XI.
Laeta interim Othoni principia belli, motis ad imperium eius e Dalmatia Pannoniaque exercitibus. fuere quattuor legiones, e quibus bina milia praemissa; ipsae modicis intervallis sequebantur, septima a Galba conscripta, veteranae undecima ac tertia decima et praecipui fama quartadecumani, rebellione Britanniae compressa. addiderat gloriam Nero eligendo ut potissimos, unde longa illis erga Neronem fides et erecta in Othonem studia. sed quo plus virium ac roboris e fiducia tarditas inerat. agmen legionum alae cohortesque praeveniebant; et ex ipsa urbe haud spernenda manus, quinque praetoriae cohortes et equitum vexilla cum legione prima, ac deforme insuper auxilium, duo milia gladiatorum, sed per civilia arma etiam severis ducibus usurpatum. his copiis rector additus Annius Gallus, cum Vestricio Spurinna ad occupandas Padi ripas praemissus, quoniam prima consiliorum frustra ceciderant, transgresso iam Alpis Caecina, quem sisti intra Gallias posse speraverat. ipsum Othonem comitabantur speculatorum lecta corpora cum ceteris praetoriis cohortibus, veterani e praetorio, classicorum ingens numerus. nec illi segne aut corruptum luxu iter, sed lorica ferrea usus est et ante signa pedes ire, horridus, incomptus famaeque dissimilis.
11.
Meanwhile the onset of the war was favorable to Otho. At his order the armies of Dalmatia and Pannonia were set in motion, four legions in all. Each army had sent in advance a detachment of two thousand men, with the main body following at some distance. This comprised the Seventh legion raised by Galba and three veteran legions, the Eleventh, the Thirteenth, and finally the Fourteenth, whose reputation surpassed that of the others in the wake of the repression of [Boudicca’s] revolt in Britain. [Also], Nero had exalted their fame by singling them out as his best soldiers, a distinction that made the legion very devoted to him and now enthusiastic for Otho. But their strength and toughness also gave them overconfidence, made them hard to deal with, and ultimately slowed down their advance. Auxiliary cavalry and infantry preceded the main column of the legions. Far from negligeable were also the forces marching out from Rome itself: five praetorian cohorts with their cavalry, the First legion, and an additional body of two thousand gladiators, an ignominious type of support, but one which even strict commanders relied on in civil war. Annius Gallus was put in command of these troops and sent ahead with Vestricius Spurinna to hold both sides of the Po River. Otho’s initial plan to stop Caecina in Gaul was now dashed, since Caecina, whom they had hoped to be able to hold in Gaul, had already crossed the Alps . Otho himself was escorted by the elite of his bodyguard, the remaining praetorian cohorts, the reenlisted veteran praetorians, and a large number of marines. His march was anything but casual or marked by excesses: wearing an iron breastplate, hirsute, dishevelled, he walked before the standards, belying his reputation.
XII.
Blandiebatur coeptis fortuna, possessa per mare et navis maiore Italiae parte penitus usque ad initium maritimarum Alpium, quibus temptandis adgrediendaeque provinciae Narbonensi Suedium Clementem, Antonium Novellum, Aemilium Pacensem duces dederat. sed Pacensis per licentiam militum vinctus, Antonio Novello nulla auctoritas: Suedius Clemens ambitioso imperio regebat, ut adversus modestiam disciplinae corruptus, ita proeliorum avidus. non Italia adiri nec loca sedesque patriae videbantur: tamquam externa litora et urbes hostium urere, vastare, rapere eo atrocius quod nihil usquam provisum adversum metus. pleni agri, apertae domus; occursantes domini iuxta coniuges et liberos securitate pacis et belli malo circumveniebantur. maritimas tum Alpis tenebat procurator Marius Maturus. is concita gente (nec deest iuventus) arcere provinciae finibus Othonianos intendit: sed primo impetu caesi disiectique montani, ut quibus temere collectis, non castra, non ducem noscitantibus, neque in victoria decus esset neque in fuga flagitium.
12.
