51 1 I will now relate the origin and causes of the revolt of Vitellius. After Julius Vindex had been slain and all his forces with him, the army, flushed with joy over the booty and glory it had won, as was natural since it had secured a very rich victory without effort or danger, preferred to advance and fight, to secure rewards rather than mere pay. The soldiers had long endured a profitless service which was severe because of the character of the district and of the climate, and also because discipline was strict. But discipline which is stern in time of peace is broken down by civil strife, for there are men on both sides ready to corrupt, and treachery goes unpunished. The army had men, weapons, and horses in abundance for use and for show, but before the war the soldiers had been acquainted with only their own centuries and squadrons, for the armies were then separated by the boundaries of the provinces. But at that time the legions had been mobilized against Vindex, so that they had become acquainted with their own strength and that of the Gallic provinces. Therefore they were again looking for war and new quarrels; they no longer called the Gauls “allies” as before, but “enemies” and “the defeated.” In fact that part of the Gallic provinces which borders the Rhine had not failed to attach itself to the same party and at this time was most vigorous in urging the soldiers on against “the Galbans,” for they had given them this name in scorn of Vindex. Accordingly, being hostile first of all towards the Sequani and the Aeduans, and then towards other states in proportion to their wealth, their souls thirsted for the storming of cities, the ravaging of fields, and the looting of houses. Their irritation arose not simply from greed and arrogance — faults especially common to the stronger — but also from the insolent spirit of the Gauls, who as an insult to the army boasted that Galba had remitted a quarter of their tribute and had rewarded them as communities. There was, too, a rumour cleverly spread abroad and rashly believed, that the legions were being decimated and the most active centurions dismissed. From every side came alarming messages and from Rome disturbing reports; the colony of Lyons was hostile and, owing to its persistent loyalty to Nero, was filled with rumours; but the amplest material for imagination and credulity was to be found within the camp itself in the soldiers’ hatreds, in their fears, and also, when they considered their own strength, in their self-confidence.
52 1 About the first of December in the preceding year Aulus Vitellius had entered Lower Germany and carefully inspected the winter quarters of the legions. Many of the troops had their ranks restored, their disgrace removed, the marks against them cancelled. He did much for his selfish ends, but some things with sound judgment; among these was the honest change he made from the meanness and greed which Fonteius Capito had shown in taking away or bestowing military rank. The acts of Vitellius were not regarded as those simply of a consular legate, but without exception were taken to be more significant; and while the strict thought Vitellius demeaned himself, his partisans called it affability and kindness where he gave away his own property without limit and without judgment and squandered what belonged to others; at the same time their greed for power made them translate his very faults into virtues. There were many in both armies obedient and law-abiding, as well as many unprincipled and energetic. But the commanders of the legions, Alienus Caecina and Fabius Valens, were men of boundless greed and extraordinary recklessness. Valens was hostile to Galba, because Galba had treated with ingratitude his disclosure of Verginius’s hesitation and his crushing of Capito’s plans. He began to urge Vitellius on and to point out to him the eager spirit of the soldiers, saying that he enjoyed great fame everywhere, that Flaccus Hordeonius would give no occasion for delay, that Britain would join him, the German auxiliaries follow his standard; the loyalty of the provinces he declared weak, the old emperor’s rule precarious and sure soon to pass; let him but open his arms and hurry to meet approaching fortune. He maintained that Verginius had hesitated with good reason, for he was of equestrian family, his father was unknown and he would have been unequal to the office if he had got the imperial power, but safe if he refused it; but to Vitellius, his father’s three consulships and the censorship in which he had Caesar as colleague had long since given him imperial dignity and had taken away from him the security of a subject. These arguments stirred his sluggish nature to covetousness rather than to hope.
53 1 But in Upper Germany, Caecina, a handsome young man of towering stature and boundless ambition, had won over the support of the soldiers by his clever speech and dignified carriage. This youth Galba had put in command of a legion, for when he was quaestor in Baetica, he had not hesitated to join Galba’s party. But later, when Galba found that he had embezzled public money, he ordered him to be prosecuted for peculation. Caecina took this hard and decided to embroil everything and conceal his private wounds amid the misfortunes of the state. And there were not lacking seeds of discord in the army, because it had taken part in full force in the war against Vindex and had not gone over to Galba until Nero had been killed, and then had been anticipated in taking the oath of allegiance to Galba by some detachments from Lower Germany. The Treviri, too, and Lingones, as well as other states which Galba had punished with harsh edicts or loss of territory, were closely associated with the legions’ winter quarters, with the result that there were seditious conferences and the soldiers were demoralized by mixing with the civilian inhabitants, and the attachment that they apparently showed Verginius was ready to be given to anyone else.
