This painting, by the famous Dutch artist Rembrandt (1606–1669), was inspired by the career of a rebel leader who tried to lead a war for Gallic-Germanic independence against the Roman Empire. Rembrant’s subject was a man named Civilis—manuscripts in the artist’s time titled the leader as Claudius Civilis, but the consensus of historians since then is that Julius Civilis was the man’s real name. Julius Civilis was a prominent leader of a group known as the Batavi—an ancient people who inhabited the Netherlands region. Details about the life and career of this man were preserved for posterity by the Roman historian, Tacitus (c. 56/57-117). According to Tacitus’ account, Civilis was already deemed a political threat to the Romans as early as the reign of Emperor Nero (r. 54-68), as that emperor had Civilis arrested. Fortunately for the imprisoned Batavian figurehead, a Roman governor named Galba rebelled against Nero and seized power in Rome. This Emperor Galba (r. 68-69) decided to acquit Julius Civilis of the allegations pinned on him, and the Batavian leader was released to rejoin his people. Along with this acquittal, Galba also gave another gift to Civilis (and to all other ambitious men, for that matter)—political instability. The year 69 became the so-called Year of the Four Emperors. In that tumultuous year, Emperor Galba’s power was usurped by Emperor Otho, who was defeated by Emperor Vitellius, who then was challenged for the throne by Vespasian. Although Julius Civilis was not named among these emperors, he became a major power player during the war between Vitellius and Vespasian.
When Vespasian mobilized the Roman legions of the eastern section of the empire in his bid to seize Rome from Emperor Vitellius, Julius Civilis positioned himself as Vespasian’s ally. Nominally in support of Vespasian’s cause, Civilis pulled together an army of Germanic, Gallic, and mutinous or defector Roman warriors, and began attacking Roman military positions that were loyal to Emperor Vitellius. Although Civilis’ occupation of Roman territory started under the pretext of aiding Vespasian’s bid for imperial power, the war quickly shifted into something new. Instead of waging war for Vespasian’s sake, Julius Civilis and his forces soon embraced a new goal—creating an empire of their own. Tacitus described how Civilis might have won over his countrymen:
“Civilis invited the nobles and the most enterprising commoners to a sacred grove, ostensibly for a banquet. When he saw that drunkenness and revelry had inflamed their hearts, he spoke to them. He opened with patriotic remarks about the glory and renown of their tribe, and then he went on to catalogue the injustices, the exactions and all the other evils of slavery. Once they had been regarded as allies, but now they were treated like slaves. When was the Roman governor coming?…The Roman state had never been in such low water. The permanent legionary camps contained nothing but loot and old men. Let them just lift up their eyes and have no fear of legions which existed in name only. The Batavians, on the other hand, could rely on the strength of their infantry and cavalry, their kinsmen the Germans, and aspirations which united them with the Gallic provinces….The Batavians listened to the speech with wholehearted approval, so Civilis got them all to swear an oath of loyalty marked by barbarous ritual and traditional curses for perjury” (Tacitus, The Histories, Book 4, chapters 14-15).
It is this scene of Civilis pitching his rebellion to his companions at the banquet that inspired Rembrandt’s painting. The interesting wardrobe choice used by Rembrandt was likely due to the Dutch artistic trend at the time to compare the Netherlands’ own war for independence against Spain (the Eighty Years’ War, c. 1568–1648) to Civilis’ ancient uprising against the Romans. Besides Rembrandt, other Flemish and Dutch artists such as Otto van Veen (c. 1556–1629) and Ferdinand Bol (c. 1616-1680) also painted scenes of Civilis’ rebellion.
Unfortunately for Julius Civilis, the ancient Gallic-Germanic rebels were not able to hold out against the civil-war-hardened Roman legions. Vespasian defeated his rival, Vitellius, by December of the year 69, and became the new Roman emperor. When Vespasian realized that Civilis was no longer an ally, but instead a rebel trying to found a Gallic-Germanic realm, the new emperor sent his generals to dismantle the upstart empire. Quintus Petillius Cerialis was put in charge of the Roman campaign to conquer Julius Civilis’ newly seized land. Unfortunately for Civilis and the Gallic Empire, Cerialis would prove to be a much more effective general than the Vitellian governors that Civilis had faced earlier. Petillius Cerialis began his relentless campaign against Julius Civilis around July or August in the year 70. In a remarkably short amount of time, Cerialis pushed Civilis all the way back to his homeland of Batavia. It was there, in September, 70, that Civilis surrendered to Cerialis. Tacitus described the scene:
“It did not escape Civilis’ notice that the people’s feelings were changing, so he made up his mind to act first. He was tired of troubles, but he also hoped to escape with his life—a prospect which often undermines the resolve of ambitious characters. He asked for a meeting. There was a shattered bridge over the River Nabia, and the two generals advanced to the broken edges of the gap” (Tacitus, The Histories, 5.26).
Unfortunately, Tacitus’ account of the surrender breaks off mid-speech, the rest lost to history. Julius Civilis’ ultimate fate is unknown, but he reportedly surrendered under the impression that he would be pardoned. As for Quintus Petillus Cerialis, Vespasian rewarded him for his success by promoting him to the position of governor of Roman Britannia from the year 71 to 73.
Written by C. Keith Hansley
Sources:
- Tacitus, The Histories, translated by Kenneth Wellesley. New York: Penguin Classics, 2009.
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Gaius-Julius-Civilis
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Conspiracy_of_the_Batavians_under_Claudius_Civilis_(Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn)_-_Nationalmuseum_-_17581.jpg
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