Some of the history behind The Demon Gospel…
History
by Publius Cornelius Tacitus (56-120 CE)
“I am entering on the history of a period rich in disasters, frightful in its wars, torn by civil strife, and even in peace full of horrors. Four emperors perished by the sword. There were three civil wars; there were more with foreign enemies; there were often wars that had both characters at once. …Britain was thoroughly subdued and immediately abandoned; …the armies of Parthia were all but set in motion by the cheat of a counterfeit Nero.”
P3, History, B1.1.2
69 CE, The Year of Four Emperors (Nero>Galba>Otho>Vitellius>Vespasian[1])
June 9, 68 CE: Emperor Nero (Nero Cladius Divi Claudius filius Caesar Augustus Germanicus) commits suicide when the Senate votes to remove him as Emperor. The Senate replaces him with Servius Galba (Servius Sulpicius Galba), a 72 year old man who was a puppet to Senatorial interests. He managed to hold the reins for 7 months, until he was assassinated by the Roman mob January 15, 69 CE; about three weeks after his 73rd birthday.
According to Tacitus, who was twelve at the time of these events, writing about it decades later, Galba was a weak and frail man, who was pressured by “worthless” and “spiritless” unworthys Titus Vinius and Cornelius Laco into unwise decisions. After promising the legions who had helped to put him on the throne, in the absence of a Julian descendant, a donative (i.e. bribe/bonus), he failed to pay. Meanwhile, he executed or had killed those others in Rome with Imperial ambitions. Fonteius Capito and Clodius Macer he executed. Nymphidius Sabinus, prefect of the Praetorian Guard, was killed during an attempted mutiny. Verginius, a general of the forces in Germany was assassinated from afar based on rumor.
“Welcome as the death of Nero had been in the first burst of joy, yet it had not only roused various emotions in Rome, among the Senators, the people, or the soldiery of the capital, it had so excited all the legions and their generals; for now had been divulged that secret of the empire, that emperors could be made elsewhere than Rome.”
P5, History, B1.1.4
And there was unrest in other parts of the Empire as well. January 3rd, 69 CE, Vitellius’ (Aulus Vitellius Germanicus) troops attempt to acclaim him as the next Emperor (instead of Galba the grinch) and he lets them call him “leader”. They do march south to Rome to “present their grievances” to the Senate. Mostly they want a raise, et cetera, et cetera. His army (mostly from Upper Germany) having been allowed to run rampant over their charges due to an internal Gaullish civil conflict, were spoiling for a fight after bringing peace. The lack of donative or any material gain for legions outside Rome who assisted Galba became a catalyst for rebellion. Belgica, Gallia Lugdunesis, Rhaetia and Britain’s legions join Vitellius.
“Here there were vast materials for a revolution, without indeed a decided bias towards any one man, but ready to a daring hand.”
P7, History, B1.1.6
But being old, childless and now under threat, Emperor Galba is pressured to name an heir. Two candidates were presented: Marcus Otho (who would become Emperor next but NOT by Galba’s appointment) and Icelus. Galba chose neither, declaring Piso Licianus his heir on January 10, 69 CE. Now Galba was coming into a bad economy. Nero’s excesses were reported to be over 2.2 million sesterces (a coinage of weighted amounts of brass during the Empire, previously silver under the Republic[2]). He built a giant Palace in the middle of Rome after it burned down, doing little to assist his people after the disaster. Think San Francisco after the 1906 fire and earthquake. Or London after years of German bombing. Or New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. This is also the source of the famous “fiddling while the city is burning” legend.
“He [Galba] seemed greater than a subject while he was yet in a subject’s rank, and by common consent would have been pronounced equal to empire, had he never been emperor.”
P48, History, B1.40.49
The city of Rome is broke and pissed to begin with. Then Galba promises money he doesn’t pay, so you’ve got a bunch of broke soldiers wandering around too. And when he kills a bunch of people just to get them out of his way, and chooses someone they don’t like as his heir, everybody (and their grandma) is ready to set his hair on fire.
