1. At the start of the same year,1 Titus Caesar, who had been chosen by his father to complete the conquest of Judaea, and who already enjoyed a fine military reputation when he and his father were still private citizens,2 received added support and recognition, as provinces and armies vied in displaying their enthusiasm. Titus, wanting to acquire a fine reputation notwithstanding his elevation to power, set about presenting himself as an honourable and enterprising soldier. His affable and courteous conversation inspired devotion, and he often mixed with the ordinary soldiers as they did their duties or on the march, but without compromising the respect due to a general.3
Awaiting him in Judaea were three legions that had long served under Vespasian – the Fifth, Tenth and Fifteenth. The emperor also allotted him the Twelfth from Syria and the detachments from the Twenty-Second and the Third brought over from Alexandria. He was attended by twenty cohorts of allied infantry and eight regiments of cavalry, as well as by the two kings Agrippa and Sohaemus4 and the auxiliary forces offered by King Antiochus. Then there were strong contingents of Arabs, who felt for the Jews the hatred common between neighbours, and many individual adventurers who had come from Rome and Italy, each in the hope of ingratiating himself with an emperor who was yet to choose his favourites. Accompanied by these forces, Titus entered enemy territory, advancing in an orderly manner, using scouts to explore the whole area and keeping his troops ready for battle. Not far from Jerusalem, he set up camp.
2. Since I am now about to record the final days of a famous city, it seems appropriate to shed some light on its origins.5 The Jews are said to have been refugees from the island of Crete who settled in the remotest parts of Libya at the time when Saturn was violently ejected from his kingdom by Jupiter.6 This is a deduction from their name: there is a famous mountain in Crete called Ida, whose inhabitants, the Idaei, had their name lengthened into a foreign word, Judaei. Others believe that in the reign of Isis the surplus population of Egypt was evacuated to neighbouring lands under the leadership of Hierosolymus and Juda. Many think that the Jews are descended from those Ethiopians who were driven by fear and hatred to leave their homes during the reign of Cepheus.7 Some say that a group of Assyrian refugees, lacking their own land, occupied a part of Egypt, and then built cities of their own, inhabiting the lands of the Hebrews and the nearer parts of Syria. Others again posit a famous ancestry for the Jews in the Solymi, a tribe celebrated by Homer in his poems:8 these people allegedly founded Jerusalem and named it after themselves.9 3. Most authorities, however, agree on the following account. Throughout Egypt there arose a wasting disease which caused bodily disfigurement.10 So King Bocchoris11 went to the oracle of Hammon12 to ask for a cure, and was told to purify his kingdom by expelling the victims to other lands, as they were hateful to the gods. Therefore, a crowd of sufferers was rounded up, herded together, and abandoned in the wilderness. While the other exiles were numb and weeping, one man, Moses, urged his companions not to wait passively for help from gods or men, for both had deserted them: they should rely on their own leadership and accept as heaven-sent whatever guidance first helped them to escape from their present sorrows. They agreed, and set off in complete ignorance along a random route. However, nothing tormented them more than their lack of water. They were already close to death and had collapsed all over the plains when a herd of wild asses left their pasture and made for the shade of a wooded crag. Moses followed them and after making a deduction from a grassy patch of ground, he discovered some abundant channels of water. This relieved their thirst. They travelled on for six days without a break, and on the seventh they drove out the natives, took over their lands and there consecrated their city and temple.
