12 quelled the tumults fossas novi et immensi operis effecit, quae nunc
which had been occasioned by his financial mea- adhuc Drusinae vocantur.
which had been occasioned by his financial mea- adhuc Drusinae vocantur.
William Smith - 1844 - Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities - a
Lentulus proposed that thenceforth
or Drusus Libo (No. 10), who conspired against no Scribonius should assume the cognomen Drusus.
Tiberius. As Pompey the Great would appear (Tac. Ann. ii. 27—32; Suet. Tib. 25; Dion Cass.
from Tacitus (Ann. ii. 27) to have been the pro- vii. 15; Senec. Epist. 70. )
avus of the conspirator, Scribonia his amita, and 11. NERO CLAUDIUS Drusus (commonly called
the young Caesars (Caius and Lucius) bis conso- by the moderns Drusus Senior, to distinguish him
brini, Drusus Libo, the father, is supposed to have from his nephew, the son of Tiberius), had origi-
marrried a granddaughter of Pompey. Still there nally the praenomen Decimus, which was after-
are difficulties in the pedigree, which have per-wards exchanged for Nero ; and, after his death,
plexed Lipsius, Gronovius, Ryckius, and other received the honourable agnomen Germanicus,
learned commentators on the cited passage in which is appended to his name on coins. Hence
Tacitus. M. de la Nauze thinks that the father care should be taken not to confound him with
was a younger brother of Scribonia, the wife of the celebrated Germanicus, his son.
Augustus, and that he married his grandniece, the were Livia Drusilla (afterwards Julia Augusta)
daughter of Sextus Pompeius. According to this and Tiberius Claudius Nero, and through both of
explanation, he was about 26 years younger than them he inherited the noble blood of the Claudii,
his elder brother, L. Scribonius Libo, who was who had never yet admitted an adoption into their
consul B. C. 34, and whose daughter was married gens. From the adoption of his maternal grand-
to Sextus Pompeius. (Dion Cass. xlviii. 16 ; father (No. 7] by a Livius Drusus, he became
Appian, B. C. v. 139. )
legally one of the representatives of another illus-
There is extant a rare silver coin of M. Drusus trious race. He was a younger brother of Tiberius
Libo, bearing on the obverse a naked head, sup- Nero, who was afterwards emperor. Augustus,
posed by some to be the head of his natural, by having fallen in love with his mother, procured a
others of his adoptive, father. On the reverse is a divorce between her and her husband, and married
sella curulis, between cornucopiae and branches of her himself. Drusus was born in the house of
olive, with the legend M. Livi L. F. DRUSUS Augustus three months after this marriage, in B. C.
Livo, headed by the words Ex. S. C. It may be 38, and a suspicion prevailed that Augustus was
doubted whether the letters L. F. do not denote more than a step-father. Hence the satirical verse
that Lucius was the praenomen of the adoptive was often in men's mouths,
father. (Morell. Thes. Num. ii. p. 586 ; Dru- Τους ευτυχούσι και τρίμηνα παιδία.
mann's Rom. iv. p. 591, n. 63; De la Nauze, in Augustus took up the boy, and sent him to Nero
Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions, xxxv. his father, who soon after died, having appointed
p. 600. )
Augustus guardian to Tiberius and Drusus. (Dion
9. Livia DRUSILLA. (Livia. ]
Cass. xlviii. 44; Vell. Pat. ji. 62; Suet. Aug. 62,
10. L. SCRIBONIUS LIBO DRUSUS, or, as he Claud. 1; Prudentius, de Simulacro Liriae. )
is called by Velleius Paterculus (ii. 130), DRUSUS Drusus, as he grew up, was more liked by the
Lixo, is supposed to have been the son of No. 8, people than was his brother. He was free from
to which article we refer for a statement of the dark reserve, and in him the character of the
difficulty experienced by commentators in attempt Claudian race assumed its most attractive, as in
ing to explain his family connexions. Firmius Tiberius its most odious, type. In everything he
Catus, a senator, in A. D. 16, taking advantage of did, there was an air of high breeding, and the no-
the facility and stupidity of his disposition, his ble courtesy of his manners was set off by singular
taste for pleasure and expense, and his family beauty of person and dignity of form. He pos-
pride, induced him to seek empire with its atten- sessed in a high degree the winning quality of al-
dant wealth, and to consult soothsayers and magi- ways exhibiting towards his friends an even and con-
cians as to his chances of success. He was betrayed sistent demeanour, without capricious alternations
by Catus through Flaccus Vescularius to the em- of familiarity and distance, and he seemed adapted
peror Tiberius, who nevertheless made him praetor, by nature to sustain the character of a prince and
and continued to receive him at table without any statesman. (Tac. Ann. vi. 51 ; Vell. Pat. iv. 97. )
mark of suspicion or resentment. At length he It was known that he had a desire to see the com-
was openly denounced by Fulcinius Trio, for monwealth restored, and the people cherished the
having required one Junius to summon shades hope that he would live to give them back their
from the infernal regions. Hereupon he strove at ancient liberties. (Suet. Claud. l; Tac. Ann. i. 33. )
first to excite compassion by a parade of grief, ill. He wrote a letter to his brother, in which he
ness, and supplication. As if he were too unwell broached the notion of compelling Augustus to re-
to walk, he was carried in a woman's litter to the sign the empire; and this letter was betrayed by
senate on the day appointed for opening the prose- | Tiberius to Augustus (Suet. Tib. 50. ) But notwith-
cution, and stretched his suppliant hands to the standing this indication that the affection of Tibe-
emperor, who received him with an unmoved rius was either a hollow pretence, or yielded to
countenar. ce, and, in stating the case to be proved his sense of duty to Augustus, the brothers main-
against him, affected a desire neither to suppress tained during their lives an appearance, at least,
nor to exaggerate aught. Finding that there was of fraternal tenderness, which, according to Vale-
no hope of pardon, he put an end to his own life, rius Maximus (v. 5. § 3), had only one parallel
though his aunt Scribonia had tried in rain to dis- the friendship of Castor and Pollux! In the do-
suade him from thus doing another's work; but he mestic relations of life, the conduct of Drusus was
thought that to keep himself alive till it pleased I exemplary. He married the beautiful and illus-
## p. 1084 (#1104) ##########################################
1084
DRUSUS.
