Thus Otho ended his life in the 37th year of his age. He came
from the municipal town of
Ferentinum. His father
was of consular, his grandfather of prætorian rank. His family on the
mother's side was of less distinction, but yet respectable. What his boyhood
and his youth had been, we have already shewn. By two daring acts, one most
atrocious, the other singularly noble, he earned in the eyes of posterity
about an equal share of infamy and of glory. I should think it unbecoming
the dignity of the task which I
have undertaken, to collect fabulous marvels, and to amuse
with fiction the tastes of my readers; at the same time I would not venture
to impugn the credit of common report and tradition. The natives of these
parts relate that on the day when the battle was being fought at Bedriacum, a bird of unfamiliar appearance settled in a
much frequented grove near
Regium Lepidum, and was
not frightened or driven away by the concourse of people, or by the
multitude of birds that flocked round it, until Otho killed himself; then it
vanished. When they came to compute the time, it was found that the
commencement and the end of this strange occurrence tallied with the last
scenes of Otho's life.