It was at Corinth in Achaia that Titus received the news of
Galba's murder, and was assured by people in the town that Vitellius
had declared war.
Galba's murder, and was assured by people in the town that Vitellius
had declared war.
Tacitus
Yours are
the swords and the courage; you must leave it to me to plan the
campaign, and to direct your valour. The culprits were but few, and
only two are to be punished; the rest of you must blot out all memory
of that discreditable night. No army must ever hear again such words
spoken against the senate. It is the brain of the empire and the glory
of all the provinces. Why, in Heaven's name, the very Germans
themselves, whom Vitellius is stirring up with all his might against
us, would not dare to call its members into question! Shall it be said
that Italy's own sons, the real soldiery of Rome, are clamouring to
murder and massacre the very senators whose lustre it is that throws
into the shade the obscure and vulgar adherents of Vitellius?
Vitellius has seized a few provinces and raised a sort of shadow of an
army; but the senate is on our side. Therefore, Rome is for us; they
are against her. Do you imagine that the stability of this beautiful
city consists in houses and edifices built of stone upon stone? Nay,
they are dumb inanimate things that may fall to pieces and be rebuilt
at pleasure. The eternity of our empire, the peace of the world, your
welfare and mine, all depend upon the safety of the senate. Instituted
with solemn ceremony by the father and founder of Rome, the senate has
come down in undying continuity from the kings to the emperors; and as
we have received it from our ancestors, so let us hand it on to our
posterity. From your ranks come the senators, and from the senate come
the emperors of Rome. '
This speech, as being well calculated to provide a reprimand and a 85
sedative for the soldiers, and Otho's moderation--for he only ordered
the punishment of two men--were well received. He had calmed for a
moment the troops he could not control. Yet peace and quiet were not
restored in Rome. One could still detect the clash of arms and the
lurid face of war. Refraining from organized riot, the soldiers now
dispersed to private houses and lived in disguise, giving vent to
their bad feeling by maligning all whom nobility of birth or wealth or
any other distinction made a mark for scandal. Many, besides, believed
that some of Vitellius' soldiers had come to Rome to study the state
of party feeling. Everywhere suspicion was rife, and terror invaded
even the privacy of the home. But far greater was the alarm displayed
in public places. With every fresh piece of news that rumour brought,
men's feelings and the expression on their faces changed. They were
afraid to be found lacking in confidence when things looked doubtful,
or in joy when they went well for Otho. Above all, when the senate was
summoned to the House, they found it extraordinarily hard always to
strike the right note. Silence would argue arrogance; plain speaking
would arouse suspicion; yet flattery would be detected by Otho, who
had so lately been a private citizen, practising the art himself. So
they had to turn and twist their sentences. Vitellius they called
enemy and traitor, the more prudent confining themselves to such vague
generalities. A few ventured to fling the truth at him, but they
always chose a moment of uproar when a great many people were all
shouting at once, or else they talked so loud and fast as to drown
their own words.
Another cause of alarm was the various portents vouched for by 86
many witnesses. In the Capitoline Square, it was said, the figure of
Victory had let the reins of her chariot slip from her hands: a ghost
of superhuman size had suddenly burst out of the chapel of Juno:[182]
a statue of the sainted Julius on the island in the Tiber had, on a
fine, still day, turned round from the west and faced the east: an ox
had spoken in Etruria: animals had given birth to strange monsters.
Many were the stories of these occurrences, which in primitive ages
are observed even in time of peace, though now we only hear of them in
time of panic. But the greatest damage at the moment, and the greatest
alarm for the future, was caused by a sudden rising of the Tiber.
Immensely swollen, it carried away the bridge on piles,[183] and, its
current being stemmed by the heavy ruins, it flooded not only the
flat, low-lying portions of the city, but also districts that seemed
safe from inundation. Many people were swept away in the streets,
still more were overtaken by the flood in shops or in their beds at
home. The result was a famine, since food was scarce,[184] and the
poor were deprived of their means of livelihood. Blocks of flats, the
foundations of which had rotted in the standing water, collapsed when
the river sank. No sooner had the panic caused by the flood subsided
than it was found that, whereas Otho was preparing an expedition, its
route over the Martian Plain and up the Flaminian Road was blocked.
Though probably caused by chance, or the course of Nature, this mishap
was turned into a miraculous omen of impending disaster.
FOOTNOTES:
[152] Chap. 45.
[153] Cp. note 46.
[154] A much-frequented watering-place on the borders of
Latium and Campania. The hot baths were considered good for
hysteria.
[155] Cp. chap. 7.
[156] Dio and Suetonius both say that Otho offered to share
the empire with Vitellius, and the latter adds that he
proposed for the hand of Vitellius' daughter. Tacitus here
follows Plutarch.
[157] Chap. 19.
[158] As a matter of fact, only twelve days before. It was on
the 2nd or 3rd of January that the troops of Lower and Upper
Germany proclaimed Vitellius. Galba fell to Otho on January
15.
[159] L. Salvius Otho Titianus, Otho's elder brother.
[160] There were two legions in Dalmatia, two in Pannonia,
three in Moesia, and two in Spain (see Summary, note 3).
[161] Cp. chap. 8.
[162] This included Savoy, Dauphiné, part of Provence or
Languedoc.
[163] Legs. V Macedonica, X Fretensis, XV Apollinaris.
[164] IV Scythica, VI Ferrata, XII Fulminata, and III Gallica.
[165] Since Claudius the great imperial bureaux, the posts of
private secretary, patronage-secretary, financial secretary,
&c. , had all been held by freedmen. Cp. chap. 58.
[166] Otho and Titianus would naturally have held it for four
months.
[167] Vopiscus presumably came from Vienne, which had espoused
the cause first of Vindex, then of Galba. Cp. chap. 65.
[168] Not to be confused with Vespasian's brother.
[169] Grandfather of the Emperor Antoninus Pius.
[170] Name uncertain in MS.
[171] i. e. to be accused of 'treason' was in these days to win
public sympathy, even though the defendant were guilty of
offences under other more useful statutes.
[172] Seville and Merida.
[173] As the rest of this sentence refers to Spain and
Portugal it has been proposed to read for _Lingones Lusones_,
a Celtiberian tribe round the sources of the Tagus. The
Lingones were devoted to the cause of Vitellius. (See chap.
53, &c. )
[174] They had been thrown down by the populace, when Nero,
after divorcing Antonia, was shamed--or frightened--into
taking her back. (Cp. chap. 13. )
[175] They lived between the Dnieper and the Don, to the north
of the Sea of Azov.
[176] Gallica.
[177] This would depict him in full triumphal garb. But only
the emperor could actually hold a triumph, since it was under
his auspices that his generals fought.
[178] _Cohors civium Romanorum_. See note 130.
[179] The meaning of the title _praefectus legionis_ is
doubtful. It seems most likely to mean the same as _praefectus
castrorum_, an officer who superintended the camp and
sometimes acted as second-in-command (cp. ii. 89). The post
was one to which senior centurions could rise. At this period
they were not attached to a legion, but to a camp, where more
than one legion might be quartered. That makes the phrase here
used curious. The legion is that of the marines now stationed
in Rome (cp. chaps. 6 and 9). They appear to have joined the
mutinous Seventeenth cohort when they reached the city.
[180] About £40.
[181] The insignia of a tribunus were a tunic with a broad or
narrow stripe (accordingly as they were of senatorial or
equestrian rank), and a gold ring. A centurion carried a staff
made of a vine-branch, for disciplinary purposes.
[182] One of the three chapels in the temple of Jupiter on the
Capitoline.
[183] The pons Sublicius which led from the Velabrum to
Janiculum. It was the bridge which Horatius Cocles defended,
and a certain sanctity attached to it.
[184] Plutarch mentions that the quarter which suffered most
was that which contained the retail provision-shops.
