Towns along the rich coast of Campania were
submerged
or
buried.
buried.
Tacitus
He had been the eye-witness of some of the
most terrible scenes: he was acquainted with all the distinguished
survivors: his political experience gave him a statesman's point of
view, and his rhetorical training a style which mirrored both the
terror of the times and his own emotion. More than any other Roman
historian he desired to tell the truth and was not fatally biassed by
prejudice. It is wrong to regard Tacitus as an 'embittered
rhetorician', an 'enemy of the Empire', a 'détracteur de
l'humanité'. [1] He was none of these. As a member of a noble, though
not an ancient, family, and as one who had completed the republican
_cursus honorum_, his sympathies were naturally senatorial. He
regretted that the days were passed when oratory was a real power and
the consuls were the twin towers of the world. But he never hoped to
see such days again. He realized that monarchy was essential to peace,
and that the price of freedom was violence and disorder. He had no
illusions about the senate. Fault and misfortune had reduced them to
nerveless servility, a luxury of self-abasement. Their meekness would
never inherit the earth. Tacitus pours scorn on the philosophic
opponents of the Principate, who while refusing to serve the emperor
and pretending to hope for the restoration of the republic, could
contribute nothing more useful than an ostentatious suicide. His own
career, and still more the career of his father-in-law Agricola,
showed that even under bad emperors a man could be great without
dishonour. Tacitus was no republican in any sense of the word, but
rather a monarchist _malgré lui_. There was nothing for it but to pray
for good emperors and put up with bad ones.
Those who decry Tacitus for prejudice against the Empire forget that
he is describing emperors who were indubitably bad. We have lost his
account of Vespasian's reign. His praise of Augustus and of Trajan was
never written. The emperors whom he depicts for us were all either
tyrannical or contemptible, or both: no floods of modern biography can
wash them white. They seemed to him to have degraded Roman life and
left no room for _virtus_ in the world. The verdict of Rome had gone
against them. So he devotes to their portraiture the venom which the
fifteen years of Domitian's reign of terror had engendered in his
heart. He was inevitably a pessimist; his ideals lay in the past; yet
he clearly shows that he had some hope of the future. Without sharing
Pliny's faith that the millennium had dawned, he admits that Nerva and
Trajan have inaugurated 'happier times' and combined monarchy with
some degree of personal freedom.
There are other reasons for the 'dark shadows' in Tacitus' work.
History to a Roman was _opus oratorium,_ a work of literary art. Truth
is a great but not a sufficient merit. The historian must be not only
_narrator_ but _ornator rerum_. He must carefully select and arrange
the incidents, compose them into an effective group, and by the power
of language make them memorable and alive. In these books Tacitus has
little but horrors to describe: his art makes them unforgettably
horrible. The same art is ready to display the beauty of courage and
self-sacrifice. But these were rarer phenomena than cowardice and
greed. It was not Tacitus, but the age, which showed a preference for
vice. Moreover, the historian's art was not to be used solely for its
own sake. All ancient history was written with a moral object; the
ethical interest predominates almost to the exclusion of all others.
Tacitus is never merely literary. The [Greek: semnotês] which Pliny
notes as the characteristic of his oratory, never lets him sparkle to
no purpose. All his pictures have a moral object 'to rescue virtue
from oblivion and restrain vice by the terror of posthumous
infamy'. [2] His prime interest is character: and when he has
conducted some skilful piece of moral diagnosis there attaches to his
verdict some of the severity of a sermon. If you want to make men
better you must uncover and scarify their sins.
Few Christian moralists deal much in eulogy, and Tacitus' diatribes
are the more frequent and the more fierce because his was the morality
not of Christ but of Rome. 'The Poor' are as dirt to him: he can stoop
to immortalize some gleam of goodness in low life, but even then his
main object is by scorn of contrast to galvanize the aristocracy into
better ways. Only in them can true _virtus_ grow. Their degradation
seems the death of goodness. Tacitus had little sympathy with the
social revolution that was rapidly completing itself, not so much
because those who rose from the masses lacked 'blood', but because
they had not been trained in the right traditions. In the decay of
Education he finds a prime cause of evil. And being a Roman--wherever
he may have been born--he inevitably feels that the decay of Roman
life must rot the world. His eyes are not really open to the Empire.
He never seems to think that in the spacious provinces to which the
old Roman virtues had taken flight, men were leading happy, useful
lives, because the strong hand of the imperial government had come to
save them from the inefficiency of aristocratic governors. This
narrowness of view accounts for much of Tacitus' pessimism.
Recognition of the atmosphere in which Tacitus wrote and the objects
at which his history aimed helps one to understand why it sometimes
disappoints modern expectations. Particular scenes are seared on our
memories: persons stand before us lit to the soul by a fierce light of
psychological analysis: we learn to loath the characteristic vices of
the time, and to understand the moral causes of Roman decadence. But
somehow the dominance of the moral interest and the frequent
interruption of the narrative by scenes of senatorial inefficiency
serve to obscure the plain sequence of events. It is difficult after a
first reading of the _Histories_ to state clearly what happened in
these two years. And this difficulty is vastly annoying to experts who
wish to trace the course of the three campaigns. Those whose interest
is not in Tacitus but in the military history of the period are
recommended to study Mr. B. W. Henderson's _Civil War and Rebellion in
the Roman Empire_, a delightful book which makes the dark places
plain. But they are not recommended to share his contempt for Tacitus
because his accounts of warfare are as bad as, for instance,
Shakespeare's. Tacitus does not describe in detail the tactics and
geography of a campaign, perhaps because he could not do so, certainly
because he did not wish to. He regarded such details as dry bones,
which no amount of literary skill could animate. His interest is in
human character. Plans of campaign throw little light on that: so they
did not interest him, or, if they did, he suppressed his interest
because he knew that his public would otherwise behave as Dr. Johnson
did when Fox talked to him of Catiline's conspiracy. 'He withdrew his
attention and thought about Tom Thumb. '
There is no worse fault in criticism than to blame a work of art for
lacking qualities to which it makes no pretension. Tacitus is not a
'bad military historian'. He is not a 'military' historian at all.
Botticelli is not a botanist, nor is Shakespeare a geographer. It is
this fault which leads critics to call Tacitus 'a stilted pleader at a
decadent bar', and to complain that his narrative of the war with
Civilis is 'made dull and unreal by speeches'--because they have not
found in Tacitus what they had no right to look for. Tacitus inserts
speeches for the same reason that he excludes tactical details. They
add to the human interest of his work. They give scope to his great
dramatic powers, to that passionate sympathy with character which
finds expression in a style as nervous as itself. They enable him to
display motives, to appraise actions, to reveal moral forces. It is
interest in human nature rather than pride of rhetoric which makes him
love a good debate.
The supreme distinction of Tacitus is, of course, his style. That is
lost in a translation. 'Hard' though his Latin is, it is not obscure.
Careful attention can always detect his exact thought. Like Meredith
he is 'hard' because he does so much with words. Neither writer leaves
any doubt about his meaning. It is therefore a translator's first duty
to be lucid, and not until that duty is done may he try by faint
flushes of epigram to reflect something of the brilliance of Tacitus'
Latin. Very faint indeed that reflection must always be: probably no
audience could be found to listen to a translation of Tacitus, yet one
feels that his Latin would challenge and hold the attention of any
audience that was not stone-deaf. But it is because Tacitus is never a
mere stylist that some of us continue in the failure to translate him.
His historical deductions and his revelations of character have their
value for every age. 'This form of history,' says Montaigne, 'is by
much the most useful . . . there are in it more precepts than stories:
it is not a book to read, 'tis a book to study and learn: 'tis full of
sententious opinions, right or wrong: 'tis a nursery of ethic and
politic discourses, for the use and ornament of those who have any
place in the government of the world. . . . His pen seems most proper for
a troubled and sick state, as ours at present is; you would often say
it is us he paints and pinches. ' Sir Henry Savile, Warden of Merton
and Provost of Eton, who translated the _Histories_ into racy
Elizabethan English at a time when the state was neither 'troubled'
nor 'sick' is as convinced as Montaigne or the theorists of the French
Revolution that Tacitus had lessons for his age. 'In Galba thou maiest
learne, that a Good Prince gouerned by evill ministers is as dangerous
as if he were evill himselfe. By Otho, that the fortune of a rash man
is _Torrenti similis_, which rises at an instant, and falles in a
moment. By Vitellius, that he that hath no vertue can neuer be happie:
for by his own baseness he will loose all, which either fortune, or
other mens labours have cast upon him. By Vespasian, that in civill
tumults an advised patience, and opportunitie well taken are the onely
weapons of advantage. In them all, and in the state of Rome under them
thou maiest see the calamities that follow civill warres, where lawes
lie asleepe, and all things are iudged by the sword. If thou mislike
their warres be thankfull for thine owne peace; if thou dost abhor
their tyrannies, love and reverence thine owne wise, iust and
excellent Prince. ' So whatever guise our age may assume, there are
lessons to be drawn from Tacitus either directly or _per contra_, and
his translators may be acquitted at a time when Latin scholarship is
no longer an essential of political eminence.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Napoleon's phrase.
