Complete Works of Tacitus (Delphi Classics) (Delphi Ancient Classics Book 24)

by Publius Cornelius Tacitus

  51 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] Sub ipsas superioris anni kalendas Decembris Aulus Vitellius inferiorem Germaniam ingressus hiberna legionum cum cura adierat: redditi plerisque ordines, remissa ignominia, adlevatae notae; plura ambitione, quaedam iudicio, in quibus sordis et avaritiam Fontei Capitonis adimendis adsignandisve militiae ordinibus integre mutaverat. nec consularis legati mensura sed in maius omnia accipiebantur. et [ut] Vitellius apud severos humilis, ita comitatem bonitatemque faventes vocabant, quod sine modo, sine iudicio donaret sua, largiretur aliena; simul aviditate imperitandi ipsa vitia pro virtutibus interpretabantur. multi in utroque exercitu sicut modesti quietique ita mali et strenui. sed profusa cupidine et insigni temeritate legati legionum Alienus Caecina et Fabius Valens; e quibus Valens infensus Galbae, tamquam detectam a se Verginii cunctationem, oppressa Capitonis consilia ingrate tulisset, instigare Vitellium, ardorem militum ostentans: ipsum celebri ubique fama, nullam in Flacco Hordeonio moram; adfore Britanniam, secutura Germanorum auxilia: male fidas provincias, precarium seni imperium et brevi transiturum: panderet modo sinum et venienti Fortunae occurreret. merito dubitasse Verginium equestri familia, ignoto patre, imparem si recepisset imperium, tutum si recusasset: Vitellio tris patris consulatus, censuram, collegium Caesaris et imponere iam pridem imperatoris dignationem et auferre privati securitatem. quatiebatur his segne ingenium ut concupisceret magis quam ut speraret.

  52 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] At in superiore Germania Caecina, decorus iuventa, corpore ingens, animi immodicus, scito sermone, erecto incessu, studia militum inlexerat. hunc iuvenem Galba, quaestorem in Baetica impigre in partis suas transgressum, legioni praeposuit: mox compertum publicam pecuniam avertisse ut peculatorem flagitari iussit. Caecina aegre passus miscere cuncta et privata vulnera rei publicae malis operire statuit. nec deerant in exercitu semina discordiae, quod et bello adversus Vindicem universus adfuerat, nec nisi occiso Nerone translatus in Galbam atque in eo ipso sacramento vexillis inferioris Germaniae praeventus erat. et Treviri ac Lingones, quasque alias civitates atrocibus edictis aut damno finium Galba perculerat, hibernis legionum propius miscentur: unde seditiosa colloquia et inter paganos corruptior miles; et in Verginium favor cuicumque alii profuturus.

  53 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] Miserat civitas Lingonum vetere instituto dona legionibus dextras, hospitii insigne. legati eorum in squalorem maestitiamque compositi per principia per contubernia modo suas iniurias, modo vicinarum civitatium praemia, et ubi pronis militum auribus accipiebantur, ipsius exercitus pericula et contumelias conquerentes accendebant animos. nec procul seditione aberant cum Hordeonius Flaccus abire legatos, utque occultior digressus esset, nocte c
astris excedere iubet. inde atrox rumor, adfirmantibus plerisque interfectos, ac ni sibi ipsi consulerent, fore ut acerrimi militum et praesentia conquesti per tenebras et inscitiam ceterorum occiderentur. obstringuntur in ter se tacito foedere legiones, adsciscitur auxiliorum miles, primo suspectus tamquam circumdatis cohortibus alisque impetus in legiones pararetur, mox eadem acrius volvens, faciliore inter malos consensu ad bellum quam in pace ad concordiam.