OTHO'S PLANS
Otho had held a purification of the city[185] and meditated his 87
plans for the war. Recognizing that the Pennine and Cottian Alps and
all the other passes into Gaul were held by Vitellius, he decided to
invade Narbonese Gaul by sea. His fleet was now a strong and reliable
arm, devoted to his cause. For he had formed the full strength of a
legion out of the survivors of the Mulvian Bridge massacre,[186] whom
Galba's cruelty had kept in prison, and to all the marines he had
held out hopes of honourable service. [187] To the fleet he attached
the cohorts of the City Garrison and a large force of Guards. These
were the flower of the army and its chief strength, well able to
advise their own generals and to take good care of them. The command
of the expedition was entrusted to Antonius Novellus and Suedius
Clemens, both senior centurions,[188] and to Aemilius Pacensis, to
whom Otho had restored his commission,[189] of which Galba had
deprived him. In charge of the fleet he still retained the freedman
Moschus[190] to keep an eye on his betters. In command of the cavalry
and infantry he placed Suetonius Paulinus, Marius Celsus, and Annius
Gallus, but the man in whom he put most faith was the Prefect of the
Guards, Licinius Proculus. This officer had shown himself efficient in
garrison service, but was without any experience of warfare. He
maligned the characteristic virtues of his colleagues, Paulinus' power
of influence, Celsus' energy, Gallus' ripe judgement, and being a
knave and no fool, he easily got the better of men who were both
honest and loyal.
It was about this time that Cornelius Dolabella[191] was banished 88
to the colony of Aquinum,[192] though not kept in close or
dishonourable confinement. There was no charge against him: the stigma
upon him was his ancient name and kinship[193] to Galba. Otho issued
orders that several of the magistrates and a large number of
ex-consuls were to join the expedition, not to take part in the
campaign or to assist in any way, but simply as a friendly escort.
Among these was Lucius Vitellius, whom he treated neither as an
emperor's brother nor as the brother of an enemy, but just like
anybody else. Much anxiety was aroused for the safety of the city,
where all classes feared danger. The leading members of the senate
were old and infirm, and enervated by a long period of peace: the
aristocracy were inefficient and had forgotten how to fight: the
knights knew nothing of military service. The more they all tried to
conceal their alarm, the more obvious it became. Some of them, on the
other hand, went in for senseless display, and purchased beautiful
armour and fine horses: others procured as provisions of war elaborate
dinner-services or some other contrivance to stimulate a jaded taste.
Prudent men were concerned for the country's peace: the frivolous,
without a thought for the future, were inflated by empty hopes: a good
many, whose loss of credit made peace unwelcome, were delighted at the
general unrest, feeling safer among uncertainties. Though the 89
cares of state were too vast to arouse any interest in the masses, yet
as the price of food rose, and the whole revenue was devoted to
military purposes, the common people gradually began to realize the
evils of war. During the revolt of Vindex they had not suffered so
much. Being carried on in the provinces between the legionaries and
the natives of Gaul it was to all intents a foreign war, and the city
had not been affected. For from the time when the sainted Augustus
organized the rule of the Caesars the wars of the Roman people had
been fought in distant countries: all the anxiety and all the glory
fell to the emperor alone. Under Tiberius and Caligula the country
only suffered from the evils of peace. [194] Scribonianus' rising
against Claudius was no sooner heard of than crushed. [195] Nero had
been dethroned more by rumours and dispatches than by force of arms.
But now not only the legions and the fleet, but, as had seldom
happened before, the Guards and the City Garrison were called out for
the campaign. Behind them were the East and the West and all the
forces of the empire, material for a long war under any other
generals. An attempt was made to delay Otho's departure by pointing
out the impiety of his not having replaced the sacred shields in the
temple of Mars. [196] But delay had ruined Nero: Otho would have none
of it. And the knowledge that Caecina had already crossed the
Alps[197] acted as a further stimulus.
Accordingly, on the fourteenth of March he commended the 90
government of the country to the senate, and granted to the restored
exiles all the rest of the property confiscated by Nero which had not
yet been sold for the imperial treasury. [198] The gift was a just one,
and made a very good impression, but as a matter of fact it was
nullified by the haste with which the work of collecting the money had
been conducted. [199] He then summoned a public meeting, and, after
extolling the majesty of Rome and praising the wholehearted adherence
of the senate and people to his cause, he used very moderate language
against the Vitellian party, criticizing the legions more for folly
than treason, and making no mention of Vitellius himself. This may
have been due to his own moderation, or it may be that the writer of
the speech felt some qualms for his own safety, and therefore
refrained from insulting Vitellius. For it was generally believed that
as in strategy he took the advice of Suetonius Paulinus and Marius
Celsus, so too in political matters he employed the talents of
Galerius Trachalus. [200] Some people even thought they could
recognize Trachalus' style of oratory, fluent and sonorous, well
adapted to tickle the ears of the crowd: and as he was a popular
pleader his style was well known. The crowd's loud shouts of applause
were in the best style of flattery, excessive and insincere. Men vied
with each other in their enthusiasm and prayers for his success, much
as though they were sending off the dictator Caesar or the emperor
Augustus. Their motive was neither fear nor affection, but a sheer
passion for servility. One can see the same in households of slaves,
where each obeys his own interest and the common welfare counts for
nothing. On his departure Otho entrusted the peace of the city and the
interests of the empire to his brother Salvius Titianus.
FOOTNOTES:
[185] He would lead the victim, before sacrificing it, round
the ancient boundary of the city, and thus avert the disasters
threatened by the alarming omens detailed in the last chapter.
[186] Cp. chaps. 6 and 37.
[187] i. e. of becoming eventually a legion or praetorian cohort.
[188] Cp. note 57.
[189] The command of a cohort in the City Garrison.
[190] He had held this post under Nero and Galba. His
functions were those of steward and spy combined.
[191] He had been a rival candidate for adoption by Galba.
Vitellius had him killed (ii. 63).
[192] Aquino.
[193] It is not known what this was.
[194] Mainly connected with the elaborate system of espionage.
[195] Furius Camillus Scribonianus, governor of Dalmatia,
rebelled against Claudius, A. D. 42, and was crushed within
five days.
[196] They would be taken out on the 1st of March to be used
in the sacred dances of the Salii (the 'Dancing Priests').
Their festival lasted the whole month, and Otho started on the
14th.
[197] See chap. 70.
[198] Cp. chap. 20.
[199] Nero had put the confiscated property of political
exiles up to auction. His treasury officials had been so
prompt in selling it all off and getting the money in, that
there was very little left for Otho to restore, since he could
only give back those lots which had not been paid for.
[200] Cp. ii. 60. Quintilian alludes several times to the
extreme beauty of his voice and his commanding
delivery--better, he thinks, than that of any tragedian he had
ever seen. To read, his speeches were less effective.
BOOK II
VESPASIAN AND THE EAST
Meanwhile, on the other side of Europe, Fortune was already sowing 1
the seeds of a dynasty, the varying fortunes of which were destined to
bring at one time happiness to the country and success to its rulers,
at another misery to the country and to the rulers destruction. [201]
Before Galba's fall Titus Vespasianus had been dispatched by his
father from Judaea to Rome. [202] The ostensible reason of his journey
was to show respect to the new emperor, and to solicit some post for
which his years now fitted him. [203] However, the popular passion for
invention suggested that he had been summoned to be adopted. This
rumour was based on the fact that Galba was old and childless: the
public never wearies of appointing successors until the choice is
made. The character of Titus gave still more colour to it. He seemed
capable of filling any position. His appearance lacked neither charm
nor dignity. Vespasian's successes also and the utterances of certain
oracles further endorsed the rumour, to say nothing of the chance
occurrences which pass for omens where the wish is father to the
thought.
It was at Corinth in Achaia that Titus received the news of
Galba's murder, and was assured by people in the town that Vitellius
had declared war. In great perplexity he summoned a few of his friends
and discussed all the possibilities of the situation. If he continued
his journey to Rome he would earn no gratitude for compliments
addressed to another sovereign,[204] and would be held as a hostage
either for Vitellius or for Otho: on the other hand, if he returned to
Judaea he would inevitably offend the victor. However, the struggle
was still undecided, and the father's adherence to the successful
party would excuse the conduct of the son. Or if Vespasian himself
assumed sovereignty, they would have to plan war and forget all about
giving offence.
