69 AD: The Year of Four Emperors

by Gwyn Morgan

  4. Suetonius gives the timespan as ten years specifically, but he sets this step at the start of the reign, as an example of Vitellius’ abuse of the constitution, in that the emperor at the same time took up a perpetual consulship himself (Vit. 11.2). If he is right, it is odd that the title (COS PERP) appears on no coins and only one inscription. Overall, Tacitus’ interpretation is preferable.

  5. It is just possible that Vitellius offered these terms, not to the people as Suetonius claims, but to the “legion” of marines he never mentions.

  6. As the urban cohorts would back Sabinus in his coup, it has been suggested that Vitellius’ overhaul of the city troops never got beyond the praetorians. Another possibility is that the slackers in his armies opted to serve in the urban cohorts (the pay was good and the duty easy), and that they had less enthusiasm for Vitellius’ cause. The conduct of the cohort of which Apinius Tiro took command at Tarracina certainly supports this idea.

  7. It may be worth considering the possibility that this is why Tacitus makes nothing of Vitellius’ refusal to commit suicide, even though it is likely that Vitellius’ reasoning involved concern for his six-year-old son.

  Conclusion

  1. The quotation is taken from M. Cary and H. H. Scullard, A History of Rome (London and New York: St. Martins, 1976), 408. It may look silly to pick on a textbook, but they are widely read, and especially fertile in the wild generalizations that distort the realities of specific situations.

  2. Suetonius, Tiberius 25.1. The remark was proverbial (A. Otto, Die Sprichwörter und sprichwörtlichen Redensarten der Römer [Leipzig: Teubner, 1890], 199), carrying the same force as our “riding on the back of a tiger.”

  3. I have limited comment to the legions and the praetorian guard, though Henderson and other older writers held that widespread changes were made in the regulation and postings of the auxiliary troops too. Since the evidence is both complicated and questionable, I have left the auxilia out of account. For one thing, the rambunctiousness of Civilis’ Batavian cohorts was so exceptional that we cannot generalize from that. Again, so long as the emperor controlled the legions, neither he nor his men had real cause to fear the auxilia. And finally, the siting of legionary camps at Noviomagus (Nijmegen) and Argentorate (Strasbourg) indicates that the Flavians worried much more about tribesmen who were not enrolled in the auxilia.

  4. See Werner Eck, “An emperor is made: senatorial politics and Trajan’s adoption by Nerva in 97,” in Gillian Clark and Tessa Rajak (eds.), Philosophy and Power in the Graeco-Roman World: Essays in honour of Miriam Griffin (Oxford: University Press, 2002), 211–26. There may be numismatic evidence that Nerva paid the guard a donative on his accession: see G. R. Watson, The Roman Soldier (London and Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1969), 196 note 321.

  Appendix 2

  1. Though the conclusions he reaches are unacceptable, G. B. Townend, “Cluvius Rufus in the Histories of Tacitus,”American Journal of Philology 85 (1964), 337–77, provides an extremely useful collection of examples.

  2. This is not an isolated phenomenon. As is demonstrated by J. Beneker, “No time for love: Plutarch’s chaste Caesar,” Greek, Roman and Byzantine Studies 43 (2002/3), 13–29, Plutarch similarly ignores or suppresses most of the stories about Julius Caesar’s womanizing in order to improve the parallels the biographer wants to draw between his subject and Alexander the Great.

  3. The Roman idea that an emperor’s first act would be programmatic sprang from a different way of thinking, but it no doubt reinforced this approach.

  4. Some assert that Tacitus is talking of Vespasian’s behavior patterns (mores), not his basic character (ingenium). Neither word appears in the original text (Hist. 1.50.4: solusque omnium ante se principum in melius mutatus est), and the preceding comments on Otho and Vitellius suggest that character is very much the issue.

  5. For an early anecdote on the subject see Cicero, De oratore 2.277. To this it is worth adding that the question whether Otho was gay is not a major issue in any Roman sources except the satirists. Tacitus alludes to Otho’s love for Poppaea and Nero (Hist. 1.78.2), and Suetonius reports an affair between Nero and Otho only as an allegation (Otho 2.2).

