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at ann. 2.9–10, tacitus presents a memorable episode in which the Cheruscan leader Arminius and his brother Flavus have a colloquy across the river Weser. In the first three sections of this paper, I make the case that the scene alludes to Livy's early republican narrative and present a reading in light of those allusions. On my interpretation, the intertextual relationship addresses how the condition of Rome has changed since the Republic. The scene brings to our attention interrelated developments: Rome's changed relationship to libertas, its reliance on foreign-born auxiliary forces, and its acquisition of an empire. In the fourth and fifth sections, I show that evocations of the Weser episode in later passages of the Annals affect our understanding of the importance of it and its themes within the function of the work. In section IV, I demonstrate how, in concluding Book Two, Tacitus elevates the story of Arminius and the concerns of the Weser scene to programmatic importance, using them to distinguish between the value of histories of the Republic and that of his own account of the Principate. In section V, I argue that the account of the career of Flavus's son Italicus (Ann. 11.16–17) is exemplary of the kind of story that is only possible under the conditions of the Principate drawn out by the Weser scene and only accessible through Tacitus's Annals. In the concluding section VI, I explore some implications of this paper for our understanding of the intertextual relationship between Livy and Tacitus and of the truth claims of Roman historical writing.
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At Ann. 2.9–10, Germanicus is operating east of the Rhine, pursuing submission from Germanic tribes including the Cherusci. His army finds itself facing Germanic forces across the Weser.
9. Flumen Visurgis Romanos Cheruscosque interfluebat. eius in ripa cum ceteris primoribus Arminius adstitit, quaesitoque an Caesar uenisset, postquam adesse responsum est, ut liceret cum fratre conloqui orauit. erat is in exercitu cognomento Flauus, insignis fide et amisso per uulnus oculo paucis ante annis duce Tiberio. tum permissu<m> progressusque salutatur ab Arminio; qui amotis stipatoribus, ut sagittarii nostra pro ripa dispositi abscederent postulat, et postquam digressi, unde ea deformitas oris interrogat fratrem. illo locum et proelium referente, quodnam praemium recepisset exquirit. Flauus...