Legions of Rome

by Stephen Dando-Collins

  AD 70

  XXVII. LOSING THE RHINE

  Death, or desertion

  On January 1, Vocula’s legionaries at Bonna and Novaesium swore a fresh oath of allegiance to Vespasian. With the civil war at an end, the new administration could focus on Civilis. Yet, far from being promptly extinguished, the flame of revolt was about to grow even larger and threaten to engulf all of Gaul.

  Across Gaul, a rumor proliferated that the bases of the legions in Moesia and Pannonia were surrounded by Sarmatian and Dacian invaders. Another rumor had the legions in Britain in trouble against local tribes. And word spread that in Vitellius’ final days the sacred sanctuary of Jupiter on the Capitoline Mount had been destroyed by fire. Only the latter was true, but to many provincials this all seemed to signal that the end of the Roman Empire was at hand.

  Inspired by the success of Civilis, and encouraged by these rumors, Julius Classicus, descendant of a noble Treveran family and prefect of the Treveran Horse, a unit in Vocula’s army, called a covert meeting in Cologne of representatives of four Belgic tribes. Supported by Julius Tutor, Classicus’ Treveran Horse deputy, and Tullius Valentinus, a leading noble of the Treveri, Classicus urged the tribes to rise while Rome was on her knees. The meeting broke up with messages being taken away to the other tribes of Gaul urging them to join a rising in the spring to throw off Roman control and join Civilis in creating “the Empire of Gaul.”

  With the arrival of spring, Vocula marched his legions and auxiliaries out of Novaesium and headed down the Rhine to again relieve Old Camp. Leading Vocula’s advance was the cavalry under Classicus and Tutor, who, when they reached Old Camp, promptly joined Civilis. Stunned by this treachery, Vocula withdrew.

  Classicus and his cavalry shadowed Vocula all the way back to Novaesium, setting up a camp 2 miles (3.2 kilometers) away. Hoping to talk sense into these auxiliaries, Vocula sent centurions and leading legionaries to their camp, where Classicus offered the emissaries massive bribes to change sides. A legionary from the 1st Germanica named Aemilius Longinus deserted then and there. Loyal centurions returning to Novaesium warned Vocula that many legionaries would seriously consider accepting Classicus’ offer and would convince others to do the same. Sensing the seditious mood in the Roman camp, Vocula’s staff urged him to slip away. Instead, the general called an assembly.

  “Never, when I have addressed you,” Vocula began, looking around his assembled troops, “have I felt more anxious for your welfare, never more indifferent about my own.” He reminded them of the legions’ past glories, of the courage of the men besieged at Old Camp who had held out through the winter and could not be shaken by threats or promises. He implored his men not to use their arms against their own country. When he had finished, the men were silent. There was no applause, no cheers, no vote of support. [Ibid., 58]

  As Vocula stepped down from the tribunal and walked back to his praetorium, he knew that he had failed. When he unsheathed his sword with the intent of taking his own life, his servants convinced him to put it away. A little later, Aemilius Longinus, the 1st Germanica Legion deserter, was brought to the general’s headquarters. He had a message from Julius Classicus, he said, which he must deliver in person and in private. He was ushered into the praetorium. When Vocula asked what the man had to say, Longinus drew his sword: this was Classicus’ message. Vocula was prepared for his death. Earlier, he had said, “Amid so many evils, I look forward to death as the end of my sufferings.” [Ibid.]

  On learning that Vocula had been slain in his own tent, Classicus rode up to the fortress at the head of his cavalry. The gates opened, and the Novaesium legionaries of the 1st Germanica, 4th Macedonica, 16th Gallica and 18th legions all went over to the rebels, the waverers swept along with the fanatics. Legion commanders Herennius Gallus and Numisius Rufus were put in irons, and, from the camp tribunal, Classicus led the Roman troops in swearing allegiance to “the Empire of Gaul.”

  Classicus soon joined Civilis at the siege line outside Old Camp, taking the most unprincipled men from the Novaesium legions with him. The rest of the legionaries were left at their camp, as Classicus’ deputy Tutor led a force to reinforce the rebels besieging Mogontiacum. When turncoat legionaries spoke with legionaries at Mogontiacum and told them that Vocula was dead and his legions had gone over to the rebels, the legionaries at Mogontiacum arrested their tribunes and joined the revolt. Tutor entered the fortress, and promptly put the arrested tribunes to death. He then made the legionaries, auxiliaries and civilian inhabitants of Mogontiacum swear allegiance to the new empire of Gaul.

