Plate 25: The Roman Commander Cerialis Attacks Near Trier by Antonio Tempesta & Otto van Veen 1611

"This was the state of war when Petilius Cerialis reached Mainz. His arrival aroused great hopes; Cerialis was himself eager for battle and better fitted by nature to despise a foe than to guard against him; he fired his soldiers by his fierce words, declaring that he would not delay a moment when he had a chance to engage the enemy. The troops that had been levied throughout Gaul he sent back to their several states, and told them to report that the legions were sufficient to sustain the empire: the allies were to return to their peaceful duties without any anxiety, since, when the Roman arms once undertook a war, that war was virtually ended. This act increased the ready submission of the Gauls; for now that they had recovered their young men they bore the burdens of the tribute more easily, and they were more ready to be obedient when they saw that they were despised."

- Tacitus, The Histories: Book 4, Chapter 71

Plate 25: The Roman Commander Cerialis Attacks Near Trier by Antonio Tempesta & Otto van Veen 1611, from The War of the Romans Against the Batavians (Romanorvm et Batavorvm societas). 6 3/8 × 8 1/8 in. (16.2 × 20.6 cm). Current location: MET Museum. Antonio Tempesta in collaboration with Otto van Veen published in 1612 in Antwerp a series of thirty-six etchings on the Batavians and the Romans in a book entitled Batavorum cum Romanis bellum.

Plate 25: The Roman Commander Cerialis Attacks Near Trier by Antonio Tempesta & Otto van Veen 1611

Source:

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/401442

https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/nl/collectie/RP-P-OB-77.964(R)


Quote:

https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Tacitus/Histories/4C*.html