4. In order to strengthen the bond with his people in the future, Moses prescribed for them novel religious rites which were quite different from those practised by other mortals. Among the Jews everything that we hold sacred is regarded as sacrilegious; on the other hand, they allow things which we consider immoral. In the innermost part of the Temple, they dedicated an image of the animal who had guided them and ended their wandering and thirst,13 after sacrificing a ram, apparently to show their contempt for Hammon.14 They also offer up bulls, because the Egyptians worship that animal as Apis. They abstain from eating pork in memory of their adversities,15 as they themselves were once infected with the disease to which this creature is subject. They still fast frequently as an acknowledgement of the hunger they once endured for so long, and as a symbol of their hurried meal, Jewish bread is unleavened. People say that the seventh day was set aside for rest because this marked the end of their toils. Later, the charms of idleness made them devote every seventh year to indolence as well.16 Others say that this is a mark of respect to Saturn, either because they owe the basic principles of their religion to the Idaei, who, we are told, were expelled together with Saturn and became the founders of the Jewish race, or because, among the seven stars that rule mankind, the one that moves in the highest orbit and exerts the greatest influence is Saturn. A further argument is that most of the heavenly bodies complete their path and revolutions in multiples of seven.
5. Whatever their origin, these observances are sanctioned by their antiquity. The other practices of the Jews are sinister and revolting, and have entrenched themselves by their degeneracy. All the worst types abandoned the religious practices of their forefathers and donated tribute and contributions to the Jews in heaps.17 That is one reason why the resources of the Jews have increased, but it is also because of their stubborn loyalty and ready benevolence towards fellow-Jews. Yet they confront the rest of the world with a hatred reserved for enemies. They will not eat or sleep with gentiles, and despite being a most lecherous people, they avoid sexual intercourse with non-Jewish women.18 Among themselves nothing is barred. They have introduced the practice of circumcision to show that they are different from others.19 Converts to Judaism adopt the same practices, and the very first lesson they learn is to despise the gods, shed all feelings of patriotism and consider parents, children and brothers as readily expendable. However, they take trouble to make sure that their numbers increase. It is a deadly sin to kill any surplus children, and they think that the souls of those who die in battle or by execution are eternal. This explains their passion for having children and their contempt for death. Rather than cremate their dead, they prefer to follow the Egyptian custom and bury them, and they have the same concern and beliefs as the Egyptians about the underworld, although their conception of the divine is quite different. Whereas the Egyptians worship a variety of animals and half-human, half-bestial forms, the Jews believe that there is just one divine power which exists only in spiritual form. They regard it as sinful to make idols of gods in human form from perishable materials:20 that most lofty and eternal god of theirs cannot be portrayed by human hands and will never pass away. Therefore they do not set up effigies of him even in their cities, still less in their temple, and they do not use statues to flatter their kings nor to honour the Roman emperors. Since, however, their priests used to chant to the sound of flute and drums, and wore wreaths of ivy, and a golden vine was discovered in the Temple, some observers have concluded that the god being worshipped was Father Liber, the conqueror of the East.21 Yet the two cults are diametrically opposed, for Liber founded a festive and joyous cult, whereas the ritual of the Jews is discordant and degrading.
6. Their country is bordered on the east by Arabia, on the south by Egypt and on the west by Phoenicia and the sea; on the Syrian frontier they have a distant view to the north. The physical health of the Jews is good, and they can endure hard work. A dry climate and a fertile soil enable them to grow all the crops familiar to us, and in addition balsam and palm. While palm groves are tall and imposing, the balsam is a small tree. From time to time its branches become swollen with sap, but if you apply an iron blade to them, the sap channels contract so the best way of opening them is with a fragment of stone or pottery. This sap is put to medicinal uses.22 The most imposing of the mountains rising in that land is Lebanon, a shady place which unfalteringly keeps its covering of snow (a remarkable phenomenon in such a hot climate). This same mountain feeds the tumbling waters of the Jordan. This river does not empty itself into the Mediterranean, but flows through two lakes without losing its identity until it is finally absorbed in a third. This third lake has a vast circumference and resembles a sea, but its water is even nastier to the taste and pestilent to the local inhabitants because of its unhealthy smell.23 It is never ruffled by the wind, and neither fish nor the usual water birds can live there. The sluggish water bears the weight of objects thrown onto it as if it were solid, and swimmers and non-swimmers find it equally buoyant.24 At a fixed season of the year the lake discharges bitumen. Experience teaches every skill, including how to gather this substance, too. In its natural state a black liquid, it solidifies when sprinkled with vinegar, and floats on the surface of the water. Those who have the job of gathering the bitumen take hold of it with their hands and haul it on deck. Thereupon, with no further help, it streams in and loads up the boat until you stop the flow. However, you cannot sever it with any tool of bronze or iron, although it does shun blood or a cloth stained with a woman’s menstrual discharge.25 This is the story told by ancient writers; but those who know the locality personally say that the floating masses of bitumen are propelled by hand over the water and dragged to shore. Then, after it has dried out on the hot soil or in the blazing sun, it can be cut up with axes and wedges as if it were timber or stone.
