Plutarch: Otho
obit 69
The “Dryden Version” as edited ca. 1860 by
Arthur Hugh Clough (and Paul Swarney in 2007)
1.
The new emperor went early in the
morning to the capitol, and sacrificed; and, having commanded Marius
Celsus to be brought, he saluted him, and with obliging language desired
him rather to forget his accusation than remember his acquittal; to
which Celsus answered neither meanly nor ungratefully, that his very
crime ought to recommend his integrity, since his guilt had been his
fidelity to Galba, from whom he had never received any personal
obligations. Upon which they were both of them admired by those that
were present, and applauded by the soldiers.
In the senate, Otho said much in a gentle and popular
strain. He was to have been consul for part of that year himself, but he
gave the office to Virginius Rufus, and displaced none that had been
named for the consulship by either Nero or Galba. Those that were
remarkable for their age and dignity he promoted to the priesthoods; and
restored the remains of their fortunes, that had not yet been sold, to
all those senators that were banished by Nero, and recalled by Galba. So
that the nobility and chief of the people, who were at first
apprenhensive that no human creature, but some supernatural, or penal
vindictive power had seized the empire, began now to flatter themselves
with hopes of a government that smiled upon them thus early.
2.
Besides, nothing gratified or gained the
whole Roman people more than his justice in relation to Tigellinus. It
was not seen how he was in fact already suffering punishment, not only
by the very terror of retribution which he saw the whole city requiring
as a just debt, but with several incurable diseases also; not to mention
those unhallowed frightful excesses among impure and prostitute women,
to which, at the very close of life, his lewd nature clung, and in them
gasped out, as it were, its last; these, in the opinion of all
reasonable men, being themselves the extremest punishment, and equal to
many deaths. But it was felt like a grievance by people in general that
he continued yet to see the light of day, who had been the occasion of
the loss of it to so many persons, and such persons, as had died by his
means. Wherefore Otho ordered him to be sent for, just as he was
contriving his escape of means of some vessels that lay ready for him on
the coast near where he lived, in the neighbourhood of Sinuessa. At
first he endeavoured to corrupt the messenger, by a large sum of money,
to favour his design; but when he found this was to no purpose, he made
him as considerable a present as if he had really connived at it, only
entreating him to stay till he had shaved; and so took that opportunity,
and with his razor despatched himself.
3.
And while giving the people this most
righteous satisfaction of their desires, for himself he seemed to have
no sort of regard for any private injuries of his own. And at first, to
please the populace, he did not refuse to be called Nero in the theatre,
and did not interfere when some persons displayed Nero's statues to
public view. And Cluvius Rufus says, imperial letters, such as are sent
with couriers, went into Spain with the name of Nero affixed adoptively
to that of Otho; but as soon he perceived this gave offence to the chief
and most distinguished citizens, it was omitted.
After he had begun to model the government in this
manner, the paid soldiers began to murmur, and endeavoured to make him
suspect and chastise the nobility, either really out of a concern for
his safety, or wishing, upon this pretence, to stir up trouble and
warfare. Thus, whilst Crispinus, whom he had ordered to bring him the
seventeenth cohort from Ostia, began to collect what he wanted after it
was dark, and was putting the arms upon the wagons, some of the most
turbulent cried out that Crispinus was disaffected, that the senate was
practising something against the emperor, and that those arms were to be
employed against Caesar, and not for him. When this report was once set
afoot, it got the belief and excited the passions of many; they broke
out into violence; some seized the wagons, and others slew Crispinus and
two centurions that opposed them; and the whole number of them, arraying
themselves in their arms, and encouraging one another to stand by
Caesar, marched to Rome. And hearing there that eighty of the senators
were at supper with Otho, they flew into the palace, and declared it was
a fair opportunity to take off Caesar's enemies at one stroke. A general
alarm ensued of an immediate coming sack of the city. All were in
confusion about the palace, and Otho himself in no small consternation,
being not only concerned for the senators (some of whom had brought
their wives to supper thither), but also feeling himself to be an object
of alarm and suspicion to them, whose eyes he saw fixed on him in
silence and terror. Therefore he gave orders to the prefects to address
the soldiers and do their best to pacify them, while he bade the guests
rise, and leave by another door. They had only just made their way out,
when the soldiers rushed into the room, and called out, "Where are
Caesar's enemies?" Then Otho, standing up on his couch, made use both of
arguments and entreaties, and by actual tears at last, with great
difficulty, persuaded them to desist. The next day he went to the camp,
and distributed a bounty of twelve hundred and fifty drachmas a man
amongst them; then commended them for the regard and zeal they had for
his safety, but told them that there were some who were intriguing among
them, who not only accused his own clemency, but had also misrepresented
their loyalty; and, therefore, he desired their assistance in doing
justice upon them. To which, when they all consented, he was satisfied
with the execution of two only, whose deaths he knew would be regretted
by no one man in the whole army.
