Tacitus: HISTORIAE

[1] Struebat iam fortuna in diversa parte terrarum initia causasque imperio, quod varia sorte laetum rei publicae aut atrox, ipsis principibus prosperum vel exitio fuit. Titus Vespasianus, e Iudaea incolumi adhuc Galba missus a patre, causam profectionis officium erga principem et maturam petendis honoribus iuventam ferebat, sed vulgus fingendi avidum disperserat accitum in adoptionem. materia sermonibus senium et orbitas principis et intemperantia civitatis, donec unus eligatur, multos destinandi.

[1] Fortune was already laying in a different quarter of the lands the beginnings and causes for imperium— which, with a varied lot, was joyous for the commonwealth or atrocious, for the princes themselves prosperous or to destruction. Titus Vespasianus, sent from Judaea by his father while Galba was still unscathed, was putting forward as the cause of his departure his officium toward the princeps and a youth mature for seeking honors; but the vulgus, eager for inventing, had spread that he was called for adoption. The material for talk was the senility and childlessness of the princeps and the intemperance of the civitas, until, one being chosen, many are for designation.

augebat famam ipsius Titi ingenium quantaecumque fortunae capax, decor oris cum quadam maiestate, prosperae Vespasiani res, praesaga responsa, et inclinatis ad credendum animis loco ominum etiam fortuita. ubi Corinthi, Achaiae urbe, certos nuntios accepit de interitu Galbae et aderant qui arma Vitellii bellumque adfirmarent, anxius animo paucis amicorum adhibitis cuncta utrimque perlustrat: si pergeret in urbem, nullam officii gratiam in alterius honorem suscepti, ac se Vitellio sive Othoni obsidem fore: sin rediret, offensam haud dubiam victoris, set incerta adhuc victoria et concedente in partis patre filium excusatum. sin Vespasianus rem publicam susciperet, obliviscendum offensarum de bello agitantibus.

The fame of Titus himself was being augmented by a character capable of whatever fortune, the beauty of countenance with a certain majesty, the prosperous affairs of Vespasian, presaging responses, and—minds inclined to believe—even chance events in place of omens.
When at Corinth, a city of Achaia, he received sure messages of Galba’s death, and there were those present who affirmed Vitellius’s arms and war, anxious in mind, with a few friends admitted, he surveyed everything on both sides:
if he should proceed to the city, there would be no thanks for duty undertaken in another’s honor, and he would be a hostage to Vitellius or to Otho;
but if he should return, there would be the undoubted offense of the victor, yet the victory was still uncertain, and, with his father yielding to a party, the son would be excused.
But if Vespasian should take up the commonwealth, those agitating about war must forget offenses.

[2] His ac talibus inter spem metumque iactatum spes vicit. fuerunt qui accensum desiderio Berenices reginae vertisse iter crederent; neque abhorrebat a Berenice iuvenilis animus, sed gerendis rebus nullum ex eo impedimentum. laetam voluptatibus adulescentiam egit, suo quam patris imperio moderatior.

[2] Tossed by these and suchlike matters between hope and fear, hope prevailed. There were those who believed that, inflamed with desire for Queen Berenice, he had turned his route; nor did his youthful spirit shrink from Berenice, but for the conducting of affairs there was no impediment from it. He spent an adolescence gladsome with pleasures, more moderate under his own rule than under his father’s rule.

igitur oram Achaiae et Asiae ac laeva maris praevectus, Rhodum et Cyprum insulas, inde Syriam audentioribus spatiis petebat. atque illum cupido incessit adeundi visendique templum Paphiae Veneris, inclitum per indigenas advenasque. haud fuerit longum initia religionis, templi ritum, formam deae (neque enim alibi sic habetur) paucis disserere.

therefore, having sailed along the shore of Achaia and Asia and the left side of the sea, to Rhodes and
the island of Cyprus, from there he was aiming for Syria with bolder courses. And a desire seized him
to approach and behold the temple of the Paphian Venus, renowned among indigenes
and newcomers. It will not be long to set forth in a few words the beginnings of the religion, the ritual of the temple, the form of the goddess
(for nowhere else is it held thus).

[3] Conditorem templi regem Aeriam vetus memoria, quidam ipsius deae nomen id perhibent. fama recentior tradit a Cinyra sacratum templum deamque ipsam conceptam mari huc adpulsam; sed scientiam artemque haruspicum accitam et Cilicem Tamiram intulisse, atque ita pactum ut familiae utriusque posteri caerimoniis praesiderent. mox, ne honore nullo regium genus peregrinam stirpem antecelleret, ipsa quam intulerant scientia hospites cessere: tantum Cinyrades sacerdos consulitur.

[3] An ancient memory [names] King Aeria as founder of the temple; some assert that this is the goddess’s own name. A more recent report hands down that the temple was consecrated by Cinyras and that the goddess herself, conceived from the sea, was driven hither; but that the knowledge and art of the haruspices, having been summoned, a Cilician, Tamiras, introduced; and thus it was agreed that the posterity of both households should preside over the ceremonies. Soon, lest the royal stock should fail to excel the foreign lineage in any point of honor, the guests yielded in the very expertise which they had brought in: only the Cinyrad priest is consulted.

hostiae, ut quisque vovit, sed mares deliguntur: certissima fides haedorum fibris. sanguinem arae obfundere vetitum: precibus et igne puro altaria adolentur, nec ullis imbribus quamquam in aperto madescunt. simulacrum deae non effigie humana, continuus orbis latiore initio tenuem in ambitum metae modo exurgens, set ratio in obscuro.

The victims, as each one has vowed,
but males are selected: the surest assurance is in the fibres of kids. It is forbidden to pour blood upon the altars: with prayers and pure fire the altars are kindled, nor do they grow wet with any rains, although in the open. The simulacrum of the goddess is not of human effigy, a continuous orb, broader at the beginning, rising into a slender circumference in the manner of a cone; but the rationale is obscure.

[4] Titus spectata opulentia donisque regum quaeque alia laetum antiquitatibus Graecorum genus incertae vetustati adfingit, de navigatione primum consuluit. postquam pandi viam et mare prosperum accepit, de se per ambages interrogat caesis compluribus hostiis. Sostratus (sacerdotis id nomen erat) ubi laeta et congruentia exta magnisque consultis adnuere deam videt, pauca in praesens et solita respondens, petito secreto futura aperit.

[4] Titus after inspecting the opulence and the gifts of kings, and whatever other things the Greek race, gladdened by antiquities, adds to an uncertain antiquity, first consulted about the navigation. After he received that the way was to be opened and the sea favorable, he asks about himself through circumlocutions, after several victims had been slain. Sostratus (that was the priest’s name), when he sees that the entrails are favorable and congruent and that the goddess nods assent to great counsels, answering a few things for the present and the customary, privacy having been asked for, discloses the future.

Titus aucto animo ad patrem pervectus suspensis provinciarum et exercituum mentibus ingens rerum fiducia accessit. Profligaverat bellum Iudaicum Vespasianus, obpugnatione Hierosolymorum reliqua, duro magis et arduo opere ob ingenium montis et pervicaciam superstitionis quam quo satis virium obsessis ad tolerandas necessitates superesset. tres, ut supra memoravimus, ipsi Vespasiano legiones erant, exercitae bello: quattuor Mucianus obtinebat in pace, sed aemulatio et proximi exercitus gloria depulerat segnitiam, quantumque illis roboris discrimina et labor, tantum his vigoris addiderat integra quies et inexperti belli ~labor.

Titus, with his spirit increased, having been conveyed to his father, while the minds of the provinces and the armies were in suspense, there accrued an immense confidence in the situation. Vespasian had brought the Jewish war near to an end, the assault on Jerusalem remaining—a work hard and arduous rather on account of the nature of the hill and the pervicacity of their superstition than because there remained sufficient strength to the besieged to endure necessities. Three legions, as we have mentioned above, belonged to Vespasian himself, trained by war; Mucianus held four in peace, but emulation and the glory of the neighboring army had driven away sluggishness, and as much strength as perils and toil had added to those men, so much vigor had entire quiet and the exertion of the unexperienced-in-war added to these.

auxilia utrique cohortium alarumque et classes regesque ac nomen dispari fama celebre.

auxiliaries for each side, of cohorts and of wings, and fleets and kings, and a name celebrated with unequal fame.

[5] Vespasianus acer militiae anteire agmen, locum castris capere, noctu diuque consilio ac, si res posceret, manu hostibus obniti, cibo fortuito, veste habituque vix a gregario milite discrepans; prorsus, si avaritia abesset, antiquis ducibus par. Mucianum e contrario magnificentia et opes et cuncta privatum modum supergressa extollebant; aptior sermone, dispositu provisuque civilium rerum peritus: egregium principatus temperamentum, si demptis utriusque vitiis solae virtutes miscerentur. ceterum hic Syriae, ille Iudaeae praepositus, vicinis provinciarum administrationibus invidia discordes, exitu demum Neronis positis odiis in medium consuluere, primum per amicos, dein praecipua concordiae fides Titus prava certamina communi utilitate aboleverat, natura atque arte compositus adliciendis etiam Muciani moribus.

[5] Vespasian, keen in soldiery,
to go before the column, to seize a place for camp, by night and by day with counsel and, if the matter demanded, with hand to withstand the enemies, with chance food, in clothing and attire scarcely differing from a common soldier; altogether, if greed were absent, equal to the ancient leaders. Mucianus, on the contrary,
magnificence and wealth and everything surpassing the private measure exalted; more apt
in speech, skilled in the arrangement, provision and foresight of civil affairs: an excellent tempering of the principate,
if, with the vices of each removed, the virtues alone were mingled. But
this man was set over Syria, that one over Judaea, discordant through envy by the administrations of neighboring provinces,
only at Nero’s exit, with hatreds laid aside, they consulted in common, first through friends, then the chief pledge of concord
was Titus, who had abolished the crooked rivalries by common utility, a man composed by nature and by art for enticing even
the manners of Mucianus.

tribuni centurionesque et vulgus militum industria licentia, per virtutes per voluptates, ut cuique ingenium, adsciscebantur.

Tribunes, centurions, and the common crowd of the soldiers were won over by industry and by license, through virtues and through pleasures, as each one’s nature.

[6] Antequam Titus adventaret sacramentum Othonis acceperat uterque exercitus, praecipitibus, ut adsolet, nuntiis et tarda mole civilis belli, quod longa concordia quietus Oriens tunc primum parabat. namque olim validissima inter se civium arma in Italia Galliave viribus Occidentis coepta; et Pompeio, Cassio, Bruto, Antonio, quos omnis trans mare secutum est civile bellum, haud prosperi exitus fuerant; auditique saepius in Syria Iudaeaque Caesares quam inspecti. nulla seditio legionum, tantum adversus Parthos minae, vario eventu; et proximo civili bello turbatis aliis inconcussa ibi pax, dein fides erga Galbam.

[6] Before Titus arrived, the oath to Otho had been accepted by each army, with headlong, as is usual, couriers, and with the sluggish mass of a civil war, which, quiet through long concord, the East then was preparing for the first time. For once the most powerful arms of citizens among themselves in Italy or in Gaul had been set in motion by the forces of the West; and for Pompey, Cassius, Brutus, Antony, all of whom across the sea the civil war had followed, the outcomes had not been prosperous; and more often were Caesars heard in Syria and Judaea than seen. No mutiny of the legions, only threats against the Parthians, with varying outcome; and in the most recent civil war, while others were disturbed, there an unshaken peace, then loyalty toward Galba.

mox, ut Othonem ac Vitellium scelestis armis res Romanas raptum ire vulgatum est, ne penes ceteros imperii praemia, penes ipsos tantum servitii necessitas esset, fremere miles et viris suas circumspicere. septem legiones statim et cum ingentibus auxiliis Syria Iudaeaque; inde continua Aegyptus duaeque legiones, hinc Cappadocia Pontusque et quicquid castrorum Armeniis praetenditur. Asia et ceterae provinciae nec virorum inopes et pecunia opulentae.

Soon, when it was bruited abroad that Otho and Vitellius were going to carry off the Roman state with criminal arms, lest the rewards of imperium be in the possession of others, and in their own only the necessity of servitude, the soldiery began to murmur and to look around for their own forces. Seven legions at once, and with enormous auxiliaries, were in Syria and Judaea; then, in unbroken succession, Egypt and two legions; on this side, Cappadocia and Pontus, and whatever camps are stretched forth facing the Armenians. Asia and the other provinces were not lacking in men and were opulent in money.

quantum insularum mari cingitur, et parando interim bello secundum tutumque ipsum mare.

how many islands are encircled by the sea, and, with war meanwhile being prepared, the sea itself was favorable and safe.

[7] Non fallebat duces impetus militum, sed bellantibus aliis placuit expectari. bello civili victores victosque numquam solida fide coalescere, nec referre Vitellium an Othonem superstitem fortuna faceret. rebus secundis etiam egregios duces insolescere: discordia militis ignavia luxurie et suismet vitiis alterum bello, alterum victoria periturum.

[7] The impetus of the soldiery did not escape the generals, but, with others fighting, it was decided to wait. in civil war victors and vanquished never coalesce in solid faith, nor does it matter whether fortune would make Vitellius or Otho survive. in prosperous affairs even outstanding generals grow insolent: by the discord of the soldiery, by sloth, by luxury and by their own vices, the one would perish in war, the other in victory.

igitur arma in occasionem distulere, Vespasianus Mucianusque nuper, ceteri olim mixtis consiliis; optimus quisque amore rei publicae, multos dulcedo praedarum stimulabat, alios ambiguae domi res: ita boni malique causis diversis, studio pari, bellum omnes cupiebant.

Therefore they deferred arms until the opportune moment, Vespasian and Mucianus lately, the others long since, with counsels mingled; each best man by love of the republic, many the sweetness of plunder was stimulating, others ambiguous affairs at home: thus, with good and bad for diverse causes, with equal zeal, all were desiring war.

[8] Sub idem tempus Achaia atque Asia falso exterritae velut Nero adventaret, vario super exitu eius rumore eoque pluribus vivere eum fingentibus credentibusque. ceterorum casus conatusque in contextu operis dicemus: tunc servus e Ponto sive, ut alii tradidere, libertinus ex Italia, citharae et cantus peritus, unde illi super similitudinem oris propior ad fallendum fides, adiunctis desertoribus, quos inopia vagos ingentibus promissis corruperat, mare ingreditur; ac vi tempestatum Cythnum insulam detrusus et militum quosdam ex Oriente commeantium adscivit vel abnuentis interfici iussit, et spoliatis negotiatoribus mancipiorum valentissimum quemque armavit. centurionemque Sisennam dextras, concordiae insignia, Syriaci exercitus nomine ad praetorianos ferentem variis artibus adgressus est, donec Sisenna clam relicta insula trepidus et vim metuens aufugeret.

[8] At about the same time Achaia and Asia were falsely terrified as though Nero were approaching, the rumor about his end being various, and thereby more people feigning and believing that he was alive. The falls and attempts of the others we shall tell in the context of the work: then a slave from Pontus or, as others have handed down, a freedman from Italy, skilled in the cithara and in song—whence, besides a similarity of face, there was to him a readier credibility for deceiving—having joined to himself deserters, whom, needy and wandering, he had corrupted with huge promises, puts to sea; and by the force of tempests driven to the island of Cythnus, he both enrolled certain soldiers traveling from the East or ordered the unwilling to be killed, and, the traders in slaves despoiled, armed each of the strongest men. And he set upon the centurion Sisenna, who was carrying right hands, the insignia of Concord, in the name of the Syrian army to the praetorians, with various arts, until Sisenna, secretly leaving the island, alarmed and fearing force, fled away.

inde late terror: multi ad celebritatem nominis erecti rerum novarum cupidine et odio praesentium. gliscentem in dies famam fors discussit.

thence far and wide terror: many, raised by the celebrity of the name,
by a craving for novelties and a hatred of present things. The rumor, swelling by the day, chance
dispelled.

[9] Galatiam ac Pamphyliam provincias Calpurnio Asprenati regendas Galba permiserat. datae e classe Misenensi duae triremes ad prosequendum, cum quibus Cythnum insulam tenuit: nec defuere qui trierarchos nomine Neronis accirent. is in maestitiam compositus et fidem suorum quondam militum invocans, ut eum in Syria aut Aegypto sisterent orabat.

[9] Galba had permitted the provinces of Galatia and Pamphylia to be administered by Calpurnius Asprenatus. Two triremes were given from the Misenum fleet to pursue, with which he held the island of Cythnus; nor were there lacking those who summoned the trierarchs in the name of Nero. He, composed into mourning and invoking the loyalty of his former soldiers, was begging that they should set him up in Syria or Egypt.

trierarchi, nutantes seu dolo, adloquendos sibi milites et paratis omnium animis reversuros firmaverunt. sed Asprenati cuncta ex fide nuntiata, cuius cohortatione expugnata navis et interfectus quisquis ille erat. corpus, insigne oculis comaque et torvitate vultus, in Asiam atque inde Romam pervectum est.

the trierarchs, wavering or with guile, assured that the soldiers were to be addressed by themselves and would return, the minds of all prepared. but
all things were reported in good faith to Asprenatus, at whose exhortation the ship was stormed and, whoever he was, he was slain. the body, conspicuous by the eyes and the hair and the grimness of the visage, was conveyed into Asia and thence to Rome.

[10] In civitate discordi et ob crebras principum mutationes inter libertatem ac licentiam incerta parvae quoque res magnis motibus agebantur. Vibius Crispus, pecunia potentia ingenio inter claros magis quam inter bonos, Annium Faustum equestris ordinis, qui temporibus Neronis delationes factitaverat, ad cognitionem senatus vocabat; nam recens Galbae principatu censuerant patres, ut accusatorum causae noscerentur. id senatus consultum varie iactatum et, prout potens vel inops reus inciderat, infirmum aut validum, retinebat adhuc [aliquid] terroris.

[10] In a discordant state, and, because of frequent changes of princes, wavering between liberty and license, even small matters were with great commotions transacted. Vibius Crispus, by money, power, and talent counted among the famous rather than among the good, was summoning Annius Faustus of the equestrian order, who in the times of Nero had been wont to practice delations, to the cognizance of the senate; for recently, under the principate of Galba, the Fathers had decreed that the cases of accusers should be investigated. That senatorial decree, variously tossed about and, according as a powerful or needy defendant had fallen under it, weak or strong, still retained [something] of terror.

et propria vi Crispus incubuerat delatorem fratris sui pervertere, traxeratque magnam senatus partem, ut indefensum et inauditum dedi ad exitium postularent. contra apud alios nihil aeque reo proderat quam nimia potentia accusatoris: dari tempus, edi crimina, quamvis invisum ac nocentem more tamen audiendum censebant. et valuere primo dilataque in paucos dies cognitio: mox damnatus est Faustus, nequaquam eo adsensu civitatis quem pessimis moribus meruerat: quippe ipsum Crispum easdem accusationes cum praemio exercuisse meminerant, nec poena criminis sed ultor displicebat.

and by his own force Crispus had pressed on to overturn the delator of his brother, and had drawn a great part of the senate to demand that he be handed over to destruction undefended and unheard. On the contrary, among others nothing was equally helpful to the defendant as the excessive power of the accuser: they judged that time should be granted, the charges published, and that, although odious and guilty, nevertheless he should be heard according to custom. And at first these views prevailed and the cognition was deferred for a few days; soon Faustus was condemned, by no means with that assent of the community which he had merited by his worst morals: for they remembered that Crispus himself had exercised those same accusations with reward, and it was not the penalty of the crime but the avenger that displeased.

[11] Laeta interim Othoni principia belli, motis ad imperium eius e Dalmatia Pannoniaque exercitibus. fuere quattuor legiones, e quibus bina milia praemissa; ipsae modicis intervallis sequebantur, septima a Galba conscripta, veteranae undecima ac tertia decima et praecipui fama quartadecumani, rebellione Britanniae compressa. addiderat gloriam Nero eligendo ut potissimos, unde longa illis erga Neronem fides et erecta in Othonem studia.

[11] Meanwhile Otho had auspicious beginnings of the war, the armies having been moved from Dalmatia and Pannonia to his imperium. There were four legions, from which two thousand were sent ahead; they themselves followed at moderate intervals—the Seventh, enrolled by Galba; the veteran Eleventh and Thirteenth; and the men of the Fourteenth, preeminent in fame, the rebellion of Britain having been suppressed. Nero had added to their glory by choosing them as the most select, whence for them there was long fidelity toward Nero and an uplifted zeal for Otho.

sed quo plus virium ac roboris e fiducia tarditas inerat. agmen legionum alae cohortesque praeveniebant; et ex ipsa urbe haud spernenda manus, quinque praetoriae cohortes et equitum vexilla cum legione prima, ac deforme insuper auxilium, duo milia gladiatorum, sed per civilia arma etiam severis ducibus usurpatum. his copiis rector additus Annius Gallus, cum Vestricio Spurinna ad occupandas Padi ripas praemissus, quoniam prima consiliorum frustra ceciderant, transgresso iam Alpis Caecina, quem sisti intra Gallias posse speraverat.

But the more strength and robustness there was from confidence, the more slowness was inherent. The marching column of the legions was preceded by the alae and cohorts; and from the city itself a not-to-be-despised band, five praetorian cohorts and cavalry vexilla with the First Legion, and, in addition, an unseemly aid, two thousand gladiators—yet employed in civil arms even by severe generals. Over these forces a commander was appointed, Annius Gallus, while Vestricius Spurinna was sent ahead to seize the banks of the Po, since the first counsels had fallen in vain, Caecina having now crossed the Alps, whom he had hoped could be halted within the Gauls.

ipsum Othonem comitabantur speculatorum lecta corpora cum ceteris praetoriis cohortibus, veterani e praetorio, classicorum ingens numerus. nec illi segne aut corruptum luxu iter, sed lorica ferrea usus est et ante signa pedes ire, horridus, incomptus famaeque dissimilis.

Otho himself was accompanied by the chosen corps of the speculatores along with the other praetorian cohorts, veterans from the praetorian guard, and a vast number of marines. Nor was his march sluggish or corrupted by luxury; rather he made use of an iron cuirass and went on foot before the standards, rough, unkempt, and unlike his reputation.

[12] Blandiebatur coeptis fortuna, possessa per mare et navis maiore Italiae parte penitus usque ad initium maritimarum Alpium, quibus temptandis adgrediendaeque provinciae Narbonensi Suedium Clementem, Antonium Novellum, Aemilium Pacensem duces dederat. sed Pacensis per licentiam militum vinctus, Antonio Novello nulla auctoritas: Suedius Clemens ambitioso imperio regebat, ut adversus modestiam disciplinae corruptus, ita proeliorum avidus. non Italia adiri nec loca sedesque patriae videbantur: tamquam externa litora et urbes hostium urere, vastare, rapere eo atrocius quod nihil usquam provisum adversum metus.

[12] Fortune was flattering the undertakings, the greater part of Italy having been possessed by sea and by ships, all the way deep to the beginning of the Maritime Alps, for the trying of which and the approaching of the province Narbonensis he had given Suedius Clemens, Antonius Novellus, Aemilius Pacensis as leaders. But Pacensis was bound through the license of the soldiers; for Antonius Novellus there was no authority: Suedius Clemens was ruling with an ambitious command—corrupted against the modesty of discipline, and so eager for battles. It did not seem that Italy was being approached, nor the places and seats of their fatherland: as though foreign shores and the cities of enemies, they burned, wasted, and plundered, so much the more atrociously because nowhere had anything been provided against alarm.

pleni agri, apertae domus; occursantes domini iuxta coniuges et liberos securitate pacis et belli malo circumveniebantur. maritimas tum Alpis tenebat procurator Marius Maturus. is concita gente (nec deest iuventus) arcere provinciae finibus Othonianos intendit: sed primo impetu caesi disiectique montani, ut quibus temere collectis, non castra, non ducem noscitantibus, neque in victoria decus esset neque in fuga flagitium.

Full fields, houses open; the masters rushing to meet, together with their wives and children,
by the security of peace and by the evil of war were being trapped. At that time the Maritime
Alps were held by the procurator Marius Maturus. He, with the people stirred up (nor is youth lacking),
intended to ward off the Othonians from the borders of the province: but at the first onrush the mountaineers were cut down and scattered,
being such as were rashly gathered, recognizing neither camp nor leader, and in whom there was neither
honor in victory nor disgrace in flight.

