Galba entered Rome. Had he shown himself open-handed, he might easily
have won men’s hearts; but he gave offence on every side. He partly
protected Nero’s companions from public animadversion, and partly
punished them. Then he behaved like a miser. Economy was certainly
necessary; but he overdid it, as he gave no donation whatever to the
prætorians, and a very niggardly one to the troops which he had brought
with him. He moreover displayed hatred and mistrust towards the
prætorians, although he had dismissed his own soldiers, except a few
whom he billeted in the city. The prætorians, being ten thousand strong,
were masters of his life; so that he ought to have driven them out, and
decimated them as accomplices in the cruelties of Nero. The most
powerful person in the city, to the disgrace of the age, was M. Salvius
Otho; a man without any illustrious ancestry, whose station was entirely
owing to Nero’s favour; a coxcomb of the then world in the most
disgusting sense, and this implied much more depravity in ancient times
than in our days; the associate of many of the profligacies of
Nero:—cruelty, however, cannot be laid to his charge with certainty. He
was rich, pleasing, what is called amiable; and he had that affable
manner, which could not but have the greatest influence upon the minds
of the prætorians. These therefore saw in him the man who could make up
to them for Nero, whom they began to miss more and more. Galba, who
already knew that the German troops on the Upper Rhine under Cæcina and
Fabius Valens had become mutinous, and would not acknowledge him, tried
to strengthen himself by adopting Calpurnius Piso, a distinguished young
Roman. But that choice was an unfortunate one, as Piso had nothing to
recommend him, but his high descent and his spotless character. Had not
Galba been weakened by old age, his government might have become quite
praiseworthy; but he lost the affection of all good men, not only by his
avarice, but also because justice was shamefully abused and sold under
his name by his favourites Vinius, Laco, and Icelus. Otho had reckoned
on being himself adopted; whatever choice therefore Galba might have
made, it would have been his ruin, if it were not Otho: yet the old
soldier had after all too much love for his country to choose him. By
dint of deep dissimulation, Otho got the prætorians to declare
themselves at the moment when he wanted to call upon them. This was
done. The city being at that time quite open, the prætorians marched in,
and went straight to the forum. Galba, who had appeared in person with
Piso to restore tranquillity, was stabbed before the German troops could
have been moved into the town; and Otho was proclaimed emperor.
The senate was still respectable enough to abhor this election; but yet
nothing better was to be looked for from Vitellius, whom the troops on
the German frontier had proclaimed: he was by far the more vulgar and
worthless of the two. His beastly gluttony alone distinguished him; and
it is quite inconceivable, how Galba could have given him the chief
command of the troops in Germany. He had a sort of popularity from his
father, who had been thrice consul and likewise censor: the latter must
have been a goodnatured man; for though he disgraced himself by the most
abject flattery to Claudius, he was an enemy to no one, and therefore
enjoyed the favour of the people. This favour passed on to the son, who,
however, spent the whole of his life in brutal sensuality and vulgarity.
He was at that time already fifty-seven years old, nor could he be said
to have made a better use of his youth: it is very likely that Cæcina
and Valens merely wished to put him forward for the moment, as, they
might afterwards get him out of the way, and decide which of them should
succeed to the throne. Vitellius was profusely liberal to the soldiers:
he flattered them by granting them everything, while old Galba wanted to
allow them nothing but what was absolutely necessary. He marched forth
against Italy; the quickness with which he approached shows the
readiness with which the Roman soldiers could move, and also the
excellence of the high roads. Otho raised an army; Vitellius met with
resistance on the frontiers from the legions in Mœsia and Pannonia, who
thought it presumptuous in the German troops to try and force an emperor
upon them. On these therefore Otho could rely, and likewise on the
armies in the East, where at that time there had been as yet no rising.
Italy was then the most defenceless part of the whole empire, there
being hardly any troops there but the prætorians: with these Otho took
the field. Cæcina and Valens had already passed the Alps, before Otho
with his hastily collected force had reached the Po. The first battle
was in favour of his cause. Otho ought now to have protracted the war,
as he had much greater resources and far more money, and he could also
reckon on getting reinforcements; but to his misfortune, he resolved
upon giving battle near Bedriacum, in the neighbourhood of Cremona, and
there he was worsted. All was not, however, lost; yet Otho made up his
mind to put an end to his life, telling those who survived him, to make
their peace with the conqueror as they best could. People generally look
upon this as the act of a noble-minded man, who does not wish blood to
be shed for his honour; which is the view which Tacitus also seems to
take: I cannot see anything in it but the act of a most effeminate soul,
for which the effort of a long struggle, the suspense between fear and
hope, is the hardest lot to bear. Such characters are not unseldom met
with: as, for instance, persons who are very fond of money, will often
rather forego a great deal, than bring upon themselves the worry of a
troublesome lawsuit. Juvenal looks upon Otho’s deed with just as little
respect. Nor has Tacitus in his heart thought higher of Otho than he
really deserves; for we must indeed consider that when a great writer
describes a truly tragical act, it may easily happen that he does it
with an emotion which is widely different from his moral judgment. Otho
died in his thirty-seventh year, on the ninety-fifth day after his
proclamation. Galba had reigned seven or eight months.
