collapse when one sets oneself to prey on natural anxieties. The men had committed themselves to a course which at heart alarmed them. As soon as I realised this, I started putting the question: 'Are you going to swear loyalty to Percennius and Vibulenius? Do you really imagine they can do anything for you? Do you suppose this ex- cheerleader and crazy private are going to replace Tiberius and Drusus as leaders and lords of the Roman world?' You could see these were questions they had been asking in their own hearts. Then I said: 'You want more money? Right? Do you think these two clowns are going to be able to pay you? How can they raise money when the stores in the camp run out? And are they going to provide you with land when you retire? I hadn't heard they had farms to give away. Where are their own estates? Don't you see they have led you by the nose?'
It was great fun. I assure you, Tiberius, I saw one of the poor fools touch his nose, as if feeling the ring they were leading him by.
If Drusus has a fault it is the reflection of his noble and generous nature. That's why I insisted that the ringleaders should be dealt with in summary fashion as soon as the bulk of the men had returned to their senses, for it would only have required a fresh puff of wind to drive them mad again. He hesitated, fearing that punishment of their delinquent leaders would dismay the men. But I knew better. I knew it would please them, and at the same time frighten them. So, without telling Drusus and disturbing his conscience, I sent a contingent of guards to arrest Percennius and Vibulenius, and had them executed. Their bodies were put on show and the effect was remarkable. Some of the other chief men in the mutiny tried to run away, and were easily picked up by my guardsmen. Others were actually surrendered voluntarily by their units, who were only too anxious to disassociate themselves from these wretches.
It is astonishing how a combination of sympathy and terror can undermine even the most formidable-seeming of movements.
Drusus was at first not entirely content with my decisive action, but he was pleasingly appreciative when he saw how effective it had been.
The news from Germany is distressing. I am sure you can trust your nephew, but I receive reports which make me uncertain about some of his methods.
I trust you are taking care of yourself. The health of Rome and the empire depends on the preservation of yours. I pray that you are not suffering from migraines, when your devoted servant is not there to ease them away. The news from Germany was indeed worrying. The mutiny took a different form there, for some of the men clamoured for Germanicus to lead them. If he wanted the throne, they said, then they would back him. This was more rebellion than mutiny. Germanicus was tempted. He admitted that later. A report from a young knight, Marcus Friso, whom I had attached to his staff, convinced me of this. But either his loyalty held, or he deemed the risk too great and lacked the nerve to play the part of Caesar or Sulla. At any rate, he behaved as if they had insulted him, shouting that death was better than disloyalty. Friso reported that: He pulled his sword from his belt and pointed it at his own throat. 'You will force me to kill myself if you press these demands,' he cried. Not everyone was convinced that he meant it. One private soldier named Calusidius called his bluff, for he drew his own sword and offered it to the general remarking that it was a good deal sharper. I can tell you Germanicus turned pale at the offer, and what would have happened next must be uncertain, if some of his friends hadn't managed to hurry him away. It was not an edifying scene. Naturally Friso's report disturbed me. I couldn't but reflect how ashamed my dear brother Drusus would have been of his son's theatrical display.
And the next day Germanicus made another absurd speech in which he proclaimed:
'When you pulled away the sword I was preparing to thrust into my heart' (it had actually, according to reports, been aimed at his neck, where more soldiers could see it) 'your friendly care for me was unwelcome. A better, truer friend was the man who offered me his own sword, for I should then have died with my conscience free of the crimes my own soldiers have committed and are contemplating.'
