Vannius
Traduit de l'anglais-Vannius était le
roi de la tribu germanique Quadi. Selon Les Annales de Tacite, Vannius est
arrivé au pouvoir après la défaite du roi Marcomannic Catualda par le roi
Hermunduri de Vibilius, établissant le royaume de Vannius. C'était la première
unité politique dans la région qui est maintenant la Slovaquie. Wikipédia (anglais)
Vannius (flourished in 1st
century AD) was the king of the Germanic tribe Quadi.
According to The Annals of Tacitus, Vannius came
to power following the defeat of the Marcomannic king Catualda by the Hermunduri king of Vibilius, establishing the kingdom of Vannius
(regnum Vannianum).[1] It was the first
political unit in the area that is now Slovakia. Vannius was a client king of
the Roman Empire and ruled from 20 AD to 50 AD. Tacitus writes that he was
"renowned and popular with his countrymen," but after a long reign,
he "became a tyrant, and the enmity of neighbours, joined to intestine
strife, was his ruin." Joined by Vangio and Sido, sons of a
sister of Vannius, Vibilius of the Hermunduri again led the deposition.
Emperor Claudius, decided to
stay out of the conflict, fearing that the Lugii and other Germanic tribes would be attracted by
the "opulent realm which Vannius had enriched during thirty years of
plunder and tribute."[2]
Vannius was easily defeated by the Lugii and the Hermunduri, although he
won some credit through being wounded in battle. Vannius managed to flee to his
fleet on the Danube, and was
awarded lands in Pannonia by Claudius. His realm was subsequently divided between his nephews
Vangio and Sido. Tacitus writes that Vangio and Sido were "admirably
loyal" to the Romans, but among their subjects, by whom they were
"much loved" while seeking to acquire power, they became "yet
more hated when they acquired it."[3]
Notes
ibilius,
établissant le royaume de Vannius (regnum Vannianum). [1] C'était la première
unité politique dans la région qui est maintenant la Slovaquie. Vannius était
un client roi de l'Empire romain et a régné de 20 à 50 après JC. Tacitus écrit
qu'il était «renommé et populaire auprès de ses compatriotes», mais après un
long règne, il «devint un tyran, et l'inimitié des voisins, jointe aux conflits
intestinaux, fut sa ruine». Rejoint par Vangio et Sido, fils d'une sœur de
Vannius, Vibilius de l'Hermunduri dirigea à nouveau la déposition. L'empereur
Claudius, a décidé de rester en dehors du conflit, craignant que les Lugii et
d'autres tribus germaniques ne soient attirés par le "royaume opulent que
Vannius avait enrichi pendant trente ans de pillage et d'hommage." [2]
Vannius a été facilement vaincu par les Lugii et les Hermunduri, bien qu'il ait
gagné un certain crédit en étant blessé au combat. Vannius réussit à fuir vers
sa flotte sur le Danube et reçut des terres en Pannonie par Claudius. Son
royaume a ensuite été divisé entre ses neveux Vangio et Sido. Tacitus écrit que
Vangio et Sido étaient "admirablement fidèles" aux Romains, mais
parmi leurs sujets, par qui ils étaient "beaucoup aimés" tout en
cherchant à acquérir le pouvoir, ils devinrent "encore plus détestés quand
ils l'acquirent." [3]
Translation based on Alfred John Church
and William Jackson Brodribb (1876)
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In the consulship of Sisenna Statilius Taurus and Lucius Libo
there was a commotion in the kingdoms and Roman provinces of the East. It had
its origin among the Parthians, who disdained as a foreigner a king whom they
had sought and received from Rome, though he was of the family of the Arsacids.
This was Vonones, who had been given as an hostage to Augustus by Phraates. For
although he had driven before him armies and generals from Rome, Phraates had
shown to Augustus every token of reverence and had sent him some of his
children, to cement the friendship, not so much from dread of us as from
distrust of the loyalty of his countrymen.
After the death of
Phraates and the succeeding kings in the bloodshed of civil wars, there came to
Rome envoys from the chief men of Parthia, in quest of Vonones, his eldest son.
Caesar thought this a great honour to himself, and loaded Vonones with wealth.
The barbarians, too, welcomed him with rejoicing, as is usual with new rulers.
Soon they felt shame at Parthians having become degenerate, at their having
sought a king from another world, one too infected with the training of the
enemy, at the throne of the Arsacids now being possessed and given away among
the provinces of Rome. "Where," they asked, "was the glory of
the men who slew Crassus, who drove out Antonius, if Caesar's drudge, after an
endurance of so many years' slavery, were to rule over Parthians." Vonones
himself too further provoked their disdain, by his contrast with their
ancestral manners, by his rare indulgence in the chase, by his feeble interest
in horses, by the litter in which he was carried whenever he made a progress
through their cities, and by his contemptuous dislike of their national
festivities. They also ridiculed his Greek attendants and his keeping under
seal the commonest household articles. But he was easy of approach; his
courtesy was open to all, and he had thus virtues with which the Parthians were
unfamiliar, and vices new to them. And as his ways were quite alien from theirs
they hated alike what was bad and what was good in him.
Accordingly they
summoned Artabanus, an Arsacid by blood, who had grown to manhood among the
Dahae, and who, though routed in the first encounter, rallied his forces and
possessed himself of the kingdom. The conquered Vonones found a refuge in
Armenia, then a free country, and exposed to the power of Parthia and Rome,
without being trusted by either, in consequence of the crime of Antonius, who,
under the guise of friendship, had inveigled Artavasdes, king of the Armenians,
then loaded him with chains, and finally murdered him. His son, Artaxias, our
bitter foe because of his father's memory, found defence for himself and his
kingdom in the might of the Arsacids. When he was slain by the treachery of
kinsmen, Caesar gave Tigranes to the Armenians, and he was put in possession of
the kingdom under the escort of Tiberius Nero. But neither Tigranes nor his
children reigned long, though, in foreign fashion, they were united in marriage
and in royal power.
Next, at the
bidding of Augustus, Artavasdes was set on the throne, nor was he deposed
without disaster to ourselves. Caius Caesar was then appointed to restore order
in Armenia. He put over the Armenians Ariobarzanes, a Mede by birth, whom they
willingly accepted, because of his singularly handsome person and noble spirit.
On the death of Ariobarzanes through a fatal accident, they would not endure
his son. Having tried the government of a woman named Erato and having soon
afterwards driven her from them, bewildered and disorganised, rather indeed
without a ruler than enjoying freedom, they received for their king the
fugitive Vonones. When, however, Artabanus began to threaten, and but feeble
support could be given by the Armenians, or war with Parthia would have to be
undertaken, if Vonones was to be upheld by our arms, the governor of Syria,
Creticus Silanus, sent for him and kept him under surveillance, letting him
retain his royal pomp and title. How Vonones meditated an escape from this
mockery, I will relate in the proper place.
Meanwhile the
commotion in the East was rather pleasing to Tiberius, as it was a pretext for
withdrawing Germanicus from the legions which knew him well, and placing him
over new provinces where he would be exposed both to treachery and to
disasters. Germanicus, however, in proportion to the strength of the soldiers'
attachment and to his uncle's dislike, was eager to hasten his victory, and he
pondered on plans of battle, and on the reverses or successes which during more
than three years of war had fallen to his lot. The Germans, he knew, were
beaten in the field and on fair ground; they were helped by woods, swamps,
short summers, and early winters. His own troops were affected not so much by
wounds as by long marches and damage to their arms. Gaul had been exhausted by
supplying horses; a long baggage-train presented facilities for ambuscades, and
was embarrassing to its defenders. But by embarking on the sea, invasion would
be easy for them, and a surprise to the enemy, while a campaign too would be
more quickly begun, the legions and supplies would be brought up
simultaneously, and the cavalry with their horses would arrive, in good
condition, by the rivermouths and channels, at the heart of Germany.
To this accordingly
he gave his mind, and sent Publius Vitellius and Caius Antius to collect the
taxes of Gaul. Silius, Anteius, and Caecina had the charge of building a fleet.
It seemed that a thousand vessels were required, and they were speedily
constructed, some of small draught with a narrow stem and stern and a broad
centre, that they might bear the waves more easily; some flat-bottomed, that
they might ground without being injured; several, furnished with a rudder at
each end, so that by a sudden shifting of the oars they might be run into shore
either way. Many were covered in with decks, on which engines for missiles
might be conveyed, and were also fit for the carrying of horses or supplies,
and being equipped with sails as well as rapidly moved by oars, they assumed,
through the enthusiasm of our soldiers, an imposing and formidable aspect. The
island of the Batavi was the appointed rendezvous, because of its easy
landing-places, and its convenience for receiving the army and carrying the war
across the river. For the Rhine after flowing continuously in a single channel
or encircling merely insignificant islands, divides itself, so to say, where
the Batavian territory begins, into two rivers, retaining its name and the
rapidity of its course in the stream which washes Germany, till it mingles with
the ocean. On the Gallic bank, its flow is broader and gentler; it is called by
an altered name, the Vahal, by the inhabitants of its shore. Soon that name too
is changed for the Mosa river, through whose vast mouth it empties itself into
the same ocean.
Caesar, however,
while the vessels were coming up, ordered Silius, his lieutenant-general, to
make an inroad on the Chatti with a flying column. He himself, on hearing that
a fort on the river Luppia was being besieged, led six legions to the spot.
Silius owing to sudden rains did nothing but carry off a small booty, and the
wife and daughter of Arpus, the chief of the Chatti. And Caesar had no
opportunity of fighting given him by the besiegers, who dispersed on the rumour
of his advance. They had, however, destroyed the barrow lately raised in memory
of Varus's legions, and the old altar of Drusus. The prince restored the altar,
and himself with his legions celebrated funeral games in his father's honour.
To raise a new barrow was not thought necessary. All the country between the
fort Aliso and the Rhine was thoroughly secured by new barriers and earthworks.
By this time the
fleet had arrived, and Caesar, having sent on his supplies and assigned vessels
for the legions and the allied troops, entered "Drusus's fosse," as
it was called. He prayed Drusus his father to lend him, now that he was
venturing on the same enterprise, the willing and favourable aid of the example
and memory of his counsels and achievements, and he arrived after a prosperous
voyage through the lakes and the ocean as far as the river Amisia. His fleet
remained there on the left bank of the stream, and it was a blunder that he did
not have it brought up the river. He disembarked the troops, which were to be
marched to the country on the right, and thus several days were wasted in the
construction of bridges. The cavalry and the legions fearlessly crossed the
first estuaries in which the tide had not yet risen. The rear of the
auxiliaries, and the Batavi among the number, plunging recklessly into the
water and displaying their skill in swimming, fell into disorder, and some were
drowned. While Caesar was measuring out his camp, he was told of a revolt of
the Angrivarii in his rear. He at once despatched Stertinius with some cavalry
and a light armed force, who punished their perfidy with fire and sword.
The waters of the
Visurgis flowed between the Romans and the Cherusci. On its banks stood
Arminius with the other chiefs. He asked whether Caesar had arrived, and on the
reply that he was present, he begged leave to have an interview with his
brother. That brother, surnamed Flavus, was with our army, a man famous for his
loyalty, and for having lost an eye by a wound, a few years ago, when Tiberius
was in command. The permission was then given, and he stepped forth and was
saluted by Arminius, who had removed his guards to a distance and required that
the bowmen ranged on our bank should retire. When they had gone away, Arminius
asked his brother whence came the scar which disfigured his face, and on being
told the particular place and battle, he inquired what reward he had received.
Flavus spoke of increased pay, of a neck chain, a crown, and other military
gifts, while Arminius jeered at such a paltry recompense for slavery.
Then began a
controversy. The one spoke of the greatness of Rome, the resources of Caesar,
the dreadful punishment in store for the vanquished, the ready mercy for him
who surrenders, and the fact that neither Arminius's wife nor his son were
treated as enemies; the other, of the claims of fatherland, of ancestral
freedom, of the gods of the homes of Germany, of the mother who shared his
prayers, that Flavus might not choose to be the deserter and betrayer rather
than the ruler of his kinsfolk and relatives, and indeed of his own people. By
degrees they fell to bitter words, and even the river between them would not
have hindered them from joining combat, had not Stertinius hurried up and put
his hand on Flavus, who in the full tide of his fury was demanding his weapons
and his charger. Arminius was seen facing him, full of menaces and challenging
him to conflict. Much of what he said was in Roman speech, for he had served in
our camp as leader of his fellow-countrymen.
Next day the German
army took up its position on the other side of the Visurgis. Caesar, thinking
that without bridges and troops to guard them, it would not be good generalship
to expose the legions to danger, sent the cavalry across the river by the
fords. It was commanded by Stertinius and Aemilius, one of the first rank
centurions, who attacked at widely different points so as to distract the
enemy. Chariovalda, the Batavian chief, dashed to the charge where the stream
is most rapid. The Cherusci, by a pretended flight, drew him into a plain
surrounded by forest-passes. Then bursting on him in a sudden attack from all points
they thrust aside all who resisted, pressed fiercely on their retreat, driving
them before them, when they rallied in compact array, some by close fighting,
others by missiles from a distance. Chariovalda, after long sustaining the
enemy's fury, cheered on his men to break by a dense formation the onset of
their bands, while he himself, plunging into the thickest of the battle, fell
amid a shower of darts with his horse pierced under him, and round him many
noble chiefs. The rest were rescued from the peril by their own strength, or by
the cavalry which came up with Stertinius and Aemilius.
Caesar on crossing
the Visurgis learnt by the information of a deserter that Arminius had chosen a
battle-field, that other tribes too had assembled in a forest sacred to
Hercules, and would venture on a night attack on his camp. He put faith in this
intelligence, and, besides, several watchfires were seen. Scouts also, who had
crept close up to the enemy, reported that they had heard the neighing of
horses and the hum of a huge and tumultuous host. And so as the decisive crisis
drew near, that he ought thoroughly to sound the temper of his soldiers, he
considered with himself how this was to be accomplished with a genuine result.
Tribunes and centurions, he knew, oftener reported what was welcome than what
was true; freedmen had slavish spirits, friends a love of flattery. If an
assembly were called, there too the lead of a few was followed by the shout of
the many. He must probe their inmost thoughts, when they were uttering their
hopes and fears at the military mess, among themselves, and unwatched.
At nightfall,
leaving his tent of augury by a secret exit, unknown to the sentries, with one
companion, his shoulders covered with a wild beast's skin, he visited the camp
streets, stood by the tents, and enjoyed the men's talk about himself, as one
extolled his noble rank, another, his handsome person, nearly all of them, his
endurance, his gracious manner and the evenness of his temper, whether he was
jesting or was serious, while they acknowledged that they ought to repay him
with their gratitude in battle, and at the same time sacrifice to a glorious
vengeance the perfidious violators of peace. Meanwhile one of the enemy,
acquainted with the Roman tongue, spurred his horse up to the entrenchments,
and in a loud voice promised in the name of Arminius to all deserters wives and
lands with daily pay of a hundred sesterces as long as war lasted. The insult
fired the wrath of the legions. "Let daylight come," they said,
"let battle be given. The soldiers will possess themselves of the lands of
the Germans and will carry off their wives. We hail the omen; we mean the women
and riches of the enemy to be our spoil." About midday there was a
skirmishing attack on our camp, without any discharge of missiles, when they
saw the cohorts in close array before the lines and no sign of carelessness.
The same night
brought with it a cheering dream to Germanicus. He saw himself engaged in
sacrifice, and his robe being sprinkled with the sacred blood, another more
beautiful was given him by the hands of his grandmother Augusta. Encouraged by
the omen and finding the auspices favourable, he called an assembly, and
explained the precautions which wisdom suggested as suitable for the impending
battle. "It is not," he said, "plains only which are good for
the fighting of Roman soldiers, but woods and forest passes, if science be
used. For the huge shields and unwieldly lances of the barbarians cannot, amid
trunks of trees and brushwood that springs from the ground, be so well managed
as our javelins and swords and closefitting armour. Shower your blows thickly;
strike at the face with your swords' points. The German has neither cuirass nor
helmet; even his shield is not strengthened with leather or steel, but is of
osiers woven together or of thin and painted board. If their first line is
armed with spears, the rest have only weapons hardened by fire or very short.
Again, though their frames are terrible to the eye and formidable in a brief
onset, they have no capacity of enduring wounds; without, any shame at the
disgrace, without any regard to their leaders, they quit the field and flee;
they quail under disaster, just as in success they forget alike divine and
human laws. If in your weariness of land and sea you desire an end of service,
this battle prepares the way to it. The Elbe is now nearer than the Rhine, and
there is no war beyond, provided only you enable me, keeping close as I do to
my father's and my uncle's footsteps, to stand a conqueror on the same
spot."
The general's
speech was followed by enthusiasm in the soldiers, and the signal for battle
was given. Nor were Arminius and the other German chiefs slow to call their
respective clansmen to witness that "these Romans were the most cowardly
fugitives out of Varus's army, men who rather than endure war had taken to
mutiny. Half of them have their backs covered with wounds; half are once again
exposing limbs battered by waves and storms to a foe full of fury, and to
hostile deities, with no hope of advantage. They have, in fact, had recourse to
a fleet and to a trackless ocean, that their coming might be unopposed, their
flight unpursued. But when once they have joined conflict with us, the help of
winds or oars will be unavailing to the vanquished. Remember only their greed,
their cruelty, their pride. Is anything left for us but to retain our freedom
or to die before we are enslaved?
When they were thus
roused and were demanding battle, their chiefs led them down into a plain named
Idistaviso. It winds between the Visurgis and a hill range, its breadth varying
as the river banks recede or the spurs of the hills project on it. In their
rear rose a forest, with the branches rising to a great height, while there
were clear spaces between the trunks. The barbarian army occupied the plain and
the outskirts of the wood. The Cherusci were posted by themselves on the high
ground, so as to rush down on the Romans during the battle. Our army advanced
in the following order. The auxiliary Gauls and Germans were in the van, then
the foot-archers, after them, four legions and Caesar himself with two
praetorian cohorts and some picked cavalry. Next came as many other legions,
and light-armed troops with horse-bowmen, and the remaining cohorts of the allies.
The men were quite ready and prepared to form in line of battle according to
their marching order.
Caesar, as soon as
he saw the Cheruscan bands which in their impetuous spirit had rushed to the
attack, ordered the finest of his cavalry to charge them in flank, Stertinius
with the other squadrons to make a detour and fall on their rear, promising
himself to come up in good time. Meanwhile there was a most encouraging augury.
Eight eagles, seen to fly towards the woods and to enter them, caught the
general's eye. "Go," he exclaimed, "follow the Roman birds, the
true deities of our legions." At the same moment the infantry charged, and
the cavalry which had been sent on in advance dashed on the rear and the
flanks. And, strange to relate, two columns of the enemy fled in opposite
directions, that, which had occupied the wood, rushing into the open, those who
had been drawn up on the plains, into the wood. The Cherusci, who were between
them, were dislodged from the hills, while Arminius, conspicuous among them by
gesture, voice, and a wound he had received, kept up the fight. He had thrown
himself on our archers and was on the point of breaking through them, when the
cohorts of the Raeti, Vendelici, and Gauls faced his attack. By a strong bodily
effort, however, and a furious rush of his horse, he made his way through them,
having smeared his face with his blood, that he might not be known. Some have
said that he was recognised by Chauci serving among the Roman auxiliaries, who
let him go. Inguiomerus owed his escape to similar courage or treachery. The
rest were cut down in every direction. Many in attempting to swim across the
Visurgis were overwhelmed under a storm of missiles or by the force of the
current, lastly, by the rush of fugitives and the falling in of the banks. Some
in their ignominious flight climbed the tops of trees, and as they were hiding
themselves in the boughs, archers were brought up and they were shot for sport.
Others were dashed to the ground by the felling of the trees.
It was a great
victory and without bloodshed to us. From nine in the morning to nightfall the
enemy were slaughtered, and ten miles were covered with arms and dead bodies,
while there were found amid the plunder the chains which the Germans had
brought with them for the Romans, as though the issue were certain. The
soldiers on the battle field hailed Tiberius as Imperator, and raised a mound
on which arms were piled in the style of a trophy, with the names of the
conquered tribes inscribed beneath them.
That sight caused
keener grief and rage among the Germans than their wounds, their mourning, and
their losses. Those who but now were preparing to quit their settlements and to
retreat to the further side of the Elbe, longed for battle and flew to arms.
Common people and chiefs, young and old, rushed on the Roman army, and spread
disorder. At last they chose a spot closed in by a river and by forests, within
which was a narrow swampy plain. The woods too were surrounded by a bottomless
morass, only on one side of it the Angrivarii had raised a broad earthwork, as
a boundary between themselves and the Cherusci. Here their infantry was ranged.
Their cavalry they concealed in neighbouring woods, so as to be on the legions'
rear, as soon as they entered the forest.
All this was known
to Caesar. He was acquainted with their plans, their positions, with what met
the eye, and what was hidden, and he prepared to turn the enemy's stratagems to
their own destruction. To Seius Tubero, his chief officer, he assigned the
cavalry and the plain. His infantry he drew up so that part might advance on
level ground into the forest, and part clamber up the earthwork which
confronted them. He charged himself with what was the specially difficult
operation, leaving the rest to his officers. Those who had the level ground
easily forced a passage. Those who had to assault the earthwork encountered
heavy blows from above, as if they were scaling a wall. The general saw how
unequal this close fighting was, and having withdrawn his legions to a little
distance, ordered the slingers and artillerymen to discharge a volley of
missiles and scatter the enemy. Spears were hurled from the engines, and the
more conspicuous were the defenders of the position, the more the wounds with
which they were driven from it. Caesar with some praetorian cohorts was the
first, after the storming of the ramparts, to dash into the woods. There they
fought at close quarters. A morass was in the enemy's rear, and the Romans were
hemmed in by the river or by the hills. Both were in a desperate plight from
their position; valour was their only hope, victory their only safety.
The Germans were
equally brave, but they were beaten by the nature of the fighting and of the
weapons, for their vast host in so confined a space could neither thrust out
nor recover their immense lances, or avail themselves of their nimble movements
and lithe frames, forced as they were to a close engagement. Our soldiers, on
the other hand, with their shields pressed to their breasts, and their hands
grasping their sword-hilts, struck at the huge limbs and exposed faces of the
barbarians, cutting a passage through the slaughtered enemy, for Arminius was
now less active, either from incessant perils, or because he was partially
disabled by his recent wound. As for Inguiomerus, who flew hither and thither
over the battlefield, it was fortune rather than courage which forsook him.
Germanicus, too, that he might be the better known, took his helmet off his
head and begged his men to follow up the slaughter, as they wanted not
prisoners, and the utter destruction of the nation would be the only conclusion
of the war. And now, late in the day, he withdrew one of his legions from the
field, to intrench a camp, while the rest till nightfall glutted themselves
with the enemy's blood. Our cavalry fought with indecisive success.
Having publicly
praised his victorious troops, Caesar raised a pile of arms with the proud
inscription, "The army of Tiberius Caesar, after thoroughly conquering the
tribes between the Rhine and the Elbe, has dedicated this monument to Mars,
Jupiter, and Augustus." He added nothing about himself, fearing jealousy,
or thinking that the conciousness of the achievement was enough. Next he
charged Stertinius with making war on the Angrivarii, but they hastened to
surrender. And, as suppliants, by refusing nothing, they obtained a full
pardon.
When, however,
summer was at its height some of the legions were sent back overland into
winter-quarters, but most of them Caesar put on board the fleet and brought
down the river Amisia to the ocean. At first the calm waters merely sounded
with the oars of a thousand vessels or were ruffled by the sailing ships. Soon,
a hailstorm bursting from a black mass of clouds, while the waves rolled hither
and thither under tempestuous gales from every quarter, rendered clear sight
impossible, and the steering difficult, while our soldiers, terrorstricken and
without any experience of disasters on the sea, by embarrassing the sailors or
giving them clumsy aid, neutralized the services of the skilled crews. After a
while, wind and wave shifted wholly to the south, and from the hilly lands and
deep rivers of Germany came with a huge line of rolling clouds, a strong blast,
all the more frightful from the frozen north which was so near to them, and
instantly caught and drove the ships hither and thither into the open ocean, or
on islands with steep cliffs or which hidden shoals made perilous. these they
just escaped, with difficulty, and when the tide changed and bore them the same
way as the wind, they could not hold to their anchors or bale out the water
which rushed in upon them. Horses, beasts of burden, baggage, were thrown
overboard, in order to lighten the hulls which leaked copiously through their
sides, while the waves too dashed over them.
As the ocean is
stormier than all other seas, and as Germany is conspicuous for the terrors of
its climate, so in novelty and extent did this disaster transcend every other,
for all around were hostile coasts, or an expanse so vast and deep that it is
thought to be the remotest shoreless sea. Some of the vessels were swallowed
up; many were wrecked on distant islands, and the soldiers, finding there no
form of human life, perished of hunger, except some who supported existence on
carcases of horses washed on the same shores. Germanicus's trireme alone reached
the country of the Chauci. Day and night, on those rocks and promontories he
would incessantly exclaim that he was himself responsible for this awful ruin,
and friends scarce restrained him from seeking death in the same sea. At last,
as the tide ebbed and the wind blew favourably, the shattered vessels with but
few rowers, or clothing spread as sails, some towed by the more powerful,
returned, and Germanicus, having speedily repaired them, sent them to search
the islands. Many by that means were recovered. The Angrivarii, who had lately
been admitted to our alliance, restored to us several had ransomed from the
inland tribes. Some had been carried to Britain and were sent back by the petty
chiefs. Every one, as he returned from some far-distant region, told of
wonders, of violent hurricanes, and unknown birds, of monsters of the sea, of
forms half-human, half beast-like, things they had really seen or in their
terror believed.
Meanwhile the
rumoured loss of the fleet stirred the Germans to hope for war, as it did
Caesar to hold them down. He ordered Caius Silius with thirty thousand infantry
and three thousand cavalry to march against the Chatti. He himself, with a
larger army, invaded the Marsi, whose leader, Mallovendus, whom we had lately
admitted to surrender, pointed out a neighbouring wood, where, he said, an
eagle of one of Varus's legions was buried and guarded only by a small force.
Immediately troops were despatched to draw the enemy from his position by
appearing in his front, others, to hem in his rear and open the ground. Fortune
favoured both. So Germanicus, with increased energy, advanced into the country,
laying it waste, and utterly ruining a foe who dared not encounter him, or who
was instantly defeated wherever he resisted, and, as we learnt from prisoners,
was never more panic-stricken. The Romans, they declared, were invincible,
rising superior to all calamities; for having thrown away a fleet, having lost
their arms, after strewing the shores with the carcases of horses and of men,
they had rushed to the attack with the same courage, with equal spirit, and,
seemingly, with augmented numbers.
The soldiers were
then led back into winter-quarters, rejoicing in their hearts at having been
compensated for their disasters at sea by a successful expedition. They were
helped too by Caesar's bounty, which made good whatever loss any one declared
he had suffered. It was also regarded as a certainty that the enemy were
wavering and consulting on negotiations for peace, and that, with an additional
campaign next summer the war might be ended. Tiberius, however, in repeated
letters advised Germanicus to return for the triumph decreed him. "He had
now had enough of success, enough of disaster. He had fought victorious battles
on a great scale; he should also remember those losses which the winds and
waves had inflicted, and which, though due to no fault of the general, were
still grievous and shocking. He, Tiberius, had himself been sent nine times by
Augustus into Germany, and had done more by policy than by arms. By this means
the submission of the Sugambri had been secured, and the Suevi with their king
Maroboduus had been forced into peace. The Cherusci too and the other insurgent
tribes, since the vengeance of Rome had been satisfied, might be left to their
internal feuds." When Germanicus requested a year for the completion of
his enterprise, Tiberius put a severer pressure on his modesty by offering him
a second consulship, the functions of which he was to discharge in person. He
also added that if war must still be waged, he might as well leave some
materials for renown to his brother Drusus, who, as there was then no other
enemy, could win only in Germany the imperial title and the triumphal laurel.
Germanicus hesitated no longer, though he saw that this was a pretence, and
that he was hurried away through jealousy from the glory he had already
acquired.
About the same time
Libo Drusus, of the family of Scribonii, was accused of revolutionary schemes.
I will explain, somewhat minutely, the beginning, progress, and end of this
affair, since then first were originated those practices which for so many
years have eaten into the heart of the State. Firmius Catus, a senator, an
intimate friend of Libo's, prompted the young man, who was thoughtless and an
easy prey to delusions, to resort to astrologers' promises, magical rites, and
interpreters of dreams, dwelling ostentatiously on his great-grandfather
Pompeius, his aunt Scribonia, who had formerly been wife of Augustus, his imperial
cousins, his house crowded with ancestral busts, and urging him to extravagance
and debt, himself the companion of his profligacy and desperate embarrassments,
thereby to entangle him in all the more proofs of guilt.
As soon as he found
enough witnesses, with some slaves who knew the facts, he begged an audience of
the emperor, after first indicating the crime and the criminal through Flaccus
Vescularius, a Roman knight, who was more intimate with Tiberius than himself.
Caesar, without disregarding the information, declined an interview, for the
communication, he said, might be conveyed to him through the same messenger,
Flaccus. Meanwhile he conferred the praetorship on Libo and often invited him
to his table, showing no unfriendliness in his looks or anger in his words (so
thoroughly had he concealed his resentment); and he wished to know all his
saying and doings, though it was in his power to stop them, till one Junius,
who had been tampered with by Libo for the purpose of evoking by incantations
spirits of the dead, gave information to Fulcinius Trio. Trio's ability was
conspicuous among informers, as well as his eagerness for an evil notoriety. He
at once pounced on the accused, went to the consuls, and demanded an inquiry
before the Senate. The Senators were summoned, with a special notice that they
must consult on a momentous and terrible matter.
Libo meanwhile, in
mourning apparel and accompanied by ladies of the highest rank, went to house
after house, entreating his relatives, and imploring some eloquent voice to
ward off his perils; which all refused, on different pretexts, but from the
same apprehension. On the day the Senate met, jaded with fear and mental
anguish, or, as some have related, feigning illness, he was carried in a litter
to the doors of the Senate House, and leaning on his brother he raised his
hands and voice in supplication to Tiberius, who received him with unmoved
countenance. The emperor then read out the charges and the accusers' names,
with such calmness as not to seem to soften or aggravate the accusations.
Besides Trio and
Catus, Fonteius Agrippa and Caius Vibius were among his accusers, and claimed
with eager rivalry the privilege of conducting the case for the prosecution,
till Vibius, as they would not yield one to the other, and Libo had entered
without counsel, offered to state the charges against him singly, and produced
an extravagantly absurd accusation, according to which Libo had consulted
persons whether he would have such wealth as to be able to cover the Appian
road as far as Brundisium with money. There were other questions of the same
sort, quite senseless and idle; if leniently regarded, pitiable. But there was
one paper in Libo's handwriting, so the prosecutor alleged, with the names of
Caesars and of Senators, to which marks were affixed of dreadful or mysterious
significance. When the accused denied this, it was decided that his slaves who
recognised the writing should be examined by torture. As an ancient statute of
the Senate forbade such inquiry in a case affecting a master's life, Tiberius,
with his cleverness in devising new law, ordered Libo's slaves to be sold
singly to the State-agent, so that, forsooth, without an infringement of the
Senate's decree, Libo might be tried on their evidence. As a consequence, the
defendant asked an adjournment till next day, and having gone home he charged
his kinsman, Publius Quirinus, with his last prayer to the emperor.
The answer was that
he should address himself to the Senate. Meanwhile his house was surrounded
with soldiers; they crowded noisily even about the entrance, so that they could
be heard and seen; when Libo, whose anguish drove him from the very banquet he
had prepared as his last gratification, called for a minister of death, grasped
the hands of his slaves, and thrust a sword into them. In their confusion, as
they shrank back, they overturned the lamp on the table at his side, and in the
darkness, now to him the gloom of death, he aimed two blows at a vital part. At
the groans of the falling man his freedmen hurried up, and the soldiers, seeing
the bloody deed, stood aloof. Yet the prosecution was continued in the Senate
with the same persistency, and Tiberius declared on oath that he would have
interceded for his life, guilty though he was, but for his hasty suicide.
His property was
divided among his accusers, and praetorships out of the usual order were
conferred on those who were of senators' rank. Cotta Messalinus then proposed
that Libo's bust should not be carried in the funeral procession of any of his
descendants; and Cneius Lentulus, that no Scribonius should assume the surname
of Drusus. Days of public thanksgiving were appointed on the suggestion of
Pomponius Flaccus. Offerings were given to Jupiter, Mars, and Concord, and the
13th day of September, on which Libo had killed himself, was to be observed as
a festival, on the motion of Gallus Asinius, Papius Mutilus, and Lucius
Apronius. I have mentioned the proposals and sycophancy of these men, in order
to bring to light this old-standing evil in the State. Decrees of the Senate
were also passed to expel from Italy astrologers and magicians. One of their
number, Lucius Pituanius, was hurled from the Rock. Another, Publius Marcius,
was executed, according to ancient custom, by the consuls outside the Esquiline
Gate, after the trumpets had been bidden to sound.
On the next day of
the Senate's meeting much was said against the luxury of the country by Quintus
Haterius, an ex-consul, and by Octavius Fronto, an ex-praetor. It was decided
that vessels of solid gold should not be made for the serving of food, and that
men should not disgrace themselves with silken clothing from the East. Fronto
went further, and insisted on restrictions being put on plate, furniture, and
household establishments. It was indeed still usual with the Senators, when it
was their turn to vote, to suggest anything they thought for the State's
advantage. Gallus Asinius argued on the other side. "With the growth of
the empire private wealth too," he said, "had increased, and there
was nothing new in this, but it accorded with the fashions of the earliest
antiquity. Riches were one thing with the Fabricii, quite another with the Scipios.
The State was the standard of everything; when it was poor, the homes of the
citizens were humble; when it reached such magnificence, private grandeur
increased. In household establishments, and plate, and in whatever was provided
for use, there was neither excess nor parsimony except in relation to the
fortune of the possessor. A distinction had been made in the assessments of
Senators and knights, not because they differed naturally, but that the
superiority of the one class in places in the theatre, in rank and in honour,
might be also maintained in everything else which insured mental repose and
bodily recreation, unless indeed men in the highest position were to undergo
more anxieties and more dangers, and to be at the same time deprived of all
solace under those anxieties and dangers." Gallus gained a ready assent,
under these specious phrases, by a confession of failings with which his
audience symphathised. And Tiberius too had added that this was not a time for
censorship, and that if there were any declension in manners, a promoter of
reform would not be wanting.
During this debate
Lucius Piso, after exclaiming against the corruption of the courts, the bribery
of judges, the cruel threats of accusations from hired orators, declared that
he would depart and quit the capital, and that he meant to live in some obscure
and distant rural retreat. At the same moment he rose to leave the Senate
House. Tiberius was much excited, and though he pacified Piso with gentle
words, he also strongly urged his relatives to stop his departure by their
influence or their entreaties. Soon afterwards this same Piso gave an equal
proof of a fearless sense of wrong by suing Urgulania, whom Augusta's
friendship had raised above the law. Neither did Urgulania obey the summons,
for in defiance of Piso she went in her litter to the emperor's house; nor did
Piso give way, though Augusta complained that she was insulted and her majesty
slighted. Tiberius, to win popularity by so humouring his mother as to say that
he would go to the praetor's court and support Urgulania, went forth from the
palace, having ordered soldiers to follow him at a distance. He was seen, as
the people thronged about him, to wear a calm face, while he prolonged his time
on the way with various conversations, till at last when Piso's relatives tried
in vain to restrain him, Augusta directed the money which was claimed to be
handed to him. This ended the affair, and Piso, in consequence, was not
dishonoured, and the emperor rose in reputation. Urgulania's influence,
however, was so formidable to the State, that in a certain cause which was
tried by the Senate she would not condescend to appear as a witness. The
praetor was sent to question her at her own house, although the Vestal virgins,
according to ancient custom, were heard in the courts, before judges, whenever
they gave evidence.
I should say
nothing of the adjournment of public business in this year, if it were not
worth while to notice the conflicting opinions of Cneius Piso and Asinius
Gallus on the subject. Piso, although the emperor had said that he would be
absent, held that all the more ought the business to be transacted, that the
State might have honour of its Senate and knights being able to perform their
duties in the sovereign's absence. Gallus, as Piso had forestalled him in the
display of freedom, maintained that nothing was sufficiently impressive or
suitable to the majesty of the Roman people, unless done before Caesar and
under his very eyes, and that therefore the gathering from all Italy and the
influx from the provinces ought to be reserved for his presence. Tiberius
listened to this in silence, and the matter was debated on both sides in a
sharp controversy. The business, however, was adjourned.
A dispute then
arose between Gallus and the emperor. Gallus proposed that the elections of
magistrates should be held every five years, and that the commanders of the
legions who before receiving a praetorship discharged this military service
should at once become praetorselect, the emperor nominating twelve candidates
every year. It was quite evident that this motion had a deeper meaning and was
an attempt to explore the secrets of imperial policy. Tiberius, however, argued
as if his power would be thus increased. "It would," he said,
"be trying to his moderation to have to elect so many and to put off so
many. He scarcely avoided giving offence from year to year, even though a
candidate's rejection was solaced by the near prospect of office. What hatred
would be incurred from those whose election was deferred for five years! How
could he foresee through so long an interval what would be a man's temper, or
domestic relations, or estate? Men became arrogant even with this annual
appointment. What would happen if their thoughts were fixed on promotion for
five years? It was in fact a multiplying of the magistrates five-fold, and a
subversion of the laws which had prescribed proper periods for the exercise of
the candidate's activity and the seeking or securing office. With this
seemingly conciliatory speech he retained the substance of power.
He also increased
the incomes of some of the Senators. Hence it was the more surprising that he
listened somewhat disdainfully to the request of Marcus Hortalus, a youth of
noble rank in conspicuous poverty. He was the grandson of the orator
Hortensius, and had been induced by Augustus, on the strength of a gift of a
million sesterces, to marry and rear children, that one of our most illustrious
families might not become extinct. Accordingly, with his four sons standing at
the doors of the Senate House, the Senate then sitting in the palace, when it
was his turn to speak he began to address them as follows, his eyes fixed now
on the statue of Hortensius which stood among those of the orators, now on that
of Augustus:- "Senators, these whose numbers and boyish years you behold I
have reared, not by my own choice, but because the emperor advised me. At the
same time, my ancestors deserved to have descendants. For myself, not having
been able in these altered times to receive or acquire wealth or popular
favour, or that eloquence which has been the hereditary possession of our
house, I was satisfied if my narrow means were neither a disgrace to myself nor
burden to others. At the emperor's bidding I married. Behold the offspring and
progeny of a succession of consuls and dictators. Not to excite odium do I
recall such facts, but to win compassion. While you prosper, Caesar, they will
attain such promotion as you shall bestow. Meanwhile save from penury the
great-grandsons of Quintus Hortensius, the foster-children of Augustus."
The Senate's
favourable bias was an incitement to Tiberius to offer prompt opposition, which
he did in nearly these words: - "If all poor men begin to come here and to
beg money for their children, individuals will never be satisfied, and the
State will be bankrupt. Certainly our ancestors did not grant the privilege of
occasionally proposing amendments or of suggesting, in our turn for speaking,
something for the general advantage in order that we might in this house
increase our private business and property, thereby bringing odium on the
Senate and on emperors whether they concede or refuse their bounty. In fact, it
is not a request, but an importunity, as utterly unreasonable as it is
unforeseen, for a senator, when the house has met on other matters, to rise
from his place and, pleading the number and age of his children, put a pressure
on the delicacy of the Senate, then transfer the same constraint to myself,
and, as it were, break open the exchequer, which, if we exhaust it by improper
favouritism, will have to be replenished by crimes. Money was given you,
Hortalus, by Augustus, but without solicitation, and not on the condition of
its being always given. Otherwise industry will languish and idleness be encouraged,
if a man has nothing to fear, nothing to hope from himself, and every one, in
utter recklessness, will expect relief from others, thus becoming useless to
himself and a burden to me." These and like remarks, though listened to
with assent by those who make it a practice to eulogise everything coming from
sovereigns, both good and bad, were received by the majority in silence or with
suppressed murmurs. Tiberius perceived it, and having paused a while, said that
he had given Hortalus his answer, but that if the senators thought it right, he
would bestow two hundred thousand sesterces on each of his children of the male
sex. The others thanked him; Hortalus said nothing, either from alarm or
because even in his reduced fortunes he clung to his hereditary nobility. Nor
did Tiberius afterwards show any pity, though the house of Hortensius sank into
shameful poverty.
That same year the
daring of a single slave, had it not been promptly checked, would have ruined
the State by discord and civil war. A servant of Postumus Agrippa, Clemens by
name, having ascertained that Augustus was dead, formed a design beyond a slave's
conception, of going to the island of Planasia and seizing Agrippa by craft or
force and bringing him to the armies of Germany. The slowness of a merchant
vessel thwarted his bold venture. Meanwhile the murder of Agrippa had been
perpetrated, and then turning his thoughts to a greater and more hazardous
enterprise, he stole the ashes of the deceased, sailed to Cosa, a promontory of
Etruria, and there hid himself in obscure places till his hair and beard were
long. In age and figure he was not unlike his master. Then through suitable
emissaries who shared his secret, it was rumoured that Agrippa was alive, first
in whispered gossip, soon, as is usual with forbidden topics, in vague talk
which found its way to the credulous ears of the most ignorant people or of
restless and revolutionary schemers. He himself went to the towns, as the day
grew dark, without letting himself be seen publicly or remaining long in the
same places, but, as he knew that truth gains strength by notoriety and time,
falsehood by precipitancy and vagueness, he would either withdraw himself from
publicity or else forestall it.
It was rumoured meanwhile
throughout Italy, and was believed at Rome, that Agrippa had been saved by the
blessing of Heaven. Already at Ostia, where he had arrived, he was the centre
of interest to a vast concourse as well as to secret gatherings in the capital,
while Tiberius was distracted by the doubt whether he should crush this slave
of his by military force or allow time to dissipate a silly credulity.
Sometimes he thought that he must overlook nothing, sometimes that he need not
be afraid of everything, his mind fluctuating between shame and terror. At last
he entrusted the affair to Sallustius Crispus, who chose two of his dependants
(some say they were soldiers) and urged them to go to him as pretended
accomplices, offering money and promising faithful companionship in danger.
They did as they were bidden; then, waiting for an unguarded hour of night,
they took with them a sufficient force, and having bound and gagged him,
dragged him to the palace. When Tiberius asked him how he had become Agrippa,
he is said to have replied, "As you became Caesar." He could not be
forced to divulge his accomplices. Tiberius did not venture on a public
execution, but ordered him to be slain in a private part of the palace and his
body to be secretly removed. And although many of the emperor's household and
knights and senators were said to have supported him with their wealth and
helped him with their counsels, no inquiry was made.