7. Not far from here are plains which people say were once fertile and full of large, densely populated cities, but they were then set ablaze by lightning-bolts.26 It seems that traces of these cities still remain, and that the very earth looks scorched and has lost its fertility. All natural vegetation and all crops sown by humans, whether in leaf, in flower or apparently fully developed, are black and barren growths which virtually shrivel into dust. Although I am quite prepared to concede that these once-famous cities were consumed by some cataclysmic fire sent by the gods, I still think that it is the exhalation from the lake which infects the ground and poisons the atmosphere above it, and that this is the reason why the young corn and the autumn harvests rot, since both soil and air are unfavourable. Another river which flows into the Jewish Sea is the Belius,27 around whose mouth are sands which are collected and fused with soda ash to form glass. The beach concerned is small but inexhaustible, however much sand people remove.
8. A large part of Judaea is peppered with villages, but they also have towns. Their capital is Jerusalem. Here stood their Temple with its enormous riches. An external ring of defensive walls surrounded the city, then there was the royal palace, and the Temple was enclosed by its own inner fortifications. Only Jews were allowed to approach the gate of the Temple, but they could not cross the threshold unless they were priests.
While the Assyrian, Median and Persian empires dominated the East, the Jews were considered to be the lowliest element of those enslaved. After the Macedonians became dominant, King Antiochus28 made efforts to eliminate their superstitious cult and bring in Greek customs, but he was prevented from changing this most abominable people for the better by the outbreak of war with Parthia, for this was the moment when Arsaces rebelled.29 Then, while Macedonian power was dwindling and the Parthians had not yet developed into a great power (Roman dominance, too, was still far away), the Jews established a dynasty of their own. These kings were expelled by the fickle mob, but they restored their tyrannical regime by force and committed outrageous acts – banishing fellow-citizens, sacking cities, murdering brothers, wives and parents, and committing all the other outrages typical of despots. The kings cultivated the superstitious cult of the Jews, for they assumed the office of High Priest as a way of bolstering their power.
9. Gnaeus Pompey was the first of the Romans to conquer the Jews and to claim the right to enter their Temple as victor.30 This is how word got out that there was no image of any god, that the shrine was empty and the innermost sanctuary was vacant. Although the walls of Jerusalem were destroyed,31 the shrine remained intact. Later, as civil war was raging amongst us and after the eastern provinces had come under the control of Mark Antony, the Parthian king Pacorus seized Judaea, only to be killed by Publius Ventidius.32 The Parthians were driven back across the Euphrates, while Gaius Sosius curbed the Jews.33 Antony gave the kingdom to Herod, and it was enlarged by the now victorious Augustus.34 After Herod’s death, without waiting for Caesar’s intervention, a man called Simon usurped the title of king.35 He was punished by the governor of Syria, Quinctilius Varus,36 while the Jews were disciplined and divided up into three kingdoms ruled by Herod’s sons.37 In Tiberius’ principate all was quiet. Then, after being ordered to put up a statue of Gaius Caesar in the Temple, the Jews chose to fight instead, although the rebellion came to nothing since the emperor was assassinated.38 As for Claudius, since the Jewish kings had either died or had their sphere of influence reduced, he entrusted the government of the province to Roman knights or freedmen. One of these, Antonius Felix, exercised the authority of a king with the spirit of a slave,39 plunging into all manner of cruelty and lust, and marrying Drusilla, granddaughter of Cleopatra and Antony. This meant that while Claudius was Antony’s grandson, Felix was his grandson by marriage. 10. Nevertheless, the Jews patiently endured such harsh treatment until Gessius Florus became governor.40 It was in his tenure that war broke out. Cestius Gallus, the governor of Syria, tried to repress the movement but this led to indecisive battles and more often to defeats. When Gallus died a natural death (or perhaps he committed suicide), Nero sent out Vespasian. Thanks to good luck, a distinguished record and excellent subordinates, within the space of two summers41 he was holding all the plains and cities except Jerusalem with his victorious army. The next year was focused on civil war and passed quietly enough as far as the Jews were concerned, but once peace was established in Italy the anxieties about troubles abroad returned. There was increasing anger that by this time only the Jews had failed to submit. It also seemed advisable that Titus should remain in control of the armies to confront all developments affecting the new dynasty, whether these were good or bad.