[2] _Ann. _ iii. 65.
SUMMARY OF CHIEF EVENTS
I. THE FIGHT FOR THE THRONE.
A. D. 68.
_June_
9. Death of Nero.
16. Galba, Governor of Nearer Spain, declared Emperor at Clunia.
Fonteius Capito, Governor of Lower Germany, Clodius Macer,
Governor of Africa, and Nymphidius Sabinus, Prefect of the
Guard, murdered as possible rivals. Verginius Rufus, Governor
of Upper Germany, refuses to compete.
_October_
Galba enters Rome. Massacre of Marines at Mulvian Bridge.
His government controlled by Laco, Vinius, and Icelus.
A. D. 69.
_January_
1. News of mutiny in Upper Germany, now governed by Hordeonius
Flaccus.
3. The armies of Upper Germany (under Caecina) and of Lower Germany
(under Valens) salute Vitellius, Governor of Lower Germany, as
Emperor.
10. Galba adopts Piso Licinianus as his successor.
15. Otho declared Emperor in Rome and recognized by Praetorian
Guard.
Murder of Galba, Vinius, and Piso.
Otho recognized by the Senate.
_February_
The Vitellian armies are now marching on Italy: Caecina through
Switzerland and over the Great St. Bernard with Legio XXI Rapax
and detachments of IV Macedonica and XXII Primigenia: Valens
through Gaul and over Mount Genèvre with Legio V Alaudae and
detachments of I Italica, XV Primigenia, and XVI.
_March_
Caecina crosses the Alps.
Otho dispatches an advance-guard under Annius Gallus and Spurinna.
Otho starts for the Po with Suetonius Paulinus, Marius Celsus,
and Proculus.
Titianus left in charge of Rome.
Otho sends fleet to Narbonese Gaul, and orders Illyric
Legions[3] to concentrate at Aquileia.
Spurinna repulses Caecina from Placentia.
Otho's main army joins Gallus at Bedriacum.
Titianus summoned to take nominal command.
_April_
6. Battle of Locus Castorum. Caecina defeated.
Valens joins Caecina at Cremona.
15. Battle of Bedriacum. Othonian defeat.
17. Otho commits suicide at Brixellum.
19. Vitellius recognized by the Senate.
_May_
Vitellius greeted by his own and Otho's generals at Lyons.
24. Vitellius visits the battle-field of Bedriacum.
_June_
Vitellius moves slowly towards Rome with a huge retinue.
_July_
1. Vespasian, Governor of Judaea, proclaimed Emperor at Alexandria.
3. At Caesarea.
15. At Antioch.
The Eastern princes and the Illyric Legions[4] declare for
Vespasian. His chief supporters are Mucianus; Governor of Syria,
Antonius Primus commanding Leg. VII Galbiana, and Cornelius
Fuscus, Procurator of Pannonia.
Mucianus moves slowly westward with Leg. VI Ferrata and
detachments from the other Eastern legions.
Vespasian holds Egypt, Rome's granary.
Titus takes command in Judaea.
Antonius Primus with Arrius Varus hurries forward into Italy.
_August_
Vitellius vegetates in Rome.
Caecina marches to meet the invasion. (Valens aegrotat. ) His
Legions are I, IV Macedonica, XV Primigenia, XVI, V Alaudae,
XXII Primigenia, I Italica, XXI Rapax, and detachments from
Britain.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] i. e. in Pannonia Legs. VII Galbiana and XIII Gemina; in
Dalmatia XI Claudia and XIV Gemina; in Moesia III Gallica, VII
Claudia, VIII Augusta.
[4] See note above.
NOTE
The text followed is that of C. D. Fisher (_Oxford Classical Texts_).
Departures from it are mentioned in the notes.
BOOK I
PREFACE
[A. D. 69. ] I propose to begin my narrative with the second 1
consulship of Servius Galba, in which Titus Vinius was his colleague.
Many historians have dealt with the 820 years of the earlier period
beginning with the foundation of Rome, and the story of the Roman
Republic has been told with no less ability than truth. After the
Battle of Actium, when the interests of peace were served by the
centralization of all authority in the hands of one man, there
followed a dearth of literary ability, and at the same time truth
suffered more and more, partly from ignorance of politics, which were
no longer a citizen's concern, partly from the growing taste for
flattery or from hatred of the ruling house. So between malice on one
side and servility on the other the interests of posterity were
neglected. But historians find that a tone of flattery soon incurs the
stigma of servility and earns for them the contempt of their readers,
whereas people readily open their ears to the criticisms of envy,
since malice makes a show of independence. Of Galba, Otho, and
Vitellius, I have known nothing either to my advantage or my hurt. I
cannot deny that I originally owed my position to Vespasian, or that I
was advanced by Titus and still further promoted by Domitian;[5] but
professing, as I do, unbiassed honesty, I must speak of no man either
with hatred or affection. I have reserved for my old age, if life is
spared to me, the reigns of the sainted Nerva and of the Emperor
Trajan, which afford a richer and withal a safer theme:[6] for it is
the rare fortune of these days that a man may think what he likes and
say what he thinks.
The story I now commence is rich in vicissitudes, grim with 2
warfare, torn by civil strife, a tale of horror even during times of
peace. It tells of four emperors slain by the sword, three several
civil wars, an even larger number of foreign wars and some that were
both at once: successes in the East, disaster in the West, disturbance
in Illyricum, disaffection in the provinces of Gaul, the conquest of
Britain and its immediate loss, the rising of the Sarmatian and Suebic
tribes. It tells how Dacia had the privilege of exchanging blows with
Rome, and how a pretender claiming to be Nero almost deluded the
Parthians into declaring war. Now too Italy was smitten with new
disasters, or disasters it had not witnessed for a long period of
years.
Towns along the rich coast of Campania were submerged or
buried. The city was devastated by fires, ancient temples were
destroyed, and the Capitol itself was fired by Roman hands. Sacred
rites were grossly profaned, and there were scandals in high
places. [7] The sea swarmed with exiles and the island cliffs[8] were
red with blood. Worse horrors reigned in the city. To be rich or
well-born was a crime: men were prosecuted for holding or for refusing
office: merit of any kind meant certain ruin. Nor were the Informers
more hated for their crimes than for their prizes: some carried off a
priesthood or the consulship as their spoil, others won offices and
influence in the imperial household: the hatred and fear they inspired
worked universal havoc. Slaves were bribed against their masters,
freedmen against their patrons, and, if a man had no enemies, he was
ruined by his friends.
However, the period was not so utterly barren as to yield no 3
examples of heroism. There were mothers who followed their sons, and
wives their husbands into exile: one saw here a kinsman's courage and
there a son-in-law's devotion: slaves obstinately faithful even on the
rack: distinguished men bravely facing the utmost straits and matching
in their end the famous deaths of older times. Besides these manifold
disasters to mankind there were portents in the sky and on the earth,
thunderbolts and other premonitions of good and of evil, some
doubtful, some obvious. Indeed never has it been proved by such
terrible disasters to Rome or by such clear evidence that Providence
is concerned not with our peace of mind but rather with vengeance for
our sin.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] To Vespasian Tacitus probably owed his quaestorship and a
seat in the senate; to Titus his tribunate of the people; to
Domitian the praetorship and a 'fellowship' of one of the
great priestly colleges, whose special function was the
supervision of foreign cults. This last accounts for Tacitus'
interest in strange religions.
[6] This project, also foreshadowed in _Agricola_ iii, was
never completed.
[7] Referring in particular to the scandals among the Vestal
Virgins and to Domitian's relations with his niece Julia.
[8] i. e. the Aegean islands, such as Seriphus, Gyarus,
Amorgus, where those in disfavour were banished and often
murdered.