  From Mogontiacum, Tutor moved on to Cologne. Founded in 12 BC by Marcus Agrippa, the city acquired colony status under Claudius in AD 50. The last legion stationed there had been withdrawn twenty years before. The senators of Cologne signed a peace treaty with Tutor which allied them to the rebel cause and which, they hoped, saved their city. Tutor then made all at Cologne take the oath of allegiance to the Gallic Empire.

  At the same time, the cohorts of the 1st Germanica Legion still ensconced at Bonna, finding themselves isolated, voluntarily went over to the rebels and swore allegiance to their cause. The 1st continued to occupy the Bonna camp, awaiting orders from Civilis. Before long, the southernmost Roman military base on the Rhine, at Vindonissa, modern Windisch, also came into rebel hands.

  Roman general Lupercus and his 4,000 men at Old Camp were now Rome’s last loyal troops on the Rhine. They had exhausted their supplies once more, and after hearing they were alone in their resistance to the rebels, the men of Old Camp lost heart and sent emissaries to Civilis, seeking surrender terms. At first they would not agree to swearing off their allegiance to Rome, but as this was Civilis’ prime requirement they finally acquiesced, put Lupercus and other officers in chains, and opened the camp gates that had held Civilis at bay for a year.

  As Civilis’ troops emptied Old Camp of its valuables, equipment and servants, the men of the 5th Alaudae and 15th Primigeneia legions marched out of the gates. Stripped of their weapons and armor, the weak legionaries shuffled down the road away from the camp accompanied by guards. Five miles (8 kilometers) from the camp, a mass of German tribesmen suddenly rose up from the roadside. The escort stood aside, and the Germans slaughtered the unarmed legionaries. The bravest Romans stood their ground and fought with their bare hands. Their short-lived resistance allowed 1,000 of their number to flee back to Old Camp.

  At the camp, these legionaries accused Civilis of treachery, but he denied complicity and upbraided several German chieftains in front of the prisoners. The legionaries were then herded back into the plundered camp and the gates closed. Then, the camp was set alight. Anyone who tried to escape was put to the sword. So died all 4,000 men of the two legions who had resisted Civilis for so long.

  Their commander, Lupercus, was kept alive, and taken across the Rhine to be delivered as a gift to Veleda, a virgin German priestess who had predicted the destruction of the legions. But the general did not reach Veleda’s tower beside the Lippe river. His bloodthirsty German guards killed him on the road. Roman tribunes and centurions born in southern Gaul were kept alive by Civilis, to be used as bargaining tools when dealing with Gallic tribes which had yet to come over to his cause. According to a later legend, Civilis had junior Roman officers trussed up then watched as his young son used them for target practice with his little bow and arrows.

  Civilis had succeeded in capturing every Roman military base on the Rhine from the North Sea to modern Switzerland and either killing the men of the Roman garrisons or bringing them into his rebellion. He had fulfilled the vow he had taken the previous year; he had delivered his people from Roman domination.

  AD 70

  XXVIII. ROME’S RHINE RESPONSE

  Cerialis’ offensive

  Gallic rebel Julius Sabinus led his Lingone tribe from their home on the River Seine to attack the Sequani, a tribe living between the River Saône and the Jura Mountains. The Sequani, Rome’s allies, won decisively, and Lingone survi
vors fled to Civilis. Sabinus himself went into hiding. He and his entire family would later be executed by Vespasian. [Dio, LXV, 3; 16]

  By early AD 70, Mucianus, governor of Syria, had arrived at Rome, where he took charge on behalf of Vespasian, who was still in Egypt awaiting seasonal winds to bring him to Italy. With the war of succession concluded, Mucianus could focus on a counter-offensive on the Rhine. He selected seven legions and a number of auxiliary units then in Italy, Spain, and Britain for a campaign against Civilis, appointing two generals to lead the offensive.

  Overall command went to Annius Gallus. A former consul, Gallus been one of Otho’s generals in the short war against Vitellius. Injured in a fall from his horse just prior to Otho’s death, Gallus had recovered sufficiently to accept this appointment. He would make slow, painful progress from Rome behind the legions, arriving in Germany well into the punitive campaign. The real weight of responsibility fell on the shoulders of younger, fitter Quintus Petilius Cerialis Rufus. Cerialis had married Vespasian’s cousin, so his loyalty was unquestionable. A praetor, he had considerable military experience, although his record to date was far from glittering. Ten years before, he had commanded the 9th Hispana Legion in Britain when Boudicca’s rebellion broke out, rashly losing 2,000 men to the rebels. More recently, sent with 1,000 cavalry to rescue Vespasian’s brother Sabinus from Vitellius’ clutches, Cerialis had failed to break into Rome or to prevent Sabinus from being murdered by Vitellius’ German Guard. Cerialis had much to prove as he rode from Rome to undertake his latest mission.

