Nothing of all this was a secret to Germanicus: he knew their counsels, their stations, what steps they pursued, what measures they concealed; and, to the destruction of the enemy, turned their own subtilty and devices. To Seius Tubero, his Lieutenant, he committed the horse and the field; the infantry so disposed, that part might pass the level approaches into the wood, and the rest force the ramparts; this was the most arduous task, and to himself he reserved it; the rest he left to his Lieutenants. Those who had the even ground to traverse, broke easily in; but they who were to assail the rampart, were as grievously battered from above, as if they had been storming a wall. The General perceived the inequality of this close attack, and drawing off the legions a small distance, ordered the slingers to throw, and the engineers to play, to beat off the enemy: immediately showers of darts were poured from the engines, and the defenders of the barrier, the more bold and exposed they were, with the more wounds they were beaten down. Germanicus, having taken the rampart, first forced his way, at the head of the Praetorian cohorts, into the woods, and there it was fought foot to foot; behind, the enemy were begirt with the morass, the Romans with the mountains or the rivers; no room for either to retreat, no hope but in valour, no safety but in victory.
The Germans had no inferior courage, but they were exceeded in the fashion of arms and art of fighting. Their mighty multitude, hampered in narrow places, could not push nor recover their long spears, nor practise in a close combat their usual boundings and velocity of limbs. On the contrary, our soldiers, with handy swords, and their breasts closely guarded with a buckler, delved the large bodies and naked faces of the Barbarians, and opened themselves a way with a havoc of the enemy: besides, the activity of Arminius now failed him, either spent through his continual efforts or slackened by a wound just received. Inguiomerus was everywhere upon the spur, animating the battle, but fortune rather than courage deserted him. Germanicus, to be the easier known, pulled off his helmet, and exhorted his men "to prosecute the slaughter; they wanted no captives," he said; "only the cutting off that people root and branch would put an end to the war." It was now late in the day, and he drew off a legion to make a camp; the rest glutted themselves till night, with the blood of the foe; the horse fought with doubtful success.
Germanicus, in a speech from the tribunal, praised his victorious army, and raised a monument of arms with a proud inscription: "That the army of Tiberius Caesar, having vanquished entirely the nations between the Rhine and the Elbe, had consecrated that monument to Mars, to Jupiter, and to Augustus." Of himself, he made no mention, either fearful of provoking envy, or that he thought it sufficient praise to have deserved it. He had next commanded Stertinius to carry the war amongst the Angrivarians; but they instantly submitted; and these supplicants, by yielding without articles, obtained pardon without reserve.
The summer now declining, some of the legions were sent back into winter quarters by land; more were embarked with Germanicus upon the river Amisia, to go from thence by the ocean. The sea at first was serene, no sound or agitation but from the oars or sails of a thousand ships; but suddenly a black host of clouds poured a storm of hail; furious winds roared on every side, and the tempest darkened the deep, so that all prospect was lost; and it was impossible to steer. The soldiers too, unaccustomed to the terrors of the sea, in the hurry of fear disordered the mariners, or interrupted the skilful by unskilful help. At last the south wind, mastering all the rest, drove the ocean and the sky: the tempest derived new force from the windy mountains and swelling rivers of Germany, as well as from an immense train of clouds; and contracting withal fresh vigour from the boisterous neighbourhood of the north, it hurled the ships and tossed them into the open ocean, or against islands shored with rocks or dangerously beset with covered shoals. The ships by degrees, with great labour and the change of the tide, were relieved from the rocks and sands, but remained at the mercy of the winds; their anchors could not hold them; they were full of water, nor could all their pumps discharge it: hence, to lighten and raise the vessels swallowing at their decks the invading waves, the horses, beasts, baggage, and even the arms were cast into the deep.
By how much the German ocean is more outrageous than the rest of the sea, and the German climate excels in rigour, by so much this ruin was reckoned to exceed in greatness and novelty. They were engaged in a tempestuous sea, believed deep without bottom, vast without bounds, or no shores near but hostile shores: part of the fleet were swallowed up; many were driven upon remote islands void of human culture, where the men perished through famine, or were kept alive by the carcasses of horses cast in by the flood. Only the galley of Germanicus landed upon the coast of the Chaucians, where wandering sadly, day and night, upon the rocks and prominent shore, and incessantly accusing himself as the author of such mighty destruction, he was hardly restrained by his friends from casting himself desperately into the same hostile floods. At last, with the returning tide and an assisting gale, the ships began to return, all maimed, almost destitute of oars, or with coats spread for sails; and some, utterly disabled, were dragged by those that were less. He repaired them hastily, and despatched them to search the islands; and by this care many men were gleaned up; many were by the Angrivarians, our new subjects, redeemed from their maritime neighbours and restored; and some, driven into Great Britain, were sent back by the little British kings. Those who had come from afar, recounted wonders at their return, "the impetuosity of whirlwinds; wonderful birds; sea monsters of ambiguous forms, between man and beasts." Strange sights these! or the effects of imagination and fear.
The noise of this wreck, as it animated the Germans with hopes of renewing the war, awakened Germanicus also to restrain them: he commanded Caius Silius, with thirty thousand foot and three thousand horse, to march against the Cattans: he himself, with a greater force, invaded the Marsians, where he learnt from Malovendus, their general, lately taken into our subjection, that the Eagle of one of Varus's legions was hid underground in a neighbouring grove, and kept by a slender guard. Instantly two parties were despatched; one to face the enemy and provoke them from their post; the other to beset their rear and dig up the Eagle; and success attended both. Hence Germanicus advanced with great alacrity, laid waste the country, and smote the foe, either not daring to engage, or, wherever they engaged, suddenly defeated. Nor, as we learnt from the prisoners, were they ever seized with greater dismay: "The Romans," they cried, "are invincible: no calamities can subdue them: they have wrecked their fleet; their arms are lost; our shores are covered with the bodies of their horses and men; and yet they attack us with their usual ferocity, with the same firmness, and with numbers as it were increased."
