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mentations and walling. Besides these, other univclivomens attended hi m. For, in a victim offered to fallier Dis , he found the figias sucti as upon ali other Occasionsare regni ded as favorabie ; whereas, in that sacritice, thecontrary intimations are judged the most promising. Athis fit ii set ting for arit, he was stopped by inundations of the Tiber ; and at twenty miles distatice frona the city, found the road blocked up by the fali of hous es. IX. Though it was the generat opinion iliat it wouldbe proper to protradi the war, as the enemy were distresGed by tamine and the struitnesse of their quarters, yet heresolved with the like rasinest to come to an engagementas soon as possibie ; whether from an impatience under his present uneas1nesse of minit, and in the liope of accomplis hing his de sigil in a great meas ure be re the arrival of Vitellius, or because he could not resist the ardor of the
soldiers, who were ali clamo rotis for batile. He was not,
enga gemenis, Dear the Alps, about Placentia, and a place called Callo s : but was, by a fraudulent stratagem of the enem y, dei eated in the last: and greatest batile, at Bedriacum. For me liopes of a ConserenCe being gi vera, and the soldiers heing dra n out as it were to hear theconditions of peace declared, very unexpectedly, and
Otherisise called Orodis, Pluto, 'piter infern f, and Sygius. He was the brother of Jupiter, and king of the infernal regions. His wife was Proserpina, the daughter of Ceres, whom he carried OT as she was gathering fio vers in the platiis of Enna in Sicily. The victims offered to the infernal Gods were black : they were hilled with their faces benido vn ards; the knife was applied froni below, and the blood as Poured into a diich.
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to their arm s. Immediateis υpon this he formed a resolutation to put an enit to his life, more o ut os manae, as many
thinh, and not without reason, to persist in a struggle forthe empire to the haZard of the public, and so many lives; than out os despa ir, or any distrust of his tro ops ; for heli ad stili entire thos e whom lie had 1eserved for a secondirial of his fortune, and others were coming up frona Dal
X. My fallier Suetonius Lenis was in this batile, beingat that time an Angusticlavian Tribune in the thirteenthlegion. Ηe used frequently to say, that Otho, besore his
of the destili os Caslius and Brutus, he fcli into a trem-bling, and that he never Hould have med lied with Galba, hut that he was confident he might succedit in his design
spisse ii se by the example os a common soldier, whobring ing news of the des eat of the army, and finding that he met with no credit, but v as railed at for a liar and aco varii, as is he had run a way fro in the sield of batile, heseli upon his su ord at the cmperor 's seel; iapon the si glHos Mitch, my fallier salit, Otho cried ost, that tw wouldcXposse to no farther danger such hrave men, v ho h ad dea served so Heli at his haniis. V Ad visim g there fore his brother, his brother's son, and the rest of his frictilis, to provide for their securi ty in the best manner they could, after heliud embraced and kissed them, he sent the in away ; and then Withdrarising into a private room by bim 1elf, hev ro te a long letter os consolation to his sister. He like
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money he had letit, ' he distributed amongst his domestius. XL And now being prepared and just upon the poliatos dispalching himstas, he was induced to suspend his de
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particulars, I imagine, gave occasion to the worid towondqr the more at his death, the maniter of which was
gallant man, and an incomparabie emperor,'' immediatelyput an end to their own lives upon the spol, not far fronthis funerat pile. Many of thos e likewise who were at a distance, upon hearing the news of his death, in the anguish of their hearis, fel l a fiet ting amongst themselves,untii they dispalched one another. To conclude: the
η Jupiter, to preverit the discovery of his amour u illi Iothe daughter of the .river Inachus, transformed her into aheifer, in whicli metamorphosis stie was placed by Juno Under the watch fui inspoctiori of Argus; but nying into Egypt, and her Leeper being killed by AIercuru, me recover-ed her human sit ape, and u as married to Osiris, a Ling of
that Country. Her hii and a terruariis buca me a God of the Egyptians, and stie a Goddes s under the nanae of Isis. Shewas repre seia ted initi, a Corona Tucrita on her head, an Ainphora fuit of ears of corri in one hand, and a Sistrum a musical irr- strument) in the other.
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that it was the common talk and opinion, that Galbahad been taken oss by him, not so much from a dessire toreign himself, as to restore Rome to iis ancient liberty. 'IT was remarhable 1n the scitu ne of this emperor, thathe owed both his elevation and catastrophe to the inextri- Cable embarrassmenis in which he was involved ; first in respect of peeuniary circumstances, and nexi, os political He was not, se far as we can learn, a follower of any of the sedis of philosophers whicli justi fied, and even recommended sulcide, in particular cases: yet he perpetrated that adt with extraordinary coolnesi and resolution ; and what is no test remat habie, Dorn the motive, as he avowed, of public expediency only. It was observed of him, for many years after his death, that none ever died like
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1. AUT HORS give very different accounts of the OrI-gin of the Vitellian family. Some mention it as ancient and
These severat representations, I am inclined to thinh, have been occasioned by the flat terres and detractors of Vitellius, after he Came to be em peror ; and that the condition of the
family was not so described some time before. There is extant a book of Eulogius to Vitellius, Quaestorto Augustus, in whicli it is Did, that the Vitellii were descended frona Faunus hing of the Aborigines, and Vitellia,
Who was worshipped in many places as a Goddess, and that they rei gned formerly over ait Latium: that ait whowere lese of the family removed out of the country of the Sabines to Rome, a d were chos en amongs me Patri- Cians : that some monuments of the family continued a Iong time ; as the Vitellian way reaching from the Janiculum to the sea, and likewise a colony of that name, whicli, in a very remote period of time, they destred leave of the governinent to dessend against the AEquiculi, with a force raised o ut of their own fami ly only : also that, in the time of the war with the Samnites, some of the Vitellii that went with the tro ops levied for the security os Apulia, setiled at Nuceria, and that their descendenis a longetime after returned again to Rome, and were Chosen 1nto the Senate. On the other hand, the generality of
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writers say, that the founder of the family was a seeedaman. Cassius Severus and me offers relate, that he was likewise a cobbler, whose son having made a considerable fortune by the practice of information, and thepurchase of confiscaled estates, begat, by a commonstrumpet, daughter of one Antiochus a baher, a Child, whoasterwards became a Roman knight. But of these dis ferent accounts the reader is test to judge. II. It is certain, however, that P. Vitellius of Nuceria, Whether of an ancient family, or of sordid extraction, Was a Roman knight, and a procurator to Augustus. He lest bellind him four sons, ali men os very great figure, who had the fame cognomen, but the different praenomina of Aulus, Quintus, Publius, and Lucius. Aulus dieit in the possession of the Consuls his , whicli ossice he bore jointly with Domitius the fallier of Nero Caesar.
