[324] Cp. chap. 26.
[325] Having strengthened the defences of Vetera, he was now
going back to Gelduba.
[326] From the Vetera garrison.
[327] i.e. the troops which Flaccus at Mainz had put under
Vocula for the relief of Vetera (chap. 24).
[328] It was therefore later than December 21.
[329] Cp. chap. 12.
[330] The Usipi lived on the east bank of the Rhine between
the Sieg and the Lahn; the Mattiaci between the Lahn and the
Main, round Wiesbaden.
ROME AND THE EMPIRE UNDER VESPASIAN
During these events Vespasian took up his second consulship and 38
Titus his first, both in absence.[331] Rome was depressed and beset by
manifold anxieties. Apart from the real miseries of the moment, it
was plunged into a groundless panic on the rumour of a rebellion in
Africa, where Lucius Piso was supposed to be plotting a revolution.
Piso, who was governor of the province, was far from being a
firebrand. But the severity of the winter delayed the corn-ships, and
the common people, accustomed to buy their bread day by day, whose
interest in politics was confined to the corn-supply, soon began to
believe their fears that the coast of Africa was being blockaded and
supplies withheld. The Vitellians, who were still under the sway of
party spirit, fostered this rumour, and even the victorious party were
not entirely displeased at it, for none of their victories in the
civil war had satisfied their greed, and even foreign wars fell far
short of their ambition.
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