2In answer to these arguments Antonius Primus,5 who had done more than any one else to stir up the war, stoutly3 maintained that prompt action would save them and ruin Vitellius. 'Their victory,' he said, 'has not served to inspirit but to enervate4 them. The men are not held in readiness in camp, but are loitering in towns all over Italy. No one but their hosts has any call to fear them. The more unruly and ferocious5 they showed themselves before, the greater the greed with which they now indulge in unwonted draughts6 of pleasure. The circus, the theatre, and the charms of the capital have ruined their hardness and their health. But if we give them time to train for war they will regain7 their energy. It is not far to Germany, whence they draw their main strength. Britain is only separated by a narrow channel. Close at hand they have Gaul and Spain, from the provinces of which they can get men, horses, and subsidies8. Then again, they can rely on Italy itself and all the resources of the capital, while, if they want to take the offensive, they have two fleets6 and full command of the Illyrian Sea.7 Besides, what good to us are the ramparts of the mountains? Why should we drag on the war into another summer? Where can we get funds and supplies in the meanwhile? No, let us seize our opportunity. The Pannonian legions are 11burning to rise in revenge. They were not defeated but deceived.8 The Moesian army has not yet lost a man. If you count not legions but men, our forces are superior both in numbers and in character. The very shame of our defeat9 makes for good discipline. And even then our cavalry9 was not beaten. For though we lost the day, they shattered the enemy's line.10 And what was the force that broke through the Vitellians? Two regiments10 of cavalry from Pannonia and Moesia. What have we now? Sixteen regiments. Will not their combined forces, as they roar and thunder down upon the enemy, burying them in clouds of dust, overwhelm these horses and horsemen that have forgotten how to fight? I have given you my plan, and, unless I am stopped, I will put it in operation. Some of you have not yet burnt your boats.11 Well, you can keep back the legions. Give me the auxiliaries12 in light marching order. They will be enough for me. You will soon hear that the door of Italy is open and the power of Vitellius shaken. You will be glad enough to follow in the footsteps of my victory.'
3All this and much else of the same tenor13 Antonius poured out with flashing eyes, raising his voice so as to reach the centurions15 and some of the soldiers, who had gathered round to share in their deliberations.12 His truculent16 tone carried away even the more cautious 12and far-seeing, while the rest of the crowd were filled with contempt for the cowardice18 of the other generals, and cheered their one and only leader to the echo. He had already established his reputation at the original meeting, when Vespasian's letter13 was read. Most of the generals had then taken an ambiguous line, intending to interpret their language in the light of subsequent events. But Antonius seemed to have taken the field without any disguise, and this carried more weight with the men, who saw that he must share their disgrace or their glory.
4Next to Antonius in influence stood Cornelius Fuscus, the imperial agent.14 He, too, always attacked Vitellius in no mild terms, and had left himself no hope in case of failure. Tampius Flavianus15 was a man whose disposition19 and advanced years inclined him to dilatory20 measures, and he soon began to earn the dislike and suspicion of the soldiers, who felt he had not forgotten his kinship with Vitellius. Besides this, when the legions first rose, he had fled to Italy and subsequently returned of his own free will, which looked like meditating21 treachery.16 Having once given up his province and returned to Italy, he was out of the reach of danger, but the passion for revolution had induced him to resume his title and meddle22 in the civil war. It was Cornelius Fuscus who had persuaded him to 13this—not that he needed his assistance, but because he felt that, especially at the outset of the rising, the prestige of an ex-consul would be a valuable asset to the party.
5In order to make their march across into Italy safe and effective, letters were sent to Aponius Saturninus17 to bring the Moesian army up as quickly as possible. To prevent the exposure of the defenceless provinces to the attacks of foreign tribes, the chiefs of the Sarmatian Iazyges,18 who formed the government of the tribe, were enlisted23 in the service. They also offered their tribal24 force, consisting entirely25 of cavalry, but were excused from this contribution for fear that the civil war might give opportunity for a foreign invasion, or that an offer of higher pay from the enemy might tempt17 them to sacrifice their duty and their honour.19 Sido and Italicus, two princes of the Suebi,20 were allowed to join Vespasian's side. They had long acknowledged Roman sovereignty, and companionship in arms21 was likely to strengthen the loyalty of the tribe. Some auxiliaries were stationed on the flank towards Raetia, where hostilities26 were expected, since 14the imperial agent Porcius Septiminus,22 remained incorruptibly loyal to Vitellius. Sextilius Felix was therefore dispatched with Aurius' Horse23 and eight cohorts of auxiliary27 infantry28, together with the native levies29 of Noricum, to hold the line of the river Aenus,24 which forms the frontier of Raetia and Noricum. Neither side provoked a battle: the fortune of the rival parties was decided30 elsewhere.
