Page:Tacitus Histories Fyfe (1912) Vol1.djvu/80

brought with him the Italian legion^[1] and a regiment of cavalry known as 'Taurus' Horse',^[2] which had been quartered at Lugdunum. The forces in Raetia lost no time in joining his standard, and even the troops in 60Britain showed no hesitation. Trebellius Maximus, the governor of Britain, had earned by his meanness and cupidity the contempt and hatred of the army,^[3] which was further inflamed by the action of his old enemy Roscius Coelius, who commanded the Twentieth legion, and they now seized the opportunity of the civil war to break out into a fierce quarrel. Trebellius blamed Coelius for the mutinous temper and insubordination of the army: Coelius complained that Trebellius had robbed his men and impaired their efficiency. Meanwhile their unseemly quarrel ruined the discipline of the forces, whose insubordination soon came to a head. The auxiliary horse and foot joined in the attacks on the governor, and rallied round Coelius. Trebellius, thus hunted out and abandoned, took refuge with Vitellius. The province remained quiet, despite the removal of the ex-consul. The government was carried on by the commanding officers of the legions, who were equal in authority, though Coelius' audacity gave him an advantage over the rest.

61Thus reinforced by the army from Britain,^[4] Vitellius,

1. Legio Prima Italica, formed by Nero.
2. Called after Statilius Taurus, who first enlisted it. He was Pro-consul of Africa under Nero. Cp. p. 85, note 3.
3. Their mutiny in a.d. 69 is described by Tacitus, Agr. 16.
4. i.e. by detachments from it.