11. So after encamping, as I have said, before the walls of Jerusalem, Titus displayed his legions in battle formation. The Jews drew up their forces close under their walls, poised to advance further if they were successful, but with a refuge to hand in case of defeat. Titus sent against them cavalry and some lightly armed cohorts, but the encounter was indecisive.42 Then the enemy gave ground, and during the next few days they engaged in a series of minor clashes just in front of the gates. Finally, repeated losses drove them behind the walls. The Romans then concentrated on an assault. After all, it seemed beneath them to wait for hunger to do its work on the enemy, and the troops were actually courting danger. Some did so from real courage, many from mere bravado and a desire for rewards. As for Titus, a vision of Rome, wealth and pleasures danced before his eyes, but these dreams would be deferred if Jerusalem did not fall in the immediate future.43
However, the city occupied a commanding position, and it had been reinforced by engineering works so huge that they might have made even a flat site impregnable. Two extremely lofty hills were enclosed by walls skilfully built with projecting or retreating angles so as to leave the flanks of any attackers exposed. At the edge of the rocky crags was a sharp drop, and there was a series of towers, 60 feet high where the rising ground helped, and 120 feet high on the lower contours. These were a marvellous sight and appeared from a distance to be the same height. There were further walls inside around the palace, and a conspicuous landmark was the lofty castle of Antonia, so named by Herod to honour Mark Antony.44
12. The Temple was like a citadel and had its own walls, which had been built even more laboriously and skilfully than the rest. The porticoes around it consituted in themselves an excellent defensive position. In addition, there was a spring of water which flowed all the time, chambers cut in the living rock and tanks and cisterns for the storage of rainwater. Its builders had foreseen only too well that the Jews would face constant wars as a result of their strange practices. Hence everything was available for a siege, however long. Moreover, after Pompey’s capture of Jerusalem, fear and experience taught them many lessons. So, taking advantage of the greedy instincts of the Claudian period, they bought the right to fortify the city, and during peacetime they built walls meant for war. Already the home to a motley crowd, its population had been swollen by the fall of the other Jewish cities, for all the most determined types had fled there, and thereby added to the turmoil. There were three different leaders and three armies. The long outer perimeter of the walls was held by Simon, the central part of the city by John and the Temple by Eleazar. John and Simon could rely on numbers and equipment, Eleazar on his strategic position. However, it was against one another that they directed battles, ambush and fires, and great stocks of corn went up in flames.45 Then John sent off a party of men, ostensibly to offer sacrifice, but actually to slaughter Eleazar and his followers, and so he gained control of the Temple. Thus Jerusalem was divided into two factions, until – since the Romans were approaching – the prospect of a war against foreigners made them cooperate.
