The Works of Tacitus
tr. by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb
[1864-1877]
Tacitus: History Book 2 [80]
80. While they were seeking a suitable time and place, and for that which in
such an affair is the great difficulty, the first man to speak, while hope,
fear, the chances of success or of disaster, were present to their minds, one
day, on Vespasian quitting his chamber, a few soldiers who stood near, in the
usual form in which they would salute their legate, suddenly saluted him as
Emperor. Then all the rest hurried up, called him Caesar and Augustus, and heaped
on him all the titles of Imperial rank. Their minds had passed from apprehension
to confidence of success. In Vespasian there appeared no sign of elation or
arrogance, or of any change arising from his changed fortunes. As soon as he
had dispelled the mist with which so astonishing a vicissitude had clouded his
vision, he addressed the troops in a soldier-like style, and listened to the
joyful intelligence that came pouring in from all quarters. This was the very
opportunity for which Mucianus had been waiting. He now at once administered
to the eager soldiers the oath of allegiance to Vespasian. Then he entered the
theatre at Antioch, where it is customary for the citizens to hold their public
deliberations, and as they crowded together with profuse expressions of flattery,
he addressed them. He could speak Greek with considerable grace, and in all
that he did and said he had the art of displaying himself to advantage. Nothing
excited the provincials and the army so much as the assertion of Mucianus that
Vitellius had determined to remove the legions of Germany to Syria, to an easy
and lucrative service, while the armies of Syria were to have given them in
exchange the encampments of Germany with their inclement climate and their harassing
toils. On the one hand, the provincials from long use felt a pleasure in the
companionship of the soldiers, with whom many of them were connected by friendship
or relationship; on the other, the soldiers from the long duration of their
service loved the well-known and familiar camp as a home.
81. Before the 15th of July the whole of Syria had adopted the same alliance.
There joined him, each with his entire kingdom, Sohemus, who had no contemptible
army, and Antiochus, who possessed vast ancestral wealth, and was the richest
of all the subject-kings. Before long Agrippa, who had been summoned from the
capital by secret despatches from his friends, while as yet Vitellius knew nothing,
was crossing the sea with all speed. Queen Berenice too, who was then in the
prime of youth and beauty, and who had charmed even the old Vespasian by the
splendour of her presents, promoted his cause with equal zeal. All the provinces
washed by the sea, as far as Asia and Achaia, and the whole expanse of country
inland towards Pontus and Armenia, took the oath of allegiance. The legates,
however, of these provinces were without troops, Cappadocia as yet having had
no legions assigned to it. A council was held at Berytus to deliberate on the
general conduct of the war. Thither came Mucianus with the legates and tribunes
and all the most distinguished centurions and soldiers, and thither also the
picked troops of the army of Judaea. Such a vast assemblage of cavalry and infantry,
and the pomp of the kings that strove to rival each other in magnificence, presented
an appearance of Imperial splendour.
82. The first business of the campaign was to levy troops and recall the
veterans to service. The strong cities were set apart for the manufacture of
arms; at Antioch gold and silver money was coined, everything being vigorously
carried on in its appointed place by properly qualified agents. Vespasian himself
went everywhere, urged to exertion, encouraged the industrious by praise, and
with the indolent used the stimulus of example rather than of compulsion, and
chose to be blind to the faults rather than to the merits of his friends. Many
among them he distinguished with prefectures and governments, and several with
the honours of senatorial rank; all these were men of eminence who soon reached
the highest positions. In some cases good fortune served instead of merit. Of
a donative to the troops Mucianus in his first speech had held out only moderate
hopes, and even Vespasian offered no more in the civil war than others had done
in times of peace, thus making a noble stand against all bribery of the soldiery,
and possessing in consequence a better army. Envoys were sent to Parthia and
Armenia, and precautions were taken that, when the legions were engaged in the
civil war, the country in their rear might not be exposed to attack. It was
arranged that Titus should pursue the war in Judaea, while Vespasian should
secure the passes into Egypt. To cope with Vitellius, a portion of the army,
the generalship of Mucianus, the prestige of Vespasian’s name, and the destiny
before which all difficulties vanish, seemed sufficient. To all the armies and
legates letters were despatched, and instructions were given to them that they
were to attach the Praetorians, who hated Vitellius, by the inducement of renewed
military service.