Such considerations held him balanced between hope and fear; but 2
ultimately hope prevailed. Some people believed that his longing to
get back to Queen Berenice[205] fired him to return. True, the young
man's fancy was attracted by Berenice, but he did not allow this to
interfere with business. Still his youth was a time of gay
self-indulgence, and he showed more restraint in his own reign than in
his father's. Accordingly he sailed along the coasts of Greece and
Asia Minor, and, skirting the seas which lay upon his left, reached
the islands of Rhodes and Cyprus, whence he made a bolder crossing to
Syria. [206] On his way he conceived a desire to visit the temple of
Venus at Paphos,[207] which is famous among all the inhabitants and
visitors. It may not be tedious to give here a short account of the
origin of this worship, the ritual of the cult, and the
shape--unparalleled elsewhere--in which the goddess is depicted.
According to an old tradition the temple was founded by King 3
Aerias, and some people maintain that the goddess bears the same name.
A more modern version states that the temple was consecrated by
Cinyras,[208] on the spot where the goddess landed when the sea gave
her birth. The method of divination,[209] however, according to this
account, was imported from elsewhere by the Cilician Tamiras, and an
arrangement was made that the descendants of both families should
preside over the rites. Later, however, it seemed wrong that the royal
line should have no prerogative, so the descendants of the
foreigner[210] resigned the practice of the art which they had
themselves introduced, and now the priest whom you consult is always
of the line of Cinyras. They accept any victim that is offered, but
males are preferred. They put most faith in kids' entrails. Blood
must not be poured on the altar, at which they offer only prayers and
fire untainted by smoke. Although the altars stand in the open air
they are never wetted by rain. The goddess is not represented in human
form; the idol is a sort of circular pyramid,[211] rising from a broad
base to a small round top, like a turning-post. The reason of this is
unknown.
Titus inspected the temple treasures and the offerings made by 4
various kings, and other curiosities which the Greek passion for
archaeology attributes to a dim antiquity. He then consulted the
oracle first about his voyage. Learning that the sea was calm, and
that no obstacles stood in his way, he sacrificed a large number of
victims, and put covert questions about his own fortunes. The priest,
whose name was Sostratus, seeing that the entrails were uniformly
favourable, and that the goddess assented to Titus' ambitious schemes,
returned at the moment a brief and ordinary reply, but afterwards
sought a private interview and revealed the future to him. So Titus
returned to his father with heightened hopes, and amid the general
anxiety of the provinces and their armies his arrival spread boundless
confidence of success.
Vespasian had already broken the back of the Jewish war. [212] Only the
siege of Jerusalem remained. That this proved a difficult and
laborious task was due rather to the high situation of the town and
the stubborn superstition of its inhabitants than to any adequate
provision enabling them to endure the hardships of the siege.
Vespasian had, as we have already stated,[213] three legions well
tried in war. Four others were under Mucianus' command. [213] Although
these had never seen war, yet their envy of the neighbouring army's
fame had banished sloth. Indeed, as the former were hardened by work
and danger, so the latter owed their ardour to their unbroken
inaction, and their shame at having no share in the war. [214] Both
generals had, besides auxiliary infantry and cavalry, foreign
fleets[215] and allied princes,[216] and a fame that rested on widely
differing claims. Vespasian was an indefatigable campaigner. He 5
headed the column, chose the camping-ground, never ceasing by night or
day to use strategy, and, if need be, the sword to thwart the enemy.
He eat what he could get, and dressed almost like a common soldier.
Indeed, save for his avarice, he matched the generals of old days.
Mucianus, on the other hand, was distinguished by his wealth and
luxury, and his general superiority to the standards of a private
person. He was the better speaker, and a skilful administrator and
statesman. Their combined qualities would have made a fine emperor,
if one could have blended their virtues and omitted their vices.
Governing as they did the neighbouring provinces of Judaea and Syria,
jealousy at first led to quarrels. However, on the death of Nero, they
forgot their dislike and joined hands. It was their friends who first
brought them together, and subsequently Titus became the chief bond of
union and for the common good suppressed their ignoble jealousy. Both
by nature and training he had charm to fascinate even such a man as
Mucianus. The tribunes and centurions and the common soldiers were
attracted, each according to his character, either by Titus'
meritorious industry or by his gay indulgence in pleasure.
Before the arrival of Titus both armies had sworn allegiance to 6
Otho. News travels fast in such cases, but civil war is a slow and
serious undertaking, and the East, after its long repose, was now for
the first time beginning to arm for it. In earlier times all the
fiercest civil wars broke out in Italy or Cisalpine Gaul among the
forces of the West. Pompey, Cassius, Brutus, and Antony all courted
disaster by carrying the war oversea. Syria and Judaea often heard of
Caesars, but seldom saw one. There were no mutinies among the
soldiers. They merely made demonstrations against Parthia with varying
success. Even in the last civil war[217] the peace of these provinces
had been untroubled by the general confusion. Later they were loyal to
Galba. But when they heard that Otho and Vitellius were engaged in a
wicked contest for the possession of the Roman world, the troops
began to chafe at the thought that the prizes of empire should fall to
others, while their own lot was mere compulsory submission. They began
to take stock of their strength. Syria and Judaea had seven legions on
the spot with a vast force of auxiliaries. Next came Egypt with two
legions:[218] beyond lay Cappadocia and Pontus, and all the forts
along the Armenian frontier. Asia and the remaining provinces were
rich and thickly populated. As for the islands, their girdle of sea
was safe from the enemy and aided the prosecution of the war.
The generals were well aware of the soldiers' feelings, but decided 7
to await the issue between Vitellius and Otho. 'In civil war,' they
reckoned, 'there are no sure ties to unite victor and vanquished. It
matters little which survives: even good generals are corrupted by
success: as for Otho and Vitellius, their troops are quarrelsome,
lazy, and luxurious, and they are both the victims of their own vices.
One will fall on the field and the other succumb to his success. ' So
Vespasian and Mucianus postponed their attack for the present. They
were themselves recent converts to the project of war, which the
others[219] had long fostered from various motives. The better sort
were animated by patriotism, many by mere love of plunder, some by the
uncertainty of their own fortunes. Thus, though their motives
differed, all, good and bad alike, agreed in their eager desire for
war.
About this time Achaia and Asia were thrown into 8 a groundless panic
by a rumour that 'Nero was at hand'. The accounts of his death being
many and various, people were all the more inclined to allege and to
believe that he was still alive. We shall mention in the course of
this work the attempts and the fate of the other pretenders. [220] This
time it was a slave from Pontus, or, according to other traditions, a
freedman from Italy. His skill as a singer and harpist, combined with
his facial resemblance to Nero, gave him some credentials for
imposture. He bribed some penniless and vagabond deserters by dazzling
promises to join him, and they all set out to sea. A storm drove them
on to the island of Cythnus,[221] where he found some troops homeward
bound on leave from the East. Some of these he enrolled, killing all
who resisted, and then proceeded to plunder the local merchants and
arm all the sturdiest of the slaves. Finding a centurion named Sisenna
carrying home a pair of silver hands[222] as a token of alliance from
the army in Syria to the Household Guards, he tried by various devices
to seduce him, until Sisenna took fright and escaped secretly from the
island in fear of violence. Thus the panic spread. The great name of
Nero attracted many who pined for revolution and hated the existing
state of things. The rumours waxed daily, until a chance dispelled
them. Galba had entrusted the government of Galatia and 9
Pamphylia[223] to Calpurnius Asprenas, who had been granted an escort
of two triremes from the fleet at Misenum. It so happened that with
these he touched at Cythnus. The rebels lost no time in appealing to
the ship's captains in the name of Nero. The pretender, assuming an
air of melancholy, appealed to 'the loyalty of his former soldiers',
and begged them to establish him in Syria or Egypt. The captains
either from sympathy or guile alleged that they must talk to their
men, and would come back when they had prepared all their minds.
