A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

DRTJSUS.
widened the bed of the narrow outlet which at
that time connected the Lacus Flevus with the
ocean. These were his fossae. With regard to
his agger or moles, it is supposed that he partly
dammed up the south-western arm of the Rhine
(the Vahalis or Waal), in order to allow more
water to flow into the north-eastern arm, upon
which his canal was situated. But this hypothesis
as to the situation of the dylke is very doubtful.
Some modern authors hold that the Yssel ran into
the Rhine, and did not run into the Zuydersee,
and that the chief work of Drusus consisted in
connecting the Yssel with a river that ran from
Zutphen into the Zuydersee.
He did not tarry long at Rome. On the commencement of spring he returned to Germany,
subdued the Usipetes, built a bridge over the
Lippe, invaded the country of the Sicambri, and
passed on through the territory of the Cherusci as
far as the Visurgis (Weser). This he was able to
effect from meeting with no opposition from the
Sicambri, who were engaged with all their forces
in fighting against the Chatti. He would have
gone on to cross the Weser had he not been deterred
(such were the ostensible reasons) by scarcity of
provisions, the approach of winter, and the evil
omen of a swarm of bees which settled upon the
lances in front of the tent of the praefectus castrorum. (Jul. Obsequens, i. 132.) Ptolemy (ii. 11)
mentions the po-Frata Aposdrov, which, to judge
from the longitude and latitude he assigns to
them (viz. long. 330. 45'. lat. 520. 40'.), were
probably erected on the spot where the army
reached the Weser. No doubt Drusus found it
prudent to retreat. In retiring, he was often in
danger from the stratagems of the enemy, and
once was nearly shut up in a dangerous pass near
Arbalo, and narrowly escaped perishing with his
whole army. But the careless bravery of the
Germans saved him. His enemies had already by
anticipation divided the spoil. The Cherusci chose
the horses, the Suevi the gold and silver, and the
Sicambri the prisoners. Thinking that the Romans
were as good as taken, after immolating twenty
Roman centurions as a preparatory sacrifice, they
rushed on without order, and were repulsed. It
was now they, and their horses, and sheep, and
neck-chains (torques), that were sold by Drusus.
Henceforward they confined themselves to distant
attacks. (Dion Cass. liv. 20; Florus, iv. 12; Plin.
I.N. xi. 18.) Drusus had breathing time to build
two castles, one at the confluence of the Luppia and
the Aliso, and the other near the country of the
Chatti on the Rhine. The latter is probably the
modern Cassel over against Mayence. The former
is thought by some who identify the Aliso with
the Alm, to be the modern Elsen Neuhaus in
the district of Paderborn; by others, who identify the Aliso with the Lise, to be Lisborn
near Lippstadt in the district of Miinster. Drusus
now returned to Rome with the reputation
of having conquered several tribes beyond the
Rhine (Liv. Epit. cxxxviii.), and received as his
reward a vote of the senate granting him an ovation with the insignia of a triumph, and decreeing
that at the end of his praetorship he should have
proconsular authority. But Augustus would not
allow him to bear the title of imperator, which had
been conferred upon him by the army in the field.
In the next year, B. c. 10, Drusus was again at
his post. The Chatti left the territory which had

DRUSUS. 1085
been assigned to them by the Romans. After
having long refused to become allies of the Sicambri, they now consented to join that powerful people; but their united forces were not a match for
Drusus. Some of the Chatti he subdued; others
he could do no more than harass and annoy. He
attacked the Nervii, who were headed by Senectius
and Anectius (Liv. Epit. cxxxix); and it was probably in this campaign that he built a castle upon
the Taunus. (Tac. Ann. i. 56.) He then returned
to Rome with Augustus and Tiberius, who had
been in Lugdunensian Gaul, watching the result of
the war in Germany, and upon his arrival he was
elected to the consulship, which was to commence
on the Kalends of January, B. c. 9. Drusus could
not rest in peace at Rome., To worry and subjugate the Germans appeared to be the main object
of his life. Without waiting for the actual commencement of his consulship (Pedo Albin. 1. 139)
he returned to the scene of battle, undeterred by
evil forebodings, of which there was no lack.
There had been horrible storms and inundations in
the winter months, and the lightning had struck
three temples at Rome. (Ib. 1. 401; Dion Cass.
lv.) He attacked the Chatti, won a hard-fought
battle, penetrated to the country of the Suevi,
gave the Marcomanni (who were a portion of the
Suevi) a signal defeat, and with the arms taken as
spoil erected a mound as a trophy. It was now
perhaps that he gave the Suevi Vannius as their
king. (Tac. Ann. xii. 29.) I-He then turned his
forces against the Cherusci, crossed the Weser (R),
and carried all before him to the Elbe. (Messalla
Corvin. deAig. Prog. 89; Ped. Albin. 1. 17, 113;
Aur. Vict. Epit. i.; Orosius, iv. 21.) The course
that Drusus took on his way to the Elbe cannot
be determined. Florus (iv. 12) speaks of his makling roads through ( patefecit) the Hercynian forest,
and Wilhelm (IFeldzige, &c. p. 50) thinks that he
advanced through Thuringia. Drusus endeavoured
in vain to cross the Elbe. (Dion Cass. iv. init.;
Eutrop. iv. 12.) A miraculous event occurred:
a woman of dimensions greater than human appeared to him, and said to him, in the Latin
tongue, " Whither goest thou, insatiable Drusus?
The Fates forbid thee to advance. Away! The
end of thy deeds and thy life is nigh." Dion
Cassius cannot help believing the fact of the apparition, seeing that the prophetic warning was so
soon fulfilled! Thus deterred by the guardian
Genius of the land, Drusus hastened back to the
Rhine, after erecting trophies on the banks of the
Elbe. Suetonius (Claud. 1) varies from Dion Cassius in the particulars of this legend, and some of
the moderns endeavour to explain it by referring
the denunciation to a German prophetess or Wala.
On his retreat, wolves howled round the camp,
two strange youths appeared on horseback among
the intrenchments, the screams of women were
heard, and the stars raced about in thie sky. (Ped.
Albin. 1. 405.) Such were the superstitious fears
which oppressed the minds of the Romans, who
would rather flatter themselves that they were
submitting to supernatural forces than avoiding the
human might of dangerous enemies. Between the
Elbe and the Sala (probably the Thuringian Saal),
death overtook Drusus. According to the Epitomiser of Livy (cxl.) (whose last books contained a full
account of these transactions), the horse of Drusus
fell upon his leg, and Drusus died of the fracture
on the thirtieth day after the accident. Of the