84 1 The greatest difficulty was met in taking the Praetorian Camp, which the bravest soldiers defended as their last hope. The resistance made the victors only the more eager, the old praetorian cohorts being especially determined. They employed at the same time every device that had ever been invented for the destruction of the strongest cities — the “tortoise,” artillery, earthworks, and firebrands — shouting that all the labour and danger that they had suffered in all their battles would be crowned by this achievement. “We have given back the city to the senate and the Roman people,” they cried; “we have restored the temples to the gods. The soldier’s glory is in his camp: that is his native city, that his penates. If the camp is not at once recovered, we must spend the night under arms.” On their side the Vitellians, unequal though they were in numbers and in fortune, by striving to spoil the victory, to delay peace, and to defile the houses and altars of the city with blood, embraced the last solace left to the conquered. Many, mortally wounded, breathed their last on the towers and battlements; when the gates were broken down, the survivors in a solid mass opposed the victors and to a man fell giving blow for blow, dying with faces to the foe; so anxious were they, even at the moment of death, to secure a glorious end.
On the capture of the city Vitellius was carried on a chair through the rear of the palace to his wife’s house on the Aventine, so that, in case he succeeded in remaining undiscovered during the day, he might escape to his brother and the cohorts at Tarracina. But his fickle mind and the very nature of terror, which makes the present situation always seem the worst to one who is fearful of everything, drew him back to the palace. This he found empty and deserted, for even the meanest of his slaves had slipped away or else avoided meeting him. The solitude and the silent spaces filled him with fright: he tried the rooms that were closed and shuddered to find them empty. Exhausted by wandering forlornly about, he concealed himself in an unseemly hiding-place; but Julius Placidus, tribune of a cohort, dragged him to the light. With his arms bound behind his back, his garments torn, he presented a grievous sight as he was led away. Many cried out against him, not one shed a tear; the ugliness of the last scene had banished pity. One of the soldiers from Germany met him and struck at him in rage, or else his purpose was to remove him the quicker from insult, or he may have been aiming at the tribune — no one could tell. He cut off the tribune’s ear and was at once run through.
85 1 Vitellius was forced at the point of the sword now to lift his face and offer it to his captors’ insults, now to see his own statues falling, and to look again and again on the rostra or the place where Galba had been killed. Finally, the soldiers drove him to the Gemonian stairs where the body of Flavius Sabinus had recently been lying. His only utterance marked his spirit as not ignoble, for when the tribune insulted him, he replied, “Yet I was your Emperor.” Then he fell under a shower of blows; and the people attacked his body after he was dead with the same base spirit with which they had fawned on him while he lived.
86 1 His native city was Luceria. He had nearly completed the fifty-seventh year of his age. The consulate, priesthoods, a name and place among the first men of his day, he acquired by no merit of his own but wholly through his father’s eminence. The men who gave him the principate did not know him. Seldom has the support of the army been gained by any man through honourable means to the degree that he won it through his worthlessness. Yet his nature was marked by simplicity and liberality — qualities which, if unchecked, prove the ruin of their possessor. Thinking, as he did, that friendships are cemented by greater gifts rather than by high character, he bought more friends than he kept. Undoubtedly it was to the advantage of the state that Vitellius should fall, but those who betrayed him to Vespasian cannot make a virtue of their own treachery, for they had already deserted Galba.
The day hurried to its close. It was impossible to summon the senate because the senators had stolen away from the city or were hiding in their clients’ houses. Now that he had no enemies to fear, Domitian presented himself to the leaders of his father’s party, and was greeted by them as Caesar; then crowds of soldiers, still in arms, escorted him to his ancestral hearth.
