1To the rest it seemed that they must make haste, before the conspiracy of a few, still weak, could grow: Otho too would lose his nerve, he who had slipped away by stealth and been carried among men who knew nothing of it, but who would now, through the hesitation and idleness of those wasting time, learn to play the emperor. 1They must not wait until, with the camp put in order, he invaded the forum and went up to the Capitol before Galba's eyes, while their noble emperor with his brave friends shut up his house as far as the door and threshold, ready, no doubt, to endure a siege.
1And a splendid help there would be in the slaves, if the unanimity of so great a multitude and, what counts for most, their first indignation were allowed to cool. 1Therefore what was dishonourable was also unsafe; 1or, if they must fall, they should go to meet the danger: that would bring more odium on Otho and honour on themselves. 1When Vinius opposed this view, Laco attacked him with threats, Icelus spurring him on with the persistence of a private hatred, to the ruin of the state.