Plutarch · a new plain-English translation from the original language
The younger emperor, at daybreak, went out to the Capitol and offered sacrifice. Then, having ordered that Marius Celsus be brought before him, he greeted him warmly and spoke with him, urging him to put the accusation out of mind rather than dwell on his release. Celsus answered neither basely nor thoughtlessly, but said that the very manner of his conduct gave credibility to the accusation, for he had been accused of having remained faithful to Galba, to whom he owed no such debt of gratitude; and those present admired them both, and the soldiery approved.
Speaking in the senate many popular and kindly words, of the time he himself was to hold the consulship he gave a portion to Verginius Rufus, and to all those who had been appointed by Nero or Galba he preserved their consulships. He adorned with priesthoods those who
were distinguished by age or reputation. To all the senators who had been exiled under Nero and had returned under Galba he restored whatever of each man's property he could discover had not been sold. Hence the foremost and most powerful men, who before had shuddered as though it were not a man but some avenging Fury or blood-guilty demon that had suddenly fallen upon their affairs, grew more cheerful in their hopes for the government, as though it were smiling upon them.
Nothing so delighted all the Romans together, nor so won them over to him, as his measures concerning Tigellinus. He had, in fact, escaped notice for some time, being already punished by the very fear of the punishment which the city demanded of him as a public debt,
and by incurable bodily diseases, and those unholy and unspeakable wallowings among prostitutes and unclean women, in which, even while he lay dying, his lust still convulsively clutched — those who kept their senses reckoned this the ultimate penalty, worth many deaths. Yet it grieved most people all the same to see him still looking upon the sun after so many and such men had, because of him, ceased to see it.
So Otho sent after him, to the estates around Sinuessa, where he was living, with ships anchored nearby so that he might flee farther off. The man sent tried to persuade him with much gold to come along; and when he would not be persuaded, he gave him gifts nonetheless, but begged him to wait until he had shaved his beard — and then, taking a razor, he cut his own throat.
Having thus granted the people this most just pleasure, Caesar himself bore no malice whatever for his own private enmities, and, to gratify the many, at first did not avoid being addressed as Nero in the theaters; and when some set up images of Nero in public view, he did not forbid it.
Cluvius Rufus says that dispatches were carried to Spain, in which those who send out the couriers had attached Nero's adopted name to that of Otho. Nevertheless, when he perceived that the foremost and most powerful men were displeased at this, he stopped it. While the government was settling into such a shape, the mercenary soldiers made themselves troublesome, urging distrust and vigilance and the cutting-down of men of note, whether truly fearful out of goodwill, or using this as a pretext for stirring up trouble and making war.
When he sent Crispinus to bring back the seventeenth cohort from Ostia, and that man, while it was still night, was making his preparations and loading the weapons onto the wagons, all the boldest among the soldiers shouted that Crispinus was up to no good, but that the senate was attempting a revolution, and that the weapons were being carried against Caesar, not for Caesar.
As the talk took hold of many and inflamed them, some laid hold of the wagons, others killed the two centurions who opposed them, and Crispinus himself; and all of them, arming themselves and exhorting one another to go help Caesar, rode off to Rome, and learning that eighty senators were dining with him, they made for the palace, saying that now was the time to kill all of Caesar's enemies at once,
so the city was in great uproar, as if it were about to be plundered on the spot, and in the palace there was running to and fro, and a terrible helplessness seized Otho. For, fearing on behalf of the men, he himself turned into someone they dreaded, and he noticed their eyes fixed on him, wordless and full of terror, some even having come to dinner with their wives.
At the same time he sent the prefects out, ordering them to speak to the soldiers and calm them, and at the same time he raised up his guests and sent them out by other doors; and they barely escaped in time, as the mercenaries came pushing into the dining hall asking where Caesar's enemies had gone.
At that time, then, standing up from his couch, offering much comfort and entreaty, and sparing not even his tears, he barely managed to send them off; and on the following day, having presented every man with twelve hundred and fifty drachmas, he entered the camp, and praised the multitude
as being well-disposed and eager toward him, but said that a few, not for any good purpose, were secretly at work, slandering his moderation and their own good order, and he asked them to share his indignation and join in punishing them. When all approved and urged him on, he took only two men, whose punishment no one was going to be upset about, and went away.