Then he called on the gods, and invoked the memory of Augustus and his own father Drusus and, in Friso's words, '… spouted windy rhetoric about washing clean the stain of criminal disloyalty… I tell you it again made me ashamed to listen to him…'
And yet he had already by chance delivered the master stroke which brought the soldiers to their senses. Some of those who were present have told me he did it through timidity, others have praised his policy. In such matters there is seldom unanimity of opinion, for no man knows the secret impulses which determine men's actions. He himself ascribed it (naturally) in his letter to me as policy. Perhaps it was. By his account then: It had become apparent to me that my wife, my dear Agrippina, though she has the heart of a lioness, was not safe in the camp, and neither were my beloved children. So I determined to send them away under heavily armed escort. Agrippina was loth to go. As you know, her courage is matchless. She reminded me that she was the grand- daughter of the divine Augustus and the daughter of the great Agrippa, and would be worthy of her blood, whatever the danger. But I could not permit her to stay, in her condition (she is with child again, you will be delighted to hear) and with our youngest son, little Gaius, in attendance. So I insisted.
Then a miracle occurred. A miracle – I say without boasting – which I had foreseen. As soon as I had convinced my wife that she must depart, she burst out into tears of lamentation which rang through the camp, as the wails of Andromache, crouching over the murdered body of her lord, Hector, echoed over the plains of windy Troy. Why did she weep? I answered that she wept because I could no longer trust her or our son, little Gaius, born in the camp and the soldiers' darling. (They call him Caligula – little boots – you know – isn't it charming?) I could no longer trust them, I repeated, to the care and protection of Roman soldiers, but must send them forth, to our allies, the Treviri.
This, as I had guessed it would, broke the men's hearts. 'Will Caligula go?' they cried. 'Can we not be trusted to care for our little darling?'
'No,' I said, 'you cannot. Not while you act as ravening wolves rather than Roman soldiers.' I held my ground. I did not know I had such words in me… So judgment or fortune favoured him. The men submitted. Then followed an extraordinary scene. They themselves arrested the leading rebels and punished them in their own ferocious manner. The men, with drawn swords, stood in a circle. The prisoners were paraded in turn on a platform. If the soldiers shouted guilty, their victim was thrown to them and butchered on the spot. The men revelled in the massacre; it seemed, Friso said, '… as if it purged them of their former guilt. Germanicus meanwhile did nothing. My opinion is that he judged that when the men grew ashamed of this latest manifestation of their own savagery, he would escape blame, though he benefited from it.' There was much that was disquieting in these accounts. Germanicus had triumphed. The result was good. But the manner of its achievement did not inspire me with confidence in my nephew and, by Augustus' will, prospective heir. Certainly his histrionic behaviour contrasted unfavourably with the calm good sense and resolution displayed by Drusus and, of course, Sejanus.
I had myself to endure much criticism for remaining in Rome while these troubles were afoot. Two half-grown boys, men muttered, could not control these mutinous soldiers. I should have gone myself to confront them with the imperial dignity. Or I should have despatched an experienced marshal. I was aware of what was said, saw no cause to answer my critics. If they could not see that I might inspire more awe at a distance, while I could also without deceit revoke any unwise concessions the young generals granted, as soon as it was safe to do so, well, I could not be blamed for my critics' lack of perception. As for the suggestion that I should have sent an experienced marshal, it wasn't for me to point out the danger of such a course. Not on your life. But I had read Roman history if my critics hadn't, and I wasn't prepared to set up a new disturber of the peace, a new Caesar or Antony, backed by an army which he had bribed to return to order by lavish promises of future rewards and favours. I had learned from Augustus to distrust generals who had contrived to extract personal oaths of loyalty, and I saw only too well the danger that such men might offer to the state. Our equilibrium was precarious. I wasn't going to disturb it by offering the opportunity for new dynasts to emerge.
And my strategy worked. The mutinies were suppressed. The frontier was secure again. All the same, I couldn't escape the awareness that Germanicus himself, for all his protestations of loyalty, would have to be watched. There was a rashness, an intemperance about his behaviour which I could not approve.
I remembered Sulla's prescient comment when he was persuaded to allow the young Julius Caesar to escape his proscription and so escape the fate of the other followers and connections of Gaius Marius: 'In that young man there are many Mariuses…'
Yes, Germanicus would have to be watched. Fortunately, I had young Friso to hand; and Sejanus in reserve.
