No More Learning

They threw the blame on the misguided and impolitic action of the
armies, and with cautious circumlocution avoided all direct mention of
Vespasian. Caecina's consulship[99] had still one day to run, and
Rosius Regulus actually made humble petition for this one day's
office, Vitellius' offer and his acceptance exciting universal
derision. Thus he entered and abdicated his office on the same day,
the last of October. Men who were learned in constitutional history
pointed out that no one before had ever been elected to fill a
vacancy without the passing of a bill or some act of deprivation,
although there was precedent for the one day consulship in the case of
Caninius Rebilus when Caius Caesar was dictator and the civil war
necessitated prompt rewards. [100]

It was at this time that the news of the death of Junius 38
Blaesus[101] gave rise to much talk. I give the story as I find it.
When Vitellius was lying seriously ill at his house in the Servilian
Park, he noticed that a neighbouring mansion was brilliantly
illuminated at night. On asking the reason, he was told that Caecina
Tuscus[102] was giving a large dinner-party, at which Junius Blaesus
was the chief guest. He further received an exaggerated account of
their extravagance and dissipation. Some of his informants even made
specific charges against Tuscus and others, but especially accused
Blaesus for spending his days in revelry while his emperor lay ill.
There are people who keep a sharp eye on every sign of an emperor's
displeasure. They soon made sure that Vitellius was furious and that
Blaesus' ruin would be an easy task, so they cast Lucius Vitellius for
the part of common informer. He had a mean and jealous dislike for
Blaesus, whose spotless reputation far outshone his own, which was
tainted with every kind of infamy. Bursting into the emperor's
apartment, he caught up Vitellius' young son in his arms and fell at
his feet. When asked the reason of this excitement, he said it was due
to no anxiety for himself; all his suit and all his prayers were for
his brother and his brother's children.
Their fears of Vespasian were
idle: between him and Vitellius lay all the legions of Germany, all
those brave and loyal provinces, and an immeasurable space of land and
sea. 'It is here in Rome,' he cried, 'in the bosom of our household
that we have an enemy to fear, one who boasts the Junii and Antonii as
his ancestors, one who shows himself affable and munificent to the
troops, posing as a descendant of imperial stock. [103] It is to him
that Rome's attention turns, while you, Sire, careless who is friend
or foe, cherish in your bosom a rival, who sits feasting at his table
and watches his emperor in pain. You must requite his unseasonable
gaiety with a night of deadly sorrow, in which he may both know and
feel that Vitellius lives and is his emperor, and, if anything should
happen, has a son to be his heir. '

Vitellius hesitated anxiously between his criminal desires and his 39
fear that, if he deferred Blaesus' death, he might hasten his own
ruin, or by giving official orders for it might raise a storm of
indignation. He decided to proceed by poison. The suspicion against
him he confirmed by going to see Blaesus and showing obvious
satisfaction. Moreover, he was heard to make the savage boast that he
had, to quote his own words, 'feasted his eyes on his enemy's
deathbed. '

Blaesus, besides his distinguished origin and refined character, was
steadfastly loyal. Even before the decline of Vitellius' cause he had
been canvassed by Caecina and other party leaders, who were turning
against the emperor, and had met them with a persistent refusal. He
was a man of quiet and blameless life, with no ambition for the
principate or, indeed, for any sudden distinction, but he could not
escape the danger of being considered worthy of it.

Meanwhile Fabius Valens, encumbered by a long train of harlots and 40
eunuchs, was conducting a leisurely advance, most unlike a march to
the front, when couriers arrived post-haste with the news that
Lucilius Bassus had surrendered the Ravenna fleet. [104] If he had
hurried forward on his march he might have been in time to save
Caecina's faltering loyalty, or to have joined the legions before the
critical engagement was fought. Many, indeed, advised him to avoid
Ravenna and to make his way by obscure by-roads to Hostilia or
Cremona. Others wanted him to send to Rome for the Guards and to break
through the enemy's lines with a strong force. Valens himself, with
helpless indecision, let the time for action go by while he took
advice; and then rejecting the advice he was offered, chose the middle
course, which is always the worst in a crisis, and thus failed both in
courage and in caution.