At the close of the
year was consecrated an arch near the temple of Saturn to commemorate the
recovery of the standards lost with Varus, under the leadership of Germanicus
and the auspices of Tiberius; a temple of Fors Fortuna, by the Tiber, in the
gardens which Caesar, the dictator, bequeathed to the Roman people; a chapel to
the Julian family, and statues at Bovillae to the Divine Augustus. In the
consulship of Caius Caecilius and Lucius Pomponius, Germanicus Caesar, on the
26th day of May, celebrated his triumph over the Cherusci, Chatti, and
Angrivarii, and the other tribes which extend as far as the Elbe. There were
borne in procession spoils, prisoners, representations of the mountains, the
rivers and battles; and the war, seeing that he had been forbidden to finish
it, was taken as finished. The admiration of the beholders was heightened by
the striking comeliness of the general and the chariot which bore his five
children. Still, there was a latent dread when they remembered how unfortunate
in the case of Drusus, his father, had been the favour of the crowd; how his
uncle Marcellus, regarded by the city populace with passionate enthusiasm, had
been snatched from them while yet a youth, and how short-lived and ill-starred
were the attachments of the Roman people.
Tiberius meanwhile
in the name of Germanicus gave every one of the city populace three hundred
sesterces, and nominated himself his colleague in the consulship. Still,
failing to obtain credit for sincere affection, he resolved to get the young
prince out of the way, under pretence of conferring distinction, and for this
he invented reasons, or eagerly fastened on such as chance presented. King
Archelaus had been in possession of Cappadocia for fifty years, and Tiberius
hated him because he had not shown him any mark of respect while he was at
Rhodes. This neglect of Archelaus was not due to pride, but was suggested by
the intimate friends of Augustus, because, when Caius Caesar was in his prime
and had charge of the affairs of the East, Tiberius's friendship was thought to
be dangerous. When, after the extinction of the family of the Caesars, Tiberius
acquired the empire, he enticed Archelaus by a letter from his mother, who
without concealing her son's displeasure promised mercy if he would come to beg
for it. Archelaus, either quite unsuspicious of treachery, or dreading
compulsion, should it be thought that he saw through it, hastened to Rome.
There he was received by a pitiless emperor, and soon afterwards was arraigned
before the Senate. In his anguish and in the weariness of old age, and from
being unused, as a king, to equality, much less to degradation, not, certainly,
from fear of the charges fabricated against him, he ended his life, by his own
act or by a natural death. His kingdom was reduced into a province, and Caesar
declared that, with its revenues, the one per cent. tax could be lightened,
which, for the future, he fixed at one-half per cent. During the same time, on
the deaths of Antiochus and Philopator, kings respectively of the Commageni and
Cilicians, these nations became excited, a majority desiring the Roman rule,
some, that of their kings. The provinces too of Syria and Judaea, exhausted by
their burdens, implored a reduction of tribute.
Tiberius
accordingly discussed these matters and the affairs of Armenia, which I have
already related, before the Senate. "The commotions in the East," he
said, "could be quieted only by the wisdom, of Germanicus; own life was on
the decline, and Drusus had not yet reached his maturity." Thereupon, by a
decree of the Senate, the provinces beyond sea were entrusted to Germanicus,
with greater powers wherever he went than were given to those who obtained
their provinces by lot or by the emperor's appointment. Tiberius had however
removed from Syria Creticus Silanus, who was connected by a close tie with
Germanicus, his daughter being betrothed to Nero, the eldest of Germanicus's
children. He appointed to it Cneius Piso, a man of violent temper, without an
idea of obedience, with indeed a natural arrogance inherited from his father
Piso, who in the civil war supported with the most energetic aid against Caesar
the reviving faction in Africa, then embraced the cause of Brutus and Cassius,
and, when suffered to return, refrained from seeking promotion till, he was
actually solicited to accept a consulship offered by Augustus. But beside the
father's haughty temper there was also the noble rank and wealth of his wife
Plancina, to inflame his ambition. He would hardly be the inferior of Tiberius,
and as for Tiberius's children, he looked down on them as far beneath him. He
thought it a certainty that he had been chosen to govern Syria in order to
thwart the aspirations of Germanicus. Some believed that he had even received
secret instructions from Tiberius, and it was beyond a question that Augusta,
with feminine jealousy, had suggested to Plancina calumnious insinuations
against Agrippina. For there was division and discord in the court, with
unexpressed partialities towards either Drusus or Germanicus. Tiberius favoured
Drusus, as his son and born of his own blood. As for Germanicus, his uncle's
estrangement had increased the affection which all others felt for him, and
there was the fact too that he had an advantage in the illustrious rank of his
mother's family, among whom he could point to his grandfather Marcus Antonius
and to his great-uncle Augustus. Drusus, on the other hand, had for his
great-grandfather a Roman knight, Pomponius Atticus, who seemed to disgrace the
ancestral images of the Claudii. Again, the consort of Germanicus, Agrippina,
in number of children and in character, was superior to Livia, the wife of
Drusus. Yet the brothers were singularly united, and were wholly unaffected by
the rivalries of their kinsfolk.
Soon afterwards
Drusus was sent into Illyricum to be familiarised with military service, and to
win the goodwill of the army. Tiberius also thought that it was better for the
young prince, who was being demoralised by the luxury of the capital, to serve
in a camp, while he felt himself the safer with both his sons in command of
legions. However, he made a pretext of the Suevi, who were imploring help
against the Cherusci. For when the Romans had departed and they were free from
the fear of an invader, these tribes, according to the custom of the race, and
then specially as rivals in fame, had turned their arms against each other. The
strength of the two nations, the valour of their chiefs were equal. But the
title of king rendered Maroboduus hated among his countrymen, while Arminius
was regarded with favour as the champion of freedom.
Thus it was not
only the Cherusci and their allies, the old soldiers of Arminius, who took up
arms, but even the Semnones and Langobardi from the kingdom of Maroboduus
revolted to that chief. With this addition he must have had an overwhelming
superiority, had not Inguiomerus deserted with a troop of his dependants to
Maroboduus, simply for the reason that the aged uncle scorned to obey a
brother's youthful son. The armies were drawn up, with equal confidence on both
sides, and there were not those desultory attacks or irregular bands, formerly
so common with the Germans. Prolonged warfare against us had accustomed them to
keep close to their standards, to have the support of reserves, and to take the
word of command from their generals. On this occasion Arminius, who reviewed
the whole field on horseback, as he rode up to each band, boasted of regained
freedom, of slaughtered legions, of spoils and weapons wrested from the Romans,
and still in the hands of many of his men. As for Maroboduus, he called him a
fugitive, who had no experience of battles, who had sheltered himself in the
recesses of the Hercynian forest and then with presents and embassies sued for
a treaty; a traitor to his country, a satellite of Caesar, who deserved to be
driven out, with rage as furious as that with which they had slain Quintilius
Varus. They should simply remember their many battles, the result of which,
with the final expulsion of the Romans, sufficiently showed who could claim the
crowning success in war.
Nor did Maroboduus
abstain from vaunts about himself or from revilings of the foe. Clasping the
hand of Inguiomerus, he protested "that in the person before them centred
all the renown of the Cherusci, that to his counsels was due whatever had ended
successfully. Arminius in his infatuation and ignorance was taking to himself
the glory which belonged to another, for he had treacherously surprised three
unofficered legions and a general who had not an idea of perfidy, to the great
hurt of Germany and to his own disgrace, since his wife and his son were still
enduring slavery. As for himself, he had been attacked by twelve legions led by
Tiberius, and had preserved untarnished the glory of the Germans, and then on
equal terms the armies had parted. He was by no means sorry that they had the
matter in their own hands, whether they preferred to war with all their might
against Rome, or to accept a bloodless peace." To these words, which
roused the two armies, was added the stimulus of special motives of their own.
The Cherusci and Langobardi were fighting for ancient renown or newly-won
freedom; the other side for the increase of their dominion. Never at any time
was the shock of battle more tremendous or the issue more doubtful, as the
right wings of both armies were routed. Further fighting was expected, when
Maroboduus withdrew his camp to the hills. This was a sign of discomfiture. He was
gradually stripped of his strength by desertions, and, having fled to the
Marcomanni, he sent envoys to Tiberius with entreaties for help. The answer was
that he had no right to invoke the aid of Roman arms against the Cherusci, when
he had rendered no assistance to the Romans in their conflict with the same
enemy. Drusus, however, was sent as I have related, to establish peace.
That same year
twelve famous cities of Asia fell by an earthquake in the night, so that the
destruction was all the more unforeseen and fearful. Nor were there the means
of escape usual in, such a disaster, by rushing out into the open country, for
there people were swallowed up by the yawning earth. Vast mountains, it is
said, collapsed; what had been level ground seemed to be raised aloft, and
fires blazed out amid the ruin. The calamity fell most fatally on the
inhabitants of Sardis, and it attracted to them the largest share of sympathy.
The emperor promised ten million sesterces, and remitted for five years all
they paid to the exchequer or to the emperor's purse. Magnesia, under Mount
Sipylus, was considered to come next in loss and in need of help. The people of
Temnus, Philadelpheia, Aegae, Apollonis, the Mostenians, and Hyrcanian
Macedonians, as they were called, with the towns of Hierocaesarea, Myrina,
Cyme, and Tmolus, were; it was decided, to be exempted from tribute for the
same time, and some one was to be sent from the Senate to examine their actual
condition and to relieve them. Marcus Aletus, one of the expraetors, was
chosen, from a fear that, as an exconsul was governor of Asia, there might be
rivalry between men of equal rank, and consequent embarrassment.
To his splendid
public liberality the emperor added bounties no less popular. The property of
Aemilia Musa, a rich woman who died intestate, on which the imperial treasury
had a claim, he handed over to Aemilius Lepidus, to whose family she appeared
to belong; and the estate of Patuleius, a wealthy Roman knight, though he was
himself left in part his heir, he gave to Marcus Servilius, whose name he
discovered in an earlier and unquestioned will. In both these cases he said
that noble rank ought to have the support of wealth. Nor did he accept a legacy
from any one unless he had earned it by friendship. Those who were strangers to
him, and who, because they were at enmity with others, made the emperor their
heir, he kept at a distance. While, however, he relieved the honourable poverty
of the virtuous, he expelled from the Senate or suffered voluntarily to retire
spendthrifts whose vices had brought them to penury, like Vibidius Varro,
Marius Nepos, Appius Appianus, Cornelius Sulla, and Quintus Vitellius.
About the same time
he dedicated some temples of the gods, which had perished from age or from
fire, and which Augustus had begun to restore. These were temples to Liber,
Libera, and Ceres, near the Great Circus, which last Aulus Postumius, when
Dictator, had vowed; a temple to Flora in the same place, which had been built
by Lucius and Marcus Publicius, aediles, and a temple to Janus, which had been
erected in the vegetable market by Caius Duilius, who was the first to make the
Roman power successful at sea and to win a naval triumph over the
Carthaginians. A temple to Hope was consecrated by Germanicus; this had been
vowed by Atilius in that same war.
Meantime the law of
treason was gaining strength. Appuleia Varilia, grand-niece of Augustus, was
accused of treason by an informer for having ridiculed the Divine Augustus,
Tiberius, and Tiberius's mother, in some insulting remarks, and for having been
convicted of adultery, allied though she was to Caesar's house. Adultery, it
was thought, was sufficiently guarded against by the Julian law. As to the
charge of treason, the emperor insisted that it should be taken separately, and
that she should be condemned if she had spoken irreverently of Augustus. Her
insinuations against himself he did not wish to be the subject of judicial
inquiry. When asked by the consul what he thought of the unfavourable speeches
she was accused of having uttered against his mother, he said nothing.
Afterwards, on the next day of the Senate's meeting, he even begged in his
mother's name that no words of any kind spoken against her might in any case be
treated as criminal. He then acquitted Appuleia of treason. For her adultery,
he deprecated the severer penalty, and advised that she should be removed by
her kinsfolk, after the example of our forefathers, to more than two hundred
miles from Rome. Her paramour, Manlius, was forbidden to live in Italy or
Africa.
A contest then
arose about the election of a praetor in the room of Vipstanus Gallus, whom
death had removed. Germanicus and Drusus (for they were still at Rome)
supported Haterius Agrippa, a relative of Germanicus. Many, on the other hand,
endeavoured to make the number of children weigh most in favour of the
candidates. Tiberius rejoiced to see a strife in the Senate between his sons
and the law. Beyond question the law was beaten, but not at once, and only by a
few votes, in the same way as laws were defeated even when they were in force.
In this same year a
war broke out in Africa, where the enemy was led by Tacfarinas. A Numidian by
birth, he had served as an auxiliary in the Roman camp, then becoming a
deserter, he at first gathered round him a roving band familiar with robbery,
for plunder and for rapine. After a while, he marshalled them like regular
soldiers, under standards and in troops, till at last he was regarded as the
leader, not of an undisciplined rabble, but of the Musulamian people. This
powerful tribe, bordering on the deserts of Africa, and even then with none of
the civilisation of cities, took up arms and drew their Moorish neighbours into
the war. These too had a leader, Mazippa. The army was so divided that Tacfarinas
kept the picked men who were armed in Roman fashion within a camp, and
familiarised them with a commander's authority, while Mazippa, with light
troops, spread around him fire, slaughter, and consternation. They had forced
the Ciniphii, a far from contemptible tribe, into their cause, when Furius
Camillus, proconsul of Africa, united in one force a legion and all the
regularly enlisted allies, and, with an army insignificant indeed compared with
the multitude of the Numidians and Moors, marched against the enemy. There was
nothing however which he strove so much to avoid as their eluding an engagement
out of fear. It was by the hope of victory that they were lured on only to be
defeated. The legion was in the army's centre; the light cohorts and two cavalry
squadrons on its wings. Nor did Tacfarinas refuse battle. The Numidians were
routed, and after a number of years the name of Furius won military renown.
Since the days of the famous deliverer of our city and his son Camillus, fame
as a general had fallen to the lot of other branches of the family, and the man
of whom I am now speaking was regarded as an inexperienced soldier. All the
more willingly did Tiberius commemorate his achievements in the Senate, and the
Senators voted him the ornaments of triumph, an honour which Camillus, because
of his unambitious life, enjoyed without harm.
In the following
year Tiberius held his third, Germanicus his second, consulship. Germanicus,
however, entered on the office at Nicopolis, a city of Achaia, whither he had
arrived by the coast of Illyricum, after having seen his brother Drusus, who
was then in Dalmatia, and endured a stormy voyage through the Adriatic and
afterwards the Ionian Sea. He accordingly devoted a few days to the repair of
his fleet, and, at the same time, in remembrance of his ancestors, he visited
the bay which the victory of Actium had made famous, the spoils consecrated by
Augustus, and the camp of Antonius. For, as I have said, Augustus was his
great-uncle, Antonius his grandfather, and vivid images of disaster and success
rose before him on the spot. Thence he went to Athens, and there, as a concession
to our treaty with an allied and ancient city, he was attended only by a single
lictor. The Greeks welcomed him with the most elaborate honours, and brought
forward all the old deeds and sayings of their countrymen, to give additional
dignity to their flattery.
Thence he directed
his course to Euboea and crossed to Lesbos, where Agrippina for the last time
was confined and gave birth to Julia. He then penetrated to the remoter parts
of the province of Asia, visited the Thracian cities, Perinthus and Byzantium;
next, the narrow strait of the Propontis and the entrance of the Pontus, from
an anxious wish to become acquainted with those ancient and celebrated
localities. He gave relief, as he went, to provinces which had been exhausted
by internal feuds or by the oppressions of governors. In his return he
attempted to see the sacred mysteries of the Samothracians, but north winds
which he encountered drove him aside from his course. And so after visiting
Ilium and surveying a scene venerable from the vicissitudes of fortune and as
the birth-place of our people, he coasted back along Asia, and touched at
Colophon, to consult the oracle of the Clarian Apollo. There, it is not a
woman, as at Delphi, but a priest chosen from certain families, generally from
Miletus, who ascertains simply the number and the names of the applicants. Then
descending into a cave and drinking a draught from a secret spring, the man,
who is commonly ignorant of letters and of poetry, utters a response in verse
answering to the thoughts conceived in the mind of any inquirer. It was said
that he prophesied to Germanicus, in dark hints, as oracles usually do, an
early doom.
Cneius Piso
meanwhile, that he might the sooner enter on his design, terrified the citizens
of Athens by his tumultuous approach, and then reviled them in a bitter speech,
with indirect reflections on Germanicus, who, he said, had derogated from the
honour of the Roman name in having treated with excessive courtesy, not the
people of Athens, who indeed had been exterminated by repeated disasters, but a
miserable medley of tribes. As for the men before him, they had been
Mithridates's allies against Sulla, allies of Antonius against the Divine
Augustus. He taunted them too with the past, with their ill-success against the
Macedonians, their violence to their own countrymen, for he had his own special
grudge against this city, because they would not spare at his intercession one
Theophilus whom the Areopagus had condemned for forgery. Then, by sailing
rapidly and by the shortest route through the Cyclades, he overtook Germanicus
at the island of Rhodes. The prince was not ignorant of the slanders with which
he had been assailed, but his good nature was such that when a storm arose and
drove Piso on rocks, and his enemy's destruction could have been referred to
chance, he sent some triremes, by the help of which he might be rescued from
danger. But this did not soften Piso's heart. Scarcely allowing a day's
interval, he left Germanicus and hastened on in advance. When he reached Syria
and the legions, he began, by bribery and favouritism, to encourage the lowest
of the common soldiers, removing the old centurions and the strict tribunes and
assigning their places to creatures of his own or to the vilest of the men,
while he allowed idleness in the camp, licentiousness in the towns, and the
soldiers to roam through the country and take their pleasure. He went such
lengths in demoralizing them, that he was spoken of in their vulgar talk as the
father of the legions. Plancina too, instead of keeping herself within the
proper limits of a woman, would be present at the evolutions of the cavalry and
the manoeuvres of the cohorts, and would fling insulting remarks at Agrippina
and Germanicus. Some even of the good soldiers were inclined to a corrupt
compliance, as a whispered rumour gained ground that the emperor was not averse
to these proceedings. Of all this Germanicus was aware, but his most pressing
anxiety was to be first in reaching Armenia.
This had been of
old an unsettled country from the character of its people and from its
geographical position, bordering, as it does, to a great extent on our
provinces and stretching far away to Media. It lies between two most mighty
empires, and is very often at strife with them, hating Rome and jealous of
Parthia. It had at this time no king, Vonones having been expelled, but the
nation's likings inclined towards Zeno, son of Polemon, king of Pontus, who
from his earliest infancy had imitated Armenian manners and customs, loving the
chase, the banquet, and all the popular pastimes of barbarians, and who had
thus bound to himself chiefs and people alike. Germanicus accordingly, in the
city of Artaxata, with the approval of the nobility, in the presence of a vast
multitude, placed the royal diadem on his head. All paid him homage and saluted
him as King Artaxias, which name they gave him from the city. Cappadocia
meanwhile, which had been reduced to the form of a province, received as its
governor Quintus Veranius. Some of the royal tributes were diminished, to
inspire hope of a gentler rule under Rome. Quintus Servaeus was appointed to
Commagene, then first put under a praetor's jurisdiction.
Successful as was
this settlement of all the interests of our allies, it gave Germanicus little
joy because of the arrogance of Piso. Though he had been ordered to march part
of the legions into Armenia under his own or his son's command, he had
neglected to do either. At length the two met at Cyrrhus, the winterquarters of
the tenth legion, each controlling his looks, Piso concealing his fears,
Germanicus shunning the semblance of menace. He was indeed, as I have said, a
kind-hearted man. But friends who knew well how to inflame a quarrel,
exaggerated what was true and added lies, alleging various charges against
Piso, Plancina, and their sons. At last, in the presence of a few intimate
associates, Germanicus addressed him in language such as suppressed resentment
suggests, to which Piso replied with haughty apologies. They parted in open
enmity. After this Piso was seldom seen at Caesar's tribunal, and if he ever
sat by him, it was with a sullen frown and a marked display of opposition. He
was even heard to say at a banquet given by the king of the Nabataeans, when
some golden crowns of great weight were presented to Caesar and Agrippina and
light ones to Piso and the rest, that the entertainment was given to the son of
a Roman emperor, not of a Parthian king. At the same time he threw his crown on
the ground, with a long speech against luxury, which, though it angered
Germanicus, he still bore with patience.
Meantime envoys
arrived from Artabanus, king of the Parthians. He had sent them to recall the
memory of friendship and alliance, with an assurance that he wished for a
renewal of the emblems of concord, and that he would in honour of Germanicus
yield the point of advancing to the bank of the Euphrates. He begged meanwhile
that Vonones might not be kept in Syria, where, by emissaries from an easy
distance, he might draw the chiefs of the tribes into civil strife. Germanicus'
answer as to the alliance between Rome and Parthia was dignified; as to the
king's visit and the respect shown to himself, it was graceful and modest.
Vonones was removed to Pompeiopolis, a city on the coast of Cilicia. This was
not merely a concession to the request of Artabanus, but was meant as an
affront to Piso, who had a special liking for Vonones, because of the many
attentions and presents by which he had won Plancina's favour.
In the consulship
of Marcus Silanus and Lucius Norbanus, Germanicus set out for Egypt to study
its antiquities. His ostensible motive however was solicitude for the province.
He reduced the price of corn by opening the granaries, and adopted many practices
pleasing to the multitude. He would go about without soldiers, with sandalled
feet, and apparelled after the Greek fashion, in imitation of Publius Scipio,
who, it is said, habitually did the same in Sicily, even when the war with
Carthage was still raging. Tiberius having gently expressed disapproval of his
dress and manners, pronounced a very sharp censure on his visit to Alexandria
without the emperor's leave, contrary to the regulations of Augustus. That
prince, among other secrets of imperial policy, had forbidden senators and
Roman knights of the higher rank to enter Egypt except by permission, and he
had specially reserved the country, from a fear that any one who held a
province containing the key of the land and of the sea, with ever so small a force
against the mightiest army, might distress Italy by famine.
Germanicus,
however, who had not yet learnt how much he was blamed for his expedition,
sailed up the Nile from the city of Canopus as his starting-point. Spartans
founded the place because Canopus, pilot of one of their ships, had been buried
there, when Menelaus on his return to Greece was driven into a distant sea and
to the shores of Libya. Thence he went to the river's nearest mouth, dedicated
to a Hercules who, the natives say, was born in the country and was the
original hero, others, who afterwards showed like valour, having received his
name. Next he visited the vast ruins of ancient Thebes. There yet remained on
the towering piles Egyptian inscriptions, with a complete account of the city's
past grandeur. One of the aged priests, who was desired to interpret the
language of his country, related how once there had dwelt in Thebes seven
hundred thousand men of military age, and how with such an army king Rhamses
conquered Libya, Ethiopia, Media, Persia, Bactria, and Scythia, and held under
his sway the countries inhabited by the Syrians, Armenians, and their
neighbours, the Cappadocians, from the Bithynian to the Lycian sea. There was
also to be read what tributes were imposed on these nations, the weight of
silver and gold, the tale of arms and horses, the gifts of ivory and of
perfumes to the temples, with the amount of grain and supplies furnished by
each people, a revenue as magnificent as is now exacted by the might of Parthia
or the power of Rome.
But Germanicus also
bestowed attention on other wonders. Chief of these were the stone image of
Memnon, which, when struck by the sun's rays, gives out the sound of a human
voice; the pyramids, rising up like mountains amid almost impassable wastes of
shifting sand, raised by the emulation and vast wealth of kings; the lake
hollowed out of the earth to be a receptacle for the Nile's overflow; and
elsewhere the river's narrow channel and profound depth which no line of the
explorer can penetrate. He then came to Elephantine and Syene, formerly the
limits of the Roman empire, which now extends to the Red Sea.
While Germanicus
was spending the summer in visits to several provinces, Drusus gained no little
glory by sowing discord among the Germans and urging them to complete the
destruction of the now broken power of Maroboduus. Among the Gotones was a
youth of noble birth, Catualda by name, who had formerly been driven into exile
by the might of Maroboduus, and who now, when the king's fortunes were
declining, ventured on revenge. He entered the territory of the Marcomanni with
a strong force, and, having corruptly won over the nobles to join him, burst
into the palace and into an adjacent fortress. There he found the
long-accumulated plunder of the Suevi and camp followers and traders from our
provinces who had been attracted to an enemy's land, each from their various
homes, first by the freedom of commerce, next by the desire of amassing wealth,
finally by forgetfulness of their fatherland.
Maroboduus, now
utterly deserted, had no resource but in the mercy of Caesar. Having crossed
the Danube where it flows by the province of Noricum, he wrote to Tiberius, not
like a fugitive or a suppliant, but as one who remembered his past greatness.
When as a most famous king in former days he received invitations from many
nations, he had still, he said, preferred the friendship of Rome. Caesar
replied that he should have a safe and honourable home in Italy, if he would
remain there, or, if his interests required something different, he might leave
it under the same protection under which he had come. But in the Senate he
maintained that Philip had not been so formidable to the Athenians, or Pyrrhus
or Antiochus to the Roman people, as was Maroboduus. The speech is extant, and
in it he magnifies the man's power, the ferocity of the tribes under his sway,
his proximity to Italy as a foe, finally his own measures for his overthrow.
The result was that Maroboduus was kept at Ravenna, where his possible return
was a menace to the Suevi, should they ever disdain obedience. But he never
left Italy for eighteen years, living to old age and losing much of his renown
through an excessive clinging to life. Catualda had a like downfall and no
better refuge. Driven out soon afterwards by the overwhelming strength of the
Hermundusi led by Vibilius, he was received and sent to Forum Julii, a colony
of Narbonensian Gaul. The barbarians who followed the two kings, lest they
might disturb the peace of the provinces by mingling with the population, were
settled beyond the Danube between the rivers Marus and Cusus, under a king,
Vannius, of the nation of the Quadi.
Tidings having also
arrived of Artaxias being made king of Armenia by Germanicus, the Senate
decreed that both he and Drusus should enter the city with an ovation. Arches
too were raised round the sides of the temple of Mars the Avenger, with statues
of the two Caesars. Tiberius was the more delighted at having established peace
by wise policy than if he had finished a war by battle. And so next he planned
a crafty scheme against Rhescuporis, king of Thrace. That entire country had
been in the possession of Rhoemetalces, after whose death Augustus assigned
half to the king's brother Rhescuporis, half to his son Cotys. In this division
the cultivated lands, the towns, and what bordered on Greek territories, fell
to Cotys; the wild and barbarous portion, with enemies on its frontier, to
Rhescuporis. The kings too themselves differed, Cotys having a gentle and
kindly temper, the other a fierce and ambitious spirit, which could not brook a
partner. Still at first they lived in a hollow friendship, but soon Rhescuporis
overstepped his bounds and appropriated to himself what had been given to
Cotys, using force when he was resisted, though somewhat timidly under
Augustus, who having created both kingdoms would, he feared, avenge any
contempt of his arrangement. When however he heard of the change of emperor, he
let loose bands of freebooters and razed the fortresses, as a provocation to
war.
Nothing made
Tiberius so uneasy as an apprehension of the disturbance of any settlement. He
commissioned a centurion to tell the kings not to decide their dispute by arms.
Cotys at once dismissed the forces which he had prepared. Rhescuporis, with
assumed modesty, asked for a place of meeting where, he said, they might settle
their differences by an interview. There was little hesitation in fixing on a
time, a place, finally on terms, as every point was mutually conceded and
accepted, by the one out of good nature, by the other with a treacherous
intent. Rhescuporis, to ratify the treaty, as he said, further proposed a
banquet; and when their mirth had been prolonged far into the night, and Cotys
amid the feasting and the wine was unsuspicious of danger, he loaded him with
chains, though he appealed, on perceiving the perfidy, to the sacred character
of a king, to the gods of their common house, and to the hospitable board.
Having possessed himself of all Thrace, he wrote word to Tiberius that a plot
had been formed against him, and that he had forestalled the plotter.
Meanwhile, under pretext of a war against the Bastarnian and Scythian tribes,
he was strengthening himself with fresh forces of infantry and cavalry. He
received a conciliatory answer. If there was no treachery in his conduct, he
could rely on his innocence, but neither the emperor nor the Senate would
decide on the right or wrong of his cause without hearing it. He was therefore
to surrender Cotys, come in person transfer from himself the odium of the
charge.
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THE destruction of Messalina shook the imperial house; for a
strife arose among the freedmen, who should choose a wife for Claudius,
impatient as he was of a single life and submissive to eat the rule of wives.
The ladies were fired with no less jealousy. Each insisted on her rank, beauty,
and fortune, and pointed to her claims to such a marriage. But the keenest
competition was between Lollia Paulina, the daughter of Marcus Lollius, an
ex-consul, and Julia Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus. Callistus favoured
the first, Pallas the second. Aelia Paetina however, of the family of the
Tuberones, had the support of Narcissus. The emperor, who inclined now one way,
now another, as he listened to this or that adviser, summoned the disputants to
a conference and bade them express their opinions and give their reasons.
Narcissus dwelt on
the marriage of years gone by, on the tie of offspring, for Paetina was the
mother of Antonia, and on the advantage of excluding a new element from his
household, by the return of a wife to whom he was accustomed, and who would
assuredly not look with a stepmother's animosity on Britannicus and Octavia,
who were next in her affections to her own children. Callistus argued that she
was compromised by her long separation, and that were she to be taken back, she
would be supercilious on the strength of it. It would be far better to
introduce Lollia, for, as she had no children of her own, she would be free
from jealousy, and would take the place of a mother towards her stepchildren.
Pallas again selected Agrippina for special commendation because she would
bring with her Germanicus's grandson, who was thoroughly worthy of imperial
rank, the scion of a noble house and a link to unite the descendants of the
Claudian family. He hoped that a woman who was the mother of many children and
still in the freshness of youth, would not carry off the grandeur of the
Caesars to some other house.
This advice
prevailed, backed up as it was by Agrippina's charms. On the pretext of her
relationship, she paid frequent visits to her uncle, and so won his heart, that
she was preferred to the others, and, though not yet his wife, already
possessed a wife's power. For as soon as she was sure of her marriage, she
began to aim at greater things, and planned an alliance between Domitius, her
son by Cneius Aenobarbus, and Octavia, the emperor's daughter. This could not
be accomplished without a crime, for the emperor had betrothed Octavia to
Lucius Silanus, a young man otherwise famous, whom he had brought forward as a
candidate for popular favour by the honour of triumphal distinctions and by a
magnificent gladiatorial show. But no difficulty seemed to be presented by the
temper of a sovereign who had neither partialities nor dislikes, but such as
were suggested and dictated to him.
Vitellius
accordingly, who used the name of censor to screen a slave's trickeries, and
looked forward to new despotisms, already impending, associated himself in
Agrippina's plans, with a view to her favour, and began to bring charges
against Silanus, whose sister, Junia Calvina, a handsome and lively girl, had
shortly before become his daughter-in-law. Here was a starting point for an
accuser. Vitellius put an infamous construction on the somewhat incautious
though not criminal love between the brother and sister. The emperor listened,
for his affection for his daughter inclined him the more to admit suspicions
against his son-in-law. Silanus meanwhile, who knew nothing of the plot, and
happened that year to be praetor, was suddenly expelled from the Senate by an
edict of Vitellius, though the roll of Senators had been recently reviewed and
the lustrum closed. Claudius at the same time broke off the connection; Silanus
was forced to resign his office, and the one remaining day of his praetorship
was conferred on Eprius Marcellus.
In the year of the
consulship of Caius Pompeius and Quintus Veranius, the marriage arranged
between Claudius and Agrippina was confirmed both by popular rumour and by
their own illicit love. Still, they did not yet dare to celebrate the nuptials
in due form, for there was no precedent for the introduction of a niece into an
uncle's house. It was positively incest, and if disregarded, it would, people
feared, issue in calamity to the State. These scruples ceased not till
Vitellius undertook the management of the matter in his own way. He asked the
emperor whether he would yield to the recommendations of the people and to the
authority of the Senate. When Claudius replied that he was one among the
citizens and could not resist their unanimous voice, Vitellius requested him to
wait in the palace, while he himself went to the Senate. Protesting that the
supreme interest of the commonwealth was at stake, he begged to be allowed to
speak first, and then began to urge that the very burdensome labours of the
emperor in a world-wide administration, required assistance, so that, free from
domestic cares, he might consult the public welfare. How again could there be a
more virtuous relief for the mind of an imperial censor than the taking of a
wife to share his prosperity and his troubles, to whom he might intrust his
inmost thoughts and the care of his young children, unused as he was to luxury
and pleasure, and wont from his earliest youth to obey the laws.
Vitellius, having
first put forward these arguments in a conciliatory speech, and met with
decided acquiescence from the Senate, began afresh to point out, that, as they
all recommended the emperor's marriage, they ought to select a lady conspicuous
for noble rank and purity, herself too the mother of children. "It
cannot," he said, "be long a question that Agrippina stands first in
nobility of birth. She has given proof too that she is not barren, and she has
suitable moral qualities. It is, again, a singular advantage to us, due to
divine providence, for a widow to be united to an emperor who has limited
himself to his own lawful wives. We have heard from our fathers, we have
ourselves seen that married women were seized at the caprice of the Caesars.
This is quite alien to the propriety of our day. Rather let a precedent be now
set for the taking of a wife by an emperor. But, it will be said, marriage with
a brother's daughter is with us a novelty. True; but it is common in other
countries, and there is no law to forbid it. Marriages of cousins were long
unknown, but after a time they became frequent. Custom adapts itself to
expediency, and this novelty will hereafter take its place among recognized
usages."
There were some who
rushed out of the Senate passionately protesting that if the emperor hesitated,
they would use violence. A promiscuous throng assembled, and kept exclaiming
that the same too was the prayer of the Roman people. Claudius without further
delay presented himself in the forum to their congratulations; then entering
the Senate, he asked from them a decree which should decide that for the future
marriages between uncles and brothers' daughters should be legal. There was,
however, found only one person who desired such a marriage, Alledius Severus, a
Roman knight, who, as many said, was swayed by the influence of Agrippina. Then
came a revolution in the State, and everything was under the control of a
woman, who did not, like Messalina, insult Rome by loose manners. It was a
stringent, and, so to say, masculine despotism; there was sternness and
generally arrogance in public, no sort of immodesty at home, unless it conduced
to power. A boundless greed of wealth was veiled under the pretext that riches
were being accumulated as a prop to the throne.
On the day of the
marriage Silanus committed suicide, having up to that time prolonged his hope
of life, or else choosing that day to heighten the popular indignation. His
sister, Calvina, was banished from Italy. Claudius further added that
sacrifices after the ordinances of King Tullius, and atonements were to be
offered by the pontiffs in the grove of Diana, amid general ridicule at the
idea devising penalties and propitiations for incest at such a time. Agrippina,
that she might not be conspicuous only by her evil deeds, procured for Annaeus
Seneca a remission of his exile, and with it the praetorship. She thought this
would be universally welcome, from the celebrity of his attainments, and it was
her wish too for the boyhood of Domitius to be trained under so excellent an
instructor, and for them to have the benefit of his counsels in their designs
on the throne. For Seneca, it was believed, was devoted to Agrippina from a
remembrance of her kindness, and an enemy to Claudius from a bitter sense of
wrong.
It was then
resolved to delay no longer. Memmius Pollio, the consul-elect, was induced by
great promises to deliver a speech, praying Claudius to betroth Octavia to
Domitius. The match was not unsuitable to the age of either, and was likely to
develop still more important results. Pollio introduced the motion in much the
same language as Vitellius had lately used. So Octavia was betrothed, and
Domitius, besides his previous relationship, became now the emperor's affianced
son-in-law, and an equal of Britannicus, through the exertions of his mother
and the cunning of those who had been the accusers of Messalina, and feared the
vengeance of her son.
About the same time
an embassy from the Parthians, which had been sent, as I have stated, to
solicit the return of Meherdates, was introduced into the Senate, and delivered
a message to the following effect:- "They were not," they said,
"unaware of the treaty of alliance, nor did their coming imply any revolt
from the family of the Arsacids; indeed, even the son of Vonones, Phraates's
grandson, was with them in their resistance to the despotism of Gotarzes, which
was alike intolerable to the nobility and to the people. Already brothers,
relatives, and distant kin had been swept off by murder after murder; wives
actually pregnant, and tender children were added to Gotarzes' victims, while,
slothful at home and unsuccessful in war, he made cruelty a screen for his
feebleness. Between the Parthians and ourselves there was an ancient
friendship, founded on a state alliance, and we ought to support allies who
were our rivals in strength, and yet yielded to us out of respect. Kings' sons
were given as hostages, in order that when Parthia was tired of home rule, it
might fall back on the emperor and the Senate, and receive from them a better
sovereign, familiar with Roman habits."
In answer to these
and like arguments Claudius began to speak of the grandeur of Rome and the
submissive attitude of the Parthians. He compared himself to the Divine
Augustus, from whom, he reminded them, they had sought a king, but omitted to
mention Tiberius, though he too had sent them sovereigns. He added some advice
for Meherdates, who was present, and told him not to be thinking of a despot
and his slaves, but rather of a ruler among fellow citizens, and to practise
clemency and justice which barbarians would like the more for being unused to
them. Then he turned to the envoys and bestowed high praise on the young
foster-son of Rome, as one whose self-control had hitherto been exemplary.
"Still," he said, "they must bear with the caprices of kings,
and frequent revolutions were bad. Rome, sated with her glory, had reached such
a height that, she wished even foreign nations to enjoy repose." Upon this
Caius Cassius, governor of Syria, was commissioned to escort the young prince
to the bank of the Euphrates.
Cassius was at that
time pre-eminent for legal learning. The profession of the soldier is forgotten
in a quiet period, and peace reduces the enterprising and indolent to an
equality. But Cassius, as far as it was possible without war, revived ancient
discipline, kept exercising the legions, in short, used as much diligence and
precaution as if an enemy were threatening him. This conduct he counted worthy
of his ancestors and of the Cassian family which had won renown even in those
countries. He then summoned those at whose suggestion a king had been sought
from Rome, and having encamped at Zeugma where the river was most easily
fordable and awaited the arrival of the chief men of Parthia and of Acbarus,
king of the Arabs, he reminded Meherdates that the impulsive enthusiasm of
barbarians soon flags from delay or even changes into treachery, and that
therefore he should urge on his enterprise. The advice was disregarded through
the perfidy Acbarus, by whom the foolish young prince, who thought that the
highest position merely meant self-indulgence, was detained for several days in
the town of Edessa. Although a certain Carenes pressed them to come and
promised easy success if they hastened their arrival, they did not make for
Mesopotamia, which was close to them, but, by a long detour, for Armenia, then
ill-suited to their movements, as winter was beginning.
As they approached
the plains, wearied with the snows and mountains, they were joined by the
forces of Carenes, and having crossed the river Tigris they traversed the
country of the Adiabeni, whose king Izates had avowedly embraced the alliance
of Meherdates, though secretly and in better faith he inclined to Gotarzes. In
their march they captured the city of Ninos, the most ancient capital of
Assyria, and a fortress, historically famous, as the spot where the last battle
between Darius and Alexander the power of Persia fell. Gotarzes meantime was
offering vows to the local divinities on a mountain called Sambulos, with special
worship of Hercules, who at a stated time bids the priests in a dream equip
horses for the chase and place them near his temple. When the horses have been
laden with quivers full of arrows, they scour the forest and at length return
at night with empty quivers, panting violently. Again the god in a vision of
the night reveals to them the track along which he roamed through the woods,
and everywhere slaughtered beasts are found.
Gotarzes, his army
not being yet in sufficient force, made the river Corma a line of defence, and
though he was challenged to an engagement by taunting messages, he contrived
delays, shifted his positions and sent emissaries to corrupt the enemy and
bribe them to throw off their allegiance. Izates of the Adiabeni and then
Acbarus of the Arabs deserted with their troops, with their countrymen's
characteristic fickleness, confirming previous experience, that barbarians
prefer to seek a king from Rome than to keep him. Meherdates, stript of his
powerful auxiliaries and suspecting treachery in the rest, resolved, as his
last resource, to risk everything and try the issue of a battle. Nor did Gotarzes,
who was emboldened by the enemy's diminished strength, refuse the challenge.
They fought with terrible courage and doubtful result, till Carenes, who having
beaten down all resistance had advanced too far, was surprised by a fresh
detachment in his rear. Then Meherdates in despair yielded to promises from
Parrhaces, one of his father's adherents, and was by his treachery delivered in
chains to the conqueror. Gotarzes taunted him with being no kinsman of his or
of the Arsacids, but a foreigner and a Roman, and having cut off his ears, bade
him live, a memorial of his own clemency, and a disgrace to us. After this
Gotarzes fell ill and died, and Vonones, who then ruled the Medes, was summoned
to the throne. He was memorable neither for his good nor bad fortune; he
completed a short and inglorious reign, and then the empire of Parthia passed
to his son Vologeses.
Mithridates of
Bosporus, meanwhile, who had lost his power and was a mere outcast, on learning
that the Roman general, Didius, and the main strength of his army had retired,
and that Cotys, a young prince without experience, was left in his new kingdom
with a few cohorts under Julius Aquila, a Roman knight, disdaining both, roused
the neighbouring tribes, and drew deserters to his standard. At last he
collected an army, drove out the king of the Dandaridae, and possessed himself
of his dominions. When this was known, and the invasion of Bosporus was every
moment expected, Aquila and Cotys, seeing that hostilities had been also
resumed by Zorsines, king of the Siraci, distrusted their own strength, and
themselves too sought the friendship of the foreigner by sending envoys to
Eunones, who was then chief of the Adorsi. There was no difficulty about
alliance, when they pointed to the power of Rome in contrast with the rebel
Mithridates. It was accordingly stipulated that Eunones should engage the enemy
with his cavalry, and the Romans undertake the siege of towns.
Then the army
advanced in regular formation, the Adorsi in the van and the rear, while the
centre was strengthened by the cohorts, and native troops of Bosporus with
Roman arms. Thus the enemy was defeated, and they reached Soza, a town in
Dandarica, which Mithridates had abandoned, where it was thought expedient to
leave a garrison, as the temper of the people was uncertain. Next they marched
on the Siraci, and after crossing the river Panda besieged the city of Uspe,
which stood on high ground, and had the defence of wall and fosses; only the
walls, not being of stone, but of hurdles and wicker-work with earth between,
were too weak to resist an assault. Towers were raised to a greater height as a
means of annoying the besieged with brands and darts. Had not night stopped the
conflict, the siege would have been begun and finished within one day.
Next day they sent
an embassy asking mercy for the freeborn, and offering ten thousand slaves. As
it would have been inhuman to slay the prisoners, and very difficult to keep
them under guard, the conquerors rejected the offer, preferring that they
should perish by the just doom of war. The signal for massacre was therefore
given to the soldiers, who had mounted the walls by scaling ladders. The
destruction of Uspe struck terror into the rest of the people, who thought
safety impossible when they saw how armies and ramparts, heights and difficult
positions, rivers and cities, alike yielded to their foe. And so Zorsines,
having long considered whether he should still have regard to the fallen
fortunes of Mithridates or to the kingdom of his fathers, and having at last
preferred his country's interests, gave hostages and prostrated himself before
the emperor's image, to the great glory of the Roman army, which all men knew
to have come after a bloodless victory within three days' march of the river
Tanais. In their return however fortune was not equally favourable; some of
their vessels, as they were sailing back, were driven on the shores of the
Tauri and cut off by the barbarians, who slew the commander of a cohort and
several centurions.
Meanwhile
Mithridates, finding arms an unavailing resource, considered on whose mercy he
was to throw himself. He feared his brother Cotys, who had once been a traitor,
then become his open enemy. No Roman was on the spot of authority sufficient to
make his promises highly valued. So he turned to Eunones, who had no personal
animosity against him, and had been lately strengthened by his alliance with
us. Adapting his dress and expression of countenance as much as possible to his
present condition, he entered the palace, and throwing himself at the feet of
Eunones he exclaimed, "Mithridates, whom the Romans have sought so many
years by land and sea, stands before you by his own choice. Deal as you please
with the descendant of the great Achaemenes, the only glory of which enemies
have not robbed me."
