Tacitus: The Histories Part 16

FOOTNOTES:

[391] i.e. he was crucified.

[392] See note 30.

[393] Cp. i. 79.

[394] This hope was fulfilled (chap. 85).

[395] See i. 89.

[396] Under Nero, after brilliant service in Armenia and Parthia. Nero was jealous and afraid of him. So is Vitellius jealous of Vespasian.

[397] Against the Jews.

[398] From the Pontus. Cp. ii. 83.

[399] See note 216; and cp. chap. 81.

[400] For his victories in Britain under the auspices of Claudius, who nominally shared with him the command of the expedition, A.D. 43.

[401] t.i.tus, who was now thirty, had served as _Tribunus militum_ under his father in Germany and in Britain.

[402] More exactly of Galilee and Phoenicia.

[403] This is of course from the Roman point of view. Caesarea was the seat of the procurator. That Jerusalem was the national capital Tacitus recognizes in Book V.

[404] See note 216.

[405] He had started for Rome with t.i.tus (chap. 1), and continued his journey when t.i.tus turned back.

[406] See note 205.

[407] Cappadocia was under a procurator of equestrian rank until Vespasian some years later was forced to send out troops and a military governor.

[408] Beyrut.

[409] _Procuratio_ covers the governorship of an imperial province such as Judaea, the post of financial agent in an imperial province where there was a military governor (_legatus Caesaris_), and the position of collector of imperial taxes in a senatorial province. _Praefectura_, may mean either a command in the auxiliary infantry or the governorship of certain imperial provinces. Here the former seems the more probable sense.

[410] They would treat with Vologaeses, king of Parthia, and Tiridates of Armenia, and keep an eye on them. This they did with such success that Vologaeses offered Vespasian 40,000 cavalry.

[411] Alexandria and Pelusium.

[412] i.e. besides the Sixth Ferrata he had detachments from the other two legions in Syria, and from the three in Judaea.

Cp. notes 163 and 164.

[413] Borrowing this plat.i.tude from Cicero, who got it from the Greek.

[414] i.e. the legions in Moesia, Pannonia, and Dalmatia (cp.

note 3).

[415] Cp. note 286.

[416] XIII Gemina and VII Galbiana (see below).

[417] See i. 79.

[418] The Balkan range.

[419] He was concerned in the forgery of a will: see _Ann._ xiv. 40, where he is called 'a man of ready daring'.

[420] These were imperial provinces, each governed by a _legatus Caesaris_ and a _procurator_, the former a military, the latter a financial officer.

[421] Reading _quaestus cupidine_ (Grotius). The reading of the Medicean ma.n.u.script is _quietis cupidine_. But Fuscus, as the sequel shows, had little taste for a quiet life. It is more likely that his motives were mercenary, since both law and custom still imposed some restrictions upon a senator's partic.i.p.ation in 'business'. In the _Annals_ (xvi. 17) Tacitus says that Annaeus Mela abstained from seeking public office, because he 'hoped to find a shorter road to wealth' by entering, as Fuscus did, the imperial civil service. The statement that Fuscus loved danger better than money does not imply any rooted antipathy to the latter.

[422] i.e. in Pannonia.

[423] Cp. chaps. 66 and 67.

VITELLIUS IN ROME

While[424] Vespasian and his generals were showing such activity 87 in the provinces, Vitellius grew more contemptible and indolent every day. Halting at every town or country house that offered any attractions, he made his way to Rome with a heavy marching column of sixty thousand troops, demoralized by loose discipline, and an even greater number of menials as well as those camp-followers who are more troublesome than any slaves. Besides these he had the vast retinue of his generals and friends, which not even the strictest discipline could have kept under control. This mob was further enc.u.mbered by senators and knights, who came from Rome to meet him, some from fear, some from servility; and gradually all the others followed, so as not to be left behind by themselves. There flocked in, too, a crowd of low-bred buffoons, actors and chariot-drivers, who had gained Vitellius' acquaintance by various dishonest services. He delighted in such discreditable connexions. To furnish supplies for this host not only were the colonies and country towns laid under contribution, but the farmers as well. The crops were just ripe and the fields were ravaged like an enemy's country.

