XLI.
Eodem die ad Caecinam operi pontis intentum duo praetoriarum cohortium tribuni, conloquium eius postulantes, venerunt: audire condiciones ac reddere parabat, cum praecipites exploratores adesse hostem nuntiavere. interruptus tribunorum sermo, eoque incertum fuit insidias an proditionem vel aliquod honestum consilium coeptaverint. Caecina dimissis tribunis revectus in castra datum iussu Fabii Valentis pugnae signum et militem in armis invenit. dum legiones de ordine agminis sortiuntur, equites prorupere; et mirum dictu, a paucioribus Othonianis quo minus in vallum inpingerentur, Italicae legionis virtute deterriti sunt: ea strictis mucronibus redire pulsos et pugnam resumere coegit. disposita Vitellianarum legionum acies sine trepidatione: etenim quamquam vicino hoste aspectus armorum densis arbustis prohibebatur. apud Othonianos pavidi duces, miles ducibus infensus, mixta vehicula et lixae, et praeruptis utrimque fossis via quieto quoque agmini angusta. circumsistere alii signa sua, quaerere alii; incertus undique clamor adcurrentium, vocantium: ut cuique audacia vel formido, in primam postremamve aciem prorumpebant aut relabebantur.
41.
The same day, while Caecina was busy with the construction of the bridge, two tribunes of the praetorian cohorts approached him and requested an interview. He was preparing to hear their proposals and to make his own, when suddenly scouts announced the enemy’s approach. The parley with the tribunes was thus interrupted, so it was never known whether the tribunes had some dubious or even treacherous intent or something honest in mind. After dismissing the tribunes, Caecina returned to camp where he found the signal of battle already given and the men under arms, on Fabius Valens’ orders. While the legions were drawing lots for their place in the line, the Vitellian cavalry rode out and charged, but an incredible thing occurred: a mere handful of Othonians would have driven them back within the camp had not the courageous reaction of the Italica legion dissuaded them from fleeing. The legion received them with drawn swords and compelled them to wheel about and resume fighting. The Vitellian legions took up position in the line without haste: even though the enemy were near, their arms were hidden from view by dense tree plantations. On the Othonian front, the generals were on edge, the soldiers resented their leaders, camp followers and their waggons were in everyone’s way, the road with steep ditches on either side was too narrow even without a battle to fight. Some men gathered around their standards, others went in search of them. Everywhere confused cries of soldiers running to their posts or calling one another. Each of them, according to his pluck or timidity, rushed boldly to the front or went furtively to the rear.
XLII.
Attonitas subito terrore mentis falsum gaudium in languorem vertit, repertis qui descivisse a Vitellio exercitum ementirentur. is rumor ab exploratoribus Vitellii dispersus, an in ipsa Othonis parte seu dolo seu forte surrexerit, parum compertum. omisso pugnae ardore Othoniani ultro salutavere; et hostili murmure excepti, plerisque suorum ignaris quae causa salutandi, metum proditionis fecere. tum incubuit hostium acies, integris ordinibus, robore et numero praestantior: Othoniani, quamquam dispersi, pauciores, fessi, proelium tamen acriter sumpsere. et per locos arboribus ac vineis impeditos non una pugnae facies: comminus eminus, catervis et cuneis concurrebant. in aggere viae conlato gradu corporibus et umbonibus niti, omisso pilorum iactu gladiis et securibus galeas loricasque perrumpere: noscentes inter se, ceteris conspicui, in eventum totius belli certabant.
42.
