Otho

and also by incurable bodily diseases; and besides, there were those unhallowed and unspeakable grovellings of his among the vilest harlots, for which his lustful nature still panted, clutching after them as his life painfully ebbed away; these were looked upon by reasonable men as extremest punishment and an equivalent of many deaths. Nevertheless it vexed the common people that he should see the light of day after so many good men had been robbed of that light by him.

Accordingly, Otho sent a messenger to fetch him from his country estate at Sinuessa; for he was staying there, where vessels lay at anchor, that he might fly to more distant parts. He tried to bribe the messenger with a large sum of money to let him go, but failing in this, he made him gifts nevertheless, and begged him to wait till he had shaved; and taking the razor he cut his own throat.

And now that the emperor had given the people this most righteous gratification, he did not remember his own private grievances against any man soever, and in his desire to please the multitude did not refuse at first to be hailed in the theatres by the name of Nero, and when statues of Nero were produced in public, he did not prevent it.

Moreover, Cluvius Rufus tells us that diplomas,[*](Cf. Chap. viii 4. ) such as couriers are provided with, were sent to Spain, in which the cognomen of Nero was added to the name of Otho. However, perceiving that the men of highest birth and greatest influence were displeased at this, Otho gave up the practice. But while he was placing his government on this basis, the paid soldiers began to make themselves troublesome by urging him not to trust the influential citizens, but to be on his guard against them and restrict their power. It is uncertain whether their goodwill led them to be really apprehensive for him, or whether they used this pretext for raising disturbance and war.

And so, when the emperor sent Crispinus to bring back the seventeenth legion from Ostia, and while that officer was still getting the baggage together at night and loading the arms upon the waggons, the boldest of the soldiers all began to cry out that Crispinus was come on no good errand, and that the senate was attempting to bring about a revolution, and that the transportation of the arms was an act of hostility, not of service, to the emperor.