[13] Inritatus eo proelio Othonis miles vertit iras in municipium Albintimilium. quippe in acie nihil praedae, inopes agrestes et vilia arma; nec capi poterant, pernix genus et gnari locorum: sed calamitatibus insontium expleta avaritia. auxit invidiam praeclaro exemplo femina Ligus, quae filio abdito, cum simul pecuniam occultari milites credidissent eoque per cruciatus interrogarent ubi filium occuleret, uterum ostendens latere respondit, nec ullis deinde terroribus aut morte constantiam vocis egregiae mutavit.

[13] Provoked by that battle, Otho’s soldiery turned their wrath upon the municipium of Albintimilium. For indeed in the battle-line there was nothing of booty—needy rustics and cheap arms; nor could they be captured, a nimble race and cognizant of the places: but their avarice was filled by the calamities of the innocent. Ill-will was increased by a very illustrious example—a Ligurian woman who, her son having been hidden, when the soldiers had believed that money likewise was being concealed and for that reason through tortures asked where she was hiding her son, pointing to her womb answered that he was lying hidden; nor thereafter by any terrors or by death did she alter the constancy of her noble voice.

[14] Imminere provinciae Narbonensi, in verba Vitellii adactae, classem Othonis trepidi nuntii Fabio Valenti attulere; aderant legati coloniarum auxilium orantes. duas Tungrorum cohortis, quattuor equitum turmas, universam Trevirorum alam cum Iulio Classico praefecto misit, e quibus pars in colonia Foroiuliensi retenta, ne omnibus copiis in terrestre iter versis vacuo mari classis adceleraret. duodecim equitum turmae et lecti e cohortibus adversus hostem iere, quibus adiuncta Ligurum cohors, vetus loci auxilium, et quingenti Pannonii, nondum sub signis.

[14] Alarmed messengers brought to Fabius Valens that Otho’s fleet was threatening the province of Narbonensis, which had been driven into the oath to Vitellius; envoys of the colonies were present, begging for help. He sent two cohorts of the Tungrians, four squadrons of cavalry, the entire ala of the Treveri with Julius Classicus as prefect, of which a part was kept back in the colony of Forum Iulii, lest, with all the forces turned to a land march, the fleet should make speed on a sea left empty. Twelve squadrons of cavalry and picked men from the cohorts went against the enemy, to whom there was joined a cohort of Ligurians, the old local auxiliary, and five hundred Pannonians, not yet under the standards.

nec mora proelio: sed acies ita instructa ut pars classicorum mixtis paganis in collis mari propinquos exurgeret, quantum inter collis ac litus aequi loci praetorianus miles expleret, in ipso mari ut adnexa classis et pugnae parata conversa et minaci fronte praetenderetur: Vitelliani, quibus minor peditum vis, in equite robur, Alpinos proximis iugis, cohortis densis ordinibus post equitem locant. Trevirorum turmae obtulere se hosti incaute, cum exciperet contra veteranus miles, simul a latere saxis urgeret apta ad iaciendum etiam paganorum manus, qui sparsi inter milites, strenui ignavique, in victoria idem audebant. additus perculsis terror invecta in terga pugnantium classe: ita undique clausi, deletaeque omnes copiae forent ni victorem exercitum attinuisset obscurum noctis, obtentui fugientibus.

nor was there delay to the battle: but the battle-line was so arranged that a part of the men of the fleet, mixed with country-folk, should mount the hills near the sea; the praetorian soldiers should fill so much of level ground as lay between the hills and the shore; and on the very sea the fleet, attached and prepared for combat, should be turned and presented with a menacing front. The Vitellians, whose strength in infantry was lesser, had their strength in cavalry: the Alpines they place on the nearest ridges, the cohorts in dense ranks behind the horse. The squadrons of the Treveri offered themselves to the enemy incautiously, while over against them the veteran soldiery received them, and at the same time from the flank a band of country-folk, apt for throwing, pressed them with stones—who, scattered among the soldiers, the strenuous and the slothful alike, in victory dared the same. Added to the stricken was a terror as the fleet was borne into the backs of the fighting men: thus enclosed on every side, all the forces would have been annihilated, had not the obscurity of night held back the conquering army, a cover for the fugitives.

[15] Nec Vitelliani quamquam victi quievere: accitis auxiliis securum hostem ac successu rerum socordius agentem invadunt. caesi vigiles, perrupta castra, trepidatum apud navis, donec sidente paulatim metu, occupato iuxta colle defensi, mox inrupere. atrox ibi caedes, et Tungrarum cohortium praefecti sustentata diu acie telis obruuntur.

[15]
Nor did the Vitellians, although defeated, take rest: with auxiliaries summoned they assail a foe secure and, by the success of affairs, proceeding more slothfully. The sentries were cut down, the camp broken through,
panic at the ships, until, as the fear gradually settled, with a nearby hill seized they were defended, and soon they burst in. There a savage slaughter, and the prefects of the cohorts of the Tungri, the battle line long sustained, are overwhelmed with missiles.

ne Othonianis quidem incruenta victoria fuit, quorum improvide secutos conversi equites circumvenerunt. ac velut pactis indutiis, ne hinc classis inde eques subitam formidinem inferrent, Vitelliani retro Antipolim Narbonensis Galliae municipium, Othoniani Albingaunum interioris Liguriae revertere.

nor was the victory bloodless for the Othonians either, whom the cavalry, turning back, surrounded for having followed improvidently. And as if terms of truce had been agreed, lest on this side the fleet and on that the cavalry should bring sudden dread, the Vitellians back to Antipolis, a municipium of Narbonese Gaul, the Othonians to Albingaunum of inner Liguria, returned.

[16] Corsicam ac Sardiniam ceterasque proximi maris insulas fama victricis classis in partibus Othonis tenuit. sed Corsicam prope adflixit Decumi Pacarii procuratoris temeritas, tanta mole belli nihil in summam profutura, ipsi exitiosa. namque Othonis odio iuvare Vitellium Corsorum viribus statuit, inani auxilio etiam si provenisset.

[16] Corsica and Sardinia and the other islands of the nearest sea the report of the victorious fleet held on Otho’s side. but Corsica was almost afflicted by the temerity of Decumus Pacarius, the procurator, with so great a mass of war, in nothing going to profit the overall issue, ruinous to himself. for, out of hatred of Otho, he resolved to aid Vitellius with the forces of the Corsicans—an empty assistance even if it had succeeded.

vocatis principibus insulae consilium aperit, et contra dicere ausos, Claudium Pyrrichum trierarchum Liburnicarum ibi navium, Quintium Certum equitem Romanum, interfici iubet: quorum morte exterriti qui aderant, simul ignara et alieni metus socia imperitorum turba in verba Vitellii iuravere. sed ubi dilectum agere Pacarius et inconditos homines fatigare militiae muneribus occepit, laborem insolitum perosi infirmitatem suam reputabant: insulam esse quam incolerent, et longe Germaniam virisque legionum; direptos vastatosque classe etiam quos cohortes alaeque protegerent. et aversi repente animi, nec tamen aperta vi: aptum tempus insidiis legere.

having called the leading men of the island, he opens his plan, and those who dared to speak against it, Claudius Pyrrichus, trierarch of the Liburnian ships there, and Quintius
Certus, a Roman knight, he orders to be killed: by whose death those present were terrified,
and at the same time, ignorant and a partner in another’s fear, the crowd of the unskilled swore allegiance to Vitellius. But
when Pacarius began to hold a levy and to weary the untrained men with the duties of military service,
loathing the unaccustomed toil they reckoned their own weakness: that it was an island they inhabited, and that Germany and the strength of the legions were far away; that even those whom the cohorts and wings protected were plundered and laid waste
by the fleet. And their minds suddenly turned away, yet not to open force: they chose a suitable time for an ambush.

digressis qui Pacarium frequentabant, nudus et auxilii inops balineis interficitur; trucidati et comites. capita ut hostium ipsi interfectores ad Othonem tulere; neque eos aut Otho praemio adfecit aut puniit Vitellius, in multa conluvie rerum maioribus flagitiis permixtos.

with those who frequented Pacarius having departed, naked and destitute of aid he is slain in the baths; his companions too are butchered. the slayers themselves carried the heads to Otho as of enemies; nor did Otho visit them with a reward, nor did Vitellius punish them, they being, in the great welter of affairs, commixed with greater flagitious deeds.

[17] Aperuerat iam Italiam bellumque transmiserat, ut supra memoravimus, ala Siliana, nullo apud quemquam Othonis favore, nec quia Vitellium mallent, sed longa pax ad omne servitium fregerat facilis occupantibus et melioribus incuriosos. florentissimum Italiae latus, quantum inter Padum Alpisque camporum et urbium, armis Vitellii (namque et praemissae a Caecina cohortes advenerant) tenebatur. capta Pannoniorum cohors apud Cremonam; intercepti centum equites ac mille classici inter Placentiam Ticinumque.

[17] The Silian ala had already opened Italy and transferred the war across, as we have mentioned above, with no favor toward Otho among anyone, nor because they preferred Vitellius, but long peace had broken them to every servility, easy for occupiers and indifferent toward better men. The most flourishing side of Italy, as much of plains and cities as lies between the Po and the Alps, was held by the arms of Vitellius (for the cohorts sent ahead by Caecina had also arrived). A cohort of Pannonians was captured at Cremona; one hundred cavalry and a thousand men of the fleet were intercepted between Placentia and Ticinum.

quo successu Vitellianus miles non iam flumine aut ripis arcebatur; inritabat quin etiam Batavos transrhenanosque Padus ipse, quem repente contra Placentiam transgressi raptis quibusdam exploratoribus ita ceteros terruere ut adesse omnem Caecinae exercitum trepidi ac falsi nuntiarent.

With this success, the Vitellian soldiery was no longer held back by the river or its banks; indeed the Po itself was provoking the Batavi and the trans-Rhenish men, who, having suddenly crossed it opposite Placentia and having seized certain scouts, so terrified the rest that, panic-stricken and in error, they announced that the whole army of Caecina was at hand.

[18] Certum erat Spurinnae (is enim Placentiam optinebat) necdum venisse Caecinam et, si propinquaret, coercere intra munimenta militem nec tris praetorias cohortis et mille vexillarios cum paucis equitibus veterano exercitui obicere: sed indomitus miles et belli ignarus correptis signis vexillisque ruere et retinenti duci tela intentare, spretis centurionibus tribunisque: quin prodi Othonem et accitum Caecinam clamitabant. fit temeritatis alienae comes Spurinna, primo coactus, mox velle simulans, quo plus auctoritatis inesset consiliis si seditio mitesceret.

[18] It was certain to Spurinna (for he was holding Placentia) that Caecina had not yet come, and, if he were approaching, to coerce the soldiery within the muniments, and not to throw three praetorian cohorts and a thousand vexillaries with a few horsemen in the teeth of a veteran army: but the unbridled and war-ignorant soldiers, snatching up the standards and flags, were rushing, and at their leader who tried to hold them back they were threatening weapons, the centurions and tribunes being scorned: nay, they kept shouting that Otho was being betrayed and that Caecina had been called. Spurinna becomes a companion of others’ temerity, at first compelled, soon feigning to will it, in order that there might be more authority in his counsels if the sedition should soften.

[19] Postquam in conspectu Padus et nox adpetebat vallari castra placuit. is labor urbano militi insolitus contundit animos. tum vetustissimus quisque castigare credulitatem suam, metum ac discrimen ostendere si cum exercitu Caecina patentibus campis tam paucas cohortis circumfudisset.

[19] After the Po was in sight and night was approaching, it was decided to fortify the camp with a rampart. That labor, unfamiliar to the urban soldiery, crushed their spirits. Then each of the oldest men began to chastise his own credulity, to point out the fear and peril, if Caecina with his army on the open plains had hemmed in so few cohorts.

iamque totis castris modesti sermones, et inserentibus se centurionibus tribunisque laudari providentia ducis quod coloniam virium et opum validam robur ac sedem bello legisset. ipse postremo Spurinna, non tam culpam exprobrans quam rationem ostendens, relictis exploratoribus ceteros Placentiam reduxit minus turbidos et imperia accipientis. solidati muri, propugnacula addita, auctae turres, provisa parataque non arma modo sed obsequium et parendi amor, quod solum illis partibus defuit, cum virtutis haud paeniteret.

and now throughout the whole camp there was modest talk, and,
with the centurions and tribunes inserting themselves, the providence of the leader was praised, because he had chosen as strength and a seat for the war a colony strong in forces and wealth. he himself, Spurinna at last, not so much upbraiding fault as showing the reasoning, after leaving scouts behind, led the rest back to Placentia, less turbulent and receptive of commands. the walls were solidified, ramparts added, the towers augmented, and provided and prepared not only arms but also compliance and a love of obeying, which alone had been lacking to that party, since they had no cause to repent of their valor.

[20] At Caecina, velut relicta post Alpis saevitia ac licentia, modesto agmine per Italiam incessit. ornatum ipsius municipia et coloniae in superbiam trahebant, quod versicolori sagulo, bracas [barbarum tecgmen] indutus togatos adloqueretur. uxorem quoque eius Saloninam, quamquam in nullius iniuriam insignis equo ostroque veheretur, tamquam laesi gravabantur, insita mortalibus natura recentem aliorum felicitatem acribus oculis introspicere modumque fortunae a nullis magis exigere quam quos in aequo viderunt.

[20] But Caecina, as if cruelty and license had been left behind after the Alps, advanced through Italy with a modest column. The municipal towns and the colonies construed his adornment into arrogance, because, in a varicolored sagulum and wearing braccae [a barbarian covering], he addressed toga-clad men. They felt aggrieved also at his wife Salonina, although she, to the injury of no one, rode conspicuous on a notable horse and in purple; for there is an innate nature in mortals to scrutinize with sharp eyes the fresh felicity of others and to exact the measure of fortune from none more than those whom they have seen on an equal footing.

Caecina Padum transgressus, temptata Othonianorum fide per conloquium et promissa, isdem petitus, postquam pax et concordia speciosis et inritis nominibus iactata sunt, consilia curasque in obpugnationem Placentiae magno terrore vertit, gnarus ut initia belli provenissent famam in cetera fore.

Caecina, having crossed the Po,
the loyalty of the Othonians having been tested by colloquy and promises, and himself solicited by the same,
after “peace and concord” had been bandied about under specious and ineffectual names,
turned his plans and cares to the assault of Placentia with great terror, knowing that
as the beginnings of the war had turned out, so would the repute be for the rest.

[21] Sed primus dies impetu magis quam veterani exercitus artibus transactus: aperti incautique muros subiere, cibo vinoque praegraves. in eo certamine pulcherrimum amphitheatri opus, situm extra muros, conflagravit, sive ab obpugnatoribus incensum, dum faces et glandis et missilem ignem in obsessos iaculantur, sive ab obsessis, dum regerunt. municipale vulgus, pronum ad suspiciones, fraude inlata ignis alimenta credidit a quibusdam ex vicinis coloniis invidia et aemulatione, quod nulla in Italia moles tam capax foret.

[21] But the first day was spent more in impulse
than in the arts of a veteran army: open and incautious they went up to the walls, heavy with food
and wine. In that contest the most beautiful work of the amphitheatre, situated outside
the walls, went up in flames, whether set ablaze by the assailants, while they hurled torches and bullets and
missile fire at the besieged, or by the besieged, while they returned it. The municipal
mob, prone to suspicions, believed that, by fraud, fuel for the fire had been supplied by certain
men from neighboring colonies out of envy and emulation, because no structure in Italy was so capacious
as that.

quocumque casu accidit, dum atrociora metuebantur, in levi habitum, reddita securitate, tamquam nihil gravius pati potuissent, maerebant. ceterum multo suorum cruore pulsus Caecina, et nox parandis operibus absumpta. Vitelliani pluteos cratisque et vineas subfodiendis muris protegendisque obpugnatoribus, Othoniani sudis et immensas lapidum ac plumbi aerisque molis perfringendis obruendisque hostibus expediunt.

By whatever chance it happened, while more atrocious things were being feared, it was held light; security
having been restored, they mourned, as if they could have suffered nothing more grievous. Moreover Caecina,
driven back with much blood of his own men, and the night was spent on preparing works. The Vitellians
get ready plutei, wickerworks, and vineae for undermining the walls and for protecting the assailants, while the
Othonians prepare stakes and immense masses of stones and of lead and bronze for breaking through and
overwhelming the enemy.

utrimque pudor, utrimque gloria et diversae exhortationes hinc legionum et Germanici exercitus robur, inde urbanae militiae et praetoriarum cohortium decus attollentium; illi ut segnem et desidem et circo ac theatris corruptum militem, hi peregrinum et externum increpabant. simul Othonem ac Vitellium celebrantes culpantesve uberioribus inter se probris quam laudibus stimulabantur.

on both sides shame, on both sides glory, and diverse
exhortations: here they were exalting the strength of the legions and the Germanic army, there the honor of the urban soldiery and
the praetorian cohorts; those were reproaching the soldiery as sluggish and slothful and corrupted by the circus and the theaters, these were rebuking them as foreign and external. At the same time,
celebrating or blaming Otho and Vitellius, they were goaded with more abundant reproaches than praises.

[22] Vixdum orto die plena propugnatoribus moenia, fulgentes armis virisque campi: densum legionum agmen, sparsa auxiliorum manus altiora murorum sagittis aut saxis incessere, neglecta aut aevo fluxa comminus adgredi. ingerunt desuper Othoniani pila librato magis et certo ictu adversus temere subeuntis cohortis Germanorum, cantu truci et more patrio nudis corporibus super umeros scuta quatientium. legionarius pluteis et cratibus tectus subruit muros, instruit aggerem, molitur portas: contra praetoriani dispositos ad id ipsum molaris ingenti pondere ac fragore provolvunt.

[22] With the day scarcely risen, the walls were full of defenders, the fields gleaming with arms and men: a dense column of legions, a scattered band of auxiliaries assailed the higher parts of the walls with arrows or stones, and approached at close quarters the sections neglected or loosened by age. From above the Othonians hurled pila with a more poised and sure strike against the cohorts of Germans rashly advancing, who, with grim chant and in ancestral custom, with bodies naked, were shaking their shields over their shoulders. The legionary, covered by mantelets and hurdles, undermines the walls, builds up a ramp, works the gates; in response the praetorians roll forward millstones set in place for that very purpose, with vast weight and crash.

pars subeuntium obruti, pars confixi et exangues aut laceri: cum augeret stragem trepidatio eoque acrius e moenibus vulnerarentur, rediere infracta partium fama. et Caecina pudore coeptae temere obpugnationis, ne inrisus ac vanus isdem castris adsideret, traiecto rursus Pado Cremonam petere intendit. tradidere sese abeunti Turullius Cerialis cum compluribus classicis et Iulius Briganticus cum paucis equitum, hic praefectus alae in Batavis genitus, ille primipilaris et Caecinae haud alienus, quod ordines in Germania duxerat.

part of those advancing were overwhelmed, part pierced through and left bloodless or mangled: since panic was augmenting the slaughter and for that reason they were being wounded more sharply from the walls, they returned with the repute of their party unbroken. And Caecina, out of shame for the rashly-begun assault, lest he sit encamped by the same camp mocked and vain, with the Po crossed again aimed to make for Cremona. Turullius Cerialis with several men of the fleet and Julius Briganticus with a few horsemen handed themselves over to him as he was departing, the former a prefect of an ala, born among the Batavi, the latter a primipilaris and not alien to Caecina, because he had led ranks in Germany.

[23] Spurinna comperto itinere hostium defensam Placentiam, quaeque acta et quid Caecina pararet, Annium Gallum per litteras docet. Gallus legionem primam in auxilium Placentiae ducebat, diffisus paucitati cohortium, ne longius obsidium et vim Germanici exercitus parum tolerarent. ubi pulsum Caecinam pergere Cremonam accepit, aegre coercitam legionem et pugnandi ardore usque ad seditionem progressam Bedriaci sistit.

[23] Spurinna, having learned the itinerary of the enemy, that Placentia had been defended, and what had been transacted and what Caecina was preparing, informs Annius Gallus by letters. Gallus was leading the first legion to the aid of Placentia, distrusting the paucity of the cohorts, lest they should too little endure a more prolonged siege and the force of the Germanic army. When he heard that Caecina, having been repulsed, was proceeding to Cremona, he halts at Bedriacum the legion, which had with difficulty been coerced and, in its ardor for fighting, had advanced even to sedition.

inter Veronam Cremonamque situs est vicus, duabus iam Romanis cladibus notus infaustusque. Isdem diebus a Martio Macro haud procul Cremona prospere pugnatum; namque promptus animi Martius transvectos navibus gladiatores in adversam Padi ripam repente effudit. turbata ibi Vitellianorum auxilia, et ceteris Cremonam fugientibus caesi qui restiterant: sed repressus vincentium impetus ne novis subsidiis firmati hostes fortunam proelii mutarent.

Between Verona and Cremona there is situated a village, already known and ill-omened by two Roman disasters. In those same days there was fighting successfully by Martius Macro not far from Cremona; for the bold of spirit Martius suddenly poured out onto the opposite bank of the Po the gladiators transported by ships. There the Vitellians’ auxiliaries were thrown into disorder, and, with the rest fleeing to Cremona, those who had stood their ground were cut down: but the victors’ impetus was checked, lest the enemies, strengthened by new reinforcements, should change the fortune of the battle.

suspectum id Othonianis fuit, omnia ducum facta prave aestimantibus. certatim, ut quisque animo ignavus, procax ore, Annium Gallum et Suetonium Paulinum et Marium Celsum—nam eos quoque Otho praefecerat—variis criminibus incessebant. acerrima seditionum ac discordiae incitamenta, interfectores Galbae scelere et metu vaecordes miscere cuncta, modo palam turbidis vocibus, modo occultis ad Othonem litteris; qui humillimo cuique credulus, bonos metuens trepidabat, rebus prosperis incertus et inter adversa melior.

This was suspect to the Othonians, who were estimating all the deeds of the leaders perversely. They vied—each the more as he was cowardly in spirit and impudent of mouth—in assailing Annius Gallus and Suetonius Paulinus and Marius Celsus—for Otho had put them also in command—with various charges. The most keen incitements of seditions and discord were the slayers of Galba, crazed by crime and fear, confounding everything, now openly with turbulent voices, now with secret letters to Otho; who, credulous to each most humble person and fearing the good, was in a flutter—uncertain amid prosperous affairs and better in adversities.

igitur Titianum fratrem accitum bello praeposuit.

therefore, after summoning his brother Titianus, he put him in charge of the war.

[24] Interea Paulini et Celsi ductu res egregie gestae. angebant Caecinam nequiquam omnia coepta et senescens exercitus sui fama. pulsus Placentia, caesis nuper auxiliis, etiam per concursum exploratorum, crebra magis quam digna memoratu proelia, inferior, propinquante Fabio Valente, ne omne belli decus illuc concederet, reciperare gloriam avidius quam consultius properabat.

[24] Meanwhile, under the leadership of Paulinus and Celsus, affairs were carried on excellently. Caecina was vexed to no purpose, both by the failure of every undertaking and by the waning fame of his army. Driven from Placentia, with his auxiliaries lately cut down, even in the clash of scouts—engagements more frequent than worthy of remembrance—he was the inferior;
and, with Fabius Valens drawing near, lest all the honor of the war be yielded thither, he was hastening to recover glory more avidly than advisedly.

ad duodecimum a Cremona (locus Castorum vocatur) ferocissimos auxiliarium imminentibus viae lucis occultos componit: equites procedere longius iussi et inritato proelio sponte refugi festinationem sequentium elicere, donec insidiae coorerentur. proditum id Othonianis ducibus, et curam peditum Paulinus, equitum Celsus sumpsere. tertiae decimae legionis vexillum, quattuor auxiliorum cohortes et quingenti equites in sinistro locantur; aggerem viae tres praetoriae cohortes altis ordinibus obtinuere; dextra fronte prima legio incessit cum duabus auxiliaribus cohortibus et quingentis equitibus: super hos ex praetorio auxiliisque mille equites, cumulus prosperis aut subsidium laborantibus, ducebantur.

at the twelfth mile from Cremona (the place is called Castorum) he arrays the fiercest
of the auxiliaries, concealed in the groves overhanging the road: the cavalry were ordered to advance farther
and, a skirmish having been provoked, of their own accord to flee, to draw out the haste of the pursuers, until
the ambush should rise. This was betrayed to the Othonian commanders, and the charge of the infantry Paulinus,
of the cavalry Celsus, took up. The vexillum of the Thirteenth Legion, four cohorts of auxiliaries,
and five hundred cavalry are placed on the left; the embankment of the road three praetorian
cohorts held in deep ranks; on the right front the First Legion advanced with two
auxiliary cohorts and five hundred cavalry: in addition to these, from the praetorians and auxiliaries
a thousand cavalry, a heap to the successful or a support to those laboring, were being led.

