Part 23 (1/2)

[71] i.e. the Rhoxolani (cp. i. 79).

[72] They had served recently in Syria under Corbulo (see above).

[73] An eyewitness (see note 39).

[74] In Spain.

[75] i.e. at the time of the first battle of Bedriac.u.m in April.

[76] i.e. the gate giving on to the road to Brescia.

[77] In this famous formation the front-rank men kept close together and covered their bodies with long, concave s.h.i.+elds, while the others, holding flat s.h.i.+elds over their heads and pressing them one against another, formed a protecting roof.

They could thus approach the walls under cover.

[78] Cp. ii. 101, note 459.

[79] For the term (_cuneus_) here used, see note on ii. 42.

[80] Cp. ii. 101, note 459.

[81] See note 77.

[82] As well as the buildings outside the walls.

[83] i.e. tore them off the standards and s.h.i.+elds, and broke the statues at head-quarters.

[84] See chap. 14.

[85] Cp. i. 66.

[86] Cp. ii. 45.

[87] i.e. even though it was in their own interest.

[88] Cp. ii. 70.

[89] Cp. ii. 67.

[90] The words were either attributed wrongly to Antonius or were supposed to be spoken in answer to his question, 'Are the furnaces not lit?' In either case they were taken to apply not to the heating of the baths but to the burning of the town.

[91] i.e. the G.o.ddess of malaria, who reigned in terror by the swampy banks of the Po.

[92] Cremona was founded in 218 B.C. as a Latin colony, together with Placentia, to keep the Gallic tribes of North Italy in check.

[93] The Po, Adda, and Oglio.

VITELLIUS

When Caecina had left Rome,[94] Vitellius, after an interval of a 36 few days, sent Fabius Valens hurrying to the front, and then proceeded to drown his cares in self-indulgence. He neither made any provision for the war, nor tried to increase the efficiency of his troops either by haranguing or by drilling them. He did not keep himself in the public eye, but retired into the pleasant shade of his gardens, regarding past, present, and future with equal indifference, like one of those listless animals which lie sluggish, and torpid so long as you supply them with food. While he thus loitered languid and indolent in the woods of Aricia,[95] he received the startling news of Lucilius Ba.s.sus' treachery and the disaffection of the fleet at Ravenna.[96]

Soon afterwards he heard with mixed feelings of distress and satisfaction that Caecina had deserted him and had been imprisoned by the army. On his insensate nature joy had more effect than trouble.

He returned in triumph to Rome and at a crowded meeting praised the devotion of the troops in extravagant terms. He gave orders for the imprisonment of Publilius Sabinus, the prefect of the Guards, on the ground of his intimacy with Caecina, and appointed Alfenus Varus[97]

in his place.