The great name of Mithridates,
his reverse, his prayer, full of dignity, deeply affected Eunones. He raised
the suppliant, and commended him for having chosen the nation of the Adorsi and
his own good faith in suing for mercy. He sent at the same time envoys to
Caesar with a letter to this effect, that friendship between emperors of Rome
and sovereigns of powerful peoples was primarily based on a similarity of
fortune, and that between himself and Claudius there was the tie of a common
victory. Wars had glorious endings, whenever matters were settled by an
amnesty. The conquered Zorsines had on this principle been deprived of nothing.
For Mithridates, as he deserved heavier punishment, he asked neither power nor
dominions, only that he might not be led in triumph, and pay the penalty of
death.
Claudius, though
merciful to foreign princes, was yet in doubt whether it were better to receive
the captive with a promise of safety or to claim his surrender by the sword. To
this last he was urged by resentment at his wrongs, and by thirst for
vengeance. On the other hand it was argued that it would be undertaking a war
in a country without roads, on a harbourless sea, against warlike kings and
wandering tribes, on a barren soil; that a weary disgust would come of tardy
movements, and perils of precipitancy; that the glory of victory would be
small, while much disgrace would ensue on defeat. Why should not the emperor
seize the offer and spare the exile, whose punishment would be the greater, the
longer he lived in poverty? Moved by these considerations, Claudius wrote to
Eunones that Mithridates had certainly merited an extreme and exemplary penalty,
which he was not wanting in power to inflict, but it had been the principle of
his ancestors to show as much forbearance to a suppliant as they showed
persistence against a foe. As for triumphs, they were won over nations and
kings hitherto unconquered.
After this,
Mithridates was given up and brought to Rome by Junius Cilo, the procurator of
Pontus. There in the emperor's presence he was said to have spoken too proudly
for his position, and words uttered by him to the following effect became the
popular talk: "I have not been sent, but have come back to you; if you do
not believe me, let me go and pursue me." He stood too with fearless
countenance when he was exposed to the people's gaze near the Rostra, under
military guard. To Cilo and Aquila were voted, respectively, the consular and
praetorian decorations.
In the same
consulship, Agrippina, who was terrible in her hatred and detested Lollia, for
having competed with her for the emperor's hand, planned an accusation, through
an informer who was to tax her with having consulted astrologers and magicians
and the image of the Clarian Apollo, about the imperial marriage. Upon this,
Claudius, without hearing the accused, first reminded the Senate of her
illustrious rank, that the sister of Lucius Volusius was her mother, Cotta
Messalinus her granduncle, Memmius Regulus formerly her husband (for of her
marriage to Caius Caesar he purposely said nothing), and then added that she
had mischievous designs on the State, and must have the means of crime taken
from her. Consequently, her property should be confiscated, and she herself
banished from Italy. Thus out of immense wealth only five million sesterces
were left to the exile. Calpurnia too, a lady of high rank, was ruined, simply
because the emperor had praised her beauty in a casual remark, without any
passion for her. And so Agrippina's resentment stopped short of extreme
vengeance. A tribune was despatched to Lollia, who was to force her to suicide.
Next on the prosecution of the Bithynians, Cadius Rufus, was condemned under
the law against extortion.
Narbon Gaul, for
its special reverence of the Senate, received a privilege. Senators belonging
to the province, without seeking the emperor's approval, were to be allowed to
visit their estates, a right enjoyed by Sicily. Ituraea and Judaea, on the
death of their kings, Sohaemus and Agrippa, were annexed to the province of
Syria. It was also decided that the augury of the public safety, which for
twenty-five years had been neglected, should be revived and henceforth
observed. The emperor likewise widened the sacred precincts of the capital, in
conformity with the ancient usage, according to which, those who had enlarged
the empire were permitted also to extend the boundaries of Rome. But Roman
generals, even after the conquest of great nations, had never exercised this
right, except Lucius Sulla and the Divine Augustus.
There are various
popular accounts of the ambitious and vainglorious efforts of our kings in this
matter. Still, I think, it is interesting to know accurately the original plan
of the precinct, as it was fixed by Romulus. From the ox market, where we see
the brazen statue of a bull, because that animal is yoked to the plough, a furrow
was drawn to mark out the town, so as to embrace the great altar of Hercules;
then, at regular intervals, stones were placed along the foot of the Palatine
hill to the altar of Consus, soon afterwards, to the old Courts, and then to
the chapel of Larunda. The Roman forum and the Capitol were not, it was
supposed, added to the city by Romulus, but by Titus Tatius. In time, the
precinct was enlarged with the growth of Rome's fortunes. The boundaries now
fixed by Claudius may be easily recognized, as they are specified in the public
records.
In the consulship
of Caius Antistius and Marcus Suilius, the adoption of Domitius was hastened on
by the influence of Pallas. Bound to Agrippina, first as the promoter of her
marriage, then as her paramour, he still urged Claudius to think of the
interests of the State, and to provide some support for the tender years of
Britannicus. "So," he said, "it had been with the Divine
Augustus, whose stepsons, though he had grandsons to be his stay, had been
promoted; Tiberius too, though he had offspring of his own, had adopted
Germanicus. Claudius also would do well to strengthen himself with a young
prince who could share his cares with him." Overcome by these arguments,
the emperor preferred Domitius to his own son, though he was but two years
older, and made a speech in the senate, the same in substance as the
representations of his freedman. It was noted by learned men, that no previous
example of adoption into the patrician family of the Claudii was to be found;
and that from Attus Clausus there had been one unbroken line.
However, the
emperor received formal thanks, and still more elaborate flattery was paid to
Domitius. A law was passed, adopting him into the Claudian family with the name
of Nero. Agrippina too was honoured with the title of Augusta. When this had
been done, there was not a person so void of pity as not to feel keen sorrow at
the position of Britannicus. Gradually forsaken by the very slaves who waited
on him, he turned into ridicule the ill-timed attentions of his stepmother,
perceiving their insincerity. For he is said to have had by no means a dull
understanding; and this is either a fact, or perhaps his perils won him
sympathy, and so he possessed the credit of it, without actual evidence.
Agrippina, to show
her power even to the allied nations, procured the despatch of a colony of veterans
to the chief town of the Ubii, where she was born. The place was named after
her. Agrippa, her grandfather, had, as it happened, received this tribe, when
they crossed the Rhine, under our protection. During the same time, there was a
panic in Upper Germany through an irruption of plundering bands of Chatti.
Thereupon Lucius Pomponius, who was in command, directed the Vangiones and
Nemetes, with the allied cavalry, to anticipate the raid, and suddenly to fall
upon them from every quarter while they were dispersed. The general's plan was
backed up by the energy of the troops. These were divided into two columns; and
those who marched to the left cut off the plunderers, just on their return,
after a riotous enjoyment of their spoil, when they were heavy with sleep. It
added to the men's joy that they had rescued from slavery after forty years
some survivors of the defeat of Varus.
The column which
took the right-hand and the shorter route, inflicted greater loss on the enemy
who met them, and ventured on a battle. With much spoil and glory they returned
to Mount Taunus, where Pomponius was waiting with the legions, to see whether
the Chatti, in their eagerness for vengeance, would give him a chance of
fighting. They however fearing to be hemmed in on one side by the Romans, on
the other by the Cherusci, with whom they are perpetually at feud, sent envoys
and hostages to Rome. To Pomponius was decreed the honour of a triumph; a mere
fraction of his renown with the next generation, with whom his poems constitute
his chief glory.
At this same time,
Vannius, whom Drusus Caesar had made king of the Suevi, was driven from his
kingdom. In the commencement of his reign he was renowned and popular with his
countrymen; but subsequently, with long possession, he became a tyrant, and the
enmity of neighbours, joined to intestine strife, was his ruin. Vibillius, king
of the Hermunduri, and Vangio and Sido, sons of a sister of Vannius, led the
movement. Claudius, though often entreated, declined to interpose by arms in
the conflict of the barbarians, and simply promised Vannius a safe refuge in
the event of his expulsion. He wrote instructions to Publius Atellius Hister,
governor of Pannonia, that he was to have his legions, with some picked
auxiliaries from the province itself, encamped on the riverbank, as a support
to the conquered and a terror to the conqueror, who might otherwise, in the
elation of success, disturb also the peace of our empire. For an immense host
of Ligii, with other tribes, was advancing, attracted by the fame of the
opulent realm which Vannius had enriched during thirty years of plunder and of
tribute. Vannius's own native force was infantry, and his cavalry was from the
Iazyges of Sarmatia; an army which was no match for his numerous enemy.
Consequently, he determined to maintain himself in fortified positions, and
protract the war.
But the Iazyges,
who could not endure a siege, dispersed themselves throughout the surrounding
country and rendered an engagement inevitable, as the Ligii and Hermunduri had
there rushed to the attack. So Vannius came down out of his fortresses, and though
he was defeated in battle, notwithstanding his reverse, he won some credit by
having fought with his own hand, and received wounds on his breast. He then
fled to the fleet which was awaiting him on the Danube, and was soon followed
by his adherents, who received grants of land and were settled in Pannonia.
Vangio and Sido divided his kingdom between them; they were admirably loyal to
us, and among their subjects, whether the cause was in themselves or in the
nature of despotism, much loved, while seeking to acquire power, and yet more
hated when they had acquired it.
Meanwhile, in
Britain, Publius Ostorius, the propraetor, found himself confronted by
disturbance. The enemy had burst into the territories of our allies with all
the more fury, as they imagined that a new general would not march against them
with winter beginning and with an army of which he knew nothing. Ostorius, well
aware that first events are those which produce alarm or confidence, by a rapid
movement of his light cohorts, cut down all who opposed him, pursued those who
fled, and lest they should rally, and so an unquiet and treacherous peace might
allow no rest to the general and his troops, he prepared to disarm all whom he
suspected, and to occupy with encampments the whole country to the Avon and
Severn. The Iceni, a powerful tribe, which war had not weakened, as they had
voluntarily joined our alliance, were the first to resist. At their instigation
the surrounding nations chose as a battlefield a spot walled in by a rude
barrier, with a narrow approach, impenetrable to cavalry. Through these
defences the Roman general, though he had with him only the allied troops,
without the strength of the legions, attempted to break, and having assigned
their positions to his cohorts, he equipped even his cavalry for the work of
infantry. Then at a given signal they forced the barrier, routing the enemy who
were entangled in their own defences. The rebels, conscious of their guilt, and
finding escape barred, performed many noble feats. In this battle, Marius
Ostorius, the general's son, won the reward for saving a citizen's life.
The defeat of the
Iceni quieted those who were hesitating between war and peace. Then the army
was marched against the Cangi; their territory was ravaged, spoil taken
everywhere without the enemy venturing on an engagement, or if they attempted
to harass our march by stealthy attacks, their cunning was always punished. And
now Ostorius had advanced within a little distance of the sea, facing the
island Hibernia, when feuds broke out among the Brigantes and compelled the
general's return, for it was his fixed purpose not to undertake any fresh
enterprise till he had consolidated his previous successes. The Brigantes
indeed, when a few who were beginning hostilities had been slain and the rest
pardoned, settled down quietly; but on the Silures neither terror nor mercy had
the least effect; they persisted in war and could be quelled only by legions
encamped in their country. That this might be the more promptly effected, a
colony of a strong body of veterans was established at Camulodunum on the
conquered lands, as a defence against the rebels, and as a means of imbuing the
allies with respect for our laws.
The army then
marched against the Silures, a naturally fierce people and now full of
confidence in the might of Caractacus, who by many an indecisive and many a
successful battle had raised himself far above all the other generals of the
Britons. Inferior in military strength, but deriving an advantage from the
deceptiveness of the country, he at once shifted the war by a stratagem into
the territory of the Ordovices, where, joined by all who dreaded peace with us,
he resolved on a final struggle. He selected a position for the engagement in
which advance and retreat alike would be difficult for our men and
comparatively easy for his own, and then on some lofty hills, wherever their
sides could be approached by a gentle slope, he piled up stones to serve as a
rampart. A river too of varying depth was in his front, and his armed bands
were drawn up before his defences.
Then too the
chieftains of the several tribes went from rank to rank, encouraging and
confirming the spirit of their men by making light of their fears, kindling
their hopes, and by every other warlike incitement. As for Caractacus, he flew
hither and thither, protesting that that day and that battle would be the
beginning of the recovery of their freedom, or of everlasting bondage. He
appealed, by name, to their forefathers who had driven back the dictator
Caesar, by whose valour they were free from the Roman axe and tribute, and
still preserved inviolate the persons of their wives and of their children.
While he was thus speaking, the host shouted applause; every warrior bound
himself by his national oath not to shrink from weapons or wounds.
Such enthusiasm confounded
the Roman general. The river too in his face, the rampart they had added to it,
the frowning hilltops, the stern resistance and masses of fighting men
everywhere apparent, daunted him. But his soldiers insisted on battle,
exclaiming that valour could overcome all things; and the prefects and
tribunes, with similar language, stimulated the ardour of the troops. Ostorius
having ascertained by a survey the inaccessible and the assailable points of
the position, led on his furious men, and crossed the river without difficulty.
When he reached the barrier, as long as it was a fight with missiles, the
wounds and the slaughter fell chiefly on our soldiers; but when he had formed
the military testudo, and the rude, ill-compacted fence of stones was torn down,
and it was an equal hand-to-hand engagement, the barbarians retired to the
heights. Yet even there, both light and heavy-armed soldiers rushed to the
attack; the first harassed the foe with missiles, while the latter closed with
them, and the opposing ranks of the Britons were broken, destitute as they were
of the defence of breast-plates or helmets. When they faced the auxiliaries,
they were felled by the swords and javelins of our legionaries; if they wheeled
round, they were again met by the sabres and spears of the auxiliaries. It was
a glorious victory; the wife and daughter of Caractacus were captured, and his
brothers too were admitted to surrender.
There is seldom
safety for the unfortunate, and Caractacus, seeking the protection of
Cartimandua, queen of the Brigantes, was put in chains and delivered up to the
conquerors, nine years after the beginning of the war in Britain. His fame had
spread thence, and travelled to the neighbouring islands and provinces, and was
actually celebrated in Italy. All were eager to see the great man, who for so
many years had defied our power. Even at Rome the name of Caractacus was no
obscure one; and the emperor, while he exalted his own glory, enhanced the
renown of the vanquished. The people were summoned as to a grand spectacle; the
praetorian cohorts were drawn up under arms in the plain in front of their
camp; then came a procession of the royal vassals, and the ornaments and
neck-chains and the spoils which the king had won in wars with other tribes,
were displayed. Next were to be seen his brothers, his wife and daughter; last
of all, Caractacus himself. All the rest stooped in their fear to abject
supplication; not so the king, who neither by humble look nor speech sought
compassion.
When he was set
before the emperor's tribunal, he spoke as follows: "Had my moderation in
prosperity been equal to my noble birth and fortune, I should have entered this
city as your friend rather than as your captive; and you would not have disdained
to receive, under a treaty of peace, a king descended from illustrious
ancestors and ruling many nations. My present lot is as glorious to you as it
is degrading to myself. I had men and horses, arms and wealth. What wonder if I
parted with them reluctantly? If you Romans choose to lord it over the world,
does it follow that the world is to accept slavery? Were I to have been at once
delivered up as a prisoner, neither my fall nor your triumph would have become
famous. My punishment would be followed by oblivion, whereas, if you save my
life, I shall be an everlasting memorial of your clemency." Upon this the
emperor granted pardon to Caractacus, to his wife, and to his brothers.
Released from their bonds, they did homage also to Agrippina who sat near, conspicuous
on another throne, in the same language of praise and gratitude. It was indeed
a novelty, quite alien to ancient manners, for a woman to sit in front of Roman
standards. In fact, Agrippina boasted that she was herself a partner in the
empire which her ancestors had won.
The Senate was then
assembled, and speeches were delivered full of pompous eulogy on the capture of
Caractacus. It was as glorious, they said, as the display of Syphax by Scipio,
or of Perses by Lucius Paulus, or indeed of any captive prince by any of our generals
to the people of Rome. Triumphal distinctions were voted to Ostorius, who thus
far had been successful, but soon afterwards met with reverses; either because,
when Caractacus was out of the way, our discipline was relaxed under an
impression that the war was ended, or because the enemy, out of compassion for
so great a king, was more ardent in his thirst for vengeance. Instantly they
rushed from all parts on the camp-prefect, and legionary cohorts left to
establish fortified positions among the Silures, and had not speedy succour
arrived from towns and fortresses in the neighbourhood, our forces would then
have been totally destroyed. Even as it was, the camp-prefect, with eight
centurions, and the bravest of the soldiers, were slain; and shortly afterwards,
a foraging party of our men, with some cavalry squadrons sent to their support,
was utterly routed.
Ostorius then
deployed his light cohorts, but even thus he did not stop the flight, till our
legions sustained the brunt of the battle. Their strength equalized the
conflict, which after a while was in our favour. The enemy fled with trifling
loss, as the day was on the decline. Now began a series of skirmishes, for the
most part like raids, in woods and morasses, with encounters due to chance or
to courage, to mere heedlessness or to calculation, to fury or to lust of
plunder, under directions from the officers, or sometimes even without their
knowledge. Conspicuous above all in stubborn resistance were the Silures, whose
rage was fired by words rumoured to have been spoken by the Roman general, to
the effect, that as the Sugambri had been formerly destroyed or transplanted
into Gaul, so the name of the Silures ought to be blotted out. Accordingly they
cut off two of our auxiliary cohorts, the rapacity of whose officers let them
make incautious forays; and by liberal gifts of spoil and prisoners to the other
tribes, they were luring them too into revolt, when Ostorius, worn out by the
burden of his anxieties, died, to the joy of the enemy, who thought that a
campaign at least, though not a single battle, had proved fatal to general whom
none could despise.
The emperor on
hearing of the death of his representative appointed Aulus Didius in his place,
that the province might not be left without a governor. Didius, though he
quickly arrived, found matters far from prosperous, for the legion under the
command of Manlius Valens had meanwhile been defeated, and the disaster had
been exaggerated by the enemy to alarm the new general, while he again
magnified it, that he might win the more glory by quelling the movement or have
a fairer excuse if it lasted. This loss too had been inflicted on us by the
Silures, and they were scouring the country far and wide, till Didius hurried up
and dispersed them. After the capture of Caractacus, Venutius of the Brigantes,
as I have already mentioned, was pre-eminent in military skill; he had long
been loyal to Rome and had been defended by our arms while he was united in
marriage to the queen Cartismandua. Subsequently a quarrel broke out between
them, followed instantly by war, and he then assumed a hostile attitude also
towards us. At first, however, they simply fought against each other, and
Cartismandua by cunning stratagems captured the brothers and kinsfolk of
Venutius. This enraged the enemy, who were stung with shame at the prospect of
falling under the dominion of a woman. The flower of their youth, picked out
for war, invaded her kingdom. This we had foreseen; some cohorts were sent to
her aid and a sharp contest followed, which was at first doubtful but had a
satisfactory termination. The legion under the command of Caesius Nasica fought
with a similar result. For Didius, burdened with years and covered with
honours, was content with acting through his officers and merely holding back
the enemy. These transactions, though occurring under two propraetors, and
occupying several years, I have closely connected, lest, if related separately,
they might be less easily remembered. I now return to the chronological order.
In the fifth
consulship of Tiberius Claudius with Sextius Cornelius Orfitus for his
colleague, Nero was prematurely invested with the dress of manhood, that he
might be thought qualified for political life. The emperor willingly complied
with the flatteries of the Senate who wished Nero to enter on the consulship in
his twentieth year, and meanwhile, as consul-elect, to have pro-consular
authority beyond the limits of the capital with the title of "prince of
the youth of Rome." A donative was also given to the soldiery in Nero's
name, and presents to the city populace. At the games too of the circus which
were then being celebrated to win for him popular favour, Britannicus wore the
dress of boyhood, Nero the triumphal robe, as they rode in the procession. The
people would thus behold the one with the decorations of a general, the other in
a boy's habit, and would accordingly anticipate their respective destinies. At
the same time those of the centurions and tribunes who pitied the lot of
Britannicus were removed, some on false pretexts, others by way of a seeming
compliment. Even of the freedmen, all who were of incorruptible fidelity were
discarded on the following provocation. Once when they met, Nero greeted
Britannicus by that name and was greeted in return as Domitius. Agrippina
reported this to her husband, with bitter complaint, as the beginning of a
quarrel, as implying, in fact, contempt of Nero's adoption and a cancelling at
home of the Senate's decree and the people's vote. She said, too, that, if the
perversity of such malignant suggestions were not checked, it would issue in the
ruin of the State. Claudius, enraged by what he took as a grave charge,
punished with banishment or death all his son's best instructors, and set
persons appointed by his stepmother to have the care of him.
Still Agrippina did
not yet dare to attempt her greatest scheme, unless Lusius Geta and Rufius
Crispinus were removed from the command of the praetorian cohorts; for she
thought that they cherished Messalina's memory and were devoted to her
children. Accordingly, as the emperor's wife persistently affirmed that faction
was rife among these cohorts through the rivalry of the two officers, and that
there would be stricter discipline under one commander, the appointment was
transferred to Burrus Afranius, who had a brilliant reputation as a soldier,
but knew well to whose wish he owed his promotion. Agrippina, too, continued to
exalt her own dignity; she would enter the Capitol in a chariot, a practice,
which being allowed of old only to the priests and sacred images, increased the
popular reverence for a woman who up to this time was the only recorded
instance of one who, an emperor's daughter, was sister, wife, and mother of a
sovereign. Meanwhile her foremost champion, Vitellius, in the full tide of his
power and in extreme age (so uncertain are the fortunes of the great) was
attacked by an accusation of which Junius Lupus, a senator, was the author. He
was charged with treason and designs on the throne. The emperor would have lent
a ready ear, had not Agrippina, by threats rather than entreaties, induced him
to sentence the accuser to outlawry. This was all that Vitellius desired.
Several prodigies
occurred in that year. Birds of evil omen perched on the Capitol; houses were
thrown down by frequent shocks of earthquake, and as the panic spread, all the
weak were trodden down in the hurry and confusion of the crowd. Scanty crops
too, and consequent famine were regarded as a token of calamity. Nor were there
merely whispered complaints; while Claudius was administering justice, the
populace crowded round him with a boisterous clamour and drove him to a corner
of the forum, where they violently pressed on him till he broke through the
furious mob with a body of soldiers. It was ascertained that Rome had
provisions for no more than fifteen days, and it was through the signal bounty
of heaven and the mildness of the winter that its desperate plight was
relieved. And yet in past days Italy used to send supplies for the legions into
distant provinces, and even now it is not a barren soil which causes distress.
But we prefer to cultivate Africa and Egypt, and trust the life of the Roman
people to ships and all their risks.
In the same year
war broke out between the Armenians and Iberians, and was the cause of very
serious disturbances between Parthia and Rome. Vologeses was king of the
Parthians; on the mother's side, he was the offspring of a Greek concubine, and
he obtained the throne by the retirement of his brothers. Pharasmanes had been
long in possession of Iberia, and his brother, Mithridates, ruled Armenia with
our powerful support. There was a son of Pharasmanes named Rhadamistus, tall
and handsome, of singular bodily strength, trained in all the accomplishments
of his countrymen and highly renowned among his neighbours. He boasted so
arrogantly and persistently that his father's prolonged old age kept back from him
the little kingdom of Iberia as to make no concealment of his ambition.
Pharasmanes accordingly seeing the young prince had power in his grasp and was
strong in the attachment of his people, fearing too his own declining years,
tempted him with other prospects and pointed to Armenia, which, as he reminded
him, he had given to Mithridates after driving out the Parthians. But open
violence, he said, must be deferred; artful measures, which might crush him
unawares, were better. So Rhadamistus pretended to be at feud with his father
as though his stepmother's hatred was too strong for him, and went to his
uncle. While he was treated by him like a son, with excessive kindness, he
lured the nobles of Armenia into revolutionary schemes, without the knowledge of
Mithridates, who was actually loading him with honours.
He then assumed a
show of reconciliation with his father, to whom he returned, telling him all
that could be accomplished by treachery was now ready and that he must complete
the affair by the sword. Meanwhile Pharasmanes invented pretexts for war; when
he was fighting with the king of the Albanians and appealing to the Romans for
aid, his brother, he said, had opposed him, and he would now avenge that wrong
by his destruction. At the same time he gave a large army to his son, who by a
sudden invasion drove Mithridates in terror from the open country and forced
him into the fortress of Gorneas, which was strongly situated and garrisoned by
some soldiers under the command of Caelius Pollio, a camp-prefect, and
Casperius, a centurion. There is nothing of which barbarians are so ignorant as
military engines and the skilful management of sieges, while that is a branch
of military science which we especially understand. And so Rhadamistus having
attempted the fortified walls in vain or with loss, began a blockade, and,
finding that his assaults were despised, tried to bribe the rapacity of the
camp-prefect. Casperius protested earnestly against the overthrow of an allied
king and of Armenia, the gift of the Roman people, through iniquity and greed
of gain. At last, as Pollio pleaded the overpowering numbers of the enemy and
Rhadamistus the orders of his father, the centurion stipulated for a truce and
retired, intending, if he could not deter Pharasmanes from further hostilities,
to inform Ummidius Quadratus, the governor of Syria, of the state of Armenia.
By the centurion's
departure the camp prefect was released, so to say, from surveillance; and he
now urged Mithridates to conclude a treaty. He reminded him of the tie of
brotherhood, of the seniority in age of Pharasmanes, and of their other bonds
of kindred, how he was united by marriage to his brother's daughter, and was
himself the father-in-law of Rhadamistus. "The Iberians," he said,
"were not against peace, though for the moment they were the stronger; the
perfidy of the Armenians was notorious, and he had nothing to fall back on but
a fortress without stores; so he must not hesitate to prefer a bloodless negotiation
to arms." As Mithridates wavered, and suspected the intentions of the
camp-prefect, because he had seduced one of the king's concubines and was
reputed a man who could be bribed into any wickedness, Casperius meantime went
to Pharasmanes, and required of him that the Iberians should raise the
blockade. Pharasmanes, to his face, replied vaguely and often in a conciliatory
tone, while by secret messages he recommended Rhadamistus to hurry on the siege
by all possible means. Then the price of infamy was raised, and Pollio by
secret corruption induced the soldiers to demand peace and to threaten that
they would abandon the garrison. Under this compulsion, Mithridates agreed to a
day and a place for negotiation and quitted the fortress.
Rhadamistus at
first threw himself into his embraces, feigning respect and calling him
father-in-law and parent. He swore an oath too that he would do him no violence
either by the sword or by poison. At the same time he drew him into a
neighbouring grove, where he assured him that the appointed sacrifice was
prepared for the confirmation of peace in the presence of the gods. It is a
custom of these princes, whenever they join alliance, to unite their right
hands and bind together the thumbs in a tight knot; then, when the blood has
flowed into the extremities, they let it escape by a slight puncture and suck
it in turn. Such a treaty is thought to have a mysterious sanctity, as being
sealed with the blood of both parties. On this occasion he who was applying the
knot pretended that it had fallen off, and suddenly seizing the knees of
Mithridates flung him to the ground. At the same moment a rush was made by a
number of persons, and chains were thrown round him. Then he was dragged along
by a fetter, an extreme degradation to a barbarian; and soon the common people,
whom he had held under a harsh sway, heaped insults on him with menacing
gestures, though some, on the contrary, pitied such a reverse of fortune. His
wife followed him with his little children, and filled every place with her
wailings. They were hidden away in different covered carriages till the orders
of Pharasmanes were distinctly ascertained. The lust of rule was more to him
than his brother and his daughter, and his heart was steeled to any wickedness.
Still he spared his eyes the seeing them slain before his face. Rhadamistus
too, seemingly mindful of his oath, neither unsheathed the sword nor used
poison against his sister and uncle, but had them thrown on the ground and then
smothered them under a mass of heavy clothes. Even the sons of Mithridates were
butchered for having shed tears over their parent's murder.
Quadratus, learning
that Mithridates had been betrayed and that his kingdom was in the hands of his
murderers, summoned a council, and, having informed them of what had occurred,
consulted them whether he should take vengeance. Few cared for the honour of
the State; most argued in favour of a safe course, saying "that any crime
in a foreign country was to be welcomed with joy, and that the seeds of strife
ought to be actually sown, on the very principle on which Roman emperors had
often under a show of generosity given away this same kingdom of Armenia to
excite the minds of the barbarians. Rhadamistus might retain his ill-gotten
gains, as long as he was hated and infamous; for this was more to Rome's
interest than for him to have succeeded with glory." To this view they
assented, but that they might not be thought to have approved the crime and
receive contrary orders from the emperor, envoys were sent to Pharasmanes,
requiring him to withdraw from Armenian territory and remove his son.
Julius Pelignus was
then procurator of Cappadocia, a man despised alike for his feebleness of mind
and his grotesque personal appearance. He was however very intimate with
Claudius, who, when in private life, used to beguile the dullness of his
leisure with the society of jesters. This Pelignus collected some provincial
auxiliaries, apparently with the design of recovering Armenia, but, while he
plundered allies instead of enemies, finding himself, through the desertion of
his men and the raids of the barbarians, utterly defenceless, he went to
Rhadamistus, whose gifts so completely overcame him that he positively
encouraged him to assume the ensigns of royalty, and himself assisted at the
ceremony, authorizing and abetting. When the disgraceful news had spread far
and wide, lest the world might judge of other governors by Pelignus, Helvidius
Priscus was sent in command of a legion to regulate, according to
circumstances, the disordered state of affairs. He quickly crossed Mount
Taurus, and had restored order to a great extent more by moderation than by
force, when he was ordered to return to Syria, that nothing might arise to
provoke a war with Parthia.
For Vologeses,
thinking that an opportunity presented itself of invading Armenia, which,
though the possession of his ancestors, was now through a monstrous crime held
by a foreign prince, raised an army and prepared to establish Tiridates on the
throne, so that not a member of his house might be without kingly power. On the
advance of the Parthians, the Iberians dispersed without a battle, and the
Armenian cities, Artaxata and Tigranocerta, submitted to the yoke. Then a
frightful winter or deficient supplies, with pestilence arising from both
causes, forced Vologeses to abandon his present plans. Armenia was thus again
without a king, and was invaded by Rhadamistus, who was now fiercer than ever,
looking on the people as disloyal and sure to rebel on the first opportunity.
They however, though accustomed to be slaves, suddenly threw off their tameness
and gathered round the palace in arms.
Rhadamistus had no
means of escape but in the swiftness of the horses which bore him and his wife
away. Pregnant as she was, she endured, somehow or other, out of fear of the
enemy and love of her husband, the first part of the flight, but after a while,
when she felt herself shaken by its continuous speed, she implored to be
rescued by an honourable death from the shame of captivity. He at first
embraced, cheered, and encouraged her, now admiring her heroism, now filled
with a sickening apprehension at the idea of her being left to any man's mercy.
Finally, urged by the intensity of his love and familiarity with dreadful deeds,
he unsheathed his scymitar, and having stabbed her, dragged her to the bank of
the Araxes and committed her to the stream, so that her very body might be
swept away. Then in headlong flight he hurried to Iberia, his ancestral
kingdom. Zenobia meanwhile (this was her name), as she yet breathed and showed
signs of life on the calm water at the river's edge, was perceived by some
shepherds, who inferring from her noble appearance that she was no base-born
woman, bound up her wound and applied to it their rustic remedies. As soon as
they knew her name and her adventure, they conveyed her to the city of
Artaxata, whence she was conducted at the public charge to Tiridates, who
received her kindly and treated her as a royal person.
In the consulship
of Faustus Sulla and Salvius Otho, Furius Scribonianus was banished on the
ground that he was consulting the astrologers about the emperor's death. His
mother, Junia, was included in the accusation, as one who still resented the
misfortune of exile which she had suffered in the past. His father, Camillus,
had raised an armed insurrection in Dalmatia, and the emperor in again sparing
a hostile family sought the credit of clemency. But the exile did not live long
after this; whether he was cut off by a natural death, or by poison, was matter
of conflicting rumours, according to people's belief. A decree of the Senate
was then passed for the expulsion of the astrologers from Italy, stringent but
ineffectual. Next the emperor, in a speech, commended all who, from their
limited means, voluntarily retired from the Senatorian order, while those were
degraded from it who, by retaining their seats, added effrontery to poverty.
During these
proceedings he proposed to the Senate a penalty on women who united themselves
in marriage to slaves, and it was decided that those who had thus demeaned
themselves, without the knowledge of the slave's master, should be reduced to
slavery; if with his consent, should be ranked as freedwomen. To Pallas, who, as
the emperor declared, was the author of this proposal, were offered on the
motion of Barea Soranus, consul-elect, the decorations of the praetorship and
fifteen million sesterces. Cornelius Scipio added that he deserved public
thanks for thinking less of his ancient nobility as a descendant from the kings
of Arcadia, than of the welfare of the State, and allowing himself to be
numbered among the emperor's ministers. Claudius assured them that Pallas was
content with the honour, and that he limited himself to his former poverty. A
decree of the Senate was publicly inscribed on a bronze tablet, heaping the
praises of primitive frugality on a freedman, the possessor of three hundred
million sesterces.
Not equally
moderate was his brother, surnamed Felix, who had for some time been governor
of Judaea, and thought that he could do any evil act with impunity, backed up
as he was by such power. It is true that the Jews had shown symptoms of
commotion in a seditious outbreak, and when they had heard of the assassination
of Caius, there was no hearty submission, as a fear still lingered that any of
the emperors might impose the same orders. Felix meanwhile, by ill-timed
remedies, stimulated disloyal acts; while he had, as a rival in the worst
wickedness, Ventidius Cumanus, who held a part of the province, which was so
divided that Galilea was governed by Cumanus, Samaria by Felix. The two peoples
had long been at feud, and now less than ever restrained their enmity, from
contempt of their rulers. And accordingly they plundered each other, letting
loose bands of robbers, forming ambuscades, and occasionally fighting battles,
and carrying the spoil and booty to the two procurators, who at first rejoiced
at all this, but, as the mischief grew, they interposed with an armed force,
which was cut to pieces. The flame of war would have spread through the
province, but it was saved by Quadratus, governor of Syria. In dealing with the
Jews, who had been daring enough to slay our soldiers, there was little
hesitation about their being capitally punished. Some delay indeed was
occasioned by Cumanus and Felix; for Claudius on hearing the causes of the
rebellion had given authority for deciding also the case of these procurators.
Quadratus, however, exhibited Felix as one of the judges, admitting him to the
bench with the view of cowing the ardour of the prosecutors. And so Cumanus was
condemned for the crimes which the two had committed, and tranquillity was
restored to the province.
Not long afterwards
some tribes of the wild population of Cilicia, known as the Clitae, which had
often been in commotion, established a camp, under a leader Troxobor, on their
rocky mountains, whence rushing down on the coast, and on the towns, they dared
to do violence to the farmers and townsfolk, frequently even to the merchants
and shipowners. They besieged the city Anemurium, and routed some troopers sent
from Syria to its rescue under the command of Curtius Severus; for the rough
country in the neighbourhood, suited as it is for the fighting of infantry, did
not allow of cavalry operations. After a time, Antiochus, king of that coast,
having broken the unity of the barbarian forces, by cajolery of the people and
treachery to their leader, slew Troxobor and a few chiefs, and pacified the
rest by gentle measures.
About the same
time, the mountain between Lake Fucinus and the river Liris was bored through,
and that this grand work might be seen by a multitude of visitors, preparations
were made for a naval battle on the lake, just as formerly Augustus exhibited
such a spectacle, in a basin he had made this side the Tiber, though with light
vessels, and on a smaller scale. Claudius equipped galleys with three and four
banks of oars, and nineteen thousand men; he lined the circumference of the
lake with rafts, that there might be no means of escape at various points, but
he still left full space for the strength of the crews, the skill of the
pilots, the impact of the vessels, and the usual operations of a seafight. On
the raft stood companies of the praetorian cohorts and cavalry, with a
breastwork in front of them, from which catapults and balistas might be worked.
The rest of the lake was occupied by marines on decked vessels. An immense
multitude from the neighbouring towns, others from Rome itself, eager to see
the sight or to show respect to the emperor, crowded the banks, the hills, and
mountain tops, which thus resembled a theatre. The emperor, with Agrippina
seated near him, presided; he wore a splendid military cloak, she, a mantle of
cloth of gold. A battle was fought with all the courage of brave men, though it
was between condemned criminals. After much bloodshed they were released from
the necessity of mutual slaughter.
When the sight was over,
the outlet of the water was opened. The careless execution of the work was
apparent, the tunnel not having been bored down so low as the bottom, or middle
of the lake. Consequently after an interval the excavations were deepened, and
to attract a crowd once more, a show of gladiators was exhibited, with floating
pontoons for an infantry engagement. A banquet too was prepared close to the
outflow of the lake, and it was the means of greatly alarming the whole
company, for the water, in the violence of its outburst, swept away the
adjoining parts, shook the more remote, and spread terror with the tremendous
crash. At the same time, Agrippina availed herself of the emperor's fright to
charge Narcissus, who had been the agent of the work, with avarice and peculation.
He too was not silent, but inveighed against the domineering temper of her sex,
and her extravagant ambition.
In the consulship
of Didius Junius and Quintus Haterius, Nero, now sixteen years of age, married
Octavia, the emperor's daughter. Anxious to distinguish himself by noble
pursuits, and the reputation of an orator, he advocated the cause of the people
of Ilium, and having eloquently recounted how Rome was the offspring of Troy,
and Aeneas the founder of the Julian line, with other old traditions akin to
myths, he gained for his clients exemption from all public burdens. His
pleading too procured for the colony of Bononia, which had been ruined by a
fire, a subvention of ten million sesterces. The Rhodians also had their
freedom restored to them, which had often been taken away, or confirmed,
according to their services to us in our foreign wars, or their seditious
misdeeds at home. Apamea, too, which had been shaken by an earthquake, had its
tribute remitted for five years.
Claudius, on the
other hand, was being prompted to exhibit the worst cruelty by the artifices of
the same Agrippina. On the accusation of Tarquitius Priscus, she ruined
Statilius Taurus, who was famous for his wealth, and at whose gardens she cast
a greedy eye. Priscus had served under Taurus in his proconsular government of
Africa, and after their return charged him with a few acts of extortion, but
particularly with magical and superstitious practices. Taurus, no longer able
to endure a false accusation and an undeserved humiliation, put a violent end
to his life before the Senate's decision was pronounced. Tarquitius was however
expelled from the Senate, a point which the senators carried, out of hatred for
the accuser, notwithstanding the intrigues of Agrippina.
That same year the
emperor was often heard to say that the legal decisions of the commissioners of
the imperial treasury ought to have the same force as if pronounced by himself.
Lest it might be supposed that he had stumbled inadvertently into this opinion,
its principle was also secured by a decree of the Senate on a more complete and
ample scale than before. It had indeed already been arranged by the Divine
Augustus that the Roman knights who governed Egypt should hear causes, and that
their decisions were to be as binding as those of Roman magistrates, and after
a time most of the cases formerly tried by the praetors were submitted to the
knights. Claudius handed over to them the whole administration of justice for
which there had been by sedition or war so many struggles; the Sempronian laws
vesting judicial power in the equestrian order, and those of Servilius
restoring it to the Senate, while it was for this above everything else that
Marius and Sulla fought of old. But those were days of political conflict
between classes, and the results of victory were binding on the State. Caius
Oppius and Cornelius Balbus were the first who were able, with Caesar's
support, to settle conditions of peace and terms of war. To mention after them
the Matii, Vedii, and other too influential names of Roman knights would be
superfluous, when Claudius, we know, raised freedmen whom he had set over his
household to equality with himself and with the laws.
Next the emperor proposed
to grant immunity from taxation to the people of Cos, and he dwelt much on
their antiquity. "The Argives or Coeus, the father of Latona, were the
earliest inhabitants of the island; soon afterwards, by the arrival of
Aesculapius, the art of the physician was introduced and was practised with
much fame by his descendants." Claudius named them one by one, with the
periods in which they had respectively flourished. He said too that Xenophon,
of whose medical skill he availed himself, was one of the same family, and that
they ought to grant his request and let the people of Cos dwell free from all
tribute in their sacred island, as a place devoted to the sole service of their
god. It was also certain that many obligations under which they had laid Rome and
joint victories with her might have been recounted. Claudius however did not
seek to veil under any external considerations a concession he had made, with
his usual good nature, to an individual.
Envoys from
Byzantium having received audience, in complaining to the Senate of their heavy
burdens, recapitulated their whole history. Beginning with the treaty which they
concluded with us when we fought against that king of Macedonia whose supposed
spurious birth acquired for him the name of the Pseudo Philip, they reminded us
of the forces which they had afterwards sent against Antiochus, Perses and
Aristonicus, of the aid they had given Antonius in the pirate-war, of their
offers to Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompeius, and then of their late services to the
Caesars, when they were in occupation of a district peculiarly convenient for
the land or sea passage of generals and armies, as well as for the conveyance
of supplies.
It was indeed on
that very narrow strait which parts Europe from Asia, at Europe's furthest
extremity, that the Greeks built Byzantium. When they consulted the Pythian
Apollo as to where they should found a city, the oracle replied that they were
to seek a home opposite to the blind men's country. This obscure hint pointed
to the people of Chalcedon, who, though they arrived there first and saw before
others the advantageous position, chose the worse. For Byzantium has a fruitful
soil and productive seas, as immense shoals of fish pour out of the Pontus and
are driven by the sloping surface of the rocks under water to quit the windings
of the Asiatic shore and take refuge in these harbours. Consequently the
inhabitants were at first money-making and wealthy traders, but afterwards,
under the pressure of excessive burdens, they petitioned for immunity or at
least relief, and were supported by the emperor, who argued to the Senate that,
exhausted as they were by the late wars in Thrace and Bosporus, they deserved
help. So their tribute was remitted for five years.
In the year of the
consulship of Marcus Asinius and Manius Acilius it was seen to be portended by
a succession of prodigies that there were to be political changes for the
worse. The soldiers' standards and tents were set in a blaze by lightning. A
swarm of bees settled on the summit of the Capitol; births of monsters, half
man, half beast, and of a pig with a hawk's talons, were reported. It was
accounted a portent that every order of magistrates had had its number reduced,
a quaestor, an aedile, a tribune, a praetor and consul having died within a few
months. But Agrippina's terror was the most conspicuous. Alarmed by some words
dropped by Claudius when half intoxicated, that it was his destiny to have to
endure his wives' infamy and at last punish it, she determined to act without a
moment's delay. First she destroyed Lepida from motives of feminine jealousy.
Lepida indeed as the daughter of the younger Antonia, as the grandniece of
Augustus, the cousin of Agrippina, and sister of her husband Cneius, thought
herself of equally high rank. In beauty, youth, and wealth they differed but
slightly. Both were shameless, infamous, and intractable, and were rivals in
vice as much as in the advantages they had derived from fortune. It was indeed
a desperate contest whether the aunt or the mother should have most power over
Nero. Lepida tried to win the young prince's heart by flattery and lavish
liberality, while Agrippina on the other hand, who could give her son empire
but could not endure that he should be emperor, was fierce and full of menace.