  Tidings of this advance of Vespasian’s forces reached the delegates at a Gallic congress convened at Durocortum, today’s Reims, capital of the Remi tribe in northern France. Some saw this news as proof that Rome had inexhaustible resources. Conversely, revolutionary delegates welcomed the imminent arrival of fresh legionary fodder for rebel blades, showing off coins minted by Civilis depicting the submission of the Rhine legions.

  Many Gauls spoke at the congress, but just two carried the weight of the opposing arguments. Julius Aspex, a respected Remi leader, spoke for peace and reconciliation with Rome. Tullius Valentinus, Treveran noble and avid supporter of the rebellion, came from Augusta Treverorum (Trier) to speak on behalf of Civilis and the war party. When a vote was taken, while the pro-Gaul sentiments of Valentinus were praised, his recommended path to war was not adopted. Only those tribes which had originally risen with Civilis voted for war. Valentinus left the meeting knowing that the rebels were now on their own, that a Gallic empire uniting all the peoples of Gaul could only be achieved by force.

  Camped outside the walls of Augusta Treverorum, the men of the turncoat 1st Germanica and 16th Gallica legions found that, with Valentinus away at the conference, they were under lax scrutiny and could discuss their future. All agreed they had committed a shameful act in going over to the rebels. Now, they swore allegiance to Vespasian, and at night, both units slipped away. Heading south, they were prepared to fight anyone who stood in their path.

  They marched unchallenged. Civilis was occupied searching Belgium for Claudius Labeo, a Batavian who supported Rome and was stirring up trouble behind his back. Classicus was banqueting. Tutor was east of the Rhine levying more troops among German tribes. Following the Moselle river, the men of the 1st and 16th reached the safety of Divodurum (Metz), capital of the Mediomatrici tribe, which had continued to abide by its alliance with Rome all through the revolt. There, the exhausted men of the 1st and 16th legions were welcomed as friends.

  When Valentinus returned to Augusta Treverorum his foul mood was exacerbated by the discovery that the two legions had gone. He took his anger out on the pair of Roman generals being kept in his city’s prison, Herennius Gallus and Numisius Rufus, immediately putting them to death. Now, Valentinus told his people, there was no turning back; there could be no pardon from Rome if the Treveri were to surrender now that two of her generals had died at their hands. The Treveri must fight on.

  All the while, the Roman noose was tightening on Gaul. The 21st Rapax, formerly a Vitellianist legion, had reportedly already crossed the Alps. The 6th Victrix and 10th Gemina legions were marching to the Rhine from Spain. The famous 14th Gemina Martia Victrix Legion was being ferried over from Britain by the Britannic Fleet. Three more legions would cross the Alps from Italy, each using different routes: the 6th Ferrata and 8th Augusta from Mucianus’ army, and the recently formed 2nd Adiutrix Legion.

  Mucianus also left Rome and headed for Gaul. With him went 19-year-old Domitian, Vespasian’s youngest son, who was chafing to see action. Mucianus convinced the headstrong teenager that it would be more seemly if the generals were left to do the dirty work, while Domitian stood back and took the credit. Mucianus and Domitian would base themselves at Lugdunum in south-central France, to add the weight of the imperial family to the offensive.

  After the forward commander, Cerialis, crossed the Alps, he split his force in two. Sextilius Felix took the auxiliary infantry via Raetia with orders to march up the east bank of the Rhine, while Cerialis led the 21st Rapax Legion along the western bank, with the two forces converging on Mogontiacum. Along the way, Cerialis was joined by the Singularian Horse, an elite cavalry unit formed the previous year by Vitellius from the best German cavalrymen in the Roman army. The unit was ironically commanded by a Batavian, Julius Briganticus, Civilis’ nephew. But Briganticus was loyal to Rome, and hated his uncle Civilis with a passion.

  As Cerialis neared Vindonissa, the rebels occupying it withdrew. East of the Rhine, the Treveran general Tutor heard that a Roman army was approaching from the southeast, and quickly mustered a rebel force including the legionary defectors from the 4th Macedonica, 5th Alaudae, 15th Primigeneia, 18th and 22nd Primigeneia legions. Tutor prepared an ambush, into which Felix’s advance cohort walked; it was wiped out.

