Eager for Glory by Philip Lindsay Powell

Author:Philip Lindsay Powell
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: eBook ISBN: 9781848849044
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Published: 2011-12-06T16:00:00+00:00

Turning Point

One night inside the large leather praetorium tent Drusus was lying asleep in his cot. As told by Dio in matter of fact terms, Drusus was met by a Suebian woman of “superhuman size” (plate 43). In Latin she asked

“Whither, pray, art thou hastening, insatiable Drusus? It is not fated that thou shalt look upon all these lands. But depart; for the end alike of thy labours and of thy life is already at hand”.37

Recounting the same event Suetonius uses the word specie – “apparition” – to describe the intruder.38 The Romans accepted without question the existence of otherworldly creatures and things that go bump in the night.39 Among them were the she-monster or hag Lamia who attacked her victims at night and the spirit incubus who pressed upon or crushed a person’s chest while sleeping.40 Significantly incubus was identified with gods and demons of forests and woodlands, such as Faunus, Pan or Diana.41 Most ancient and even modern cultures feature night spirits or monsters. Indeed, the word ‘nightmare’ derives from the proto-Germanic word mar ō n or Old English mære meaning an evil female spirit that was believed to lie upon and suffocate sleepers. However there may actually be a rational medical explanation for it. The condition known as ‘sleep paralysis’ leaves a person fully conscious but unable to move. Research shows it occurs as a natural part of REM (rapid eye movement) sleep, but in this case the brain wakes up, yet the body remains effectively paralysed. This state can be accompanied by vivid hypnagogic hallucinations and subjects may feel an acute sense of danger or terror, even perceiving the presence of demonic or ghost-like objects with them in the room.42 The causes of the condition include sleeping with the face up, sleeping irregularly or insufficiently (narcolepsy), increased stress, dramatic or sudden changes in environment or lifestyle and a vivid dream that occurs before the experience.43 Thus the tale of the dream may actually reveal that Drusus was suffering from sleep deprivation brought on by combat stress from four years of war. The message, if faithfully recorded, may even reveal his deep-seated anxiety about its outcome. Fanciful as this ghoulish tale is Dio may have unwittingly preserved a glimpse into Drusus’ state of mind at this stage of the campaign.

Whether Drusus had a nightmare or suffered a bout of sleep paralysis, as reported in the historical accounts he evidently believed he had been visited by a supernatural spirit.44 The episode was certainly unsettling to the young commander who had been brought up to respect the mos maiorum and he probably consulted the soothsayers for advice. While he considered what to do, he gave the order for the men to erect a tropaeum – “of the remarkable spoils of the Marcomanni he raised a high mound, by way of a trophy” writes Florus – on the left bank of the river to mark their arrival at this place.45 The location of the Tropaeum Drusi was recorded by Ptolemy

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