13. Various prodigies had occurred, but a nation steeped in superstition and hostile to proper religious practices considered it unlawful to atone for them by offering victims or solemn vows.46 Clashing battlelines with glittering arms were seen in the sky and a sudden flash of lightning from the clouds lit up the Temple. The doors of the shrine abruptly opened, a superhuman voice was heard to declare that the gods were leaving, and in the same instant came the rushing tumult of their departure. Few people saw this as reason to be afraid. Most were convinced that, according to the ancient writings of their priests, now was the time when the East would triumph and from Judaea would set out men destined to rule the world. This mysterious prophecy really referred to Vespasian and Titus, but the common people, true to the selfish ambitions of mankind, thought that this mighty destiny was reserved for them, and not even their calamities opened their eyes to the truth.
We are told that the number of the besieged, old and young, men and women, amounted to 600,000. All who could carry weapons did so, and far more were ready to fight than one would expect from their numbers. The women were no less determined than the men, and the thought that they might be forced to leave their homes made them fear life more than death.
This, then, was the city and people which Titus faced. Since the nature of the place made a headlong assault and surprise attacks impossible, he decided to use earthworks and moveable defences. Each legion had its allotted task, and there was a lull in the fighting while they prepared every conceivable device for storming cities, whether invented long ago or by modern ingenuity.
14. After his disastrous battle at Augusta Trevirorum,47 Civilis gathered reinforcements throughout Germany, and took up position by the camp at Vetera. This was a safe site, intended to bolster the barbarians’ spirits with the memory of their successful battles there. Cerialis followed him to the same spot, with his forces doubled by the arrival of the Second, Sixth and Fourteenth Legions. Besides, the cohorts and cavalry regiments summoned long before had come hurrying after news of the victory. Neither commander was a slowcoach, but they were separated by a vast expanse of swampy ground. This was its natural state, but Civilis had also built a dam at an angle into the Rhine to hold up the river and make it flood into the adjacent fields. Such, then, was the terrain. With its unreliable shallows, it was treacherous and did not favour our men, for while the Roman legionaries were weighed down with weapons and frightened of swimming, the Germans were familiar with rivers and could rely upon their tall stature and light arms to raise them above the level of the waters.48
15. In answer to the Batavian provocation, therefore, battle was commenced by the most spirited of our troops, but they were struck by panic when their weapons and horses began to sink into the very deep marshes. The Germans, knowing where the shallows were, galloped through them, usually avoiding our front-line and surrounding the men in the flanks and rear. It was impossible to engage at close quarters, as in a normal infantry battle. Instead, it resembled a naval engagement, as the men floundered about everywhere in the flood waters or grappled hand and foot on any patch of firm ground where they could stand. Wounded and unwounded, swimmers and non-swimmers, they were locked in mutual destruction. However, despite the chaos, losses were comparatively light, for the Germans did not venture beyond the marsh and returned to their camp. The result of this encounter prompted both generals, for different motives, to force a final decision without delay. Civilis wanted to exploit his success, and Cerialis to eradicate his disgrace. While the Germans were elated by victory, a sense of shame stimulated the Romans. The barbarians passed the night singing or shouting, while our troops sullenly muttered threats.49
16. At dawn on the next day, Cerialis formed up his cavalry and auxiliary cohorts at the front and posted the legions behind them, keeping a picked force under his personal command in case of emergencies. Civilis avoided extending his line and marshalled his men in wedge formations. The Batavians and Cugerni were on his right, while his left flank nearer the river was held by the Germans from across the Rhine. The two generals did not make the usual speech to their troops at large, but addressed each formation as they rode up to it. Cerialis dwelt on the ancient renown of Rome and alluded to past and present victories, calling for the total annihilation of a treacherous, cowardly and conquered enemy. What was wanted, he said, was revenge, not battle. They had just fought a battle in which they were themselves outnumbered; yet the pick of the Germans had been routed, and the survivors were fugitives at heart and bore scars upon their backs. Then he found appropriate arguments to spur the courage of the various legions, calling the men of the Fourteenth the conquerors of Britain.50 Galba, he added, had been made emperor by the influence of the Sixth,51 and in the coming battle the men of the Second52 would dedicate their new standards and new eagle. Riding further along the ranks towards the army of Germany, he stretched out his hands and appealed to them to shed the enemy’s blood and recover the river bank and camp that were rightfully theirs. They all cheered with mounting enthusiasm. Some were eager for battle after a long peace, others were tired of war and longed for peace, while for the future they hoped for rewards and a quiet life.