Plus, there’s a bunch of stuff going on he doesn’t know about. Marcus Otho (Marcus Salvius Otho, second Emperor during 69 CE), that guy he brought with him to Rome during his march to seize it and then passed over as his heir, is very angry about that. He’s also been listening to an astrologer named Ptolemaeus who has been feeding his jealousy of Piso since the declaration. So, he starts handing out money to everyone and buying friends. Otho’s been banished to the remote provinces for the last ten years because he had an affair with Nero’s favorite eunuch, Poppaea Sabina (lookalike and replacement for his wife Octavia, who he kicked to death while pregnant). He only supported Galba’s bid for Emperor because the man was old, and it was a way out of Lusitania. Otho is 37 at this point.
Everything comes to a head five days later, when Galba receives false intelligence that Otho is dead. In reality, Otho’s soldiers are crowning him the new Emperor after a great speech. He makes another speech which incites the troops to riot, Praetorians and legionnaires both seizing arms and killing semi-indiscriminately. During this riot, Emperor Galba is slain in the streets, along with his entire retinue. Piso takes shelter in the Temple of Vesta, isolated enough that he’s safe until specifically hunted down by Sulpicius Florus (a British auxiliary infantry, citizen of Rome) and Statius Murcus, a body-guard. Piso is slaughtered in the entrance to the Temple, rather than commit sacrilege inside.
In a show of mercy, Otho does manage to save Galba’s co-consul from lynching by the mob. The Senate basks at his feet, anxious to prove their loyalty. He has the friendship of the common people and the soldiers, enough backing that he makes the families of the deceased buy back their loved ones’ heads for burial.
“…both the Emperor and the army, as if they had no rival to fear, indulging in cruelty, lust, and rapine, plunged into all the license of foreign manners.”
P162, History, B2.70.73
Yet Vitellius is still marching south, having split his forces into two armies, under the command of Caecina and Valens, two of his cronies who are the besties controlling this Imperial candidate. He followed along at the rear of the forces. During the trip, Vitellius accepts the title of Germanicus, but not Caesar, wallowing in luxury as his men march through Italy like it were not his own presumed territory. For example, his army randomly slaughters four thousand Mediomatrici in a small city named Divodurum. He is in Leuci when he gets word that Galba has been slain and Otho replaced him as Emperor in Rome. Giving another speech, they continue marching south, extorting what isn’t offered.
“But the most portentous spectacle of all was Vitellius himself, ignorant of military matters and without forethought in his plans, even asking others about the order of march, about the business of reconnoitering, and the discretion to be used in pushing on or protracting the campaign, betraying in his countenance and gait his alarm at every fresh piece of intelligence, and finally drinking to intoxication.”
P246, History, B3.50.56
After Nero and Galba, Otho tries to seem a godsend to Rome. He spares Marius Celsus and executes Tigellinus to curry favor. Granting offices, titles and new freedoms to people and provinces, he courted their support. Meanwhile, he and Vitellius write back and forth, lots of blustering and some threats to each others’ families they don’t go through with.
“Nowhere was the there any loyalty or affection; men changed from one side to the other under the pressure of fear or necessity.” (Otho versus Vitellius)
P75, History, B1.70.76
With so much attention on internal affairs, the Roxolani (a Sarmatian tribe) invade Moesia. Winter weather comes to the rescue of the legions and they manage to slaughter the Roxolani’s armored cavalry. Otho claims credit and parties like it was a victory in conquering instead of defense.
“Slaves were bribed to turn against their masters and freedmen to betray their patrons; and those who had no an enemy were destroyed by friends.”
P4, History, B1.1.2
But paranoia about betrayal with another Imperial faction is rampant in Rome. When a soldier waited until the last possible moment to perform his duties (moving some weapons), his normal task was mistaken for an attempt at a coup and the soldiers rioted. Many were killed. Bad omens abound, the Tiber floods, but Otho still prepares to march north to meet Vitellius. He leaves on March 14, 69 CE, just two months after becoming Emperor, leaving his bud, Salvius Titianus in charge of Rome.
“As for the hidden decrees of fate, the omens and the oracles that marked out Vespasian and his sons for imperial power, we believed in them only after his success.”
