252
WAR WITH THE GERMANS.
and no less by the wars witlι the Germans. Ever since
Augustus, the German tribes had attacked the Romans only
on the frontiers. In the time of Tacitus, we see a peaceful
relation established between the two nations, and some of the
German tribes, such as the Hermunduri, even carried on an
active commerce with the Romans. The limes (a wall with a
ditch), ran from the river Main, commencing at the point
where the Spessart mountain approaches nearest to the river,
to where the Altmilhl empties itself into the Danube, not far
from Ratisbon. Franconia, Suabia and the Palatinate, east of
the Rhine, were tributary to the Romans, who had good roads
between Frankfort and Ratisbon. The ancient inhabitants of
those southern parts were either all Gauls or at least over-
whelmed by Gallic settlements ; but the country was very
thinly peopled, and only the Sigambri and Bructeri had taken
part in the attempt of the nations west of the Rhine to shake
off the Roman yoke, in the reign of Vespasian. The same
may have been the case under Hadrian, who maintained
peace by giving presents to the nations on the frontiers. In
the reign of Antoninus Pius, we hear of a defensive war against
the Chatti1, which is the first symptom of a movement among
the Germans ; and this movement was evidently caused by the
advance of the Slavonic nations from the East. In the reign
of M. Aurelius, there was a general commotion among the
Germans who were fleeing before their enemies, and threw
themselves upon the Romans. The Marcomanni then stood
forth most prominently among the Germans.2 In the German,
or, as it is usually called, the Marcomannian war, which now
broke out, the Marcomanni, Quadi, Chatti and a number of
other German tribes, and at the same time the Sarmatian
tribes, which were otherwise hostile to the former, made their
first and joint attacks upon the Roman frontier from Dacia to
Gaul ; they advanced into Ractia, and penetrated even as far
as Aquileia.3 The history of this war would be of great
interest to us; but the extant accounts of it do not enable us
to form a clear notion of it. Xiphilinus' abridgment of Dion
1 J. Capitolin. Anton. Pius, 5, M. Antonin Philos. 8; Pausanias, viii. 43. 3.
2 The name of the Marcomanni disappears in history soon after this war;
they were either overwhelmed by Slavonic tribes, or their nation was broken up,
and entered into different relations.—N.
3 Lucian, Alexand, 48 ; J. Capitolin. ɪ Antonin. Philos. 14.
Insukrection of λvidius cassius.
253
Cassius is in this part scarcely worth anything; and there are
some important facts connected with this war, for a knowledge
of which we are indebted to medals alone, which henceforth
form a very good guide. This much, however, is clear, that
the Marcomannian war was divided into two distinct periods,
and that it was interrupted by a peace or a truce4, in which
the places taken by both parties were given up ; the war broke
out again with fresh fury in the last years of the reign of
M. Aurelius. Many particulars of the war are represented in
the excellent bas-reliefs on the Antonine column at Rome,
though they are much damaged. There we see, for example,
barbarian princes submitting to the emperor, or suing for
mercy. We cannot believe that these are inventions’ of
flattery; for Aurelius would not have tolerated flattery, and
there can be no doubt that, during the last years of the war,
the Romans were victorious, though not without the most
extraordinary exertions, and that if M. Aurelius had lived
longer, he would have made Marcomannia and Sarmatia
Roman provinces.® But the war was interrupted by the
insurrection of Avidius Cassius in Syria.
The history of this period is so extremely obscure, that we
can say nothing with certainty of the descent of Avidius Cas-
sius. According to some, he was a native of the island of
Cyprus6 or of Syria. According to others, he belonged to the
Roman gens Cassia7 either in the male line or by a woman of
that gens who had married into his father’s family. This is
not impossible, even if he was of eastern origin. The former
statement has something improbable about it ; for it is not likely
that natives of Greek provinces should have been raised to the
highest offices in the Roman armies, as early as that time. In
the countries where Latin was spoken, it made no difference
where a man was born, whether he was a Spaniard, an African,
or a Roman ; but the case of orientals who spoke Greek was
different. Avidius Cassius was a remarkable man, and was
distinguished as a military commander. The Roman armies
were at that time recruited from the military colonies and the
4 J. Capitolin. Antonin. Phil. 12, 17; Eutropius, viii. 6. Compare Dion
Cass. Ixxi. 13, foil.
5 J. Capitolin. M. Antonin. Phil. 24; Dion Cass. Ixxi. 20.
6 J. Capitolin. M Antonin. Phd. 25; Dion Cass. Ixxi. 22.
7 Vulcat. Gallicanus, Avid. Cassiusf 1»