Though staggered by
these apprehensions, he was confirmed in his purpose by others among the
legates and among his own friends, and particularly by Mucianus, who, after
many conversations with him in private, now publicly addressed him in the
following terms: "All who enter upon schemes involving great interests,
should consider whether what they are attempting be for the advantage of the
State, for their own credit, easy of accomplishment, or at any rate free
from serious difficulty. They must also weigh the circumstances of their
adviser, must see whether he will follow up his advice by imperilling
himself, and must know who, should fortune prosper the undertaking, is to
have the highest honours. I invite you, Vespasian, to a dignity which will
be as beneficial to the State, as it will be honourable to yourself. Under
heaven this dignity lies within your reach. And do not dread what may
present the semblance of flattery. To be chosen successor to Vitellius would
be more of an insult than a compliment. It is not against the vigorous
intellect of the Divine Augustus, it is not against the pro-
MUCIANUS ENCOURAGES VESPASIAN |
found subtlety
of the aged Tiberius, it is not even against the house of Caius, Claudius,
or Nero, established by a long possession of the Empire, that we are rising
in revolt. You have already yielded to the prestige even of Galba's family.
To persist in inaction, and to leave the State to degradation and ruin,
would look like indolence and cowardice, even supposing that servitude were
as safe for you as it would be infamous. The time has gone by and passed
away when you might have endured the suspicion of having coveted Imperial
power. That power is now your only refuge. Have you forgotten how Corbulo
was murdered? His origin, I grant, was more illustrious than ours; yet in
nobility of birth Nero surpassed Vitellius. The man who is afraid sees
distinction enough in any one whom he fears. That an Emperor can be created
by the army, Vitellius is himself a proof, who, though he had seen no
service and had no military reputation, was raised to the throne by the
unpopularity of Galba. Otho, who was overcome, not indeed by skilful
generalship, or by a powerful enemy, but by his own premature despair, this
man has made into a great and deservedly regretted Emperor, and all the
while he is disbanding his legions, disarming his auxiliaries, and sowing
every day fresh seeds of civil war. All the energy and high spirit which
once belonged to his army is wasted in the revelry of taverns and in aping
the debaucheries of their chief. You have from
Judæa,
Syria, and
Egypt, nine fresh legions, unexhausted by battle,
uncorrupted by dissension; you have a soldiery hardened by habits of warfare
and victorious over foreign foes; you have strong fleets, auxiliaries both
horse and foot, kings most faithful to your cause, and an experience in
which you excel all other men.
