28 AD - Revolt of the Batavians
From 28 to 47 AD a struggle went on between the Romans and the Frisians, which ended in the latter year if the complete reduction of the tribe by the vigor of Domitius Corbulo; the Batavi and Frisians were probably in the earlier days of their connection with Rome, admitted, if not to the more honorable position of "socii," at least to the lower grade of "auxilia," their relation to the empire doubtless varying from time to time.
This friendly state of things did not last long; for in 70 AD Rome had dismissed her Batavian cohorts, and had turned Claudius Civilis, the "Mithridates of the West," into a bitter foe. This remarkable patriot had served for many years in the armies of Rome, and had learned the secrets of the imperial strength and weakness. Taking advantage of the wrongs of Germans and Gauls, and skillfully using the divisions within the empire, he displayed high statesmanlike ability while his energy and success in war placed him in the rank of great captains. He declared for Vespasian against Vitellius, and grouped together Celt and Teuton in an effort to sweep the tyrant Roman out of Gaul. At first all went well with them, and the Romans were driven out of all modern Holland, Belgium, and from the left bank of the Rhine as far as Alsace.
Among the many brave men who made the Romans pay dear for their unjust acquisitions, must be reckoned the able chief Claudius Civilis, a man of mark within the Delta formed by the two arms of the Rhine, and either a Gaul or German by descent. These Batavians suffered less by their contact with the Romans than their neighbors. They assisted them indeed in their wars, but thereby they themselves gained experience in arms, and their masters treated them well, for if they became restive, the Romans would be at a great disadvantage attacking them in their marshes, and crossing broad and sluggish streams to come at them—streams which the Batavian horse had been accustomed to swim across from the age of foalhood.
This Claudius Civilis had been arrested, and sent to Rome in the reign of Nero, was set at liberty by Galba, and again suspected by Vitellius. He conceived a great dislike to the Romans, and dreamed of nothing less than rescuing Batavia and Gaul entire from their yoke. He was seconded in his views by Vespasian, who commissioned him to excite disaffection towards the present swinish emperor, whose downfall he was meditating. Commissioners sent by this worthy into Gaul to enlist recruits, conscripts rather, afforded theBatavian chief a good opportunity to excite hatred against the Romans.
Anticipating Falstaff's system, they pressed into the service old men, and generally those who being in comfortable circumstances, could afford to purchase exemption. They also enlisted handsome striplings, with still worse intentions. These proceedings prepared the way for Civilis's projects. He invited the chief men of the country, and the most restless of the people to a feast in a sacred wood, and when they were heated with food and drink, he easily persuaded them, by representing the weakness and tyranny of their present task-masters, to take up arms against them. Some Belgian cohorts having returned from Britain, and being quartered at Mayence, he induced them to set up the standard of revolt.
These, united with his own Batavians, attacked the Roman forces encamped on the further bank of the Rhine, and aided by several warboats. In the heat of battle, a Tongrian cohort deserted to the Batavians, and the very oars-men of the galleys brought them to the side of the enemy, killing their captains in the confusion. The imperialists were thus cut to pieces by land and water. Civilis, anxious to excite the Gauls into insurrection, set free all the officers of that nation who had been made prisoners, and sent them home loaded with presents, offering them honourable posts in his army whenever they felt disposed to join him. In the next engagement, he set up in front of his lines all the standards of the cohorts already defeated, and placed the women and children of his people in the rear, to destroy every idea of retreat.
About 5,000 soldiers, loyal to Vitellius, held out determinedly against all the resources of Civilis in their fortress of Vetera (Netera near Nimeguen), defying both his vigorous assaults and the severer encroachments of hunger. Most of the garrison were veterans and engineers, and their machines astonished and damaged the beseigers to no small extent. One peculiar engine of theirs would suddenly swoop down from the walls, seize on a few of the besiegers, hoist them up in the air, and fling them inside the ramparts.
The brave garrison were obliged to surrender at last, and Civilis, feeling more keenly the injury done him by their resistance, than valuing their bravery, put all the officers to death excepta few whom hesentas presents to the great priestess Velleda. He would also have sacked Cologne, only for intercession made by the same powerful woman. The Roman forces in Lower Germany and Gaul were thrown into the greatest uncertainty by the rival claims of Vitellius and Vespasian. This disunion strengthened the influence of Civilis, and in a short time he had on his side all the fortresses on this frontier except Mayence and another.
Vespasian having come to power, intimation was made to Civilis to lay down his arms, as the cause for which he had contended was in the ascendant; but his object being no less than the independence of Gaul and Batavia, he induced Classicus, a Roman commander, to assume the title of Emperor of the Gauls, and everything went on agreeably to his wishes, till Domitian, son of Vespasian, came over the mountains. Then defections succeeded to defections, till the ambitious and stubborn hero, being obliged to yield his ground foot by foot, at last took refuge in the same fortress which had given himself so much trouble.
Then the Roman power began to assert itself once more in an able general, Cerealis, was sent into the north-west, and after a checkered and exhausting struggle, in which both suffered greatly, the Batavian hero gave way. After inflicting on the Roman general Cerealis several severe injuries, he found himself at last obliged to cross the Rhine and take refuge in his own country. His allies, Tutor and Classicus, were not idle. They collected men and money in Germany, and again embarrassed the imperial forces. Cerealis seems to have possessed abilities and determination equal to those of his great foeman. Having defeated the allies and scattered them, he entered the Delta, and ravaged all its possessions except the estates of Civilis alone. By this proceeding he infused into the Batavians a strong suspicion of their chiefs disloyalty. Proceeding in this track, Cerealis sowed distrust and fear among the friends and allies of the Batavian chief, who began to think that it was his best course to make a separate peace with the Roman general.
Peace was made on easy terms; Civilis laid down arms, and the Batavians submitted and resumed their old position towards Rome. The Batavian island was lined with forts, and became for the Romans the frontier between Gaul and German; much as in far later days the Spanish Netherlands were the barrier between the Dutch and the French.
No more is heard in history of Claudius Civilis, of whom Dutchmen have reason to be proud, but probably are not. What a selection of names for these stern men, in whom martial policy and practice had attained its complete development,—Tutor, Classicus, Civilis, Cerealis, and Vocula — the last a contemporary Roman commander.