DRUSUS.
ture.
trious Antonia, a daughter-and, according to the dued the Frisians, laid upon them a moderate tri-
preponderance of authority (ANTONIA, No. 5), the bute of beeves-hides, and passed by shallows into the
younger daughter-of M. Antonius the triumvir by territory of the Chauci, where his vessels grounded
Octavia, the sister of Augustus. Their mutual upon the ebbing of the tide. From this danger he
attachment was unusually great, and the unsullied was rescued by the friendly assistance of the Fri-
fidelity of Drusus to the marriage-bed became a sians. Winter now approached. He returned to
theme of popular admiration and applause in a Rome, and in B. c. 11 was made praetor urbanus.
profligate age. It is finely referred to by Pedo Drusus was the first Roman general who pene-
Albinovanus in his beautiful poem upon the death trated to the German ocean. It is probable that
of Drusus :
he united the military design of reconnoitering the
Tu concessus amor, tu solus et ultimus illi, coast with the spirit of adventure and scientific
Tu requies fesso grata laboris eras.
discovery. (Tac. Germ. 34. ) From the migratory
He must have been young when he married ; for, character of the tribes he subdued, it is not easy
though he died at the age of thirty, he had several to fix their locality with precision ; and the diffi-
children who died before him, besides the three, culty of geographical exactness is increased by the
Germanicus, Livia, and Claudius, who survived alterations which time and the elements have made
their father.
in the face of the country. Mannert and others
He began public life early. In B. c. 19, he ob identify the Dollart with the place where the fleet
tained permission, by a decree of the senate, to fill of Drusus went ashore ; but the Dollart first as-
all magistracies five years before the regular time. sumed its present form in a. d. 1277; and Wilhelin
(Dion Cass. liv. 10. ) In the beginning of B. c. (Feldzüge der Nero Cluulius Drusus im Nördlichen
16, we find him presiding with his brother at a Teutschland) makes the Jahde, westward of the
gladiatorial show; and when Augustus, upon his mouth of the Weser, the scene of this misadven-
departure for Gaul, took Tiberius, who was then It is by no means certain by what course
praetor, along with him, Drusus was left in the city Drusus reached the ocean, although it is the gene
to discharge, in his brother's place, the important ral opinion that he had already constructed a canal
duties of that office. (Dion Cass. liv. 19. ) In uniting the eastern arm of the Rhine with the
the following year he was made quaestor, and sent Yssel, and so had opened himself a way by the
against the Rhaetians, who were accused of having Zuydersee. This opinion is confirmed by a pas-
committed depredations upon Roman travellers and sage in Tacitus (Ann. ii. 8), where Germanicus,
allies of the Romans. The mountainous parts of upon entering the Fossa Drusiana, prays for the
the country were inhabited by banditti, who levied protection of his father, who had gone the same
contributions from the peaceful cultivators of the way before him, and then sails by the Zuydersee
plains, and plundered all who did not purchase (Lacus Flevus) to the ocean, up to the mouth of
freedom from attack by special agreement. Every the Ems (Amisia). To this expedition of Drusus
chance male who fell into their hands was mur- may perhaps be referred the naval battle in the
dered. Drusus attacked and routed them near the Ems mentioned by Strabo (vii. init. ), in which the
Tridentine Alps, as they were about to make a Bructeri were defeated, and the subjugation of
foray into Italy. His victory was not decisive, the islands on the coast, especially Byrchamis
but he obtained praetorian honours as liis reward. (Borkum). (Strab. vii. 34; Plin. H. N. iv. 13. )
The Rhaetians, after being repulsed from Italy, Ferdinand Wachter (Ersch und Gruber's Ency-
continued to infest the frontier of Gaul. Tiberius clopädie, s. v. Drusus) thinks, that the canal
was then despatched to join Drusus, and the bro of Drusus must have been too great a work to
thers jointly defeated some of the tribes of the be completed at so early a period, and that Dru-
Rhaeti and Vindelici, while others submitted with- sus could not have had time to run up the Ems.
out resistance. A tribute was imposed upon the He supposes, that Drusus sailed to the ocean
country. The greater part of the population was by one of the natural channels of the river, and
carried off, while enough were left to till the soil that the inconvenience he experienced and the
without being able to rebel. (Dion Cass. liv. 22 ; geographical knowledge he gained led him to avail
Strab. iv. fin. ; Florus, iv. 12. ) These exploits of himself of the capabilities afforded by the Lacus
the young step-bons of Augustus are the theme of Flerus for a safer junction with the ocean ; that
a spirited ode of Horace. (Carin. iv. 4, ib. 14. ) his works on the Rhine were probably begun in
On the return of Augustus to Rome from Gaul, this campaign, and were not finished until some
in B. C. 13, Drusus was sent into that province, years afterwards. The precise nature of those
which had been driven into revolt by the exaction works cannot now be determined. They appear
of the Roman governor, Licinius, who, in order to to have consisted not only of a canal (fossa), but
increase the amount of the monthly tribute, had of a dyke or mound (agger, moles) across the Khine.
divided the year into fourteen months. Drusus Suetonius seems to use even the word fossue in
made a new assessment of property for the purpose the sense of a mound, not a canal. “ Trans Tiberim
of taxation, and in B. c.