THE STATE OF THE EMPIRE
Before I commence my task, it seems best to go back and consider 4
the state of affairs in the city, the temper of the armies, the
condition of the provinces, and to determine the elements of strength
and weakness in the different quarters of the Roman world. By this
means we may see not only the actual course of events, which is
largely governed by chance, but also why and how they occurred.
The death of Nero, after the first outburst of joy with which it was
greeted, soon aroused conflicting feelings not only among the
senators, the people, and the soldiers in the city, but also among the
generals and their troops abroad. It had divulged a secret of state:
an emperor could be made elsewhere than at Rome. Still the senate was
satisfied. They had immediately taken advantage of their liberty and
were naturally emboldened against a prince who was new to the throne
and, moreover, absent. The highest class of the knights[9] seconded
the senate's satisfaction. Respectable citizens, who were attached as
clients or freedmen to the great families, and had seen their patrons
condemned or exiled, now revived their hopes. The lowest classes, who
had grown familiar with the pleasures of the theatre and the circus,
the most degraded of the slaves, and Nero's favourites who had
squandered their property and lived on his discreditable bounty, all
showed signs of depression and an eager greed for news.
The troops in the city[10] had long been inured to the allegiance 5
of the Caesars, and it was more by the pressure of intrigue than of
their own inclination that they came to desert Nero. They soon
realized that the donation promised in Galba's name was not to be paid
to them, and that peace would not, like war, offer opportunity for
great services and rich rewards. Since they also saw that the new
emperor's favour had been forestalled by the army which proclaimed
him, they were ripe for revolution and were further instigated by
their rascally Praefect Nymphidius Sabinus, who was plotting to be
emperor himself. His design was as a matter of fact detected and
quashed, but, though the ringleader was removed, many of the troops
still felt conscious of their treason and could be heard commenting on
Galba's senility and avarice. His austerity--a quality once admired
and set high in soldiers' estimation--only annoyed troops whose
contempt for the old methods of discipline had been fostered by
fourteen years of service under Nero. They had come to love the
emperors' vices as much as they once reverenced their virtues in older
days. Moreover Galba had let fall a remark, which augured well for
Rome, though it spelt danger to himself. 'I do not buy my soldiers,'
he said, 'I select them. ' And indeed, as things then stood, his words
sounded incongruous.
FOOTNOTES:
[9] Probably those who owned one million sesterces, the
property qualification for admission to the senate.
[10] This includes 'The Guards' (_cohortes praetoriae_) and
'The City Garrison' (_cohortes urbanae_), and possibly also
the _cohortes vigilum_, who were a sort of police corps and
fire brigade.
GALBA'S POSITION
Galba was old and ill. Of his two lieutenants Titus Vinius was the 6
vilest of men and Cornelius Laco the laziest. Hated as he was for
Vinius' crimes and despised for Laco's inefficiency, between them
Galba soon came to ruin. His march from Spain was slow and stained
with bloodshed. He executed Cingonius Varro, the consul-elect, and
Petronius Turpilianus, an ex-consul, the former as an accomplice of
Nymphidius, the latter as one of Nero's generals. They were both
denied any opportunity of a hearing or defence--and might as well have
been innocent. On his arrival at Rome the butchery of thousands of
unarmed soldiers[11] gave an ill omen to his entry, and alarmed even
the men who did the slaughter. The city was filled with strange
troops. A legion had been brought from Spain,[12] and the regiment of
marines enrolled by Nero still remained. [11] Moreover there were
several detachments from Germany, Britain, and Illyricum,[13] which
had been selected by Nero, dispatched to the Caspian Pass[14] for the
projected war against the Albanians, and subsequently recalled to aid
in crushing the revolt of Vindex. [15] These were all fine fuel for a
revolution, and, although their favour centred on nobody in
particular, there they were at the disposal of any one who had
enterprise.
It happened by chance that the news of the death of Clodius Macer 7
and of Fonteius Capito arrived in Rome simultaneously. Macer,[16] who
was undoubtedly raising a disturbance in Africa, was put to death by
the imperial agent Trebonius Garutianus, acting under Galba's orders:
Capito[17] had made a similar attempt in Germany and was killed by two
officers, Cornelius Aquinus and Fabius Valens, without waiting for
instructions. While Capito had a foul reputation for extortion and
loose living, some people yet believed that he had withheld his hand
from treason. His officers, they supposed, had urged him to declare
war, and, when they could not persuade him, had gone on to charge him
falsely with their own offence,[18] while Galba from weakness of
character, or perhaps because he was afraid to inquire too far,
approved what had happened for good or for ill, since it was past
alteration. At any rate both executions were unpopular. Now that Galba
was disliked, everything he did, whether right or wrong, made him more
unpopular. His freedmen were all-powerful: money could do anything:
the slaves were thirsting for an upheaval, and with so elderly an
emperor were naturally expecting to see one soon. The evils of the new
court were those of the old, and while equally oppressive were not so
easily excused. Even Galba's age seemed comic and despicable to a
populace that was used to the young Nero and compared the emperors, as
such people will, in point of looks and personal attraction.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] i. e. the marines, whom Nero had formed into a reserve
force (Legio I Adiutrix). They had met Galba at the Mulvian
Bridge, probably with a petition for service in the Line.
[12] Legio VII Galbiana, sent later to Pannonia.
[13] Illyricum included all the Danube provinces.
[14] The Pass of Dariel over the centre of the Caucasus. The
Albanians lay to the east of its southern end, on the
south-west coast of the Caspian.
[15] Vindex, Pro-praetor in the Lyons division of Gaul, had
revolted against Nero early in the year 68 and offered his
support to Galba, then governor of the Tarragona division of
Spain. He was defeated by Verginius Rufus, commanding the
forces in Upper Germany, and committed suicide. Verginius
afterwards declared for Galba, though his troops wanted to
make him emperor. Cp. chap. 8.
[16] Clodius Macer commanded Legio III Augusta and governed
Numidia, which Tiberius at the end of his reign had detached
from the pro-consulate of Africa.
[17] Governor of Lower Germany. See chap. 58 and iii. 62.
[18] Cp. chap. 58.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF FORCES
Such then at Rome was the variety of feeling natural in so vast a 8
population. To turn to the provinces abroad: Spain was under the
command of Cluvius Rufus, a man of great eloquence, and more skilled
in the arts of peace than of war. [19] The Gallic provinces had not
forgotten Vindex: moreover, they were bound to Galba by his recent
grant of Roman citizenship and his rebate of their tribute for the
future. The tribes, however, which lay nearest to the armies stationed
in Germany had not received these honours: some even had lost part of
their territory and were equally aggrieved at the magnitude of their
own injuries and of their neighbours' benefits. The troops in Germany
were proud of their recent victory, indignant at their treatment and
perplexed by a nervous consciousness that they had supported the wrong
side: a very dangerous state for so strong a force to be in. They had
been slow to desert Nero, and Verginius[20] did not immediately
declare for Galba. Whether he really did not want the throne is
doubtful: without question his soldiers made him the offer. The death
of Fonteius Capito aroused the indignation even of those who had no
right to complain. However, they still lacked a leader: Galba had sent
for Verginius under a pretence of friendship, and, when he was not
allowed to return and was even charged with treachery, the soldiers
considered his case their own.
The army of Upper Germany felt no respect for their commander, 9
Hordeonius Flaccus. [21] Weakened by age and an affection of the feet
he was without resolution or authority, and could not have controlled
the mildest troops. These fiery spirits were only the further inflamed
when they felt such a weak hand on the reins. The legions of Lower
Germany had been for some time without a commander,[22] until Aulus
Vitellius appeared. He was the son of the Lucius Vitellius who had
been censor and thrice consul,[23] and Galba thought this sufficient
to impress the troops. The army in Britain showed no bad feeling. All
through the disturbance of the civil wars no troops kept cleaner
hands. This may have been because they were so far away and severed by
the sea, or perhaps frequent engagements had taught them to keep their
rancour for the enemy. Quiet ruled in Illyricum also, although the
legions, which had been summoned by Nero,[24] while lingering in Italy
had made overtures to Verginius. But the armies lay far apart, always
a sound assistance to the maintenance of military discipline, since
the men could neither share vices nor join forces.
