Part 7 (1/2)
THE MARCH OF CAECINA'S COLUMN
There was even more looting and bloodshed on Caecina's march. The 67 Helvetii, a Gallic tribe[138] once famous as fighting men and still distinguished by the memory of their past, having heard nothing of Galba's murder, refused to acknowledge the authority of Vitellius.
This exasperated Caecina's headstrong nature. Hostilities broke out owing to the greed and impatience of the Twenty-first legion, who had seized a sum of money which was being sent to pay the garrison of a fort in which the Helvetii used to keep native troops at their own expense.[139] The Helvetii, highly indignant at this, intercepted a dispatch from the German army to the Pannonian legions, and kept a centurion and some men in custody. Greedy for battle, Caecina hastened to take immediate vengeance without giving them time for second thoughts. Promptly breaking up his camp, he proceeded to harry the country, and sacked a charming and much-frequented watering-place,[140]
which had grown during the long peace into the size and importance of a town. Instructions were sent to the Raetian auxiliaries to attack the Helvetii in the rear, while their attention was occupied with the legion.
Full of spirit beforehand, the Helvetii were terrified in the face 68 of danger. At the first alarm they had chosen Claudius Severus general, but they knew nothing of fighting or discipline and were incapable of combined action. An engagement with the Roman veterans would be disastrous; and the walls, dilapidated by time, could not stand a siege. They found themselves between Caecina and his powerful army on the one side, and on the other the Raetian auxiliaries, both horse and foot, and the whole fighting force of Raetia as well, trained soldiers well used to fighting.[141] Their country was given over to plunder and ma.s.sacre. Flinging away their arms, they wandered miserably between two fires. Wounded and scattered, most of them took refuge on the Botzberg.[142] But some Thracian auxiliaries were promptly sent to dislodge them. The German army, aided by the Raetians, pursued them through the woods, and cut them to pieces in their hiding-places. Many thousands were killed and many sold as slaves. Having completed the work of destruction, the army advanced in hostile array against Aventic.u.m,[143] their capital town, and were met by envoys offering surrender. The offer was accepted. Caecina executed Julius Alpinus, one of their chief men, as the prime instigator of the revolt. The rest he left to experience the clemency or cruelty of Vitellius.
It is hard to say whether these envoys found Vitellius or the army the more implacable. The soldiers clamoured for the destruction of the town,[144] and shook their fists and weapons in the envoys' faces: even Vitellius indulged in threatening language. Ultimately, however, Claudius Cossus, one of the envoys, a noted speaker who greatly enhanced the effect of his eloquence by concealing his skill under a well-timed affectation of nervousness, succeeded in softening the hearts of the soldiers. A mob is always liable to sudden changes of feeling, and the men were as sensible to pity as they had been extravagant in their brutality. Thus with streams of tears and importunate prayers for a better answer the envoys procured a free pardon for Aventic.u.m.[145]
Caecina halted for a few days in Helvetian territory until he 70 could get news of Vitellius' decision. Meantime, while carrying on his preparations for crossing the Alps, he received from Italy the joyful news that 'Silius' Horse',[146] stationed at Padua, had come over to Vitellius. The members of this troop had served under Vitellius when pro-consul in Africa. They had subsequently been detached under orders from Nero to precede him to Egypt, and had then been recalled, owing to the outbreak of the war with Vindex. They were now in Italy. Their officers, who knew nothing of Otho and were attached to Vitellius, extolled the strength of the approaching column and the fame of the German army. So the troop went over to Vitellius, bringing their new emperor a gift of the four strongest towns of the Transpadane district, Milan, Novara, Eporedia,[147] and Vercelli. Of this they informed Caecina themselves. But one troop of horse could not garrison the whole of the widest part of Italy. Caecina accordingly hurried forward the Gallic, Lusitanian, and British auxiliaries, and some German detachments, together with 'Petra's Horse',[148] while he himself hesitated whether he should not cross the Raetian Alps[149]
into Noric.u.m and attack the governor, Petronius Urbicus, who, having raised a force of irregulars and broken down the bridges, was supposed to be a faithful adherent of Otho. However, he was afraid of losing the auxiliaries whom he had sent on ahead, and at the same time he considered that there was more glory in holding Italy, and that, wherever the theatre of the war might be, Noric.u.m was sure to be among the spoils of victory. So he chose the Pennine route[150] and led his legionaries and the heavy marching column across the Alps, although they were still deep in snow.[151]
FOOTNOTES:
[138] In Western Switzerland. Caesar had finally subdued them in 58 B.C.
