Piso's wife Verania and
his brother Scribonianus laid out his body, and this was done for
Vinius by his daughter Crispina.
his brother Scribonianus laid out his body, and this was done for
Vinius by his daughter Crispina.
Tacitus
So the process went on.
One after
another they became deteriorated by poverty and lax discipline,
rushing blindly into quarrels and mutiny, and, as a last resource,
into civil war. Otho was afraid of alienating the centurions by his
concessions to the rank and file, and promised to pay the annual
furlough-fees out of his private purse. This was indubitably a sound
reform, which good emperors have since established as a regular custom
in the army. The prefect Laco he pretended to banish to an island, but
on his arrival he was stabbed by a reservist[76] whom Otho had
previously dispatched for that purpose. Marcianus Icelus, as being one
of his own freedmen,[77] he sentenced to public execution.
Thus the day was spent in crimes, and worst of all was the joy 47
they caused. The senate was summoned by the urban praetor. [78] The
other magistrates all vied in flattery. The senators arrived
post-haste. They decreed to Otho the powers of the tribunate, the
title of Augustus, and all the imperial prerogatives. Their unanimous
object was to blot out all recollection of former insults; but, as
these had been hurled equally from all sides, they did not, as far as
any one could see, stick in his memory. Whether he had forgotten them
or only postponed punishment, his reign was too short to show. He was
then carried through the still reeking Forum among the piles of dead
bodies to the Capitol, and thence to the palace. He granted permission
to burn and bury the bodies of his victims.
Piso's wife Verania and
his brother Scribonianus laid out his body, and this was done for
Vinius by his daughter Crispina. They had to search for the heads and
buy them back from the murderers, who had preserved them for sale.
FOOTNOTES:
[72] According to Plutarch, when they brought Otho Galba's
head, he said, 'That's nothing: show me Piso's. '
[73] i. e. the legion of marines--Prima Adiutrix. Cp. chap. 6, &c.
[74] i. e. in command of the _cohortes vigilum_. Cp. chap. 5,
note 10.
[75] Vespasian's elder brother.
another they became deteriorated by poverty and lax discipline,
rushing blindly into quarrels and mutiny, and, as a last resource,
into civil war. Otho was afraid of alienating the centurions by his
concessions to the rank and file, and promised to pay the annual
furlough-fees out of his private purse. This was indubitably a sound
reform, which good emperors have since established as a regular custom
in the army. The prefect Laco he pretended to banish to an island, but
on his arrival he was stabbed by a reservist[76] whom Otho had
previously dispatched for that purpose. Marcianus Icelus, as being one
of his own freedmen,[77] he sentenced to public execution.
Thus the day was spent in crimes, and worst of all was the joy 47
they caused. The senate was summoned by the urban praetor. [78] The
other magistrates all vied in flattery. The senators arrived
post-haste. They decreed to Otho the powers of the tribunate, the
title of Augustus, and all the imperial prerogatives. Their unanimous
object was to blot out all recollection of former insults; but, as
these had been hurled equally from all sides, they did not, as far as
any one could see, stick in his memory. Whether he had forgotten them
or only postponed punishment, his reign was too short to show. He was
then carried through the still reeking Forum among the piles of dead
bodies to the Capitol, and thence to the palace. He granted permission
to burn and bury the bodies of his victims.
Piso's wife Verania and
his brother Scribonianus laid out his body, and this was done for
Vinius by his daughter Crispina. They had to search for the heads and
buy them back from the murderers, who had preserved them for sale.
FOOTNOTES:
[72] According to Plutarch, when they brought Otho Galba's
head, he said, 'That's nothing: show me Piso's. '
[73] i. e. the legion of marines--Prima Adiutrix. Cp. chap. 6, &c.
[74] i. e. in command of the _cohortes vigilum_. Cp. chap. 5,
note 10.
[75] Vespasian's elder brother.
