LXXI.
Hic belli status erat cum Petilius Cerialis Mogontiacum venit. eius adventu erectae spes; ipse pugnae avidus et contemnendis quam cavendis hostibus melior, ferocia verborum militem incendebat, ubi primum congredi licuisset, nullam proelio moram facturus. dilectus per Galliam habitos in civitates remittit ac nuntiare iubet sufficere imperio legiones: socii ad munia pacis redirent securi velut confecto bello quod Romanae manus excepissent. auxit ea res Gallorum obsequium: nam recepta iuventute facilius tributa toleravere, proniores ad officia quod spernebantur. at Civilis et Classicus ubi pulsum Tutorem, caesos Treviros, cuncta hostibus prospera accepere, trepidi ac properantes, dum dispersas suorum copias conducunt, crebris interim nuntiis Valentinum monuere ne summae rei periculum faceret. eo rapidius Cerialis, missis in Mediomatricos qui breviore itinere legiones in hostem verterent, contracto quod erat militum Mogontiaci quantumque secum transvexerat, tertiis castris Rigodulum venit, quem locum magna Trevirorum manu Valentinus insederat, montibus aut Mosella amne saeptum; et addiderat fossas obicesque saxorum. nec deterruere ea munimenta Romanum ducem quo minus peditem perrumpere iuberet, equitum aciem in collem erigeret, spreto hoste, quem temere collectum haud ita loco iuvari ut non plus suis in virtute foret. paulum morae in adscensu, dum missilia hostium praevehuntur: ut ventum in manus, deturbati ruinae modo praecipitantur. et pars equitum aequioribus iugis circumvecta nobilissimos Belgarum, in quis ducem Valentinum, cepit.
71.
Such was the war situation when Petilius Cerialis reached Mogontiacum. His arrival raised great expectations. He was a man always ready for a fight, more prone to belittle an enemy than to beware of him. He could fire his men with the ferocity of his words, grimly set on wasting no time in coming to blows as soon as an opportunity to engage came his way. He sent back to their communities the men newly conscripted throughout Gaul, bidding them to report that the legions were all this campaign needed. The allies were to resume their peaceful occupations, secure in the thought that a war taken over by Roman forces was as good as finished. This policy reinforced the obedience of the Gauls, for now that they had their young men back they bore the tribute more willingly and became more compliant because they saw they were despised. Civilis and Classicus, on the other hand, on hearing of Tutor’s defeat, of the rout of the Treveri, and of the enemy’s unqualified success, were thrown into disarray by panic and haste. While they collected their own widely dispersed forces, they sent a succession of messages to Valentinus to warn him not to risk a decisive battle. All the more rapidly did Cerialis respond: he sent deputies to the Mediomatrici to guide the legions to the enemy by a shorter route; he combined the troops he found at Mogontiacum with those he had brought with him, then in three days’ march he reached Rigodulum, which Valentinus had occupied with a large force of the Treveri and which was protected by mountains and by the Moselle. Trenches and stone barricades had also been added, but these obstacles did not deter the Roman general from ordering the infantry to storm the position, and the cavalry to attack up the hill. He had nothing but contempt for an enemy assembled in such foolish haste, for it was clear to him that they had less protection from their positions than his soldiers from their own valor. The troops were somewhat held back during their swift advance up the hill when they came within reach of the enemy’s missiles, but as soon as combat became close, the Treveri were dislodged and sent hurtling down the slopes like boulders down a mountainside. Some of the cavalry turned the position by riding where the gradient was less steep and captured a number of prominent men of the Belgae, among them their leader Valentinus.
LXXII.
