The History of Rome: Rise and Fall of the Empire. John Bagnell Bury
for the new Imperator. Vitellius himself was perhaps the least enthusiastic of all. He took little active part in the preparations for overthrowing Galba, and entrusted the conduct of his cause to his officers, especially to Aulus Caecina Alienus in the Upper province and C. Fabius Valens in the Lower. Caecina was a young, strong, able, ambitious and popular legatus.
It was decided to advance upon Italy and Rome, and the armament was divided into three parts. Caecina, at the head of 36,000 men, was to cross the Pennine Alps; Valens, with 40,000, was to march through Gaul, and penetrate by the Cottian pass; and both were to join their forces at Cremona. Vitellius, with the main body of the army, was to come slowly after. His presence was not required, for the troops were so excited that they needed no stimulus. The cause of Vitellius found great sympathy in those parts of Gaul which had declared against Vindex, and had been punished by Galba. The progress of Valens was marked by rapacity and military license. All the cities through which he passed were required to furnish a contribution to the expedition, and special severity was shown to places like Augustodunum and Vienna, which had found favor with Galba. Caecina’s march lay through the highlands of the Helvetii, who resented the license of the soldiers. The natives were fierce, and the course of the army was marked by slaughter. The Helvetii were at length driven into their town Aventicum (Avenches), and yielded only to the menace of a siege.
But before the army of Vitellius readied Italy, the murder of Galba and accession of Otho had altered the position of affairs. Otho prepared to meet the armies of his rival, but he first made overtures to Vitellius, offering him a quiet and luxurious retreat, if he retired from the field. If the decision had lain with Vitellius himself, this offer would probably have been accepted, but it really lay with the army, and the army had no intention of retreating. The question could only be decided by arms. Most of the western provinces declared for Vitellius: the three Gauls, Narbonensis, Raetia, and Britain. Otho was recognized in Spain and Illyricum; but Spain soon deserted him, and then the west was entirely on the side of his rival. Thus Otho had the praetorians and the four legions of Pannonia, Dalmatia, and Moesia to oppose to the forces of Vitellius. Besides this, he obtained the recognition of the eastern provinces, of Egypt and Africa, though he could look for no active support from those quarters. It is highly probable that he would have come off victorious in the conflict which followed if he had acted with promptitude, and entrusted the supreme military command to one competent general. He was no soldier himself, but he had at his disposal several able officers, such as Suetonius Paulinus, Marius Celsus, Vestricius Spurinna. Instead of trusting them, he listened to the counsels of Licinius Proculus, the praetorian prefect, who was inexperienced in warfare. And instead of hastening to occupy the passes of the Alps before the enemy reached the frontiers of Italy, he delayed in Rome.
The position of Otho was a difficult one for a man, who, like him, had little talent for ruling men. He was embarrassed by the veiled hostility of the senators, who regretted Galba, a man after their own heart, and, while they were obliged to accept Otho, would have been pleased at his fall. Otho endeavored to conciliate them, and strictly observed their privileges, but in vain. And the difficulty was aggravated by the hostility of the praetorians to the senators. On one occasion a party of nobles, whom Otho was entertaining, were almost murdered by the soldiers, who suspected them of a conspiracy against the Emperor. The remarkable circumstance that no copper coinage was issued by the senate under Otho may be partly explained by the fact that he was not made Pontifex Maximus until March 9. The senate may have delayed until he received the full number of the imperial titles. The enthusiasm of the populace, who greeted Otho as Nero and looked for a revival of Nero’s liberal policy, did not tend to conciliate the senators. Otho even adopted the name Nero officially, but gave it up again in deference to the feelings of the senate. He sacrificed Tigellinus, whom Galba had spared, to the public hatred. The praetorian soldiers were also a difficulty. They were conscious that Otho owed his position to them, and depended on their support, as his best arm in the coming struggle. It was therefore impossible to oppose them or maintain strict discipline. He had placed himself in a false position at the beginning by allowing them to choose their own prefects.