P11-12, History, B1.10.10
Now during this time, our fourth, unknown as yet, Imperial candidate is already a rising star. Vespasian Flavianus (the general in charge of subduing Judaea, who revolted when Nero bid them put up statues of him for worship (dang stubborn Jews! What, they act like its against their religion!)). A stupidity that a famous relative of Nero’s nicknamed Caligula tried but was assassinated before he could do more than fume about their refusal.
“The Egyptians worship many animals and images of monstrous form; the Jews have purely mental conceptions of Deity, as one in essence. They call those profane who make representations of God in human shape out of perishable materials. They believe that Being to be supreme and eternal, neither capable of representation, nor of decay. They therefore do not allow any images to stand in their cities, much less, in their temples. This flattery is not paid to their kinds, nor this honour to our Emperors.”
P382, History, B5.1.5
Vespasian has sent his eldest son Titus to pay homage to Galba (after a bit of deliberation). The voyage takes a few months and Titus is in Corinth when he finds out that Galba is dead, Otho is Emperor, Vitellius might be Emperor and they’re about to battle it out. He quietly goes back to his father in the Middle East. On the way home he does decide to visit the Paphian Venus Temple before rejoining his father at the siege of Jerusalem (Yes this is that time when the Temple got destroyed. All that’s left today being the Wailing Wall.)
With the death of Nero, Vespasian had made friends with his close rival, Mucianus, who was governor of Syria at the time. Mucianus was a political animal and Vespasian—not so much. But it was one of his charms. This becomes very important later!
“…power acquired by crime could not be retained by a sudden assumption of the moderation and of the dignity of former times”
P82-83, History, B1.80.83
In Rome, after Otho leaves (and kinda during his tenure as well), the informers who had flourished under Nero started being killed. Either executed, assassinated or killed by mob. Elsewhere in the Empire, a pretender claiming to be Nero still alive is caught and executed by Calpurnius Asprenas. Chaos abounds, both within the Empire and without. And its only early spring!
“Vitellius with his indolent luxury was less dreaded than Otho with his ardent passions. The murder of Galba had made the one terrible and odius, while no one reckoned against the other the guilt of having begun the war. Vitellius with his sensuality and gluttony was his own enemy; Otho, with his profligacy, his cruelty, and his recklessness, was held to be more dangerous to the Commonwealth.”
P124, History, B2.30.31
This is only in comparison! Otho led a motley of his own and Galba’s supporters out of Rome, but the supporters of Galba blamed him for inciting the old man’s murder by the mob. Many deserted or joined Vitellius along the way. They, like Vitellius’ troops, are undisciplined and treat the countryside like foreign territory, plundering along the way. There was even an auxiliary troop formed of gladiators! When the locals dared to fight back, they were slaughtered, and the nearby town of Albintemilium is flattened in revenge by the troops.
“And now not only were they colonies and towns exhausted by having to furnish supplies, but the very cultivator of the soil and his lands, on which the harvests were now ripe, were plundered like an enemy’s territory.”
P178, History, B2.80.87
In the first real battle, Otho’s forces manage to surround the troops of Vitellius by using sea transport. Nightfall ends the battle, but the forces of Vitellius stage a night raid to cover their retreat. Both forces settle into bases in villages, ending in stalemate. Antipolis hosts Vitellius, while Albigaunum acts as Otho’s base. Corsica’s leader Pacarius tries to side with Vitellius but is assassinated by his own people since Otho is closer. Caecina, general of one of Vitellius’ forces, attacks Placentia, burns its amphitheater down but is repulsed from the town proper twice and eventually gives up.
There’s a quote somewhere about the true mettle of a man being shown in battle but I think after reading this slice of history that its what comes after the battle that predicts each Emperor’s downfall. Otho gives in to paranoia and instead of allowing his good generals to follow-through and attack Vitellius, he replaces them. Marcus Celsus, Annius Gallus and a familiar name: Suetonius Paullinus (hero of Mona where he slaughtered druids, women and children; failure in the battles against Boudicca, warrior-queen of the Iceni, until the last one, of course). Instead, he recalls from Rome and appoints his brother, Titianus as his general.