Cerialis postero die coloniam Trevirorum ingressus est, avido milite eruendae civitatis. hanc esse Classici, hanc Tutoris patriam; horum scelere clausas caesasque legiones. quid tantum Cremonam meruisse? quam e gremio Italiae raptam quia unius noctis moram victoribus attulerit. stare in confinio Germaniae integram sedem spoliis exercituum et ducum caedibus ovantem. redigeretur praeda in fiscum: ipsis sufficere ignis et rebellis coloniae ruinas, quibus tot castrorum excidia pensarentur. Cerialis metu infamiae, si licentia saevitiaque imbuere militem crederetur, pressit iras: et paruere, posito civium bello ad externa modestiores. convertit inde animos accitarum e Mediomatricis legionum miserabilis aspectus. stabant conscientia flagitii maestae, fixis in terram oculis: nulla inter coeuntis exercitus consalutatio; neque solantibus hortantibusve responsa dabant, abditi per tentoria et lucem ipsam vitantes. nec proinde periculum aut metus quam pudor ac dedecus obstupefecerat, attonitis etiam victoribus, qui vocem precesque adhibere non ausi lacrimis ac silentio veniam poscebant, donec Cerialis mulceret animos, fato acta dictitans quae militum ducumque discordia vel fraude hostium evenissent. primum illum stipendiorum et sacramenti diem haberent: priorum facinorum neque imperatorem neque se meminisse. tunc recepti in eadem castra, et edictum per manipulos ne quis in certamine iurgiove seditionem aut cladem commilitoni obiectaret.
72.
The next day Cerialis entered the colony of the Treveri. The soldiers were eager to raze it to the ground and demonstrated that it was the native place of Classicus and Tutor, by whose crimes the legions had been besieged and decimated. Compared to that, what had Cremona done, a city that was torn out of the bosom of Italy because it had caused the victors a single night’s delay? The Treveri’s colony stood intact on the border of Germany, triumphing over the spoils of Roman armies and the murder of their leaders. Let all the plunder go to the public treasury, they said; they were satisfied with consigning the rebellious colony to fire and destruction to compensate for the obliteration of so many Roman camps. Cerialis feared the dishonor he would incur if he were seen encouraging license and cruelty in his troops and therefore repressed the anger of the soldiers. The men actually obeyed him, for now, with civil war at an end, they were more manageable in the face of a foreign war. Their attention was diverted by the deplorable aspect of the legions summoned from the country of the Mediomatrici. There they stood, gloomy with the conscience of their heinous transgression, their eyes fixed on the ground; no salutations were exchanged between the converging armies, no answers were made to those trying to comfort or reassure them. They just hid in their tents, avoiding even the light of day. It was not so much danger and fear that had stunned them as shame and self-reproach. The victors themselves were perplexed and did not dare to speak or entreat, but with their silence and tears pleaded pardon [for their disgraced comrades], until Cerialis finally eased their minds by saying repeatedly that fate was behind all the misfortunes that had occurred, because of the discord between soldiers and commanders and the treachery of the enemy. He told them they should regard the present day as the first of their service and of their sworn commitment: neither the emperor nor he remembered any previous misdeeds. Then they were received into the same camp with the others and an order was circulated among the companies forbidding anyone to reproach a fellow soldier in heated exchanges or disputes with sedition or defeat.
LXXIII.
Mox Treviros ac Lingonas ad contionem vocatos ita adloquitur: ‘neque ego umquam facundiam exercui, et populi Romani virtutem armis adfirmavi: sed quoniam apud vos verba plurimum valent bonaque ac mala non sua natura, sed vocibus seditiosorum aestimantur, statui pauca disserere quae profligato bello utilius sit vobis audisse quam nobis dixisse. terram vestram ceterorumque Gallorum ingressi sunt duces imperatoresque Romani nulla cupidine, sed maioribus vestris invocantibus, quos discordiae usque ad exitium fatigabant, et acciti auxilio Germani sociis pariter atque hostibus servitutem imposuerant. quot proeliis adversus Cimbros Teutonosque, quantis exercituum nostrorum laboribus quove eventu Germanica bella tractaverimus, satis clarum. nec ideo Rhenum insedimus ut Italiam tueremur, sed ne quis alius Ariovistus regno Galliarum potiretur. an vos cariores Civili Batavisque et transrhenanis gentibus creditis quam maioribus eorum patres avique vestri fuerunt? eadem semper causa Germanis transcendendi in Gallias, libido atque avaritia et mutandae sedis amor, ut relictis paludibus et solitudinibus suis fecundissimum hoc solum vosque ipsos possiderent: ceterum libertas et speciosa nomina praetexuntur; nec quisquam alienum servitium et dominationem sibi concupivit ut non eadem ista vocabula usurparet.’