54 1 The community of the Lingones, according to their ancient custom, had sent clasped right hands, an emblem of friendship, as gifts to the legions. Their envoys, assuming the appearance of poverty and sorrow, complained both at headquarters and in the messes of the common soldiers, now of their wrongs, again of the rewards given to neighbouring communities, and, when the soldiers were ready to lend a listening ear, of the dangers and the insults suffered by the army itself, and so inflamed the temper of the troops. In fact, they were not far from mutiny when Hordeonius Flaccus ordered the envoys to leave and told them to go out of camp by night that their departure might be less noticeable. From this arose a disturbing report, for many maintained that the envoys had been killed; and it was urged that if the soldiers did not take thought for themselves, the most energetic among them and those who complained of present conditions would be put to death under the cover of darkness without the knowledge of their fellows. Thereupon the legions bound themselves by a secret oath; the auxiliary soldiers joined them. These had been at first suspected of planning to attack the legions, because their infantry and cavalry had surrounded the camp; but presently they showed themselves more zealous in the same cause; for the wicked conspire more readily to make war than to preserve harmony in time of peace.
55 1 Yet the legions of Lower Germany had taken the usual oath of allegiance to Galba on the first of January, although there was great hesitation and only a few in the front ranks repeated it, while the rest silently waited, each on the courage of his neighbour, it being human nature to follow eagerly a course that one hesitates to begin. But there was a diversity of sentiment in the legions themselves. The First and Fifth were so mutinous that some stoned Galba’s images. The Fifteenth and Sixteenth legions, while daring to do nothing worse than murmur and threaten, were seeking some opening for an outbreak. In the Upper army, however, the Fourth and Twenty-second legions, who were wintering in the same camp, on the very first of January tore down the images of Galba, the Fourth legion with greater readiness, the Twenty-second with hesitation at first, but presently in full accord; and they called in their oath on the now forgotten names of the senate and Roman people that they might not seem to give up reverence for the empire. No one of the legates or tribunes made any effort in Galba’s behalf; some, as is usual in an uproar, were conspicuous in causing trouble. Yet no one addressed the soldiers in formal speech or from the tribunal, for there was no one as yet to whom claim for such service could be made.
56 1 Hordeonius Flaccus, the consular legate, was a spectator of this disgrac
eful scene. He did not dare to check those who were in a fury or to restrain the doubtful or even to exhort the loyal, but he was slow to act, timid, and innocent only because of his sloth. Four centurions of the Twenty-second legion, Nonius Receptus, Donatius Valens, Romilius Marcellus, Calpurnius Repentinus, were swept away by the onrush of the soldiers when they tried to protect Galba’s images, and were thrown into chains. No man had any loyalty or thought for his former oath, but as happens in mutinies all joined the majority.
On the night which followed January first, an eagle-bearer of the Fourth legion came to Cologne and reported to Vitellius at table that the Fourth and Twenty-second legions had thrown down Galba’s statues and taken the oath of allegiance to the senate and the Roman people. Such an oath seemed idle; they decided to seize fortune while in the balance and to offer an emperor to the soldiery. Vitellius sent men to the legions and legates to announce that the Upper army had mutinied against Galba: therefore they must either fight against the mutineers or, if they preferred harmony and peace, must take an emperor. There was less danger, he added, in accepting an emperor than in looking for one.