A joyous but deceptive rumor further sapped the resolve of Otho’s troops, already weakened by the sudden panic and confusion in their ranks. Certain individuals were found who falsely claimed that Vitellius’ army had deserted him. Whether the story was circulated by Vitellian spies or had its origin among the Othonians themselves, either from treachery or by chance, it was never clearly established. Otho’s troops lost their desire to fight and even cheered the opposing army, and when the enemy met their advances with hostile mutterings, the suspicion of treachery grew among them, most of whom did not know what the cheering was about. At that moment the enemy line fell on them in perfect order and with superior strength of numbers. Otho’s men, in spite of their disarray, fewer numbers, and fatigue, engaged vigorously. The battle, obstructed in places by trees and vineyard rows, took many forms. Men fought at a distance and hand-to-hand, in confused masses or in wedge formations. On the causeway they fronted each other at close quarters, pressing body against body, shield against shield. Dropping their javelins, they hacked through helmets and breastplates with swords and axes. Though they knew one another, they kept up the killing in full view of the others, grimly set on deciding the issue of the war [right there and then].
XLIII.
Forte inter Padum viamque patenti campo duae legiones congressae sunt, pro Vitellio unaetvicensima, cui cognomen Rapaci, vetere gloria insignis, e parte Othonis prima Adiutrix, non ante in aciem deducta, sed ferox et novi decoris avida. primani stratis unaetvicensimanorum principiis aquilam abstulere; quo dolore accensa legio et impulit rursus primanos, interfecto Orfidio Benigno legato, et plurima signa vexillaque ex hostibus rapuit. a parte alia propulsa quintanorum impetu tertia decima legio, circumventi plurium adcursu quartadecimani. et ducibus Othonis iam pridem profugis Caecina ac Valens subsidiis suos firmabant. accessit recens auxilium, Varus Alfenus cum Batavis, fusa gladiatorum manu, quam navibus transvectam obpositae cohortes in ipso flumine trucidaverant: ita victores latus hostium invecti.
43.
Two legions happened to clash in an open plain between the Po and the [Postumian] way. On Vitellius’ side the Twenty-first legion, called the Rapax, famous for its ancient glory; on Otho’s side was the First legion Adiutrix, which had never engaged before, but was aching to fight and hungry for glory. Its soldiers smashed through the forward ranks of the Twenty-first and seized its eagle, but the sting felt at the loss so inflamed the men of the Rapax that they in turn not only drove back their opponents and even killed the legion commander, the legate Orfidius Benignus, but also wrested many standards and banners from them. Elsewhere in the battle, a vigorous attack by the [Vitellian] Fifth legion forced the Thirteenth legion to give way and the Fourteenth was surrounded by overwhelming numbers newly rushed in. Otho’s generals had fled the field long before, [whereas] Caecina and Valens kept strengthening their troops with reinforcements. New help came when Varus Alfenus arrived with his Batavian cohorts after routing the contingent of gladiators who had crossed the river in boats and were massacred, while still in the water, by the cohorts positioned on the bank. Thus victorious, the Batavi then fell on the enemy’s flank.
XLIV.
Et media acie perrupta fugere passim Othoniani, Bedriacum petentes. immensum id spatium, obstructae strage corporum viae, quo plus caedis fuit; neque enim civilibus bellis capti in praedam vertuntur. Suetonius Paulinus et Licinius Proculus diversis itineribus castra vitavere. Vedium Aquilam tertiae decimae legionis legatum irae militum inconsultus pavor obtulit. multo adhuc die vallum ingressus clamore seditiosorum et fugacium circumstrepitur; non probris, non manibus abstinent; desertorem proditoremque increpant, nullo proprio crimine eius sed more vulgi suum quisque flagitium aliis obiectantes. Titianum et Celsum nox iuvit, dispositis iam excubiis conpressisque militibus, quos Annius Gallus consilio precibus auctoritate flexerat, ne super cladem adversae pugnae suismet ipsi caedibus saevirent: sive finis bello venisset seu resumere arma mallent, unicum victis in consensu levamentum. ceteris fractus animus: praetorianus miles non virtute se sed proditione victum fremebat: ne Vitellianis quidem incruentam fuisse victoriam, pulso equite, rapta legionis aquila; superesse cum ipso Othone militum quod trans Padum fuerit, venire Moesicas legiones, magnam exercitus partem Bedriaci remansisse: hos certe nondum victos et, si ita ferret, honestius in acie perituros. his cogitationibus truces aut pavidi extrema desperatione ad iram saepius quam in formidinem stimulabantur.
