Augustus probably was shocked, but he also made a public display of the whole 'Varus, give me back my legions' thing - he was good at that and it was easier to put the blame on Varus alone instead of admitting that his whole Germanic politics had been misguided. Germanicus later managed to get two of the three captured eagles back, and the mess he made (he lost more soldiers than Varus) was sold as a victory. Those Roman emperors totally would have had Facebook accounts if they lived today. :)