The East was still untroubled. Licinius Mucianus held Syria with 10
four legions. [25] He was a man who was always famous, whether in good
fortune or in bad. As a youth he was ambitious and cultivated the
friendship of the great. Later he found himself in straitened
circumstances and a very ambiguous position, and, suspecting Claudius'
displeasure, he withdrew into the wilds of Asia, where he came as near
to being an exile as afterwards to being an emperor. He was a strange
mixture of good and bad, of luxury and industry, courtesy and
arrogance. In leisure he was self-indulgent, but full of vigour on
service. His outward behaviour was praiseworthy, though ill was spoken
of his private life. However, with those who were under him or near
him, and with his colleagues he gained great influence by various
devices, and seems to have been the sort of man who would more readily
make an emperor than be one.
The Jewish war was being conducted by Flavius Vespasianus--appointed
by Nero--with three legions. [26] He had no ill-will against Galba, and
nothing to hope from his fall. Indeed he had sent his son Titus to
carry his compliments and offer allegiance, an incident we must
reserve for its proper place. [27] It was only after Vespasian's rise
that Roman society came to believe in the mysterious movings of
Providence, and supposed that portents and oracles had predestined the
throne for him and his family.
Of Egypt and its garrison, ever since the days of the sainted 11
Augustus, the knights of Rome have been uncrowned kings. [28] The
province being difficult to reach, rich in crops, torn and tossed by
fanaticism and sedition, ignorant of law, unused to bureaucratic
government, it seemed wiser to keep it in the control of the
Household. [29] The governor at that date was Tiberius Alexander,
himself a native of Egypt. [30] Africa and its legions, now that
Clodius Macer had been executed,[31] were ready to put up with any
ruler after their experience of a petty master. The two Mauretanias,
Raetia, Noricum, Thrace, and the other provinces governed by
procurators had their sympathies determined by the neighbourhood of
troops, and always caught their likes or dislikes from the strongest
army. The ungarrisoned provinces, and chief amongst these Italy, were
destined to be the prize of war, and lay at the mercy of any master.
Such was the state of the Roman world when Servius Galba, consul for
the second time, and Titus Vinius his colleague, inaugurated the year
which was to be their last, and almost the last for the commonwealth
of Rome.
FOOTNOTES:
[19] He wrote a history of his own time, which was one of
Tacitus' chief authorities.
[20] See note 17.
[21] Verginius' successor.
[22] Since Capito's death, chap. 7.
[23] He died in A. D. 54. In the censorship and in two of his
consulships he had been Claudius' colleague.
[24] For the war with Vindex.
[25] See note 164. The fourth legion is III Gallica,
afterwards moved into Moesia.
[26] See note 163.
[27] ii. 1.
[28] Cp. _Ann. _, ii. 59. 'Amongst other secret principles of
his imperial policy, Augustus had put Egypt in a position by
itself, forbidding all senators and knights of the highest
class to enter that country without his permission. For Egypt
holds the key, as it were, both of sea and land' (tr. Ramsay).
Cp. iii. 8.
[29] i. e. to govern it by the emperor's private agents. The
province was regarded as part of the emperor's estate
(patrimonium). This post was the highest in the imperial
service.
[30] A member of a Jewish family settled in Alexandria and
thus entitled to Roman citizenship. He was a nephew of the
historian Philo; had been Procurator of Judaea and chief of
Corbulo's staff in Armenia.
[31] See chap. 7.
THE GERMAN REVOLT AND THE ADOPTION OF PISO
A few days after the first of January a dispatch arrived from 12
Belgica, in which Pompeius Propinquus,[32] the imperial agent,
announced that the legions of Upper Germany had broken their oath of
allegiance and were clamouring for a new emperor, but that by way of
tempering their treason they referred the final choice to the Senate
and People of Rome. Galba had already been deliberating and seeking
advice as to the adoption of a successor, and this occurrence hastened
his plans. During all these months this question formed the current
subject of gossip throughout the country; Galba was far spent in years
and the general propensity for such a topic knew no check. Few people
showed sound judgement or any spirit of patriotism. Many were
influenced by foolish hopes and spread self-interested rumours
pointing to some friend or patron, thereby also gratifying their
hatred for Titus Vinius,[33] whose unpopularity waxed daily with his
power. Galba's affability only served to strengthen the gaping
ambition of his newly powerful friends, for his weakness and credulity
halved the risk and doubled the reward of treason.
The real power of the throne was divided between the consul, Titus 13
Vinius, and Cornelius Laco, the prefect of the Guards; and an
influence as great was enjoyed by Icelus, one of Galba's freedmen, who
had been given the gold ring[34] and was now greeted by the name of
Marcianus. These three ordinarily disagreed, and followed each his own
interest in smaller matters: on the question of the succession they
fell into two camps. Vinius was for Marcus Otho. Laco and Icelus were
agreed not so much on any one as on any other. Galba was aware of the
friendship between Otho and Vinius. Otho was a bachelor and Vinius had
an unmarried daughter: so gossip, never reticent, pointed to them as
father and son-in-law. Galba, one may suppose, felt some concern for
his country, too. Why take the throne from Nero, if it was to be left
to Otho? Otho had led a careless boyhood and a dissolute youth, and
endeared himself to Nero by aping his vices. Thus it was to Otho, as
being already in the secret, that Nero entrusted his favourite
mistress, Poppaea Sabina,[35] until he could get rid of Octavia. Later
he grew jealous and removed Otho to the province of Lusitania under
cover of a governorship. Otho had been popular in his administration
of the province, and was one of the first to join Galba's party. Being
a man of action and one of the most distinguished of Galba's officers
in the war, when once he had conceived the hope of succeeding him, he
eagerly indulged it. Most of the soldiers were on his side and the
Court supported him as Nero's double.
After receiving the news of the German revolt, although Galba knew 14
nothing for certain of Vitellius' plans, he was fearful to what
lengths the outbreak of the troops might go; so, being unable to trust
the troops in the city,[36] he had recourse to what seemed his sole
remedy and held an Imperial Election. Besides Vinius and Laco he
summoned Marius Celsus, consul-elect and the City-Prefect Ducenius
Geminus. [37] After prefacing a few words about his own advanced age he
ordered Piso Licinianus[38] to be sent for, either on his own
initiative, or, as some believed, at the instance of Laco. Laco had
met Piso at Rubellius Plautus' house and they had formed a friendship,
but he cunningly pretended that he was supporting a stranger, and
Piso's good repute gave colour to this policy. Piso was a noble on
both sides, being the son of Marcus Crassus and Scribonia. There was
an old-world austerity in his face and bearing, and just critics spoke
of his strict morality: people who took a less favourable view thought
him soured. But while those who disliked this side of his character
carped at it, it was a recommendation in the eyes of the emperor who
intended to adopt him.
Galba is said to have taken Piso's hand and addressed him as 15
follows: 'Were I a private citizen, and were I to adopt you in the
presence of the Priests by the usual formality of a curial
statute,[39] it would be an honour for me to introduce into my family
a descendant of Cnaeus Pompeius and of Marcus Crassus, and for you it
would be a distinction to add to your noble ancestry the glories of
the Sulpician and Lutatian houses. [40] As it is, I have been called by
the consent of gods and men to be an emperor. Your distinguished
qualities and your patriotism have persuaded me to offer to you
peacefully and quietly the throne for which our ancestors fought on
the field of battle,[41] and which I too won by war. In so doing I am
following the precedent set by the sainted Augustus, who raised to the
rank next himself first his nephew Marcellus, then his son-in-law
Agrippa, then his daughter's sons,[42] and finally his stepson
Tiberius Nero. However, while Augustus looked for a successor in his
own family, I have searched throughout the country. Not that I lack
either kinsmen or supporters, but it was by no favour of birth that I
myself came to the throne, and, to prove my policy in this matter,
consider how I have passed over not only my own relatives but yours.
You have an elder brother,[43] as noble as yourself. He would have
been worthy of this position, but you are worthier. You are old enough
to have outlived youthful passions. Your life has been such that you
have nothing in your past to excuse. So far you have only experienced
misfortune. Prosperity probes the heart with a keener touch; misery
only calls for patience, but there is corruption in success. Honesty,
candour, and affection are the best of human qualities, and doubtless
you yourself have enough character to retain them. But the
complaisance of others will weaken your character. Flattery and
servile compliments will break down its defences and self-interest
too, the bane of all sincerity. What though you and I can talk plainly
with each other to-day? Others will address themselves not to us but
to our fortunes. To persuade an emperor what he ought to do is a
laborious task: any one can flatter him without a spark of sincerity.
