These were
altogether upon the frontiers of the Ubians, passing the campaign in utter
idleness or light duty: so that upon the news that Augustus was dead, the
whole swarm of new soldiers lately levied in the city, men accustomed to
the effeminacies of Rome, and impatient of every military hardship, began
to possess the ignorant minds of the rest with many turbulent
expectations, "that now was presented the lucky juncture for veterans to
demand entire dismission; the fresh soldiers, larger pay; and all, some
mitigation of their miseries; as also to return due vengeance for the
cruelties of the Centurions." These were not the harangues of a single
incendiary, like Percennius amongst the Pannonian legions; nor uttered, as
there, in the ears of men who, while they saw before their eyes armies
greater than their own, mutinied with awe and trembling: but here was a
sedition of many mouths, filled with many boasts, "that in their hands lay
the power and fate of Rome; by their victories the empire was enlarged,
and from them the Caesars took, as a compliment, the surname of
Germanicus."
Neither did Caecina strive to restrain them.
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