he submission of
Sigimer, the brother of Segestes, had now brought him and his son to the
city of the Ubians; both were pardoned, the father promptly, the son
with more hesitation, because he was said to have insulted the corpse of
Varus. For the rest, Spain, Italy, and the Gauls vied in supplying the
losses of the army, offering arms, horses, money, whatever each had at
hand. Germanicus, applauding their zeal, accepted only the horses and
arms for the war; with his own money he assisted the soldiers; and, to
soften by kindness also the memory of the late disaster, he visited the
wounded, extolled the exploits of individuals, and, looking at their
wounds, with hopes encouraged some, with a sense of glory animated
others, and by affability and attention confirmed them all in devotion
to himself and to his service. Between the Romans and the Cheruscans
flowed the river Visurgis. On its bank stood Arminius, with the other
chiefs, inquiring whether Germanicus was come; and being answered that
he was there, he prayed leave to speak with his brother. This brother of
his was in the army, his name Flavius, remarkable for his fidelity, and
for the loss of an eye under Tiberius. Permission was then granted.
Flavius, advancing, was saluted by Arminius, who having removed his own
attendants, requested that the archers ranged upon our bank might
retire. When they were gone--"How came you," he asked his brother, "by
that deformity in your face?" The brother having informed him where and
in what fight, he desired to know "what reward he had received"? Flavius
answered, "Increase of pay, the chain, the crown, and other military
gifts"; which Arminius treated with derision, as the vile wages of
servitude.

After that they began in different strains. Flavius urged "the Roman
greatness, the power of Caesar, the severe punishment inflicted on the
vanquished; and the clemency vouchsafed to those who submitted; that
neither the wife nor son of Arminius was treated as a captive." Arminius
to this opposed "the claims of country, their hereditary liberty, the
domestic gods of Germany; their mother, who joined in his prayer that he
would not prefer the character of a deserter, and a betrayer of his
kinsmen and connections, in short, of his race, to that of their
general." From this they gradually proceeded to invectives; nor would
the interposition of the river have restrained them from an encounter,
had not Stertinius, running to him, held back