Publius Quinctilius Varus
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Life
Varus was a patrician, born to an aristocratic but long impoverished and unimportant family. His father was Sextus Quinctilius Varus, a senator aligned with the conservative republicans in the civil war against Julius Caesar. Sextus survived their defeat, but it is unknown if he was involved in Caesar's assassination. He committed suicide after the Battle of Philippi (43 BC). Despite his father's political allegiances, Varus became a supporter of Caesar's heir, Octavian, later known as Caesar Augustus. He was married to Vipsania Marcella, daughter of Octavian's lieutenant Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, and became a personal friend of both Agrippa and Octavian. Vipsania Marcella was a great niece to Caesar Augustus. When Agrippa died, it was Varus who delivered the funeral eulogy. Thus, his political career was boosted and his cursus honorum finished as early as 13 BC, when he was elected consul as junior partner of Tiberius, Augustus' step-son and future emperor.Political career
Between 9 and 8 BC, following the consulship, Varus was governor of the province of Africa. After this, he went to govern Syria, with four legions under his command. The Jewish historian Josephus mentions the swift action of Varus against a messianic revolt in Judaea after the death of Rome's client king Herod the Great in 4 BC.Following the governorship of Syria, Varus returned to Rome and remained there for the next few years. During these years, he married Claudia Pulchra, a great niece of Caesar Augustus, which shows that he still enjoyed political favour. They had a son, Quinctilius Varus. Before marrying Pulchra, his first wife died.
In the first years of the 1st century, Tiberius, his brother Drusus, and Germanicus conducted a long campaign in Germania, the area north of the Upper Danube and east of the Rhine, in an attempt at a further major expansion of the Empire's frontiers, and a shortening of its frontier line. They subdued several Germanic tribes, such as the Cherusci. In AD 7, the region was declared pacified and Varus was appointed to govern Germania.
The Battle of Teutoburg Forest
In 9, Varus was stationed in a summer camp near the Weser River with his three legions, the Seventeenth, the Eighteenth and the Nineteenth, when news arrived of a growing revolt in the Rhine area to the west. Despite several warnings, Varus credited Arminius, the man who appealed for his help, because he was a Romanised Germanic prince and commander of an auxiliary cavalry unit. But this was a mistake. Arminius was planning an ambush, and he attacked the three legions in the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest on September 9 (in Kalkriese, near modern Osnabrück). The Romans were slaughtered. Casualties included the three legions, the cavalry and the camp followers. The Germans also took the eagles (battle standards) of the legions, a major insult to Roman pride. Varus took his own life towards the end of the battle's final day. His head was cut off and sent to Rome.Teutoburg was one of Rome's biggest military catastrophes and greatly distressed Augustus. The historian Suetonius reports that, upon hearing of Varus' defeat in Germania, Augustus struck his head against a wall and cried, "Quintili Vare, legiones redde!" ('Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!'). However, Varus' head was buried in the family mausoleum of Augustus.
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External links
- The Twelve Caesars, Suetonius, available from Project Gutenberg: [The Lives of the Twelve Caesars, Complete]
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