"
The armies, besides the incitements from these speeches, were animated by
national stimulations of their own. The Cheruscans fought for their
ancient renown; the Langobards for their recent liberty; and the Suevians
and their king, on the contrary, were struggling for the augmentation of
their monarchy. Never did armies make a fiercer onset; never had onset a
more ambiguous event; for both the right wings were routed, and hence a
fresh encounter was certainly expected, till Maroboduus drew off his army
and encamped upon the hills; a manifest sign this that he was humbled.
Frequent desertions too leaving him at last naked of forces, he retired to
the Marcomannians, and thence sent ambassadors to Tiberius to implore
succours. They were answered, "That he had no right to invoke aid of the
Roman arms against the Cheruscans, since to the Romans, while they were
warring with the same foe, he had never administered any assistance."
Drusus was, however, sent away, as I have said, with the character of a
negotiator of peace.
The same year twelve noble cities of Asia were overturned by an
earthquake: the ruin happened in the night, and the more dreadful as its
warnings were unobserved; neither availed the usual sanctuary against such
calamities, namely, a flight to the fields, since those who fled, the
gaping earth devoured.
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