No More Learning

[54] The English terms do not of course represent the exact
position of these soldiers. The former was one of the
emperor's personal body-guard (speculatores), who received the
watchword (tessera) and passed it round: the latter was one to
whom a centurion had delegated some part of his work.

[55] Plutarch explains this. 'He passed through Tiberius'
house, as it is called, and walked down to the Forum, where
stands the golden pillar to which all the high-roads of Italy
lead. ' The Velabrum lies between the Forum, the Tiber, and the
Aventine.


THE FALL OF GALBA

Meanwhile Galba in total ignorance and intent upon his sacrifices 29
continued to importune the gods of an empire that had already ceased
to be his. First there came a rumour that some one or other of the
senators was being hurried to the camp, then that it was Otho.
Immediately people who had met Otho came flocking in from all quarters
of Rome; some in their terror exaggerated the truth, some minimized
it, remembering even then to flatter. After discussion it was decided
that the temper of the cohort on guard in the palace should be tested,
but not by Galba himself. His authority was held in reserve for more
heroic remedies. The troops were summoned. Piso, standing out on the
steps of the palace, addressed them as follows:

'Fellow soldiers, it is now five days since I was made a Caesar. I
knew nothing of the future nor whether the name was more to be desired
or feared. It now lies with you to decide whether or no my adoption is
to prove a calamity for my house and for my country. In saying this, I
do not dread disaster on my own account.
I have known misfortune, and
I am now discovering to the full that prosperity is just as dangerous.
But for the sake of my adoptive father, of the senate, and of the
whole empire, I deplore the thought that we may have to-day either to
die or--what for good men is as wretched--to kill. In the recent
revolution our comfort was that Rome was spared the sight of blood,
and the transfer was effected without disturbance. We thought that my
adoption would be a safeguard against an outbreak of civil war even
after Galba's death.

'I will make no claims to rank or respectability. To compare 30
myself with Otho, I need not recite my virtues. His vices are all he
has to be proud of. They ruined the empire, even when he was only
playing the part of an emperor's friend. Why should he deserve to be
emperor? For his swaggering demeanour? For his effeminate costume?
Extravagance imposes on some people. They take it for liberality. They
are wrong. He will know how to squander money, but not how to give it
away. His mind is full of lechery and debauchery and intrigues with
women.