156
REDUCTION OE THE ALPINE TRIBES.
completely effaced, and such was no doubt the case among the
Cantabri also. After Augustus quitted Spain, the oppression
and cruelty of the Roman governors excited the people again
to rise against Rome; so that several more campaigns had to
be made, before they were completely subdued. Augustus
founded several colonies in Spain : some important towns in
modern Spain owe their origin to him, such as Caesar Augusta
(Saragossa), Julia Emerita (Merida down to the time of the
Arabs, one of the largest towns), Pax Julia (Bcja), Pax
Augusta (Badajoz), and Legio (Leon).
About this time Tiberius, who had already advanced beyond
the age of youth, had the command in Dalmatia, and reduced
the inhabitants to submission. M. Crassus, a Roman governor,
had before that time carried on a war in Moesia, repelled the
Sarmatians beyond the Danube, and extended the empire as
far as that river. Pannonia too submitted during Tiberius’
Dalmatian campaign.
It was during the interval between the war against the
Cantabri, and the Dalmatian expedition of Tiberius, that
Augustus closed the temple of Janus. This temple had been
closed only twice during the whole period of Rome’s existence,
once in the mythical age, under Numa, and the second time
after the first Punic war, in the consulship of T. Manlius
Torquatus (517).5 Augustus is said to have closed it three
times in his reign6; but this may be merely an inconsiderate
statement of Suetonius.
It was either now, or even before going to Spain, that
Augustus resolved to subdue the Alpine tribes, from the
Salassi in the valley of Aosta to the mountain tribes of Raetia
and Noricum. The latter country was governed by kings
under the protection of Rome. The greater part of those tribes
belonged to the Tuscan race of the Vindelicians and to the
Raetians It is probable that the Raetians did not extend
farther than the valley of the lower Inn, and I believe that the
upper part of that river on the northern side of the Tyrolese
Alps, as far as the Danube, was occupied by the Vindelicians,
who belonged to the Liburnian race, like the Pannonians who
were neither Illyrians nor Gauls, and are called by the Greeks,
Paeonians; it is expressly stated that they had a language of
5 Livy, i. 19 ; Varro, De Ling. Lat, vι. 165; Veil. Γaterc. ii. 38; Orosiub, iv. 12.
fi Sucton. Aug. 22.
THE GERMAN WARS.
157
their own- The Helvctii had been subjects of Rome ever
since the time of Caesar. Of the manner in which these
Alpine nations were subdued by Tiberius and Drusus, we
know little, for our accounts are very obscure and confused.
Baron von Hormayr7 has made a romance out of them; his
intention is to impress upon the German and Italian Tyrolese
the necessity of keeping together, which is indeed an important
point, and the historian deserves praise for urging it: but it
ought not to be based upon an arbitrary treatment of history;
which in this case has in fact been of no avail. It is
evident, however, that the war was carried on by the
Romans according to a well-organised plan; that the attacks
were made from ItalyandHelvetia; that the Romans gradually
penetrated into all the recesses of the Alps, even where there
were no roads, but only foot-paths, as in the middle ages, and
that the subjugation of the Alpine tribes was so complete that
afterwards not even an attempt was made to shake off the
Roman yoke.8 In the course of this campaign, Augustus
founded Augusta Vindelicorum (Augsburg), a colony of vete-
rans, like all the others which he established during that period.
As henceforth the veterans received the places where they had
been stationed as permanent settlements, they gradually became
regular and peaceable citizens. In the later times of the em-
pire, the sons of such colonists had to perform certain military
duties, the origin of which I do not know, nor do I believe that
any information about it is to be found in ancient authors:
they were the guardians of the frontiers, and were exempt
from taxes, but they were obliged to be always ready to fight.
The German wars, which commenced in 740, were the con-
sequence of the conquests in the Alps. The Sigambri seem
before this time to have invaded the left bank of the Rhine in
our neighbourhood ; but they had been repelled by the Romans,
who advanced as far as the Westerwald, though they did not
make any conquests. In 740, the Romans attacked the Ger-
mans both on the Danube and on the lower Rhine. The fact
that such attacks were never made on the upper Rhine, as far
down as the river Lahn, shews that Suabia was not then a
German country; it did not become one until the Alemanni
7 In his Geschichte von Tyrol, i. p. 89, foil.
6 A list of the Alpine tribes subdued in that campaign is preserved in Pliny
(Hist. Nat. Hi. 24), who took it from an inscription.