rather of a city stormed and sacked, than of a Roman camp, that of Germanicus Caesar, victorious and flourishing, awakened attention and inquiry in the soldiers: leaving their tents, they cried, "Whence these doleful wailings? what so lamentable! so many ladies of illustrious quality, travelling thus forlorn; not a Centurion to attend them; not a soldier to guard them; their General's wife amongst them, undistinguished by any mark of her princely dignity; destitute of her ordinary train; frightened from the Roman legions, and repairing, like an exile, for shelter to Treves, there to commit herself to the faith of foreigners." Hence shame and commiseration seized them, and the remembrance of her illustrious family, with that of her own virtues; the brave Agrippa her father; the mighty Augustus her grandfather; the amiable Drusus her father-in-law, herself celebrated for a fruitful bed, and of signal chastity: add the consideration of her little son, born in the camp, nursed in the arms of the legions, and by themselves named Caligula, a military name from the boots which of the same fashion with their own, in compliment to them, and to win their affections, he frequently wore. But nothing so effectually subdued them as their own envy towards the inhabitants of Treves: hence they all besought, all adjured, that she would return to themselves, and with themselves remain: thus some stopped Agrippina; but the main body returned with their entreaties to Germanicus, who, as he was yet in the transports of grief and anger, addressed himself on this wise to the surrounding crowd.
"To me neither is my wife or son dearer than my father and the Commonwealth. But him doubtless the majesty of his name will defend; and there are other armies, loyal armies, to defend the Roman State. As to my wife and children, whom for your glory I could freely sacrifice, I now remove them from your rage; that by my blood alone may be expiated whatever further mischief your fury meditates; and that the murder of the great grandson of Augustus, the murder of the daughter-in-law of Tiberius, may not be added to mine, nor to the blackness of your past guilt. For, during these days of frenzy what has been too horrid for you to commit? What so sacred that you have not violated? To this audience what name shall I give? Can I call you soldiers? you who have beset with arms the son of your Emperor, confined him in your trenches, and held him in a siege? Roman citizens can I call you? you who have trampled upon the supreme authority of the Roman Senate? Laws religiously observed by common enemies, you have profaned; violated the sacred privileges, and persons of Ambassadors; broken the laws of nations. The deified Julius Caesar quelled a sedition in his army by a single word: he called all who refused to follow him, townsmen. The deified Augustus, when, after the battle of Actium, the legions who won it lapsed into mutiny, terrified them into submission by the dignity of his presence and an awful look. These, it is true, are mighty and immortal names, whom I dare not emulate; but, as I am their descendant, and inherit their blood, should the armies in Syria and Spain reject my orders, and contemn my authority, I should think their behaviour strange and base: are not the present legions under stronger ties than those in Syria and Spain? You are the first and the twentieth legions; the former enrolled by Tiberius himself; the other his constant companions in so many battles, his partners in so many victories, and by him enriched with so many bounties! Is this the worthy return you make your Emperor, and late Commander, for the distinction he has shown you, for the favour he has done you, and for his liberalities towards you? And shall I be the author of such tidings to him; such heavy tidings in the midst of congratulations and happy accounts from every province in the Empire? Must it be my sad task to acquaint him that his own new levies, as well as his own veterans who long fought under him; these not appeased by their discharge, and neither of them satiated with the money given them, are both still combined in a furious mutiny? must I tell him that here and only here the Centurions are butchered, the Tribunes driven away, the Ambassadors imprisoned; that with blood the camp is stained, and the rivers flow with blood; and that for me his son, I hold a precarious life at the mercy of men, who owe me duty, and practise enmity?
"Why did you the other day, oh unseasonable and too officious friends! why did you leave me at their mercy by snatching from me my sword, when with it I would have put myself out of their power? He who offered me his own sword showed greater kindness, and was more my friend. I would then have fallen happy; happy that my death would have hid from mine eyes so many horrible crimes since committed by my own army; and for you, you would have chosen another general, such a general, no doubt, as would have left my death unpunished, but still one who would have sought vengeance for that of Varus and the three legions; for the Gods are too just to permit that ever the Belgians, however generously they offer their service, shall reap the credit and renown of retrieving the glory of the Roman name, and of reducing in behalf of Rome the German nations her foes. Filled with this passion for the glory of Rome, I here invoke thy spirit now with the Gods, oh deified Augustus; and thy image interwoven in the ensigns, and thy memory, oh deceased father. Let thy revered spirit, oh Augustus, let thy loved image and memory, oh Drusus, still dear to these legions, vindicate them from this guilty stain, this foul infamy of leaving to foreigners the honour of defending and avenging the Roman State. They are Romans; they already feel the remorses of shame; they are already stimulated with a sense of honour: improve, oh improve this generous disposition in them; that thus inspired they may turn the whole tide of their civil rage to the destruction of their common enemy. And for you, my fellow-soldiers, in whom I behold all the marks of compunction, other countenances, and minds happily changed; if you mean to restore to the Senate its ambassadors; to your Emperor your sworn obedience; to me, your general, my wife and son; be it the first instance of your duty, to fly the contagious company of incendiaries, to separate the sober from the seditious: this will be a faithful sign of remorse, this a firm pledge of fidelity."
These words softened them into supplicants: they confessed that all his reproaches were true; they besought him to punish the guilty and malicious, to pardon the weak and misled, and to lead them against the enemy; to recall his wife, to bring back his son, nor to suffer the fosterling of the legions to be given in hostage to the Gauls. Against the recalling of Agrippina he alleged the advance of winter, and her approaching delivery; but said, that his son should return, and that to themselves he left to execute what remained further to be executed. Instantly, with changed resentments, they ran, and seizing the most seditious, dragged them in bonds to Caius Cretonius, commander of the first legion, who judged and punished them in this manner. The legions, with their swords drawn, surrounded the tribunal; from thence the prisoner was by a Tribune exposed to their view, and if they proclaimed him guilty, cast headlong down, and executed even by his fellow-soldiers, who rejoiced in the execution, because by it they thought their own guilt to be expiated: nor did Germanicus restrain them, since on themselves remained the cruelty and reproach of the slaughter committed without any order of his. The veterans followed the same example of vengeance, and were soon after ordered into Rhetia, in appearance to defend that province against the invading Suevians; in reality, to remove them from a camp still horrible to their sight, as well in the remedy and punishment, as from the memory of their crime. Germanicus next passed a scrutiny upon the conduct and characters of the Centurions: before him they were cited singly; and each gave an account of his name, his company, country, the length of his service, exploits in war, and military presents, if with any he had been distinguished: if the Tribunes or his legion bore testimony of his diligence and integrity, he kept his post; upon concurring complaint of his avarice or cruelty, he was degraded.
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