Part 31 (2/2)
When the excitement subsided, their fears returned, and they sent 37 letters round by centurions to all the Gallic communities, asking for reinforcements and money for the soldiers' pay.
Without a leader a mob is always rash, timorous, and inactive. On the approach of Civilis they hurriedly s.n.a.t.c.hed up their arms, and then immediately dropped them and took to flight. Misfortune now bred disunion, and the army of the Upper Rhine[327] dissociated itself from the rest. However, they set up the statues of Vitellius again in the camp and in the neighbouring Belgic villages, although by now Vitellius was dead.[328] Soon the soldiers of the First, Fourth, and Twenty-second repented of their folly and rejoined Vocula. He made them take a second oath of allegiance to Vespasian and led them off to raise the siege of Mainz. The besieging army, a combined force of Chatti,[329] Usipi, and Mattiaci,[330] had already retired, having got sufficient loot and suffered some loss. Our troops surprised them while they were scattered along the road, and immediately attacked.
Moreover, the Treviri had built a rampart and breastwork all along their frontier and fought the Germans again and again with heavy loss to both sides. Before long, however, they rebelled, and thus sullied their great services to the Roman people.
FOOTNOTES:
[316] The end of October, A.D. 69 (see iii. 30-34).
[317] Caecina, as consul, had probably while at Cremona issued a manifesto in favour of joining the Flavian party.
[318] Cp. iii. 35.
[319] See chap. 13.
[320] At Gelduba (chap. 26).
[321] Asberg.
[322] From the north-east frontier of the Tarragona division of Spain, of which Galba had been governor. Hordeonius explained (chap. 25) that he had summoned aid from Spain.
[323] Mr. Henderson calls this sentence 'a veritable masterpiece of improbability', and finds it 'hard to speak calmly of such a judgement'. He has to confess that a military motive for Vocula's inaction is hard to find. Tacitus, feeling the same, offers a merely human motive. Soldiers of fortune often prefer war to final victory, and in these days the dangers of peace were only equalled by its ennui. Besides, Tacitus' explanation lends itself to an epigram which he would doubtless not have exchanged for the tedium of tactical truth.
[324] Cp. chap. 26.
[325] Having strengthened the defences of Vetera, he was now going back to Gelduba.
[326] From the Vetera garrison.
[327] i.e. the troops which Flaccus at Mainz had put under Vocula for the relief of Vetera (chap. 24).
[328] It was therefore later than December 21.
[329] Cp. chap. 12.
[330] The Usipi lived on the east bank of the Rhine between the Sieg and the Lahn; the Mattiaci between the Lahn and the Main, round Wiesbaden.
ROME AND THE EMPIRE UNDER VESPASIAN
During these events Vespasian took up his second consuls.h.i.+p and 38 t.i.tus his first, both in absence.[331] Rome was depressed and beset by manifold anxieties. Apart from the real miseries of the moment, it was plunged into a groundless panic on the rumour of a rebellion in Africa, where Lucius Piso was supposed to be plotting a revolution.
Piso, who was governor of the province, was far from being a firebrand. But the severity of the winter delayed the corn-s.h.i.+ps, and the common people, accustomed to buy their bread day by day, whose interest in politics was confined to the corn-supply, soon began to believe their fears that the coast of Africa was being blockaded and supplies withheld. The Vitellians, who were still under the sway of party spirit, fostered this rumour, and even the victorious party were not entirely displeased at it, for none of their victories in the civil war had satisfied their greed, and even foreign wars fell far short of their ambition.
On the first of January the senate was convened by the Urban 39 Praetor,[332] Julius Frontinus, and pa.s.sed votes of thanks and congratulation to the generals, armies, and foreign princes.[333]
Tettius Julia.n.u.s,[334] who had left his legion when it went over to Vespasian, was deprived of his praetors.h.i.+p, which was conferred upon Plotius Grypus.[335] Hormus[336] was raised to equestrian rank.
Frontinus then resigned his praetors.h.i.+p and Caesar Domitian succeeded him. His name now stood at the head of all dispatches and edicts, but the real authority lay with Mucia.n.u.s, although Domitian, following the promptings of his friends and of his own desires, frequently a.s.serted his independence. But Mucia.n.u.s' chief cause of anxiety lay in Antonius Primus and Arrius Varus. The fame of their exploits was still fresh; the soldiers wors.h.i.+pped them; and they were popular in Rome, because they had used no violence off the field of battle. It was even hinted that Antonius had urged Cra.s.sus Scribonia.n.u.s[337] to seize the throne. He was a man who owed his distinction to famous ancestors and to his brother's memory, and Antonius could promise him adequate support for a conspiracy. However, Scribonia.n.u.s refused. He had a terror of all risks, and would hardly have been seduced even by the certainty of success. Being unable to crush Antonius openly, Mucia.n.u.s showered compliments on him in the senate and embarra.s.sed him with promises, hinting at the governors.h.i.+p of Nearer Spain, which the departure of Cluvius Rufus[338] had left vacant. Meanwhile he lavished military commands on Antonius' friends. Then, having filled his empty head with ambitious hopes, he destroyed his influence at one stroke by moving the Seventh legion,[339] which was pa.s.sionately attached to Antonius, into winter-quarters. The Third, who were similarly devoted to Arrius Varus, were sent back to Syria,[340] and part of the army was taken out to the war in Germany. Thus, on the removal of the disturbing factors, the city could resume its normal life under the old regime of law and civil government.
On the day of his first appearance in the senate Domitian spoke a 40 few moderate sentences regretting the absence of his father and brother. His behaviour was most proper, and, as his character was still an unknown quant.i.ty, his blushes were taken for signs of modesty.[341] He moved from the chair that all Galba's honours should be restored, to which Curtius Monta.n.u.s proposed an amendment that some respect should also be paid to the memory of Piso. The senate approved both proposals, though nothing was done about Piso. Next, various commissions were appointed by lot to restore the spoils of war to the owners; to examine and affix the bronze tablets of laws, which in course of time had dropped off the walls; to revise the list of public holidays, which in these days of flattery had been disgracefully tampered with; and to introduce some economy into public expenditure.
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