People in Rome were now so nervous and so resigned to despotism that they demanded that Lucius Vitellius and his force of Guards should be surprised on their way back from Tarracina,[231] and the last sparks of the war stamped out.  Some cavalry were sent forward to Aricia, while the column of the legions halted short of Bovillae.[232] Vitellius, however, lost no time in surrendering himself and his Guards to the conqueror’s discretion, and the men flung away their unlucky swords more in anger than in fear.  The long line of prisoners filed through the city between ranks of armed guards.  None looked like begging for mercy.  With sad, set faces they remained sternly indifferent to the applause or the mockery of the ribald crowd.  A few tried to break away, but were surrounded and overpowered.  The rest were put in prison.  Not one of them gave vent to any unseemly complaint.  Through all their misfortunes they preserved their reputation for courage.  Lucius Vitellius was then executed.  He was as weak as his brother, though during the principate he showed himself less indolent.  Without sharing his brother’s success, he was carried away on the flood of his disaster.

At this time Lucilius Bassus[233] was sent off with a force of 3 light horse to quell the disquiet in Campania, which was caused more by the mutual jealousy of the townships than by any opposition to the emperor.  The sight of the soldiers restored order.  The smaller colonies were pardoned, but at Capua the Third legion[234] was left in winter quarters and some of the leading families fined.[235] Tarracina, on the other hand, received no relief.  It is always easier to requite an injury than a service:  gratitude is a burden, but revenge is found to pay.  Their only consolation was that one of Vergilius Capito’s slaves, who had, as we have seen,[236] betrayed the town, was hanged on the gallows with the very rings[237] on his fingers which Vitellius had given him to wear.

At Rome the senate decreed to Vespasian all the usual prerogatives of the principate.[238] They were now happy and confident.  Seeing that the civil war had broken out in the provinces of Gaul and Spain, and after causing a rebellion first in Germany and then in Illyricum, had spread to Egypt, Judaea, Syria,[239] and in fact to all the provinces and armies of the empire, they felt that the world had been purged as by fire and that all was now over.  Their satisfaction was still further enhanced by a letter from Vespasian, which at first sight seemed to be phrased as if the war was still going on.  Still his tone was that of an emperor, though he spoke of himself as a simple citizen and gave his country all the glory.  The senate for its part showed no lack of deference.  They decreed that Vespasian himself should be consul with Titus for his colleague, and on Domitian they conferred the praetorship with the powers of a consul.[240]