73.
Then Cerialis called an assembly of the Treviri and Lingones and spoke to them thus: ‘I have never practised eloquence: it is by arms that I have ever proved the worth of the Roman people. But since with you words matter most and good and evil are not judged by what they are, but by the rants of seditious individuals, I have decided to say a few things, which now that the war is about ended may be more useful for you to hear than for me to say. Roman generals and emperors have entered your territory and the rest of Gaul not out of lust for gain, but at the pressing instances of your ancestors, who were sickened to death by intestine bickering and because the Germans, who had been called in to help, had reduced to slavery friends and foes alike. At the cost of how many battles against Cimbri and Teutons and of how much labor to our armies or with what success we handled the German wars, is sufficiently known. And if we have occupied the Rhine, it was not to protect Italy, but to prevent another Ariovistus from becoming master of Gaul. Do you really think that you are dearer to Civilis and his Batavi and to the German tribes across the Rhine than your fathers and grandfathers were to their ancestors? The Germans have always the same reasons for overstepping the boundaries of Gaul, namely lust, greed, and the desire to find a better place in which to settle. They leave their swamps and desolate wilds to take possession of this most fruitful soil and of you yourselves, though they use liberty and other fancy words as a pretext. No one has ever coveted the enslavement of others and the mastery for himself without frequent recourse to these very words’.
LXXIV.
‘Regna bellaque per Gallias semper fuere donec in nostrum ius concederetis. nos, quamquam totiens lacessiti, iure victoriae id solum vobis addidimus, quo pacem tueremur; nam neque quies gentium sine armis neque arma sine stipendiis neque stipendia sine tributis haberi queunt: cetera in communi sita sunt. ipsi plerumque legionibus nostris praesidetis, ipsi has aliasque provincias regitis; nihil separatum clausumve. et laudatorum principum usus ex aequo quamvis procul agentibus: saevi proximis ingruunt. quo modo sterilitatem aut nimios imbris et cetera naturae mala, ita luxum vel avaritiam dominantium tolerate. vitia erunt, donec homines, sed neque haec continua et meliorum interventu pensantur: nisi forte Tutore et Classico regnantibus moderatius imperium speratis, aut minoribus quam nunc tributis parabuntur exercitus quibus Germani Britannique arceantur. nam pulsis, quod di prohibeant, Romanis quid aliud quam bella omnium inter se gentium existent? octingentorum annorum fortuna disciplinaque compages haec coaluit, quae convelli sine exitio convellentium non potest: sed vobis maximum discrimen, penes quos aurum et opes, praecipuae bellorum causae. proinde pacem et urbem, quam victi victoresque eodem iure obtinemus, amate colite: moneant vos utriusque fortunae documenta ne contumaciam cum pernicie quam obsequium cum securitate malitis.’ tali oratione graviora metuentis composuit erexitque.
74.