In the two months which elapsed between the accession of Otho and his departure from the city, there are few acts of general policy to record. Occupied with preparations for the war, he had little time for government. In Spain the colonies of Hispalis and Emerita were strengthened. The province of Baetica was increased in extent by the addition of some districts in the land beyond the strait. Africa and Cappadocia received various privileges. An invasion of Moesia by the Roxolani, a Sarmatian tribe, was repelled, and the victorious officers were rewarded by Otho with high distinctions. In these measures, we can see the aim of Otho to strengthen his political position.
The civil war began in March. The republic had not been rent by domestic struggles, Italy had not been exposed to the disasters of warfare since the terrible years which followed the great Caesar’s death. Men remembered Philippi, Mutina, and Perusia, and looked with horror to a repetition of such scenes. And the prospect was all the worse, as neither of the chiefs, for whom so much blood was to be shed, was worth fighting for. As candidates for the government of the republic, both the dissolute Otho and the gluttonous Vitellius were contemptible. They were instruments, it seemed, “chosen by fate for the ruin of the state”. But while Vitellius was torpid, Otho at least was active. When the time for action came, he threw off luxury, marched on foot, rough and unkempt, at the head of his troops, “quite unlike himself”. He set out from the city on the 14th of March, leaving his brother Titianus in charge at Rome, and forcing a number of senators, whom he feared to leave behind, to accompany him.
The object of the Vitellians was to gain possession of Rome. Until their chief was recognized there, by the people and the senate, it was felt that he was only a pretender. The object of Otho was to prevent his enemy from crossing the Padus, the second defence of Italy; for the Alps, its first defence, had already been passed by Caecina. For this purpose Annius Gallus and Vestricius Spurinna had been sent on in advance, with a force consisting of five praetorian cohorts, and the remainder of the legio classica (numbered I.) which had escaped the sword of Galba, besides a corps of 2000 gladiators. They expected to be reinforced by 8000 men, sent forward from the four legions of Pannonia and Dalmatia, which were themselves following at leisure. Otho followed with the rest of the praetorians and a large number of marines. By his fleet he commanded the west coast of Italy, and was assured of the adhesio of Corsica and Sardinia. A division of troops was sent to seize the district of the Maritime Alps and attack the province of Narbonensis. The procurator of the Maritime district attempted resistance; and the irritated soldiers vented their wrath on the town of Albintimilium, (Ventimiglia). The cities of Narbonensis, especially Forumjulii, sent for aid to Valens, who was advancing to join Caecina. In the battles which ensued, the Vitellian party was worsted, but the Othonians retreated to Albingaunum (Albenga), an inland city of Liguria. The beginnings of the war in this quarter were prosperous for Otho.
When Caecina entered Cisalpine Gaul, he had won the adhesion of a squadron of cavalry which was stationed in that region and known as the ala Siliana. Along with it the municipal towns of Mediolanum, Eporedia, Novaria, and Vercellae, embraced the cause of Vitellius, and the invaders held most of the land between the Padus and the Alps. The communication between Rome and Illyricum, however, was uninterrupted. One of those cohorts of the Pannonian army which had been sent on in advance was captured by the Vitellians at Cremona, and some other divisions of the Othonians were discomfited near Ticinum; but the first serious engagement took place at Placentia, which was defended by Vestricius Spurinna. Caecina himself had crossed the river to capture it, but the assault—in the course of which a large amphitheatre outside the town was consumed by fire—was unsuccessful. Caecina was forced to retire to his camp near Cremona. Meanwhile, Annius Gallus was hastening to relieve Placentia, but on hearing that the enemy bad been repelled, he took up a position at Betriacum, a place lying between Cremona and Mantua, and distant about two days’ march from Verona. About the same time the Othonian corps of gladiators under Marcius Macer crossed over to the north bank of the Padus, near Cremona, and defeated a body of Vitellian auxiliaries. It was thought that this success should have been followed up; the commanders, Gallus, Suetonius and Celsus, were severely criticized by their own party, and their fidelity to Otho was questioned. In consequence of these suspicions the Emperor was led to summon his brother Titianus from Rome, and make him commander-in-chief.
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