About this time Achaia and Asia were thrown into 8 a
groundless
panic
by a rumour that 'Nero was at hand'.
by a rumour that 'Nero was at hand'.
Tacitus
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. He bribed some penniless and vagabond deserters by dazzling
promises to join him, and they all set out to sea. A storm drove them
on to the island of Cythnus,[221] where he found some troops homeward
bound on leave from the East. Some of these he enrolled, killing all
who resisted, and then proceeded to plunder the local merchants and
arm all the sturdiest of the slaves. Finding a centurion named Sisenna
carrying home a pair of silver hands[222] as a token of alliance from
the army in Syria to the Household Guards, he tried by various devices
to seduce him, until Sisenna took fright and escaped secretly from the
island in fear of violence. Thus the panic spread. The great name of
Nero attracted many who pined for revolution and hated the existing
state of things. The rumours waxed daily, until a chance dispelled
them. Galba had entrusted the government of Galatia and 9
Pamphylia[223] to Calpurnius Asprenas, who had been granted an escort
of two triremes from the fleet at Misenum. It so happened that with
these he touched at Cythnus. The rebels lost no time in appealing to
the ship's captains in the name of Nero. The pretender, assuming an
air of melancholy, appealed to 'the loyalty of his former soldiers',
and begged them to establish him in Syria or Egypt.
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. He bribed some penniless and vagabond deserters by dazzling
promises to join him, and they all set out to sea. A storm drove them
on to the island of Cythnus,[221] where he found some troops homeward
bound on leave from the East. Some of these he enrolled, killing all
who resisted, and then proceeded to plunder the local merchants and
arm all the sturdiest of the slaves. Finding a centurion named Sisenna
carrying home a pair of silver hands[222] as a token of alliance from
the army in Syria to the Household Guards, he tried by various devices
to seduce him, until Sisenna took fright and escaped secretly from the
island in fear of violence. Thus the panic spread. The great name of
Nero attracted many who pined for revolution and hated the existing
state of things. The rumours waxed daily, until a chance dispelled
them. Galba had entrusted the government of Galatia and 9
Pamphylia[223] to Calpurnius Asprenas, who had been granted an escort
of two triremes from the fleet at Misenum. It so happened that with
these he touched at Cythnus. The rebels lost no time in appealing to
the ship's captains in the name of Nero. The pretender, assuming an
air of melancholy, appealed to 'the loyalty of his former soldiers',
and begged them to establish him in Syria or Egypt.