12 quelled the tumults fossas novi et immensi operis effecit, quae nunc
which had been occasioned by his financial mea- adhuc Drusinae vocantur. " (Claud. i. ) Tacitus
sures. (Liv. Epit. cxxxvi. cxxxvii. ) The Sicambri (Ann. xiii. 53) says, that Paullinus Pompeius, in
and their allies, under pretence of attending an A. D. 58, completed the agger coercendo Rheno
annual festival held at Lyons at the altar of Au- which had been begun by Drusus sixty-three years
gustus, had fomented the disaffection of the Gallic before ; and afterwards relates that Civilis, bř de-
chieftains. In the tumults which ensued, their stroying the moles formed by Drusus, allowed the
troops had crossed the Rhine. Drusus now drove waters of the Rhine to rush down and inundate the
them back into the Batavian island, and pursued side of Gaul. (Hist. v. 19. ) The most probable opi-
them in their own territory, laying waste the nion seems to be, that Drusus dug a canal from the
greater part of their country. He then followed | Rhine near Arnheim to the Yssel, near Doesberg
the course of the Rhine, sailed to the ocean, sub- l(which bears a trace of his name), and that he also
## p. 1085 (#1105) ##########################################
DRUSUS.
1085
DRUSUS.
ocean.
widened the bed of the narrow outlet which at | been assigned to them by the Romans. After
that time connected the Lacus Flevus with the having long refused to become allies of the Sicam-
These were his fossae. With regard to bri, they now consented to join that powerful peo-
his agger or moles, it is supposed that he partly ple; but their united forces were not a match for
dammed up the south-western arm of the Rhine Drusus. Some of the Chatti he subdued ; others
(the Vahalis or Waal), in order to allow more he could do no more than harass and annoy. He
water to flow into the north-eastern arm, upon attacked the Nervii, who were headed by Senectius
which his canal was situated. But this hypothesis and Anectius (Liv. Epit. cxxxix); and it was pro-
as to the situation of the dyke is very doubtful. hably in this campaign that he built a castle upon
Some modern authors hold that the Yssel ran into the Taunus. (Tac. Ann. i. 56. ) He then returned
the Rhine, and did not run into the Zuydersee, to Rome with Augustus and Tiberius, who had
and that the chief work of Drusus consisted in been in Lugdunensian Gaul, watching the result of
connecting the Yssel with a river that ran from the war in Germany, and upon his arrival he was
Zutphen into the Zuydersee.
clected to the consulship, which was to commence
He did not tarry long at Rome. On the com- on the Kalends of January, K. c. 9. Drusus could
mencement of spring he returned to Germany, not rest in peace at Rome. To worry and subju-
subdued the Usipetes, built a bridge over the gate the Germans appeared to be the main object
Lippe, invaded the country of the Sicambri, and of his life. Without waiting for the actual com-
passed on through the territory of the Cherusci as mencement of his consulship (Pedo Albin. I. 139)
far as the Visurgis (Weser). This he was able to he returned to the scene of battle, undeterred by
effect from meeting with no opposition from the evil forebodings, of which there was no lack.
Sicambri, who were engaged with all their forces There had been horrible storms and inundations in
in fighting against the Chatti. He would have the winter months, and the lightning had struck
gone on to cross the Weser had he not been deterred three temples at Rome. (Ib. 1. 401; Dion Cass.
(such were the ostensible reasons) by scarcity of lv. ) He attacked the Chatti, won a hard-fought
provisions, the approach of winter, and the evil battle, penetrated to the country of the Suevi,
omen of a swarm of bees which settled upon the gave the Marcomanni (who were a portion of the
lances in front of the tent of the praefectus castro Suevi) a signal defeat, and with the arms taken as
rum. (Jul. Obsequens, i. 132. ) Ptolemy (ii. 11) spoil erected a mound as a trophy. It was now
mentions the tporala Apoúrou, which, to judge perhaps that he gave the Sueri Vannius as their
from the longitude and latitude he assigns to king. (Tac. Ann. xii. 29. ) He then turned his
them (viz. long. 33º. 45'. lat. 52º. 45'. ), were forces against the Cherusci, crossed the Weser (? ),
probably erected on the spot where the army and carried all before him to the Elbe. (Messalla
reached the Weser. No doubt Drusus found it Corvin. de Aug. Prog. 39; Ped. Albin. l. 17, 113;
prudent to retreat. In retiring, he was often in Aur. Vict. Epit. i. ; Orosius, iv. 21. ) The course
danger from the stratagems of the enemy, and that Drusus took on his way to the Elbe cannot
once was nearly shut up in a dangerous pass near be determined. Florus (iv. 12) speaks of his mak-
Arbalo, and narrowly escaped perishing with his ing roads through ( patefecit) the Hercynian forest,
But the careless bravery of the and Wilhelm (Fehlzüge, &c. p. 50) thinks that he
Germans saved him. His enemies had already by advanced through Thuringia. Drusus endeavoured
anticipation divided the spoil. The Cherusci chose in rain to cross the Elbe. (Dion Cass. iv. init. ;
the horses, the Suevi the gold and silver, and the Eutrop. iv. 12. ) A miraculous event occurred:
Sicambri the prisoners. Thinking that the Romans a woman of dimensions greater than human ap-
were as good as taken, after immolating twenty peared to him, and said to him, in the Latin
Roman centurions as a preparatory sacrifice, they tongue, “Whither goest thou, insatiable Drusns ?
rushed on without order, and were repulsed. It | The Fates forbid thee to advance. Away! The
was now they, and their horses, and sheep, and end of thy deeds and thy life is nigh. ” Dion
neck-chains (torques), that were sold by Drusus. Cassius cannot help believing the fact of the appa-
Henceforward they confined themselves to distant rition, seeing that the prophetic warning was so
attacks. (Dion Cass. liv. 20; Florus, iv. 12; Plin. soon fulfilled! Thus deterred by the guardian
H. N. xi. 18. ) Drusus had breathing time to build Genius of the land, Drusus hastened back to the
two castles, one at the confluence of the Luppia and Rhine, after erecting trophies on the banks of the
the Aliso, and the other near the country of the Elbe. Suetonius (Claud. 1) varies from Dion Cas-
Chatti on the Rhine. The latter is probably the sius in the particulars of this legend, and some of
modern Cassel over against Mayence. The former the moderns endeavour to explain it by referring
is thought by some who identify the Aliso with the denunciation to a German prophetess or Wala.
