(legendary, died
By
Plutarch
Translated by John Dryden
The new emperor went early in
the morning to the capitol, and sacrificed; and, having
commanded Marius Celsus to be brought, he saluted him, and with
obliging language desired him rather to forget his accusation than remember
his acquittal; to which Celsus answered neither meanly nor ungratefully, that his very crime ought to recommend his integrity, since his
guilt had been his fidelity to Galba, from whom he had never
received any personal obligations. Upon which they were both of
them admired by those that were present, and applauded by the
soldiers.
In the senate, Otho said much in a gentle and popular strain. He was
to have been consul for part of that year himself, but he gave the office
to Virginius Rufus, and displaced none that had been named for the consulship
by either Nero or Galba. Those that were remarkable
for their age and dignity he promoted to the priesthoods; and
restored the remains of their fortunes, that had not yet been
sold, to all those senators that were banished by Nero, and
recalled by Galba. So that the nobility and chief of the people,
who were at first apprenhensive that no human creature, but some
supernatural, or penal vindictive power had seized the empire, began
now to flatter themselves with hopes of a government that smiled upon
them thus early.
Besides, nothing gratified or gained the whole Roman people more than
his justice in relation to Tigellinus. It was not seen how he was in
fact already suffering punishment, not only by the very terror of retribution which he saw the whole city requiring as a just debt, but with
several incurable diseases also; not to mention those unhallowed
frightful excesses among impure and prostitute women, to which,
at the very close of life, his lewd nature clung, and in them
gasped out, as it were, its last; these, in the opinion of all
reasonable men, being themselves the extremest punishment, and
equal to many deaths. But it was felt like a grievance by people in general
that he continued yet to see the light of day, who had
been the occasion of the loss of it to so many persons, and such
persons, as had died by his means. Wherefore Otho ordered him to
be sent for, just as he was contriving his escape of means of
some vessels that lay ready for him on the coast near where he
lived, in the neighbourhood of Sinuessa. At first he endeavoured
to corrupt the messenger, by a large sum of money, to favour his
design; but when he found this was to no purpose, he made him as
considerable a present as if he had really connived at it, only entreating
him to stay till he had shaved; and so took that opportunity, and
with his razor despatched himself.
And while giving the people this most righteous satisfaction of their
desires, for himself he seemed to have no sort of regard for any private
injuries of his own. And at first, to please the populace, he did not
refuse to be called Nero in the theatre, and did not interfere when some
persons displayed Nero's statues to public view. And Cluvius Rufus says,
imperial letters, such as are sent with couriers, went into Spain with
the name of Nero affixed adoptively to that of Otho; but as soon he perceived
this gave offence to the chief and most distinguished citizens, it
was omitted.
After he had begun to model the government in this manner, the paid
soldiers began to murmur, and endeavoured to make him suspect and chastise
the nobility, either really out of a concern for his safety, or wishing,
upon this pretence, to stir up trouble and warfare. Thus, whilst Crispinus,
whom he had ordered to bring him the seventeenth cohort from Ostia,
began to collect what he wanted after it was dark, and was putting the
arms upon the wagons, some of the most turbulent cried out that Crispinus was disaffected, that the senate was practising something against
the emperor, and that those arms were to be employed against
Caesar, and not for him. When this report was once set afoot, it
got the belief and excited the passions of many; they broke out into
violence; some seized the wagons, and others slew Crispinus and
two centurions that opposed them; and the whole number of them,
arraying themselves in their arms, and encouraging one another
to stand by Caesar, marched to
Such conduct, so little expected from him, was regarded by some with
gratitude and confidence; others looked upon his behaviour as a course to which necessity drove him, to gain the people to the support of
the war. For now there were certain tidings that Vitellius had
assumed the sovereign title and authority, and frequent
expresses brought accounts of new accessions to him; others,
however, came, announcing that the Pannonian, Dalmatian, and
Moesian legions, with their officers, adhered to Otho. Ere long
also came favourable letters from Mucianus and Vespasian, generals of
two formidable armies, the one in Syria, the other in Judaea, to assure him of their firmness to his interest: in confidence whereof he
was so exalted, that he wrote to Vitellius not to attempt
anything beyond his post; and offered him large sums of money
and a city, where he might live his time out in pleasure and
ease. These overtures at first were responded to by Vitellius
with equivocating civilities; which soon, however, turned into
an interchange of angry words; and letters passed between the two, conveying
bitter and shameful terms of reproach, which were not false indeed, for that matter, only it was senseless and ridiculous for each to
assail the other with accusations to which both alike must
plead guilty. For it were hard to determine which of the two
had been most profuse, most effeminate, which was most a novice in military affairs, and most involved in
debt through previous want of means.