6Meanwhile, at the head of a picked band of auxiliaries and part of the cavalry, Antonius hurried off to invade Italy. He took with him an energetic soldier named Arrius Varus, who had made his reputation while serving under Corbulo in his Armenian victories. He was supposed to have sought a private interview with Nero, at which he maligned31 Corbulo's character. His infamous32 treachery brought him the emperor's favour and a post as senior centurion14. This ill-gotten prize delighted him now, but ultimately proved his ruin.25
After occupying Aquileia,26 Antonius and Varus found a ready welcome at Opitergium and Altinum27 and all the other towns in the neighbourhood. At Altinum a garrison33 was left behind to guard their communications against the fleet at Ravenna, for the news of its desertion had not as yet arrived. Pressing forward, they won Patavium and Ateste28 for the party.15 At the latter place they learnt that three cohorts of Vitellius' auxiliary infantry and a regiment11 of cavalry, known as Sebosus' Horse,29 were established at Forum34 Alieni,30 where they had constructed a bridge.31 The report added that they were off their guard, so this seemed a good opportunity to attack them. They accordingly rushed the position at dawn, and cut down many of the men without their weapons. Orders had been given that, after a few had been killed, the rest should be terrorized into desertion. Some surrendered at once, but the majority succeeded in destroying the bridge, and thus checked the enemy's pursuit. The first bout35 had gone in the Flavians' favour.
7When the news spread to Poetovio, the Seventh Galbian and the Thirteenth Gemina hurried in high spirits to Patavium under the command of Vedius Aquila. At Patavium they were given a few days' rest, during which Minicius Justus, the camp-prefect of the Seventh legion, who endeavoured to enforce a standard of discipline too severe for civil war, had to be rescued from the fury of his troops and sent to Vespasian. Antonius conceived that his party would gain in prestige, if they showed approval of Galba's government, and stood for the revival36 of his cause. So he gave orders that all the statues of Galba, which had been thrown down during the civil war, should be replaced for worship throughout the country towns.16 This was a thing that had long been desired, and in their ambitious imaginations it assumed an undue37 importance.
8The question then arose where they should choose their seat of war. The best place seemed to be Verona. The open country round it was suited for the man?uvres of the cavalry, in which their strength lay: and they would gain both prestige and profit by wresting38 from Vitellius a strongly garrisoned39 town. On the road they occupied Vicetia.32 In itself this was a very small matter, since there was only a moderate force in the town, but it gained considerable importance from the reflection that it was Caecina's birthplace: the enemy's general had thus lost his native town. But Verona was well worth while. The inhabitants could aid the party with encouragement and funds: the army was thrust midway between Raetia and the Julian Alps,33 and had thus blocked all passages by that route for the German armies.
This move had been made either without the knowledge or against the orders of Vespasian. His instructions were to suspend operations at Aquileia and wait for the arrival of Mucianus. He had further added this consideration, that so long as he held Egypt and the key to the corn-supply,34 as well as the revenue of the richest provinces,35 he could reduce Vitellius' army to submission41 from sheer lack of money and provisions. Mucianus had sent letter after letter 17with the same advice, pointing to the prospect42 of a victory without bloodshed or bereavement43, and using other similar pretexts44 to conceal45 his real motive46. This was ambition. He wanted to keep all the glory of the war to himself. However, the distance was so great that events outran his instructions.
9Antonius accordingly made a sudden sally against the enemy's outposts, and after a slight skirmish, in which they tested each other's temper, both sides withdrew without advantage. Soon after, Caecina entrenched47 a strong position between a Veronese village called Hostilia36 and the marshes49 of the river Tartaro. Here he was safe, with the river in his rear and the marsh50 to guard his flanks. Had he added loyalty to his other advantages, he might have employed the full strength of the Vitellian forces to crush the enemy's two legions, before they were reinforced by the Moesian army, or, at least, have forced them to retire in ignominious51 flight and abandon Italy. But Caecina used various pretexts for delay, and at the outset of the war treacherously52 yielded all his advantages to the enemy. While it was open to him to rout40 them by force of arms, he preferred to pester53 them with letters and to wait until his intermediaries had settled the terms of his treason. In the meantime, Aponius Saturninus arrived with the Seventh Claudian legion,37 commanded by the tribune38 Vipstanus Messala, a distinguished54 member 18of a famous family, and the only man who brought any honesty to this war.39 To these forces, still only three legions and no match for the Vitellians, Caecina addressed his letters. He criticized their rash attempt to sustain a lost cause, and at the same time praised the courage of the German army in the highest terms. His allusions55 to Vitellius were few and casual, and he refrained from insulting Vespasian. In fact he used no language calculated either to seduce56 or to terrorize the enemy. The Flavian generals made no attempt to explain away their former defeat. They proudly championed Vespasian, showing their loyalty to the cause, their confidence in the army, and their hostile prejudice40 against Vitellius. To the tribunes and centurions they held out the hope of retaining all the favours they had won from Vitellius, and they urged Caecina himself in plain terms to desert. These letters 19were both read before a meeting of the Flavian army, and served to increase their confidence, for while Caecina wrote mildly and seemed afraid of offending Vespasian, their own generals had answered contemptuously and scoffed57 at Vitellius.
