Besides,
innocence
wins you as much as the murder of your
emperor: you will get from us as large a bounty for your loyalty as
you would from others for your crime.
emperor: you will get from us as large a bounty for your loyalty as
you would from others for your crime.
Tacitus
His mind is full of lechery and debauchery and intrigues with
women. These are in his eyes the prerogatives of the throne. And the
pleasure of his vices would be all his, the blushes of shame would be
ours. No man has ever ruled well who won the throne by bad means.
'The whole Roman world agreed to give Galba the title of Caesar. Galba
with your approval gave that title to me. Even if the "country", the
"senate", the "people", are empty terms, it is to your interest, my
fellow soldiers, to see that it is not the rascals who create an
emperor. From time to time one hears of the legionaries being in
mutiny against their generals. But your good faith and your good name
have stood to this day unimpaired. It was not you who deserted Nero:
he deserted you. Are you going to allow less than thirty deserters and
renegades to bestow the crown? Why! no one would tolerate their
choosing so much as a centurion or a tribune for themselves. Are you
going to allow this precedent, and by your acquiescence make their
crime your own? You will soon see this lawless spirit spreading to the
troops abroad, and in time the treason will recoil on us and the war
on you.
Besides, innocence wins you as much as the murder of your
emperor: you will get from us as large a bounty for your loyalty as
you would from others for your crime. '
The members of the Body Guard dispersed. The rest of the cohort 31
paid some heed to his speech. Aimlessly, as happens in moments of
confusion, they seized their standards, without as yet any fixed plan,
and not, as was afterwards believed, to cloak their treachery. Marius
Celsus had been dispatched to the picked detachments of the Illyrian
army, which were quartered in the Vipsanian arcade,[56] while
instructions had been given to two senior centurions,[57] Amullius
Serenus and Domitius Sabinus, to summon the German troops from the
Hall of Liberty. They distrusted the legion of marines, who had been
alienated by Galba's butchery of their comrades on his entry into
Rome. [58] Three officers of the guards, Cetrius Severus, Subrius
Dexter, and Pompeius Longinus, also hurried to the camp in the hope
that the mutiny was still in its early stages and might be averted by
good advice before it came to a head. The soldiers attacked Subrius
and Cetrius with threats and forcibly seizing Longinus disarmed him,
because he had not come in virtue of his military rank, but simply as
one of Galba's private friends; and for his loyalty to his master the
rebels disliked him all the more. The marines without any hesitation
joined the guards. The Illyrian draft[59] drove Celsus away at the
point of their javelins. The German detachments[59] wavered for some
time. They were still in poor condition physically, and inclined to be
passive. Nero had dispatched them as an advance-guard to
Alexandria;[60] the long voyage back again had damaged their health,
and Galba had spared no expense in looking after them.
The whole populace of Rome was now crowding into the palace 32
together with a good sprinkling of slaves. With discordant shouts they
demanded the death of Otho and the doom of the conspirators. They
might have been in the circus or the theatre, clamouring for
entertainment.
women. These are in his eyes the prerogatives of the throne. And the
pleasure of his vices would be all his, the blushes of shame would be
ours. No man has ever ruled well who won the throne by bad means.
'The whole Roman world agreed to give Galba the title of Caesar. Galba
with your approval gave that title to me. Even if the "country", the
"senate", the "people", are empty terms, it is to your interest, my
fellow soldiers, to see that it is not the rascals who create an
emperor. From time to time one hears of the legionaries being in
mutiny against their generals. But your good faith and your good name
have stood to this day unimpaired. It was not you who deserted Nero:
he deserted you. Are you going to allow less than thirty deserters and
renegades to bestow the crown? Why! no one would tolerate their
choosing so much as a centurion or a tribune for themselves. Are you
going to allow this precedent, and by your acquiescence make their
crime your own? You will soon see this lawless spirit spreading to the
troops abroad, and in time the treason will recoil on us and the war
on you.
Besides, innocence wins you as much as the murder of your
emperor: you will get from us as large a bounty for your loyalty as
you would from others for your crime. '
The members of the Body Guard dispersed. The rest of the cohort 31
paid some heed to his speech. Aimlessly, as happens in moments of
confusion, they seized their standards, without as yet any fixed plan,
and not, as was afterwards believed, to cloak their treachery. Marius
Celsus had been dispatched to the picked detachments of the Illyrian
army, which were quartered in the Vipsanian arcade,[56] while
instructions had been given to two senior centurions,[57] Amullius
Serenus and Domitius Sabinus, to summon the German troops from the
Hall of Liberty. They distrusted the legion of marines, who had been
alienated by Galba's butchery of their comrades on his entry into
Rome. [58] Three officers of the guards, Cetrius Severus, Subrius
Dexter, and Pompeius Longinus, also hurried to the camp in the hope
that the mutiny was still in its early stages and might be averted by
good advice before it came to a head. The soldiers attacked Subrius
and Cetrius with threats and forcibly seizing Longinus disarmed him,
because he had not come in virtue of his military rank, but simply as
one of Galba's private friends; and for his loyalty to his master the
rebels disliked him all the more. The marines without any hesitation
joined the guards. The Illyrian draft[59] drove Celsus away at the
point of their javelins. The German detachments[59] wavered for some
time. They were still in poor condition physically, and inclined to be
passive. Nero had dispatched them as an advance-guard to
Alexandria;[60] the long voyage back again had damaged their health,
and Galba had spared no expense in looking after them.
The whole populace of Rome was now crowding into the palace 32
together with a good sprinkling of slaves. With discordant shouts they
demanded the death of Otho and the doom of the conspirators. They
might have been in the circus or the theatre, clamouring for
entertainment.
