A few had service-shields: most of them snatched
up any weapons they could find and clamoured to be given the sign for
battle. Vitellius expressed his gratitude to them and bade them sally
forth to protect the city. He then summoned a meeting of the senate,
at which envoys were appointed to go to the two armies and urge them
in the name of public welfare to accept peace. The fortunes of the
envoys varied. Those who approached Petilius Cerialis found themselves
in dire danger, for the soldiers indignantly refused their terms. The
praetor, Arulenus Rusticus,[218] was wounded. Apart from the wrong
done to a praetor and an envoy, the man's own acknowledged worth made
this seem all the more scandalous. His companions were flogged, and
the lictor nearest to him was killed for venturing to make a way
through the crowd. Indeed, if the guard provided by the general had
not intervened, a Roman envoy, the sanctity of whose person even
foreign nations respect, might have been wickedly murdered in the mad
rage of civil strife under the very walls of Rome. Those who went to
Antonius met with a more reasonable reception; not that the soldiers
were less violent, but the general had more authority.
A knight named Musonius Rufus had attached himself to the envoys. 81
He was a student of philosophy and an enthusiastic advocate of
Stoicism. He mingled with the armed soldiers offering them advice and
discoursing on the advantages of peace and the perils of war.
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