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"HISTORIES"

by: Gaius Cornelius Tacitus

Translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb

Book I - January - March, A.D. 69

I begin my work with the time when Servius Galba was consul for the second time with Titus

Vinius for his colleague. Of the former period, the 820 years dati ng from the founding of the

city, many authors have treated; and while they had to record the transactions of the Roman

people, they wrote with equal eloquence and freedom. After the conflict at Actium, and when it

became essential to peace, that all power should be centered in one man, these great

intellects passed away. Then too the truthfulness of history was impaired in many ways; at

first, through men's ignorance of public affairs, which were now wholly strange to them, then,

through their passion for flattery, or, on the other hand, their hatred of their masters. And so

between the enmity of the one and the servility of the other, neither had any regard for

posterity. But while we instinctively shrink from a writer's adulation, we lend a ready ear to

detraction and spite, because flattery involves the shameful imputation of servility, whereas

malignity wears the false appearance of honesty. I myself knew nothing of Galba, of Otho, or

of Vitellius, either from benefits or from injuries. I would not deny that my elevation was begun

by Vespasian, augmented by Titus, and still further advanced by Domitian; but those who

profess inviolable truthfulness must speak of all without partiality and without hatred. I have

reserved as an employment for my old age, should my life be long enough, a subject at once

more fruitful and less anxious in the reign of the Divine Nerva and the empire of Trajan,

enjoying the rare happiness of times, when we may think what we please, and express what

we think.

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. There was success in the East, and disaster in the West. There were disturbances in

Illyricum; Gaul wavered in its allegiance; Britain was thoroughly subdued and immediately

abandoned; the tribes of the Suevi and the Sarmatae rose in concert against us; the Dacians

had the glory of inflicting as well as suffering defeat; the armies of Parthia were all but set in

motion by the cheat of a counterfeit Nero. Now too Italy was prostrated by disasters either

entirely novel, or that recurred only after a long succession of ages; cities in Campania's

richest plains were swallowed up and overwhelmed; Rome was wasted by conflagrations, its

oldest temples consumed, and the Capitol itself fired by the hands of citizens. Sacred rites

were profaned; there was profligacy in the highest ranks; the sea was crowded with exiles,

and its rocks polluted with bloody deeds. In the capital there were yet worse horrors. Nobility,

wealth, the refusal or the acceptance of office, were grounds for accusation, and virtue

ensured destruction. The rewards of the informers were no less odious than their crimes; for

while some seized on consulships and priestly offices, as their share of the spoil, others on

procuratorships, and posts of more confidential authority, they robbed and ruined in every

direction amid universal hatred and terror. Slaves were bribed to turn against their masters,

and freedmen to betray their patrons; and those who had not an enemy were destroyed by

friends.

Yet the age was not so barren in noble qualities, as not also to exhibit examples of virtue.

Mothers accompanied the flight of their sons; wives followed their husbands into exile; there

were brave kinsmen and faithful sons in law; there were slaves whose fidelity defied even

torture; there were illustrious men driven to the last necessity, and enduring it with fortitude;

there were closing scenes that equalled the famous deaths of antiquity. Besides the manifold

vicissitudes of human affairs, there were prodigies in heaven and earth, the warning voices of

the thunder, and other intimations of the future, auspicious or gloomy, doubtful or not to be

mistaken. Never surely did more terrible calamities of the Roman People, or evidence more

conclusive, prove tha t the Gods take no thought for our happiness, but only for our

punishment.

I think it proper, however, before I commence my purposed work, to pass under review the

condition of the capital, the temper of the armies, the attitude of the provinces, and the

elements of weakness and strength which existed throughout the whole empire, that so we

may become acquainted, not only with the vicissitudes and the issues of events, which are

often matters of chance, but also with their relations and their causes. 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 also excited all the

legions and their generals; for now had been divulged that secret of the empire, that emperors

could be made elsewhere than at Rome. The Senators enjoyed the first exercise of freedom

with the less restraint, because the Emperor was new to power, and absent from the capital.