However, they faithfully made a full report to Asprenas, on whose
instructions they boarded the ship and killed the impostor, whoever he
was. The man's eyes and hair and ferocious look were so remarkable
that the body was carried into Asia and thence to Rome.
FOOTNOTES:
[201] The Flavian dynasty. Vespasian and Titus brought the
happiness, Domitian the misery.
[202] Cp. i. 10.
[203] He was 30.
[204] i. e. to Galba.
[205] She was the granddaughter of Herod the Great, and lived
with her brother, Herod Agrippa (cp. chap. 81), ruler of
Peraea. They heard St. Paul at Caesarea. She had married first
her uncle, Herod Agrippa, prince of Chalcis; then Polemo II,
king of Pontus, whom she left. She was known to have visited
Titus in Rome, and he was said to have promised her marriage.
[206] i. e. across the open sea.
[207] In Cyprus.
[208] Another mythical king of Cyprus. Hesychius calls him a
son of Apollo, and Ovid makes him the father of Adonis.
[209] From the flight and cries of birds.
[210] i. e. the Tamiradae.
[211] i. e. a conical stone.
[212] Cp. v. 10.
[213] See i. 10 and 76.
[214] Reading _inexperti belli rubor_ (Andresen).
[215] Of Pontus, Syria, and Egypt.
[216] Antiochus of Commagene (between Syria and Cappadocia),
Agrippa of Peraea (east of Jordan), and Sohaemus of Sophene
(on the Upper Euphrates, round the sources of the Tigris). See
chap. 81.
[217] Which dethroned Nero.
[218] III Cyrenaica, XXII Deiotariana.
[219] Titus and their officers and friends.
[220] These accounts are lost. There was one such attempt
under Domitian and another under Titus. The Christians
expected him to re-appear as Antichrist.
[221] Thermia.
[222] See i. 54.
[223] These with Lycia at this date formed a single imperial
province.
THE TRIAL OF ANNIUS FAUSTUS
In a country so divided and tossed by frequent change of rulers 10
between liberty and licence even small events caused serious
disturbance. It happened that Vibius Crispus,[224] a man whose wealth,
influence, and ability had won him a reputation that was great rather
than good, had impeached before the senate a man of equestrian rank,
called Annius Faustus, who had been a professional informer under
Nero. The senate had recently in Galba's principate passed a
resolution authorizing the prosecution of informers. This resolution
had been variously applied from time to time, and interpreted
rigorously or leniently according as the defendant was helpless or
influential. But it still retained some terrors. Crispus, moreover,
had exerted all his powers to secure the conviction of the man who had
informed against his brother. [225] He had, in fact, induced a large
proportion of the senate to demand that Faustus should be sent to
execution undefended and unheard. However, with others, the defendant
gained a great advantage from his prosecutor's undue influence. 'We
must give him time,' they argued, 'the charges must be published:
however hateful the criminal his case must be properly heard. ' At
first this advice prevailed. The trial was postponed for a few days.
At length came the conviction of Faustus, which aroused in the country
less satisfaction than his vile character warranted. People recalled
the fact that Crispus himself had turned informer with pecuniary
profit. It was not the penalty but the prosecutor that was unpopular.
FOOTNOTES:
[224] A close friend of Vespasian, who was supposed to ply the
trade of informer (cp. iv. 41 and 43).
[225] Vibius Secundus, banished for extortion in Mauretania.
OTHO'S MEASURES OF DEFENCE
Meanwhile the war opened successfully for Otho. At his order the 11
armies of Dalmatia and Pannonia started from their base. They
comprised four legions,[226] each of which had sent forward
detachments two thousand strong. The rest followed at a short
interval: the Seventh legion raised by Galba,[227] the Eleventh and
Thirteenth, both composed of veteran troops, and the Fourteenth, which
had won great distinction by crushing the rebellion in Britain. [228]
Nero had further increased their glory by choosing them for special
service,[229] which accounts for their lasting loyalty to Nero and
their keen support of Otho. But the stronger their numbers the greater
their self-confidence and the slower their march. The cavalry and
auxiliaries preceded the main body of the legions. From Rome itself
came no mean force, five regiments of Guards with some detachments of
cavalry and the First legion. [230] To these were added an irregular
force of 2,000 gladiators,[231] a shameful assistance of which during
the civil wars even strict generals availed themselves. Annius Gallus
was placed in command of these forces with Vestricius Spurinna,[232]
and they were sent forward to hold the line of the Po. Their first
plans had failed, Caecina, whom Otho had hoped to hold within the
Gallic provinces, having already crossed the Alps. [233] Under Otho's
personal command marched picked detachments of his Body Guard and the
rest of the Household troops, together with reservists of the Guard
and a large force of marines. [234] He let no luxury either delay or
disgrace his march. In an iron breast-plate he marched on foot at the
head of his troops, looking rough and dishevelled, quite unlike his
reputation.
Fortune smiled on his first efforts. By sea his fleet held most of 12
the Italian coast right up to the foot of the Maritime Alps. To secure
these mountains and attack the province of Narbonese Gaul he had
placed in command Suedius Clemens, Antonius Novellus, and Aemilius
Pacensis. [235] Pacensis, however, was made a prisoner by his mutinous
troops: Novellus had no authority: Clemens' command rested on
popularity, and he was as greedy of battle as he was criminally blind
to insubordination. No one could have imagined they were in Italy, on
the soil of their native land. As though on foreign shores and among
an enemy's towns, they burnt, ravaged, plundered, with results all the
more horrible since no precautions had been taken against danger. The
fields were full, the houses open. The inhabitants came to meet them
with their wives and children, and were lured by the security of
peace into all the horrors of war. The Governor of the Maritime
Alps[236] at that time was Marius Maturus. He summoned the
inhabitants, whose fighting strength was ample, and proposed to resist
at the frontier the Othonians' invasion of the province. But at the
first engagement the mountaineers were cut down and dispersed. They
had assembled in random haste; they knew nothing of military service
or discipline, nothing of the glory of victory or the disgrace of
flight.
Enraged by this engagement, Otho's troops visited their 13
indignation on the town of Albintimilium. [237] The battle had brought
them no booty, for the peasants were poor and their armour worthless,
and being swift of foot, with a good knowledge of the country, they
had escaped capture. However, the soldiers sated their greed at the
expense of the innocent town. A Ligurian woman afforded a fine example
of courage which made their conduct the more odious. She had concealed
her son, and when the soldiers, who believed that she had hidden some
money as well, demanded from her under torture where she was keeping
him concealed, she pointed to her belly and replied, 'He is in
hiding. ' No subsequent tortures nor even death itself could bring her
to change that brave and noble answer.
Panic-stricken couriers brought to Fabius Valens the news that 14
Otho's fleet was threatening the province of Narbonese Gaul, which had
sworn allegiance to Vitellius. Representatives from the Roman colonies
also arrived beseeching his aid. He dispatched two cohorts of the
Tungri[238] and four troops of horse, together with the entire cavalry
regiment of the Treviri. [239] This force was put under the command of
Julius Classicus,[240] and part of it was detained in the colony of
Forum Julii,[241] since if the whole force marched inland and the
sea-board were left unprotected Otho's fleet would swoop down at once.
Twelve troops of cavalry and a picked body of auxiliaries marched
against the enemy: these were reinforced by a Ligurian cohort which
had long garrisoned this district, and a draft of five hundred
Pannonian recruits who had not yet joined their legion. [242] The
engagement began promptly. Their line was so arranged that some of the
marines, reinforced by the peasants, held the rising ground by the
sea, while the Guards filled the level space between the hills and the
shore. The fleet, acting in conjunction with the land force, was ready
to play its part in the battle, and extended a threatening front
facing the coast. The Vitellians, weaker in infantry, put their trust
in their horse. The mountaineers[243] were posted on the neighbouring
heights, and the auxiliaries massed in close order behind the cavalry.