As to the prodigies and apparitions that happened about this time, there
were many reported which none could answer for, or which were told in
different ways; but one which everybody actually saw with their eyes, was the statue, in the capitol, of Victory carried in a chariot,
with the reins dropped out of her hands, as if she were grown
too weak to hold them any longer; and a second, that Caius
Caesar's statue in the island of Tiber, without any earthquake
or wind to account for it, turned round from west to east; and
this, they say, happened about the time when Vespasian and his
party first openly began to put themselves forward. Another incident, which the people in general thought an evil sign, was the
inundation of the Tiber; for though it happened at a time when
rivers are usually at their fullest, yet such height of water
and so tremendous a flood had never been known before, nor such
a destruction of property, great part of the city being under
water, and especially the corn market, so that it occasioned a
great dearth for several days.
But when news was now brought that Caecina and Valens, commanding for
Vitellius, had possessed themselves of the Alps, Otho sent Dolabella (a patrician, who was suspected by the soldiery of some evil
purpose), for whatever reason, whether it were fear of him or
of any one else, to the town of Aquinum, to give encouragement
there; and proceeding then to choose which of the magistrates
should go with him to the war, he named amongst the rest
Lucius, Vitellius's brother, without distinguishing him by any
new marks either of his favour or displeasure. He also took the greatest
precautions for Vitellius's wife and mother, that they might be safe, and free from all apprehension for themselves. He made
Flavius Sabinus, Vespasian's brother, governor of
After he came to Brixillum, a town of Italy near the Po, he stayed behind
himself, and ordered the army to march under the conduct of Marius Celsus,
Suetonius Paulinus, Gallus, and Spurina, all men of experience and
reputation, but unable to carry their own plans and purposes into effect, by reason of the ungovernable temper of the army, which would take
orders from none but the emperor whom they themselves had made
their master. Nor was the enemy under much better discipline,
the soldiers there also being haughty and disobedient upon the
same account, but they were more experienced and used to hard
work; whereas Otho's men were soft from their long easy living
and lack of service, having spent most of their time in the theatres and at state shows and on the stage; while moreover they tried to
cover their deficiencies by arrogance and vain display,
pretending to decline their duty, not because they were unable
to do the thing commanded, but because they thought themselves
above it. So that Spurina had like to have been cut in pieces
for attempting to force them to their work; they assailed him
with insolent language, accusing him of a design to betray and ruin Caesar's interest; nay, some of them that were in drink forced his
tent in the night, and demanded money for the expenses of their
journey, which they must at once take, they said, to the
emperor, to complain of him.
However, the contemptuous treatment they met with at
Besides, it was observed that Otho's officers were much more inoffensive, both towards the public and to private men, than those of
Vitellius; among whom was Caecina, who used neither the
language nor the apparel of a citizen, an overbearing,
foreign-seeming man, of gigantic stature, and always dressed in
trews and sleeves, after the manner of the Gauls, whilst he conversed with Roman officials and magistrates. His wife, too, travelled
along with him, riding in splendid attire on horseback, with a
chosen body of cavalry to escort her. And Fabius Valens, the
other general, was so rapacious that neither what he plundered
from enemies, nor what he stole or got as gifts and bribes from
his friends and allies, could satisfy his wishes. And
it was said that it was in order to have time to raise money
that he had marched so slowly that he was not present at the
former attack. But some lay the blame on Caecina, saying, that
out of a desire to gain the victory by himself before Fabius
joined him, he committed sundry other errors of lesser consequence, and by engaging unseasonably and when he could not do so
thoroughly, he very nearly brought all to ruin.
When he found himself beat off at
About this time, Otho came to Bedriacum, a little town near Cremona, to the camp, and called a council of war; where Proculus and
Titianus declared for giving battle, while the soldiers were
flushed with their late success, saying they ought not to lose
their time and opportunity and present height of strength, and
wait for Vitellius to arrive out of Gaul. But Paulinus told
them that the enemy's whole force was present, and that there was no
body of reserve behind; but that Otho, if he would not be too precipitate, and chose the enemy's time, instead of his own, for the battle,
might expect reinforcements out of Moesia and Pannonia, not
inferior in numbers to the troops that were already present. He
thought it probable, too, that the soldiers, who were then in
heart before they were joined, would not be less so when the
forces were all come up. Besides, the deferring battle could
not be inconvenient to them that were sufficiently provided with all
necessaries; but the others, being in an enemy's country, must
needs be exceedingly straitened in a little time. Marius
Celsus was of Paulinus's opinion; Annius Gallus, being absent
and under the surgeon's hands through a fall from his horse,
was consulted by letter, and advised Otho to stay for those
legions that were marching from
There are several reasons given for this determination, but the most
apparent is this; that the praetorian soldiers, as they are called, who serve as guards, not relishing the military discipline which
they now had begun a little more to experience, and longing for
their amusements and unwarlike life among the shows of Rome,
would not be commanded, but were eager for a battle, imagining
that upon the first onset they should carry all before them.