‘Gaul always had a number of kingdoms and wars between them, until you transferred to our jurisdiction. Though you frequently angered us, we have used our right as victors only to require of you the added cost necessary to safeguard peace. For it is not possible to maintain the tranquillity of nations without armies, and there are no armies without pay, and no pay without tribute. All the rest we share with you. You yourselves are very often in command of our legions; you yourselves govern these and other provinces. There is no favoritism and no discrimination. The blessings from having good emperors are no less yours than ours, no matter how far from Rome you live. The cruel ones come down hardest on us who are nearest. Just as you bear with the avarice of the soil or too much rain and any of the other trials that nature sends, learn how to live with the excesses and the rapacity of rulers. As long as there are men there will be vices, but they are not continuous and are balanced by the advent of better things, unless of course you hope for a more benign rule under Tutor and Classicus or that the armies required to keep the Germans and the Britons out of Gaul can be made available with less tribute than you pay now. In fact, if the Romans are expelled –which the gods forbid – what else will follow but wars among all the nations of the world? Eight hundred years of good fortune and hard work have cemented this mighty structure, which cannot be destroyed without the undoing of those who wreck it. The dangers, however, are greatest for you, who possess gold and resources, the main causes of war. Love, then, peace and help it prosper together with Rome, the city which we all, victors and vanquished, hold as our own by equal rights. Let your experience of fortune, good and bad, teach you not to choose wilful disobedience and ruin over submission and security’. By words such as these he calmed and reassured an audience who had feared a much harsher treatment.
LXXV.
Tenebantur victore exercitu Treviri, cum Civilis et Classicus misere ad Cerialem epistulas, quarum haec sententia fuit: Vespasianum, quamquam nuntios occultarent, excessisse vita, urbem atque Italiam interno bello consumptam, Muciani ac Domitiani vana et sine viribus nomina: si Cerialis imperium Galliarum velit, ipsos finibus civitatium suarum contentos; si proelium mallet, ne id quidem abnuere. ad ea Cerialis Civili et Classico nihil: eum qui attulerat <et> ipsas epistulas ad Domitianum misit. Hostes divisis copiis advenere undique. plerique culpabant Cerialem passum iungi quos discretos intercipere licuisset. Romanus exercitus castra fossa valloque circumdedit, quis temere antea intutis consederat.
75.
The victorious army was in the process of occupying the territory of the Treveri when Civilis and Classicus wrote to Cerialis to the effect that Vespasian, in spite of all efforts to suppress the news, had died, that Rome and Italy were eshausted by civil war, and that Mucianus and Domitian were empty names without authority. If Cerialis wanted the empire of Gaul, they themselves would be satisfied with the territory of their own nations; if he chose to fight , they would not refuse that either. Cerialis answered not a word, instead sent the messenger and the message itself to Domitian. The forces of the enemy, which had previously separated, now converged on Trier from every direction. Cerialis was roundly criticized for allowing them to coalesce, when it had been in his power to eliminate them piecemeal. The Roman army surrounded their own camp, in which they had rashly settled without first protecting it, with a ditch and a rampart.
LXXVI.
Apud Germanos diversis sententiis certabatur. Civilis opperiendas Transrhenanorum gentis, quarum terrore fractae populi Romani vires obtererentur: Gallos quid aliud quam praedam victoribus? et tamen, quod roboris sit, Belgas secum palam aut voto stare. Tutor cunctatione crescere rem Romanam adfirmabat, coeuntibus undique exercitibus: transvectam e Britannia legionem, accitas ex Hispania, adventare ex Italia; nec subitum militem, sed veterem expertumque belli. nam Germanos, qui ab ipsis sperentur, non iuberi, non regi, sed cuncta ex libidine agere; pecuniamque ac dona, quis solis corrumpantur, maiora apud Romanos, et neminem adeo in arma pronum ut non idem pretium quietis quam periculi malit. quod si statim congrediantur, nullas esse Ceriali nisi e reliquiis Germanici exercitus legiones, foederibus Galliarum obstrictas. idque ipsum quod inconditam nuper Valentini manum contra spem suam fuderint, alimentum illis ducique temeritatis: ausuros rursus venturosque in manus non imperiti adulescentuli, verba et contiones quam ferrum et arma meditantis, sed Civilis et Classici; quos ubi aspexerint, redituram in animos formidinem, fugam famemque ac totiens captis precariam vitam. neque Treviros aut Lingonas benevolentia contineri: resumpturos arma, ubi metus abscesserit. diremit consiliorum diversitatem adprobata Tutoris sententia Classicus, statimque exequuntur.
