Otho had held a purification of the city185 and meditated
his plans for the war. Recognizing that the Pennine and Cottian Alps
and all the other passes into Gaul were held by Vitellius, he
decided to invade Narbonese Gaul by sea. His fleet was now a strong
and reliable arm, devoted to his cause. For he had formed the full
strength of a legion out of the survivors of the Mulvian Bridge
massacre,186 whom Galba's cruelty had kept in prison, and to all
the marines he had held out hopes of honourable service.187 To the
fleet he attached the cohorts of the City Garrison and a large force
of Guards. These were the flower of the army and its chief strength,
well able to advise their own generals and to take good care of
them. The command of the expedition was entrusted to Antonius
Novellus and Suedius Clemens, both senior centurions,188 and to
Aemilius Pacensis, to whom Otho had restored his commission,189 of
which Galba had deprived him. In charge of the fleet he still
retained the freedman Moschus190 to keep an eye on his betters. In
command of the cavalry and infantry he placed Suetonius Paulinus,
Marius Celsus, and Annius Gallus, but the man in whom he put most
faith was the Prefect of the Guards, Licinius Proculus. This officer
had shown himself efficient in garrison service, but was without any
experience of warfare. He maligned the characteristic virtues of his
colleagues, Paulinus' power of influence, Celsus' energy, Gallus'
ripe judgement, and being a knave and no fool, he easily got the
better of men who were both honest and loyal.
It was about this time that Cornelius Dolabella191 was
banished to the colony of Aquinum,192 though not kept in close or
dishonourable confinement. There was no charge against him: the
stigma upon him was his ancient name and kinship193 to Galba. Otho
issued orders that several of the magistrates and a large number of
ex-consuls were to join the expedition, not to take part in the
campaign or to assist in any way, but simply as a friendly escort.
Among these was Lucius Vitellius, whom he treated neither as an
emperor's brother nor as the brother of an enemy, but just like
anybody else. Much anxiety was aroused for the safety of the city,
where all classes feared danger. The leading members of the senate
were old and infirm, and enervated by a long period of peace: the
aristocracy were inefficient and had forgotten how to fight: the
knights knew nothing of military service. The more they all tried to
conceal their alarm, the more obvious it became. Some of them, on
the other hand, went in for senseless display, and purchased
beautiful armour and fine horses: others procured as provisions of
war elaborate dinner-services or some other contrivance to stimulate
a jaded taste. Prudent men were concerned for the country's peace:
the frivolous, without a thought for the future, were inflated by
empty hopes: a good many, whose loss of credit made peace unwelcome,
were delighted at the general unrest, feeling safer among
uncertainties. Though the cares of state were too vast to
arouse any interest in the masses, yet as the price of food rose,
and the whole revenue was devoted to military purposes, the common
people gradually began to realize the evils of war. During the
revolt of Vindex they had not suffered so much. Being carried on in
the provinces between the legionaries and the natives of Gaul it was
to all intents a foreign war, and the city had not been affected.
For from the time when the sainted Augustus organized the rule of
the Caesars the wars of the Roman people had been fought in distant
countries: all the anxiety and all the glory fell to the emperor
alone. Under Tiberius and Caligula the country only suffered from
the evils of peace.194 Scribonianus' rising against Claudius was
no sooner heard of than crushed.195 Nero had been dethroned more
by rumours and dispatches than by force of arms. But now not only
the legions and the fleet, but, as had seldom happened before, the
Guards and the City Garrison were called out for the campaign.
Behind them were the East and the West and all the forces of the
empire, material for a long war under any other generals. An attempt
was made to delay Otho's departure by pointing out the impiety of
his not having replaced the sacred shields in the temple of
Mars.196 But delay had ruined Nero: Otho would have none of it.
And the knowledge that Caecina had already crossed the Alps197
acted as a further stimulus.
Accordingly, on the fourteenth of March he commended the
government of the country to the senate, and granted to the restored
exiles all the rest of the property confiscated by Nero which had
not yet been sold for the imperial treasury.198 The gift was a
just one, and made a very good impression, but as a matter of fact
it was nullified by the haste with which the work of collecting the
money had been conducted.199 He then summoned a public meeting,
and, after extolling the majesty of Rome and praising the
wholehearted adherence of the senate and people to his cause, he
used very moderate language against the Vitellian party, criticizing
the legions more for folly than treason, and making no mention of
Vitellius himself. This may have been due to his own moderation, or
it may be that the writer of the speech felt some qualms for his own
safety, and therefore refrained from insulting Vitellius. For it was
generally believed that as in strategy he took the advice of
Suetonius Paulinus and Marius Celsus, so too in political matters he
employed the talents of Galerius Trachalus.200 Some people even
thought they could recognize Trachalus' style of oratory, fluent and
sonorous, well adapted to tickle the ears of the crowd: and as he
was a popular pleader his style was well known. The crowd's loud
shouts of applause were in the best style of flattery, excessive and
insincere. Men vied with each other in their enthusiasm and prayers
for his success, much as though they were sending off the dictator
Caesar or the emperor Augustus. Their motive was neither fear nor
affection, but a sheer passion for servility. One can see the same
in households of slaves, where each obeys his own interest and the
common welfare counts for nothing. On his departure Otho entrusted
the peace of the city and the interests of the empire to his brother
Salvius Titianus.
Footnotes
185. He would lead the victim, before sacrificing it,
round the ancient boundary of the city, and thus avert the disasters
threatened by the alarming omens detailed in the last chapter.
186. Cp. chaps. 6 and 37.
187. i.e. of becoming eventually a legion or praetorian
cohort.
188. Cp. note 57.
189. The command of a cohort in the City Garrison.
190. He had held this post under Nero and Galba. His
functions were those of steward and spy combined.
191. He had been a rival candidate for adoption by Galba.
Vitellius had him killed (ii. 63).
192. Aquino.
193. It is not known what this was.
194. Mainly connected with the elaborate system of
espionage.
195. Furius Camillus Scribonianus, governor of Dalmatia,
rebelled against Claudius, A.D. 42, and was crushed within
five days.
196. They would be taken out on the 1st of March to be
used in the sacred dances of the Salii (the 'Dancing Priests').
Their festival lasted the whole month, and Otho started on the
14th.
197. See chap. 70.
198. Cp. chap. 20.
199. Nero had put the confiscated property of political
exiles up to auction. His treasury officials had been so prompt in
selling it all off and getting the money in, that there was very
little left for Otho to restore, since he could only give back those
lots which had not been paid for.
200. Cp. ii. 60. Quintilian alludes several times to the
extreme beauty of his voice and his commanding delivery—better, he
thinks, than that of any tragedian he had ever seen. To read, his
speeches were less effective.
