e. They had held a
mock funeral before his eyes, and had accompanied their dirges and
lamentations with gross insults levelled at the whole senate. The
accused were summoned; their case was tried; they were convicted and
punished. A further decree of the senate was passed admonishing the
commons of Siena to pay more respect to the laws. About the same time
Antonius Flamma was prosecuted by Cyrene for extortion, and exiled for
the inhumanity of his conduct.

Meanwhile, a mutiny almost broke out among the soldiers. The men 46
who had been discharged by Vitellius[356] came together again in
support of Vespasian, and demanded re-admission. They were joined by
the selected legionaries who had also been led to hope for service in
the Guards, and they now demanded the pay they had been promised. Even
the Vitellians[357] alone could not have been dispersed without
serious bloodshed, but it would require immense sums of money to
retain the services of such a large number of men. Mucianus
accordingly entered the barracks to make a careful estimate of each
man's term of service. He formed up the victorious troops with their
own arms and distinctive decorations, each company a few paces from
the next. Then the Vitellians who had surrendered, as we have
described, at Bovillae,[358] and all the other soldiers who had been
hunted down in the city and its neighbourhood, were marched out almost
entirely without arms or uniforms. Mucianus then had them sorted out,
and drew up in separate corps the troops of the German army, of the
British army, and of any others that were in Rome. Their first glance
at the scene astounded them. Facing them they saw what looked like a
fighting front bristling with weapons, while they were caught in a
trap, defenceless and foul with dirt. As soon as they began to be
sorted out a panic seized them. The German troops in particular were
terrified at their isolation, and felt they were being told off for
slaughter. They embraced their comrades and clung upon their necks,
asking for one last kiss, begging not to be left alone, crying out,
'Our cause is the same as yours, why should our fate be different?'
They appealed now to Mucianus, now to the absent emperor, and lastly
to the powers of Heaven, until Mucianus came to the rescue of their
imaginary terrors by calling them all 'sworn servants of one emperor',
for he found that the victorious army was joining in and seconding
their tears with cheering. O