SECT. I. — FIRST STAGE OF THE REVOLT OF CIVILIS
While the legions were contending for the right of electing a Princeps, and Italy was devastated with civil war, the Empire was threatened in two opposite quarters, in the south-east and in the north-west, with serious danger from rebellious provincials; and to meet these dangers was the first task that devolved upon Vespasian. We shall see presently how the insurrection in Judea was suppressed; there he had merely to finish a work which was already haft accomplished. We must first follow the curious and terrible rebellion, which, breaking out among auxiliary troops of the Germanic army, extended to the free Germans beyond the Rhine, and led to the foundation of a transitory “Gallic empire”.
In the province of Lower Germany the Batavians, who occupied the delta of the Rhine—the district enclosed between the Vahalis (Waal) and the Rhine proper—held a peculiar position. Their fidelity to the Empire had been conspicuous; they had taken no part in that movement of their countrymen which led to the defeat of Varus. They paid no tribute, but on the other hand, they were required to supply a very large contingent of recruits to the army. They did not grumble at the burden of this conscription. They were brave and daring soldiers, skillful in riding and swimming. Eight Batavian cohorts, associated with the XIVth legion in Upper Germany, had been sent with that legion to take part in the conquest of Britain, where they had distinguished themselves conspicuously by their valor. Both the legion and its auxiliaries were recalled by Nero to aid in the eastern expedition which he planned at the end of his reign; but the revolt of Vindex, which had just then broken out in Haul, led to a discord between the legionaries and the cohorts. While the legions hastened to Italy to defend their master, the 8000 Batavians refused to follow. This was probably due to the fact that two Batavian officers, Julius Civilis and Claudius Paullus, had been accused falsely of treason, and while Paullus was put to death by Fonteius Capitu, governor of Lower Germany, Civilis had been sent to Nero, and thrown into prison. After Nero’s fall Galba released Civilis, and ordered the Batavian cohorts to return to Britain. But when they had reached the city of the Lingones, the insurrection of the Germanic army in favor of Vitellius took place, and after long hesitation the Batavians embraced his cause. They did him good service in the battle of Betriacum, where they measured swords with their former comrades of the XIVth, which was fighting for Otho. After the victory the Batavians were commanded to accompany the XIVth to Britain, but the legion and the cohorts came to blows at Augusta Taurinorum (Turin), and separated, the legionaries proceeding to Britain, and the Batavians to Moguntiacum. The latter were soon summoned back by Vitellius, when he was threatened by Vespasian. But Antonius Primus sent a messenger to hinder their complying with this summons, and immediately afterwards a revolt broke out in Germany, which prevented the troops in the north from taking part in the conflict in Italy.
The organizer of this revolt was Julius Civilis. He was looked up to by his Batavian countrymen on account of his high descent, and he was “a man of more brains”, says Tacitus, “than barbarians are usually endowed with”. He had only one eye, and he liked to compare himself to Hannibal and Sertorius, who were disfigured in a like way. The idea of the revolt is said to have been suggested by Primus, who thought in that way to keep the Germanic legions at a distance. The plan served his immediate purpose, but the revolt assumed far larger proportions than he could have anticipated. The unfairness of the Roman levies was a sufficient grievance. If Civilis began by playing for Vespasian, he ended by playing for himself. It is impossible to say whether he had matured the deeper game of a rebellion against Rome from the very beginning. He first roused the inhabitants of his native country to rebel. Calling the chiefs of the Batavians to a nocturnal banquet in a sacred grove, he revealed his scheme of revolt. The Canninefates, the northern neighbors of the Batavians, were next gained over, and then the Frisians; and messengers were sent to Moguntiacum, to secure the adhesion of the eight Batavian cohorts. Somewhere near the month of the Rhine was a winter camp of two Roman cohorts; it was seized and destroyed. This was the first act of the revolt. The other garrisons in the territory were soon dislodged from their castella, and a cohort of Tungrian auxiliaries went over to the rebels; and part of the Rhine fleet, numbering twenty-four ships, fell into their hands. These successes supplied the insurgents with arms and ships, and Civilis invoked both Germany and Gaul to join him in supporting the cause of Vespasian.