[25] Antequam miscerentur acies, terga vertentibus Vitellianis, Celsus doli prudens repressit suos: Vitelliani temere exurgentes cedente sensim Celso longius secuti ultro in insidias praecipitantur; nam a lateribus cohortes, legionum adversa frons, et subito discursu terga cinxerant equites. signum pugnae non statim a Suetonio Paulino pediti datum: cunctator natura et cui cauta potius consilia cum ratione quam prospera ex casu placerent, compleri fossas, aperiri campum, pandi aciem iubebat, satis cito incipi victoriam ratus ubi provisum foret ne vincerentur. ea cunctatione spatium Vitellianis datum in vineas nexu traducum impeditas refugiendi; et modica silva adhaerebat, unde rursus ausi promptissimos praetorianorum equitum interfecere.

[25] Before the battle-lines were mingled, with the Vitellians turning their backs, Celsus, prudent in stratagem, checked his men: the Vitellians, rashly springing up, with Celsus gradually yielding, followed farther and of their own accord were driven headlong into the ambush; for on the flanks were cohorts, in front the opposing face of the legions, and with a sudden sally the cavalry had encircled their rear. The signal of battle was not at once given to the infantry by Suetonius Paulinus: a delayer by nature, and one to whom cautious counsels with reason pleased rather than prosperities from chance, he ordered the ditches to be filled, the field to be opened, the battle-line to be spread out, thinking it soon enough to begin victory once it had been provided that they not be overcome. By that delaying, time was given to the Vitellians to flee for refuge into vineyards hampered by an interlacing of trellises; and a small wood adjoined, whence, daring anew, they slew the most forward of the praetorian horsemen.

vulneratur rex Epiphanes, impigre pro Othone pugnam ciens.

King Epiphanes is wounded, vigorously inciting battle for Otho.

[26] Tum Othonianus pedes erupit; protrita hostium acie versi in fugam etiam qui subveniebant; nam Caecina non simul cohortis sed singulas acciverat, quae res in proelio trepidationem auxit, cum dispersos nec usquam validos pavor fugientium abriperet. orta et in castris seditio quod non universi ducerentur: vinctus praefectus castrorum Iulius Gratus, tamquam fratri apud Othonem militanti proditionem ageret, cum fratrem eius, Iulium Frontonem tribunum, Othoniani sub eodem crimine vinxissent. ceterum ea ubique formido fuit apud fugientis occursantis, in acie pro vallo, ut deleri cum universo exercitu Caecinam potuisse, ni Suetonius Paulinus receptui cecinisset, utrisque in partibus percrebruerit.

[26] Then the Othonian infantry burst forth; with the enemy’s battle line worn down, even those who were coming up to help were turned to flight; for Caecina had not summoned the cohorts all at once, but one by one, a thing which in the battle increased trepidation, since panic of the fugitives swept away men scattered and nowhere strong. A sedition also arose in the camp because they were not all being led out: Julius Gratus, prefect of the camp, was bound, as though he were committing treason on behalf of his brother serving with Otho, while the Othonians had bound his brother, Julius Fronton, a tribune, under the same charge. Moreover, such fear was everywhere—among those fleeing and those meeting them, in the battle line, before the rampart—that it has become common on both sides that Caecina could have been annihilated with his entire army, had not Suetonius Paulinus sounded the retreat.

timuisse se Paulinus ferebat tantum insuper laboris atque itineris, ne Vitellianus miles recens e castris fessos adgrederetur et perculsis nullum retro subsidium foret. apud paucos ea ducis ratio probata, in vulgus adverso rumore fuit.

Paulinus was asserting that he had feared so much additional labor and journeying, lest the Vitellian soldier, fresh from the camp, should attack the weary, and, if they were struck, there would be no support to the rear. with a few that rationale of the leader was approved; among the crowd it was met with adverse rumor.

[27] Haud proinde id damnum Vitellianos in metum compulit quam ad modestiam composuit: nec solum apud Caecinam, qui culpam in militem conferebat seditioni magis quam proelio paratum: Fabii quoque Valentis copiae (iam enim Ticinum venerat) posito hostium contemptu et reciperandi decoris cupidine reverentius et aequalius duci parebant. gravis alioquin seditio exarserat, quam altiore initio (neque enim rerum a Caecina gestarum ordinem interrumpi oportuerat) repetam. cohortes Batavorum, quas bello Neronis a quarta decima legione digressas, cum Britanniam peterent, audito Vitellii motu in civitate Lingonum Fabio Valenti adiunctas rettulimus, superbe agebant, ut cuiusque legionis tentoria accessissent, coercitos a se quartadecimanos, ablatam Neroni Italiam atque omnem belli fortunam in ipsorum manu sitam iactantes.

[27] That loss did not so drive the Vitellians into fear as it composed them to modesty: and not only with Caecina, who was transferring the blame onto the soldier, prepared for sedition rather than for battle; the forces of Fabius Valens as well (for he had already come to Ticinum), contempt for the enemy laid aside and with a desire of recovering their decor, obeyed their leader more reverently and more evenly. Otherwise a grave sedition had flared up, which from an earlier beginning (for it was not fitting that the order of the deeds done by Caecina be interrupted) I will recount. The cohorts of the Batavi, which in Nero’s war had parted from the Fourteenth legion, and, when they were seeking Britain, on hearing of Vitellius’s movement had, at the civitas of the Lingones, been joined to Fabius Valens, as we have reported, were acting arrogantly: whenever they approached the tents of any legion, they boasted that the men of the Fourteenth had been coerced by them, that Italy had been taken away from Nero, and that the whole fortune of the war was set in their own hand.

contumeliosum id militibus, acerbum duci; corrupta iurgiis aut rixis disciplina; ad postremum Valens e petulantia etiam perfidiam suspectabat.

that was contumelious to the soldiers, bitter to the leader; discipline corrupted by wranglings or brawls; at the last Valens, from their petulance, even suspected perfidy.

[28] Igitur nuntio adlato pulsam Trevirorum alam Tungrosque a classe Othonis et Narbonensem Galliam circumiri, simul cura socios tuendi et militari astu cohortis turbidas ac, si una forent, praevalidas dispergendi, partem Batavorum ire in subsidium iubet. quod ubi auditum vulgatumque, maerere socii, fremere legiones. orbari se fortissimorum virorum auxilio; veteres illos et tot bellorum victores, postquam in conspectu sit hostis, velut ex acie abduci.

[28] Therefore, when a report was brought that the wing of the Treveri and the Tungri had been routed by Otho’s fleet and that Narbonese Gaul was being coasted, at once, both from a care of protecting the allies and by military astuteness of dispersing cohorts that were turbulent and, if they were together, very strong, he orders part of the Batavians to go as reinforcements. When this was heard and spread abroad, the allies mourned, the legions murmured: that they were being deprived of the aid of the bravest men; that those veterans and victors of so many wars, now that the enemy was in sight, were being, as it were, led away from the battle line.

si provincia urbe et salute imperii potior sit, omnes illuc sequerentur; sin victoriae [sanitas sustentaculum] columen in Italia verteretur, non abrumpendos ut corpori validissimos artus.

if the province were preferable to the city and the safety of the empire, let all follow thither; but if the pillar of victory [the soundness, the support] were to be turned in Italy, the strongest limbs ought not to be torn off from the body.

[29] Haec ferociter iactando, postquam immissis lictoribus Valens coercere seditionem coeptabat, ipsum invadunt, saxa iaciunt, fugientem sequuntur. spolia Galliarum et Viennensium aurum, pretia laborum suorum, occultare clamitantes, direptis sarcinis tabernacula ducis ipsamque humum pilis et lanceis rimabantur; nam Valens servili veste apud decurionem equitum tegebatur. tum Alfenus Varus praefectus castrorum, deflagrante paulatim seditione, addit consilium, vetitis obire vigilias centurionibus, omisso tubae sono, quo miles ad belli munia cietur.

[29] While fiercely bandying these things about, after Valens, with lictors sent in, began to coerce the sedition, they attack him himself, they hurl stones, they pursue him as he flees. shouting that he was concealing the spoils of the Gauls and the gold of the Viennenses, the prices of their labors, with the packs torn open they were probing the commander’s tents and the very ground with pikes and lances; for Valens was being hidden in a servile garment at the quarters of a decurion of cavalry. then Alfenus Varus, camp prefect, as the sedition gradually burned out, adds a counsel: the centurions were forbidden to go the watches, and the sound of the trumpet, by which the soldier is summoned to the duties of war, was omitted.

igitur torpere cuncti, circumspectare inter se attoniti et id ipsum quod nemo regeret paventes; silentio, patientia, postremo precibus ac lacrimis veniam quaerebant. ut vero deformis et flens et praeter spem incolumis Valens processit, gaudium miseratio favor: versi in laetitiam, ut est vulgus utroque immodicum, laudantes gratantesque circumdatum aquilis signisque in tribunal ferunt. ille utili moderatione non supplicium cuiusquam poposcit, ac ne dissimulans suspectior foret, paucos incusavit, gnarus civilibus bellis plus militibus quam ducibus licere.

Therefore all grew torpid, looking around at one another astonished and fearing this very thing—that no one was governing; in silence, with patience, and finally with prayers and tears they sought pardon. But when Valens, disheveled and weeping and, beyond hope, unharmed, came forth, there was joy, compassion, favor: turned to rejoicing, as the crowd is immoderate in either direction, praising and congratulating, they bear him, surrounded by eagles and standards, up onto the tribunal. He, with expedient moderation, demanded punishment of no one, and, lest by dissembling he be more suspect, he blamed a few, knowing that in civil wars more is permitted to the soldiers than to the commanders.

[30] Munientibus castra apud Ticinum de adversa Caecinae pugna adlatum, et prope renovata seditio tamquam fraude et cunctationibus Valentis proelio defuissent: nolle requiem, non expectare ducem, anteire signa, urgere signiferos; rapido agmine Caecinae iunguntur. improspera Valentis fama apud exercitum Caecinae erat: expositos se tanto pauciores integris hostium viribus querebantur, simul in suam excusationem et adventantium robur per adulationem attollentes, ne ut victi et ignavi despectarentur. et quamquam plus virium, prope duplicatus legionum auxiliorumque numerus erat Valenti, studia tamen militum in Caecinam inclinabant, super benignitatem animi, qua promptior habebatur, etiam vigore aetatis, proceritate corporis et quodam inani favore.

[30] While they were fortifying the camp near Ticinum, news was brought of Caecina’s adverse battle, and the sedition was nearly
renewed, on the plea that by the fraud and delays of Valens they had been absent from the battle: they wanted no rest, would not await the leader, to go before the standards, to press the standard-bearers; with a rapid march
they join Caecina. The repute of Valens was unfavorable with Caecina’s army: they complained that, being so much fewer, they had been exposed to the enemy’s forces intact, at the same time, in their own exculpation and by adulation, exalting the strength of the newcomers, lest, as conquered and cowardly, they be despised. And although Valens had more forces, the number of legions
and auxiliaries being nearly doubled, yet the partialities of the soldiers inclined toward Caecina, besides the benignity of spirit, for which he was held the more approachable, also by the vigor
of his age, the tallness of his body, and a certain inane favor.

hinc aemulatio ducibus: Caecina ut foedum ac maculosum, ille ut tumidum ac vanum inridebant. sed condito odio eandem utilitatem fovere, crebris epistulis sine respectu veniae probra Othoni obiectantes, cum duces partium Othonis quamvis uberrima conviciorum in Vitellium materia abstinerent.

Hence rivalry among the leaders: Caecina
mocked him as foul and stained; he, in turn, mocked Caecina as swollen and vain. But, their hatred laid up,
they fostered the same advantage, in frequent epistles, without regard for pardon, hurling reproaches at Otho,
whereas the leaders of Otho’s party, although the material for invectives against Vitellius was most abundant,
abstained.

[31] Sane ante utriusque exitum, quo egregiam Otho famam, Vitellius flagitiosissimam meruere, minus Vitellii ignavae voluptates quam Othonis flagrantissimae libidines timebantur: addiderat huic terrorem atque odium caedes Galbae, contra illi initium belli nemo imputabat. Vitellius ventre et gula sibi inhonestus, Otho luxu saevitia audacia rei publicae exitiosior ducebatur. Coniunctis Caecinae ac Valentis copiis nulla ultra penes Vitellianos mora quin totis viribus certarent: Otho consultavit trahi bellum an fortunam experiri placeret.

[31] Indeed, before the end of each, by which Otho earned an excellent reputation, Vitellius the most scandalous, the ignoble voluptuous pleasures of Vitellius were less feared than the most flagrant lusts of Otho: the slaughter of Galba had added terror and hatred to this man, whereas to that one no one imputed the initiation of the war. Vitellius, disgraceful to himself in belly and gullet, Otho was judged more ruinous to the commonwealth by luxury, savagery, and audacity. With the forces of Caecina and Valens joined, there was thereafter no delay with the Vitellians but that they should contend with all their strength: Otho deliberated whether it was preferable to drag out the war or to try his fortune.

[32] Tunc Suetonius Paulinus dignum fama sua ratus, qua nemo illa tempestate militaris rei callidior habebatur, de toto genere belli censere, festinationem hostibus, moram ipsis utilem disseruit: exercitum Vitellii universum advenisse, nec multum virium a tergo, quoniam Galliae tumeant et deserere Rheni ripam inrupturis tam infestis nationibus non conducat; Britannicum militem hoste et mari distineri: Hispanias armis non ita redundare; provinciam Narbonensem incursu classis et adverso proelio contremuisse; clausam Alpibus et nullo maris subsidio transpadanam Italiam atque ipso transitu exercitus vastam; non frumentum usquam exercitui, nec exercitum sine copiis retineri posse: iam Germanos, quod genus militum apud hostis atrocissimum sit, tracto in aestatem bello, fluxis corporibus, mutationem soli caelique haud toleraturos. multa bella impetu valida per taedia et moras evanuisse. contra ipsis omnia opulenta et fida, Pannoniam Moesiam Dalmatiam Orientem cum integris exercitibus, Italiam et caput rerum urbem senatumque et populum, numquam obscura nomina, etiam si aliquando obumbrentur; publicas privatasque opes et immensam pecuniam, inter civilis discordias ferro validiorem; corpora militum aut Italiae sueta aut aestibus; obiacere flumen Padum, tutas viris murisque urbis, e quibus nullam hosti cessuram Placentiae defensione exploratum: proinde duceret bellum.

[32] Then Suetonius Paulinus, thinking it worthy of his fame—than whom at that time no one was held more shrewd in military affairs—judged about the whole kind of the war, and argued that haste was useful to the enemies, delay to themselves: that the army of Vitellius had arrived in its entirety, nor was there much strength at their back, since the Gauls were in ferment and it was not expedient to desert the bank of the Rhine with such hostile nations about to break in; that the British soldiery was kept apart by the enemy and by the sea; that the Spains did not so overflow with arms; that the province of Narbonensis had trembled at the incursion of the fleet and an adverse battle; that Transpadane Italy, shut in by the Alps and with no aid from the sea, was laid waste by the very passage of the army; that there was nowhere grain for the army, nor could an army be kept without supplies: and now that the Germans—a kind of soldiers most savage among the enemy—if the war were dragged into the summer, with bodies relaxed, would hardly tolerate a change of soil and sky. Many wars, strong in onset, have vanished through weariness and delays. Conversely, for themselves all things were opulent and faithful—Pannonia, Moesia, Dalmatia, the Orient with intact armies; Italy and the head of affairs, the city and the senate and the people, names never obscure even if at times overshadowed; public and private resources and immense money, amid civil discords stronger than iron; the bodies of the soldiers accustomed either to Italy or to heats; the river Po lying in the way; cities safe in men and in walls, from which it had been ascertained by the defense of Placentia that not one would yield to the enemy: accordingly, let him protract the war.

paucis diebus quartam decimam legionem, magna ipsam fama, cum Moesicis copiis adfore: tum rursus deliberaturum et, si proelium placuisset, auctis viribus certaturos.

in a few days the Fourteenth Legion, itself of great renown, would be present with the Moesian forces; then he would deliberate again, and, if battle should be approved, they would contend with augmented strength.

[33] Accedebat sententiae Paulini Marius Celsus; idem placere Annio Gallo, paucos ante dies lapsu equi adflicto, missi qui consilium eius sciscitarentur rettulerant. Otho pronus ad decertandum; frater eius Titianus et praefectus praetorii Proculus, imperitia properantes, fortunam et deos et numen Othonis adesse consiliis, adfore conatibus testabantur, neu quis obviam ire sententiae auderet, in adulationem concesserant. postquam pugnari placitum, interesse pugnae imperatorem an seponi melius foret dubitavere.

[33] Marius Celsus was added to Paulinus’s opinion; those who had been sent to ascertain Annius Gallus’s counsel reported that the same pleased him, though a few days earlier he had been stricken by a fall from his horse. Otho was prone to fight it out; his brother Titianus and the Praetorian Prefect Proculus, hastening in inexperience, kept attesting that Fortune and the gods and the numen of Otho were present to their counsels, would be present to their endeavors, and, lest anyone dare to go against the opinion, they had slid into adulation. After it was resolved to fight, whether it were better for the emperor to be present at the battle or to be set apart they doubted.

Paulino et Celso iam non adversantibus, ne principem obiectare periculis viderentur idem illi deterioris consilii auctores perpulere ut Brixellum concederet ac dubiis proeliorum exemptus summae rerum et imperii se ipsum reservaret. is primus dies Othonianas partis adflixit; namque et cum ipso praetoriarum cohortium et speculatorum equitumque valida manus discessit, et remanentium fractus animus, quando suspecti duces et Otho, cui uni apud militem fides, dum et ipse non nisi militibus credit, imperia ducum in incerto reliquerat.

With Paulinus and Celsus no longer opposing, lest they seem to expose the princeps to dangers, those same authors of the worse counsel compelled him to withdraw to Brixellum
and, removed from the uncertainties of battles, to reserve himself for the supreme control of affairs and of the empire.
That day first struck down the Othonian party; for both with him there departed a strong band of the praetorian cohorts and the speculators (scouts) and the cavalry, and
the spirit of those remaining was broken, since the leaders were suspect and Otho, in whom alone among the soldiery there was trust, while he himself trusted none but the soldiers,
had left the commands of the commanders in uncertainty.

[34] Nihil eorum Vitellianos fallebat, crebris, ut in civili bello, transfugiis; et exploratores cura diversa sciscitandi sua non occultabant. quieti intentique Caecina ac Valens, quando hostis imprudentia rueret, quod loco sapientiae est, alienam stultitiam opperiebantur, inchoato ponte transitum Padi simulantes adversus obpositam gladiatorum manum, ac ne ipsorum miles segne otium tereret. naves pari inter se spatio, validis utrimque trabibus conexae, adversum in flumen dirigebantur, iactis super ancoris quae firmitatem pontis continerent, sed ancorarum funes non extenti fluitabant, ut augescente flumine inoffensus ordo navium attolleretur.

[34] None of these things escaped the Vitellians, because of frequent, as in a civil war, defectors; and the explorers (scouts), in their diverse diligence of asking, did not conceal themselves. Calm and intent, Caecina and Valens—since the enemy was rushing on in imprudence—were waiting for another’s folly, which stands in the place of wisdom, a bridge having been begun as they simulated a crossing of the Po against the opposing band of gladiators, and so that their own soldiery might not fritter away sluggish leisure. The ships, at equal intervals among themselves and linked with stout beams on either side, were being directed against the stream, with anchors cast overboard to maintain the stability of the bridge; but the anchor-ropes, not stretched taut, floated, so that as the river swelled the unimpeded order of the ships might be lifted up.

claudebat pontem imposita turris et in extremam navem educta, unde tormentis ac machinis hostes propulsarentur. Othoniani in ripa turrim struxerant saxaque et faces iaculabantur.

A tower, set in place and drawn out onto the outermost ship, closed off the bridge, whence by artillery and machines they might repel the enemies. The Othonian troops had built a tower on the bank and were hurling stones and firebrands.

[35] Et erat insula amne medio, in quam gladiatores navibus molientes, Germani nando praelabebantur. ac forte pluris transgressos completis Liburnicis per promptissimos gladiatorum Macer adgreditur: sed neque ea constantia gladiatoribus ad proelia quae militibus, nec proinde nutantes e navibus quam stabili gradu e ripa vulnera derigebant. et cum variis trepidantium inclinationibus mixti remiges propugnatoresque turbarentur, desilire in vada ultro Germani, retentare puppis, scandere foros aut comminus mergere: quae cuncta in oculis utriusque exercitus quanto laetiora Vitellianis, tanto acrius Othoniani causam auctoremque cladis detestabantur.

[35] And there was an island in mid-river, toward which, as the gladiators were making by ships, the Germans were gliding past by swimming. And by chance, when more had crossed, with the Liburnians filled up, Macer attacks by means of the most forward of the gladiators: but neither was there in the gladiators that constancy for battles which is in soldiers, nor did they aim their wounds as well, wobbling from the ships, as they did with a steady step from the bank. And while, with the various lurchings of the panic-stricken, rowers and fighting-men, mingled together, were thrown into confusion, the Germans of their own accord leapt down into the shallows, tried to hold back the sterns, climbed the gangways, or sank them at close quarters: all which, in the eyes of both armies—by how much the more joyous to the Vitellians, by so much the more keenly did the Othonians execrate the cause and the author of the disaster.

[36] Et proelium quidem, abruptis quae supererant navibus, fuga diremptum: Macer ad exitium poscebatur, iamque vulneratum eminus lancea strictis gladiis invaserant, cum intercursu tribunorum centurionumque protegitur. nec multo post Vestricius Spurinna iussu Othonis, relicto Placentiae modico praesidio, cum cohortibus subvenit. dein Flavium Sabinum consulem designatum Otho rectorem copiis misit, quibus Macer praefuerat, laeto milite ad mutationem ducum et ducibus ob crebras seditiones tam infestam militiam aspernantibus.

[36] And indeed the battle, the boats that still remained having been cut adrift, was broken off by flight: Macer was being demanded for destruction, and now, wounded from afar by a lance, they had attacked with swords drawn, when by the interposition of the tribunes and centurions he was protected. And not much later Vestricius Spurinna, by Otho’s order, leaving at Placentia a modest garrison, came to the rescue with cohorts. Then Otho sent Flavius Sabinus, consul designate, as rector of the forces over which Macer had been in command, the soldiery glad at a change of leaders, and the leaders, on account of the frequent seditions, spurning a military service so dangerous to them.

[37] Invenio apud quosdam auctores pavore belli seu fastidio utriusque principis, quorum flagitia ac dedecus apertiore in dies fama noscebantur, dubitasse exercitus num posito certamine vel ipsi in medium consultarent, vel senatui permitterent legere imperatorem, atque eo duces Othonianos spatium ac moras suasisse, praecipua spe Paulini, quod vetustissimus consularium et militia clarus gloriam nomenque Britannicis expeditionibus meruisset. ego ut concesserim apud paucos tacito voto quietem pro discordia, bonum et innocentem principem pro pessimis ac flagitiosissimis expetitum, ita neque Paulinum, qua prudentia fuit, sperasse corruptissimo saeculo tantam vulgi moderationem reor ut qui pacem belli amore turbaverant, bellum pacis caritate deponerent, neque aut exercitus linguis moribusque dissonos in hunc consensum potuisse coalescere, aut legatos ac duces magna ex parte luxus egestatis scelerum sibi conscios nisi pollutum obstrictumque meritis suis principem passuros.

[37] I find in certain authors that, from fear of war
or disgust at both princes, whose outrages and disgrace were being learned by a more open report day by day, the armies hesitated whether, the contest set aside, they should either themselves deliberate in common,
or allow the senate to choose an emperor; and that on that account the Othonian leaders urged space and delays, with chief hope in Paulinus, because, the most ancient of the consulars and renowned in soldiery, he had earned glory and a name by British expeditions. I, for my part, even if I should grant that among a few, by a silent vow, quiet was desired instead of discord,
and a good and innocent prince sought in place of the worst and most scandalous, yet I do not think that Paulinus, with the prudence he had, hoped in so corrupt an age for such moderation of the crowd that those who had disturbed peace out of love of war would lay down war out of love of peace, nor that either armies dissonant in tongues and manners could coalesce into this consensus, or that the legates and generals, in great part conscious to themselves of luxury, want, and crimes, would tolerate any emperor save one polluted and bound by obligations to their "merits."

