No More Learning

It happened that two legions met in the open fields between the 43
high road and the Po. These were: for Vitellius the Twenty-first,
commonly called Rapax,[303] a regiment of old renown; and for Otho the
First Adiutrix,[304] which had never been in battle before, but was
full of spirit and eager to win its first laurels. Their charge
overthrew the front ranks of the Twenty-first, and they carried off
its eagle. Fired with indignation, the Twenty-first rallied and
charged the front of the enemy, killing the commanding officer,
Orfidius Benignus, and capturing many of their colours.

On the other flank the Fifth[305] drove the Thirteenth[306] off the
field. The Fourteenth[307] were surrounded by the numbers that
attacked them. Otho's generals had long ago fled. Caecina and Valens
began to bring up the reserves to the support of their men, and, as a
fresh reinforcement, there arrived Varus Alfenus[308] with his
Batavians. They had routed the gladiators[309] by confronting them and
cutting them to pieces in the river before their transports could
land, and flushed by their victory came charging in upon the flank of
the enemy.

Their centre broken, the Othonians fled in disorder, making for 44
Bedriacum. The distance was immense;[310] the road encumbered with
heaps of dead. This made the slaughter all the greater, for in civil
war captives cannot be turned to profit. [311] Suetonius Paulinus and
Licinius Proculus avoided the camp at Bedriacum by diverse routes.
Vedius Aquila, who commanded the Thirteenth legion, was so paralysed
by fear that he allowed himself to fall into the hands of the
indignant troops. It was still broad daylight when he entered the
camp.
Immediately a crowd of mutinous fugitives came clamouring round
him. They spared neither abuse nor violence, assailing him as a
deserter and a traitor. They could bring no special charge against
him, but the mob always lay their own disgrace on some one else. Night
came to the aid of Titianus and Celsus, for Annius Gallus[312] had
already placed sentinels on guard and got the men under control. Using
remonstrances, prayers, and commands, he had induced them not to add
to the disaster of their defeat by murdering their own friends.
Whether the war was over, or whether they wanted to fight again, in
defeat, he told them, union was the one thing that could help them.
All the other troops[313] were crushed by the blow. The Guards
complained that they had been beaten, not by the enemy's valour, but
by sheer treachery. 'Why,' they said, 'even the Vitellians have won no
bloodless victory. We beat their cavalry and captured a standard from
one of their legions. We still have Otho left and all the troops with
him on the other side of the Po. The Moesian legions[314] are on their
way. There is a large force left at Bedriacum. These, at any rate,
have not been defeated yet. Better fall, if need be, on the field. '
Now exasperated, now depressed by these reflections, they were in a
state of blank despair, which more often aroused their anger than
their fear.