Germanicus and Arminius
“Assuredly he was the deliverer of Germany, one too who had defied Rome, not in her early rise, as other kings and generals, but in the height of her empire’s glory.”1
Tacitus on Arminius
Born the son of the dashing general and Imperial Prince, Drusus, in 15 BC, Germanicus Julius Caesar was groomed to become a Roman hero: a legacy that came as naturally to him as it had to his father. Having lost his father in Germania in 9 BC, Germanicus was eventually adopted by his uncle Tiberius in AD 4. Fighting alongside the somber Tiberius from AD 7 to 10, Germanicus won his first laurels by suppressing the Pannonian and Dalmatian insurrections. From there he followed Tiberius on his half-hearted German campaigns of AD 11 to 12. Upon Tiberius’ return to Rome, Germanicus remained behind to command the two armies that guarded the German frontier. Tiberius needed to be in Rome to assure his succession to the throne, for his own aged stepfather, Emperor Augustus, was of failing health. At the same time, however, Tiberius feared that Germanicus would use the Rhine legions to make his own bid for the throne. Germanicus, after all, was much more popular among the people than Tiberius.
The monumental four-decade reign of Rome’s first emperor ended in AD 14, when Augustus passed away at the age of 76 years. Justifiably worried about unrest, Tiberius immediately ordered the Praetorian Guard to protect him wherever he went. He wrote to the legion commanders in the provinces, commanding them to affirm their loyalty. The legions had their own ideas. The three legions in Pannonia mutinied. They called for pay and service conditions akin to that of the Praetorians, who were paid more and saw less action. Among the most telling episodes of the revolt, a camp prefect was ridiculed by being forced to carry heavy loads at the head of a column. The legionaries also killed a hated centurion, nicknamed “Bring another”,2 for his habit of calling for another vine stick after having broken one on a soldier’s back. Attended by Praetorian cohorts and by units of Tiberius’ German bodyguard, Tiberius’ own blood son, Drusus II, quelled the Pannonian rebellion. He shrewdly drew on the legionaries’ fear of superstition. When an unexplained dimming of the moonlight foreshadowed ill omens, the legionaries suddenly felt afraid that the heavens “frowned on their deeds.”3 Drusus promptly made use of their hesitancy to execute the ringleaders of the revolt and to restore order.
More worrisome were revolts among the four legions of Germania Inferior under the command of general Aulus Caecina Severus. During the late fall of AD 14, the legions were still stationed at their summer camp of Vetera (Xanten). The revolt began there, among the fresh recruits of the Fifth and the Twenty-first Legions. Many of the soldiers had been recently levied from the rabble of Rome’s most unsavory and destitute neighborhoods. Unused to a life of military hardship and hard work, their whining about the harsh and long service conditions and poor pay affected even the veterans. From the Fifth and the Twenty-first Legions, the mutiny spread to the First and the Twentieth Legions, which were made up of Syrians and Spaniards. The common sentiment of the mutineers, as Tacitus tells us, was “The Roman world was in their hand … it was from them that emperors received their titles.”4 The first to feel their wrath were the centurions. “They were hurled to the ground and given the lash, sixty strokes each, one stroke for each of them in the legion. Then, broken and mutilated, they were cast outside the lines or thrown into the Rhine, more dead than alive. One, Septimius, took refuge on the general’s dais and fell at Caecina’s feet. But he was shouted for so violently that he had to be given up to his fate.”5 Intimidated by the blind rage of his soldiers, their army commander, Aulus Caecina, did not dare raise his hand against them. The whole army of Germania Inferior was now in revolt and it remained to be seen if the legions to the south, in Germania Superior, would be affected as well. For now the soldiers of general Caius Silius waited to hear of events to the north with unease, unsure what course to take.
Germanicus was busy collecting taxes in Gaul when he heard about the trouble in Germania Inferior. At once he hurried to Vetera to confront the mutineers. When Germanicus reprimanded the soldiers for dishonoring their colors, the men bared their wounds and scars, some having served in 30 campaigns. Many were ready to follow Germanicus, if he proclaimed himself emperor. The road to civil war, and the throne, lay before him but Germanicus chose not to take it. He drew his sword and threatened to plunge it into his breast, “protesting that he would rather die than cast off his loyalty.”6 Not all the soldiers were enamored with Germanicus. One offered his sword, “saying that it was sharper than his [Germanicus’] own.”7 Germanicus retired to his tent, considering what was to be done. Word was that the rebels wanted to sack the Ubii capital at Oppidum Ubiorum, 60 miles south of Vetera, and thereafter turn to pillage the unprotected towns of Gaul. Ubiorum was expecting the arrival of two legions; the town would be caught totally unawares. Only a puny Roman garrison protected Gaul. Even more catastrophic, the frontier would be open to barbarian invaders.
Germanicus ended up having to pay money, out of his own purse, and to grant concessions to regain the legions’ oath of loyalty. Only then was general Caecina able to march the First and the Twentieth Legions to their winter quarters at Oppidum Ubiorum. Germanicus left for the army of Germania Superior, where he re-affirmed the oath of loyalty from its four legions. Germanicus then returned to Oppidum Ubiorum, where he paid his respects at the altar of Augustus.
More violence threatened to erupt when the legionaries bullied delegates of the Senate who they feared would nullify the concessions gained through mutiny. Germanicus had to use his auxiliary cavalry to protect the delegates. The situation remained so critical that Germanicus sent his pregnant wife and her young son, Gaius Caesar, for safekeeping to the lands of the Treveri. Born and raised amidst the legionary tents, the soldiers affectionately nicknamed Gaius “Caligula”, after the like-named boots he wore. No one would have guessed at the time, that the young lad would one day become one of Rome’s worst despots.
Germanicus finally restored order in Oppidum Ubiorum by accepting the surrender of the chief mutineers as proof of the legions’ loyalty. Among the First Legion, the rebels were paraded before the rest of the soldiers. “If they shouted ‘Guilty,’ he was thrown down and butchered. The soldiers reveled in the massacre as though it purged them of their offences.”8 The mutiny met its most gruesome end among the Twenty-first and the Fifth Legions that were still at Vetera. Loyalists turned upon rebels and “uproar, wounds, bloodshed, were everywhere visible.”9 When Germanicus returned to Vetera he burst into tears and cried, “This is no cure, this is a catastrophe.”10 Germanicus ordered the bodies of the dead to be cremated.