The leading men of the Equestrian order sympathised most closely with the joy of the

Senators. The respectable portion of the people, which was connected with the great families,

as well as the dependants and freedmen of condemned and banished persons, were high in

hope. The degraded populace, frequenters of the arena and the theatre, the most worthless of

the slaves, and those who having wasted their property were supported by the infamous

excesses of Nero, caught eagerly in their dejection at every rumour.

The soldiery of the capital, who were imbued with the spirit of an old allegiance to the

Caesars, and who had been led to desert Nero by intrigues and influences from without rather

than by their own feelings, were inclined for change, when they found that the donative

promised in Galba's name was withheld, and reflected that for great services and great

rewards there was not the same room in peace as in war, and that the favour of an emperor

created by the legions must be already preoccupied. They were further excited by the treason

of Nymphidius Sabinus, their prefect, who himself aimed at the throne. Nymphidius indeed

perished in the attempt, but, though the head of the mutiny was thus removed, there yet

remained in many of the soldiers the consciousness of guilt. There were even men who talked

in angry terms of the feebleness and avarice of Galba. The strictness once so commended,

and celebrated in the praises of the army, was galling to troops who rebelled against the old

discipline, and who had been accustomed by fourteen years' service under Nero to love the

vices of their emperors, as much as they had once respected their virtues. To all this was

added Galba's own expression, "I choose my soldiers, I do not buy them," noble words for the

commonwealth, but fraught with peril for himself. His other acts were not after this pattern.

Titus Vinius and Cornelius Laco, one the most worthless, the other the most spiritless of

mankind, were ruining the weak old Emperor, who had to bear the odium of such crimes and

the scorn felt for such cowardice. Galba's progress had been slow and blood-stained.

Cingonius Varro, consul elect, and Petronius Turpilianus, a man of consular rank, were put to

death; the former as an accomplice of Nymphidius, the latter as one of Nero's generals. Both

had perished without hearing or defence, like innocent men. His entry into the capital, made

after the slaughter of thousands of unarmed soldiers, was most ill-omened, and was terrible

even to the executioners. As he brought into the city his Spanish legion, while that which Nero

had levied from the fleet still remained, Rome was full of strange troops. There were also

many detachments from Germany, Britain, and Illyria, selected by Nero, and sent on by him to

the Caspian passes, for service in the expedition which he was preparing against the Albani,

but afterwards recalled to crush the insurrection of Vindex. Here there were vast materials for

a revolution, without indeed a decided bias towards any one man, but ready to a daring hand.

In this conjuncture it happened that tidings of the deaths of Fonteius Capito and Clodius Macer

reached the capital. Macer was executed in Africa, where he was undoubtedly fomenting

sedition, by Trebonius Garutianus the procurator, who acted on Galba's authority; Capito fell in

Germany, while he was making similar attempts, by the hands of Cornelius Aquinus and

Fabius Valens, legates of legions, who did not wait for an order. There were however some

who believed that Capito, though foully stained with avarice and profligacy, had yet abstained

from all thought of revolution, that this was a treacherous accusation invented by the

commanders themselves, who had urged him to take up arms, when they found themselves

unable to prevail, and that Galba had approved of the deed, either from weakness of

character, or to avoid investigation into the circumstances of acts which could not be altered.

Both executions, however, were unfavourably regarded; indeed, when a ruler once becomes

unpopular, all his acts, be they good or bad, tell against him. The freedmen in their excessive

power were now putting up everything for sale; the slaves caught with greedy hands at

immediate gain, and, reflecting on their master's age, hastened to be rich. The new court had

the same abuses as the old, abuses as grievous as ever, but not so readily excused. Even the

age of Galba caused ridicule and disgust among those whose associations were with the

youth of Nero, and who were accustomed, as is the fashion of the vulgar, to value their

emperors by the beauty and grace of their persons.

