Battle victory of Arminius over the Romans,
A.D. 9.
"Hac clade factum ut Imperium,
quod in litore oceani non steterat,
in ripa Itheni fiuminis staret."
FLORUS.
Roman Urn with Toile I Art Print
Chilton, Sarah...
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To a truly illustrious Frenchman, whose battle reverses as a minister can never obscure his achievements in the
world of letters, we are indebted for the most profound and most eloquent estimate that we possess of the importance of the Germanic
element in European civilization, and of the extent to which the human race is indebted to Arminius and those brave warriors who long were
the unconquered antagonists, and finally battled to became the conquerors, of imperial Rome.
Approximately, one hundred and seventy seven eventful years have passed away since M. Guizot delivered from the chair of
modern history at Paris his course of lectures on the history of Civilization in Europe. During those years the spirit of earnest inquiry
into the germs and primary developments of existing institutions has become more and more active and universal, and the merited celebrity
of M. Guizot's work has proportionally increased. Its admirable analysis of the complex political and social organizations of which the
modern civilized world is made up, must have led thousands to trace with keener interest the great crises of times past, by which the
characteristics of the present were determined.
The narrative of one of these great crises, of the epoch A.D. 9, when Germany took up arms and battled for her
independence against Roman invasion, has for us this special attraction—that it forms part of our own national history. Had Arminius been
supine or unsuccessful, our Germanic ancestors would have been enslaved or exterminated in their original seats along the Eyder and the
Elbe. This island would never have Rome the name of England, and "we, this great English nation, whose race and language are now
overrunning the 'earth, from one end of it to the other, "would have been utterly lent off from existence.
Arnold may, indeed, go too far in holding that we are wholly unconnected in race with the Romans and Britons who inhabited
this country before the coming over of the Saxons; that, " nationality speaking, the history of Caesar's invasion has no more to do with us
than the natural history of the animals which then inhabited our forests." There seems ample evidence to prove that the Romanized Celts
whom our Teutonic forefathers found here influenced materially the character of our nation. But the main stream of our people was and is
Germanic. Our language alone decisively proves this. Arminius is far more truly one of our national heroes than Caractacus; and it was our
own primeval fatherland that Arminius, the brave German rescued when he slaughtered the Roman legions eighteen centuries ago, in the marshy
glens between the Lippe and the Ems.
Dark and disheartening, even to heroic spirits, must have seemed the prospects of Germany when Arminius planned the
general rising of his countrymen against Rome. Half the land was occupied by Roman garrisons; and, what was worse, many of the Germans
seemed patiently acquiescent in their state of bondage. The braver portion, whose patriotism could be relied on, was ill armed and
undisciplined, while the enemy's troops consisted of veterans in the highest state of equipment and training, familiarized with victory,
and commanded by officers of proved skill and valor. 
The resources of Rome seemed boundless; her tenacity of purpose was believed to be invincible. There was no hope of
foreign sympathy or aid for "the self-governing powers that had filled the Old World had sent one after another before the rising power of
Rome, and had vanished. The earth seemed left void of independent nations.
The German chieftain knew well the gigantic power of the oppressor. Arminius was no rude savage, fighting out of mere
animal instinct, or in ignorance of the might of his adversary. Arminius was familiar with the Roman language and civilization; he had
served in the Roman armies; he had been admitted to the Roman citizenship, and raised to the rank of the equestrian order. It was part of
the subtle policy of Rome to confer rank and privileges on the youth of the leading families in the nations which she wished to enslave.
Among other young German chieftains, Arminius and his brother, who were the heads of the noblest house in the tribe of the Cherusci, had
been selected as fit objects for the exercise of this insidious system.
Arminius
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