Complete Works of Tacitus (Delphi Classics) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 24)

by Publius Cornelius Tacitus

  36 1 Meanwhile Civilis besieged Vetera: Vocula withdrew to Gelduba and then to Novaesium. Later he was successful in an engagement with the cavalry not far from Novaesium. But success and failure alike fired the soldiers with a wish to murder their leaders; and when the legionaries had been reinforced by the arrival of the men from the Fifth and Fifteenth, they began at once demand the donative, for they had learned that Vitellius had sent the money. Hordeonius did not long delay, but gave them the gift in Vespasian’s name, and this act more than anything else fostered the mutiny. The soldiers, abandoning themselves to debauchery, feasts, and meetings by night, revived their old hatred for Hordeonius, and without a legate or tribune daring to oppose them, they actually dragged him from his bed and killed him. They were preparing to treat Vocula in the same way, but he disguised himself in a slave’s clothes and escaped in the darkness.

  37 1 When this outburst died down, their fears returned; and the troops sent centurions with letters to the Gallic communities to ask for auxiliary troops and contributions: they themselves, for a mob without a leader is always hasty, timid, and without energy, at the approach of Civilis quickly caught up their arms, then immediately dropped them and fled. Adversity bred discord among them, and men from the army of Upper Germany dissociated their cause from that of the rest; still the images of Vitellius were replaced in camp and in the nearest Belgian communities, although he was already dead. Then, repenting their action, the men of the First, Fourth, and Twenty-second legions followed Vocula, who made them take again the oath of allegiance to Vespasian and led them to break the siege of Mogontiacum.º But the besiegers, a motley army made up of Chatti, Usipi, and Mattiaci, had already withdrawn, satisfied with their booty; however, they suffered some loss, for our soldiers had fallen on them while they were scattered and unsuspecting. Moreover, the Treviri built a breastwork and palisade along their borders and fought the Germans with great losses on both sides, until presently by their rebellion they sullied the record of their conspicuous services to the Roman people.

  38 1 In the meantime Vespasian entered on his second consulship and Titus on his first, although absent from Rome; the citizens, downcast and anxious from many fears, had added false alarms to the actual evils that threatened them, saying that Lucius Piso had plotted against the government and had led Africa to revolt. Piso, then pro-consul of Africa, was far from being a turbulent spirit; but since the grain ships for Rome were now detained by the severity of the winter, the common people at Rome, being accustomed to buy their food day by day and having no public interests save the grain supply, believed in their fear that the ports were closed and the convoys of grain held back; the partisans of Vitellius who had not yet given up their party zeal fostered the report, nor was, in fact, the rumour ungrateful even to the victorious party, whose greed, for which even foreign wars were insufficient, no civil victory could ever satisfy.

  39 1 On the first of January the senate, at a session called by the city praetor, Julius Frontinus, passed votes eulogizing and thanking the generals, armies, and allied princes; Tettius Julianus was deprived of his praetorship on the ground that he had left his legion when it went over to Vespasian’s side, and the office was given to Plotius Grypus; Hormus received equestrian rank. Soon after, Frontinus having resigned, Caesar Domitian received the praetorship. His name was prefixed to epistles and edicts, but the real power was in the hands of Mucianus, except in so far as Domitian dared to perform many acts at the instigation of his friends or the promptings of his own fancy. But Mucianus chiefly feared Primus Antonius and Varus Arrius, for they had won distinction by their recent victories and were popular with the troops; even the civilians favoured them because they had never drawn the sword against any man save on the battle-field. There was too a rumour that Antonius had urged Scribonianus Crassus, distinguished as he was by his illustrious ancestry and his brother’s eminence, to seize the reins of government, with the prospect that there would be no lack of men to support the plot, had not Scribonianus refused the proposal, for he could not be easily corrupted even by a certain prospect of success, still less when he feared an uncertain issue. Therefore Mucianus, being unable to crush Antonius openly, lauded him to the skies in the senate and overwhelmed him with promises in secret, pointing out that the governorship of Hither Spain had been left vacant by the withdrawal of Claudius Rufus; at the same time he bestowed tribuneships and prefectureships on the friends of Antonius. Then, when he had filled his foolish mind with hope and desire, Mucianus destroyed his strength by sending to its winter quarters the Seventh legion, which was most passionately devoted to him. Furthermore, the Third legion, Arrius Varus’s own force, was sent back to Syria; and part of the army was started on its way to the Germanies. Thus the city, freed of turbulent elements, recovered its old appearance; the laws regained their force and the magistrates their functions.