76.
On the German side opinions were seriously at variance. Civilis was in favor of waiting for the German tribes across the Rhine, as the terror they would sow in the Roman ranks would crush their already broken forces. What were the Gauls but spoils for the victors? In any case the Belgae, the only strength in Gaul that matter, were on their side, either openly or in their hearts. Tutor insisted that by waiting they were strengthening the Roman position, whose armies were converging from everywhere. A legion had been brought over by sea from Britain, others were summoned from Spain, more were rushing in from Italy. These were not improvised forces, he said, but seasoned, battle-tested veterans. The Germans they counted on were undisciplined, intractable men, who always followed their own inclinations rather than orders. Money and gifts, by which alone they could be seduced, were more abundant on the Roman side and no one was so fond of fighting as to prefer danger to safety when the reward was the same. But if they engaged immediately, Cerialis had no legions except the debris of the army of Germany, namely the legions tied by oath to the federation of Gallic states. The very fact that the Romans, against their own expectations, had recently wiped out Valentinus’ makeshift force was feeding the temerity of both Cerialis and his men. They were going to venture again, only this time they would come to grips not with an inexperienced boy, whose mind was given more to words and public speeches than to steel and its use in war, but with Civilis and Classicus. At their sight, they would remember the recent terrors, their rout, the famine and captivity, the many times they were forced to beg for life. Nor would the Treveri and Lingones be held back by Roman goodwill: they would take up arms again as soon as they would get over their fears. Classicus cut short the contentious debate by approving Tutor’s counsel and they at once proceeded to put it into effect.
LXXVII.
Media acies Vbiis Lingonibusque data; dextro cornu cohortes Batavorum, sinistro Bructeri Tencterique. pars montibus, alii viam inter Mosellamque flumen tam improvisi adsiluere ut in cubiculo ac lectulo Cerialis (neque enim noctem in castris egerat) pugnari simul vincique suos audierit, increpans pavorem nuntiantium, donec universa clades in oculis fuit: perrupta legionum castra, fusi equites, medius Mosellae pons, qui ulteriora coloniae adnectit, ab hostibus insessus. Cerialis turbidis rebus intrepidus et fugientis manu retrahens, intecto corpore promptus inter tela, felici temeritate et fortissimi cuiusque adcursu reciperatum pontem electa manu firmavit. mox in castra reversus palantis captarum apud Novaesium Bonnamque legionum manipulos et rarum apud signa militem ac prope circumventas aquilas videt. incensus ira ‘non Flaccum’ inquit, ‘non Voculam deseritis: nulla hic proditio; neque aliud excusandum habeo quam quod vos Gallici foederis oblitos redisse in memoriam Romani sacramenti temere credidi. adnumerabor Numisiis et Herenniis, ut omnes legati vestri aut militum manibus aut hostium ceciderint. ite, nuntiate Vespasiano vel, quod propius est, Civili et Classico, relictum a vobis in acie ducem: venient legiones quae neque me inultum neque vos impunitos patiantur.’
77.
