Arrius Varus[230] took command of the Guards, but the supreme
authority rested with Antonius Primus. He removed money and slaves
from the emperor's house as though he were plundering Cremona. The
other generals, from excess of modesty or lack of spirit, shared
neither the distinctions of the war nor the profits of peace.
People in Rome were now so nervous and so resigned to despotism that
they demanded that Lucius Vitellius and his force of Guards should be
surprised on their way back from Tarracina,[231] and the last sparks
of the war stamped out. Some cavalry were sent forward to Aricia,
while the column of the legions halted short of Bovillae.[232]
Vitellius, however, lost no time in surrendering himself and his
Guards to the conqueror's discretion, and the men flung away their
unlucky swords more in anger than in fear. The long line of prisoners
filed through the city between ranks of armed guards. None looked like
begging for mercy. With sad, set faces they remained sternly
indifferent to the applause or the mockery of the ribald crowd. A few
tried to break away, but were surrounded and overpowered. The rest
were put in prison. Not one of them gave vent to any unseemly
complaint. Through all their misfortunes they preserved their
reputation for courage. Lucius Vitellius was then executed. He was as
weak as his brother, though during the principate he showed himself
less indolent. Without sharing his brother's success, he was carried
away on the flood of his disaster.
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