4.
Such conduct, so little expected from
him, was regarded by some with gratitude and confidence; others looked
upon his behaviour as a course to which necessity drove him, to gain the
people to the support of the war. For now there were certain tidings
that Vitellius had assumed the sovereign title and authority, and
frequent expresses brought accounts of new accessions to him; others,
however, came, announcing that the Pannonian, Dalmatian, and Moesian
legions, with their officers, adhered to Otho. Ere long also came
favourable letters from Mucianus and Vespasian, generals of two
formidable armies, the one in Syria, the other in Judaea, to assure him
of their firmness to his interest: in confidence whereof he was so
exalted, that he wrote to Vitellius not to attempt anything beyond his
post; and offered him large sums of money and a city, where he might
live his time out in pleasure and ease. These overtures at first were
responded to by Vitellius with equivocating civilities; which soon,
however, turned into an interchange of angry words; and letters passed
between the two, conveying bitter and shameful terms of reproach, which
were not false indeed, for that matter, only it was senseless and
ridiculous for each to assail the other with accusations to which both
alike must plead guilty. For it were hard to determine which of the two
had been most profuse, most effeminate, which was most a novice in
military affairs, and most involved in debt through previous want of
means.
As to the prodigies and apparitions that happened about
this time, there were many reported which none could answer for, or
which were told in different ways; but one which everybody actually saw
with their eyes, was the statue, in the capitol, of Victory carried in a
chariot, with the reins dropped out of her hands, as if she were grown
too weak to hold them any longer; and a second, that Caius Caesar's
statue in the island of Tiber, without any earthquake or wind to account
for it, turned round from west to east; and this, they say, happened
about the time when Vespasian and his party first openly began to put
themselves forward. Another incident, which the people in general
thought an evil sign, was the inundation of the Tiber; for though it
happened at a time when rivers are usually at their fullest, yet such
height of water and so tremendous a flood had never been known before,
nor such a destruction of property, great part of the city being under
water, and especially the corn market, so that it occasioned a great
dearth for several days.
5.
But when news was now brought that
Caecina and Valens, commanding for Vitellius, had possessed themselves
of the Alps, Otho sent Dolabella (a patrician, who was suspected by the
soldiery of some evil purpose), for whatever reason, whether it were
fear of him or of any one else, to the town of Aquinum, to give
encouragement there; and proceeding then to choose which of the
magistrates should go with him to the war, he named amongst the rest
Lucius, Vitellius's brother, without distinguishing him by any new marks
either of his favour or displeasure. He also took the greatest
precautions for Vitellius's wife and mother, that they might be safe,
and free from all apprehension for themselves. He made Flavius Sabinus,
Vespasian's brother, governor of Rome, either in honour to the memory of
Nero, who had advanced him formerly to that command, which Galba had
taken away, or else to show his confidence in Vespasian by his favour to
his brother.
