No More Learning

Vitellius expressed his gratitude to them and bade them sally
forth to protect the city. He then summoned a meeting of the senate,
at which envoys were appointed to go to the two armies and urge them
in the name of public welfare to accept peace. The fortunes of the
envoys varied. Those who approached Petilius Cerialis found themselves
in dire danger, for the soldiers indignantly refused their terms. The
praetor, Arulenus Rusticus,[218] was wounded. Apart from the wrong
done to a praetor and an envoy, the man's own acknowledged worth made
this seem all the more scandalous. His companions were flogged, and
the lictor nearest to him was killed for venturing to make a way
through the crowd. Indeed, if the guard provided by the general had
not intervened, a Roman envoy, the sanctity of whose person even
foreign nations respect, might have been wickedly murdered in the mad
rage of civil strife under the very walls of Rome. Those who went to
Antonius met with a more reasonable reception; not that the soldiers
were less violent, but the general had more authority.

A knight named Musonius Rufus had attached himself to the envoys. 81
He was a student of philosophy and an enthusiastic advocate of
Stoicism. He mingled with the armed soldiers offering them advice and
discoursing on the advantages of peace and the perils of war. This
amused many of them and bored still more. Some, indeed, wanted to
maul him and kick him out, but the advice of the more sober spirits
and the threats of others persuaded him to cut short his ill-timed
lecture. The Vestal Virgins, too, came in procession to bring Antonius
a letter from Vitellius, in which he demanded one day's postponement
of the final crisis, saying that everything could easily be settled,
if only they would grant this respite.
Antonius sent the Virgins away
with all respect, and wrote in answer to Vitellius that the murder of
Sabinus and the burning of the Capitol had broken off all
negotiations. However, he summoned the legions to a meeting and 82
endeavoured to mollify them, proposing that they should pitch their
camp near the Mulvian Bridge and enter the city on the following day.
His motive for delay was a fear that the troops, when once their blood
was up after a skirmish, would have no respect for civilians or
senators, or even for the temples and shrines of the gods. But they
suspected every postponement as a hindrance to their victory.
Moreover, some colours which were seen glittering along the hills,
gave the impression of a hostile force, although none but peaceful
citizens accompanied them.

The attack was made in three columns. One advanced from its original
position on the Flaminian road, one kept near the bank of the Tiber,
and the third approached the Colline Gate along the Salarian road. The
cavalry rode into the mob and scattered them. But the Vitellian troops
faced the enemy, themselves, too, in three separate divisions. Again
and again they engaged before the walls with varying success. But the
Flavians had the advantage of being well led and thus more often won
success. Only one of the attacking parties suffered at all severely,
that which had made its way along narrow, greasy lanes to Sallust's
Gardens[219] on the left side of the city. Standing on the garden
walls, the Vitellians hurled stones and javelins down upon them and
held them back until late in the day. But at last the cavalry forced
an entrance by the Colline Gate and took the defenders in the rear.
Then the opposing forces met on the Martian Plain itself. Fortune
favoured the Flavians and the sense of victories won.