Tacitus, Annales 2.69-75
At Germanicus Aegypto remeans cuncta quae apud legiones aut urbes iusserat abolita vel in contrarium versa cognoscit. hinc graves in Pisonem contumeliae, nec minus acerba quae ab illo in Caesarem intentabantur. dein Piso abire Syria statuit. mox adversa Germanici valetudine detentus, ubi recreatum accepit votaque pro incolumitate solvebantur, admotas hostias, sacrificalem apparatum, festam Antiochensium plebem per lictores proturbat. tum Seleuciam degreditur, opperiens aegritudinem, quae rursum Germanico acciderat. saevam vim morbi augebat persuasio veneni a Pisone accepti; et reperiebantur solo ac parietibus erutae humanorum corporum reliquiae, carmina et devotiones et nomen Germanici plumbeis tabulis insculptum, semusti cineres ac tabo obliti aliaque malefica quis creditur animas numinibus infernis sacrari. simul missi a Pisone incusabantur ut valetudinis adversa rimantes.
Ea Germanico haud minus ira quam per metum accepta. si limen obsideretur, si effundendus spiritus sub oculis inimicorum foret, quid deinde miserrimae coniugi, quid infantibus liberis eventurum? lenta videri veneficia: festinare et urgere, ut provinciam, ut legiones solus habeat. sed non usque eo defectum Germanicum, neque praemia caedis apud interfectorem mansura. componit epistulas quis amicitiam ei renuntiabat: addunt plerique iussum provincia decedere. nec Piso moratus ultra navis solvit moderabaturque cursui quo propius regrederetur si mors Germanici Syriam aperuisset.
Caesar paulisper ad spem erectus, dein fesso corpore, ubi finis aderat, adsistentis amicos in hunc modum adloquitur: 'si fato concederem, iustus mihi dolor etiam adversus deos esset, quod me parentibus liberis patriae intra iuventam praematuro exitu raperent: nunc scelere Pisonis et Plancinae interceptus ultimas preces pectoribus vestris relinquo: referatis patri ac fratri, quibus acerbitatibus dilaceratus, quibus insidiis circumventus miserrimam vitam pessima morte finierim. si quos spes meae, si quos propinquus sanguis, etiam quos invidia erga viventem movebat, inlacrimabunt quondam florentem et tot bellorum superstitem muliebri fraude cecidisse. erit vobis locus querendi apud senatum, invocandi leges. non hoc praecipuum amicorum munus est, prosequi defunctum ignavo questu, sed quae voluerit meminisse, quae mandaverit exequi. flebunt Germanicum etiam ignoti: vindicabitis vos, si me potius quam fortunam meam fovebatis. ostendite populo Romano divi Augusti neptem eandemque coniugem meam, numerate sex liberos. misericordia cum accusantibus erit fingentibusque scelesta mandata aut non credent homines aut non ignoscent.' iuravere amici dextram morientis contingentes spiritum ante quam ultionem amissuros.
Tum ad uxorem versus per memoriam sui, per communis liberos oravit exueret ferociam, saevienti fortunae summitteret animum, neu regressa in urbem aemulatione potentiae validiores inritaret. haec palam et alia secreto per quae ostendisse credebatur metum ex Tiberio. neque multo post extinguitur, ingenti luctu provinciae et circumiacentium populorum. indoluere exterae nationes regesque: tanta illi comitas in socios, mansuetudo in hostis; visuque et auditu iuxta venerabilis, cum magnitudinem et gravi- tatem summae fortunae retineret, invidiam et adrogantiam effugerat.
Funus sine imaginibus et pompa per laudes ac memoriam virtutum eius celebre fuit. et erant qui formam, aetatem, genus mortis ob propinquitatem etiam locorum in quibus interiit, magni Alexandri fatis adaequarent. nam utrumque corpore decoro, genere insigni, haud multum triginta annos egressum, suorum insidiis externas inter gentis occidisse: sed hunc mitem erga amicos, modicum voluptatum, uno matrimonio, certis liberis egisse, neque minus proeliatorem, etiam si temeritas afuerit praepeditusque sit perculsas tot victoriis Germanias servitio premere. quod si solus arbiter rerum, si iure et nomine regio fuisset, tanto promptius adsecuturum gloriam militiae quantum clementia, temperantia, ceteris bonis artibus praestitisset. corpus antequam cremaretur nudatum in foro Antiochensium, qui locus sepulturae destinabatur, praetuleritne veneficii signa parum constitit; nam ut quis misericordia in Germanicum et praesumpta suspicione aut favore in Pisonem pronior, diversi interpretabantur.
Consultatum inde inter legatos quique alii senatorum aderant quisnam Syriae praeficeretur. et ceteris modice nisis, inter Vibium Marsum et Cn. Sentium diu quaesitum: dein Marsus seniori et acrius tendenti Sentio concessit. isque infamem veneficiis ea in provincia et Plancinae percaram nomine Martinam in urbem misit, postulantibus Vitellio ac Veranio ceterisque qui crimina et accusationem tamquam adversus receptos iam reos instruebant.
At Agrippina, quamquam defessa luctu et corpore aegro, omnium tamen quae ultionem morarentur intolerans ascendit classem cum cineribus Germanici et liberis, miserantibus cunctis quod femina nobilitate princeps, pulcherrimo modo matrimonio inter venerantis gratantisque aspici solita, tunc feralis reliquias sinu ferret, incerta ultionis, anxia sui et infelici fecunditate fortunae totiens obnoxia. Pisonem interim apud Coum insulam nuntius adsequitur excessisse Germanicum. quo intemperanter accepto caedit victimas, adit templa, neque ipse gaudium moderans et magis insolescente Plancina, quae luctum amissae sororis tum primum laeto cultu mutavit.