It was charged on
Lepida that she had made attempts on the Emperor's consort by magical
incantations, and was disturbing the peace of Italy by an imperfect control of
her troops of slaves in Calabria. She was for this sentenced to death,
notwithstanding the vehement opposition of Narcissus, who, as he more and more
suspected Agrippina, was said to have plainly told his intimate friends that
"his destruction was certain, whether Britannicus or Nero were to be
emperor, but that he was under such obligations to Claudius that he would
sacrifice life to his welfare. Messalina and Silius had been convicted, and now
again there were similar grounds for accusation. If Nero were to rule, or
Britannicus succeed to the throne, he would himself have no claim on the then
reigning sovereign. Meanwhile, a stepmother's treacherous schemes were
convulsing the whole imperial house, with far greater disgrace than would have
resulted from his concealment of the profligacy of the emperor's former wife.
Even as it was, there was shamelessness enough, seeing that Pallas was her
paramour, so that no one could doubt that she held honour, modesty and her very
person, everything, in short, cheaper than sovereignty." This, and the
like, he was always saying, and he would embrace Britannicus, expressing
earnest wishes for his speedy arrival at a mature age, and would raise his
hand, now to heaven, now to the young prince, with entreaty that as he grew up,
he would drive out his father's enemies and also take vengeance on the
murderers of his mother.
Under this great
burden of anxiety, he had an attack of illness, and went to Sinuessa to recruit
his strength with its balmy climate and salubrious waters. Thereupon,
Agrippina, who had long decided on the crime and eagerly grasped at the
opportunity thus offered, and did not lack instruments, deliberated on the
nature of the poison to be used. The deed would be betrayed by one that was
sudden and instantaneous, while if she chose a slow and lingering poison, there
was a fear that Claudius, when near his end, might, on detecting the treachery,
return to his love for his son. She decided on some rare compound which might
derange his mind and delay death. A person skilled in such matters was
selected, Locusta by name, who had lately been condemned for poisoning, and had
long been retained as one of the tools of despotism. By this woman's art the
poison was prepared, and it was to be administered by an eunuch, Halotus, who
was accustomed to bring in and taste the dishes.
All the
circumstances were subsequently so well known, that writers of the time have
declared that the poison was infused into some mushrooms, a favourite delicacy,
and its effect not at the instant perceived, from the emperor's lethargic, or
intoxicated condition. His bowels too were relieved, and this seemed to have
saved him. Agrippina was thoroughly dismayed. Fearing the worst, and defying
the immediate obloquy of the deed, she availed herself of the complicity of
Xenophon, the physician, which she had already secured. Under pretence of
helping the emperor's efforts to vomit, this man, it is supposed, introduced
into his throat a feather smeared with some rapid poison; for he knew that the
greatest crimes are perilous in their inception, but well rewarded after their
consummation.
Meanwhile the
Senate was summoned, and prayers rehearsed by the consuls and priests for the
emperor's recovery, though the lifeless body was being wrapped in blankets with
warm applications, while all was being arranged to establish Nero on the
throne. At first Agrippina, seemingly overwhelmed by grief and seeking comfort,
clasped Britannicus in her embraces, called him the very image of his father,
and hindered him by every possible device from leaving the chamber. She also
detained his sisters, Antonia and Octavia, closed every approach to the palace
with a military guard, and repeatedly gave out that the emperor's health was
better, so that the soldiers might be encouraged to hope, and that the
fortunate moment foretold by the astrologers might arrive.
At last, at noon on
the 13th of October, the gates of the palace were suddenly thrown open, and
Nero, accompanied by Burrus, went forth to the cohort which was on guard after
military custom. There, at the suggestion of the commanding officer, he was
hailed with joyful shouts, and set on a litter. Some, it is said, hesitated,
and looked round and asked where Britannicus was; then, when there was no one
to lead a resistance, they yielded to what was offered them. Nero was conveyed
into the camp, and having first spoken suitably to the occasion and promised a
donative after the example of his father's bounty, he was unanimously greeted
as emperor. The decrees of the Senate followed the voice of the soldiers, and
there was no hesitation in the provinces. Divine honours were decreed to
Claudius, and his funeral rites were solemnized on the same scale as those of
Augustus; for Agrippina strove to emulate the magnificence of her
great-grandmother, Livia. But his will was not publicly read, as the preference
of the stepson to the son might provoke a sense of wrong and angry feeling in
the popular mind.
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THE destruction of Messalina shook the imperial house; for a
strife arose among the freedmen, who should choose a wife for Claudius,
impatient as he was of a single life and submissive to eat the rule of wives.
The ladies were fired with no less jealousy. Each insisted on her rank, beauty,
and fortune, and pointed to her claims to such a marriage. But the keenest
competition was between Lollia Paulina, the daughter of Marcus Lollius, an
ex-consul, and Julia Agrippina, the daughter of Germanicus. Callistus favoured
the first, Pallas the second. Aelia Paetina however, of the family of the
Tuberones, had the support of Narcissus. The emperor, who inclined now one way,
now another, as he listened to this or that adviser, summoned the disputants to
a conference and bade them express their opinions and give their reasons.
Narcissus dwelt on
the marriage of years gone by, on the tie of offspring, for Paetina was the
mother of Antonia, and on the advantage of excluding a new element from his household,
by the return of a wife to whom he was accustomed, and who would assuredly not
look with a stepmother's animosity on Britannicus and Octavia, who were next in
her affections to her own children. Callistus argued that she was compromised
by her long separation, and that were she to be taken back, she would be
supercilious on the strength of it. It would be far better to introduce Lollia,
for, as she had no children of her own, she would be free from jealousy, and
would take the place of a mother towards her stepchildren. Pallas again
selected Agrippina for special commendation because she would bring with her
Germanicus's grandson, who was thoroughly worthy of imperial rank, the scion of
a noble house and a link to unite the descendants of the Claudian family. He
hoped that a woman who was the mother of many children and still in the
freshness of youth, would not carry off the grandeur of the Caesars to some
other house.
This advice
prevailed, backed up as it was by Agrippina's charms. On the pretext of her
relationship, she paid frequent visits to her uncle, and so won his heart, that
she was preferred to the others, and, though not yet his wife, already
possessed a wife's power. For as soon as she was sure of her marriage, she
began to aim at greater things, and planned an alliance between Domitius, her
son by Cneius Aenobarbus, and Octavia, the emperor's daughter. This could not
be accomplished without a crime, for the emperor had betrothed Octavia to
Lucius Silanus, a young man otherwise famous, whom he had brought forward as a
candidate for popular favour by the honour of triumphal distinctions and by a
magnificent gladiatorial show. But no difficulty seemed to be presented by the
temper of a sovereign who had neither partialities nor dislikes, but such as
were suggested and dictated to him.
Vitellius
accordingly, who used the name of censor to screen a slave's trickeries, and
looked forward to new despotisms, already impending, associated himself in
Agrippina's plans, with a view to her favour, and began to bring charges
against Silanus, whose sister, Junia Calvina, a handsome and lively girl, had
shortly before become his daughter-in-law. Here was a starting point for an
accuser. Vitellius put an infamous construction on the somewhat incautious
though not criminal love between the brother and sister. The emperor listened,
for his affection for his daughter inclined him the more to admit suspicions
against his son-in-law. Silanus meanwhile, who knew nothing of the plot, and happened
that year to be praetor, was suddenly expelled from the Senate by an edict of
Vitellius, though the roll of Senators had been recently reviewed and the
lustrum closed. Claudius at the same time broke off the connection; Silanus was
forced to resign his office, and the one remaining day of his praetorship was
conferred on Eprius Marcellus.
In the year of the
consulship of Caius Pompeius and Quintus Veranius, the marriage arranged
between Claudius and Agrippina was confirmed both by popular rumour and by
their own illicit love. Still, they did not yet dare to celebrate the nuptials
in due form, for there was no precedent for the introduction of a niece into an
uncle's house. It was positively incest, and if disregarded, it would, people
feared, issue in calamity to the State. These scruples ceased not till
Vitellius undertook the management of the matter in his own way. He asked the
emperor whether he would yield to the recommendations of the people and to the
authority of the Senate. When Claudius replied that he was one among the
citizens and could not resist their unanimous voice, Vitellius requested him to
wait in the palace, while he himself went to the Senate. Protesting that the
supreme interest of the commonwealth was at stake, he begged to be allowed to
speak first, and then began to urge that the very burdensome labours of the
emperor in a world-wide administration, required assistance, so that, free from
domestic cares, he might consult the public welfare. How again could there be a
more virtuous relief for the mind of an imperial censor than the taking of a
wife to share his prosperity and his troubles, to whom he might intrust his
inmost thoughts and the care of his young children, unused as he was to luxury
and pleasure, and wont from his earliest youth to obey the laws.
Vitellius, having
first put forward these arguments in a conciliatory speech, and met with
decided acquiescence from the Senate, began afresh to point out, that, as they
all recommended the emperor's marriage, they ought to select a lady conspicuous
for noble rank and purity, herself too the mother of children. "It
cannot," he said, "be long a question that Agrippina stands first in
nobility of birth. She has given proof too that she is not barren, and she has
suitable moral qualities. It is, again, a singular advantage to us, due to
divine providence, for a widow to be united to an emperor who has limited
himself to his own lawful wives. We have heard from our fathers, we have
ourselves seen that married women were seized at the caprice of the Caesars.
This is quite alien to the propriety of our day. Rather let a precedent be now
set for the taking of a wife by an emperor. But, it will be said, marriage with
a brother's daughter is with us a novelty. True; but it is common in other
countries, and there is no law to forbid it. Marriages of cousins were long
unknown, but after a time they became frequent. Custom adapts itself to
expediency, and this novelty will hereafter take its place among recognized usages."
There were some who
rushed out of the Senate passionately protesting that if the emperor hesitated,
they would use violence. A promiscuous throng assembled, and kept exclaiming
that the same too was the prayer of the Roman people. Claudius without further
delay presented himself in the forum to their congratulations; then entering
the Senate, he asked from them a decree which should decide that for the future
marriages between uncles and brothers' daughters should be legal. There was,
however, found only one person who desired such a marriage, Alledius Severus, a
Roman knight, who, as many said, was swayed by the influence of Agrippina. Then
came a revolution in the State, and everything was under the control of a
woman, who did not, like Messalina, insult Rome by loose manners. It was a
stringent, and, so to say, masculine despotism; there was sternness and generally
arrogance in public, no sort of immodesty at home, unless it conduced to power.
A boundless greed of wealth was veiled under the pretext that riches were being
accumulated as a prop to the throne.
On the day of the
marriage Silanus committed suicide, having up to that time prolonged his hope
of life, or else choosing that day to heighten the popular indignation. His
sister, Calvina, was banished from Italy. Claudius further added that
sacrifices after the ordinances of King Tullius, and atonements were to be
offered by the pontiffs in the grove of Diana, amid general ridicule at the
idea devising penalties and propitiations for incest at such a time. Agrippina,
that she might not be conspicuous only by her evil deeds, procured for Annaeus
Seneca a remission of his exile, and with it the praetorship. She thought this
would be universally welcome, from the celebrity of his attainments, and it was
her wish too for the boyhood of Domitius to be trained under so excellent an
instructor, and for them to have the benefit of his counsels in their designs
on the throne. For Seneca, it was believed, was devoted to Agrippina from a
remembrance of her kindness, and an enemy to Claudius from a bitter sense of
wrong.
It was then
resolved to delay no longer. Memmius Pollio, the consul-elect, was induced by
great promises to deliver a speech, praying Claudius to betroth Octavia to
Domitius. The match was not unsuitable to the age of either, and was likely to
develop still more important results. Pollio introduced the motion in much the
same language as Vitellius had lately used. So Octavia was betrothed, and
Domitius, besides his previous relationship, became now the emperor's affianced
son-in-law, and an equal of Britannicus, through the exertions of his mother
and the cunning of those who had been the accusers of Messalina, and feared the
vengeance of her son.
About the same time
an embassy from the Parthians, which had been sent, as I have stated, to
solicit the return of Meherdates, was introduced into the Senate, and delivered
a message to the following effect:- "They were not," they said,
"unaware of the treaty of alliance, nor did their coming imply any revolt
from the family of the Arsacids; indeed, even the son of Vonones, Phraates's
grandson, was with them in their resistance to the despotism of Gotarzes, which
was alike intolerable to the nobility and to the people. Already brothers,
relatives, and distant kin had been swept off by murder after murder; wives
actually pregnant, and tender children were added to Gotarzes' victims, while,
slothful at home and unsuccessful in war, he made cruelty a screen for his
feebleness. Between the Parthians and ourselves there was an ancient
friendship, founded on a state alliance, and we ought to support allies who
were our rivals in strength, and yet yielded to us out of respect. Kings' sons
were given as hostages, in order that when Parthia was tired of home rule, it
might fall back on the emperor and the Senate, and receive from them a better
sovereign, familiar with Roman habits."
In answer to these
and like arguments Claudius began to speak of the grandeur of Rome and the
submissive attitude of the Parthians. He compared himself to the Divine
Augustus, from whom, he reminded them, they had sought a king, but omitted to
mention Tiberius, though he too had sent them sovereigns. He added some advice
for Meherdates, who was present, and told him not to be thinking of a despot
and his slaves, but rather of a ruler among fellow citizens, and to practise
clemency and justice which barbarians would like the more for being unused to
them. Then he turned to the envoys and bestowed high praise on the young
foster-son of Rome, as one whose self-control had hitherto been exemplary. "Still,"
he said, "they must bear with the caprices of kings, and frequent
revolutions were bad. Rome, sated with her glory, had reached such a height
that, she wished even foreign nations to enjoy repose." Upon this Caius
Cassius, governor of Syria, was commissioned to escort the young prince to the
bank of the Euphrates.
Cassius was at that
time pre-eminent for legal learning. The profession of the soldier is forgotten
in a quiet period, and peace reduces the enterprising and indolent to an
equality. But Cassius, as far as it was possible without war, revived ancient
discipline, kept exercising the legions, in short, used as much diligence and
precaution as if an enemy were threatening him. This conduct he counted worthy
of his ancestors and of the Cassian family which had won renown even in those
countries. He then summoned those at whose suggestion a king had been sought
from Rome, and having encamped at Zeugma where the river was most easily
fordable and awaited the arrival of the chief men of Parthia and of Acbarus,
king of the Arabs, he reminded Meherdates that the impulsive enthusiasm of
barbarians soon flags from delay or even changes into treachery, and that
therefore he should urge on his enterprise. The advice was disregarded through
the perfidy Acbarus, by whom the foolish young prince, who thought that the
highest position merely meant self-indulgence, was detained for several days in
the town of Edessa. Although a certain Carenes pressed them to come and
promised easy success if they hastened their arrival, they did not make for
Mesopotamia, which was close to them, but, by a long detour, for Armenia, then
ill-suited to their movements, as winter was beginning.
As they approached
the plains, wearied with the snows and mountains, they were joined by the
forces of Carenes, and having crossed the river Tigris they traversed the
country of the Adiabeni, whose king Izates had avowedly embraced the alliance
of Meherdates, though secretly and in better faith he inclined to Gotarzes. In
their march they captured the city of Ninos, the most ancient capital of
Assyria, and a fortress, historically famous, as the spot where the last battle
between Darius and Alexander the power of Persia fell. Gotarzes meantime was
offering vows to the local divinities on a mountain called Sambulos, with
special worship of Hercules, who at a stated time bids the priests in a dream
equip horses for the chase and place them near his temple. When the horses have
been laden with quivers full of arrows, they scour the forest and at length
return at night with empty quivers, panting violently. Again the god in a
vision of the night reveals to them the track along which he roamed through the
woods, and everywhere slaughtered beasts are found.
Gotarzes, his army
not being yet in sufficient force, made the river Corma a line of defence, and
though he was challenged to an engagement by taunting messages, he contrived
delays, shifted his positions and sent emissaries to corrupt the enemy and
bribe them to throw off their allegiance. Izates of the Adiabeni and then
Acbarus of the Arabs deserted with their troops, with their countrymen's
characteristic fickleness, confirming previous experience, that barbarians
prefer to seek a king from Rome than to keep him. Meherdates, stript of his
powerful auxiliaries and suspecting treachery in the rest, resolved, as his
last resource, to risk everything and try the issue of a battle. Nor did
Gotarzes, who was emboldened by the enemy's diminished strength, refuse the
challenge. They fought with terrible courage and doubtful result, till Carenes,
who having beaten down all resistance had advanced too far, was surprised by a
fresh detachment in his rear. Then Meherdates in despair yielded to promises
from Parrhaces, one of his father's adherents, and was by his treachery
delivered in chains to the conqueror. Gotarzes taunted him with being no
kinsman of his or of the Arsacids, but a foreigner and a Roman, and having cut
off his ears, bade him live, a memorial of his own clemency, and a disgrace to
us. After this Gotarzes fell ill and died, and Vonones, who then ruled the
Medes, was summoned to the throne. He was memorable neither for his good nor
bad fortune; he completed a short and inglorious reign, and then the empire of
Parthia passed to his son Vologeses.
Mithridates of
Bosporus, meanwhile, who had lost his power and was a mere outcast, on learning
that the Roman general, Didius, and the main strength of his army had retired,
and that Cotys, a young prince without experience, was left in his new kingdom
with a few cohorts under Julius Aquila, a Roman knight, disdaining both, roused
the neighbouring tribes, and drew deserters to his standard. At last he
collected an army, drove out the king of the Dandaridae, and possessed himself
of his dominions. When this was known, and the invasion of Bosporus was every
moment expected, Aquila and Cotys, seeing that hostilities had been also
resumed by Zorsines, king of the Siraci, distrusted their own strength, and
themselves too sought the friendship of the foreigner by sending envoys to
Eunones, who was then chief of the Adorsi. There was no difficulty about
alliance, when they pointed to the power of Rome in contrast with the rebel
Mithridates. It was accordingly stipulated that Eunones should engage the enemy
with his cavalry, and the Romans undertake the siege of towns.
Then the army
advanced in regular formation, the Adorsi in the van and the rear, while the
centre was strengthened by the cohorts, and native troops of Bosporus with
Roman arms. Thus the enemy was defeated, and they reached Soza, a town in
Dandarica, which Mithridates had abandoned, where it was thought expedient to
leave a garrison, as the temper of the people was uncertain. Next they marched
on the Siraci, and after crossing the river Panda besieged the city of Uspe,
which stood on high ground, and had the defence of wall and fosses; only the
walls, not being of stone, but of hurdles and wicker-work with earth between,
were too weak to resist an assault. Towers were raised to a greater height as a
means of annoying the besieged with brands and darts. Had not night stopped the
conflict, the siege would have been begun and finished within one day.
Next day they sent
an embassy asking mercy for the freeborn, and offering ten thousand slaves. As
it would have been inhuman to slay the prisoners, and very difficult to keep
them under guard, the conquerors rejected the offer, preferring that they
should perish by the just doom of war. The signal for massacre was therefore
given to the soldiers, who had mounted the walls by scaling ladders. The
destruction of Uspe struck terror into the rest of the people, who thought
safety impossible when they saw how armies and ramparts, heights and difficult
positions, rivers and cities, alike yielded to their foe. And so Zorsines,
having long considered whether he should still have regard to the fallen
fortunes of Mithridates or to the kingdom of his fathers, and having at last
preferred his country's interests, gave hostages and prostrated himself before
the emperor's image, to the great glory of the Roman army, which all men knew
to have come after a bloodless victory within three days' march of the river
Tanais. In their return however fortune was not equally favourable; some of
their vessels, as they were sailing back, were driven on the shores of the
Tauri and cut off by the barbarians, who slew the commander of a cohort and
several centurions.
Meanwhile
Mithridates, finding arms an unavailing resource, considered on whose mercy he
was to throw himself. He feared his brother Cotys, who had once been a traitor,
then become his open enemy. No Roman was on the spot of authority sufficient to
make his promises highly valued. So he turned to Eunones, who had no personal
animosity against him, and had been lately strengthened by his alliance with
us. Adapting his dress and expression of countenance as much as possible to his
present condition, he entered the palace, and throwing himself at the feet of
Eunones he exclaimed, "Mithridates, whom the Romans have sought so many
years by land and sea, stands before you by his own choice. Deal as you please
with the descendant of the great Achaemenes, the only glory of which enemies
have not robbed me."
The great name of
Mithridates, his reverse, his prayer, full of dignity, deeply affected Eunones.
He raised the suppliant, and commended him for having chosen the nation of the
Adorsi and his own good faith in suing for mercy. He sent at the same time
envoys to Caesar with a letter to this effect, that friendship between emperors
of Rome and sovereigns of powerful peoples was primarily based on a similarity
of fortune, and that between himself and Claudius there was the tie of a common
victory. Wars had glorious endings, whenever matters were settled by an
amnesty. The conquered Zorsines had on this principle been deprived of nothing.
For Mithridates, as he deserved heavier punishment, he asked neither power nor
dominions, only that he might not be led in triumph, and pay the penalty of
death.
Claudius, though
merciful to foreign princes, was yet in doubt whether it were better to receive
the captive with a promise of safety or to claim his surrender by the sword. To
this last he was urged by resentment at his wrongs, and by thirst for
vengeance. On the other hand it was argued that it would be undertaking a war
in a country without roads, on a harbourless sea, against warlike kings and
wandering tribes, on a barren soil; that a weary disgust would come of tardy
movements, and perils of precipitancy; that the glory of victory would be small,
while much disgrace would ensue on defeat. Why should not the emperor seize the
offer and spare the exile, whose punishment would be the greater, the longer he
lived in poverty? Moved by these considerations, Claudius wrote to Eunones that
Mithridates had certainly merited an extreme and exemplary penalty, which he
was not wanting in power to inflict, but it had been the principle of his
ancestors to show as much forbearance to a suppliant as they showed persistence
against a foe. As for triumphs, they were won over nations and kings hitherto
unconquered.
After this,
Mithridates was given up and brought to Rome by Junius Cilo, the procurator of
Pontus. There in the emperor's presence he was said to have spoken too proudly
for his position, and words uttered by him to the following effect became the
popular talk: "I have not been sent, but have come back to you; if you do
not believe me, let me go and pursue me." He stood too with fearless
countenance when he was exposed to the people's gaze near the Rostra, under
military guard. To Cilo and Aquila were voted, respectively, the consular and
praetorian decorations.
In the same
consulship, Agrippina, who was terrible in her hatred and detested Lollia, for
having competed with her for the emperor's hand, planned an accusation, through
an informer who was to tax her with having consulted astrologers and magicians
and the image of the Clarian Apollo, about the imperial marriage. Upon this,
Claudius, without hearing the accused, first reminded the Senate of her
illustrious rank, that the sister of Lucius Volusius was her mother, Cotta
Messalinus her granduncle, Memmius Regulus formerly her husband (for of her
marriage to Caius Caesar he purposely said nothing), and then added that she had
mischievous designs on the State, and must have the means of crime taken from
her. Consequently, her property should be confiscated, and she herself banished
from Italy. Thus out of immense wealth only five million sesterces were left to
the exile. Calpurnia too, a lady of high rank, was ruined, simply because the
emperor had praised her beauty in a casual remark, without any passion for her.
And so Agrippina's resentment stopped short of extreme vengeance. A tribune was
despatched to Lollia, who was to force her to suicide. Next on the prosecution
of the Bithynians, Cadius Rufus, was condemned under the law against extortion.
Narbon Gaul, for
its special reverence of the Senate, received a privilege. Senators belonging
to the province, without seeking the emperor's approval, were to be allowed to
visit their estates, a right enjoyed by Sicily. Ituraea and Judaea, on the
death of their kings, Sohaemus and Agrippa, were annexed to the province of
Syria. It was also decided that the augury of the public safety, which for
twenty-five years had been neglected, should be revived and henceforth
observed. The emperor likewise widened the sacred precincts of the capital, in
conformity with the ancient usage, according to which, those who had enlarged
the empire were permitted also to extend the boundaries of Rome. But Roman
generals, even after the conquest of great nations, had never exercised this
right, except Lucius Sulla and the Divine Augustus.
There are various
popular accounts of the ambitious and vainglorious efforts of our kings in this
matter. Still, I think, it is interesting to know accurately the original plan
of the precinct, as it was fixed by Romulus. From the ox market, where we see
the brazen statue of a bull, because that animal is yoked to the plough, a
furrow was drawn to mark out the town, so as to embrace the great altar of
Hercules; then, at regular intervals, stones were placed along the foot of the
Palatine hill to the altar of Consus, soon afterwards, to the old Courts, and
then to the chapel of Larunda. The Roman forum and the Capitol were not, it was
supposed, added to the city by Romulus, but by Titus Tatius. In time, the
precinct was enlarged with the growth of Rome's fortunes. The boundaries now
fixed by Claudius may be easily recognized, as they are specified in the public
records.
In the consulship
of Caius Antistius and Marcus Suilius, the adoption of Domitius was hastened on
by the influence of Pallas. Bound to Agrippina, first as the promoter of her
marriage, then as her paramour, he still urged Claudius to think of the
interests of the State, and to provide some support for the tender years of
Britannicus. "So," he said, "it had been with the Divine
Augustus, whose stepsons, though he had grandsons to be his stay, had been
promoted; Tiberius too, though he had offspring of his own, had adopted Germanicus.
Claudius also would do well to strengthen himself with a young prince who could
share his cares with him." Overcome by these arguments, the emperor
preferred Domitius to his own son, though he was but two years older, and made
a speech in the senate, the same in substance as the representations of his
freedman. It was noted by learned men, that no previous example of adoption
into the patrician family of the Claudii was to be found; and that from Attus
Clausus there had been one unbroken line.
However, the
emperor received formal thanks, and still more elaborate flattery was paid to
Domitius. A law was passed, adopting him into the Claudian family with the name
of Nero. Agrippina too was honoured with the title of Augusta. When this had
been done, there was not a person so void of pity as not to feel keen sorrow at
the position of Britannicus. Gradually forsaken by the very slaves who waited
on him, he turned into ridicule the ill-timed attentions of his stepmother,
perceiving their insincerity. For he is said to have had by no means a dull
understanding; and this is either a fact, or perhaps his perils won him
sympathy, and so he possessed the credit of it, without actual evidence.
Agrippina, to show
her power even to the allied nations, procured the despatch of a colony of
veterans to the chief town of the Ubii, where she was born. The place was named
after her. Agrippa, her grandfather, had, as it happened, received this tribe,
when they crossed the Rhine, under our protection. During the same time, there
was a panic in Upper Germany through an irruption of plundering bands of
Chatti. Thereupon Lucius Pomponius, who was in command, directed the Vangiones
and Nemetes, with the allied cavalry, to anticipate the raid, and suddenly to
fall upon them from every quarter while they were dispersed. The general's plan
was backed up by the energy of the troops. These were divided into two columns;
and those who marched to the left cut off the plunderers, just on their return,
after a riotous enjoyment of their spoil, when they were heavy with sleep. It
added to the men's joy that they had rescued from slavery after forty years
some survivors of the defeat of Varus.
The column which
took the right-hand and the shorter route, inflicted greater loss on the enemy
who met them, and ventured on a battle. With much spoil and glory they returned
to Mount Taunus, where Pomponius was waiting with the legions, to see whether
the Chatti, in their eagerness for vengeance, would give him a chance of
fighting. They however fearing to be hemmed in on one side by the Romans, on
the other by the Cherusci, with whom they are perpetually at feud, sent envoys
and hostages to Rome. To Pomponius was decreed the honour of a triumph; a mere
fraction of his renown with the next generation, with whom his poems constitute
his chief glory.
At this same time,
Vannius, whom Drusus Caesar had made king of the Suevi, was driven from his
kingdom. In the commencement of his reign he was renowned and popular with his
countrymen; but subsequently, with long possession, he became a tyrant, and the
enmity of neighbours, joined to intestine strife, was his ruin. Vibillius, king
of the Hermunduri, and Vangio and Sido, sons of a sister of Vannius, led the
movement. Claudius, though often entreated, declined to interpose by arms in
the conflict of the barbarians, and simply promised Vannius a safe refuge in
the event of his expulsion. He wrote instructions to Publius Atellius Hister,
governor of Pannonia, that he was to have his legions, with some picked
auxiliaries from the province itself, encamped on the riverbank, as a support
to the conquered and a terror to the conqueror, who might otherwise, in the
elation of success, disturb also the peace of our empire. For an immense host
of Ligii, with other tribes, was advancing, attracted by the fame of the
opulent realm which Vannius had enriched during thirty years of plunder and of
tribute. Vannius's own native force was infantry, and his cavalry was from the
Iazyges of Sarmatia; an army which was no match for his numerous enemy.
Consequently, he determined to maintain himself in fortified positions, and
protract the war.
But the Iazyges,
who could not endure a siege, dispersed themselves throughout the surrounding
country and rendered an engagement inevitable, as the Ligii and Hermunduri had
there rushed to the attack. So Vannius came down out of his fortresses, and
though he was defeated in battle, notwithstanding his reverse, he won some
credit by having fought with his own hand, and received wounds on his breast.
He then fled to the fleet which was awaiting him on the Danube, and was soon
followed by his adherents, who received grants of land and were settled in
Pannonia. Vangio and Sido divided his kingdom between them; they were admirably
loyal to us, and among their subjects, whether the cause was in themselves or
in the nature of despotism, much loved, while seeking to acquire power, and yet
more hated when they had acquired it.
Meanwhile, in
Britain, Publius Ostorius, the propraetor, found himself confronted by
disturbance. The enemy had burst into the territories of our allies with all
the more fury, as they imagined that a new general would not march against them
with winter beginning and with an army of which he knew nothing. Ostorius, well
aware that first events are those which produce alarm or confidence, by a rapid
movement of his light cohorts, cut down all who opposed him, pursued those who
fled, and lest they should rally, and so an unquiet and treacherous peace might
allow no rest to the general and his troops, he prepared to disarm all whom he
suspected, and to occupy with encampments the whole country to the Avon and
Severn. The Iceni, a powerful tribe, which war had not weakened, as they had
voluntarily joined our alliance, were the first to resist. At their instigation
the surrounding nations chose as a battlefield a spot walled in by a rude
barrier, with a narrow approach, impenetrable to cavalry. Through these
defences the Roman general, though he had with him only the allied troops,
without the strength of the legions, attempted to break, and having assigned
their positions to his cohorts, he equipped even his cavalry for the work of
infantry. Then at a given signal they forced the barrier, routing the enemy who
were entangled in their own defences. The rebels, conscious of their guilt, and
finding escape barred, performed many noble feats. In this battle, Marius
Ostorius, the general's son, won the reward for saving a citizen's life.
The defeat of the
Iceni quieted those who were hesitating between war and peace. Then the army
was marched against the Cangi; their territory was ravaged, spoil taken
everywhere without the enemy venturing on an engagement, or if they attempted
to harass our march by stealthy attacks, their cunning was always punished. And
now Ostorius had advanced within a little distance of the sea, facing the island
Hibernia, when feuds broke out among the Brigantes and compelled the general's
return, for it was his fixed purpose not to undertake any fresh enterprise till
he had consolidated his previous successes. The Brigantes indeed, when a few
who were beginning hostilities had been slain and the rest pardoned, settled
down quietly; but on the Silures neither terror nor mercy had the least effect;
they persisted in war and could be quelled only by legions encamped in their
country. That this might be the more promptly effected, a colony of a strong
body of veterans was established at Camulodunum on the conquered lands, as a
defence against the rebels, and as a means of imbuing the allies with respect
for our laws.
The army then
marched against the Silures, a naturally fierce people and now full of
confidence in the might of Caractacus, who by many an indecisive and many a
successful battle had raised himself far above all the other generals of the
Britons. Inferior in military strength, but deriving an advantage from the
deceptiveness of the country, he at once shifted the war by a stratagem into
the territory of the Ordovices, where, joined by all who dreaded peace with us,
he resolved on a final struggle. He selected a position for the engagement in
which advance and retreat alike would be difficult for our men and
comparatively easy for his own, and then on some lofty hills, wherever their
sides could be approached by a gentle slope, he piled up stones to serve as a
rampart. A river too of varying depth was in his front, and his armed bands
were drawn up before his defences.
Then too the
chieftains of the several tribes went from rank to rank, encouraging and
confirming the spirit of their men by making light of their fears, kindling
their hopes, and by every other warlike incitement. As for Caractacus, he flew
hither and thither, protesting that that day and that battle would be the
beginning of the recovery of their freedom, or of everlasting bondage. He
appealed, by name, to their forefathers who had driven back the dictator
Caesar, by whose valour they were free from the Roman axe and tribute, and
still preserved inviolate the persons of their wives and of their children.
While he was thus speaking, the host shouted applause; every warrior bound
himself by his national oath not to shrink from weapons or wounds.
Such enthusiasm
confounded the Roman general. The river too in his face, the rampart they had
added to it, the frowning hilltops, the stern resistance and masses of fighting
men everywhere apparent, daunted him. But his soldiers insisted on battle,
exclaiming that valour could overcome all things; and the prefects and
tribunes, with similar language, stimulated the ardour of the troops. Ostorius
having ascertained by a survey the inaccessible and the assailable points of
the position, led on his furious men, and crossed the river without difficulty.
When he reached the barrier, as long as it was a fight with missiles, the
wounds and the slaughter fell chiefly on our soldiers; but when he had formed
the military testudo, and the rude, ill-compacted fence of stones was torn
down, and it was an equal hand-to-hand engagement, the barbarians retired to
the heights. Yet even there, both light and heavy-armed soldiers rushed to the
attack; the first harassed the foe with missiles, while the latter closed with
them, and the opposing ranks of the Britons were broken, destitute as they were
of the defence of breast-plates or helmets. When they faced the auxiliaries,
they were felled by the swords and javelins of our legionaries; if they wheeled
round, they were again met by the sabres and spears of the auxiliaries. It was
a glorious victory; the wife and daughter of Caractacus were captured, and his
brothers too were admitted to surrender.
There is seldom
safety for the unfortunate, and Caractacus, seeking the protection of
Cartimandua, queen of the Brigantes, was put in chains and delivered up to the
conquerors, nine years after the beginning of the war in Britain. His fame had
spread thence, and travelled to the neighbouring islands and provinces, and was
actually celebrated in Italy. All were eager to see the great man, who for so
many years had defied our power. Even at Rome the name of Caractacus was no
obscure one; and the emperor, while he exalted his own glory, enhanced the
renown of the vanquished. The people were summoned as to a grand spectacle; the
praetorian cohorts were drawn up under arms in the plain in front of their
camp; then came a procession of the royal vassals, and the ornaments and
neck-chains and the spoils which the king had won in wars with other tribes,
were displayed. Next were to be seen his brothers, his wife and daughter; last
of all, Caractacus himself. All the rest stooped in their fear to abject
supplication; not so the king, who neither by humble look nor speech sought compassion.
When he was set
before the emperor's tribunal, he spoke as follows: "Had my moderation in
prosperity been equal to my noble birth and fortune, I should have entered this
city as your friend rather than as your captive; and you would not have
disdained to receive, under a treaty of peace, a king descended from
illustrious ancestors and ruling many nations. My present lot is as glorious to
you as it is degrading to myself. I had men and horses, arms and wealth. What
wonder if I parted with them reluctantly? If you Romans choose to lord it over
the world, does it follow that the world is to accept slavery? Were I to have
been at once delivered up as a prisoner, neither my fall nor your triumph would
have become famous. My punishment would be followed by oblivion, whereas, if
you save my life, I shall be an everlasting memorial of your clemency."
Upon this the emperor granted pardon to Caractacus, to his wife, and to his
brothers. Released from their bonds, they did homage also to Agrippina who sat
near, conspicuous on another throne, in the same language of praise and
gratitude. It was indeed a novelty, quite alien to ancient manners, for a woman
to sit in front of Roman standards. In fact, Agrippina boasted that she was
herself a partner in the empire which her ancestors had won.
The Senate was then
assembled, and speeches were delivered full of pompous eulogy on the capture of
Caractacus. It was as glorious, they said, as the display of Syphax by Scipio,
or of Perses by Lucius Paulus, or indeed of any captive prince by any of our generals
to the people of Rome. Triumphal distinctions were voted to Ostorius, who thus
far had been successful, but soon afterwards met with reverses; either because,
when Caractacus was out of the way, our discipline was relaxed under an
impression that the war was ended, or because the enemy, out of compassion for
so great a king, was more ardent in his thirst for vengeance. Instantly they
rushed from all parts on the camp-prefect, and legionary cohorts left to
establish fortified positions among the Silures, and had not speedy succour
arrived from towns and fortresses in the neighbourhood, our forces would then
have been totally destroyed. Even as it was, the camp-prefect, with eight
centurions, and the bravest of the soldiers, were slain; and shortly afterwards,
a foraging party of our men, with some cavalry squadrons sent to their support,
was utterly routed.
Ostorius then
deployed his light cohorts, but even thus he did not stop the flight, till our
legions sustained the brunt of the battle. Their strength equalized the
conflict, which after a while was in our favour. The enemy fled with trifling
loss, as the day was on the decline. Now began a series of skirmishes, for the
most part like raids, in woods and morasses, with encounters due to chance or
to courage, to mere heedlessness or to calculation, to fury or to lust of
plunder, under directions from the officers, or sometimes even without their
knowledge. Conspicuous above all in stubborn resistance were the Silures, whose
rage was fired by words rumoured to have been spoken by the Roman general, to
the effect, that as the Sugambri had been formerly destroyed or transplanted
into Gaul, so the name of the Silures ought to be blotted out. Accordingly they
cut off two of our auxiliary cohorts, the rapacity of whose officers let them
make incautious forays; and by liberal gifts of spoil and prisoners to the
other tribes, they were luring them too into revolt, when Ostorius, worn out by
the burden of his anxieties, died, to the joy of the enemy, who thought that a
campaign at least, though not a single battle, had proved fatal to general whom
none could despise.
The emperor on
hearing of the death of his representative appointed Aulus Didius in his place,
that the province might not be left without a governor. Didius, though he
quickly arrived, found matters far from prosperous, for the legion under the
command of Manlius Valens had meanwhile been defeated, and the disaster had
been exaggerated by the enemy to alarm the new general, while he again
magnified it, that he might win the more glory by quelling the movement or have
a fairer excuse if it lasted. This loss too had been inflicted on us by the
Silures, and they were scouring the country far and wide, till Didius hurried up
and dispersed them. After the capture of Caractacus, Venutius of the Brigantes,
as I have already mentioned, was pre-eminent in military skill; he had long
been loyal to Rome and had been defended by our arms while he was united in
marriage to the queen Cartismandua. Subsequently a quarrel broke out between
them, followed instantly by war, and he then assumed a hostile attitude also
towards us. At first, however, they simply fought against each other, and
Cartismandua by cunning stratagems captured the brothers and kinsfolk of
Venutius. This enraged the enemy, who were stung with shame at the prospect of
falling under the dominion of a woman. The flower of their youth, picked out
for war, invaded her kingdom. This we had foreseen; some cohorts were sent to her
aid and a sharp contest followed, which was at first doubtful but had a
satisfactory termination. The legion under the command of Caesius Nasica fought
with a similar result. For Didius, burdened with years and covered with
honours, was content with acting through his officers and merely holding back
the enemy. These transactions, though occurring under two propraetors, and
occupying several years, I have closely connected, lest, if related separately,
they might be less easily remembered. I now return to the chronological order.
In the fifth
consulship of Tiberius Claudius with Sextius Cornelius Orfitus for his colleague,
Nero was prematurely invested with the dress of manhood, that he might be
thought qualified for political life. The emperor willingly complied with the
flatteries of the Senate who wished Nero to enter on the consulship in his
twentieth year, and meanwhile, as consul-elect, to have pro-consular authority
beyond the limits of the capital with the title of "prince of the youth of
Rome." A donative was also given to the soldiery in Nero's name, and
presents to the city populace. At the games too of the circus which were then
being celebrated to win for him popular favour, Britannicus wore the dress of
boyhood, Nero the triumphal robe, as they rode in the procession. The people
would thus behold the one with the decorations of a general, the other in a boy's
habit, and would accordingly anticipate their respective destinies. At the same
time those of the centurions and tribunes who pitied the lot of Britannicus
were removed, some on false pretexts, others by way of a seeming compliment.
Even of the freedmen, all who were of incorruptible fidelity were discarded on
the following provocation. Once when they met, Nero greeted Britannicus by that
name and was greeted in return as Domitius. Agrippina reported this to her
husband, with bitter complaint, as the beginning of a quarrel, as implying, in
fact, contempt of Nero's adoption and a cancelling at home of the Senate's
decree and the people's vote. She said, too, that, if the perversity of such
malignant suggestions were not checked, it would issue in the ruin of the
State. Claudius, enraged by what he took as a grave charge, punished with
banishment or death all his son's best instructors, and set persons appointed
by his stepmother to have the care of him.
Still Agrippina did
not yet dare to attempt her greatest scheme, unless Lusius Geta and Rufius
Crispinus were removed from the command of the praetorian cohorts; for she
thought that they cherished Messalina's memory and were devoted to her
children. Accordingly, as the emperor's wife persistently affirmed that faction
was rife among these cohorts through the rivalry of the two officers, and that
there would be stricter discipline under one commander, the appointment was
transferred to Burrus Afranius, who had a brilliant reputation as a soldier,
but knew well to whose wish he owed his promotion. Agrippina, too, continued to
exalt her own dignity; she would enter the Capitol in a chariot, a practice,
which being allowed of old only to the priests and sacred images, increased the
popular reverence for a woman who up to this time was the only recorded
instance of one who, an emperor's daughter, was sister, wife, and mother of a
sovereign. Meanwhile her foremost champion, Vitellius, in the full tide of his
power and in extreme age (so uncertain are the fortunes of the great) was
attacked by an accusation of which Junius Lupus, a senator, was the author. He
was charged with treason and designs on the throne. The emperor would have lent
a ready ear, had not Agrippina, by threats rather than entreaties, induced him
to sentence the accuser to outlawry. This was all that Vitellius desired.
Several prodigies
occurred in that year. Birds of evil omen perched on the Capitol; houses were
thrown down by frequent shocks of earthquake, and as the panic spread, all the
weak were trodden down in the hurry and confusion of the crowd. Scanty crops
too, and consequent famine were regarded as a token of calamity. Nor were there
merely whispered complaints; while Claudius was administering justice, the
populace crowded round him with a boisterous clamour and drove him to a corner
of the forum, where they violently pressed on him till he broke through the
furious mob with a body of soldiers. It was ascertained that Rome had
provisions for no more than fifteen days, and it was through the signal bounty
of heaven and the mildness of the winter that its desperate plight was
relieved. And yet in past days Italy used to send supplies for the legions into
distant provinces, and even now it is not a barren soil which causes distress.
But we prefer to cultivate Africa and Egypt, and trust the life of the Roman
people to ships and all their risks.
In the same year
war broke out between the Armenians and Iberians, and was the cause of very
serious disturbances between Parthia and Rome. Vologeses was king of the
Parthians; on the mother's side, he was the offspring of a Greek concubine, and
he obtained the throne by the retirement of his brothers. Pharasmanes had been
long in possession of Iberia, and his brother, Mithridates, ruled Armenia with
our powerful support. There was a son of Pharasmanes named Rhadamistus, tall
and handsome, of singular bodily strength, trained in all the accomplishments
of his countrymen and highly renowned among his neighbours. He boasted so
arrogantly and persistently that his father's prolonged old age kept back from
him the little kingdom of Iberia as to make no concealment of his ambition.
