The Batavi were once a tribe of the Chatti,[265] living on the further bank of the Rhine.  But an outbreak of civil war had driven them across the river, where they settled in a still unoccupied district on the frontier of Gaul and also in the neighbouring island, enclosed on one side by the ocean and on the other three sides by the Rhine.[266] There they fared better than most tribes who ally themselves to a stronger power.  Their resources are still intact, and they have only to contribute men and arms for the imperial army.[267] After a long training in the German wars, they still further increased their reputation in Britain, where their troops had been sent, commanded according to an ancient custom by some of the noblest chiefs.  There still remained behind in their own country a picked troop of horsemen with a peculiar knack of swimming, which enabled them to make a practice[268] of crossing the Rhine with unbroken ranks without losing control of their horses or their weapons.

Of their chieftains two outshone the rest.  These were Julius 13 Paulus and Julius Civilis, both of royal stock.  Paulus had been executed by Fonteius Capito on a false charge of rebellion.[269] On the same occasion Civilis was sent in chains to Nero.  Galba, however, set him free, and under Vitellius he again ran great risk of his life, when the army clamoured for his execution.[270] This gave him a motive for hating Rome, and our misfortunes fed his hopes.  He was, indeed, far cleverer than most barbarians, and professed to be a second Sertorius or Hannibal, because they all three had the same physical defect.[271] He was afraid that if he openly rebelled against the Roman people they would treat him as an enemy, and march on him at once, so he pretended to be a keen supporter of Vespasian’s party.  This much was true, that Antonius Primus had written instructing him to divert the auxiliaries whom Vitellius had summoned, and to delay the legions on the pretence of a rising in Germany.  Moreover, Hordeonius Flaccus[272] had given him the same advice in person, for Flaccus was inclined to support Vespasian and anxious for the safety of Rome, which was threatened with utter disaster, if the war were to break out afresh and all these thousands of troops come pouring into Italy.

Having thus made up his mind to rebel, Civilis concealed in the 14 meantime his ulterior design, and while intending to guide his ultimate policy by future events, proceeded to initiate the rising as follows.  The young Batavians were by Vitellius’ orders being pressed for service, and this burden was being rendered even more irksome than it need have been by the greed and depravity of the recruiting officers.  They took to enrolling elderly men and invalids so as to get bribes for excusing them:  or, as most of the Batavi are tall and good-looking in their youth, they would seize the handsomest boys for immoral purposes.  This caused bad feeling; an agitation was organized,