  INDEX

  Emperors are indexed—in capitals—under the names by which they are best known. Authors too appear under their usual names. But most of the actors in the events covered by the narrative are listed under their family names (nomina), e.g., Fabius Valens, Flavius Sabinus, Licinius Mucianus.

  Ad Castores, 118–22

  Ad Padum, 114

  Adige (river), 196

  Adriatic Sea, 188, 194

  Adua or Adda (river), 134

  Aedui, 20, 41, 51, 85, 147, 259

  L. Aelius Sejanus, 63, 75

  Aemilia Lepida, 32

  Aemilian Way (Via Aemilia), 113, 219

  Aemilius Pacensis, 62, 102, 104, 247

  L. Afranius Burrus, 17–18

  Africa, 33, 40, 77, 101, 166, 173, 187, 225, 258

  Agrippina the Younger, 17, 33–34, 46, 76, 172–73

  ala Auriana, 195

  ala Petriana, 89

  ala Sebosiana, 196

  ala Siliana, 88, 90, 102

  ala Tauriana, 41, 86

  ala Trevirorum, 105

  Albia Terentia, 36

  Albingaunum, 106, 162

  Albintimilium, 103–5

  Alexandria, 4, 29, 50, 175–76, 186–87, 225, 271

  Alfenus Varus, 122–23, 135, 137, 215, 231, 237

  Alpinius Montanus, 226

  Altinum, 196

  Anagnia, 79

  Anicetus, 224–25, 258

  L. Annius Bassus, 228

  Ap. Annius Gallus, 102, 113, 115–17, 125, 128, 133, 137–39, 260

  Antioch, 175, 185–86, 188–89

  Antipolis, 103, 106

  Antonia Caenis, 173

  Antonia Minor, 76

  Antonius Honoratus, 40

  Antonius Naso, 62

  Antonius Novellus, 103–4

  M. Antonius Primus, 7, 50, 79, 150, 189–90, 192–210, 212–13, 219, 222, 224–31, 234, 236–39, 241, 243, 249–52, 256–57; 259–60, 264, 267–68, 283

  L. Antonius Saturninus, 265

  Antonius Taurus, 62

  Marc Antony, 13, 113, 267, 291

  Apinius Tiro, 233, 239, 248

  M. Aponius Saturninus, 99, 165, 192, 195, 197–99

  Appian Way (Via Appia), 234, 257

  Aquae Helveticae, 87–88

  Aquae Sextiae, 103

  Aquileia, 102, 113, 140, 166, 190, 192, 195, 197

  Aquilius Regulus, 283

  Aquinum, 111, 152

  Aquitania, 42, 84

  Arelate, 103

  Argius, 72

  Aricia, 215, 220

  Ariminum, 219–21

  armies, reflecting commander, 156, 213, 229

  T. Arrius Antoninus, 160, 309n.8

  Arrius Varus, 195, 202, 237, 256–57, 268

  Arulenus Rusticus, 250

  Arverni, 20, 41, 51

  Asiaticus, 164

  Astrologers, 37, 76–77, 152

  Ateste, 196

  Athens, 271

  Atilius Verus, 207

  Augusta Taurinorum, 84, 87, 122, 155, 260

  AUGUSTUS, 12–15, 31, 45, 62, 73, 242, 261–62, 267, 278, 291, 305n5.2

  Augustus (title), 149, 152, 159, 254

  Aurelian Way (Via Aurelia), 103

  T. Aurelius Fulvus, 98

  Aventicum, 88, 171

  Baetica (Spain), 147

  Barbius Proculus, 64, 304n.7

  Basilides, 177–78, 184

  Batavian cohorts, 28, 84–85, 122, 135, 137, 155–56, 223, 260, 312nC.3

  Bedriacum, 111, 116–18, 127–28, 132–38, 140, 144–45, 152, 157, 192, 194, 196, 202–3, 205, 208–9, 211, 260, 271, 307n.1

