The East Says “No” — AD 69 II: The Capitol in Flames
In the East stands an army that has not yet known civil war. Vespasian leads it. He is nearing sixty, has two sons and three legions in Judaea. He hesitates. If he loses, he loses together with his sons. (Tac. 2.74)
He is urged on by his neighbor, Licinius Mucianus, governor of Syria. He has four legions and a sharp tongue. That the army makes emperors, he says, is proved by Vitellius himself: he has never been to war, and yet he sits on the throne. (Tac. 2.76)
But who will take the first step?
After Alexandria, Judaea and Syria follow in July. (Tac. 2.79–81)
In Rome the first report speaks only of the mutiny of a single legion. The emperor’s friends soften it as best they can. Vitellius blames the disbanded Praetorians. He does not utter Vespasian’s name. Soldiers walk through the city silencing rumors. Which only makes everyone talk about it more. (Tac. 2.96)
On the Danube no one asks Rome for its opinion. The legions of Moesia and Pannonia remember the defeat at Bedriacum. At Aquileia the soldiers from Moesia, once sent to help Otho, tear down the banners with Vitellius’s name and divide up the war chest among themselves. Then they look for an emperor. Men of the Third Legion, recently transferred from Syria, praise Vespasian. His name goes onto the standards. (Tac. 2.85; Suet. Vesp. 6.2–3)
At their head stands Antonius Primus, legate of the Seventh Legion. Convicted of forgery under Nero, restored to the Senate under Galba. Tacitus paints him in a single sentence: brave in battle, eloquent, a master at drawing hatred onto others, greedy and extravagant, in peace the worst of citizens, in war an ally not to be despised. In his native Toulouse in Gaul he was nicknamed Becco in his youth. The word means “rooster’s beak.” (Tac. 2.86; Suet. Vit. 18)
Late summer. At Poetovio, the winter camp of the Thirteenth Legion, the commanders of Vespasian’s party assemble. (Tac. 3.1)
Primus waits for no one. With the light cohorts and part of the cavalry he comes down from the Alps. He takes Aquileia, Padua and Verona. Only then does Vespasian’s order arrive: halt at Aquileia and wait for Mucianus. Too late. Mucianus advises the same in his letters, and Tacitus sees jealousy in it: Mucianus wants all the glory for himself. (Tac. 3.6–8)
Facing him stands Caecina, the victor of Bedriacum, now consul. He digs in at Hostilia, behind a river and marshes. And he stalls. He writes letters. Many believe Flavius Sabinus had already worked on him in Rome. When the fleet at Ravenna goes over to Vespasian, Caecina gathers the centurions in a secluded part of the camp and has them swear allegiance to the new emperor. He tears down Vitellius’s portraits. (Tac. 2.99–100; 3.9, 3.12–13)
The news sweeps through the camp. The soldiers come back from their posts and see Vespasian’s name on the standards. First a heavy silence falls. Then an uproar. The German army is to surrender without a battle, without a single wound? They put Vitellius’s portraits back up and clap the consul in chains. Without Caecina they march for Cremona. (Tac. 3.13–14; Dio 65.10.3–4; Jewish War 4.11.3)
An army without a leader, divided between Hostilia and Cremona. Primus sees his chance. He marches.