80 1 In the meantime, from a slight beginning which caused no fear, a mutiny arose which almost destroyed the city. Otho had given orders that Seventeenth cohort be brought from the colony of Ostia to Rome. Varius Crispinus, one of the praetorian tribunes, had been charged with equipping these troops. That he might be the freer to carry out his orders, when the camp was quiet, he ordered the armoury to be opened and the wagons belonging to the cohort to be loaded at nightfall. The hour gave rise to suspicion; his motive became the basis of a charge against him; and his attempt to secure quiet resulted in an uproar, while the sight of arms in the hands of drunken men roused a desire to use them. The soldiers began to murmur and charged the tribunes and centurions with treachery, saying that the slaves of the senators were being armed for Otho’s destruction. A part of the soldiers were ignorant of the circumstances and heavy with wine; the worst of them wished to make this an opportunity for looting; the great mass, as is usual, were ready for any new movement, and the natural obedience of the better disposed was rendered ineffective by the night. When the tribune attempted to stay the mutiny, they killed him and the strictest of the centurions. Then they seized their arms, drew their swords, and jumping on their horses, hurried to Rome and to the Palace.
81 1 Otho was giving a great banquet to men and women of the nobility. In terror as to whether this was some chance frenzy on the part of the soldiers or some treachery on the part of the emperor, the guests did not know whether it was more dangerous to stay and be caught or to flee and scatter. Now they pretended courage, now they were unmasked by their fears; at the same time they watched Otho’s face; and as generally happens when men’s minds are inclined to suspicion, it was just when Otho felt fear that he made others fear him. Yet he was terrified as much by the danger to the senate as to himself; he had sent at once the prefects of the praetorian guard to calm the soldiers’ anger and he told all to leave the banquet quickly. Then in every direction went officers of the state, throwing away their insignia of office and avoiding the attendance of their friends and slaves; old men and women stole in the darkness along different streets, few of them trying to reach their homes, but most of them hurrying to the houses of their friends and the obscurest hiding-place of the humblest dependent each had.
82 1 The excited soldiers were not kept even by the doors of the palace from bursting into the banquet. They demanded to be shown Otho, and they wounded Julius Martialis, the tribune, and Vitellius Saturninus, prefect of the legion, when they opposed their onrush. On every side were arms and threats directed now against the centurions and tribunes, now against the whole senate, for all were in a state of blind panic, and since they could not fix upon any individual as the object of their wrath, they claimed licence to proceed against all. Finally Otho, disregarding the dignity of his imperial position, stood on his couch and barely succeeded in restraining them with appeals and tears. Then they returned to camp neither willingly nor with guiltless hands. The next day private houses were closed as if the city were in the hands of the enemy; few respectable people were seen in the streets; the rabble was downcast. The soldiers turned their eyes to the ground, but were sorrowful rather than repentant. Licinius Proculus and Plotius Firmus, the prefects, addressed their companies, the one mildly, the other severely, each according to his nature. They ended with the statement that five thousand sesterces were to be paid to each soldier. Only then did Otho dare to enter the camp. He was surrounded by tribunes and centurions, who tore away the insignia of their rank and demanded discharge and safety from their dangerous service. The common soldiers perceived the bad impression that their action had made and settled down to obedience, demanding of their own accord that the ringleaders of the mutiny should be punished.