He was elegant to excesse in his manner of living, and notorious for the vast expence of his entertainments. Quintus was turn ed out of the Senatorian Order, when,
Upon a motion made by Tiberius, a resolution passed topurge the Senate of such as were in any res pedi notduly qualisled for that honor. Publius was an intimate friend and companion os Germanicus, prosecuted hisenemy and inui derer Cn. Piso, and procured sentence against him. Aster he had been made Praetor, beingtaken up amongst the accomplices of Sejanus, and deli- vered into the hands of his brother, to be confined in hisboufe, he opened a vein, with the intent of bleeding todeath. He suffered the wound however to be bound up
solution he had formed, as to comply with the impo tuni ty of his relations. He died afterwards a naturaldeath in that confinement. Lucius, aster his Consul-
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stip, was made governor of Syria, and by his politie
management not only brought Artabanus hing of the Parthians to give him an interview, but to morship thesandards of the Roman legions. He asterwards bore
with the emperor Claudius. Whilst that prince was absent upon his eXpedition into Britain, the care of the empire was committed to him, being a man os great inte
sames, in his compli 'aenis to him upon that occasion,
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see them both Consuis, the fame year and the wholeyear likewise ; the younger succceding the elder for the Ialter siκ monilis. The Senate honored him after his decease with a funerat at tho public experice, and with a statue in the Rostra, which had this inscription upon thebase : A person of stediast loyalty to his prince. V Thoemperor Aulus Vitellius, sae son of this Lucius, was borntipon the eighth of the Caleniis of October, or, as somesay, upon ille se venti, of the Ides of September, in the Consulitiis of Drusus Caesar and Norbanus Flaccus. His
parents were so terrified with the predictions os astrolo-gers Upon the calculation of his nativi ty, that his fa-ther used his ulmost eniteavors to prevent his being sentgovernor into any of the provinces, whilst he was alive.
His mollier, upon his being sent to the legioris, and also Dpon his heing proclaimed emperor, immediately lamented hi in as ulterly ruine l. He sperit nis youth amongst the calamites of Tiberius at Capreae, was himself constantly stiginatis ed with the na me of Spintria, and was supposed, by the gratification of the em peror 's unnatura Ipassion, to have been the occasion of his father's rise. IV. In the subsequent part of his lise, he continuedio be most scandalous y vici ous, but in great favor at couri; being upon a very intimate Doting with Caius, because of his fondnesi for the exerci se of chariot-driv-ing, and with Claudius sor his love of gam ing. But hewas in a stili greater degree accepta hie to Nero, as wellupon these fame accounts, as sor a particular picce of
service which he rendered hi m. When Nero presided in the games itistitu ted by hiniself, though he was eκtrem elydesirous to per pira amongii the harpers, yet his modest ywould not permit him, notwithstanding the peopte entreat-
cd much sor it. Upon his quitiing the theatre, Vitellius
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setched him bach again, pretending to be commissioned by the people who persisted in their fuit, to request the
favor of his return, and so gave the Company a farther
opportunity for 'effecting the accomplistiment of whatthey requested. V. By the favor of these three princes, he was notonly advanced to the great offices of state, but to thehighesi dignities of the sacred Order; after which he held the Proconsuis his of Africa, and had the superintendency of the public works, which he managed with un-equat conduet, and a Consequent diversi ty of character For he governed the province with singular integrityduring two years, in the lalter of which he adted as deputy to his brother, who succeeded hi m. But in his office in the city, he was seid to pillage the temples of their presenis and ornamenis, and to have excitanged liqand brast for gold and si1lver. VL He had to wise Ρetronia, the daughter os a manos Consular rank, and by her a son named Petronius, who was blind of an eye. The mollier being willingio appotnt this youth her heir, upon condition that heshould be discliarged frona under his fallieris authority, the lalter dis charged him accordingly, but shortly aster,as was belleved, murdered him, charging him with a design upon his life, and pretending that he had, from a consciou est of his gutti, drank the pol n he had prepared
for his fallier. Soon after he married Galeria Fundana, the daughter os a man os Praetorian rank, and had by her both sons and daughters. Amongst the former Wasone who h ad suci, a staminering in his speech, that he was litile beller than is he had been dumb.