The Treviran cavalry rashly charged the enemy, and meeting Otho's
guards in front were simultaneously assailed in the flank by the
peasants, flinging stones. This they could do well enough; and,
drafted among the regulars, they all, bold and timid alike, showed the
same courage in the hour of victory. Panic struck the defeated
Vitellians when the fleet began to harass their rear.
the swords and the courage; you must leave it to me to plan the
campaign, and to direct your valour. The culprits were but few, and
only two are to be punished; the rest of you must blot out all memory
of that discreditable night. No army must ever hear again such words
spoken against the senate. It is the brain of the empire and the glory
of all the provinces. Why, in Heaven's name, the very Germans
themselves, whom Vitellius is stirring up with all his might against
us, would not dare to call its members into question! Shall it be said
that Italy's own sons, the real soldiery of Rome, are clamouring to
murder and massacre the very senators whose lustre it is that throws
into the shade the obscure and vulgar adherents of Vitellius?
Vitellius has seized a few provinces and raised a sort of shadow of an
army; but the senate is on our side. Therefore, Rome is for us; they
are against her. Do you imagine that the stability of this beautiful
city consists in houses and edifices built of stone upon stone? Nay,
they are dumb inanimate things that may fall to pieces and be rebuilt
at pleasure. The eternity of our empire, the peace of the world, your
welfare and mine, all depend upon the safety of the senate. Instituted
with solemn ceremony by the father and founder of Rome, the senate has
come down in undying continuity from the kings to the emperors; and as
we have received it from our ancestors, so let us hand it on to our
posterity. From your ranks come the senators, and from the senate come
the emperors of Rome. '
This speech, as being well calculated to provide a reprimand and a 85
sedative for the soldiers, and Otho's moderation--for he only ordered
the punishment of two men--were well received. He had calmed for a
moment the troops he could not control. Yet peace and quiet were not
restored in Rome. One could still detect the clash of arms and the
lurid face of war. Refraining from organized riot, the soldiers now
dispersed to private houses and lived in disguise, giving vent to
their bad feeling by maligning all whom nobility of birth or wealth or
any other distinction made a mark for scandal. Many, besides, believed
that some of Vitellius' soldiers had come to Rome to study the state
of party feeling. Everywhere suspicion was rife, and terror invaded
even the privacy of the home. But far greater was the alarm displayed
in public places. With every fresh piece of news that rumour brought,
men's feelings and the expression on their faces changed. They were
afraid to be found lacking in confidence when things looked doubtful,
or in joy when they went well for Otho. Above all, when the senate was
summoned to the House, they found it extraordinarily hard always to
strike the right note. Silence would argue arrogance; plain speaking
would arouse suspicion; yet flattery would be detected by Otho, who
had so lately been a private citizen, practising the art himself. So
they had to turn and twist their sentences. Vitellius they called
enemy and traitor, the more prudent confining themselves to such vague
generalities. A few ventured to fling the truth at him, but they
always chose a moment of uproar when a great many people were all
shouting at once, or else they talked so loud and fast as to drown
their own words.
Another cause of alarm was the various portents vouched for by 86
many witnesses. In the Capitoline Square, it was said, the figure of
Victory had let the reins of her chariot slip from her hands: a ghost
of superhuman size had suddenly burst out of the chapel of Juno:[182]
a statue of the sainted Julius on the island in the Tiber had, on a
fine, still day, turned round from the west and faced the east: an ox
had spoken in Etruria: animals had given birth to strange monsters.
Many were the stories of these occurrences, which in primitive ages
are observed even in time of peace, though now we only hear of them in
time of panic. But the greatest damage at the moment, and the greatest
alarm for the future, was caused by a sudden rising of the Tiber.
Immensely swollen, it carried away the bridge on piles,[183] and, its
current being stemmed by the heavy ruins, it flooded not only the
flat, low-lying portions of the city, but also districts that seemed
safe from inundation. Many people were swept away in the streets,
still more were overtaken by the flood in shops or in their beds at
home. The result was a famine, since food was scarce,[184] and the
poor were deprived of their means of livelihood. Blocks of flats, the
foundations of which had rotted in the standing water, collapsed when
the river sank. No sooner had the panic caused by the flood subsided
than it was found that, whereas Otho was preparing an expedition, its
route over the Martian Plain and up the Flaminian Road was blocked.
Though probably caused by chance, or the course of Nature, this mishap
was turned into a miraculous omen of impending disaster.
FOOTNOTES:
[152] Chap. 45.
[153] Cp. note 46.
[154] A much-frequented watering-place on the borders of
Latium and Campania. The hot baths were considered good for
hysteria.
[155] Cp. chap. 7.
[156] Dio and Suetonius both say that Otho offered to share
the empire with Vitellius, and the latter adds that he
proposed for the hand of Vitellius' daughter. Tacitus here
follows Plutarch.
[157] Chap. 19.
[158] As a matter of fact, only twelve days before. It was on
the 2nd or 3rd of January that the troops of Lower and Upper
Germany proclaimed Vitellius. Galba fell to Otho on January
15.
[159] L. Salvius Otho Titianus, Otho's elder brother.
[160] There were two legions in Dalmatia, two in Pannonia,
three in Moesia, and two in Spain (see Summary, note 3).
[161] Cp. chap. 8.
[162] This included Savoy, Dauphiné, part of Provence or
Languedoc.
[163] Legs. V Macedonica, X Fretensis, XV Apollinaris.
[164] IV Scythica, VI Ferrata, XII Fulminata, and III Gallica.
[165] Since Claudius the great imperial bureaux, the posts of
private secretary, patronage-secretary, financial secretary,
&c. , had all been held by freedmen. Cp. chap. 58.
[166] Otho and Titianus would naturally have held it for four
months.
[167] Vopiscus presumably came from Vienne, which had espoused
the cause first of Vindex, then of Galba. Cp. chap. 65.
[168] Not to be confused with Vespasian's brother.
[169] Grandfather of the Emperor Antoninus Pius.
[170] Name uncertain in MS.
[171] i. e. to be accused of 'treason' was in these days to win
public sympathy, even though the defendant were guilty of
offences under other more useful statutes.
[172] Seville and Merida.
[173] As the rest of this sentence refers to Spain and
Portugal it has been proposed to read for _Lingones Lusones_,
a Celtiberian tribe round the sources of the Tagus. The
Lingones were devoted to the cause of Vitellius. (See chap.
53, &c. )
[174] They had been thrown down by the populace, when Nero,
after divorcing Antonia, was shamed--or frightened--into
taking her back. (Cp. chap. 13. )
[175] They lived between the Dnieper and the Don, to the north
of the Sea of Azov.
[176] Gallica.
[177] This would depict him in full triumphal garb. But only
the emperor could actually hold a triumph, since it was under
his auspices that his generals fought.
[178] _Cohors civium Romanorum_. See note 130.
[179] The meaning of the title _praefectus legionis_ is
doubtful. It seems most likely to mean the same as _praefectus
castrorum_, an officer who superintended the camp and
sometimes acted as second-in-command (cp. ii. 89). The post
was one to which senior centurions could rise. At this period
they were not attached to a legion, but to a camp, where more
than one legion might be quartered. That makes the phrase here
used curious. The legion is that of the marines now stationed
in Rome (cp. chaps. 6 and 9). They appear to have joined the
mutinous Seventeenth cohort when they reached the city.
[180] About £40.
[181] The insignia of a tribunus were a tunic with a broad or
narrow stripe (accordingly as they were of senatorial or
equestrian rank), and a gold ring. A centurion carried a staff
made of a vine-branch, for disciplinary purposes.
[182] One of the three chapels in the temple of Jupiter on the
Capitoline.
[183] The pons Sublicius which led from the Velabrum to
Janiculum. It was the bridge which Horatius Cocles defended,
and a certain sanctity attached to it.
[184] Plutarch mentions that the quarter which suffered most
was that which contained the retail provision-shops.
