Gilpin observer., 1917-08-02


the time. He won it. Oddly enough
he won 1t by employment Of the very
tactics which have gained the most
marked success for the German arms
in the present war. He may almost be
said to have furnished the inspiration
for Hindenburg. For he gained his
great victory by Turing the legions of
Rome into the mire of his swamps and
morasses and there slaughtering them
almost to man. The great fight took
place nine years before the beginning
of the Christian era. 1t drove the
power of Rome out of Germany for
ever.
Vercingetorix. the great Ga!lic
chieftain, had been overcome by Julius
Caesar, had been made to march in
Caesars triumph and had afterward
been murdered in his Roman dungeon.
Augustus, the voluptuary and profit
gate, was on the throne of Il Rome
now largely given over to pleasure.
Tiberius. afterward to become emper-
or himself, had been recalled from the
command of Germany, then held as an
outpost of German empire. To sue
coed him came Quintilius Varus, fresh
from rule as the proconsul of Syria.
He established his headquarters near
the center Of the modern country of
Westphalia, where he not only gave
up himself to the qualification of his
rapacity and Righteousness, but en-
couraged all manner of excesses on the
part of his soldiers. No mans life or
property was safe. Less SO was the
honor of any woman. The Romans
wallowed in evil. The German swarm
buzzed in Indignation. In the mind Of
Arminius formed the plan, preposter-
GUS as 1t seemed, not only to take ven
geance upon the oppressOrs, but to
defy the whole Roman empire, and
turn Germany back from vassalage
of Rome to its own independence. But
for his success the Europe of today
might be populated by an entirely diff
ferent race.
AS is not infrequently the case a
woman figured in the maelstrom.
Arminius, himself a citizen of Rome
by the benign concession of the Ro-
man emperor who had conquered
him. eloped with the daughter Of one
Segestes. For this he was de-
nounced and prescribed. So he took
to the forests where he reused and
organized the wild hordes of Ger
man fighting men.
Very crafty was Arminius. He
waited for the heavy rains. These
coming in due season turned the coun-
try into bOgs through which 1t became
most difficult to maneuver regular
troops. Then he directed the tribes
near the Weser and the Ems to take
up arms in minor revolt against the
Romans. This was represented to
Varus as local disturbance which re-
quired his immediate presence on the
spot. Varus fell into the trap. Prompt
ly he set forth, starting his army on
line parallel with the Lippe. Here, not
far from the source of the Ems, where
the country is rugged and heavily
wooded, with streams which are shall
low in the dry season, but which over
run their banks in the time of the
rains, Arminius staged his terrible en-
terprise. No modern Hindenburg drew
on the invaders with more guile.
Varus was little more than an ordi-
nary general, but he had with him a
force of the best-disciplined, most for
midable troops in the world-Roman
legionaries to the number of some H.
600 supplemented by a thousand Ro-
man cavalry and numerous light auxil-
iaries. These were commanded by
skillful officers, although the incompe-
tent Varus had permitted his force to
be encumbered by rabble of camp
followers and women who greatly i'm
peded the march. Into the dark for
est entered this doomed host.
Once clear of the firm level ground
came trouble. In the marshes the
cavalry often found itself unable to
proceed. Even the infantry must
make roads Of logs. The camp follow
ers got In the way of the engineers.
And then suddenly came the word that
the rear guard had been furiously at
tackled by the barbarians.
Confused and startled, Varus gave
the command to press forward. His
troops struggled on, but from the
woods on either flank came heavy
discharges Of missiles. Some of the
best of the cohorts were moved down
by enemies whom they were unable to
see. On such ground the legions could
not deploy. The Germanic auxiliaries
began to desert. But Roman discipline
held firm. Advancing until it reached
something which approximated an
open spot, the army, continually beset
by harassing foes, stolidly pitched Its
regulation Roman camp.
The veteran officers of Varus were
worried. While history is somewhat
uncertain on this point, 1t appears that
during the night they induced him to
surrender command. When the army
resumed its march on the morrow 1t
was under the direction Of its best sol
diers but not even this change could