83 1 Otho was in a difficult position owing to the general disturbance and the divergences of sentiment among the soldiers; for the best of them demanded that some check be put on the present licence, while the larger mob delighted in mutinies and in an emperor whose power depended on popular favour, and were easily driven on to civil war by riots and rapine. He realized, however, that a throne gained by crime cannot be maintained by sudden moderation and old-fashioned dignity; but being distressed by the crisis that had befallen the city and the danger of the senate, he finally spoke as follows: “Fellow soldiers, I have not come to kindle your sentiments into love for me, nor to exhort your hearts to courage, for both these qualities you have in marked abundance; but I have come to ask you to put some check to your bravery and some limit to your regard for me. The recent disturbances owed their beginning not to any greed or hate, which are the sentiments that drive most armies to revolt, or even to any shirking or fear of danger; it was your excessive loyalty that spurred you to an action more violent than wise. Very often honourable motives have a fatal end, unless men employ judgment. We are proceeding to war. Do the exigencies of events or the rapid changes in the situation allow every report to be heard openly, every plan to be discussed in the presence of all? It is as proper that soldiers should not know certain things as that they should know them. The authority of the leaders and strict discipline are maintained only by holding it wise that in many cases even centurions and tribunes should simply receive orders. For if individuals may inquire the reason for the orders given them, then discipline is at an end and authority also ceases. Suppose in the field you have to take your arms in the dead of night, shall one or two worthless and drunken men — for I cannot believe that the recent madness was due to the panic of more than that — stain their hands in the blood of a centurion or tribune? Shall they burst into the tent of their general?
84 1 “You, it is true, did that for me. But in time of riot, in the darkness and general confusion, an opportunity may also be given for an attack on me. Suppose Vitellius and his satellites should have an opportunity to choose the spirit and sentiment with which they would pray you to be inspired, what will they prefer to mutiny and strife? Will they not wish that soldier should not obey centurion or centurion tribune, so that we may all, foot and horse, in utter confusion rush to ruin? It is rather by obedience, fellow-soldiers, than by questioning the commands of the leaders, that success in war is obtained, and that is the bravest army in time of crisis which has been most orderly before the crisis. Yours be the arms and spirit; leave to me the plan of campaign and the direction of your valour. Few were at fault; two shall pay the penalty: do all the rest of you blot out the memory of that awful night. And I pray that no army may ever hear such cries against the senate. That is the head of the empire and the glory of all the provinces; good heavens, not even those Germans whom Vitellius at this moment is stirring up against us would dare to call it to punishment. Shall any child of Italy, any true Roman youth, demand the blood and murder of that order through whose splendid glory we outshine the meanness and base birth of the partisans of Vitellius? Vitellius has won over some peoples; he has a certain shadow of an army, but the senate is with us. And so it is that on our side stands the state, on theirs the enemies of the state. Tell me, do you think that this fairest city consists of houses and buildings and heaps of stone? Those dumb and inanimate things can perish and readily be replaced. The eternity of our power, the peace of the world, my safety and yours, are secured by the welfare of the senate. This senate, which was established under auspices by the Father and Founder of our city and which has continued in unbroken line from the time of the kings even down to the time of the emperors, let us hand over to posterity even as we received it from our fathers. For as senators spring from your number, so emperors spring from senators.”
85 1 Both this speech, well adapted as it was to reprove and quiet the soldiers, and also his moderation (for he had not ordered the punishment of more than two) were gratefully received, and in this way those who could not checked by force were calmed for the present. But the city was not yet quiet; there was the din of weapons and the face of war, for while the troops did not engage in any general riot, they nevertheless distributed themselves in disguise among the
houses and suspiciously kept watch on all whom high birth or wealth or some distinction had made the object of gossip. Most of them believed that soldiers of Vitellius, too, had come to Rome to learn the sentiments of the different parties, so that there was suspicion everywhere, and the intimacy of the home was hardly free from fear. But there was the greatest terror in public, where men changed their spirit and looks according to the message that rumour brought at the moment, that they might not seem to lose heart over doubtful news or show too much joy over favourable report. Moreover, when the senate had assembled in the chamber, it was hard to maintain the proper measure in anything, that silence might not seem sullen or open speech suspicious; while Otho, who had so recently been a subject and had used the same terms, fully understood flattery. So the senators turned and twisted their proposals to mean this or that, many calling Vitellius an enemy and traitor; but the most foreseeing attacked him only with ordinary terms of abuse, although some made the truth the basis of their insults. Still they did this when there was an uproar and many speaking, or else they obscured their own meaning by a riot of words.