44.
Their centre smashed, the Othonians fled dispersedly towards their camp at Bedriacum, a very long distance away, on roads clogged with corpses, as there the greatest carnage had occurred, for in civil wars taking prisoners is not profitable. Suetonius Paulinus and Licinius Proculus avoided the camp by taking other routes. Unreasoning fear drove Vedius Aquila, the legate of the Thirteenth legion, to expose himself to the anger of his soldiers. He entered the camp in broad daylight and was at once encircled by a shouting mob of seditious fugitives. He was spared neither insults nor violence. They reviled him calling him a desertor and a traitor, not because they had any specific reason for abusing him, but because it is typical of mobs to charge others with their own dishonorable conduct. Titianus and Celsus were favored by darkness: sentinels were by then posted and the soldiers brought to order after Annius Gallus, by reasoning and pleading with them and using his authority, had persuaded them not to add to the calamity of a lost battle the madness of shedding more of their own blood. Whether that battle had been the end of the war for them, he said, or whether they preferred to resume the fight, the only palliative for their ills in defeat lay in concord. While the rest of the army was demoralized, the praetorians angrily insisted that they had been beaten not by superior valor, but by treason. At any rate, they cried, the Vitellians had paid for victory with much blood; their cavalry had been routed, and the eagle of a legion wrenched from them. Otho was alive and had with him the forces they had stationed on the south side of the Po. The Moesian legions were on their way and much of their own army had been left behind [before the battlle] at Bedriacum. All these forces surely had not as yet been defeated, and if that were to be, they would die more honorably on the battlefield. Such thoughts excited in turn their belligerence or their anxiety, but the desperate plight they were in roused more often their fury than their fears.
XLV.
At Vitellianus exercitus ad quintum a Bedriaco lapidem consedit, non ausis ducibus eadem die obpugnationem castrorum; simul voluntaria deditio sperabatur: sed expeditis et tantum ad proelium egressis munimentum fuere arma et victoria. postera die haud ambigua Othoniani exercitus voluntate et qui ferociores fuerant ad paenitentiam inclinantibus missa legatio; nec apud duces Vitellianos dubitatum quo minus pacem concederent. legati paulisper retenti: ea res haesitationem attulit ignaris adhuc an impetrassent. mox remissa legatione patuit vallum. tum victi victoresque in lacrimas effusi, sortem civilium armorum misera laetitia detestantes; isdem tentoriis alii fratrum, alii propinquorum vulnera fovebant: spes et praemia in ambiguo, certa funera et luctus, nec quisquam adeo mali expers ut non aliquam mortem maereret. requisitum Orfidii legati corpus honore solito crematur; paucos necessarii ipsorum sepelivere, ceterum vulgus super humum relictum.
45.
But the leaders of the Vitellian army did not venture to attack the camp on that same day, so they halted five miles from Bedriacum, hoping also that the enemy would surrender voluntarily. But they had marched from the battlefield with only what was needed for fighting, and that left their arms and their victory as their sole rampart [for the night]. The following day there could be little doubt as to the Othonian intentions: even those who had shown the greatest intransigence were now inclined to repentance. An embassy was sent and the Vitellian generals did not hesitate to grant terms of peace. The envoys were retained a while and the delay worried the Othonians, still doubtful whether their offer had been accepted. When the envoys returned the camp rampart was thrown open. Then victors and vanquished gave way to tears and in the raptures of a sorrowful joy cursed the miseries of civil wars. Both sides in the same tents, many nursed the wounds of brothers and kinsmen. Hopes and rewards were doubtful, but loss and grieving were assured. No one was so exempt from misfortune as not to have someone’s death to mourn. The body of the legate Orfidius was cremated with the customary honors, after the battlefield was searched for his corpse. A few were given burial by their own relatives; the multitude of common soldiers were left on the ground unburied.
