, and, as the heavy end was swung round,
tossed him into the middle of the camp. Civilis now gave up hope of
storming the camp and renewed a leisurely blockade, trying all the
time by messages and offers of reward to undermine the loyalty of the
legions.

FOOTNOTES:

[299] Chap. 18.

[300] The Bructeri lived between the Lippe and the Upper Ems,
the Tencteri along the eastern bank of the Rhine, between its
tributaries the Ruhr and the Sieg, i.e. opposite Cologne.

[301] i.e. about 12,000 men. The bulk of the Fifth and a
detachment of the Fifteenth had gone to Italy.

[302] i.e. Frisii, Bructeri, Tencteri, &c.

[303] At Mainz.

[304] His other legion was IV Macedonica.

[305] Cp. chap. 20.

[306] Neuss.

[307] He commanded the First legion, which had joined the main
column at Bonn.

[308] Gellep. Some words are lost, perhaps giving the distance
from Novaesium.

[309] See note 282.

[310] At Gelduba.

[311] Cp. iii. 61.

[312] The Menapii lived between the Maas and the Scheldt; the
Morini on the coast in the neighbourhood of Boulogne. They
were a proverb for 'the back of beyond'.

[313] See i. 56, note 106.

[314] Dueren.

[315] i.e. the gate on to the street leading to Head-quarters.

THE RELIEF OF VETERA

Such was the course of events in Germany up to the date of the 31
battle of Cremona.[316] News of this arrived by letter from Antonius
Primus, who enclosed a copy of Caecina's edict,[317] and Alpinius
Montanus,[318] who commanded one of the defeated auxiliary cohorts,
came in person to confess that his party had been beaten. The troops
were variously affected by the news. The Gallic auxiliaries, who had
no feelings of affection or dislike to either party and served without
sentiment, promptly took the advice of their officers and deserted
Vitellius. The veterans hesitated; under pressure from Flaccus and
their officers they eventually took the oath of allegiance, but it was
clear from their faces that their hearts were not in it, and while
repeating the rest of the formula they boggled at the name of
Vespasian, either muttering it under their breath or more often
omitting it altogether. Their suspicions were further inflamed 32
when Antonius' letter to Civilis was read out before the meeting; it
seemed to address Civilis as a member of