In fine, if the
army, after their fatigues at sea and their tedious marches by land,
longed for an utter end of their labour, by this battle they might gain
it. The Elbe was now nearer than the Rhine; and if they would make him a
conqueror in those countries where his father and his uncle had conquered,
the war was concluded." The ardour of the soldiers followed the speech of
the general, and the signal for the onset was given.
Neither did Arminius or the other chiefs neglect to declare to their
several bands that "these Romans were the cowardly fugitives of the Varian
army, who, because they could not endure to fight, had afterwards chosen
to rebel. That some with backs deformed by wounds, some with limbs maimed
by tempests, forsaken of hope, and the Gods against them, were once more
presenting their lives to their vengeful foes. Hitherto a fleet, and
unfrequented seas, had been the resources of their cowardice against an
assaulting or a pursuing enemy; but now that they were to engage hand to
hand, vain would be their relief from wind and oars after a defeat. The
Germans needed only remember their rapine, cruelty, and pride; and that to
themselves nothing remained but either to maintain their native liberty,
or by death to prevent bondage.
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