There could hardly
be a man so careless of human interests as not to be affected by this
spectacle. There was the Roman Emperor, lord but a few days before of the
whole human race, leaving the seat of his power, and passing through the
midst of his people and his capital, to abdicate his throne. Men had never
before seen or heard of such an event. Cæsar, the Dictator, had fallen
by sudden violence, Caligula by secret treason. The shades of night and the
obscurity of a rural hiding-place had veiled the flight of Nero. Piso and
Galba had, it might be said, fallen in battle. In an assembly of his own
people, and in the midst of his own soldiers, with the very women of his
family looking on,
NOT PERMITTED TO
ABDICATE |
Vitellius stood and spoke a few words suitable to the sad
conjuncture. "He gave way," he said, "for the sake of peace, for the sake of
his country; let them only remember him, and think with compassion of his
brother, of his wife, of his young and innocent children." At the same time
he held out his son, commending him first to individual bystanders, then to
the whole assembly. At last, unable to speak for weeping, he unfastened the
dagger from his side, and offered it to the Consul, Cæcilius Simplex,
who was standing by him, as if to indicate that he surrendered the power of
life and death over the citizens. The Consul rejecting it, and those who
were standing by in the assembly shouting remonstrance, he departed, as if
with the intention of laying aside the emblems of Imperial power in the
Temple of Concord, and of betaking himself to his brother's house. Louder
shouts here met him from the crowd, which hindered him from entering a
private house, and invited him to return to the palace. Every other route
was closed, and the only one open was one which led into the Via Sacra. Then in utter perplexity he returned to the
palace. The rumour that he had renounced the Imperial dignity had preceded
him thither, and Flavius Sabinus had sent written orders to the tribunes of
the cohorts to keep their soldiers under restraint.