the Alm, to be the modern Elsen Neuhaus in On his retreat, wolres howled round the camp,
the district of Paderborn; by others, who iden- two strange youths appeared on horseback among
tify the Aliso with the Lise, to be Lisborn the intrenchments, the screams of women were
near Lippstadt in the district of Münster. Drusus heard, and the stars raced about in the sky. (Ped.
now returned to Rome with the reputation Albin. l. 405. ) Snch were the superstitious fears
of having conquered several tribes beyond the which oppressed the minds of the Romans, who
Rhine (Liv. Epit. cxxxviii. ), and received as his would rather flatter themselves that they were
reward a vote of the senate granting him an ova- submitting to supernatural forces than avoiding the
tion with the insignia of a triumph, and decreeing human might of dangerous enemies. Between the
that at the end of his praetorship he should have Elbe and the Sala (probably the Thuringian Sanl),
proconsular authority. But Augustus would not death overtook Drusus. According to the Epitomi-
allow him to bear the title of imperator, which had ser of Livy (cxl. ) (whose last books contained a full
been conferred upon him by the army in the field. account of these transactions), the horse of Drusus
In the next year, B. c. 10, Drusus was again at fell upon his leg, and Drusus died of the fracture
his post. The Chatti left the territory which had on the thirtieth day after the accident. Of the
whole army
## p. 1086 (#1106) ##########################################
1086
DRUSUS.
DRUSUS.
numerous writers who mention the death of Dru- mentioned by those writers, it is often necessary
bus, no one besides alludes to the broken leg. to have recourse to uncertain conjecture.
Suetonius, whose history is a rich receptacle of The misery that Drusus must have occasioned
scandal, mentions the incredible report that Dru- among the German tribes was undoubtedly exces-
sus was poisoned by Augustus, after having dis- sive. Some antiquaries have imagined that the
obeyed an order of the emperor for his recall. It German imprecation “ Das dich der Drus hole"
is indeed probable enough that the emperor thought may be traced to the traditional dread of this ter-
he had advanced far enough, and that it would be rible conqueror. The country was widely devas-
unwise to exasperate into hostility the inoffensive tated, and immense multitudes were carried away
tribes beyond the Elbe. Tiberius, Augustus, and from their homes and transplanted to the Gallic
Livia were in Pavia (Ticinum) when the tidings bank of the Rhine. Such was the horror occa-
of the dangerous illness of Drusus reached them. sioned by the advance of the Romans, that the
Tiberius with extraordinary speed crossed the German women often dashed their babes against
Alps, performing a journey of 200 Roman miles the ground, and then flung thcir mangled bodies
through a difficult and dangerous country, without in the faces of the soldiers. (Oros. vi. 21. )
stopping day or night, and arrived in time to close Drusus himself possessed great animal courage.
the eyes of his brother. (Plin. II. N. xii. 20; In battle he endeavoured to engage in personal
Val. Max. v. 5; Ped. Albin. I. 89; Senec. Consol. combat with the chieftains of the enemy, in order
ad Polyb. 34. ) Drusus, though at the point of to earn the glory of the spolia opima. He had no
death, had yet presence of mind enough to com- contemptible foe to contend against, and though
mand, that Tiberius should be received with all he did not escape unscathed—though, as Varus
the distinction due to a consular and an imperator. soon had occasion to feel, the Germanic spirit was
The summer camp where Drusus died was called not quelled--he certainly accomplished an impor-
Scelerata, the Accursed. The corpse was carried tant work in subjugating the tribes between the
in a marching military procession to the winter- Rhine and the Weser, and erecting fortresses to
quarters of the army at Moguntiacum (Mayence) preserve his conquests. According to Florus, he
upon the Rhine, Tiberius walking all the way as erected upwards of fifty fortresses along the banks
chief mourner. The troops wished the funeral to of the Rhine, besides building two bridges across
be celebrated there, but Tiberius brought the body that river, and establishing garrisons and guards
to Italy. It was burnt in the field of Mars, and on the Meuse, the Weser, and the Elbe. He im-
the ashes deposited in the tomb of Augustus, who pressed the Germans not less by the opinion of his
composed the verses that were inscribed upon his intellect and character than by the terror of his
sepulchral monument, and wrote in prose a memo- arms. They who resisted had to dread his un-
rial of his life. In a funeral oration held by Au- flinching firmness and severity, but they who sub-
gustus in the Flaminian Circus, he exclaimed, “ I mitted might rely on his good faith. He did not,
pray the gods to make my adopted sons Caius and like his successor Varus, rouse and inflame opposi-
Lucius like Drusus, and to rouchsafe to me as tion by tyrannous insolence or wanton cruelty to
honourable a death as his. "
the conquered. Whether, educated as he was in
Among the honours paid to Drusus the cogno- scenes of bloodshed, he would have fulfilled the
men Germanicus was decreed to him and his pos- expectations of the people, had he lived to attain
terity. A marble arch with trophies was erected the empire, it is impossible to pronounce. He was
to his memory on the Appian Way, and the re- undoubtedly, in his kind, one of the great men of his
presentation of this arch may be seen upon ex- day. To require that a Roman general, in the heat
tant coins, as for example, in the coin annexed, of conquest, should shew mercy to people who, ac-
cording to Roman ideas, were ferocious and danger-
ous barbarians, or should pause to balance the cost
against the glory of success, would be to ask more
than could be expected of any ordinary mortal in
a similar position. It is not fair to view the cha-
racters of one age by the light of another; for he
who has lived, says Schiller, so as to satisfy the
best of his own time, has lived for all times.
which was struck by order of Augustus. He (Bayle, Dict. s. v. ; Ferd. Wachter, in Ersch und
had a cenotaph on the Rhine, an altar near the Gruber's Encyclopädie, s. r. ; Wilhelm, die Feld-
Lippe (Tac. Ann. ii. 7), and Eusebius (Chronicon | züge des Nero Claudius Drusus in dem Nördl.
ad A.
or Drusus Libo (No. 10), who conspired against no Scribonius should assume the cognomen Drusus.
