The Germany and the Agricola of TacitusTacitus, Cornelius
History
The Germany and the Agricola of Tacitus
Tacitus, Cornelius
Agricola, Gnaeus Julius, 40-93; Germanic peoples -- Early works to 1800; Statesmen -- Rome -- Biography -- Early works to 1800
[200] Florus, in like manner, considers these two affairs
separately:--"Neither could Silanus sustain the first onset of the
barbarians; nor Manlius, the second; nor Caepio, the third." (iii. 3.)
Livy joins them together:--"By the same enemy (the Cimbri) Cn. Manlius
the consul, and Q. Servilius Caepio the proconsul, were defeated in an
engagement, and both dispossessed of their camps." (Epit. lxvii.) Paulus
Orosius relates the affair more particularly:--"Manlius the consul, and
Q. Caepio, proconsul, being sent against the Cimbri, Teutones,
Tigurini, and Ambronae, Gaulish and German nations, who had conspired to
extinguish the Roman empire, divided their respective provinces by the
river Rhone. Here, the most violent dissensions prevailing between them,
they were both overcome, to the great disgrace and danger of the Roman
name. According to Antias, 80,000 Romans and allies were slaughtered.
Caepio, by whose rashness this misfortune was occasioned, was condemned,
and his property confiscated by order of the Roman people." (Lib. v.
16.) This happened in the year of Rome 649; and the anniversary was
reckoned among the unlucky days.
[201] The Republic; in opposition to Rome when governed by emperors.
[202] This tragical catastrophe so deeply affected Augustus, that, as
Seutonius informs us, "he was said to have let his beard and hair grow
for several months; during which he at times struck his head against the
doors, crying out, 'Varus, restore my legions!' and ever after kept
the anniversary as a day of mourning." (Aug. s. 23.) The finest history
piece, perhaps, ever drawn by a writer, is Tacitus's description of the
army of Germanicus visiting the field of battle, six years after,
and performing funeral obsequies to the scattered remains of their
slaughtered countrymen. (Annals, i. 61.)
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