No More Learning

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 title of Augustus. But neither his refusal nor their
insistence made much difference. [431]

In Rome nothing passes 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 canvassed for his candidates
like a common citizen. [433] In everything he courted the favour of the
lowest classes, 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 nobles, whom Galba had recalled from
exile with their children, derived no assistance from the emperor's
liberality. He earned the approval both of the upper classes 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
passed 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.