After he came to Brixillum, a town of Italy near the Po,
he stayed behind himself, and ordered the army to march under the
conduct of Marius Celsus, Suetonius Paulinus, Gallus, and Spurina, all
men of experience and reputation, but unable to carry their own plans
and purposes into effect, by reason of the ungovernable temper of the
army, which would take orders from none but the emperor whom they
themselves had made their master. Nor was the enemy under much better
discipline, the soldiers there also being haughty and disobedient upon
the same account, but they were more experienced and used to hard work;
whereas Otho's men were soft from their long easy living and lack of
service, having spent most of their time in the theatres and at state
shows and on the stage; while moreover they tried to cover their
deficiencies by arrogance and vain display, pretending to decline their
duty, not because they were unable to do the thing commanded, but
because they thought themselves above it. So that Spurina had like to
have been cut in pieces for attempting to force them to their work; they
assailed him with insolent language, accusing him of a design to betray
and ruin Caesar's interest; nay, some of them that were in drink forced
his tent in the night, and demanded money for the expenses of their
journey, which they must at once take, they said, to the emperor, to
complain of him.
6.
However, the contemptuous treatment they
met with at Placentia did for the present good service to Spurina, and
to the cause of Otho. For Vitellius's men marched up to the walls, and
upbraided Otho's upon the ramparts, calling them players, dancers, idle
spectators of Pythian and Olympic games, but novices in the art of war,
who never so much as looked on at a battle; mean souls, that triumphed
in the beheading of Galba, an old man unarmed, but had no desire to look
real enemies in the face. Which reproaches so inflamed them that they
kneeled at Spurina's feet, entreated him to give his orders, and assured
him no danger or toil should be too great or too difficult for them.
Whereupon when Vitellius's forces made a vigorous attack on the town,
and brought up numerous engines against the walls, the besieged bravely
repulsed them, and, repelling the enemy with great slaughter, secured
the safety of a noble city, one of the most flourishing places in Italy.
Besides, it was observed that Otho's officers were much
more inoffensive, both towards the public and to private men, than those
of Vitellius; among whom was Caecina, who used neither the language nor
the apparel of a citizen, an overbearing, foreign-seeming man, of
gigantic stature, and always dressed in trews and sleeves, after the
manner of the Gauls, whilst he conversed with Roman officials and
magistrates. His wife, too, travelled along with him, riding in splendid
attire on horseback, with a chosen body of cavalry to escort her. And
Fabius Valens, the other general, was so rapacious that neither what he
plundered from enemies, nor what he stole or got as gifts and bribes
from his friends and allies, could satisfy his wishes. And it was said
that it was in order to have time to raise money that he had marched so
slowly that he was not present at the former attack. But some lay the
blame on Caecina, saying, that out of a desire to gain the victory by
himself before Fabius joined him, he committed sundry other errors of
lesser consequence, and by engaging unseasonably and when he could not
do so thoroughly, he very nearly brought all to ruin.
7.
When he found himself beat off at
Placentia, he set off to attack Cremona, another large and rich city. In
the meantime, Annius Gallus marched to join Spurina at Placentia; but
having intelligence that the siege was raised, and that Cremona was in
danger, he turned to its relief, and encamped just by the enemy, where
he was daily reinforced by other officers. Caecina placed a strong
ambush of heavy infantry in some rough and woody country, and gave
orders to his horse to advance, and if the enemy should charge them,
then to make a slow retreat, and draw them into the snare. But his
stratagem was discovered by some deserters to Celsus, who attacked with
a good body of horse, but followed the pursuit cautiously, and succeeded
in surrounding and routing the troops in the ambuscade; and if the
infantry which he ordered up from the camp had come soon enough to
sustain the horse, Caecina's whole army, in all appearance, had been
totally routed. But Paulinus, moving too slowly, was accused of acting
with a degree of needless caution not to have been expected from one of
his reputation. So that the soldiers incensed Otho against him, accused
him of treachery, and boasted loudly that the victory had been in their
power, and that if it was not complete, it was owing to the
mismanagement of their generals; all which Otho did not so much believe
as he was willing to appear not to disbelieve. He therefore sent his
brother Titianus, with Proculus, the prefect of the guards, to the army,
where the latter was general in reality, and the former in appearance.
