No sooner was Agrippina seen, with her infant in her arms, preparing to seek for refuge from the trea chery of Roman soldiers, than an impression was made on the feelings of the insurgents which no argu ments could have produced. Some of them now ran to prevent her from quitting the army, while others went to Germanicus, and entreated him to recal his wife. Having seized and massacred their own ring leaders, all the legions except two returned to their allegiance. Ccina, who commanded these two le gions, having misunderstood a message from Germa nicus, called out those who had not joined the insur gents, and led them to the massacre of the disaffected. Germanicus was distressed beyond measure at this piece of cruelty, and endeavoured to expiate it by per forming every mark of respect to the bodies of those who had fallen.
Having thus brought his army to a proper sense of their duty, Germanicus erected a bridge over the Rhine, and marched across with 12,000 legionaries, 26 cohorts of allies, and about 2400 cavalry. There he fell in with the ;!'Tarsi, and surprising them in the midst of a festivity and debauch, he slaughtered the whole army, and laid waste the country for fifty miles round, with fire and sword. He next entered the country of the Cotti, and having, after some resist ance, burnt their villages and towns, he destroyed their capital and returned to the Rhine.
Germanicus was now called to oppose the army of Arminius, who had cut to pieces the Romans under Varus. Having marched against them while besieg ing Segestes, an ally of the Romans, he routed his forces, and took many prisoners, among whom was Thusneldis, the wife of Arminius, whom he had car ried off against the will of her father Segestes. En raged at the loss of one to whom he was deeply at tached, Arminius arrayed all the neighbouring king doms against the Romans. In marching against Ar minius, Germanicus fell in with the dead bodies of the Roman soldiers who had fallen under Varus, and who had been left unburied on the field. These lie committed to the earth with all the ceremonies which he had leisure to perform. In this expedition various battles were fought, in which both parties were suc cessful by turns. The Romans had gained few advan tages, and retired into winter quarters, after expe riencing great losses of every kind.
In his next expedition, for which he had made cast preparations, Germanicus was more successful. He marched against Arminius, who was encamped on the opposite bank of the Weser; and who had resolved to dispute the passage of the river. Cariovalda, the leader of the Batavian auxiliaries, crossed the river, and was slain in an ambuscade, which had been laid for him.by the enemy. Stertinius and ./Emilius, hav ing hastened to the assistance of the Batavians, Ger manicus in the mean time passed the river, and de feated the Germans with such slaughter, that the country for ten miles round was covered with arms and with dead bodies. After another victory, Ger manicus put an end to the campaign. He sent some of his legions into winter quarter's by land, while he embarked with the rest in order to return by sea; but a violent storm arising, his fleet, of a thousand ves sels, was dispersed in all directions. Some of them were swallowed up in the ocean, others were dashed against the rocks, while many were driven to distant and barren shores, where the men either died of bun ., ger, or protracted a miserable existence, by feeding on the flesh of the dead horses which had been thrown overboard, to lighten the sinking vessels. Many of the troops, however, were saved, and a considerable number of the ships recovered; those who had been driven on the coast of Britain having been generously sent back. After several other successful expeditions against the Germans, Germanicus was recalled by Tiberius. He was afterwards appointed along with Piso to the government of Syria, but he died of poi son, which was supposed to have been administered to him by his colleague. As the army of Germanicus had offered to raise him to the empire, an honour which he had the virtue to decline, Tiberius had al ways viewed him with a jealous eye; and though he punished Piso with death, he yet felt that the act for which it was inflicted had relieved him from a rival whom he feared.
Tiberius therefore threw off the mask which the dread of Germanicus seems to have compelled him to wear. He diminished the authority of the senate, as well as the liberties of the people. Ile assumed to himself even the right of interpreting and of enforcing the laws. In this state of affairs, Sejanus, by birth a Volscian, but possessed of the rank of a Roman knight, had insinuated himself into the confidence of Tiberius. He made hint captain of the Praetorian guards; and no sooner did Sejanus find himself in this situation of power and influence than he began to as pire to the sovereignty. After debauching Livia, Drusus's wife, he prevailed upon her to remove her husband by slow poison. Finding it difficult to make any attempt on the children of Germanicus, both from the chastity of their mother and the fidelity of their governors, he conceived the deep plan of removing Tiberius from the city, by which lie might have more frequent opportunities of carrying on his designs. Tiberius's love of indolence and licentiousness of every kind led him to prefer a country life, remote from business and from observation. Sejanus artfully represented to him the dangers and troubles which might arise from the seditious temper of the Roman populace; and having already experienced the fa tigues of attending the senate, the emperor retired into Campania, under the pretence of dedicating tem ples to Jupiter and Augustus. Ile varied his resi dence from one place to another; but he dwelt princi pally in the island of Caprcea, on the coast of Campa nia, where he buried himself in the most unlawful and infamous pleasures. In the sixty-seventh year of his age, this bloated voluptuary, covered with ulcers, bent down and reduced to a shadow by dissipation, collected around him the dregs and outcasts of socie ty, who could minister to his brutal appetites. To his other vices he added those of gluttony and drunken ness; and the power of drinking off five bottles of wine at a draught was deemed a qualification for the prxtorship. As he became more abandoned, he be came more cruel and suspicious. Spies and informers were placed in every society; and this machinery was skilfully directed to his own purposes by Sejanus, who wrought upon the emperor's fears. The sons of Germanicus alone stood in the way of' Sejanus's ambi He contrived to render them obnoxious to the emperor by stories of their ambition; while he fright ened them in return by reports of cruelties which were intended against them, He succeeded at last in getting the two princes, Nero and Drusus, declared enemies to the state, and afterwards starved to death in a prison. From that hour the rise of this favourite was unexampled. Ile enjoyed the entire confidence of Tiberius, and possessed omnipotent power over the senate. Statues without number were erected to him, crowds of idolaters offered incense at his shrine; and never was there a despot with more absolute authori ty, or more the object of dread, than Sejanus. The rapidity of his rise, and the elevation to which he had attained, seem to have been designed as a contrast to the precipitancy of his degradation, and the depth of his fall. He was at once accused of treason by Satrius Secundus, and the accusation was seconded by Anto nia, the mother of Germanicus. Tiberius was satis fied of its truth; but destitute of courage, he still pre tended to entertain for him his usual respect. He even granted him new honours, and made him his colleague in the consulship; and while he commanded the senate to put him in prison, he ordered soldiers to guard him, and prepared ships to favour his es cape. The senate, however, went beyond their or ders, and consigned him to execution. He was now deserted by all. The people loaded him with insults and execrations, and after his execution, his body was dragged through the streets, and his whole family put to death.