Tacitus: The Histories Part 6

[100] Andalusia and Granada.

[101] The Treviri have given their name to Trier (Treves), the Lingones to Langres.

[102] i.e. two right hands locked in friends.h.i.+p.

[103] At Bonn and at Vetera.

[104] At Vetera and at Neuss.

[105] At Mainz.

[106] The Ubii had been allowed by Agrippa to move their chief town from the right to the left bank of the Rhine. Ten or twelve years later (A.D. 50) a colony of Roman veterans was planted there and called _Colonia Claudia Augusta Agrippinensium_, because Agrippina, the mother of Nero, had been born there.

[107] These were thin bosses of silver, gold, or bronze, chased in relief, and worn as medals are.

[108] This important innovation was established as the rule by Hadrian. These officials--nominally the private servants of the emperor, and hitherto imperial freedmen--formed an important branch of the civil service. (Cp. note 165.)

[109] Cp. chap. 46.

[110] Cp. chap. 12.

[111] Cp. chap. 7.

[112] The leader of the great revolt on the Rhine, described in Book IV.

[113] The ancestors of the Dutch who lived on the island formed by the Lek and the Waal between Arnhem and Rotterdam; its eastern part is still called Betuwe.

[114] Chap. 56.

[115] His supposed murder by Vitellius is described, iii. 38, 39.

[116] Legio Prima Italica, formed by Nero.

[117] Called after Statilius Taurus, who first enlisted it. He was Pro-consul of Africa under Nero. Cp. note 146.

[118] Their mutiny in A.D. 69 is described by Tacitus, _Agr._ 16.

[119] i.e. by detachments from it.

[120] Mt. Cenis.

[121] Great St. Bernard.

[122] i.e. he had the main body of the Legion V, known as 'The Larks', and only detachments from the other legions.

[123] Known as 'Rapax', and stationed at Windisch (Vindonissa), east of the point where the Rhine turns to flow north.

THE MARCH OF VALENS' COLUMN

On the very day of departure a happy omen greeted Fabius Valens and the army under his command. As the column advanced, an eagle flew steadily ahead and seemed to lead the way. Loudly though the soldiers cheered, hour after hour the bird flew undismayed, and was taken for a sure omen of success.

They pa.s.sed peaceably through the country of the Treviri, who were 63 allies. At Divodurum,[124] the chief town of the Mediomatrici, although they were welcomed with all courtesy, the troops fell into a sudden panic. Hastily seizing their arms, they began to ma.s.sacre the innocent citizens. Their object was not plunder. They were seized by a mad frenzy, which was the harder to allay as its cause was a mystery.

Eventually the general's entreaties prevailed, and they refrained from destroying the town. However, nearly 4,000 men had already been killed. This spread such alarm throughout Gaul, that, as the army approached, whole towns flocked out with their magistrates at their head and prayers for mercy in their mouths. Women and boys prostrated themselves along the roads, and they resorted to every possible means by which an enemy's anger may be appeased,[125] pet.i.tioning for peace, though war there was none.

It was in the country of the Leuci[126] that Valens heard the news 64 of Galba's murder and Otho's elevation. The soldiers showed no emotion, neither joy nor fear: their thoughts were all for war. The Gauls' doubts were now decided. They hated Otho and Vitellius equally, but Vitellius they also feared. They next reached the Lingones, faithful adherents of their party. There the courtesy of the citizens was only equalled by the good behaviour of the troops. But this did not last for long, thanks to the disorderly conduct of the Batavian auxiliaries, who, as narrated above,[127] had detached themselves from the Fourteenth legion and been drafted into Valens' column. A quarrel between some Batavians and legionaries led to blows: the other soldiers quickly took sides, and a fierce battle would have ensued, had not Valens punished a few of the Batavians to remind them of the discipline they seemed to have forgotten.

Coming to the Aedui,[128] they in vain sought an excuse for fighting.

