Classical Apologetics?

Adrian Murdoch graciously shot down my theory on the defeat of Varus in 9 AD and he's probably right. (See comments on this post.) Honestly, he's the expert, but I'll still wonder. In case YOU are wondering, no, this isn't vital to Bible/History. This is practice.

Suetonius 3.16.1 says Tiberius had 15 Legions in his Illyrian War (6 to 9 AD). But Velleius 2.113 says he had 10 Legions with 70 additional cohorts. Since "cohorts" can refer to regular auxillary units, and since Dio's account names 10 Legions, the simple solution is to say Suetonius is wrong. But is this too simple? If - a big if - there were some reason to trust Suetonius implicitly, we'd have to re-research or reinterpret his use of the number 15. As silly as that might sound at first, simple logic would demand we consider what else he might have meant.

Again, this is just an exercise and I'm not seriously apologizing for Suetonius here. So this is just a thought, but if 5 of the 7 German Legions sent detachments in 6 AD (like several will do during 69 AD) that could explain the "15" of Suetonius. There's no evidence to conclude it, but a plausible case can be made. Therefore, IF we trusted Suetonius completely, this could seem like the only explanation for his statement. Granted, that still wouldn't make it a proven historical fact, but it would be something worth discussing as plausible, at least.

I'm not into secular/religious polemics, so my only horse in this race is simple logic. I'm honestly surprised to think that nobody studying the Battle of Teutoburg Forest has attempted to "apologize" for Varus by using Suetonius 3.16.1 to suggest his Legions were undermanned when they were obliterated. Winds, rain, overconfidence and the element of surprise don't necessarily seem like enough to me. But then, I've never studied the battle itself very intensively. [UPDATE: Adrian suggests I was right about being "undermanned" but for a totally different reason. Details below his post.] Maybe Varus only lost a key lineman or two, like Alabama's deoffense last night. [My memory was confused by their inexplicably horrible defense. Case in point?] ;)

In the final analysis, I guess no one has the need (or cause) to trust the text of Suetonius as implicitly as many christians trust the scriptures. And that's fine. But if they did - logic suggests - there should have been some scholar somewhere suggesting what occured to me so easily. Sadly, I don't have time to get involved in the Battle of Teutoburg 2000th anniversary parties they'll be having this year. I'd really love to ask a few more opinions.

Just for practice.