dren. Later the Pappian and Poppaean
Law was framed by Marcus Pappius Mutilus and by Quintus Poppaeus Secundus,
who were then consuls for a portion of the year. It turned out that both
of them had not only no children but not even wives. From this very fact
the need of the law was discernible.--These were the events in Rome.

[-11-] Germanicus meanwhile had captured among other posts in Dalmatia
also Splonum, in spite of the fact that it occupied a naturally strong
position, was well protected by walls, and had a huge number of
defenders. Consequently he was unable to accomplish aught with engines
or by assaults, yet he took it as a result of the following coincidence.
Pusio, a Celtic horseman, discharged a stone against the wall which so
shook the superstructure that it immediately fell and dragged down the
man who was leaning upon it. At this the rest were terrified, and in fear
left the wall to ascend the acropolis. Subsequently they surrendered both
it and themselves.

The Romans under Germanicus having reached Raetinium, a city of Dalmatia,
fared rather badly. Their opponents, forced back by the numbers, could
not resist them and therefore placed fire in a circle about themselves
and threw it into the buildings near by, devising a way to keep it surely
from blazing up at once and to make it go unnoticed for a long time. The
enemy after doing this retired to the heights. The Romans, unaware of
their action, followed hard after them expecting to find no work at all
in pillaging extensively. Thus they got inside of the circle of fire and
with their minds directed upon the enemy saw nothing of it until they
were encompassed by it on all sides. Then they found themselves in
imminent danger, being pelted by men from above and injured by fire from
without. They could neither safely stay where they were nor break their
way out without danger. If they stood out of range of the missiles they
were consumed by the fire, or if they jumped away from the flame they
were destroyed by the hurlers of missiles. Some were caught in narrow
places and perished by both at once, wounded on one side and burned on
the other. The majority of those who entered the circle met their fate in
this way. Some few by casting corpses into the very flame and making a
passage over them as over bridges managed to escape. The fire gained
such headway that not even those on the acropolis could stay there, but
abandoned it in the night and hid themselves i