So far Fortune favored his designs. Thanks to his fleet and its command of the sea, he controlled most of Italy right up to the foot of the Maritime Alps. He had given the task of crossing these Alps and attacking Gallia Narbonensis to Suedius Clemens, Antonius Novellus, and Aemilius Pacensis, but Pacensis soon became a prisoner of his mutinous soldiers, Antonius Novellus had no authority whatsoever, and Suedius Clemens’ style of command was that of a man wanting to be popular and as recklessly negligent of discipline as he was passionately eager to fight. It did not seem it was Italy his army was passing through, the plains and towns of their own native land. They burnt, ravaged, and plundered just as if they were on foreign shores and in enemy towns. Their devastation was all the more dreadful in that no provision had been made anywhere to counter the threat. The fields had abundant crops, the houses were open, and the owners, accompanied by their wives and children, would rush up [to meet the troops] with all the assurance warranted by peace and found themselves surrounded by the evils of war. At that time the Maritime Alps was governed by the procurator Marius Maturus: he called the people to arms –there was no shortage of able-bodied men—with the intention of keeping the Othonians away from the province, but at the first encounter the mountaineers were scattered, as is usual with men called up in a hurry, unfamiliar with camp life and discipline, who saw no glory in victory nor shame in defeat.
XIII.
Inritatus eo proelio Othonis miles vertit iras in municipium Albintimilium. quippe in acie nihil praedae, inopes agrestes et vilia arma; nec capi poterant, pernix genus et gnari locorum: sed calamitatibus insontium expleta avaritia. auxit invidiam praeclaro exemplo femina Ligus, quae filio abdito, cum simul pecuniam occultari milites credidissent eoque per cruciatus interrogarent ubi filium occuleret, uterum ostendens latere respondit, nec ullis deinde terroribus aut morte constantiam vocis egregiae mutavit.
13.
Angered by this resistance, Otho’s soldiery vented their fury on the town of Albintimilium. In the battle they had gained no spoils: the peasants were poor and their arms valueless; nor could the fugitives be taken prisoners, for they were a nimble race and knew the country inside out; instead, the soldiers’ greed found relief in the massacre of innocents. The foulness of their conduct was underlined by the sublime example of a Ligurian woman, who had concealed her son and was tortured because the soldiers imagined she had also hidden money together with him and wanted to know where the hiding place was. Pointing to her belly she said her son was hiding in there, and neither violent threats nor death itself could induce her to change her noble reply.
XIV.
Imminere provinciae Narbonensi, in verba Vitellii adactae, classem Othonis trepidi nuntii Fabio Valenti attulere; aderant legati coloniarum auxilium orantes. duas Tungrorum cohortis, quattuor equitum turmas, universam Trevirorum alam cum Iulio Classico praefecto misit, e quibus pars in colonia Foroiuliensi retenta, ne omnibus copiis in terrestre iter versis vacuo mari classis adceleraret. duodecim equitum turmae et lecti e cohortibus adversus hostem iere, quibus adiuncta Ligurum cohors, vetus loci auxilium, et quingenti Pannonii, nondum sub signis. nec mora proelio: sed acies ita instructa ut pars classicorum mixtis paganis in collis mari propinquos exurgeret, quantum inter collis ac litus aequi loci praetorianus miles expleret, in ipso mari ut adnexa classis et pugnae parata conversa et minaci fronte praetenderetur: Vitelliani, quibus minor peditum vis, in equite robur, Alpinos proximis iugis, cohortis densis ordinibus post equitem locant. Trevirorum turmae obtulere se hosti incaute, cum exciperet contra veteranus miles, simul a latere saxis urgeret apta ad iaciendum etiam paganorum manus, qui sparsi inter milites, strenui ignavique, in victoria idem audebant. additus perculsis terror invecta in terga pugnantium classe: ita undique clausi, deletaeque omnes copiae forent ni victorem exercitum attinuisset obscurum noctis, obtentui fugientibus.
14.
