He had frequent
interviews with Piso, and it is impossible to tell whether he tempted
Piso to rebel or resisted Piso's temptations. No one was present at
their interviews, which were held in private, and after Piso's death
most people were inclined to sympathize with his murderer. Beyond
doubt the province and the garrison were unfavourable to Vespasian.
Besides, some of the Vitellian refugees from Rome pointed out to Piso
that the Gallic provinces were wavering. Germany was ready to rebel,
and he himself was in danger; 'and,' they added, 'if you earn
suspicion in peace your safest course is war.' Meanwhile, Claudius
Sagitta, who commanded Petra's Horse,[365] made a good crossing and
outstripped the centurion Papirius, who had been sent out by Mucianus
and was commissioned, so Sagitta affirmed, to assassinate Piso.
Sagitta further stated that Galerianus,[366] Piso's cousin and
son-in-law, had already been murdered, and told him that while his one
hope lay in taking a bold step, there were two courses open to him: he
might either take up arms on the spot, or he might prefer to sail to
Gaul and offer to lead the Vitellian armies. This made no impression
on Piso. When the centurion whom Mucianus had sent arrived at the
gates of Carthage, he kept on shouting all sorts of congratulations to
Piso on becoming emperor. The people he met, who were astounded at
this unexpected miracle, were instructed to take up the cry. With a
crowd's usual credulity, they rushed into the forum calling on Piso to
appear, and as they had a passion for flattery and took no interest in
the truth, they proceeded to fill the whole place with a confused
noise of cheering. Piso, however, either at a hint from Sagitta, or
from his natural good sense, would not show himself in public or give
way to the excitement of the crowd. He examined the centurion, and
learnt that his object was to trump up a charge against him and then
kill him.[367] He accordingly had the man executed more from
indignation against the assassin than in any hope of saving his life;
for he found that the man had been one of the murderers of Clodius
Macer,[368] and after staining his hand in the blood of a military
officer was now proposing to turn it against a civil governor. Piso
then reprimanded the Carthaginians in an edict which clearly showed
his anxiety, and refrained from performing even the routine of his
office, shutting himself up in his house, for fear that he might by
acc