The Roman Army, 31 BC–AD 337: A Sourcebook

186 The Roman Army
the undivided support of the praetorians could hardly inspire confidence in his
capacity to rule. It became more difficult to arrange things so that this was
done discreetly, since the accessions of Claudius and Nero highlighted the
practical, overwhelming power of the army. But the support of the senate,
expressed in its decree, was not negligible, and later Nero could speak of the
‘authority of the senators’ and the ‘agreement of the soldiers’ (Annals, 13. 4).
308 Tacitus, Histories 1. 4
The death of Nero had been greeted at first with a wave of delight, but
it had also stirred up different emotions not only in Rome among the
senators, the people, and the soldiers in the capital, but also among all
the legions and their commanders, since a secret of empire had been
revealed—an emperor could be created outside Rome.
The civil wars of AD 68–69 brought an abrupt end to the long-established
Julio-Claudian dynasty. For nearly one hundred years the succession had been
regulated inside the imperial family with the help of the praetorian guard. The
success of the governor of Spain, Sulpicius Galba, in seizing power in 68, brought
the legionaries in the provinces dramatically to the forefront, demonstrated the
helplessness of the senate and the inadequacy of the praetorians as a defence
against an invasion of Italy by a provincial army, and substantially reduced the
influence of the guard until the reign of Commodus. The example set by Galba
was immediately followed by Vitellius, and then by Vespasian, who was to
place the day of his assumption of power on 1 July AD 69, the day on which he
had been acclaimed by the troops in Egypt, rather than on the day in late
December AD 69, when his powers were formally voted by the senate (for the
civil wars and the role of the army, see Campbell 1984:365–74).
309 Dio, 64. 9
People hated him (Otho) especially because he had revealed that the
position of emperor could be bought, and had put Rome in thrall to
the most audacious men; moreover, he placed no value on the senate
and people and had indeed persuaded the soldiers that they could both
kill and create an emperor.
310 SB 10295, with Bowman 1970, papyrus, Oxyrhynchus,
AD 175 (?)
Alexandrians [ _ _ _ ] you carry goodwill towards me [ _ _ _ ] in your
hearts and remain steadfast in your opinions. I am [therefore] coming
to you with good fortune, since having been chosen emperor by the
most noble soldiers, it is among you that I shall auspiciously take up