THE SACK OF ROME AND THE END OF VITELLIUS
While things[212] went thus on Vitellius' side, the Flavian army 78
after leaving Narnia spent the days of the Saturnalian holiday[213]
quietly at Ocriculum.
While things[212] went thus on Vitellius' side, the Flavian army 78
after leaving Narnia spent the days of the Saturnalian holiday[213]
quietly at Ocriculum.
Tacitus
This delay saved not only
Vespasian's party but Rome as well. Had he marched on the city while
his men were fresh from their victory, with the flush of success added
to their natural intrepidity, there would have been a tremendous
struggle, which must have involved the city's destruction. Lucius
Vitellius, too, for all his evil repute, was a man of action. Good men
owe their power to their virtues; but he was one of that worst sort
whose vices are their only virtue.
FOOTNOTES:
[207] See chap. 58.
[208] An Italian goddess of freedom. The temple is mentioned
in Horace's _Journey to Brundisium_, where Anxur = Tarracina,
which was three miles from the temple.
[209] Chap. 57.
[210] He was in command of the rebels from the fleet at
Misenum, and engaged in bringing over the country-towns (see
chap. 57).
[211] Cp. chaps. 63 and 64.
THE SACK OF ROME AND THE END OF VITELLIUS
While things[212] went thus on Vitellius' side, the Flavian army 78
after leaving Narnia spent the days of the Saturnalian holiday[213]
quietly at Ocriculum. [214] The object of this disastrous delay was to
wait for Mucianus. Antonius has been suspected of delaying
treacherously after receiving a secret communication from Vitellius,
offering him as the price of treason the consulship, his young
daughter, and a rich dowry. Others hold that this story was invented
to gratify Mucianus. Many consider that the policy of all the Flavian
generals was rather to threaten the city than to attack it. They
realized that Vitellius had lost the best cohorts of his Guards, and
now that all his forces were cut off they expected he would abdicate.
But this prospect was spoilt first by Sabinus' precipitation and then
by his cowardice, for, after very rashly taking arms, he failed to
defend against three cohorts of Guards the strongly fortified castle
on the Capitol, which ought to have been impregnable even to a large
army. However, it is not easy to assign to any one man the blame which
they all share. Even Mucianus helped to delay the victors' advance by
the ambiguity of his dispatches, and Antonius was also to blame for
his untimely compliance with instructions--or else for trying to throw
the responsibility[215] on Mucianus. The other generals thought the
war was over, and thus rendered its final scene all the more
appalling. Petilius Cerialis was sent forward with a thousand cavalry
to make his way by cross-roads through the Sabine country, and enter
the city by the Salarian road. [216] But even he failed to make
sufficient haste, and at last the news of the siege of the Capitol
brought them all at once to their senses.
Marching up the Flaminian road, it was already deep night when 79
Antonius reached 'The Red Rocks'. [217] His help had come too late.
There he heard that Sabinus had been killed, and the Capitol burnt;
the city was in panic; everything looked black; even the populace and
the slaves were arming for Vitellius. Petilius Cerialis, too, had been
defeated in a cavalry engagement.
Vespasian's party but Rome as well. Had he marched on the city while
his men were fresh from their victory, with the flush of success added
to their natural intrepidity, there would have been a tremendous
struggle, which must have involved the city's destruction. Lucius
Vitellius, too, for all his evil repute, was a man of action. Good men
owe their power to their virtues; but he was one of that worst sort
whose vices are their only virtue.
FOOTNOTES:
[207] See chap. 58.
[208] An Italian goddess of freedom. The temple is mentioned
in Horace's _Journey to Brundisium_, where Anxur = Tarracina,
which was three miles from the temple.
[209] Chap. 57.
[210] He was in command of the rebels from the fleet at
Misenum, and engaged in bringing over the country-towns (see
chap. 57).
[211] Cp. chaps. 63 and 64.
THE SACK OF ROME AND THE END OF VITELLIUS
While things[212] went thus on Vitellius' side, the Flavian army 78
after leaving Narnia spent the days of the Saturnalian holiday[213]
quietly at Ocriculum. [214] The object of this disastrous delay was to
wait for Mucianus. Antonius has been suspected of delaying
treacherously after receiving a secret communication from Vitellius,
offering him as the price of treason the consulship, his young
daughter, and a rich dowry. Others hold that this story was invented
to gratify Mucianus. Many consider that the policy of all the Flavian
generals was rather to threaten the city than to attack it. They
realized that Vitellius had lost the best cohorts of his Guards, and
now that all his forces were cut off they expected he would abdicate.
But this prospect was spoilt first by Sabinus' precipitation and then
by his cowardice, for, after very rashly taking arms, he failed to
defend against three cohorts of Guards the strongly fortified castle
on the Capitol, which ought to have been impregnable even to a large
army. However, it is not easy to assign to any one man the blame which
they all share. Even Mucianus helped to delay the victors' advance by
the ambiguity of his dispatches, and Antonius was also to blame for
his untimely compliance with instructions--or else for trying to throw
the responsibility[215] on Mucianus. The other generals thought the
war was over, and thus rendered its final scene all the more
appalling. Petilius Cerialis was sent forward with a thousand cavalry
to make his way by cross-roads through the Sabine country, and enter
the city by the Salarian road. [216] But even he failed to make
sufficient haste, and at last the news of the siege of the Capitol
brought them all at once to their senses.
Marching up the Flaminian road, it was already deep night when 79
Antonius reached 'The Red Rocks'. [217] His help had come too late.
There he heard that Sabinus had been killed, and the Capitol burnt;
the city was in panic; everything looked black; even the populace and
the slaves were arming for Vitellius. Petilius Cerialis, too, had been
defeated in a cavalry engagement.