Such, as far as one can speak of so vast a multitude, was the state of feeling at Rome. Among

the provinces, Spain was under the government of Cluvius Rufus, an eloquent man, who had

all the accomplishments of civil life, but who was without experience in war. Gaul, besides

remembering Vindex, was bound to Galba by the recently conceded privileges of citizenship,

and by the diminution of its future tribute. Those Gallic states, however, which were nearest to

the armies of Germany, had not been treated with the same respect, and had even in some

cases been deprived of their territory; and these were reckoning the gains of others and their

own losses with equal indignation. The armies of Germany were at once alarmed and angry, a

most dangerous temper when allied with such strength; while elated by their recent victory,

they feared because they might seem to have supported an unsuccessful party. They had

been slow to revolt from Nero, and Verginius had not immediately declared for Galba; it was

doubtful whether he had himself wished to be emperor, but all agreed that the empire had

been offered to him by the soldiery. Again, the execution of Capito was a subject of

indignation, even with those who could not complain of its injustice. They had no leader, for

Verginius had been withdrawn on the pretext of his friendship with the Emperor. That he was

not sent back, and that he was even impeached, they regarded as an accusation against

themselves.

The army of Upper Germany despised their legate, Hordeonius Flaccus, who, disabled by age

and lameness, had no strength of character and no authority; even when the soldiery were

quiet, he could not control them, much more in their fits of frenzy were they irritated by the

very feebleness of his restraint. The legions of Lower Germany had long been without any

general of consular rank, until, by the appointment of Galba, Aulus Vitellius took the command.

He was son of that Vitellius who was censor and three times consul; this was thought sufficient

recommendation. In the army of Britain there was no angry feeling; indeed no troops behaved

more blamelessly throughout all the troubles of these civil wars, either because they were far

away and separated by the ocean from the rest of the empire, or because continual warfare

had taught them to concentrate their hatred on the enemy. Illyricum too was quiet, though the

legions drawn from that province by Nero had, while lingering in Italy, sent deputations to

Verginius. But separated as these armies were by long distances, a thing of all others the

most favourable for keeping troops to their duty, they could neither communicate their vices,

nor combine their strength.

In the East there was as yet no movement. Syria and its four legions were under the command

of Licinius Mucianus, a man whose good and bad fortune were equally famous. In his youth he

had cultivated with many intrigues the friendship of the great. His resources soon failed, and

his position became precarious, and as he also suspected that Claudius had taken some

offence, he withdrew into a retired part of Asia, and was as like an exile, as he was afterwards

like an emperor. He was a compound of dissipation and energy, of arrogance and courtesy, of

good and bad qualities. His self-indulgence was excessive, when he had leisure, yet whenever

he had served, he had shown great qualities. In his public capacity he might be praised; his

private life was in bad repute. Yet over subjects, friends, and colleagues, he exercised the

influence of many fascinations. He was a man who would find it easier to transfer the imperial

power to another, than to hold it for himself. Flavius Vespasian, a general of Nero's

appointment, was carrying on the war in Judaea with three legions, and he had no wish or

feeling adverse to Galba. He had in fact sent his son Titus to acknowledge his authority and

bespeak his favour, as in its proper place I shall relate. 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.

Ever since the time of the Divine Augustus Roman Knights have ruled Egypt as kings, and the

forces by which it has to be kept in subjection. It has been thought expedient thus to keep

under home control a province so difficult of access, so productive of corn, ever distracted,

excitable, and restless through the superstition and licentiousness of its inhabitants, knowing

nothing of laws, and unused to civil rule. Its governor was at this time Tiberius Alexander, a

native of the country. Africa and its legions, now that Clodius Macer was dead, were disposed

to be content with any emperor, after having experienced the rule of a smaller tyrant. The two

divisions of Mauritania, Rhaetia, Noricum and Thrace and the other provinces governed by

procurators, as they were near this or that army, were driven by the presence of such powerful

neighbours into friendship or hostility. The unarmed provinces with Italy at their head were

exposed to any kind of slavery, and were ready to become the prize of victory. Such was the

state of the Roman world, when Servius Galba, consul for the second time, with T. Vinius for

his colleague, entered upon a year, which was to be the last of their lives, and which well nigh

brought the commonwealth to an end.