'If the vast bulk of this empire could stand and keep its balance 16
without a guiding hand, the Republic might well have dated its birth
from me. As it is, things have long ago come to such a pass that
neither I in my old age can give the Roman people any better gift than
a good successor, nor you in your prime anything better than a good
emperor.
most terrible scenes: he was acquainted with all the distinguished
survivors: his political experience gave him a statesman's point of
view, and his rhetorical training a style which mirrored both the
terror of the times and his own emotion. More than any other Roman
historian he desired to tell the truth and was not fatally biassed by
prejudice. It is wrong to regard Tacitus as an 'embittered
rhetorician', an 'enemy of the Empire', a 'détracteur de
l'humanité'. [1] He was none of these. As a member of a noble, though
not an ancient, family, and as one who had completed the republican
_cursus honorum_, his sympathies were naturally senatorial. He
regretted that the days were passed when oratory was a real power and
the consuls were the twin towers of the world. But he never hoped to
see such days again. He realized that monarchy was essential to peace,
and that the price of freedom was violence and disorder. He had no
illusions about the senate. Fault and misfortune had reduced them to
nerveless servility, a luxury of self-abasement. Their meekness would
never inherit the earth. Tacitus pours scorn on the philosophic
opponents of the Principate, who while refusing to serve the emperor
and pretending to hope for the restoration of the republic, could
contribute nothing more useful than an ostentatious suicide. His own
career, and still more the career of his father-in-law Agricola,
showed that even under bad emperors a man could be great without
dishonour. Tacitus was no republican in any sense of the word, but
rather a monarchist _malgré lui_. There was nothing for it but to pray
for good emperors and put up with bad ones.
Those who decry Tacitus for prejudice against the Empire forget that
he is describing emperors who were indubitably bad. We have lost his
account of Vespasian's reign. His praise of Augustus and of Trajan was
never written. The emperors whom he depicts for us were all either
tyrannical or contemptible, or both: no floods of modern biography can
wash them white. They seemed to him to have degraded Roman life and
left no room for _virtus_ in the world. The verdict of Rome had gone
against them. So he devotes to their portraiture the venom which the
fifteen years of Domitian's reign of terror had engendered in his
heart. He was inevitably a pessimist; his ideals lay in the past; yet
he clearly shows that he had some hope of the future. Without sharing
Pliny's faith that the millennium had dawned, he admits that Nerva and
Trajan have inaugurated 'happier times' and combined monarchy with
some degree of personal freedom.
There are other reasons for the 'dark shadows' in Tacitus' work.
History to a Roman was _opus oratorium,_ a work of literary art. Truth
is a great but not a sufficient merit. The historian must be not only
_narrator_ but _ornator rerum_. He must carefully select and arrange
the incidents, compose them into an effective group, and by the power
of language make them memorable and alive. In these books Tacitus has
little but horrors to describe: his art makes them unforgettably
horrible. The same art is ready to display the beauty of courage and
self-sacrifice. But these were rarer phenomena than cowardice and
greed. It was not Tacitus, but the age, which showed a preference for
vice. Moreover, the historian's art was not to be used solely for its
own sake. All ancient history was written with a moral object; the
ethical interest predominates almost to the exclusion of all others.
Tacitus is never merely literary. The [Greek: semnotês] which Pliny
notes as the characteristic of his oratory, never lets him sparkle to
no purpose. All his pictures have a moral object 'to rescue virtue
from oblivion and restrain vice by the terror of posthumous
infamy'. [2] His prime interest is character: and when he has
conducted some skilful piece of moral diagnosis there attaches to his
verdict some of the severity of a sermon. If you want to make men
better you must uncover and scarify their sins.
Few Christian moralists deal much in eulogy, and Tacitus' diatribes
are the more frequent and the more fierce because his was the morality
not of Christ but of Rome. 'The Poor' are as dirt to him: he can stoop
to immortalize some gleam of goodness in low life, but even then his
main object is by scorn of contrast to galvanize the aristocracy into
better ways. Only in them can true _virtus_ grow. Their degradation
seems the death of goodness. Tacitus had little sympathy with the
social revolution that was rapidly completing itself, not so much
because those who rose from the masses lacked 'blood', but because
they had not been trained in the right traditions. In the decay of
Education he finds a prime cause of evil. And being a Roman--wherever
he may have been born--he inevitably feels that the decay of Roman
life must rot the world. His eyes are not really open to the Empire.
He never seems to think that in the spacious provinces to which the
old Roman virtues had taken flight, men were leading happy, useful
lives, because the strong hand of the imperial government had come to
save them from the inefficiency of aristocratic governors. This
narrowness of view accounts for much of Tacitus' pessimism.
Recognition of the atmosphere in which Tacitus wrote and the objects
at which his history aimed helps one to understand why it sometimes
disappoints modern expectations. Particular scenes are seared on our
memories: persons stand before us lit to the soul by a fierce light of
psychological analysis: we learn to loath the characteristic vices of
the time, and to understand the moral causes of Roman decadence. But
somehow the dominance of the moral interest and the frequent
interruption of the narrative by scenes of senatorial inefficiency
serve to obscure the plain sequence of events. It is difficult after a
first reading of the _Histories_ to state clearly what happened in
these two years. And this difficulty is vastly annoying to experts who
wish to trace the course of the three campaigns. Those whose interest
is not in Tacitus but in the military history of the period are
recommended to study Mr. B. W. Henderson's _Civil War and Rebellion in
the Roman Empire_, a delightful book which makes the dark places
plain. But they are not recommended to share his contempt for Tacitus
because his accounts of warfare are as bad as, for instance,
Shakespeare's. Tacitus does not describe in detail the tactics and
geography of a campaign, perhaps because he could not do so, certainly
because he did not wish to. He regarded such details as dry bones,
which no amount of literary skill could animate. His interest is in
human character. Plans of campaign throw little light on that: so they
did not interest him, or, if they did, he suppressed his interest
because he knew that his public would otherwise behave as Dr. Johnson
did when Fox talked to him of Catiline's conspiracy. 'He withdrew his
attention and thought about Tom Thumb. '
There is no worse fault in criticism than to blame a work of art for
lacking qualities to which it makes no pretension. Tacitus is not a
'bad military historian'. He is not a 'military' historian at all.
Botticelli is not a botanist, nor is Shakespeare a geographer. It is
this fault which leads critics to call Tacitus 'a stilted pleader at a
decadent bar', and to complain that his narrative of the war with
Civilis is 'made dull and unreal by speeches'--because they have not
found in Tacitus what they had no right to look for. Tacitus inserts
speeches for the same reason that he excludes tactical details. They
add to the human interest of his work. They give scope to his great
dramatic powers, to that passionate sympathy with character which
finds expression in a style as nervous as itself. They enable him to
display motives, to appraise actions, to reveal moral forces. It is
interest in human nature rather than pride of rhetoric which makes him
love a good debate.
The supreme distinction of Tacitus is, of course, his style. That is
lost in a translation. 'Hard' though his Latin is, it is not obscure.
Careful attention can always detect his exact thought. Like Meredith
he is 'hard' because he does so much with words. Neither writer leaves
any doubt about his meaning. It is therefore a translator's first duty
to be lucid, and not until that duty is done may he try by faint
flushes of epigram to reflect something of the brilliance of Tacitus'
Latin. Very faint indeed that reflection must always be: probably no
audience could be found to listen to a translation of Tacitus, yet one
feels that his Latin would challenge and hold the attention of any
audience that was not stone-deaf. But it is because Tacitus is never a
mere stylist that some of us continue in the failure to translate him.
His historical deductions and his revelations of character have their
value for every age. 'This form of history,' says Montaigne, 'is by
much the most useful . . . there are in it more precepts than stories:
it is not a book to read, 'tis a book to study and learn: 'tis full of
sententious opinions, right or wrong: 'tis a nursery of ethic and
politic discourses, for the use and ornament of those who have any
place in the government of the world. . . . His pen seems most proper for
a troubled and sick state, as ours at present is; you would often say
it is us he paints and pinches. ' Sir Henry Savile, Warden of Merton
and Provost of Eton, who translated the _Histories_ into racy
Elizabethan English at a time when the state was neither 'troubled'
nor 'sick' is as convinced as Montaigne or the theorists of the French
Revolution that Tacitus had lessons for his age. 'In Galba thou maiest
learne, that a Good Prince gouerned by evill ministers is as dangerous
as if he were evill himselfe. By Otho, that the fortune of a rash man
is _Torrenti similis_, which rises at an instant, and falles in a
moment. By Vitellius, that he that hath no vertue can neuer be happie:
for by his own baseness he will loose all, which either fortune, or
other mens labours have cast upon him. By Vespasian, that in civill
tumults an advised patience, and opportunitie well taken are the onely
weapons of advantage. In them all, and in the state of Rome under them
thou maiest see the calamities that follow civill warres, where lawes
lie asleepe, and all things are iudged by the sword. If thou mislike
their warres be thankfull for thine owne peace; if thou dost abhor
their tyrannies, love and reverence thine owne wise, iust and
excellent Prince. ' So whatever guise our age may assume, there are
lessons to be drawn from Tacitus either directly or _per contra_, and
his translators may be acquitted at a time when Latin scholarship is
no longer an essential of political eminence.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Napoleon's phrase.
