Hist. 1.72.1Caecīna paucōs in Helvētiīs morātus diēs dum sententiae Vitelliī certior fieret, simul trānsitum Alpium parāns, laetum ex Ītaliā nūntium accipit alam Siliānam circā Padum agentem sacrāmentō Vitelliī accessisse.Caecina, after lingering a few days among the Helvetii until he could learn Vitellius' decision, and at the same time preparing the crossing of the Alps, receives glad news from Italy that the Silian cavalry, stationed around the Po, had come over to Vitellius' oath. Hist. 1.72.1Prō cōnsule Vitellium Siliānī in Āfricā habuerant;The Silian troopers had had Vitellius as their proconsul in Africa; Hist. 1.72.1mox ā Nerōne, ut in Aegyptum praemitterentur, excitī et ob bellum Vindicis revocātī ac tum in Ītaliā manentēs, īnstīnctū decuriōnum, quī Othōnis ignārī, Vitelliō obstrictī rōbur adventantium legiōnum et fāmam Germānicī exercitūs attollēbant, trānsiēre in partīs et ut dōnum aliquod novō prīncipī firmissima trānspadānae regiōnis mūnicipia, Mediolānum ac Novāriam et Eporēdiam et Vercellās, adiūnxēre.later they had been summoned by Nero to be sent ahead into Egypt, recalled because of the war with Vindex, and were then still in Italy; at the instigation of their decurions, who knew nothing of Otho, were bound to Vitellius, and kept extolling the strength of the approaching legions and the fame of the German army, they went over to his side and, as a kind of gift to the new emperor, brought with them the strongest towns of the region beyond the Po, Mediolanum and Novaria, Eporedia and Vercellae.
Hist. 1.72.1Id Caecīnae per ipsōs compertum.Caecina learned this from the men themselves. Hist. 1.72.1Et quia praesidiō alae ūnīus lātissima Ītaliae pars dēfendī nequībat, praemissīs Gallōrum Lūsītānōrumque et Britannōrum cohortibus et Germānōrum vēxillīs cum alā Petriānā, ipse paulum cūnctātus est num Raeticīs iugīs in Nōricum flecteret adversus Petrōnium Vrbicum prōcūrātōrem, quī concitīs auxiliīs et interruptīs flūminum pontibus fīdus Othōnī putābātur.And because the widest part of Italy could not be defended by the garrison of a single cavalry regiment, he sent ahead the cohorts of Gauls, Lusitanians and Britons and detachments of Germans with the Petrian cavalry, and himself hesitated a little over whether to turn by the Raetian ridges into Noricum against Petronius Urbicus, the procurator, who, having called out auxiliaries and broken the bridges over the rivers, was thought to be loyal to Otho. Hist. 1.72.1Sed metū nē āmitteret praemissās iam cohortīs alāsque, simul reputāns plūs glōriae retentā Ītaliā et, ubicumque certātum foret, Nōricōs in cētera victōriae praemia cessūrōs, Poenīnō itinere subsignānum mīlitem et grave legiōnum agmen hībernīs adhūc Alpibus trānsdūxit.But for fear of losing the cohorts and cavalry already sent ahead, and reckoning at the same time that there was more glory in holding Italy and that, wherever the contest was fought, the Norici would fall with the other prizes of victory, he led the troops under the standards and the heavy column of the legions across by the Pennine route while the Alps were still in the grip of winter.