  40 1 On the day when Domitian entered the senate, he spoke briefly and in moderate terms of his father’s and brother’s absence and of his own youth; his bearing was becoming; and since his character was as yet unknown, the confusion that frequently covered his face was regarded as a mark of modesty. When Domitian brought up the question of restoring Galba’s honours, Curtius Montanus moved that Piso’s memory also should be honoured. The senate passed both motions, but the one with regard to Piso was never carried into effect. Then a commission was selected by lot to restore property stolen during the war, to determine and replace the bronze tablets of the laws that had fallen down from age, to purge the public records of the additions with which the flattery of the times had defiled them, and to check public expenditures. His praetorship was given back to Tettius Julianus after it became known that he had fled to Vespasian for protection: Grypus retained his office. Then the senate decided to take up again the case between Musonius Rufus and Publius Celer; Publius was condemned and the shades of Soranus were appeased. That day which was marked by this act of public severity was not without its private glory also. Musonius was held to have carried through an act of justice, but public opinion took a different view of Demetrius the Cynic, because he had shown more selfish interest than honourable purpose in defending Publius, who was manifestly guilty: Publius himself in the hour of danger had neither the courage nor the eloquence to meet it. Now that the signal had been given for vengeance on the informers, Junius Mauricus asked Caesar to give the senate power to examine the imperial records that they might know who the informers were that had brought each accusation. Domitian replied that on a matter of such importance he must consult the emperor.

  41 1 Under the lead of its principal members the senate drew up a form of oath, wherein all the magistrates and the other senators, in the order in which they were called, eagerly invoked the gods to witness that they had supported no act by which any man’s safety could be imperilled, and that they had never received reward or office for any man’s misfortune. Those who were conscious of guilt repeated it timidly and changed its words in various ways. The senate approved their scruples, but disapproved their perjuries; this kind of censure fell heaviest on Sariolenus Vocula, Nonius Attianus, and Cestius Severus, who were notorious for their many delations under Nero. Sariolenus was also under the burden of recent charges, for he had tried the same course under Vitellius; nor did the senate cease threatening him with personal violence until he left the senate house. They then turned on Paccius Africanus and drove him out also, because he had suggested to Nero the ruin of the brothers Scribonii, who were eminent for their fraternal concord and their wealth. Africanus did not dare to confess his crime nor could he deny it: but turning upon Vibius Crispus, who was harassing him with questions, he implicated him in acts that he could not deny, and so by making Vibius a partner in his guilt he diverted the indignation of the senate.

  42 1 On that day Vipstanus Messala gained great reputation for his fraternal affection and his eloquence, for although he was not yet old enough to enter the senate, he dared to appeal for his brother Aquilius Regulus. Regulus had ma
de himself most bitterly hated for causing the downfall of the houses of the Crassi and of Orfitus: he seemed voluntarily to have taken the accusation on himself though quite a youth, not to ward off danger from himself, but because he hoped thereby to gain power; and Sulpicia Praetextata,º the wife of Crassus, and her four children were also there to ask vengeance, if the senate took up the case. So Messala had offered no defence on the case or for the accused, but by facing himself the dangers that threatened his brother, had succeeded in moving some of the senators. But Curtius Montanus opposed him with a bitter speech, and went so far as to charge that after the murder of Galba, Regulus had given money to Piso’s assassin and had torn Piso’s head with his teeth. “That surely,” said he, “is something which Nero did not compel you to do, and you did not buy immunity for your position or your life by that savage act. Let us, to be sure, put up with the defence of such folk as have preferred to ruin others rather than run risks themselves: in your case the exile of your father and the division of his property among his creditors left you in security; you were not yet old enough to hold office, you had nothing that Nero could covet, nothing that he could fear. Through lust for slaughter and greed for rewards you gave your talents, till then undiscovered and inexperienced in defence, their first taste for noble blood, when in the ruin of the state you seized the spoils of a consular, battened on seven million sesterces, and enjoyed the splendour of a priesthood, involving in the same ruin innocent children, eminent old men, and noble women; you reproved Nero for his lack of energy in wearying himself and his informers over single houses; you declared that the whole senate could be overthrown with a word. Keep and preserve, gentlemen of the senate, this man of such ready counsel, that every age may learn of him and that our young men may imitate Regulus, as our old men did a Marcellus, a Crispus. Wickedness, even if unlucky, finds rivals. What would be the case if it should flourish and be strong? And if we do not dare to offend this man while he is only an ex-quaestor, shall we dare to oppose him when he has been praetor and consul? Do you think that Nero was the last tyrant? That same belief was held by those who survived Tiberius and Gaius; yet meantime Nero arose more implacable and more cruel. We do not fear Vespasian, such are his years and his moderation; but examples last longer than men’s characters. We are growing weak, fellow-senators, and are no longer that senate which after Nero had been cut down demanded that his informers and tools should be punished according to the custom of our forefathers. The fairest day after a bad emperor is the first.”