[38] Vetus ac iam pridem insita mortalibus potentiae cupido cum imperii magnitudine adolevit erupitque; nam rebus modicis aequalitas facile habebatur. sed ubi subacto orbe et aemulis urbibus regibusve excisis securas opes concupiscere vacuum fuit, prima inter patres plebemque certamina exarsere. modo turbulenti tribuni, modo consules praevalidi, et in urbe ac foro temptamenta civilium bellorum; mox e plebe infima C. Marius et nobilium saevissimus L. Sulla victam armis libertatem in dominationem verterunt.

[38] An old and long-since inborn cupidity of power in mortals, with the magnitude of the empire, grew
and burst forth; for under modest conditions equality was easily maintained. But when, the world having been subdued and
rival cities or kings cut down, there was room to covet secure wealth, the first contests between the patres and the plebs
flared up. Now turbulent tribunes, now over-mighty consuls, and in the city and the forum experiments of civil wars; soon from the lowest plebs C.
Marius and, most savage of the nobles, L. Sulla turned liberty, conquered by arms, into domination.

post quos Cn. Pompeius occultior non melior, et numquam postea nisi de principatu quaesitum. non discessere ab armis in Pharsalia ac Philippis civium legiones, nedum Othonis ac Vitellii exercitus sponte posituri bellum fuerint: eadem illos deum ira, eadem hominum rabies, eaedem scelerum causae in discordiam egere. quod singulis velut ictibus transacta sunt bella, ignavia principum factum est.

after whom Gnaeus Pompeius, more covert, not better; and never thereafter was the question anything but about the principate. the legions of citizens did not depart from arms at Pharsalus and at Philippi, much less would the armies of Otho and Vitellius of their own accord have laid down war: the same wrath of the gods, the same rage of men, the same causes of crimes drove them into discord. that the wars were finished, as it were, by single blows, was the doing of the emperors’ sloth.

sed me veterum novorumque morum reputatio longius tulit: nunc ad rerum ordinem venio.

But the reconsideration of mores, old and new, has carried me farther: now I come to the order of events.

[39] Profecto Brixellum Othone honor imperii penes Titianum fratrem, vis ac potestas penes Proculum praefectum; Celsus et Paulinus, cum prudentia eorum nemo uteretur, inani nomine ducum alienae culpae praetendebantur; tribuni centurionesque ambigui quod spretis melioribus deterrimi valebant; miles alacer, qui tamen iussa ducum interpretari quam exequi mallet. promoveri ad quartum a Bedriaco castra placuit, adeo imperite ut quamquam verno tempore anni et tot circum amnibus penuria aquae fatigarentur. ibi de proelio dubitatum, Othone per litteras flagitante ut maturarent, militibus ut imperator pugnae adesset poscentibus: plerique copias trans Padum agentis acciri postulabant.

[39] With Otho having set out for Brixellum, the honor of the imperium was in the hands of his brother Titianus, the force and power in the hands of the prefect Proculus; Celsus and Paulinus, since no one made use of their prudence, were put forward with the empty name of commanders to screen the fault of others; the tribunes and centurions were ambiguous, because, the better being scorned, the worst were prevailing; the soldier was eager, who yet preferred to interpret the orders of the commanders rather than execute them. It was decided to move the camp forward to the fourth milestone from Bedriacum, so ineptly that, although it was the springtime of the year and there were so many rivers around, they were wearied by a scarcity of water. There they hesitated about battle, Otho demanding by letters that they make haste, the soldiers demanding that the emperor be present for the fight: very many were asking that the forces operating across the Po be summoned.

nec proinde diiudicari potest quid optimum factu fuerit, quam pessimum fuisse quod factum est.

Nor can it so much be adjudged what would have been best to do, as that what was done was worst.

[40] Non ut ad pugnam sed ad bellandum profecti confluentis Padi et Ardae fluminum, sedecim inde milium spatio distantis, petebant. Celso et Paulino abnuentibus militem itinere fessum, sarcinis gravem obicere hosti, non omissuro quo minus expeditus et vix quattuor milia passuum progressus aut incompositos in agmine aut dispersos et vallum molientis adgrederetur, Titianus et Proculus, ubi consiliis vincerentur, ad ius imperii transibant. aderat sane citus equo Numida cum atrocibus mandatis, quibus Otho increpita ducum segnitia rem in discrimen mitti iubebat, aeger mora et spei impatiens.

[40] Not as for a fight but for waging war they had set out; they were making for the confluence of the rivers Po and Arda, distant thence by a space of 16 miles. Celsus and Paulinus refused to expose the soldier, weary from the journey and heavy with packs, to the enemy, who, unencumbered and after advancing scarcely 4 miles, would not fail to attack them either disordered in the column or scattered and busy constructing the rampart; Titianus and Proculus, when they were beaten in counsels, passed over to the right of the imperium. There was at hand indeed a Numidian swift on horseback with savage mandates, by which Otho, after rebuking the sluggishness of the leaders, ordered the matter to be sent into hazard, sick at delay and impatient of hope.

[41] Eodem die ad Caecinam operi pontis intentum duo praetoriarum cohortium tribuni, conloquium eius postulantes, venerunt: audire condiciones ac reddere parabat, cum praecipites exploratores adesse hostem nuntiavere. interruptus tribunorum sermo, eoque incertum fuit insidias an proditionem vel aliquod honestum consilium coeptaverint. Caecina dimissis tribunis revectus in castra datum iussu Fabii Valentis pugnae signum et militem in armis invenit.

[41] The same day, to Caecina,
who was intent on the work of the bridge, there came two tribunes of the praetorian cohorts, requesting a colloquy with him: he was preparing to hear the conditions and to render them, when hurried scouts announced that the enemy was at hand. The tribunes’ discourse was interrupted, and therefore it was uncertain whether they had begun an ambush, or a betrayal, or some honorable counsel. Caecina, the tribunes having been dismissed, having ridden back to camp, found that by the order of Fabius Valens the signal for battle had been given and the soldiery were under arms.

dum legiones de ordine agminis sortiuntur, equites prorupere; et mirum dictu, a paucioribus Othonianis quo minus in vallum inpingerentur, Italicae legionis virtute deterriti sunt: ea strictis mucronibus redire pulsos et pugnam resumere coegit. disposita Vitellianarum legionum acies sine trepidatione: etenim quamquam vicino hoste aspectus armorum densis arbustis prohibebatur. apud Othonianos pavidi duces, miles ducibus infensus, mixta vehicula et lixae, et praeruptis utrimque fossis via quieto quoque agmini angusta.

while the legions were drawing lots for their place in the order of the column, the cavalry burst forth; and, a marvel to tell, though the Othonian side was fewer, by the valor of the Italica legion they were deterred from driving against the rampart: that legion, with points drawn, forced the routed to return and to resume the fight. the battle-line of the Vitellian legions was drawn up without trepidation: for although the enemy was near, the sight of the arms was hindered by dense arbours. among the Othonians the leaders were timorous, the soldier hostile to the leaders, vehicles and camp-followers all mixed together, and, with ditches precipitous on both sides, the road was narrow even for a quiet column.

circumsistere alii signa sua, quaerere alii; incertus undique clamor adcurrentium, vocantium: ut cuique audacia vel formido, in primam postremamve aciem prorumpebant aut relabebantur.

some were standing around their own standards, others were searching for them; an uncertain clamor on all sides of those running up, calling out: as each man’s audacity or fear, they were bursting into the foremost or the hindmost line of battle or slipping back.

[42] Attonitas subito terrore mentis falsum gaudium in languorem vertit, repertis qui descivisse a Vitellio exercitum ementirentur. is rumor ab exploratoribus Vitellii dispersus, an in ipsa Othonis parte seu dolo seu forte surrexerit, parum compertum. omisso pugnae ardore Othoniani ultro salutavere; et hostili murmure excepti, plerisque suorum ignaris quae causa salutandi, metum proditionis fecere.

[42] Minds thunderstruck by sudden terror turned their false joy into languor, when there were found those who fabricated that the army had defected from Vitellius. This rumor, whether dispersed by Vitellius’s explorers, or whether it arose in Otho’s own side, either by trickery or by chance, is poorly ascertained. With the ardor of battle laid aside the Othonians of their own accord offered salutations; and, received with a hostile murmur, most of their own men being unaware what the cause of the saluting was, they produced a fear of treachery.

tum incubuit hostium acies, integris ordinibus, robore et numero praestantior: Othoniani, quamquam dispersi, pauciores, fessi, proelium tamen acriter sumpsere. et per locos arboribus ac vineis impeditos non una pugnae facies: comminus eminus, catervis et cuneis concurrebant. in aggere viae conlato gradu corporibus et umbonibus niti, omisso pilorum iactu gladiis et securibus galeas loricasque perrumpere: noscentes inter se, ceteris conspicui, in eventum totius belli certabant.

Then the enemy battle line bore down, with ranks intact, superior in strength and in number; the Othonian troops, although scattered, fewer, and weary, nevertheless took up the battle sharply. And through places impeded by trees and vineyards there was not one face of the fight: at close quarters and from afar, in companies and in wedge-formations they clashed. On the embankment of the road, with ranks locked, they strove with bodies and shield-bosses; the hurling of pila being dropped, with swords and axes they broke through helmets and cuirasses. Recognizing one another, and conspicuous to the rest, they fought for the outcome of the whole war.

[43] Forte inter Padum viamque patenti campo duae legiones congressae sunt, pro Vitellio unaetvicensima, cui cognomen Rapaci, vetere gloria insignis, e parte Othonis prima Adiutrix, non ante in aciem deducta, sed ferox et novi decoris avida. primani stratis unaetvicensimanorum principiis aquilam abstulere; quo dolore accensa legio et impulit rursus primanos, interfecto Orfidio Benigno legato, et plurima signa vexillaque ex hostibus rapuit. a parte alia propulsa quintanorum impetu tertia decima legio, circumventi plurium adcursu quartadecimani.

[43] By chance, between the Po and the road
on an open plain two legions met: for Vitellius the Twenty-First, surnamed Rapax,
distinguished by ancient glory; on Otho’s side the First Adiutrix, not previously
led into the battle-line, but fierce and eager for new distinction. The Primani, the
front ranks of the men of the Twenty-First having been laid low, carried off the eagle; at which grief the legion was inflamed and in turn drove back the Primani, Orfidius Benignus the legate having been slain, and it snatched very many standards and banners from the enemy. Elsewhere the Thirteenth Legion was driven back by the onset of the Quintani, and the men of the Fourteenth were surrounded by the rush of several arriving.

et ducibus Othonis iam pridem profugis Caecina ac Valens subsidiis suos firmabant. accessit recens auxilium, Varus Alfenus cum Batavis, fusa gladiatorum manu, quam navibus transvectam obpositae cohortes in ipso flumine trucidaverant: ita victores latus hostium invecti.

and with Otho’s commanders long since in flight, Caecina and Valens were strengthening their men with reinforcements. Fresh aid arrived, Alfenus Varus with the Batavians, the band of gladiators having been routed, whom, transported by ships, the cohorts stationed opposite had slaughtered in the very river: thus the victors drove into the enemy’s flank.

[44] Et media acie perrupta fugere passim Othoniani, Bedriacum petentes. immensum id spatium, obstructae strage corporum viae, quo plus caedis fuit; neque enim civilibus bellis capti in praedam vertuntur. Suetonius Paulinus et Licinius Proculus diversis itineribus castra vitavere.

[44] And with the middle of the battle-line broken through, the Othonian troops fled everywhere, making for Bedriacum. That distance was immense; the roads were blocked by a wreckage of bodies, which made the slaughter the greater; for in civil wars the captured are not turned into booty. Suetonius Paulinus and Licinius Proculus, by different routes, avoided the camp.

Vedium Aquilam tertiae decimae legionis legatum irae militum inconsultus pavor obtulit. multo adhuc die vallum ingressus clamore seditiosorum et fugacium circumstrepitur; non probris, non manibus abstinent; desertorem proditoremque increpant, nullo proprio crimine eius sed more vulgi suum quisque flagitium aliis obiectantes. Titianum et Celsum nox iuvit, dispositis iam excubiis conpressisque militibus, quos Annius Gallus consilio precibus auctoritate flexerat, ne super cladem adversae pugnae suismet ipsi caedibus saevirent: sive finis bello venisset seu resumere arma mallent, unicum victis in consensu levamentum.

Vedius Aquila, legate of the 13th Legion, was exposed by an unadvised panic to the soldiers’ wrath. With much day still left, having entered the rampart, he is surrounded by the clamor of the seditious and the runaways; they refrain neither from insults nor from hands; they upbraid him as a deserter and a betrayer, with no personal charge of his, but, in the common way of the crowd, each casting his own scandal upon others. Night aided Titianus and Celsus, once the watch-posts were already set and the soldiers checked, whom Annius Gallus, by counsel, entreaties, and authority, had bent, lest, on top of the disaster of the adverse battle, they rage with slaughter upon their own: whether an end had come to the war or they preferred to resume arms, the single alleviation for the conquered was in concord.

ceteris fractus animus: praetorianus miles non virtute se sed proditione victum fremebat: ne Vitellianis quidem incruentam fuisse victoriam, pulso equite, rapta legionis aquila; superesse cum ipso Othone militum quod trans Padum fuerit, venire Moesicas legiones, magnam exercitus partem Bedriaci remansisse: hos certe nondum victos et, si ita ferret, honestius in acie perituros. his cogitationibus truces aut pavidi extrema desperatione ad iram saepius quam in formidinem stimulabantur.

the spirit of the rest was broken: the praetorian soldier
was clamoring that he had been beaten not by virtue but by treachery: that not even for the Vitellians had the victory been bloodless, with the cavalry routed and a legion’s eagle snatched; that there still remained with Otho himself
the troops which had been across the Po, that the Moesian legions were coming, that a great part of the army
had remained at Bedriacum: these at any rate were not yet conquered and, if it so should befall, would more honorably perish in the battle-line.
By these thoughts the fierce or the fearful, in extreme desperation, were goaded more often to wrath than into panic.

[45] At Vitellianus exercitus ad quintum a Bedriaco lapidem consedit, non ausis ducibus eadem die obpugnationem castrorum; simul voluntaria deditio sperabatur: sed expeditis et tantum ad proelium egressis munimentum fuere arma et victoria. postera die haud ambigua Othoniani exercitus voluntate et qui ferociores fuerant ad paenitentiam inclinantibus missa legatio; nec apud duces Vitellianos dubitatum quo minus pacem concederent. legati paulisper retenti: ea res haesitationem attulit ignaris adhuc an impetrassent.

[45] But the Vitellian army encamped at the fifth milestone from Bedriacum, the commanders not daring an assault on the camp the same day; at the same time a voluntary surrender was hoped for: but for men lightly equipped and who had gone out only for battle, their arms and their victory were a fortification. On the following day, with the will of the Othonian army not in doubt and even those who had been fiercer inclining to repentance, an embassy was sent; nor among the Vitellian leaders was there any hesitation to concede peace. The envoys were kept back for a little while: this circumstance brought hesitation to those still unaware whether they had obtained their request.

mox remissa legatione patuit vallum. tum victi victoresque in lacrimas effusi, sortem civilium armorum misera laetitia detestantes; isdem tentoriis alii fratrum, alii propinquorum vulnera fovebant: spes et praemia in ambiguo, certa funera et luctus, nec quisquam adeo mali expers ut non aliquam mortem maereret. requisitum Orfidii legati corpus honore solito crematur; paucos necessarii ipsorum sepelivere, ceterum vulgus super humum relictum.

soon, after the legation was sent back, the rampart lay open. Then the defeated and the victors alike burst into tears, detesting with wretched joy the lot of civil arms; beneath the same tents some were tending the wounds of brothers, others of kinsfolk. Hopes and prizes were in the balance, but funerals and lamentations were certain, nor was anyone so free of ill as not to mourn some death. The body of the legate Orfidius, sought out, was cremated with the customary honor; a few were buried by their own intimates, but the rest, the common crowd, were left upon the ground.

[46] Opperiebatur Otho nuntium pugnae nequaquam trepidus et consilii certus. maesta primum fama, dein profugi e proelio perditas res patefaciunt. non expectavit militum ardor vocem imperatoris; bonum haberet animum iubebant: superesse adhuc novas viris, et ipsos extrema passuros ausurosque.

[46] Otho was awaiting the message of the battle, by no means alarmed and sure of his resolve. At first a gloomy report, then fugitives from the fight lay bare that the situation was lost. The ardor of the soldiers did not wait for the emperor’s voice; they kept bidding him to have good courage: that fresh strength still remained, and that they themselves would endure and dare the extremities.

neque erat adulatio: ire in aciem, excitare partium fortunam furore quodam et instinctu flagrabant. qui procul adstiterant, tendere manus, et proximi prensare genua, promptissimo Plotio Firmo. is praetorii praefectus identidem orabat ne fidissimum exercitum, ne optime meritos milites desereret: maiore animo tolerari adversa quam relinqui; fortis et strenuos etiam contra fortunam insistere spei, timidos et ignavos ad desperationem formidine properare.

nor was it adulation: they were blazing to go into the battle-line, to rouse the party’s fortune
with a certain frenzy and instinct. Those who had stood at a distance stretched out their hands, and
those nearest grasped his knees, with Plotius Firmus the most forward. He, the prefect of the praetorium,
again and again begged that he not desert the most faithful army, not abandon soldiers who had deserved best:
that adversities are to be borne with a greater spirit than to be left; that the brave and strenuous even against
fortune stand fast in hope, while the timid and cowardly hasten to desperation through fear.

quas inter voces ut flexerat vultum aut induraverat Otho, clamor et gemitus. nec praetoriani tantum, proprius Othonis miles, sed praemissi e Moesia eandem obstinationem adventantis exercitus, legiones Aquileiam ingressas nuntiabant, ut nemo dubitet potuisse renovari bellum atrox, lugubre, incertum victis et victoribus.

amid these utterances, whenever Otho softened or steeled his countenance, there were shouts and groans. nor the Praetorians only, Otho’s own soldiery close at hand, but men sent on from Moesia were reporting the same obstinacy in the approaching army; they were announcing that the legions had entered Aquileia, so that no one might doubt that the war, savage, mournful, uncertain for both vanquished and victors, could have been renewed.

[47] Ipse aversus a consiliis belli 'hunc' inquit 'animum, hanc virtutem vestram ultra periculis obicere nimis grande vitae meae pretium puto. quanto plus spei ostenditis, si vivere placeret, tanto pulchrior mors erit. experti in vicem sumus ego ac fortuna.

[47] He himself, turned away from the counsels of war, said: 'To expose this spirit, this your valor, further to dangers I deem too great a price for my life. The more hope you display, if it should please me to live, so much the fairer will death be. I and Fortune have made trial of one another in turn.'

nec tempus conputaveritis: difficilius est temperare felicitati qua te non putes diu usurum. civile bellum a Vitellio coepit, et ut de principatu certaremus armis initium illic fuit: ne plus quam semel certemus penes me exemplum erit; hinc Othonem posteritas aestimet. fruetur Vitellius fratre, coniuge, liberis: mihi non ultione neque solaciis opus est.

nor compute the time: it is more difficult to temper oneself to a felicity which you do not think you will use for long. the civil war began from Vitellius, and the beginning there was that we should contend about the principate with arms: that we contend not more than once, the precedent shall be mine; from this let posterity assess Otho. Vitellius will enjoy brother, consort, children: I have need neither of vengeance nor of consolations.

alii diutius imperium tenuerint, nemo tam fortiter reliquerit. an ego tantum Romanae pubis, tot egregios exercitus sterni rursus et rei publicae eripi patiar? eat hic mecum animus, tamquam perituri pro me fueritis, set este superstites.

Others may have held the imperium longer; no one has so bravely relinquished it.
Am I to suffer so much of the Roman youth, so many distinguished armies, to be laid low again and to be snatched from the Republic?
Let this spirit go with me, as though you were going to perish for me, but do you remain survivors.

nec diu moremur, ego incolumitatem vestram, vos constantiam meam. plura de extremis loqui pars ignaviae est. praecipuum destinationis meae documentum habete quod de nemine queror; nam incusare deos vel homines eius est qui vivere velit.'

nor let us delay long; I [will look to] your safety, you to my constancy. to speak further about the last things is part of cowardice. have as the chief proof of my determination that I complain of no one; for to accuse gods or men is the mark of one who wishes to live.'

[48] Talia locutus, ut cuique aetas aut dignitas, comiter appellatos, irent propere neu remanendo iram victoris asperarent, iuvenes auctoritate, senes precibus movebat, placidus ore, intrepidus verbis, intempestivas suorum lacrimas coercens. dari navis ac vehicula abeuntibus iubet; libellos epistulasque studio erga se aut in Vitellium contumeliis insignis abolet; pecunias distribuit parce nec ut periturus. mox Salvium Cocceianum, fratris filium, prima iuventa, trepidum et maerentem ultro solatus est, laudando pietatem eius, castigando formidinem: an Vitellium tam inmitis animi fore ut pro incolumi tota domo ne hanc quidem sibi gratiam redderet?

[48] Having spoken such things, each as his age or dignity required, he addressed with courtesy, urging them to go promptly and not by remaining to sharpen the victor’s anger; the youths he moved by authority, the elders by prayers, placid in countenance, intrepid in words, coercing the untimely tears of his people. He orders ships and vehicles to be given to those departing; libels and epistles, marked by zeal toward himself or by affronts against Vitellius, he abolishes; he distributes monies sparingly and not as one about to perish. Soon he, of his own accord, consoled Salvius Cocceianus, his brother’s son, in earliest youth, trembling and grieving, by praising his piety, by chastising his fearfulness: would Vitellius be of so unkind a spirit that, in return for the whole household being unscathed, he would not render even this favor to himself?

mereri se festinato exitu clementiam victoris; non enim ultima desperatione sed poscente proelium exercitu remisisse rei publicae novissimum casum. satis sibi nominis, satis posteris suis nobilitatis quaesitum. post Iulios Claudios Servios se primum in familiam novam imperium intulisse: proinde erecto animo capesseret vitam, neu patruum sibi Othonem fuisse aut oblivisceretur umquam aut nimium meminisset.

that by a hasty exit he was earning for himself the clemency
of the victor; for not in ultimate desperation but with the army demanding battle he had remitted to the republic the final hazard. Enough of name for himself, enough of nobility for his posterity had been sought. After the Julii, the Claudii, the Servii, he, first, had brought the imperium into a new family: therefore with uplifted spirit let him take up life, and let him neither ever forget nor remember too much that Otho had been his uncle.

[49] Post quae dimotis omnibus paulum requievit. atque illum supremas iam curas animo volutantem repens tumultus avertit, nuntiata consternatione ac licentia militum; namque abeuntibus exitium minitabantur, atrocissima in Verginium vi, quem clausa domo obsidebant. increpitis seditionis auctoribus regressus vacavit abeuntium adloquiis, donec omnes inviolati digrederentur.

[49] After which, with all dismissed
he rested a little. And as he was now turning over his final cares in his mind, a sudden
tumult diverted him, the consternation and license of the soldiers having been announced; for to those departing
they were menacing destruction, with most atrocious violence against Verginius, whom they were besieging with the house shut. The authors of the sedition having been rebuked, returning, he devoted himself to the farewell addresses of those departing, until all
withdrew unharmed.

vesperascente die sitim haustu gelidae aquae sedavit. tum adlatis pugionibus duobus, cum utrumque pertemptasset, alterum capiti subdidit. et explorato iam profectos amicos, noctem quietam, utque adfirmatur, non insomnem egit: luce prima in ferrum pectore incubuit.

As evening was drawing on, he quenched his thirst with a draught of icy water. Then
when two daggers had been brought, after he had tested each, he placed one beneath his head. And
having ascertained that his friends had now set out, he spent a quiet night, and, as is affirmed, not a sleepless one,
he at first light sank upon the sword with his breast.

ad gemitum morientis ingressi liberti servique et Plotius Firmus praetorii praefectus unum vulnus invenere. funus maturatum; ambitiosis id precibus petierat ne amputaretur caput ludibrio futurum. tulere corpus praetoriae cohortes cum laudibus et lacrimis, vulnus manusque eius exosculantes.

At the groan of the dying man, the freedmen and slaves came in, and Plotius Firmus, the praetorian prefect; they found a single wound. The funeral was hastened; by ostentatious entreaties he had requested this—that his head not be amputated to be a mockery. The praetorian cohorts bore the body with praises and tears, kissing the wound and his hands.

quidam militum iuxta rogum interfecere se, non noxa neque ob metum, sed aemulatione decoris et caritate principis. ac postea promisce Bedriaci, Placentiae aliisque in castris celebratum id genus mortis. Othoni sepulchrum extructum est modicum et mansurum.

