The Works of Tacitus
tr. by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb
[1864-1877]
Tacitus: History Book 2 [40]
40. They started for a campaign rather than for a battle, making for the confluence
of the Padus and Addua, a distance of sixteen miles from their position. Celsus
and Paullinus remonstrated against exposing troops wearied with a march and
encumbered with baggage to any enemy, who, being himself ready for action and
having marched barely four miles, would not fail to attack them, either when
they were in the confusion of an advance, or when they were dispersed and busy
with the work of entrenchment. Titianus and Proculus, overcome in argument,
fell back on the Imperial authority. It was true that a Numidian had arrived
at full gallop with an angry message from Otho, in which the Emperor, sick of
delay and impatient of suspense, sharply rebuked the inactivity of the generals,
and commanded that matters should be brought to an issue.
41. The same day, while Caecina was engaged on the construction of a bridge,
two tribunes of the Praetorian Guard came to him and begged an interview. He
was on the point of hearing their proposals and sending back his own, when the
scouts arrived at headlong speed with the news that the enemy were close at
hand. The address of the tribunes was thus abruptly terminated. Thus it remained
uncertain whether deception, or treason, or some honourable arrangement, had
been in their thoughts. Caecina dismissed the tribunes and rode back to the
camp. There he found that Fabius Valens had given the signal for battle, and
that the troops were under arms. While the legions were casting lots for the
order of march, the cavalry charged, and, strange to say, were kept only by
the courage of the Italian legion from being driven back on the entrenchments
by an inferior force of Othonianists. These men, at the sword’s point, compelled
the beaten squadron to wheel round and resume the conflict. The line of the
Vitellianists was formed without hurry, for, though the enemy was close at hand,
the sight of their arms was intercepted by the thick brushwood. In Otho’s army
the generals were full of fear, and the soldiers hated their officers; the baggage-wagons
and the camp-followers were mingled with the troops; and as there were steep
ditches on both sides the road, it would have been found too narrow even for
an undisturbed advance. Some were gathering round their standards; others were
seeking them; everywhere was heard the confused shouting of men who were joining
the ranks, or calling to their comrades, and each, as he was prompted by courage
or by cowardice, rushed on to the front, or slunk back to the rear.
42. From the consternation of panic their feelings passed under the influence
of a groundless joy into languid indifference, some persons spreading the lie
that Vitellius’ army had revolted. Whether this rumour was circulated by the
spies of Vitellius, or originated in treachery or in accident among the partisans
of Otho, has never been clearly ascertained. Forgetting their warlike ardour,
the Othonianists at once greeted the foe; as they were answered by an angry
murmur, they caused apprehensions of treachery in many of their own side, who
did not know what the greeting meant. Then the enemy’s line charged with its
ranks unbroken, in strength and in numbers superior; the Othonianists, scattered
and weary as they were, met the attack with spirit. The ground was so entangled
with trees and vineyards that the battle assumed many forms. They met in close
and in distant conflict, in line and in column. On the raised road they stood
foot to foot, they pushed with their bodies and their shields, and ceasing to
throw their javelins, they struck through helmets and breastplates with swords
and battle-axes. Recognising each other and distinctly seen by the rest of the
combatants, they were fighting to decide the whole issue of the war.
43. In an open plain between the Padus and the road, two legions happened
to meet. On the side of Vitellius was the 21st, called the Rapax, a corps of
old and distinguished renown. On that of Otho was the 1st, called Adjutrix,
which had never before been brought into the field, but was high-spirited, and
eager to gain its first triumph. The men of the 1st, overthrowing the foremost
ranks of the 21st, carried off the eagle. The 21st, infuriated by this loss,
not only repulsed the 1st, and slew the legate, Orfidius Benignus, but captured
many colours and standards from the enemy. In another quarter the 13th legion
was put to flight by a charge of the 5th. The 14th was surrounded by a superior
force. Otho’s generals had long since fled and Caecina and Valens strengthened
their army with the reserves. New reinforcements were supplied by Varus Alfenius
with his Batavians. They had routed the band of gladiators, which had been ferried
across the river, and which had been cut to pieces by the opposing cohorts while
they were actually in the water. Thus flushed with victory, they charged the
flank of the enemy.