Germanicus channeled the legionaries’ frustrations against the enemy. With the mutiny taken care off, Germanicus was free to do what he really wanted: carry on his father’s legacy and make war on the German tribes. With eight legions holding the Rhine frontier and another seven on the Danube line, fifteen out of the twenty-eight legions available at the time of Augustus’ death stood guard against mostly Germanic barbarian tribes. By comparison, the rich Roman province of Syria, which faced Rome’s other main enemy, the Parthians, had to make do with just three legions. A mere 1,200 men at Lugdunum (Lyon) sufficed to ensure Roman control over all of southern and central Gaul. The fact that nearly half of Rome’s entire armed might faced the Germans, gives ample enough evidence of just how much of a threat the Romans considered the German tribes.
According to Tacitus, the goal of Germanicus was purely to avenge the humiliation of the glades Variana and not a second attempt of expanding the empire to the Elbe. In the fall of AD 14, Germanicus commanded a field army of 12,000 men in 4 legions, plus 26 auxiliary cohorts and 8 alae of cavalry, troops who had proven most loyal during mutiny, presumably leaving the less reliable on garrison duty.
Although usually performed in spring at the beginning of the campaign season, perhaps now, more than ever, there was need of the symbolic lustratio exercitus, the purification of the standards. Adorned in garlands, sprinkled with perfumed oil, the standards were further honored with animal sacrifices. Even so, for many soldiers “honorable wounds … were the only means of appeasing the ghosts of their fellow soldiers.”11
Germanicus launched his retribution campaigns by laying waste to the Marsi villages south of the River Lippe. The legions surrounded the Marsi villages. The clear and bright night sky revealed no sentries, or signs of life. Blank gladius and pilum held ready, the legions entered to find the inhabitants passed out on beds and tables. During the evening, the Marsi had celebrated what was likely a fall harvest festival, with ceremonial banquets and performances. Germanicus was unopposed and his victims were scattered, unarmed and half-asleep. He spared no one. “Neither sex nor age moved his compassion. Germanicus divided his enthusiastic army into four detachments and pillaged an area some 45 miles wide. Everything, sacred or profane … was leveled to the ground,” including the sacred temple of the goddess Tanfana, relates Tacitus.12
Alarmed by reports of the massacres, the neighboring Bructeri, Tubantes and Usipetes tribes rallied their warriors and set off after Germanicus’ army. Germanicus was already on his way back to the Rhine when his scouts reported large numbers of barbarians in the woods ahead. Tribesmen from north of the Lippe had crossed the river. A nervous tension gripped the Roman troops. Warned of imminent ambush they marched into the forest battle-ready. Cavalry and auxiliary troops held the vanguard, with the legions abreast in the center and more auxiliary cohorts in the rear. The barbarians did not attack until the whole Roman column was stretched out in the woods. German skirmishers nipped at the flanks and vanguard while the main body struck at the rear of the Roman column. They scattered the lightly armed Roman auxiliary troops and charged at the Twentieth Legion on the left flank. The barbarian assault might have ended in another Roman disaster, but this time it was Germanicus and not Varus who held command. Putting the heels to his charger, he galloped up to the Twentieth Legion and cried “Forward, hasten to turn your guilt into glory.”13 Eager to wipe out their shame, the legionaries dashed forward and drove off the enemy. Once back on the Rhine, the legions went into their winter quarters. Germanicus had successfully carried out his raid on the Marsi and won a defensive victory against their allies, but in doing so he more angered than cowed the tribes.
The next year, in AD 15, the Romans returned to attack Germania with two powerful armies, one commanded by Germanicus and the other by general Caecina. Germanicus pillaged Chatti territory and crossed the River Eder in central Germania. It was a campaign without mercy, as defenseless women, children and old people were at once slaughtered or enslaved. Germanicus had with him even more troops than in the previous year, doubling the number of auxiliaries. To support them and the additional thousands of camp followers and servants, he made use of the waterways just as his father Drusus had done before him. The whole expedition lasted five to six weeks and included the rebuilding of a destroyed fort. The fort lay in the Taunus Mountains and had first been built by Germanicus’ father.
At the same time as Germanicus’ campaign, a second Roman army under Aulus Caecina Severus, marched up the River Lippe. Caecina had with him four legions, 5,000 auxiliaries and additional levies from allied Germans, probably Ubii. Caecina rebuilt Aliso and continued the war with the Marsi, who remained defiant enough to launch offensive operations but were again defeated.
So far there had been no sign of Arminius and the Cherusci. The reason was revealed by a party of envoys sent by Segestes to Germanicus. As will be remembered, Segestes had tried to warn Varus of the impending treachery of Arminius but Varus ignored him. The strong support among the Cherusci for Arminius forced an isolated but reluctant Segestes to join the war against Rome, alongside his more enthusiastic son Segimundus. Welcomed back by the Romans, Segimundus spoke among Segestes’ envoys and appealed for help. With Rome’s return, Segestes had broken away from Arminius and was ready to rejoin his old allies. Somewhere on the western border of the Cherusci lands, Segimundus’ father was presently besieged by Arminius. Germanicus was not going to leave a valuable Roman ally in danger. The Roman legions marched to Segestes’ aid and drove off the besieging Cherusci. A grateful Segestes thanked his Roman rescuers:
“This is not my first day of steadfast loyalty towards the Roman people. From the time that the Divine Augustus gave me the citizenship, I have chosen my friends and foes with an eye to your advantage, not from hatred of my fatherland (for traitors are detested even by those whom they prefer) but because I held that Romans and Germans have the same interests and that peace is better than war.”14
Segestes and his family were escorted back to the safety of the Roman Rhine forts where they were given amnesty, although there was to be some hesitation about Segimundus. Among Segestes’ family was his pregnant daugter Thusnelda. Against her father’s will, she had married Arminius and carried his child. Segestes, who hated Arminius and called him “ravisher of his daughter,”15 admitted that she had to be forced to come with her father and the Romans. Like her husband, she remained defiant; “subdued neither to tears nor to the tones of a suppliant, her hands tightly clasped within her bosom, and eyes which dwelt on her hope of offspring.”16
Tacitus leaves us with a stirring description of Arminius’ reaction to the loss of his pregnant wife:
“Arminius, with his naturally furious temper, was driven to frenzy by the seizure of his wife and the foredooming to slavery of his wife’s unborn child. He flew hither and thither among the Cherusci, demanding ‘war against Segestes, war against Caesar.’ And he refrained not from taunts. ‘Noble the father,’ he would say, “mighty the general, brave the army which, with such strength, has carried off one weak woman. Before me, three legions, three commanders have fallen. Not by treachery, not against pregnant women, but openly against armed men do I wage war. Let Segestes dwell on the conquered bank … one thing there is which Germans will never thoroughly excuse, their having seen between the Elbe and the Rhine the Roman rods, axes, and toga. If you prefer your fatherland, your ancestors, your ancient life to tyrants and to new colonies, follow as your leader Arminius to glory and to freedom rather than Segestes to ignominious servitude.”17
Arminius’ emotional appeals ensured the support of the chiefs of the Cherusci and of neighboring tribes, including his uncle, Inguiomerus. Since Inguiomerus had long been a friend of the Romans, his defection was not taken lightly by Germanicus.
