In
this pious office, so acceptable to the dead, Germanicus was a partner in
the woe of the living; and upon the common tomb laid the first sod: a
proceeding not liked by Tiberius; whether it were that upon every action
of Germanicus he put a perverse meaning, or believed that the affecting
spectacle of the unburied slain would sink the spirit of the army, and
heighten their terror of the enemy; as also that "a general vested, as
Augur, with the intendency of religious rites, became defiled by touching
the solemnities of the dead."
Arminius, retiring into desert and pathless places, was pursued by
Germanicus; who, as soon as he reached him, commanded the horse to
advance, and dislodge the enemy from the post they had possessed.
Arminius, having directed his men to keep close together, and draw near to
the woods, wheeled suddenly about, and to those whom he had hid in the
forest gave the signal to rush out: the Roman horse, now engaged by a new
army, became disordered, and to their relief some cohorts were sent, but
likewise broken by the press of those that fled; and great was the
consternation so many ways increased.
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