“Vitellius, however, when his brother joined him, and when those who are skilled in the arts of despotism began to creep into his confidence, grew more arrogant and cruel.”
P152, History, B2.60.63
Celsus and Paullinus stay on as advisors. All Paullinus does manage to do is get Otho to pull back to Brixellum, breaking the spirit of their own army. Fabius Valens is struggling with his force of troops for Vitellius. In trying to separate a troublesome group of auxiliary fighters (i.e. barbarian mercenaries; Celts and German tribesmen) from his main force, they think he’s trying to kill them (correctly), and they revolt. He must quell a mutiny. Otho thinks this is a great time to send his legion of gladiators (NOT trained to fight, march, or anything together), to take an important island crossing point in the nearby Padus river. Instead, Vitellian forces build a partial boat bridge and seize the island first, killing all the gladiators when they show up and sending their hangers on (prostitutes and supply vendors) running back to Otho’s base.
With Otho in Brixellum and his generals discredited, command devolving to Titianus, he lets a prefect named Proculus do most of the actual field command. After delaying too much, and losing his advantage, Otho finally orders battle joined (known as the First Battle of Bedriacum[3]). Both sides fight, Vitellius getting the better of Otho’s fragmented, leaderless forces. Appalled by the lack of an easy victory, Otho commits suicide, in the hopes that Vitellius will be merciful to those dissociated with him by his death.
Otho speaking: “The civil war having began with Vitellius; he was the first cause of our contending in arms for the throne; the example of not contending more than once shall belong to me.”
P138, History, B2.40.47
Thus, Vitellius becomes the third Emperor, on April 16, 69 CE, replacing Otho after only three months in office. Riding at the rear of his forces, partying and bestowing honors on his supporters as his soldiers march south, he had no idea he’s just won. Among Otho’s forces, the Senators staying in Mutina (he brought them all with him) are terrified by news of Otho’s suicide, while the soldiers stationed there dismiss it as rumor and refuse to return to Rome. Rome received accurate news of Otho’s suicide and Vitellius’ triumph during the Games of Ceres, some time in the two days after it actually happened.
Unchecked by Otho’s capitulating or fleeing forces, Vitellius’ army marched south to Rome, plundering as they went, some “righting” long-held grudges. Despite being nominally Emperor, he doesn’t order any investigation when Lucceius Albinus, appointed by Nero to be governor of Mauritania Caesariensis Tingitana is killed. Albinus was rumored to be another Imperial candidate, controlling northern Africa and therefore threatening Spain. His entire entourage is supplied by Junius Blaesus, governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, a fact which he’s said to be silently resentful of.
Vitellius meets his generals Valens and Caecina at Lugdunum and finds out he’s Emperor. Rewarding them handsomely, he names his baby son Germanicus and finally takes the name Caesar. In July, at the age of 54, he marches into Rome as her Emperor. And immediately alienates them even more.
“The next day, as if he were addressing the Senate and people of another State, he pronounced a high panegyric [speech of praise] on himself, extolling his own energy and moderation, though his enormities were known to the very persons who were present and to the whole of Italy, his progress through which had been disgraced by sloth and profligacy. Yet the mob, who had no patriotic anxieties, and who, without distinguishing between truth and falsehood, had learn the lesson of habitual flattery, applauded him with shouts and acclaimations,”
P181, History, B2.90.90
First, he botches the execution of Dolabella by sending a stupid, lazy executioner who kills him in a roadside inn. Vitellius is reviled throughout the Empire for such a tacky killing of a former rival. Dolabella being married to his first wife who he divorced, Petronia. Sure shows you Roman priorities. Of course, the whole farce turns out to be caused by Vitellius’ younger brother’s wife, Triaria. This is publicized and contrasted with Emperor Vitellius’ loyal wife, Galeria. Vitellius then pardons the exiled informer who told him of the true patron of Dolabella’s death and punishes the freedman who’d previously informed on him to get him exiled (again, Nero-era fallout). A court of degenerates gathers around Vitellius. The governor of Spain, M. Cluvius Rufus who was pardoned, stays in Rome and governs Spain long-distance (badly, by all accounts, only interested in the wealth that flowed from the Spanish silver mines). Trebellius Maximus, governor of Britain, flees his own mutinous soldiers to swear to Vitellius. He is replaced by one Vettius Bolanus.
