1Meanwhile Otho, who had no hope in a settled state of affairs and placed all his plans in turmoil, was spurred on by many things at once: his extravagance, burdensome even for an emperor, his poverty, scarcely bearable even for a private citizen, his anger against Galba, his envy of Piso; 1he also invented fears to sharpen his desire: he had been too much of a burden to Nero, and he must not wait for Lusitania again and the honour of a second exile. 1Rulers always suspect and hate whoever is marked out as next. 1That had harmed him with an old emperor, and it would harm him more with a young one, savage by nature and made wild by long exile: Otho could be killed.
1Therefore he must act and dare while Galba's authority was crumbling and Piso's had not yet taken hold. 1Times of transition were suited to great enterprises, and there was no need for delay when inaction was more ruinous than rashness. 1Death, by nature equal for all, was distinguished among posterity by oblivion or by glory; 1and if the same end awaited guilty and innocent alike, it was the mark of a bolder man to perish deservedly.