For when the natives were ordered to contribute money and arms, they brought a gratuitous present of provisions as well. Lugdunum did gladly what the Aedui had done from fear. But the town was deprived of the Italian legion and Taurus' Horse.[129] Valens decided to leave the Eighteenth cohort[130] there in its old winter quarters as a garrison.

Manlius Valens, who was in command of the Italian legion, never received any distinction from Vitellius, although he deserved well of the party, the reason being that Fabius slandered him behind his back, while to avert his suspicions he praised him to his face.

The recent war[131] had served to inflame the long-standing 65 quarrel between Lugdunum and Vienne.[132] Much damage was done on both sides, and the frequency and animosity of their conflicts proved that they were not merely fighting for Nero and Galba. Galba had made his displeasure an excuse for confiscating to the Treasury the revenues of Lugdunum, while on Vienne he had conferred various distinctions. The result was a bitter rivalry between the towns, and the Rhone between them only formed a bond of hatred. Consequently the inhabitants of Lugdunum began to work on the feelings of individual Roman soldiers, and to urge them to crush Vienne. They reminded them how the Viennese had laid siege to Lugdunum, a Roman colony, had a.s.sisted the efforts of Vindex, and had lately raised troops to defend Galba. Having supplied a pretext for bad feeling, they went on to point out the rich opportunity for plunder. Not content with private persuasion, they presented a formal pet.i.tion that the army would march to avenge them, and destroy the head-quarters of the Gallic war. Vienne, they urged, was thoroughly un-Roman and hostile, while Lugdunum was a Roman colony,[133] contributing men to the army and sharing in its victories and reverses. They besought them in the event of adverse fortune not to leave their city to the fury of its enemies.

By these arguments and others of the same nature they brought 66 matters to such a pa.s.s, that even the generals and party leaders despaired of cooling the army's indignation. However, the Viennese realized their danger. Arrayed in veils and fillets,[134] they met the approaching column and, seizing their hands and knees and the soles of their feet in supplication, succeeded in appeasing the troops. Valens made each of the soldiers a present of three hundred sesterces.[135]

They were thus persuaded to respect the antiquity and high standing of the colony, and to listen with patience to their general's speech, in which he commended to them the lives and property of the Viennese.

However, the town was disarmed, and private individuals had to a.s.sist the army with various kinds of provisions. There was, however, a persistent rumour that Valens himself had been bought with a heavy bribe. He had long been in mean circ.u.mstances and ill concealed his sudden accession of wealth. Prolonged poverty had whetted his inordinate desires, and the needy youth grew into an extravagant old man.

He next led the army by slow stages through the country of the Allobroges and Vocontii,[136] bribes to the general determining the length of each day's march and the choice of a camp. For Valens struck disgraceful bargains with the landowners and munic.i.p.al authorities, often applying violent threats, as, for instance, at Lucus,[137] a towns.h.i.+p of the Vocontii, which he threatened to burn, until he was appeased with money. Where it was impossible to get money, he was mollified by appeals to his l.u.s.t. And so it went on until the Alps were reached.

FOOTNOTES:

[124] Metz.

[125] They would wear veils and fillets, as suppliants. Cp.

chap. 66 and iii. 31.

[126] Living round Toul between the Marne and the Moselle.

[127] Chap. 59.

[128] Cp. chap. 51.

[129] Cp. chap. 59.

[130] This was probably one of the _cohortes civium Romanorum_, volunteer corps raised in Italy on lighter terms of service than prevailed in the legions.

[131] With Vindex.

[132] The chief town of the Allobroges, and the capital of Narbonese Gaul.

[133] So was Vienne; but the status had been conferred on the Gauls of this town as lately as Caligula's reign, whereas Lugdunum had been colonized in B.C. 43 by Roman citizens expelled from Vienne.

[134] Cf. iii. 31.

[135] Nearly fifty s.h.i.+llings.

[136] Part of Dauphine and Provence, with a capital town at Vaison.

[137] Luc-en-Diois.