So
he kept on writing to Antonius and Varus in ambiguous terms, sometimes
urging them to 'press forward on their path', sometimes expatiating on
'the manifold value of delay'. He thus managed to arrange that he
could disclaim responsibility in case of a reverse, or acknowledge
their policy as his own if it succeeded. To Plotius Grypus, whom
Vespasian had lately raised to senatorial rank and put in command of a
legion, and to his other trusty friends he sent less ambiguous
instructions, and they all wrote back criticizing the haste with which
Antonius and Varus acted. This was just what Mucianus wanted. He
forwarded the letters to Vespasian with the result that Antonius'
plans and exploits were not appreciated as highly as Antonius had
hoped. This he took very ill and threw the blame on Mucianus, 53
whose charges he conceived had cheapened his exploits. Being little
accustomed to control his tongue or to obey orders, he was most
unguarded in his conversation and composed a letter to Vespasian in
presumptuous language which ill befitted a subject, making various
covert charges against Mucianus. 'It was I,' he wrote, 'who brought
the legions of Pannonia into the field:[141] it was my stimulus which
stirred up the officers in Moesia:[142] it was by my persistence that
we broke through the Alps, seized hold of Italy and cut off the German
and Raetian auxiliaries.[143] When Vitellius' legions were all
scattered and disunited, it was I who flung the cavalry on them like a
whirlwind, and then pressed home the attack with the infantry all day
and all night.
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