158 GERMAN WARS UNDER DKUSUS AND TIBERIUS.
settled there. All we know about this war is vague and indefi-
nite, and the account in Dion Cassius is unfortunately mutilated.9
It may have been in these campaigns that, as my friend Roth
conjectures, Domitius Ahenobarbus penetrated into Germany
across the Elbe in Bohemia ; for, in the subsequent invasions,
we mostly find the Romans inarching towards the Elbe from
the lower Rhine. The war was conducted by Tiberius’ younger
brother, Nero Claudius Drusus, in three campaigns. He ad-
vanced from the lower Rhine across the Weser, as far as the
Elbe, and subdued the Bructeri, Sigambri (who were then very
renowned), Cherusci, and Othertribes. Thedetails of his cam-
paign are not known, and localities are scarcely ever mentioned,
since the Germans had no towns. Their only protection was
the impassable nature of their country; for they had no fortified
places ; and, when they met the Romans in the open field, they
were usually beaten, being unable to resist the military skill of
the Romans. Their country was now ravaged; women and
children were carried off into slavery, and the men were put to
death like wild beasts; for, although Drusus was otherwise of a
mild disposition, considering what the Romans then were, yet
he was, like Varus, a great sinner (aλιτηριoς) towards the
Germans. He died in his camp, not without a suspicion of
Tiberius having caused his death ; but this may have been be-
lieved only on account of the hatred which Tiberius entertained
against the family of his brother, especially against Germanicus.
All that Tiberius could have feared was, that Drusus, like
Germanicus, might indulge in the fair dream of restoring the
republic.10
In 745, after the death of Drusus, Tiberius took the command;
and his triumph over the Germans was followed by his with-
drawal io Rhodes. During the seven years of his absence, few
important events occurred, except that the Bructeri defeated
the legate M. Lollius, destroyed his legion, and captured the
standards. After the return of Tiberius, he received the com-
mand in Gaul, to complete the subjugation of Germany; he
9 Thelate Abbé Morelli discovered in the Venetian MS of Dion Cassius, some
fragments referring to this war, on which however they throw but little light. It
is evident that the passages wanting in our editions were left out by the transcriber
of the Venetian MS, from which all others are derived, in order to shorten his
labour, and impose upon the purchaser. — N.
‘° A monument was erected to Drusus on the Rhine, and was for many gener
ations a sacred SpottoRomans and strangers; but its site ɪs unknown.—N.
MAROBOnUUS.
159
penetrated as far as the Elbe, and reduced the Sigambii, Bruc-
teri, and Cherusci to obedience. On the Elbe, he was joined
by the Roman fleet, which had been fitted out on the river
Ems, or had come from the Rhine to the Ems. How it got
up the Elbe cannot be explained; it may have gone up as far as
Magdeburg; and yet the Roman gallies could not sail against
the current like steam-boats. After this campaign, Tiberius left
Germany, as his predecessors had done, and as many of his
successors did after him; for the intention of the Romans was
merely to crush the Germans, not to put themselves in possess-
ion of their country, which they can Iiardly have thought worth
the trouble of occupying.
While the Germans north of the Thiiringer Wald and about
the Harz mountains were thus visited by the Romans, there
existed in Bohemia the great kingdom of Maroboduus, who
is a strange and mysterious phenomenon in the early history of
Germany. It is expressly stated11 that he had a large town
(Roviasmum) for his capital, a regular army of 70,000 men,
and 4,000 horsemen, a body-guard, and definite political in-
stitutions. Justus Moser is perfectly right in saying that the
Germans, in the descriptions of the Romans, must not be con-
ceived of as more uncivilised than the modern peasants of
Westphalia, or lower Saxony. Their dwelling-houses, 1800
years ago, wore, I believe, not different from the more common
ones in our own days, and the habitations of their chiefs were
the same as the buildings of the middle ages. The notion that
the ancient Germans were savages is completely false; they
were neither more nor less than uncultivated country-people,
to whom life in towns was altogether unknown. Venantius
Fortunatus in his poem to Radagunda, speaks of the ruined
magnificence of her father’s empire, and the brass-covered
palaces of her ancestors, the kings of Thiiringia. Moser has
shewn clearly that there is no ground whatever for seeking
information respecting our forefathers in the forests of North
America, or the islands of the South Sea, and yet people seem
at present again inclined to go back to their old notions. I do
not mean to say that the habitations of the ancient Germans
were the same in every respect as those of the present time, for
in winter, e. g., they were no doubt obliged to have lights in
the day-time, all the openings of the house being closed with
11 Strabo, vii. p. 290. Compare Veil. Paterc. ii. 108, foil.