No More Learning

Vitellius then composed a letter to Otho's brother Titianus,[159]
threatening that his life and his son's should answer for the safety
of Vitellius' mother and children. As it happened neither household
suffered. Fear was perhaps the reason in Otho's time, but Vitellius,
after his victory, could certainly claim credit for clemency.

The first news which gave Otho any degree of confidence was the 76
announcement from Illyricum that the legions of Dalmatia and Pannonia
and Moesia[160] had sworn allegiance to him. Similar news arrived from
Spain, and Cluvius Rufus[161] was commended in a special decree, but
it was found out immediately afterwards that Spain had gone over to
Vitellius. Even Aquitania soon fell away, although Julius Cordus had
sworn in the province for Otho. Loyalty and affection seemed dead: men
changed from one side to the other under the stress of fear or
compulsion. It was fear which gave Vitellius the Province of Narbonese
Gaul,[162] for it is easy to go over when the big battalions are so
near. The distant provinces and the troops across the sea all remained
at Otho's disposal, but not from any enthusiasm for his cause; what
weighed with them was the name of Rome and the title of the senate.
Besides, Otho had got the first hearing. Vespasian swore in the Jewish
army[163] for Otho, and Mucianus the legions in Syria;[164] Egypt too
and all the provinces towards the East were held for him. He also
received the submission of Africa, where Carthage had taken the lead,
without waiting for the sanction of the governor, Vipstanus
Apronianus. Crescens, one of Nero's freedmen--in evil days these
creatures play a part in politics[165]--had given the common people of
the town a gala dinner in honour of the new emperor, with the result
that the inhabitants hurried into various excesses. The other African
communities followed the example of Carthage.

The provinces and their armies being thus divided, Vitellius could 77
only win the throne by fighting.
Otho meanwhile was carrying on the
government as if the time were one of profound peace. Sometimes he
consulted the country's dignity, though more often the exigencies of
the moment forced him into unseemly haste. He held the consulship
himself with his brother Titianus as colleague until the first of
March. For the next two months he appointed Verginius, as a sort of
sop to the army in Germany. [166] As colleague he gave him Pompeius
Vopiscus, ostensibly because he was an old friend of his own, but it
was generally understood as a compliment to Vienne. [167] For the rest
of the year the appointments which Nero or Galba had made were allowed
to stand. The brothers Caelius and Flavius Sabinus[168] were consuls
for June and July, Arrius Antoninus[169] and Marius Celsus for August
and September; even Vitellius after his victory did not cancel their
appointment. To the pontifical and augural colleges Otho either
nominated old ex-magistrates, as the final crown of their career, or
else, when young aristocrats returned from exile, he instated them by
way of recompense in the pontifical posts which their fathers or
grandfathers had held. He restored Cadius Rufus, Pedius Blaesus, and
_Saevinus Proculus_[170] to their seats in the senate. They had been
convicted during Claudius' and Nero's reigns of extortion in the
provinces. In pardoning them the name of their offence was changed,
and their greed appeared as 'treason'. For so unpopular was the law of
treason that it sapped the force of better statutes. [171]

Otho next tried to win over the municipalities and provincial 78
towns by similar bribes. At the colonies of Hispalis and Emerita[172]
he enrolled new families of settlers, granted the franchise to the
whole community of the Lingones,[173] and made over certain Moorish
towns as a gift to the province of Baetica. Cappadocia and Africa were
also granted new privileges, as showy as they were short-lived. All
these grants are excused by the exigences of the moment and the
impending crisis, but he even found time to remember his old amours
and passed a measure through the senate restoring Poppaea's
statues.