Thus the senate quarrelled; the defeated party nursed
their 11 grievances; the winners had no
power to enforce their will; law was in abeyance and
the emperor absent. This state of things continued
until Mucianus arrived in Rome and took everything
into his own hands. This shattered the supremacy
of Antonius and Varus, for, though Mucianus tried
to show a friendly face towards them, he was not very
successful in concealing his dislike. But the
people of Rome, having acquired great skill in detecting
strained relations, had already transferred their
allegiance. Mucianus was now the sole object of
their flattering attentions. And he lived up to
them. He surrounded himself with an armed escort,
and kept changing his house and gardens. His
display, his public appearances, the night-watch that
guarded him, all showed that he had adopted the style
of an emperor while forgoing the title. The greatest
alarm was aroused by his execution of Calpurnius Galerianus,
a son of Caius Piso.[260] He had attempted no treachery,
but his distinguished name and handsome presence had
made the youth a subject of common talk, and the country
was full of turbulent spirits who delighted in revolutionary
rumours and idly talked of his coming to the throne.
Mucianus gave orders that he should be arrested by
a body of soldiers, and to avoid a conspicuous execution
in the heart of the city, they marched him forty miles
along the Appian road, where they severed his veins
and let him bleed to death. Julius Priscus, who
had commanded the Guards under Vitellius, committed
suicide, more from shame than of necessity. Alfenus
Varus survived the disgrace of his cowardice.[261]
Asiaticus,[262] who was a freedman, paid for his malign
influence by dying the death of a slave.[263]
FOOTNOTES:
[228] Because they were taken
for members of Vitellius’ German
auxiliary
cohorts.
[229] Cp. iii. 86 sub fin.
[230] Cp. iii. 6.
[231] See iii. 76.
[232] These three towns are
all on the Appian Way, Bovillae
ten
miles from Rome, Aricia sixteen, Tarracina fifty-nine,
on
the
coast.
[233] Cp. iii. 12.
[234] Gallica.
[235] Capua had adhered to
Vitellius. Tarracina had been held
for
Vespasian (cp. iii. 57).
[236] See iii. 77.
[237] The insignia of equestrian
rank (cp. i. 13).
[238] The chief of these were
the powers of tribune,
pro-consul,
and censor, and the title of Augustus (cp. i. 47,
ii.
55).
[239] Vindex had risen in
Gaul; Galba in Spain; Vitellius in
Germany;
Antonius Primus in the Danube provinces (Illyricum);
Vespasian
and Mucianus in Judaea, Syria, and Egypt.
[240] This was necessary in
the absence of Vespasian and Titus.
Copyrights
Tacitus: The Histories, Volumes I and II from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