[2] _Ann. _ iii. 65.
SUMMARY OF CHIEF EVENTS
I. THE FIGHT FOR THE THRONE.
A. D. 68.
_June_
9. Death of Nero.
16. Galba, Governor of Nearer Spain, declared Emperor at Clunia.
Fonteius Capito, Governor of Lower Germany, Clodius Macer,
Governor of Africa, and Nymphidius Sabinus, Prefect of the
Guard, murdered as possible rivals. Verginius Rufus, Governor
of Upper Germany, refuses to compete.
_October_
Galba enters Rome. Massacre of Marines at Mulvian Bridge.
His government controlled by Laco, Vinius, and Icelus.
A. D. 69.
_January_
1. News of mutiny in Upper Germany, now governed by Hordeonius
Flaccus.
3. The armies of Upper Germany (under Caecina) and of Lower Germany
(under Valens) salute Vitellius, Governor of Lower Germany, as
Emperor.
10. Galba adopts Piso Licinianus as his successor.
15. Otho declared Emperor in Rome and recognized by Praetorian
Guard.
Murder of Galba, Vinius, and Piso.
Otho recognized by the Senate.
_February_
The Vitellian armies are now marching on Italy: Caecina through
Switzerland and over the Great St. Bernard with Legio XXI Rapax
and detachments of IV Macedonica and XXII Primigenia: Valens
through Gaul and over Mount Genèvre with Legio V Alaudae and
detachments of I Italica, XV Primigenia, and XVI.
_March_
Caecina crosses the Alps.
Otho dispatches an advance-guard under Annius Gallus and Spurinna.
Otho starts for the Po with Suetonius Paulinus, Marius Celsus,
and Proculus.
Titianus left in charge of Rome.
Otho sends fleet to Narbonese Gaul, and orders Illyric
Legions[3] to concentrate at Aquileia.
Spurinna repulses Caecina from Placentia.
Otho's main army joins Gallus at Bedriacum.
Titianus summoned to take nominal command.
_April_
6. Battle of Locus Castorum. Caecina defeated.
Valens joins Caecina at Cremona.
15. Battle of Bedriacum. Othonian defeat.
17. Otho commits suicide at Brixellum.
19. Vitellius recognized by the Senate.
_May_
Vitellius greeted by his own and Otho's generals at Lyons.
24. Vitellius visits the battle-field of Bedriacum.
_June_
Vitellius moves slowly towards Rome with a huge retinue.
_July_
1. Vespasian, Governor of Judaea, proclaimed Emperor at Alexandria.
3. At Caesarea.
15. At Antioch.
The Eastern princes and the Illyric Legions[4] declare for
Vespasian. His chief supporters are Mucianus; Governor of Syria,
Antonius Primus commanding Leg. VII Galbiana, and Cornelius
Fuscus, Procurator of Pannonia.
Mucianus moves slowly westward with Leg. VI Ferrata and
detachments from the other Eastern legions.
Vespasian holds Egypt, Rome's granary.
Titus takes command in Judaea.
Antonius Primus with Arrius Varus hurries forward into Italy.
_August_
Vitellius vegetates in Rome.
Caecina marches to meet the invasion. (Valens aegrotat. ) His
Legions are I, IV Macedonica, XV Primigenia, XVI, V Alaudae,
XXII Primigenia, I Italica, XXI Rapax, and detachments from
Britain.
FOOTNOTES:
[3] i. e. in Pannonia Legs. VII Galbiana and XIII Gemina; in
Dalmatia XI Claudia and XIV Gemina; in Moesia III Gallica, VII
Claudia, VIII Augusta.
[4] See note above.
NOTE
The text followed is that of C. D. Fisher (_Oxford Classical Texts_).
Departures from it are mentioned in the notes.
BOOK I
PREFACE
[A. D. 69. ] I propose to begin my narrative with the second 1
consulship of Servius Galba, in which Titus Vinius was his colleague.
Many historians have dealt with the 820 years of the earlier period
beginning with the foundation of Rome, and the story of the Roman
Republic has been told with no less ability than truth. After the
Battle of Actium, when the interests of peace were served by the
centralization of all authority in the hands of one man, there
followed a dearth of literary ability, and at the same time truth
suffered more and more, partly from ignorance of politics, which were
no longer a citizen's concern, partly from the growing taste for
flattery or from hatred of the ruling house. So between malice on one
side and servility on the other the interests of posterity were
neglected. But historians find that a tone of flattery soon incurs the
stigma of servility and earns for them the contempt of their readers,
whereas people readily open their ears to the criticisms of envy,
since malice makes a show of independence. Of Galba, Otho, and
Vitellius, I have known nothing either to my advantage or my hurt. I
cannot deny that I originally owed my position to Vespasian, or that I
was advanced by Titus and still further promoted by Domitian;[5] but
professing, as I do, unbiassed honesty, I must speak of no man either
with hatred or affection. I have reserved for my old age, if life is
spared to me, the reigns of the sainted Nerva and of the Emperor
Trajan, which afford a richer and withal a safer theme:[6] for it is
the rare fortune of these days that a man may think what he likes and
say what he thinks.
The story I now commence is rich in vicissitudes, grim with 2
warfare, torn by civil strife, a tale of horror even during times of
peace. It tells of four emperors slain by the sword, three several
civil wars, an even larger number of foreign wars and some that were
both at once: successes in the East, disaster in the West, disturbance
in Illyricum, disaffection in the provinces of Gaul, the conquest of
Britain and its immediate loss, the rising of the Sarmatian and Suebic
tribes. It tells how Dacia had the privilege of exchanging blows with
Rome, and how a pretender claiming to be Nero almost deluded the
Parthians into declaring war. Now too Italy was smitten with new
disasters, or disasters it had not witnessed for a long period of
years.
Towns along the rich coast of Campania were submerged or
buried. The city was devastated by fires, ancient temples were
destroyed, and the Capitol itself was fired by Roman hands. Sacred
rites were grossly profaned, and there were scandals in high
places. [7] The sea swarmed with exiles and the island cliffs[8] were
red with blood. Worse horrors reigned in the city. To be rich or
well-born was a crime: men were prosecuted for holding or for refusing
office: merit of any kind meant certain ruin. Nor were the Informers
more hated for their crimes than for their prizes: some carried off a
priesthood or the consulship as their spoil, others won offices and
influence in the imperial household: the hatred and fear they inspired
worked universal havoc. Slaves were bribed against their masters,
freedmen against their patrons, and, if a man had no enemies, he was
ruined by his friends.
However, the period was not so utterly barren as to yield no 3
examples of heroism. There were mothers who followed their sons, and
wives their husbands into exile: one saw here a kinsman's courage and
there a son-in-law's devotion: slaves obstinately faithful even on the
rack: distinguished men bravely facing the utmost straits and matching
in their end the famous deaths of older times. Besides these manifold
disasters to mankind there were portents in the sky and on the earth,
thunderbolts and other premonitions of good and of evil, some
doubtful, some obvious. Indeed never has it been proved by such
terrible disasters to Rome or by such clear evidence that Providence
is concerned not with our peace of mind but rather with vengeance for
our sin.
FOOTNOTES:
[5] To Vespasian Tacitus probably owed his quaestorship and a
seat in the senate; to Titus his tribunate of the people; to
Domitian the praetorship and a 'fellowship' of one of the
great priestly colleges, whose special function was the
supervision of foreign cults. This last accounts for Tacitus'
interest in strange religions.
[6] This project, also foreshadowed in _Agricola_ iii, was
never completed.
[7] Referring in particular to the scandals among the Vestal
Virgins and to Domitian's relations with his niece Julia.
[8] i. e. the Aegean islands, such as Seriphus, Gyarus,
Amorgus, where those in disfavour were banished and often
murdered.
