Hero Tales and Legends of the Rhine | Page 9

The basin of the river between Strassburg and Mainz was
inhabited by the Tribacci, Nemetes, and Vangiones, further south by
the Matiacci near Wiesbaden, and the Ubii in the district of Cologne.

Further north lay the Sugambri, and the delta of the river in the Low
Countries was the seat of the brave Batavii, from whom came the bulk
of the legions by means of which Agricola obtained a footing in far
Caledonia. Before the Roman invasion of their territories these tribes
were constantly engaged in internecine warfare, a condition of affairs
not to be marvelled at when we learn that at their tribal councils the
warrior regarded as an inspired speaker was he who was most
powerfully affected by the potations in which all habitually indulged to
an extent which seemed to the cultured Roman as bestial in the last
degree. The constant bearing of arms, added to their frequent addiction
to powerful liquors, also seemed to render the Germanic warriors
quarrelsome to excess, and to provoke intertribal strife.
The Romans in the Rhine Country
Caesar is the first Roman writer to give us any historical data
concerning the peoples who inhabited the basin of the Rhine. He
conquered the tribes on the left bank, and was followed a generation or
so later by Augustus, who established numerous fortified posts on the
river. But the Romans never succeeded in obtaining a firm occupancy
of the right bank. Their chief object in colonizing the Rhine territory
was to form an effective barrier between themselves and the restless
barbarian tribes of the Teutonic North, the constant menace of whose
invasion lay as a canker at the heart of rich and fruitful Italy. With the
terror of a barbarian inroad ever before their eyes, the cohorts of the
Imperial City constructed a formidable vallum, or earthen wall, from
the vicinity of Linz to Regensburg, on the Danube, a distance of three
hundred and fifty miles, for the purpose of raising a barrier against the
advance of the warlike men of the North. They further planted a colony
of veterans in the Black Forest neighbourhood in order that invasion
might be resisted from that side. But as the Empire began to exhibit
signs of decadence the barbarians were quick to recognize the
symptoms of weakness in those who barred their advance to the
wealthy South, the objective of their dreams, hurled themselves against
the boundary, now rendered feeble by reason of the withdrawal of its
most experienced defenders, and, despite a stern resistance, flooded the
rich valleys of the Rhine, swamped the colonies on the left bank which

had imbibed Roman civilization, and made all wholly Teutonic.
The Rebellion of the Barbarians
This was, however, a process of years, and by no means a speedy
conquest. The closing years of Augustus’ reign were clouded by a
general rising of the Rhine peoples. Quintilius Varus, an officer who
had been entrusted with the government of the provinces beyond the
Rhine, proved totally unequal to curbing the bolder spirits among the
Germans, who under their chief, Arminius, boldly challenged the forces
of this short-sighted officer. Arminius belonged to the Cherusci. He had
served with the German horsemen in the Rhenish armies, and was
conversant with the Latin language. Observing that half, at least, of the
Roman forces were on leave, he incited the tribes of Lower Saxony to
revolt. The weak Varus, who had underestimated the influence of
Arminius, attempted to quell the rising, but without success, and the
bank of the river was the scene of a wholesale slaughter. Varus,
completely losing his nerve, attempted to separate the cavalry from the
infantry and endeavoured to escape with three squadrons of the former;
but the Germans surrounded them, and after a hand-to-hand struggle of
three days the Roman army was annihilated. The news of this disaster
prompted the aged Emperor to dispatch his son Tiberius to suppress
what appeared to be a general rising of the North. The Rhenish tribes,
however, were too wary to meet the powerful force now sent against
them in the open field, and during the remainder of the year Tiberius,
left in peace, occupied himself in strengthening the Rhine fortifications.
He was soon after recalled to Rome to assume the purple on the death
of Augustus. Germanicus, who had taken command of the legions on
the Rhine, became conscious of discontent among the soldiers, who
threatened to carry him into Rome and thrust him into the seat of
empire. But he soothed the passions of his soldiers by gifts and
promises. A road was opened from the Rhine into the German
hinterland, and Germanicus led his army into the heart of a country of
which he knew but little to avenge the disasters of the Varian legions.
The forest folk eluded the