The Works of Tacitus
tr. by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb
[1864-1877]
Tacitus: History Book 2 [60]
60. Then the bravest centurions among the Othonianists were put to death. This,
more than anything else, alienated from Vitellius the armies of Illyricum. At
the same time the other legions, influenced by the contagion of example, and
by their dislike of the German troops, were meditating war. Vitellius detained
Suetonius Paullinus and Licinus Proculus in all the wretchedness of an odious
imprisonment; when they were heard, they resorted to a defence, necessary rather
than honourable. They actually claimed the merit of having been traitors, attributing
to their own dishonest counsels the long march before the battle, the fatigue
of Otho’s troops, the entanglement of the line with the baggage-wagons, and
many circumstances which were really accidental. Vitellius gave them credit
for perfidy, and acquitted them of the crime of loyalty. Salvius Titianus, the
brother of Otho, was never in any peril, for his brotherly affection and his
apathetic character screened him from danger. Marius Celsus had his consulship
confirmed to him. It was commonly believed, however, and was afterwards made
a matter of accusation in the Senate against Caecilius Simplex, that he had
sought to purchase this honour, and with it the destruction of Celsus. Vitellius
refused, and afterwards bestowed on Simplex a consulship that had not to be
bought with crime or with money. Trachalus was protected against his accusers
by Galeria the wife of Vitellius.
61. Amid the adventures of these illustrious men, one is ashamed to relate
how a certain Mariccus, a Boian of the lowest origin, pretending to divine inspiration,
ventured to thrust himself into fortune’s game, and to challenge the arms of
Rome. Calling himself the champion of Gaul, and a God (for he had assumed this
title), he had now collected 8000 men, and was taking possession of the neighbouring
villages of the Aedui, when that most formidable state attacked him with a picked
force of its native youth, to which Vitellius attached some cohorts, and dispersed
the crowd of fanatics. Mariccus was captured in the engagement, and was soon
after exposed to wild beasts, but not having been torn by them was believed
by the senseless multitude to be invulnerable, till he was put to death in the
presence of Vitellius.
62. No further severities were exercised on the persons of the opposite faction,
or with property in any case; the wills of those who had fallen fighting for
Otho were held to be valid, and with those who died intestate, the law was carried
out. Assuredly, could Vitellius have bridled his luxurious tastes, no one need
have dreaded his rapacity. He had a scandalous and insatiable passion for feasts;
the provocatives of gluttony were conveyed to him from the capital and from
Italy, till the roads from both seas resounded with traffic; the leading men
of the various states were ruined by having to furnish his entertainments, and
the states themselves reduced to beggary; the soldiers fast degenerated from
their old activity and valour, through habitual indulgence and contempt of their
leader. He sent on before him to the capital an edict, by which he postponed
his acceptance of the title of Augustus and refused that of Caesar, though he
relinquished nothing of his actual power. The astrologers were banished from
Italy. The Roman Knights were forbidden, under severe penalties, to degrade
themselves by appearing in public entertainments, or in the arena. Former Emperors
had encouraged the practice by bribes, or more frequently enforced it by compulsion;
and many of the towns and colonies had vied with each other in attracting by
large pay the most profligate of the youth.
63. Vitellius, however, when his brother joined him, and when those who are
skilled in the arts of despotism began to creep into his confidence, grew more
arrogant and cruel. He ordered the execution of Dolabella, whose banishment
by Otho to the Colonia Aquinas I have before mentioned. Dolabella, on hearing
of the death of Otho, had entered the capital. Plancius Varus, who had filled
the office of praetor, and had been one of Dolabella’s intimate friends, founded
on this a charge, which he laid before Flavius Sabinus, prefect of the city,
implying that Dolabella had escaped from custody, and had offered to put himself
at the head of the vanquished party; and he also alleged that the cohort stationed
at Ostia had been tampered with. Of these grave accusations he brought no proof
whatever, and then repenting, sought, when the crime had been consummated, a
pardon which could be of no avail. Flavius Sabinus hesitating to act in a matter
of such importance, Triaria, the wife of Lucius Vitellius, with unfeminine ferocity,
warned him not to seek a reputation for clemency by imperilling the Emperor.
Sabinus was naturally of a mild disposition, but under the pressure of fear
was easily swayed; here, the danger of another made him tremble for himself,
and, lest he might seem to have helped the accused, he precipitated his fall.
64. Upon this, Vitellius, who, besides fearing Dolabella, hated him, because
he had married Petronia, his former wife, summoned him by letter, and at the
same time gave orders that, without passing along the much frequented thoroughfare
of the Flaminian road, he should turn aside to Interamna, and there be put to
death. This seemed too tedious to the executioner, who in a road-side tavern
struck down his prisoner, and cut his throat. The act brought great odium upon
the new reign, and was noted as the first indication of its character. Triaria’s
recklessness was rendered more intolerable by an immediate contrast with the
exemplary virtue of Galeria, the Emperor’s wife, who took no part in these horrors,
and with Sextilia, the mother of the two Vitellii, a woman equally blameless,
and of the old type of character. She indeed is said to have exclaimed on receiving
the first letter from her son, “I am the mother, not of Germanicus, but of Vitellius.”
And in after days no seductions of fortune, no flattery from the State, could
move her to exultation; it was only the misfortunes of her family that she felt.
65. M. Cluvius Rufus, who had left his government in Spain, came up with
Vitellius after his departure from Lugdunum. He wore a look of joy and congratulation,
but he was anxious at heart, for he knew that he was the object of accusations.