Celsus and Paulinus had the title of friends and counsellors, but not
the least authority or power. At the same time, there was nothing but
quarrel and disturbance amongst the enemy, especially where Valens
commanded; for the soldiers here, being informed of what had happened at
the ambuscade, were enraged because they had not been permitted to be
present to strike a blow in defence of the lives of so many men that had
died in that action; Valens, with much difficulty, quieted their fury,
after they had now begun to throw missiles at him, and quitting his
camp, joined Caecina.
8.
About this time, Otho came to Bedriacum,
a little town near Cremona, to the camp, and called a council of war;
where Proculus and Titianus declared for giving battle, while the
soldiers were flushed with their late success, saying they ought not to
lose their time and opportunity and present height of strength, and wait
for Vitellius to arrive out of Gaul. But Paulinus told them that the
enemy's whole force was present, and that there was no body of reserve
behind; but that Otho, if he would not be too precipitate, and chose the
enemy's time, instead of his own, for the battle, might expect
reinforcements out of Moesia and Pannonia, not inferior in numbers to
the troops that were already present. He thought it probable, too, that
the soldiers, who were then in heart before they were joined, would not
be less so when the forces were all come up. Besides, the deferring
battle could not be inconvenient to them that were sufficiently provided
with all necessaries; but the others, being in an enemy's country, must
needs be exceedingly straitened in a little time. Marius Celsus was of
Paulinus's opinion; Annius Gallus, being absent and under the surgeon's
hands through a fall from his horse, was consulted by letter, and
advised Otho to stay for those legions that were marching from Moesia.
But after all he did not follow the advice; and the opinion of those
that declared for a battle prevailed.
9.
There are several reasons given for this
determination, but the most apparent is this; that the praetorian
soldiers, as they are called, who serve as guards, not relishing the
military discipline which they now had begun a little more to
experience, and longing for their amusements and unwarlike life among
the shows of Rome, would not be commanded, but were eager for a battle,
imagining that upon the first onset they should carry all before them.
Otho also himself seems not to have shown the proper fortitude in
bearing up against the uncertainty, and, out of effeminacy and want of
use, had not patience for the calculations of danger, and was so uneasy
at the apprehension of it that he shut his eyes, and like one going to
leap from a precipice, left everything to fortune. This is the account
Secundus the rhetorician, who was his secretary, gave of the matter. But
others would tell you that there were many movements in both armies for
acting in concert; and if it were possible for them to agree, then they
should proceed to choose one of their most experienced officers that
were present; if not, they should convene the senate, and invest it with
the power of election. And it is not improbable that, neither of the
emperors then bearing the title having really any reputation, such
purposes were really entertained among the genuine, serviceable, and
sober-minded part of the soldiers. For what could be more odious and
unreasonable than that the evils which the Roman citizens had formerly
thought it so lamentable to inflict upon each other for the sake of a
Sylla or a Marius, a Caesar or a Pompey, should now be undergone anew,
for the object of letting the empire pay the expenses of the gluttony
and intemperance of Vitellius, or the looseness and effeminacy of Otho?
It is thought that Celsus, upon such reflections, protracted the time in
order to a possible accommodation; and that Otho pushed on things to an
extremity to prevent it.
10.
He himself returned to Brixillum, which
was another false step, both because he withdrew from the combatants all
the motives of respect and desire to gain his favour which his presence
would have supplied, and because he weakened the army by detaching some
of his best and most faithful troops for his horse and foot guards.
About the same time also happened a skirmish on the Po.
As Caecina was laying a bridge over it, Otho's men attacked him, and
tried to prevent it. And when they did not succeed, on their putting
into their boats torchwood, with a quantity of sulphur and pitch, the
wind on the river suddenly caught their material that they had prepared
against the enemy, and blew it into a light. First came smoke, and then
a clear flame, and the men, getting into great confusion and jumping
overboard, upset the boats, and put themselves ludicrously at the mercy
of their enemies. Also the Germans attacked Otho's gladiators upon a
small island in the river, routed them, and killed a good many.
11.
