Mutiny+on+the+Rhine

**Background Information** At the death of Augustus many legions in Germania began to mutiny. The main goals of the mutiny were to have higher wages, less years of service, as well as other retirement benefits. The Twentieth and first legions had given their loyalty directly to Augustus and not to Rome itself and so when he died they thought Germanicus should become emperor instead of Tiberius. At this point it is believed that Germanicus threatened that he would rather die than betray Rome. Germanicus however, proceeds to handle the rest extremely poorly and forges papers signed by Tiberius giving the men the concessions they had asked for. There are two different version of what happens next. The first is that the men instantly notice that there is something wrong and so they start to push to make sure that their demands are met. While another version points out that the men didn't realize that it was a fake until the arrival of the envoys and then realizing that their concessions might not apply they began to revolt.

**Article** 39 Meanwhile the deputation from the senate found [|Germanicus], who had returned by then, at the Altar of the Ubians. Two legions were wintering there, the first and twentieth; also the veterans recently discharged and now with their colours. Nervous as they were and distraught with the consciousness of guilt, the fear came over them that a senatorial commission had arrived to revoke all the concessions extorted by their rebellion. With the common propensity of crowds to find a victim, however false the charge, they accused Munatius Plancus, an ex-consul who was at the head of the deputation, of initiating the decree. Before the night was far advanced, they began to shout for the colours kept in Germanicus' quarters. There was a rush to the gate; they forced the door, and, dragging the prince from bed, compelled him on pain of death to hand over the ensign. A little later, while roving the streets, they lit on the envoys themselves, who had heard the disturbance and were hurrying to Germanicus. They loaded them with insults, and contemplated murder; especially in the case of Plancus, whose dignity had debarred him from flight. Nor in his extremity had he any refuge but the quarters of the first legion. There, clasping the standards and the eagle, he lay in sanctuary; and had not the eagle-bearer Calpurnius shielded him from the crowning violence, then — by a crime almost unknown even between enemies — an ambassador of the Roman people would in a Roman camp have defiled with his blood the altars of heaven. At last, when the dawn came and officer and private and the doings of the night were recognized for what they were, Germanicus entered the camp, ordered Plancus to be brought to him, and took him on to the tribunal. Then, rebuking the "fatal madness, rekindled not so much by their own anger as by that of heaven," he gave the reasons for the deputies' arrival. He was plaintively eloquent upon the rights of ambassadors and the serious and undeserved outrage to Plancus, as also upon the deep disgrace contracted by the legion. Then, after reducing his hearers to stupor, if not to peace, he dismissed the deputies under a guard of auxiliary cavalry.

40 During these alarms, Germanicus was universally blamed for not proceeding to the upper army, where he could count on obedience and on help against the rebels:— "Discharges, donations, and soft-hearted measures had done more than enough mischief. Or, if he held his own life cheap, why keep an infant son and a pregnant wife among madmen who trampled on all laws, human or divine? These at any rate he ought to restore to their grandfather and the commonwealth." He was long undecided, and [|Agrippina]met the proposal with disdain, protesting that she was a descendant of the deified Augustus, and danger would not find her degenerate. At last, bursting into tears, he embraced their common child, together with herself and the babe to be, and so induced her to depart. Feminine and pitiable the procession began to move — the commander's wife in flight with his infant son borne on her breast, and round her the tearful wives of his friends, dragged like herself from their husbands. Nor were those who remained less woe-begone.

 41 The picture recalled less a Caesar at the zenith of force and in his own camp than a scene in a taken town. The sobbing and wailing drew the ears and eyes of the troops themselves. They began to emerge from quarters:— "Why," they demanded, "the sound of weeping? What calamity had happened? Here were these ladies of rank, and not a centurion to guard them, not a soldier, no sign of the usual escort or that this was the general's wife! They were bound for the Treviri— handed over to the protection of foreigners." There followed shame and pity and memories of her father Agrippa, of Augustus her grandfather. She was the daughter-in‑law of Drusus, herself a wife of notable fruitfulness and shining chastity. There was also her little son, born in the camp and bred the playmate of the legions; whom soldier-like they had dubbed "Bootikins" — Caligula — because, as an appeal to the fancy of the rank and file, he generally wore the footgear of that name. Nothing, however, swayed them so much as their jealousy of the Treviri. They implored, they obstructed:— "She must come back, she must stay," they urged; some running to intercept Agrippina, the majority hurrying back to Germanicus. Still smarting with grief and indignation, he stood in the centre of the crowd, and thus began:—

