w threatened with destruction, the Roman officers set fire
to them, as they had no means of defence. All the troops with their
standards and colours retired in a body to the upper end of the
island, led by Aquilius, a senior centurion. But they were an army in
name only, not in strength, for Vitellius had withdrawn all the
efficient soldiers and had replaced them by a useless mob, who had
been drawn from the neighbouring Nervian and German villages and were
only embarrassed by their armour.[282]

Civilis thought it best to proceed by guile, and actually ventured 16
to blame the Roman officers for abandoning the forts. He could, he
told them, with the cohort under his command, suppress the outbreak of
the Canninefates without their assistance: they could all go back to
their winter-quarters. However, it was plain that some treachery
underlay his advice--it would be easier to crush the cohorts if they
were separated--and also that Civilis, not Brinno, was at the head of
this war. Evidence of this gradually leaked out, as the Germans loved
war too well to keep the secret for long. Finding his artifice
unsuccessful, Civilis tried force instead, forming the Canninefates,
Frisii and Batavi into three separate columns.[283] The Roman line
faced them in position near the Rhine bank.[284] They had brought
their ships there after the burning of the forts, and these were now
turned with their prows towards the enemy. Soon after the engagement
began a Tungrian cohort deserted to Civilis, and the Romans were so
startled by this unexpected treachery that they were cut to pieces by
their allies and their enemies combined. Similar treachery occurred in
the fleet. Some of the rowers, who were Batavians, feigning clumsiness
tried to impede the sailors and marines in the performance of their
functions, and after a while openly resisted them and turned the
ships' sterns towards the enemy's bank. Finally, they killed the
pilots and centurions who refused to join them, and thus all the
twenty-four ships of the flotilla either deserted to the enemy or were
captured by them.

This victory made Civilis immediately famous and proved 17
subsequently very useful. Having now got the ships and the weapons
which they needed, he and his followers were enthusiastically
proclaimed as champions of liberty throughout Germany and Gaul. The
German provinces immediately sent envoys with offers of help, while
Civilis endeavoured by dipl