Not content with the gratification of his appetite, Vitellius began to derive pleasure from his cruelties. Even those who were fed with him in the same stall he sacrificed without compunction; and when he went to see one of his parasites in a raging fever, he put poison into a cup of water, and administered it with his own hands. The monster even avowed that he derived pleasure from the torments of his victims. On one occasion, when he had sentenced a father to death, he executed his two sons along with him for begging the life of their parent; and when a Roman knight. was dragged to execution, and expected to ward off the blow, by declaring that he had made the emperor his heir, Vitellius obtained a sight of the deed, and having found that he was only joint heir with another, he executed both, in order that he might obtain the property.
These intolerable deeds at last roused the abject Romans. The legions of the east began the revolt; and Vespasian, while he was carrying on the siege of Jerusalem, was proclaimed emperor of Rome. The legions in Mcesia and Pannonia declared for Vespa sian, and without his own consent he was proclaimed emperor at Alexandria. Declining the high honour which was thus offered him, Vespasian was compelled by his army to accept of it, and assembling his offi cers, it was resolved that his son Titus should con duct the war in Judea; that Mutianus should enter Italy with the greatest number of his legions; and that Vespasian should levy a new army in the east.
When Vespasian's army entered Italy under the command of Antonius Primus, Vitellius made consi derable preparations for resistance. His army, com manded by Valens and Cxcina, met the troops of Ves pasian near Cremona, and, when a battle was expect ed, Cwcina went over to Vespasian. The army im prisoned Cmcina, and attacked Antonius; and the bat tle, which lasted all night, was renewed in the morn ing, when, after a sharp conflict, Vitellius's army was defeated with a loss of 30,000 men. The routed troops, taking refuge in Cremona, liberated Ccecina, and, through his intercession, were forgiven by the conqueror. The approach of Vespasian's army to Rome was opposed by a few troops who guarded the passes of the A ppennines; but when Vitellius heard of the revolt of his fleet, he offered to Vespasian to re sign the empire. At this crisis one Sabinus seized the capitol; but Vitellius's soldiers laid it in ashes, and took Sabinus, who was soon after put to death.
Antonius, inattentive to the messages and offers of Vitellius, advanced towards Rome. He attacked it
on three sides, drove the besieged into the city, and slaughtered them in great numbers. The wretched and unprincipled populace celebrated the riotous feast of the Saturnalia, at the time that this bloody drama was performing in the city: and while the besiegers were slaughtering, and slaughtered by turns, the citi zens were occupied with drunkenness and feasting.
Amid this desolation of vice, Vitellius wandered about forsaken even by his slaves. He at last took shelter in some sequestered hiding-place, from which he was soon taken by the victorious enemy. The mi serable emperor, in the expectation of protracting his existence, requested that he might be kept in prison till the arrival of Vespasian, as he had important se crets to communicate to him. His appeal, however, was in vain. The soldiers binding his hands, and put ting a halter round his neck, led him half naked into the forum, loading him with curses and reproaches. They tied his hair backwards, and put the point of his sword beneath his chin to prevent him from hid ing his face. Some threw mud upon him, and others struck him, while some ridiculed the .redness of his face, and the magnitude of his belly. Having reached the place of execution, they killed him by blows, and, dragging the body through the streets, they tossed it into the Tiber. Thus terminated the eight months' reign of Vitellius, when he had reached the 57th year of his age. Availing themselves of the opportunity for plunder, the soldiers pursued the fugitives into houses and temples, and committed every species of cruelty and rapine.
No sooner, however, did Mutianus, the general of Vespasian, arrive in Rome than these atrocities ceased, and the metropolis resumed its usual tranquil lity. The senate and the army concurred in declaring Vespasian emperor; and messengers were sent to him in Egypt to request him to return. In the mean time Claudius Civilis, who had a command in Germany, revolted, and after maintaining a warlike attitude for some time, and resisting the arms of Cerealis, Ves pasian's general, he was at last obliged to make peace with his country. These events were followed by an irruption of the Sarmatians, who passed the Iser, and with the rapidity of a torrent overran the country, destroyed several garrisons, and routed an army com manded by Fonteius Agrippa. Rubrus Gallus, how ever, succeeded in driving them back into their set tlements, in which they were for a while retained by the influence of forts and garrisons.