Many murderous affrays took place among the soldiers, for after 88 the mutiny at Ticinum[425] there were ceaseless quarrels between the legions and the auxiliaries. They only united to harry the villagers.

The worst bloodshed took place at the seventh milestone from Rome.

Here Vitellius had ready-cooked food served to each of the soldiers, as is done with gladiators in training, and the common people flocked out from Rome and wandered all over the camp. Some of these visitors indulged in a c.o.c.kney practical joke,[426] and stole some of the soldiers' swords, quietly cutting their belts while their attention was diverted. Then they kept asking them, 'Have you got your sword on?' The troops were not used to being laughed at, and refused to tolerate it. They charged the defenceless crowd. Amongst others the father of one of the soldiers was killed while in his son's company.

When it was discovered who he was, and the news spread, they shed no more innocent blood. Still there was some panic in the city as the first soldiers arrived and began to roam the streets. They mostly made for the Forum, anxious to see the spot where Galba had fallen.[427]

They themselves were a sufficiently alarming sight with their rough skin coats and long pikes. Unused to towns, they failed to pick their way in the crowd; or they would slip on the greasy streets, or collide with some one and tumble down, whereupon they took to abuse and before long to violence. Their officers, too, terrified the city by sweeping along the streets with their bands of armed men.

After crossing the Mulvian bridge, Vitellius himself had been 89 riding on a conspicuous horse, wearing his sword and general's uniform, with the senate and people trooping in front of him. However, as this looked too much like an entry into a captured city, his friends persuaded him to change into civilian dress and walk on foot.

At the head of his column were carried the eagles of four legions, surrounded by the colours belonging to the detachments of four other legions.[428] Next came the standards of twelve regiments of auxiliary horse, then the files of infantry and the cavalry behind them. Then came thirty-four cohorts of auxiliaries, arranged according to their nationality or the nature of their weapons. In front of the eagles came the camp prefects and tribunes, and the senior centurions,[429] all dressed in white. The other centurions marched each at the head of his company, glittering with their armour and decorations. Gaily, too, shone the soldiers' medals[430] and their chains of honour. It was a n.o.ble spectacle, an army worthy of a better emperor. Thus Vitellius entered the Capitol, where he embraced his mother and conferred on her the t.i.tle of Augusta.

On the following day Vitellius delivered a grandiloquent eulogy on 90 his own merits. He might have been addressing the senate and people of some other state, for he extolled his own industry and self-control, although each member of his audience had seen his infamy for himself, and the whole of Italy had witnessed during his march the shameful spectacle of his sloth and luxury. However, the thoughtless crowd could not discriminate between truth and falsehood. They had learnt the usual flatteries by heart and chimed in with loud shouts of applause. They insisted in the face of his protests that he should take the t.i.tle of Augustus. But neither his refusal nor their insistence made much difference.[431]

In Rome nothing pa.s.ses without comment, and it was regarded as a 91 fatal omen that Vitellius took office as high priest, and issued his encyclical on public worship on the 18th of July, which, as the anniversary of the disasters on the Cremera and the Allia,[432] had long been considered an unlucky day. But his ignorance of all civil and religious precedent was only equalled by the incapacity of his freedmen and friends. He seemed to live in a society of drunkards.

However, at the consular elections he canva.s.sed for his candidates like a common citizen.[433] In everything he courted the favour of the lowest cla.s.ses, attending performances in the theatre and backing his favourite at the races. This would undoubtedly have made him popular had his motives been good, but the memory of his former life made his conduct seem cheap and discreditable. He constantly attended the senate, even when the debates were on trivial matters. It once happened that Helvidius Priscus,[434] then praetor-elect, opposed Vitellius' policy. At first the emperor showed annoyance, but was content to appeal to the tribunes of the people to come to the rescue of his slighted authority. Afterwards, when his friends, fearing that his resentment might be deep-seated, tried to smooth matters, he replied that there was nothing strange in two senators disagreeing on a question of public policy: he himself had often opposed even such a man as Thrasea. Most people laughed at the impudence of this comparison; others were gratified that he had selected Thrasea, and not some court favourite, as an example of real distinction.[435]

