Vitellius - Roman Emperor: 69 A.D.
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Aulus Vitellius Germanicus, born Aulus Vitellius and
commonly
 known
as Vitellius (24 September or 7 September and according to
Suetonius, 12 September or 15 September 15 – 22 December 69), was the
eighth
Roman Emperor, who reigned from 16
April 69 to 22 December of the same year. Vitellius acceded to this
position following the quick succession of the previous emperors
Galba and
Otho, in a year of civil war known as
the
Year of the Four Emperors. Vitellius
was the first to add the honorific
cognomen Germanicus to his name
instead of Caesar upon his accession; the latter name had fallen
into disrepute in many quarters because of the actions of
Nero.
His claim to the throne was soon challenged by
legions stationed in the Eastern provinces, who proclaimed their
commander
Vespasian emperor in his place. War
ensued, leading to a crushing defeat for Vitellius at the
Second Battle of Bedriacum. When he
realised his support was wavering, Vitellius prepared to abdicate in
favour of Vespasian, but was executed in Rome by Flavian forces on
December 22 of 69.
Family
He was the son of
Lucius Vitellius Veteris and his wife
Sextilia, and had one brother,
Claudius Vitellius the Younger.
Suetonius recorded two different
accounts of the origins of the
Vitellius (gens), one making them
descendants of past rulers of
Latium, the other describing them as of
lowly origins; Suetonius makes the sensible remark that both accounts
might have been made by either flatterers or enemies of Vitellius --
except that both were in circulation before Vitellius became emperor.
Suetonius also recorded that when Vitellius was born his horoscope so
horrified his parents that his father tried to prevent Aulus from
becoming a consul.
He married firstly before the year 40 Petronia,
daughter of Publius or Gaius Petronius Pontius Nigrinus, by whom he had
a son Aulus Vitellius Petronianus, the universal heir of his mother and
grandfather.
He married secondly circa 50
Galeria Fundana (ca 40 - aft. 69),
perhaps the granddaughter of Gaius Galerius (ca 15 BC - aft. 23),
Praefectus Aeg. in 23. They had two children, a son called
Germanicus and an unnamed daughter (b. ca 55). Settipani and Birley have
suggested that this daughter married
Decimus Rupilius Libo Frugi, father
Rupilia Faustina.
[1]
Public
service
Political
and military career
He was
Consul in 48, and assumed
Proconsul of
Africa in either 60 or 61, in which
capacity he is said to have acquitted himself with credit. At the end of
68
Galba, to the general astonishment,
selected him to command the army of
Germania Inferior, and here Vitellius
made himself popular with his subalterns and with the soldiers by
outrageous prodigality and excessive good nature, which soon proved
fatal to order and discipline.
Bid
for power
He owed his elevation to the throne to
Caecina and
Fabius Valens, commanders of two
legions on the
Rhine. Through these two men a military
revolution was speedily accomplished; they refused to renew their vows
of allegiance to Emperor
Galba on 1 January 69, and early in 69
Vitellis was proclaimed emperor at
Cologne. More accurately, he was
proclaimed emperor of the armies of Germania Inferior and
Superior. The armies of Gaul, Brittania
and Raetia sided with them shortly afterwards. By the time that they
marched on Rome, however, it was
Otho, and not Galba, whom they had to
confront.
In fact, he was never acknowledged as emperor by the
entire Roman world, though at Rome the
Senate accepted him and decreed to him
the usual imperial honours. He advanced into Italy at the head of a
licentious and rough soldiery, and Rome became the scene of riot and
massacre, gladiatorial shows and extravagant feasting. To reward his
victorious legionaries, Vitellius disbanded the existing Praetorian
Guard and installed his own men instead.
Emperor
Administration
Suetonius, whose father had fought for
Otho at
Bedriacum, gives an unfavourable
account of Vitellius' brief administration: he describes him as
unambitious and notes that Vitellius showed indications of a desire to
govern wisely, but that Valens and Caecina encouraged him in a course of
vicious excesses which threw his better qualities into the background.
Vitellius is described as lazy and self-indulgent, fond of eating and
drinking, and an obese glutton, eating banquets four times a day and
feasting on rare foods he would send the Roman navy to procure. For
these banquets, he had himself invited over to a different noble's house
for each one. He is even reported to have starved his own mother to
death -- to fulfill a prophecy that he would rule long if his mother
died first. Other writers, namely
Tacitus and
Cassius Dio, disagree with some of
Suetonius' assertions, even though their own accounts of Vitellus are
scarcely positive ones.
Despite his short reign he made two important
contributions to Roman government which outlasted him.
Tacitus describes them both in his
Histories:
-
Vitellus ended the practice of Centurions selling
furloughs and exemptions of duty to their men, a change Tacitus
describes as being adopted by 'all good emperors'.
-
He also expanded the offices of the Imperial
Administration beyond the imperial pool of Freedmen allowing those
of the
Equites to take up positions in the
Imperial Civil service.
Vitellius also banned astrologers from Rome and Italy
from 1 October, 69. Some astrologers responded to his decree by
anonymously publishing a decree of their own: "Decreed by all
astrologers in blessing on our State Vitellius will be no more on the
appointed date." In response, Vitellius executed any astrologers he came
across.[2]
Challenges
In July 69, Vitellius learned that the armies of the
eastern provinces had proclaimed a rival emperor; their commander,
Titus Flavius Vespasianus. As soon as
it was known that the armies of the East,
Dalmatia, and
Illyricum had declared for Vespasianus,
Vitellius, deserted by many of his adherents, would have resigned the
title of emperor.
Resignation
and death
It is said that Vitellius awaited Vespasian's army at
Mevania. It was said that the terms of
resignation had actually been agreed upon with
Marcus Antonius Primus, the commander
of the sixth legion serving in
Pannonia and one of Vespasian’s chief
supporters, but the praetorians refused to allow him to carry out the
agreement, and forced him to return to the palace, when he was on his
way to deposit the insignia of empire in the Temple of Concord. On the
entrance of Vespasian's troops into Rome he was dragged out of some
miserable hiding-place (according to Tacitus a door-keeper's lodge),
driven to the fatal
Gemonian stairs, and there struck down.
His body was thrown into the Tiber according to
Suetonius;
Cassius Dio's account is that Vitellius
was beheaded and his head paraded around Rome, and his wife attended to
his burial. "Yet I was once your emperor," were the last and, as far as
we know, the noblest words of Vitellius. His brother and son were also
killed.
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