BOOK IV
1 1 The death of Vitellius was rather the end of war than the beginning of peace. The victors ranged through the city in arms, pursuing their defeated foes with implacable hatred: the streets were full of carnage, the fora and temples reeked with blood; they slew right and left everyone whom chance put in their way. Presently, as their licence increased, they began to hunt out and drag into the light those who had concealed themselves; did they espy anyone who was tall and young, they cut him down, regardless whether he was soldier or civilian. Their ferocity, which found satisfaction in bloodshed while their hatred was fresh, turned then afterwards to greed. They let no place remain secret or closed, pretending that Vitellians were in hiding. This led to the forcing of private houses or, if resistance was made, became an excuse for murder. Nor was there any lack of starvelings among the mob or of the vilest slaves ready to betray their rich masters; others were pointed out by their friends. Everywhere were lamentations, cries of anguish, and the misfortunes that befall a captured city; so that the citizens actually longed for the licence of Otho’s and Vitellius’s soldiers, which earlier they had detested. The generals of the Flavian party, who had been quick to start the conflagration of civil war, were unequal to the task of controlling their victory, for in times of violence and civil strife the worst men have the greatest power; peace and quiet call for honest arts.
2 1 Domitian had accepted the name of Caesar and the imperial residence, with no care as yet for his duties; but with debauchery and adulteries he played the part of an emperor’s son. The prefecture of the Praetorian watch was held by Arrius Varus, but the supreme authority was exercised by Antonius Primus. He appropriated money and slaves from the emperor’s palace as if it were the booty of Cremona; all the other leaders, whom modesty or humble lineage had made obscure in war, had accordingly no share of the rewards. The citizens were in a state of terror and quite ready for slavery; they demanded that Lucius Vitellius, who was on his way back from Tarracina with his cohorts, should be arrested and that the last embers of war should be extinguished: the cavalry was sent forward to Aricia; the infantry rested this side of Bovillae. Vitellius did not hesitate to surrender himself and his legions at the discretion of the victor; his troops threw away their unsuccessful arms no less in anger than in fear. A long line of prisoners, hedged in by armed soldiers, advanced through the city; no man had a suppliant look, but all were gloomy and grim; they faced the cheers, the riot, and the mockery of the crowd unmoved. The few who dared to break out of line were killed by their guards; all the rest were put in ward. No one uttered a word unworthy of him, and even in the midst of misfortune, all maintained their reputation for bravery. Next Lucius Vitellius was put to death. His brother’s equal in viciousness, he was more vigilant while that brother was emperor; yet he was not so much associated in his brother’s success as dragged to ruin by his adversity.
3 1 During these same days Lucilius Bassus was sent with a force of light armed cavalry to restore order in Campania, where the people of the towns were rather at variance with one another than rebellious toward the emperor. The sight of the soldiers restored order, and the smaller towns escaped punishment. Capua, however, had the Third legion quartered on it for the winter, and its nobler houses were ruined; while the people of Tarracina, on the other hand, received no assistance: so much easier is it to repay injury than to reward kindness, for gratitude is regarded as a burden, revenge as gain. The Tarracines, however, found comfort in the fact that the slave of Verginius Capito, who had betrayed them, was crucified wearing the very rings that he had received from Vitellius. But at Rome the senators voted to Vespasian all the honours and privileges usually given the emperors. They were filled with joy and confident hope, for it seemed to them that civil warfare, which, breaking out in the Gallic and Spanish provinces, had moved to
arms first the Germanies, then Illyricum, and which had traversed Egypt, Judea, Syria, and all provinces and armies, was now at an end, as if the expiation of the whole world had been completed: their zeal was increased by a letter from Vespasian, written as if war were still going on. That at least was the impression that it made at first; but in reality Vespasian spoke as an emperor, with humility of himself, magnificently of the state. Nor did the senate fail in homage: it elected Vespasian consul with his son Titus, and bestowed a praetorship with consular power on Domitian.
