Editing Germanicus (section)

====Second campaign against the Germanic tribes====
[[File:Hermannsdenkmal statue.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|''Hermannsdenkmal'' Memorial to Arminius near [[Detmold]], Germany]]
For the next two years, he led his legions across the Rhine against the Germans, where they would confront the forces of [[Arminius]] and his allies. [[Tacitus]] says the purpose of those campaigns was to avenge the defeat of Varus at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest, and not to expand Roman territory.<ref name="Wells204">{{harvnb|Wells|2003|p=204}}.</ref>

In early spring AD 15, Germanicus crossed the Rhine and struck the [[Chatti]]. He sacked their capital [[Mattium]] (modern Maden near [[Gudensberg]]), pillaged their countryside, then returned to the Rhine. Sometime this year, he received word from [[Segestes]], who was held prisoner by Arminius's forces and needed help. Germanicus's troops rescued Segestes and took his pregnant daughter, Arminius's wife [[Thusnelda]], into captivity. Again he marched back victorious and at the direction of Tiberius, accepted the title of [[Imperator]].<ref name=Wells204/><ref>{{harvnb|Seager|2008|p=63}}.</ref>

Arminius called his tribe, the [[Cherusci]], and the surrounding tribes to arms. Germanicus coordinated a land and riverine offensive, with troops marching eastward across the Rhine, and sailing from the [[North Sea]] up the [[Ems River]] in order to attack the Bructeri and Cherusci.<ref name="Wells1">{{harvnb|Wells|2003|pp=204–205}}.</ref> Germanicus' forces went through Bructeri territory, where a general, Lucius Stertinius, recovered the lost [[aquila (Roman)|eagle]] of the [[Legio XIX|XIX Legion]] from among the equipment of the Bructeri after routing them in battle.<ref name="Wells42">{{harvnb|Wells|2003|p=42}}.</ref>

Germanicus's legions met up to the north, and ravaged the countryside between the Ems and the [[Lippe River|Lippe]], and penetrated to the Teutoburg Forest, a mountain forest in western Germany situated between these two rivers. There, Germanicus and some of his men visited the site of the disastrous Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, and began burying the remains of the Roman soldiers that had been left in the open. After half a day of the work, he called off the burial of bones so that they could continue their war against the Germans.<ref>{{harvnb|Wells|2003|pp=196–197}}.</ref> He made his way into the heartland of the Cherusci. At a location Tacitus calls the ''pontes longi'' ("long causeways"), in boggy lowlands somewhere near the Ems, Arminius's troops [[Battle at Pontes Longi|attacked]] the Romans. Arminius initially caught Germanicus's cavalry in a trap, inflicting minor casualties, but the Roman infantry reinforced the rout and checked them. The fighting lasted for two days, with neither side achieving a decisive victory. Germanicus's forces withdrew and returned to the Rhine.<ref name=Wells1/><ref group="note">Tacitus claims that the Romans won the battle at ''pontes longi'' ({{harvnb|Tacitus|Barrett|2008|p=39}}); however, Wells says the battle was inconclusive ({{harvnb|Wells|2003|p=206}}).</ref>