Trying to disperse some of his unruly soldiers, now that he’s taken control, Vitellius sends several rival factions to Britain together. Hoping their attention will be on each other and not rebelling from him, they are from Italy, so he hopes the far location will bring them together as a unit (it does work but doesn’t really help him). Then he divvies up the Praetorians to Spain, winter quarter renovations and building amphitheaters for the gladiators. These are pretty much his only good moves for the eight months of his tenure.
“In every town of Italy, sunk in sloth, formidable only to their entertainers, they have drunk of unaccustomed pleasures with an eagerness equal to the rudeness of their former life.”
P193, History, B3.1.2
Vitellius seems oblivious to the continuing tensions now that he’s won the throne of Emperor. While guesting in Ticinum with Verginius, he’s shocked when a wrestling match escalates to a battle between legionnaires and the auxiliary troops. In other areas, they fall prey to conspiracy rumors and demand the execution of the Verginius for a mythical plot against Vitellius. Instead of dealing with this culture of uncertainty, Vitellius sends his seething, mutinous troops back to their home states, stops all recruiting, discharges veterans without honors and cuts pay. Then he survey’s the fields of victory and erects monuments to his predecessors, even Galba. Ignoring the reports of Vespasian’s triumphs in Judaea and Syria, he indulges in abuses of power and parties.
Meanwhile, Vespasian has control over most of Judaea, and his two-year siege of Jerusalem is beginning to bear fruit. But he knows he has to completely win before he can return to Rome in a bid for Emperor. Mucianus urges Vespasian to declare Imperial intentions, because he’ll be suspected of it anyway, and likely assassinated. Indeed, stodges have raised concerns about his popularity with the troops and throughout the Empire to most of the Emperors thus far. Suddenly evidencing superstition, Vespasian consults an oracle at Mount Carmel and is prophesied success in his endeavors.
“To persist in inaction, and to leave the State to degradation and ruin, would look like indolence and cowardice, even supposing that servitude were as safe for you as it would be infamous. The time has gone by and passed away when you might have endured the suspicion of having coveted the Imperial power. That power is now your only refuge.” (Mucianus urging Vespasian to action during Vitellius)
P165, History, B2.70.76
July 1, 69 Common Era, one Tiberius Alexander inspired the legions of Judaea, Syria, and Egypt to declare Vespasian Emperor. Will he or nil he. By the third, he controls all the armed forces within those areas and the news has spread through Northern Africa and Greece. Though the siege of Jerusalem continues, Vespasian uses Judaea as his base, his personal oversight keeping more efficient and honest than other contenders.
“Mucianus in his first speech had held out only moderate hopes, and even Vespasian offered no more in the civil war than others had done in times of peace, thus making a noble stand against all the bribery of the soldiery, and possessing in consequence a better army.”
P172, History, B2.80.82
Sadly, his underlings were not quite so virtuous. Many used the civil war as an excuse to plunder rich men. Some was funneled to Vespasian, but not all. Mucianus notably contributed his fortune to the campaign but embezzled it back later. As the news of Vespasian’s candidacy spreads throughout Europe, many of Otho’s former supporters, in hiding from the other forces or unhappily absorbed by them, declare for the Flavian in favor of a candidate not their choice, who’d caused their own leader’s suicide. This spurs Galba’s former forces, in the same predicament, to align with Vespasian as well.
Yet Vitellius is still on his destructive march towards Rome at this point. When he does finally reach the outskirts, violence erupts as he distributes supplies to his men. The starving city people rob the soldiers even as a brawl starts between the auxiliary troops and the legionnaires. A riot damages much of the poorer quarters. Vitellius does manage to listen to his advisors and doesn’t quite march into Rome like he’s just conquered it. Instead, he parades in and makes his mother Augusta, giving a speech I referenced earlier.