These measures those who already loved and trusted him admired as a change of heart; but others considered them necessary political moves suited to the moment, since he was courting popular favor because of the war. For already it was being reported with certainty that Vitellius had assumed the rank and power of emperor; and winged messengers kept constantly arriving, announcing that something new was always coming over to his side, others declaring that the Pannonian and Dalmatian and Moesian armies, together with their commanders, had chosen Otho.
Soon letters also arrived from Mucianus, and friendly ones from Vespasian, the one having great forces in Syria, the other in Judea; encouraged by these, he wrote to Vitellius urging him to think as befits a soldier, promising that he himself would give him much money and a city in which he might live the easiest and most pleasant life, in peace,
and that man wrote back to him too, mocking gently at first; then, growing more provoked, they wrote many abusive and indecent taunts to one another, not falsely, but foolishly and ridiculously, each reproaching the other with faults that belonged to them both. For as to profligacy and softness and inexperience of war, and the multitude of debts contracted earlier out of poverty, it was hard to say which of the two had the lesser share in these things.
Many signs and apparitions were reported, though most of them were rumors without a source and open to doubt; but on the Capitol, where a statue of Victory stood mounted on a chariot, everyone saw the reins slip from her hands, as though she were unable to hold them; and the statue of Gaius Caesar on the island in the Tiber, though there had been no earthquake or wind, turned from facing west to facing east,
which they say happened around those days in which Vespasian's supporters were already openly taking hold of affairs. And the incident concerning the Tiber, most people took as an evil omen. For it was around the season when rivers rise the most, but never before had it risen so high, nor destroyed and ruined so much, overflowing and flooding a great part of the city, and most of all the district where they sell grain for purchase, so that a terrible shortage held the city for many days.
When it was reported that Caecina and Valens, Vitellius's generals, already held the Alps, in Rome Dolabella, a man of noble birth, aroused suspicion among the mercenaries that he had revolutionary designs. So Otho, whether fearing him or someone else, sent him under escort, with reassuring words, to the town of Aquinum. And in enrolling those in authority as fellow travelers, he included among them Lucius, the brother of Vitellius, neither adding to nor taking away from the honor he held,
and he took strong care also of Vitellius's mother and wife, so that they should fear nothing on their own account; and as guardian of Rome he appointed Flavius Sabinus, Vespasian's brother, whether he did this also in honor of Nero — for Sabinus had received that office from him, and Galba had taken it from him — or rather to show goodwill toward Vespasian and strengthen Sabinus's loyalty.
He himself remained behind at Brixellum, a city of Italy on the Po, and sent out as generals of his forces Marius Celsus and Suetonius Paulinus, and also Gallus and Spurina, men of renown, who were not able to manage affairs as they had planned, in accordance with their own judgment, because of the indiscipline and recklessness of the soldiers.
For the soldiers did not think it fitting to listen to others, holding that command belonged to them, on the emperor's behalf. Now the enemy's affairs, too, were not altogether sound, nor tractable to their commanders, but likewise unruly and arrogant for the same reason; nevertheless those men had experience of fighting, and being accustomed to hardship, did not shrink from it,
whereas these were soft from leisure and an unwarlike way of living, having passed the greater part of their lives amid theaters, festivals, and the stage, but out of insolence and boastfulness they wanted to cover this over, disdaining to be thought fit for their duties as though they were too great for them, not as though unable to bear them. Spurina, pressing them, came close to being killed by them when they nearly attacked him,
sparing him no insolence or abuse, calling him a traitor and a ruiner of Caesar's opportunities and affairs; and some, already drunk, came by night to his tent demanding travel money, saying that they must go to Caesar, in order to bring accusations against him.
What helped matters, and Spurina too, for the moment, was a taunting exchange that took place among the soldiers around Placentia; for Vitellius's men, attacking the walls, mocked those of Otho's men standing along the battlements, calling them stage performers and pyrrhic dancers and spectators of the Pythian and Olympic games, inexperienced in war and campaigning and never having seen it, and priding themselves greatly on having cut off the head of an unarmed old man — meaning Galba — though they themselves would never openly go down into a contest and battle of men.