83. Mucianus, who acted more as a colleague than as a servant of the Emperor,
moved on with some light-armed troops, not indeed at a tardy pace so as to give
the appearance of delay, yet not with extraordinary speed. Thus he allowed rumour
to gather fresh strength by distance, well aware that his force was but small,
and that exaggerated notions are formed about what is not seen. Behind him,
however, came in a vast body the 6th legion and 13,000 veterans. He had given
directions that the fleet from the Pontus should be brought up to Byzantium,
not having yet made up his mind, whether, avoiding Moesia, he should move on
Dyrrachium with his infantry and cavalry, and at the same time blockade the
sea on the side of Italy with his ships of war, thus leaving Asia and Achaia
safe in his rear, which, being bare of troops, would be left at the mercy of
Vitellius, unless they were occupied with proper garrisons. And thus too Vitellius
himself, finding Brundisium, Tarentum, and the shores of Calabria and Lucania
menaced by hostile fleets, would be in utter perplexity as to which part of
Italy he should protect.
84. Thus the provinces echoed with the bustle of preparing fleets, armies,
and the implements of war. Nothing, however, was so vexatious as the raising
of money. Mucianus, with the perpetual assertion that money was the sinews of
war, looked in all questions, not to right or truth, but only to the extent
of a man’s fortune. Informations abounded, and all the richest men were fastened
on for plunder. These intolerable oppressions, which yet found some excuse in
the necessities of war, were continued even in peace. Vespasian himself indeed
at the beginning of his reign was not so bent on enforcing these iniquitous
measures, till, spoilt by prosperity and evil counsellors, he learnt this policy
and ventured to use it. Mucianus contributed to the war even from his own purse,
liberal with his private means because he helped himself without scruple from
the wealth of the State. The rest followed his example in contributing their
money; very few enjoyed the same licence in reimbursing themselves.
85. Meanwhile the operations of Vespasian were hastened by the zeal of the
army of Illyricum, which had come over to his side. The third legion set the
example to the other legions of Moesia. These were the eighth and seventh (Claudius’),
who were possessed with a strong liking for Otho, though they had not been present
at the battle of Bedriacum. They had advanced to Aquileia, and by roughly repulsing
the messengers who brought the tidings of Otho’s defeat, by tearing the colours
which displayed the name of Vitellius, by finally seizing on the military chest
and dividing it among themselves, had assumed a hostile attitude. Then they
began to fear; fear suggested a new thought, that acts might be made a merit
of with Vespasian, which would have to be excused to Vitellius. Accordingly,
the three legions of Moesia sought by letter to win over the army of Pannonia,
and prepared to use force if they refused. During this commotion, Aponius Saturnius,
governor of Moesia, ventured on a most atrocious act. He despatched a centurion
to murder Tettius Julianus, the legate of the 7th legion, to gratify a private
pique, which he concealed beneath the appearance of party zeal. Julianus, having
discovered his danger, and procured some guides, who were acquainted with the
country, fled through the pathless wastes of Moesia beyond Mount Haemus, nor
did he afterwards take any part in the civil war. He set out to join Vespasian,
but contrived to protract his journey by various pretexts, lingering or hastening
on his way, according to the intelligence he received.
86. In Pannonia, however, the 13th legion and the 7th (Galba’s), which still
retained their vexation and rage at the defeat of Bedriacum, joined Vespasian
without hesitation, mainly under the influence of Primus Antonius. This man,
though an offender against the law, and convicted of fraud in the reign of Nero,
had, among the other calamities of war, recovered his rank as a Senator. Having
been appointed by Galba to command the 7th legion, he was commonly believed
to have often written to Otho, offering the party his services as a general.
Being slighted, however, by that Prince, he found no employment during the war.
When the fortunes of Vitellius began to totter, he attached himself to Vespasian,
and brought a vast accession of strength to his party. He was brave in battle,
ready of speech, dexterous in bringing odium upon other men, powerful amidst
civil strife and rebellion, rapacious, prodigal, the worst of citizens in peace,
but in war no contemptible ally. United by these means, the armies of Moesia
and Pannonia drew with them the soldiery of Dalmatia, though the consular legates
took no part in the movement. Titus Ampius Flavianus was the governor of Pannonia,
Poppaeus Silvanus of Dalmatia. They were both rich and advanced in years. The
Imperial procurator, however, was Cornelius Fuscus, a man in the prime of life
and of illustrious birth. Though in early youth the desire of repose had led
him to resign his senatorial rank, he afterwards put himself at the head of
his colony in fighting for Galba, and by this service he obtained his procuratorship.
