Tacitus: The Histories Part 12

It happened that two legions met in the open fields between the 43 high road and the Po. These were: for Vitellius the Twenty-first, commonly called Rapax,[303] a regiment of old renown; and for Otho the First Adiutrix,[304] which had never been in battle before, but was full of spirit and eager to win its first laurels. Their charge overthrew the front ranks of the Twenty-first, and they carried off its eagle. Fired with indignation, the Twenty-first rallied and charged the front of the enemy, killing the commanding officer, Orfidius Benignus, and capturing many of their colours.

On the other flank the Fifth[305] drove the Thirteenth[306] off the field. The Fourteenth[307] were surrounded by the numbers that attacked them. Otho's generals had long ago fled. Caecina and Valens began to bring up the reserves to the support of their men, and, as a fresh reinforcement, there arrived Varus Alfenus[308] with his Batavians. They had routed the gladiators[309] by confronting them and cutting them to pieces in the river before their transports could land, and flushed by their victory came charging in upon the flank of the enemy.

Their centre broken, the Othonians fled in disorder, making for 44 Bedriac.u.m. The distance was immense;[310] the road enc.u.mbered with heaps of dead. This made the slaughter all the greater, for in civil war captives cannot be turned to profit.[311] Suetonius Paulinus and Licinius Proculus avoided the camp at Bedriac.u.m by diverse routes.

Vedius Aquila, who commanded the Thirteenth legion, was so paralysed by fear that he allowed himself to fall into the hands of the indignant troops. It was still broad daylight when he entered the camp. Immediately a crowd of mutinous fugitives came clamouring round him. They spared neither abuse nor violence, a.s.sailing him as a deserter and a traitor. They could bring no special charge against him, but the mob always lay their own disgrace on some one else. Night came to the aid of t.i.tia.n.u.s and Celsus, for Annius Gallus[312] had already placed sentinels on guard and got the men under control. Using remonstrances, prayers, and commands, he had induced them not to add to the disaster of their defeat by murdering their own friends.

Whether the war was over, or whether they wanted to fight again, in defeat, he told them, union was the one thing that could help them.

All the other troops[313] were crushed by the blow. The Guards complained that they had been beaten, not by the enemy's valour, but by sheer treachery. 'Why,' they said, 'even the Vitellians have won no bloodless victory. We beat their cavalry and captured a standard from one of their legions. We still have Otho left and all the troops with him on the other side of the Po. The Moesian legions[314] are on their way. There is a large force left at Bedriac.u.m. These, at any rate, have not been defeated yet. Better fall, if need be, on the field.'

Now exasperated, now depressed by these reflections, they were in a state of blank despair, which more often aroused their anger than their fear.

The Vitellian army halted at the fifth mile-stone on the road from 45 Bedriac.u.m. Their generals would not venture to storm the camp that same day, and hoped the enemy would consent to surrender. However, although they were in fighting trim, and had no implements for digging trenches, they felt safe with their arms and the pride of victory. On the next day there was no doubt about the wishes of the Othonians.

Even those who showed most spirit had now changed their minds. So they sent a deputation. The Vitellian generals had no hesitation in granting terms. However, they detained the deputation for a short time, which caused some qualms to those who did not know whether it had been successful. At length the envoys returned, and the gates of the camp were opened. Then both victors and vanquished burst into tears, and with a sort of sorrowful satisfaction cursed their fate of civil war. There in one tent were men of both armies, nursing a wounded brother or some other relative. Their hopes of recompense were doubtful: all that was certain was bereavement and grief, for no one was so fortunate as to mourn no loss. They searched for the body of the fallen officer, Orfidius, and burnt it with due solemnity. Of the other dead, some were buried by their relatives, the rest were left lying on the ground.

Otho[315] was awaiting news of the battle with perfect confidence 46 and firm resolve. First came a disquieting rumour. Soon fugitives from the field revealed the ruin of his cause. But the soldiers in their zeal did not wait to hear their emperor speak. 'Keep a good heart,'

they said, 'you still have fresh forces left, and, as for us, we are ready to risk everything and suffer everything.' Nor was this flattery. In a wild pa.s.sion of enthusiasm they urged him to march to the field and restore the fortunes of his party. Those who were near him clasped his knees, while those who stood further off stretched out their arms to him.[316] The most eager of all was Plotius Firmus, the Prefect of the Guard, who besought Otho again and again not to desert a supremely faithful army, men who had done him such great service. He told him that it showed more courage to bear misfortune than to give in: that men of vigour and courage cling to their hopes even in the face of disaster: it is only cowards who let their terror hurry them into despair. Amid all these appeals the soldiers now cheered, now groaned, according as Otho's expression showed signs of yielding or seemed to harden. Nor were these feelings confined to Otho's own Guards. The first arrivals from Moesia a.s.sured him that the spirit of the advancing force was just as firm, and that they had already entered Aquileia.[317] There is no room for doubt that it was still possible to revive this cruel and pitiable war, so full of uncertainty to both parties.[318]

