No More Learning

It was their friends who first
brought them together, and subsequently Titus became the chief bond of
union and for the common good suppressed their ignoble jealousy. Both
by nature and training he had charm to fascinate even such a man as
Mucianus. The tribunes and centurions and the common soldiers were
attracted, each according to his character, either by Titus'
meritorious industry or by his gay indulgence in pleasure.

Before the arrival of Titus both armies had sworn allegiance to 6
Otho. News travels fast in such cases, but civil war is a slow and
serious undertaking, and the East, after its long repose, was now for
the first time beginning to arm for it. In earlier times all the
fiercest civil wars broke out in Italy or Cisalpine Gaul among the
forces of the West. Pompey, Cassius, Brutus, and Antony all courted
disaster by carrying the war oversea. Syria and Judaea often heard of
Caesars, but seldom saw one. There were no mutinies among the
soldiers. They merely made demonstrations against Parthia with varying
success. Even in the last civil war[217] the peace of these provinces
had been untroubled by the general confusion. Later they were loyal to
Galba. But when they heard that Otho and Vitellius were engaged in a
wicked contest for the possession of the Roman world, the troops
began to chafe at the thought that the prizes of empire should fall to
others, while their own lot was mere compulsory submission. They began
to take stock of their strength. Syria and Judaea had seven legions on
the spot with a vast force of auxiliaries.
Next came Egypt with two
legions:[218] beyond lay Cappadocia and Pontus, and all the forts
along the Armenian frontier. Asia and the remaining provinces were
rich and thickly populated. As for the islands, their girdle of sea
was safe from the enemy and aided the prosecution of the war.

The generals were well aware of the soldiers' feelings, but decided 7
to await the issue between Vitellius and Otho. 'In civil war,' they
reckoned, 'there are no sure ties to unite victor and vanquished. It
matters little which survives: even good generals are corrupted by
success: as for Otho and Vitellius, their troops are quarrelsome,
lazy, and luxurious, and they are both the victims of their own vices.
One will fall on the field and the other succumb to his success. ' So
Vespasian and Mucianus postponed their attack for the present. They
were themselves recent converts to the project of war, which the
others[219] had long fostered from various motives. The better sort
were animated by patriotism, many by mere love of plunder, some by the
uncertainty of their own fortunes. Thus, though their motives
differed, all, good and bad alike, agreed in their eager desire for
war.

About this time Achaia and Asia were thrown into 8 a groundless panic
by a rumour that 'Nero was at hand'. The accounts of his death being
many and various, people were all the more inclined to allege and to
believe that he was still alive. We shall mention in the course of
this work the attempts and the fate of the other pretenders. [220] This
time it was a slave from Pontus, or, according to other traditions, a
freedman from Italy. His skill as a singer and harpist, combined with
his facial resemblance to Nero, gave him some credentials for
imposture.