The rest of the cohort 31
paid some heed to his speech. Aimlessly, as happens in moments of
confusion, they seized their standards, without as yet any fixed plan,
and not, as was afterwards believed, to cloak their treachery. Marius
Celsus had been dispatched to the picked detachments of the Illyrian
army, which were quartered in the Vipsanian arcade,[56] while
instructions had been given to two senior centurions,[57] Amullius
Serenus and Domitius Sabinus, to summon the German troops from the
Hall of Liberty. They distrusted the legion of marines, who had been
alienated by Galba's butchery of their comrades on his entry into
Rome.[58] Three officers of the guards, Cetrius Severus, Subrius
Dexter, and Pompeius Longinus, also hurried to the camp in the hope
that the mutiny was still in its early stages and might be averted by
good advice before it came to a head. The soldiers attacked Subrius
and Cetrius with threats and forcibly seizing Longinus disarmed him,
because he had not come in virtue of his military rank, but simply as
one of Galba's private friends; and for his loyalty to his master the
rebels disliked him all the more. The marines without any hesitation
joined the guards. The Illyrian draft[59] drove Celsus away at the
point of their javelins. The German detachments[59] wavered for some
time. They were still in poor condition physically, and inclined to be
passive. Nero had dispatched them as an advance-guard to
Alexandria;[60] the long voyage back again had damaged their health,
and Galba had spared no expense in looking after them.
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