Part 6 (1/2)

[100] Andalusia and Granada.

[101] The Treviri have given their name to Trier (Treves), the Lingones to Langres.

[102] i.e. two right hands locked in friends.h.i.+p.

[103] At Bonn and at Vetera.

[104] At Vetera and at Neuss.

[105] At Mainz.

[106] The Ubii had been allowed by Agrippa to move their chief town from the right to the left bank of the Rhine. Ten or twelve years later (A.D. 50) a colony of Roman veterans was planted there and called _Colonia Claudia Augusta Agrippinensium_, because Agrippina, the mother of Nero, had been born there.

[107] These were thin bosses of silver, gold, or bronze, chased in relief, and worn as medals are.

[108] This important innovation was established as the rule by Hadrian. These officials--nominally the private servants of the emperor, and hitherto imperial freedmen--formed an important branch of the civil service. (Cp. note 165.)

[109] Cp. chap. 46.

[110] Cp. chap. 12.

[111] Cp. chap. 7.

[112] The leader of the great revolt on the Rhine, described in Book IV.

[113] The ancestors of the Dutch who lived on the island formed by the Lek and the Waal between Arnhem and Rotterdam; its eastern part is still called Betuwe.

[114] Chap. 56.

[115] His supposed murder by Vitellius is described, iii. 38, 39.

[116] Legio Prima Italica, formed by Nero.

[117] Called after Statilius Taurus, who first enlisted it. He was Pro-consul of Africa under Nero. Cp. note 146.

[118] Their mutiny in A.D. 69 is described by Tacitus, _Agr._ 16.

[119] i.e. by detachments from it.

[120] Mt. Cenis.

[121] Great St. Bernard.

[122] i.e. he had the main body of the Legion V, known as 'The Larks', and only detachments from the other legions.

[123] Known as 'Rapax', and stationed at Windisch (Vindonissa), east of the point where the Rhine turns to flow north.

THE MARCH OF VALENS' COLUMN

On the very day of departure a happy omen greeted Fabius Valens and the army under his command. As the column advanced, an eagle flew steadily ahead and seemed to lead the way. Loudly though the soldiers cheered, hour after hour the bird flew undismayed, and was taken for a sure omen of success.

They pa.s.sed peaceably through the country of the Treviri, who were 63 allies. At Divodurum,[124] the chief town of the Mediomatrici, although they were welcomed with all courtesy, the troops fell into a sudden panic. Hastily seizing their arms, they began to ma.s.sacre the innocent citizens. Their object was not plunder. They were seized by a mad frenzy, which was the harder to allay as its cause was a mystery.