Vitellius was troubled by the spirit of the vanquished legions, which was
any thing but broken. Scattered through all parts of
Italy, and mingled with the conquerors, they spoke the
language of enemies. The soldiers of the 14th
legion were peculiarly furious. They
said that they had not been vanquished; that at the battle of Bedriacum only the veterans had been beaten, and that
the strength of the legion had been absent. It was resolved that these
troops should be sent back to
Britain, from which
province Nero had summoned them, and that the Batavian cohorts should in the
meantime be quartered with them, because there was an old feud between them
and the 14th. In the presence of such animosities between these armed
masses, harmony did not last long. At
Augusta of the Taurini it happened
that a Batavian soldier fiercely charged some artisan with having cheated
him, and that a soldier of the legion took the part of his host. Each man's
comrades gathered round him; from words they came to blows, and a fierce
battle would have broken out, had not two Prætorian cohorts taken the
side of the 14th, and given confidence to them, while they intimidated the
Batavians. Vitellius then ordered that these latter troops should be
attached to his own force, in consideration of their loyalty, and that the
legion should pass over the
Graian Alps, and then
take that line of road, by which they would avoid passing
Vienna, for the inhabitants of that place were also
suspected. On the night of the departure of the legion, a part of the Colonia Taurina was destroyed by the fires which were
left in every direction. This loss, like many of the evils of war, was
forgotten in the greater disasters which happened to other cities. When the
14th had made the descent on the other side of the Alps, the most mutinous among them were for carrying the
standards to
Vienna. They were checked, however, by
the united efforts of the better disposed, and the legion was transported
into
Britain.