86 1 Prodigies which were reported on various authorities also contributed to the general terror. It was said that in the vestibule of the Capitol the reins of the chariot in which Victory stood had fallen from the goddess’s hands, that a superhuman form had rushed out of Juno’s chapel, that a statue of the deified Julius on the island of the Tiber had turned from west to east on a bright calm day, that an ox had spoken in Etruria, that animals had given birth to strange young, and that many other things had happened which in barbarous ages used to be noticed even during peace, but which now are only heard of in seasons of terror. Yet the chief anxiety which was connected with both present disaster and future danger was caused by a sudden overflow of the Tiber which, swollen to a great height, broke down the wooden bridge and then was thrown back by the ruins of the bridge which dammed the stream, and overflowed not only the low-lying level parts of the city, but also parts which are normally free from such disasters. Many were swept away in the public streets, a larger number cut off in shops and in their beds. The common people were reduced to famine by lack of employment and failure of supplies. Apartment houses had their foundations undermined by the standing water and then collapsed when the flood withdrew. The moment people’s minds were relieved of this danger, the very fact that when Otho was planning a military expedition, the Campus Martius and the Flaminian Way, over which he was to advance, were blocked against him was interpreted as a prodigy and an omen of impending disaster rather than as the result of chance or natural causes.
87 1 Otho purified the city and then considered his plan for a campaign. Since the Pennine and Cottian Alps and the other passes into Gaul were closed by the forces of Vitellius, he decided to attack Narbonese Gaul with his fleet, which was strong and loyal, for he had enrolled as a legion those who had survived the massacre at the Mulvian Bridge and who had been kept in prison by Galba’s cruelty; and so he had given the rest reason to hope for an honourable service hereafter. He added to the fleet the city cohorts and many of the praetorians to be the strength and back-bone of the army and also to advise and control the leaders themselves. At the head of the expedition he placed Antonius Novellus, Suedius Clemens, centurions of the first rank, and Aemilius Pacensis, to whom he had restored the tribunate which Galba had taken away. His freedman Moschus, however, retained command of the fleet, no change being made in his rank, that he might keep watch over the fidelity of men more honourable than himself. As commanders of the foot and horse he named Suetonius Paulinus, Marius Celsus, Annius Gallus, but he trusted most in Licinius Proculus, prefect of the praetorian guard. Indefatigable on home service, inexperienced in war, Proculus, in strict accordance with their individual characters, made the “influence” of Paulinus, the “energy” of Celsus, the “proved ability” of Gallus the bases of his accusations, and thus — nothing is easier — by dishonesty and cunning outdid the virtuous and modest.
88 1 About this time Cornelius Dolabella was banished to the colony of Aquinum. He was not kept under close or secret watch, and no charge was made against him; but he had been made prominent by his ancient name and his close relationship to Galba. Many of the magistrates and a large part of the ex-consuls Otho directed to join his expedition, not to share or help in the war but simply as a suite. Among these was Lucius Vitellius, who was treated in the same way as the others and not at all as the brother of an emperor or as an enemy. This action caused anxiety at Rome. No class was free from fear or danger. The leading men of the senate were weak from old age and had grown inactive through a long peace; the nobility was indolent and had forgotten the art of war; the knights were ignorant of military service; the more all tried to hide and conceal their fear, the more evident they made their terror. Yet, on the other hand, there were some who with absurd ostentation brought splendid arms and fine horses; some made extravagant preparations for banquets and provided incentives to their lust as equipment for war. The wise had thought for peace and for the state; the foolish, careless of the future, were puffed up with idle hopes; many who had been distressed by loss of credit during peace were now enthusiastic in this time of disturbance and felt safest in uncertainty.