Certain of the soldiers killed themselves beside the pyre, not from guilt nor on account of fear, but from emulation of honor and charity for the princeps. And afterwards, promiscuously at Bedriacum, at Placentia, and in other camps, that kind of death was celebrated. For Otho a tomb was erected, modest and destined to endure.

hunc vitae finem habuit septimo et tricensimo aetatis anno.

He had this end of life in the thirty- seventh year of his age.

[50] Origo illi e municipio Ferentio, pater consularis, avus praetorius; maternum genus impar nec tamen indecorum. pueritia ac iuventa, qualem monstravimus. duobus facinoribus, altero flagitiosissimo, altero egregio, tantundem apud posteros meruit bonae famae quantum malae.

[50] His origin was from the municipium Ferentium, a consular father, a grandfather praetorian; the maternal lineage unequal yet not indecorous. Childhood and youth, such as we have shown. By two deeds, one most flagitious, the other outstanding, he merited among posterity as much good repute as bad.

ut conquirere fabulosa et fictis oblectare legentium animos procul gravitate coepti operis crediderim, ita vulgatis traditisque demere fidem non ausim. die, quo Bedriaci certabatur, avem invisitata specie apud Regium Lepidum celebri luco consedisse incolae memorant, nec deinde coetu hominum aut circumvolitantium alitum territam pulsamve, donec Otho se ipse interficeret; tum ablatam ex oculis: et tempora reputantibus initium finemque miraculi cum Othonis exitu competisse.

I would think that to hunt up fabulous matters and to delight the readers’ minds with fictions is far from the gravity of the work undertaken; yet I would not dare to remove credence from things publicized and handed down. On the day on which at Bedriacum there was fighting, the inhabitants relate that a bird of unprecedented appearance settled in a celebrated grove at Regium Lepidum, nor thereafter was it frightened or driven off by a gathering of men or by birds flying around, until Otho killed himself; then it was taken from sight: and, for those reckoning the times, the beginning and the end of the marvel coincided with Otho’s demise.

[51] In funere eius novata luctu ac dolore militum seditio, nec erat qui coerceret. ad Verginium versi, modo ut reciperet imperium, nunc ut legatione apud Caecinam ac Valentem fungeretur, minitantes orabant: Verginius per aversam domus partem furtim digressus inrumpentis frustratus est. earum quae Brixelli egerant cohortium preces Rubrius Gallus tulit, et venia statim impetrata, concedentibus ad victorem per Flavium Sabinum iis copiis quibus praefuerat.

[51] At his funeral the sedition, renewed by the grief and sorrow of the soldiers, broke out, nor was there anyone to coerce it. Turning to Verginius, now they entreated—threatening—that he should take back the imperium, now that he should discharge a legation to Caecina and Valens. Verginius, slipping away stealthily through the back part of the house, foiled those bursting in. Rubrius Gallus carried the petitions of the cohorts which had acted at Brixellum, and, pardon having been obtained at once, with those forces which he had commanded yielding to the victor through Flavius Sabinus.

[52] Posito ubique bello magna pars senatus extremum discrimen adiit, profecta cum Othone ab urbe, dein Mutinae relicta. illuc adverso de proelio adlatum: sed milites ut falsum rumorem aspernantes, quod infensum Othoni senatum arbitrabantur, custodire sermones, vultum habitumque trahere in deterius; conviciis postremo ac probris causam et initium caedis quaerebant, cum alius insuper metus senatoribus instaret, ne praevalidis iam Vitellii partibus cunctanter excepisse victoriam crederentur. ita trepidi et utrimque anxii coeunt, nemo privatim expedito consilio, inter multos societate culpae tutior.

[52] With war everywhere set aside, a great part of the senate came into extreme peril, having set out with Otho from the city, then left at Mutina. Thither there was brought word of an adverse engagement; but the soldiers, rejecting it as a false rumor, since they judged the senate hostile to Otho, began to police their talk, and to draw their expression and bearing to a worse construction; at last with revilings and reproaches they were seeking a cause and an inception of slaughter, while another fear besides pressed upon the senators, lest, with Vitellius’s party already very strong, they should be believed to have received the victory with hesitation. Thus, trembling and anxious on both sides, they meet; no one in private with a ready plan, safer among many by a fellowship of guilt.

onerabat paventium curas ordo Mutinensis arma et pecuniam offerendo, appellabatque patres conscriptos intempestivo honore.

The order of Mutina was burdening the cares of the panicked by offering arms and money, and was addressing the Conscript Fathers with untimely honor.

[53] Notabile iurgium fuit quo Licinius Caecina Marcellum Eprium ut ambigua disserentem invasit. nec ceteri sententias aperiebant: sed invisum memoria delationum expositumque ad invidiam Marcelli nomen inritaverat Caecinam, ut novus adhuc et in senatum nuper adscitus magnis inimicitiis claresceret. moderatione meliorum dirempti.

[53] There was a notable quarrel, in which Licinius Caecina assailed Eprius Marcellus as one discoursing ambiguously. Nor did the others lay open their opinions: but the name of Marcellus, hateful by the memory of delations and exposed to odium, had provoked Caecina, so that, still new and lately admitted into the senate, he might become conspicuous by great enmities. They were parted by the moderation of the better men.

et rediere omnes Bononiam, rursus consiliaturi; simul medio temporis plures nuntii sperabantur. Bononiae, divisis per itinera qui recentissimum quemque percontarentur, interrogatus Othonis libertus causam digressus habere se suprema eius mandata respondit; ipsum viventem quidem relictum, sed sola posteritatis cura et abruptis vitae blandimentis. hinc admiratio et plura interrogandi pudor, atque omnium animi in Vitellium inclinavere.

and they all returned to Bononia, to take counsel again; at the same time, during the interval more messengers were hoped for. At Bononia, after sending men out along the roads to question each who had most recently arrived, a freedman of Otho, when interrogated, replied that he had the cause of his departure in his final commands; that he had left him indeed alive, but concerned solely with posterity and having severed the blandishments of life. From this came astonishment and a shame of asking more, and the minds of all inclined toward Vitellius.

[54] Intererat consiliis frater eius L. Vitellius seque iam adulantibus offerebat, cum repente Coenus libertus Neronis atroci mendacio universos perculit, adfirmans superventu quartae decimae legionis, iunctis a Brixello viribus, caesos victores; versam partium fortunam. causa fingendi fuit ut diplomata Othonis, quae neglegebantur, laetiore nuntio revalescerent. et Coenus quidem raptim in urbem vectus paucos post dies iussu Vitellii poenas luit: senatorum periculum auctum credentibus Othonianis militibus vera esse quae adferebantur.

[54] His brother L. Vitellius was taking part in the counsels and was already offering himself to the flatterers, when suddenly Coenus, a freedman of Nero, struck them all with a savage mendacity, asserting that with the supervention of the Fourteenth legion, the forces having been joined from Brixellum, the victors had been cut down; the fortune of the parties was reversed. The cause of the feigning was that Otho’s diplomas, which were being neglected, might regain strength by a more cheerful report. And Coenus indeed, hurriedly conveyed into the city, a few days later paid the penalties by Vitellius’s order: the danger of the senators increased, as the Othonian soldiers believed the things that were being brought to be true.

intendebat formidinem quod publici consilii facie discessum Mutina desertaeque partes forent. nec ultra in commune congressi sibi quisque consuluere, donec missae a Fabio Valente epistulae demerent metum. et mors Othonis quo laudabilior eo velocius audita.

it was heightening the fear
that, under the guise of a public deliberation, there would be a departure from Mutina and the party would be deserted. Nor, meeting further in common, did they consult; each looked to himself, until letters sent by Fabius Valens removed the fear.
and the death of Otho—the more laudable, the more swiftly—was heard.

[55] At Romae nihil trepidationis; Ceriales ludi ex more spectabantur. ut cessisse Othonem et a Flavio Sabino praefecto urbis quod erat in urbe militum sacramento Vitellii adactum certi auctores in theatrum attulerunt, Vitellio plausere; populus cum lauru ac floribus Galbae imagines circum templa tulit, congestis in modum tumuli coronis iuxta lacum Curtii, quem locum Galba moriens sanguine infecerat. in senatu cuncta longis aliorum principatibus composita statim decernuntur; additae erga Germanicum exercitum laudes gratesque et missa legatio quae gaudio fungeretur.

[55] But at Rome there was no trepidation; the Cerial Games were being watched according to custom. When sure authorities brought into the theater that Otho had yielded, and that whatever soldiery was in the city had been bound by the military sacrament (oath) to Vitellius by Flavius Sabinus, prefect of the city, they applauded Vitellius; the populace, with laurel and flowers, carried Galba’s images around the temples, with wreaths heaped in the manner of a tumulus beside the Lacus Curtius, which place Galba, dying, had stained with blood. In the senate all measures arranged for the long principates of others were immediately decreed; praises and thanks were added toward the Germanic army, and a legation was sent to discharge the office of rejoicing.

recitatae Fabii Valentis epistulae ad consules scriptae haud immoderate: gratior Caecinae modestia fuit quod non scripsisset.

The epistles of Fabius Valens, written to the consuls, were recited, not immoderately; more welcome was the modesty of Caecina, because he had not written.

[56] Ceterum Italia gravius atque atrocius quam bello adflictabatur. dispersi per municipia et colonias Vitelliani spoliare, rapere, vi et stupris polluere: in omne fas nefasque avidi aut venales non sacro, non profano abstinebant. et fuere qui inimicos suos specie militum interficerent.

[56] But Italy was being afflicted more grievously and more atrociously than by war. Scattered through the municipalities and colonies, Vitellius’s soldiers to despoil, to seize, to defile with violence and rapes: for every right and wrong eager or venal, they spared neither the sacred nor the profane. And there were those who killed their enemies under the guise of soldiers.

ipsique milites regionum gnari refertos agros, ditis dominos in praedam aut, si repugnatum foret, ad exitium destinabant, obnoxiis ducibus et prohibere non ausis. minus avaritiae in Caecina, plus ambitionis: Valens ob lucra et quaestus infamis eoque alienae etiam culpae dissimulator. iam pridem attritis Italiae rebus tantum peditum equitumque, vis damnaque et iniuriae aegre tolerabantur.

and the soldiers themselves, acquainted with the regions, were marking out the well‑stocked fields and their wealthy masters for plunder or, if there were resistance, for destruction, their commanders being subservient and not daring to prohibit. there was less avarice in Caecina, more ambition; Valens was infamous for lucre and gain, and therefore a dissimulator even of another’s guilt. with Italy’s resources long since attrited, so great a mass of foot and horse, and the violence, losses, and injuries, were scarcely tolerated.

[57] Interim Vitellius victoriae suae nescius ut ad integrum bellum reliquas Germanici exercitus viris trahebat. pauci veterum militum in hibernis relicti, festinatis per Gallias dilectibus, ut remanentium legionum nomina supplerentur. cura ripae Hordeonio Flacco permissa; ipse e Britannico [exercitu] delecta octo milia sibi adiunxit.

[57] Meanwhile Vitellius, unaware of his victory, as if for a complete war was drawing upon the remaining manpower of the German army.
A few of the veteran soldiers were left in winter quarters,
with levies hastened through the Gauls, so that the rolls of the legions left behind might be filled up.
The care of the river-bank was entrusted to Hordeonius Flaccus; he himself from the British [army]
added to himself eight thousand, selected.

et paucorum dierum iter progressus prosperas apud Bedriacum res ac morte Othonis concidisse bellum accepit: vocata contione virtutem militum laudibus cumulat. postulante exercitu ut libertum suum Asiaticum equestri dignitate donaret, inhonestam adulationem conpescit; dein mobilitate ingenii, quod palam abnuerat, inter secreta convivii largitur, honoravitque Asiaticum anulis, foedum mancipium et malis artibus ambitiosum.

and after a journey of a few days he learned that affairs at Bedriacum were prosperous and that with the death of Otho the war had collapsed: an assembly having been called, he loads the valor of the soldiers with praises. When the army demanded that he would endow his freedman Asiaticus with equestrian dignity, he checks the dishonorable adulation; then, by the mobility of his nature, what he had openly refused, in the privacy of a banquet he bestows, and he honored Asiaticus with the rings, a foul chattel and ambitious by evil arts.

[58] Isdem diebus accessisse partibus utramque Mauretaniam, interfecto procuratore Albino, nuntii venere. Lucceius Albinus a Nerone Mauretaniae Caesariensi praepositus, addita per Galbam Tingitanae provinciae administratione, haud spernendis viribus agebat. decem novem cohortes, quinque alae, ingens Maurorum numerus aderat, per latrocinia et raptus apta bello manus.

[58] In the same days, messengers came that both Mauretanias had joined the party, the procurator Albinus having been killed. Lucceius Albinus, placed by Nero over Mauretania Caesariensis, with the administration of the province of Tingitana added by Galba, was operating with forces not to be scorned. nineteen cohorts, five alae, a huge number of Moors were at hand, a band fitted for war through brigandage and rapine.

caeso Galba in Othonem pronus nec Africa contentus Hispaniae angusto freto diremptae imminebat. inde Cluvio Rufo metus, et decimam legionem propinquare litori ut transmissurus iussit; praemissi centuriones qui Maurorum animos Vitellio conciliarent. neque arduum fuit, magna per provincias Germanici exercitus fama; spargebatur insuper spreto procuratoris vocabulo Albinum insigne regis et Iubae nomen usurpare.

with Galba slain, inclined toward Otho,
and, not content with Africa, he was threatening Spain, separated by the narrow strait. Thence
fear for Cluvius Rufus, and he ordered the Tenth Legion to draw near the shore as if about to transport them;
centurions were sent ahead to conciliate the minds of the Mauri to Vitellius. Nor
was it arduous, the fame of the Germanic army being great through the provinces; moreover it was being spread
that, the title of procurator scorned, Albinus was usurping the insignia of a king and the name of Juba.

[59] Ita mutatis animis Asinius Pollio alae praefectus, e fidissimis Albino, et Festus ac Scipio cohortium praefecti opprimuntur: ipse Albinus dum e Tingitana provincia Caesariensem Mauretaniam petit, adpulsu litoris trucidatus; uxor eius cum se percussoribus obtulisset, simul interfecta est, nihil eorum quae fierent Vitellio anquirente: brevi auditu quamvis magna transibat, impar curis gravioribus. Exercitum itinere terrestri pergere iubet: ipse Arare flumine devehitur, nullo principali paratu, sed vetere egestate conspicuus, donec Iunius Blaesus Lugudunensis Galliae rector, genere inlustri, largus animo et par opibus, circumdaret principi ministeria, comitaretur liberaliter, eo ipso ingratus, quamvis odium Vitellius vernilibus blanditiis velaret. praesto fuere Luguduni victricium victarumque partium duces.

[59] Thus
with minds changed, Asinius Pollio, prefect of an ala, among the most faithful to Albinus, and Festus and Scipio, prefects of cohorts, are overpowered: Albinus himself, while from the Tingitanian province he makes for Mauretania Caesariensis, is butchered upon touching the shore; his wife, when she had offered herself to the assassins, was slain together with him, Vitellius making no inquiry into any of the things that were being done: however great, they passed with brief hearing, unequal to weightier cares. He orders the army to proceed by a land route: he himself is conveyed down the river Arar, with no imperial apparatus, but conspicuous for longtime indigence, until Junius Blaesus, governor of Lugdunensian Gaul, of illustrious lineage, lavish in spirit and a match in resources, should surround the prince with services, and attend him generously—ungrateful for that very thing—although Vitellius veiled his hatred with servile blandishments. At Lugdunum the leaders of the victorious and the vanquished parties were at hand.

Valentem et Caecinam pro contione laudatos curuli suae circumposuit. mox universum exercitum occurrere infanti filio iubet, perlatumque et paludamento opertum sinu retinens Germanicum appellavit cinxitque cunctis fortunae principalis insignibus. nimius honos inter secunda rebus adversis in solacium cessit.

He set Valens and Caecina, praised before the assembly, around his own curule chair.
Soon he orders the whole army to go to meet his infant son,
and, holding him—brought in and covered with a paludamentum—in his bosom, he called him Germanicus,
and girded him with all the insignia of princely fortune.
The excessive honor amid successes passed, in adverse circumstances, into a solace.

[60] Tum interfecti centuriones promptissimi Othonianorum, unde praecipua in Vitellium alienatio per Illyricos exercitus; simul ceterae legiones contactu et adversus Germanicos milites invidia bellum meditabantur. Suetonium Paulinum ac Licinium Proculum tristi mora squalidos tenuit, donec auditi necessariis magis defensionibus quam honestis uterentur. proditionem ultro imputabant, spatium longi ante proelium itineris, fatigationem Othonianorum, permixtum vehiculis agmen ac pleraque fortuita fraudi suae adsignantes.

[60] Then the most forward centurions of the Othonians were slain, whence a principal alienation toward Vitellius ran through the Illyrian armies; at the same time the other legions, by contact and out of resentment against the Germanic soldiers, were meditating war. Suetonius Paulinus and Licinius Proculus a gloomy delay kept squalid, until when heard, they employed defenses more necessary than honorable. They actually charged treason of their own accord, assigning to their own ill-success the length of the march before the battle, the fatigue of the Othonians, a column intermingled with vehicles, and many fortuitous things.

et Vitellius credidit de perfidia et fidem absolvit. Salvius Titianus Othonis frater nullum discrimen adiit, pietate et ignavia excusatus. Mario Celso consulatus servatur: sed creditum fama obiectumque mox in senatu Caecilio Simplici, quod eum honorem pecunia mercari, nec sine exitio Celsi, voluisset: restitit Vitellius deditque postea consulatum Simplici innoxium et inemptum.

and Vitellius believed them about the perfidy and absolved their good faith. Salvius Titianus, brother of Otho, incurred no peril, excused by piety and inertia. For Marius Celsus the consulship was preserved; but it was believed by rumor, and soon alleged in the senate, against Caecilius Simplicius, that he had wished to purchase that honor with money, and not without the ruin of Celsus. Vitellius stood firm and afterward gave the consulship to Simplicius, guiltless and unbought.

Trachalum adversus criminantis Galeria uxor Vitellii protexit.

Trachalus against the accusers was protected by Galeria, the wife of Vitellius.

[61] Inter magnorum virorum discrimina, pudendum dictu, Mariccus quidam, e plebe Boiorum, inserere sese fortunae et provocare arma Romana simulatione numinum ausus est. iamque adsertor Galliarum et deus (nam id sibi indiderat) concitis octo milibus hominum proximos Aeduorum pagos trahebat, cum gravissima civitas electa iuventute, adiectis a Vitellio cohortibus, fanaticam multitudinem disiecit. captus in eo proelio Mariccus; ac mox feris obiectus quia non laniabatur, stolidum vulgus inviolabilem credebat, donec spectante Vitellio interfectus est.

[61] Amid the crises of great men—shameful to say—a certain Mariccus, from the plebs of the Boii, dared to insert himself into Fortune and to provoke the Roman arms by a simulation of divinities. And now, as the champion of the Gauls and a god (for he had fastened that title upon himself), with eight thousand men stirred up he was drawing along the nearest districts of the Aedui, when that most weighty community, with chosen youth and with cohorts added by Vitellius, scattered the fanatical multitude. Mariccus was captured in that battle; and soon, when thrown to wild beasts, because he was not being torn, the doltish crowd believed him inviolable, until, with Vitellius looking on, he was put to death.

[62] Nec ultra in defectores aut bona cuiusquam saevitum: rata fuere eorum qui acie Othoniana ceciderant, testamenta aut lex intestatis: prorsus, si luxuriae temperaret, avaritiam non timeres. epularum foeda et inexplebilis libido: ex urbe atque Italia inritamenta gulae gestabantur, strepentibus ab utroque mari itineribus; exhausti conviviorum apparatibus principes civitatum; vastabantur ipsae civitates; degenerabat a labore ac virtute miles adsuetudine voluptatum et contemptu ducis. praemisit in urbem edictum quo vocabulum Augusti differret, Caesaris non reciperet, cum de potestate nihil detraheret.

[62] Nor was there any further savagery against defectors or anyone’s goods: the wills of those who had fallen in Otho’s battle line stood ratified, or, for the intestate, the law of intestacy. In short, if he had restrained luxury, you would not fear avarice. A foul and insatiable lust for banquets: from the city and from Italy the provocatives of the gullet were being carried, the roads resounding with traffic from both seas; the leading men of the communities were drained by the apparatus of entertainments; the communities themselves were being ravaged; the soldier was degenerating from toil and virtue through habituation to pleasures and contempt for his commander. He sent ahead into the city an edict whereby he deferred the appellation “Augustus” and declined that of “Caesar,” though it detracted nothing from his authority.

pulsi Italia mathematici; cautum severe ne equites Romani ludo et harena polluerentur. priores id principes pecunia et saepius vi perpulerant, ac pleraque municipia et coloniae aemulabantur corruptissimum quemque adulescentium pretio inlicere.

the astrologers were expelled from Italy; it was strictly provided that Roman equestrians not be polluted by the stage and the arena. earlier princes had compelled this by money and, more often, by force, and most municipalities and colonies were emulating it—luring, for a price, whichever of the adolescents were the most corrupt.

[63] Sed Vitellius adventu fratris et inrepentibus dominationis magistris superbior et atrocior occidi Dolabellam iussit, quem in coloniam Aquinatem sepositum ab Othone rettulimus. Dolabella audita morte Othonis urbem introierat: id ei Plancius Varus praetura functus, ex intimis Dolabellae amicis, apud Flavium Sabinum praefectum urbis obiecit, tamquam rupta custodia ducem se victis partibus ostentasset; addidit temptatam cohortem quae Ostiae ageret; nec ullis tantorum criminum probationibus in paenitentiam versus seram veniam post scelus quaerebat. cunctantem super tanta re Flavium Sabinum Triaria L. Vitellii uxor, ultra feminam ferox, terruit ne periculo principis famam clementiae adfectaret.

[63] But Vitellius, with the advent of his brother and with the tutors of domination stealing in, more overbearing and more atrocious, ordered Dolabella to be killed, whom we reported as having been sequestered by Otho in the colony of Aquinum. Dolabella, upon hearing of Otho’s death, had entered the city: this Plancius Varus, having served the praetorship, one of Dolabella’s closest friends, alleged against him before Flavius Sabinus, the prefect of the city, as though, the custody having been broken, he had displayed himself as leader to the defeated party; he added that the cohort which was stationed at Ostia had been attempted; and, with no proofs of such great charges, turned into penitence, he was seeking belated pardon after the crime. Flavius Sabinus, hesitating over so great a matter, was terrified by Triaria, the wife of L. Vitellius, fierce beyond a woman, lest at the peril of the princeps he should court a reputation for clemency.

Sabinus suopte ingenio mitis, ubi formido incessisset, facilis mutatu et in alieno discrimine sibi pavens, ne adlevasse videretur, impulit ruentem.

Sabinus, mild by his own nature, when fear had set in, easy to change and, at another’s peril, trembling for himself, lest he might seem to have alleviated it, impelled the one rushing to ruin.

[64] Igitur Vitellius metu et odio quod Petroniam uxorem eius mox Dolabella in matrimonium accepisset, vocatum per epistulas vitata Flaminiae viae celebritate devertere Interamnium atque ibi interfici iussit. longum interfectori visum: in itinere ac taberna proiectum humi iugulavit, magna cum invidia novi principatus, cuius hoc primum specimen noscebatur. et Triariae licentiam modestum e proximo exemplum onerabat, Galeria imperatoris uxor non immixta tristibus; et pari probitate mater Vitelliorum Sextilia, antiqui moris: dixisse quin etiam ad primas filii sui epistulas ferebatur, non Germanicum a se sed Vitellium genitum.

[64] Accordingly Vitellius, from fear and hatred because Petronia, his wife, had soon thereafter been accepted in matrimony by Dolabella, summoned him by letters and, the celebrity of the Flaminian Way avoided, ordered him to turn aside to Interamna and there to be put to death. it seemed long to the executioner: on the journey, in an inn, he cast him down on the ground and jugulated him, with great odium upon the new principate, of which this was recognized as the first specimen. and the license of Triaria was weighed down by a modest example close at hand—Galeria, the emperor’s wife, not mingled with gloomy affairs; and with equal probity Sextilia, the mother of the Vitellii, of ancient mores: indeed she was reported to have said, at her son’s first letters, that not a Germanicus had been begotten by her, but a Vitellius.

nec ullis postea fortunae inlecebris aut ambitu civitatis in gaudium evicta domus suae tantum adversa sensit.

nor thereafter, by any enticements of fortune or by the city's ambition, was she overcome into joy; she felt only the adversities of her own house.