44. The centre of their line had been penetrated, and the Othonianists fled
on all sides in the direction of Bedriacum. The distance was very great, and
the roads were blocked up with heaps of corpses; thus the slaughter was the
greater, for captives taken in civil war can be turned to no profit. Suetonius
Paullinus and Licinius Proculus, taking different roads, avoided the camp. Vedius
Aquila, legate of the 13th legion, in the blindness of fear, fell in the way
of the furious soldiery. Late in the day he entered the entrenchments, and found
himself the centre of a mob of clamorous and mutinous fugitives. They did not
refrain from abuse or actual violence; they reviled him as a deserter and traitor,
not having any specific charge against him, but all, after the fashion of the
mob, imputing to him their own crimes. Titianus and Celsus were favoured by
the darkness. By that time the sentries had been posted, and the soldiers reduced
to order. Annius Gallus had prevailed upon them by his prayers, his advice,
and his personal influence, not to aggravate the disaster of their defeat by
mutual slaughter. Whether the war was at an end, or whether they might choose
to resume the conflict, the vanquished would find in union the sole mitigation
of their lot. The spirit of the rest of the army was broken, but the Praetorians
angrily complained that they had been vanquished, not by valour, but by treachery.
“The Vitellianists indeed,” they said, “gained no bloodless victory; their cavalry
was defeated, a legion lost its eagle. We have still the troops beyond the Padus,
and Otho himself. The legions of Moesia are coming; a great part of the army
remained at Bedriacum; these certainly were never vanquished; and if it must
be so, it is on the battlefield that we shall fall with most honour.” Amid all
the exasperation or terror of these thoughts, the extremity of despair yet roused
them to fury rather than to fear.
45. The army of Vitellius bivouacked at the fifth milestone from Bedriacum.
The generals did not venture an assault on the enemy’s camp that same day; besides,
a capitulation was expected. Though they were without baggage, and had marched
out only to fight, it was sufficient protection to them that they had arms,
and were victorious. On the following day, as the feeling of Otho’s army was
evident, and those who had been most furious were inclined to repent, envoys
were sent, nor did the generals of Vitellius hesitate to grant conditions of
peace. The envoys indeed were detained for some little time, and this circumstance
caused some doubt, as it was not known whether they had obtained their object;
before long, however, they returned, and the camp was thrown open. Both victors
and vanquished melted into tears, and cursed the fatality of civil strife with
a melancholy joy. There in the same tents did they dress the wounds of brothers
or of kinsmen. Their hopes, their rewards, were all uncertain; death and sorrow
were sure. And no one had so escaped misfortune as to have no bereavement to
lament. Search was made for the body of the legate Orfidius, and it was burnt
with the customary honours. A few were buried by their friends; the multitude
that remained were left above ground.
46. Otho was awaiting news of the battle free from alarm and resolved in
purpose. First came gloomy tidings, and then fugitives from the field, making
known that all was lost. The zeal of the soldiers did not wait for the Emperor
to speak. They bade him be of good cheer, telling him that he had still fresh
forces, and that they would themselves endure and dare to the last. This was
no flattery; they were fired by a furious impulse to seek the battle-field,
and raise again the fallen fortunes of their party. Those who stood at a distance
stretched out their arms, those who were near clasped the Emperor’s knees, and
Plotius Firmus was the most zealous of them all. This man, who was prefect of
the Praetorian Guard, repeatedly besought Otho not to desert an army so loyal
and soldiers so deserving; “there was more courage in bearing trouble,” he said,
“than in escaping from it; the brave and the energetic cling to hope, even in
spite of fortune; the cowardly and the indolent are hurried into despair by
their fears.” While he was thus speaking, as Otho assumed a relenting or a stern
expression, the soldiers cheered or groaned. Nor was it only the Praetorians,
who were peculiarly Otho’s troops, that thus acted; those who had been sent
on from Moesia declared that the approaching army was as firmly resolved, and
that the legions had entered Aquileia. No one therefore can doubt that the war
might have been renewed with its terrible disasters, and its uncertainties both
for victors and vanquished.
