[79] Cn. Pompeius Magnus was
Claudius’ son-in-law, and
executed by him ‘on a vague charge’.
M. Licinius Crassus Frugi
was accused of treason to Nero by Aquilius
Regulus, an
informer, whom one of Pliny’s friends
calls ’the vilest of
bipeds’. Regulus’ brother
was Vipstanus Messala. Cp. iv. 42.
[80] Scribonianus. Cp. chap.
15
[81] Under the second triumvirate.
[82] He was governor of Pannonia
under Caligula.
[83] Sabinus and his wife were
prosecuted, and both committed
suicide.
[84] Under Nero, says Tacitus in
his Life of Agricola, ’the
wisest man was he who did least.’
[85] He had governed the upper
province of Germany under
Caligula; Africa under Claudius; the Tarragona
division of
Spain under Nero. In Germany he defeated
the Chatti A.D. 41.
THE RISE OF VITELLIUS
The city was in a panic. The alarm aroused by
the recent atrocious 50 crime and by Otho’s
well-known proclivities was further increased by the
fresh news about Vitellius.[86] This news had been
suppressed before Galba’s murder, and it was
believed that only the army of Upper Germany had revolted.
Now when they saw that the two men in the world who
were most notorious for immorality, indolence, and
extravagance had been, as it were, appointed by Providence
to ruin the empire, not only the senators and knights
who had some stake and interest in the country, but
the masses as well, openly deplored their fate.
Their talk was no longer of the horrors of the recent
bloody peace: they reverted to the records of
the civil wars, the taking and retaking of Rome by
her own troops, the devastation of Italy, the pillage
of the provinces, the battles of Pharsalia, Philippi,
Perusia, and Mutina,[87] those bywords of national
disaster. ’The world was turned upside
down,’ they mused, ’even when good men
fought for the throne: yet the Roman Empire survived
the victories of Julius Caesar and of Augustus, as
the Republic would have survived had Pompey and Brutus
been victorious. But now—are we to
go and pray for Otho or for Vitellius? To pray
for either would be impious. It would be wicked
to offer vows for the success of either in a war of
which we can only be sure that the winner will prove
the worse.’ Some cherished hopes of Vespasian
and the armies of the East: he was preferable
to either of the others; still they shuddered at the
thought of a fresh war and fresh bloodshed. Besides,
Vespasian’s reputation was doubtful. He
was the first emperor who ever changed for the better.