OTHO'S PLANS
Otho had held a purification of the city[185] and meditated his 87
plans for the war. Recognizing that the Pennine and Cottian Alps and
all the other passes into Gaul were held by Vitellius, he decided to
invade Narbonese Gaul by sea. His fleet was now a strong and reliable
arm, devoted to his cause. For he had formed the full strength of a
legion out of the survivors of the Mulvian Bridge massacre,[186] whom
Galba's cruelty had kept in prison, and to all the marines he had
held out hopes of honourable service. [187] To the fleet he attached
the cohorts of the City Garrison and a large force of Guards. These
were the flower of the army and its chief strength, well able to
advise their own generals and to take good care of them. The command
of the expedition was entrusted to Antonius Novellus and Suedius
Clemens, both senior centurions,[188] and to Aemilius Pacensis, to
whom Otho had restored his commission,[189] of which Galba had
deprived him. In charge of the fleet he still retained the freedman
Moschus[190] to keep an eye on his betters. In command of the cavalry
and infantry he placed Suetonius Paulinus, Marius Celsus, and Annius
Gallus, but the man in whom he put most faith was the Prefect of the
Guards, Licinius Proculus. This officer had shown himself efficient in
garrison service, but was without any experience of warfare. He
maligned the characteristic virtues of his colleagues, Paulinus' power
of influence, Celsus' energy, Gallus' ripe judgement, and being a
knave and no fool, he easily got the better of men who were both
honest and loyal.
It was about this time that Cornelius Dolabella[191] was banished 88
to the colony of Aquinum,[192] though not kept in close or
dishonourable confinement. There was no charge against him: the stigma
upon him was his ancient name and kinship[193] to Galba. Otho issued
orders that several of the magistrates and a large number of
ex-consuls were to join the expedition, not to take part in the
campaign or to assist in any way, but simply as a friendly escort.
Among these was Lucius Vitellius, whom he treated neither as an
emperor's brother nor as the brother of an enemy, but just like
anybody else. Much anxiety was aroused for the safety of the city,
where all classes feared danger. The leading members of the senate
were old and infirm, and enervated by a long period of peace: the
aristocracy were inefficient and had forgotten how to fight: the
knights knew nothing of military service. The more they all tried to
conceal their alarm, the more obvious it became. Some of them, on the
other hand, went in for senseless display, and purchased beautiful
armour and fine horses: others procured as provisions of war elaborate
dinner-services or some other contrivance to stimulate a jaded taste.
Prudent men were concerned for the country's peace: the frivolous,
without a thought for the future, were inflated by empty hopes: a good
many, whose loss of credit made peace unwelcome, were delighted at the
general unrest, feeling safer among uncertainties. Though the 89
cares of state were too vast to arouse any interest in the masses, yet
as the price of food rose, and the whole revenue was devoted to
military purposes, the common people gradually began to realize the
evils of war. During the revolt of Vindex they had not suffered so
much. Being carried on in the provinces between the legionaries and
the natives of Gaul it was to all intents a foreign war, and the city
had not been affected. For from the time when the sainted Augustus
organized the rule of the Caesars the wars of the Roman people had
been fought in distant countries: all the anxiety and all the glory
fell to the emperor alone. Under Tiberius and Caligula the country
only suffered from the evils of peace. [194] Scribonianus' rising
against Claudius was no sooner heard of than crushed. [195] Nero had
been dethroned more by rumours and dispatches than by force of arms.
But now not only the legions and the fleet, but, as had seldom
happened before, the Guards and the City Garrison were called out for
the campaign. Behind them were the East and the West and all the
forces of the empire, material for a long war under any other
generals. An attempt was made to delay Otho's departure by pointing
out the impiety of his not having replaced the sacred shields in the
temple of Mars. [196] But delay had ruined Nero: Otho would have none
of it. And the knowledge that Caecina had already crossed the
Alps[197] acted as a further stimulus.
Accordingly, on the fourteenth of March he commended the 90
government of the country to the senate, and granted to the restored
exiles all the rest of the property confiscated by Nero which had not
yet been sold for the imperial treasury. [198] The gift was a just one,
and made a very good impression, but as a matter of fact it was
nullified by the haste with which the work of collecting the money had
been conducted. [199] He then summoned a public meeting, and, after
extolling the majesty of Rome and praising the wholehearted adherence
of the senate and people to his cause, he used very moderate language
against the Vitellian party, criticizing the legions more for folly
than treason, and making no mention of Vitellius himself. This may
have been due to his own moderation, or it may be that the writer of
the speech felt some qualms for his own safety, and therefore
refrained from insulting Vitellius. For it was generally believed that
as in strategy he took the advice of Suetonius Paulinus and Marius
Celsus, so too in political matters he employed the talents of
Galerius Trachalus. [200] Some people even thought they could
recognize Trachalus' style of oratory, fluent and sonorous, well
adapted to tickle the ears of the crowd: and as he was a popular
pleader his style was well known. The crowd's loud shouts of applause
were in the best style of flattery, excessive and insincere. Men vied
with each other in their enthusiasm and prayers for his success, much
as though they were sending off the dictator Caesar or the emperor
Augustus. Their motive was neither fear nor affection, but a sheer
passion for servility. One can see the same in households of slaves,
where each obeys his own interest and the common welfare counts for
nothing. On his departure Otho entrusted the peace of the city and the
interests of the empire to his brother Salvius Titianus.
FOOTNOTES:
[185] He would lead the victim, before sacrificing it, round
the ancient boundary of the city, and thus avert the disasters
threatened by the alarming omens detailed in the last chapter.
[186] Cp. chaps. 6 and 37.
[187] i. e. of becoming eventually a legion or praetorian cohort.
[188] Cp. note 57.
[189] The command of a cohort in the City Garrison.
[190] He had held this post under Nero and Galba. His
functions were those of steward and spy combined.
[191] He had been a rival candidate for adoption by Galba.
Vitellius had him killed (ii. 63).
[192] Aquino.
[193] It is not known what this was.
[194] Mainly connected with the elaborate system of espionage.
[195] Furius Camillus Scribonianus, governor of Dalmatia,
rebelled against Claudius, A. D. 42, and was crushed within
five days.
[196] They would be taken out on the 1st of March to be used
in the sacred dances of the Salii (the 'Dancing Priests').
Their festival lasted the whole month, and Otho started on the
14th.
[197] See chap. 70.
[198] Cp. chap. 20.
[199] Nero had put the confiscated property of political
exiles up to auction. His treasury officials had been so
prompt in selling it all off and getting the money in, that
there was very little left for Otho to restore, since he could
only give back those lots which had not been paid for.
[200] Cp. ii. 60. Quintilian alludes several times to the
extreme beauty of his voice and his commanding
delivery--better, he thinks, than that of any tragedian he had
ever seen. To read, his speeches were less effective.
BOOK II
VESPASIAN AND THE EAST
Meanwhile, on the other side of Europe, Fortune was already sowing 1
the seeds of a dynasty, the varying fortunes of which were destined to
bring at one time happiness to the country and success to its rulers,
at another misery to the country and to the rulers destruction. [201]
Before Galba's fall Titus Vespasianus had been dispatched by his
father from Judaea to Rome. [202] The ostensible reason of his journey
was to show respect to the new emperor, and to solicit some post for
which his years now fitted him. [203] However, the popular passion for
invention suggested that he had been summoned to be adopted. This
rumour was based on the fact that Galba was old and childless: the
public never wearies of appointing successors until the choice is
made. The character of Titus gave still more colour to it. He seemed
capable of filling any position. His appearance lacked neither charm
nor dignity. Vespasian's successes also and the utterances of certain
oracles further endorsed the rumour, to say nothing of the chance
occurrences which pass for omens where the wish is father to the
thought.
It was at Corinth in Achaia that Titus received the news of
Galba's murder, and was assured by people in the town that Vitellius
had declared war. In great perplexity he summoned a few of his friends
and discussed all the possibilities of the situation. If he continued
his journey to Rome he would earn no gratitude for compliments
addressed to another sovereign,[204] and would be held as a hostage
either for Vitellius or for Otho: on the other hand, if he returned to
Judaea he would inevitably offend the victor. However, the struggle
was still undecided, and the father's adherence to the successful
party would excuse the conduct of the son. Or if Vespasian himself
assumed sovereignty, they would have to plan war and forget all about
giving offence.