[65] Digressum a Luguduno Vitellium Cluvius Rufus adsequitur omissa Hispania, laetitiam et gratulationem vultu ferens, animo anxius et petitum se criminationibus gnarus. Hilarus Caesaris libertus detulerat tamquam audito Vitellii et Othonis principatu propriam ipse potentiam et possessionem Hispaniarum temptasset, eoque diplomatibus nullum principem praescripsisset; [et] interpretabatur quaedam ex orationibus eius contumeliosa in Vitellium et pro se ipso popularia. auctoritas Cluvii praevaluit ut puniri ultro libertum suum Vitellius iuberet.

[65] After he had departed from Lugdunum, Cluvius
Rufus overtook Vitellius, Spain having been abandoned, carrying joy and congratulation in his face, in mind
anxious and aware that he had been targeted by accusations. Hilarus, Caesar’s freedman, had reported
that, upon hearing of the principate of Vitellius and Otho, he himself had tried his own power and the
possession of the Spains, and on that account had prescribed in his diplomas no princeps; [and] he was interpreting certain things from his speeches as insulting toward
Vitellius and popular on his own behalf. The authority of Cluvius prevailed, with the result that Vitellius ordered his freedman
to be punished in return.

Cluvius comitatui principis adiectus, non adempta Hispania, quam rexit absens exemplo L. [Arrunti. sed] Arruntium Tiberius Caesar ob metum, Vitellius Cluvium nulla formidine retinebat. non idem Trebellio Maximo honos: profugerat Britannia ob iracundiam militum; missus est in locum eius Vettius Bolanus e praesentibus.

Cluvius was added to the retinue of the princeps, Spain not being taken away from him, which he governed in absence after the precedent of L. [Arruntius. But] Tiberius Caesar held Arruntius under restraint out of fear, whereas Vitellius retained Cluvius with no dread. Not the same honor for Trebellius Maximus: he had fled from Britain on account of the soldiers’ irascibility; in his place Vettius Bolanus, from among those present, was sent.

[66] Angebat Vitellium victarum legionum haudquaquam fractus animus. sparsae per Italiam et victoribus permixtae hostilia loquebantur, praecipua quartadecimanorum ferocia, qui se victos abnuebant: quippe Bedriacensi acie vexillariis tantum pulsis viris legionis non adfuisse. remitti eos in Britanniam, unde a Nerone exciti erant, placuit atque interim Batavorum cohortis una tendere ob veterem adversus quartadecimanos discordiam.

[66] The by no means broken spirit of the defeated legions was vexing Vitellius. scattered through Italy and mingled with the victors, they were speaking hostilities, the ferocity of the Fourteenth-men being chief, who denied that they had been defeated: for in the Bedriacine battle, with only the vexillaries driven back, the men of the legion had not been present. it was decided to send them back to Britain, whence they had been summoned by Nero, and meanwhile that one cohort of Batavians should march together with them on account of the old discord against the Fourteenth-men.

nec diu in tantis armatorum odiis quies fuit: Augustae Taurinorum, dum opificem quendam Batavus ut fraudatorem insectatur, legionarius ut hospitem tuetur, sui cuique commilitones adgregati a conviciis ad caedem transiere. et proelium atrox arsisset, ni duae praetoriae cohortes causam quartadecimanorum secutae his fiduciam et metum Batavis fecissent: quos Vitellius agmini suo iungi ut fidos, legionem Grais Alpibus traductam eo flexu itineris ire iubet quo Viennam vitarent; namque et Viennenses timebantur. nocte, qua proficiscebatur legio, relictis passim ignibus pars Taurinae coloniae ambusta, quod damnum, ut pleraque belli mala, maioribus aliarum urbium cladibus oblitteratum.

nor was there repose for long amid such hatreds of armed men: at Augusta Taurinorum, while a Batavian, as assailing a certain craftsman as a defrauder, and a legionary, as protecting him as his host, each man’s fellow-soldiers gathering to their own passed from insults to slaughter. And a fierce battle would have blazed, had not two praetorian cohorts, having followed the cause of the Fourteenth, made confidence for these and fear for the Batavians: the latter Vitellius orders to be joined to his column as loyal, the legion, led across the Graian Alps, to go by such a bend of route as to avoid Vienne; for the Viennenses too were feared. In the night on which the legion was setting out, with fires left scattered, a part of the Taurine colony was burned, which loss, as most ills of war, was effaced by the greater disasters of other cities.

quartadecimani postquam Alpibus degressi sunt, seditiosissimus quisque signa Viennam ferebant: consensu meliorum conpressi et legio in Britanniam transvecta.

The Fourteenth-men, after they had descended from the Alps,
each of the most seditious bore the standards toward Vienna: restrained by the consensus of the better sort,
and the legion was transported across to Britain.

[67] Proximus Vitellio e praetoriis cohortibus metus erat. separati primum, deinde addito honestae missionis lenimento, arma ad tribunos suos deferebant, donec motum a Vespasiano bellum crebresceret: tum resumpta militia robur Flavianarum partium fuere. prima classicorum legio in Hispaniam missa ut pace et otio mitesceret, undecima ac septima suis hibernis redditae, tertiadecimani struere amphitheatra iussi; nam Caecina Cremonae, Valens Bononiae spectaculum gladiatorum edere parabant, numquam ita ad curas intento Vitellio ut voluptatum oblivisceretur.

[67] The next fear for Vitellius was from the praetorian cohorts. Separated at first, then with the sweetener of an honorable discharge added, they were delivering their arms to their own tribunes, until the war set in motion by Vespasian grew more frequent; then, service having been resumed, they were the strength of the Flavian party. The First Legion of the fleet-men was sent into Spain that it might grow mild by peace and leisure; the Eleventh and the Seventh were restored to their own winter quarters; the men of the Thirteenth were ordered to build amphitheaters; for Caecina at Cremona, Valens at Bononia were preparing to put on a spectacle of gladiators, Vitellius never so intent upon cares as to forget pleasures.

[68] Et [victas] quidem partis modeste distraxerat: apud victores orta seditio, ludicro initio ni numerus caesorum invidiam Vitellio auxisset. discubuerat Vitellius Ticini adhibito ad epulas Verginio. legati tribunique ex moribus imperatorum severitatem aemulantur vel tempestivis conviviis gaudent; proinde miles intentus aut licenter agit.

[68] And he had indeed dispersed the [vanquished] party with moderation: among the victors a sedition arose, with a ludic beginning, had not the number of the slain increased ill-will toward Vitellius. Vitellius had reclined at Ticinum, with Verginius admitted to the banquet. The legates and tribunes, after the manners of emperors, either emulate severity or take pleasure in seasonable banquets; accordingly the soldier is intent or acts licentiously.

apud Vitellium omnia indisposita, temulenta, pervigiliis ac bacchanalibus quam disciplinae et castris propiora. igitur duobus militibus, altero legionis quintae, altero e Galli auxiliaribus, per lasciviam ad certamen luctandi accensis, postquam legionarius prociderat, insultante Gallo et iis qui ad spectandum convenerant in studia diductis, erupere legionarii in perniciem auxiliorum ac duae cohortes interfectae. remedium tumultus fuit alius tumultus.

With Vitellius, everything was disordered, temulent, nearer to pervigils and bacchanals than to discipline and the camp. Accordingly, when two soldiers—one of the Fifth Legion, the other from the Gallic auxiliaries—through wantonness had been inflamed to a wrestling contest, after the legionary had gone down, the Gaul jeering, and those who had come together to spectate drawn apart into factions, the legionaries burst out to the ruin of the auxiliaries, and two cohorts were killed. The remedy for the tumult was another tumult.

pulvis procul et arma aspiciebantur: conclamatum repente quartam decimam legionem verso itinere ad proelium venire; sed erant agminis coactores: agniti dempsere sollicitudinem. interim Verginii servus forte obvius ut percussor Vitellii insimulatur: et ruebat ad convivium miles, mortem Verginii exposcens. ne Vitellius quidem, quamquam ad omnis suspiciones pavidus, de innocentia eius dubitavit: aegre tamen cohibiti qui exitium consularis et quondam ducis sui flagitabant.

Dust and arms were seen from afar:
it was suddenly shouted that the 14th legion, having turned its route, was coming to battle; but they were marshals of the column; recognized, they removed the anxiety. Meanwhile a slave of Verginius, by chance meeting them, was accused as the assassin of Vitellius; and the soldiery rushed to the banquet, demanding the death of Verginius. Not even Vitellius, although timid at every suspicion, doubted his innocence; yet with difficulty were those restrained who were clamoring for the destruction of the consular and once their own leader.

nec quemquam saepius quam Verginium omnis seditio infestavit: manebat admiratio viri et fama, set oderant ut fastiditi.

nor did every sedition assail anyone more often than Verginius: the admiration for the man and his fame remained, but they hated him as men surfeited.

[69] Postero die Vitellius senatus legatione, quam ibi opperiri iusserat, audita transgressus in castra ultro pietatem militum conlaudavit, frementibus auxiliis tantum impunitatis atque adrogantiae legionariis accessisse. Batavorum cohortes, ne quid truculentius auderent, in Germaniam remissae, principium interno simul externoque bello parantibus fatis. reddita civitatibus Gallorum auxilia, ingens numerus et prima statim defectione inter inania belli adsumptus.

[69] On the following day, Vitellius, having heard the legation of the Senate, which he had ordered to wait there,
crossed over into the camp and of his own accord highly praised the piety of the soldiers, while the auxiliaries
were growling that so much impunity and arrogance had accrued to the legionaries. The cohorts of the Batavians,
lest they dare anything more truculent, were sent back into Germany, as the fates were preparing a beginning for an
internal as well as an external war. The auxiliaries were returned to the communities of the Gauls, a vast number,
and at the very first defection taken into service amid the empty formalities of war.

ceterum ut largitionibus adfectae iam imperii opes sufficerent, amputari legionum auxiliorumque numeros iubet vetitis supplementis; et promiscae missiones offerebantur. exitiabile id rei publicae, ingratum militi, cui eadem munia inter paucos periculaque ac labor crebrius redibant: et vires luxu corrumpebantur, contra veterem disciplinam et instituta maiorum apud quos virtute quam pecunia res Romana melius stetit.

but in order that the resources of the empire, already affected by largesses, might suffice, he orders the numbers of the legions
and of the auxiliaries to be cut, reinforcements being forbidden; and indiscriminate discharges
were offered. That was ruinous to the commonwealth, unwelcome to the soldier, upon whom the same duties among
few men and the dangers and the labor returned more frequently: and their strength was being corrupted by luxury, against
the ancient discipline and the institutions of the ancestors, under whom by virtue rather than by money the
Roman state stood better.

[70] Inde Vitellius Cremonam flexit et spectato munere Caecinae insistere Bedriacensibus campis ac vestigia recentis victoriae lustrare oculis concupivit, foedum atque atrox spectaculum. intra quadragensimum pugnae diem lacera corpora, trunci artus, putres virorum equorumque formae, infecta tabo humus, protritis arboribus ac frugibus dira vastitas. nec minus inhumana pars viae quam Cremonenses lauru rosaque constraverant, extructis altaribus caesisque victimis regium in morem; quae laeta in praesens mox perniciem ipsis fecere.

[70] Then Vitellius turned toward Cremona, and, after viewing Caecina’s show,
he longed to set foot on the Bedriacine fields and to survey with his eyes the traces of the recent victory,
a foul and atrocious spectacle. Within the fortieth day from the battle
mangled bodies, severed limbs, the putrid shapes of men and horses, soil infected with corruption,
a dire devastation with trees and crops crushed. Nor was the stretch of road less inhuman
which the Cremonese had strewn with laurel and rose, altars erected and victims slain
in royal fashion; which things, joyful for the moment, soon brought ruin upon them.

aderant Valens et Caecina, monstrabantque pugnae locos: hinc inrupisse legionum agmen, hinc equites coortos, inde circumfusas auxiliorum manus: iam tribuni praefectique, sua quisque facta extollentes, falsa vera aut maiora vero miscebant. vulgus quoque militum clamore et gaudio deflectere via, spatia certaminum recognoscere, aggerem armorum, strues corporum intueri mirari; et erant quos varia sors rerum lacrimaeque et misericordia subiret. at non Vitellius flexit oculos nec tot milia insepultorum civium exhorruit: laetus ultro et tam propinquae sortis ignarus instaurabat sacrum dis loci.

Valens and Caecina were present and were pointing out the places of the battle: here the column of the legions had broken in, here the cavalry had sprung forth, there the bands of auxiliaries had hemmed them round; and now the tribunes and prefects, each exalting his own deeds, were mingling false with true, or things greater than the truth. The common soldiery too, with shouting and joy, were turning aside from the road, revisiting the spaces of the combats, gazing on and marveling at the rampart of arms, the heaps of bodies; and there were those whom the vicissitudes of affairs, with tears and pity, overcame. But Vitellius did not turn his eyes nor shudder at so many thousands of unburied citizens: cheerful besides, and ignorant of a fate so near, he was renewing a sacred rite to the gods of the place.

[71] Exim Bononiae a Fabio Valente gladiatorum spectaculum editur, advecto ex urbe cultu. quantoque magis propinquabat, tanto corruptius iter immixtis histrionibus et spadonum gregibus et cetero Neronianae aulae ingenio; namque et Neronem ipsum Vitellius admiratione celebrabat, sectari cantantem solitus, non necessitate, qua honestissimus quisque, sed luxu et saginae mancipatus emptusque. ut Valenti et Caecinae vacuos honoris mensis aperiret, coartati aliorum consulatus, dissimulatus Marci Macri tamquam Othonianarum partium ducis; et Valerium Marinum destinatum a Galba consulem distulit, nulla offensa, sed mitem et iniuriam segniter laturum.

[71] Then at Bononia a spectacle of gladiators was put on by Fabius Valens, with finery brought from the city. And the nearer he came, the more corrupt the march, with actors intermingled and flocks of eunuchs and the rest of the genius of Nero’s court; for Vitellius too was extolling Nero himself with admiration, being accustomed to follow him when he sang, not from necessity, by which every most honorable man, but enslaved and purchased by luxury and gluttony. To open vacant months of office for Valens and Caecina, the consulships of others were contracted, and the consulship of Marcus Macer was kept out of sight as though he were a leader of the Othonian party; and Valerius Marinus, designated consul by Galba, he postponed, with no offense, but as a mild man who would bear an injury sluggishly.

Pedanius Costa omittitur, ingratus principi ut adversus Neronem ausus et Verginii extimulator, sed alias protulit causas; actaeque insuper Vitellio gratiae consuetudine servitii.

Pedanius Costa is omitted, ungrateful to the princeps as one who had dared against Nero and a stimulator of Verginius, but he put forward other causes; and thanks, moreover, were rendered to Vitellius by the consuetude of servitude.

[72] Non ultra paucos dies quamquam acribus initiis coeptum mendacium valuit. extiterat quidam Scribonianum se Camerinum ferens, Neronianorum temporum metu in Histria occultatum, quod illic clientelae et agri veterum Crassorum ac nominis favor manebat. igitur deterrimo quoque in argumentum fabulae adsumpto vulgus credulum et quidam militum, errore veri seu turbarum studio, certatim adgregabantur, cum pertractus ad Vitellium interrogatusque quisnam mortalium esset.

[72] The mendacity, although with keen beginnings, did not prevail beyond a few days. A certain man had arisen, professing himself to be Scribonianus Camerinus, concealed in Histria by fear of the Neronian times, because there the clienteles and lands of the old Crassi and the favor of the name remained. Therefore, with even the worst taken up as an argument of the fable, the credulous crowd and certain of the soldiers, by an error regarding the truth or by zeal for tumults, were flocking together in rivalry, when he was hauled to Vitellius and asked who of mortals he was.

postquam nulla dictis fides et a domino noscebatur condicione fugitivus, nomine Geta, sumptum de eo supplicium in servilem modum.

after no credence was given to his words and he was recognized by his master, from his condition, as a fugitive, by the name Geta, punishment was exacted of him in the servile manner.

[73] Vix credibile memoratu est quantum superbiae socordiaeque Vitellio adoleverit, postquam speculatores e Syria Iudaeaque adactum in verba eius Orientem nuntiavere. nam etsi vagis adhuc et incertis auctoribus erat tamen in ore famaque Vespasianus ac plerumque ad nomen eius Vitellius excitabatur: tum ipse exercitusque, ut nullo aemulo, saevitia libidine raptu in externos mores proruperant.

[73] It is scarcely credible to relate how much in pride and sloth had grown upon Vitellius, after scouts from Syria and Judea announced that the Orient had been sworn to his words. For although the authorities were as yet vague and uncertain, Vespasian was nevertheless on every lip and in report, and for the most part at the mention of his name Vitellius was stirred: then he himself and the army, as if with no rival, burst forth into cruelty, lust, and rapine, into alien manners.

[74] At Vespasianus bellum armaque et procul vel iuxta sitas viris circumspectabat. miles ipsi adeo paratus ut praeeuntem sacramentum et fausta Vitellio omnia precantem per silentium audierint; Muciani animus nec Vespasiano alienus et in Titum pronior; praefectus Aegypti [T.] Alexander consilia sociaverat; tertiam legionem, quod e Syria in Moesiam transisset, suam numerabat; ceterae Illyrici legiones secuturae sperabantur; namque omnis exercitus flammaverat adrogantia venientium a Vitellio militum, quod truces corpore, horridi sermone ceteros ut imparis inridebant. sed in tanta mole belli plerumque cunctatio; et Vespasianus modo in spem erectus, aliquando adversa reputabat: quis ille dies foret quo sexaginta aetatis annos et duos filios iuvenes bello permitteret?

[74] But Vespasian was surveying the war and the arms and the men stationed far or near. The soldiery were so prepared for him that, as he went before reciting the sacrament (oath) and praying all auspicious things for Vitellius, they heard him in silence; the spirit of Mucianus was not alien to Vespasian and was more inclined toward Titus; the prefect of Egypt, [T.] Alexander, had allied his counsels; he counted the Third Legion as his own, because it had crossed from Syria into Moesia; the other legions of Illyricum were hoped to follow; for the arrogance of the soldiers coming from Vitellius had inflamed the whole army, because, truculent in bearing and rough in speech, they derided the rest as unequals. But in so great a mass of war there was for the most part hesitation; and Vespasian, now raised into hope, at times reckoned the adverse: what day would that be on which he would commit to war his sixty years of age and two young sons?

esse privatis cogitationibus progressum et, prout velint, plus minusve sumi ex fortuna: imperium cupientibus nihil medium inter summa aut praecipitia.

that it had advanced to private cogitations, and that, as they might wish, more or less could be taken from Fortune: for those desiring imperium there is nothing middle between summits or precipices.

[75] Versabatur ante oculos Germanici exercitus robur, notum viro militari: suas legiones civili bello inexpertas, Vitellii victricis, et apud victos plus querimoniarum quam virium. fluxam per discordias militum fidem et periculum ex singulis: quid enim profuturas cohortis alasque, si unus alterve praesenti facinore paratum ex diverso praemium petat? sic Scribonianum sub Claudio interfectum, sic percussorem eius Volaginium e gregario ad summa militiae provectum: facilius universos impelli quam singulos vitari.

[75] The strength of the Germanic army was turning before his eyes, known to a military man: his own legions untried in civil war, Vitellius’s victorious, and among the vanquished more complaints than strength. Loyalty, through the soldiers’ discords, was fickle, and there was danger from individuals: for what help would cohorts and wings be, if one or another should seek from the opposite side a ready reward by a present deed? Thus Scribonianus under Claudius was slain, thus his assassin Volaginius was advanced from the rank-and-file to the highest points of military service: it is easier to impel all together than to avoid individuals.

[76] His pavoribus nutantem et alii legati amicique firmabant et Mucianus, post multos secretosque sermones iam et coram ita locutus: 'omnes, qui magnarum rerum consilia suscipiunt, aestimare debent an quod inchoatur rei publicae utile, ipsis gloriosum, promptum effectu aut certe non arduum sit; simul ipse qui suadet considerandus est, adiciatne consilio periculum suum, et, si fortuna coeptis adfuerit, cui summum decus adquiratur. ego te, Vespasiane, ad imperium voco, quam salutare rei publicae, quam tibi magnificum, iuxta deos in tua manu positum est. nec speciem adulantis expaveris: a contumelia quam a laude propius fuerit post Vitellium eligi.

[76] Him wavering with these terrors both other legates and friends were steadying, and Mucianus, after many private conversations, now also face to face spoke thus: 'All who undertake counsels of great matters ought to estimate whether what is being begun is useful to the commonwealth, glorious for themselves, prompt in effect or at least not arduous; at the same time the very man who advises must be considered, whether he adds his own peril to the counsel, and, if fortune attends the undertakings, to whom the highest honor is acquired. I call you, Vespasian, to imperium: how salutary for the commonwealth, how magnificent for you, it lies, next to the gods, in your hand. Nor should you dread the semblance of a flatterer: after Vitellius, to be chosen would be nearer to an insult than to praise.'

non adversus divi Augusti acerrimam mentem nec adversus cautissimam Tiberii senectutem, ne contra Gai quidem aut Claudii vel Neronis fundatam longo imperio domum exurgimus; cessisti etiam Galbae imaginibus: torpere ultra et polluendam perdendamque rem publicam relinquere sopor et ignavia videretur, etiam si tibi quam inhonesta, tam tuta servitus esset. abiit iam et transvectum est tempus quo posses videri non cupisse: confugiendum est ad imperium. an excidit trucidatus Corbulo?

we are not rising up against the most keen mind of the deified Augustus, nor against the most cautious old age of Tiberius, nor indeed against the house of Gaius or of Claudius or of Nero, founded by a long imperium; you yielded even to the images of Galba: to be torpid any longer and to leave the commonwealth to be polluted and destroyed would seem slumber and inaction, even if for you servitude were as dishonorable as it is safe. the time has now gone by and been carried past when you could seem not to have desired it: we must take refuge in the imperial power. or has the butchery of Corbulo slipped your mind?

splendidior origine quam nos sumus, fateor, sed et Nero nobilitate natalium Vitellium anteibat. satis clarus est apud timentem quisquis timetur. et posse ab exercitu principem fieri sibi ipse Vitellius documento, nullis stipendiis, nulla militari fama, Galbae odio provectus.

more splendid in origin than we are,
I admit, but Nero too surpassed Vitellius in the nobility of his birth. Famous enough, with the fearful, is whoever is feared. And that one can be made emperor by the army, Vitellius himself is proof—advanced by no campaigns, by no military fame, carried forward by hatred of Galba.

ne Othonem quidem ducis arte aut exercitus vi, sed praepropera ipsius desperatione victum, iam desiderabilem et magnum principem fecit, cum interim spargit legiones, exarmat cohortis, nova cotidie bello semina ministrat. si quid ardoris ac ferociae miles habuit, popinis et comissationibus et principis imitatione deteritur: tibi e Iudaea et Syria et Aegypto novem legiones integrae, nulla acie exhaustae, non discordia corruptae, sed firmatus usu miles et belli domitor externi: classium alarum cohortium robora et fidissimi reges et tua ante omnis experientia.'

not even
Otho was defeated by a leader’s art or the army’s force, but by his own over‑hasty despair,
has now made him a desirable and great princeps, while meanwhile he scatters
the legions, disarms the cohorts, and supplies new seeds of war daily. If the soldier had any ardor and
ferocity, it is worn away by taverns and revels and by imitation of the princeps:
for you, from Judaea and Syria and Egypt, nine intact legions, worn out by no battle, not
corrupted by discord, but a soldiery strengthened by experience and a subduer of foreign war: the strengths of fleets,
of cavalry wings and of cohorts, and most faithful kings, and your experience before all.'

[77] 'Nobis nihil ultra adrogabo quam ne post Valentem et Caecinam numeremur: ne tamen Mucianum socium spreveris, quia aemulum non experiris. me Vitellio antepono, te mihi. tuae domui triumphale nomen, duo iuvenes, capax iam imperii alter et primis militiae annis apud Germanicos quoque exercitus clarus.