Vitellius finally accepts the title of Augustus from the Roman mob and is officially Emperor when the Senate acknowledges him as well. Courting the common folk, Vitellius earns the enmity of the nobility and the reputation of a gluttonous drunk. Caecina and Valens are truly running everything, though Vitellius keeps their rivalry fresh. And his legions from Gaul are allowed to run amok through Rome, no discipline, generous pay. They die of diseases in the slum quarters, no camps to house them outside the city. He even wastes money on funeral rites for Nero, performed on the deceased Emperor’s birthday (Dec 15). Those legions left on the fringes of the Empire are hedging their bets, publicly supporting Vitellius, but writing letters to Vespasian promising secret support (Britain, Spain, Northern Africa).
“…both the Emperor and the army, as if they had no rival to fear, indulging in cruelty, lust, and rapine, plunged into all the license of foreign manners.”
P162, History, B2.70.73
Finally, Vitellius orders Caecina and Valens to take the army and quell all the rebellions. Everywhere on the borders, previously pacified tribes had risen up. Some were in open rebellion against Roman occupation. Others pretended to support one Imperial candidate or another, until forced to declare themselves openly opposed to Rome. Thus, Tacitus’ initial comment about the conflict being both civil and foreign war at the same time.
“Their vigour too was undermined by luxury, a luxury that transgressed our ancient discipline and the customs of our ancestors, in whose days the power of Rome found a surer foundation in valour than in wealth.”
P158, History, B2.60.69
Caecina leads the advance, Valens, ill from debauchery in Rome, set to follow. The entire army is lazy and weak from their off time in the city, and ready to mutiny at the loss of those comforts. Their commanders are in the same state due to Vitellius’s excesses. Both Caecina and his underling (head of the fleet once loyal to Otho), Lucillus Bassus, write letters to Vespasian, pledging to defect when his forces arrive in Italy.
Without a high command present in Italy among Flavianist forces, power falls to Antonius Primus, who openly and promptly argues for action, not just taking and holding the Alpine passes closest to the city. Leading the troops, Antonius scores a victory against troops crossing a river. He celebrates by resurrecting Galba’s statues (thrown down under both Otho and Vitellius) to a place of honor in the towns he goes through.
Under Antonius, the gathering Flavian force disobey Vespasian’s orders and take Vicetia (Caecina’s hometown). Then they move on to capture and use Verona as a base (large amounts of cavalry necessitate more grazing than Vicetia can offer). Vespasian had ordered them to gather at Aquileia and wait for Mucianus to command them further. He didn’t want to antagonize Caecina while secret letters were winging back and forth with offers of rebellion against Vitellius. Even when the army almost mutinies and kills an unpopular commander, Antonius manages to sooth them. But a second mutiny against Aponius Saturnius, resulting in escape rather than murder, leaves Antonius in almost sole command of all forces gathered on the Italian peninsula for Vespasian.
Then Caecina loses his negotiation trump card: the fleet, led by Lucilius Bassus, defects completely to Vespasian, sending the commander back to Vitellius and electing Cornelius Fuscus as their prefect. Upon hearing of their revolt, Caecina immediately offers to join Vespasian and even swears all his officers over. But his general troops, feeling gypped about changing rulers with no battle, refuse to change sides and withdraw to Cremona to continue supporting Vitellius. They imprison Caecina and kill the officers.
Antonius Primus takes advantage of the disorganization and chaos to attack, making an early advance with his cavalry. Without support they’re forced to withdraw, and the battle continues on many fronts throughout the day. By sunset, the legions of Vitellius fall back to the town of Cremona in disarray. The Flavianist forces urge a night attack to finish their foe and loot Cremona. Arguing for caution, Antonius manages to stall them long enough to talk to the locals, who let them know that not just the legion they’re chasing but all SIX of the legions currently loyal to Vitellius are encamped in Cremona.
Unfortunately, that same fact emboldens the leaderless legion they were chasing, and they turn to savage the Flavianist forces even as Antonius was calming them down. Famously chaotic night battle. Known for a story about a son killing a legionnaire father on the other side and not recognizing him until he’s looking the body. Despite the weariness of the troops, the Flavianists lay siege to Cremona and the Vitellianist forces throughout the day.