Such considerations held him balanced between hope and fear; but 2
ultimately hope prevailed. Some people believed that his longing to
get back to Queen Berenice[205] fired him to return. True, the young
man's fancy was attracted by Berenice, but he did not allow this to
interfere with business. Still his youth was a time of gay
self-indulgence, and he showed more restraint in his own reign than in
his father's. Accordingly he sailed along the coasts of Greece and
Asia Minor, and, skirting the seas which lay upon his left, reached
the islands of Rhodes and Cyprus, whence he made a bolder crossing to
Syria. [206] On his way he conceived a desire to visit the temple of
Venus at Paphos,[207] which is famous among all the inhabitants and
visitors. It may not be tedious to give here a short account of the
origin of this worship, the ritual of the cult, and the
shape--unparalleled elsewhere--in which the goddess is depicted.
According to an old tradition the temple was founded by King 3
Aerias, and some people maintain that the goddess bears the same name.
A more modern version states that the temple was consecrated by
Cinyras,[208] on the spot where the goddess landed when the sea gave
her birth. The method of divination,[209] however, according to this
account, was imported from elsewhere by the Cilician Tamiras, and an
arrangement was made that the descendants of both families should
preside over the rites. Later, however, it seemed wrong that the royal
line should have no prerogative, so the descendants of the
foreigner[210] resigned the practice of the art which they had
themselves introduced, and now the priest whom you consult is always
of the line of Cinyras. They accept any victim that is offered, but
males are preferred. They put most faith in kids' entrails. Blood
must not be poured on the altar, at which they offer only prayers and
fire untainted by smoke. Although the altars stand in the open air
they are never wetted by rain. The goddess is not represented in human
form; the idol is a sort of circular pyramid,[211] rising from a broad
base to a small round top, like a turning-post. The reason of this is
unknown.
Titus inspected the temple treasures and the offerings made by 4
various kings, and other curiosities which the Greek passion for
archaeology attributes to a dim antiquity. He then consulted the
oracle first about his voyage. Learning that the sea was calm, and
that no obstacles stood in his way, he sacrificed a large number of
victims, and put covert questions about his own fortunes. The priest,
whose name was Sostratus, seeing that the entrails were uniformly
favourable, and that the goddess assented to Titus' ambitious schemes,
returned at the moment a brief and ordinary reply, but afterwards
sought a private interview and revealed the future to him. So Titus
returned to his father with heightened hopes, and amid the general
anxiety of the provinces and their armies his arrival spread boundless
confidence of success.
Vespasian had already broken the back of the Jewish war. [212] Only the
siege of Jerusalem remained. That this proved a difficult and
laborious task was due rather to the high situation of the town and
the stubborn superstition of its inhabitants than to any adequate
provision enabling them to endure the hardships of the siege.
Vespasian had, as we have already stated,[213] three legions well
tried in war. Four others were under Mucianus' command. [213] Although
these had never seen war, yet their envy of the neighbouring army's
fame had banished sloth. Indeed, as the former were hardened by work
and danger, so the latter owed their ardour to their unbroken
inaction, and their shame at having no share in the war. [214] Both
generals had, besides auxiliary infantry and cavalry, foreign
fleets[215] and allied princes,[216] and a fame that rested on widely
differing claims. Vespasian was an indefatigable campaigner. He 5
headed the column, chose the camping-ground, never ceasing by night or
day to use strategy, and, if need be, the sword to thwart the enemy.
He eat what he could get, and dressed almost like a common soldier.
Indeed, save for his avarice, he matched the generals of old days.
Mucianus, on the other hand, was distinguished by his wealth and
luxury, and his general superiority to the standards of a private
person. He was the better speaker, and a skilful administrator and
statesman. Their combined qualities would have made a fine emperor,
if one could have blended their virtues and omitted their vices.
Governing as they did the neighbouring provinces of Judaea and Syria,
jealousy at first led to quarrels. However, on the death of Nero, they
forgot their dislike and joined hands. It was their friends who first
brought them together, and subsequently Titus became the chief bond of
union and for the common good suppressed their ignoble jealousy. Both
by nature and training he had charm to fascinate even such a man as
Mucianus. The tribunes and centurions and the common soldiers were
attracted, each according to his character, either by Titus'
meritorious industry or by his gay indulgence in pleasure.
Before the arrival of Titus both armies had sworn allegiance to 6
Otho. News travels fast in such cases, but civil war is a slow and
serious undertaking, and the East, after its long repose, was now for
the first time beginning to arm for it. In earlier times all the
fiercest civil wars broke out in Italy or Cisalpine Gaul among the
forces of the West. Pompey, Cassius, Brutus, and Antony all courted
disaster by carrying the war oversea. Syria and Judaea often heard of
Caesars, but seldom saw one. There were no mutinies among the
soldiers. They merely made demonstrations against Parthia with varying
success. Even in the last civil war[217] the peace of these provinces
had been untroubled by the general confusion. Later they were loyal to
Galba. But when they heard that Otho and Vitellius were engaged in a
wicked contest for the possession of the Roman world, the troops
began to chafe at the thought that the prizes of empire should fall to
others, while their own lot was mere compulsory submission. They began
to take stock of their strength. Syria and Judaea had seven legions on
the spot with a vast force of auxiliaries. Next came Egypt with two
legions:[218] beyond lay Cappadocia and Pontus, and all the forts
along the Armenian frontier. Asia and the remaining provinces were
rich and thickly populated. As for the islands, their girdle of sea
was safe from the enemy and aided the prosecution of the war.
The generals were well aware of the soldiers' feelings, but decided 7
to await the issue between Vitellius and Otho. 'In civil war,' they
reckoned, 'there are no sure ties to unite victor and vanquished. It
matters little which survives: even good generals are corrupted by
success: as for Otho and Vitellius, their troops are quarrelsome,
lazy, and luxurious, and they are both the victims of their own vices.
One will fall on the field and the other succumb to his success. ' So
Vespasian and Mucianus postponed their attack for the present. They
were themselves recent converts to the project of war, which the
others[219] had long fostered from various motives. The better sort
were animated by patriotism, many by mere love of plunder, some by the
uncertainty of their own fortunes. Thus, though their motives
differed, all, good and bad alike, agreed in their eager desire for
war.
About this time Achaia and Asia were thrown into 8 a groundless panic
by a rumour that 'Nero was at hand'. The accounts of his death being
many and various, people were all the more inclined to allege and to
believe that he was still alive. We shall mention in the course of
this work the attempts and the fate of the other pretenders. [220] This
time it was a slave from Pontus, or, according to other traditions, a
freedman from Italy. His skill as a singer and harpist, combined with
his facial resemblance to Nero, gave him some credentials for
imposture. He bribed some penniless and vagabond deserters by dazzling
promises to join him, and they all set out to sea. A storm drove them
on to the island of Cythnus,[221] where he found some troops homeward
bound on leave from the East. Some of these he enrolled, killing all
who resisted, and then proceeded to plunder the local merchants and
arm all the sturdiest of the slaves. Finding a centurion named Sisenna
carrying home a pair of silver hands[222] as a token of alliance from
the army in Syria to the Household Guards, he tried by various devices
to seduce him, until Sisenna took fright and escaped secretly from the
island in fear of violence. Thus the panic spread. The great name of
Nero attracted many who pined for revolution and hated the existing
state of things. The rumours waxed daily, until a chance dispelled
them. Galba had entrusted the government of Galatia and 9
Pamphylia[223] to Calpurnius Asprenas, who had been granted an escort
of two triremes from the fleet at Misenum. It so happened that with
these he touched at Cythnus. The rebels lost no time in appealing to
the ship's captains in the name of Nero. The pretender, assuming an
air of melancholy, appealed to 'the loyalty of his former soldiers',
and begged them to establish him in Syria or Egypt. The captains
either from sympathy or guile alleged that they must talk to their
men, and would come back when they had prepared all their minds.
However, they faithfully made a full report to Asprenas, on whose
instructions they boarded the ship and killed the impostor, whoever he
was. The man's eyes and hair and ferocious look were so remarkable
that the body was carried into Asia and thence to Rome.
