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

2b8 GERMANICUS. GERMANICUS.
earned an independent title to it by his own the pay of the soldier, to shorten his period of
achievements. When Augustus, in A. D. 4, adopted service, to mitigate the hardship of his military
Tiberius, and appointed him successor to the em- tasks, and to take revenge on his old enemy, the
pire, the young Germanicus had already, by his centurion. Germanicus was in Gaul, employed in
promising qualities, gained the favour of the em- collecting the revenue, when the tidings of the disperor, who recommended Tiberius to take him as a turbance reached him. He hastened to the camp,
son. (Suet. Cal. 4; Tac. Ann. i. 3; Zonar. x. 36.) and exerted all his influence to allay discontent
In subsequent inscriptions and coins he is styled and establish order. He was the idol of the army.
Germanicus Caesar, Ti. Aug. F. Divi Aug. N.; His open and affable manners contrasted remarkand in history the relationships which he acquired ably with the hauteur and reserve of Tiberius;
by adoption are often spoken of in place of the and like his father, Drusus, he was supposed to be
natural relationships of blood and birth. Upon his an admirer of the ancient republican liberty. Some
adoption into the Julia gens, whatever may have of the troops interrupted hisharangue, by declaring
been his formal legal designation, he did not lose their readiness to place him at the head of the emthe title Germanicus, though his brother Claudius, pire; whereupon, as if contaminated by the guilty
as having now become the sole legal representative proposal, he jumped down from the tribunal whence
of his father, chose also to assume that cognomen. he was speaking, declared that he would rather die
(Suet. Claud. 2.) than forfeit his allegiance, and was about to plunge
In A. D. 7, five years before the legal age (Suet. his sword into his breast, when his attempt was
Cal. 1), he obtained the quaestorship; and in the forcibly stayed by the bystanders. (Tac. Ann.
same year was sent to assist Tiberius in the war i. 35.)
against the Pannonians and Dalmatians. (Dion It was known that the army of the Upper Rhine
Cass. iv. 31). After a distinguished commence- (consisting of four legions, the 2nd, 13th, 16th,
ment of his military career, he returned to Rome in and 14th, which were left in the charge of SiA. D. 10, to announce in person the victorious lius), was tainted with the disaffection of the
termination of the war, whereupon he was honoured troops under Caecina, and from motives of policy
with triumphal insignia (without an actual triumph), it was thought necessary to comply with the deand the rank (not the actual office) of praetor, with mands of the soldiers. A council was held, and a
permission to be a candidate for the consulship be- feigned letter from Tiberius was concocted, in
fore the regular time. (Dion Cass. lvi. 17.) which, after 20 years of service, a full discharge
The successes in Pannonia and Dalmatia were was given; and, after 16 years, an immunity from
followed by the destruction of Varus and his military tasks, other than the duty of taking part
legions. In A. D. 11, Tiberius was despatched to in actions. (Missio sub erilo.) The legacy left
defend the empire against the Germans, and was' by Augustus to the troops was to be doubled and
accompanied by Germanicus as proconsul. The discharged. To satisfy the requisition of the 21st
two generals crossed the Rhine, made various in- and 5th legions, who demanded immediate paycursions into the neighbouring territory, and, at ment, Germanicus exhausted his own purse, and
the beginning of autumn, re-crossed the river. his friends were equally liberal. Having thus,(Dion Cass. lvi. 25.) Germanicus returned to quelled the disturbances in the lower army, by
RIome in the winter, and in the following year dis- almost unlimited concession, he repaired to the
charged the office of consul, though he had never four legions on the Upper Rhine; and though they
been aedile nor praetor. In the highest magistracy, voluntarily took the military oath of obedience, he
he did not scruple to appear as an advocate for the prudently granted them the same indulgence which
accused in courts of justice, and thus increased that had been conferred on their disorderly comrades.
popularity which he had formerly earned by plead- The calm was of short duration. Two legions of
ing for defendants before Augustus himself. Nor the Lower Rhine (the 1st and 20th) had been
was he above ministering to the more vulgar plea- stationed for the winter at Ara Ubiorum (between
sures of the people, for at the games of Mars, he Bonn and Cologne). Hither two deputies from
let loose two hundred lions in the Circus; and the senate arrived with despatches from GerPliny (H. NI. ii. 26) mentions his gladiatorial manicus; and the conscience-stricken soldiers
shows. On the ] 6th of January, in A. D. 13, Tibe- imagined that they were come to revoke the conrius, having returned to Rome, celebrated that cessions which had been extorted by fear. A
triumph over the Pannonians and Dalmatians, formidable tumult again arose, and (according to
which had been postponed on account of the cala- the account of Tacitus) it was only on the demity of Varus; and Germanicus appears, from the parture of Agrippina, the wife of Germanicus, carcelebrated Gemma Augustea (as explained by Mon- rying in her bosom her young boy Caligula, the
gez, Iconographie Romaine, Paris, 1821, p. 62), to darling of the camp, and attended by the wives of
have taken a distinguished part in the celebration. her husband's friends, that the refractory legions
(Suet. Tib. 20.) were smitten with pity and shame. They could
Germanicus was next sent to Germany with the not bear to see so many high-born ladies seek in
command of the eight legions stationed on the the foreign protection of the Treveri that security
Rhine; and from this point of his life his history which was denied to them in the camp of their
is taken up by the masterly hand of Tacitus.' Upon own general; and were so far worked upon by
the death of Augustus, in August, A.D. 14, an the feelings which this incident occasioned as to
alarming mutiny broke out among the legions in inflict summary punishment themselves on the
Germany and Illyricum. In the former country leaders of the revolt. (Tac. Ann. i. 41; comp.
the mutiny commenced among the four legions of Dion Cass. lvii. 5; Zonar. xi. 1.)
the Lower Rhine (the 5th, 21st, 1st, and 20th), The other two legions of the Lower Rhine, the
who were stationed in summer quarters upon the 5th and 21st, with whom the- mutiny began, reborders of the' Ubii, under the charge of A. Cae- mained in a'state of discontent and ferment in their
cina. The time was come, they thought, to raise winter quarters at Castra Vetera (Xanten). Ger