  43 1 The senate listened to Montanus with such approval that Helvidius began to hope that even Marcellus could be overthrown. So beginning with a panegyric of Cluvius Rufus, who, though equally wealthy and eminent for eloquence, had put no man in danger under Nero, by thus combining his own charge with that great example, he overwhelmed Marcellus and fired the enthusiasm of the senators. When Marcellus perceived this, he said as he apparently started to leave the senate house, “I go, Priscus, and leave you your senate: play the king in the presence of Caesar.” Vibius Crispus started to follow him; they both were angry but did not have the same looks, for Marcellus’s eyes were flashing threateningly, while Crispus affected to smile; but finally they were drawn back by their friends who ran up to them. As the quarrel grew, the larger number and the more honourable senators ranged themselves on one side, while on the other were a few strong men, all contending with obstinate hate; so the day was spent in discord.

  44 1 At the next meeting of the senate, Caesar took the lead in recommending that the wrongs, the resentments, and the unavoidable necessities of the past be forgotten; Mucianus then spoke at great length in behalf of the informers; yet at the same time, addressing those who were now reviving indictments which they once brought and then dropped, he admonished them in mild terms and almost in a tone of appeal. The senators now that they were opposed gave up the liberty that they had begun to enjoy. Mucianus, to avoid seeming to treat lightly the senate’s judgment or to grant impunity to all the misdeeds committed under Nero, sent back to their islands Octavius Sagitta and Antistius Sosianus, two men of the senatorial class, who had broken their exile. Octavius had debauched Pontia Postumina, and when she refused to marry him, in a frenzy of jealousy he had killed her; Sosianus had ruined many by his depravity. Both had been condemned and driven into exile by a severe vote of the senate; while others were allowed to return, they were kept under the same punishment. Yet the unpopularity of Mucianus was not diminished by this action: for Sosianus and Sagitta were insignificant, even if they did return; the informers’ abilities, wrath, and power, which they used to evil ends, were what men feared.

  45 1 The senators’ discordant sentiments were reconciled for a time by an investigation which was held according to ancient custom. A senator, Manlius Patruitus, complained that he had been beaten by a mob in the colony of Sena, and that too by the orders of the local magistrates; moreover, he said that the injury had not stopped there: the mob had surrounded him and before his face had wailed, lamented, and conducted a mock funeral, accompanying it with insults and outrageous expressions directed against the whole senate. The accused were summoned, and after the case had been heard, those convicted were punished, and the senate also passed a vote warning the populace of Sena to be more orderly. At the same time Antonius Flamma was condemned under the law against extortion on charges brought by the people of Cyrene, and was exiled for his cruelty.

  46 1 Meanwhile a mutiny almost broke out among the troops. Those who had been dismissed by Vitellius and had then banded together to support Vespasian now asked to be restored to service in the praetorian cohorts; and the legionaries selected with the same prospect demanded the pay promised them. Even the Vitellians could not be removed without much bloodshed; but it would cost an enormous sum to keep such a great force of men under arms. Mucianus entered the camp to examine more closely the length of each man’s service; he drew up the victors with their proper insignia and arms, leaving a moderate space between the companies. Then the Vitellians who had surrendered at Bovillae, as we have said above, and all the other soldiers attached to the same cause who had been hunted out in the city and suburbs, were brought out almost without clothes or arms. Mucianus ordered them to march to one side, and directed that the soldiers from Germany and Britain and all the troops there were among them from other armies should take positions by themselves. They were paralyzed by the first sight of their situation, when they beheld opposite them what seemed to them like an enemy’s line, threatening them with weapons and defensive arms, while they were themselves hemmed in, unprotected, squalid and filthy; then, when they began to be divided and marched in different directions, all were smitten with horror; the soldiers from Germany were the most terrified, for they thought that by this division they were being marked for slaughter. They began to throw themselves on the breasts of their fellow-soldiers, to hang on their necks, to beg for a farewell kiss, praying them not to desert them more allow them to suffer a different fate when their cause had been the same; they kept appealing now to Mucianus, now to the absent emperor, finally to heaven and the gods, until Mucianus stopped their needless panic by calling them all “soldiers bound by the same oath” and “soldiers of the same emperor.” He was the readier to do this as the victorious troops by their cheers seconded the tears of the others. Thus this day ended. But a few days later, when Domitian addressed them, they received him with recovered confidence: they treated with scorn the offers of lands but asked for service in the army and pay. They resorted to appeals, it is true, but to appeals that admitted no denial; accordingly they were received into the praetorian camp. Then those whose age and length of service warranted it were honourably discharged; others were dismissed for some fault or other, but gradually and one at a time — the safe remedy for breaking up a united mob.

