ch a ban
On such a brow should be!
Why comes he not in battle's van
His country's chief to be?
To stand a comrade by my side,
The sharer of my fame,
And worthy of a brother's pride
And of a brother's name?

"But it is past! where heroes press
And cowards bend the knee,
Arminius is not brotherless,
His brethren are the free.
They come around: one hour, and light
Will fade from turf and tide,
Then onward, onward to the fight,
With darkness for our guide.

"To-night, to-night, when we shall meet
In combat face to face,
Then only would Arminius greet
The renegade's embrace.
The canker of Rome's guilt shall be
Upon his dying name;
And as he lived in slavery,
So shall he fall in shame."

On the day after the Romans had reached the Weser, Germanicus led his
army across that river, and a partial encounter took place, in which
Arminius was successful. But on the succeeding day a general action was
fought, in which Arminius was severely wounded and the German infantry
routed with heavy loss. The horsemen of the two armies encountered
without either party gaining the advantage. But the Roman army remained
master of the ground and claimed a complete victory. Germanicus erected
a trophy in the field, with a vaunting inscription that the nations
between the Rhine and the Elbe had been thoroughly conquered by his
army. But that army speedily made a final retreat to the left bank of
the Rhine; nor was the effect of their campaign more durable than their
trophy. The sarcasm with which Tacitus speaks of certain other triumphs
of Roman generals over Germans may apply to the pageant which Germanicus
celebrated on his return to Rome from his command of the Roman army of
the Rhine. The Germans were "_triumphati potius quam victi_."

After the Romans had abandoned their attempts on Germany, we find
Arminius engaged in hostilities with Maroboduus, king of the Suevi and
Marcomanni, who was endeavoring to bring the other German tribes into a
state of dependency on him. Arminius was at the head of the Germans who
took up arms against this home invader of their liberties. After some
minor engagements a pitched battle was fought between the two
confederacies (A.D. 19) in which the loss on each side was equal, but
Maroboduus confessed the ascendency of his antagonist by avoiding a
renewal of the engagement and by imploring the intervention of the
Romans in his defen