Hilarius, the Emperor’s freedman, had indeed brought this charge against him,
that on hearing of the contest for the throne between Vitellius and Otho, he
had made an attempt to secure power for himself, and to obtain possession of
Spain, and that with this view he had not headed his passports with the name
of any Emperor. Some extracts from the speeches of Rufus he represented as insulting
to Vitellius, and intended to win popularity for himself. So strong, however,
was the influence of Cluvius, that Vitellius actually ordered the freedman to
be punished. Cluvius was attached to the Emperor’s retinue; Spain however was
not taken from him; he still governed the province though not resident, as L.
Arruntius had done before him, whom Tiberius Caesar detained at home, because
he feared him; it was not from any apprehension that Vitellius kept Cluvius
with him. The same compliment was not paid to Trebellius Maximus. He had fled
from Britain because of the exasperation of the soldiery. Vettius Bolanus, who
was then accompanying the Emperor, was sent to succeed him.
66. Vitellius was troubled by the spirit of the vanquished legions, which
was anything but broken. Scattered through all parts of Italy, and mingled with
the conquerors, they spoke the language of enemies. The soldiers of the 14th
legion were peculiarly furious. They said that they had not been vanquished;
that at the battle of Bedriacum only the veterans had been beaten, and that
the strength of the legion had been absent. It was resolved that these troops
should be sent back to Britain, from which province Nero had summoned them,
and that the Batavian cohorts should in the meantime be quartered with them,
because there was an old feud between them and the 14th. In the presence of
such animosities between these armed masses, harmony did not last long. At Augusta
of the Taurini it happened that a Batavian soldier fiercely charged some artisan
with having cheated him, and that a soldier of the legion took the part of his
host. Each man’s comrades gathered round him; from words they came to blows,
and a fierce battle would have broken out, had not two Praetorian cohorts taken
the side of the 14th, and given confidence to them, while they intimidated the
Batavians. Vitellius then ordered that these latter troops should be attached
to his own force, in consideration of their loyalty, and that the legion should
pass over the Graian Alps, and then take that line of road, by which they would
avoid passing Vienna, for the inhabitants of that place were also suspected.
On the night of the departure of the legion, a part of the Colonia Taurina was
destroyed by the fires which were left in every direction. This loss, like many
of the evils of war, was forgotten in the greater disasters which happened to
other cities. When the 14th had made the descent on the other side of the Alps,
the most mutinous among them were for carrying the standards to Vienna. They
were checked, however, by the united efforts of the better disposed, and the
legion was transported into Britain.
67. Vitellius found his next cause of apprehension in the Praetorian cohorts.
They were first divided, and then ordered, though with the gratifying compliment
of an honourable discharge, to give up their arms to their tribunes. But as
the arms Vespasian gathered strength, they returned to their old service, and
constituted the mainstay of the Flavianist party. The first legion from the
fleet was sent into Spain, that in the peaceful repose of that province their
excitement might subside; the 7th and 11th were sent back to their winter quarters;
the, 13th were ordered to erect amphitheatres, for both Caecina at Cremona,
and Valens at Bononia, were preparing to exhibit shows of gladiators. Vitellius
indeed was never so intent on the cares of Empire as to forget his pleasures.
68. Though he had thus quietly divided the conquered party, there arose a
disturbance among the conquerors. It began in sport, but the number of those
who fell aggravated the horrors of the war. Vitellius had sat down to a banquet
at Ticinum, and had invited Verginius to be his guest. The legates and tribunes
always follow the character of the Emperor, and either imitate his strictness,
or indulge in early conviviality. And the soldiers in like manner are either
diligent or lax in their duty. About Vitellius all was disorder and drunkenness,
more like a nocturnal feast and revel than a properly disciplined camp. Thus
it happened that two soldiers, one of whom belonged to the 5th legion, while
the other was one of the Gallic auxiliaries, challenged each other in sport
to a wrestling match. The legionary was thrown, and the Gaul taunted him. The
soldiers who had assembled to witness the contest took different sides, till
the legionaries made a sudden and murderous attack on the auxiliary troops,
and destroyed two cohorts. The first disturbance was checked only by a second.
A cloud of dust and the glitter of arms were seen at a distance. A sudden cry
was raised that the 14th legion had retraced its steps, and was advancing to
the attack. It was in fact the rearguard of the army, and their recognition
removed the cause of alarm. Meanwhile a slave of Verginius happened to come
in their way. He was charged with having designed the assassination of Vitellius.
The soldiers rushed to the scene of the banquet, and loudly demanded the death
of Verginius. Even Vitellius, tremblingly alive as he was to all suspicions,
had no doubt of his innocence. Yet he could hardly check the troops when they
clamoured for the death of a man of consular rank, formerly their own general.
Indeed there was no one who was more frequently the object of all kinds of outbreaks
than Verginius; the man still was admired, still retained his high reputation,
but they hated him with the hatred of those who are despised.
69. The next day Vitellius, after giving audience to the envoys from the
Senate whom he had ordered to wait for him there, proceeded to the camp, and
actually bestowed high praise on the loyalty of the soldiers. The auxiliary
troops loudly complained that such complete impunity, such privileged arrogance,
was accorded to the legions. The Batavian cohorts were sent back to Germany,
lest they should venture on further violence. Destiny was thus simultaneously
preparing the occasions of civil and of foreign war. The Gallic auxiliaries
were sent back to their respective states, a vast body of men, which in the
very earliest stage of the revolt had been employed to make an idle show of
strength. Besides this, in order to eke out the Imperial resources, which had
been impaired by a series of bounties, directions were given that the battalions
of the legions and the auxiliary forces should be reduced, all recruiting being
forbidden. Discharges were offered without distinction. This measure was disastrous
to the State, and distasteful to the soldier, who found that the same duty was
distributed among a smaller number, and that his toils and risks came round
in a more frequent succession. Their vigour too was undermined by luxury, a
luxury that transgressed our ancient discipline and the customs of our ancestors,
in whose days the power of Rome found a surer foundation in valour than in wealth.
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