57 1 The winter quarters of the First legion were nearest, and the most energetic of the commanders was Fabius Valens. The next day he entered Cologne with the horsemen of the legion and the auxiliary troops and saluted Vitellius as emperor. The legions of the same province showed the greatest rivalry in following this example; and the Upper army, abandoning the specious names of the senate and the Roman people, came over to Vitellius on the third of January, so that it was easy to realize that during the two preceding days it had never been faithful to the state. The citizens of Cologne, the Treviri, the Lingones, showed the same enthusiasm as the army. Individuals offered their personal services, horses, arms, or money, according to the physical strength, wealth, or talent that each possessed. Not only the chief men of the colonies and camps who had present wealth in abundance and great hopes should they secure a victory, but also whole companies and common soldiers, prompted by excitement and enthusiasm and also by greed, contributed their own spending money, or in place of money their belts and bosses, and the decorations of their armour adorned with silver.
58 1 Therefore Vitellius praised the eager spirit of the soldiers and then distributed the imperial offices which had been usually held by freedmen among Roman knights; he also paid the fees for furloughs to the centurions out of his own purse. He frequently gave his approval to the savagery of the soldiers who demanded that many be given up to punishment; in some rare instances he evaded it by throwing the accused into chains. Pompeius Propinquus, imperial agent in Belgian Gaul, was immediately put to death; Julius Burdo, commander of the German fleet, he saved by a clever ruse. The army’s anger had blazed out against Burdo, because he had invented a charge against Fonteius Capito, and later had plotted against him. The soldiers remembered Capito with gratitude, and while Vitellius might kill openly before the angry mob, he could not pardon except by deceit. And so Burdo was kept under guard and released only after the victory of Vitellius, when the hatred of the soldiers for him was now appeased. In the meantime the centurion Crispinus was offered as a scapegoat. Capito’s blood was on his hands, and that made him the more obvious victim of the soldiers’ demands and the cheaper sacrifice in the eyes of the executioner.
59 1 Next Julius Civilis was saved from danger. He had great influence with the Batavians so that Vitellius did not wish to alienate this savage people by punishing him. Moreover there were in the country of the Lingones eight cohorts of Batavians, auxiliaries belonging to the Fourteenth legion, who at that time, owing to the discord of the moment, had withdrawn from the legion; and, whichever way they inclined, these eight cohorts would have great weight as allies or opponents. The centurions Nonius, Donatius, Romilius, and Calpurnius, of whom we have spoken above, he ordered to be executed, for they had been pronounced guilty of loyalty — the worst of charges among rebels. He also now gained the adherence of Valerius Asiaticus, governor of the Belgic province, whom he later made his son-in-law; likewise of Junius Blaesus who was in charge of Gallia Lugdunensis, together with the Italic legion and the Taurian squadron of horse who were stationed at Lyons. The forces in Raetia did not delay joining his side at once; nor was there any hesitation even in Britain.
60 1 The governor of Britain was Trebellius Maximus, whose greed and meanness made him despised and hated by his soldiers. Their hostility towards him was increased by Roscius Coelius, the commander of the Twentieth legion, who had long been at odds with him; but now, on the occasion of civil war, the hostility between the two broke out with great violence. Trebellius charged Coelius with stirring up mutiny and destroying discipline; Coelius reproached Trebellius with robbing the legions and leaving them poor, while meantime the discipline of the army was broken down by this shameful quarrel between the commanders; and the trouble reached such a point that Trebellius was openly insulted by the auxiliary soldiers as well as by the legions, and when deserted by the auxiliary foot and horse who joined Coelius, fled to Vitellius. The province remained quiet, although the consular governor had been removed: control was in the hands of the commanders of the legions, who were equal in authority; but Coelius actually had the greater power because of his audacity.
61 1 Now that the army in Britain had joined his standard, Vitellius, who had enormous strength and resources at his command, selected two leaders and two lines of advance for the war. He ordered Fabius Valens to win over the Gallic provinces, or, if they refused his advances, to lay them waste and then break into Italy by the Cottian Alps. Caecina was to descend by the nearer route over the Pennine range. Valens was given picked soldiers from the Lower army together with the eagle of the Fifth legion and auxiliary foot and horse, the whole force numbering about 40,000 armed men. Caecina took from the Upper army 30,000; but his real strength lay in the Twenty-first legion. Both were given in addition German auxiliaries with whom Vitellius completed his own forces also, as he was prepared to follow with his whole strength.