42 "Neither my wife nor my son is dearer to me than my father and my country; but his own majesty will protect my father, and its other armies the empire. My wife and children I would cheerfully devote to death in the cause of your glory; as it is, I am removing them from your madness. Whatever this impending villainy of yours may prove to be, I prefer that it should be expiated by my own blood only, and that you should not treble your guilt by butchering the great-grandson of Augustus and murdering the daughter-in‑law of Tiberius. For what in these latter days have you left unventured or unviolated? What name am I to give a gathering like this? Shall I call you soldiers — who have besieged the son of your emperor with your earthworks and your arms? Or citizens — who have treated the authority of the senate as a thing so abject? You have outraged the privileges due even to an enemy, the sanctity of ambassadors, the law of nations. The deified Julius crushed the insurrection of an army by one word: they refused the soldiers' oath, and he addressed them as Quirites. A look, a glance, from the deified Augustus, and the legions of Actium quailed. I myself am not yet as they, but I spring of their line, and if the garrisons of Spain or Syria were to flout me, it would still be a wonder and an infamy. And is it the first and twentieth legions, — the men who took their standards from Tiberius, and you who have shared his many fields and thriven on his many bounties, — that make this generous return to their leader? Is this the news I must carry to my father, while he hears from other provinces that all is well — that his own recruits, his own veterans, are not sated yet with money and dismissals; that here only centurions are murdered, tribunes ejected, generals imprisoned; that camp and river are red with blood, while I myself linger out a precarious life among men that seek to take it away? 43 "For why, in the first day's meeting, my short-sighted friends, did you wrench away the steel I was preparing to plunge in my breast? Better and more lovingly the man who offered me his sword! At least I should have fallen with not all my army's guilt upon my soul. You would have chosen a general, who, while leaving my own death unpunished, would have avenged that of  [|Varus and his three legions]. For, though the Belgians offer their services, G od forbid that theirs should be the honour and glory of vindicating the Roman name and quelling the nations of Germany! May thy spirit, Augustus, now received with thyself into heaven, — may thy image, my father Drusus, and the memory of thee, be with these same soldiers of yours, whose hearts are already opening to the sense of shame and of glory, to cancel this stain and convert our civil broils to the destruction of our enemies! And you yourselves — for now I am looking into changed faces and changed minds — if you are willing to restore to the senate its deputies, to the emperor your obedience, and to me my wife and children, then stand clear of the infection and set the malignants apart: that will be a security of repentance — that a guarantee of loyalty!"   44 His words converted them into suppliants; they owned the justice of the charges and begged him to punish the guilty, forgive the erring, and lead them against the enemy. Let him recall his wife; let the nursling of the legions return: he must not be given in hostage to Gauls! His wife, he answered, must be excused: she could hardly return with winter and her confinement impending.His son, however, should come back to them: what was still to be done they could do themselves. — They were changed men now; and, rushing in all directions, they threw the most prominent of the mutineers into chains and dragged them to Gaius Caetronius, legate of the first legion, who dealt out justice — and punishment — to them one by one by the following method. The legions were stationed in front with drawn swords; the accused was displayed on the platform by a tribune; if they cried "Guilty," he was thrown down and hacked to death. The troops revelled in the butchery, which they took as an act of purification; nor was Germanicus inclined to restrain them — the orders had been none of his, and the perpetrators of the cruelty would have to bear its odium. The veterans followed the example, and shortly afterwards were ordered to [|Raetia]; nominally to defend the province against a threatened Suevian invasion,actually to remove them from a camp grim even yet with remembered crimes and the equal horror of their purging. Then came a revision of the list of centurions. Each, on citation by the commander-in‑chief, gave his name, company, and country; the number of his campaigns, his distinctions in battle and his military decorations, if any. If the tribunes and his legion bore testimony to his energy and integrity, he kept his post; if they agreed in charging him with rapacity or cruelty, he was dismissed from the service. 45 This brought the immediate troubles to a standstill; but there remained an obstacle of equal difficulty in the defiant attitude of the fifth and twenty-first legions, which were wintering some sixty miles away at the post known as the Old Camp. They had been the first to break into mutiny; the worst atrocities had been their handiwork; and now they persisted in their fury, undaunted by the punishment and indifferent to the repentance of their comrades. The Caesar, therefore, arranged for the dispatch of arms, vessels, and auxiliaries down the Rhine, determined, if his authority were rejected, to try conclusions with the sword.

