The Roman Army: A Social and Institutional History - Karatunov.net

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The Roman A rmy
the season, Germanicus mounted a few raids on the Chatti and the Marsi to offset
the disaster, in case the Germans thought that he was weakened beyond repair.
In the lands of the Marsi, the Romans found another eagle standard from
the army of Varus.
The German campaigns were finished for the time being, but it would require
further wars under more generals before the Romans settled on the Rhine
as the frontier. Although Germanicus would have liked to have stayed for more
c a m p a i gning to com p l ete the su bju ga ti on of the German tri be s , Ti berius rec
a ll ed him at the end of ad 1 6 . Th ere was a splendid triu m ph in Rom e , a n d
Germanicus’s popularity was underlined when all the Praetorian cohorts came
out to meet him instead of the two that had been ordered to do so. Tacitus continually
harps on the jealousy that Tiberius felt for his adopted son, which may
or may not be true. Tiberius certainly knew how to impose discipline and res
pect , but he did not have the knack of making the soldiers love him. At any
rate, either because he was the best man for the job or because Tiberius wanted
him out of the way, Germanicus was sent to the east, basing himself in Syria to
ensure that the Parthians did not attempt to take over Armenia. Friction arose
when Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso was sent out as legate to govern Syria, and within
three years of leaving Germany, Germanicus was dead. It was said that Piso had
been ordered to watch and hinder Germanicus, and when he died, perhaps of
food poisoning, it was also said that Piso and his wife had poisoned Tiberius’s
on ly serious riva l . Piso was acc u s ed of the crime and tri ed in the Sen a te , but
committed suicide when it was clear that he was to be found guilty. No one has
ever solved the mystery, and it has remained a useful tool for historical novelists
ever since.
Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo
The hallmarks of Domitius Corbulo were harsh discipline, determined intransigence,
and careful planning. His reputation in this respect has perhaps been exaggerated
by Tacitus, who portrayed in Corbulo the embodiment of the old Roman
virtues that he admired in the generals of the Republic. Corbulo fought for
Rome under Claudius and Nero, when the Empire was still young and the Republic
was still a vivid memory. He was suffect consul in ad 39 and was given a
command in Lower Germ a ny in ad 4 7 , t h o u gh the area was not yet a province—that
was a development of Domitian’s reign.
The coasts of Gaul and the lands of Lower Germany were continually raided
by a band of m en com m a n ded by a ren egade tri besman of the Ca n n i n ef a te s ,
c a ll ed Gannascus, who had served as a Roman auxiliary. He had assem bl ed a
f l eet and re s orted to pirac y, and was acc u s ed of i n c i ting the Chauci to revo l t .
Corbulo re s pon ded by bri n ging up tri remes and other ships of s h a ll ower