47. Otho himself was opposed to all thoughts of war. He said, “I hold that
to expose such a spirit, such a courage as yours, to any further risk is to
put too high a value on my life. The more hope you hold out to me, should I
choose to live, the more glorious will be my death. Fortune and I now know each
other; you need not reckon for how long, for it is peculiarly difficult to be
moderate with that prosperity which you think you will not long enjoy. The civil
war began with Vitellius; he was the first cause of our contending in arms for
the throne; the example of not contending more than once shall belong to me.
By this let posterity judge of Otho. Vitellius is welcome to his brother, his
wife, his children. I need neither revenge nor consolation. Others may have
held the throne for a longer time, but no one can have left it with such fortitude.
Shall I suffer so large a portion of the youth of Rome and so many noble armies
to be again laid low and to be lost to the State? Let this thought go with me,
that you were willing to die for me. But live, and let us no longer delay, lest
I interfere with your safety, you with my firmness. To say too much about one’s
end is a mark of cowardice. Take as the strongest proof of my determination
the fact that I complain of no one. To accuse either gods or men is only for
him who wishes to live.”
48. After having thus spoken, he courteously entreated all in terms befitting
their age and rank to go at once, and not exasperate the anger of the conqueror
by staying. With the young he used his authority, with the old his prayers,
and still his look was calm, his speech collected, as he checked the unseasonable
tears of his friends. He gave orders that those who were departing should be
furnished with boats and carriages; he destroyed all memorials and letters remarkable
for their expressions of zeal for himself or their abuse of Vitellius. He distributed
some gratuities, but sparingly, and not like a man who was soon to die. Then
he even administered consolation to Salvius Cocceianus, his brother’s son, a
very young man, who was anxious and sorrowful, praising his affection while
he rebuked his fear. “Do you think,” he said, “that Vitellius will shew so ruthless
a temper that he will not make even this return for the preservation of his
whole family? By hastening my end I earn the clemency of the conqueror. It is
not in the extremity of despair, but while my army yet cries for battle, that
I have sacrificed to the State my last chance. I have obtained enough reputation
for myself, enough nobility for my family. Successor to the Julii, the Claudii,
the Servii, have been the first to bring the Imperial dignity into a new family.
Enter then on life with a brave heart, and never entirely forget, or remember
too vividly, that Otho was your uncle.”
49. After this he dismissed every one, and took some repose. He was now pondering
in his heart the last cares of life, when his attention was distracted by a
sudden tumult and he was told of the confusion and outrageous conduct of the
soldiers. They were threatening with death all who attempted to depart, and
were extreme in their violence against Verginius, whose house they had blockaded
and were besieging. After rebuking the ringleaders of the tumult, he returned
and employed himself in granting interviews to those who were departing, till
all had left in safety. Towards evening he quenched his thirst with a draught
of cold water. Two daggers were brought to him; he tried the edge of each, and
then put one under his head. After satisfying himself that his friends had set
out, he passed a tranquil night, and it is even said that he slept. At dawn
he fell with his breast upon the steel. Hearing a groan from the dying man,
his freedmen and slaves, and Plotius Firmus, prefect of the Praetorian Guard,
came in. They found but one wound. His funeral was hastily performed. He had
made this the subject of earnest entreaties, anxious that his head might not
be cut off and subjected to indignities. The Praetorian cohorts carried his
body with praises and tears, covering his wound and his hands with kisses. Some
of the soldiers killed themselves near the funeral pile, not moved by remorse
or by fear, but by the desire to emulate his glory, and by love of their Prince.
Afterwards this kind of death became a common practice among all ranks at Bedriacum,
at Placentia, and in the other camps. Over Otho was built a tomb unpretending
and therefore likely to stand.
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