XLVI.
Opperiebatur Otho nuntium pugnae nequaquam trepidus et consilii certus. maesta primum fama, dein profugi e proelio perditas res patefaciunt. non expectavit militum ardor vocem imperatoris; bonum haberet animum iubebant: superesse adhuc novas viris, et ipsos extrema passuros ausurosque. neque erat adulatio: ire in aciem, excitare partium fortunam furore quodam et instinctu flagrabant. qui procul adstiterant, tendere manus, et proximi prensare genua, promptissimo Plotio Firmo. is praetorii praefectus identidem orabat ne fidissimum exercitum, ne optime meritos milites desereret: maiore animo tolerari adversa quam relinqui; fortis et strenuos etiam contra fortunam insistere spei, timidos et ignavos ad desperationem formidine properare. quas inter voces ut flexerat vultum aut induraverat Otho, clamor et gemitus. nec praetoriani tantum, proprius Othonis miles, sed praemissi e Moesia eandem obstinationem adventantis exercitus, legiones Aquileiam ingressas nuntiabant, ut nemo dubitet potuisse renovari bellum atrox, lugubre, incertum victis et victoribus.
46.
[At Brixellum] Otho awaited news of the battle, calm in spirit and resolute in purpose. Sad rumors at first, then fugitives from the field revealed that the battle was lost. This time the soldiers did not wait for the emperor’s words to rekindle their ardor. They told him to be hopeful: new forces were at his command, they themselves were ready to bear and to dare anything. This was no flattery, they really burned with a wild and irresistible desire to rush to battle and revive the party’s fortunes. Those who stood at a distance from the prince entreated him with outstretched hands; those near him clasped his knees. Most fervent was Plotius Firmus, the prefect of the praetorian guards, who kept imploring him not to abandon an army devoted to him and soldiers so deserving of his gratitude. He said it was a mark of greater courage to confront than to flee adversity. The brave, the resolute hold on to hope in the face of ill fortune; the timid, the craven rush to despair out of fear. Joyous cries or loud groans were heard as Otho’s countenance assumed a relenting or an inflexible expression while he was thus appealed to. Neither were the praetorians, the troops more favorably disposed to Otho, alone in showing resolve: the avant-guard of the Moesian army attested the same obstinacy among the approaching legions which, they announced, had just entered Aquileia. There was no doubt that war could have been resumed, savage, sinister, full of uncertainties for both winners and losers.
XLVII.
Ipse aversus a consiliis belli ‘hunc’ inquit ‘animum, hanc virtutem vestram ultra periculis obicere nimis grande vitae meae pretium puto. quanto plus spei ostenditis, si vivere placeret, tanto pulchrior mors erit. experti in vicem sumus ego ac fortuna. nec tempus conputaveritis: difficilius est temperare felicitati qua te non putes diu usurum. civile bellum a Vitellio coepit, et ut de principatu certaremus armis initium illic fuit: ne plus quam semel certemus penes me exemplum erit; hinc Othonem posteritas aestimet. fruetur Vitellius fratre, coniuge, liberis: mihi non ultione neque solaciis opus est. alii diutius imperium tenuerint, nemo tam fortiter reliquerit. an ego tantum Romanae pubis, tot egregios exercitus sterni rursus et rei publicae eripi patiar? eat hic mecum animus, tamquam perituri pro me fueritis, set este superstites. nec diu moremur, ego incolumitatem vestram, vos constantiam meam. plura de extremis loqui pars ignaviae est. praecipuum destinationis meae documentum habete quod de nemine queror; nam incusare deos vel homines eius est qui vivere velit.’
47.
