Civilis, bent on winning
Gaul and
Germany if his purposes
should prosper, was on the point of securing supremacy over the most
powerful and most wealthy of the states. His first attempts Hordeonius
Flaccus had encouraged by affecting ignorance. But when messengers came
hurrying in with intelligence that a camp had been stormed, that cohorts
SEEKS COOPERATION OF GAUL |
had been cut to pieces, and that the Roman
power had been expelled from the island of the Batavians, the general
ordered the legate, Munius Lupercus, who was in command of the winter
quarters of two legions, to advance against the enemy. Lupercus in great
haste threw across the
Rhine such legionaries as
were on the spot, some Ubian troops who were close at hand, and some cavalry
of the Treveri, who were stationed at no great distance; these were
accompanied by some Batavian horse, who, though they had been long
disaffected, yet still simulated loyalty in order that by betraying the
Romans in the moment of actual conflict they might receive a higher price
for their desertion. Civilis, surrounding himself with the standards of the
captured cohorts, to keep their recent honours before the eyes of his own
men, and to terrify the enemy by the remembrance of defeat, now directed his
own mother and sisters, and the wives and children of all his men, to stand
in the rear, where they might encourage to victory, or shame defeat. The
war-song of the men, and the shrill cries of the women, rose from the whole
line, and an answering but far less vigorous cheer came from the legions and
auxiliaries. The Batavians had exposed the left wing by their desertion, and
they immediately turned against our men. Still the legionaries, though their
position was alarming, kept their arms and their ranks. The auxiliaries of
the Ubii and the Treveri broke at once in shameful flight, and dispersed
over the whole country. On that side the Germans threw the weight of their
attack. Meanwhile the legions had an opportunity of retreating into what was
called the Old Camp. Claudius Labeo, prefect of the Batavian horse, who had
been the rival of Civilis in some local contest, was sent away into the
country of the Frisii; to kill him might be to give offence to his
countrymen, while to keep him with the army might be to sow the seeds of
discord.