  47 1 However, whether the treasury was really poor or the senate wished it to appear so, the senators voted to accept a loan of sixty million sesterces from private individuals and put Pompeius
Silvanus in charge of the matter. Not long after, either the necessity passed or the pretence of such necessary was dropped. Then on the motion of Domitian the consulships which Vitellius had conferred were cancelled; and the honours of a censor’s funeral were given Flavius Sabinus — signal proof of the fickleness of fortune, ever confounding honours with humiliations.

  48 1 At about the same time the proconsul Lucius Piso was put to death. I shall give the most faithful account I can of his murder, after having reviewed a few earlier matters which are not unrelated to the source and causes of such crimes. The legion and the auxiliary troops employed in Africa to protect the borders of the empire were commanded by a proconsul during the reigns of the deified Augustus and of Tiberius. Afterwards Gaius Caesar, who was confused in mind and afraid of Marcus Silanus, then governor of Africa, took the legion away from the proconsul and gave it to a legate sent out for that purpose. Patronage was now equally divided between the two officials; and a source of discord was sought in the conflict of authority between the two, while this discord was increased by their unseemly strife. The power of the legates increased, owing to their long terms of office or else because in lesser posts men are more eager to play the rival, while the most distinguished of the proconsuls cared more for security than power.

  49 1 At that time the legion in Africa was commanded by Valerius Festus, a young man of extravagant habits, whose ambitions were by no means moderate, and who was made uneasy by his relationship to Vitellius. Whether he, in their many interviews, tempted Piso to revolt or whether he resisted Piso’s proposals, we do not know, for no one was present at their private conversations, and after Piso’s assassination the majority tried to win favour with the murderer. There is no question that the province and the troops were unfavourably disposed toward Vespasian; moreover, some of the Vitellians who fled from Rome pointed out to Piso that the Gallic provinces were hesitating and that Germany was ready to revolt, that he was himself in danger, and that war is the safer course for a man who is suspected in time of peace. Meantime Claudius Sagitta, prefect of Petra’s horse, by a fortunate voyage, arrived before the centurion Papirius who had been dispatched by Mucianus; Sagitta declared that the centurion had been ordered to kill Piso, and that Galerianus, his cousin and son-in-law, had been put to death. He urged that the only hope of safety was in some bold step, but that there were two ways open for such action: Piso might prefer war at once or he might sail to Gaul and offer himself as a leader to the Vitellian troops. Although Piso was not at all inclined to such courses, the moment that the centurion whom Mucianus sent arrived in the harbour of Carthage, he raised his voice and kept repeating prayers and vows for Piso as if he were emperor, and he urged those who met him and were amazed at this strange proceeding to utter the same acclamations. The credulous crowd, rushing into the forum, demanded Piso’s presence, and raised an uproar with their joyful shouts, caring nothing for the truth and only eager to flatter. Piso, moved by Sagitta’s information or prompted by his native modesty, did not appear in public or trust himself to the enthusiastic mob: and when, on questioning the centurion, he learned that this officer had sought an opportunity to bring a charge against him and to kill him, he ordered him to be put to death, moved not so much by hope of saving his own life as by anger against the assassin, for this centurion had been one of the murderers of Clodius Macer and then had come with his hands dripping with the blood of the legate to kill a proconsul. Next he reproved the Carthaginians in a proclamation that betrayed his anxiety, and abandoned even his usual duties, remaining shut up in his residence that no excuse for a new outbreak might arise even by chance.