A few days after the 1st of January, there arrived from Belgica despatches of Pompeius

Propinquus, the Procurator, to this effect; that the legions of Upper Germany had broken

through the obligation of their military oath, and were demanding another emperor, but

conceded the power of choice to the Senate and people of Rome, in the hope that a more

lenient view might be taken of their revolt. These tidings hastened the plans of Galba, who had

been long debating the subject of adoption with himself and with his intimate friends. There

was indeed no more frequent subject of conversation during these months, at first because

men had liberty and inclination to talk of such matters, afterwards because the feebleness of

Galba was notorious. Few had any discrimination or patriotism, many had foolish hopes for

themselves, and spread interested reports, in which they named this or that person to whom

they might be related as friend or dependant. They were also moved by hatred of T. Vinius,

who grew daily more powerful, and in the same proportion more unpopular. The very easiness

of Galba's temper stimulated the greedy cupidity which great advancement had excited in his

friends, because with one so weak and so credulous wrong might be done with less risk and

greater gain.

The real power of the Empire was divided between T. Vinius, the consul, and Cornelius Laco,

prefect of the Praetorian Guard. Icelus, a freedman of Galba, was in equal favour; he had

been presented with the rings of knighthood, and bore the Equestrian name of Martianus.

These men, being at variance, and in smaller matters pursuing their own aims, were divided in

the affair of choosing a successor, into two opposing factions. T. Vinius was for Marcus Otho,

Laco and Icelus agreed, not indeed in supporting any particular individual, but in striving for

some one else. Galba indeed was aware of the friendship between Vinius and Otho; the

gossip of those who allow nothing to pass in silence had named them as father-in-law and

son-in-law, for Vini us had a widowed daughter, and Otho was unmarried. I believe that he had

also at heart some care for the commonwealth, in vain, he would think, rescued from Nero, if it

was to be left with Otho. For Otho's had been a neglected boyhood and a riotous youth, and

he had made himself agreeable to Nero by emulating his profligacy. For this reason the

Emperor had entrusted to him, as being the confidant of his amours, Poppaea Sabina, the

imperial favourite, until he could rid himself of his wife Octavia. Soon suspecting him with

regard to this same Poppaea, he sent him out of the way to the province of Lusitania,

ostensibly to be its governor. Otho ruled the province with mildness, and, as he was the first to

join Galba's party, was not without energy, and, while the war lasted, was the most

conspicuous of the Emperor's followers, he was led to cherish more and more passionately

every day those hopes of adoption which he had entertained from the first. Many of the

soldiers favoured him, and the court was biassed in his favour, because he resembled Nero.

When Galba heard of the mutiny in Germany, though nothing was as yet known about

Vitellius, he felt anxious as to the direction which the violence of the legions might take, while

he could not trust even the soldiery of the capital. He therefore resorted to what he supposed

to be the only remedy, and held a council for the election of an emperor. To this he

summoned, besides Vinius and Laco, Marius Celsus, consul elect, and Ducennius Geminus,

prefect of the city. Havi ng first said a few words about his advanced years, he ordered Piso

Licinianus to be summoned. It is uncertain whether he acted on his own free choice, or, as

believed by some, under the influence of Laco, who through Rubellius Plautus had cultivated

the friendship of Piso. But, cunningly enough, it was as a stranger that Laco supported him,

and the high character of Piso gave weight to his advice. Piso, who was the son of M. Crassus

and Scribonia, and thus of noble descent on both sides, was in look and manner a man of the

old type. Rightly judged, he seemed a stern man, morose to those who estimated him less

favourably. This point in his character pleased his adopted father in proportion as it raised the

anxious suspicions of others.

We are told that Galba, taking hold of Piso's hand, spoke to this effect: "If I were a private

man, and were now adopting you by the Act of the Curiae before the Pontiffs, as our custom

is, it would be a high honour to me to introduce into my family a descendant of Cn. Pompeius

and M. Crassus; it would be a distinction to you to add to the nobility of your race the honours

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