10When the two other legions arrived, the Third41 commanded by Dillius Aponianus, and the Eighth by Numisius Lupus, Antonius decided to entrench48 Verona and make a demonstration58 in force. It so happened that the Galbian legion, who had been told off to work in the trenches59 facing the enemy, catching60 sight of some of their allies' cavalry in the distance, took them for the enemy, and fell into a groundless panic. Suspecting treachery, they seized their arms and visited their fury on Tampius Flavianus.42 They could prove no charge against him, but he had long been unpopular, and a blind impulse made them clamour for his head. He was Vitellius' kinsman61, they howled; he had betrayed Otho; he had embezzled62 their donative. They would listen to no defence, although he implored63 them with outstretched hands, grovelling64 for the most part flat upon the ground, his clothes all torn, his face and chest shaken with sobs65. This only served to inflame66 the soldiers' anger. His very excess of terror seemed to prove his guilt67. Aponius43 tried to address them, but his voice was drowned in their shouts. The others, too, were contemptuously howled down. They would give no one a hearing except Antonius, who had the power of 20authority as well as the arts of eloquence68 necessary to quiet a mob. When the riot grew worse, and they began to pass from insulting speeches to murderous violence, he gave orders that Flavianus should be put in chains. Feeling that this was a farce,44 the soldiers broke through the guards round the general's quarters, prepared to resort to extremities69. Whereupon Antonius, drawing his sword, bared his breast and vowed70 that he would die either by their hands or his own. Whenever he saw a soldier whom he knew or could recognize by his decorations, he called on him by name to come to the rescue. At last he turned towards the standards and the gods of war,45 and prayed incessantly71 that they would rather inspire the enemy's army with this mad spirit of mutiny. At last the riot died away and at nightfall they all dispersed72 to their tents. Flavianus left that same night, and on his way met letters from Vespasian, which delivered him from danger.
11The infection seemed to spread among the legions. They next attacked Aponius Saturninus, who was in command of the Moesian army. This fresh disturbance73 was caused by the circulation of a letter, which Saturninus was supposed to have written to Vitellius, and it was the more alarming since it broke out not when they were tired by their labours but in the 21middle of the day. Once the soldiers had vied with each other in courage and discipline: now they were rivals in ribaldry and riot. They were determined74 that the fury with which they denounced Aponius should not fall short of their outcry against Flavianus. The Moesian legions remembered that they had helped the Pannonian army to take their revenge; while the Pannonian troops, feeling that their comrades' mutiny acquitted75 them of blame, were glad enough to repeat the crime. They invaded the country house in which Saturninus was living. He escaped, however, aided not so much by the efforts of Antonius, Aponianus, and Messala, who did everything in their power to rescue him, but rather by the security of his hiding-place, for he concealed76 himself in the furnace of some disused baths. Eventually he gave up his lictors and retired77 to Patavium. The departure of both the consular78 governors left Antonius in supreme79 command of the two armies. His colleagues46 deferred80 to him and the men gave him enthusiastic support. It was even supposed by some that he had cunningly promoted both outbreaks, to secure for himself the full profit of the war.