So stirred up were they by these taunts, and so inflamed, that they fell upon Spurina, begging him to make use of them and give them orders, refusing no danger or toil. A fierce siege of the walls followed, with many engines brought up, and Spurina's men prevailed, and beating back their opponents with great slaughter, preserved a famous city, flourishing as much as any in Italy,
The rest of Vitellius's generals, too, were less harsh to encounter, both for cities and for private individuals, than Otho's were; but of them Caecina had neither the voice nor the bearing of a man of the people, but was offensive and strange, of great bodily size, got up in Gallic fashion with trousers and sleeves, though he addressed the standards and Roman officials,
and they escorted his wife to him, mounted on a horse conspicuously adorned, with a picked body of cavalry. But Fabius Valens, the other general, was filled up neither by plundering the enemy nor by thefts and bribe-taking from the allies as he made his money; indeed it was thought that it was for this reason — moving slowly — that he was late for the earlier battle,
while others blame Caecina, who, hastening for the victory to be his own before Valens arrived, fell into other lesser errors as well, and joined battle neither at the right time nor nobly, and so came within a little of ruining the whole cause for them.
For when Caecina, repulsed from Placentia, set out for Cremona, another prosperous and great city, first Annius Gallus, who was going to Spurinna's aid near Placentia, when he heard along the road that the people of Placentia had come off victorious, but that those at Cremona were in danger, transferred his army there and encamped near the enemy; then each of the others also came to the general's aid,
and when Caecina had posted many hoplites in ambush in shaggy, wooded places, and had ordered his cavalry to ride out ahead, and if the enemy engaged, to withdraw little by little and flee back, until by so retreating they should draw them into the ambush, deserters reported this to Celsus. And he, riding out against them with good cavalry, but conducting the pursuit warily, and having surrounded and thrown the ambush into confusion, called up his hoplites from the camp.
and it seems that if they had come up in time they would have left not one of the enemy, but would have crushed and destroyed the whole army with Caecina by following hard upon the cavalry; but as it was, Paulinus, coming to their aid late and at leisure, was charged with having generaled below his reputation, out of excessive caution.
And most of the soldiers even accused him of treachery, and provoked Otho, boasting loudly that they themselves had been victorious, and that the victory had not gone further because of the generals' cowardice. But Otho did not trust them so much as he wished not to seem to distrust them. He therefore sent his brother Titianus to the armies, and Proculus the prefect, who in fact held the whole command, while Titianus was but a screen.
Those about Celsus and Paulinus were otherwise dragged along merely with the name of counselors and friends, having no authority or power in affairs; and things were in confusion among the enemy too, especially among those under Valens; and when the battle at the ambush was reported, they grew angry that they had not been present nor had come to the aid of so many men who had died — but with difficulty he persuaded and restrained them from rushing to attack, and broke camp and joined Caecina's forces.
And Otho, having arrived at Bedriacum, at the camp — Bedriacum is a small town near Cremona — deliberated about the battle; and it seemed best to Proculus and Titianus, since the armies were eager and the victory was fresh, to fight it out and not to sit still blunting the edge of their force while waiting for Vitellius himself to come from Gaul,
but Paulinus said that the enemy had at hand everything with which they would fight, and lacked nothing, while for Otho a force no less than what was already present was expected from Moesia and Pannonia, if he would wait for his own proper time, and not play the general to suit the enemy's convenience,
for those who now had confidence from lesser numbers would use no blunter weapons then, if they should gain more men to fight along with them, but would fight from a position of abundance; and besides this, the delay would be to their advantage, since they were in want of nothing, whereas time would bring the enemy scarcity of necessities, encamped as they were in hostile territory.
Marius Celsus became of the same opinion as Paulinus in saying these things. Annius Gallus was not present, but was being tended for a fall from his horse; yet when Otho wrote to him he advised him not to hasten, but to wait for the force from Moesia which was already on the road. However Otho was not persuaded by these men, but those urging him on to battle prevailed.
Several other reasons are given by different people; but plainly those called the praetorians, having the rank of guardsmen, tasting then for the first time a genuine campaign, and longing for their pastimes and festive ways of life in Rome, free from war, were not to be restrained in their eagerness for battle, as though they would snatch up the enemy at once by a mere onrush,
and it seems that Otho himself no longer bore up under the uncertainty, nor could he endure, through inexperience and softness, calculations about the dangers, but, worn out by anxieties, hastened, covering his eyes as it were, to let events go however they might happen, as if leaping from a cliff.
This is what Secundus the rhetorician, who had been in charge of Otho's correspondence, used to relate. From others one could hear that in both armies many impulses arose to come together as one, and above all, that they themselves, in agreement, should choose the best of the present commanders, or if not, that they should seat the senate jointly and refer the choice of emperor to it.
