GERMANICUS C/ESAR, a Roman general, the son of Nero Claudius Drik sus, and of Antonia, daughter of Mark Antony and niece of Augustus; born in 15 B. C. By desire of Augustus he was adopted in the year 4 A. D. by Tiberius, whom he accompanied in the war against the Pannonians, Dalmatians, and Ger mans. In the year 12 he was consul, and next yea? was appointed to the command of the eight legions on the Rhine. In 14 he was at Lugdunum Batavorum when news came of the death of the Emperor Augustus and of the mutiny for more pay and shorter service among the soldiers in Germany and Illyricum. Germanicus hastened to the camp and quelled the tumult by his personal popularity; and at once led his soldiers against the enemy. Crossing the Rhine below Wesel, he at tacked and routed the Marsi, and next year marched to meet the redoubtable ARMINIUS (q. v.), the conqueror of Varus and his legionaries, whose bones had lain whitening for six years in the Teuto burg Forest. With solemn rites his sol diers buried these sad relics of disaster, then advanced against the foe, who, re tiring into a difficult country, managed to save himself, and was not subdued till the year after, when Germanicus again carried a part of his army up the Ems in ships, crossed to the Weser, and completely overthrew Arminius in two desperate battles. Tiberius, jealous of
the glory and popularity of Germanicus, recalled him from Germany in the year 17, and sent him to settle affairs in the East, at the same time appointing as viceroy of Syria, in order secretly to counteract him, the haughty and envious Cn. Calpurnius Piso. Germanicus died, probably of poison, in Epidaphnee, near Antioch, Oct. 9, 19. His wife, Agrippina, and two of her sons were put to death by order of Tiberius; the third son, Cali gula, was spared. Of the three daughters who survived their father, Agrippina became as remarkable for her vices as her mother had been for her virtues.