All which made the soldiers at Bedriacum
full of anger, and eagerness to be led to battle. So Proculus led them
out of Bedriacum to a place fifty furlongs off, where he pitched his
camp so ignorantly and with such a ridiculous want of foresight that the
soldiers suffered extremely for want of water, though it was the spring
time, and the plains all around were full of running streams and rivers
that never dried up. The next day he proposed to attack the enemy, first
making a march of not less than a hundred furlongs; but to this Paulinus
objected, saying they ought to wait, and not immediately after a journey
engage men who would have been standing in their arms and arranging
themselves for battle at their leisure, whilst they were making a long
march, with all their beasts of burden and their camp followers to
encumber them. As the generals were arguing about this matter, a
Numidian courier came from Otho with orders to lose no time, but give
battle. Accordingly they consented, and moved. As soon as Caecina had
notice, he was much surprised, and quitted his post on the river to
hasten to the camp. In the meantime, the men had armed themselves
mostly, and were receiving the word from Valens; so while the legions
took up their position, they sent out the best of their horse in
advance.
12.
Otho's foremost troops, upon some
groundless rumour, took up the notion that the commanders on the other
side would come over; and accordingly, upon their first approach, they
saluted them with the friendly title of fellow-soldiers. But the others
returned the compliment with anger and disdainful words; which not only
disheartened those that had given the salutation, but excited suspicions
of their fidelity amongst the others on their side, who had not. This
caused a confusion at the very first onset. And nothing else that
followed was done upon any plan; the baggage-carriers, mingling up with
the fighting men, created great disorder and division; as well as the
nature of the ground, the ditches and pits in which were so many that
they were forced to break their ranks to avoid and go round them, and so
to fight without order, and in small parties. There were but two
legions, one of Vitellius's called The Ravenous, and another of Otho's,
called The Assistant, that got out into the open outspread level and
engaged in proper form, fighting, one main body against the other, for
some length of time. Otho's men were strong and bold, but had never been
in battle before; Vitellius's had seen many wars, but were old and past
their strength. So Otho's legion charged boldly, drove back their
opponents, and took the eagle, killing pretty nearly every man in the
first rank, till the others, full of rage and shame, returned the
charge, slew Orfidius, the commander of the legion, and took several
standards. Varus Alfenus, with his Batavians, who are the natives of an
island of the Rhine, and are esteemed the best of the German horse, fell
upon the gladiators, who had a reputation both for valour and skill in
fighting. Some few of these did their duty, but the greatest part of
them made towards the river, and, falling in with some cohorts stationed
there, were cut off. But none behaved so ill as the praetorians, who,
without ever so much as meeting the enemy, ran away, broke through their
own body that stood, and put them into disorder. Notwithstanding this,
many of Otho's men routed those that were opposed to them, broke right
into them, and forced their way to the camp through the very middle of
their conquerors.
13.
As for their commanders, neither
Proculus nor Paulinus ventured to reenter with the troops; they turned
aside, and avoided the soldiers, who had already charged the miscarriage
upon their officers. Annius Gallus received into the town and rallied
the scattered parties, and encouraged them with an assurance that the
battle was a drawn one and the victory had in many parts been theirs.
Marius Celsus, collecting the officers, urged the public interest; Otho
himself, if he were a brave man, would not, after such an expense of
Roman blood, attempt anything further; especially since even Cato and
Scipio, though the liberty of Rome was then at stake, had been accused
of being too prodigal of so many brave men's lives as were lost in
Africa, rather than submit to Caesar after the battle of Pharsalia had
gone against them. For though all persons are equally subject to the
caprice of fortune, yet all good men have one advantage she cannot deny,
which is this, to act reasonably under misfortunes.
This language was well accepted amongst the officers, who
sounded the private soldiers, and found them desirous of peace; and
Titianus also gave directions that envoys should be sent in order to a
treaty. And accordingly it was agreed that the conference should be
between Celsus and Gallus on one part, and Valens with Caecina on the
other. As the two first were upon their journey, they met some
centurions, who told them the troops were already in motion, marching
for Bedriacum, but that they themselves were deputed by their generals
to carry proposals for an accommodation. Celsus and Gallus expressed
their approval, and requested them to turn back and carry them to
Caecina. However, Celsus, upon his approach, was in danger from the
vanguard, who happened to be some of the horse that had suffered at the
ambush. For as soon as they saw him, they hallooed, and were coming down
upon him; but the centurions came forward to protect him, and the other
officers crying out and bidding them desist, Caecina came up to inform
himself of the tumult, which he quieted, and giving a friendly greeting
to Celsus, took him in his company and proceeded towards Bedriacum.