17. Nor was there silence among Civilis’ troops as he got them into position. He called upon the very site of the battle as a witness to their courage, telling the Germans and Batavians that they were standing upon remains of a glorious victory and trampling the ashes and bones of legions.53 Wherever the Romans cast their eyes, he said, they only saw captivity, defeat and doom. They must not be alarmed by the fluctuating fortunes of the battle at Augusta Trevirorum when the Germans’ own victory had got in their way, making them drop their weapons and fill their hands with loot. Afterwards, however, everything had gone their way and turned against the Romans. Whatever advantages tactical skill could provide had been provided, including a sodden plain which they knew well and marshes which hampered the enemy. The Rhine and the gods of Germany were within sight. Under their divine protection they should take up the battle, remembering their wives, parents and fatherland. This day would either win them a glory unparalleled in their past history, or humiliate them in the eyes of posterity.
When they had expressed their approval of his words with dances and clashing of arms (that was their custom),54 the battle commenced with showers of stones, slingshots and other missiles. Our troops did not enter the marsh, although the Germans taunted them in an attempt to make them do so.
18. When the missiles ran out and the fight was growing hotter, the enemy charged forward with greater fury. Since their stature was huge and they had very long spears, they could thrust from a distance at our soldiers, who were floundering and slithering around. At the same time, a squadron of Bructeri managed to swim across the river from the mole which, as I have mentioned, was built out into the Rhine.55 There was a confused scene here, and the front-line, consisting of allied cohorts, was in the process of being driven back when the legions took up the fight and restrained the fierce charge of the enemy, which put the battle back on an even keel. While this was happening, a Batavian deserter56 approached Cerialis, promising that he could take the enemy from behind if some cavalry were sent round the far end of the marsh, where the ground was firm and the Cugerni entrusted with guarding the area were not concentrating on the job. Two cavalry regiments were sent off with the deserter and surrounded the unsuspecting enemy. When a burst of shouting revealed what had happened, the legions pressed forward on the main front, and the Germans turned and fled to the Rhine. On that day the war could have been brought to a conclusion if the Roman fleet had been quick enough to follow it up.57 Not even the cavalry pressed their advantage, as there was a sudden downpour and night was setting in.
19. On the next day, the Fourteenth Legion was sent off to join Annius Gallus in the upper province, and the Tenth Legion from Spain filled its place in Cerialis’ army. As for Civilis, he received reinforcements from the Chauci, but not daring to hold the Batavian capital,58 he hastily gathered up anything that was portable, set fire to the rest and retreated to the Island. He knew that the Romans had no ships for building a bridge, and that their army was not going to cross the river in any other way. What is more, he dismantled the mole constructed by Drusus Germanicus,59 and so the Rhine, whose course tends to flow into the Gallic branch of the river in any case, poured down in spate when the barrier was removed. This was tantamount to diverting the course of the river, for a shallow bed was all that now separated the Island from Germany, presenting an apparently uninterrupted landscape. Others who crossed the Rhine were Tutor and Classicus and 113 Treviran senators, amongst whom was Alpinius Montanus. This was the man who had been sent into the Gallic provinces, as I mentioned above.60 He was accompanied by his brother Decimus Alpinius. The other leaders, too, by angling for sympathy and offering bribes, were gathering recruits among tribes who were hungry for danger.