Pharasmanes accordingly seeing the young prince had power in his grasp and was
strong in the attachment of his people, fearing too his own declining years,
tempted him with other prospects and pointed to Armenia, which, as he reminded
him, he had given to Mithridates after driving out the Parthians. But open
violence, he said, must be deferred; artful measures, which might crush him
unawares, were better. So Rhadamistus pretended to be at feud with his father
as though his stepmother's hatred was too strong for him, and went to his
uncle. While he was treated by him like a son, with excessive kindness, he
lured the nobles of Armenia into revolutionary schemes, without the knowledge
of Mithridates, who was actually loading him with honours.
He then assumed a
show of reconciliation with his father, to whom he returned, telling him all
that could be accomplished by treachery was now ready and that he must complete
the affair by the sword. Meanwhile Pharasmanes invented pretexts for war; when
he was fighting with the king of the Albanians and appealing to the Romans for
aid, his brother, he said, had opposed him, and he would now avenge that wrong
by his destruction. At the same time he gave a large army to his son, who by a
sudden invasion drove Mithridates in terror from the open country and forced
him into the fortress of Gorneas, which was strongly situated and garrisoned by
some soldiers under the command of Caelius Pollio, a camp-prefect, and
Casperius, a centurion. There is nothing of which barbarians are so ignorant as
military engines and the skilful management of sieges, while that is a branch
of military science which we especially understand. And so Rhadamistus having
attempted the fortified walls in vain or with loss, began a blockade, and,
finding that his assaults were despised, tried to bribe the rapacity of the camp-prefect.
Casperius protested earnestly against the overthrow of an allied king and of
Armenia, the gift of the Roman people, through iniquity and greed of gain. At
last, as Pollio pleaded the overpowering numbers of the enemy and Rhadamistus
the orders of his father, the centurion stipulated for a truce and retired,
intending, if he could not deter Pharasmanes from further hostilities, to
inform Ummidius Quadratus, the governor of Syria, of the state of Armenia.
By the centurion's
departure the camp prefect was released, so to say, from surveillance; and he
now urged Mithridates to conclude a treaty. He reminded him of the tie of
brotherhood, of the seniority in age of Pharasmanes, and of their other bonds
of kindred, how he was united by marriage to his brother's daughter, and was
himself the father-in-law of Rhadamistus. "The Iberians," he said,
"were not against peace, though for the moment they were the stronger; the
perfidy of the Armenians was notorious, and he had nothing to fall back on but
a fortress without stores; so he must not hesitate to prefer a bloodless
negotiation to arms." As Mithridates wavered, and suspected the intentions
of the camp-prefect, because he had seduced one of the king's concubines and
was reputed a man who could be bribed into any wickedness, Casperius meantime
went to Pharasmanes, and required of him that the Iberians should raise the
blockade. Pharasmanes, to his face, replied vaguely and often in a conciliatory
tone, while by secret messages he recommended Rhadamistus to hurry on the siege
by all possible means. Then the price of infamy was raised, and Pollio by
secret corruption induced the soldiers to demand peace and to threaten that
they would abandon the garrison. Under this compulsion, Mithridates agreed to a
day and a place for negotiation and quitted the fortress.
Rhadamistus at
first threw himself into his embraces, feigning respect and calling him
father-in-law and parent. He swore an oath too that he would do him no violence
either by the sword or by poison. At the same time he drew him into a
neighbouring grove, where he assured him that the appointed sacrifice was
prepared for the confirmation of peace in the presence of the gods. It is a
custom of these princes, whenever they join alliance, to unite their right
hands and bind together the thumbs in a tight knot; then, when the blood has
flowed into the extremities, they let it escape by a slight puncture and suck
it in turn. Such a treaty is thought to have a mysterious sanctity, as being
sealed with the blood of both parties. On this occasion he who was applying the
knot pretended that it had fallen off, and suddenly seizing the knees of
Mithridates flung him to the ground. At the same moment a rush was made by a
number of persons, and chains were thrown round him. Then he was dragged along
by a fetter, an extreme degradation to a barbarian; and soon the common people,
whom he had held under a harsh sway, heaped insults on him with menacing
gestures, though some, on the contrary, pitied such a reverse of fortune. His
wife followed him with his little children, and filled every place with her
wailings. They were hidden away in different covered carriages till the orders
of Pharasmanes were distinctly ascertained. The lust of rule was more to him
than his brother and his daughter, and his heart was steeled to any wickedness.
Still he spared his eyes the seeing them slain before his face. Rhadamistus
too, seemingly mindful of his oath, neither unsheathed the sword nor used
poison against his sister and uncle, but had them thrown on the ground and then
smothered them under a mass of heavy clothes. Even the sons of Mithridates were
butchered for having shed tears over their parent's murder.
Quadratus, learning
that Mithridates had been betrayed and that his kingdom was in the hands of his
murderers, summoned a council, and, having informed them of what had occurred,
consulted them whether he should take vengeance. Few cared for the honour of
the State; most argued in favour of a safe course, saying "that any crime
in a foreign country was to be welcomed with joy, and that the seeds of strife
ought to be actually sown, on the very principle on which Roman emperors had
often under a show of generosity given away this same kingdom of Armenia to
excite the minds of the barbarians. Rhadamistus might retain his ill-gotten
gains, as long as he was hated and infamous; for this was more to Rome's
interest than for him to have succeeded with glory." To this view they
assented, but that they might not be thought to have approved the crime and
receive contrary orders from the emperor, envoys were sent to Pharasmanes, requiring
him to withdraw from Armenian territory and remove his son.
Julius Pelignus was
then procurator of Cappadocia, a man despised alike for his feebleness of mind
and his grotesque personal appearance. He was however very intimate with
Claudius, who, when in private life, used to beguile the dullness of his
leisure with the society of jesters. This Pelignus collected some provincial
auxiliaries, apparently with the design of recovering Armenia, but, while he
plundered allies instead of enemies, finding himself, through the desertion of
his men and the raids of the barbarians, utterly defenceless, he went to Rhadamistus,
whose gifts so completely overcame him that he positively encouraged him to
assume the ensigns of royalty, and himself assisted at the ceremony,
authorizing and abetting. When the disgraceful news had spread far and wide,
lest the world might judge of other governors by Pelignus, Helvidius Priscus
was sent in command of a legion to regulate, according to circumstances, the
disordered state of affairs. He quickly crossed Mount Taurus, and had restored
order to a great extent more by moderation than by force, when he was ordered
to return to Syria, that nothing might arise to provoke a war with Parthia.
For Vologeses,
thinking that an opportunity presented itself of invading Armenia, which,
though the possession of his ancestors, was now through a monstrous crime held
by a foreign prince, raised an army and prepared to establish Tiridates on the
throne, so that not a member of his house might be without kingly power. On the
advance of the Parthians, the Iberians dispersed without a battle, and the
Armenian cities, Artaxata and Tigranocerta, submitted to the yoke. Then a
frightful winter or deficient supplies, with pestilence arising from both
causes, forced Vologeses to abandon his present plans. Armenia was thus again
without a king, and was invaded by Rhadamistus, who was now fiercer than ever,
looking on the people as disloyal and sure to rebel on the first opportunity.
They however, though accustomed to be slaves, suddenly threw off their tameness
and gathered round the palace in arms.
Rhadamistus had no
means of escape but in the swiftness of the horses which bore him and his wife
away. Pregnant as she was, she endured, somehow or other, out of fear of the
enemy and love of her husband, the first part of the flight, but after a while,
when she felt herself shaken by its continuous speed, she implored to be
rescued by an honourable death from the shame of captivity. He at first
embraced, cheered, and encouraged her, now admiring her heroism, now filled
with a sickening apprehension at the idea of her being left to any man's mercy.
Finally, urged by the intensity of his love and familiarity with dreadful
deeds, he unsheathed his scymitar, and having stabbed her, dragged her to the
bank of the Araxes and committed her to the stream, so that her very body might
be swept away. Then in headlong flight he hurried to Iberia, his ancestral
kingdom. Zenobia meanwhile (this was her name), as she yet breathed and showed
signs of life on the calm water at the river's edge, was perceived by some
shepherds, who inferring from her noble appearance that she was no base-born
woman, bound up her wound and applied to it their rustic remedies. As soon as
they knew her name and her adventure, they conveyed her to the city of
Artaxata, whence she was conducted at the public charge to Tiridates, who
received her kindly and treated her as a royal person.
In the consulship
of Faustus Sulla and Salvius Otho, Furius Scribonianus was banished on the
ground that he was consulting the astrologers about the emperor's death. His
mother, Junia, was included in the accusation, as one who still resented the
misfortune of exile which she had suffered in the past. His father, Camillus,
had raised an armed insurrection in Dalmatia, and the emperor in again sparing
a hostile family sought the credit of clemency. But the exile did not live long
after this; whether he was cut off by a natural death, or by poison, was matter
of conflicting rumours, according to people's belief. A decree of the Senate
was then passed for the expulsion of the astrologers from Italy, stringent but
ineffectual. Next the emperor, in a speech, commended all who, from their
limited means, voluntarily retired from the Senatorian order, while those were
degraded from it who, by retaining their seats, added effrontery to poverty.
During these
proceedings he proposed to the Senate a penalty on women who united themselves
in marriage to slaves, and it was decided that those who had thus demeaned
themselves, without the knowledge of the slave's master, should be reduced to
slavery; if with his consent, should be ranked as freedwomen. To Pallas, who,
as the emperor declared, was the author of this proposal, were offered on the
motion of Barea Soranus, consul-elect, the decorations of the praetorship and
fifteen million sesterces. Cornelius Scipio added that he deserved public
thanks for thinking less of his ancient nobility as a descendant from the kings
of Arcadia, than of the welfare of the State, and allowing himself to be
numbered among the emperor's ministers. Claudius assured them that Pallas was
content with the honour, and that he limited himself to his former poverty. A
decree of the Senate was publicly inscribed on a bronze tablet, heaping the
praises of primitive frugality on a freedman, the possessor of three hundred
million sesterces.
Not equally
moderate was his brother, surnamed Felix, who had for some time been governor
of Judaea, and thought that he could do any evil act with impunity, backed up
as he was by such power. It is true that the Jews had shown symptoms of
commotion in a seditious outbreak, and when they had heard of the assassination
of Caius, there was no hearty submission, as a fear still lingered that any of
the emperors might impose the same orders. Felix meanwhile, by ill-timed
remedies, stimulated disloyal acts; while he had, as a rival in the worst
wickedness, Ventidius Cumanus, who held a part of the province, which was so
divided that Galilea was governed by Cumanus, Samaria by Felix. The two peoples
had long been at feud, and now less than ever restrained their enmity, from
contempt of their rulers. And accordingly they plundered each other, letting
loose bands of robbers, forming ambuscades, and occasionally fighting battles,
and carrying the spoil and booty to the two procurators, who at first rejoiced
at all this, but, as the mischief grew, they interposed with an armed force,
which was cut to pieces. The flame of war would have spread through the
province, but it was saved by Quadratus, governor of Syria. In dealing with the
Jews, who had been daring enough to slay our soldiers, there was little
hesitation about their being capitally punished. Some delay indeed was
occasioned by Cumanus and Felix; for Claudius on hearing the causes of the
rebellion had given authority for deciding also the case of these procurators.
Quadratus, however, exhibited Felix as one of the judges, admitting him to the
bench with the view of cowing the ardour of the prosecutors. And so Cumanus was
condemned for the crimes which the two had committed, and tranquillity was
restored to the province.
Not long afterwards
some tribes of the wild population of Cilicia, known as the Clitae, which had
often been in commotion, established a camp, under a leader Troxobor, on their
rocky mountains, whence rushing down on the coast, and on the towns, they dared
to do violence to the farmers and townsfolk, frequently even to the merchants
and shipowners. They besieged the city Anemurium, and routed some troopers sent
from Syria to its rescue under the command of Curtius Severus; for the rough
country in the neighbourhood, suited as it is for the fighting of infantry, did
not allow of cavalry operations. After a time, Antiochus, king of that coast,
having broken the unity of the barbarian forces, by cajolery of the people and
treachery to their leader, slew Troxobor and a few chiefs, and pacified the
rest by gentle measures.
About the same
time, the mountain between Lake Fucinus and the river Liris was bored through,
and that this grand work might be seen by a multitude of visitors, preparations
were made for a naval battle on the lake, just as formerly Augustus exhibited
such a spectacle, in a basin he had made this side the Tiber, though with light
vessels, and on a smaller scale. Claudius equipped galleys with three and four
banks of oars, and nineteen thousand men; he lined the circumference of the
lake with rafts, that there might be no means of escape at various points, but
he still left full space for the strength of the crews, the skill of the
pilots, the impact of the vessels, and the usual operations of a seafight. On
the raft stood companies of the praetorian cohorts and cavalry, with a
breastwork in front of them, from which catapults and balistas might be worked.
The rest of the lake was occupied by marines on decked vessels. An immense
multitude from the neighbouring towns, others from Rome itself, eager to see
the sight or to show respect to the emperor, crowded the banks, the hills, and
mountain tops, which thus resembled a theatre. The emperor, with Agrippina seated
near him, presided; he wore a splendid military cloak, she, a mantle of cloth
of gold. A battle was fought with all the courage of brave men, though it was
between condemned criminals. After much bloodshed they were released from the
necessity of mutual slaughter.
When the sight was
over, the outlet of the water was opened. The careless execution of the work
was apparent, the tunnel not having been bored down so low as the bottom, or
middle of the lake. Consequently after an interval the excavations were
deepened, and to attract a crowd once more, a show of gladiators was exhibited,
with floating pontoons for an infantry engagement. A banquet too was prepared
close to the outflow of the lake, and it was the means of greatly alarming the
whole company, for the water, in the violence of its outburst, swept away the
adjoining parts, shook the more remote, and spread terror with the tremendous
crash. At the same time, Agrippina availed herself of the emperor's fright to
charge Narcissus, who had been the agent of the work, with avarice and
peculation. He too was not silent, but inveighed against the domineering temper
of her sex, and her extravagant ambition.
In the consulship
of Didius Junius and Quintus Haterius, Nero, now sixteen years of age, married
Octavia, the emperor's daughter. Anxious to distinguish himself by noble
pursuits, and the reputation of an orator, he advocated the cause of the people
of Ilium, and having eloquently recounted how Rome was the offspring of Troy, and
Aeneas the founder of the Julian line, with other old traditions akin to myths,
he gained for his clients exemption from all public burdens. His pleading too
procured for the colony of Bononia, which had been ruined by a fire, a
subvention of ten million sesterces. The Rhodians also had their freedom
restored to them, which had often been taken away, or confirmed, according to
their services to us in our foreign wars, or their seditious misdeeds at home.
Apamea, too, which had been shaken by an earthquake, had its tribute remitted
for five years.
Claudius, on the
other hand, was being prompted to exhibit the worst cruelty by the artifices of
the same Agrippina. On the accusation of Tarquitius Priscus, she ruined
Statilius Taurus, who was famous for his wealth, and at whose gardens she cast
a greedy eye. Priscus had served under Taurus in his proconsular government of
Africa, and after their return charged him with a few acts of extortion, but
particularly with magical and superstitious practices. Taurus, no longer able
to endure a false accusation and an undeserved humiliation, put a violent end
to his life before the Senate's decision was pronounced. Tarquitius was however
expelled from the Senate, a point which the senators carried, out of hatred for
the accuser, notwithstanding the intrigues of Agrippina.
That same year the
emperor was often heard to say that the legal decisions of the commissioners of
the imperial treasury ought to have the same force as if pronounced by himself.
Lest it might be supposed that he had stumbled inadvertently into this opinion,
its principle was also secured by a decree of the Senate on a more complete and
ample scale than before. It had indeed already been arranged by the Divine
Augustus that the Roman knights who governed Egypt should hear causes, and that
their decisions were to be as binding as those of Roman magistrates, and after
a time most of the cases formerly tried by the praetors were submitted to the
knights. Claudius handed over to them the whole administration of justice for
which there had been by sedition or war so many struggles; the Sempronian laws
vesting judicial power in the equestrian order, and those of Servilius
restoring it to the Senate, while it was for this above everything else that
Marius and Sulla fought of old. But those were days of political conflict
between classes, and the results of victory were binding on the State. Caius
Oppius and Cornelius Balbus were the first who were able, with Caesar's
support, to settle conditions of peace and terms of war. To mention after them
the Matii, Vedii, and other too influential names of Roman knights would be
superfluous, when Claudius, we know, raised freedmen whom he had set over his
household to equality with himself and with the laws.
Next the emperor
proposed to grant immunity from taxation to the people of Cos, and he dwelt
much on their antiquity. "The Argives or Coeus, the father of Latona, were
the earliest inhabitants of the island; soon afterwards, by the arrival of
Aesculapius, the art of the physician was introduced and was practised with
much fame by his descendants." Claudius named them one by one, with the
periods in which they had respectively flourished. He said too that Xenophon,
of whose medical skill he availed himself, was one of the same family, and that
they ought to grant his request and let the people of Cos dwell free from all
tribute in their sacred island, as a place devoted to the sole service of their
god. It was also certain that many obligations under which they had laid Rome
and joint victories with her might have been recounted. Claudius however did
not seek to veil under any external considerations a concession he had made,
with his usual good nature, to an individual.
Envoys from
Byzantium having received audience, in complaining to the Senate of their heavy
burdens, recapitulated their whole history. Beginning with the treaty which
they concluded with us when we fought against that king of Macedonia whose
supposed spurious birth acquired for him the name of the Pseudo Philip, they
reminded us of the forces which they had afterwards sent against Antiochus,
Perses and Aristonicus, of the aid they had given Antonius in the pirate-war,
of their offers to Sulla, Lucullus, and Pompeius, and then of their late
services to the Caesars, when they were in occupation of a district peculiarly
convenient for the land or sea passage of generals and armies, as well as for
the conveyance of supplies.
It was indeed on
that very narrow strait which parts Europe from Asia, at Europe's furthest
extremity, that the Greeks built Byzantium. When they consulted the Pythian
Apollo as to where they should found a city, the oracle replied that they were
to seek a home opposite to the blind men's country. This obscure hint pointed
to the people of Chalcedon, who, though they arrived there first and saw before
others the advantageous position, chose the worse. For Byzantium has a fruitful
soil and productive seas, as immense shoals of fish pour out of the Pontus and
are driven by the sloping surface of the rocks under water to quit the windings
of the Asiatic shore and take refuge in these harbours. Consequently the
inhabitants were at first money-making and wealthy traders, but afterwards,
under the pressure of excessive burdens, they petitioned for immunity or at
least relief, and were supported by the emperor, who argued to the Senate that,
exhausted as they were by the late wars in Thrace and Bosporus, they deserved
help. So their tribute was remitted for five years.
In the year of the
consulship of Marcus Asinius and Manius Acilius it was seen to be portended by
a succession of prodigies that there were to be political changes for the
worse. The soldiers' standards and tents were set in a blaze by lightning. A
swarm of bees settled on the summit of the Capitol; births of monsters, half
man, half beast, and of a pig with a hawk's talons, were reported. It was
accounted a portent that every order of magistrates had had its number reduced,
a quaestor, an aedile, a tribune, a praetor and consul having died within a few
months. But Agrippina's terror was the most conspicuous. Alarmed by some words
dropped by Claudius when half intoxicated, that it was his destiny to have to
endure his wives' infamy and at last punish it, she determined to act without a
moment's delay. First she destroyed Lepida from motives of feminine jealousy.
Lepida indeed as the daughter of the younger Antonia, as the grandniece of
Augustus, the cousin of Agrippina, and sister of her husband Cneius, thought
herself of equally high rank. In beauty, youth, and wealth they differed but
slightly. Both were shameless, infamous, and intractable, and were rivals in
vice as much as in the advantages they had derived from fortune. It was indeed
a desperate contest whether the aunt or the mother should have most power over
Nero. Lepida tried to win the young prince's heart by flattery and lavish
liberality, while Agrippina on the other hand, who could give her son empire
but could not endure that he should be emperor, was fierce and full of menace.
It was charged on
Lepida that she had made attempts on the Emperor's consort by magical
incantations, and was disturbing the peace of Italy by an imperfect control of
her troops of slaves in Calabria. She was for this sentenced to death,
notwithstanding the vehement opposition of Narcissus, who, as he more and more
suspected Agrippina, was said to have plainly told his intimate friends that
"his destruction was certain, whether Britannicus or Nero were to be
emperor, but that he was under such obligations to Claudius that he would sacrifice
life to his welfare. Messalina and Silius had been convicted, and now again
there were similar grounds for accusation. If Nero were to rule, or Britannicus
succeed to the throne, he would himself have no claim on the then reigning
sovereign. Meanwhile, a stepmother's treacherous schemes were convulsing the
whole imperial house, with far greater disgrace than would have resulted from
his concealment of the profligacy of the emperor's former wife. Even as it was,
there was shamelessness enough, seeing that Pallas was her paramour, so that no
one could doubt that she held honour, modesty and her very person, everything,
in short, cheaper than sovereignty." This, and the like, he was always
saying, and he would embrace Britannicus, expressing earnest wishes for his
speedy arrival at a mature age, and would raise his hand, now to heaven, now to
the young prince, with entreaty that as he grew up, he would drive out his
father's enemies and also take vengeance on the murderers of his mother.
Under this great
burden of anxiety, he had an attack of illness, and went to Sinuessa to recruit
his strength with its balmy climate and salubrious waters. Thereupon,
Agrippina, who had long decided on the crime and eagerly grasped at the
opportunity thus offered, and did not lack instruments, deliberated on the
nature of the poison to be used. The deed would be betrayed by one that was
sudden and instantaneous, while if she chose a slow and lingering poison, there
was a fear that Claudius, when near his end, might, on detecting the treachery,
return to his love for his son. She decided on some rare compound which might derange
his mind and delay death. A person skilled in such matters was selected,
Locusta by name, who had lately been condemned for poisoning, and had long been
retained as one of the tools of despotism. By this woman's art the poison was
prepared, and it was to be administered by an eunuch, Halotus, who was
accustomed to bring in and taste the dishes.
All the circumstances
were subsequently so well known, that writers of the time have declared that
the poison was infused into some mushrooms, a favourite delicacy, and its
effect not at the instant perceived, from the emperor's lethargic, or
intoxicated condition. His bowels too were relieved, and this seemed to have
saved him. Agrippina was thoroughly dismayed. Fearing the worst, and defying
the immediate obloquy of the deed, she availed herself of the complicity of
Xenophon, the physician, which she had already secured. Under pretence of
helping the emperor's efforts to vomit, this man, it is supposed, introduced
into his throat a feather smeared with some rapid poison; for he knew that the
greatest crimes are perilous in their inception, but well rewarded after their consummation.
Meanwhile the
Senate was summoned, and prayers rehearsed by the consuls and priests for the
emperor's recovery, though the lifeless body was being wrapped in blankets with
warm applications, while all was being arranged to establish Nero on the
throne. At first Agrippina, seemingly overwhelmed by grief and seeking comfort,
clasped Britannicus in her embraces, called him the very image of his father,
and hindered him by every possible device from leaving the chamber. She also
detained his sisters, Antonia and Octavia, closed every approach to the palace
with a military guard, and repeatedly gave out that the emperor's health was
better, so that the soldiers might be encouraged to hope, and that the
fortunate moment foretold by the astrologers might arrive.
At last, at noon on
the 13th of October, the gates of the palace were suddenly thrown open, and
Nero, accompanied by Burrus, went forth to the cohort which was on guard after
military custom. There, at the suggestion of the commanding officer, he was
hailed with joyful shouts, and set on a litter. Some, it is said, hesitated,
and looked round and asked where Britannicus was; then, when there was no one
to lead a resistance, they yielded to what was offered them. Nero was conveyed
into the camp, and having first spoken suitably to the occasion and promised a
donative after the example of his father's bounty, he was unanimously greeted
as emperor. The decrees of the Senate followed the voice of the soldiers, and
there was no hesitation in the provinces. Divine honours were decreed to
Claudius, and his funeral rites were solemnized on the same scale as those of
Augustus; for Agrippina strove to emulate the magnificence of her
great-grandmother, Livia. But his will was not publicly read, as the preference
of the stepson to the son might provoke a sense of wrong and angry feeling in
the popular mind.
From
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"The Annals" redirects here. For
the academic publication by the American Academy of Political and Social
Science, see American
Academy of Political and Social Science § The Annals.
A copy of the second Medicean manuscript of Annals, Book
15, chapter 44
The Annals (Latin: Annales) by Roman historian and senator Tacitus[1] is a history of
the Roman Empire from
the reign of Tiberius to
that of Nero, the years AD 14–68.[2] The Annals are
an important source for modern understanding of the history of the Roman Empire
during the 1st century AD;[3] it is Tacitus'
final work, and modern historians generally consider it his greatest writing.[4] Historian Ronald Mellor calls
it "Tacitus's crowning achievement,” which represents the "pinnacle of
Roman historical writing".[5]
Tacitus' Histories and Annals together
amounted to 30 books; although some scholars disagree about which work to
assign some books to, traditionally 14 are assigned to Histories and
16 to Annals. Of the 30 books referred to by Jerome about half have survived.[2]
Modern scholars believe that as a Roman senator, Tacitus had access to Acta Senatus—the Roman senate's records—which provided
a solid basis for his work.[4] Although Tacitus
refers to part of his work as "my annals", the title of the
work Annals used today was not assigned by Tacitus himself,
but derives from its year-by-year structure.[2][3] The name of the
current manuscript seems to be "Books of History from the Death of the
Divine Augustus" (Ab Excessu divi Augusti Historiarum Libri).
·
3Provenance
and authenticity
The Fire of Rome, July 64, during the reign of Nero, by Karl von Piloty,
1861.
The Annals was Tacitus' final work and
provides a key source for modern understanding of the history of the Roman Empire from the beginning of the reign
of Tiberius in AD 14 to the end of the reign
of Nero, in AD 68.[3] Tacitus wrote
the Annals in at least 16 books, but books 7–10 and parts of
books 5, 6, 11 and 16 are missing.[3]
The period covered by the Histories (written
before the Annals) starts at the beginning of the year AD 69, i.e.
six months after the death of Nero and continues to the death of Domitian in 96.[3] It is not known
when Tacitus began writing the Annals, but he was well into writing it by AD
116.[2] Modern scholars
believe that as a senator, Tacitus had access to Acta Senatus, the Roman senate's records, thus
providing a solid basis for his work.[4]
Together the Histories and the Annals amounted
to 30 books.[2] These thirty
books are referred to by Saint Jerome, and about half of them have survived.[2] Although some
scholars differ on how to assign the books to each work, traditionally fourteen
are assigned to Histories and sixteen to the Annals.[2] Tacitus' friend
Pliny referred to "your histories" when writing to him about his
earlier work.[2] Although Tacitus
refers to part of his work as "my annals", the title of the
work Annals used today was not assigned by Tacitus himself,
but derives from its year-by-year structure.[2][3]
Of the sixteen books in Annals, the reign of
Tiberius takes up six books, of which only Book 5 is missing. These books are
neatly divided into two sets of three, corresponding to the change in the
nature of the political climate during the period.[3]
The next six books are devoted to the reigns of Caligula and Claudius.
Books 7 through 10 are missing. Books 11 & 12 cover the period from the
treachery of Messalina to
the end of Claudius' reign.
The final four books cover the reign of Nero and Book 16 cuts off in the middle of the year AD 66.[3] This leaves the
material that would have covered the final two years of Nero's reign lost.[2]
Tacitus documented a Roman imperial system of government
that originated with the Battle of Actium in September 31 BC. Yet Tacitus chose
not to start then, but with the death of Augustus Caesar in AD 14, and his succession by Tiberius.[4]
As in the Histories,
Tacitus maintains his thesis of the necessity of the principate. He says again that Augustus gave and warranted peace to the state after
years of civil war, but on the other hand he shows us the dark side of life
under the Caesars.
The history of the beginning of the principate is also the history of the end
of the political freedom that the senatorial aristocracy, which Tacitus viewed
as morally decadent, corrupt, and servile towards the emperor, had enjoyed
during the republic. During Nero's reign there had been a widespread diffusion
of literary works in favor of this suicidal exitus illustrium virorum ("end
of the illustrious men"). Again, as in his Agricola, Tacitus is opposed to those who chose
useless martyrdom through vain suicides.
In the Annals, Tacitus further improved the
style of portraiture that he had used so well in the Historiae.
Perhaps the best portrait is that of Tiberius, portrayed in an indirect way,
painted progressively during the course of a narrative, with observations and
commentary along the way filling in details.[2] Tacitus portrays
both Tiberius and Nero as tyrants who caused fear in their subjects.[2] But while he
views Tiberius as someone who had once been a great man, Tacitus considers Nero
as simply despicable.[2]
Corvey Abbey,
where Annals 1–6 were discovered.[6]
Since the 18th century, at least five attempts have been
made to challenge the authenticity of the Annals as having
been written by someone other than Tacitus, Voltaire's criticism being perhaps the first.[7] Voltaire was
generally critical of Tacitus and said that Tacitus did not comply with the
standards for providing a historical background to civilization.[8] In 1878, John
Wilson Ross and, in 1890, Polydore Hochart suggested that the whole of
the Annals had been forged by the Italian scholar Poggio Bracciolini (1380–1459).[9][10][11] According
to Robert Van Voorst this
was an "extreme hypothesis" which never gained a following among
modern scholars.[11]
The provenance of the manuscripts containing the Annals goes back
to the Renaissance.
While Bracciolini had discovered three minor works at Hersfeld Abbey in Germany in 1425, Zanobi da Strada (who died in 1361) had probably
earlier discovered Annals 11–16 at Monte Cassino where he lived for some time.[6][12] The copies of
Annals at Monte Cassino were probably moved to Florence by Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375),
a friend of da Strada, who is also credited with their discovery at Monte
Cassino.[12][13][14] Regardless of whether
the Monte Cassino manuscripts were moved to Florence by Boccaccio or da Strada,
Boccaccio made use of the Annals when he wrote Commento di Dante c.
1374 (before the birth of Poggio Bracciolini), giving an account of Seneca's
death directly based on the Tacitean account in Annals book 15.[15][16] Francis Newton
states that it is likely[why?] that Annals 11–16 were in Monte Cassino during the first half of the rule of
Abbot Desiderius (1058–1087) who later became Pope Victor III.[17] Annals 1–6 were
then independently discovered at Corvey Abbey in Germany in 1508 by Giovanni Angelo
Arcimboldi, afterwards Archbishop of Milan, and were first published in Rome in
1515 by Beroaldus,
by order of Pope Leo X, who afterwards deposited the manuscript
in the Medicean Library in Florence.[6]
In Donna Leon's third Commissario Brunetti novel Dressed for Death (1994), the protagonist reads Tacitus' Annals in his
spare time in the evenings, and various references to that material are made
throughout the novel. Tacitus is also mentioned briefly in "The Mysteries
of Udolpho" volume VI chapter VIII
VANNIUS, f. ab Hisp. Vanno,
vel Banno, Balneum : nisi sit nomen loci. Charta inter Conc.
Hispan. tom. 3. pag. 168 :
Et conclude per illum flumen
usque intrat Lor in Sylæ, et item ad aquiaria et per Vannios.
Vannius was
the king of the Germanic tribe Quadi. He lived in the 1st century. The Kingdom of Vannius
(regnum Vannianum) was in the western part of present day Slovakia and it was the first political unit in Slovak area. He was a client King of Pannonia and
Dalmatia and served from 17-20AD under the reign of Tiberius.
Pour les articles
homonymes, voir Vanne (homonymie).
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56000 |
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56260 |
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Vannetais |
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53 438 hab. (2018 ) |
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1 654 hab./km2 |
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Population |
79 795 hab. (2017) |
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32,30 km2 |
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Élections |
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Cantons de Vannes-1, Vannes-2 et Vannes-3 |
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Localisation |
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Géolocalisation
sur la carte : France
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Liens |
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Vannes /van/Note 1 Écouter (en breton Gwened : [ˈɡɥeːnet] en gallo Vann) est une commune française située dans
l’ouest de la France sur la côte sud de
la région Bretagne. La ville, située en Basse-Bretagne, est la préfecture
du département du Morbihan, et le siège
d'une agglomération de
168 351 habitants. Centre économique et destination touristique1 à la tête
d’une aire urbaine de 158 549 habitants au 1er janvier 2017i 1, et d'une population
municipale de 53 218 habitants au 1er janvier 2016i 2, Vannes est la 4e agglomération de la région Bretagnei 3 en nombre
d'habitants, et le 3e pôle universitaire de Bretagne2.
La
ville est bâtie en amphithéâtre au fond du golfe du Morbihan ; la vieille ville
est enfermée dans ses remparts, groupée autour de la cathédrale Saint-Pierre ; elle a été aménagée en zone piétonne et offre des
commerces installés dans des demeures à pans de bois, dites aussi à colombages.
Après
la guerre qui opposa les Vénètes aux légions de César, l’administration
romaine fait de Darioritum, nom antique de la ville, la civitas des Vénètes à la
fin du ier siècle av. J.-C. sous le règne d'Auguste3. La ville accueille l’évêché et les ordres religieux catholiques en 465 lors du concile de Vannes. Ce concile
consacre Patern, saint patron de la cité, saint fondateur de Bretagne et premier évêque attesté de Vannes4,5.
Au
cœur d'un comté qui forme un espace-frontière, la cité est conquise
en 578 par le roi Waroch II qui organise
le Bro
Waroch,
espace politique dont Vannes est la capitale. Sa position centrale en
Bretagne-sud confère à Vannes et à ses chefs politiques et religieux un rôle
prédominant. Les comtes et évêques de Vannes sont des personnages clés de l'équilibre entre la Bretagne et la France.
Ville
du missus Nominoe, cité royale de Bretagne à la fin du Ier millénaire, Vannes
devient après la guerre de Succession de Bretagne le siège de la
puissance ducale. Théâtre de l'Union de la Bretagne à la France en 1532, Vannes connaît un essor religieux
exceptionnel au cours des xvie et xviie siècles avant de
sombrer dans la langueur jusqu'aux années 1870 et l'installation
de régiments. L'après Première Guerre mondiale marque le temps des mutations alors
que l'après Seconde Guerre mondiale marque celui de la croissance économique et démographique.
Vannes, la
cité des Vénètes, constitue un point de départ pour les excursions vers la
célèbre « petite mer ». Quant à la vieille ville médiévale regroupée
autour de sa cathédrale Saint-Pierre et entourée de remparts, elle est visitée
pour son patrimoine architectural6. Ce quartier compte de
nombreuses rues piétonnes surplombées par de très vieilles maisons à colombages.
o
1.4Hydrographie et
hydrologie
o
1.6Voies de communication
et transports
·
5Politique et
administration
o
5.2Tendances politiques et
résultats
o
5.3Administration
municipale
o
5.4Instances judiciaires
et administratives
o
5.7Jumelages et
partenariats
o
6.3Manifestations
culturelles et festivités
o
6.4Santé
o
7.1Revenus de la
population et fiscalité
o
7.4Démographie des
entreprises
·
8Culture locale et
patrimoine
o
8.3Personnalités liées à
la commune
o
8.4Héraldique, drapeau et
logotype
o
9.1Notes
Vannes
sur les rives nord du golfe du Morbihan.
Vannes
se situe sur les rives nord du golfe du Morbihan, sur l'estuaire de la
Marle au sud-centre de la péninsule armoricaine. La ville, située sur
le littoral sud breton entre le golfe du Morbihan au sud et
les landes de Lanvaux au nord, est à la fois en bord de mer et à l'intérieur des
terres en étant distante de 15 km de l'océan Atlantique en direction du sud-ouest. Desservie par la RN 165, l'agglomération vannetaise est localisée sur un axe qui
comprend quelques-unes des plus grandes agglomérations de Bretagne : Brest, Quimper, Lorient, Vannes et Nantes.
Vannes
est située à 400,7 km à l'ouest de Paris7. Les deux aéroports
proposant des vols réguliers vers d'autres villes françaises sont l'aéroport de Nantes-Atlantique et l'aéroport de Lorient-Bretagne-Sud. Par la route, Vannes
se situe à 110 km de Rennes, de Nantes, à
120 km de Quimper et à
460 km de Paris (soit cinq heures8 par l'autoroute).
Vannes
s'est développée autour du centre historique qui se trouve à la jonction de
trois collines : la colline du Mené où est situé l'intra-muros de la
ville, la colline de Boismoreau où est situé le quartier Saint-Patern et la colline
de la Garenne qui accueille l'hôtel de la préfecture, les jardins de la
préfecture, le parc de la Garenne ainsi que le siège du conseil général du Morbihan.
La
porte Saint Vincent, principale porte d'entrée de la vieille ville, baigne au
pied du port de plaisance dont l'accès se fait par un chenal (direction sud-nord) de
1 500 mètres qui mène les bateaux du pont de Kérino au bassin à flot.
Représentations cartographiques de la commune
Carte OpenStreetMap
Carte topographique
|
Communes limitrophes de Vannes |
||
|
|
||
Toutes
sont situées dans la communauté d'agglomération Golfe du Morbihan - Vannes Agglomération. À l’extrémité sud de
la ville, au-delà de l’estuaire de la Marle, se trouve l’île d’Arz qui accueille la
commune du même nom (254 habitants).
Cette section est vide, insuffisamment détaillée ou
incomplète. Votre aide est la bienvenue ! Comment faire ?
Source9.
Localisation
de Vannes au fond du golfe du Morbihan - Zone Belle-île, Baie de Quiberon,
Golfe du Morbihan.
Située
au nord de l'estuaire de Vannes où se jettent les rivières de la Marle, du Vincin et de Séné, la ville est bâtie au fond du golfe du Morbihan. Le golfe est classé
parmi les baies fermées, c'est-à-dire celles qui ne communiquent avec la
mer que par un étroit goulet. Le golfe connaît un cycle de marée perturbé, il est
sillonné par des courants et des contre-courants qui s'alternent créant
tourbillons et remous. D'autre part, le marnage (amplitude
maximale entre la haute et la basse mer) est plus faible à l'intérieur qu'à
l'extérieur puisque l'ouverture du golfe est faible et le bassin étendu. Cette
diminution du marnage est sensible dans le golfe du Morbihan (110 km2 pour
une ouverture de 900 m). Avec une hauteur d’eau de 4,5 m, le marnage moyen est relativement
faible à Vannes. Avec 5 m à Port-Navalo et
4,5 m à Vannes, le marnage du golfe est très faible par rapport à
celui de pleine mer (environ 8 m).
L'étroitesse
du goulet de Port-Navalo et la
configuration topographique du golfe créent des courants parmi les plus
violents du littoral français. Les courants marins les plus violents
peuvent atteindre 3,8 m/s dans la Passe des Moutons, entre Locmariaquer et Port-Navalo lors des forts
coefficients (120).
Le
golfe du Morbihan, qui est classé en zone conchylicole, appartient au Réseau Natura 200010 en tant que Zone spéciale de conservation dans son ensemble et Zone de protection spéciale pour l'estuaire de la Marle, la réserve naturelle nationale des marais de
Séné,
la partie Est et le marais de Pen an Toul situé au Sud de Baden. C'est un site
remarquable par la qualité de son milieu marin et sa forte productivité
biologique. Des mammifères marins y sont présents, par exemple le grand dauphin et la loutre. On y trouve aussi des
chauves-souris, notamment le grand murin, le grand rhinolophe et le petit rhinolophe.
|
Relevé météorologique
de Vannes 1981 - 2010 à 3 mètres d'altitude |
|||||||||||||
|
Mois |
jan. |
fév. |
mars |
avril |
mai |
juin |
jui. |
août |
sep. |
oct. |
nov. |
déc. |
année |
|
Température minimale moyenne (°C) |
3 |
2,6 |
4,5 |
6,2 |
9,6 |
12,1 |
14,2 |
13,6 |
11,6 |
9,1 |
5,6 |
3,3 |
8 |
|
Température moyenne (°C) |
6,2 |
6,2 |
8,7 |
10,8 |
14,2 |
17,1 |
19,1 |
18,8 |
16,8 |
13,1 |
9,3 |
6,6 |
12,2 |
|
Température maximale moyenne (°C) |
9,3 |
9,8 |
12,8 |
15,4 |
18,8 |
22 |
24,1 |
23,8 |
21,8 |
17,2 |
12,8 |
9,8 |
16,5 |
|
Nombre de jours avec gel |
8,9 |
9,1 |
4,4 |
1 |
0,1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0,3 |
3,3 |
8,3 |
35,4 |
|
Ensoleillement (h) |
71 |
97 |
141 |
185 |
183 |
239 |
239 |
220 |
202 |
122 |
95 |
95 |
1 889 |
|
Précipitations (mm) |
93,2 |
67,8 |
70,9 |
56 |
64,4 |
48,5 |
49,7 |
43,9 |
57,4 |
102,9 |
82,4 |
97,4 |
837,5 |
|
Nombre de jours avec précipitations |
12,9 |
9,4 |
11,5 |
9,9 |
9,5 |
7,7 |
7 |
7 |
7,6 |
11,9 |
12,1 |
12,2 |
118,7 |
Source : Météo Bretagne [archive], Météo Passion [archive]
|
J |
F |
M |
A |
M |
J |
J |
A |
S |
O |
N |
D |
|
9,3 3 93,2 |
9,8 2,6 67,8 |
12,8 4,5 70,9 |
15,4 6,2 56 |
18,8 9,6 64,4 |
22 12,1 48,5 |
24,1 14,2 49,7 |
23,8 13,6 43,9 |
21,8 11,6 57,4 |
17,2 9,1 102,9 |
12,8 5,6 82,4 |
9,8 3,3 97,4 |
|
Moyennes : •
Temp. maxi et mini °C •
Précipitation mm |
|||||||||||
Située
sur la côte sud de la péninsule bretonne et sur les rives nord du Golfe du Morbihan, le climat de Vannes
est influencé par l'océan Atlantique proche et bénéficie d'un climat océanique. Ce climat se caractérise par des hivers doux et pluvieux, et
des étés frais et relativement humides, sachant que le maximum de
précipitations se produit durant la saison froide. L'ensoleillement moyen est
supérieur à 2 000 heures par an 11.
Le
tableau ci-dessous indique les :
|
'Relevés des records de
températures, les records de pluviométrie depuis 1962 ainsi que les records de vitesse
de vent depuis 198212. |
|||||||||||||
|
Mois |
Janv. |
Fév. |
Mars |
Avr. |
Mai |
Juin |
Juil. |
Août |
Sept. |
Oct. |
Nov. |
Déc. |
Année |
|
Températures maximales records (°C) depuis 1962 |
16,7 |
18,8 |
23,7 |
27,9 |
30,0 |
38 |
37,7 |
39,1 |
32,1 |
28,5 |
21,2 |
17.3 |
- |
|
Années des températures maximales |
2003 |
1998 |
2005 |
1984 |
2010 |
1976 |
2012 |
1990 |
2005 |
1997 |
1978 |
1978 |
1997 |
|
Températures minimales records (°C) depuis 1962 |
-11,8 |
-11 |
-8,7 |
-3 |
-1,1 |
1,6 |
6,4 |
4,5 |
2 |
-2,5 |
-5,3 |
-8,2 |
- |
|
Années des températures minimales |
1963 |
2012 |
2005 |
1986 |
1979 |
1989 |
1982 |
1986 |
1972 |
1997 |
2007 |
1962 |
- |
|
Vitesse du vent maximale en km/h depuis 1982 |
133 |
126 |
137 |
94 |
94 |
86 |
94 |
86 |
104 |
122 |
97 |
119 |
- |
|
Années des records |
1998 |
1990 |
2008 |
2004 |
2000 |
1990 |
2004 |
2004 |
1993 |
1987 |
1987 |
1999 |
- |
|
Précipitations maximales (hauteur en mm) depuis 1961 |
48,7 |
46,9 |
46,4 |
33,2 |
43,2 |
49,2 |
63,4 |
59,3 |
44,0 |
51,6 |
41.2 |
50,7 |
2 000 (max) |
Plan et
réseau routier du centre-ville.