The center of the battle line was given to the Ubii and the Lingones; the Batavian cohorts were on the right wing, with the Bructeri and the Tencteri on the left. One part by the hills, another passing between the road and the Moselle river, they rushed to the attack so unexpectedly that Cerialis, who was in bed in a room, not having spent the night in camp, received at the same time the news that battle was joined and that his men were beaten. e He kept rebuking the messengers for spreading panic, until the entire disaster was before his eyes: the legions’ camp stormed, the cavalry dispersed, the bridge over the Moselle in enemy hands, which connected the outlying areas of the colony. Without losing his head, Cerialis, by his own efforts, brought the fleeing soldiers to a halt. Wearing no armor protection and defying a rainstorm of missiles, he was able to retake the bridge, thanks to his reckless yet expedient disregard for personal safety and the intervention of the bravest among his troops, who had rushed in to help. Leaving a body of chosen men to hold the bridge, he returned to the camp, where he saw the maniples of the legions that had surrendered at Novaesium and Bonna scattered in complete disorder, with hardly a soldier around the standards and the eagles in danger of being enveloped. Aflame with anger, he shouted: ‘It is not Flaccus nor Vocula that you are abandoning here. I am guilty of no treachery; there is nothing I should be ashamed of, except that I rashly believed you had forgotten your pact with the Gauls and had become mindful again of your oath to Rome. My name will be added to that of Numisius and Herennius, so as to complete the list of your commanders killed at the hand of their own soldiers or of the enemy. Go, tell Vespasian, or, which is nearer, Civilis and Classicus that you have forsaken your general on the field of battle. Legions will come that will not tolerate that we remain, I unavenged, and you unpunished.
LXXVIII.
Vera erant, et a tribunis praefectisque eadem ingerebantur. consistunt per cohortis et manipulos; neque enim poterat patescere acies effuso hoste et impedientibus tentoriis sarcinisque, cum intra vallum pugnaretur. Tutor et Classicus et Civilis suis quisque locis pugnam ciebant, Gallos pro libertate, Batavos pro gloria, Germanos ad praedam instigantes. et cuncta pro hostibus erant, donec legio unaetvicensima patentiore quam ceterae spatio conglobata sustinuit ruentis, mox impulit. nec sine ope divina mutatis repente animis terga victores vertere. ipsi territos se cohortium aspectu ferebant, quae primo impetu disiectae summis rursus iugis congregabantur ac speciem novi auxilii fecerant. sed obstitit vincentibus pravum inter ipsos certamen omisso hoste spolia consectandi. Cerialis ut incuria prope rem adflixit, ita constantia restituit; secutusque fortunam castra hostium eodem die capit excinditque.
78.
He said no more than what was true and the tribunes and prefects flung the same taunts at the soldiers. These began to rally, but only in cohort and maniple strength, for a longer line could not be formed as the Germans swarmed everywhere, and with the battle being fought within the rampart, the tents and the baggage were in the way. Tutor, Classicus, and Civilis, each at his post, urged their men to fight, the Gauls for liberty, the Batavi for glory, the Germans for plunder. All was in the enemy’s favor, until the Twenty-first legion was able to mass in a space more open than was available to any of the others and first bore the assaillants’ onslaught, then pushed them back. Soon, but only by divine intervention, the victors’ fighting spirit underwent a change [in our favor] and the attackers turned tail. They themselves asserted [later] they had been terrified by the sight of the cohorts, which, broken up in the initial assault, were regrouping on the heights and were taken to be fresh reinforcements. But what in fact stopped them when victory was theirs was a sordid contest among themselves, heedless of the enemy while securing plunder. Cerialis, who almost ruined his chances through negligence, now restored them by his firmness. Pursuing his advantage, he the same day captured and razed to the ground the enemy camp.
LXXIX.
Nec in longum quies militi data. orabant auxilium Agrippinenses offerebantque uxorem ac sororem Civilis et filiam Classici, relicta sibi pignora societatis. atque interim dispersos in domibus Germanos trucidaverant; unde metus et iustae preces invocantium, antequam hostes reparatis viribus ad spem vel ad ultionem accingerentur. namque et Civilis illuc intenderat, non invalidus, flagrantissima cohortium suarum integra, quae e Chaucis Frisiisque composita Tolbiaci in finibus Agrippinensium agebat: sed tristis nuntius avertit, deletam cohortem dolo Agrippinensium, qui largis epulis vinoque sopitos Germanos, clausis foribus, igne iniecto cremavere; simul Cerialis propero agmine subvenit. circumsteterat Civilem et alius metus, ne quarta decima legio adiuncta Britannica classe adflictaret Batavos, qua Oceano ambiuntur. sed legionem terrestri itinere Fabius Priscus legatus in Nervios Tungrosque duxit, eaeque civitates in deditionem acceptae: classem ultro Canninefates adgressi sunt maiorque pars navium depressa aut capta. et Nerviorum multitudinem, sponte commotam ut pro Romanis bellum capesseret, idem Canninefates fudere. Classicus quoque adversus equites Novaesium a Ceriale praemissos secundum proelium fecit: quae modica sed crebra damna famam victoriae nuper partae lacerabant.