Tiberius. As Pompey the Great would appear (Tac. Ann. ii. 27—32; Suet. Tib. 25; Dion Cass.
from Tacitus (Ann. ii. 27) to have been the pro- vii. 15; Senec. Epist. 70. )
avus of the conspirator, Scribonia his amita, and 11. NERO CLAUDIUS Drusus (commonly called
the young Caesars (Caius and Lucius) bis conso- by the moderns Drusus Senior, to distinguish him
brini, Drusus Libo, the father, is supposed to have from his nephew, the son of Tiberius), had origi-
marrried a granddaughter of Pompey. Still there nally the praenomen Decimus, which was after-
are difficulties in the pedigree, which have per-wards exchanged for Nero ; and, after his death,
plexed Lipsius, Gronovius, Ryckius, and other received the honourable agnomen Germanicus,
learned commentators on the cited passage in which is appended to his name on coins. Hence
Tacitus. M. de la Nauze thinks that the father care should be taken not to confound him with
was a younger brother of Scribonia, the wife of the celebrated Germanicus, his son.
Augustus, and that he married his grandniece, the were Livia Drusilla (afterwards Julia Augusta)
daughter of Sextus Pompeius. According to this and Tiberius Claudius Nero, and through both of
explanation, he was about 26 years younger than them he inherited the noble blood of the Claudii,
his elder brother, L. Scribonius Libo, who was who had never yet admitted an adoption into their
consul B. C. 34, and whose daughter was married gens. From the adoption of his maternal grand-
to Sextus Pompeius. (Dion Cass. xlviii. 16 ; father (No. 7] by a Livius Drusus, he became
Appian, B. C. v. 139. )
legally one of the representatives of another illus-
There is extant a rare silver coin of M. Drusus trious race. He was a younger brother of Tiberius
Libo, bearing on the obverse a naked head, sup- Nero, who was afterwards emperor. Augustus,
posed by some to be the head of his natural, by having fallen in love with his mother, procured a
others of his adoptive, father. On the reverse is a divorce between her and her husband, and married
sella curulis, between cornucopiae and branches of her himself. Drusus was born in the house of
olive, with the legend M. Livi L. F. DRUSUS Augustus three months after this marriage, in B. C.
Livo, headed by the words Ex. S. C. It may be 38, and a suspicion prevailed that Augustus was
doubted whether the letters L. F. do not denote more than a step-father. Hence the satirical verse
that Lucius was the praenomen of the adoptive was often in men's mouths,
father. (Morell. Thes. Num. ii. p. 586 ; Dru- Τους ευτυχούσι και τρίμηνα παιδία.
mann's Rom. iv. p. 591, n. 63; De la Nauze, in Augustus took up the boy, and sent him to Nero
Mémoires de l'Académie des Inscriptions, xxxv. his father, who soon after died, having appointed
p. 600. )
Augustus guardian to Tiberius and Drusus. (Dion
9. Livia DRUSILLA. (Livia. ]
Cass. xlviii. 44; Vell. Pat. ji. 62; Suet. Aug. 62,
10. L. SCRIBONIUS LIBO DRUSUS, or, as he Claud. 1; Prudentius, de Simulacro Liriae. )
is called by Velleius Paterculus (ii. 130), DRUSUS Drusus, as he grew up, was more liked by the
Lixo, is supposed to have been the son of No. 8, people than was his brother. He was free from
to which article we refer for a statement of the dark reserve, and in him the character of the
difficulty experienced by commentators in attempt Claudian race assumed its most attractive, as in
ing to explain his family connexions. Firmius Tiberius its most odious, type. In everything he
Catus, a senator, in A. D. 16, taking advantage of did, there was an air of high breeding, and the no-
the facility and stupidity of his disposition, his ble courtesy of his manners was set off by singular
taste for pleasure and expense, and his family beauty of person and dignity of form. He pos-
pride, induced him to seek empire with its atten- sessed in a high degree the winning quality of al-
dant wealth, and to consult soothsayers and magi- ways exhibiting towards his friends an even and con-
cians as to his chances of success. He was betrayed sistent demeanour, without capricious alternations
by Catus through Flaccus Vescularius to the em- of familiarity and distance, and he seemed adapted
peror Tiberius, who nevertheless made him praetor, by nature to sustain the character of a prince and
and continued to receive him at table without any statesman. (Tac. Ann. vi. 51 ; Vell. Pat. iv. 97. )
mark of suspicion or resentment. At length he It was known that he had a desire to see the com-
was openly denounced by Fulcinius Trio, for monwealth restored, and the people cherished the
having required one Junius to summon shades hope that he would live to give them back their
from the infernal regions. Hereupon he strove at ancient liberties. (Suet. Claud. l; Tac. Ann. i. 33. )
first to excite compassion by a parade of grief, ill. He wrote a letter to his brother, in which he
ness, and supplication. As if he were too unwell broached the notion of compelling Augustus to re-
to walk, he was carried in a woman's litter to the sign the empire; and this letter was betrayed by
senate on the day appointed for opening the prose- | Tiberius to Augustus (Suet. Tib. 50. ) But notwith-
cution, and stretched his suppliant hands to the standing this indication that the affection of Tibe-
emperor, who received him with an unmoved rius was either a hollow pretence, or yielded to
countenar. ce, and, in stating the case to be proved his sense of duty to Augustus, the brothers main-
against him, affected a desire neither to suppress tained during their lives an appearance, at least,
nor to exaggerate aught. Finding that there was of fraternal tenderness, which, according to Vale-
no hope of pardon, he put an end to his own life, rius Maximus (v. 5. § 3), had only one parallel
though his aunt Scribonia had tried in rain to dis- the friendship of Castor and Pollux! In the do-
suade him from thus doing another's work; but he mestic relations of life, the conduct of Drusus was
thought that to keep himself alive till it pleased I exemplary. He married the beautiful and illus-
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DRUSUS.