89 1 But the mob and the mass of the people, whose vast numbers kept them aloof from cares of state, gradually began to feel the evils of war, for all money was now diverted to the use of the soldiers, and the prices of provisions rose. Such things had not affected the common people so much during the revolt of Vindex, because the city at that time was safe and the war was in a province; since it was between the legions and the Gauls, it was regarded as a foreign war. In fact, from the time when the deified Augustus had established the power of the Caesars, the wars of the Roman people had been far from Rome and had caused anxiety or brought honour to a single individual alone; under Tiberius and Gaius only the misfortunes of peace affected the state; the attempt of Scribonianus against Claudius was checked the moment it was known; Nero had been driven from his throne rather by messages and rumours than by arms. But now, legions and fleets and, by an act almost without precedent, the soldiers of the praetorian and city cohorts were led away to action; the East and the West and all the forces that both have behind them formed material for a long war had there been other leaders. There were some who attempted to delay Otho’s departure by bringing forward the religious consideration that the sacred shields had not yet been restored to their place. Yet he scorned every delay, for delay had proved ruinous to Nero also; and the fact that Caecina had already crossed the Alps spurred him on.
90 1 On the fourteenth of March, after entrusting the interests of state to the senate, he granted to those who had been recalled from exile all that was left from the sales of property confiscated by Nero, so far as the monies had not yet been paid into the Imperial Treasury, — a most just donation, and one that was generous in appearance; but it was worthless because the property had been hastily realized on long before. Then he called an assembly, extolled the majesty of Rome, and praised the enthusiasm of the people and senate in his behalf. Against the party of Vitellius he spoke with moderation, blaming the legions for their ignorance rather than boldness, and making no mention of Vitellius. This omission may have been moderation on his part, or the man who wrote his speech may have omitted all insults towards Vitellius, fearing for himself. This is probable, because it was generally believed that Otho employed the ability of Galerius Trachalus in civil matters, as he did that of Suetonius Paulinus and Marius Celsus in planning his military movements, and there were some who recognized the very style of Trachalus, which was well known, because he frequently appeared in court, and which was copious and sonorous in order to fill the ears of the people. The shouts and cries from the mob, according to their recognized fashion of flattering an emperor, were excessive and insincere. Men vied with one another in the expression of their enthusiasm and vows, as if they were applauding the Dictator Caesar or the Emperor Augustus. They d
id this, not from fear or affection, but from their passionate love of servitude. As happens in households of slaves, each one was spurred on by his private motive, and the honour of the state was held cheap. When Otho set out, he left the good order of the city and the cares of empire in the charge of his brother, Salvius Titianus.
BOOK II
1 1 Fortune was already, in an opposite quarter of the world, founding and making ready for a new dynasty, which from its varying destinies brought to the state joy or misery, to the emperors themselves success or doom. Titus Vespasianus had been dispatched by his father from Judea while Galba was still alive. The reason given out for his journey was a desire to pay his respects to the emperor, and the fact that Titus was now old enough to begin his political career. But the common people, who are always ready to invent, had spread the report that he had been summoned to Rome to be adopted. This gossip was based on the emperor’s age and childlessness, and was due also to the popular passion for designating many successors until one is chosen. The report gained a readier hearing from the nature of Titus himself, which was equal to the highest fortune, from his personal beauty and a certain majesty which he possessed, as well as from Vespasian’s good fortune, from prophetic oracles, and even from chance occurrences which, amid the general credulity, were regarded as omens. When Titus received certain information with regard to Galba’s death he was at Corinth, a city of Achaia, and met men there who positively declared that Vitellius had taken up arms and begun war; in his anxiety he called a few of his friends and reviewed fully the two possible courses of action: if he should go on to Rome, he would enjoy no gratitude for an act of courtesy intended for another emperor, and he would be a hostage in the hands of either Vitellius or Otho; on the other hand, if he returned to his father, the victor would undoubtedly feel offence; yet, if his father joined the victor’s party, while victory was still uncertain, the son would be excused; but if Vespasian should assume the imperial office, his rivals would be concerned with war and have to forget offences.
Complete Works of Tacitus (Delphi Classics) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 24) Page 21