But Otho himself was against any plans of war. ‘I believe’, he said, ‘that to expose such a devotion, such valor as yours to new dangers is a price too high to ask for my life. The more hope you show me, if I wished to live, the more noble my death will be. Fortune and I are old acquaintances and know each other well. Do not count the days I have been emperor: it is rather difficult to be moderate in prosperity when you know it will not last long. Vitellius is responsible for starting this civil war: therein lies the origin of the armed contest for supreme power. That war shall end after no more than one battle will be a precedent that I have in my power to set. Let posterity judge Otho by that. Vitellius shall know the joy of being reunited with his brother, his wife, his children; for my part I need neither consolation nor revenge. Others will have held the empire longer, none will have relinquished it with more fortitude. Shall I allow that so many of Rome’s youth, so many splendid troops be again sacrificed and be torn from the bosom of the state? Let this thought go with me, that you would have given up your life on my behalf. Yet you must live on me and [to that end] let us have no more delays. I must not undermine your survival nor you my resolution. Long speeches about one’s end are a sign of weakness. Take this as the best proof that my intent is final: I complain of no one. To inveigh against gods and men is for those who want to live.’
XLVIII.
Talia locutus, ut cuique aetas aut dignitas, comiter appellatos, irent propere neu remanendo iram victoris asperarent, iuvenes auctoritate, senes precibus movebat, placidus ore, intrepidus verbis, intempestivas suorum lacrimas coercens. dari navis ac vehicula abeuntibus iubet; libellos epistulasque studio erga se aut in Vitellium contumeliis insignis abolet; pecunias distribuit parce nec ut periturus. mox Salvium Cocceianum, fratris filium, prima iuventa, trepidum et maerentem ultro solatus est, laudando pietatem eius, castigando formidinem: an Vitellium tam inmitis animi fore ut pro incolumi tota domo ne hanc quidem sibi gratiam redderet? mereri se festinato exitu clementiam victoris; non enim ultima desperatione sed poscente proelium exercitu remisisse rei publicae novissimum casum. satis sibi nominis, satis posteris suis nobilitatis quaesitum. post Iulios Claudios Servios se primum in familiam novam imperium intulisse: proinde erecto animo capesseret vitam, neu patruum sibi Othonem fuisse aut oblivisceretur umquam aut nimium meminisset.
48.
After these words, he turned affably to each one, according to his age and rank, and urged all to leave soon, so as not to aggravate the victor’s anger by lingering, using his authority with the young and entreaties with his seniors. His face calm, his voice steady, he restrained the untimely tears of his attendants. He had ships and carriages provided for their departure and destroyed petitions and letters that could incriminate the writers for their zeal towards himself or abuse of Vitellius, even handed out money, but with a parsimony not consistent with one about to die. Then he made a special effort to comfort Salvius Cocceianus, the son of his brother Titianus, a very young man, frightened and grief-stricken; he praised his tender devotion, but reproved his fears, saying that Vitellius would not prove so barbarous as not even to return his own –Otho’s—kindness for saving his rival’s entire family. By his speedy end he was earning the victor’s clemency. It was not in the extremity of despair, but while his army was clamoring for war that he had spared the country a last deadly blow. He had secured enough luster for his name, enough nobility for his descendants. After the Julii, the Claudii, and the Servii, he was the first to introduce the imperial dignity in a new family. Thus he urged Salvius to face life with confidence and pride, and never to forget that Otho had been his uncle –nor remember it too often.
XLIX.