  Scouts then warned Tutor that a second, much larger Roman force was moving up the opposite bank of the Rhine. When it was learned that it was the 21st Rapax that was approaching, the legionaries under Tutor refused to fight these men who had recently served with them on the Rhine. Tutor was forced to retreat, accompanied by just his loyal Treveran troops, leaving the legionaries to march to Mogontiacum and await Cerialis’ arrival.

  Skirting Mogontiacum, Tutor withdrew west to Bingium (Bingen), where the Rhine is joined by the River Nahe. Roman commander Felix, crossing the Rhine via a river ford, came up behind Tutor and launched a surprise attack. The rebels were routed, and Tutor fled to join Classicus, further north. At the same time, Cerialis and the 21st Rapax Legion victoriously entered Mogontiacum, to be greeted by the former defectors. He told the once mutinous legionaries that they would soon have their chance to prove themselves, and took them into his force.

  With Tutor’s comprehensive defeat at Bingium, the Treverans were in a state of panic. Thousands who had taken up arms now disposed of them. Many of their elected officials sought asylum further south with tribes loyal to Rome. Other city senators went north to join Civilis. But Valentinus remained in control of Augusta Treverorum, still with a sizeable force of Treveran fighting men. Civilis and Classicus, stung by Tutor’s defeat, assembled their scattered forces, sending messages to Valentinus telling him not to risk a decisive battle with the Romans until they could join him.

  AD 70

  XXIX. BATTLE OF RIGODULUM

  Turning the tide

  Cerialis decided to deal with Valentinus at Augusta Treverorum before he ventured further north against Civilis and Classicus. As he approached the Treveran capital, he sent officers to lead the men of the 1st Germanica and 16th Gallica by the shortest possible route back to Augusta Treverorum, from which they had previously escaped, to link up with his army.

  With the equally disgraced men of the 4th Macedonica, 5th Alaudae, 15th Primigeneia, 18th and 22nd Primigeneia legions from Mogontiacum in his army, Cerialis marched rapidly west to attack Augusta Treverorum. In three days, his force covered the 75 miles (120 kilometers) to the Moselle, arriving at a place just ou
tside Augusta Treverorum which the Romans called Rigodulum. This is likely to have been where a stream called the Altbach joins the Moselle. Since long before Roman times the Treveri had maintained a sacred sanctuary there.

  Ignoring the advice of Civilis and Classicus, Valentinus had brought his Treverans from behind Augusta Treverorum’s walls to Rigodulum, having levied every able-bodied man of the city to his standards. Intending to make a stand with the river to one side and surrounded by the foothills of the Eifel and Hunsruck mountains, he built a fortification into a bare hillside, strengthening the position with ditches and stone breastworks.

  Cerialis attacked without hesitation. While his infantry made a frontal assault up the hill, the Roman general sent a detachment of Briganticus’ Singularian Horse to find an attack route from the rear. The progress of the lines of legionaries and auxiliaries advancing up the hill was slowed briefly as they came within range of the defenders’ missiles, but once through, they charged forward and stormed the poorly fortified position. With the benefit of training, experience and superior numbers, and with one-time rebel legionaries keen to prove themselves, it was no contest.

  “The barbarians were dislodged and hurled like a falling house from their position.” [Tac., H, II, 71] As the Romans swept over the defenses, Valentinus and his chief lieutenants fell back up the hill, and into the hands of the Roman cavalry, which had found a route through the hills behind the rebel position. Those Treverans not killed were captured. Valentinus was among the captives. The Battle of Rigodulum was a swift and crushing defeat for the “Empire of Gaul.”

  Next day, the gates of Augusta Treverorum were thrown open to the Roman general. Situated on the right bank of the Moselle, the city had been founded as a military post by Augustus in around 15 BC. The Treveri had built a settlement close by which, in the reign of Claudius, had gained Roman colony status and the name of Colonia Augusta Treverorum. In Claudius’ reign, too, a large timber bridge had been built across the river, on stone piers, and the city that grew beside the Moselle swiftly became prosperous as a commercial crossroads. As Cerialis entered Augusta Treverorum, his men urged him to destroy the city, the birthplace of Classicus and Tutor. But Cerialis was determined to restore firm discipline to the legionaries who had returned to their standards, and letting them run riot in the city was no way to achieve that.