[286] Indeed, it is only the other day[287] that
Quintilius Varus was killed, when slavery was driven out of Germany,
and they brought into the field not the Emperor Vitellius but Caesar
Augustus himself. Why, liberty is the natural prerogative even of dumb
animals: courage is the peculiar attribute of man. Heaven helps the
brave. Come, then, fall upon them while your hands are free and theirs
are tied, while you are fresh and they are weary. Some of them are for
Vespasian, others for Vitellius; now is your chance to crush both
parties at once.'
Civilis thus had his eye on Gaul and Germany and aspired, had his 18
project prospered, to become king of two countries, one pre-eminent in
wealth and the other in military strength.
FOOTNOTES:
[264] Cp. iii. 46.
[265] One of the greatest and most warlike of the German
tribes living in the modern Hessen-Nassau and Waldeck. Tacitus
describes them at length in his _Germania_.
[266] i.e. a stretch of land about sixty miles in length, from
Nymwegen to the Hook of Holland, enclosed by the diverging
mouths of the Rhine, the northern of which is now called the
Lek, the southern the Waal (in Tacitus' time Vahalis). The
name Betuwe is still applied to the eastern part of this
island.
[267] In the _Germania_ Tacitus says that, like weapons, they
are kept exclusively for use in war, and are spared the
indignity of taxation.
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