laurel crown, which he had put on as
emblematical of auspicious fortune, fell off his head into a river. Soon
afterwards, at Vienne [706], as he was upon the tribunal administering
justice, a cock perched upon his shoulder, and afterwards upon his head.
The issue corresponded to these omens; for he was not able to keep the
empire which had been secured for him by his lieutenants.

X. He heard of the victory at Bedriacum [707], and the death of Otho,
whilst he was yet in Gaul, and without the least hesitation, by a single
proclamation, disbanded all the pretorian cohorts, as having, by their
repeated treasons, set a dangerous example to the rest of the army;
commanding them to deliver up their arms to his tribunes. A hundred and
twenty of them, under whose hands he had found petitions presented to
Otho, for rewards of their service in the murder of Galba, he besides
ordered to be sought out and punished. So far his conduct deserved
approbation, and was such as to afford hope of his becoming an excellent
prince, had he not managed his other affairs in a way more corresponding
with his own disposition, and his former manner of life, than to the
imperial dignity. For, having begun his march, he rode through every
city in his route in a triumphal procession; and sailed down the rivers
in ships, fitted out with the greatest elegance, and decorated with
various kinds of crowns, amidst the most extravagant entertainments.
Such was the want of discipline, and the licentiousness both in his
family and army, that, not satisfied with the provision every where made
for them at the public expense, they committed every kind of robbery and
insult upon the inhabitants, setting slaves at liberty as they pleased;
and if any dared to make resistance, they dealt blows and abuse,
frequently wounds, and sometimes slaughter amongst them. When he reached
the plains on which the battles (434) were fought [708], some of those
around him being offended at the smell of the carcases which lay rotting
upon the ground, he had the audacity to encourage them by a most
detestable remark, "That a dead enemy smelt not amiss, especially if he
were a fellow-citizen." To qualify, however, the offensiveness of the
stench, he quaffed in public a goblet of wine, and with equal vanity and
insolence distributed a large quantity of it among his troops. On his
observing a stone with an inscription upon it to the memory of Otho, he
said, "It was a mausoleum go