The army was from thence led back into winter quarters, full of joy to have balanced, by this prosperous expedition, their late misfortune at sea; and by the bounty of Germanicus, their joy was heightened, since to each sufferer he caused to be paid as much as each declared he had lost; neither was it doubted but the enemy were humbled, and concerting measures for obtaining peace, and that the next summer would terminate the war. But Tiberius by frequent letters urged him "to come home, there to celebrate the triumph already decreed him; urged that he had already tried enough of events, and tempted abundant hazards: he had indeed fought great and successful battles; but he must likewise remember his losses and calamities, which, however, owing to wind and waves, and no fault of the general, were yet great and grievous. He himself had been sent nine times into Germany by Augustus, and effected much more by policy than arms: it was thus he had brought the Sigambrians into subjection, thus drawn the Suevians and King Maroboduus under the bonds of peace. The Cheruscans too, and the other hostile nations, now the Roman vengeance was satiated, might be left to pursue their own national feuds." Germanicus besought one year to accomplish his conquest; but Tiberius assailed his modesty with a new bait and fresh opportunity, by offering him another Consulship, for the administration of which he was to attend in person at Rome. He added, "that if the war was still to be prosecuted, Germanicus should leave a field of glory to his brother Drusus, to whom there now remained no other; since the Empire had nowhere a war to maintain but in Germany, and thence only Drusus could acquire the title of Imperator, and merit the triumphal laurel." Germanicus persisted no longer; though he knew that this was all feigned and hollow, and saw himself invidiously torn away from a harvest of ripe glory.
Decrees of the Senate were made for driving astrologers and magicians out of Italy; and one of the herd, Lucius Pituanius, was precipitated from the Tarpeian Rock: Publius Marcius, another, was, by the judgment of the Consuls, at the sound of trumpet executed without the Esquiline Gate, according to the ancient form.
Next time the Senate sat, long discourses against the luxury of the city were made by Quintus Haterius, a consular, and by Octavius Fronto, formerly Praetor; and a law was passed "against using table-plate of solid gold, and against men debasing themselves with gorgeous and effeminate silks." Fronto went further, and desired that "the quantities of silver plate, the expense of furniture, and the number of domestics might be limited;" for it was yet common for senators to depart from the present debate and offer, as their advice, whatever they judged conducing to the interest of the commonweal. Against him it was argued by Asinius Callus, "That with the growth of the Empire private riches were likewise grown, and it was no new thing for citizens to live according to their conditions, but agreeable to the most primitive usage: the ancient Fabricii and the later Scipios, having different wealth, lived differently; but all suitably to the several stages of the Commonwealth. Public property was accompanied with domestic; but when the State rose to such a height of magnificence, the magnificence of particulars rose too. As to plate, and train, and expense, there was no standard of excess or frugality, but from the fortunes of men. The law, indeed, had made a distinction between the fortunes of senators and knights; not for any natural difference between them, but that they who excelled in place, rank, and civil pre-eminence, might excel too in other particulars, such as conduced to the health of the body or to the peace and solacement of the soul; unless it were expected, that the most illustrious citizens should sustain the sharpest cares, and undergo the heaviest fatigues and dangers, but continue destitute of every alleviation of fatigue and danger and care." Gallus easily prevailed, whilst under worthy names he avowed and supported popular vices in an assembly engaged in them. Tiberius too had said, "That it was not a season for reformation; or, if there were any corruption of manners, there would not be wanting one to correct them."
During these transactions, Lucius Piso, after he had declaimed bitterly in the Senate against "the ambitious practices and intrigues of the Forum, the corruption of the tribunals, and the inhumanity of the pleaders breathing continual terror and impeachments," declared "he would entirely relinquish Rome, and retire into a quiet corner of the country, far distant and obscure." With these words he left the Senate; Tiberius was provoked; and yet not only soothed him with gentle words, but likewise obliged Piso's relations, by their authority or entreaties, to retain him. The same Piso gave soon after an equal instance of the indignation of the free spirit, by prosecuting a suit against Urgulania; a lady whom the partial friendship of Livia had set at defiance with the laws. Urgulania being carried, for protection, to the palace, despised the efforts of Piso; so that neither did she submit; nor would he desist, notwithstanding the complaints and resentments of Livia, that in the prosecution "violence and indignity were done to her own person." Tiberius promised to attend the trial, and assist Urgulania; but only promised in civility to his mother, for so far he thought it became him; and thus left the palace, ordering his guards to follow at a distance. People the while crowded about him, and he walked with a slow and composed air: as he lingered, and prolonged the time and way with various discourse, the trial went on. Piso would not be mollified by the importunity of his friends; and hence at last the Empress ordered the payment of the money claimed by him. This was the issue of the affair: by it, Piso lost no renown; and it signally increased the credit of Tiberius. The power, however, of Urgulania was so exorbitant to the State, that she disdained to appear a witness in a certain cause before the Senate: and, when it had been always usual even for the Vestal Virgins to attend the Forum and Courts of Justice, as oft as their evidence was required; a Praetor was sent to examine Urgulania at her own house.