No More Learning

Domitian having secured the title and the official residence of a 2
Caesar,[229] did not as yet busy himself with serious matters, but in
his character of emperor's son devoted himself to dissolute intrigues.
Arrius Varus[230] took command of the Guards, but the supreme
authority rested with Antonius Primus. He removed money and slaves
from the emperor's house as though he were plundering Cremona. The
other generals, from excess of modesty or lack of spirit, shared
neither the distinctions of the war nor the profits of peace.

People in Rome were now so nervous and so resigned to despotism that
they demanded that Lucius Vitellius and his force of Guards should be
surprised on their way back from Tarracina,[231] and the last sparks
of the war stamped out. Some cavalry were sent forward to Aricia,
while the column of the legions halted short of Bovillae. [232]
Vitellius, however, lost no time in surrendering himself and his
Guards to the conqueror's discretion, and the men flung away their
unlucky swords more in anger than in fear. The long line of prisoners
filed through the city between ranks of armed guards. None looked like
begging for mercy. With sad, set faces they remained sternly
indifferent to the applause or the mockery of the ribald crowd. A few
tried to break away, but were surrounded and overpowered. The rest
were put in prison. Not one of them gave vent to any unseemly
complaint. Through all their misfortunes they preserved their
reputation for courage. Lucius Vitellius was then executed.
He was as
weak as his brother, though during the principate he showed himself
less indolent. Without sharing his brother's success, he was carried
away on the flood of his disaster.

At this time Lucilius Bassus[233] was sent off with a force of 3
light horse to quell the disquiet in Campania, which was caused more
by the mutual jealousy of the townships than by any opposition to the
emperor. The sight of the soldiers restored order. The smaller
colonies were pardoned, but at Capua the Third legion[234] was left in
winter quarters and some of the leading families fined. [235]
Tarracina, on the other hand, received no relief. It is always easier
to requite an injury than a service: gratitude is a burden, but
revenge is found to pay. Their only consolation was that one of
Vergilius Capito's slaves, who had, as we have seen,[236] betrayed
the town, was hanged on the gallows with the very rings[237] on his
fingers which Vitellius had given him to wear.

At Rome the senate decreed to Vespasian all the usual prerogatives of
the principate. [238] They were now happy and confident. Seeing that
the civil war had broken out in the provinces of Gaul and Spain, and
after causing a rebellion first in Germany and then in Illyricum, had
spread to Egypt, Judaea, Syria,[239] and in fact to all the provinces
and armies of the empire, they felt that the world had been purged as
by fire and that all was now over. Their satisfaction was still
further enhanced by a letter from Vespasian, which at first sight
seemed to be phrased as if the war was still going on. Still his tone
was that of an emperor, though he spoke of himself as a simple citizen
and gave his country all the glory. The senate for its part showed no
lack of deference. They decreed that Vespasian himself should be
consul with Titus for his colleague, and on Domitian they conferred
the praetorship with the powers of a consul. [240]

Mucianus had also addressed a letter to the senate which gave rise 4
to a good deal of talk.