62 1 There was a marked contrast between army and general. The soldiers were eager; they demanded battle, while the Gallic provinces were still timid and the Spanish hesitant. “Neither winter,” they declared, “nor the delay caused by a peace which only a coward would make is an obstacle to us. We must invade Italy, seize Rome. In civil strife, where one must act rather than debate, nothing is more safe than haste.” Vitellius, however, was sunk in sloth and was already enjoying a foretaste of his imperial fortune by indolent luxury and extravagant dinners; at midday he was tipsy and gorged with food. Still the soldiers in their eagerness and vigour actually performed the duties of a general, so that they inspired the energetic with hope or the indolent with fear, exactly as if the commander-in-chief were there in person. They were drawn up in line and eager for action; they demanded the signal for the start. Vitellius was at once given the additional name of Germanicus; the appellation Caesar he forbade even after he was victorious. It was a happy augur to the mind of Fabius Valens and the army which he was leading to war that, on the very day they started, an eagle flew gently along before the advancing army apparently to guide their march; and for a long distance such were the exultant cries of the troops, such the undisturbed calm of the bird, that it was welcomed as a certain omen of a great and successful issue.
63 1 The army approached the Treviri with a sense of security which they naturally felt among allies. But at Divodurum, a town of the Mediomatrici, though received with all courtesy, the army was struck with sudden panic; the soldiers hurriedly seized their arms to massacre the innocent citizens, not for booty or from a desire to loot, but prompted by wild fury, the cause of which was uncertain and the remedies therefore more difficult. Finally, however, they were quieted by their general’s appeals and refrained from completely destroying the community; still about 4,000 had been massacred, and such terror spread over the Gallic provinces that later on, as the army advanced, entire communities headed by their magistrates came out to mee
t it with appeals, women and children prostrating themselves along the roads, while everything else that can appease an enemy’s wrath was offered to secure peace, although there was no war.
64 1 Fabius Valens heard the news of Galba’s death and the accession of Otho in the state of the Leuci. The soldiers were neither moved to joy nor stirred by fear; they thought only of war. The Gauls no longer hesitated; though they hated Otho and Vitellius equally, they also feared Vitellius. The next state was that of the Lingones, which was faithful to his party. There the Roman soldiers enjoyed a kindly reception and vied with one another in good behaviour. Yet the joy over this was short-lived, because of the violence of the auxiliary infantry, which, as we said above, had detached themselves from the Fourteenth legion and been incorporated by Fabius Valens in his force. At first a quarrel arose between the Batavians and the legionaries, and then a brawl. Finally, as the soldiers took sides with one or the other, they broke out almost into open battle, and in fact would have done so had not Valens, by the punishment of a few men, reminded the Batavians of the authority which they had forgotten. It was in vain that the Roman troops tried to find an excuse for war against the Aeduans; when ordered to furnish money and arms, the Aeduans went so far as to provide the army with supplies without cost, and what the Aeduans had done from fear the people of Lyons did from joy. The Italic legion and the Taurian squadron of horse were withdrawn from the city; it was decided, however, to leave the Eighteenth cohort there, for that was their usual winter quarters. Manlius Valens, commander of the Italic legion, enjoyed no honour with Vitellius, though he had done good service to his party. Fabius had defamed him by secret charges of which Manlius knew nothing, but praised him openly that, being off his guard, he might be more easily deceived.
65 1 The old feud between the people of Lyons and Vienne had been inflamed by the last war. They had inflicted many losses on each other and had done this too frequently and savagely for anyone to believe that they were fighting only for Nero or Galba. Galba too had taken advantage of his displeasure to divert the revenues of Lyons into his own treasury; on the other hand he had shown great honour to the people of Vienne. Hence arose rivalry and envy and a bond of hatred between the peoples who were separated only by a single river. Therefore the people of Lyons began to stir up individual soldiers and spur them on to destroy Vienne by reminding them that its inhabitants had besieged their own colony, aided Vindex in his attempts, and had lately enrolled legions for the defence of Galba. More, after they had put forward these pretexts for hating Vienne, they began to point out the large booty to be obtained, no longer exhorting them in secret, but making public appeals. “Advance as avengers,” they said; “destroy the home of war in Gaul. At Vienne there is nothing that is not foreign and hostile. We, a Roman colony and a part of your army, have shared your successes and reverses. Do not abandon us to an angry foe, should fortune prove adverse.”
Complete Works of Tacitus (Delphi Classics) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 24) Page 19