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1
loyalty
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| n.忠诚，忠心 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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stoutly
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| adv.牢固地，粗壮的 | |
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enervate
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| v.使虚弱，使无力 | |
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ferocious
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| adj.凶猛的，残暴的，极度的，十分强烈的 | |
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draughts
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| n. <英>国际跳棋 | |
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regain
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| vt.重新获得，收复，恢复 | |
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subsidies
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| n.补贴，津贴，补助金( subsidy的名词复数 ) | |
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cavalry
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| n.骑兵；轻装甲部队 | |
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regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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auxiliaries
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| n.助动词 ( auxiliary的名词复数 )；辅助工，辅助人员 | |
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tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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centurion
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| n.古罗马的百人队长 | |
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centurions
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| n.百人队长，百夫长（古罗马的军官，指挥百人）( centurion的名词复数 ) | |
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truculent
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| adj.野蛮的，粗野的 | |
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tempt
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| vt.引诱，勾引，吸引，引起…的兴趣 | |
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cowardice
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| n.胆小，怯懦 | |
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disposition
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| n.性情，性格；意向，倾向；排列，部署 | |
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dilatory
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| adj.迟缓的，不慌不忙的 | |
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meditating
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| a.沉思的，冥想的 | |
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meddle
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| v.干预，干涉，插手 | |
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enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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tribal
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| adj.部族的，种族的 | |
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entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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hostilities
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| n.战争；敌意(hostility的复数)；敌对状态；战事 | |
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auxiliary
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| adj.辅助的，备用的 | |
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infantry
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| n.[总称]步兵(部队) | |
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29
levies
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| （部队）征兵( levy的名词复数 )； 募捐； 被征募的军队 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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maligned
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| vt.污蔑，诽谤（malign的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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infamous
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| adj.声名狼藉的，臭名昭著的，邪恶的 | |
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garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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forum
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| n.论坛，讨论会 | |
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bout
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| n.侵袭，发作；一次(阵，回)；拳击等比赛 | |
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revival
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| n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振 | |
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undue
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| adj.过分的；不适当的；未到期的 | |
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wresting
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| 动词wrest的现在进行式 | |
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garrisoned
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| 卫戍部队守备( garrison的过去式和过去分词 )； 派部队驻防 | |
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rout
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| n.溃退，溃败；v.击溃，打垮 | |
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submission
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| n.服从，投降；温顺，谦虚；提出 | |
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42
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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43
bereavement
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| n.亲人丧亡，丧失亲人，丧亲之痛 | |
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pretexts
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| n.借口，托辞( pretext的名词复数 ) | |
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45
conceal
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| v.隐藏，隐瞒，隐蔽 | |
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46
motive
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| n.动机，目的；adv.发动的，运动的 | |
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47
entrenched
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| adj.确立的，不容易改的(风俗习惯) | |
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entrench
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| v.使根深蒂固；n.壕沟；防御设施 | |
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49
marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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50
marsh
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| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
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51
ignominious
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| adj.可鄙的，不光彩的，耻辱的 | |
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52
treacherously
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| 背信弃义地； 背叛地； 靠不住地； 危险地 | |
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53
pester
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| v.纠缠，强求 | |
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54
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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55
allusions
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| 暗指，间接提到( allusion的名词复数 ) | |
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56
seduce
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| vt.勾引，诱奸，诱惑，引诱 | |
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57
scoffed
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| 嘲笑，嘲弄( scoff的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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58
demonstration
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| n.表明，示范，论证，示威 | |
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59
trenches
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| 深沟，地沟( trench的名词复数 )； 战壕 | |
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60
catching
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| adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住 | |
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61
kinsman
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| n.男亲属 | |
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62
embezzled
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| v.贪污，盗用（公款）( embezzle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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implored
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| 恳求或乞求（某人）( implore的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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grovelling
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| adj.卑下的，奴颜婢膝的v.卑躬屈节，奴颜婢膝( grovel的现在分词 )；趴 | |
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sobs
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| 啜泣（声），呜咽（声）( sob的名词复数 ) | |
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66
inflame
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| v.使燃烧；使极度激动；使发炎 | |
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67
guilt
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| n.犯罪；内疚；过失，罪责 | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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extremities
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| n.端点( extremity的名词复数 )；尽头；手和足；极窘迫的境地 | |
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70
vowed
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| 起誓，发誓（vow的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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71
incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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72
dispersed
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| adj. 被驱散的, 被分散的, 散布的 | |
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73
disturbance
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| n.动乱，骚动；打扰，干扰；(身心)失调 | |
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74
determined
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| adj.坚定的；有决心的 | |
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75
acquitted
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| 宣判…无罪( acquit的过去式和过去分词 )； 使（自己）作出某种表现 | |
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76
concealed
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| a.隐藏的，隐蔽的 | |
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77
retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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78
consular
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| a.领事的 | |
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79
supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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80
deferred
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| adj.延期的，缓召的v.拖延，延缓，推迟( defer的过去式和过去分词 )；服从某人的意愿，遵从 | |
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