Graves follows the accounts in Dio, Paterculus, Tacitus and Florus reasonably well, though with some of his own embellishments. Several times in discussing the battle with people they have stated categorically that Varus was incompetent because he didn't post scouts to protect his column. When I ask them where in the sources this information can be found, they have never been able to tell me.
It was only a couple of years ago, when re-reading Graves' account of the battle in
I Claudius that I realised this detail was something Graves added to his account. It's not found anywhere in any of the sources, including Paterculus, who was especially keen to blame Varus personally for the disaster.
In his account of the assassination of Caligula, Graves also says that the Praetorian Prefect, Cassius Chaerea, - one of the chief conspirators - was a survivor of the
Clades Variana, who had fought his way out of the battle and returned to Italy. This is either a mistake of Graves' or an fictional embellishment, since Chaerea is not mentioned in any of the accounts of the battle and Augustus decreed that none of the survivors of the disaster could ever return home. The bodies of the casualties were not even allowed to be buried in Italy (though Varus' head was laid in his family tomb), which is why the tomb of the Centurion Marcus Caelius was raised by his brother on the Rhine rather than back in Italy.
The story of the dramatic siege of Aliso in the aftermath of the uprising is taken directly from Dio's account. It can be found in the
'Background' section of this site, but I'll reproduce the relevant section for you here:
[The barbarians seized all the Roman fortresses but one; it was because of the delay in this single instance that they neither crossed the Rhine nor invaded Gaul. They found themselves unable to capture this position because they did not understand the business of siege warfare, and also because the Romans employed a large number of archers, whose arrows repeatedly checked their attacks and caused them heavy losses ...
Later they learned that the Romans had stationed a garrison at the Rhine, and that Tiberius was approaching with a formidable army. At this most of the barbarians withdrew from the fort, and even the detachment which had been left there removed themselves to a safe distance, so that they should not suffer losses from sudden sorties on the part of the garrison. Then they closed the roads, hoping that they could overcome the defenders by cutting off their supplies.
The Romans inside, so long as their food held out, remained on the spot and waited to be relieved. however, when no one arrived to rescue them and they began to suffer from hunger, they waited for a stormy night and made their escape. The troops of the garrison were only few in number and had many non-combatants with them.] They managed to pass through the enemy's first and second guard posts, but when they reached the third their presence was discovered. This was because the women and children, who were both frightened and exhausted, and troubled too by the darkness and the cold, kept calling to the soldiers to come back. They would all have died or been captured if the barbarians had not given their whole attention to seizing the plunder.
This provided a chance for the most vigorous to get some distance away, and when the buglers who were with them blew the call to march in double time, this made the enemy believe a reinforcement had been sent by Asprenas. So the barbarians abandoned their pursuit, and Asprenas, once he learned what was happening, did in fact help them. Some of the prisoners were later ransomed by their relatives and returned to Roman territory, a concession which was granted provided that the men stayed outside Italy.
I hope that helps. As for a sequel, that's a possibility.
Cheers,
Tim O'Neill
Clades Variana Webmaster