And it is not unlikely that, since neither of those then called emperors enjoyed a good reputation, such reflections fell upon the genuine, hard-working, and sensible among the soldiers — that it was most hateful and terrible that what long ago, on account of Sulla and Marius, and then Caesar and Pompey, the citizens pitied one another for doing and suffering, they should now endure for the sake of providing an empire as fodder either for Vitellius's gluttony and drunkenness, or for Otho's luxury and licentiousness.
It is suspected, then, that those about Celsus, perceiving this, threw in delay, hoping that matters would be decided without battle and toil, while those about Otho, fearing this, hastened on the battle.
He himself withdrew again to Brixellum, and by this too he added to his errors — not only because he removed from those fighting the reverence and ambition felt in the presence of his eyes, but because, in taking away for his own bodyguard the strongest and most eager cavalry and infantry, he cut off, as it were, the tempered edge of his force.
It happened in those same days that there was also a contest around the river Po, Caecina attempting to bridge the crossing, while Otho's men hindered and fought against him. And when they accomplished nothing this way, they loaded onto boats torches full of sulphur and pitch, and a wind, suddenly falling upon the strait, fanned the prepared material against the enemy.
First smoke, then a bright flame burst out, and being thrown into confusion and leaping into the river, they overturned their own boats and gave their bodies over to the enemy amid laughter. And the Germans, engaging Otho's gladiators near a small island in the river, overpowered them and destroyed not a few of them.
When this had happened, and Otho's soldiers at Bedriacum were being carried away in anger toward battle, Proculus led them out from Bedriacum, and encamped about fifty stades away, so inexpertly and laughably that, though it was springtime, and the surrounding plains had many springs and ever-flowing rivers, they were pressed by a shortage of water.
And on the next day, when he wished to lead them forward against the enemy by a road of no less than a hundred stades, Paulinus and his party would not allow it, but thought they ought to wait and not wear themselves out beforehand, nor engage in battle straight from the march against men armed and drawn up at their leisure, in the time it would take themselves to advance so great a distance with their baggage-animals and camp-followers mixed in among them,
and while this dispute was going on among the generals, a horseman of those called Numidians came from Otho bearing a letter ordering them not to remain nor to delay, but to lead at once against the enemy. They therefore broke camp and advanced; and Caecina, learning of their approach, was thrown into confusion, and hastily abandoning his works and the river, came to the camp.
As most of the men were already armed, and were receiving the watchword from Valens, and even as the legions were still forming up into their battle lines, they sent forward the best of the cavalry.
There fell upon those of Otho's men drawn up in front, for some reason, an opinion and a rumor that Vitellius's generals were about to come over to their side; so when they were near, they greeted them in friendly fashion, calling them fellow-soldiers. But when the others answered the greeting not kindly, but with anger and a warlike shout, despondency came upon those who had greeted them, and suspicion against them fell upon the rest, as though they had been betraying the army,
and this first threw them into confusion, the enemy now being at close quarters; then nothing else was done in order, but the baggage-train, getting entangled with the combatants, caused much disorder, and the ground, being full of ditches and pits, caused many separations, which men, fearing and trying to go around, were forced in confusion and by scattered groups to engage the enemy.
Only two legions — for that is what the Romans call these units — one of Vitellius's surnamed Rapax, the other of Otho's called Adiutrix, deploying into an open and level plain, fought a regular pitched battle, meeting phalanx against phalanx, for a long time. Otho's men were strong and good, but were then getting their first taste of war and battle; Vitellius's men were seasoned in many contests, but were by now old and past their prime.
So Otho's men, charging upon them, pushed them back and took away their eagle, killing nearly all their front-fighters; but the others, out of shame and anger, fell upon them, killed Orfidius, who commanded the legion as its legate, and captured a great number of its standards. And Varus Alfenus, bringing up those called the Batavians, seems to have given the gladiators skill and confidence for close combat.
These are the best cavalry among the Germans, inhabiting an island surrounded by the Rhine. Few of the gladiators withstood them, but most, fleeing to the river, fell in among cohorts of the enemy stationed there, and being unable to defend themselves, all alike were destroyed.
Of all the men, those who fought most shamefully were the commanders themselves, who did not even hold their position long enough to clash hand to hand with the foe, but by fleeing spread panic and disorder among troops who had not yet suffered defeat. Nevertheless, many of Otho's men, having overcome those set against them, forced their way through and broke through the enemy's lines, though the enemy held the field, and got back to the camp.
