At Rome it was resolved to have recourse to the old and tried methods of craft, subornation, and treachery, instead of to the force of arms; and that master of guile, Tiberius, accordingly betook himself to the Rhine, accompanied by the servile flatterer, Velleius Paterculus, at that time leader of the cavalry. In pompous bombast the latter vaunts the exploits of his hero, that he may at the same time gather some of the beams of this glory about his own head. In two campaigns the tribes between Weser and Elbe were subjugated, the gigantic Chauci, and the Longobards “savage with more than German savagery,” and the fleet meanwhile sailed along the coast of the North Sea and joined hands with the land forces. [Sidenote: [5-9 A.D.]] But in spite of these vaunted achievements Roman dominion struck no root in those parts; their ancient freedom suffered but a temporary eclipse and quickly returned when once the legions were withdrawn. The adroit prince was all the more successful in binding the tribes between the Rhine and Weser to Rome. The strength of the army,--which had permanent bases at Xanten and Aliso,--and the arts of subornation, cunning, and treachery, which Tiberius employed with masterly skill, did not fail of effect upon the divided and contentious Germans. Roman influence established itself more and more strongly, especially when Sentius Saturninus, an upright and able man who combined the austerity of a strict commander with the genial manners of a consummate statesman, occupied the post of Roman governor. He was able to win over the simple and primitive people to appreciate the manners and advantages of civilised life by displaying to them in an attractive form “the superiority of Roman ways and arts.” The Germans began to “realise their own rudeness,” and to take pleasure in “a world of strict order, rigid law, and manifold arts and enjoyments.” The standing camps of the army became markets where foreign merchants offered the wares of the south for sale, where the children of nature made the acquaintance of the charm and sweetness of a wealthy civilisation. A brisk traffic familiarised the natives with Roman speech and manners, Roman law met with increasing recognition and regard, German youths already fought in the Roman ranks and prided themselves on their foreign weapons and their rights as Roman citizens. The characteristics of German nationality would have been gravely compromised if the Romans had succeeded in extending their dominion across the Rhine and the Danube, if the German princes, such as Arminius and Marboduus, whom they enticed into their service had remained loyal and devoted to them. But they had now to learn that the love of liberty and the fatherland was not yet extinct.