Varus, Quintilius
A Roman consul B.C. 13, and subsequently appointed to the government of Syria, where he
acquired enormous wealth. Shortly after his return from Syria he was made governor of Germany
(probably about A.D. 7), and was instructed by Augustus to introduce the Roman jurisdiction
into that newly conquered country. The Germans, however, were not prepared to submit thus
tamely to the Roman yoke, and found a leader in Arminius, a noble chief of the Cherusci, who
organized a general revolt of all the German tribes between the Visurgis and the Weser. When
he had fully matured his plans, he suddenly attacked Varus, at the head of a countless host of
barbarians, as the Roman general was marching with his three legions through a pass of the
Saltus Teutoburgiensis, a range of hills covered with wood, which extends north of the Lippe
from Osnabrück to Paderborn, and is known in the present day by the name of the
Teutoburgerwald or Lippische Wald. The battle lasted three days, and ended with the entire
destruction of the Roman army. Varus put an end to his own life. His defeat was followed by
the loss of all the Roman possessions between the Weser and the Rhine, and the latter river
again became the boundary of the Roman dominions. When the news of this defeat reached Rome,
the whole city was thrown into consternation; and Augustus, who was both weak and aged, gave
way to the most violent grief, tearing his garments and calling upon Varus to give him back
his legions—“Vare, Vare, redde legiones!” (
Suet. Aug. 23;
Suet.
Tib. 16). See
Arminius;
Germania.