THE STATE OF THE EMPIRE
Before I commence my task, it seems best to go back and consider 4
the state of affairs in the city, the temper of the armies, the
condition of the provinces, and to determine the elements of strength
and weakness in the different quarters of the Roman world. By this
means we may see not only the actual course of events, which is
largely governed by chance, but also why and how they occurred.
The death of Nero, after the first outburst of joy with which it was
greeted, soon aroused conflicting feelings not only among the
senators, the people, and the soldiers in the city, but also among the
generals and their troops abroad. It had divulged a secret of state:
an emperor could be made elsewhere than at Rome. Still the senate was
satisfied. They had immediately taken advantage of their liberty and
were naturally emboldened against a prince who was new to the throne
and, moreover, absent. The highest class of the knights[9] seconded
the senate's satisfaction. Respectable citizens, who were attached as
clients or freedmen to the great families, and had seen their patrons
condemned or exiled, now revived their hopes. The lowest classes, who
had grown familiar with the pleasures of the theatre and the circus,
the most degraded of the slaves, and Nero's favourites who had
squandered their property and lived on his discreditable bounty, all
showed signs of depression and an eager greed for news.
The troops in the city[10] had long been inured to the allegiance 5
of the Caesars, and it was more by the pressure of intrigue than of
their own inclination that they came to desert Nero. They soon
realized that the donation promised in Galba's name was not to be paid
to them, and that peace would not, like war, offer opportunity for
great services and rich rewards. Since they also saw that the new
emperor's favour had been forestalled by the army which proclaimed
him, they were ripe for revolution and were further instigated by
their rascally Praefect Nymphidius Sabinus, who was plotting to be
emperor himself. His design was as a matter of fact detected and
quashed, but, though the ringleader was removed, many of the troops
still felt conscious of their treason and could be heard commenting on
Galba's senility and avarice. His austerity--a quality once admired
and set high in soldiers' estimation--only annoyed troops whose
contempt for the old methods of discipline had been fostered by
fourteen years of service under Nero. They had come to love the
emperors' vices as much as they once reverenced their virtues in older
days. Moreover Galba had let fall a remark, which augured well for
Rome, though it spelt danger to himself. 'I do not buy my soldiers,'
he said, 'I select them. ' And indeed, as things then stood, his words
sounded incongruous.
FOOTNOTES:
[9] Probably those who owned one million sesterces, the
property qualification for admission to the senate.
[10] This includes 'The Guards' (_cohortes praetoriae_) and
'The City Garrison' (_cohortes urbanae_), and possibly also
the _cohortes vigilum_, who were a sort of police corps and
fire brigade.
GALBA'S POSITION
Galba was old and ill. Of his two lieutenants Titus Vinius was the 6
vilest of men and Cornelius Laco the laziest. Hated as he was for
Vinius' crimes and despised for Laco's inefficiency, between them
Galba soon came to ruin. His march from Spain was slow and stained
with bloodshed. He executed Cingonius Varro, the consul-elect, and
Petronius Turpilianus, an ex-consul, the former as an accomplice of
Nymphidius, the latter as one of Nero's generals. They were both
denied any opportunity of a hearing or defence--and might as well have
been innocent. On his arrival at Rome the butchery of thousands of
unarmed soldiers[11] gave an ill omen to his entry, and alarmed even
the men who did the slaughter. The city was filled with strange
troops. A legion had been brought from Spain,[12] and the regiment of
marines enrolled by Nero still remained. [11] Moreover there were
several detachments from Germany, Britain, and Illyricum,[13] which
had been selected by Nero, dispatched to the Caspian Pass[14] for the
projected war against the Albanians, and subsequently recalled to aid
in crushing the revolt of Vindex. [15] These were all fine fuel for a
revolution, and, although their favour centred on nobody in
particular, there they were at the disposal of any one who had
enterprise.
It happened by chance that the news of the death of Clodius Macer 7
and of Fonteius Capito arrived in Rome simultaneously. Macer,[16] who
was undoubtedly raising a disturbance in Africa, was put to death by
the imperial agent Trebonius Garutianus, acting under Galba's orders:
Capito[17] had made a similar attempt in Germany and was killed by two
officers, Cornelius Aquinus and Fabius Valens, without waiting for
instructions. While Capito had a foul reputation for extortion and
loose living, some people yet believed that he had withheld his hand
from treason. His officers, they supposed, had urged him to declare
war, and, when they could not persuade him, had gone on to charge him
falsely with their own offence,[18] while Galba from weakness of
character, or perhaps because he was afraid to inquire too far,
approved what had happened for good or for ill, since it was past
alteration. At any rate both executions were unpopular. Now that Galba
was disliked, everything he did, whether right or wrong, made him more
unpopular. His freedmen were all-powerful: money could do anything:
the slaves were thirsting for an upheaval, and with so elderly an
emperor were naturally expecting to see one soon. The evils of the new
court were those of the old, and while equally oppressive were not so
easily excused. Even Galba's age seemed comic and despicable to a
populace that was used to the young Nero and compared the emperors, as
such people will, in point of looks and personal attraction.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] i. e. the marines, whom Nero had formed into a reserve
force (Legio I Adiutrix). They had met Galba at the Mulvian
Bridge, probably with a petition for service in the Line.
[12] Legio VII Galbiana, sent later to Pannonia.
[13] Illyricum included all the Danube provinces.
[14] The Pass of Dariel over the centre of the Caucasus. The
Albanians lay to the east of its southern end, on the
south-west coast of the Caspian.
[15] Vindex, Pro-praetor in the Lyons division of Gaul, had
revolted against Nero early in the year 68 and offered his
support to Galba, then governor of the Tarragona division of
Spain. He was defeated by Verginius Rufus, commanding the
forces in Upper Germany, and committed suicide. Verginius
afterwards declared for Galba, though his troops wanted to
make him emperor. Cp. chap. 8.
[16] Clodius Macer commanded Legio III Augusta and governed
Numidia, which Tiberius at the end of his reign had detached
from the pro-consulate of Africa.
[17] Governor of Lower Germany. See chap. 58 and iii. 62.
[18] Cp. chap. 58.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF FORCES
Such then at Rome was the variety of feeling natural in so vast a 8
population. To turn to the provinces abroad: Spain was under the
command of Cluvius Rufus, a man of great eloquence, and more skilled
in the arts of peace than of war. [19] The Gallic provinces had not
forgotten Vindex: moreover, they were bound to Galba by his recent
grant of Roman citizenship and his rebate of their tribute for the
future. The tribes, however, which lay nearest to the armies stationed
in Germany had not received these honours: some even had lost part of
their territory and were equally aggrieved at the magnitude of their
own injuries and of their neighbours' benefits. The troops in Germany
were proud of their recent victory, indignant at their treatment and
perplexed by a nervous consciousness that they had supported the wrong
side: a very dangerous state for so strong a force to be in. They had
been slow to desert Nero, and Verginius[20] did not immediately
declare for Galba. Whether he really did not want the throne is
doubtful: without question his soldiers made him the offer. The death
of Fonteius Capito aroused the indignation even of those who had no
right to complain. However, they still lacked a leader: Galba had sent
for Verginius under a pretence of friendship, and, when he was not
allowed to return and was even charged with treachery, the soldiers
considered his case their own.
The army of Upper Germany felt no respect for their commander, 9
Hordeonius Flaccus. [21] Weakened by age and an affection of the feet
he was without resolution or authority, and could not have controlled
the mildest troops. These fiery spirits were only the further inflamed
when they felt such a weak hand on the reins. The legions of Lower
Germany had been for some time without a commander,[22] until Aulus
Vitellius appeared. He was the son of the Lucius Vitellius who had
been censor and thrice consul,[23] and Galba thought this sufficient
to impress the troops. The army in Britain showed no bad feeling. All
through the disturbance of the civil wars no troops kept cleaner
hands. This may have been because they were so far away and severed by
the sea, or perhaps frequent engagements had taught them to keep their
rancour for the enemy. Quiet ruled in Illyricum also, although the
legions, which had been summoned by Nero,[24] while lingering in Italy
had made overtures to Verginius. But the armies lay far apart, always
a sound assistance to the maintenance of military discipline, since
the men could neither share vices nor join forces.
The East was still untroubled. Licinius Mucianus held Syria with 10
four legions. [25] He was a man who was always famous, whether in good
fortune or in bad. As a youth he was ambitious and cultivated the
friendship of the great. Later he found himself in straitened
circumstances and a very ambiguous position, and, suspecting Claudius'
displeasure, he withdrew into the wilds of Asia, where he came as near
to being an exile as afterwards to being an emperor. He was a strange
mixture of good and bad, of luxury and industry, courtesy and
arrogance. In leisure he was self-indulgent, but full of vigour on
service. His outward behaviour was praiseworthy, though ill was spoken
of his private life. However, with those who were under him or near
him, and with his colleagues he gained great influence by various
devices, and seems to have been the sort of man who would more readily
make an emperor than be one.