Otho also himself seems not to have shown the proper fortitude
in bearing up against the uncertainty, and, out of effeminacy and
want of use, had not patience for the calculations of danger, and was so uneasy at the apprehension of it that he shut his eyes, and
like one going to leap from a precipice, left everything to
fortune. This is the account Secundus the rhetorician, who was
his secretary, gave of the matter. But others would tell you that
there were many movements in both armies for acting in concert;
and if it were possible for them to agree, then they should
proceed to choose one of their most experienced officers that were
present; if not, they should convene the senate, and invest it with the power of election. And it is not improbable that, neither of
the emperors then bearing the title having really any
reputation, such purposes were really entertained among the
genuine, serviceable, and sober-minded part of the soldiers.
For what could be more odious and unreasonable than that the
evils which the Roman citizens had formerly thought it so lamentable to inflict upon each other for the sake of a Sylla or a Marius, a
Caesar or a Pompey, should now be undergone anew, for the
object of letting the empire pay the expenses of the gluttony
and intemperance of Vitellius, or the looseness and effeminacy
of Otho? It is thought that Celsus, upon such reflections,
protracted the time in order to a possible accommodation; and
that Otho pushed on things to an extremity to prevent it.
He himself returned to Brixillum, which was another false step, both
because he withdrew from the combatants all the motives of respect and
desire to gain his favour which his presence would have supplied, and because he weakened the army by detaching some of his best and
most faithful troops for his horse and foot guards.
About the same time also happened a skirmish on the
All which made the soldiers at Bedriacum full of anger, and eagerness to be led to battle. So Proculus led them out of Bedriacum to a
place fifty furlongs off, where he pitched his camp so
ignorantly and with such a ridiculous want of foresight that
the soldiers suffered extremely for want of water, though it
was the spring time, and the plains all around were full of running streams and rivers that never dried up. The next day he proposed
to attack the enemy, first making a march of not less than a
hundred furlongs; but to this Paulinus objected, saying they
ought to wait, and not immediately after a journey engage men
who would have been standing in their arms and arranging
themselves for battle at their leisure, whilst they were making a
long march, with all their beasts of burden and their camp followers to encumber them. As the generals were arguing about this matter,
a Numidian courier came from Otho with orders to lose no time,
but give battle. Accordingly they consented, and moved. As soon
as Caecina had notice, he was much surprised, and quitted his
post on the river to hasten to the camp. In the meantime, the
men had armed themselves mostly, and were receiving the word from Valens; so while the legions took up their position, they sent out the
best of their horse in advance.
Otho's foremost troops, upon some groundless rumour, took up the notion
that the commanders on the other side would come over; and accordingly, upon their first approach, they saluted them with the friendly
title of fellow-soldiers. But the others returned the
compliment with anger and disdainful words; which not only
disheartened those that had given the salutation, but excited
suspicions of their fidelity amongst the others on their side,
who had not. This caused a confusion at the very first
onset. And nothing else that followed was done upon any plan;
the baggage-carriers, mingling up with the fighting men,
created great disorder and division; as well as the nature of
the ground, the ditches and pits in which were so many that
they were forced to break their ranks to avoid and go round them,
and so to fight without order, and in small parties. There were but two legions, one of Vitellius's called The Ravenous, and another
of Otho's, called The Assistant, that got out into the open
outspread level and engaged in proper form, fighting, one main
body against the other, for some length of time. Otho's men
were strong and bold, but had never been in battle before;
Vitellius's had seen many wars, but were old and past their strength. So Otho's legion charged boldly, drove back their opponents, and
took the eagle, killing pretty nearly every man in the first
rank, till the others, full of rage and shame, returned the
charge, slew Orfidius, the commander of the legion, and took
several standards. Varus Alfenus, with his Batavians, who are
the natives of an island of the
As for their commanders, neither Proculus nor Paulinus ventured to
reenter with the troops; they turned aside, and avoided the soldiers, who had already charged the miscarriage upon their officers.
Annius Gallus received into the town and rallied the scattered
parties, and encouraged them with an assurance that the battle
was a drawn one and the victory had in many parts been theirs.