But the officers of the five legions who were originally in Cremona, are sure of defeat and terrified the Flavianists will declare no quarter. They free Caecina to negotiate with Vespasian’s forces as a supporter. After their surrender, the soldiers (probably both sides) loot Cremona for four days, destroying the town.
And in Rome, Vitellius does nothing but talk. He praises the soldiers who put Caecina in prison for defecting to Vespasian and says nothing of the traitor’s release. The only action he takes is to replace the head of the Praetorian Guard because he was a friend of Caecina. When appointing Caecina’s replacement on Halloween (which they didn’t celebrate, or if they did it would be as Samhain), the guy resigns the same day. Its not even worth learning his name. But Fabius Valens has finally gotten out of bed and tries to go around Flavianist forces to get more troops for Vitellius. However, he isn’t fast enough or decisive enough to succeed. Antonius Primus sweeps through Vitellian Italy as though it’s a foreign country, looting as they go, just as bad as the other Imperial contenders have been.
“His consulate, his priesthood, his high reputation, his place among the first men of the State, he owed, not to any energy of his own, but to the renown of his father. The throne was offered him by men who did not know him. Seldom have the affections of the army attached themselves to any man who sought to gain them by his virtues as firmly as they did to him from the indolence of his character.”
P277-278, History, B3.80.86
Mucianus belittles Antonius’s accomplishments from afar, trying to retain supreme influence. This earns him a bitter rival who will take his revenge later. In Rome, Vitellius denies the loss at Cremona, calling the scouts who returned liars. Giving favors and tax breaks with no thought to the long term, Vitellius bribes his forces loyalty and sends them away to be slaughtered. Wasting chance after chance to keep his throne, Vitellius picks bad commanders and hesitates on vital decisions. Fabius Valens is executed and his head displayed to Vitellius’s troops as proof.
Meanwhile on the fringes of Imperial control, Claudius Civilis rouses the Batavians to revolt against Roman conscription, under the guise of supporting Vespasian. Most of Germany revolts against the troops left to keep the winter quarters, the main bulk of the men being still in Rome with Vitellius (this is the part of Germany he marched from). Civilis leads the Batavians to victory against the Roman’s first, haphazard defense. Deserted and betrayed by their auxiliary forces, the legionnaires request a huge raise, then hide in the Old Camp (original fortification in the area). Batavian troops, marching home, slaughter those who oppose them at Bonna but somehow manage to restrain themselves the rest of their way. What a contrast to the Romans looting their own farmers!
Now, Civilis goes after the legions holed up in the Old Camp, ostensibly to convert them from Vitellius to Vespasian. But without discipline or the Roman engineers, the Batavian’s attack fails against the fortifications. They decide to starve out the two legions, easy enough since by now its winter. But Civilis is dealing with a militia army who get easily bored. So he tries building his own siege engines and is rebuffed. As the battles rage back and forth, blame for losses falls on the leaders; and officers on both sides are assassinated by their own troops.
Desperation sets in. On December 18, 69 CE, Vitellius attempts to abdicate the Imperial throne. He leads a funereal procession, trying to leave the city. But the crowds turn him and his escort back, forcing them back to the Palace. This is a huge spectacle, involving half the city.
Spurred to action by the approaching Flavianist forces and Vitellius’s pathetic show, the leading Flavianists in Rome gather at their highest ranking member’s home: the Preatorian, Sabinus. Together, they take the Capitol, though their force is too small to really hold the ancient fortress[4]. Indecisive as always, Vitellius negotiates with them and Sabinus embarrasses him into sparing Domitian and himself. But when raging soldiers, leaderless, burn the Capitol to the ground, Sabinus and others are captured or killed. Domitian takes shelter in a temple full of women, if I remember the story right.
The captured Flavianists are killed by the mob when Vitellius tries to dither about their punishment. A consul named Atticus survives mostly on his own merits and is spared by Vitellius in a show of mercy. But once again, he should have been paying attention to outside events. The army has arrived. Though the first attack by the cavalry is repulsed by Vitellius’s forces, its only due to their familiarity with the terrain. Setting up camp outside the city, they exchange envoys.