The Jewish war was being conducted by Flavius Vespasianus--appointed
by Nero--with three legions. [26] He had no ill-will against Galba, and
nothing to hope from his fall. Indeed he had sent his son Titus to
carry his compliments and offer allegiance, an incident we must
reserve for its proper place. [27] It was only after Vespasian's rise
that Roman society came to believe in the mysterious movings of
Providence, and supposed that portents and oracles had predestined the
throne for him and his family.
Of Egypt and its garrison, ever since the days of the sainted 11
Augustus, the knights of Rome have been uncrowned kings. [28] The
province being difficult to reach, rich in crops, torn and tossed by
fanaticism and sedition, ignorant of law, unused to bureaucratic
government, it seemed wiser to keep it in the control of the
Household. [29] The governor at that date was Tiberius Alexander,
himself a native of Egypt. [30] Africa and its legions, now that
Clodius Macer had been executed,[31] were ready to put up with any
ruler after their experience of a petty master. The two Mauretanias,
Raetia, Noricum, Thrace, and the other provinces governed by
procurators had their sympathies determined by the neighbourhood of
troops, and always caught their likes or dislikes from the strongest
army. The ungarrisoned provinces, and chief amongst these Italy, were
destined to be the prize of war, and lay at the mercy of any master.
Such was the state of the Roman world when Servius Galba, consul for
the second time, and Titus Vinius his colleague, inaugurated the year
which was to be their last, and almost the last for the commonwealth
of Rome.
FOOTNOTES:
[19] He wrote a history of his own time, which was one of
Tacitus' chief authorities.
[20] See note 17.
[21] Verginius' successor.
[22] Since Capito's death, chap. 7.
[23] He died in A. D. 54. In the censorship and in two of his
consulships he had been Claudius' colleague.
[24] For the war with Vindex.
[25] See note 164. The fourth legion is III Gallica,
afterwards moved into Moesia.
[26] See note 163.
[27] ii. 1.
[28] Cp. _Ann. _, ii. 59. 'Amongst other secret principles of
his imperial policy, Augustus had put Egypt in a position by
itself, forbidding all senators and knights of the highest
class to enter that country without his permission. For Egypt
holds the key, as it were, both of sea and land' (tr. Ramsay).
Cp. iii. 8.
[29] i. e. to govern it by the emperor's private agents. The
province was regarded as part of the emperor's estate
(patrimonium). This post was the highest in the imperial
service.
[30] A member of a Jewish family settled in Alexandria and
thus entitled to Roman citizenship. He was a nephew of the
historian Philo; had been Procurator of Judaea and chief of
Corbulo's staff in Armenia.
[31] See chap. 7.
THE GERMAN REVOLT AND THE ADOPTION OF PISO
A few days after the first of January a dispatch arrived from 12
Belgica, in which Pompeius Propinquus,[32] the imperial agent,
announced that the legions of Upper Germany had broken their oath of
allegiance and were clamouring for a new emperor, but that by way of
tempering their treason they referred the final choice to the Senate
and People of Rome. Galba had already been deliberating and seeking
advice as to the adoption of a successor, and this occurrence hastened
his plans. During all these months this question formed the current
subject of gossip throughout the country; Galba was far spent in years
and the general propensity for such a topic knew no check. Few people
showed sound judgement or any spirit of patriotism. Many were
influenced by foolish hopes and spread self-interested rumours
pointing to some friend or patron, thereby also gratifying their
hatred for Titus Vinius,[33] whose unpopularity waxed daily with his
power. Galba's affability only served to strengthen the gaping
ambition of his newly powerful friends, for his weakness and credulity
halved the risk and doubled the reward of treason.
The real power of the throne was divided between the consul, Titus 13
Vinius, and Cornelius Laco, the prefect of the Guards; and an
influence as great was enjoyed by Icelus, one of Galba's freedmen, who
had been given the gold ring[34] and was now greeted by the name of
Marcianus. These three ordinarily disagreed, and followed each his own
interest in smaller matters: on the question of the succession they
fell into two camps. Vinius was for Marcus Otho. Laco and Icelus were
agreed not so much on any one as on any other. Galba was aware of the
friendship between Otho and Vinius. Otho was a bachelor and Vinius had
an unmarried daughter: so gossip, never reticent, pointed to them as
father and son-in-law. Galba, one may suppose, felt some concern for
his country, too. Why take the throne from Nero, if it was to be left
to Otho? Otho had led a careless boyhood and a dissolute youth, and
endeared himself to Nero by aping his vices. Thus it was to Otho, as
being already in the secret, that Nero entrusted his favourite
mistress, Poppaea Sabina,[35] until he could get rid of Octavia. Later
he grew jealous and removed Otho to the province of Lusitania under
cover of a governorship. Otho had been popular in his administration
of the province, and was one of the first to join Galba's party. Being
a man of action and one of the most distinguished of Galba's officers
in the war, when once he had conceived the hope of succeeding him, he
eagerly indulged it. Most of the soldiers were on his side and the
Court supported him as Nero's double.
After receiving the news of the German revolt, although Galba knew 14
nothing for certain of Vitellius' plans, he was fearful to what
lengths the outbreak of the troops might go; so, being unable to trust
the troops in the city,[36] he had recourse to what seemed his sole
remedy and held an Imperial Election. Besides Vinius and Laco he
summoned Marius Celsus, consul-elect and the City-Prefect Ducenius
Geminus. [37] After prefacing a few words about his own advanced age he
ordered Piso Licinianus[38] to be sent for, either on his own
initiative, or, as some believed, at the instance of Laco. Laco had
met Piso at Rubellius Plautus' house and they had formed a friendship,
but he cunningly pretended that he was supporting a stranger, and
Piso's good repute gave colour to this policy. Piso was a noble on
both sides, being the son of Marcus Crassus and Scribonia. There was
an old-world austerity in his face and bearing, and just critics spoke
of his strict morality: people who took a less favourable view thought
him soured. But while those who disliked this side of his character
carped at it, it was a recommendation in the eyes of the emperor who
intended to adopt him.
Galba is said to have taken Piso's hand and addressed him as 15
follows: 'Were I a private citizen, and were I to adopt you in the
presence of the Priests by the usual formality of a curial
statute,[39] it would be an honour for me to introduce into my family
a descendant of Cnaeus Pompeius and of Marcus Crassus, and for you it
would be a distinction to add to your noble ancestry the glories of
the Sulpician and Lutatian houses. [40] As it is, I have been called by
the consent of gods and men to be an emperor. Your distinguished
qualities and your patriotism have persuaded me to offer to you
peacefully and quietly the throne for which our ancestors fought on
the field of battle,[41] and which I too won by war. In so doing I am
following the precedent set by the sainted Augustus, who raised to the
rank next himself first his nephew Marcellus, then his son-in-law
Agrippa, then his daughter's sons,[42] and finally his stepson
Tiberius Nero. However, while Augustus looked for a successor in his
own family, I have searched throughout the country. Not that I lack
either kinsmen or supporters, but it was by no favour of birth that I
myself came to the throne, and, to prove my policy in this matter,
consider how I have passed over not only my own relatives but yours.
You have an elder brother,[43] as noble as yourself. He would have
been worthy of this position, but you are worthier. You are old enough
to have outlived youthful passions. Your life has been such that you
have nothing in your past to excuse. So far you have only experienced
misfortune. Prosperity probes the heart with a keener touch; misery
only calls for patience, but there is corruption in success. Honesty,
candour, and affection are the best of human qualities, and doubtless
you yourself have enough character to retain them. But the
complaisance of others will weaken your character. Flattery and
servile compliments will break down its defences and self-interest
too, the bane of all sincerity. What though you and I can talk plainly
with each other to-day? Others will address themselves not to us but
to our fortunes. To persuade an emperor what he ought to do is a
laborious task: any one can flatter him without a spark of sincerity.
'If the vast bulk of this empire could stand and keep its balance 16
without a guiding hand, the Republic might well have dated its birth
from me. As it is, things have long ago come to such a pass that
neither I in my old age can give the Roman people any better gift than
a good successor, nor you in your prime anything better than a good
emperor.
