n the
throne, reigned but seven months, being overthrown by Otho, who
conspired against him with the Praetorian guards. The new emperor reigned
only three months. The army of Germany proclaimed their
general--Vitellius--emperor, marched against Otho, and defeated him. He
ended the contest by committing suicide. Vitellius reigned less than a
year. The army of the East rebelled against him, proclaimed their
general--Vespasian--emperor, and a new civil war broke out, which was
closed by the speedy downfall of Vitellius. It is the story of this man,
emperor for less than a year, which we have here to describe.

The three men named were alike unfit to reign over Rome. Galba was very
old and very incompetent, Otho was a declared profligate, and Vitellius
was a glutton of such extraordinary powers that his name has become a
synonyme for voracity. He had by his arts and his skill as a courtier
made himself a favorite with four emperors of widely differing
character,--Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero. The suicide of Otho
had now made him emperor himself, and he gave way without stint to the
peculiar vice which has made his name despicable, that of inordinate
love of the pleasures of the table.

After the death of Otho, says Tacitus, "Vitellius, sunk in sloth, and
growing every day more contemptible, advanced by slow marches towards
the city of Rome. In all the villas and municipal towns through which he
passed, carousing festivals were sufficient to retard a man abandoned to
his pleasures. He was followed by an unwieldy multitude, not less than
sixty thousand men in arms, all corrupted by a life of debauchery. The
number of retainers and followers of the army was still greater, all
disposed to riot and insolence, even beyond the natural bent of the
vilest slaves.

"The crowd was still increased by a conflux of senators and Roman
knights, who came from Rome to greet the prince on his way; some
impelled by fear, others to pay their court, and numbers, not to be
thought sullen or disaffected. All went with the current. The populace
rushed forth in crowds, accompanied by an infamous band of pimps,
players, buffoons, and charioteers, by their utility in vicious
pleasures all well known and dear to Vitellius.

"To supply so vast a body with provisions the colonies and municipal
cities were exhausted; the fruits of the earth, then ripe and fit for
use, were carried off; the husbandman was plundered; and his land, as if
it we