At this time the legion in
Africa was commanded by Valerius Festus, a young man of
extravagant habits and immoderate ambition, who was now made uneasy by his
relationship to Vitellius. Whether this man in their frequent interviews
tempted Piso to revolt, or whether he resisted
such
overtures, is not known for certain, for no one was present at their
confidential meetings, and, after Piso's death, many were disposed to
ingratiate themselves with the murderer. There is no doubt that the province
and the troops entertained feelings of hostility to Vespasian, and some of
the Vitellianists, who had escaped from the capital, incessantly represented
to Piso that
Gaul was hesitating and
Germany ready to revolt, that his own position was
perilous, and that for one who in peace must be suspected war was the safer
course. While this was going on, Claudius Sagitta, prefect of Petra's Horse,
making a very quick passage reached
Africa before
Papirius, the centurion despatched by Mucianus. He declared that an order to
put Piso to death had been given to the centurion, and that Galerianus, his
cousin and son-in-law, had perished; that his only hope of safety was in
bold action; that in such action two paths were open; he might defend
himself on the spot, or he might sail for
Gaul and
offer his services as general to the Vitellianist armies. Piso was wholly
unmoved by this statement. The centurion despatched by Mucianus, on landing
in the port of
Carthage, raised his voice, and
invoked in succession all blessings on the head of Piso, as if he were
Emperor, and bade the bystanders, who were astonished by this sudden and
strange proceeding, take up the same cry. The credulous mob rushed into the
market-place, and demanded that Piso should shew himself. They threw
everything into an uproar with their clamorous shouts of joy, careless of
the truth, and only eager to flatter. Piso, acting on the information of
Sagitta, or, perhaps, from natural modesty, would not make his appearance in
public, or trust himself to the zeal of the populace. On questioning the
centurion, and finding that he had sought a pretext for accusing and
murdering him, he ordered the man to be executed, moved, not so much by any
hope of saving his life, as by indignation against the assassin; for this
fellow had been one of the murderers of Macer, and was now come to slay the
proconsul with hands already stained with the blood of the legate. He then
severely blamed the people of
Carthage in an edict
which betrayed his anxiety, and ceased to discharge even the usual duties of
his office, shutting himself up in his palace, to guard against
any casual occurrence that might lead to a new outbreak.
