The History of Rome: Rise and Fall of the Empire. John Bagnell Bury
the coast of Lower Germany as far as the Visurgis. In the next year (11 B.C.) he determined to follow this up by the reduction of the inland regions in the same direction. For this purpose he had to choose another way. The chief military station on the Lower Rhine was at this time Castra Vetera, situated not far from the mouth of the Luppia. Starting from there in spring, the legions crossed the Rhine, subdued once more the unruly Usipetes, threw a bridge across the Luppia and entered the land of the Sugambri. In order to advance eastward it was necessary to secure the tranquility of these troublesome tribes in the rear. Then following the course of the Luppia, Drusus advanced into the land of the Cherusci (the modern Westphalia), as far as the banks of the Visurgis. It was thought that the Sugambri might have thrown obstacles in the way of this achievement, but they were fully occupied by a war with their southern neighbors, the Chatti, who dwelled about the Taunus Mountains. Want of supplies and the approach of winter prevented the Romans from crossing the Visurgis. In returning, they fell into a snare, which, but for the skill of the general and the discipline of the soldiers, would have proved fatal. At a place named Arbalo, which cannot be identified, they were surrounded in a narrow pass by an ambushed enemy. But the Germans, confident in their own position, and regarding the Romans as lost men, took no precautions in attacking; and the legions cut their way through, and reached the Luppia in safety. On the banks of that river, at the point where it receives the waters of the Aliso, Drusus erected a fort, as an advanced position in this country, which was yet to be thoroughly subdued. This fort, also named Aliso, perhaps corresponds to the modern Elsen, the river being the Alme. About the same time another fort was established on Mount Taunus, in the territory of the Chatti, whom the Romans drove out of their own land into that of the Sugambri. The following year (10 B.C.) seems to have been occupied with the subjugation of the Chatti, who were fighting to recover their old homes between the Laugonna and the Moenus (Main). During this year Drusus possessed the proconsular power—that is the secondary imperium, as it is called, subordinate to that of the Emperor—which had been conferred upon him by designation in the previous year. Soon afterwards, perhaps in the following year, along with his brother Tiberius he received the title of imperator.
While Drusus was thus actively accomplishing his great design of a Roman Germany, he was not neglectful of the defence of the Rhine, which was secured by a line of fifty forts on the left bank, between the sea and Vindonissa. The chief station of the Lower Rhine was Castra Vetera; of the Upper, Moguntiacum (Mainz), probably founded by Drusus. Among the most important stations, which were established either at this time or not much later, were Argentoratum (Strasbourg), the southern Noviomagus, which corresponds to Speyer, Borbetomagus (Worms), Bingium (Bingen), Bonna (Bonn); the northern Noviomagus, which is still Nimeguen, and the northern Lugudumim on the Rhine, which has become Leyden, in contrast with its southern namesake on the Rhone, which has been transformed into the softer rayons.
In the following year the victorious young general, who might now lay claim to the title of “subduer of Germany”, entered upon his first consulship. Bad omens at Rome in the beginning of the year did not hinder the consul from setting forth in spring, to carry on his work beyond the Rhine. This time he was bent on a further progress than he had yet achieved. Hitherto he had not advanced beyond the Visurgis; it seemed now high time to press forward to the Albis itself. Starting probably from Moguntiacum he passed through the subject land of the Chatti and entered the borders of the Suevi. Then taking a northerly direction, he reached the Cherusci and the banks of the Visurgis, and crossing that river marched to the Albis, hitting it perhaps somewhere in the neighborhood of the modern Magdeburg. Of his adventures on this march nothing is definitely recorded, except that the Romans wasted the land and that there were some bloody conflicts. On the bank of the Albis he erected a trophy, marking the limit of Roman progress. A strange and striking story was told of something said to have befallen him there, and to have moved him to retreat. A woman of greater than human stature stood in his way and motioned him back. “Whither so fast, insatiable Drusus ? It is not given to thee to see all these things. Back! for the end of thy works and thy life is at hand”.
