No More Learning

Among these was Lucius Vitellius, whom he treated neither as an
emperor's brother nor as the brother of an enemy, but just like
anybody else. Much anxiety was aroused for the safety of the city,
where all classes feared danger. The leading members of the senate
were old and infirm, and enervated by a long period of peace: the
aristocracy were inefficient and had forgotten how to fight: the
knights knew nothing of military service. The more they all tried to
conceal their alarm, the more obvious it became. Some of them, on the
other hand, went in for senseless display, and purchased beautiful
armour and fine horses: others procured as provisions of war elaborate
dinner-services or some other contrivance to stimulate a jaded taste.
Prudent men were concerned for the country's peace: the frivolous,
without a thought for the future, were inflated by empty hopes: a good
many, whose loss of credit made peace unwelcome, were delighted at the
general unrest, feeling safer among uncertainties. Though the 89
cares of state were too vast to arouse any interest in the masses, yet
as the price of food rose, and the whole revenue was devoted to
military purposes, the common people gradually began to realize the
evils of war. During the revolt of Vindex they had not suffered so
much. Being carried on in the provinces between the legionaries and
the natives of Gaul it was to all intents a foreign war, and the city
had not been affected. For from the time when the sainted Augustus
organized the rule of the Caesars the wars of the Roman people had
been fought in distant countries: all the anxiety and all the glory
fell to the emperor alone. Under Tiberius and Caligula the country
only suffered from the evils of peace. [194] Scribonianus' rising
against Claudius was no sooner heard of than crushed. [195] Nero had
been dethroned more by rumours and dispatches than by force of arms.
But now not only the legions and the fleet, but, as had seldom
happened before, the Guards and the City Garrison were called out for
the campaign. Behind them were the East and the West and all the
forces of the empire, material for a long war under any other
generals.
An attempt was made to delay Otho's departure by pointing
out the impiety of his not having replaced the sacred shields in the
temple of Mars. [196] But delay had ruined Nero: Otho would have none
of it. And the knowledge that Caecina had already crossed the
Alps[197] acted as a further stimulus.

Accordingly, on the fourteenth of March he commended the 90
government of the country to the senate, and granted to the restored
exiles all the rest of the property confiscated by Nero which had not
yet been sold for the imperial treasury. [198] The gift was a just one,
and made a very good impression, but as a matter of fact it was
nullified by the haste with which the work of collecting the money had
been conducted. [199] He then summoned a public meeting, and, after
extolling the majesty of Rome and praising the wholehearted adherence
of the senate and people to his cause, he used very moderate language
against the Vitellian party, criticizing the legions more for folly
than treason, and making no mention of Vitellius himself. This may
have been due to his own moderation, or it may be that the writer of
the speech felt some qualms for his own safety, and therefore
refrained from insulting Vitellius. For it was generally believed that
as in strategy he took the advice of Suetonius Paulinus and Marius
Celsus, so too in political matters he employed the talents of
Galerius Trachalus. [200] Some people even thought they could
recognize Trachalus' style of oratory, fluent and sonorous, well
adapted to tickle the ears of the crowd: and as he was a popular
pleader his style was well known. The crowd's loud shouts of applause
were in the best style of flattery, excessive and insincere. Men vied
with each other in their enthusiasm and prayers for his success, much
as though they were sending off the dictator Caesar or the emperor
Augustus. Their motive was neither fear nor affection, but a sheer
passion for servility. One can see the same in households of slaves,
where each obeys his own interest and the common welfare counts for
nothing. On his departure Otho entrusted the peace of the city and the
interests of the empire to his brother Salvius Titianus.

FOOTNOTES:

[185] He would lead the victim, before sacrificing it, round
the ancient boundary of the city, and thus avert the disasters
threatened by the alarming omens detailed in the last chapter.

[186] Cp.