Frightened messengers brought news to Fabius Valens that Gallia Narbonensis, which had sided with Vitellius, was under attack by the Othonian fleet. Delegates from the colonies were already there imploring help. He sent out two cohorts of Tungrian infantry, four cavalry squadrons, and the entire auxiliary cavalry of the Treveri under Julius Classicus. A part of these forces stayed back in the colony of Forum Iulii to prevent Otho’s fleet from occupying the undefended coast unopposed, if the entire force kept to a route farther inland. Against Otho’s strength advanced twelve cavalry squadrons and the elite of the auxiliary infantry, supported by a Ligurian cohort, an indigenous unit that had long provided for the defence of that region, and five hundred Pannonian soldiers not yet assigned to the legions. Battle was joined without delay, but the line was positioned in such a way that a part of Otho’s navy troops, commingled with the local peasantry, rose {above the enemy] on the heights near the sea and all the level ground between the sea and the heights was filled with praetorian troops, while in the sea itself the fleet appeared to extend their lines, ready for battle, the prows turned toward the shore, presenting a formidable front. The Vitellians, who had little infantry but were strong in cavalry, placed the [cohort of] Ligurian mountaineers on the neighboring hills and the [Tungrian] cohorts in tight order behind the cavarry. The squadrons of the Treveri exposed themselves to the enemy in a reckless charge, having in front Otho’s veteran troops waiting for them and at the same time being pelted on the flank by a hail of stones hurled by the local peasantry spread among the soldiers, people remarkably apt at this kind of combat and all showing, the brave as well as the cowardly, the same audacity in victory. To add to the terror of the Vitellians, already thrown into confusion, the fleet attacked them in the rear during the fighting. They were hemmed in on all sides and the entire force would have perished had darkness not kept the victors in check and protected the retreat of the fugitives.
XV.
Nec Vitelliani quamquam victi quievere: accitis auxiliis securum hostem ac successu rerum socordius agentem invadunt. caesi vigiles, perrupta castra, trepidatum apud navis, donec sidente paulatim metu, occupato iuxta colle defensi, mox inrupere. atrox ibi caedes, et Tungrarum cohortium praefecti sustentata diu acie telis obruuntur. ne Othonianis quidem incruenta victoria fuit, quorum improvide secutos conversi equites circumvenerunt. ac velut pactis indutiis, ne hinc classis inde eques subitam formidinem inferrent, Vitelliani retro Antipolim Narbonensis Galliae municipium, Othoniani Albingaunum interioris Liguriae revertere.
15.
Though defeated, the Vitellians did not remain inactive: calling up their reserves, they counterattacked an unsuspecting enemy, whom success had made careless. The sentinels were cut down, the camp broken in, and panic spread among the ships, until fear gradually subsided and Otho’s men were able to procure the protection of a nearby hill they had seized. [From there] they soon went on the offensive again and dreadful carnage ensued. The prefects of the Tungrian cohorts, after holding their line long and firmly, were crushed by a storm of missiles. But victory cost no less blood to the Othonians, for those among them who had imprudently pursued the fugitives, were enveloped and killed by the cavalry performing a sudden about-face. Then, as if both sides had agreed to a truce, to avoid new alarms from the fleet on one side or from the cavalry on the other, the Vitellians withdrew to Antipolis, a town of Gallia Narbonensis, and the Othonians to Albingaunum in inland Liguria.
XVI.
Corsicam ac Sardiniam ceterasque proximi maris insulas fama victricis classis in partibus Othonis tenuit. sed Corsicam prope adflixit Decumi Pacarii procuratoris temeritas, tanta mole belli nihil in summam profutura, ipsi exitiosa. namque Othonis odio iuvare Vitellium Corsorum viribus statuit, inani auxilio etiam si provenisset. vocatis principibus insulae consilium aperit, et contra dicere ausos, Claudium Pyrrichum trierarchum Liburnicarum ibi navium, Quintium Certum equitem Romanum, interfici iubet: quorum morte exterriti qui aderant, simul ignara et alieni metus socia imperitorum turba in verba Vitellii iuravere. sed ubi dilectum agere Pacarius et inconditos homines fatigare militiae muneribus occepit, laborem insolitum perosi infirmitatem suam reputabant: insulam esse quam incolerent, et longe Germaniam virisque legionum; direptos vastatosque classe etiam quos cohortes alaeque protegerent. et aversi repente animi, nec tamen aperta vi: aptum tempus insidiis legere. digressis qui Pacarium frequentabant, nudus et auxilii inops balineis interficitur; trucidati et comites. capita ut hostium ipsi interfectores ad Othonem tulere; neque eos aut Otho praemio adfecit aut puniit Vitellius, in multa conluvie rerum maioribus flagitiis permixtos.