Germanicus and Caecina next concentrated their forces for a crushing attack on the Bructeri. With four legions, Germanicus sailed up the Rhine, entering the North Sea via the Drusus canal. As he sailed up the River Ems, his force struck at the Bructeri from the north while Caecina came up from the south with forty cohorts, from the Lippe route. The cavalry moved along the Frisian North Sea territory. Another mobile column under Lucius Stertinius went around killing and looting.
Between them the Roman armies laid waste to the Bructeri country. Stertinius recovered the lost Eagle of the Nineteenth Legion. Although the standard bearer escaped the Teutoburg disaster he must haven been hunted down by the Bructeri who found the Eagle hidden in his clothing. At the extremity of the Bructeri territory in the Teutoburg Forest, Germanicus’ legions stumbled upon a field of bones. They had found the glades Variana battlefield. Thousands upon thousands of human bones, bleached stark white in the sun, sprawled amidst wildflowers, green grasses and brown and beige leaf litter.
With Germanicus himself taking the lead, the legionaries did their best to bury the remains of their slain comrades. They buried the bones in pits and placed weapons beside them. Other bones they piled in great heaps and covered them with mounds of earth. The task was too monumental even for the hard toiling legions. After half a day, Germanicus ordered the work to be stopped. The time for vengeance was at hand. United with Caecina’s legions, Germanicus moved against the Cherusci.
East of the River Ems, Arminius fell back before Germanicus’ overbearing might to lead him on a chase through trackless wilderness. Arminius feigned a retreat, luring Roman cavalry into an ambush and nearly forcing them into a perilous morass. They were saved by the timely arrival of the legions, which drove back the enemy. Following the indecisive engagement, Germanicus broke off the pursuit of Arminius and returned to the Ems. His supply had probably run out.
Unable to sustain the campaign, Germanicus sailed back down the Ems while Caecina took the land route back to Vetera. To avoid grounding his ships at low tide, Germanicus lightened their load by dispatching two of his legions to make the journey on foot. The two legions got caught up in severe floods and storms along the shoreline, but their hardships were nothing compared to those of Caecina’s corps. Germanicus had warned Caecina to move as quickly as possible along the familiar but swampy route of ‘Long Bridges’, laid out eighteen years ago by Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus. Indeed, as soon as the Roman army split, Arminius struck at Caecina.
At first it looked like Caecina would share the fate of Varus. The Germans attacked Caecina’s army while it was trying to repair a causeway over a swamp. Fighting in waterlogged ground, the larger Germans, with the long reach of their spears, enjoyed an advantage over the heavily armored Romans. A veteran of forty years service, Caecina bravely led his beleaguered army to a confined area of level ground. There he entrenched for the night. It must have been obvious to Caecina that the morale of his legions was dangerously low. The Romans had suffered casualties and inflicted few. Outside the camp the Cherusci waited to kill more Romans. It is not surprising that Caecina drifted into nightmare-haunted sleep; “Varus, covered with blood, seemed to rise out of the morass, and call him: but he would not obey; and when Varus held out his hand he pushed it back.”18
At dawn, the morale of the legions holding the flanks of the Roman position broke. When they retreated in fear, Arminius saw his chance and personally led another attack. During the confused fighting in the bog, Caecina’s horse was killed under him. He was nearly captured before being rescued by men of the First Legion. Fortunately for the Romans, the German warriors got distracted by looting the baggage. By evening, Caecina managed to reach dry and open ground. Although they had lost most of their equipment, including their tents, the soaked, wounded and tired legionaries built up earthworks.
Arminius wanted to wait until the Romans were forced to leave their defenses and then renew the successful harrying attacks. His wise words were overruled by Inguiomerus who was eager to collect more prisoners and the rest of the loot. Inguiomerus rallied the enthusiastic Cherusci warriors for an immediate assault on the camp. Caecina’s legions stormed out of the gates at the exact time of Inguiomerus’ attack. The unexpectedness and viciousness of the Roman sally scattered the Germans who thought their enemy near defeat. Many of the Germans were killed and Inguiomerus was wounded, but both he and Arminius escaped. Caecina’s column finally returned to the bridge across the Rhine. He and his men were welcomed by Agrippina, the wife of Germanicus. She helped tend to the wounded and dispersed clothing to needy soldiers. For its heroism in the battle, the First Legion thereafter earned the title of ‘Germanica’.
For six years Germanicus had rampaged through Germania but, so far, had nothing concrete to show for it. The problems were, as he saw it, his vulnerable long overland supply routes, the difficult terrain and the short summers that restricted campaign time. Gaul too was being exhausted from having to supply horses for the Roman expeditions. Accordingly in AD 16, Germanicus decided to embark not just part, but all of his army on a fleet, thereby gaining surprise and allowing for faster transfer of troops and supplies to the river mouths and channels of the campaign area.
A thousand vessels were needed. Many of them were specially constructed for the upcoming invasion. To endure the waves, some had a small draught, a narrow stem and stern, and a broad center. Others were flat bottomed for shallow areas and still others had rudders at both ends to enable them to run ashore from either direction. Decks were built to hold siege engines and to carry horses and supplies.