 This article shows many different aspects of Roman life. The first being that there was a mutiny at all, this shows unrest in the men and the troops, a lack of loyalty to Rome herself as well as pointing out that the soldiers were unhappy with how they were being treated since they wanted concessions. Once the rebellion had started there is proof that Marius' army reforms had indeed worked. The men demanded the ensign and if they did not get it they had threatened to kill Germanicus.  Another example of Roman life being shown is when Agrippina the elder and Caligula are being sent away from the camp to go back to Rome. The men realize what they have done and begin to feel ashamed. They ask Germanicus to keep his wife and son behind, implying that they will not hurt them. Germanicus agrees to keep Caligula, but not Agrippina. This shows the way women and children were treated, as if they were precious and should not be hurt nor see violence, but it also shows that they were well liked and that men still took pity on women.  Next this article shows a part of an ancient Roman scare tactic that was still being used up until recent times. "In this news I must carry to my father, while he hears from other provinces that all is well". This way of handling things shows that the emperor still has complete power over the men and can carry out what ever punishment that he sees fit for the crime that has been committed. This article also goes into detail on the brutality of the punishment that was used on those who started the rebellion. They were betrayed and killed by their own men, who seemed to revel in it. Though the article calls it an act of purification of the troops there is clearly an extreme harshness here that seems to be overlooked by the writer. Pointing out that punishments like this probably happened as often as it was deemed necessary and that they were equally brutal.  Finally, there is the last paragraph of the article. It discuss two other legions that had broken out into mutiny before the legions of Germanicus had. They were still rebelling and were refusing to stop because of this an army was sent to stop them. If they accepted the emperor's authority then they would be spared, but if not they would be all killed. This shows two different things. First, that the Roman army needed as many men as possible to help keep up it's borders, which is why they were not killed on the spot. Secondly, even though they did need the men, there was no point in keeping the men alive if they were merely going to cause trouble to the Empire as a whole. It shows a level of calculating, cold logic to look at two legions and say that they are rebelling and if they refuse to stop that they would kill every single one of them. It also shows loyalty to the empire because the other men can go and kill their comrades. Finally, it shows how the people have to agree with this action because if not the emperor would have been seen as corrupt and murdered or overthrown by family or other citizens.

** Some Unanswered Questions ** What was meant when it is said that Agrippina had her confinement impending?What was the Upper Army?

<span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: georgia,palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Questions: <span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: georgia,palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">What is the Alter of Ubians?

<span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: georgia,palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">What were the concessions of their rebellion?

<span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: georgia,palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Shout for the colours kept in Germanicus’ quarters. What does this mean?

<span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: georgia,palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Who is Plancus and why was he particularly considered to be murdered?

<span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: georgia,palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Works Cited <span style="color: #064209; display: block; font-family: georgia,palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">I really appreciated your opening piece that gave some background information. This was very helpful and did a good job of introducing the article. Somethings I would consider would be breaking up your summary into a few paragraphs and perhaps adding a table of contents. -Patricia Ollila

<span style="color: #610000; display: block; font-family: 'Courier New',Courier,monospace; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;">For such a lengthy text you do a wonderful job of quickly summarizing it for the reader. Providing a bit of background information was a good idea as well, although I don’t know that it helped much with my comprehension of the text. There is a portion of the text where I believe you added Caligula’s name into the document, the formatting in which this is done is a bit distracting. Most often when things like this are added for clarification later on it is put into brackets in a similar font. I would also suggest that your summary be broken up a bit so that is a little easier to read. All in all though, it is well done. -JaimeLM

<span style="color: #c90b0b; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">I like the background introductory paragraph, it paints a good picture. Your summary is well written. It does get a little confusing because it is in one big paragraph. Nothing a little formatting can't fix. Good use of english making it easy to understand. - Peter L.