Vitellius had given the command of the Guards to Publilius 92 Sabinus, who had commanded an auxiliary cohort,[436] and Julius Priscus, hitherto only a centurion. Priscus owed his rise to Valens'

support, Sabinus to that of Caecina. The rivalry between Valens and Caecina left Vitellius no authority at all. They managed the government between them. They had long felt the strain of mutual dislike. During the war they had concealed it. Lately it had been fanned by dishonest friends and by life in the city, which so easily breeds quarrels. They were constant rivals, comparing their respective popularity, the number of their retinue, the size of the crowds that came to wait upon them. Meanwhile Vitellius let his favour alternate between them, for personal influence is not to be trusted beyond a certain limit. Meanwhile, they both feared and despised the emperor himself, who thus veered between sudden brusqueness and unseasonable flattery. However, they were not in the least deterred from seizing on the houses, gardens, and funds in the emperor's patronage, while the crowd of miserable and needy n.o.bles, whom Galba had recalled from exile with their children, derived no a.s.sistance from the emperor's liberality. He earned the approval both of the upper cla.s.ses and of the people by granting to the restored full rights over their freedmen.[437] But the freed slaves with characteristic meanness did all they could to invalidate the edict. They would hide their money with some obscure friend or in a rich patron's safe. Some, indeed, had pa.s.sed into the imperial household and become more influential than their masters.

As for the soldiers, the Guards' barracks were crowded, and the 93 overflow spread through the city, finding shelter in colonnades and temples. They ceased to recognize any head-quarters, to go on guard, or to keep themselves in training, but fell victims to the attractions of city life and its unmentionable vices, until they deteriorated both physically and morally through idleness and debauchery. A number of them even imperilled their lives by settling in the pestilent Vatican quarter, thus increasing the rate of mortality. They were close to the Tiber, and the Germans and Gauls, who were peculiarly liable to disease and could ill stand the heat, ruined their const.i.tutions by their immoderate use of the river.[438] Moreover, the generals, either for bribes or to earn popularity, tampered with the rules of the service, enrolling sixteen regiments of Guards[439] and four for the city garrison, each composed of a thousand men. In enlisting these troops Valens put himself forward as superior to Caecina, whose life he claimed to have saved. It is true, indeed, that his arrival had consolidated the party, and by his successful engagement he had silenced the current criticism of their slow marching. Besides which the whole of the army of Lower Germany was attached to Valens, and this is said to be the reason why Caecina's loyalty first wavered.

Whatever indulgence Vitellius showed to his generals, he allowed 94 still more licence to the troops. Each man chose his service. However unfit, he might enlist in the Guards, if he preferred it. On the other hand, good soldiers were allowed, if they wished, to remain in the legions or the auxiliary cavalry. Many wished to do this who suffered from ill health and complained of the climate. However, the best soldiers were thus withdrawn from the legions and from the cavalry; and the Guards were robbed of their prestige when twenty thousand men were thus not so much selected for service with them as drafted at random from the whole army.

While Vitellius was addressing the troops, they demanded the execution of three Gallic chieftains, Asiaticus, Flavus, and Rufinus, on the ground that they had fought for Vindex.[440] Vitellius never checked these outcries. For, apart from the innate cowardice of his nature, he knew that his donation to the soldiers was nearly due, and that he had no money for it; so he freely granted all their other demands. The imperial freedmen were forced to contribute a sort of tax, proportionate to the number of their slaves. Meanwhile, his one serious occupation was extravagance. He built stables for chariot-drivers, filled the arena with gorgeous shows of gladiators and wild beasts, and fooled away his money as though he had more than he wanted.

Moreover, Valens and Caecina celebrated Vitellius' birthday[441] 95 by holding gladiatorial shows in every quarter of Rome on a scale of magnificence hitherto unknown. Vitellius then gratified the rabble and scandalized all decent people by building altars in the Martian Plain, and holding a funeral service in honour of Nero. Victims were killed and burnt in public: the torch was applied by the Augustales, members of the college which Tiberius Caesar had founded in honour of the Julian family, just as Romulus similarly commemorated King Tatius.