[77] 'For us I will claim nothing more than that we not be numbered after Valens and Caecina: do not, however, spurn Mucianus as a partner, because you will not experience him as a rival. I set myself before Vitellius, you before me. For your house a triumphal name, two young men, one already capable of the imperium and, in the first years of military service, renowned even among the German armies.

absurdum fuerit non cedere imperio ei cuius filium adoptaturus essem, si ipse imperarem. ceterum inter nos non idem prosperarum adversarumque rerum ordo erit: nam si vincimus, honorem quem dederis habebo: discrimen ac pericula ex aequo patiemur. immo, ut melius est, tu tuos exercitus rege, mihi bellum et proeliorum incerta trade.

it would be absurd
not to cede the imperium to him whose son I was about to adopt, if I myself were to rule. Moreover,
between us the order in prosperous and adverse affairs will not be the same: for if
we conquer, I shall have the honor that you will have granted; the crisis and dangers we shall endure equally. Nay rather, as is better, you rule your armies, to me the war and the uncertainties of battles
entrust.

acriore hodie disciplina victi quam victores agunt. hos ira, odium, ultionis cupiditas ad virtutem accendit: illi per fastidium et contumacia hebescunt. aperiet et recludet contecta et tumescentia victricium partium vulnera bellum ipsum; nec mihi maior in tua vigilantia parsimonia sapientia fiducia est quam in Vitellii torpore inscitia saevitia.

today the defeated practice a sharper discipline than the victors. these men are kindled to virtue by anger, hatred, the desire for vengeance: those, through fastidiousness and contumacy, grow dull. the war itself will open and unclose the covered and swelling wounds of the victorious party; nor is my confidence greater in your vigilance, parsimony, wisdom than in Vitellius’s torpor, ignorance, savagery.

sed meliorem in bello causam quam in pace habemus; nam qui deliberant, desciverunt.'

but we have a better cause in war than in peace; for those who deliberate have defected.'

[78] Post Muciani orationem ceteri audentius circumsistere, hortari, responsa vatum et siderum motus referre. nec erat intactus tali superstitione, ut qui mox rerum dominus Seleucum quendam mathematicum rectorem et praescium palam habuerit. recursabant animo vetera omina: cupressus arbor in agris eius conspicua altitudine repente prociderat ac postera die eodem vestigio resurgens procera et latior virebat.

[78] After Mucianus’s oration the rest more boldly gathered round, exhorted, and recounted the responses of seers and the sidereal motions. Nor was he untouched by such
superstition, as one who soon, lord of affairs, had openly kept a certain Seleucus, a mathematician‑astrologer,
as guide and foreknower. Old omens kept returning to mind: a cypress
tree on his lands, of conspicuous height, had suddenly fallen; and on the next day, on the same
spot, rising again, taller and broader, it was flourishing green.

grande id prosperumque consensu haruspicum et summa claritudo iuveni admodum Vespasiano promissa, sed primo triumphalia et consulatus et Iudaicae victoriae decus implesse fidem ominis videbatur: ut haec adeptus est, portendi sibi imperium credebat. est Iudaeam inter Syriamque Carmelus: ita vocant montem deumque. nec simulacrum deo aut templum—sic tradidere maiores—: ara tantum et reverentia.

That was, by the consensus of the haruspices, great and prosperous, and the highest renown was promised to Vespasian, quite a young man; but at first the triumphal insignia, the consulships, and the honor of the Judaean victory seemed to have fulfilled the faith of the omen: when he had attained these, he believed that the imperium was being portended to him. Between Judaea and Syria is Carmel: thus they call both the mountain and the god. Nor is there an image for the god or a temple—so the elders have handed down—only an altar and reverence.

illic sacrificanti Vespasiano, cum spes occultas versaret animo, Basilides sacerdos inspectis identidem extis 'quicquid est' inquit, 'Vespasiane, quod paras, seu domum extruereKGeu prolatare agros sive ampliare servitia, datur tibi magna sedes, ingentes termini, multum hominum.' has ambages et statim exceperat fama et tunc aperiebat; nec quicquam magis in ore vulgi. crebriores apud ipsum sermones, quanto sperantibus plura dicuntur. haud dubia destinatione discessere Mucianus Antiochiam, Vespasianus Caesaream: illa Syriae, hoc Iudaeae caput est.

There, as Vespasian was sacrificing, while he was turning over hidden hopes in his mind, the priest Basilides, with the entrails repeatedly inspected, said, “Whatever it is, Vespasian, that you are preparing—whether to build a house, or to extend your fields, or to enlarge your servile households—a great seat is granted to you, vast boundaries, a multitude of men.” These ambiguities rumor had straightway caught up and now was laying open; nor was anything more on the lips of the common crowd. Conversations grew more frequent about him, the more things are said to those who are hoping. With no dubious destination they departed, Mucianus to Antioch, Vespasian to Caesarea: the former is the head of Syria, the latter of Judaea.

[79] Initium ferendi ad Vespasianum imperii Alexandriae coeptum, festinante Tiberio Alexandro, qui kalendis Iuliis sacramento eius legiones adegit. isque primus principatus dies in posterum celebratus, quamvis Iudaicus exercitus quinto nonas Iulias apud ipsum iurasset, eo ardore ut ne Titus quidem filius expectaretur, Syria remeans et consiliorum inter Mucianum ac patrem nuntius. cuncta impetu militum acta non parata contione, non coniunctis legionibus.

[79] The beginning of transferring the imperium to Vespasian was undertaken at Alexandria, Tiberius Alexander hastening it on, who on July 1 compelled the legions to his oath. And this first day of the principate was thereafter celebrated, although the Judaean army had sworn to him in his presence on July 3, with such ardor that not even his son Titus was waited for, returning from Syria and the go-between of counsels between Mucianus and his father. Everything was done by the rush of the soldiers, without a prepared assembly, without the legions being joined.

[80] Dum quaeritur tempus locus quodque in re tali difficillimum est, prima vox, dum animo spes timor, ratio casus obversantur, egressum cubiculo Vespasianum pauci milites, solito adsistentes ordine ut legatum salutaturi, imperatorem salutavere: tum ceteri adcurrere, Caesarem et Augustum et omnia principatus vocabula cumulare. mens a metu ad fortunam transierat: in ipso nihil tumidum, adrogans aut in rebus novis novum fuit. ut primum tantae altitudinis obfusam oculis caliginem disiecit, militariter locutus laeta omnia et affluentia excepit; namque id ipsum opperiens Mucianus alacrem militem in verba Vespasiani adegit.

[80] While there is search for
the time, the place, and—what in such a matter is most difficult—the first cry, while to his mind hope and fear,
calculation and chance, present themselves, Vespasian, as he came out of his bedroom, was hailed “emperor” by a few soldiers, standing by
in their accustomed order as if to salute a legate: then the rest ran up, piling on “Caesar” and “Augustus” and all the titles of the principate. His mind
had passed from fear to fortune: in himself there was nothing swollen, arrogant, or, in novel circumstances, novel. As soon as he scattered the mist, darkening his eyes, of so great an elevation,
speaking in soldierly fashion he received everything as joyful and in affluence; for Mucianus, awaiting that very thing,
drove the eager soldiery to take the oath in the words of Vespasian.

tum Antiochensium theatrum ingressus, ubi illis consultare mos est, concurrentis et in adulationem effusos adloquitur, satis decorus etiam Graeca facundia, omniumque quae diceret atque ageret arte quadam ostentator. nihil aeque provinciam exercitumque accendit quam quod adseverabat Mucianus statuisse Vitellium ut Germanicas legiones in Syriam ad militiam opulentam quietamque transferret, contra Syriacis legionibus Germanica hiberna caelo ac laboribus dura mutarentur; quippe et provinciales sueto militum contubernio gaudebant, plerique necessitudinibus et propinquitatibus mixti, et militibus vetustate stipendiorum nota et familiaria castra in modum penatium diligebantur.

then, having entered the theater of the Antiochenes
where it is their custom to deliberate, he addresses those flocking together and poured out into adulation,
quite seemly, too, with Greek eloquence, and a showman, by a certain art, of everything he said
and did. Nothing equally inflamed the province and the army
as that Mucianus kept averring that Vitellius had determined that the German legions
be transferred into Syria for a military service opulent and quiet, and conversely that the Syrian legions
should be shifted to the German winter-quarters, harsh in climate and in labors; for indeed the provincials rejoiced in the accustomed
contubernium of the soldiers, most of them mingled by ties and kinships,
and by the soldiers, through the long-standing of their service-stipends, the camps, known and familiar,
were cherished after the manner of household gods.

[81] Ante idus Iulias Syria omnis in eodem sacramento fuit. accessere cum regno Sohaemus haud spernendis viribus, Antiochus vetustis opibus ingens et servientium regum ditissimus. mox per occultos suorum nuntios excitus ab urbe Agrippa, ignaro adhuc Vitellio, celeri navigatione properaverat.

[81] Before the Ides of July all Syria was under the same oath of allegiance. There joined, along with his kingdom, Sohaemus with forces not to be scorned, and Antiochus, vast in age-old resources and the richest of the vassal kings. Soon, roused by secret messengers of his own from the city, Agrippa—Vitellius still unaware—had hastened by a swift voyage.

nec minore animo regina Berenice partis iuvabat, florens aetate formaque et seni quoque Vespasiano magnificentia munerum grata. quidquid provinciarum adluitur mari Asia atque Achaia tenus, quantumque introrsus in Pontum et Armenios patescit, iuravere; sed inermes legati regebant, nondum additis Cappadociae legionibus. consilium de summa rerum Beryti habitum.

Nor with lesser spirit did Queen Berenice aid the party, flourishing in age and beauty, and pleasing even the old Vespasian by the magnificence of her gifts. Whatever of the provinces is laved by the sea as far as Asia and Achaia, and as far as it opens inward toward Pontus and the Armenians, swore allegiance; but unarmed legates were governing them, the legions for Cappadocia not yet having been added. A council on the supreme direction of affairs was held at Berytus.

illuc Mucianus cum legatis tribunisque et splendidissimo quoque centurionum ac militum venit, et e Iudaico exercitu lecta decora: tantum simul peditum equitumque et aemulantium inter se regum paratus speciem fortunae principalis effecerant.

There Mucianus came with the legates and tribunes
and, too, the most splendid among the centurions and soldiers, and from the Judaean army chosen distinctions for valor:
so great, together, a force of infantry and cavalry, and the apparatus of kings emulating one another,
had produced the appearance of imperial fortune.

[82] Prima belli cura agere dilectus, revocare veteranos; destinantur validae civitates exercendis armorum officinis; apud Antiochensis aurum argentumque signatur, eaque cuncta per idoneos ministros suis quaeque locis festinabantur. ipse Vespasianus adire, hortari, bonos laude, segnis exemplo incitare saepius quam coercere, vitia magis amicorum quam virtutes dissimulans. multos praefecturis et procurationibus, plerosque senatorii ordinis honore percoluit, egregios viros et mox summa adeptos; quibusdam fortuna pro virtutibus fuit.

[82] The first care of war was to hold levies, to recall veterans; stout cities are designated for the exercising of arms-workshops; among the Antiochenes gold and silver are coined, and all these things in their several places were being hurried on by suitable ministers. Vespasian himself would approach and exhort, rousing the good by praise, the sluggish by example more often than by coercion, veiling the vices of friends rather than their virtues. He honored many with prefectures and procurations, very many with the honor of the senatorial order—outstanding men and soon attaining the highest posts; for some, fortune was in place of virtues.

donativum militi neque Mucianus prima contione nisi modice ostenderat, ne Vespasianus quidem plus civili bello obtulit quam alii in pace, egregie firmus adversus militarem largitionem eoque exercitu meliore. missi ad Parthum Armeniumque legati, provisumque ne versis ad civile bellum legionibus terga nudarentur. Titum instare Iudaeae, Vespasianum obtinere claustra Aegypti placuit: sufficere videbantur adversus Vitellium pars copiarum et dux Mucianus et Vespasiani nomen ac nihil arduum fatis.

neither had Mucianus at the first assembly shown the donative to the soldiery except moderately, nor indeed did Vespasian offer more in a civil war than others in peace, being notably firm against military largess and the army was the better for it. Legates were sent to the Parthian and the Armenian, and provision was made lest, with the legions turned to the civil war, their backs be left exposed. It was decided that Titus press hard upon Judaea, Vespasian hold the barriers of Egypt: a part of the forces and the general Mucianus and the name of Vespasian seemed sufficient against Vitellius, and for the Fates nothing arduous.

ad omnis exercitus legatosque scriptae epistulae praeceptumque ut praetorianos Vitellio infensos reciperandae militiae praemio invitarent.

Letters were written to all the armies and legates, and the instruction was given that they should invite the praetorians, hostile to Vitellius, with the reward of being reinstated to military service.

[83] Mucianus cum expedita manu, socium magis imperii quam ministrum agens, non lento itinere, ne cunctari videretur, neque tamen properans, gliscere famam ipso spatio sinebat, gnarus modicas viris sibi et maiora credi de absentibus; sed legio sexta et tredecim vexillariorum milia ingenti agmine sequebantur. classem e Ponto Byzantium adigi iusserat, ambiguus consilii num omissa Moesia Dyrrachium pedite atque equite, simul longis navibus versum in Italiam mare clauderet, tuta pone tergum Achaia Asiaque, quas inermis exponi Vitellio, ni praesidiis firmarentur; atque ipsum Vitellium in incerto fore quam partem Italiae protegeret, si sibi Brundisium Tarentumque et Calabriae Lucaniaeque litora infestis classibus peterentur.

[83] Mucianus, with an expeditious detachment, acting as a partner of imperium rather than a minister, not with a slow march, lest he seem to be delaying, yet not hastening, allowed the rumor to swell by the very interval, aware that his forces were moderate for himself and that greater things are believed about those absent; but the Sixth Legion and thirteen thousand vexillarii were following in a massive column. He had ordered the fleet from Pontus to be brought to Byzantium, uncertain in his counsel whether, Moesia being left aside, he should move to Dyrrhachium with foot and horse, and at the same time, with his long ships, close the sea that faces toward Italy, with Achaia and Asia safe behind his back—regions which would be exposed unarmed to Vitellius unless they were strengthened with garrisons; and that Vitellius himself would be in doubt which part of Italy to protect, if Brundisium and Tarentum and the shores of Calabria and Lucania were assailed by hostile fleets.

[84] Igitur navium militum armorum paratu strepere provinciae, sed nihil aeque fatigabat quam pecuniarum conquisitio: eos esse belli civilis nervos dictitans Mucianus non ius aut verum in cognitionibus, sed solam magnitudinem opum spectabat. passim delationes, et locupletissimus quisque in praedam correpti. quae gravia atque intoleranda, sed necessitate armorum excusata etiam in pace mansere, ipso Vespasiano inter initia imperii ad obtinendas iniquitates haud perinde obstinante, donec indulgentia fortunae et pravis magistris didicit aususque est.

[84] Therefore, with the equipment of ships, soldiers, and arms, the provinces were buzzing; but nothing wearied them so much as the pursuit of monies: Mucianus, saying again and again that these are the sinews of civil war, in his investigations regarded not law or truth, but solely the magnitude of wealth. Delations everywhere, and each of the wealthiest was seized for plunder. These things, grievous and intolerable, yet excused by the necessity of arms, even remained in peace, Vespasian himself, in the beginnings of his rule, not so resolute in resisting the securing of iniquities, until by the indulgence of fortune and by crooked teachers he learned and dared.

propriis quoque opibus Mucianus bellum iuvit, largus privatim, quod avidius de re publica sumeret. ceteri conferendarum pecuniarum exemplum secuti, rarissimus quisque eandem in reciperando licentiam habuerunt.

Mucianus also aided the war with his own resources,
liberal in private, in order that he might draw more greedily from the commonwealth. The rest, having followed the example of contributing
moneys, very few enjoyed the same license in recovering them.

[85] Adcelerata interim Vespasiani coepta Illyrici exercitus studio transgressi in partis: tertia legio exemplum ceteris Moesiae legionibus praebuit; octava erat ac septima Claudiana, imbutae favore Othonis, quamvis proelio non interfuissent. Aquileiam progressae, proturbatis qui de Othone nuntiabant laceratisque vexillis nomen Vitellii praeferentibus, rapta postremo pecunia et inter se divisa, hostiliter egerant. unde metus et ex metu consilium, posse imputari Vespasiano quae apud Vitellium excusanda erant.

[85] Meanwhile Vespasian’s undertakings were accelerated by the zeal of the Illyrian army, which had crossed over to his side: the Third Legion set an example to the other legions of Moesia; these were the Eighth and the Seventh Claudian, imbued with favor toward Otho, although they had not taken part in the battle. Having advanced to Aquileia, after driving off those who were bringing news about Otho and tearing to shreds the standards bearing the name of Vitellius, and at last seizing the money and dividing it among themselves, they had acted in a hostile manner. Whence fear, and from fear a plan—that things which in the case of Vitellius needed excuse could be imputed to Vespasian.

ita tres Moesicae legiones per epistulas adliciebant Pannonicum exercitum aut abnuenti vim parabant. in eo motu Aponius Saturninus Moesiae rector pessimum facinus audet, misso centurione ad interficiendum Tettium Iulianum septimae legionis legatum ob simultates, quibus causam partium praetendebat. Iulianus comperto discrimine et gnaris locorum adscitis per avia Moesiae ultra montem Haemum profugit; nec deinde civili bello interfuit, per varias moras susceptum ad Vespasianum iter trahens et ex nuntiis cunctabundus aut properans.

thus the three Moesian legions, by epistles, were enticing the Pannonian army, or for one refusing were preparing force. In that commotion Aponius Saturninus, governor of Moesia, dares a most wicked deed: a centurion being sent to kill Tettius Julianus, legate of the Seventh legion, on account of enmities, with which he was putting forward a pretext for the party. Julianus, the peril discovered, and guides skilled in the localities taken on, fled through the trackless places of Moesia beyond Mount Haemus; nor thereafter did he take part in the civil war, dragging out the journey undertaken to Vespasian through various delays, and, according to the reports, either hesitating or hastening.

[86] At in Pannonia tertia decima legio ac septima Galbiana, dolorem iramque Bedriacensis pugnae retinentes, haud cunctanter Vespasiano accessere, vi praecipua Primi Antonii. is legibus nocens et tempore Neronis falsi damnatus inter alia belli mala senatorium ordinem reciperaverat. praepositus a Galba septimae legioni scriptitasse Othoni credebatur, ducem se partibus offerens; a quo neglectus in nullo Othoniani belli usu fuit.

[86] But in Pannonia the Thirteenth legion and the Seventh Galbian, retaining the grief and wrath of the Bedriacum battle, without much delay
joined Vespasian, by the preeminent influence of Antonius Primus. He, guilty under the laws and condemned for falsum in the time of Nero, had recovered the senatorial order among the other ills of the war. Put by Galba in command of the Seventh legion, he was believed to have written to Otho, offering himself as leader to his party; being neglected by him, he had no role in the Othonian war.

labantibus Vitellii rebus Vespasianum secutus grande momentum addidit, strenuus manu, sermone promptus, serendae in alios invidiae artifex, discordiis et seditionibus potens, raptor, largitor, pace pessimus, bello non spernendus. iuncti inde Moesici ac Pannonici exercitus Dalmaticum militem traxere, quamquam consularibus legatis nihil turbantibus. Tampius Flavianus Pannoniam, Pompeius Silvanus Dalmatiam tenebant, divites senes; sed procurator aderat Cornelius Fuscus, vigens aetate, claris natalibus.

with Vitellius’s affairs wobbling, having followed Vespasian he added great momentum, strenuous in hand, prompt in speech, an artificer of sowing envy onto others, powerful in discords and seditions, a plunderer, a bestower of largess, worst in peace, not to be scorned in war. Then the Moesian and Pannonian armies, once joined, drew along the Dalmatian soldiery, although the consular legates were disturbing nothing. Tampius Flavianus held Pannonia, Pompeius Silvanus Dalmatia, wealthy old men; but the procurator Cornelius Fuscus was present, in the vigor of age, of illustrious birth.

prima iuventa quietis cupidine senatorium ordinem exuerat; idem pro Galba dux coloniae suae, eaque opera procurationem adeptus, susceptis Vespasiani partibus acerrimam bello facem praetulit: non tam praemiis periculorum quam ipsis periculis laetus pro certis et olim partis nova ambigua ancipitia malebat. igitur movere et quatere, quidquid usquam aegrum foret, adgrediuntur. scriptae in Britanniam ad quartadecimanos, in Hispaniam ad primanos epistulae, quod utraque legio pro Othone, adversa Vitellio fuerat; sparguntur per Gallias litterae; momentoque temporis flagrabat ingens bellum, Illyricis exercitibus palam desciscentibus, ceteris fortunam secuturis.

in earliest youth, by a cupidity for quietude, he had cast off the senatorial order; the same man, on behalf of Galba, leader of his own colonia, and by that service he obtained a procuratorship; having taken up Vespasian’s party, he bore forth to the war a most sharp torch: not so much gladdened by the rewards of dangers as by the dangers themselves, in place of things sure and long since won he preferred new, ambiguous, two-edged hazards. therefore they set themselves to move and to shake whatever anywhere might be diseased. letters were written into Britain to the Fourteenth, into Spain to the First, because each legion had been for Otho and adverse to Vitellius; letters are scattered through the Gauls; and in a moment of time a vast war was blazing, as the Illyrian armies openly revolted, the rest about to follow Fortune.

[87] Dum haec per provincias a Vespasiano ducibusque partium geruntur, Vitellius contemptior in dies segniorque, ad omnis municipiorum villarumque amoenitates resistens, gravi urbem agmine petebat. sexaginta milia armatorum sequebantur, licentia corrupta; calonum numerus amplior, procacissimis etiam inter servos lixarum ingeniis; tot legatorum amicorumque comitatus inhabilis ad parendum, etiam si summa modestia regeretur. onerabant multitudinem obvii ex urbe senatores equitesque, quidam metu, multi per adulationem, ceteri ac paulatim omnes ne aliis proficiscentibus ipsi remanerent.

[87] While these things were being done through the provinces by Vespasian and the leaders of his party, Vitellius, more despised with each passing day and more sluggish, unable to resist every amenity of municipal towns and villas, was making for the city with a heavy column. Sixty thousand armed men followed, corrupted by license; the number of camp-servants was greater, and, even among the slaves, the sutlers’ dispositions were most shameless; so large a retinue of legates and friends as to be unfit for obeying, even if it were governed with the utmost modesty. The senators and equestrians coming out from the city to meet him loaded down the multitude: some from fear, many through adulation, the rest—and by degrees all—lest, as others set out, they themselves should be left behind.

adgregabantur e plebe flagitiosa per obsequia Vitellio cogniti, scurrae, histriones, aurigae, quibus ille amicitiarum dehonestamentis mire gaudebat. nec coloniae modo aut municipia congestu copiarum, sed ipsi cultores arvaque maturis iam frugibus ut hostile solum vastabantur.

There were being gathered from the shameless plebs, known to Vitellius through obsequiousness, buffoons,
actors, charioteers, at whose dehonestations of friendships he took wondrous delight. Nor
were only the colonies or the municipalities, by the congestion of troops, but the cultivators themselves and the fields with crops now ripe
were being ravaged as though it were an enemy soil.

[88] Multae et atroces inter se militum caedes, post seditionem Ticini coeptam manente legionum auxiliorumque discordia; ubi adversus paganos certandum foret, consensu. sed plurima strages ad septimum ab urbe lapidem. singulis ibi militibus Vitellius paratos cibos ut gladiatoriam saginam dividebat; et effusa plebes totis se castris miscuerat.

[88] Many and atrocious mutual slaughters among the soldiers themselves, after the sedition begun at Ticinum, the discord of the legions and auxiliaries remaining; whereas, when there was to be fighting against the villagers, there was consensus. But the greatest carnage at the seventh milestone from the city. There Vitellius was distributing to individual soldiers prepared foods, as a gladiatorial fattening-feed; and the plebs, poured forth, had mingled itself throughout the whole camp.

incuriosos milites—vernacula utebantur urbanitate—quidam spoliavere, abscisis furtim balteis an accincti forent rogitantes. non tulit ludibrium insolens contumeliarum animus: inermem populum gladiis invasere. caesus inter alios pater militis, cum filium comitaretur; deinde agnitus et vulgata caede temperatum ab innoxiis.

the incurious
soldiers — they were employing vernacular urbanity — some despoiled, stealthily cutting off
their belts and interrogating whether they were girded. The spirit, unaccustomed to contumelies,
did not bear the mockery: they attacked the unarmed populace with swords. Slain among others was the father of a soldier, as he
was accompanying his son; then, once he was recognized and the slaughter made public, restraint was exercised toward the innocent.

in urbe tamen trepidatum praecurrentibus passim militibus; forum maxime petebant, cupidine visendi locum in quo Galba iacuisset. nec minus saevum spectaculum erant ipsi, tergis ferarum et ingentibus telis horrentes, cum turbam populi per inscitiam parum vitarent, aut ubi lubrico viae vel occursu alicuius procidissent, ad iurgium, mox ad manus et ferrum transirent. quin et tribuni praefectique cum terrore et armatorum catervis volitabant.

yet in the city there was panic, with soldiers running ahead everywhere; they sought the Forum most of all, with a desire of seeing the place where Galba had lain.
nor were they themselves a less savage spectacle, bristling with the hides of wild beasts and with huge weapons, as, through ignorance, they hardly kept clear of the crowd of the people,
or, whenever they had fallen on the slipperiness of the road or by a collision with someone, they passed to quarrelling, soon to blows and steel.
indeed even the tribunes and prefects were flitting about with terror and with bands of armed men.

