THE VICTORY OF THE GERMANS.--Augustus avoided war when he could. His aim was to defend the frontiers of the empire rather than to extend them. The Parthians were prevailed on to return of their own accord the standards and prisoners taken from the army of _Crassus_. But in Germany, _Drusus_, the brave step-son of _Augustus_, made four campaigns on the east of the Rhine, as far as the Weser and the Elbe. On his way back from the Elbe, a fall from his horse terminated his life (9 B.C.). His brother, _Tiberius_, managed to establish the Roman power over a part of the Germanic tribes on the right bank of the river (4 B.C.) Long before (27 B.C.) the western shore of the river had been formed into two provinces, _Upper_ and _Lower Germany_. An incapable and incautious general, _Quintilius Varus_, excited the freedom-loving Germans to revolt under the brave chief of the _Cherusci_, _Arminius_ (or Hermann). Three Roman legions were annihilated in the _Teutoburg_ forest, Varus taking his own life. The civil and military chiefs who were taken captive, the Germans slew as a sacrifice to their gods. The rest of the prisoners were made slaves. "Many a Roman from an equestrian or a senatorial house grew old in the service of a German farmer, as a servant in the house, or in tending cattle without." There in the forest of _Teutoburg_ the Germans practically won their independence. On hearing the bad news, Augustus, for several days, could only exclaim, "Varus! give me back my legions!" After the death of Augustus, in his seventy-sixth year, the noble son of Drusus, _Germanicus_, conducted three expeditions against _Arminius_ (A.D. 14-16), obtained a victory over him, and took his wife prisoner, who died in captivity; but the Romans permanently held only the left bank of the Rhine.