And so it fell out. The days of Drusus were numbered. Somewhere between the Sala, a tributary of the Albis, and the Visurgis, he fell from his horse and broke his leg. The injury resulted in death after thirty days’ suffering; there seems to have been no competent surgeon in the army. The alarming news of the accident was soon carried to Augustus, who was then somewhere in Gaul. Tiberius, who was at Ticinum, was sent for with all haste, and with all haste he journeyed to the recesses of the German forest, and reached the camp in time to be with his brother in the last moments. The grief at this misfortune was universal; both the Emperor and the soldiers had lost their favorite, and the state an excellent general. Drusus was not yet thirty years old; he had accomplished a great deal, and he looked forward to accomplishing far more. Perhaps nothing will enable us so well to realize his importance in history, as the reflection that, if he had lived to fulfill his plan, his work could not have been easily undone, the event which are presently to be related could not have happened, and the history of central Europe would have been changed.
The corpse was carried to the winter-quarters on the Rhine and thence to Rome, where it was burned; the ashes were bestowed in the mausoleum of Augustus. Two funeral speeches were pronounced, one in the Forum by Tiberius, the other by Augustus himself in the Flaminian Circus. Besides these solemnities, more lasting honors were decreed to the dead hero. The name Germanicus was given to the conqueror of Germany, and to his children after him. A cenotaph was built at Moguntiacum, and a triumphal arch erected to record the founder of the new province. It would seem that Moguntiacum was in some special way associated with Drusus. These monuments in stone have not come down to us, but there has survived a monument in verse, an elegy addressed to his mother, the Empress Livia. We could wish that the author of theConsolatio A.D. Liviam had given a more distinct picture of the qualities of the young general whomh deplores.
SECT. II. — TIBERIUS IN GERMANY. THE PANNONIAN REVOLT
It now devolved upon Tiberius, who possessed the proconsular power and the title of imperator, to carry on his brother’s work. He took the place of Drusus as governor of the Three Gauls and commander of the armies on the Rhine, and maintained the Roman supremacy over the half-subdued German tribes between that river and the Albi. The pacification of the Sugambri was at length effected by strong measures, and they were assigned territory on the left bank of the Rhine. Each summer the Roman legions appeared in various parts of the new province; the Roman general dealt out justice, and Roman advocates appeared beyond the Rhine. There was still much to be done to place Germany on the level of other provinces: it would have been perhaps unsafe as yet to require the Germans to contribute auxilia, or to impose on them a regular tribute. Tiberius possessed the confidence of the army, but he did not, like Drusus, possess the affection of the Emperor. In 7 B.C., the year of his second consulship, he received triumphal honors; but he did not return to Germany, and in the following year he retired to Rhodes. Little is recorded of his successors, but it is not to be assured that they were idle or incompetent. The courtly writers of the day had eyes only for the exploits of Drusus and Tiberius, the princes of the imperial house. The consolidation of the conquests of Drusus was doubtless carried on amid frequent local rebellions, such as that in 1 B.C., which was put down by M. Vinicius. Another legatus, L. Domitius Ahenobarbus, built a road, called the pontes longi, connecting the Amisia with the Rhine. These commanders, however, were not entrusted, like Drusus and Tiberius, with the government of the Three Gauls.
After the deaths of Gaius and Lucius Caesar, Tiberius was reconciled with his stepfather, and undertook the command of the armies on the Rhine once more. The legions were delighted to be commanded by a general whom they knew and trusted, whose ability was proved, and who was now marked out as the successor to the Empire. And there was need of a strong hand, for there had been many tokens of an unruly spirit. In his first campaign (4 A.D.) Tiberius advanced beyond the Visurgis, and reduced the Cherusci who had thrown off the Roman yoke; and for the first time the Roman army passed the winter beyond the Rhine in the fort of Aliso on the Luppia. In the following year (5 A.D.) the Lower Albis was reached, and an insurrection of the Chanci was suppressed. The Langobardi, who dwelled in these parts, and of whom we hear now for the first time—a people destined in a later age to rule in Italy and become famous under the name of “Lombards”—were also reduced. This expedition was carried out by the joint operations