or, at any rate, not impossible.  He must also weigh the advice which he gets.  Are those who offer it ready to run the risk themselves?  And, if fortune favours, who gains the glory?  I myself, Vespasian, call you to the throne.  How much that may benefit the country and make you famous it lies with you—­under Providence—­to decide.  You need not be afraid that I may seem to flatter you.  It is more of an insult than a compliment to be chosen to succeed Vitellius.  It is not against the powerful intellect of the sainted Augustus that we are in revolt; not against the cautious prudence of the old Tiberius; nor even against a long-established imperial family like that of Caligula, Claudius or Nero.  You even gave way to Galba’s ancient lineage.  To remain inactive any longer, to leave your country to ruin and disgrace, that would be sheer sloth and cowardice, even if such slavery were as safe for you as it would be dishonourable.  The time is long past when you could be merely suspected of ambition:  the throne is now your only refuge.  Have you forgotten Corbulo’s murder?[396] He was a man of better family than we, I admit, but so was Nero more nobly born than Vitellius.  A man who is feared always seems illustrious enough to those who fear him.  That an army can make an emperor Vitellius himself has proved.  He had neither experience nor military reputation, but merely rose on Galba’s unpopularity.  Even Otho fell not by the strategy or strength of his opponent, but by his own precipitate despair.  And to-day he seems a great and desirable emperor, when Vitellius is disbanding his legions, disarming his Guards, and daily sowing fresh seeds of civil war.  Why, any spirit or enthusiasm which his army had is being dissipated in drunken debauches:  for they imitate their master.  But you, in Judaea, in Syria, in Egypt, you have nine fresh legions.  War has not weakened nor mutiny demoralized them.  The men are trained to discipline and have already won a foreign war.[397] Besides these, you can rely on the strength of your fleet,[398] and of your auxiliaries both horse and foot, on the faithful allegiance of foreign princes,[399] and on your own unparalleled experience.

’For ourselves I make but one claim.  Let us not rank below Valens 77 and Caecina.  Nor must you despise my help because you do not encounter my rivalry.  I prefer myself to Vitellius and you to myself.  Your house has received the insignia of a triumph.[400] You have two young sons, one of whom is already old enough to fill the throne, and in his first years of service made a name for himself in the German army.[401] It would be absurd for me not to give way to one whose son I should adopt, were I emperor myself.  Apart from this, we shall stand on a different footing in success and in failure, for if we succeed I shall have such honour as you grant me:  of the risk and the dangers we shall share the burden equally.  Or rather, do what is better still.  Dispose your armies yourself and leave me the conduct of the war, and the uncertainties of battle.