I find it stated by
some authors that either the dread of war or the disgust felt for both
Emperors, whose wickedness and infamy were coming out every day into more
open notoriety, made the two armies hesitate whether they should not cease
their strife, and either themselves consult together, or allow the Senate to
choose an Emperor; and that, for this reason, Otho's generals recommended a
certain measure of delay, Paullinus especially entertaining
PASSION FOR POWER CAUSES CIVIL WARS |
hopes for himself, on
the ground that he was the senior among the men of consular rank, that he
was well known as a soldier, and had attained great distinction and fame by
his campaigns in
Britain. Though I would allow that
there were some few who in their secret wishes prayed for peace in the stead
of disorder, for a worthy and blameless Emperor in the room of men utterly
worthless and wicked, yet I cannot suppose that Paullinus, wise as he was,
could have hoped in an age thoroughly depraved to find such moderation in
the common herd, as that men, who in their passion for war had trampled
peace under foot, should now in their affection for peace renounce the
charms of war; nor can I think that armies differing in language and in
character, could have united in such an agreement; or that lieutenants and
generals, who were for the most part burdened by the consciousness of
profligacy, of poverty, and of crime, could have endured any Emperor who was
not himself stained by vice, as well as bound by obligation to
themselves.
