Note 56 — Chapter III

Josephus, Bell. Jud. ii. 16, 4. There king Agrippa asks his Jews whether they imagined themselves to be richer than the Gauls, braver than the Germans, more sagacious than the Hellenes. With this all other testimonies accord. Nero hears of the revolt not unwillingly occasione nata spoliandarum iure belli opulentissimarum provinciarum (Suetonius, Nero, 40; Plut. Galb. 5); the booty taken from the insurgent army of Vindex is immense (Tac. Hist. i. 51). Tacitus (Hist. iii. 46) calls the Haedui pecunia dites et voluptatibus opulentos. The general of Vespasian is not wrong in saying to the revolted Gauls in Tac. Hist. iv. 74: Regna bellaque per Gallias semper fuere, donec in nostrum ius concederetis; nos quamquam totiens lacessiti iure victoriae id solum vobis addidimus quo pacem tueremur, nam neque quies gentium sine armis neque arma sine stipendiis neque stipendia sine tributis haberi queunt. The taxes doubtless pressed heavily, but not so heavily as the old state of feud and club–law.