  Beirut, 185, 225

  Belgica. See Gallia

  Betuus Cilo, 42

  Bonna, 55, 260

  Bononia, 146, 155, 219

  Boudicca,
126–27, 236

  Brigantes, 222–23

  Britain, 33, 81, 126, 154, 172, 222–23, 258

  Britannicus, 17, 173

  Brixellum, 111, 123, 127, 130, 133, 138–41, 144–45

  Burnum, 228

  Byzantium, 188–89

  Cn. Caecilius Simplex, 160, 235, 241–42, 247

  A. Caecina Alienus, 4, 36, 50, 52, 54–55, 78–81, 83–84, 87–91, 101, 103, 112–23, 126–27, 130–31, 133–36, 138, 145–48, 150–52, 155, 157, 160–63, 165–69, 196–98, 200–201, 210–11, 215, 217–19, 221, 258, 267–68, 285

  Caecina Tuscus, 216, 311n.1

  Caesar, as title, 149, 152, 235, 254, 256

  Caesarea Maritima, 180, 185

  CALIGULA, 15–16, 26, 33, 35, 39–40, 75, 78, 160, 165, 172, 287, 291, 309n.12

  Calpurnius Piso Galerianus, 257

  L. Calpurnius Piso Licinianus, 59–72, 262

  Calvia Crispinilla, 96

  Capitol (Rome), 68, 70, 96, 159, 214, 242–43, 245–49, 251, 257, 260–61

  Cappadocia, 101, 303n.6

  Capua, 233, 257, 260, 280

  Carnuntum, 49, 58, 192, 226

  Carsulae, 236

  Cartimandua, 222

  Casperius Aelianus, 266

  M. Cassius Apronianus, 280

  Cassius Longus, 201

  Cemenelum, 104

  cena adventicia, 151, 159, 216

  C. Cestius Gallus, 174

  Chaeronea, 271

  Cingonius Varro, 43, 303n.5

  civilians, soldiery and, 44–45, 52–53, 157–58, 185, 202, 210–12, 251–52, 264

  CLAUDIUS, 15–16, 26–27, 33, 36, 46, 75–78, 172, 174, 275, 292

  Claudius Apollinaris, 233, 248

  Claudius Cossus, 88

  Claudius Faventinus, 233

  Claudius Julianus, 232–34, 248

  L. Clodius Macer, 40, 43, 96, 177, 258, 291

  Clunia, 27, 42

  Cluvius Rufus, 38, 51, 147, 153–54, 166, 240, 282

  Cocceius Proculus, 59

  cohors I Ligurum, 104–5

  cohors XVII urbana, 106, 302n.4, 306n.11

  cohors XVIII urbana, 22, 86, 302n.4

  coins and coin legends, 3, 14, 22, 37, 41, 45, 74, 97–98, 110, 164–65, 185–86, 301nI.1, 305n4.1, 305n5.4

  Colonia Agrippinensis, 52, 55–56, 81, 84, 87, 144, 259

  COMMODUS, 263, 280, 301n.2

  common source, 8, 129, 281–82, 284–87, 289–90

  consilium principis, 61, 268

  Corinth, 179

  Cornelius Aquinus, 42, 53

  Cornelius Dolabella, 57–58, 77, 111, 152–53, 237

  Cornelius Fuscus, 50, 195, 199–200, 221, 229, 267

  Cornelius Laco, 35–36, 39, 45–46, 50, 58, 60, 63–66, 68, 70–72, 96, 304n.3

  L. Cornelius Marcellus, 38

  Cornelius Martialis, 243, 245, 247

  L. Cornelius Sulla, 188, 246

  Corsica, 106, 258

  Cosa, 171

  Cremona, 3, 112–13, 115–17, 120–21, 132–34, 155, 168, 190, 192, 201–13, 219–20, 226, 230, 237, 260–61

  Crescens, 97

  Cyprus, 179

  Cythnus, 258

  Dacia, 131, 259

  Dalmatia, 16, 26–27, 101, 169, 194, 228

  Decimation, 43–45, 52, 109

  C. Dillius Aponianus, 198–99

  Divodurum, 85

  Domitia Longina, 268

  DOMITIAN, 49, 143, 170, 173, 178, 236, 243, 247, 256–57, 265–68, 270, 272–76

  Domitilla, 173

  Cn. Domitius Ahenobarbus, 75

  Cn. Domitius Corbulo, 52, 175, 186, 195, 268

  Donatives, 29, 47–48, 50, 62, 64, 66, 69, 86, 94–95, 108, 164, 186, 198; 265–66, 302n.7, 304n.5; cf. 229 (nail money)