4 1 Mucianus also had sent a letter to the senate that gave occasion for comment. “If,” they said, “he were a private citizen, why this official language? He might have said the same things a few days later, speaking in the senate.” Even his attack on Vitellius came too late and showed no independence. But they thought it a haughty thing toward the state and an act of insolence toward the emperor for him to boast that he had had the empire in his own hand and had presented it to Vespasian. Yet their discontent was concealed; their flattery was open: in magnificent terms the senators gave Mucianus the insignia of a triumph, in reality for civil war, although his expedition against the Sarmatae was made the pretext. They also voted Antonius Primus the insignia of consular rank, Cornelius Fuscus and Arrius Varus of praetorian. Then they took thought for the gods: they voted to restore the Capitol. All these measures were proposed by Valerius Asiaticus, consul elect; the rest of the senators showed their approval by their looks and hands; a few of conspicuous dignity or whose nature was well trained in flattery expressed themselves in formal speeches. When the turn came to Helvidius Priscus, praetor elect, he spoke in terms which, while honourable to a good emperor, . . . There was no false flattery in his speech, which was received with enthusiasm by the senate. This was the day that stood out in his career as marking the beginning of great disfavour and of great glory.
5 1 Since I have again had occasion to mention a man of whom I shall have cause to speak many times, I think that I ought to give a brief account of his life and interests, and of the vicissitudes of fortune that he experienced. Helvidius Priscus was born in the town of Cluviae [in the district of Caracina]. His father had been a centurion of the first rank. In his early youth Helvidius devoted his extraordinary talents to the higher studies, not as most youths do, in order to cloak a useless leisure with a pretentious name, but that he might enter public life better fortified against the chances of fortune. He followed those teachers of philosophy who count only those things “good” which are morally right and only those things “evil” which are base, and who reckon power, high birth, and everything else that is beyond the control of the will as neither good nor bad. After he had held only the quaestorship, he was selected by Paetus Thrasea to be his son-in-law; from the character of his father-in-law he derived above everything the spirit of freedom; as citizen, senator, husband, son-in-law, and friend he showed himself equal to all of life’s duties, despising riches, determined in the right, unmoved by fear.
6 1 Some thought that he was rather too eager for fame, since the passion for glory is that from which even philosophers last divest themselves. Driven into exile by the ruin of his father, he returned under Galba and brought charges against Marcellus Eprius, who had informed against Thrasea. This attempt to avenge him, at once notable and just, divided the senators: for if Marcellus fell, it was the ruin of a host of the guilty. At first the struggle was threatening, as is proved by the elsewhere speeches on both sides; later, since Galba’s attitude was uncertain, Priscus yielded to many appeals from his fellow senators and gave up the prosecution. This action called forth varied comments according to the nature of those who made them, some praising his moderation, others regretting his lack of firmness.
However, at the meeting of the senate at which Vespasian was voted the imperial power, the senators decided to send a delegation to the emperor. This gave rise to a sharp difference between Helvidius and Eprius, for Helvidius demanded that the representatives be chosen by the magistrates under oath, Marcellus demanded a selection by lot, as the consul designate had proposed.
7 1 The interest that Marcellus felt was prompted by his personal vanity and his fear that others might be chosen and so he might seem neglected. Gradually the disputants were swept on in their wrangling to make long and bitter speeches. Helvidius asked Marcellus why he was so afraid of the decision of the magistrates. “You have,” he said, “wealth and eloquence in which you would be superior to many, if you were not burdened with men’s memory of your crimes. The lot and urn do not judge character; voting and the judgment of the senate have been devised as means to penetrate into the life and reputation of the individual. It is for the interests of the state and it touches the honour to be done Vespasian to have the delegation that meets him made up of the men whom the senate considers freest from reproach, that they may fill the emperor’s ears with honourable counsels. Vespasian was once the friend of Thrasea, Soranus, and Sentius. Even if it is not well to punish their accusers, we ought not to make a display of them. By its decision in this matter the senate will, in a way, suggest to the emperor whom to approve, whom to fear. For a good government there is no greater instrument at hand than the possession of good friends. You, Marcellus, must be satisfied with the fact that you induced Nero to put to death so many innocent men. Enjoy your rewards and immunity; leave Vespasian to better men.”
