60Trebellius Maximus, the governor of Britain, had earned by his meanness and cupidity the contempt and hatred of the army,118 which was further inflamed by the action of his old enemy Roscius Coelius, who commanded the Twentieth legion, and they now seized the opportunity of the civil war to break out into a fierce quarrel. Trebellius blamed Coelius for the mutinous temper and insubordination of the army: Coelius complained that Trebellius had robbed his men and impaired their efficiency. Meanwhile their unseemly quarrel ruined the discipline of the forces, whose insubordination soon came to a head. The auxiliary horse and foot joined in the attacks on the governor, and rallied round Coelius. Trebellius, thus hunted out and abandoned, took refuge with Vitellius. The province remained quiet, despite the removal of the ex-consul. The government was carried on by the commanding officers of the legions, who were equal in authority, though Coelius' audacity gave him an advantage over the rest.
61Thus reinforced by the army from Britain,119 Vitellius, who now had an immense force and vast resources at his disposal, decided on an invasion by two routes under two separate generals. Fabius Valens was to lure the Gauls to his standard, or, if they refused, to devastate their country, and then invade Italy by way of the Cottian Alps.120 Caecina was to follow the shorter route and descend into Italy over the Pennine Pass.121 Valens' column comprised the Fifth legion with its 'eagle',122 and some picked detachments from the army of Lower Germany, together with auxiliary horse and foot, amounting in all to 40,000 men. Caecina's troops from Upper Germany numbered 30,000, their main strength consisting in the Twenty-first legion.123 Both columns were reinforced by German auxiliaries, whom Vitellius also recruited to fill up his own army, intending to follow with the main force of the attack.
62Strange was the contrast between Vitellius and his army. The soldiers were all eagerness, clamouring for battle at once, while Gaul was still frightened and Spain still undecided. Winter was no obstacle to them; peace and delay were for cowards: they must invade Italy and seize Rome: haste was the safest course in civil war, where action is better than deliberation. Vitellius was dully apathetic, anticipating his high station by indulging in idle luxury and lavish entertainments. At midday he would be drunk and drowsy with over-eating. However, such was the zeal of the soldiers that they even did the general's duties, and behaved exactly as if he had been present to encourage the alert and threaten the laggards. They promptly fell in and began to clamour for the signal to start. The title of Germanicus was then and there conferred on Vitellius: Caesar he would never be called, even after his victory.
87 At Pharsalia Caesar defeated Pompey, 48 b.c.; at Mutina the consul Hirtius defeated Antony, 43 b.c.; at Philippi Octavian defeated Brutus and Cassius, 42 b.c.; at Perusia Octavian defeated Antony's brother Lucius, 40 b.c.
89 Between the provinces of Upper and Lower Germany.
90 In the Gallic tongue this signified 'pot-belly'.
91 The Sequani had their capital at Vesontio (Besançon), the Aedui at Augustodunum (Autun).
92 Cp. chap. 8. The land was that taken from the Treviri (chap. 53).
93 Lyons.
94 a.d. 68.
95 According to Suetonius he used to kiss the soldiers he met in the road; make friends with ostlers and travellers at wayside inns; and go about in the morning asking everybody 'Have you had breakfast yet?' demonstrating by his hiccoughs that he had done so himself.
96 Cp. chap. 7. Caecina was in Upper Germany, Valens in Lower.
98 He commanded the army of the Upper Province (chap. 9).
99 He was Claudius' colleague twice in the consulship, and once in the censorship.
100 Andalusia and Granada.
101 The Treviri have given their name to Trier (Trèves), the Lingones to Langres.
102 i.e. two right hands locked in friendship.
103 At Bonn and at Vetera.
104 At Vetera and at Neuss.
105 At Mainz.
106 The Ubii had been allowed by Agrippa to move their chief town from the right to the left bank of the Rhine. Ten or twelve years later (a.d. 50) a colony of Roman veterans was planted there and called Colonia Claudia Augusta Agrippinensium, because Agrippina, the mother of Nero, had been born there.
107 These were thin bosses of silver, gold, or bronze, chased in relief, and worn as medals are.
108 This important innovation was established as the rule by Hadrian. These officials—nominally the private servants of the emperor, and hitherto imperial freedmen—formed an important branch of the civil service. (Cp. note 165.)