While Vespasian’s envoy is almost killed by the rowdy troops in Rome, Vitellius’s messenger fairs better. Antonius has his troops under much better control than the wild Germans who have been running amok for months. Vitellius pleads for a day’s delay before the battle. Antonius turns him down due to the murder of Sabinus and the burning of the Capitol building.
“…founded by our ancestors with solemn auspicies to be the pledge of Empire, the seat, which neither Porsenna, when the city was surrendered, nor the Gauls, when it was captured, had been able to violate, was destroyed by the madness of our Emperors.”
P264, History, B3.70.72
Vitellius almost escapes Rome, until he turns back for the Palace. Captured, he is killed by the mob in the streets. As the news spreads, the battle stops, and the looting starts. Domitian is hailed as Ceasar when he reappears, but the army treats everyone as traitors, looting at will, soldiers completely without a side in the chaos. A callow seventeen-year-old, Domitian parties in the Palace and does nothing as Rome is stripped. Vitellius’s brother Lucius is captured and killed on the spot. Finally, Mucianus arrives in Rome to take control. He proceeds to kill anyone with even rumors of Imperial ambitions and enough of a good name to back it. Domitian sometimes gives orders, but Mucianus becomes the true power in the city. All the rebellious troops are split up and absorbed into loyal forces, some of the older vets retired, etc.
Meanwhile back in the north, the troops stuck in Old Camp are still building statues of Vitellius, despite his death. News travels slow in the old world. Indeed, Vitellianist forces in Northern Africa try to bribe the legate to their side or set him up for assassination by Vespasian as a possible Vitellianist. Smelling a trap, the legate, one Lucius Piso, shuts himself up in his fortress. The proconsul of Carthage hears rumors and how Piso killed the Vitellianist centurion who tried to bribe him but doesn’t get the part about Piso staying true to Vespasian. So he has Piso executed as a traitor. North Africa is short-handed, and suspicion still runs rampant.
In Rome, rumors abound, even a few implicating Domitian of being less than a callow youth holding his families place. Vespasian finally leaves Titus in charge of the siege of Jerusalem and departs for Rome, proceeded by grain supply ships to sweeten his way. Egypt where he’s been, being the breadbasket of Northern Africa. Which, of course, everyone knows in the first century, and because he sends announcements along with the largess declaring its source to be Caesar. After the gamut of self-serving despots they’ve had in the Julii and then the weird game of “Emperor Or Weakest Link?”, a ruler who feeds the people first seems a godsend. Funded by the plentiful gold of one of the greatest temples for several thousand miles (the Second Temple of Herod the Great was literally coated in gold in lots of parts), Vespasian settles down to rule semi-peacefully for a total ten years.
The barbarian revolt in the north (remember Civilis?) fizzles out when the Gauls (eventual French) can’t ally with the Germans (Civilis) because they can’t decide who’s in charge enough to offer an alliance. As their legions are staggering back from Italy ready to return to community policing, everyone gives up except Civilis, who fights to the end—of the manuscript. We know the Batavian tribe weren’t wiped out so its possible he surrendered but at that point, the manuscript of “History” is burned and there are no surviving sources for the remainder of Tacitus’s text.
[1] Nero=12 year reign ended in suicide; Galba=7 month reign ended in death by Roman mob; Otho=3 month reign ended in suicide; Vitellius=9 month reign ended in death by Roman mob; Vespasian=12 year reign ending in death by natural causes, succeeded by his eldest son, Titus.
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sestertius
Addendum: I do not normally condone Wikipedia as a source but in this case, its easy, its public and its free. Most of it is correct and there are some interesting details I’m not sure about the sourcing for. But nerds need to correct each other on the internet is strong so…
[3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Bedriacum
[4] Ancient even then, this fortress was built during the Republic and was reputed to have even older roots.
Tacitus, Publius Cornelius. The Works of Tacitus. Translated from the Latin by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb. Translated by William Jackson Brodribb and Alfred John Church, vol. 2, Forgotten Books, 1864. (author’s lifetime: 56-120 CE, 64 years)