Otho himself disliked the policy of fighting. 'Am I,' he said, 'to 47 expose all your splendid courage and devotion to further risks? That would be too great a price to pay for my life. Your high hopes of succeeding, if I were minded to live, will only swell the glory of my death. We have learnt to know each other, Fortune and I. Do not reckon the length of my reign. Self-control is all the harder when a man knows that his fortune cannot last. It was Vitellius who began the civil war. He originated the policy of fighting for the throne. But one battle is enough. This is the precedent that I will set. Let posterity judge me by it. I do not grudge Vitellius his brother, or wife, or children. I want neither revenge nor consolation. Others may have held the sceptre longer, but no one can ever have laid it down so bravely. Am I the man to allow the flower of Rome in all these famous armies to be mown down once again and lost to the country? Let me take with me the consciousness that you would have died for me. But you must stay and live. No more delay. I must no longer interfere with your chance of pardon, nor you with my resolve. It is a sort of cowardice to go on talking about the end. Here is your best proof of my determination: I complain of no one. To blame G.o.ds or men is his alone who fain would keep his life.'

After some such speech as this he urged them courteously to hurry 48 away and not to exasperate the victor by their hesitation. To each man's age and position he paid due regard, using his authority with the young and persuasion with his elders, while his quiet looks and firm speech helped to control their ill-timed tears. He gave orders for boats and carriages to be provided for their departure. All pet.i.tions and letters containing any compliments to himself, or marked insults to Vitellius, he destroyed, and distributed his money carefully, not like a man at the point of death. He then actually tried to comfort the sorrowful fears of his nephew, Salvius Cocceia.n.u.s,[319] by praising his attachment and chiding his alarm. 'Do you imagine,' he said, 'that Vitellius will be so hard-hearted as not to show me some grat.i.tude for saving his whole household? By promptly putting an end to myself, I deserve to earn some mercy for my family.

For it is not in blank despair, but with my army clamouring for battle, that I determine to save my country from the last calamities.

I have won enough fame for myself and enn.o.blement for my posterity; for, after the line of the Julians, Claudians, Servians,[320] I have been the first to bring the princ.i.p.ate into a new family. So rouse yourself and go on with your life. Never forget that Otho was your uncle, yet keep your remembrance within bounds.'

After this he made them all retire and rested for a while. But his 49 last reflections were interrupted by a sudden disturbance and the news of a mutinous outbreak among the troops. They were threatening to kill all those who were leaving, and turned with especial violence against Verginius,[321] whose house was in a state of siege. Otho rebuked the ringleaders and returned, consenting to receive the adieux of those who were going, until it was time for them to depart in safety. As the day deepened into evening he quenched his thirst with a drink of iced water. Two daggers were brought to him and, after trying them both, he put one under his pillow. Being a.s.sured on inquiry that his friends had started, he spent a peaceful night, not, it is said, without sleep. At break of day[322] he fell upon his dagger. Hearing his dying groan, his slaves and freedmen entered with Plotius Firmus, the Prefect of the Guards, and found a single wound in his breast. The funeral was hurried forward out of respect for his own earnest entreaties, for he had been afraid his head might be cut off and subjected to outrage. The Guard carried the body, sounding his praises with tears in their eyes, and covering his hands and wounded breast with kisses. Some of the soldiers killed themselves beside the pyre, not because they had harmed Vitellius or feared reprisals, but from love of their emperor, and to follow his n.o.ble example. Similar suicides became common afterwards at Bedriac.u.m and Placentia, and in other encampments.[323] An inconspicuous tomb was built for Otho, as being less likely to be disturbed: and thus he ended his life in his thirty-seventh year.

Otho came originally from the borough of Ferentium.[324] His 50 father had been consul and his grandfather praetor. His mother's family was inferior, but not without distinction.[325] His boyhood and youth were such as we have seen. By his two great acts,[326] one most criminal and the other heroic, he earned in equal measure the praise and the reprobation of posterity. It would certainly be beneath the dignity of my task to collect fabulous rumours for the amus.e.m.e.nt of my readers, but there are certain popular traditions which I cannot venture to contradict. On the day of the battle of Bedriac.u.m, according to the account of the local peasants, a strange bird appeared in a much-frequented grove near Regium Lepidum.[327] There it sat, unterrified and unmoved, either by the crowds of people or by the birds which fluttered round it, until the moment at which Otho killed himself. Then it vanished. A calculation of the time showed that the prodigy's appearance and disappearance coincided with the beginning of the battle[328] and Otho's death.