FOOTNOTES:
[201] The Flavian dynasty. Vespasian and Titus brought the
happiness, Domitian the misery.
[202] Cp. i. 10.
[203] He was 30.
[204] i. e. to Galba.
[205] She was the granddaughter of Herod the Great, and lived
with her brother, Herod Agrippa (cp. chap. 81), ruler of
Peraea. They heard St. Paul at Caesarea. She had married first
her uncle, Herod Agrippa, prince of Chalcis; then Polemo II,
king of Pontus, whom she left. She was known to have visited
Titus in Rome, and he was said to have promised her marriage.
[206] i. e. across the open sea.
[207] In Cyprus.
[208] Another mythical king of Cyprus. Hesychius calls him a
son of Apollo, and Ovid makes him the father of Adonis.
[209] From the flight and cries of birds.
[210] i. e. the Tamiradae.
[211] i. e. a conical stone.
[212] Cp. v. 10.
[213] See i. 10 and 76.
[214] Reading _inexperti belli rubor_ (Andresen).
[215] Of Pontus, Syria, and Egypt.
[216] Antiochus of Commagene (between Syria and Cappadocia),
Agrippa of Peraea (east of Jordan), and Sohaemus of Sophene
(on the Upper Euphrates, round the sources of the Tigris). See
chap. 81.
[217] Which dethroned Nero.
[218] III Cyrenaica, XXII Deiotariana.
[219] Titus and their officers and friends.
[220] These accounts are lost. There was one such attempt
under Domitian and another under Titus. The Christians
expected him to re-appear as Antichrist.
[221] Thermia.
[222] See i. 54.
[223] These with Lycia at this date formed a single imperial
province.
THE TRIAL OF ANNIUS FAUSTUS
In a country so divided and tossed by frequent change of rulers 10
between liberty and licence even small events caused serious
disturbance. It happened that Vibius Crispus,[224] a man whose wealth,
influence, and ability had won him a reputation that was great rather
than good, had impeached before the senate a man of equestrian rank,
called Annius Faustus, who had been a professional informer under
Nero. The senate had recently in Galba's principate passed a
resolution authorizing the prosecution of informers. This resolution
had been variously applied from time to time, and interpreted
rigorously or leniently according as the defendant was helpless or
influential. But it still retained some terrors. Crispus, moreover,
had exerted all his powers to secure the conviction of the man who had
informed against his brother. [225] He had, in fact, induced a large
proportion of the senate to demand that Faustus should be sent to
execution undefended and unheard. However, with others, the defendant
gained a great advantage from his prosecutor's undue influence. 'We
must give him time,' they argued, 'the charges must be published:
however hateful the criminal his case must be properly heard. ' At
first this advice prevailed. The trial was postponed for a few days.
At length came the conviction of Faustus, which aroused in the country
less satisfaction than his vile character warranted. People recalled
the fact that Crispus himself had turned informer with pecuniary
profit. It was not the penalty but the prosecutor that was unpopular.
FOOTNOTES:
[224] A close friend of Vespasian, who was supposed to ply the
trade of informer (cp. iv. 41 and 43).
[225] Vibius Secundus, banished for extortion in Mauretania.
OTHO'S MEASURES OF DEFENCE
Meanwhile the war opened successfully for Otho. At his order the 11
armies of Dalmatia and Pannonia started from their base. They
comprised four legions,[226] each of which had sent forward
detachments two thousand strong. The rest followed at a short
interval: the Seventh legion raised by Galba,[227] the Eleventh and
Thirteenth, both composed of veteran troops, and the Fourteenth, which
had won great distinction by crushing the rebellion in Britain. [228]
Nero had further increased their glory by choosing them for special
service,[229] which accounts for their lasting loyalty to Nero and
their keen support of Otho. But the stronger their numbers the greater
their self-confidence and the slower their march. The cavalry and
auxiliaries preceded the main body of the legions. From Rome itself
came no mean force, five regiments of Guards with some detachments of
cavalry and the First legion. [230] To these were added an irregular
force of 2,000 gladiators,[231] a shameful assistance of which during
the civil wars even strict generals availed themselves. Annius Gallus
was placed in command of these forces with Vestricius Spurinna,[232]
and they were sent forward to hold the line of the Po. Their first
plans had failed, Caecina, whom Otho had hoped to hold within the
Gallic provinces, having already crossed the Alps. [233] Under Otho's
personal command marched picked detachments of his Body Guard and the
rest of the Household troops, together with reservists of the Guard
and a large force of marines. [234] He let no luxury either delay or
disgrace his march. In an iron breast-plate he marched on foot at the
head of his troops, looking rough and dishevelled, quite unlike his
reputation.
Fortune smiled on his first efforts. By sea his fleet held most of 12
the Italian coast right up to the foot of the Maritime Alps. To secure
these mountains and attack the province of Narbonese Gaul he had
placed in command Suedius Clemens, Antonius Novellus, and Aemilius
Pacensis. [235] Pacensis, however, was made a prisoner by his mutinous
troops: Novellus had no authority: Clemens' command rested on
popularity, and he was as greedy of battle as he was criminally blind
to insubordination. No one could have imagined they were in Italy, on
the soil of their native land. As though on foreign shores and among
an enemy's towns, they burnt, ravaged, plundered, with results all the
more horrible since no precautions had been taken against danger. The
fields were full, the houses open. The inhabitants came to meet them
with their wives and children, and were lured by the security of
peace into all the horrors of war. The Governor of the Maritime
Alps[236] at that time was Marius Maturus. He summoned the
inhabitants, whose fighting strength was ample, and proposed to resist
at the frontier the Othonians' invasion of the province. But at the
first engagement the mountaineers were cut down and dispersed. They
had assembled in random haste; they knew nothing of military service
or discipline, nothing of the glory of victory or the disgrace of
flight.
Enraged by this engagement, Otho's troops visited their 13
indignation on the town of Albintimilium. [237] The battle had brought
them no booty, for the peasants were poor and their armour worthless,
and being swift of foot, with a good knowledge of the country, they
had escaped capture. However, the soldiers sated their greed at the
expense of the innocent town. A Ligurian woman afforded a fine example
of courage which made their conduct the more odious. She had concealed
her son, and when the soldiers, who believed that she had hidden some
money as well, demanded from her under torture where she was keeping
him concealed, she pointed to her belly and replied, 'He is in
hiding. ' No subsequent tortures nor even death itself could bring her
to change that brave and noble answer.
Panic-stricken couriers brought to Fabius Valens the news that 14
Otho's fleet was threatening the province of Narbonese Gaul, which had
sworn allegiance to Vitellius. Representatives from the Roman colonies
also arrived beseeching his aid. He dispatched two cohorts of the
Tungri[238] and four troops of horse, together with the entire cavalry
regiment of the Treviri. [239] This force was put under the command of
Julius Classicus,[240] and part of it was detained in the colony of
Forum Julii,[241] since if the whole force marched inland and the
sea-board were left unprotected Otho's fleet would swoop down at once.
Twelve troops of cavalry and a picked body of auxiliaries marched
against the enemy: these were reinforced by a Ligurian cohort which
had long garrisoned this district, and a draft of five hundred
Pannonian recruits who had not yet joined their legion. [242] The
engagement began promptly. Their line was so arranged that some of the
marines, reinforced by the peasants, held the rising ground by the
sea, while the Guards filled the level space between the hills and the
shore. The fleet, acting in conjunction with the land force, was ready
to play its part in the battle, and extended a threatening front
facing the coast. The Vitellians, weaker in infantry, put their trust
in their horse. The mountaineers[243] were posted on the neighbouring
heights, and the auxiliaries massed in close order behind the cavalry.
The Treviran cavalry rashly charged the enemy, and meeting Otho's
guards in front were simultaneously assailed in the flank by the
peasants, flinging stones. This they could do well enough; and,
drafted among the regulars, they all, bold and timid alike, showed the
same courage in the hour of victory. Panic struck the defeated
Vitellians when the fleet began to harass their rear.
