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144 There will be vices as long as there are men. But they are not perpetual, and they are compensated by the occurrence of better things."

Civilis was in the end unsuccessful. He was deserted, if not actually betrayed, by his allies; with the usual fickleness of barbarians, their zeal soon cooled down: some thought they did enough for him if they helped him to win a battle or two; some that they did enough for themselves when they had plundered a Roman colony or camp. Soldiers who went to their homes, or turned to common brigandage when they pleased, were not fitted to contend long with the severely disciplined Roman legions; and as soon as Vespasian was able to pour division after division into the seat of war, the Batavian commonwealth ceased to exist. Even Civilis perceived at last that he must come to terms with the legate,. With the preparation for their interview the mutilated 'History' closes abruptly; the fragment, however, is too interesting to be omitted.

The lower classes of the Batavians were murmuring at the length of the war; the nobles were still more impatient and spoke in fiercer language. "We have been driven into war," they said, "by the fury of Civilis. He sought to counterbalance his private wrongs by the destruction of his nation. We are at the last extremity. The Germans already are falling away from us; the Gauls have returned to their servitude; we must repent, 'and avow our repentance by punishing the guilty.'

"These dispositions did not escape the notice of Civilis. He determined to anticipate them, moved not only by weariness of his sufferings, but also by the