Subsequently embracing the cause of Vespasian, he lent the movement the stimulus
of a fiery zeal. Finding his pleasure not so much in the rewards of peril as
in peril itself, to assured and long acquired possession he preferred novelty,
uncertainty, and risk. Accordingly, both he and Antonius strove to agitate and
disturb wherever there was any weak point. Despatches were sent to the 14th
legion in Britain and to the 1st in Spain, for both these legions had been on
the side of Otho against Vitellius. Letters too were scattered through every
part of Gaul, and in a moment a mighty war burst into flame, for the armies
of Illyricum were already in open revolt, and the rest were waiting only the
signal of success.
87. While Vespasian and the generals of his party were thus occupied in the
provinces, Vitellius was daily becoming more contemptible and indolent, halting
to enjoy the pleasures of every town and villa in his way, as with his cumbrous
host he advanced towards the capital. He was followed by 60,000 armed soldiers
demoralized by licence. Still larger was the number of camp-followers; and of
all slaves, the slaves of soldiers are the most unruly. So numerous a retinue
of officers and personal friends would have been difficult to keep under restraint,
even if controlled by the strictest discipline. The crowd was made more unwieldy
by Senators and Knights who came to meet him from the capital, some moved by
fear, many by a spirit of adulation, others, and by degrees all, that they might
not be left behind while the rest were going. From the dregs of the people there
thronged buffoons, players, and charioteers, known to Vitellius from their infamous
compliance with his vices; for in such disgraceful friendships he felt a strange
pleasure. And now not only were the colonies and towns exhausted by having to
furnish supplies, but the very cultivator of the soil and his lands, on which
the harvests were now ripe, were plundered like an enemy’s territory.
88. There were many sanguinary encounters between the soldiers; for ever
since the mutiny which broke out at Ticinum there had lingered a spirit of dissension
between the legions and the auxiliary troops, though they could unite whenever
they had to fight with the rustic population. The most terrible massacre took
place at the 7th milestone from Rome. Vitellius was distributing to each soldier
provisions ready dressed on the same abundant scale as the gladiators’ rations,
and the populace had poured forth, and spread themselves throughout the entire
camp. Some with the frolicsome humour of slaves robbed the careless soldiers
by slily cutting their belts, and then asked them whether they were armed. Unused
to insult, the spirit of the soldiers resented the jest. Sword in hand they
fell upon the unarmed people. Among the slain was the father of a soldier, who
was with his son. He was afterwards recognised, and his murder becoming generally
known, they spared the innocent crowd. Yet there was a panic at Rome, as the
soldiers pressed on in all directions. It was to the forum that they chiefly
directed their steps, anxious to behold the spot where Galba had fallen. Nor
were the men themselves a less frightful spectacle, bristling as they were with
the skins of wild beasts, and armed with huge lances, while in their strangeness
to the place they were embarrassed by the crowds of people, or tumbling down
in the slippery streets or from the shock of some casual encounter, they fell
to quarrelling, and then had recourse to blows and the use of their swords.
Besides, the tribunes and prefects were hurrying to and fro with formidable
bodies of armed men.
89. Vitellius himself, mounted on a splendid charger, with military cloak
and sword, advanced from the Mulvian bridge, driving the Senate and people before
him; but deterred by the advice of his friends from marching into Rome as if
it were a captured city, he assumed a civil garb, and proceeded with his army
in orderly array. The eagles of four legions were borne in front, and an equal
number of colours from other legions on either side, then came the standards
of twelve auxiliary squadrons, and the cavalry behind the ranks of the infantry.
Next came thirty-four auxiliary cohorts, distinguished according to the names
or various equipments of the nations. Before each eagle were the prefects of
the camp, the tribunes, and the centurions of highest rank, in white robes,
and the other officers by the side of their respective companies, glittering
with arms and decorations. The ornaments and chains of the soldiers presented
a brilliant appearance. It was a glorious sight, and the army was worthy of
a better Emperor than Vitellius. Thus he entered the capital, and he there embraced
his mother and honoured her with the title of Augusta.
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