The eighth legion departed first; and then the fifteenth: the
ninth, with earnest clamours, pressed for continuing there till the
letters from Tiberius arrived; but when deserted by the other two, their
courage failed, and by following of their own accord, they prevented the
shame of being forced. Drusus seeing order and tranquillity restored,
without staying for the return of the deputies, returned himself to Rome.
Almost at the same time, and from the same causes, the legions in Germany
raised an insurrection, with greater numbers, and thence with more fury.
Passionate too were their hopes that Germanicus would never brook the rule
of another, but yield to the spirit of the legions, who had force
sufficient to bring the whole Empire under his sway. Upon the Rhine were
two armies; that called the higher, commanded by Caius Silius, Lieutenant-
General; the lower, by Aulus Caecina: the command in chief rested in
Germanicus, then busy collecting the tribute in Gaul. The forces however
under Silius, with cautious ambiguity, watched the success of the revolt
which others began: for the soldiers of the lower army had broken out into
open outrages, which took its rise from the fifth legion, and the one-
and-twentieth; who after them drew the first, and twentieth.
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