Of the generals, neither Proculus nor Paulinus dared to go in with them, but turned aside, fearing the soldiers, who were already turning the blame onto their commanders. Annius Gallus, however, took charge in the city and tried to comfort those gathering in from the battle, telling them that it had been evenly fought and that in many parts they had actually gotten the better of the enemy.
Marius Celsus gathered the officers together and urged them to consider the common good: that after so great a disaster and so much slaughter of citizens, not even Otho, if he were truly a good man, would still wish to try his fortune further — seeing that even Cato and Scipio, who after Pharsalus refused to yield to Caesar though he was victorious, are blamed for having needlessly thrown away many good men in Libya, even though they were fighting for the freedom of the Romans,
for although fortune grants herself in common to all in other respects, there is one good thing she does not take away from good men: the power, even when they stumble, to reason well about what befalls them. By saying this he persuaded the officers; and when, on testing the soldiers, they saw that the men wanted peace, and Titianus pressed for envoys to be dispatched to arrange peace terms, Celsus and Gallus resolved to meet in person with Caecina and Valens for talks,
and as they were on their way, centurions met them, saying that the army was already on the move and coming toward Bedriacum, but that they themselves had been sent by the generals to treat for concord. Celsus and his companions welcomed this, and told them to turn back and go with them to meet Caecina. But when they drew near, Celsus was in danger, for the cavalry who had earlier been defeated in the ambush happened to be riding out ahead of the rest.
As soon as they caught sight of Celsus approaching, they shouted and rushed at him at once, yet a line of centurions blocked their way and kept them from reaching him; and when the other officers cried out for them to spare him, Caecina's men, learning of this and riding up, quickly put a stop to the cavalry's disorder, and greeting Celsus warmly, went with him toward Bedriacum.
Meanwhile Titianus, who had sent out the envoys, had a change of heart, and again brought up onto the walls those soldiers who were still defiant, and called on the rest to help. But once Caecina came riding up and stretched forth his right hand, resistance ceased at once; instead, those on the walls greeted the soldiers, and others threw open the gates, went out, and mingled with their fellow soldiers.
No one was wronged; there were only expressions of friendship and handclasps. And all of them swore the oath to Vitellius and went over to his side.
This is how most of those who were present report the battle to have gone, though even they do not claim to know the details clearly, on account of the disorder and unevenness of the fighting. But I myself, traveling later through the plain, was shown by Mestrius Florus — a man of consular rank, one of those who had been with Otho not by choice but out of necessity — an old temple, and he told me that after the battle he had gone up and seen so great a pile of corpses that those lying on top of it touched the temple's pediments,
and he said that although he searched for the cause of this he could neither discover it himself nor learn it from anyone else. For in civil wars, once a rout occurs, it is likely that more men die than usual, because no one is taken alive — there is no use in keeping prisoners — but a piling up and heaping together of bodies to such a degree does not have an easy explanation.
To Otho at first came a report that was unclear, as commonly happens about such great matters; but when some wounded men arrived from the battle bringing word of it, one might well expect that his companions refused to let him despair and instead pressed him to keep heart; what is astounding beyond all belief was the feeling of the soldiers. Not one of them left him,
nor did any go over to the victors, nor was anyone seen seeking his own safety once their leader had given up hope; but all alike came to his door, calling him imperator, and as he came forward became suppliants before him, and with shouting and entreaty laid hold of his hands, fell before him, wept, and begged him not to abandon them, not to betray them to the enemy, but to make use of them, both their lives and their bodies, on his behalf as long as they drew breath — all of them together made this same plea,
and one of the lesser-known soldiers, drawing his sword and saying, "Know, Caesar, that all of us stand arrayed like this for your sake," killed himself. Yet none of this broke Otho's resolve; with a bright and composed face he turned his gaze around on every side and said, "This day, fellow soldiers, I consider more blessed than that other on which you first made me imperator, seeing you like this and being thought worthy of such devotion.
But do not deprive me of something greater — of dying well for the sake of so many and such citizens. If I have proven worthy of the leadership of Rome, I must be unsparing of my own life for my country's sake. I know that the enemy's victory is neither secure nor strong. They report that our forces from Moesia are not many days' march away, already coming down toward the Adriatic.
Asia, Syria, Egypt, and the legions campaigning against the Jews all stand on our side, as does the senate, along with the children and wives of our opponents. But this is not a war against Hannibal, or Pyrrhus, or the Cimbri, fought for Italy's sake; rather, both sides, fighting against fellow Romans, wrong our country whether we win or lose. For even the victor's gain is, in that respect, a loss.