16.
The rumor that the fleet had been victorious kept Corsica, Sardinia, and all the other islands in the neighboring sea loyal to Otho, but the temerity of Decumus Pacarius almost brought ruin to Corsica. His initiative was going to make no difference in a war of such vast proportions, but was fatal to himself. Hatred of Otho gave him in fact the idea of placing the forces of the island at Vitellius’ disposal, a pointless service, even had he succeeded. He called together the notables of the island and revealed his plan; when two among them, Claudius Pyrrichus, the commander of the Liburnian galleys stationed in Corsica, and Quintius Certus, a Roman knight, ventured to object, he had them executed. Terrified by their fate, the rest swore allegiance to Vitellius, and so did the mindless rabble, swept along by the fears of others, not knowing what was at stake. However, when Pacarius started drafting the locals for service and wearying men unaccustomed to discipline with the hard labors of army life, these soon came to loathe their unwonted occupation and began to take stock of their predicament. Their home was an island, they reflected, Germany and the might of its legions were far away; even those whom the cohorts and the cavalry protected had been pillaged and ravaged by [Otho’s] fleet. All at once their attitude changed, yet not with overt recourse to violence; they chose rather to wait for an occasion suitable for treachery. When they saw him parted from his retinue, naked and helpless in his bath, they killed him. Those belonging to his suite were also slaughtered and the heads were taken to Otho by the murderers themselves, as if they were the heads of their country’s enemies. But neither did Otho reward them nor Vitellius punish them: they became lost in the boundless morass of greater iniquities.
XVII.
Aperuerat iam Italiam bellumque transmiserat, ut supra memoravimus, ala Siliana, nullo apud quemquam Othonis favore, nec quia Vitellium mallent, sed longa pax ad omne servitium fregerat facilis occupantibus et melioribus incuriosos. florentissimum Italiae latus, quantum inter Padum Alpisque camporum et urbium, armis Vitellii (namque et praemissae a Caecina cohortes advenerant) tenebatur. capta Pannoniorum cohors apud Cremonam; intercepti centum equites ac mille classici inter Placentiam Ticinumque. quo successu Vitellianus miles non iam flumine aut ripis arcebatur; inritabat quin etiam Batavos transrhenanosque Padus ipse, quem repente contra Placentiam transgressi raptis quibusdam exploratoribus ita ceteros terruere ut adesse omnem Caecinae exercitum trepidi ac falsi nuntiarent.
17.
As was mentioned before, the Silian cavalry regiment had already opened the way into Italy and moved the war across the Alps. No one in that part of Italy was favorable to Otho, not because the people preferred Vitellius, but rather because a long peace had broken them in to any form of bondage, making them willing servants of any invader with no desire for better masters. The most prosperous part of Italy, all the plains and cities between the river Po and the Alps, was now held by Vitellius’ forces, since the cohorts sent on in advance by Caecina had by this time arrived. A unit of Pannonian infantry was captured near Cremona; one hundred cavalrymen and one thousand navy troops were surprised between Placentia and Ticinum. For the Vitellians the success meant that the river and its banks were no longer a barrier to their advance. On the contrary, the very sight of the river stirred to action both the Batavi and the German troops hailing from regions east of the Rhine, who crossed the Po opposite Placentia, capturing a few scouts and so terrorizing the rest that in their panic they spread the empty rumor that Caecina with his entire army was upon them.
XVIII.
Certum erat Spurinnae (is enim Placentiam optinebat) necdum venisse Caecinam et, si propinquaret, coercere intra munimenta militem nec tris praetorias cohortis et mille vexillarios cum paucis equitibus veterano exercitui obicere: sed indomitus miles et belli ignarus correptis signis vexillisque ruere et retinenti duci tela intentare, spretis centurionibus tribunisque: quin prodi Othonem et accitum Caecinam clamitabant. fit temeritatis alienae comes Spurinna, primo coactus, mox velle simulans, quo plus auctoritatis inesset consiliis si seditio mitesceret.
18.