8 1 Marcellus replied that it was not his proposal, but that of the consul designate that was attacked; and it was a proposal that conformed to the ancient precedents, which prescribed that delegates should be chosen by lot, that there might be no room for self-seeking or for hate. Nothing had occurred to give reason for abandoning long-established customs or for turning the honour due an emperor into an insult to any man: they could all pay homage. What they must try to avoid was allowing the wilfulness of certain individuals to irritate the mind of the emperor, who was as yet unbiassed, being newly come to power and watchful of every look and every word. For his own part he remembered the time in which he was born, the form of government that their fathers and grandfathers had established; he admired the earlier period, but adapted himself to the present; he prayed for good emperors, but endured any sort. It was not by his speech any more than by the judgment of the senate that Thrasea had been brought to ruin; Nero’s cruel nature found its delight in such shows of justice, and such a friendship caused him no less anxiety than exile in others. In short, let them set Helvidius on an equality with Cato and Brutus in firmness and courage: for himself, he was only one of a senate which accepted a common servitude. He would also advise Priscus not to exalt himself above an emperor, not to try to check by his precepts a man of ripe age as Vespasian was, a man who had gained the insignia of a triumph, and who had sons grown to man’s estate. Just as the worst emperors wish for absolute tyrannical power, even the best desire some limit to the freedom of their subjects. These arguments, which were hurled back and forth with great vehemence, were received with different feelings. The party prevailed that favoured the selection of the envoys by lot, for even the ordinary senators were eager to preserve precedent, and all the most prominent also inclined to the same course, fearing to excite envy if they should be selected themselves.
9 1 Another dispute followed. The praetors of the treasury — for at that time the public treasury was managed by praetors — complained of the poverty of the state and asked that expenses should be limited. This problem the consul designate wished to reserve for the emperor in view of the magnitude of the burden and the difficulty of the remedy, but Helvidius held that the decision should rest with the senate. When the consuls began to ask the senators their views, Vulcacius Tertullinus, tribune of the people, forbade any decision on so important a matter in the absence of the emperor. Helvidius had proposed that the Capitol should be restored at public expense and that Vespasian should assist in the work. This proposal the more prudent senators passed over in silence, and then allowed it to be forgotten. There were some, however, who r
emembered it.
10 1 Then Musonius Rufus attacked Publius Celer, charging him with bringing Barea Soranus to ruin by false testimony. This trial seemed to revive the hatred once roused by the informers. But a defendant so base and guilty as Celer could not be protected: the memory of Soranus was revered; Celer had been his teacher in philosophy, then had given testimony against him, thus betraying and profaning friendship, the nature of which he professed to teach. The earliest possible day was set for the case, and men eagerly looked forward to hearing not Musonius or Celer so much as Priscus, Marcellus, and all the rest, for their minds were now set on vengeance.
11 1 In this state of affairs, when discord reigned among the senators, when the defeated party was filled with rage, and there was no authority among the victors, neither law nor emperor in the state, Mucianus entered the city and took everything into his own hands. The power of Primus Antonius and of Varus Arrius was broken, for Mucianus poorly concealed his anger toward them, although he did not betray his feelings in his looks. But the city, quick to discover offences, had turned and transferred its devotion to Mucianus: he alone was sought out and courted. Nor did he fail in his part: surrounded with armed men, changing his houses and gardens, by his parade, his gait, his guards, he grasped at an emperor’s power, the title he let pass. The greatest terror was caused by the execution of Calpurnius Galerianus. He was the son of Gaius Piso, but he had attempted nothing seditious: yet his eminent name and his handsome appearance made him the subject of gossip, and among the citizens, who were still uneasy and delighted in talk of a revolution, there were enough ready to bestow on him the empty honours of the principate. Mucianus ordered his arrest by a squad of soldiers, and then, fearing that his execution within the city itself would attract too much attention, he had him taken to the fortieth milestone on the Appian Way, where he was put to death by opening his veins. Julius Priscus, prefect of the praetorian cohorts under Vitellius, committed suicide, prompted by shame rather than necessity. Alfenus Varus survived his own cowardice and infamy. Asiaticus, being a freedman, paid for his baneful power by a slave’s punishment.
Complete Works of Tacitus (Delphi Classics) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 24) Page 35