Post quae dimotis omnibus paulum requievit. atque illum supremas iam curas animo volutantem repens tumultus avertit, nuntiata consternatione ac licentia militum; namque abeuntibus exitium minitabantur, atrocissima in Verginium vi, quem clausa domo obsidebant. increpitis seditionis auctoribus regressus vacavit abeuntium adloquiis, donec omnes inviolati digrederentur. vesperascente die sitim haustu gelidae aquae sedavit. tum adlatis pugionibus duobus, cum utrumque pertemptasset, alterum capiti subdidit. et explorato iam profectos amicos, noctem quietam, utque adfirmatur, non insomnem egit: luce prima in ferrum pectore incubuit. ad gemitum morientis ingressi liberti servique et Plotius Firmus praetorii praefectus unum vulnus invenere. funus maturatum; ambitiosis id precibus petierat ne amputaretur caput ludibrio futurum. tulere corpus praetoriae cohortes cum laudibus et lacrimis, vulnus manusque eius exosculantes. quidam militum iuxta rogum interfecere se, non noxa neque ob metum, sed aemulatione decoris et caritate principis. ac postea promisce Bedriaci, Placentiae aliisque in castris celebratum id genus mortis. Othoni sepulchrum extructum est modicum et mansurum. hunc vitae finem habuit septimo et tricensimo aetatis anno.
49.
Soon later he dismissed his company and rested a little. His mind already dwelt on the cares of the last moments, when a sudden tumult outside diverted his attention. He was told that the soldiers had become disorderly in their sorrow and threatened to kill anyone trying to leave, most violently Verginius whom they were keeping under siege in his house. Otho reprimanded the authors of the disturbance, then returned to his quarters, where he made time for parting words with his associates until all left safely. Towards dusk he felt thirsty and drank some icy water, then had two daggers brought to him and, having tried their sharpness, placed one under his pillow. After assuring himself once more that his friends had left, he spent the night quietly and, as is affirmed, not without sleep. At dawn he pressed his chest against the dagger [with the full weight of his body]. On hearing his dying groan, his freedmen, his slaves, and Plotius Firmus, the prefect of the praetorians, went to him and found one wound only. His funeral was performed in a hurry. He had been insistent in demanding not to allow his head to be severed from the body for fear it might be exposed to abuse. The praetorian cohorts carried the body amidst eulogies and tears, covering his hands and wound with kisses. Some soldiers killed themselves before the pyre, not from remorse or fear, but to emulate his glorious act and express their love for the prince. And later this kind of sacrifice became a frequent occurrence at Bedriacum, at Placentia, and in other camps. A plain tomb, more likely to remain undisturbed, was built for Otho. So ended his life in his thirty-seventh year.
L.
Origo illi e municipio Ferentio, pater consularis, avus praetorius; maternum genus impar nec tamen indecorum. pueritia ac iuventa, qualem monstravimus. duobus facinoribus, altero flagitiosissimo, altero egregio, tantundem apud posteros meruit bonae famae quantum malae. ut conquirere fabulosa et fictis oblectare legentium animos procul gravitate coepti operis crediderim, ita vulgatis traditisque demere fidem non ausim. die, quo Bedriaci certabatur, avem invisitata specie apud Regium Lepidum celebri luco consedisse incolae memorant, nec deinde coetu hominum aut circumvolitantium alitum territam pulsamve, donec Otho se ipse interficeret; tum ablatam ex oculis: et tempora reputantibus initium finemque miraculi cum Othonis exitu competisse.
50.
His birthplace was the town of Ferentium; his father was an ex-consul, his grandfather an ex-praetor, his maternal family less distinguished, but still respectable. What his boyhood and youth were like, we have already said. Two momentous events, one abominable beyond conception, [Galba’s murder], the other sublime, [his suicide], won him in the eyes of posterity just as much blame as it did praise. Though I believe that to collect fabulous tales and amuse the minds of the readers with pure fiction is not in keeping with the serious intent of my work, yet I cannot dismiss out of hand the veracity of what has been preserved and passed down by tradition. On the day the battle was fought at Bedriacum, so the local people say, a bird of peculiar appearance alighted on a much frequented grove near Regium Lepidum and remained there without being frightened or driven away by the presence of people or by other birds fluttering all around, until Otho ended his life. Then it disappeared and when the beginning and the end of the prodigy were considered, they were found to coincide with [the beginning and the end of] Otho’s downfall.