While the fleet rendezvoused at the Rhine Island of the allied Batavi, Gaius Silius undertook another raid on the Chatti. Sudden rains slowed down Silius troops and he only gained a little loot but he did manage to capture the wife and the daughter of Arpus, one of the Chatti chiefs. Germanicus’ campaign plans were further delayed when news arrived that a fort on the Lippe, probably Aliso, was under siege. Likely it was Arminius trying to gain the initiative in the war. The Roman garrison held out until Germanicus came to its relief with six legions. Confronted with such military might, the tribesmen had little choice but to lift the siege and pull back into the wilderness. On the way, they leveled the glades Variana burial mounds.
Finally Germanicus was ready to launch his amphibious invasion. He prayed to his father Drusus to aid him. Reinforced with a cavalry corps commanded by the Batavi chief Chariovalda, the Roman fleet arrived at the River Ems after an uneventful voyage. Possibly due to low water in the tidal flats of the Dollard Bay, Germanicus was forced to disembark his troops on the western side of the bay. A camp was set up and a bridge built to reach the eastern shore. Once across, Germanicus marched south.19 Leaving the Ems, Germanicus then headed east towards the Weser and Cherusci territory. Passing through Angrivarii lands, Germanicus was setting up camp when reports arrived of trial unrest. In wake of the Roman advance, Angrivarii tribesmen were causing trouble. Lucius Stertinius needed to be sent with the Roman cavalry and light troops. Burning and killing, he quieted the rebels.
When Germanicus’ army reached the Weser, Arminius and the Cherusci appeared on the far side of the river. Arminius asked whether Germanicus was with the Roman army. When he was told that he was indeed there, Arminius asked to see his brother Flavus. Unlike his older brother, Flavus had continued to loyally serve Rome. An empty eye socket and scar were the mementos which Flavus gained fighting under Tiberius a few years ago. When he saw his brother step forth, Arminius saluted him. He ordered his guards to draw back and requested for the Roman archers to do the same. From along the shore, Arminius called to his brother across the river, “whence came the scar, which disfigured his face,”20 and asked what reward he got for it! Flavus told him of the battle and of a neck chain, a crown and other gifts he had received. Arminius jeered; this was all he got for slavery? Proud of this service, Flavus spoke of the glory of Rome. He warned of the punishment of those that earned her wrath and praised her mercy for those who surrendered. Had not Arminius’ wife and son, both in Roman captivity, been treated with honor? Arminius retorted with words of ancestral freedom, of the gods of the north and of their mother, who shared his prayers that Flavus might come back to their side.
Each brother was deaf to the other’s words. Rage built up within them and curses and insults were hurled across the water. Flavus called for his weapons and charger. He would have plunged into the water to cross blades with his brother, had not Stertinius hurried forth to restrain him with his own hands.
Germanicus meanwhile contemplated on how to engage the Cherusci. Their numbers were probably not very great at his point but they did hold the opposite bank, making it difficult for the legions to cross. Accordingly Germanicus sent forth his cavalry under Stertinius, Aemilius and Chariovalda to cross at a different river ford, presumably further up or down stream, to confuse the enemy. The snorting horses splashed through the fast flowing river. After the Roman cavalry safely gained the east bank of the Weser, they doubled back to take the Cherusci from the flanks and rear. Chariovalda with his Batavians charged ahead of the rest of the Roman cavalry. He drove the Cherusci into a meadow surrounded by woods. There the Cherusci rallied and burst upon the Batavians from all directions, hurling missiles and pressing them with shields and lances. Chariovalda heartened his men’s courage with shouts of valor. With a berserker’s daring, he spurred his horse into the midst of the enemy. A lethal rain of javelins and spears struck at Chariovalda and his steed. The unfortunate beast collapsed beneath its mortally wounded master. Many of Chariovalda’s retainers died fighting by his side and the rest of his men nearly shared their fate, had not Stertinius and Aemilius arrived with the Roman cavalry. Stertinius and Aemilius beat back the attackers who made a hasty retreat into the thickets.
With the enemy routed, Germanicus’ legions reached the eastern shores of the river. Soon after, word came to him from a German deserter that the Cherusci tribes were assembling in a forest sacred to Hercules, the Roman name given to the Germanic god Thor or Donner. The deserter’s words rang true; scouts who crept close to the enemy reported “the neighing of horses and the hum of a huge and tumultuous host.”21
At night, Germanicus draped a wild beast’s skin over his shoulders and so disguised left his tent by a secret exit. He wished to find out about his soldiers’ honest state of mind. Mingling among them, he heard them praise his looks and superb physical condition and his generous nature and even temper. Above all, the troops were ready to fight for him and for Rome.
Suddenly the clatter of a horse’s hooves resounded outside the camp. In a booming voice, speaking Latin, a barbarian rider “promised in the name of Arminius to all deserters, wives and lands with daily pay of a hundred sesterces as long as the war lasted.”22 Angered at the barbarian’s arrogance, the Romans spat “Let battle be given. The soldiers will possess themselves of the lands of the Germans and will carry off their wives.”23
At midnight, the Roman sentries spotted large numbers of tribesmen in the dark, possibly massing for an attack. The Germans were looking for any weak points in the Roman defenses but found their enemy vigilant everywhere. That night, Germanicus dreamed of himself carrying out a sacrifice. His robe splattered in blood, he was handed a fresh and finer one by his mother. To Germanicus the dream seemed favorable, as did the auspices taken the next day. The latter usually consisted of interpreting the feeding of sacred chickens. The chickens were brought forth by their special keeper, the pullarius, who opened their cage and fed them. If the birds fed eagerly then it was taken as a good sign. If they squawked and flapped their wings in alarm or cowered in the cage, then it was a bad sign.24
Enthused by the good omens, Germanicus rallied his troops with a speech. He talked of the poor quality of armor worn by the enemy, of the enemy’s inability to withstand wounds and of the River Elbe, which lay ahead, and with it the end of the war. He further assured the men that even in the woods, the thickets would work against the huge barbarian shields and lances and favor the shorter Roman swords and javelins. Germanicus’ words, true or not, did the job of instilling confidence in the hearts of the legions.
