d that
night in his sleep, and to have groaned heavily; and being found, by
those who came running in to see what the matter was, lying upon the
floor before his bed, he endeavoured by every kind of atonement to
appease the ghost of Galba, by which he had found himself violently
tumbled out of bed. The next day, as he was taking the omens, a great
storm arising, and sustaining a grievous fall, he muttered to himself
from time to time:

Ti gar moi kai makrois aulois; [679]
What business have I the loud trumpets to sound!

VIII. About the same time, the armies in Germany took an oath to
Vitellius as emperor. Upon receiving this intelligence, he advised the
senate to send thither deputies, to inform them, that a prince had been
already chosen; and to persuade them to peace and a good understanding.
By letters and messages, however, he offered Vitellius to make him his
colleague in the empire, and his son-in-law. But a war being now
unavoidable, and the generals and troops sent forward by Vitellius,
advancing, he had a proof of the attachment and fidelity of the pretorian
guards, which had nearly proved fatal to the senatorian order. It had
been judged proper that some arms should be given out of the stores, and
conveyed to the fleet by the marine troops. While they were employed in
fetching these from the camp in the night, some of the guards suspecting
treachery, excited a tumult; and suddenly the whole body, without any of
their officers at their head, ran to the palace, demanding that the
entire senate should be put to the sword; and having repulsed some of the
(422) tribunes who endeavoured to stop them, and slain others, they
broke, all bloody as they were, into the banquetting room, inquiring for
the emperor; nor would they quit the place until they had seen him. He
now entered upon his expedition against Vitellius with great alacrity,
but too much precipitation, and without any regard to the ominous
circumstances which attended it. For the Ancilia [680] had been taken
out of the temple of Mars, for the usual procession, but were not yet
replaced; during which interval it had of old been looked upon as very
unfortunate to engage in any enterprise. He likewise set forward upon
the day when the worshippers of the Mother of the gods [681] begin their
lamentations and wailing. Besides these, other unlucky omens attended
him. For, in a victim offered to Father Dis [682], he found the signs
such as