  A. Ducenius Geminus, 50, 60, 67, 94

  Dyrrachium, 188

  Egnatian Way (Via Egnatia), 188

  Egypt, 187, 225

  Eporedia, 88, 112

  Eprius Marcellus, 48–49

  Etruria, 220–21

  Fabius Fabullus, 201

  Fabius Rusticus, 282

  Fabius Valens, 30, 42, 53–55, 79–81, 83–87, 89, 91–92, 100–101, 103, 105–6, 113, 115, 118–19, 122–23, 126–27, 130, 133–36, 138, 145–48, 150–52, 155, 157, 160–68, 200–202, 210, 215, 218–22, 237–38, 241, 267, 285

  Fanum Fortunae, 219–21, 228

  Ferentium, 36

  Fidenae, 250

  Flaminian Way (Via Flaminia), 110, 219, 231–32, 234, 249, 251

  Flavia Domitilla, 173

  T. Flavius Petro, 171

  T. Flavius Sabinus (father), 171

  T. Flavius Sabinus (brother), 93–94, 146, 152, 167, 171–73, 214, 232, 236, 238–43, 245–49, 254

  T. Flavius Sabinus (cousin), 132–33, 139, 145, 172

  L. Flavius Silva, 226

  C. Fonteius Agrippa, 223–24, 259, 268

  Fonteius Capito, 20, 23, 42, 53

  Formiae, 234

  Forum Alieni, 196

  Forum Julii, 103, 105, 112, 221–22, 306n.8

  M. Furius Camillus Scribonianus, 16, 26, 183

  GALBA, 1, 3–5, 11–12, 19–22, 25–46; 48–51; 53–54. 57–73, 80, 83, 85–86, 91–93, 95–96, 142–43, 146, 158 175–79, 193, 196, 218, 234, 262, 265, 272, 275, 284–87, 291

  Galeria Fundana, 51, 77–78, 100, 149, 151, 153, 255

  P. Galerius Trachalus, 77, 100, 111, 151, 153

  Gallia Belgica, 60, 84, 259–60. 273

  Gallia Lugdunensis, 18–19, 21–23, 147, 149–50, 259

  Gallia Narbonensis, 84, 102–6, 220–21, 259

  Gellianus, 39

  Genoa, 103

  Germanies, 13, 16, 20, 22–23, 27, 42–43, 51–56, 64, 80–81, 100, 150, 155, 166, 260

