1None of this escaped the Vitellians, since there was frequent desertion, as happens in civil war; 1and the spies, in their eagerness to find out the other side's affairs, did not hide their own. 1Caecina and Valens, quiet and watchful, since the enemy was rushing headlong through folly, were waiting for another's stupidity, which serves in place of wisdom; they began a bridge, pretending to cross the Po in the face of the band of gladiators posted opposite, and also so that their own soldiers should not waste time in sluggish idleness. 1Boats, set at equal intervals from one another and joined at either end by strong beams, were ranged facing upstream, with anchors thrown out above them to hold the bridge firm; but the anchor cables were not drawn taut and floated loose, so that when the river rose the line of boats might be lifted up without damage.
1The bridge was closed off by a tower set on it and carried out on the last boat, from which the enemy might be driven back with artillery and engines. 1The Othonians had built a tower on the bank and were hurling stones and firebrands.