[89] Ipse Vitellius a ponte Mulvio insigni equo, paludatus accinctusque, senatum et populum ante se agens, quo minus ut captam urbem ingrederetur, amicorum consilio deterritus, sumpta praetexta et composito agmine incessit. quattuor legionum aquilae per frontem totidemque circa e legionibus aliis vexilla, mox duodecim alarum signa et post peditum ordines eques; dein quattuor et triginta cohortes, ut nomina gentium aut species armorum forent, discretae. ante aquilas praefecti castrorum tribunique et primi centurionum candida veste, ceteri iuxta suam quisque centuriam, armis donisque fulgentes; et militum phalerae torquesque splendebant: decora facies et non Vitellio principe dignus exercitus.

[89] Vitellius himself from the Mulvian Bridge, on a distinguished horse, in his paludamentum and girded, driving the senate and people before him, being dissuaded by the counsel of friends from entering as though a captured city, having assumed the toga praetexta and with the column composed, advanced. The eagles of four legions along the front, and as many vexilla from other legions around; then the standards of twelve alae, and after the ranks of infantry the cavalry; then thirty-four cohorts, separated so that the names of the nations or the kinds of arms might be apparent. Before the eagles, the camp-prefects and tribunes and the first of the centurions in white dress, the rest each beside his own century, gleaming with arms and donatives; and the phalerae and torques of the soldiers shone: a comely aspect and an army not worthy of Vitellius as princeps.

sic Capitolium ingressus atque ibi matrem complexus Augustae nomine honoravit.

thus, having entered the Capitol and there embracing his mother, he honored her with the name Augusta.

[90] Postera die tamquam apud alterius civitatis senatum populumque magnificam orationem de semet ipso prompsit, industriam temperantiamque suam laudibus attollens, consciis flagitiorum ipsis qui aderant omnique Italia, per quam somno et luxu pudendus incesserat. vulgus tamen vacuum curis et sine falsi verique discrimine solitas adulationes edoctum clamore et vocibus adstrepebat; abnuentique nomen Augusti expressere ut adsumeret, tam frustra quam recusaverat.

[90] On the next day, as though before the senate and people of another state, he brought forth a magnificent oration about himself, lifting up with praises his industry and temperance, while those very persons present, and all Italy—through which he had proceeded, shameworthy, in sleep and luxury—were conscious of his disgraces. The mob, however, empty of cares and taught the customary flatteries without a distinction of false and true, was resounding with clamor and voices; and, though he refused, they forced out that he should assume the name Augustus, as fruitlessly as he had refused it.

[91] Apud civitatem cuncta interpretantem funesti ominis loco acceptum est quod maximum pontificatum adeptus Vitellius de caerimoniis publicis XV kalendas Augustas edixisset, antiquitus infausto die Cremerensi Alliensique cladibus: adeo omnis humani divinique iuris expers, pari libertorum amicorum socordia, velut inter temulentos agebat. sed comitia consulum cum candidatis civiliter celebrans omnem infimae plebis rumorem in theatro ut spectator, in circo ut fautor adfectavit: quae grata sane et popularia, si a virtutibus proficiscerentur, memoria vitae prioris indecora et vilia accipiebantur. ventitabat in senatum, etiam cum parvis de rebus patres consulerentur.

[91] Among a citizenry interpreting everything, it was taken as in the place of a funereal omen that Vitellius, having attained the supreme pontificate, had by edict set the public ceremonies on the 15th day before the Kalends of August (July 18), a day anciently ill‑omened by the disasters of the Cremera and the Allia: to such a degree was he devoid of all human and divine law, with the equal sloth of his freedmen and friends, that he conducted himself as if among drunkards. But, celebrating the elections of the consuls civilly together with the candidates, he affected all the rumor of the lowest plebs— in the theater as a spectator, in the circus as a supporter: which things, indeed agreeable and popular if they proceeded from virtues, were received, in memory of his earlier life, as indecorous and cheap. He kept coming to the senate, even when the Fathers were being consulted about small matters.

ac forte Priscus Helvidius praetor designatus contra studium eius censuerat. commotus primo Vitellius, non tamen ultra quam tribunos plebis in auxilium spretae potestatis advocavit; mox mitigantibus amicis, qui altiorem iracundiam eius verebantur, nihil novi accidisse respondit quod duo senatores in re publica dissentirent; solitum se etiam Thraseae contra dicere. inrisere plerique impudentiam aemulationis; aliis id ipsum placebat quod neminem ex praepotentibus, sed Thraseam ad exemplar verae gloriae legisset.

and by chance Helvidius Priscus, praetor designate, had given his opinion against his inclination. Aroused at first, Vitellius nevertheless went no further than to call the tribunes of the plebs to the aid of his slighted authority; soon, as his friends softened him, who feared a deeper irascibility in him, he replied that nothing new had happened, that two senators should dissent in the republic; that he himself had been wont even to speak against Thrasea. Many mocked the impudence of the emulation; to others this very thing was pleasing, that he had chosen not any of the prepotent, but Thrasea as an exemplar of true glory.

[92] Praeposuerat praetorianis Publilium Sabinum a praefectura cohortis, Iulium Priscum tum centurionem: Priscus Valentis, Sabinus Caecinae gratia pollebant; inter discordis Vitellio nihil auctoritas. munia imperii Caecina ac Valens obibant, olim anxii odiis, quae bello et castris male dissimulata pravitas amicorum et fecunda gignendis inimicitiis civitas auxerat, dum ambitu comitatu et immensis salutantium agminibus contendunt comparanturque, variis in hunc aut illum Vitellii inclinationibus; nec umquam satis fida potentia, ubi nimia est: simul ipsum Vitellium, subitis offensis aut intempestivis blanditiis mutabilem, contemnebant metuebantque. nec eo segnius invaserant domos hortos opesque imperii, cum flebilis et egens nobilium turba, quos ipsos liberosque patriae Galba reddiderat, nulla principis misericordia iuvarentur.

[92] He had put over the praetorians Publilius Sabinus from the prefecture of a cohort, and Julius
Priscus, then a centurion: Priscus stood strong by Valens’s favor, Sabinus by Caecina’s influence; amid
men at odds, for Vitellius there was no authority. The duties of rule Caecina and Valens discharged, long
anxious with hatreds, which the war and the camps—ill-disguised by the depravity of their friends—and a city
fertile for generating enmities had increased, while by canvassing, by retinue, and by the immense trains
of morning-saluters they vie and are set in comparison, with Vitellius’s inclinations varying now to this, now to that
man; nor is power ever sufficiently secure, where it is excessive: at the same time they both despised and
feared Vitellius himself, changeable with sudden offenses or untimely blandishments. Nor on that account the
less eagerly had they invaded the houses, gardens, and wealth of the empire, while a tearful and needy crowd
of nobles—whom Galba had restored, themselves and their children, to their fatherland—were helped by no
mercy of the emperor.

gratum primoribus civitatis etiam plebs adprobavit, quod reversis ab exilio iura libertorum concessisset, quamquam id omni modo servilia ingenia corrumpebant, abditis pecuniis per occultos aut ambitiosos sinus, et quidam in domum Caesaris transgressi atque ipsis dominis potentiores.

what had been pleasing to the chief men of the state the plebs also approved, namely that he had granted to those returning from exile the rights over their freedmen, although in every way that was corrupting servile dispositions, with monies concealed in secret or ambitious bosoms, and some crossed over into the House of Caesar and were more powerful than their masters themselves.

[93] Sed miles, plenis castris et redundante multitudine, in porticibus aut delubris et urbe tota vagus, non principia noscere, non servare vigilias neque labore firmari: per inlecebras urbis et inhonesta dictu corpus otio, animum libidinibus imminuebant. postremo ne salutis quidem cura infamibus Vaticani locis magna pars tetendit, unde crebrae in vulgus mortes; et adiacente Tiberi Germanorum Gallorumque obnoxia morbis corpora fluminis aviditas et aestus impatientia labefecit. insuper confusus pravitate vel ambitu ordo militiae: sedecim praetoriae, quattuor urbanae cohortes scribebantur, quis singula milia inessent.

[93] But the soldiery, with the camp full and the multitude overflowing, wandering in the porticoes or shrines and through the whole city, did not learn the principia, did not keep the vigils, nor were they made firm by toil: through the allurements of the city and things shameful to speak, they diminished the body by idleness, the mind by libidinous desires. Finally, with no care even for health, a great part pitched their tents in the infamous places of the Vatican, whence frequent deaths among the crowd; and, with the Tiber lying alongside, the disease-prone bodies of the Germans and Gauls were undermined by eagerness for the river and impatience of the heat. Moreover, the order of the soldiery was thrown into confusion by depravity or canvassing: sixteen praetorian and four urban cohorts were being enrolled, in each of which there were 1,000 men.

plus in eo dilectu Valens audebat, tamquam ipsum Caecinam periculo exemisset. sane adventu eius partes convaluerant, et sinistrum lenti itineris rumorem prospero proelio verterat. omnisque inferioris Germaniae miles Valentem adsectabatur, unde primum creditur Caecinae fides fluitasse.

Valens was bolder in that levy, as though he himself had removed Caecina from danger. indeed at his advent their party had grown stronger, and he had turned the unfavorable rumor of a slow march by a successful battle. and all the soldiery of Lower Germany were attaching themselves to Valens, whence it is first believed that Caecina’s loyalty began to waver.

[94] Ceterum non ita ducibus indulsit Vitellius ut non plus militi liceret. sibi quisque militiam sumpsere: quamvis indignus, si ita maluerat, urbanae militiae adscribebatur; rursus bonis remanere inter legionarios aut alaris volentibus permissum. nec deerant qui vellent, fessi morbis et intemperiem caeli incusantes; robora tamen legionibus alisque subtracta, convulsum castrorum decus, viginti milibus e toto exercitu permixtis magis quam electis.

[94] However, Vitellius did not so indulge the commanders as to allow still more to the soldiers. Each man assumed his military service for himself: even if unworthy, if he so preferred, he was enrolled in the urban service; conversely, to the worthy it was permitted, if they were willing, to remain among the legionaries or with the alae. Nor were there lacking those who wished it, worn out and blaming diseases and the intemperateness of the climate; yet the strengths were subtracted from the legions and the alae, the dignity of the camp was wrenched apart, with twenty thousand from the whole army mingled rather than selected.

Contionante Vitellio postulantur ad supplicium Asiaticus et Flavus et Rufinus duces Galliarum, quod pro Vindice bellassent. nec coercebat eius modi voces Vitellius: super insitam [mortem] animo ignaviam conscius sibi instare donativum et deesse pecuniam omnia alia militi largiebatur. liberti principum conferre pro numero mancipiorum ut tributum iussi: ipse sola perdendi cura stabula aurigis extruere, circum gladiatorum ferarumque spectaculis opplere, tamquam in summa abundantia pecuniae inludere.

While Vitellius was haranguing the assembly, Asiaticus and Flavus and Rufinus, leaders of the Gauls, were demanded for execution, because they had waged war on behalf of Vindex. Nor did Vitellius restrain voices of that kind: over and above the inborn [death] cowardice in his mind, aware that the donative was pressing upon him and that money was lacking, he lavished all other things upon the soldiery. The freedmen of the emperors were ordered to contribute, in proportion to the number of their slaves, as a tax; he himself, with the sole care for squandering, built stables for charioteers, crammed the circus with spectacles of gladiators and wild beasts, as though to sport himself in the highest abundance of money.

[95] Quin et natalem Vitellii diem Caecina ac Valens editis tota urbe vicatim gladiatoribus celebravere, ingenti paratu et ante illum diem insolito. laetum foedissimo cuique apud bonos invidiae fuit quod extructis in campo Martio aris inferias Neroni fecisset. caesae publice victimae cremataeque; facem Augustales subdidere, quod sacerdotium, ut Romulus Tatio regi, ita Caesar Tiberius Iuliae genti sacravit.

[95] And even the birthday of Vitellius
day Caecina and Valens celebrated with gladiators staged throughout the whole city, by neighborhoods, with a vast apparatus
and unwonted before that day. It was a delight to every most disgraceful person, and among the good a matter of odium,
that, altars having been erected in the Campus Martius, he had made inferiae (funeral offerings) to Nero. Victims were publicly
slain and burned; the Augustales applied the torch, which priesthood, as Romulus consecrated one to King Tatius, so Tiberius Caesar consecrated to the Julian gens.

nondum quartus a victoria mensis, et libertus Vitellii Asiaticus Polyclitos Patrobios et vetera odiorum nomina aequabat. nemo in illa aula probitate aut industria certavit: unum ad potentiam iter, prodigis epulis et sumptu ganeaque satiare inexplebilis Vitellii libidines. ipse abunde ratus si praesentibus frueretur, nec in longius consultans, noviens miliens sestertium paucissimis mensibus intervertisse creditur.

Not yet the fourth month from the victory, and Vitellius’s freedman Asiaticus was matching the Polyclituses, the Patrobiuses, and the old names of hatreds. No one in that court contended by probity or industry: there was one path to power, to sate the insatiable libidinous appetites of Vitellius with prodigal banquets, expense, and debauchery. He himself, deeming it enough if he enjoyed present things, and taking no counsel for anything further, is believed to have embezzled 900 million sesterces in a very few months.

magna et misera civitas, eodem anno Othonem Vitellium passa, inter Vinios Fabios Icelos Asiaticos varia et pudenda sorte agebat, donec successere Mucianus et Marcellus et magis alii homines quam alii mores.

a great and miserable state, in the same year having endured Otho and Vitellius, among the Vinii, the Fabii, the Iceli, the Asiatici with a varied and shameful lot it carried on, until Mucianus and Marcellus succeeded, and rather other men than other morals.

[96] Prima Vitellio tertiae legionis defectio nuntiatur, missis ab Aponio Saturnino epistulis, antequam is quoque Vespasiani partibus adgregaretur; sed neque Aponius cuncta, ut trepidans re subita, perscripserat, et amici adulantes mollius interpretabantur: unius legionis eam seditionem, ceteris exercitibus constare fidem. in hunc modum etiam Vitellius apud milites disseruit, praetorianos nuper exauctoratos insectatus, a quibus falsos rumores dispergi, nec ullum civilis belli metum adseverabat, suppresso Vespasiani nomine et vagis per urbem militibus qui sermones populi coercerent. id praecipuum alimentum famae erat.

[96] The first defection reported to Vitellius was that of the Third Legion, letters having been sent by Aponius Saturninus, before he too should be aggregated to Vespasian’s party; but neither had Aponius, trembling at the sudden turn, written out everything, and his friends, adulating, were interpreting it more softly: that the mutiny was of a single legion, that loyalty stood firm in the rest of the armies. In this vein too Vitellius discoursed among the soldiers, inveighing against the Praetorians lately cashiered, by whom, he said, false rumors were being spread, and he asserted that there was no fear of civil war, the name of Vespasian suppressed, and soldiers roaming through the city to restrain the talk of the populace. That was the chief fuel of rumor.

[97] Auxilia tamen e Germania Britanniaque et Hispaniis excivit, segniter et necessitatem dissimulans. perinde legati provinciaeque cunctabantur, Hordeonius Flaccus suspectis iam Batavis anxius proprio bello, Vettius Bolanus numquam satis quieta Britannia, et uterque ambigui. neque ex Hispaniis properabatur, nullo tum ibi consulari: trium legionum legati, pares iure et prosperis Vitellii rebus certaturi ad obsequium, adversam eius fortunam ex aequo detrectabant.

[97] He nevertheless summoned auxiliaries out of Germany and Britain and the Spains, sluggishly and dissembling the necessity. Likewise the legates and the provinces were delaying, Hordeonius Flaccus, with the Batavians now suspect, anxious with his own war; Vettius Bolanus, with Britain never sufficiently quiet; and both were ambivalent. Nor was there any hurrying from the Spains, there being at that time no consular governor there: the legates of three legions, equal in right and, with Vitellius’ affairs prosperous, ready to vie in obedience, in his adverse fortune equally shirked.

in Africa legio cohortesque delectae a Clodio Macro, mox a Galba dimissae, rursus iussu Vitellii militiam cepere; simul cetera iuventus dabat impigre nomina. quippe integrum illic ac favorabilem proconsulatum Vitellius, famosum invisumque Vespasianus egerat: proinde socii de imperio utriusque coniectabant, sed experimentum contra fuit.

in Africa the legion
and selected cohorts, chosen by Clodius Macro and soon dismissed by Galba, again at Vitellius’s order took up military service; at the same time the rest of the youth were energetically giving in their names.
For there Vitellius had conducted an unblemished and favorable proconsulship, Vespasian a notorious and hated one: accordingly the allies were conjecturing about the imperium of each, but the experience proved the contrary.

[98] Ac primo Valerius Festus legatus studia provincialium cum fide iuvit; mox nutabat, palam epistulis edictisque Vitellium, occultis nuntiis Vespasianum fovens et haec illave defensurus, prout invaluissent. deprehensi cum litteris edictisque Vespasiani per Raetiam et Gallias militum et centurionum quidam ad Vitellium missi necantur: plures fefellere, fide amicorum aut suomet astu occultati. ita Vitellii paratus noscebantur, Vespasiani consiliorum pleraque ignota, primum socordia Vitellii, dein Pannonicae Alpes praesidiis insessae nuntios retinebant.

[98] And at first the legate Valerius Festus aided the partisans of the provincials with fidelity; soon
he was wavering, openly by letters and edicts favoring Vitellius, by secret messages Vespasian,
and ready to defend this side or that, according as whichever had gained the upper hand. Certain
soldiers and centurions, caught with Vespasian’s letters and edicts in Raetia and the Gauls and sent
to Vitellius, are put to death: more eluded notice, concealed by the faith of friends or by their own
astuteness. Thus Vitellius’s preparations were being learned, while most of Vespasian’s counsels were
unknown; in the first place the sluggishness of Vitellius, then the Pannonian Alps, occupied with garrisons,
were detaining messengers.

mare quoque etesiarum flatu in Orientem navigantibus secundum, inde adversum erat.

the sea also with the blowing of the Etesians was favorable for those sailing to the East, thence adverse.

[99] Tandem inruptione hostium atrocibus undique nuntiis exterritus Caecinam ac Valentem expedire ad bellum iubet. praemissus Caecina, Valentem e gravi corporis morbo tum primum adsurgentem infirmitas tardabat. longe alia proficiscentis ex urbe Germanici exercitus species: non vigor corporibus, non ardor animis; lentum et rarum agmen, fluxa arma, segnes equi; impatiens solis pulveris tempestatum, quantumque hebes ad sustinendum laborem miles, tanto ad discordias promptior.

[99] At last, terrified by savage reports on every side at the inruption of the enemy, he orders Caecina and Valens to be readied for war. Caecina was sent ahead; Valens, then for the first time rising from a grave bodily disease, was delayed by infirmity. A far different aspect had the Germanic army setting out from the city: no vigor in their bodies, no ardor in their spirits; a slow and thin column, slack arms, sluggish horses; impatient of sun, dust, and tempests; and the duller the soldier was for sustaining toil, by so much the readier he was for discords.

accedebat huc Caecinae ambitio vetus, torpor recens, nimia fortunae indulgentia soluti in luxum, seu perfidiam meditanti infringere exercitus virtutem inter artis erat. credidere plerique Flavii Sabini consiliis concussam Caecinae mentem, ministro sermonum Rubrio Gallo: rata apud Vespasianum fore pacta transitionis. simul odiorum invidiaeque erga Fabium Valentem admonebatur ut impar apud Vitellium gratiam virisque apud novum principem pararet.

There were added to this Caecina’s old ambition, his recent torpor, an excessive indulgence of fortune, relaxed into luxury; and, whether he was meditating perfidy, to infringe the army’s virtue was among the arts.
Many believed that Caecina’s mind had been shaken by the counsels of Flavius Sabinus, with Rubrius Gallus the minister of the conversations: that the pacts of transition would be ratified with Vespasian.
At the same time he was admonished by hatreds and envy toward Fabius Valens to prepare, as unequal with Vitellius in favor and forces, a standing in favor and forces with the new princeps.

[100] Caecina e complexu Vitellii multo cum honore digressus partem equitum ad occupandam Cremonam praemisit. mox vexilla primae, quartae, quintaedecimae, sextaedecimae legionum, dein quinta et duoetvicensima secutae; postremo agmine unaetvicensima Rapax et prima Italica incessere cum vexillariis trium Britannicarum legionum et electis auxiliis. profecto Caecina scripsit Fabius Valens exercitui, quem ipse ductaverat, ut in itinere opperiretur: sic sibi cum Caecina convenisse.

[100] Caecina, having departed from Vitellius’s embrace with much honor, sent ahead part of the cavalry to seize Cremona.
Soon the vexillations of the First, Fourth, Fifteenth, and Sixteenth legions,
then the Fifth and the Twenty-Second followed; in the rearmost column the Nineteenth “Rapax” and the First Italic advanced with the vexillarii of three British legions and chosen auxiliaries.
After Caecina set out, Fabius Valens wrote to the army which he himself had led, to wait on the march: thus had it been agreed between himself and Caecina.

qui praesens eoque validior mutatum id consilium finxit ut ingruenti bello tota mole occurreretur. ita adcelerare legiones Cremonam, pars Hostiliam petere iussae: ipse Ravennam devertit praetexto classem adloquendi; mox Patavii secretum componendae proditionis quaesitum. namque Lucilius Bassus post praefecturam alae Ravennati simul ac Misenensi classibus a Vitellio praepositus, quod non statim praefecturam praetorii adeptus foret, iniquam iracundiam flagitiosa perfidia ulciscebatur.

who, being present and thereby the stronger,
feigned that that plan had been changed, to the effect that the impending war should be met with the whole mass. Thus
the legions were ordered to hasten to Cremona, part to make for Hostilia: he himself turned aside to Ravenna
under the pretext of addressing the fleet; soon at Patavium a secrecy for arranging
the betrayal was sought. For Lucilius Bassus, after a prefecture of an ala, having been placed by Vitellius over the Ravennate
and likewise the Misenum fleets, because he had not at once obtained the praetorian prefecture,
was avenging the unjust anger by scandalous perfidy.

nec sciri potest traxeritne Caecinam, an, quod evenit inter malos ut et similes sint, eadem illos pravitas impulerit.

nor can it be known whether he drew Caecina along, or whether, as it happens among bad men that they are similar as well, the same depravity impelled them.

[101] Scriptores temporum, qui potiente rerum Flavia domo monimenta belli huiusce composuerunt, curam pacis et amorem rei publicae, corruptas in adulationem causas, tradidere: nobis super insitam levitatem et prodito Galba vilem mox fidem aemulatione etiam invidiaque, ne ab aliis apud Vitellium anteirentur, pervertisse ipsum Vitellium videntur. Caecina legiones adsecutus centurionum militumque animos obstinatos pro Vitellio variis artibus subruebat: Basso eadem molienti minor difficultas erat, lubrica ad mutandam fidem classe ob memoriam recentis pro Othone militiae.

[101] The writers of the times, who, when the Flavian house was potent in affairs, composed the monuments of this war, handed down the care of peace and love of the commonwealth—motives corrupted into adulation: to us it seems that, over and above innate levity and, Galba having been betrayed, the soon cheapened faith, emulation also and envy, lest they be outstripped by others in the eyes of Vitellius, overthrew Vitellius himself. Caecina, having overtaken the legions, was undermining by various arts the spirits of the centurions and soldiers, obstinate for Vitellius: for Bassus, attempting the same, there was less difficulty, the fleet being slippery for changing its loyalty on account of the memory of the recent military service for Otho.