Marius Celsus, collecting the officers, urged the public
interest; Otho himself, if he were a brave man, would not,
after such an expense of Roman blood, attempt anything further; especially since even Cato and Scipio, though the liberty of Rome was then at
stake, had been accused of being too prodigal of so many brave
men's lives as were lost in Africa, rather than submit to
Caesar after the battle of Pharsalia had gone against them. For
though all persons are equally subject to the caprice of
fortune, yet all good men have one advantage she cannot deny, which
is this, to act reasonably under misfortunes.
This language was well accepted amongst the officers, who sounded the
private soldiers, and found them desirous of peace; and Titianus also gave directions that envoys should be sent in order to a treaty.
And accordingly it was agreed that the conference should be
between Celsus and Gallus on one part,
and Valens with Caecina on the other. As the two first were upon their
journey, they met some centurions, who told them the troops were already
in motion, marching for Bedriacum, but that they themselves were deputed
by their generals to carry proposals for an accommodation. Celsus and
Gallus expressed their approval, and requested them to turn back and carry them to Caecina. However, Celsus, upon his approach, was in
danger from the vanguard, who happened to be some of the horse
that had suffered at the ambush. For as soon as they saw him,
they hallooed, and were coming down upon him; but the
centurions came forward to protect him, and the other officers
crying out and bidding them desist, Caecina came up to inform himself
of the tumult, which he quieted, and giving a friendly greeting to
Celsus, took him in his company and proceeded towards Bedriacum. Titianus, meantime, had repented of having sent the messengers; and placed
those of the soldiers who were more confident upon the walls
once again, bidding the others also go and support them. But
when Caecina rode up on his horse and held out his hand, no one
did or said to the contrary; those on the walls greeted his men
with salutations, others opened the gates and went out, and
mingled freely with those they met; and instead of acts of hostility, there was nothing but mutual shaking of hands and congratulations,
every one taking the oaths and submitting to Vitellius.
This is the account which the most of those that were present at the
battle give of it, yet own that the disorder they were in, and the absence
of any unity of action, would not give them leave to be certain as
to particulars. And when I myself travelled afterwards over the field of battle, Mestrius Florus, a man of consular degree, one of those
who had been, not willingly, but by command, in attendance on
Otho at the time, pointed out to me an ancient temple, and told
me, that as he went that way after the battle, he observed a
heap of bodies piled up there to such a height that those on
the top of it reached the pinnacles of the roof. How it came to
be so, he could neither discover himself nor learn from any
other person; as indeed, he said, in civil wars it generally happens that greater numbers are killed when an army is routed, quarter
not being given, because captives are of no advantage to the
conquerors; but why the carcasses should be heaped up after
that manner is not easy to determine.
Otho, at first, as it frequently happens, received some uncertain rumours
of the issue of the battle. But when some of the wounded that returned from the field informed him rightly of it, it is not, indeed, so
much to be wondered at that his friends should bid him not give
all up as lost or let his courage sink; but the feeling shown
by the soldiers is something that exceeds all belief. There was
not one of them would either go over to the conqueror or show
any disposition to make terms for himself, as if their leader's
cause was desperate; on the contrary, they crowded his gates,
called out to him the title of emperor, and as soon as he appeared, cried out and entreated him, catching hold of his band, and
throwing themselves upon the ground, and with all the moving
language of tears and persuasion, besought him to stand by
them, not abandon them to their enemies, but employ in his
service their lives and persons, which would not cease to be his so
long as they had breath; so urgent was their zealous and universal importunity.
And one obscure and private soldier, after he had drawn his
sword, addressed himself to Otho: "By this, Caesar, judge
our fidelity; there is not a man amongst us but would strike
thus to serve you;" and so stabbed himself. Notwithstanding
this, Otho stood serene and unshaken, and, with a face full of
constancy and composure, turned himself about and looked at them, replying
thus: "This day, my fellow-soldiers, which gives me such proofs of your affection, is preferable even to that on which you saluted
me emperor; deny me not, therefore, the yet higher satisfaction
of laying down my life for the preservation of so many brave
men; in this, at least, let me be worthy of the empire, that
is, to die for it. I am of opinion the enemy has neither gained
an entire nor a. decisive victory; I have advice that the
Moesian army is not many days' journey distant, on its march to the Adriatic; Asia, Syria, and Egypt, and the legions that are serving
against the Jews, declare for us; the senate is also with us,
and the wives and children of our opponents are in our power;
but alas, it is not in defence of Italy against Hannibal or
Pyrrhus or the Cimbri that we fight; Romans combining against
Romans, and, whether we conquer or are defeated, the country
suffers and we commit a crime: victory, to whichever it fall, is gained
at her expense. Believe it many times over, I can die with more honour
than I can reign. For I cannot see at all how I should do any such great
good to my country by gaining the victory, as I shall by dying to establish
peace and unanimity and to save Italy from such another unhappy day."