DRUSUS.
ture.
trious Antonia, a daughter-and, according to the dued the Frisians, laid upon them a moderate tri-
preponderance of authority (ANTONIA, No. 5), the bute of beeves-hides, and passed by shallows into the
younger daughter-of M. Antonius the triumvir by territory of the Chauci, where his vessels grounded
Octavia, the sister of Augustus. Their mutual upon the ebbing of the tide. From this danger he
attachment was unusually great, and the unsullied was rescued by the friendly assistance of the Fri-
fidelity of Drusus to the marriage-bed became a sians. Winter now approached. He returned to
theme of popular admiration and applause in a Rome, and in B. c. 11 was made praetor urbanus.
profligate age. It is finely referred to by Pedo Drusus was the first Roman general who pene-
Albinovanus in his beautiful poem upon the death trated to the German ocean. It is probable that
of Drusus :
he united the military design of reconnoitering the
Tu concessus amor, tu solus et ultimus illi, coast with the spirit of adventure and scientific
Tu requies fesso grata laboris eras.
discovery. (Tac. Germ. 34. ) From the migratory
He must have been young when he married ; for, character of the tribes he subdued, it is not easy
though he died at the age of thirty, he had several to fix their locality with precision ; and the diffi-
children who died before him, besides the three, culty of geographical exactness is increased by the
Germanicus, Livia, and Claudius, who survived alterations which time and the elements have made
their father.
in the face of the country. Mannert and others
He began public life early. In B. c. 19, he ob identify the Dollart with the place where the fleet
tained permission, by a decree of the senate, to fill of Drusus went ashore ; but the Dollart first as-
all magistracies five years before the regular time. sumed its present form in a. d. 1277; and Wilhelin
(Dion Cass. liv. 10. ) In the beginning of B. c. (Feldzüge der Nero Cluulius Drusus im Nördlichen
16, we find him presiding with his brother at a Teutschland) makes the Jahde, westward of the
gladiatorial show; and when Augustus, upon his mouth of the Weser, the scene of this misadven-
departure for Gaul, took Tiberius, who was then It is by no means certain by what course
praetor, along with him, Drusus was left in the city Drusus reached the ocean, although it is the gene
to discharge, in his brother's place, the important ral opinion that he had already constructed a canal
duties of that office. (Dion Cass. liv. 19. ) In uniting the eastern arm of the Rhine with the
the following year he was made quaestor, and sent Yssel, and so had opened himself a way by the
against the Rhaetians, who were accused of having Zuydersee. This opinion is confirmed by a pas-
committed depredations upon Roman travellers and sage in Tacitus (Ann. ii. 8), where Germanicus,
allies of the Romans. The mountainous parts of upon entering the Fossa Drusiana, prays for the
the country were inhabited by banditti, who levied protection of his father, who had gone the same
contributions from the peaceful cultivators of the way before him, and then sails by the Zuydersee
plains, and plundered all who did not purchase (Lacus Flevus) to the ocean, up to the mouth of
freedom from attack by special agreement. Every the Ems (Amisia). To this expedition of Drusus
chance male who fell into their hands was mur- may perhaps be referred the naval battle in the
dered. Drusus attacked and routed them near the Ems mentioned by Strabo (vii. init. ), in which the
Tridentine Alps, as they were about to make a Bructeri were defeated, and the subjugation of
foray into Italy. His victory was not decisive, the islands on the coast, especially Byrchamis
but he obtained praetorian honours as liis reward. (Borkum). (Strab. vii. 34; Plin. H. N. iv. 13. )
The Rhaetians, after being repulsed from Italy, Ferdinand Wachter (Ersch und Gruber's Ency-
continued to infest the frontier of Gaul. Tiberius clopädie, s. v. Drusus) thinks, that the canal
was then despatched to join Drusus, and the bro of Drusus must have been too great a work to
thers jointly defeated some of the tribes of the be completed at so early a period, and that Dru-
Rhaeti and Vindelici, while others submitted with- sus could not have had time to run up the Ems.
out resistance. A tribute was imposed upon the He supposes, that Drusus sailed to the ocean
country. The greater part of the population was by one of the natural channels of the river, and
carried off, while enough were left to till the soil that the inconvenience he experienced and the
without being able to rebel. (Dion Cass. liv. 22 ; geographical knowledge he gained led him to avail
Strab. iv. fin. ; Florus, iv. 12. ) These exploits of himself of the capabilities afforded by the Lacus
the young step-bons of Augustus are the theme of Flerus for a safer junction with the ocean ; that
a spirited ode of Horace. (Carin. iv. 4, ib. 14. ) his works on the Rhine were probably begun in
On the return of Augustus to Rome from Gaul, this campaign, and were not finished until some
in B. C. 13, Drusus was sent into that province, years afterwards. The precise nature of those
which had been driven into revolt by the exaction works cannot now be determined. They appear
of the Roman governor, Licinius, who, in order to to have consisted not only of a canal (fossa), but
increase the amount of the monthly tribute, had of a dyke or mound (agger, moles) across the Khine.
divided the year into fourteen months. Drusus Suetonius seems to use even the word fossue in
made a new assessment of property for the purpose the sense of a mound, not a canal. “ Trans Tiberim
of taxation, and in B. c.