In the sacred wood of Thor, Arminius gave his own inspirational speech to his warriors. Standing beside his uncle Inguiomerus and the other chiefs, he called Germanicus’ legionaries runaways, who abandoned Varus, some of whom bore wounds on their backs. The Romans had only managed to escape in the past because of their fleet. But winds and oars would not help them in battle. “Is there anything left for us but to retain our freedom or die before we are enslaved?”25
On horse and on foot, the Cherusci and allied tribesmen filed out from the open forest floor, beneath the lofty branches of towering tree trunks. Before them, grasslands sloped down from the great forest to the Idistaviso plain. An outward bend in the winding River Weser skirted the far side of the plain.26 Towards one of the barbarian flanks, the hills and forest drew closer to the river.
While Arminius and the Cherusci held the higher ground, the allied tribes spilled forward onto the plain itself. The barbarians watched as the Roman army drew up. Older, grizzled veterans stared with thoughtful eyes, reflecting on the horror of past battles, while the young and unproven recklessly boasted of their coming deeds.
First the Cherusci saw hundreds of horses, with bearded, mustachioed and longhaired riders, armed with spears and round shields. The barbarians heard the neighing of horses, the trampling of hooves of the auxiliary Germans and Gauls who fought for Rome. The auxiliaries with their array of animal standards, like the boar and the lion, were followed by lines of archers. Then came the tightly ordered cohorts of four legions; row after row of plumed bronze helmets, shields displaying the legion emblems, and armored infantry in red tunics.27 The signiferi held high the legionary eagles. The stamp of hobnailed sandals resounded up the slope. Trumpets blew to signal orders.
There were murmurs among the barbarian ranks, as seasoned warriors pointed at the unfamiliar standards and troops that appeared after the legions. White were the tunics under their mail shirts and white were the horse tail plumes of their bronze helmets. Their centurions’ colors were red and in addition they wore greaves to distinguish their ranks. Marching beneath a standard of Victoria, the goddess of victory, they were the two cohorts of Praetorians and among them, accompanied by some elite cavalry, rode Germanicus himself. Even this was not the end of the Roman host. Four more legions reinforced with light infantry and archers followed after the Praetorians, and after them came more auxiliaries.
The Roman army was a formidable array. A Roman legion of the early Imperial period numbered anywhere from 3,000 to over 5,000 men28 and there were usually equal numbers of auxiliaries. The grand total of Germanicus’ army thus was at least 60,000 soldiers. It was probably in moments like this, when the odds were against them and they needed all the courage they could muster, and when the silence of ambush was not required, that the Germanic warriors began their well known battle chant, the baritus. By holding “their shields in front of their mouths, so that the sound is amplified into a deeper crescendo by the reverberation,”29 the chant built to a powerful roar. No doubt it terrified the raw Roman recruits and even intimidated the veterans who had heard it before. As the chant grew louder it built up the barbarians’ courage until, like a dam ready to burst, they were ready to hurl themselves against the shields and spears of their foes. Led by their bravest, the barbarian horde roared down upon the Roman lines. At once, on Germanicus’ signal, the Roman and auxiliary cavalry led by Stertinius and others, bolted forward, not directly at the enemy but circling around. There was no German cavalry to oppose them, probably because it was needed to fight with and bolster the German infantry storming at the main Roman body.
According to Tacitus, Germanicus at this very moment beheld eight eagles in the sky, flying towards the forest; eight eagles for eight legions. “Follow the birds of Rome, the Roman army’s protecting spirits!”30 cried Germanicus. Trumpets blared and with a yell the Roman infantry charged forward. Both sides collided on the plain like two titanic waves. The Roman cavalry then tore into the barbarian flanks while Stertinius attacked from the rear. Droves of barbarians fled back into the woods while at the same time fresh contingents were still emerging out of the trees. It was hellish chaos, but one warrior, by the strength of his voice and his bravery, stood out amongst the many. It was Arminius, who though wounded, led his Cherusci to slice through the lines of Roman archers. Hacking away to his right and left, he was about to rupture the lines when cohorts of allied Roman Rhaeti, Vendelici and Gauls rallied to the archers’ aid. Beset from all sides, his face smeared with blood, Arminius put the heels to his horse. The faithful beast broke through and carried its master to safety. Inguiomerus made a similar escape.
Many of Arminius’ soldiers were not so lucky. They fled and met their death in every direction. Some threw themselves into the Weser, only to be pierced by Roman missiles or to be dragged under by the current. Others, caught in a mad rush, were crushed by their own kind. A few barbarians even tried to climb trees from where the Romans shot them as if for sport. The slaughter began at nine in the morning and it did not end until nightfall, when the Romans gave up their hunt for German survivors. Roman casualties were reportedly light. The soldiers gave a hearty hail to Tiberius the Imperator, and “raised a mound on which arms were piled in the style of a trophy, with the names of the conquered tribes inscribed beneath them.”31
The Roman victory did not dampen the fighting spirit of the Germans. On the contrary, from everywhere, the “common people and chiefs, young and old,”32 took up what arms they had and rushed to rally against the invaders. Joined by the Angrivarii, the Cherusci infantry awaited the Romans behind a broad earthwork, which in times past had been raised as a boundary between the two tribes.33
Unfortunately, Tacitus’ account of the battle is extremely muddled and often contradictory, possibly because the fighting became so confused that the Romans themselves did not know exactly what was going on. The impression is that unlike the prior battle where the Romans apparently held the numerical advantage, the two sides were now more evenly matched. Accordingly the fighting was hard.
The battle stretched over many miles of varied terrain. Roughly, the Roman flanks and rear were hemmed in by a river to one side and by hills to their other. Guided by tribal scouts, Germanicus probably rode up to a good vantage point on the higher ground from where he surveyed the terrain below. Ahead, towards their hilly flank, the Romans faced open ground leading up to open woodland. The woods stretched towards a narrow swampy open space between the woods and the river. The earthwork spanned the open space, blocking passage along the river. Further beyond the wood and the narrow space the land turned to a morass.
Within the trees waited the German cavalry. Anticipating that the Romans would enter the forest in order to outflank the rampart, the German cavalry hoped to ambush the Romans from behind. Through scouts or traitors, Germanicus was aware of his enemy’s deployment. Germanicus divided his army into three corps. The cavalry with Lucius Seius Tubero was to lead the attack across the open ground and into the wood. They were to be followed by part of the infantry, the rest being ordered to storm the rampart. Germanicus kept the Praetorians as a reserve.