Vitellius took possession of Rome, and of the palace of the Cæsars; and
giving himself the appearance of an avenger of Galba, although he had
himself rebelled against him, he caused upwards of a hundred prætorians
to be put to death. Yet, leaving aside his contemptible character,
things did not at first go on as badly as had been expected. Soon,
however, (A. D. 70.) his tranquillity was disturbed by the news of the
rising of the Mœsian legions: these were to have come to the aid of
Otho, and had wished to do so; and they were now commanded by a most
ambitious tribune, Antonius Primus. At the same time, he was informed
that the Syrian and the Parthian legions, the former under T. Flavius
Vespasianus, the latter under Licinius Mucianus, refused to acknowledge
him. Yet both of these last-named insurrections were far off; both
armies also had enough to do, the one with the Parthians, the other with
the Jews, and they could not leave the country where they were without
leaving the frontiers open to the inroads of the enemy. It is also quite
inconceivable to me, how the legions could have been withdrawn from the
Rhine to Italy, without the barbarians attacking the frontiers. There
are some traces of treaties having been concluded; but that treaties
should have been made at all, is the very thing which we cannot
understand: it would seem that since the times of Caligula a peaceful
intercourse had sprung up, and that the Germans had lost every longing
for an offensive war. The tract of country between the Upper Rhine and
the Upper Danube, may even then have been Roman, although the ditch with
the rampart and palisades (_limes_) was not dug till a later period.
T. Flavius Vespasianus, who, with all his faults must be looked upon as
the _instaurator rei publicæ_, was at that time engaged in the Jewish
war. There is a dark stain upon him, which cannot be washed away; but
otherwise his faults are very pardonable. The rebellion of the Jews had,
even as early as the reign of Claudius, been stirred up by ill usage and
usurpation. There are few struggles which so deserve the attention of
posterity as this: I should like, on account of its awful greatness, to
tell it at full length; but time forbids, and also what is most
momentous in it belongs rather to Jewish than to Roman history. I refer
you to Josephus, whose book, in spite of its many defects of language,
is one of the most interesting historical works that have been left to
us of antiquity. I also class it with Cæsar’s Commentaries among the
most instructive, owing to the light which it throws on the tactics of
the Romans, and their method of besieging places. Josephus was a
Pharisee, and this he cannot throw off;—not such a bad one indeed as
those of the gospel; but still the leaven of the Pharisees is in
him;—besides which, he has an unbearable national vanity, to gratify
which he distorts many a fact in the earlier history; this we can
scarcely term anything else than falsifying. His numbers bespeak eastern
magniloquence; they are evidently impossible. Everywhere he shows
himself an Asiatic, notwithstanding all his Greek learning: for with the
exception of some ever recurring mistakes, he writes very good Greek. He
is generally spoken of as Flavius Josephus; and no doubt he was called
Titus Flavius Josephus after the emperor who gave him his liberty and
the Roman citizenship.
Vespasian was then with a strong army in Judæa, where the Jews were
making a desperate and heroic resistance. He was of low origin: his
grandfather was the first of his race who had somewhat risen from
obscurity, and not being vain, he had no illustrious pedigree forged for
him. He himself, being then in his sixtieth year, had passed through the
evil times of Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, during which he had to put
up with many a hardship: he had shared in the slavery of the world, and
occasionally had to play the part of an involuntary slave. As a
distinguished officer, he had risen step by step without a stain of
cruelty or injustice upon him; which is so much the more to his honour,
as he was so very fond of money. The cradle of his race was Nursia in
the high Sabine mountains, whence also Sertorius came; there the old
Italian stock had been preserved purest: to both of these applies
Fronto’s expression _Nursina durities_. In the Roman army, he was
generally known and respected.
Mucianus in Syria belonged to one of the highest Roman families, the
Licinii, and he was also descended from the Mucii: yet he knew that high
birth had lost its influence; besides which, he was effeminate, and had
tact enough to feel that he was inferior to Vespasian: they were very
different men. After having formerly been on bad terms, Mucianus now
held out his hand to the stern, harsh Vespasian. Mucianus, without being
bad, had caught the vices of his set; he had little ambition, and deemed
it wiser to be under an emperor of his own choice. Vespasian, on the
other hand, was free from the faults of the great world, having rather
the virtues which are peculiar to the lower classes: he had acknowledged
Galba; but after his death he began to think of taking the throne for
himself, being conscious that he was fit for it. Yet there was no need
for him to decide in the matter himself, as Antonius Primus, with the
Mœsian legions, encountered and defeated the army of the generals of
Vitellius near Cremona. In Rome, the insurrection had likewise already
broken out. Here Vespasian’s brother, T. Flavius Sabinus, was præfect;
and his younger son, Domitian, was kept as a sort of hostage. Against
these Vitellius was at first irritated; then he was frightened, and
wished to capitulate; after the battle of Cremona especially, he was
quite mild: but when afterwards different symptoms showed themselves, he
again veered round and wanted to arrest them. They fled to the Capitol,
which, however, was taken, and for the second time since Sylla, burned
to ashes: Domitian had a very narrow escape. At Rome, the anarchy was
complete. When in those days a man wanted to descend from his throne, he
was not able to save his life; for there were no convents then, as in
the Byzantine period. Vespasian’s party had been gradually forming; and
it gained strength owing to the successes of the victorious army, which
straightway marched to Rome, where the maddest excesses were now
committed on both sides. The conquerors took possession of the city
without meeting with any resistance, and Vitellius was murdered.