Titianus, meantime, had repented of having sent the messengers; and
placed those of the soldiers who were more confident upon the walls once
again, bidding the others also go and support them. But when Caecina
rode up on his horse and held out his hand, no one did or said to the
contrary; those on the walls greeted his men with salutations, others
opened the gates and went out, and mingled freely with those they met;
and instead of acts of hostility, there was nothing but mutual shaking
of hands and congratulations, every one taking the oaths and submitting
to Vitellius.
14.
This is the account which the most of
those that were present at the battle give of it, yet own that the
disorder they were in, and the absence of any unity of action, would not
give them leave to be certain as to particulars. And when I myself
travelled afterwards over the field of battle, Mestrius Florus, a man of
consular degree, one of those who had been, not willingly, but by
command, in attendance on Otho at the time, pointed out to me an ancient
temple, and told me, that as he went that way after the battle, he
observed a heap of bodies piled up there to such a height that those on
the top of it reached the pinnacles of the roof. How it came to be so,
he could neither discover himself nor learn from any other person; as
indeed, he said, in civil wars it generally happens that greater numbers
are killed when an army is routed, quarter not being given, because
captives are of no advantage to the conquerors; but why the carcasses
should be heaped up after that manner is not easy to determine.
15.
Otho, at first, as it frequently
happens, received some uncertain rumours of the issue of the battle. But
when some of the wounded that returned from the field informed him
rightly of it, it is not, indeed, so much to be wondered at that his
friends should bid him not give all up as lost or let his courage sink;
but the feeling shown by the soldiers is something that exceeds all
belief. There was not one of them would either go over to the conqueror
or show any disposition to make terms for himself, as if their leader's
cause was desperate; on the contrary, they crowded his gates, called out
to him the title of emperor, and as soon as he appeared, cried out and
entreated him, catching hold of his band, and throwing themselves upon
the ground, and with all the moving language of tears and persuasion,
besought him to stand by them, not abandon them to their enemies, but
employ in his service their lives and persons, which would not cease to
be his so long as they had breath; so urgent was their zealous and
universal importunity. And one obscure and private soldier, after he had
drawn his sword, addressed himself to Otho: "By this, Caesar, judge our
fidelity; there is not a man amongst us but would strike thus to serve
you;" and so stabbed himself. Notwithstanding this, Otho stood serene
and unshaken, and, with a face full of constancy and composure, turned
himself about and looked at them, replying thus: "This day, my
fellow-soldiers, which gives me such proofs of your affection, is
preferable even to that on which you saluted me emperor; deny me not,
therefore, the yet higher satisfaction of laying down my life for the
preservation of so many brave men; in this, at least, let me be worthy
of the empire, that is, to die for it. I am of opinion the enemy has
neither gained an entire nor a. decisive victory; I have advice that the
Moesian army is not many days' journey distant, on its march to the
Adriatic; Asia, Syria, and Egypt, and the legions that are serving
against the Jews, declare for us; the senate is also with us, and the
wives and children of our opponents are in our power; but alas, it is
not in defence of Italy against Hannibal or Pyrrhus or the Cimbri that
we fight; Romans combining against Romans, and, whether we conquer or
are defeated, the country suffers and we commit a crime: victory, to
whichever it fall, is gained at her expense. Believe it many times over,
I can die with more honour than I can reign. For I cannot see at all how
I should do any such great good to my country by gaining the victory, as
I shall by dying to establish peace and unanimity and to save Italy from
such another unhappy day."
16.