Dès
l'Antiquité, Darioritum était située sur
la route de l'Océan, voie romaine reliant Lyon à Brest. La capitale des Vénètes était un
important carrefour d’où convergeaient six voies romaines, la première vers Locmariaquer, la seconde vers Hennebont, la troisième
vers Corseul, avec embranchement
sur Carhaix, la quatrième vers Rennes, la cinquième
vers Rieux, et la sixième vers Arzal, avec embranchement sur Port-Navalo.
Vannes
est située sur un carrefour entre l'axe autoroutier qui relie Nantes à Brest (RN 165) et l'axe rapide RN 166 vers Ploërmel puis RN 24 vers Rennes. Vannes est également
située sur la route européenne 60 qui relie Brest à Nantes.
La
portion de la RN 165 limitée à 90 km/h, qui commence au niveau de la
commune de Séné et se termine peu après la frontière qui sépare Vannes de
la commune de Ploeren constitue la
rocade de Vannes. La rocade de forme semi-circulaire est située au nord du
centre-ville de Vannes et sert de frontière entre les deux parties de la ville.
À l'ouest de la ville, la rocade dessert les deux grandes zones
commerciales : la ZC de Parc Lann au nord et la ZC
de Kerlann au sud. À l'est, deux sorties desservent des zones
d'activités : la zone industrielle du Prat au sud et les
zones artisanales et commerciales de Pentaparc et du Chapeau
Rouge au nord. Les sorties « centre-ville » se situent, d'une
part et d'autre, au niveau du centre d'incendie et de secours et
de la piscine Vanocéa.
Entre
1988 et 2016, le pont de Kerino, situé à l'embouchure
de la Marle, au sud du port de plaisance, permettait aux véhicules de franchir
la rivière. Depuis le 24 juin 2016, le tunnel de Kerino permet de ne plus interrompre le trafic des véhicules pour
laisser passer les bateaux.
Article détaillé : Gare de
Vannes.
Vannes
est une destination desservie par la ligne Savenay - Landerneau longeant la côte sud de la Bretagne, qui constitue l'essentiel de la relation Nantes - Brest. Une gare routière, située à proximité
immédiate de la gare ferroviaire, permet de gagner les
communes non desservies par les voies ferrées, la gare maritime de Vannes, l'aéroport de Vannes. La gare de Vannes a fait l'objet, de
2006 à 2009, de profondes transformations avec intégration d'une verrière, mise
aux normes pour les personnes handicapées et aménagement des parkings
environnants.
Les
trains de l'Intercités Hendaye - Quimper et de l'Intercités de nuit Lyon - Quimper desservent
la gare de la ville, construite en 1862. La ville est également desservie par les
lignes 2 (Rennes-Quimper), 3 (Quimper-Nantes), 12 (Vannes-Lorient),
19 (Redon-Vannes) et 27 (Saint-Brieuc-Vannes-Lorient)
du TER
Bretagne13.
Le
TGV dessert Vannes sur la ligne Paris - Quimper. À partir du 2018 le parcours
Paris - Vannes se fait en moyenne en 2 h 30.
Article détaillé : Vélocéo.
Vannes
possède un réseau cyclable de 54 km14. dont l'expansion et la
modernisation est l'un des objectifs du plan de déplacements urbains. Par ailleurs, Vannes a été dotée, entre
juin 2009 et juin 2017, d'un système de vélopartage baptisé Vélocéo et géré par Transdev pour le compte de
la municipalité, remplacé en 2018 Vélocéo, un système de vélos en
libre-service à assistance électrique.
Article détaillé : Aéroport de Vannes.
Vannes
dispose d'un aéroport situé sur la commune de Monterblanc15. L'aéroport de Vannes
officiellement appelé « Aéroport de Vannes - Golfe du Morbihan », est
depuis janvier 2008 la propriété de
la Golfe du Morbihan - Vannes Agglomération. La société
d’exploitation de Vannes aéroport (SEVA) est le gestionnaire de l’aéroport de
Vannes - Golfe du Morbihan depuis le 1er janvier 2007. La SEVA est une filiale du groupe
canadien SNC-Lavalin qui gère deux
autres aéroports en France.
L'aéroport
qui est à usage civil, ouvert au trafic national et international (sur demande)
a comme principales activités l'aviation d'affaires, l'aviation de tourisme et
l'aviation de loisirs. L'aéroport accueille l'aéroclub de Vannes, le club ULM du Golfe et l'école de parachutisme de Vannes.
Bus de
la ligne 1 à l'arrêt République.
Article détaillé : Transports en commun de Vannes.
Le
réseau de transport collectif urbain et périurbain de la ville, nommé Kicéo, est
exploité par la Compagnie des Transports Golfe du Morbihan - Vannes
Agglomération (CGTMVA)16, une entreprise filiale
du groupe RATP
Dev. Le
réseau est composé de 21 lignes régulières : 15 lignes urbaines (dont une
en soirée), 5 lignes périurbaines, une navette de centre-ville ainsi qu'un
service de transport à la demande. Le réseau est organisé « en étoile », où presque
toutes les lignes passent par le centre-ville de Vannes. L'autorité organisatrice de la mobilité, chargée du
développement des transports collectifs et de leur financement à Vannes et son agglomération est la Communauté
d'agglomération de Vannes-Golfe du Morbihan.
Vannes
est également desservie par 7 lignes d'autocar du réseau BreizhGo17, le service de transports collectifs interurbains développé et financé par le conseil régional de Bretagne. Vannes compte deux gares routières, l'une située place de la Libération et l'autre à proximité de la gare ferroviaire.
Une
enquête, dont l'objet est le recensement du patrimoine architectural de Vannes,
est réalisée depuis 1997p 1. Cette enquête est le
fruit d'un partenariat entre l’État et la municipalité vannetaise et a permis
le recensement des quartiers de la ville.
La
notion de quartier prend plusieurs significations à Vannes. Dans le langage
courant, un quartier désigne un espace urbain pourvu d'une identité commune sur
le plan architectural, social et fonctionnel. De plus, la mise en place
des conseils de quartier s'est basée sur un nouveau découpage de l'espace
territorial vannetais.
·
Beaupré
·
Bernus
·
Conleau
·
Kercado
·
La Gare
·
Le Rohan
·
Tohannic
·
Le Mené
·
Le Pargo
·
Le Port
·
Ménimur
·
Lalande
·
Bécel
Vue des
toits de la vieille-ville de Vannes.
La Place
des Lices avant les travaux de suppression du parking.
En 2006, on dénombrait à Vannes 29 176 logements :
26 449 résidences principales (soit 90,65 % de l'ensemble des logements), 858 résidences secondaires (soit 2,94 %), 181 logements occasionnels (soit
0,6 %) et 1 689 logements vacants (soit 5,79 %). Sur
l'ensemble de ces logements, on dénombre 9 566 logements individuels
soit 32,78 % et 19 424 logements dans un immeuble collectif soit
66,57 %i 4.
Pour
ce qui est des résidences principales, leur époque d'achèvement s'établit de la
manière qui suit pour l'année 2004. Sur les 25 896 résidences,
4 229 datent d'avant 1949 soit une part de 16,33 % ; 8 392
datent d'une période comprise entre 1949 à 1974 soit 32,40 % ;
5 840 résidences principales datent de 1975 à 1989 soit 22,55 %
et 7 435 datent de 1990 à 2004 soit 28,71 %i 5. S'agissant du nombre
de pièces des résidences
principales en 2006, 3 006 en ont une soit 11,37 %, 5 020 en
comptent deux soit 18,98 %, 5 280 en possèdent trois soit
19,96 % et 13 144 en possèdent quatre et plus soit une part de
49,7 %i 4. Le confort de ces
résidences principales n'est pas identique. En effet, cent-quatorze résidences
n'ont pas de baignoire, ni douche soit 0,43 %i 6, 26 202 ont un
chauffage central soit près de 99 % des résidences, alors que 247 n'en ont
pas soit 1 %i 7, 17 240
bénéficient d'un garage ou d'un parking soit 65,18 %i 8.
En
2007, le prix de l'immobilier à Vannes a dépassé celui de Rennes : le prix moyen au
mètre carré de l'habitat ancien à Vannes (2 342 €) est nettement
supérieur à celui de Lorient (1 606 €).
Le prix moyen d'un appartement neuf à Vannes était d'environ
(3 500 €/m2). Le centre ville de Vannes est le quartier le
plus cher, quant aux quartiers situés près du Golfe, ils connaissent une
augmentation régulière du prix du logement18.
Un
quart des acquéreurs à Vannes sont des retraités et la ville présente la
particularité d'avoir des acquéreurs âgés, 49 ans en moyenne. On peut
noter qu'en 2007, 32 % des acquéreurs n'étaient pas originaire du
Morbihan. Parmi les non morbihannais, 9 % viennent d'Île-de-France et
6 % d'Ille-et-Vilaine. L'offre concerne pour 62 % des transactions
des logements de 2 et 3 pièces. Les habitants d'Île-de-France représentent
25 % des acheteurs sur le littoral du Golfe du Morbihan.
De
nombreux organismes d'attribution de logements sociaux sont présents sur
la commune. On y trouve des offices publics de l'habitat (OPH) tels qu'Office
Public Communal d'HLM Vannes Golfe Habitat19 ou encore l'office
public départemental du Morbihan Bretagne Sud Habitat20.
Cette section est vide, insuffisamment détaillée ou
incomplète. Votre aide est la bienvenue ! Comment faire ?
Une
concertation a été initiée en 2017 en vue de l'aménagement de la rive
gauche du port21. Les décisions relatives
à ce projet, initialement attendues en 201922, ont été reportées sine
die après les élections23.
Table de Peutinger - Darioritum se situe au
nord du Golfe d'Aquitaine, près de la Loire (Riger)
et de Rennes (Condate).
Dans
l'Antiquité, le peuple gaulois des Vénètes s'installe sur la rive sud de la péninsule Armoricaine. Jules César, dans ses Commentaires sur la Guerre des Gaules, est le premier auteur
à citer le peuple celte mais ne cite aucune capitale pour les Vénètes.
Jusqu'au iie siècle, les auteurs romains et grecs citent à de nombreuses reprises
le peuple des Vénètes, mais il faut attendre le iie siècle et la Géographie de Ptolémée pour mettre un nom sur la capitale
sud-armoricaine : Δαριοριτον (var. Δαριοριγον),
nom gaulois grécisé signifiant peut-être « gué des chênes »24.
À
l'époque
gallo-romaine, ce nom est adapté et latinisé sous différentes formes : Darioritum (la
forme la plus courante), Dariorigum, Dartorigum,
etc. Darioritum se trouve
également sur la Table de Peutinger, copie du xiiie siècle d'une ancienne
carte romaine où figurent les routes et les villes principales de l'Empire
romain. Il est cependant remplacé par l'ethnonyme Veneti à
partir du iiie siècle25.
|
Attestations anciennes26. ·
400 : Benedetis ·
vie siècle : Veneticam
urbem, Venitus civitatem ·
viie siècle : Venetis ·
818 : Veneda ·
833 : Vednedia ·
850 : Venedi ·
862 : Venedia ·
1187 : Vanetensis ·
1263 : Vennes ·
1288 : Venes ·
1300 : Vanes ·
1311 : Vennes ·
1332 : Vannes ·
1333 : Venetensis
diocesis ·
1334 : Vanne ·
1339 : Vannes ·
1428 : Vennes ·
1560 : Vannes ·
1561 : Vennes ·
1592 : Vannetois ·
1636 : Vennes ·
1693 : Euesché
de Vennes ·
1709 : Vennes ·
1719 : Vennes |
Vannes
apparaît sous le nom latin de Benetis dans le document
administratif romain Notitia dignitatum datant de 40027.
Le
nom de Vannes provient du peuple des Vénètes qui eurent comme capitale Darioritum, nom antique de la
ville pendant la période gallo-romaine. Le nom de Vénètes est commun à
plusieurs peuples antiques dont l’un habitait le sud de l’Aremorica (celtique Veneti).
Sous
le Bas Empire, lorsque les diocèses ont succédé aux circonscriptions
romaines calquées sur les cités gauloises, les chefs lieu ont
pris le nom des peuples gaulois au génitif. César mentionne que le peuple
gaulois établi dans le golfe du Morbihan était celui des Vénètes et l'évêché de
Vannes est un des plus anciens d'Armorique. C'est pourquoi les linguistes font
procéder Vannes du celtique armoricain Venetīi « cité
des Vénètes ».
À
la fin de l’Empire
romain,
la ville est couramment appelée civitas Venetum dans les
textes, « la cité des Vénètes », d'après le nom du peuple dont sont
issus ses premiers habitants. Ce phénomène (l'abandon de l'ancien nom gaulois
et l'adoption d'une nouvelle appellation évoquant le nom des habitants) affecte
vers le ive siècle la plupart des anciennes cités gauloises de la moitié nord
de la France : ainsi, Paris, ancien Lutetia, vient du nom des Parisii ; Nantes, ancien Condevincum ,
de celui des Namnètes. Ces mutations
toponymiques sont caractéristiques du Bas-Empire romain.
Feuillet
du Notitia dignitatum - Dux tractus Armoricani
et Nervicani.
Dans
le Notitia Galliarum, compilation du ive siècle des cités
gauloises sous la Tétrarchie, l'auteur nomme la Cité
des Vénètes située dans la gaule lyonnaise III : In
provintiis gallicanis quæ ciuitates sint, Provintia Luddunensium Tertia :
Ciuitas Venetum. Dans le Notitia dignitatum, compilation par un auteur anonyme du ve siècle de toutes les
dignités tant civiles que militaires de l'Empire romain, l'auteur nomme Benetis comme
capitale du préfet militaire : Sous les ordres de l’honorable duc
de la division Armoricani et Nervicani : - Le commandant
des soldats maures chez les Vénètes,
à Benetis.
Au
cours du Moyen
Âge, Venetis devient Vennes,
par accentuation sur la première syllabe qui entraîne la disparition du [t]28. Cette forme va subsister
jusqu'au xviiie siècle, où les deux formes sont utilisées conjointement dans les
écrits de l'époqueNote 2. Durant cette période,
le nom de la ville est également mentionné sous différentes formes : Veneda (en 818), Guéned ou Guenette, Vanes (vers 1300), etc.
Le
nom de la ville est Gwened (en breton), prononcé [dzɥinˈjɛt] en breton vannetais ou [gɥinˈjɛt]) et Vann (en gallo). Il est mentionné sous la forme guenet dans
le Catholicon29.
Ce
nom se prononce Djuened en breton et s'écrit Gwened ou Wened.
Certains ont été tentés de traduire, de façon strictement littéraire, le
nom breton de la ville
en français, et l'on interprété
comme signifiant « blé blanc »30 (gwenn « blanc »; ed « blé »).
En 2008, dans un communiqué
du maire François Goulards 1, s'exprimant sur la
culture bretonne, on retrouve aussi cette tentative d'y voir le mot
breton gwenn, et de donner à Gwened la
signification de « La Blanche ». Cette étymologie populaire est fantaisiste31.
La
forme Gwened en breton peut s'expliquer en partie par le
débarquement de populations galloises venues de la région de Gwynedd entre le ive siècle et le vie siècle. La correspondance
phonétique entre le peuple celtique Vénète et les bretons du Gwynedd laisse
penser à une origine ethnique commune dont les deux branches auraient conservé
des liens commerciaux et diplomatiques durant l'âge d'or du commerce de
l'étain. Cette origine ethnique commune aurait en commun la racine
celtique vindo- qui a les sens de « blanc, beau, blond,
sacré, de bonne race »32. Cependant, Venet- a
été brittonisé tout à fait régulièrement en Gwened (par
l'intermédiaire d'une forme vieux breton Wened), sans avoir recours
à une hypothétique influence galloise, dont le résultat aurait d'ailleurs
été *Gwined. Par ailleurs, vindo- est la racine
gauloise qui signifie « blanc, heureux », c'est le même mot que
le celtique insulaire *vindā qui explique le vieux breton guinn « blanc,
lumineux » (néobreton gwenn), le vieux cornique guyn « blanc »
et le gallois gwynn (féminin gwenn)
« blanc ».
Une
hypothèse mieux étayée sur le plan phonétique pour expliquer étymologiquement
l'ethnonyme Veneti,
dont dérive le nom de la ville, est qu'il repose sur la racine
indo-européenne *wen « aimer, désirer »
(sanskrit van-o-ti, vánati « il
aime », van-a « charme »; latin ven-us et Venus,
etc.), et signifier « les amis, les compatriotes »33. Plus précisément, il
s'agit de la forme allongée celtique et indo-européenne occidentale veni- (autrement
écrite ueni-) qui désigne le « clan, famille, lignée »
(cf. vieux breton guen « race, famille » >
breton gouenn « race »; germanique commun *weniz « ami »
> vieux norrois vinr, islandais vinur,
norvégien venn), mais dont la suffixation en -et- implique
le sens dérivé de « apparentés, amicaux » ou « marchands ».
Dans cette hypothèse les Vénètes pourraient aussi être « les
parents » ou « les marchands »34.
Vannes est la forme en usage dans la majorité des langues
utilisant les caractères latins, sauf dans les langues celtiques comme le gallois ou le gaélique qui privilégient la forme bretonne Gwened.
Prise de
Vannes en 1342.
Articles détaillés : Histoire de Vannes et Chronologie de Vannes.
La
ville de Vannes est fondée lors de la Conquête romaine de la
Gaule.
Le peuple des Vénètes est soumis par César en 56 av. J.-C.. Sous l’Empire romain, elle est appelée Darioritum,
mais reprend le nom du peuple dont elle est la civitas à la fin de
l’Empire. Des colons bretons (venus de l’actuelle Grande-Bretagne) ainsi que des
soldats maures sont installés à
cette époque pour protéger la région des pirates saxons. C’est aussi entre
le iiie siècle et le ve siècle que la ville se
fortifie et se christianise.
Vers 465, un concile régional se tient à Vannes et
consacre Saint Patern comme le premier évêque de la ville : c'est la naissance de l'évêché de Vannes. Conquise en 578 par Waroch, la ville devient la
capitale du royaume du Broërec, avant d’être rattachée
à la Bretagne en 851.
En 753, le roi des Francs Pépin le Bref vainc les Bretons
et prend Vannes. Pour contenir les Bretons, il organise une zone-tampon sous
administration militaire, la Marche de Bretagne composée du Vannetais, du Nantais, du Rennais et d'un bout
du Maine. Vannes en est une des capitales. L'empereur Louis le Débonnaire réunit en
septembre 818 son armée est
assemblée à Vannes35 (alors souvent
appelée Veneda ou Venedia) avant de la lancer à
l'assaut des forces du roi Morvan Lez-Breizh qui l'avait défié.
Ville
du missus Nominoë, Vannes est une des
cités royales de l'éphémère royaume de Bretagne. En partie détruite lors des invasions vikings au xe siècle, la ville connaît de
nombreux sièges jusqu'à la fin de la guerre de Succession de Bretagne avant de devenir
la résidence préférée des ducs Jean IV et Jean V.
La Chambre des comptes de Bretagne est créée à Vannes
et y siège jusqu'en 1491-1499 ainsi que le parlement de Bretagne qui devient cour souveraine en 1485. Le Parlement reste à Vannes
jusqu'en 1553, date à laquelle Nantes et Rennes se le disputent.
Vannes est la première capitale de l'État breton et le siège de son
administration supérieure. La ville reste pourtant de taille modeste.
Lors
de la Révolution française, la ville est partagée entre le parti de la Convention (les
Républicains) et la Chouannerie.
Préfecture
du Morbihan, Vannes continue son
développement depuis le xixe siècle malgré l’activité
maritime qui s’effondre à la même époque. À partir des années 1870, la ville se dote de
nouveaux bâtiments publics et connaît un regain d’activité avec l'arrivée du
chemin de fer et l’installation de régiments.
Vannes
était alors une ville de garnison (le 116e régiment d'infanterie, le 28e régiment d'artillerie et le 35e régiment d'artillerie y étaient basés).
Hôtel de
Ville de Vannes.
L'agglomération
de Vannes s'est organisée en une communauté
d'agglomération qui regroupe vingt-quatre communes que sont Arradon, Baden, Le Bono, Elven, Le Hézo, Île-aux-Moines, Île d'Arz, Larmor-Baden, Meucon, Monterblanc, Noyalo, Plescop, Ploeren, Plougoumelen, Saint-Avé, Saint-Nolff, Séné, Sulniac, Surzur, Theix, Trédion, Treffléan, La Trinité-Surzur et Vannes. De plus, du fait de son statut de chef-lieu de
département et de canton, Vannes concentre les administrations. Elle est le
siège de la préfecture du Morbihan, du Conseil général du Morbihan et de la trésorerie générale.
De 1790 à 1982, Vannes est le chef-lieu du canton de Vannes-Est et, depuis 1982, chef-lieu de trois cantons.
|
Code |
Canton |
Conseillers
départementaux |
Population (2017) |
|||
|
56 19 |
UD |
32 205 habitants |
||||
|
56 20 |
UD |
UD |
39 286 habitants |
|||
|
56 21 |
UD |
33 861 habitants |
||||
Le nouveau découpage territorial entre en vigueur en 2015. Vannes reste le bureau centralisateur de 3 cantons redécoupés :
·
le canton de Vannes-1 correspond au centre de la ville et compte
32 205 habitants en 2017 ;
·
le canton de Vannes-2 compte 9 communes (Arradon, Baden, Le Bono, l'Île-aux-Moines, l'Île-d'Arz, Larmor-Baden, Plescop, Ploeren et Plougoumelen) ainsi que la fraction ouest
de la commune de Vannes et compte 39 286 habitants en 2017 ;
·
le canton de Vannes-3 compte 5 communes (Meucon, Monterblanc, Saint-Avé, Saint-Nolff et Treffléan) ainsi que la fraction
est de la commune de Vannes et compte 33 861 habitants en 2017.
Article connexe : Élections municipales de
2014 dans le Morbihan.
On
retient de Vannes sa qualité de ville bourgeoise, à l'opposé de sa
voisine lorientaise plus ouvrière et
positionnée à gauche de l'échiquier politique. La présence des ducs et des évêques a favorisé l'apparition des marchands et des artisans.
C'est une ville de négoce et de marchés36.
Politiquement,
c'est une ville ancrée à droite. Le maire UMP David
Robo est
élu maire de la ville le 6 avril 2011 à la suite de l'accession de François Goulard à la tête du Conseil général du Morbihan. L'ancien député
maire UMP François Goulard fut, au début de son premier mandat de maire de la ville
en 2001, membre du RPR et à la tête d'une liste UDF-RPR. Cette liste, composée lors des municipales 2001, s'inscrivait
dans la continuité des mandats précédents, une grande partie des conseillers de
cette liste appartenant à la majorité municipale de Pierre Pavec, maire
centriste de Vannes de 1983 à 200137.
Au référendum sur le traité constitutionnel
pour l’Europe du 29 mai 2005, les Vannetais ont majoritairement voté
pour la Constitution européenne, avec 62,73 % de Oui contre 37,27 %
de Non avec un taux d’abstention de 27,22 % (France entière : Non à
54,67 % - Oui à 45,33 %). Ces chiffres ne sont pas conformes à la
tendance nationale, celle-ci se trouvant en opposition.
Malgré
l'ancrage de la ville à droite, lors de l’élections législatives de 2012 pour la 1re circonscription du Mobihan, le député UMP François Goulard (48,96 % soit 10 438 voix)
est battu au second tour par le socialiste Hervé Pellois38 (51,04 % soit
10 882 voix). Ce résultat étant conforme à la tendance nationale.
Résultats des dernières élections présidentielles
Articles détaillés : Élections municipales de 2008 à
Vannes, Liste des maires de Vannes et Élections municipales de
2014 dans le Morbihan.
|
Liste des maires de
Vannes depuis la Libération |
||||
|
Période |
Identité |
Étiquette |
Qualité |
|
|
mai 1945 |
mars 1965 |
Photographe |
||
|
mars 1965 |
mars 1977 |
Avocat et plusieurs fois ministre |
||
|
mars 1977 |
mars 1983 |
Professeur de lettres classiques |
||
|
mars 1983 |
mars 2001 |
Pierre Pavec |
Conseiller général du canton de Vannes-Ouest (1985-1998) |
|
|
mars 2001 |
mai 2004 |
Haut fonctionnaire |
||
|
mai 2004 |
décembre 2006 |
Cadre de l'industrie pharmaceutique |
||
|
décembre 2006 |
avril 2011 |
Haut fonctionnaire |
||
|
avril 2011 |
En cours |
Assistant social |
||
Depuis
le 6 avril 2011, le maire est David Robo qui succède
à François Goulard, président du conseil général du Morbihan, député et ancien secrétaire d'État aux Transports et à la mer et ministre de
l'Enseignement supérieur et de la recherche. Le maire de Vannes est adhérent de
la Fédération des maires des villes moyennes, la FMVM48. Les services
administratifs sont installés dans les locaux de l'hôtel de ville depuis 1886 et également dans les locaux du
centre administratif municipal, situé à deux pas de celui-ci.
Le conseil municipal vannetais est composé d'un maire et de quarante-cinq
conseillers municipaux. Parmi ces conseillers municipaux, on dénombre treize
maires-adjointss 2. Il y a un seul groupe
majoritaire contre deux groupes d'opposition « Votez pour Changer » (PS, Union démocratique bretonne, Verts, Parti radical de gauche) et « Vannes Projet Citoyens »49 (DVG) nés de la scission de
la coalition « Votez pour Changer » créée lors du second tour
des élections municipales de mars 2008.
Lors
des élections municipales de
mars 2008, la liste du maire sortant, François Goulard, tête de la liste
« Vannes avec vous », a été élu avec une majorité absolue de
51,59 % soit 10 950 voix contre 48,41 % soit
10 275 voix pour Nicolas le Quintrec, tête de la liste « Votez
pour changer - Vannes 2008, agir et vivre ensemble »50.
Les élections municipales de 2014 à Vannes ont été marquées par un
nombre important de listes (7), ce qui constitue par ailleurs le nombre le plus
important de candidats recensés pour briguer la mairie. Malgré cela la liste
« Vannes, c'est ensemble », menée par le maire sortant David Robo, a été élue dès le
premier tour avec 52.77 % des suffrages exprimés. C'est la première fois
depuis les années Raymond Marcellin qu'une élection
municipale est remportée en un seul tour. Les sièges au sein du conseil municipal,
élu le 23 mars 2014, se répartissent de la manière suivantes 2 :
|
Groupe |
Nom |
Président |
Effectif |
Statut |
|||
|
Vannes, c'est ensemble |
37 |
Majorité |
|||||
|
L’alternance |
Simon Uzenat |
5 |
Opposition |
||||
|
Vannes Bleu Marine |
Bertrand Iragne |
2 |
Opposition |
||||
|
Vannes au centre |
Nicolas Le Quintrec |
1 |
Opposition |
Aux
élections municipales tenues le 15 mars 2020, la liste conduite par David Robo
obtient dès le premier tour la majorité des voix (50,92 %) mais dans un
contexte de très faible participation (39.54 %). La pandémie du Covid 19
empêche l'installation immédiate du nouveau conseil municipal51. Il faudra attendre le
25 mai pour que la nouvelle équipe soit installée et que David Robo soit élu
maire52. Les résultats en
nombre de sièges sont53 :
|
Groupe |
Nom |
Président |
Effectif |
Statut |
|||
|
Vannes, c'est vous |
35 |
Majorité |
|||||
|
DVG-DVG |
Ensemble, libérons les énergies
Vannetaises ! |
Simon Uzenat |
5 |
Opposition |
|||
|
Marchons pour Vannes |
Patrick le Mestre |
4 |
Opposition |
||||
|
Vannes Projet Citoyen |
François Riou |
1 |
Opposition |
Palais
de justice.
Vannes
compte de nombreuses institutions administratives et judiciaires. La ville est administrativement la préfecture du Morbihan54, siège du Conseil général du Morbihan55 et de la
trésorerie générale. Elle possède un palais de justice disposant
d'un tribunal de grande instance, d'un tribunal d'instance, d'un tribunal de commerce, d'un conseil de prud'hommes. On y trouve aussi un ordre des avocats au barreau de Vannes56. En tant que chef-lieu
départemental, la commune abrite la chambre des huissiers du Morbihan, la chambre des notaires du Morbihan57, la chambre de métiers et de l'artisanat du Morbihan58 ainsi qu'une
délégation de la chambre de commerce et d'industrie du
Morbihan59. La ville dispose d'un
commissariat de police, d'une maison d'arrêt et est le siège du groupement de gendarmerie départementale du
Morbihan. On se doit également de signaler la présence d'administrations telles
que la conservation des hypothèques et le centre des impôts60.
Articles détaillés : 3e régiment d'infanterie de
marine et Histoire militaire de Vannes.
Depuis 1963, Vannes est la ville de garnison du 3e RIMa ainsi que d'un détachement du 2e régiment du matériel de Bruz.
Le 1er janvier 2011, à la suite de la création de la base de
défense pilote de Coëtquidan le 1er janvier 2010, est créé la base de défense de
Vannes-Coëtquidan, intégrant le 3e RIMa ainsi que les Écoles de Saint-Cyr Coëtquidan. Une base de Défense est une aire géographique qui regroupe dans son périmètre
les formations du ministère de la Défense dont l'administration générale et le soutien commun sont
mutualisés.
Vannes
rencontre les difficultés inhérentes aux villes qui supportent une croissance
rapide : congestion des routes, trafics et délinquances. Selon des
classements successifs établis par le magazine Le Point, Vannes est
classée 11e ville la plus sûre de France en 200361, 15e en
200662 et 23e pour
l'année 200863.
La
ville est le siège de l'état-major du Groupement de gendarmerie départementale du
Morbihan64, de la compagnie de
gendarmerie départementale de Vannes qui couvre le sud-est du département et de
l'escadron de gendarmerie mobile de Vannes qui a pour mission principale et
spécifique la sécurité publique et le maintien de l'ordre.
Vannes
est le siège de la Direction départementale de la Sécurité
publique du
Morbihan. La circonscription de sécurité publique de Vannes compte
136 fonctionnaires de police et 32 adjoints de sécurité soit un total de 168 personnels en janvier 200965, ainsi que trois
structures recevant du public : l'hôtel de Police et ses deux
commissariats de secteur (Kercado et Ménimur). Le Service départemental d'incendie et de
secours (SDIS)
du Morbihan siège également à Vannes. Le groupement de Vannes couvre l'ouest du
département avec 26 centres d'incendie et de secours,
86 sapeurs-pompiers professionnels et 917 sapeurs-pompiers
volontaires66.
Depuis
avril 2008, la municipalité vannetaise a mis en place, pour un coût de plus de
1 000 000 €67 un dispositif
de vidéosurveillance de la voie publique. Composé de
29 caméras mobiles68 et d'un centre de
supervision urbaine (CSU) aménagé au sous-sol de l’hôtel de ville qui reçoit et
enregistre en permanence les images filmées par les caméras, le système est
contrôlé par des agents municipaux en journée et par les services de police la
nuit. Les trois objectifs majeurs de ce dispositif sont : le renforcement
des mesures de prévention contre les actes de violence urbaine, la protection
des bâtiments publics et la régulation du trafic routiers 3. Ce système est
contrôlé par un comité d'éthique composé d'avocats, de spécialistes du droit et d'élus. Ce comité rend un rapport
annuel69.
Stèle du
jumelage à Cuxhaven.
La
ville de Vannes est jumelée avec plusieurs villes européennes et entretient des
relations de partenariat avec une ville malienne et une ville polonaise. Il faut rappeler que
le jumelage est une relation établie entre deux villes de pays différents qui
se concrétise par des échanges socio-culturelss 4.
La
ville de Vannes est jumelée avec :
·
Mons (Belgique) depuis
1952 ;
·
Cuxhaven (Allemagne) depuis
1963 ;
·
Fareham (Angleterre) depuis 1967.
Charte
de partenariat :
·
Wałbrzych (Pologne) depuis le 2
octobre 2001.
Au 1er janvier 2016, Vannes possède une population de
53 218 habitantsi 2, une unité urbaine de
79 217 habitantsi 9, une agglomération de
166 661 habitantsi 10 ainsi qu'une
population dans l'aire urbaine de 157 077 habitantsi 1. Il est à noter que la
ville est la deuxième plus peuplée du département après Lorient et la 5e de
la région Bretagne (sur 1 232)i 11.
L'évolution
du nombre d'habitants est connue à travers les recensements de la population effectués dans la commune depuis
1793. À partir de 2006, les populations légales des communes sont
publiées annuellement par l'Insee. Le recensement repose
désormais sur une collecte d'information annuelle, concernant successivement
tous les territoires communaux au cours d'une période de cinq ans. Pour les
communes de plus de 10 000 habitants les recensements ont lieu chaque
année à la suite d'une enquête par sondage auprès d'un échantillon d'adresses
représentant 8 % de leurs logements, contrairement aux autres communes qui
ont un recensement réel tous les cinq ans70,Note 3
En
2018, la commune comptait 53 438 habitantsNote 4, en augmentation de
0,77 % par rapport à 2013 (Morbihan :
+2,52 %, France hors Mayotte : +2,36 %).
|
Évolution de la population [ modifier ] |
||||||||
|
1793 |
1800 |
1806 |
1821 |
1831 |
1836 |
1841 |
1846 |
1851 |
|
9 131 |
9 131 |
10 902 |
11 289 |
10 395 |
11 623 |
11 737 |
12 974 |
12 356 |
|
Évolution
de la population [ modifier ], suite (1) |
||||||||
|
1856 |
1861 |
1866 |
1872 |
1876 |
1881 |
1886 |
1891 |
1896 |
|
14 329 |
14 564 |
14 560 |
14 690 |
17 946 |
19 284 |
20 036 |
21 504 |
22 189 |
|
Évolution
de la population [ modifier ], suite (2) |
||||||||
|
1901 |
1906 |
1911 |
1921 |
1926 |
1931 |
1936 |
1946 |
1954 |
|
23 375 |
23 561 |
23 748 |
21 402 |
22 089 |
22 413 |
24 068 |
28 189 |
28 403 |
|
Évolution
de la population [ modifier ], suite (3) |
||||||||
|
1962 |
1968 |
1975 |
1982 |
1990 |
1999 |
2006 |
2011 |
2016 |
|
30 411 |
36 576 |
40 359 |
42 178 |
45 644 |
51 759 |
53 079 |
52 784 |
53 218 |
|
Évolution
de la population [ modifier ], suite (4) |
||||||||
|
2018 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
|
53 438 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
- |
De
1962 à 1999 : population sans doubles comptes ; pour les dates
suivantes : population municipale.
(Sources : Ldh/EHESS/Cassini jusqu'en 199971 puis Insee à partir de 200672.)
Histogramme
de l'évolution démographique
La pyramide des âges montre une population vieillissante. En 2016, la part des plus de soixante cinq ans
représentait 24,42 % de la population totale contre 19,07 % en 2006, tandis que celle des moins de quarante
ans atteignait 45,45 % en 2016 et 51,54 % en 2006.
Évolution de la pyramide
des âges de la ville de Vannes
Comparaison entre les années 2006i 12 et 2016i 13 en nombre d'individus.
|
Pyramide des âges en 2006 en nombre
d'individus. |
||
|
Hommes |
Classe d’âge |
Femmes |
|
839 |
0 à 3 ans |
785 |
|
721 |
3 à 5 ans |
762 |
|
1 392 |
6 à 10 ans |
1 201 |
|
2 047 |
11 à 17 ans |
1 983 |
|
3 952 |
18 à 24 ans |
3 549 |
|
5 160 |
25 à 39 ans |
4 966 |
|
4 437 |
40 à 54 ans |
5 446 |
|
2 542 |
55 à 64 ans |
3 171 |
|
2 868 |
65 à 79 ans |
4 289 |
|
917 |
80 ans ou plus |
2 051 |
|
Pyramide des âges en 2016 en nombre
d'individus. |
||
|
Hommes |
Classe d’âge |
Femmes |
|
707 |
0 à 3 ans |
719 |
|
756 |
3 à 5 ans |
722 |
|
1 267 |
6 à 10 ans |
1 172 |
|
2 113 |
11 à 17 ans |
1 895 |
|
3 232 |
18 à 24 ans |
2 944 |
|
4 395 |
25 à 39 ans |
4 268 |
|
4 149 |
40 à 54 ans |
4 999 |
|
2 924 |
55 à 64 ans |
3 963 |
|
3 537 |
65 à 79 ans |
5 137 |
|
1 372 |
80 ans ou plus |
2 948 |
En 2006, 1 389 personnes immigrées
étaient recensées dans la commune soit 2,6 % de la populationi 14, chiffre supérieur à la
moyenne bretonne (1,69 %) mais inférieur à la moyenne nationale
(5,77 %). Cette proportion est deux fois moins importante que pour une
ville comme Rennes mais légèrement
supérieure à Quimper. Parmi ces personnes,
15,33 % viennent de l'Union européenne, 14,6 % du Maghreb. Les nationalités les
plus représentées sont les turcs (524), puis
les algériens et enfin les marocainsi 15
La
communauté turque est particulièrement présente dans la vie associative de
Vannes. L'association culturelle des Turcs de l’ouest créée à Vannes en 1983 a
pour but de faire connaître et de transmettre la culture, la religion, les
traditions, les coutumes turques, de créer des liens entre les communautés et
de favoriser l’échange culturel, d'apporter une aide aux familles d’origine
turque dans leurs démarches administratives, de donner une éducation religieuse
par l’intermédiaire d’un imam envoyé par le ministère des affaires
religieuses turc et de donner des informations sur la population turque de
Vannes et son pays73.
Les
écoles et lycées vannetais dépendent de l'académie de Rennes.
On
dénombre à Vannes, pour la rentrée 2008s 5, 32 écoles
(primaires et maternelle), dont vingt-deux écoles gérées par la commune
(sept écoles maternelles, six écoles primaires, huit écoles élémentaires) et onze écoles privées.
|
Écoles de Vannes |
|||
|
Écoles primaires ·
École Jacques
Prévert ·
École La Rabine ·
Groupe scolaire
Beaupré Lalande ·
Groupe scolaire
de Tohannic ·
École de Rohan ·
Groupe scolaire
de Kerniol |
Écoles maternelles ·
École Anne de
Bretagne ·
École Armorique ·
École Brizeux ·
École Cliscouët ·
École Joliot
Curie ·
École Calmette ·
École Pape
Carpantier |
Écoles élémentaires ·
École La
Madeleine ·
École de
Cliscouët ·
École Calmette ·
École Armorique ·
École Brizeux ·
École Jules
Ferry ·
École Jean
Moulin ·
École Madame de
Sévigné |
Écoles privées ·
École Nicolazic ·
École
Pierre-René Rogue ·
École
Saint-Patern ·
École St Vincent
Ferrier ·
École Françoise
d'Amboise ·
École Diwan ·
École Sainte-Marie ·
École
Sainte-Bernadette ·
École Saint-Guen ·
École du
Sacré-Cœur ·
École Sainte
Jéhanne d'Arc |
Vannes
compte sept collèges et huit lycées dont trois lycées publics et cinq lycées privés.
|
Collèges et lycées de Vannes |
|
|
Collèges publics ·
Collège Antoine de Saint-Exupéry ·
Collège Diwan Collèges privés ·
Collège
Notre-Dame Le Ménimur ·
Collège
Sacré-Cœur ·
Collège
Saint-François Xavier |
Lycées publics d'enseignement général
ou/et technologique ·
Lycée Alain-René-Lesage ·
Lycée Charles-de-Gaulle Lycées privés d'enseignement général
ou/et technologique ·
Lycée privé Saint-Paul ·
Lycée
privé Saint-Georges ·
Collège-Lycée-Prépa
Saint-François-Xavier de Vannes ·
Lycée
privé Saint-Joseph ·
Lycée privé
Notre-Dame-Le Ménimur Lycées professionnels publics ·
Lycée Jean-Guéhenno |
Vannes
représente le troisième pôle universitaire de Bretagne,
après Rennes et Brest. Alors qu'en 1986, Vannes accueillait
1 500 étudiants, en 2000, ils étaient plus de 5 200 et
fin 2006, près de 6 500s 6. Outre les
établissements et enseignements décrits ci-dessous, il ne faut pas oublier les
multiples Brevets de Techniciens Supérieurs dispensés dans les
lycées vannetais.
Composantes de
l'Université de Bretagne Sud
L’ESPE
de Vannes, école interne de l’université de
Bretagne-Occidentale avec laquelle travaille l’université pour la formation des
enseignants du secondaire.
L'université de Bretagne-Sud, créée en février 1995, est implantée conjointement à
Vannes, Lorient et Pontivy. L'université dispense
de nombreux DUT, licences et maîtrises ainsi qu'une école d'ingénieur.
·
La faculté de Droit, de sciences économiques et de gestion,
située sur le campus de Tohannic.
·
La faculté des Sciences et Sciences de l'Ingénieur située
conjointement sur le campus de Tohannic à Vannes et sur le campus de
Saint-Maudé à Lorient.
·
L’Institut universitaire de technologie de
Vannes,
situé sur le campus de Kercado et qui propose des
formations professionnalisantes au niveau bac + 2 et bac + 3, dans les domaines
de la gestion, du commerce, de l'informatique, de la statistique et de
l'informatique décisionnelle.
·
L'École nationale
supérieure d'ingénieurs de Bretagne Sud, école d'ingénieurs spécialisée en
informatique est située sur le campus de Tohannic.
On
peut également remarquer la présence d’établissements de recherche regroupant
différents laboratoires tels que l’Institut de recherche sur les entreprises et
les administrations, le centre de recherche Yves Coppens (situé sur le
campus de Tohannic), le Laboratoire de Mathématiques et Applications des
Mathématiques ainsi que le Laboratoire de Recherche en Informatique - Valoria.
Enseignement privé
L'Université Catholique de l'Ouest Bretagne Sud, située sur le
territoire de la commune d'Arradon à l'ouest de la
ville, propose des formations universitaires dans les domaines de l'information
et de la communication, des sciences de l'éducation, des langues, de
l'histoire, des lettres, du tourisme, du commerce, du breton et de la théologie.
Classes préparatoires
aux grandes écoles
·
Les classes préparatoires scientifiques du lycée Alain-René-Lesage (PTSI, PT, MPSI, MP)
·
Les classes préparatoires littéraires (hypokhâgne et khâgne B-L) du lycée
Saint-François-Xavier.
École d'ingénieurs
·
L’ICAM Bretagne Groupe ICAM, école d'ingénieurs généralistes par la voie de l'alternance.
École de commerce
·
Antenne de l'École supérieure de commerce de Bretagne. Les formations
dispensées sont le programme ESC Cadre, programme en formation continue et le
Bachelor en Management Programme Administration des Entreprises, cursus post
bac en management.
