omans. But as the latter proved too strong to
face in the open field, the Germans retreated with their families and
property, the country left by them being laid waste by the advancing
legions.

Germanicus soon reached the scene of the late slaughter, and caused the
bones of the soldiers of Varus to be buried. But in doing this he was
obliged to enter the mountain defiles in which the former army had met
its fate. Hermann and his men watched the Romans intently from forest
and hilltop. When they had fairly entered the narrow valleys, the adroit
chief appeared before them at the head of a small troop, which retreated
as if in fear, drawing them onward until the whole army had entered the
pass.

Then the fatal signal was given, and the revengeful Germans fell upon
the legionaries of Germanicus as they had done upon those of Varus,
cutting them down in multitudes. But Germanicus was a much better
soldier than Varus. He succeeded in extricating the remnant of his men,
after they had lost heavily, and in making an orderly retreat to his
ships, which awaited him upon the northern coast whence he had entered
the country. There were two other armies, one of which had invaded
Germany from the coast of Friesland, and was carried away by a flood,
narrowly escaping complete destruction. The third had entered from the
Rhine. This was overtaken by Hermann while retreating over the long
bridges which the Romans had built across the marshes of Muensterland,
and which were now in a state of advanced decay. Here it found itself
surrounded by seemingly insuperable dangers, being, in part of its
route, shut up in a narrow dell, into which the enemy had turned the
waters of a rapid stream. While defending their camp, the waters poured
upon the soldiers, rising to their knees, and a furious tempest at the
same time burst over their heads. Yet discipline, again prevailed. They
lost heavily, but succeeded in cutting their way through their enemies
and reaching the Rhine.

In the next year, 17 A.D., Germanicus again invaded Germany, sailing
with a thousand ships through the northern seas and up the Ems. Flavus,
the brother of Hermann, who had remained in the service of Rome, was
with him, and addressed his patriotic brother from the river-side,
seeking to induce him to desert the German cause, by painting in
glowing colors the advantage of being a Roman citizen. Hermann, furious
at his desertion of his country, replied to him with curses, as