Tubero’s cavalry and following infantry marched into the woods without opposition. Once inside, chaotic, indecisive fighting broke out against German cavalry. The heaviest fighting, however, was at the ramparts. The Germans refused to give way, their long lances thrusting downward, stabbing Roman mail and flesh. With the numbers of Roman dead and wounded growing and no breach of the Germans defenses in sight, Germanicus wisely ordered his legions to pull back. It was not easy for the proud legionaries, so unused to defeat, to be hounded by jeers and missiles from the enemy.
Mortally wounded soldiers, trampled by their comrades, crawled and groaned among the Roman dead that were left sprawling in front of the ramparts. If the Germans did not dispatch the wounded Romans then and there, they would soon be killed by friendly fire. Germanicus ordered the auxiliary slingers and Roman siege engines to be brought up. A hurricane of sling stones and catapult spears hit the ramparts with such relentless fury that the defenders scattered. The ramparts conquered, Germanicus led his Praetorians in a charge into the woods.
Shields at their breasts, swords in their hands, the Romans formed impenetrable walls that slowly squeezed the barbarian multitudes toward the morass. Hampered by the wound sustained in the previous battle Arminius was less active, his place taken by Inguiomerus. Inguiomerus galloped around with little thought to his own safety, trying hard to restore the situation. But it was Germanicus’ day to shine. Tearing off his helmet so that all might behold him, he led his men into the fray, calling for no prisoners and for the utter destruction of the whole enemy nation.
The enemy was again routed. The captured weapons were piled up with the inscription “The army of Tiberius Caesar, after thoroughly conquering the tribes between the Rhine and Elbe, has dedicated this monument to Mars, Jupiter, and Augustus.”34 As usual, Germanicus entrenched his legions for the night. The inscription on the monument may have boasted of complete Roman victory but in reality, the enemy was by no means decisively defeated.
Germanicus’ next course of action was to send Stertinius to punish the Angrivarii for helping the Cherusci. No battle was necessary, as the Angrivarii promised to abide by whatever the Romans wished and were given a full pardon. The Roman leniency towards the Angrivarii was at least partly due to the continued threat of the Cherusci. The fighting had been hard, the legions were worn out and they had suffered heavy casualties. Without fresh reinforcements, Germanicus had no desire to prolong the fighting.
Although summer was at its height and there was plenty of campaign time left, Germanicus decided to call it quits. Marching back to the Ems, Germanicus met up with his fleet. A rise in the tide had likely allowed the fleet to navigate the troublesome tidal flats and meet Germanicus’ army farther up river. While a handful of legions continued the trek west on foot, the majority boarded the fleet and sailed down river for the ocean.
The quiet waters resounded with the thrashing of thousands of oars before a wind picked up. Whitecaps appeared, the sails billowed, and ominous black clouds darkened the horizon. Suddenly a hailstorm burst upon the fleet, shredding at the canvases, riddling the planks. Men prayed and clutched sacred icons to ward off the anger of the gods. Beat to a fury, the waves contemptuously tossed the ships about. Though rain and saltwater stung their faces and blinded their sight, though the waves threatened to sweep them off the decks, the sailors did their best to keep the ships afloat. Unfortunately the sailors were seriously hampered in their efforts by terrified soldiers who got in their way or offered clumsy aid.
Deep from the hills and rivers of Germania, a wind rolled like some vengeful spirit onto the hapless fleet. The neighs of frightened mules and horses, thrown overboard with baggage to lighten the load, cut through howling wind and cracking timber. But nothing satiated the remorseless wrath of nature. Ships smashed into the hazy cliffs of unknown shores. Rocky shoals raked wooden hulls. Ships and crews were swallowed by the open sea. Those that survived found themselves marooned on islands, to perish by hunger unless a horse’s carcass washed up.
Tacitus tells us that at first Germanicus’ trireme alone reached the coastline of the Chauci. When at last the storm died down, other vessels, some towed, some with clothing as sails, returned to land along the Chauci coastline as well. The ship oar banks and decks were filled with haggard crews. Germanicus had the ships repaired as quickly as possible and sent them back to search for other less fortunate survivors. One can only imagine the joy of the starved Roman soldiers upon espying the sails of their countrymen! Help was also forthcoming from the Angrivarii, who did not forget the recent show of Roman goodwill. Marooned Roman soldiers that had fallen into the hands of inland tribes were saved by the Angrivarii, who negotiated for their release. Some Roman ships even ended up in Britannia from where their crews were sent back by Roman-friendly chiefs. The Roman survivors told “of far distant regions, of wonders, of violent hurricanes, of unknown birds, of monsters of the sea, of forms of halfhumans, half beast-like, things they had really seen or in their terror believed.”35
While the disastrous loss of the fleet stirred the Angrivarii into compassion, it had the opposite effect on the other tribes. They laughed and gloated at the Roman’s ill fortunes. Despite the heavy losses incurred in battle and by the storm, Germanicus still managed to send Caius Silius with 30,000 infantry and 3,000 cavalry to suppress the Chatti. Many of these troops must have been newly raised auxiliaries, since lost legionaries were not so easily replaced. Germanicus himself marched with an even greater army to invade the Marsi. The main Roman objective was probably not to avert a threat to Gaul but to acquire booty and slaves for the troops to compensate for their earlier losses. Neither German tribe had any chance of seriously challenging such an army. Those that fought were instantly crushed. Most fled. The Romans rampaged at will, taking booty and slaves where they could. Informed by a turncoat Marsi chief, Germanicus even recovered another of Varus’ lost eagles which lay buried in a grove.
When the legions went into winter quarters, Germanicus was sure that he could bring the war to an end in the next summer. Tiberius thought otherwise. He urged Germanicus to return to Rome for a triumph but reminded him not to forget the heavy losses taken at sea. Furthermore, Tiberius wrote in his letters, he himself had been sent nine times by Augustus into Germania and in the end achieved more by diplomacy than by the strength of arms. “The Cherusci too and the other insurgent tribes, since the vengeance of Rome had been satisfied, might be left to their internal feuds.”36
Germanicus tried to gain another year on the front but Tiberius was obstinate, offering him a second consulship in Rome but requiring him to serve it in person. Tiberius also added that any further campaigns could be entrusted to Germanicus’ stepbrother, Drusus II. The writing was on that wall. Tiberius either believed the war in Germania to be futile and not worth the vast expenditure it required, or he did not wish Germanicus to become too popular. Probably it was a bit of both. Germanicus on the other hand, seemed determined to finish the war that had been started by his father. But Tiberius was the Emperor and he had his way. As in the days of Julius Caesar, the Rhine remained the border between the Empire and the free German tribes.