École supérieure du
professorat et de l'éducation
·
L'École supérieure du
professorat et de l'éducation de Vannes, composante de l'Université de Bretagne-Occidentale, est chargé de la
formation des enseignants du premier et du second degrés.
École supérieure en
architecture intérieure
·
L'institut de formation artistique et technique de Vannes (IFAT)
prépare à l'obtention du Diplôme d'études supérieures techniques pour le métier
d'architecte d'intérieur et propose une année d'étude en classe préparatoire
pour les concours des écoles d'art supérieures.
Le
jardin des remparts pendant l'exposition Photo de mer.
La cité
des Vénètes se base sur une histoire vieille de plus de
2 000 ans afin de faire vivre des événements culturels tout au long
de l'année. Parmi ceux-ci, on peut trouver des événements consacrés à
l'histoire de la ville et à son patrimoine ainsi que des festivals musicaux et
des salons.
·
L’Éveil du boucan74
Festival
de musique fondé en 2002 sous le nom de
Festi’ Vannes et rebaptisé L’Éveil du boucan en 2014. Ce festival de musique se
déroule dans les bars du centre-ville de Vannes au mois d'avril, il est ouvert
à tous les styles de musiques.
·
Tradi' deiz75
En
avril, Kendalc'h organise à Vannes une journée spéciale pour les cercles
celtiques de toute la Bretagne, de la Loire-Atlantique et de l'Île-de-France,
qui sont évalués dans des épreuves de danses traditionnelles ; un grand
défilé se tient en fin de journée et tous se rejoignent au jardin des remparts
pour les résultats des épreuves et une danse des mille.
Fête
maritime se déroulant tous les deux ans avant la semaine de l'Ascension dans
les communes littorales du golfe du Morbihan.
·
Salon du livre en
Bretagne76
En
juin, le Salon du livre, créé en 2008, se situe dans les jardins des remparts.
Manifestation
se déroulant à la mi-juillet et retraçant les grandes périodes de l'histoire de
la ville.
En
juillet/août, le festival de musique jazz créé en 2016 est l’héritier de Jazz à
Vannes (1980-2015), il est organisé par la ville de Vannes.
En
août, les Fêtes d’Arvor mettent en avant la culture bretonne.
Créé
en 2003 sous la forme d'un festival consacré aux photos maritimes, il s'ouvre à
d'autre thématiques et change de nom à partir de 2017.
·
Jubilé de Saint Vincent Ferrier
Pour
marquer les 600 ans de la prédication de saint Vincent Ferrier en Bretagne, l'évêque du diocèse de Vannes Mgr Centène a décidé d'organiser un jubilé entre le 4 mars 2018 et au 5 avril 2019, date anniversaire de la mort du
prédicateur dominicain à Vannes78.
Le Centre hospitalier Bretagne Atlantique (hôpital P.
Chubert) est situé Boulevard Maurice Guillaudot à proximité de la gare, au nord.
Il existe également plusieurs cliniques dans l'agglomération, dont la Clinique
Océane, rue Joseph Audic.
La ville
est un des pôle de la Sailing
Valley bretonne, des navires de course comme Groupama
4 y sont construits.
La
pratique du sport dans l'agglomération vannetaise est diversifiée. La situation
de la ville au bord du Golfe est propice aux activités nautiques, et attire
beaucoup d'entreprises liées à la Sailing Valley79. En outre, la
municipalité souhaite encourager sa population à pratiquer toutes les
disciplines grâce à l'existence de nombreux complexes sportifs.
Les
équipements sportifs de la ville s'étendent sur 71 hectares dont
190 000 m2 de terrains gazonnés, 81 000 m2 de
plateaux d’EPS, 40 000 m2 de surfaces bâties, ainsi
que des équipements sportifs privés conventionnés : quatre terrains de football
(22 000 m2) et sept salles de sports (1 700 m2).
Le Rugby club vannetais évolue depuis la saison 2016-2017 en Pro D2, une grande première
pour un club breton depuis l'avènement du professionnalisme dans le rugby.
·
Complexe UCK-NEF du Bondon :
L'association
UCK-NEF80, née en 1922 de la fusion de L'Union Clisson
Korrigan (1906) et des Nouvelles
Équipes Féminines (1946), est installée dans
son complexe omnisports de 3 300 m2 situé dans le
quartier du Bondon au nord du centre ville. L'UCK-NEF compte huit associations
sportives fédérées et environ 1 300 licenciés. Parmi les huit
associations se trouve une section Volley-Ball qui propose des
entraînements dans trois complexes vannetais : UCK-NEF, Kercado et
Richemont. L'équipe masculine du Vannes Volley-Ball, née en 2006 de la fusion de
l'UCK-NEF et du Véloce Vannetais, évolue la session 2008/2009 en National 3.
·
Centre Sportif de Kercado :
Plus
grand complexe sportif de Vannes, le Centre Sportif de Kercado est situé à
l'ouest de la ville, accolé au lycée Alain-René Lesage et au campus de Kercado
(IUT de Vannes). Le complexe est composé de trois salles de sports, une salle
spécifique de gymnastique, une salle d'armes, un pas de tir à l'arc couvert, un
terrain d'honneur de football, deux terrains stabilisés, un terrain gazonné
de football en salle, une piste d'athlétisme en résisport, une piste d'athlétisme en enrobé, neuf courts de tennis extérieurs, un
parcours sportif, cinq plateaux d'EPS, un stand de tir à l'arc, un skatepark et une aire de
lancer d'athlétisme.
·
Complexes de Tennis :
Il
existe deux grands complexes consacrés au tennis. D'une part, le
complexe de tennis du Pargo, comportant cinq courts couverts et deux courts
extérieurs, qui est le siège du Tennis Club Vannetais. D'autre part, le
complexe de tennis de Kérizac/Ménimur comportant deux
courts couverts et deux courts extérieurs et dont le club résidant est le
Vannes Ménimur Tennis Club.
·
Stade de la Rabine, Complexe Sportif du Perenno et Stade du Foso
Le Stade de la Rabine, plus grand stade de football et de rugby de Vannes est le lieu
des rencontres du Vannes Olympique Club, club fondé en 1998 par fusion du « Véloce
Vannetais » et du « FC Vannes » (ex-UCK) et évoluant pour
la saison 2009-2010 en Ligue 2 après avoir fini
Champion de France de National lors de la saison 2007-2008. Le Rugby Club Vannetais utilise aussi le Stade de la Rabine. Le complexe sportif du
Pérenno,
siège du club situé sur la commune voisine de Theix, et le Stade du Foso, sont réservés aux
entraînements des joueurs professionnels ainsi qu'aux autres équipes du club.
Le complexe du Foso qui accueille l'équipe de football américain des Mariners de Vannes, comporte également une piste
d'athlétisme en enrobé, trois plateaux d'EPS (basket-ball, handball et tennis), une structure artificielle
d'escalade ainsi qu'un boulodrome.
·
Stade Jo Courtel :
Le
complexe Jo Courtel, composé d'un terrain d'honneur de rugby et de deux autres
terrains de rugby, accueille les matchs et les entraînements du Rugby Club Vannetais, club de rugby à XV évoluant pendant
la saison 2007-2008 en Fédérale 1 et depuis la
saison 2016-2017 en ProD2.
|
Autres principales installations
sportives de la ville de Vanness 7 |
|||
|
Stades ·
Stade de
Larmor-Gwened ·
Stade Michelin ·
Stade de
Kérizac/Ménimur Complexes sportifs ·
Complexe de
Bécel ·
Complexe de
Kerniol - Saint-Exupéry ·
Complexe Sportif
de Kerbiquette : |
Gymnases, entretien physique ·
Gymnase Yvonne
Sauvet ·
Salle Richemont ·
Salle des
Pompiers ·
Salle de Boxe de
la Ferme de Kérizac ·
Gymnase Brizeux ·
Salle
d'haltérophilie et de musculation ·
Square de la
Bourdonnaye : |
Installations nautiques ·
Piscine Municipale de Kercado : ·
Piscine
Municipale "VanOcéa" ·
Piscine d’eau de
mer de Conleau ·
Cercle d'Aviron
de Vannes81 |
Divers ·
Patinoire
"Patinium" : ·
Ferme de
Roscanvec : ·
Aérodrome
du Pays de Vannes : ·
«Pointe
des Émigrés» au Vincin : ·
Vélodrome à Kermesquel |
·
Piscine VanOcéa.
·
Canoés de mer
Athlétisme
·
Semi-marathon
Auray-Vannes82 : Créée en 1975, cette épreuve de course à pied se dispute sur
route sur une distance de 21,1 km entre les villes d'Auray et de Vannes au mois de septembre. Ce
semi-marathon est labellisé international par la Fédération française d'athlétisme.
·
Ultra Marin Raid Golfe du Morbihan83 : Cet événement
créé en 2005 consiste à faire le tour complet du Golfe du Morbihan soit
177 km en empruntant principalement des sentiers côtiers. Il est
organisé au mois de juin, il y a plusieurs courses84 :
o le grand raid
(177 km tour complet du Golfe avec passage en bateau entre Locmariaquer et Arzon)
o le raid (87 km)
o le trail (56 km)
o la ronde des douaniers
(36 km)
o la marche nordique
(28 km)
·
Marathon de Vannes85 : Créée en 2000, cette épreuve de course à pied se dispute sur
route sur une distance de 42,195 km sur le territoire vannetais au
mois d'octobre. Ce marathon est labellisé national par la Fédération française d'athlétisme.
·
La Vannetaise : Cette course, créée en 2007, se dispute sur une distance de 6 km.
Épreuve réservée aux femmes, les bénéfices sont intégralement versés à Faire
Face Ensemble, association qui accompagne les personnes atteintes du cancer et
leurs proches.
·
Trail des Remparts de Vannes86,87: Créées en 2010, deux
courses urbaines sur 7 km et 15 km sont organisées le
premier dimanche de juillet. De nombreuses animations pour les enfants font de
cette course un événement festif.
·
Corrida vannetaise88 : Organisée le
dernier dimanche de l'année par l'association Courir Auray-Vannes, cette course
festive de 8 km permet à de nombreux coureurs d'exhiber leurs
déguisements.
Aviron
Le
Cercle d'aviron de Vannes organise chaque année depuis 2014 la Régate des
Souris. Le départ et l'arrivée sont fixés au pont de Kérino et le circuit
contourne les îles Logoden par le Sud.
Basket-ball
Vannes
accueille, en juin 2013, des matchs du championnat d'Europe
féminin.
Douze matchs de premier tour se déroulent au complexe sportif de Kercado.
Cyclisme
·
La ville accueillit à de nombreuses reprise des étapes du Tour de France. Elle fut ville
d'arrivée ou/et de départ à douze reprises : 1925, 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, 1947, 1954, 1985, 1993, 2000 et 2015 ; ce qui fait de Vannes, après Brest et Rennes, la ville bretonne où
le tour a fait le plus de haltes.
Équitation
Concours
indoor de saut d'obstacles créé en 1999. La compétition est classée Pro
Élite, le plus haut niveau pour une compétition de ce type.
Football
La
ville a accueilli, au sein du stade de la Rabine, plusieurs manifestations dans le monde du football féminin.
Telle que la Coupe du monde de football militaire féminine en 2016
ou encore la finale de la Coupe de France féminine le 19 mai 2017,
opposant le Paris Saint-Germain à l'Olympique lyonnais. La ville de Vannes verra plusieurs matchs se dérouler chez
elle, en août 2018, pendant la Coupe du monde féminine
de football U20 (match d'ouverture, demi-finales, match pour la 3e place
et finale).
Nautisme
·
Régate Vannes-les Açores-Vannes :
Créée
en 1988 à l'initiative de
la Société des Régates de Vannes, cette course de voiliers Pogo est organisée
entre Vannes et Horta. Disparue depuis 1994 après trois éditions, la course à la
voile renaît en 2009 sur un parcours
aller-retour de 2 400 miles et une régate dans la baie d'Horta, au
cœur de l'archipel portugais. L'épreuve, initialement réservée aux 6,50 m,
est ouverte aux Pogo 8.50 et 10.50, et peut être disputée en solo ou en double.
·
Course-Croisière Vannes-Fareham :
Course-croisière
à la voile entre Vannes et la ville de Fareham dans le comté d'Hampshire en Angleterre. Créée en 2001, cette course se déroule tous les deux ans
dans le cadre du jumelage entre les deux villes.
Roller
En
2013, 2014 et 2016, le Vannes Roller Marathon a été organisé par
l'association GROL Vannes Agglo [archive] sur un circuit urbain avec plusieurs courses (dont
semi-marathon et marathon). L'édition 2016 comptait pour la coupe de France de
Roller90
Rugby à XV
Vannes
accueille, en juin 2013, le Championnat du monde junior. Les matchs de la poule
B, les demi-finales et finale se déroulent au stade de la Rabine. Vannes a en outre accueilli le 18 mars 2016 dans le cadre
du Tournoi des Six Nations 2016 le match France - Angleterre des équipes
féminines ou encore le test match Fidji - Japon le 26 novembre 2016 au stade de la Rabine.
Divers
·
Tournoi des Vénètes :
Créées
en 1988, ces joutes nautiques se déroulent dans
le port de plaisance où se confrontent les équipes des villes du Pays de Vannes. Les joutes sont
organisées par le Kiwanis
Club de
Vannes.
Outre
la presse quotidienne nationale française, la presse de Vannes et sa
région est représentée essentiellement par les deux journaux quotidiens
régionaux présents en Bretagne : Le Télégramme et Ouest-France.
D'autres
magazines locaux permettent de suivre l'actualité généraliste ou régionaliste
sur papier ou via leur site internet : Mensuel du Golfe du Morbihan, Bretagne Magazine... On peut également citer « Vannes Mag », le
magazine municipal vannetais, ainsi que « Morbihan Magazine », le
magazine du conseil général du Morbihan. L'Agence Bretagne Presse actif sur tout le territoire breton, édite sur son site
internet des publications qui proviennent de diverses associations culturelles,
de syndicats et de mouvements politiques actifs en Bretagne (environ un millier
de structures accréditées), et d'un réseau de correspondants. « Le P'tit
Zappeur », d'origine vannetaise, est le 1er réseau
français de magazines TV gratuits.
En
matière de presse économique, on note la présence du mensuel Le Journal des entreprises présent en Morbihan.
La
ville est couverte par des antennes locales de radios :
·
RMS sur 89.6 FM, la radio associative du sud du Morbihan
·
RCF Sud Bretagne Vannes sur 90.2 FM, la radio chrétienne du Diocèse de Vannes.
·
Virgin Radio Vannes sur 92.4 FM, elle émet le programme national de Virgin
Radio et des décrochages locaux.
·
Radio Bro Gwened sur 94.8 FM, la
radio associative de Pontivy qui propose des
émissions en breton et d'autres en français. Elle remplace la fréquence
vannetaise de Radio Korrigans.
·
Alouette sur 96.7 FM, la
radio vendéenne émettant sur le Sud de la Bretagne91 ainsi que sur
les Pays de la Loire, une partie du Centre, le Poitou-Charentes et le Limousin92. Ses studios se
trouvent en Vendée, aux Herbiers.
·
Radio Caroline sur 99.5 FM, elle
est une radio locale commerciale émettant sur l'Armorique. Ses studios se
trouvent à Rennes, sur l'avenue
Chardonnet.
·
France Bleu Armorique sur 101.3 FM, elle est la radio locale publique basée
à Rennes. Elle bénéficie d'une
large couverture sur le Morbihan grâce à cette
fréquence, qui émet depuis la tour hertzienne TDF de Moustoir-Ac.
·
Hit
West Vannes sur
107.1 FM, elle est la radio régionale du Grand Ouest français. Elle appartient au groupe Précom tout comme les
régies publicitaires de Virgin Radio en Bretagne et dans les Pays de la Loire.
·
Radio Korrigans est diffusée sur son site internet93. Elle diffusait ses
programmes sur le 94.8 FM jusqu'en 2006, année du non-renouvellement de son
autorisation d'émettre.
·
LaRG’ (La Radio du Golfe), radio associative sur 89.2 FM94.
·
France 3 Bretagne est présente sur
Vannes et propose des éditions du 12/13 et du 19/20 en langue bretonne. Elle
est diffusée sur Vannes et tout le Morbihan grâce à la tour
hertzienne TDF du Moustoir-Ac.
·
Enfin, la chaîne de télévision locale TébéSud (anciennement
Ty Télé) diffuse des émissions sur le Morbihan et un décrochage
d'une heure par jour permet de s'informer de la vie locale du bassin vannetais
et du reste du département. Elle est basée à Lorient.
Articles détaillés : Diocèse de Vannes, Liste des évêques de Vannes et Liste des édifices religieux de
Vannes.
Vannes
est le siège du diocèse de Vannes depuis le ve siècle et rattachée à
la province ecclésiastique de Rennes. Le 29 novembre 1801, les diocèses bretons sont réorganisés. Le
diocèse de Vannes se voit rattaché une partie du diocèse de Saint-Malo. L'évêque actuel est monseigneur Raymond Centène qui a choisi de s'entourer de trois prêtres au service de
la mise en œuvre du projet diocésain pastoral et missionnaire dans le diocèse
de Vannes pour les années 2009-2015c 1: le père Maurice
Roger, vicaire général; le père Jean-Pierre Penhouet, vicaire épiscopal chargé du projet diocésain et délégué diocésain à
l’apostolat des laïcs et le père Gaétan Lucas, vicaire épiscopal chargé des prêtres, des diacres et des laïcs ayant une
lettre de mission. Il remplace à cette fonction monseigneur François-Mathurin Gourvès, évêque de Vannes de 1991 à 2005. La ville
compte 6 paroisses en 2009. Parmi les lieux de pèlerinage, les deux
principaux sont la cathédrale Saint-Pierrec 2 où repose le
tombeau de Saint Vincent Ferrier et l'Église Saint-Patern dédiée à l'un des saints fondateurs de Bretagnec 3 qui est une étape
du Tro
Breiz.
Les églises Saint-Pie-X, Saint-Vincent-Ferrier, Saint-Guenc 4 et Notre-Dame-de-Lourdes sont les autres églises de Vannes, siège d'une paroisse et
fondée après le xixe siècle.
La Fraternité Sacerdotale Saint Pie X dispose avec la
chapelle Sainte-Anne d'un lieu de culte à Vannes.
·
L'Église protestante unie de France a une paroisse
« Vannes-Morbihan est »c 5. Les cultes
hebdomadaires et cérémonies religieuses ont lieu au temple de Vannes, situé
entre l'hôtel de ville et le Palais des arts et des congrès.
·
Islam : Actuellement, la
ville dispose de deux salles de prières pour les fidèles musulmans, un projet
de mosquée est en coursc 6,c 7
·
Judaïsme : La ville ne
possède pas de synagogue, les juifs de Vannes
sont rattachés au rabbin de Nantes : Consistoire israélite
de Nantes.
·
Bouddhisme : Le Centre
bouddhique zen Sōtō de Vannes est le
plus grand centre bouddhique zen de l'ouest de la Francec 8.
L’adhésion
à la charte Ya d'ar brezhoneg a été votée par le Conseil municipal le 12 octobre 2007.
La
commune a reçu le label de niveau 1 de la charte le 8 décembre 2007.
À
la rentrée 2018, 560 élèves
étaient scolarisés à Diwan et dans les
filières bilingues publiques et catholiques95.
L'école Diwan scolarise
112 élèves à la rentrée 2018 en maternelle et primaire. Le collège Diwan accueille
129 collégiens en 2018.
La
première crèche par immersion « Babigoù Breizh » a été créée à Vannes
en 2011.
Emglev
Bro Gwened
« L'Entente
du pays de Vannes » regroupe des associations culturelles bretonnes afin
de pourvoir ensemble à la défense, la promotion et la diffusion de la culture bretonne sous toutes ses
formes, y compris linguistique, de favoriser l’entraide, la communication et la
coopération entre ses adhérents.
La
« maison de pays » Ti ar Vro est située rue de
la Loi à Vannes et rayonne sur le pays Vannetais.
Si
on l'estime en termes d'emplois, l'économie du pays vannetais est surtout basée
sur le tertiaire. L'industrie est
essentiellement un tissu de PMI, les secteurs les plus importants étant l'agroalimentaire (160 entreprises, 1 900 salariés), la production de produits
intermédiaires (390 entreprises, 4 000 salariés) et le nautisme (80 entreprises,
500 emplois)s 8. Arrive ensuite
la construction et, finalement, l'agriculture et les produits de
la mer. La recherche est essentiellement publique, via l'université de Bretagne-Sud, néanmoins quelques PME de recherche se
sont développées en biochimie (Archimex)
et en informatique. La ville en tant que
préfecture du Morbihan abrite une
multitude d'organismes économiques et financiers. Elle est le siège de la Chambre de métiers et de l'artisanat du Morbihan et
d'une délégation de la Chambre de commerce et d'industrie du
Morbihan.
On peut citer le Tribunal de commerce. L'économie locale
bénéficie également du tourisme grâce au Golfe du Morbihan et à ses monuments
historiques.
Le revenu fiscal médian par ménage était en 2006 de
17 564 €, ce qui place Vannes au 8 890e rang
parmi les 30 687 communes de plus de 50 ménages en métropolei 16. En 2001, le revenu moyen étant de
16 679 €/an ce qui est légèrement supérieur à la moyenne
nationale de 15 027 €/ani 17,i 18. Au niveau de la fiscalité, on dénombre
435 Vannetais redevables de l'impôt sur la fortune (ISF). L'impôt moyen sur la
fortune à Vannes est de 4 841 €/an contre 5 683 €/an pour
la moyenne nationale. Le patrimoine moyen des Vannetais redevables de l'ISF est
estimé à environ 1 414 111 €/an.
Le
taux de fiscalité directe locale96 de la commune pour
l'année 2008 est le suivant. Ce
taux regroupe le taux de la taxe d'habitation, le taux foncier bâti, le taux non foncier bâti et le taux de
la taxe professionnelle.
Le
taux de la taxe d'habitation s'élève, au niveau communal à 14,92 %, au niveau
intercommunal à 0 %, et au niveau départemental à 7,51 %. Le taux foncier bâti se monte au
niveau communal à 18,42 %, au niveau intercommunal à 0 %, au niveau
départemental à 11,25 % et au niveau régional à 2,97 %. Le taux
foncier non bâti se chiffre, au niveau communal à 48,67 %, au niveau
intercommunal à 0 %, au niveau départemental à 25,64 % et au niveau régional
à 4,13 %. Pour ce qui est du taux de la taxe professionnelle, au niveau communal à 0 %, au niveau intercommunal à
15,56 %, au niveau départemental à 7,33 % et au niveau régional à
3,13 %97.
Pour
l'année 2001, en comparaison
de Rennes, à Vannes, 60 %
des revenus déclarés sont d'origine salariale contre 68 % à Rennes. Les
revenus des professions indépendantes ont un poids plus grand, comme les
retraites. Les cadres sont proportionnellement moins nombreux à Vannes qu'à
Rennes mais un peu plus d'ouvriers et surtout plus d'employés. Les artisans, commerçants, chefs d'entreprise et les retraités - aisés ou modestes - sont plus présentsi 17.
Le
quartier de Tohannic dans le sud-est de la ville connaît le revenu médian le
plus élevé avec 20 600 €. Quatre autres quartiers, si l'on exclut les
quartiers peu peuplés, dépassent 17 000 € :
Bernus-Kergypt-Keruzen-Campen, Rive Gauche du Port, Trussac, Le Pargo-Bois de
Vincin. De l'autre côté de l'échelle des revenus, six quartiers n'atteignent
pas 13 000 € : Ménimur-1 et 2, Kercado-1 et 2, Caserne-Centre
Hospitalier, Cliscouet. Les quartiers de Ménimur-1 et Kercado-1 sont les plus
défavorisés avec un revenu médian de 6 500 € seulementi 17.
Au recensement de 2006, la ville comptait
39 812 emplois dont environ 92 % de salariés et 8 % de non
salariési 19. Ces emplois se
répartissaient très majoritairement (86,35 %) dans le secteur tertiairei 20 (administration,
enseignement, santé, commerce, services, transports, immobilier). Cette
répartition reflète le développement touristique de la station balnéaire.
|
Répartition des emplois par domaines
d'activité |
||||||
|
|
Agriculture |
Industrie |
Construction |
Tertiaire |
dont Commerce |
dont Services |
|
Vannes |
0,69 % |
8,34 % |
4,62 % |
86,35 % |
13,7 % |
72,65 % |
|
Moyenne nationale |
3,51 % |
15,2 % |
6,4 % |
74,84 % |
13,3 % |
61,54 % |
|
Sources des données : INSEEi 21 |
||||||
La
population active comptait 23 824 personnes, soit un taux d'activité de 67,9 %.
Parmi celles-ci, 20 975 avait un emploi et 2 849 étaient en chômage,
soit un taux
d'emploi de
59,7 % et un taux de chômage de 8,1 %i 22, inférieur de
0,2 point au taux national et supérieur de 1,3 points par rapport à
la moyenne départementale égale à 6,8 %. Parmi les personnes ayant un
emploi, 68 % travaillaient dans la commune et 27,1 % dans d'autres
communes du département. Les transports domicile-travail se faisaient très
majoritairement (73,22 %) en voitures particulières.
|
Répartition des emplois par catégories
socioprofessionnelles |
||||||
|
|
Agriculteurs |
Artisans, commerçants, |
Cadres, professions |
Professions |
Employés |
Ouvriers |
|
Vannes |
0,3 % |
4,3 % |
14,38 % |
29 % |
34,1 % |
17,9 % |
|
Moyenne nationale |
0,2 % |
5,9 % |
15,39 % |
24,6 % |
28,7 % |
23,17 % |
|
Sources des données : INSEEi 21 |
||||||
La
ville de Vannes et son pays est une technopole représentée par la
société VIPE (Vannes Innovation Promotion Expansion). Quatre axes stratégiques
de développement ont été définis : la valorisation des produits naturels
(technologies d’extraction, de purification, de retraitement), le traitement de
l’information (création logicielle, systèmes de gestion logistique), la santé
et bien-être (télémédecine, instrumentation,
produits de bien-être) ainsi que les loisirs et le nautisme (engins de loisirs
en milieu naturel, ingénierie nautique). Les entreprises technopolitaines sont
réparties sur l’ensemble du territoire du Pays de Vannes mais tout
particulièrement sur le Parc d’Innovation Bretagne Sud (PIBS) épicentre du
technopôle, situé au sud-est de la ville.
Vannes
est une ville internet98 et a obtenu le
label @@@ en 200599, le label @@@@ en
2006100, puis le label @@@@@ depuis
2007101,102,103,104. Ce label récompense
les villes les plus dynamiques en matière de nouvelles technologies. La ville a
également été primée deux fois aux Trophées de la communication 2008105. Le concours national
« Les Trophées de la communication », organisé par l’association
Wexcom récompense chaque année les meilleurs outils, acteurs ou actions de
communication de l’année. Vannes concourait à ces Trophées 2008 dans deux
catégories distinctes; elle se classe à la 3e place de ce
concours pour son site Internet et à la 2e pour le Vannes
Mag, le bulletin d'information municipale de la ville.
Brit Air,
monocoque d'Armel Le Cléac'h construit aux chantiers
Multiplast.
Le
nombre total d'entreprises et d'établissements, hors agriculture, au 31 décembre 2007 était de 4 551i 23 et
432 entreprises ont été créées en 2007. Ces entreprises appartiennent très
majoritairement aux secteurs « services »
(3 072 entreprises, soit 67,5 %) et « commerce et
réparations » (990 entreprises, soit 21,8 %). Les entreprises
sans personnel salarié, soit 2 136 entreprises, représentent
46,9 % du total. On dénombre 566 entreprises de plus de dix salariési 23, toutefois ces
dernières emploient 83,75 % des salariés. Entre 1998 et 2004, le taux
d'évolution du nombre de créations d'entreprises est de 28,5 %, soit le
plus haut taux de la région Bretagne.
Les
trois principales entreprises en chiffre d'affaires présentes sur la commune de
Vannes, agglomération incluse, sont le groupe CECAB avec un chiffre d'affaires de 1,3 milliard d'euros en 2008, Evialis avec un chiffre
d'affaires de 758 millions d'euros en 2007106 et le groupe Diana
Ingrédients avec un chiffre d'affaires de 318 millions d'euros en 2008.
L'association VIPE a défini une liste d'entreprises qui forment la tête de
proue de l'économie de l'agglomération vannetaise107. On trouve parmi
celles-ci Michelin, Groupama, Crédit agricole du Morbihan, Carrefour, Intermarché, les Transports frigorifiques
européens, Saupiquet, le groupe Isatech, Wind River Systems, le groupe Saur, Aserti Electronic,
Archimex, etc.
Nautisme
La
présence du secteur nautique est très marquée à
Vannes. Un pôle d'excellence dans la conception et la construction nautique
consacré à la compétition a été créé au sein du Parc du Golfe, un parc
d'activité situé sur la rive droite du port de la ville. Parmi les entreprises
implantées à Vannes, on peut noter la présence de Multiplast dont plusieurs
réalisations détiennent des records mondiaux à la voile : les catamarans
Orange I-II et Groupama III, le trimaran Géronimo, le monocoque Brit Air, etc.
D'autres
leaders sont également présents à Vannes : Bic Sport, leader
mondial de la planche à voile et du surf ; Plasmor, leader français du
kayak de mer (en procédure collective depuis le 24 octobre 2018108) et Seagull, leader
mondial du char à voile. Vannes est également le siège français du plus grand
voilier au monde, North Sails, ainsi que de nombreux cabinets d'architectes
navals. Sur le Pays de Vannes, plus de 80 entreprises représentant près de
500 emplois appartiennent au secteur du nautisme.
En
semaine, deux halles sont ouvertes au public : les Halles des Lices et la
Halle aux Poissons. Chaque mercredi et samedi a lieu un marché dans le
centre-ville de Vannes. Dans le quartier de Ménimur, un marché alimentaire a
également lieu le mardi et le vendredi matin.
Halles des Lices
Le
bâtiment dans lequel se situe les Halles des Lices date de 1912. Implanté sur le site de l’ancien hôtel de
Rosmadec (xviie siècle), sa construction avait alors suscité de vives réactions parmi
les Vannetais. Il a été restructuré au printemps 2001 pour offrir un meilleur cadre de
travail aux commerçants. Il était nécessaire qu'il soit mis en conformité avec
les règles sanitaires.
Dans
la rédaction du cahier des charges d’appel à candidatures pour le projet
architectural, le conseil municipal a laissé une large place à la créativité et
la possibilité éventuelle de conservation des éléments anciens. Sur les 4
projets réceptionnés, le jury de concours et le conseil ont retenu celui du
cabinet Peiffer, Freycenon, Plays.
Article détaillé : Monuments historiques à Vannes.
Vannes
est classée Ville d'Art et d'Histoire et abrite de nombreux monuments et
lieux culturels de premier ordre.
Des guides-conférenciers organisent des visites à la découverte de
l'intra-muros et du Vieux Vannes, de son patrimoine et de son histoire. L'agglomération vannetaise compte
trois édifices distingués par l’attribution du label patrimoine du xxe siècleNote 5. Vannes compte 272
monuments et objets classés ou inscrits à l'inventaire des monuments
historiques109.
La
commune est une ville fleurie ayant obtenu quatre fleurs en 2008110 et la
distinction Grand Prix au palmarès 2007 du concours des villes et villages fleuris et est détentrice
de deux étoiles au guide Vert Michelin.
Les
remparts vus des jardins.
Article détaillé : Remparts de Vannes.
Les
remparts de Vannes sont le système de fortifications érigées entre
les iiie et xviie siècles, sur des
vestiges gallo-romains, pour protéger la cité des pillards et des armées
ennemies. Fondée par les Romains à la fin du ier siècle av. J.-C. sous le règne d’Auguste, la civitas Venetorum se voit contrainte de se protéger derrière un castrum à la fin du iiie siècle, alors même qu'une
crise majeure secoue l’empire romain. Cette première
enceinte demeure la seule protection de la cité pendant plus d’un millénaire.
C’est à l’époque du duc Jean IV, à la fin du xive siècle, que l’enceinte de la
ville est réédifiée et étendue vers le sud pour protéger les nouveaux
quartiers. Le duc veut faire de Vannes non seulement un lieu de résidence mais
également une place forte sur laquelle il peut s’appuyer en cas de conflit. La
superficie de la ville intra-muros est doublée et le duc adjoint à la nouvelle
enceinte sa forteresse de l’Hermine.
Les guerres de la Ligue de la fin du xvie siècle obligent la ville
à se doter de plusieurs bastions polygonaux
(Gréguennic, Haute-Folie, Brozilay, Notre-Dame). L’éperon de la Garenne est le
dernier ouvrage défensif construit à Vannes vers 1630. À partir de 1670, le roi Louis XIV vend morceau par
morceau les éléments des remparts afin de financer ses guerres. L'événement le
plus significatif est, en 1697, le don à la ville de Vannes des ruines du
château de l'Hermine, qui servent alors au réaménagement du port et à l'entretien
des bâtiments municipaux.
Les
aménagements urbains du xixe siècle ont pour
conséquence la démolition de plusieurs segments de la muraille nord et ouest.
Il faut attendre la destruction partielle en 1886 de la porte Prison, un des plus vieux
accès à la vieille ville, pour voir des vannetais attachés à leur patrimoine se
réunir pour former une association de défense du patrimoine en 1911. S’ensuit la mise en place progressive de
la protection des remparts au titre des monuments historiques entre 1912 et 1958. Depuis plusieurs décennies, la ville
entreprend la remise en état et la mise en valeur des parties des remparts dont
elle est propriétaire. Clé de voûte du patrimoine vannetais et élément
touristique par excellence, les remparts de Vannes comptent parmi les rares
fortifications urbaines qui subsistent encore en Bretagne.
Vannes
et sa femme.
·
Enseigne Vannes et sa femme
Sur
une maison à colombages datant du xvie siècle ayant appartenu
à Gilles de Bretagne et inscrite monument historique111, à l'angle des rues Noé
et Pierre-René Rogue dans l'intra-muros, se trouve un des emblèmes de la ville.
L'enseigne Vannes et sa femme, surmontée des bustes d'un couple en pierre
peinte sans mains, est un des symboles de la ville dont on ne sait pas
l'origine. Cette sculpture pourrait être une enseigne commerciale, probablement
l'enseigne d'un cabaret. Cette enseigne joviale est voisine du château Gaillard, hôtel particulier, ancien siège du Parlement de Bretagne et aujourd'hui musée d'archéologie.
La
ville possède un important patrimoine de maisons à pans de bois — près de 220112,113 — plaçant la ville
au deuxième rang par leur nombre en Bretagne, derrière Rennes114. Les plus anciennes de
ces maisons à colombage datent du xve siècle. Les plus remarquables,
du fait des couleurs employées, des décors et des encorbellements, datent
du xvie siècle. On retrouve ces maisons typiques dans l’intra-muros près de la
cathédrale ainsi que dans le quartier Saint-Patern et sur la rive droite du port. Les rez-de-chaussées
sont occupés depuis l’origine par des boutiques, ainsi on retrouve certaines
enseignes originales sur les murs de ces maisons colorées au charme indéniable.
·
·
Intra Muros.
·
Rive droite du port.
·
·
Musée des Beaux-Arts La Cohue de Vannes
La tour
polygonale du Château-Gaillard.
Musée
des Beaux-Arts de la ville depuis 1982, la Cohue, mot d'origine bretonne (coc'hug signifiant
halles) utilisé au Moyen Âge pour désigner les lieux de marché dans les villes,
appartient au duc de Bretagne. Sa partie la plus ancienne remonte au xiiie siècle et l'édifice est
agrandi aux xive et xviie siècles. Situé en
plein cœur de la ville face à la cathédrale Saint-Pierre, le lieu fut le siège du palais de la justice ducale
jusqu'en 1796. À partir de 1675, le parlement de Bretagne exilé à Vannes y tint séances. La Cohue accueille
les États de Bretagne à dix reprises de 1431 à 1703. En 1532, ce fut dans cet édifice que l'acte d'Union de la Bretagne à la France fut signé.
Construite
en 1410 par Jean de
Malestroit, évêque de Saint-Brieuc et de Nantes, chancelier de Jean V depuis 1408, cette demeure médiévale est rachetée
en 1457 par le duc de Bretagne qui y installe les États de Bretagne. C'est dans cette cour souveraine que les vassaux du duc votent les
impôts. En 1485, François II confie le rôle des États dans les contentieux à une cour
de justice, le Parlement de Bretagne qui siège également à Vannes.
En 1554, alors que le Parlement s'installe à Rennes, le roi de France Henri II vend l'Hôtel. Au xviie siècle, l'hôtel appartient à
Pierre de Sérent, Président du Présidial de Vannes, qui commandite la réalisation du cabinet des Pères du désert composé de soixante-six panneaux de bois représentant de
tous les pays et de toutes les époques d'après des gravures reproduisant
l'œuvre du peintre Maarten de Vos. En 1912, la Société polymathique du Morbihan rachète le Château
Gaillard et le confie à la municipalité vannetaise en 2000 afin de créer un musée d'Histoire et
d'Archéologie qui permet la conservation et la présentation au public de ses
collections.
Château
de l'Hermine.
Jardin
du Château de l'Hermine.
·
Château de l’Hermine (ou Hôtel Lagorce)
Le
bâtiment actuel date de 1785 et n’a plus rien à
voir avec la forteresse qu’évoque Bertrand d’Argentré dans son Histoire de Bretagne de 1582. Le château tire son nom de la forteresse
construite entre 1380 et 1385 par le duc Jean IV afin de renforcer l’enceinte de Vannes et y avoir une
résidence. La forteresse est adjointe de vastes dépendances où il crée un parc,
le terrain s’étendant de la Garenne à l’étang au Duc. Sous Louis XIII, le château à l’abandon
est partiellement détruit et c’est Louis XIV qui en fait
donation à la ville de Vannes en 1697. Les pierres du château servent alors aux
réparations des bâtiments dont la ville avait la charge, ainsi qu'à la
construction des quais du port. La forteresse est pratiquement en ruine lorsque
la ville vend son emplacement et ses soubassements à Julien Lagorce, un
traiteur, qui en fait l’hôtel actuel. Par la suite, la demeure devint
successivement une école d’artillerie en 1874 puis le siège de la Trésorerie
Générale jusqu’en 1974, date à laquelle la
ville de Vannes en fait l’acquisition pour y installer l’école de droit
du Morbihan. Aujourd’hui, le
Château de l’Hermine est le siège de l’Institut culturel de Bretagne.
L'Hôtel
de Ville, avec la statue du connétable de Richemont par Arthur
Le Duc.
Remplaçant
une mairie ancienne et en mauvais état, l'hôtel de ville de Vannes est un
projet du maire républicain Émile Burgault qui en 1847 établit les premiers fondements.
C'est quarante ans plus tard que celui-ci sera réalisé. Érigé sur la place du
marché, cet hôtel de ville voulu par les républicains après leur victoire sur
les monarchistes en 1878 est le triomphe
des idées républicaines. Bâti sur les plans de l'architecte Amand Charier, fils de Marius Charier, l'hôtel de ville de style de la Renaissance italienne est encadré par deux pavillons. Sa façade principale
s'orne d'un frontispice comportant une horloge, et, au fronton, le blason de la
ville. Un grand campanile à carillon le surmonte, rappel du beffroi
d'autrefois. La façade est particulièrement travaillée : grands pilastres
des pavillons et colonnes engagées, à chapiteaux corinthiens, frontons
alternativement triangulaires et cintrés, cartouches et bustes, supports du
frontispice, volutes. L'édifice est inauguré par le ministre des Postes Félix Granet le 11
juillet 1886115, mais il coûte plus de
800 000 francs soit deux fois le montant du devis initial fixé
en 1880. Ce monument fait
l’objet d’une inscription au titre des monuments historiques depuis le 2 décembre 1992116.
La
préfecture du Morbihan.
·
Hôtel et jardins de la Préfecture
Inaugurée
le 23 août 1865 sous Napoléon III, la nouvelle préfecture
du Morbihan est construite par
l'architecte départemental Émile Amé sur le site de l'ancien couvent des jacobins tout près du
quartier Saint-Patern. Cet édifice, bâti sur un plan en U, s'apparente au style Louis XIII avec son corps de
30 mètres de large. Le décor du fronton fait référence à l'Empire (aigle
impérial) et à l'histoire bretonne avec les représentations de Nominoé, comte de Vannes et d'Alain Barbe-Torte, deux héros de
l'indépendance bretonne.
L'hôtel
de la préfecture est entouré d'un parc de cinq hectares. La plus grande partie
est composée d'un jardin à l'anglaise dessiné en 1862 par Louis-Sulpice Varé, architecte-paysagiste de Paris, auteur du bois de Boulogne. Placé en contrebas de
l'aile des archives, un jardin à la française de 5 000 m2 fut
redessiné en 1975.
Cet
Hôtel particulier en forme de L, a sa façade principale sur la rue et une aile
en retour au sud. Un jardin à la française occupe les arrières de l'Hôtel. Il
fut construit vers 1685 par Raymond le
Doulx, chanoine de la cathédrale de Vannes originaire de Bordeaux. À la Révolution, il
est saisi à Armand de Gouvello, parti en émigration, et, en 1795, l'hôtel de Limur est le siège d'une
commission militaire chargée de juger les prisonniers du Débarquement de Quiberon. L'hôtel est ensuite la propriété de Mahé
de Villeneuve, maire sous le Consulat et l'Empire, puis de Joseph-François
Danet, receveur général du département. En 1820, la ville projette d'en faire sa mairie
mais le projet est avorté. Jusqu'en 1947, la famille de Limur demeure dans l'Hôtel,
date à laquelle la ville de Vannes en devient propriétaire. Le musée des
Beaux-Arts aujourd'hui situé à La Cohue y emménage de 1955 à 1968. Classé monument historique en 1993, l'Hôtel de Limur connaît une restauration
complète depuis 1996. Elle accueille entre ses murs des concerts et des
expositions.
·
Jardins des Remparts.
·
Remparts et jardin.
·
Tour du Connétable, remparts et jardins.
·
Lavoirs sur la Marle.
·
Ancienne mairie de Vannes.
·
Lavoirs de la Garenne sur la Marle
Ces
lavoirs en galerie couverte ont été construits entre 1817 et 1821 et restaurés
en 2006117.
Plusieurs
jardins sont à signaler :
·
Jardin de collection florale des Salines de Conleau
Article détaillé : Liste des édifices religieux de
Vannes.
·
Cathédrale Basilique Saint-Pierre de Vannes.
Façade
de la cathédrale.
Façade
de la Cathédrale Basilique Saint-Pierre de Vannes.