12 quelled the tumults fossas novi et immensi operis effecit, quae nunc
which had been occasioned by his financial mea- adhuc Drusinae vocantur. " (Claud. i. ) Tacitus
sures. (Liv. Epit. cxxxvi. cxxxvii. ) The Sicambri (Ann. xiii. 53) says, that Paullinus Pompeius, in
and their allies, under pretence of attending an A. D. 58, completed the agger coercendo Rheno
annual festival held at Lyons at the altar of Au- which had been begun by Drusus sixty-three years
gustus, had fomented the disaffection of the Gallic before ; and afterwards relates that Civilis, bř de-
chieftains. In the tumults which ensued, their stroying the moles formed by Drusus, allowed the
troops had crossed the Rhine. Drusus now drove waters of the Rhine to rush down and inundate the
them back into the Batavian island, and pursued side of Gaul. (Hist. v. 19. ) The most probable opi-
them in their own territory, laying waste the nion seems to be, that Drusus dug a canal from the
greater part of their country. He then followed | Rhine near Arnheim to the Yssel, near Doesberg
the course of the Rhine, sailed to the ocean, sub- l(which bears a trace of his name), and that he also
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DRUSUS.
1085
DRUSUS.
ocean.
widened the bed of the narrow outlet which at | been assigned to them by the Romans. After
that time connected the Lacus Flevus with the having long refused to become allies of the Sicam-
These were his fossae. With regard to bri, they now consented to join that powerful peo-
his agger or moles, it is supposed that he partly ple; but their united forces were not a match for
dammed up the south-western arm of the Rhine Drusus. Some of the Chatti he subdued ; others
(the Vahalis or Waal), in order to allow more he could do no more than harass and annoy. He
water to flow into the north-eastern arm, upon attacked the Nervii, who were headed by Senectius
which his canal was situated. But this hypothesis and Anectius (Liv. Epit. cxxxix); and it was pro-
as to the situation of the dyke is very doubtful. hably in this campaign that he built a castle upon
Some modern authors hold that the Yssel ran into the Taunus. (Tac. Ann. i. 56. ) He then returned
the Rhine, and did not run into the Zuydersee, to Rome with Augustus and Tiberius, who had
and that the chief work of Drusus consisted in been in Lugdunensian Gaul, watching the result of
connecting the Yssel with a river that ran from the war in Germany, and upon his arrival he was
Zutphen into the Zuydersee.
clected to the consulship, which was to commence
He did not tarry long at Rome. On the com- on the Kalends of January, K. c. 9. Drusus could
mencement of spring he returned to Germany, not rest in peace at Rome. To worry and subju-
subdued the Usipetes, built a bridge over the gate the Germans appeared to be the main object
Lippe, invaded the country of the Sicambri, and of his life. Without waiting for the actual com-
passed on through the territory of the Cherusci as mencement of his consulship (Pedo Albin. I. 139)
far as the Visurgis (Weser). This he was able to he returned to the scene of battle, undeterred by
effect from meeting with no opposition from the evil forebodings, of which there was no lack.
Sicambri, who were engaged with all their forces There had been horrible storms and inundations in
in fighting against the Chatti. He would have the winter months, and the lightning had struck
gone on to cross the Weser had he not been deterred three temples at Rome. (Ib. 1. 401; Dion Cass.
(such were the ostensible reasons) by scarcity of lv. ) He attacked the Chatti, won a hard-fought
provisions, the approach of winter, and the evil battle, penetrated to the country of the Suevi,
omen of a swarm of bees which settled upon the gave the Marcomanni (who were a portion of the
lances in front of the tent of the praefectus castro Suevi) a signal defeat, and with the arms taken as
rum. (Jul. Obsequens, i. 132. ) Ptolemy (ii. 11) spoil erected a mound as a trophy. It was now
mentions the tporala Apoúrou, which, to judge perhaps that he gave the Sueri Vannius as their
from the longitude and latitude he assigns to king. (Tac. Ann. xii. 29. ) He then turned his
them (viz. long. 33º. 45'. lat. 52º. 45'. ), were forces against the Cherusci, crossed the Weser (? ),
probably erected on the spot where the army and carried all before him to the Elbe. (Messalla
reached the Weser. No doubt Drusus found it Corvin. de Aug. Prog. 39; Ped. Albin. l. 17, 113;
prudent to retreat. In retiring, he was often in Aur. Vict. Epit. i. ; Orosius, iv. 21. ) The course
danger from the stratagems of the enemy, and that Drusus took on his way to the Elbe cannot
once was nearly shut up in a dangerous pass near be determined. Florus (iv. 12) speaks of his mak-
Arbalo, and narrowly escaped perishing with his ing roads through ( patefecit) the Hercynian forest,
But the careless bravery of the and Wilhelm (Fehlzüge, &c. p. 50) thinks that he
Germans saved him. His enemies had already by advanced through Thuringia. Drusus endeavoured
anticipation divided the spoil. The Cherusci chose in rain to cross the Elbe. (Dion Cass. iv. init. ;
the horses, the Suevi the gold and silver, and the Eutrop. iv. 12. ) A miraculous event occurred:
Sicambri the prisoners. Thinking that the Romans a woman of dimensions greater than human ap-
were as good as taken, after immolating twenty peared to him, and said to him, in the Latin
Roman centurions as a preparatory sacrifice, they tongue, “Whither goest thou, insatiable Drusns ?
rushed on without order, and were repulsed. It | The Fates forbid thee to advance. Away! The
was now they, and their horses, and sheep, and end of thy deeds and thy life is nigh. ” Dion
neck-chains (torques), that were sold by Drusus. Cassius cannot help believing the fact of the appa-
Henceforward they confined themselves to distant rition, seeing that the prophetic warning was so
attacks. (Dion Cass. liv. 20; Florus, iv. 12; Plin. soon fulfilled! Thus deterred by the guardian
H. N. xi. 18. ) Drusus had breathing time to build Genius of the land, Drusus hastened back to the
two castles, one at the confluence of the Luppia and Rhine, after erecting trophies on the banks of the
the Aliso, and the other near the country of the Elbe. Suetonius (Claud. 1) varies from Dion Cas-
Chatti on the Rhine. The latter is probably the sius in the particulars of this legend, and some of
modern Cassel over against Mayence. The former the moderns endeavour to explain it by referring
is thought by some who identify the Aliso with the denunciation to a German prophetess or Wala.