As soon as he had done, he was resolute against all manner of argument or persuasion, and taking leave of his friends and the senators
that were present, he bade them depart, and wrote to those that
were absent, and sent letters to the towns, that they might
have every honour and facility in their journey. Then he sent
for Cocceius, his brother's son, who was yet a boy, and bade
him be in no apprehension of Vitellius, whose mother and wife
and family he had treated with the same tenderness as his own; and
also told him that this had been his reason for delaying to adopt him, which he had meant to do as his son; he had desired that he might
share his power, if he conquered, but not be involved in his
ruin if he failed. "Take notice," he added, "my
boy, of these my last words, that you neither too negligently forget, nor too zealously remember, that Caesar
was your uncle." By and by he heard a tumult amongst the
soldiers at the door, who were treating the senators with
menaces for preparing to withdraw; upon which, out of regard to
their safety, he showed himself once more in public, but not
with a gentle aspect and in a persuading manner as before; on the contrary,
with a countenance that discovered indignation and authority, he
commanded such as were disorderly to leave the place, and was not disobeyed.
It was now evening, and feeling thirsty, he drank some water, and then
took two daggers that belonged to him, and when he had carefully examined their edges, he laid one of them down, and put the other in his
robe, under his arm, then called his servants, and distributed
some money amongst them, but not inconsiderately, nor like one
too lavish of what was not his own; for to some he gave more,
to others less, all strictly in moderation, and distinguishing
every one's particular merit. When this was done, he dismissed them,
and passed the rest of the night in so sound a sleep that the officers of his bed-chamber heard him snore. In the morning, he called for
one of his freedmen, who had assisted him in arranging about
the senators, and bade him bring him an account if they were
safe. Being informed they were all well and wanted nothing,
"Go then," he said "and show yourself
to the soldiers, lest they should cut you to pieces for being
accessory to my death." As soon as he was gone, he held
his sword upright under him with both his hands, and falling
upon it expired with no more than one single groan to express
his sense of the pang, or to inform those that waited without.
When his servants, therefore, raised their exclamations of grief, the
whole camp and city were at once filled with lamentation; the soldiers immediately broke in at the doors with a loud cry, in passionate
distress, and accusing themselves that they had been so
negligent in looking after that life which was laid down to
preserve theirs. Nor would a man of them quit the body to
secure his own safety with the approaching enemy; but having
raised a funeral pile, and attired the body, they bore it thither, arrayed
in their arms, those among them greatly exulting who succeeded in
getting first under the bier and becoming its bearers. Of the others, some threw themselves down before the body and kissed his wound,
others grasped his hand, and others that were at a distance
knelt down to do him obeisance. There were some who, after
putting their torches to the pile, slew themselves, though they
had not, so far as appeared, either any particular obligations
to the dead, or reason to apprehend ill-usage from the victor. Simply,
it would seem, no king, legal or illegal, had ever been possessed with
so extreme and vehement a passion to command others, as was that of these men to obey Otho. Nor did their love of him cease with his
death; it survived and changed ere long into a mortal hatred to
his successor, as will be shown in its proper place.
They placed the remains of Otho in the earth and raised over them a
monument which neither by its size nor the pomp of its inscription might excite hostility. I myself have seen it, at Brixillum; a plain
structure, and the epitaph only this: To the memory of Marcus
Otho. He died in his thirty-eighth year, after a short reign of
about three months, his death being as much applauded as his
life was censured, for if he lived no better than Nero, he died
more nobly. The soldiers were displeased with Pollio, one of
their two prefects, who bade them immediately swear allegiance to Vitellius;
and when they understood that some of the senators were still upon
the spot, they made no opposition to the departure of the rest, but only disturbed the tranquillity of Virginius Rufus with an offer
of the government, and moving in one body to his house in town
they first entreated him, and then demanded of him to be head
of the empire, or at least to be their mediator. But he, that
refused to command them when conquerors, thought it ridiculous
to pretend to it now they were beat, and was unwilling to go as
their envoy to the Germans, whom in past time he had compelled to
do various things that they had not liked; and for these reasons he slipped away through a private door. As soon as the soldiers
perceived this, they owned Vitellius, and so got their pardon,
and served under Caecina.
THE
END