Hermann and Thusnelda by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, 1822

"Drusus Caesar and Gaius Norbanus were now consuls, and a triumph was decreed to Germanicus with the war still in progress. He was preparing to prosecute it with his utmost power in the summer; but in early spring he anticipated matters by a sudden raid against the Chatti. Hopes had arisen that the enemy was becoming divided between Arminius and Segestes: both famous names, one for perfidy towards us, the other for good faith. Arminius was the troubler of Germany: Segestes had repeatedly given warning of projected risings, especially at the last great banquet which preceded the appeal to arms; when he urged Varus to arrest Arminius, himself, and the other chieftains, on the ground that, with their leaders out of the way, the mass of the people would venture nothing, while he would have time enough later to discriminate between guilt and innocence. Varus, however, succumbed to his fate and the sword of Arminius; Segestes, though forced into the war by the united will of the nation, continued to disapprove, and domestic episodes embittered the feud: for Arminius by carrying off his daughter, who was pledged to another, had made himself the hated son-in‑law of a hostile father, and a relationship which cements the affection of friends now stimulated the fury of enemies."

-Tacitus, Annals: Book 1.55

Hermann and Thusnelda by Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, 1822

Source:

https://www.copia-di-arte.com/a/joh-heinrich-tischbein/hermann-and-thusnelda.html

 

Quote:

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Annals/1D*.html