Germanicus returned to Rome and was given a magnificent triumph in AD 17. Upon the appearance of Germanicus’ chariot, the noise of the crowd crescendoed to drown out the heralding trumpets. White horses drew Germanicus’ sacred golden chariot, which was otherwise kept in its own temple. A wreath of bay leaves crowned Germanicus’ head, the golden palm of victory adorned his vest and a purple cloak draped his shoulders. The people smiled in affection when they saw that their hero had taken his five young children in his chariot. The populace marveled at the wagons of loot, the wheeled stages with dioramas depicting Germanicus’ battles, the sacrificial oxen with their gilded horns. The cheers turned to booing and mockery at the arrival of the captives.
On display in Germanicus’ triumph were droves of captured Bructeri, Usipi, Cherusci, Chatti, Chauci and other tribes, alongside an array of barbarian nobles. There was Libes, a priest of the Chatti, and Deudorix, son of Baetorix the Sugambri chief. The most notable prisoners though were those of the Cherusci nobles. Sesisthacus of the Cherusci, Segestes’ nephew, walked into captivity with his wife, Rhamis, a noble daughter of the Chatti. Segimundus, Segestes’ son, who had repeatedly switched sides, did not escape captivity either, although he had been promised Roman amnesty. In stark contrast to her spineless brother, proud Thusnelda never recanted her loyalty to her husband Arminius. Thusnelda’s honor must have given her strength as she led her and Arminius’ three-year-old son, Thumelicus, to be exhibited among the captives. Notably, the most notorious enemy warlords, Melo, Segimer, Inguiomerus and, above all, Arminius, all eluded capture.
Watching his enslaved family members as a guest of honor among the Romans was the Cherusci chief Segestes. Segestes had never flinched in his allegiance to Rome, and Rome, for all her cruelty, wisely rewarded those that stayed loyal. For loyalty to Rome and hatred of Arminius, Segestes had even betrayed his own daughter and grandson. Thumelicus, son of Arminius, ended up being sent to Ravenna, home of a famous gladiatorial school. It was the beginning of the end of the royal house of the Cherusci. In AD 47 the only member of the royal family to lead the Cherusci that remained alive was, ironically, Italicus, the son of Flavus. He was “born at Rome as a citizen, not as a hostage … Italicus was kept at Rome – a handsome man, trained to fight and ride in both German and Roman style.”37 By that time, Thumelicus may well have died a gladiator’s death for he is not heard off again. Tacitus added that even if Thumelicus had been there to return to his people, “there would be reason to fear the contagion of foreign upbringing, slave-labor, dress, and everything else.”38
Was Germanicus right, could Rome have eventually conquered Germania and absorbed its unruly peoples into her empire? Would Rome’s military prowess and vast resources assure a decisive victory over the Germanic tribes and a lasting conquest? The answers to this must, of course, remain speculative. What had Rome achieved in three decades? Not only had Rome suffered one of the worst defeats in her entire history in the Teutoburg forest, but also, more importantly, none of her “victories” proved decisive. As already mentioned earlier, unlike in Gaul, there were no major strategic strongholds in Germania around which the Romans could consolidate their victories. In answer, Rome built her own strongholds but when she tried to actually impose suzerainty over the surrounding tribes this too failed. Of course more strongholds could have been built and more troops poured in to guard them. But given that defense against the barbarian tribes already absorbed over a third of the entire Roman army, it is questionable whether such resources were even available.
As Tiberius maintained, the greatest success had actually been by cooperative policies, in which the Germans were incorporated into the empire as allies and trade partners. This is exactly what happened centuries later, on a much greater scale, when lack of manpower forced Rome to rely on German recruits, first as individuals then as entire peoples, to fight her wars and protect her borders. The result of this, however, was not the assimilation of Germania into the Roman Empire, but rather the dismemberment of the Empire by German tribes. At the same time, Germanic culture became merged with Latin culture, although the degree of this merger varied with each tribe.
Another road to victory would have been to hammer the tribes so hard and so relentlessly as to break their spirit to resist. There was no indication that this was happening either. No amount of Roman propaganda could conceal that in 11 BC Drusus was fighting the Cherusci, and that 27 years later his son Germanicus was still fighting the Cherusci. All the wars, all the bloodshed, of the last three decades had achieved naught but to further militarize the already dangerous Germanic tribes. After contact with the Roman Empire, more bent swords and lances were placed among the grave goods that accompanied the ashes of cremated tribesmen.
The hardships that the Roman military endured in its wars with the Germanic tribes were aptly summed up by Tacitus who considered the Germans to be Rome’s greatest foes:
“Neither by the Samnites nor by the Carthaginians, not by Spain or Gaul, or even by the Parthians, have we had more lessons taught to us. After all, what has the East to taunt us with, except the slaughter of Crassus? But the Germans routed or captured Carbo, Cassius, Aurelius Scarus, Servilius Caepio, and Mallius Maximus, and robbed the Republic, almost at one stroke, of five consular armies. Even from Augustus they took Varus and three legions. And we had to pay a high price for the defeats inflicted upon them by Gaius Marius in Italy, by Julius Caesar in Gaul, and by Drusus, Tiberius, and Germanicus in their own country.”39
The battle of the Teutoburg forest and the subsequent German resistance freed the tribes from Roman annexation and assimilation and enabled them to conquer Gaul and Britannia centuries later, giving birth to the countries of Germany, France and England. It was one of those battles whose outcome changed the whole course of history.
The Roman wars of aggression left the German tribes polarized into two mighty tribal confederations. One was that of Arminius, the other that of Maroboduus. Notably, both were trained in Roman ways of war. That Germanicus’ claim of soundly beating Arminius was just propaganda, is indicated by Maroboduus’ plea for help from Rome against Arminius. Arminius, who was supposed to be a beaten man, was powerful enough to seriously threaten Maroboduus against whom in AD 6 the Romans considered throwing no less than twelve legions!
