s
and of electing magistrates. The _senatus consulta_, or decrees of the
Senate, were made the source of law, without any authority from the
Comitia. The Senate selected the Consuls from four candidates presented
to them by the emperor, and thus the last trace of the popular power
passed away.

Meanwhile two mutinies occurred among the soldiers, which seemed at
first to threaten a change in the government. The legions of Pannonia,
complaining of long service and indifferent pay, rose against their
commander Blaesus, but were induced to return to their duty by Drusus,
the son of Tiberius. A more important insurrection broke out among the
legions of the Rhine, who sought to prevail upon Germanicus, the son of
Drusus, to accept the imperial crown. Germanicus, however, who was
adorned with many noble qualities, refused to yield either to their
entreaties or their threats. Agrippina, his wife, with the infant Caius,
joined Germanicus in imploring the soldiers not to forget their duty;
and they at length relented, and even gave up their leaders.

Germanicus had now deserved the hatred of the jealous and treacherous
Tiberius. He was beloved by the people and the army, was frank,
generous, and brave; he had married Agrippina, the daughter of Julia and
Agrippa, and was the adopted son of the emperor himself. His mind had
been highly cultivated, and he excelled in all elegant exercises. He
seems, in fact, to have been one of the noblest of the Romans.

In A.D. 14 he led an army across the Rhine, but the next year planned a
more important expedition, in which he defeated the Germans under
Arminius, and buried the remains of the army of the unfortunate Varus
under an earthen mound. His third campaign was still more successful. In
A.D. 16 he gained an important battle in the valley of the Weser, and
recovered the last of the eagles lost by Varus.

Tiberius, jealous of his fame, now recalled him, and resolved that the
limits of the empire should not be enlarged. In A.D. 17 Germanicus
triumphed, surrounded in his chariot by his five sons. The same year he
was sent to the East to settle the affairs of the Eastern provinces.
Meanwhile a war broke out in Germany between Arminius and Marboduus.
Drusus was sent thither to contrive the destruction of both leaders,
which he seems to have effected, since Marboduus was driven to seek
protection from the Romans, while the brave Arminius was soon after
slain by the hands of his fellow-German