Believe me when I say, again and again, that I am able to die more nobly than to rule. For I do not see what benefit so great to the Romans I would bring by prevailing, as great as that which I would bring by giving myself up for the sake of peace and concord, and so that Italy might never again look upon such a day as this."
Having spoken in this way, and having firmly resisted those who tried to object and urge him otherwise, he ordered his friends to depart, and those senators who were present with him; and to those not present he sent letters and dispatches to the cities, that they should be escorted with honor and in safety.
Drawing his nephew Cocceius to him, who was still a young boy, he urged him to take courage and not fear Vitellius, whose mother, family, and wife he himself had protected as if they were his own kin. This, he said, was why he had held back from making him his son by adoption and had delayed the matter, so that the boy could share in his rule should he himself succeed, but not perish along with him if he fell. "This one thing," he said, "my child, I charge you with as my last word: neither forget entirely, nor remember too much, that you had Caesar for an uncle."
Having finished with this, a little later he heard tumult and shouting at the doors; for the soldiers were threatening to kill those senators who were leaving, if they did not stay, and were saying that they would go off and abandon the emperor. So he came forward again on behalf of the men, being afraid for them, and looking at the soldiers no longer with entreaty or gentleness but with sternness, and fixing an angry gaze especially upon those making the greatest disturbance, he made them yield and disperse, and they went away in fear.
It being now evening, he grew thirsty, and after drinking a little water, he had two daggers; he examined the edge of each for a long time, and gave back one of them, while taking the other under his arm he called in his household servants. And treating them kindly, he distributed his money among them, more to one, less to another, not as one squandering what was no longer his, but carefully observing what was fitting and proportionate to each.
Having sent them away, he then rested for what remained of the night, so soundly that his chamberlains could tell he was sleeping deeply. At dawn he called for the freedman who had helped him manage matters concerning the senators, and ordered him to find out what had become of them; and learning that each of those departing had been given what he needed, he said, "Go, then, and show yourself to the soldiers, if you do not wish to die a bad death at their hands, as one who helped bring about my death."
When the man had gone out, Otho set the sword upright with both hands and fell upon it from above; he was felt to groan only once from the pain, and this alone gave those outside a sign of what had happened. When the attendants cried out in mourning, weeping instantly spread through the entire camp and city, and the soldiers, shouting, forced their way in at the doors and mourned aloud, overcome with grief and reproaching themselves for not having guarded their emperor nor prevented him from dying on their behalf,
yet none of those around him withdrew, even though the enemy was near; instead, having adorned the body and prepared a pyre, those who managed to get under the bier first and carry it out did so in full armor, exulting in the honor. Of the rest, some fell upon the corpse and kissed the wound, others touched his hands, others made obeisance from a distance. And some, having set torches to the pyre, killed themselves, though they had clearly received no benefit from the dead man nor had anything terrible to fear from the victor.
But it seems that never in any tyrant or king before has there arisen so terrible and frenzied a passion for ruling as the passion these men had for being ruled by and obeying Otho — men whose longing for him did not leave them even after his death, but continued as an implacable hatred of Vitellius even to the end.
The rest of the story has its own proper occasion to be told. Having hidden Otho's remains in the earth, they made his tomb give no offense either by the size of the monument or by the pomp of an inscription. I myself saw it, having gone to Brixellum, and found it a modest memorial, with an inscription that, if translated, reads: "To the memory of Marcus Otho."
Otho died having lived thirty-seven years and having ruled three months, and he left behind admirers of his death fully as numerous as the critics of his conduct; for even granting that he had lived no better than Nero, he met death in a far nobler manner.
The soldiers grew resentful when Pollio, the other of the prefects, at once ordered them to swear allegiance to Vitellius; and learning that some of the senators were still present, they let the rest go, but gave trouble to Verginius Rufus, coming to his house under arms and calling on him again and again, bidding him either to rule or to act as their envoy,
but he, having earlier refused to take the leadership when they were victorious, considered it madness to accept it now that they were defeated; and fearing to act as envoy to the Germans, who felt that much had been forced upon them against their judgment through his doing, he slipped away unnoticed through other doors and got himself out of the way. When the soldiers learned of this, they took the oath and, receiving pardon, joined the side of Caecina and his men.