79.
The soldiers were not allowed much rest. The Agrippinenses were pleading for assistance and offering to deliver up Civilis’ wife and sister and Classicus’ daughter, left with them as security for the alliance. Meanwhile they had slaughtered every German who had lodgings in their houses. This act was the reason for their fears and of their legitimate prayers for help before the enemy had time to make good their losses and prepare to pursue their goals or to exact revenge. In fact Civilis had set out against them: he was still strong, his most spirited cohort, made up of Chauci and Frisii and operating out of Tolbiacum was intact. Dismal news, however, made him desist from his intent: his favorite cohort had been wiped out by the perfidy of the Agrippinenses, who, after befuddling the Germans with drink at a lavish banquet, had blockaded the doors, set the building on fire, and burnt them alive. At the same time, Cerialis by forced marches was hurrying near. Civilis was beset by another danger, the likelihood that the Fourteenth legion, assisted by the fleet of Britain, might visit ruin on the Batavi living along the coast. But the legion took the land route and Fabius Priscus, its legate, led it among the Nervii and the Tungri, whose surrender he received. The fleet, without provocation on its part, was attacked by the Canninefates and most of the ships were captured or sunk. A multitude of Nervii, who had voluntarily come forward to fight on the side of the Romans, were also dispersed by the same tribe. In addition, Classicus fought a successful engagement against the cavalry Cerialis had sent ahead to Novaesium. These modest but frequent setbacks were as many shreds of glory torn out of [Cerialis’] recent victory.
LXXX.
Isdem diebus Mucianus Vitellii filium interfici iubet, mansuram discordiam obtendens, ni semina belli restinxisset. neque Antonium Primum adsciri inter comites a Domitiano passus est, favore militum anxius et superbia viri aequalium quoque, adeo superiorum intolerantis. profectus ad Vespasianum Antonius ut non pro spe sua excipitur, ita neque averso imperatoris animo. trahebatur in diversa, hinc meritis Antonii, cuius ductu confectum haud dubie bellum erat, inde Muciani epistulis: simul ceteri ut infestum tumidumque insectabantur, adiunctis prioris vitae criminibus. neque ipse deerat adrogantia vocare offensas, nimius commemorandis quae meruisset: alios ut imbellis, Caecinam ut captivum ac dediticium increpat. unde paulatim levior viliorque haberi, manente tamen in speciem amicitia.
80.
In those same days Mucianus had Vitellius’ son executed, asserting that discord would linger unless the germs of war were estinguished. Moreover, he did not allow Domitian to include Antonius Primus among his associates: the troops’ partiality for Antonius worried him, as did the man’s arrogance, who would not brook even equals, let alone superiors. Antonius left Rome to go to Vespasian, and though the reception was not as warm as he had expected, yet the emperor was friendly enough. Vespasian was drawn in opposite directions, on one side by Antonius’ merits, under whose leadership the war had indubitably been brought to an end, on the other by Mucianus’ letters. At the same time, everyone among the rest resented Antonius as an intractable, boastful man and also called to mind the crimes he had committed in the past. Antonius himself did his utmost to provoke animosity by his haughtiness and his constant harping on the services he had rendered. He would scoff at the others and kept referring to Caecina as a captive who was best at surrendering. Thus little by little he became to be regarded [by the emperor] as rather irrelevant and worthless, although the appearances of friendship were kept up.