  54 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] Inferioris tamen Germaniae legiones sollemni kalendarum Ianuariarum sacramento pro Galba adactae, multa cunctatione et raris primorum ordinum vocibus, ceteri silentio proximi cuiusque audaciam expectantes, insita mortalibus natura, propere sequi quae piget inchoare. sed ipsis legionibus inerat diversitas animorum: primani quintanique turbidi adeo ut quidam saxa in Galbae imagines iecerint: quinta decima ac sexta decima legiones nihil ultra fremitum et minas ausae initium erumpendi circumspectabant. at in superiore exercitu quarta ac duetvicensima legiones, isdem hibernis tendentes, ipso kalendarum Ianuariarum die dirumpunt imagines Galbae, quarta legio promptius, duetvicensima cunctanter, mox consensu. ac ne reverentiam imperii exuere viderentur, senatus populique Romani oblitterata iam nomina sacramento advocabant, nullo legatorum tribunorumve pro Galba nitente, quibusdam, ut in tumultu, notabilius turbantibus. non tamen quisquam in modum contionis aut suggestu locutus; neque enim erat adhuc cui imputaretur.

  55 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] Spectator flagitii Hordeonius Flaccus consularis legatus aderat, non compescere ruentis, non retinere dubios, non cohortari bonos ausus, sed segnis pavidus et socordia innocens. quattuor centuriones duetvicensimae legionis, Nonius Receptus, Donatius Valens, Romilius Marcellus, Calpurnius Repentinus, cum protegerent Galbae imagines, impetu militum abrepti vinctique. nec cuiquam ultra fides aut memoria prioris sacramenti, sed quod in seditionibus accidit, unde plures erant omnes fuere. Nocte quae kalendas Ianuarias secuta est in coloniam Agrippinensem aquilifer quartae legionis epulanti Vitellio nuntiat quartam et duetvicensimam legiones proiectis Galbae imaginibus in senatus ac populi Romani verba iurasse. id sacramentum inane visum: occupari nutantem fortunam et offerri principem placuit. missi a Vitellio ad legiones legatosque qui descivisse a Galba superiorem exercitum nuntiarent: proinde aut bellandum adversus desciscentis aut, si concordia et pax placeat, faciendum imperatorem: et minore discrimine sumi principem quam quaeri.

  56 Hordeonius Flaccus, the consular legate, was a spectator of this disgraceful 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] Proxima legionis primae hiberna erant et promptissimus et legatis Fabius Valens. is die postero coloniam Agrippinensem cum equitibus legionis auxiliariorumque ingressus imperatorem Vitellium consalutavit. secutae ingenti certamine eiusdem provinciae legiones; et superior exercitus, speciosis senatus populique Romani nominibus relictis, tertium nonas Ianuarias Vitellio accessit: scires illum priore biduo non penes rem publicam fuisse. ardorem exercituum Agrippinenses, Treviri, Lingones aequabant, auxilia equos, arma pecuniam offerentes, ut quisque corpore opibus ingenio validus. nec principes modo coloniarum aut castrorum, quibus praesentia ex affluenti et parta victoria magnae spes, sed manipuli quoque et gregarius miles viatica sua et balteos phalerasque, insignia armorum argento decora, loco pecuniae tradebant, instinctu et impetu et avaritia.

  57 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] Igitur laudata militum alacritate Vitellius ministeria principatus per libertos agi solita in equites Romanos disponit, vacationes centurionibus ex fisco numerat, saevitiam militum plerosque
ad poenam exposcentium saepius adprobat, raro simulatione vinculorum frustratur. Pompeius Propinquus procurator Belgicae statim interfectus; Iulium Burdonem Germanicae classis praefectum astu subtraxit. exarserat in eum iracundia exercitus tamquam crimen ac mox insidias Fonteio Capitoni struxisset. grata erat memoria Capitonis, et apud saevientis occidere palam, ignoscere non nisi fallendo licebat: ita in custodia habitus et post victoriam demum, stratis iam militum odiis, dimissus est. interim ut piaculum obicitur centurio Crispinus. sanguine Capitonis [se] cruentaverat eoque et postulantibus manifestior et punienti vilior fuit.

  58 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.