Hist. 1.52.1Nunc initia causāsque mōtūs Vitelliānī expediam.Now I shall set out the beginnings and causes of the Vitellian movement. Hist. 1.52.1Caesō cum omnibus cōpiīs Iūliō Vindice ferōx praedā glōriāque exercitus, ut cui sine labōre ac perīculō dītissimī bellī victōria ēvēnisset, expedītiōnem et aciem, praemia quam stīpendia mālēbat.After Julius Vindex had been cut down with all his forces, the army, flushed with booty and glory, as men to whom victory in a very rich war had come without toil or danger, preferred campaigning and battle, and rewards to pay. Hist. 1.52.1Diū īnfrūctuōsam et asperam mīlitiam tolerāverant ingeniō locī caelīque et sevēritāte disciplīnae, quam in pāce inexōrābilem discordiae cīvium resolvunt, parātīs utrimque corruptōribus et perfidiā impūnītā.They had long endured an unprofitable and harsh service, owing to the nature of the region and the climate and the strictness of discipline, which, inexorable in peace, civil discord relaxes, with corrupters ready on both sides and treachery unpunished. Hist. 1.52.1Virī, arma, equī ad ūsum et ad decus supererant.Men, arms and horses they had in abundance, both for use and for show. Hist. 1.52.1Sed ante bellum centuriās tantum suās turmāsque nōverant;But before the war they had known only their own centuries and squadrons; Hist. 1.52.1exercitūs fīnibus prōvinciārum discernēbantur: tum adversus Vindicem contrāctae legiōnēs, sēque et Galliās expertae, quaerere rūrsus arma novāsque discordiās;the armies were kept apart by the boundaries of the provinces: then the legions, gathered together against Vindex, having tested themselves and the Gauls, were looking for war again and new discord; Hist. 1.52.1nec sociōs, ut ōlim, sed hostīs et victōs vocābant.and they called them no longer allies, as formerly, but enemies and conquered.
Hist. 1.52.1Nec dēerat pars Galliārum, quae Rhēnum accolit, eāsdem partīs secūta ac tum ācerrima īnstīgātrīx adversum Galbiānōs;Nor was that part of the Gauls lacking which lives along the Rhine, which had followed the same side and was then the fiercest instigator against the Galbians; Hist. 1.52.1hoc enim nōmen fastīdītō Vindice indiderant.for they had given them this name in disdain for Vindex. Hist. 1.52.1Igitur Sēquanīs Aeduīsque ac deinde, prōut opulentia cīvitātibus erat, īnfēnsī expugnātiōnēs urbium, populātiōnēs agrōrum, raptus penātium hausērunt animō, super avāritiam et adrogantiam, praecipua validiōrum vitia, contumāciā Gallōrum inrītātī, quī remissam sibi ā Galbā quartam tribūtōrum partem et pūblicē dōnātōs in ignōminiam exercitūs iactābant.So, hostile to the Sequani and Aedui, and then to other states in proportion to their wealth, they drank in with their minds the storming of cities, the ravaging of fields, the plundering of homes, provoked, over and above the greed and arrogance that are the special vices of the stronger, by the defiance of the Gauls, who boasted, to the army's disgrace, that a quarter of their tribute had been remitted by Galba and that they had been granted citizenship as communities.
Hist. 1.52.1Accessit callidē vulgātum, temerē crēditum, decimārī legiōnēs et promptissimum quemque centuriōnum dīmittī.There was added a report, cunningly spread and rashly believed, that the legions were being decimated and all the most energetic centurions dismissed. Hist. 1.52.1Undique atrōcēs nūntiī, sinistrā ex urbe fāma;From everywhere came dreadful news, from the city ominous rumour; Hist. 1.52.1īnfēnsa Lugdūnēnsis colōnia et pertinācī prō Nerōne fidē fēcunda rūmōribus;the colony of Lugdunum was hostile and, from its stubborn loyalty to Nero, fertile in rumours; Hist. 1.52.1sed plūrima ad fingendum crēdendumque māteriēs in ipsīs castrīs, odiō metū et, ubi vīrīs suās respexerant, sēcūritāte.but the richest material for inventing and believing lay in the camp itself, in hatred, in fear, and, when they considered their own strength, in confidence.