Maroboduus had fallen out of favor with many tribesmen who resented his authoritarian proclamation as King, as opposed to Arminius the “champion of freedom.” Accordingly, the Suebi Semnones and Langobardi went over to Arminius. Arminius however, lost the support of his uncle Inguiomerus who along with his supporters sided with Maroboduus. Apparently, Inguiomerus resented having to follow Arminius’ orders.
When the two opposing armies drew up in AD 17, there were none of the disorganized haphazard attacks by bands of overeager tribesmen, formerly so common among the Germans. “Prolonged warfare against us had accustomed them to keep close to their standards, to have the support of reserves, and to take the word of command from their generals,”40 related Tacitus.
Both warlords rode along the lines, rallying the troops with words of valor. Arminius boasted of the slaughtered legions and called Maroboduus a traitor to his country. Maroboduus bragged that he had held off the legions of Tiberius. He held up Inguiomerus’ hand and claimed that all of Arminius’ victories were due to his uncle’s council.
The shock of battle echoed across the wilderness as both sides fell at each other with a vengeance. For a while, victory hung in the balance as the right wings of both armies were routed. It was Maroboduus, however, who withdrew to the hills. Weakened by desertions, he fled to the homeland of the Marcomanni and was reduced to pleading to Tiberius for help. Tiberius’ answer was that Maroboduus “had no right to invoke the Romans’ aid against the Cherusci, when he had rendered no assistance to the Romans in their conflict with the same enemy.”41 Drusus II arrived to help negotiate a peace between the Cherusci and the Marcomanni; probably because he did not want the Cherusci to annex the latter’s territory and become too powerful. The peace negotiations certainly were not for the benefit of Maroboduus. Thereafter, Drusus II lost no opportunity in encouraging the tribes to finish off the broken power of Maroboduus.
Word that Maroboduus was deserted by his allies came to the ears of Catualda of the Gotones. The noble youth had been driven into exile by Maroboduus. Now, Catualda judged, was the time for vengeance. At the head of a strong force, Catualda entered the Marcomanni lands and won over its nobles by corruption. He burst into Maroboduus’ palace and surrounding fortresses and appropriated the treasures of the Marcomanni. Maroboduus was not there, having fled across the Danube into the Roman province of Noricum. He was given asylum and ended up being kept at Ravenna. Maroboduus never left Italy again. Clinging to life, he lived another eighteen years and reached old age before he passed away. Catualda shared a similar fate; being driven out of his holdings by the Suebi Hermunduri. Just like Maroboduus, Catualda found refuge within the borders of the Empire.
With the Romans driven out of Germania and his greatest tribal rival Maroboduus defeated, nothing seemed to stand in Arminius’ way. Nothing that is, except the same spirit of freedom which had enabled Arminius to rally the tribes against Rome and against Maroboduus. As his status grew, Arminius suffered the same accusations as Maroboduus. His rivals cried that Arminius was making himself King. The tribesmen who refused to kneel to the authority of the Roman Emperor or of Maroboduus would not accept Arminius as absolute ruler either. The liberator of Germania did not live long to enjoy his newfound power and glory. In AD 19, a Chatti chief offered to Rome that he would kill Arminius with poison. The Roman answer was that “it was not by treason or in the dark but openly and in arms that the Roman people took vengeance on their foes.”42 Later that year, after a prolonged and undecided fight against his tribal foes, Arminius was betrayed by his relatives and killed. Arminius, Prince of the Cherusci, passed into legend. Tacitus, who admired and respected Arminius for his courage, vision and skill at arms, gave a fitting last tribute:
“He was unmistakably the liberator of Germany. Challenger of Rome–not in its infancy, like kings and commanders before him, but at the height of its power–he had fought undecided battles, and never lost a war. He had ruled for twelve of his thirty-seven years. To this day the tribes sing of him. Yet Greek historians ignore him, reserving their admiration for Greece. We Romans, too, underestimate him, since in our devotion to antiquity we neglect modern history.”43
Like Arminius, his Roman adversary Germanicus was not fated to die of old age either. He passed away in AD 19, the same year as Arminius’s death. Germanicus fell ill after traveling through Egypt. He had been very popular with the people, being nearly mobbed to death by his admirers whenever he arrived in Rome. After he returned from Germania all of the Praetorian cohorts marched out to meet him, although only two had been ordered to do so. Almost all of Rome, young and old, rich and poor, flocked out to greet him at the twentieth milestone! He had spent his last years in the Roman east, accomplishing much. He helped turn Cappadocia into a province, stifled unrest in Armenia, improved relations with Parthia and relieved a famine in Alexandria. In the East, as in Rome, Germanicus became a hero to all.
At Germanicus’ death there were riots in Rome and abroad, fueled by rumors that he had been poisoned. Among those implicated was Tiberius himself. It did not help matters that thereafter, the Emperor treated the wife and children of Germanicus unkindly. The mob threw stones at temples and overturned altars. “Give us back Germanicus,”44 they shouted and scrawled on walls throughout Rome. Abroad, the Parthian King of Kings cancelled his hunting parties and banquets. Rumors told of German princes shaving their beards and their wives’ heads, as a sign of grief and respect.
It was the dawn of a new era, that of Imperial Rome. Though there would be more battles and more wars and even a few more conquests, the Empire was increasingly locked into a deadly stalemate with the free tribes of the north. The shores of Britannia still beckoned, where a fiery warrior queen would lead her people against the heirs of Caesar. In the mountains of today’s Hungary and Transylvania, Dacians would slice through Roman armor with fearsome two-handed scythes. Italy would only be saved from the Marcomanni by a great soldier emperor. Finally the great tribal confederations would arise: the Goths, the Vandals, the Saxons, the Angles and the Franks, which would migrate over the face of Europe, plunging the Empire into chaos and turning the tide from stalemate into the dismemberment of the Empire. The sack of Rome by the Visigoths in AD 410 heralded the final demise of the Roman Empire in the west. The deposition of the last Western Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus in AD 476, by the barbarian Odoacer, marked its end. For nearly five centuries after the Roman defeat in the Teutoburg forest, the Roman Empire would war with the barbarians. The great battles of those ages, the tribal warlords, the legion commanders and the emperors, the Roman soldiers and the tribes of the great migrations, are another story in the Roman barbarian wars.