hastily made camp. But it was impossible for them to remain there. Their provisions were lost or exhausted, thousands of enemies sur- rounded them, and their only hope lay in immediate and rapid flight.
Sun rise came. The soldiers had recovered somewhat from the fa- tigue of the day before. Setting fire to what baggage remained in their hands, they began a retreat fighting as they went, for the pitiless ene- my disputed every step. The first part of their route lay through an open plain, where they marched in orderly ranks. But there were mountains still to pass, and they quickly found themselves in a wood- ed and pathless valley, in whose rugged depths defense was almost impossible. Here they fell in thousands before the weapons of their enemies. It was but a small body of survivors that at length escaped from that deadly pass and threw up camp for the night in a more open spot.
With the dawn of the next day they resumed their progress, and were at no great distance from their stronghold of Aliso when they found their progress arrested by fresh tribes, who attacked them with great violence. On they struggled, fighting, dying, marking every step of the route with their dead. Varus, now reduced to despair, and see- ing only slaughter or captivity before him, threw himself on his sword, and died in the midst of those whom his blind confidence had led to destruction.
No more terrible disaster had ever struck the Roman army. Many prisoners had been taken, among them certain judges and lawyers, who were the chief objects of Hermanns hate, and whom he devoted to a painful death. He then offered sacrifices to the gods, to whom he gave the captured goods, the dead, and the leading prisoners, numbers of them being killed on the altars of his gods. These religious cere- monies completed,prisoners who still remained were distributed a- mong the tribes as slaves. The effort of Varus to force Roman customs and laws upon the Germans had led to a fearful retribution.
When the news of this dreadful event reached Rome, that city was filled with grief and fear. The heart of Augustus, now an old man, was stricken with dismay at the slaughter of the best soldiers of the empire. With neglected dress and person he wandered about the rooms and halls of the palace, his piteous appeal, "Varus, give me back my soldiers！" showing how deeply the disaster had pierced his soul.
Meanwhile, the Germans, satisfied, as it seemed, with expelling the Romans from their country, destroyed their forts and military roads, and settled back into peace.
For six years peace continued. Augustus died, and Tiberius be- came emperor of Rome. Then, in the year 14 A.D., an effort was made to retake Germany, an army commanded by the son of Drusus, known to history under the name of Germanicus, attacking the Marsi, when intoxicated and unarmed after a religious feast. Great numbers of the defenseless tribesmen were killed, but the other tribes sprung to arms and drove the invader back across the Rhine.
In the next year Hermann was again brought into the conflict. Segestus had robbed him of his wife, the beautiful patriot Thusnelda, who up until then had been his right hand in council in his plans a- gainst the Roman enemy. Hermann besieged Segestus to regain pos- session of his wife, and pressed the traitor so closely that he sent his son Sigismund to Germanicus, who was again on the German side of the Rhine, imploring aid. The Roman leader took instant advantage of this promising opportunity. He advanced and forced Hermann to raise the siege, and himself took possession of Thusnelda, who was destined soon afterwards to be made the leading feature in a Roman parade. Segestus was rewarded for his treason, and was given lands in Gaul, his life being not safe among the people he had betrayed. As for the daughter whom he had yielded to Roman hands, her fate troubled little his base soul.
Thusnelda is still a popular character in German legend, there being various stories concerning her. One of these relates that, when she lay concealed in the old fort of Schellenpyrmont, she was warned by the cries of a faithful bird of the coming of the Romans, who were seeking quietly to approach her hiding place.
The loss of his beloved wife roused Hermanns heroic spirit, and spread anger among the Germans, who highly esteemed the noble- hearted woman. They rose hastily in arms, and Hermann was soon at the head of a large army, prepared to defend his country against the attacking hosts of the Romans. But as the latter proved too strong to face in the open field, the Germans retreated with their families and property, the country left by them being laid waste by the advancing armies.
Germanicus soon reached the scene of the late slaughter, and caused the bones of the soldiers of Varus to be buried. But in doing this he was obliged to enter the mountain passes in which the former army had met its fate. Hermann and his men watched the Romans in- tently from forest and hilltop. When they had fairly entered the narrow valleys, the adroit chief appeared before them at the head of a small troop, which retreated as if in fear, drawing them onward until the whole army had entered the pass.
Then the fatal signal was given, and the revengeful Gernmas fell upon the armies of Germanicus as they had done upon those of Varus, cutting them down in great numbers.
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