ed utterance to their hopes and fears."

At nightfall, taking the path leading by the place of divination,[20] he
went out with a single attendant, a deerskin covering his shoulders,[21]
and proceeding by a secret way where there were no sentinels, entered
the avenues of the camp, stationed himself near the tents, and eagerly
listened to what was said of himself, while one magnified the imperial
birth of his general, another his graceful person, very many his
firmness, condescension, and the evenness of his temper, whether
seriously occupied or in moments of relaxation; and they confessed that
their sense of his merits should be shown in battle, protesting at the
same time that those traitors and violators of peace should be made a
sacrifice to vengeance and to fame. In the mean time one of the enemy
who understood Latin rode up to the palisades, and with a loud voice
offered, in the name of Arminius, to every deserter a wife and land,
and, as long as the war lasted, a hundred sesterces a day. This affront
kindled the wrath of the legions. "Let day come," they cried, "battle
should be given, the soldiers would themselves take the lands of the
Germans, lead away wives by right of conquest; they, however, welcomed
the omen, and considered the wealth and women of the enemy their
destined prey." About the third watch[22] an attempt was made upon the
camp, but not a dart was discharged, as they found the cohorts planted
thick upon the works, and nothing neglected that was necessary for a
vigorous defence.

Germanicus had the same night a cheering dream: he thought he
sacrificed, and, in place of his own robe besmeared with the blood of
the victim, received one fairer from the hands of his grandmother
Augusta. Elated by the omen, and the auspices being favorable, he called
an assembly, and laid before them what in his judgment seemed likely to
be advantageous and suitable for the impending battle. He said "that to
the Roman soldiers not only plains, but, with due circumspection, even
woods and forests were convenient. The huge targets, the enormous spears
of the barbarians, could never be wielded among trunks of trees and
thickets of underwood shooting up from the ground like Roman swords and
javelins, and armor fitting the body; that they should reiterate their
blows, and aim at the face with their swords. The Germans had neither
helmet nor coat of mail; their bucklers were not even strengthened with
leather or iron, but me