Germanicus Cæsar

Germanicus Cæsar, a distinguished Roman general, was the son of Nero Claudius Drusus, and of Antonia, daughter of Mark Antony and niece of Augustus. He was born 15 B.C., and by desire of Augustus was adopted in the year 4 A.D. by Tiberius, whom he accompanied in the war against the Panonians, Dalmatians, and Germans. In the year 12 he was consul, and next year 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 attacked 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 Teutoburg Forest. With solemn rites his soldiers buried these sad relics of disaster, then advanced against the foe, who, retiring into a difficult country, managed to save himself, and was not subdued until 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. The victories thus achieved were to have been followed up in the succeeding years, but 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 at Epidaphnæ, near Antioch, 9th October 19, probably of poison, to the profound sorrow of provincials and Romans alike. His wife, Agrippina, and two of her sons were put to death by order of Tiberius; the third son, Caligula, 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. Germanicus is one of the most attractive heroes of Roman history. The courage and success of the soldiery that had blotted out a great national disgrace, the noble magnanimity of his private character, the simplicity and purity of his life, and the shadow of impending death that touched him with romantic interest, combined to make him the darling of his contemporaries, and has left him, as portrayed in the pages of Tacitus (Annals, i. and ii.), still a figure of unique interest to us.