the Alm, to be the modern Elsen Neuhaus in On his retreat, wolres howled round the camp,
the district of Paderborn; by others, who iden- two strange youths appeared on horseback among
tify the Aliso with the Lise, to be Lisborn the intrenchments, the screams of women were
near Lippstadt in the district of Münster. Drusus heard, and the stars raced about in the sky. (Ped.
now returned to Rome with the reputation Albin. l. 405. ) Snch were the superstitious fears
of having conquered several tribes beyond the which oppressed the minds of the Romans, who
Rhine (Liv. Epit. cxxxviii. ), and received as his would rather flatter themselves that they were
reward a vote of the senate granting him an ova- submitting to supernatural forces than avoiding the
tion with the insignia of a triumph, and decreeing human might of dangerous enemies. Between the
that at the end of his praetorship he should have Elbe and the Sala (probably the Thuringian Sanl),
proconsular authority. But Augustus would not death overtook Drusus. According to the Epitomi-
allow him to bear the title of imperator, which had ser of Livy (cxl. ) (whose last books contained a full
been conferred upon him by the army in the field. account of these transactions), the horse of Drusus
In the next year, B. c. 10, Drusus was again at fell upon his leg, and Drusus died of the fracture
his post. The Chatti left the territory which had on the thirtieth day after the accident. Of the
whole army
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1086
DRUSUS.
DRUSUS.
numerous writers who mention the death of Dru- mentioned by those writers, it is often necessary
bus, no one besides alludes to the broken leg. to have recourse to uncertain conjecture.
Suetonius, whose history is a rich receptacle of The misery that Drusus must have occasioned
scandal, mentions the incredible report that Dru- among the German tribes was undoubtedly exces-
sus was poisoned by Augustus, after having dis- sive. Some antiquaries have imagined that the
obeyed an order of the emperor for his recall. It German imprecation “ Das dich der Drus hole"
is indeed probable enough that the emperor thought may be traced to the traditional dread of this ter-
he had advanced far enough, and that it would be rible conqueror. The country was widely devas-
unwise to exasperate into hostility the inoffensive tated, and immense multitudes were carried away
tribes beyond the Elbe. Tiberius, Augustus, and from their homes and transplanted to the Gallic
Livia were in Pavia (Ticinum) when the tidings bank of the Rhine. Such was the horror occa-
of the dangerous illness of Drusus reached them. sioned by the advance of the Romans, that the
Tiberius with extraordinary speed crossed the German women often dashed their babes against
Alps, performing a journey of 200 Roman miles the ground, and then flung thcir mangled bodies
through a difficult and dangerous country, without in the faces of the soldiers. (Oros. vi. 21. )
stopping day or night, and arrived in time to close Drusus himself possessed great animal courage.
the eyes of his brother. (Plin. II. N. xii. 20; In battle he endeavoured to engage in personal
Val. Max. v. 5; Ped. Albin. I. 89; Senec. Consol. combat with the chieftains of the enemy, in order
ad Polyb. 34. ) Drusus, though at the point of to earn the glory of the spolia opima. He had no
death, had yet presence of mind enough to com- contemptible foe to contend against, and though
mand, that Tiberius should be received with all he did not escape unscathed—though, as Varus
the distinction due to a consular and an imperator. soon had occasion to feel, the Germanic spirit was
The summer camp where Drusus died was called not quelled--he certainly accomplished an impor-
Scelerata, the Accursed. The corpse was carried tant work in subjugating the tribes between the
in a marching military procession to the winter- Rhine and the Weser, and erecting fortresses to
quarters of the army at Moguntiacum (Mayence) preserve his conquests. According to Florus, he
upon the Rhine, Tiberius walking all the way as erected upwards of fifty fortresses along the banks
chief mourner. The troops wished the funeral to of the Rhine, besides building two bridges across
be celebrated there, but Tiberius brought the body that river, and establishing garrisons and guards
to Italy. It was burnt in the field of Mars, and on the Meuse, the Weser, and the Elbe. He im-
the ashes deposited in the tomb of Augustus, who pressed the Germans not less by the opinion of his
composed the verses that were inscribed upon his intellect and character than by the terror of his
sepulchral monument, and wrote in prose a memo- arms. They who resisted had to dread his un-
rial of his life. In a funeral oration held by Au- flinching firmness and severity, but they who sub-
gustus in the Flaminian Circus, he exclaimed, “ I mitted might rely on his good faith. He did not,
pray the gods to make my adopted sons Caius and like his successor Varus, rouse and inflame opposi-
Lucius like Drusus, and to rouchsafe to me as tion by tyrannous insolence or wanton cruelty to
honourable a death as his. "
the conquered. Whether, educated as he was in
Among the honours paid to Drusus the cogno- scenes of bloodshed, he would have fulfilled the
men Germanicus was decreed to him and his pos- expectations of the people, had he lived to attain
terity. A marble arch with trophies was erected the empire, it is impossible to pronounce. He was
to his memory on the Appian Way, and the re- undoubtedly, in his kind, one of the great men of his
presentation of this arch may be seen upon ex- day. To require that a Roman general, in the heat
tant coins, as for example, in the coin annexed, of conquest, should shew mercy to people who, ac-
cording to Roman ideas, were ferocious and danger-
ous barbarians, or should pause to balance the cost
against the glory of success, would be to ask more
than could be expected of any ordinary mortal in
a similar position. It is not fair to view the cha-
racters of one age by the light of another; for he
who has lived, says Schiller, so as to satisfy the
best of his own time, has lived for all times.
which was struck by order of Augustus. He (Bayle, Dict. s. v. ; Ferd. Wachter, in Ersch und
had a cenotaph on the Rhine, an altar near the Gruber's Encyclopädie, s. r. ; Wilhelm, die Feld-
Lippe (Tac. Ann. ii. 7), and Eusebius (Chronicon | züge des Nero Claudius Drusus in dem Nördl.
ad A.
