1The Upper army despised its legate Hordeonius Flaccus, enfeebled by old age and lameness, without firmness, without authority: he could not have controlled the soldiers even had they been quiet; 1so much the more were the furious inflamed by the weakness of the man restraining them. 1The legions of Lower Germany were for a long time without a consular governor, until, sent by Galba, Aulus Vitellius arrived, son of the Vitellius who had been censor and three times consul: that seemed enough. 1In the army in Britain there was no anger. 1Indeed, no other legions behaved more blamelessly through all the upheavals of the civil wars, whether because they were far off and separated by the Ocean, or because frequent campaigns had taught them to hate the enemy instead.
1There was quiet in Illyricum too, although the legions summoned by Nero, while they lingered in Italy, had approached Verginius with embassies: but the armies, separated by long distances, which is the most effective way of keeping soldiers loyal, did not combine either their vices or their strength.