[139] This had happened before Caecina's arrival. Vindonissa, their head-quarters (chap. 61, note 123), was on the borders of the Helvetii.
[140] _Aquae Helvetiorum_ or _Vicus Aquensis_, about 16 miles NW. of Zurich.
[141] Volunteers, not conscripts.
[142] Mount Vocetius.
[143] Avenches.
[144] Avenches.
[145] Vespasian made it a Latin colony.
[146] Probably raised by C. Silius, who was Governor of Upper Germany under Tiberius. Troops of auxiliary horse were usually named either after the governor of the province who first organized the troop or after the country where it had first been stationed, or where it had won fame.
[147] Ivrea.
[148] Petra occurs as the name of two Roman knights in _Ann._ xi. 4. One of these or a relative was probably the original leader of the troop.
[149] The Arlberg.
[150] Great St. Bernard.
[151] Early in March.
OTHO'S GOVERNMENT AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF FORCES
Meanwhile, contrary to all expectation, Otho was no prey to idle 71 luxury. He postponed his pleasures and disguised his extravagance, suiting all his behaviour to the dignity of his position. But people knew they had not seen the last of his vices, and his virtuous hypocrisy only increased their alarm. He gave orders to summon Marius Celsus to the Capitol. This was the consul-elect whom he had rescued from the savage clutches of the soldiers by pretending to put him in prison.[152] Otho now wanted to earn a name for clemency by pardoning a well-known man, who had fought against his party. Celsus was firm.
Pleading guilty to the charge of fidelity to Galba, he went on to show that he had set an example which was all to Otho's advantage. Otho treated him as if there was nothing to pardon. Calling on heaven to witness their reconciliation, he then and there admitted him to the circle of his intimate friends, and subsequently gave him an appointment as one of his generals. Celsus remained faithful to Otho too, doomed apparently to the losing side. His acquittal, which delighted the upper cla.s.ses and was popular with the ma.s.s of the people, even earned the approval of the soldiers, who now admired the qualities which had previously aroused their indignation.
Equal rejoicing, though for different reasons, followed the 72 long-looked-for downfall of Ofonius Tigellinus. Born of obscure parentage, he had grown from an immoral youth into a vicious old man.
He rose to the command first of the Police,[153] and then of the Praetorian Guards, finding that vice was a short cut to such rewards of virtue. In these and other high offices he developed the vices of maturity, first cruelty, then greed. He corrupted Nero and introduced him to every kind of depravity; then ventured on some villainies behind his back, and finally deserted and betrayed him. Thus in his case, as in no other, those who hated Nero and those who wished him back agreed, though from different motives, in calling loudly for his execution. During Galba's reign he had been protected by the influence of t.i.tus Vinius, on the plea that he had saved his daughter. Saved her he had, not from any feelings of pity (he had killed too many for that), but to secure a refuge for the future. For all such rascals, distrusting the present and fearing a change of fortune, always prepare for themselves a shelter against public indignation by obtaining the favour of private persons. So they rely to escape punishment not on their innocence but on a system of mutual insurance.
People were all the more incensed against Tigellinus, since the recent feeling against Vinius was added to their old hatred for him. From all quarters of Rome they flocked to the palace and the squares; and above all, in the circus and the theatre, where the mob enjoys complete licence, they a.s.sembled in crowds and broke out into riotous uproar.
Eventually Tigellinus at Sinuessa Spa[154] received the news that his last hour was inevitably come. There after a cowardly delay in the foul embraces of his prost.i.tutes he cut his throat with a razor, and blackened the infamy of his life by a hesitating and shameful death.
About the same time there arose a demand for the punishment of 73 Calvia Crispinilla. But she was saved by various prevarications, and Otho's connivence cost him some discredit. This woman had tutored Nero in vice, and afterwards crossed to Africa to incite Clodius Macer[155]