As soon as he had done, he was resolute
against all manner of argument or persuasion, and taking leave of his
friends and the senators that were present, he bade them depart, and
wrote to those that were absent, and sent letters to the towns, that
they might have every honour and facility in their journey. Then he sent
for Cocceius, his brother's son, who was yet a boy, and bade him be in
no apprehension of Vitellius, whose mother and wife and family he had
treated with the same tenderness as his own; and also told him that this
had been his reason for delaying to adopt him, which he had meant to do
as his son; he had desired that he might share his power, if he
conquered, but not be involved in his ruin if he failed. "Take notice,"
he added, "my boy, of these my last words, that you neither too
negligently forget, nor too zealously remember, that Caesar was your
uncle." By and by he heard a tumult amongst the soldiers at the door,
who were treating the senators with menaces for preparing to withdraw;
upon which, out of regard to their safety, he showed himself once more
in public, but not with a gentle aspect and in a persuading manner as
before; on the contrary, with a countenance that discovered indignation
and authority, he commanded such as were disorderly to leave the place,
and was not disobeyed.
17.
It was now evening, and feeling thirsty,
he drank some water, and then took two daggers that belonged to him, and
when he had carefully examined their edges, he laid one of them down,
and put the other in his robe, under his arm, then called his servants,
and distributed some money amongst them, but not inconsiderately, nor
like one too lavish of what was not his own; for to some he gave more,
to others less, all strictly in moderation, and distinguishing every
one's particular merit. When this was done, he dismissed them, and
passed the rest of the night in so sound a sleep that the officers of
his bed-chamber heard him snore. In the morning, he called for one of
his freedmen, who had assisted him in arranging about the senators, and
bade him bring him an account if they were safe. Being informed they
were all well and wanted nothing, "Go then," he said "and show yourself
to the soldiers, lest they should cut you to pieces for being accessory
to my death." As soon as he was gone, he held his sword upright under
him with both his hands, and falling upon it expired with no more than
one single groan to express his sense of the pang, or to inform those
that waited without. When his servants, therefore, raised their
exclamations of grief, the whole camp and city were at once filled with
lamentation; the soldiers immediately broke in at the doors with a loud
cry, in passionate distress, and accusing themselves that they had been
so negligent in looking after that life which was laid down to preserve
theirs. Nor would a man of them quit the body to secure his own safety
with the approaching enemy; but having raised a funeral pile, and
attired the body, they bore it thither, arrayed in their arms, those
among them greatly exulting who succeeded in getting first under the
bier and becoming its bearers. Of the others, some threw themselves down
before the body and kissed his wound, others grasped his hand, and
others that were at a distance knelt down to do him obeisance. There
were some who, after putting their torches to the pile, slew themselves,
though they had not, so far as appeared, either any particular
obligations to the dead, or reason to apprehend ill-usage from the
victor. Simply, it would seem, no king, legal or illegal, had ever been
possessed with so extreme and vehement a passion to command others, as
was that of these men to obey Otho. Nor did their love of him cease with
his death; it survived and changed ere long into a mortal hatred to his
successor, as will be shown in its proper place.
18.
They placed the remains of Otho in the
earth and raised over them a monument which neither by its size nor the
pomp of its inscription might excite hostility. I myself have seen it,
at Brixillum; a plain structure, and the epitaph only this: To the
memory of Marcus Otho. He died in his thirty-eighth year, after a short
reign of about three months, his death being as much applauded as his
life was censured, for if he lived no better than Nero, he died more
nobly. The soldiers were displeased with Pollio, one of their two
prefects, who bade them immediately swear allegiance to Vitellius; and
when they understood that some of the senators were still upon the spot,
they made no opposition to the departure of the rest, but only disturbed
the tranquillity of Virginius Rufus with an offer of the government, and
moving in one body to his house in town they first entreated him, and
then demanded of him to be head of the empire, or at least to be their
mediator. But he, that refused to command them when conquerors, thought
it ridiculous to pretend to it now they were beat, and was unwilling to
go as their envoy to the Germans, whom in past time he had compelled to
do various things that they had not liked; and for these reasons he
slipped away through a private door. As soon as the soldiers perceived
this, they owned Vitellius, and so got their pardon, and served under
Caecina.
THE END
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"The Deeds of the Divine Augustus" by Augustus is copyright (C) Thomas
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