But Germanicus, as he was returning from Egypt, learned that everything that he had ordered to the legions and the cities had been abandoned or reversed in the opposite direction. From this, heavy reproaches were launched against Piso, and no less harsh were those launched against the Caesar [Germanicus] by him [Piso]. Then Piso made up his mind to leave Syria. He was soon held up by the ill health of Germanicus; when he heard that he [Germanicus] had been reinvigorated and that the vows for his deliverance were being released, he, along with his lictors, drove away the sacrifices that had been brought in, the sacrificial preparations, and the gathering of the common people of Antioch. Then he went to Seleucia, waiting on the illness which had once again struck Germanicus. The belief that he [Germanicus] had been given poison by Piso increased the savage force of the illness. And there were found in the floor and the walls the dug up remains of human bodies, incantations (carmina) and infernal sacrifices (devotiones), and Germanicus’ name inscribed on lead tablets, half-burned ashes smeared with gore, and other wicked things which are believed to commit souls to the infernal powers. Meanwhile some were accused of having been sent by Piso so that they could investigate the adverse symptoms of [Germanicus’] health.
Germanicus heard these things with no less anger than fear. “If my door must be watched, if my soul must be expelled under the eyes of my enemies, what then will happen to my most pitiful wife, what will happen to my infant children? Poison seems slow, he hurries and presses on, so that he alone might have the province and the legions. But Germanicus is not fallen so far, nor will the spoils of slaughter remain long with the murderer.” He drafted a letter to Piso renouncing their friendship, and many add that he ordered him to leave the province. Without further delay Piso set sail – and he slowed his course so that he would return from nearer by [so that he wouldn’t have as far to go] if Germanicus’ death were to open Syria to him.
For a brief time the Caesar was lifted to hope. Then, with his body exhausted, when his end was at hand, he spoke to the friends gathered at his side in this way: “If I were dying [according to] my fate, I would have just complaint even against the gods that they were snatching me away from my parents, my children, and my country in the midst of my youth by a premature death. Now, cut off by the wickedness of Piso and Plancina, I leave my last prayers in your hearts: bring the news to my father and brother, by what bitterness I have been torn apart, by what plots I have been surrounded by, I’ve reached the end of a most miserable life by the most horrible death. If my hope moved anyone, if blood kinship, or even envy toward me while I was alive, they will weep that a man, at one time in his prime and having survived so many wars, has perished by womanly deception. There will be a place for you to complain before the Senate, to appeal to the laws. It is not the duty of close friends to follow the dead with unproductive weeping, but to remember his wishes and to carry out his commands. Even those who don’t know him will weep for Germanicus: you will avenge me if you favor me more than my fortune. Show the people of Rome the granddaughter of the divine Augustus, my wife, and count my six children. Compassion will be with the accusers, and for those touching wicked commands, men will not believe them nor will they pardon them.” His friends, clasping the hands of the dying man, swore that they would sooner let go of their soul than vengeance.
Then, turning to his wife, he pleaded that she put aside her fierceness, by his memory and by the children they shared, that she submit her spirit to savage fortune, and when she returned to the city that she not enrage those stronger than her through rivalry. He said these things openly, and it was believed that he said others secretly, through which he revealed his fear concerning Tiberius. Not much later, he died, to the great dismay of the province and the peoples nearby. Foreign nations and kings grieved: so great was that man’s courtesy towards acquaintances and clemency towards enemies; venerable in appearance and voice alike, while he retained greatness and solemnity at the height of fortune he escaped envy and arrogance.
His funeral, without ancestral images and a procession, was celebrated with eulogies and remembrance of his virtue. And there were those who, on account of his beauty, his age, the manner of his death, and the proximity of the place where he died, compared his fate to Alexander the Great. For both had a dignified body and notable birth, both had died scarcely at the age of thirty, having been brought down by the plots of their own people among foreign nations. But they said that this man was mild among his friends, measured in his delights, with one marriage, and having raised legitimate children, nor was he less of a warrior, even if he lacked rashness, and he was constrained from pressing into servitude Germany, although it had been beaten down by his many victories. Although, if he had had sole control over affairs, if he had had the authority and name of a king, he would have achieved military glory just as much as he surpassed Alexander in clemency, temperance, and all other good qualities. The body was laid out uncovered in the forum at Antioch, which was destined to be his place of burial, before it was cremated. There was too little evidence about whether or not he had been poisoned. For as much as one man was inclined towards pity for Germanicus and presumed suspicion, or [another was inclined towards] bias in favor of Piso, they gave different explanations.
A debate followed among the legates and the other Senators who were present about who to appoint as governor of Syria. It was moderate among the rest, but between Vibius Marsus and Gnaius Sentius there was a long debate. Then Marsus yielded to the older and sharper competitor, Sentius. Sentius sent into the city a woman by the name of Martina, who was very dear to Plancina and who was infamous in that province for poisons, at the request of Vitellius and Veranius and others who were preparing charges and an indictment just like prosecutors with the defendants already having been brought in.
But Agrippina, although exhausted from grief and weakness of body, and yet intolerant of everything that might delay her vengeance, boarded a ship with the ashes of Germanicus as well as her children, with everyone else pitying her, a most noble woman with a most beautiful marriage, accustomed to be seen among those revering and admiring her, then carrying in her lap funeral remains, uncertain of [her options for] revenge, anxious for herself and so often subject to the unlucky fruits of fortune. Meanwhile a messenger found Piso on the island of Coos and brought the news that Germanicus had died. Piso received the news immodestly, he sacrificed victims, visited temples, and didn’t hide his pleasure. Plancina was more haughty, changing the mourning clothes she had been wearing at the time for the sister she had lost for the most joyful attire.
