Hist. 2.78.1At Vespasiānus bellum armaque et procul vel iūxtā sitās vīrīs circumspectābat.But Vespasian was surveying the war and the arms, and the forces stationed far and near. Hist. 2.78.1Mīles ipsī adeō parātus ut praeeuntem sacrāmentum et fausta Vitelliō omnia precantem per silentium audierint;His own soldiers were so ready for him that, when he led the oath and prayed for every blessing for Vitellius, they heard him in silence; Hist. 2.78.1Mūciānī animus nec Vespasiānō aliēnus et in Titum prōnior;Mucianus' mind was not hostile to Vespasian and was more inclined towards Titus; Hist. 2.78.1praefectus Aegyptī Ti. Alexander cōnsilia sociāverat;the prefect of Egypt, Tiberius Alexander, had joined in his plans; Hist. 2.78.1tertiam legiōnem, quod ē Syriā in Moesiam trānsīsset, suam numerābat;the Third Legion, because it had passed from Syria into Moesia, he counted as his own; Hist. 2.78.1cēterae Illyricī legiōnēs secūtūrae spērābantur;the remaining legions of Illyricum were expected to follow; Hist. 2.78.1namque omnis exercitus flammāverat adrogantiā venientium ā Vitelliō mīlitum, quod trucēs corpore, horridī sermōne cēterōs ut imparīs inrīdēbant.for every army had been inflamed by the arrogance of the soldiers coming from Vitellius, since, fierce in appearance and rough in speech, they mocked the others as their inferiors.
Hist. 2.78.1Sed in tantā mōle bellī plērumque cūnctātiō;But in so great a mass of war there is generally hesitation; Hist. 2.78.1et Vespasiānus modo in spem ērēctus, aliquandō adversa reputābat: Quis ille diēs foret quō sexāgintā aetātis annōs et duōs fīliōs iuvenēs bellō permitteret?and Vespasian, at one moment raised up in hope, at other times reflected on the dangers: what would that day be on which he entrusted to war his sixty years of life and his two young sons? Hist. 2.78.1Esse prīvātīs cōgitātiōnibus prōgressum et, prōut velint, plūs minusvē sūmī ex fortūnā: imperium cupientibus nihil medium inter summa aut praecipitia.In private ambitions, he thought, one could advance by degrees and, as one wished, take more or less from fortune: for those who desired empire there was no middle course between the summit and the abyss.