It was obvious to Spurinna, who was in command at Placentia, that Caecina could not possibly have arrived and even if he were on his way there, the best thing was to hold his men within the walls and not to pit his three praetorian cohorts, his special detachments of a thousand troops, and his handful of mounted men against an army of veterans. But his men, in their ignorance of war, were not to be reined in: they grabbed the standards and banners and rushed from the town, pointing their weapons at Spurinna when he tried to restrain them, ignoring the orders of centurions and tribunes, even shouting that Otho was being betrayed and that Caecina had been sent for. Spurinna then went along with the folly of others, first under compulsion, then feigning it was his desire, hoping his counsel would carry more authority, if the sedition moderated.
XIX.
Postquam in conspectu Padus et nox adpetebat vallari castra placuit. is labor urbano militi insolitus contundit animos. tum vetustissimus quisque castigare credulitatem suam, metum ac discrimen ostendere si cum exercitu Caecina patentibus campis tam paucas cohortis circumfudisset. iamque totis castris modesti sermones, et inserentibus se centurionibus tribunisque laudari providentia ducis quod coloniam virium et opum validam robur ac sedem bello legisset. ipse postremo Spurinna, non tam culpam exprobrans quam rationem ostendens, relictis exploratoribus ceteros Placentiam reduxit minus turbidos et imperia accipientis. solidati muri, propugnacula addita, auctae turres, provisa parataque non arma modo sed obsequium et parendi amor, quod solum illis partibus defuit, cum virtutis haud paeniteret.
19.
After they arrived within sight of the Po and night was coming, it was decided to surround the camp with a rampart. The heavy work, novel to urban troops, dampened their spirits. The oldest among them began to revile their own credulity and express fear about the dangers of their situation, if Caecina and his army were to surround them, a few cohorts, in open country. Very soon the talk in the camp sounded more restrained, and when centurions and tribunes went among the men [and joined in the talk], there was much praise for the prudence of the general in choosing a colony naturally strong and rich in resources as a solid base of operations. In the end Spurinna in person convinced the troops to follow him back to Placentia, less by reproving their behaviour than by exposing the reasons for his plan. Some scouts were left behind and the rest returned, less turbulent now and more amenable to discipline. The walls were reinforced, forward defenses added, the number of towers or their height increased, and not only the provision and the preparation of arms were improved, but also the readiness to respect authority and to comply with orders, the only quality lacking in these troops, for their fighting spirit was above reproach.
XX.
At Caecina, velut relicta post Alpis saevitia ac licentia, modesto agmine per Italiam incessit. ornatum ipsius municipia et coloniae in superbiam trahebant, quod versicolori sagulo, bracas [barbarum tecgmen] indutus togatos adloqueretur. uxorem quoque eius Saloninam, quamquam in nullius iniuriam insignis equo ostroque veheretur, tamquam laesi gravabantur, insita mortalibus natura recentem aliorum felicitatem acribus oculis introspicere modumque fortunae a nullis magis exigere quam quos in aequo viderunt. Caecina Padum transgressus, temptata Othonianorum fide per conloquium et promissa, isdem petitus, postquam pax et concordia speciosis et inritis nominibus iactata sunt, consilia curasque in obpugnationem Placentiae magno terrore vertit, gnarus ut initia belli provenissent famam in cetera fore.
20.
For his part, seemingly leaving on the other side of the Alps his cruelty and licence, Caecina marched his army through Italy in a disciplined manner. The citizens of the towns and colonies [he came to] took a dim view of his garb, finding it a mark of arrogance, for it was in a multicolored cloak and wearing Gallic trousers –typical barbarian dress—that he harangued toga-clad civilians. They equally objected to his wife Salomina, as if deeply offended by her, even though she did nothing more injurious to anyone than riding by on a horse with a purple covering, human nature being such that it looks with malevolent eyes on the recent good fortune of others and exacts greatest modesty from those who formerly were one’s equals. After crossing the Po, Caecina tried during a parley to test the loyalties of Otho’s supporters with promises and was himself tempted with similar offers. [In the end], when the question of peace and concord had been debated back and forth with pompous but empty language, he turned all his thoughts and care to the assault on Placentia with awe-inspiring force, only too aware that his reputation later in the war would depend on his success at the outset.