20. In fact, the rebels had plenty of fight left in them, so much so that on a single day Civilis mounted a fourfold assault on the positions occupied by the cohorts, cavalry regiments and legions. His targets were the Tenth Legion at Arenacum and the Second at Batavodurum, together with Grinnes and Vada, where the cohorts and cavalry regiments were encamped. Civilis divided his troops so that he himself, his sister’s son Verax, Classicus and Tutor each led a contingent. He was not confident about achieving success everywhere, but the gamble might well come off at one of these points. Besides, Cerialis was a reckless commander, and might be intercepted on the way as he rushed to and fro in response to the various alarms. The force detailed to attack the camp of the Tenth thought that storming the place would be too difficult. So when the Roman troops had gone out and were busy felling timber, they caused chaos by a surprise attack, killing the camp commander, five senior centurions and a few other soldiers. The rest took refuge behind their defences. Meanwhile, a band of Germans tried to break down the bridge being built at Batavodurum, but night put a stop to the battle before it could be resolved.
21. The situation was more dangerous at Grinnes and Vada. Vada was attacked by Civilis, and Grinnes by Classicus. They were unstoppable and our best men were killed, including the cavalry commander Briganticus, who, as I have said, was faithful to Rome and hated his uncle Civilis.61 However, when Cerialis came to the rescue with a picked body of cavalry, our luck changed, and the Germans were driven headlong into the river. Civilis tried to stop the rout, but he was recognized and targeted by weapons, so that he was forced to abandon his horse and swim across the Rhine. Verax escaped in the same way, while Tutor and Classicus were taken off in some small boats which had landed. Even now the Roman fleet did not participate in the fight. Although ordered to intervene, it was hampered by fear and the dispersal of the crews on other military duties. To be sure, Cerialis did not allow enough time for the execution of his orders. He was a man who made plans on the spur of the moment although he often got dazzling results, since luck made up for any deficiency in his strategy. As a result, neither he nor his army worried too much about discipline.
Indeed, a few days later there was an incident in which Cerialis managed to escape the danger of being captured, but could not avoid bringing himself into disrepute. 22. He had gone to Novaesium and Bonna to inspect the camps which were being put up to accommodate the legions for the winter, and was returning with the fleet. Discipline on the march was poor, and his sentries were not paying attention. The Germans noticed this and arranged a surprise attack. Choosing a dark and cloudy night, they swept downstream and got into the camp without interference. The massacre was initiated by a productive trick. They cut the guy-ropes and killed the Romans while they were enveloped by their own tents. Another column threw the naval force into disarray, attached chains to the ships and towed them off by the sterns. Although silence had enhanced the element of surprise, once the killing had started the attackers filled the whole area with shouts in a bid to create more terror. As wounds were being inflicted, the Romans woke up, looked for their weapons and scuttled down the passages between the tents. Only a few had their proper equipment on. Most of them rolled their sleeves up their forearms and drew their swords. Their commander, half-asleep and practically defenceless, was saved by a mistake on the part of the enemy. For they carried off the flagship, which was conspicuous, since they thought that the commander was aboard. Cerialis had in fact spent the night elsewhere, as most people believed, because of some sexual dalliance with an Ubian woman called Claudia Sacrata. His guards tried to make excuses for their dereliction of duty by pointing to their commander’s scandalous behaviour and alleging that they had been ordered to keep quiet to avoid disturbing his rest: that meant they had neglected to exchange signals and calls and had dropped off to sleep themselves. It was broad daylight when the enemy sailed away in the captured ships and towed the Roman flagship up the River Lippe as a present for Veleda.62
23. Civilis was now seized by a desire to stage a naval demonstration. He manned all the biremes63 and single-banked vessels he had, and to these he added a large number of small craft carrying thirty to forty men each and fitted out like Liburnians.64 Moreover, there were the small boats he had captured, enhanced by improvised sails made from multi-coloured coats and presenting a fine sight. He chose a site which was spacious like a miniature sea, the place where the waters of the Rhine come pouring down into the North Sea at the mouth of the River Mosa. His reason for drawing up the fleet, quite apart from his typical native vanity, was so that the convoys sailing from Gaul would be diverted by the terrifying sight. Cerialis, astonished rather than afraid, mustered his fleet. Although it was outnumbered, it had the advantage of experienced rowers, skilful helmsmen and ships of greater size. The Romans moved with the current, but the wind was with the Germans. So the two fleets sailed past each other in opposite directions, only having time for a tentative discharge of light weapons before they lost touch.
