But he, the more ardent he
found the affections of the soldiers, and the greater the hatred of his
uncle, so much the more intent upon a decisive victory, weighed with
himself all the methods of that war, with all the disasters and successes
which had befallen him in it to this his third year. He remembered "that
the Germans were ever routed in a fair battle, and upon equal ground; that
woods and bogs, short summers, and early winters, were their chief
resources; that his own men suffered not so much from their wounds, as
from tedious marches, and the loss of their arms. The Gauls were weary of
furnishing horses; long and cumbersome was his train of baggage, easily
surprised, and with difficulty defended; but, if we entered the country by
sea, the invasion would be easy, and the enemy unapprised. Besides, the
war would be earlier begun; the legions and provisions would be carried
together; and the cavalry brought with safety, through the mouths and
channels of the rivers, into the heart of Germany."
On that method therefore he fixed: whilst Publius Vitellius and Publius
Cantius were sent to collect the tribute of the Gauls; Silius, Anteius,
and Caecina had the direction of building the fleet.
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