At his funeral the rage and grief of the soldiers broke out into 51 another mutiny. This time there was no one to control them. They turned to Verginius and begged him with threats now to accept the princ.i.p.ate, now to head a deputation to Caecina and Valens. However, Verginius escaped them, slipping out by the back door of his house just as they broke in at the front. Rubrius Gallus carried a pet.i.tion from the Guards at Brixellum, and obtained immediate pardon.

Simultaneously Flavius Sabinus surrendered to the victor the troops under his command.[329]

FOOTNOTES:

[273] Pavia.

[274] i. 66.

[275] i. 59 and 64.

[276] See chap. 14.

[277] It is Tacitus who has mixed the metaphors.

[278] See i. 66.

[279] i.e. he pretended that not all but only a few were to blame (cp. i. 84).

[280] Valens had by now Legion V, I Italica, detachments from I, XV, XVI, and Taurus' Horse: Caecina had Legion XXI and detachments from IV and VII.

[281] Cp. i. 53.

[282] Cp. i. 66.

[283] He had made his name in a Moorish war (A.D. 42), when he had penetrated as far as Mount Atlas, and increased his reputation by suppressing the rebellion of Boadicea when he was governor of Britain (A.D. 59).

[284] Otho held the fleets.

[285] He means that they would be, if they took his advice and retired across the Po to the south bank.

[286] According to the rumours quoted in chap. 46 they were already at Aquileia, near Venice, but Suetonius, whose father was at this time a tribune in the Thirteenth, says that they heard of Otho's death before arriving at Aquileia.

[287] Brescello.

[288] No one knew for certain who was in command. We are told in chap. 39 that he left t.i.tia.n.u.s in nominal command, though the real authority lay with Proculus.

[289] Macer's, see chap. 23.

[290] See note 247.

[291] i.e. of Macer's gladiators on one bank and the detachment employed by Caecina for bridge-building, &c., on the other. The main armies were Otho's at Bedriac.u.m and Vitellius' at Cremona.

[292] i.e. from the Germans who were trying to board or sink them.

[293] See i. 77.

[294] Plutarch, in his Life of Otho, after quoting the view of the emperor's secretary, Secundus, that Otho was over-strained and desperate, goes on to give the explanation of 'others'.

This agrees exactly with the story given here. Plutarch and Tacitus are apparently quoting from the same authority, unknown to us, perhaps Cluvius Rufus.

[295] e.g. the brothers Gracchus, Saturninus, and Drusus.

[296] e.g. Appius Claudius and L. Opimius, of whom Plutarch says that in suppressing C. Gracchus he used his consular authority like that of a dictator.

[297] At Brixellum.

[298] About seven miles below Cremona. The Medicean MS. has Adua, but as the mouth of the Adua is seven miles west of Cremona and Bedriac.u.m twenty-two miles east of Cremona, the figures given do not suit. For Tacitus says that they marched first four miles and then sixteen. Mr. Henderson proposes to solve the difficulty by reading _quartum decimum_ for _quartum_ in chap. 39. But his reasons are purely _a priori_.

If the confluence was that of the _Arda_ with the Po, Tacitus'

_quartum_ is still unsatisfactory, but the distances given in Plutarch's Life of Otho would suit the facts. He makes the first march a little over six miles. From the camp then pitched to the mouth of the Arda would be by road about sixteen miles. Thus Tacitus' first figure may be a slight underestimate and his second figure correct. The second day's march, according to Plutarch, was rather more than twelve miles, so we may suppose that the armies met about four miles short of the confluence, which was the Othonians' objective.

This suits Paulinus' suggestion a few lines lower that the Vitellians need only march four miles to catch them in marching column. The whole question is fully discussed by Mr.

Henderson (op. cit.) and by Mr. E.G. Hardy in the _Journal of Philology_, vol. x.x.xi, no. 61.

[299] See 34 and 35.

[300] Via Postumia.

[301] The word here used, _cuneus_ (a wedge), should mean strictly a V-shaped formation, which the troops also called 'pig's-head'. But it is also used more generally of any attacking column advancing to pierce the enemy's line, or indeed of any body of men in close order.

[302] Because they were on the raised Postumian road.

[303] i.e. The Irresistibles.