La
première cathédrale de Vannes fut détruite en 919 lors des raids vikings en Bretagne. Une nouvelle cathédrale fut construite
vers 1020 par l'évêque Judicaël et son frère Geoffroi Ier, duc de Bretagne, dans un style roman mais on ignore si
c'est au même emplacement. Faite de granit et continuellement
modifiée par l'addition de nouvelles structures, la cathédrale est un édifice
extrêmement composite. À la fin du xiie siècle ou au début
du xiiie siècle, les évêques Rouaud et Guéthenoc réédifient une nouvelle
cathédrale dont subsistent la base du clocher et quelques pans du chœur. La
reconstruction en style gothique, décidée par
l'évêque Yves de Pontsal, se fit aux xve et xvie siècles,
entre 1454 et 1520. Elle fut rendue nécessaire du fait que
l'ancien sanctuaire était devenu trop petit pour faire face à l'affluence des
pèlerins qui se pressaient autour du tombeau de saint Vincent Ferrier, mort à Vannes en 1419 et enterré dans le chœur de la
cathédrale. Elle est édifiée grâce aux offrandes des pèlerins venus se
recueillir sur le tombeau du saint que le pape Calixte III vient de
canoniser. De cette époque datent la nef, le transept et le porche du croisillon nord. Ce porche
comprend, suivant la coutume bretonne, douze niches destinées à recevoir les
statues des douze apôtres. Au xvie siècle fût
également construite une chapelle ronde à étage, la chapelle du Saint-Sacrement, petit joyau de style Renaissance, accolé à la façade
nord du transept, au niveau de la cinquième travée. La tour nord est la
principale structure héritée de l'ancienne construction romane. Les voûtes et
le chœur ne furent construits qu'au xviiie siècle entre 1771 et 1774. Enfin, la tour sud et la façade
occidentale avec son porche datent du milieu du xixe siècle. Ce monument fait
l’objet d’un classement au titre des monuments historiques depuis le 30 octobre 1906118.
Clocher
de l'église Saint Patern.
Tout
comme pour la Cathédrale de Vannes, l'église Saint Patern fut détruite au xe siècle lors des invasions
normandes en Bretagne. L'édifice est reconstruit au siècle suivant et est
pendant tout le Moyen Âge une importante étape de pèlerinage. Saint Patern, premier évêque attesté
de l'évêché de Vannes est un des sept saints fondateurs de Bretagne. Ses reliques,
conservées à Vannes, attirent la foule des pèlerins du Tro Breiz. Le pèlerinage crée de
grands troubles dans la ville au xive siècle. Le clergé de Saint
Patern et les chanoines de la cathédrale se disputent le droit de présenter les
reliques, de recevoir les vénérations, et donc les offrandes. Les fidèles de la
paroisse de Saint Patern défendent leurs droits contre les chanoines aidés par
des sergents du duc. Les paroissiens font le guet et s'enferment dans l'église
à l'arrivée des partisans des chanoines. Le clergé recommande cependant aux
fidèles de jeter les offrandes par les fenêtres de l'église. L'affaire est
réglée par l'intervention du clergé de Rome. Au xve siècle, le pèlerinage fut en
partie délaissé après le passage et la prédication de Saint Vincent Ferrier, qui fit de l'ombre au
saint fondateur. L'église romane fut victime des tempêtes en 1721-1726. L'édifice actuel a été reconstruit
dès 1727 sur les plans de
l'architecte vannetais Olivier Delourme. Le grand escalier, la
tour de granit et sa lanterne sont commencés en 1769, mais la flèche ne peut être achevée
qu'en 1826. De janvier 2007 à mars 2008, l'église connaît une restauration
complète dans le style baroque d'origine :
toiture, charpente et voûte en lambris, enduits, étanchéité, installations
électriques, consolidation du clocher, réfection complète du dallage avec
intégration d'un plancher chauffant, ré-aménagement du chœur avec la pose d'un
ensemble de stalles de chœur en chêne massif sculpté datant de 1695, ayant été initialement installées
aux Carmes de Ploërmel, puis ayant transité
par la chapelle des Ursulines de Saint-Pol-de-Léon119.
Place de
l'Hôtel de Ville et Chapelle Saint-Yves.
Inscrite
aux monuments historiques depuis le 29 septembre 1975, la chapelle, dépendant du collège
Jules-Simon, fut construite de 1661 à 1685 sur les plans du frère Charles Turmel, architecte de la Compagnie de Jésus. La chapelle est inspiré des modèles baroques italiens et
représentative du style jésuite de l'époque. Élevée alors que la ville connaît
un important essor religieux avec l'installation de nombreuses communautés et
la construction de couvents, maisons de retraite ou chapelles, la chapelle
Saint-Yves est édifiée sur un soubassement en granit. Les deux niveaux sont
coiffés d'un haut fronton, dans lequel est gravé le monogramme des Jésuites IHS
(Jesus Hominum Salvator). Les volumes de cette chapelle sont simples,
une nef unique, un chœur réduit. Catherine de Francheville, mécène, fait inscrire sur le linteau du
portail Fundavit eam Altissimus (C'est le Très Haut qui a
construit cette chapelle). Le gouverneur de Vannes, Claude de Lannion, fait don de 3 000 livres
pour la confection d'un retable réalisé par le retablier nantais Jean Boffrand. Ce retable aux colonnes de marbre noir à chapiteaux
corinthiens est doté d'ailes dont les niches sont meublées de deux statues. Le
tableau au cœur du retable est consacré au triomphe de saint Ignace de Loyola. La chapelle est
actuellement en cours de réhabilitation120.
Article détaillé : Port de
Vannes.
Rive
gauche du port.
La
nouvelle esplanade du port de Plaisance.
Afin
de faciliter le traitement de l'information sous une forme automatisée, on
utilise pour Vannes la chaîne de caractères codifiées VA, selon la liste des quartiers
maritimes.
·
Le Corbeau des mers
Ce
bateau dont le nom fait référence au grand cormoran, est un navire de pêche de type caseyeur spécialisé dans le
ramassage des langoustes. C'est un voilier en
bois de type sloop construit en 1931 au chantier Belbehoc'h de Crozon pour un
patron-pêcheur de l'île de Sein. Le Corbeau des
mers s'est rendu célèbre pour avoir répondu, ainsi que le Rouanez-ar-Péoc'h et
le Maris Stella, à l’appel du 18 juin 1940 du général De Gaulle. C'est ainsi que,
le 26 juin 1940121, Pierre Couillandre et
vingt-sept Sénans s'embarquent pour
l'Angleterre. Île-de-Sein recevra pour son
attitude durant cette période la médaille de la libération122. En 1981, il est racheté par le Musée de la
résistance bretonne de Saint-Marcel123. Après sa restauration
en 1987, il obtient son
classement aux monuments historiques en 1991. Géré par une association loi de 1901, il organise des voyages en mer dans un but éducatif. Son port
d'attache reste Vannes bien que son immatriculation soit alréenne (AY 1684).
Ce
bateau est un sinago, dernier bateau de
pêche de ce type construit en 1943. Il appartient à l'association Les
Amis du Sinagot124 de Vannes
depuis 1985. Construit en 1943 au
chantier Querrien au Bono, il a été lancé sous le
nom de Solveig. Le sinago est une chaloupe de pêche à deux mâts, appelé avant
chaloupe de Séné (commune du golfe du Morbihan). Il porte deux voiles
au tiers, couleur rouge brique. Sa coque est en chêne, passée au coaltar. Il a subi une première restauration en 1988, au chantier Michelet à Conleau, et une seconde,
en 1992, au chantier du
Guip125 à l’île aux Moines.
Pendant
longtemps, Vannes a été considérée comme étant une enclave française en
terre bretonne. Aujourd'hui, la
culture bretonne s'exprime pleinement dans la cité. Lors de l'émigration des Bretons en Armorique, Vannes constituait un îlot gallo-romain, qui
influença localement le breton par un petit nombre d'emprunts au roman. Par la suite, elle se
bretonnisa à la fin du haut Moyen Âge et demeura longtemps un bastion du breton alors que Saint-Brieuc par exemple,
basculait au français et influençait progressivement ses environs.
Le Bagad
Melinerion évolue en première catégorie du championnat national des
bagadoù.
Lors
de la réouverture du Palais des Arts, la ville a symboliquement dénommé le théâtre : Théâtre
Anne-de-Bretagne et Vannes accueille également un bagad, le Bagad Melinerion (bagad de 1re catégorie).
Vannes
est une ville pionnière dans le renouveau de la culture bretonne. Ainsi, un
département de musique traditionnelle a été créé au sein du conservatoire et
le 8 décembre 2007, Vannes a signé la charte de l’office public de la langue bretonne Ya d'ar brezhonegs 9. À la rentrée 2007, 1 137 enfants étaient inscrits
dans des écoles primaires bilingues de la commune126.
Vannes
dispose au sein de son centre historique de deux musées classés musées de France. Le musée d'archéologie du Morbihan, situé dans un hôtel
du xve siècle est installé dans l'ancien hôtel du Parlement de Bretagne dit le Château-Gaillard. Ce musée consacré à l'histoire du Morbihan accueille les
collections de la Société polymathique du Morbihan, collections remontant
à la préhistoire. Le musée est très riche en objets préhistoriques provenant,
pour la plupart, des premières fouilles des mégalithes du
Morbihan : Carnac, Locmariaquer, presqu'île de Rhuys, qui permirent de mettre au jour de très belles pièces. L'autre
musée de la ville est la Cohue située en face de la Cathédrale Saint-Pierre et présente des œuvres d'horizons divers : peintures
contemporaines, figuratives, d'artistes bretons (notamment une collection
d'œuvres de Geneviève Asse127), etc.
Le
principal complexe accueillant les concerts, les salons et les congrès, se nomme
le Chorus. Situé sur un terrain de six hectares au sein du parc du Golfe,
un parc d'activité du sud-ouest de la ville, le Chorus est un complexe
pluri-fonctionnel. Un autre complexe, l'Echonova, lieu de musiques actuelles de
l'agglomération vannetaise inauguré en 2010, est situé sur le territoire de la ville
voisine de Saint-Avé128.
Les
concerts de musique classique et de musiques du monde sont joués à l’auditorium des Carmes, composante du conservatoire de musique de Vanness 10 situé rive droite
du port de plaisance. Les pièces théâtrales, quant à elles, sont représentées
au théâtre Anne de Bretagnes 11, théâtre localisé dans
le Palais des Arts et des Congrès.
Enfin,
Vannes accueille le siège de l'association Motocultor Fest Prod, qui organise
divers concerts à vannes même, et surtout chaque mois d'août le Motocultor Festival dans des communes limitrophes de Vannes (par manque de
terrains disponibles sur la commune de Vannes).
Depuis
2016, Le Ker, un parc à thème a ouvert. Ce musée se consacre à l'histoire
bretonne à partir de la Préhistoire et jusqu'à la
bataille des Vénètes qui opposa les Celtes aux armées
de Jules
César129.
Le cinéma apparaît dès 1901 à Vannes. Les premières projections
des films produits par les frères Lumières se font sous chapiteau ou bien alors au théâtre de la Cohue et dans les locaux du patronage Saint-François qui
deviendra le cinéma de la Garenne.
En 2009, Vannes dispose de deux cinémas pour un total de
quatorze salles de cinéma dont :
·
le « cinéville la Garenne » (12 Bis Rue
Alexandre Le Pontois), construit en 1925 (cinq salles) et classé cinéma d'art et d'essai ;
·
le « cinéville Parc-lann » (Rue Aristide
Boucicaut), construit en 2005 (neuf salles).
Histoire des cinémas
vannetais
Façade
conservée de l'Eden en 2010.
Le
premier cinéma vannetais est créé en 1922 par Robert Damilot, un décorateur
parisien. Une façade Art déco représentant des
motifs floraux et végétaux est réalisée et la capacité de l'ancienne salle
de Roller Skating est portée à 900 places. Le cinéma propose un
orchestre, un balcon et un promenoir. Racheté en 1966, le cinéma est rebaptisé « Comédia »
puis « Universel ». L'ouverture du Palais des Arts compromet
un projet de programmation de spectacles autres que cinématographiques.
En 1981, le cinéma change de propriétaire
et de nom pour devenir le cinéma « l’Eden »p 2. Le bâtiment est
agrandi en hauteur et par l’arrière, il comporte trois salles de 225, 156 et
128 places. Le cinéma ferme ses portes en 2003 faisant place à un complexe
immobilier qui intègre la façade repeinte et entretenue.
En 1925, l'abbé Guillaume, professeur de dessin
au collège
Saint-François-Xavier, crée, dans l'ancienne salle de patronage Saint-François proche
du plateau de la Garenne face aux remparts, une salle de cinéma de
1 000 places décorée de panneaux évocateurs de sites et de monuments
du Morbihan peints par
l'artiste vannetais Victor Guesde. En 1951, la salle connaît des réaménagements
devenus obligatoires mis en œuvre par l’architecte vannetais Guy Claubert de
Clery qui dessina les plans de l'église Saint-Pie X. La Soredic, propriétaire du cinéma
en 1970, en fait un complexe de
trois salles. Aujourd'hui, le « Cinéville La Garenne »p 3 comporte cinq
salles de 316 à 75 fauteuils. La Soredic, également propriétaire de
l'autre cinéma vannetais, a passé une convention avec la mairie de Vannes et
l’association Cin’écran afin de promouvoir la programmation d’Art et Essai.
Le
troisième cinéma de la ville, « le Royal »p 4, fut construit en 1936 par Léonce Liets en place et lieu
d'un garage, plus anciennement des bains-douches privés créés en 1863 non loin de l'Hôtel de Ville. La
façade, très étroite, est habillée d'un oriel à deux niveaux, de forme
semi-circulaire correspondant aux parties privées. La salle à la façade étroite
surmontée d’un oriel de 500 places à deux étages se déploie en arrière. Le
« Royal » ferma ses portes le 23 octobre 2001, laissant place à une librairie. La salle
est complètement restructurée mais conserve sa face étroite en béton enduit.
Le
dernier et plus grand cinéma vannetais est inauguré en 2005 dans la zone commerciale de Parc Lann
au Nord-Ouest de la ville. « Le cinéville Parc Lann »,
propriété du groupe Soredic, est un multiplexe de neuf salles.
Une ville cinéphile
Avec
deux cinémas en activité, dont un consacré aux films d'art et d'essais, Vannes
est attachée au septième Art. Avec en 2006, 494 000 entrées pour
52 000 habitants (9,55 entrées/habitant130),
475 000 entrées pour 52 000 habitants
(9,19 entrées/habitant131) en 2007 et 530 000 entrées pour
53 000 habitants (10,02 entrées/habitant132) en 2008, les cinémas vannetais occupent la tête du
classement régional de la fréquentation des salles de cinéma selon les études
effectués par le Centre National Cinématographique (CNC). La
fréquentation enregistrée a connu une hausse de 86,2 % entre 2005 et 2006, deuxième plus forte progression sur le
territoire national après Calais.
Vannes
est également le lieu d'un événement lié au septième art : les « Rencontres
du Cinéma européen », organisé par l'association Cin'écran.
Article détaillé : Personnalités liées à Vannes.
Articles détaillés : Armorial des communes du
Morbihan et Blason
de Vannes.
|
|
Les armes de Vannes se blasonnent ainsi : « De gueules à l'hermine passante d'argent, colletée et bouclée
d'argent, cravatée d'hermine doublée d'or ». |
|
Ce
blason a été enregistré à l'armorial général de France de 1696. L'hermine a été popularisée par le
duc Jean IV qui baptisa de ce nom le château qu'il bâtit à Vannes et l'ordre de chevalerie qu'il fonda en 1381. C'est à Vannes que fut proclamée en 1532, devant le roi François Ier, l'Union de la Bretagne à la France.
Porte
Saint-Vincent.
Ces
armoiries sont connues depuis le xve siècle. L'hermine et sa moucheture typique est traditionnellement attribuée
à la Bretagne, dont Vannes a été
l'une des capitales. L'écu est timbré d'une
couronne murale. La couronne murale à quatre tours (anciennement à trois tours)
rappelle que Vannes est la préfecture du MorbihanNote 6. Les supports de l'écu,
deux lévriers, rappellent ceux qui
furent offerts à François Ier lorsqu'il vint à
Vannes le 4
août 1532 pour le traité d'union perpétuelle.
Le lévrier est symbole de fidélité et de noblesse.
La devise de la ville est « Da'm Buhez », ce qui signifie « À
ma vie », a comme origine le duc Jean IV qui institua en 1381 l'ordre chevaleresque de l'Hermine. Les chevaliers de
l'Ordre portaient au cou un collier auquel pendait une hermine au naturel qu'on
voit dans le blason de la ville. La devise qui était celle de l'Ordre, rappelle
le fait historique dont Vannes a été le théâtre. À ma vie est
également la devise des ducs de la maison de Montfort.
Article détaillé : Drapeau
de Vannes.
|
Drapeau de
Vannes |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Caractéristiques |
|
|
Proportions |
2:3 |
|
Adoption |
|
|
Éléments |
Hermine blanche sur fond rouge portant un
manteau d'hermine |
La
ville utilise comme drapeau sa bannière armoriée : une hermine
passante blanche sur fond rouge portant un manteau d'hermine.
Une
différence est notable entre le blason et le drapeau, en effet, l'hermine du
drapeau est bouclée et accolée de la jarretière flottante de Bretagne alors que
l'hermine du blason est cravatée d'hermine doublée d'or.
Le
fond rouge symbolise le royaume du Broërec dont la capitale
fut Vannes. Une miniature du xve siècle donne à ce royaume
du Moyen
Âge un
drapeau à la croix dentelée de rouge accompagnée d'hermines d'où la couleur
rouge du fond de ce drapeau. L'hermine au naturel est le
symbole de la Bretagne. À l'origine
représentée sous la forme d'une moucheture, l'hermine est plus rarement apposée sous sa forme naturelle.
En Bretagne, il existe une
multitude de villes utilisant des mouchetures d'hermines en tant qu'éléments
dans leur blason ou drapeau. Au contraire, seules quelques-unes d'entre elles
utilisent l'hermine au naturel comme symbole. Les exemples les plus connus
sont, à l'exception du blason et du drapeau vannetais, le blason et
drapeau malouin et le drapeau
moderne de la province du Vannetais. La jarretière
flottante de Bretagne symbolise l'ordre de l'Hermine.
Le
drapeau de la ville, bien que connu d'un grand nombre de Vannetais et de
Bretons, n'est que peu usité. On peut retrouver le drapeau de la ville à la
place d'honneur (gauche) sur le parvis de l'hôtel de ville à côté du Gwenn ha du, du drapeau français et du drapeau européen, sur le port de plaisance.
|
|
Le logo de la mairie de Vannes représente
une hermine naturelle placée sur deux bandes mouvantes,
une bleu marine et l'autre de bronze. Une moucheture
d'hermine de bronze est située
sur la bande du dessus et une bleu-marine sur la bande du dessous. En dessous
du nom de la ville est apposée une phrase : Morbihan Capitale. |
|
1.
↑ Prononciation en français de France retranscrite phonémiquement
selon la norme API.
2.
↑ Voir par exemple : Dom Joseph Vaissète, Géographie
historique, ecclésiastique et civile, Paris, 1755, p. 503 ; Consulter
en ligne [archive].
3.
↑ Par convention dans Wikipédia, le principe a été retenu de
n’afficher dans le tableau des recensements et le graphique, pour les
populations légales postérieures à 1999, que les populations correspondant à
une enquête exhaustive de recensement pour les communes de moins de
10 000 habitants, et que les populations des années 2006, 2011, 2016,
etc. pour les communes de plus de 10 000 habitants, ainsi que la
dernière population légale publiée par l’Insee pour l'ensemble des communes.
4.
↑ Population municipale légale en vigueur au 1er janvier 2021,
millésimée 2018, définie dans les limites territoriales en vigueur au 1er janvier 2020,
date de référence statistique : 1er janvier 2018.
5.
↑ Le label patrimoine du xxe siècle a
été créé en 1999 par
le Ministère de la Culture et de
la Communication. Il signale à
l’attention du public les édifices et ensembles urbains remarquables de ce siècle
en matière d’architecture - DRAC
Bretagne [archive]
6.
↑ Note circulaire du ministère de la Culture du 12 juillet 2001 :
Conseils pour la création d'armoiries par des collectivités
1.
↑ Communiqué
du maire [archive].
2.
↑ Revenir
plus haut en :a et b « http://www.mairie-vannes.fr/vannes-citoyenne/le-conseil-municipal/elus-vannetais/ »(Archive • Wikiwix • Archive.is • Google • Que faire ?)
3.
↑ Vidéo
surveillance [archive]
4.
↑ Relations
internationales [archive].
5.
↑ Enseignement
primaire [archive]
6.
↑ Études
supérieures [archive]
7.
↑ Installations
sportives [archive].
8.
↑ Le tissu
économique vannetais [archive]
9.
↑ Charte
de l'Office de la langue bretonne [archive]
10.
↑ Page du
Conservatoire de musique [archive]
11.
↑ Théâtre
Anne de Bretagne [archive]
·
Site du patrimoine de la
région Bretagne [archive]
1.
↑ Liste
des Quartiers vannetais [archive]
2.
↑ « Cinéma L'Eden » [archive], sur Patrimoine
de la région Bretagne
3.
↑ « Cinéma La Garenne » [archive], sur Patrimoine
de la région Bretagne
4.
↑ « Cinéma Le Royal » [archive], sur Patrimoine
de la région Bretagne
·
Données INSEE [archive] : Démographie - Emploi - Économie - Logement
1.
↑ Revenir
plus haut en :a et b « Évolution et
structure de la population en 2016 - Aire urbaine de Vannes (055) » [archive], sur Institut
national de la statistique et des études économiques (consulté le 24 décembre 2019)
2.
↑ Revenir
plus haut en :a et b « Populations légales
2016 - Commune de Vannes (56260) » [archive], sur Institut
national de la statistique et des études économiques (consulté le24 décembre 2019)
3.
↑ Recensement
2008 - Communauté d'Agglomération du Pays de Vannes [archive]
4.
↑ Revenir
plus haut en :a et b Recensement
2006 - Logements par type, catégorie et nombre de pièces [archive].
5.
↑ Recensement
2006 -Logements construits avant 2004 par type, catégorie et époque
d'achèvement de la construction [archive].
6.
↑ Recensement
2006 - Résidences principales par type de logement, installations sanitaires et
statut d'occupation [archive].
7.
↑ Recensement
2006 - Résidences principales par type de logement, statut d'occupation et mode
de chauffage [archive].
8.
↑ Recensement
2006 - Résidences principales par type de logement, statut d'occupation et
présence d'un emplacement de stationnement [archive].
9.
↑ « Évolution et
structure de la population en 2016 - Unité urbaine de Vannes (56501) » [archive], sur Institut
national de la statistique et des études économiques (consulté le 24 décembre 2019)
10.
↑ « Évolution et
structure de la population en 2016 - Intercommunalité-Métropole de CA Golfe du
Morbihan - Vannes Agglomération (200067932) » [archive], sur Institut
national de la statistique et des études économiques (consulté le24 décembre 2019)
11.
↑ « Bretagne : la
population des communes au 1er janvier 2016 » [archive], sur Institut
national de la statistique et des études économiques, 27 décembre 2018 (consulté
le 24 décembre 2019)
12.
↑ « Population par sexe
et âge regroupé en 2006 - Commune de Vannes » [archive], sur Institut
national de la statistique et des études économiques (consulté le 24 décembre 2019)
13.
↑ « Population par sexe
et âge regroupé en 2016 - Commune de Vannes » [archive], sur Institut
national de la statistique et des études économiques (consulté le 24 décembre 2019)
14.
↑ « Population totale
par sexe, âge et nationalité » [archive], sur site de
l'Insee, 2006 (consulté le 8
octobre 2009)
15.
↑ « Population totale
par catégorie socioprofessionnelle et nationalité » [archive], sur site de l'Insee, 2006 (consulté
le 8 octobre 2009)
16.
↑ « CC-Résumé
statistique/com,dep,zone empl » [archive], sur site de
l'INSEE(consulté le 9 septembre 2009)
17.
↑ Revenir
plus haut en :a b et c Données
INSEE synthétisées par l'internaute.com [archive]
18.
↑ Vannes,
Des revenus élevés, comme à Rennes, mais d'origine différente - Octant 99 [archive]
19.
↑ Recensement
2006 - Emplois au lieu de travail par sexe, âge, statut et temps de travail [archive]
20.
↑ Recensement
2006 - Emplois au lieu de travail par sexe, statut et secteur d'activité
économique [archive]
21.
↑ Revenir
plus haut en :a et b Recensement
2006 - Emplois au lieu de travail par sexe, catégorie socioprofessionnelle et
secteur d'activité économique [archive]
22.
↑ « Recensement 2006 -
Population de 15 à 64 ans par type d'activité » [archive], sur recensement.insee.fr
23.
↑ Revenir
plus haut en :a et b « INSEE - Chiffres
clefs de la ville de Vannes » [archive], sur INSEE
Statistiques locales (consulté le 11
octobre 2009)
·
Cultes
1.
↑ « Équipe épiscopale » [archive], sur Diocèse
de Vannes (consulté le10
octobre 2009)
2.
↑ « Site internet » [archive], sur Paroisse
St Pierre (consulté le10
octobre 2009)
3.
↑ « Site internet » [archive], sur Paroisse
St Patern (consulté le10
octobre 2009)
4.
↑ « Site internet » [archive], sur Paroisse
St Guen (consulté le10
octobre 2009)
5.
↑ « Paroisse
protestante de Vannes » [archive], sur Église
protestante unie de France (consulté le 10
octobre 2009)]
6.
↑ « François Goulard cherche
un terrain pour implanter une mosquée » [archive], sur Mensuel du Golfe du Morbihan, 11 avril 2008(consulté
le 9 octobre 2009)
7.
↑ « A Menimur on prie
dans une cave faute de mieux » [archive], sur Ouest-France, 23 avril 2008 (consulté
le 9 octobre 2009)
8.
↑ « Vannes, des
bouddhistes dans la ville » [archive], sur Le Télégramme, 30
décembre 2008 (consulté le 10 octobre 2009)
·
Autres
1.
↑ « Vannes » [archive], sur PavillonBleu.org(consulté le 2
septembre 2009).
2.
↑ « Atlas Régional
Bretagne - Effectifs d'étudiants en 2017-2018 » [archive], sur Ministère
de lʼEnseignement supérieur, de la Recherche et de lʼInnovation (consulté le24 décembre 2019)
3.
↑ La Géographie de Ptolémée,
Localisation de la Gaule
lyonnaise, Livre II, Chapitre VII.
4.
↑ « Annales de philosophie chrétienned’Augustin
Bonnetty, Volume 5 » [archive], sur Google
Books (consulté le 2
septembre 9)
5.
↑ Bernard
Rio, Vannes, Éditions Jean-Paul Gisserot, 2004, p. 7.
6.
↑ « Vannes » [archive], sur Conseil
national des Villes et Villages Fleuris (consulté le2
septembre 9)
7.
↑ « Calcul de
l'orthodromie entre Vannes et Paris » [archive] (consulté le 8 octobre 2009)
8.
↑ « Vannes à Paris » [archive], sur fr.mappy.com (consulté le 8 octobre 2009)
9. ↑ Bernard Rio, op. cit., p. 3.
10.
↑ Golfe du
Morbihan sur le site Natura 2000 [archive]
12.
↑ Records climatologiques à
Vannes - lameteo.org [archive]
13.
↑ TER
Bretagne [archive].
14.
↑ « Vannes. Une
réunion publique sur la pratique du vélo », Ouest-France, 16 avril 2019 (lire en
ligne [archive]).
15.
↑ Site de l'Aéroport
de Vannes [archive].
17.
↑https://www.breizhgo.bzh/sites/default/files/inline-files/carte_reseau_56.pdf [archive]
18.
↑ Prix de
l'immobilier à Vannes [archive], Ouest-France, 8 avril 2008.
19.
↑ Vannes-Golfe-Habitat [archive].
20.
↑ Bretagne Sud Habitat [archive].
21.
↑ Olivier Cléro, « Vannes. Une concertation sur l'aménagement de la rive gauche », Ouest-France, 7 janvier
2017 (lire en
ligne [archive])
22.
↑ « Vannes - Vannes. Ce
qui vous attend en 2019 » [archive], sur Le
Telegramme, 2 janvier 2019 (consulté le 7 mars 2019)
23.
↑ Patrick CROGUENNEC, « Rive gauche du port
de Vannes. Le maire décide le report du projet » [archive], sur Ouest-France.fr, 25 septembre 2019 (consulté
le 22 avril 2020)
24.
↑ Histoire
de Vannes et de sa région,
Privat, 1988, p. 9.
25.
↑ Christine Ferlampin-Acher, Denis Hüe, Lignes
et lignages dans la littérature arthurienne,
Presses universitaires de Rennes, 2007, p. 155.
26.
↑ « Résultats
concernant « Vannes » » [archive], sur la base
KerOfis, Office public de la langue
bretonne (consulté
le18 juillet 2016).
27.
↑ Pierre Merlat, Les Vénètes d'Armorique, Éditions Archéologie en Bretagne, 1981, p. 5.
28.
↑ Jean Huchet, « Tout
savoir sur l'origine et la signification des noms de villes et de lieux dans
l'ouest », Dimanche
Ouest-France, 2007, p. 12.
29.
↑ Gwennolé Le Menn, Jehan Lagadeuc, Le
vocabulaire breton du Catholicon (1499),
Skol, 2001, p. 90.
30.
↑ Émile Souvestre, Le Foyer breton : contes et récits
populaires, Volumes 1-2, p. 46, 1858.
31.
↑ Yann
Brekilien, Nous
partons pour la Bretagne, Presses
universitaires de France, 1980, p. 237.
32.
↑ Jean
Markale, La
grande épopée des Celtes,
Pygmalion, 1998, p. 57.
33.
↑ Henry, Victor, Lexique Étymologique des termes les plus
usuels du Breton Moderne, Faculté des Lettres de Rennes, Rennes, 1900.
34.
↑ Xavier Delamarre, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise,
éditions Errance, 2003, p. 311-312.
35.
↑ « Il [Louis] marcha de sa personne en Bretagne avec une
armée considérable, et tint à Vannes l'assemblée générale de la nation. Entrant
ensuite dans la province dont il vient d'être parlé, il prit toutes les places
fortes des rebelles, et se rendit bientôt maître sans beaucoup de fatigue du
pays entier. Après en effet que Morman qui s'y était arrogé l'autorité royale
au mépris de l'usage constant des Bretons, eut été tué par les troupes de
l'empereur il ne se trouva plus un seul Breton qui résistât, ou qui refusât
soit d'obéir aux ordres qu'il recevait, soit de fournir les otages qu'on
exigeait de lui » — Annales d'Éginhard, (Année 818)
36. ↑ Bernard Rio, op. cit., p. 24.
37.
↑ Campagne
pour les élections municipales de 1983 - INA [archive].
38.
↑ Résultats des élections législatives 2012 indexés sur le site
officiel du Ministère
de l'intérieur [archive].
39.
↑ « Tous les jeux de
données de 1965 à 2012 au format XLS en une archive » [archive] [xls], sur data.gouv.fr (consulté le 11 mars 2020)
40.
↑ « Résultats de
l'élection présidentielle de 1995 dans la commune de : Lorient » [archive], sur www.politiquemania.com (consulté le10 mars 2020)
41.
↑ « Résultats de
l'élection présidentielle 2002 » [archive], sur interieur.gouv.fr (consulté le 10 mars 2020)
42.
↑ « Résultats de
l'élection présidentielle 2007 » [archive], sur interieur.gouv.fr (consulté le 10 mars 2020)
43.
↑ « Résultats de
l'élection présidentielle 2012 » [archive], sur interieur.gouv.fr (consulté le 10 mars 2020)
44.
↑ « Résultats de
l'élection présidentielle 2017 » [archive], sur interieur.gouv.fr (consulté le 10 mars 2020)
45.
↑ « Portrait :
François Goulard », L'Obs, 3
juin 2005 (lire en
ligne [archive]).
46.
↑ « Municipales
2020 : David Robo réélu maire de Vannes, 13 adjoints à ses côtés » [archive], sur Actu.fr, 26 mai 2020 (consulté
le26 mai 2020)
47.
↑ « David Robo,
maire de Vannes, quitte Les Républicains », Ouest-France, 1er septembre
2017 (lire en
ligne [archive]).
48.
↑ Fédération
des maires des villes moyennes [archive].
49.
↑ Vannes Projet Citoyens [archive].
50.
↑ Résultats
sur le website de France 3 [archive].
51.
↑ « Résultats
municipales 2020 à Vannes » [archive], sur Le
Monde.fr (consulté le 9 mai
2020)
52.
↑ « Municipales
2020 : David Robo réélu maire de Vannes, 13 adjoints à ses côtés » [archive], sur actu.fr (consulté le 6 juillet 2020)
53.
↑ « Elections
municipales à Municipales Vannes » [archive], sur Le
Télégramme(consulté le 6 juillet 2020)
54.
↑ Préfecture du Morbihan [archive].
55.
↑ Conseil général du Morbihan [archive].
56.
↑ Barreau de Vannes [archive].
57.
↑ Chambre des notaires du
Morbihan [archive].
58.
↑ Chambre de métiers de l’artisanat de Vannes [archive].
59.
↑ Chambre de commerce et d'industrie du
Morbihan [archive].
60.
↑ Village
de la justice [archive].
61.
↑ [PDF] Où
vit-on le mieux ?, Classement Le Point, 27 janvier 2005 -
Comparatif 2001-2003 [archive].
62.
↑ Délinquance :
Ma ville est-elle dangereuse ?, Classement Le Point, 2006 -
Comparatif 2003-2006 [archive].
63.
↑ [PDF]Classement Le
Point, 2008 - Comparatif 2003-2008 [archive].
64.
↑ Gendarmerie
du Morbihan [archive].
65.
↑ Départementale
de la Sécurité Publique du Morbihan [archive].
67.
↑ « Vidéo surveillance,
une certaine idée de la ville. » [archive], sur site de
Vannes Projet Citoyens, 17
avril 2009 (consulté le15 février 2011)
68.
↑ « Deux nouvelles
caméras à Kercado » [archive], sur Le
Télégramme, 24 février 2011 (consulté le 28
février 2011)
69.
↑ « Aucune atteinte aux
libertés en 2009 » [archive], sur Ouest-France., 10 juillet 2010 (consulté
le 15 février 2011)
70.
↑ L'organisation du recensement [archive], sur insee.fr.
71.
↑ Des
villages de Cassini aux communes d'aujourd'hui [archive] sur le site de l'École des hautes études
en sciences sociales.
72.
↑ Fiches Insee - Populations légales de la commune pour les
années 2006 [archive], 2007 [archive], 2008 [archive], 2009 [archive], 2010 [archive], 2011 [archive], 2012 [archive], 2013 [archive], 2014 [archive], 2015 [archive], 2016 [archive], 2017 [archive] et 2018 [archive].
73.
↑ Association
culturelle des turcs de l’ouest - Vannes [archive]
74.
↑ L’Éveil du boucan [archive]
76.
↑ Livres en Bretagne [archive]
77.
↑ Festival la mer en images [archive]
78.
↑ « Vannes -
Vannes-2019. Saint-Vincent Ferrier : l’année du jubilé » [archive], sur Le Telegramme, 1er janvier 2019 (consulté
le7 mars 2019)
79.
↑ « Voile:
en Bretagne, la Sailing Valley affiche sa soif de conquête » [archive], dans Le Point, le 22 octobre 2018, consulté sur
www.lepoint.fr le 14 mai 2020
81.
↑ http://www [archive].aviron-vannes.fr/
82.
↑ Semi-Marathon Auray-Vannes [archive]
84.
↑ « Présentation de
l'Ultra Marin » [archive], sur http://www.raid-golfe-morbihan.org/ [archive] (consulté le10 février 2015)
85.
↑ Marathon de Vannes [archive]
86.
↑ Trail de Vannes [archive]
87.
↑ « Vannes. Record de
participation au trail des remparts » [archive], sur Le
Telegramme, 24 juin 2018 (consulté le 17
décembre 2018)
88.
↑ Auray-Vannes [archive]
89.
↑ Jump du Golfe [archive]
90.
↑ « Les courses de
roller, reines du bitume vannetais » [archive], sur Ouest-France.fr(consulté le 13 avril
2016)
91.
↑ Elle est également présente dans le Finistèresur Morlaix (101.2 FM) et Landivisiau (88.6 FM) grâce au rachat de Tempo la
radio, radio locale d'Henvic. Elle émet depuis sous le nom "Tempo programme
Alouette" et propose des décrochages locaux spécialement pour ses
auditeurs finistériens.
92.
↑ Elle a racheté Magic la Radio en mai 2013. Elle émet aujourd'hui
sous le nom "Magic Programme Alouette" et propose du contenu
spécifique sur les fréquences limousines.
93.
↑ radiokorrigans.fr [archive]
94.
↑ site de la LaRG’ [archive]
95.
↑ http://www.opab-oplb.org/98-kelenn.htm [archive]
96.
↑ Données fiscales publiées par le Ministère
du budget, des comptes publics et de la fonction publique [archive] « Copie
archivée »(version du 23 avril 2009 sur
l'Internet Archive)
97.
↑ Délibérations taux applicables dans les collectivités
territoriales en 2008 - Ministère
du budget, des comptes publics et de la fonction publique [archive]
98.
↑ Label
Ville Internet [archive]
99.
↑ « Palmarès 2005 » [archive], sur www.villes-internet.net (consulté le 8 octobre 2009)
100.↑ « Palmarès 2006 » [archive], sur www.villes-internet.net (consulté le 8 octobre 2009)
101.↑ « Palmarès 2007 » [archive], sur www.villes-internet.net (consulté le 8 octobre 2009)
102.↑ « Palmarès 2008 » [archive], sur www.villes-internet.net (consulté le 8 octobre 2009)
103.↑ « Palmarès 2009/2010 »(Archive • Wikiwix •Archive.is • Google • Que faire ?), sur www.villes-internet.net (consulté le 17
décembre 2009)
104.↑ « Palmarès 2011 » [archive], sur www.villes-internet.net (consulté le 16 janvier 2011)
105.↑ « Palmarès 2008 » [archive], sur www.trophees-communication.com (consulté le16 janvier 2011)
106.↑ « CA Evialis -
exercice 2007 » [archive], sur Evialis (consulté le 11 octobre 2009)
107.↑ « Liste des
entreprises leaders » [archive], sur vip-expansion.fr (consulté le11 octobre 2009)
108.↑ « "P L A S M O
R" à THEIX-NOYALO (331996660), CA, bilan, KBIS - Infogreffe » [archive], sur www.infogreffe.fr(consulté le 11 juin
2019)
109.↑ « Œuvres à Vannes » [archive], sur base
Mérimée du ministère de la culture et de la communication (consulté le 13 octobre 2009)
110.↑ « Palmarès 2008 » [archive], sur Conseil
National des Villes et Villages Fleuris (consulté le8
octobre 2009)
111.↑ Notice no PA00091793 [archive], base
Mérimée, ministère français de la
Culture
112.↑ Cinq
siècles de pans de bois à Vannes,
Vannes, Les amis de Vannes, coll. « Bulletin des Amis de Vannes
/ Hors-série no 4 », décembre 2012, 112 p. (ISSN 0395-4293), « Inventaire des maisons
en pans de bois de Vannes réalisé d'avril à juin
2011 », p. 103-107
113.↑ « À Vannes, on
recense 220 maisons en pans de bois » [archive], sur www.ouest-france.fr, 11 janvier 2013 (consulté
le 13 janvier 2013)
114.↑ « Maisons à
pans-de-bois, patrimoine emblématique » [archive], sur Office
de Tourisme (consulté le 18 août
2020)
115.↑ Centenaire
de l'hôtel de ville de Vannes, Rennes Soir - FR3 Bretagne - 10/07/1986 [archive]
116.↑ Notice no PA00091814 [archive], base
Mérimée, ministère français de la
Culture
117.↑ « Les lavoirs de la
Garenne » [archive], sur Mairie
de Vannes
118.↑ Notice no PA00091772 [archive], base
Mérimée, ministère français de la
Culture
119.↑ « Les stalles
vont être restaurées », Le
Télégrame, 12 septembre 2009 (lire en
ligne [archive])
120.↑ Augustin Bordet, « Vannes. La rénocation de la Chapelle Saint-Yves se poursuit », Ouest-France, 26 janvier
2018 (lire en
ligne [archive])
121.↑ Événements
du mois de juin 1940 à l'île de Sein [archive].
122.↑ Île-de-Sein,
Compagnon de la Libération par décret du 1er janvier
1946 [archive].
123.↑ « Musée de la résistance
bretonne »(Archive •Wikiwix • Archive.is • Google • Que faire ?).
124.↑ site officiel des Amis du Sinagot [archive].
125.↑ Chantier
du Guip [archive].
126.↑ (fr) Office de la langue bretonne, Situation de
l’enseignement bilingue en Bretagne en 2008, octobre 2008, disponible en
ligne [4] [archive], consulté le 16 janvier 2009
127.↑ « Musée des beaux
arts, collection d'art moderne » [archive] (consulté le10 février 2015)
128.↑ L'Echonova [archive]
129.↑ « Le Ker Article du
Parisien » [archive], sur www.le-ker.bzh (consulté le 19 avril 2017)
130.↑ « Géographie du
cinéma en 2006, Le dossier # 304/Octobre 2007 » [archive], sur Centre
National Cinématographique
131.↑ « Géographie du
cinéma, Le dossier # 308/Septembre 2008 » [archive], sur Centre
National Cinématographique
132.↑ « Géographie du
cinéma, Le dossier # 312/Septembre 2009 » [archive], sur Centre
National Cinématographique
Sur les autres projets
Wikimedia :
·
Vannes, sur Wikimedia Commons
·
Vannes, sur le Wiktionnaire
·
Pierre Thomas-Lacroix, Vannes, Van Oest, 1949
·
Tal Houarn, Aimer Vannes et le Golfe, Ouest-France,
1988
·
Le Goff T.J.A., Vannes et sa région, Ville et campagne
dans la France du xviiie siècle, Yves Salmon Éditeur,
1989
·
Bas, P. Le, A. Guilbert, L'abbé J.-J. Bourrasse, P. De Courcy,
Ch.-F. Aubert, Mme De Lalaing, P. Joanne, Vannes
son histoire et son port, Éditions Du Bastion, 1992
·
Olivier Furon, Vannes, Éditions Alan Sutton, 1995
·
Revue Pays De Bretagne, 1996, no 7, Vannes,
une ville d'histoire en quête d'avenir, Éditions Freeway
·
Olivier Gilleron., Vannes, Le Téméraire, 1997
·
Yvon Boëlle, Vannes et Le Golfe Du Morbihan,
Ouest-France, 1998
·
Hélène Martin-Le Guen, Vannes Golfe Du Morbihan,
Éditions Déclics, 2002
·
Armand Fleuriot, Regards sur Vannes & Le Golfe Du
Morbihan, Coiffard Édition, 2003
·
Bernard Rio, Vannes, Éditions Jean-Paul Gisserot,
2004
·
Michel Dugué, Vannes, Pour Mémoire, Éditions Apogée,
2004
·
Bertrand Frélaut, Histoire de Vannes, Éditions
Jean-Paul Gisserot, 2005
·
Christian Chaudré, Vannes - Histoire Et Géographie
Contemporaine , Éditions Palantines, 2006
·
Sous la direction de Jean-Marie Pérouse de Montclos - Guide
du patrimoine. Bretagne -Monum. Éditions du patrimoine - Paris - 2002
- (ISBN 978-2-85822-728-0)
: document utilisé
comme source pour la rédaction de cet article.
·
Liste des communes du Morbihan
·
(fr)(br)(en)(es)(de) Site de la mairie [archive]
o Fichier d’autorité international virtuel
o Bibliothèque nationale de France (données)
o Système universitaire de documentation
o Bibliothèque nationale
d’Israël
o WorldCat
·
Ressource relative à la
géographie :