  Gessius Florus, 174

  Geta (runaway slave), 147, 260

  gladiators, 102, 116–17, 131–32, 134–35, 137, 152, 155, 165, 232–33, 248

  Golden House (Domus Aurea), 94, 153, 253

  Great St. Bernard Pass, 84, 89, 113

  HADRIAN, 92, 276–78

  Hadrumetum, 173

  Halotus, 46

  Helvetii, 84, 87–88, 101, 171, 258

  Helvidius Priscus, 48–49, 72, 160, 257, 267

  Herodium, 176

  Hilarus, 153

  Hippo Regius, 277

  Hispania Tarraconensis, 19, 21, 153–54, 166, 257

  Histria, 147, 260

  Hordeonius Flaccus, 42, 54–55, 150, 166, 223

  Horrea Sulpicia, 48

  Hostilia, 168, 197–98, 202, 205, 219–20

  Icelus, 21, 29, 35–36, 39, 45–46, 58, 60, 68–72, 164

  Inn (river), 195

  Interamna, 153, 237–38

  Jerusalem, 176, 180, 186, 270, 275

  Joppa, 258

  Jotapata, 177, 269

  Judaea, 15, 174–76, 184–87, 259

  Julius Agrestis, 231

  Cn. Julius Agricola, 34, 37, 104, 119, 273–75

  Ti. Julius Alexander, 4, 97, 175–77, 179, 181–82, 184, 186–87

  Julius Alpinus, 88

  C. Julius Antiochus Epiphanes, 120

  Julius Atticus, 4–5, 68

  Julius Briganticus, 116

  C. Julius Caesar, 13, 32, 44, 49, 88, 111, 130, 131, 161, 204, 265, 278, 312nA.2

  Julius Calenus, 226

  Julius Civilis, 223, 246, 258, 260, 275

  Julius Classicus, 105

  Julius Fronto, 62, 121

  Julius Gratus, 121, 307n.2

  Julius Mansuetus, 208

  Julius Martialis, 65, 107

  Julius Placidus, 253

  Julius Priscus, 161, 231, 237

  Julius Secundus, 129

  C. Julius Vindex, 11, 18–25, 41, 54, 72, 86, 260, 267, 280

  Junius Blaesus, 41, 51, 81, 150, 216–18, 309n.5

  Juvenal, 263

  Khopi (river), 225

  law on Vespasian’s Powers, 4, 15, 263

  Legion I Adiutrix, 44–45, 49–50, 67, 71, 101–2, 114, 120, 136–37, 154–55, 166, 201,
221, 293

  — I Germanica, 23, 54, 84, 158, 167, 206, 260, 292

  — I Italica, 41, 50, 81, 86, 100, 135–36, 158, 167–68, 201–3, 206, 223, 226, 292–93

  — I Macriana Liberatrix, 293

  — II Adiutrix, 293

  — II Augusta, 150, 158, 168, 172, 206, 221, 293

  — III Augusta, 40, 96, 166, 225, 293

  — III Cyrenaica, 175, 294

  — III Gallica, 98, 165, 182, 190, 192, 198, 202, 205, 208–9, 257, 260, 294

  — IV Flavia Felix, 260

  — IV Macedonica, 3, 23, 36, 54–55, 84, 87, 158, 167, 206–7, 260, 294

  — IV Scythica, 175, 185, 294

  — V Alaudae, 23, 84, 135–36, 156, 158, 167, 201, 206, 223, 226, 295

  — V Macedonica, 174, 295

  — VI Ferrata, 175, 185, 187–89, 223–24, 295

  — VI Victrix, 22, 35, 166, 221, 295–96

  — VII Claudia, 98, 190, 192, 197, 202, 205, 209, 227, 296

  — VII Galbiana, 22, 38, 44, 49–50, 58, 101, 155, 192, 196, 198, 202, 205, 207–9, 226, 257, 296

  — VIII Augusta, 98, 190, 198, 202, 205, 209, 257, 296

  — IX Hispana, 150, 158, 168, 206, 221, 236, 296–97

  — X Fretensis, 174, 180, 297

  — X Germina, 166, 221, 297

  — XI Claudia, 101, 155, 228, 257, 297

  — XII Fulminata, 175, 185, 298

  — XIII Gemina, 27, 101, 118, 120, 126, 136–37, 154–55. 192, 196, 202, 205, 209, 211–12, 257, 298

  — XIV Gemina Martia Victrix, 27–28, 84–85, 101, 125–6, 136–37, 154–56, 201, 221, 298

  — XV Apollinaris, 23, 174–75, 298–99

  — XV Primigenia, 84, 158, 167, 206, 260, 299

  — XVI, 23, 27, 84, 158, 167, 206, 260, 299

  — XVI Flavia Firma, 260

  — XX Valeria Victrix, 150, 158, 168, 206, 221, 299–300

  — XXI Rapax, 23, 55, 84, 87, 135–36, 158, 167–68, 201–3, 206, 208, 226, 300

  — XXII Deiotariana, 175, 300

  — XXII Primigenia, 23, 27, 55, 84–85, 87, 150, 158, 167, 206, 226, 300

  Cn. Lentulus Gaetulicus, 16, 25–26, 33, 172

  Lepcis Magna, 258

  Licinius Crassus Scribonianus, 59, 72

  C. Licinius Mucianus, 59, 148, 174–76, 178–89, 193, 197, 208, 223–24, 226, 230, 238, 241, 248–49, 257–59, 264, 267, 285