At this time both Lower and Upper Germany were under the single command of Hordeonius Flaccus, an old and utterly incompetent man, decrepit with gout, who was inclined secretly to Vespasian’s cause, and was suspected by his soldiers of treachery to Vitellius. The remnant of the legions which had accompanied Vitellius and his generals to Italy may have been partly supplemented by new recruits, but in no case can they have consisted of more than about half the usual number. In Lower Germany the Vth and XVth were stationed at Castra Vetera under the legatus Munius Lupercus; the XVIth under Numisius Rufus at Novaesium (Neuss), between Vetera and Colonia; the Ist under Herennius Gallus in the southern extremity of the province at Bonna. The boundary between the two Germanies was at the river Abrinca, south of Rigomagus (Remagen). Thus Confluentes (Coblenz) belonged to the Upper province. In it two legions, IV. Macedonica and XXII., lay at Moguntiacum. It is possible that part of XXI. was also left in garrison at Vindonissa (Windisch), but it took no part in the earlier events of the rebellion.
By the command of Flaccus, the two legions of Vetera marched against the rebels, who were now receiving promises of help from the German tribes beyond the Rhine. Both legions together hardly amounted to 5000 men, but Munius Lupercus obtained reinforcements from the Ubians and cavalry from the Treveri. He had also a squadron of Batavians, who feigned fidelity in order to desert him in the action. The battle was fought north of Vetera, and was decided by the desertion of the Batavian horse, who suddenly turned upon the Romans. The Ubians and Treveri fled, and, while the Germans pursued them, the legions retreated to Vetera.
Meanwhile the messengers of Civilis had moved the eight Batavian cohorts at Moguntiacum to rebel. They made large demands from Flaccus; and when he had made considerable concessions, they insisted on further demands which they knew could not and would not be granted. Then they left the camp, and set out to Lower Germany, to join Civilis. The general, instead of ordering his legions to cut the mutineers to pieces, allowed them to depart; but presently, changing his mind, sent a letter to Herennius Gallus at Bonna, bidding him prevent the Batavians from passing, and promising to follow with his own army in the rear. Then, changing his mind once more, he wrote again to Gallus, ordering him to allow them to pass. This shuffling conduct of Flaccus gives good ground for suspecting him of treachery. The Batavians reached Bonna by the road on the left bank of the Rhine, and sent a message to Gallus, demanding that they should be allowed to pass in peace. The legatus was almost disposed to comply, but his soldiers compelled him to try the fortune of a battle. The Ist legion was completely defeated, and driven back to the camp. The victors, taking no further advantage of their success, continued their northward march, and, turning aside to avoid Colonia Agrippinensis, joined the army of the insurgents.
Civilis was now in command of a regular army; and German tribes from beyond the Rhine, such as the Bructeri and the Tencteri, had flocked to his standard. He made an attempt to induce the two legions which had retreated to Vetera after the defeat to embrace the cause of Vespasian, but they were obdurate in their loyalty to Vitellius. He resolved to blockade the camp, and ranged his troops on both banks of the Rhine. Vetera was not a strong position, either by nature or by art. On the west side there was a level approach to the praetorian gate. Augustus had regarded it as a winter station, from which the legions should go forth to attack the Germans, not as a place in which they might have to defend themselves against German assailants. Lupercus and Rufus had to repair the fortifications, which had suffered from the effects of a long peace. The attempts of the Germans to storm the place were unsuccessful, and they were obliged to blockade it. Flaccus in the meantime had sent messengers throughout Gaul, to obtain auxiliaries, and, on learning the danger of Vetera, dispatched Dillius Vocula, the legatus of the XXIInd, with chosen legionaries to march to its relief with the utmost speed. Flaccus himself followed by ship. The troops, when they heard of the successes of Civilis, murmured loudly that Flaccus was playing them false; and in order to appease them, Flaccus read aloud a letter which had arrived from Vespasian, and sent the bearers in chains to Vitellius. When he reached Bonna he was assailed by the reproaches of the Ist legion, who attributed their defeat by the Batavian