under the rule of a King; and
thence held in subjection somewhat stricter than the other German nations,
yet not so strict as to extinguish all their liberty. Immediately
adjoining are the Rugians and Lemovians upon the coast of the ocean, and
of these several nations the characteristics are a round shield, a short
sword and kingly government. Next occur the communities of the Suiones,
situated in the ocean itself; and besides their strength in men and arms,
very powerful at sea. The form of their vessels varies thus far from ours,
that they have prows at each end, so as to be always ready to row to shore
without turning; nor are they moved by sails, nor on their sides have
benches of oars placed, but the rowers ply here and there in all parts of
the ship alike, as in some rivers is done, and change their oars from
place to place, just as they shift their course hither or thither. To
wealth also, amongst them, great veneration is paid, and thence a single
ruler governs them, without all restriction of power, and exacting
unlimited obedience. Neither here, as amongst other nations of Germany,
are arms used indifferently by all, but shut up and warded under the care
of a particular keeper, who in truth too is always a slave: since from all
sudden invasions and attacks from their foes, the ocean protects them:
besides that armed bands, when they are not employed, grow easily
debauched and tumultuous. The truth is, it suits not the interest of an
arbitrary Prince, to trust the care and power of arms either with a
nobleman or with a freeman, or indeed with any man above the condition of
a slave.
Beyond the Suiones is another sea, one very heavy and almost void of
agitation; and by it the whole globe is thought to be bounded and
environed, for that the reflection of the sun, after his setting,
continues till his rising, so bright as to darken the stars. To this,
popular opinion has added, that the tumult also of his emerging from the
sea is heard, that forms divine are then seen, as likewise the rays about
his head. Only thus far extend the limits of nature, if what fame says be
true. Upon the right of the Suevian Sea the Aestyan nations reside, who
use the same customs and attire with the Suevians; their language more
resembles that of Britain. They worship the Mother of the Gods. As the
characteristic of their national superstition, they wear the images of
wild boars. This alone serves them for arms, this is the safeguard of all,
and by this every worshipper of the Goddess is secured even amidst his
foes. Rare amongst them is the use of weapons of iron, but frequent that
of clubs. In producing of grain and the other fruits of the earth, they
labour with more assiduity and patience than is suitable to the usual
laziness of Germans. Nay, they even search the deep, and of all the rest
are the only people who gather _amber_. They call it _glasing_, and find
it amongst the shallows and upon the very shore. But, according to the
ordinary incuriosity and ignorance of Barbarians, they have neither
learnt, nor do they inquire, what is its nature, or from what cause it is
produced. In truth it lay long neglected amongst the other gross
discharges of the sea; till from our luxury, it gained a name and value.
To themselves it is of no use: they gather it rough, they expose it in
pieces coarse and unpolished, and for it receive a price with wonder. You
would however conceive it to be a liquor issuing from trees, for that in
the transparent substance are often seen birds and other animals, such as
at first stuck in the soft gum, and by it, as it hardened, became quite
enclosed. I am apt to believe that, as in the recesses of the East are
found woods and groves dropping frankincense and balms, so in the isles
and continent of the West such gums are extracted by the force and
proximity of the sun; at first liquid and flowing into the next sea, then
thrown by winds and waves upon the opposite shore. If you try the nature
of amber by the application of fire, it kindles like a torch; and feeds a
thick and unctuous flame very high scented, and presently becomes
glutinous like pitch or rosin.
Upon the Suiones, border the people Sitones; and, agreeing with them in
all other things, differ from them in one, that here the sovereignty is
exercised by a woman. So notoriously do they degenerate not only from a
state of liberty, but even below a state of bondage. Here end the
territories of the Suevians.
Whether amongst the Sarmatians or the Germans I ought to account the
Peucinians, the Venedians, and the Fennians, is what I cannot determine;
though the Peucinians, whom some call Basstarnians, speak the same
language with the Germans, use the same attire, build like them, and live
like them, in that dirtiness and sloth so common to all. Somewhat they are
corrupted into the fashion of the Sarmatians by the intermarriages of the
principal sort with that nation: from whence the Venedians have derived
very many of their customs and a great resemblance. For they are
continually traversing and infesting with robberies all the forests and
mountains lying between the Peucinians and Fennians. Yet they are rather
reckoned amongst the Germans, for that they have fixed houses, and carry
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