Civilis did not risk any further offensive, but withdrew across the Rhine. Cerialis ravaged the Island of the Batavians aggressively, deploying the well-known stratagem of leaving Civilis’ houses and farms untouched.65 By this time summer was becoming autumn, and repeated rainstorms at the equinox made the river inundate the waterlogged, low-lying Island until it looked like a marsh. There was no sign of the Roman fleet or convoys, and the camps on the flat ground were being washed away by the violence of the river.
24. Civilis later maintained that at this point the legions could have been crushed and he claimed credit for deflecting the Germans by trickery when they wanted to act. This may well be true, since his surrender followed a few days later. For Cerialis had been sending secret messages and offering the Batavians peace and Civilis a pardon, as well as urging Veleda and her people to bring about a change in the fortune of a war, which had dealt them many heavy blows, by performing a timely service to Rome. The Treviri had been massacred, the Ubii recovered, the Batavians robbed of their homeland. The friendship of Civilis had only brought them wounds, defeat and grief. As an exile and outlaw, he was a burden to those who harboured him, and the Germans had incriminated themselves quite enough by crossing the Rhine so often. If they pushed the struggle any further, wrongdoing and guilt on their part would encounter the avenging gods on the Roman side.
25. Cerialis alleviated the threats with promises. The loyalty of the Germans across the Rhine was thus undermined, and there was murmuring among the Batavians, too. It was no use putting off the evil day any longer, they reflected. A single tribe could not shake off a yoke that was common to the whole world. Slaughtering and burning the Roman legions had merely resulted in more numerous and stronger forces being summoned. If they had pursued the war on Vespasian’s behalf, then Vespasian was now emperor; but if they were challenging the Roman people by these battles, what a tiny fraction of the human race the Batavians represented! They should look to the burdens borne by Raetia, Noricum and the other provincials. In contrast, the Romans levied from themselves not taxes, but brave fighting men. Such a status was the next best thing to independence, and if they were to have a choice of masters, it was more honourable to tolerate Roman emperors than German women.
This was how the ordinary people felt, but their chieftains spoke more aggressively. It was Civilis’ madness,66 they complained, that had plunged them into war. In a bid to ward off family troubles, he had destroyed his people. The gods had turned against the Batavians at the point when they besieged the legions, killed their commanders and shouldered a war which, however vital for one man, was fatal to themselves. The situation had reached a desperate point, unless they came to their senses and demonstrated their repentance by punishing the individual who was guilty.
26. It did not escape Civilis’ notice that people’s feelings were changing, so he made up his mind to act first. He was tired of troubles, but he also hoped to escape with his life – a prospect which often undermines the resolve of ambitious characters. He asked for a meeting. There was a shattered bridge over the River Nabalia, and the two generals advanced to the broken edges of the gap. Civilis began to speak as follows:67 ‘If I were pleading my defence before one of Vitellius’ officers, I would not deserve that my actions should be pardoned, nor that my words should be trusted. Our relationship was entirely driven by hate, and Vitellius began the hostilities, which I extended. Yet for Vespasian I have long felt respect, and while he was still a subject, people used to call us friends. Antonius Primus knew this and it was his letters that drove me into a war intended to stop the German legions and the Gallic warriors from crossing the Alps.68 What Antonius said in his letters Hordeonius Flaccus reinforced in person. I set in motion the war in Germany, but it was the same one that the others were fighting, Mucianus in Syria, Aponius in Moesia and Flavianus in Pannonia…’69