It was a heady, exhilarating time. In theory, we had marched down the Appian Way with the cohort of the Urban Guard to put down the revolt at Misene, but I don’t know of a single man who believed that was our true task; certainly none did by the time we’d reached the outskirts of the city. I don’t know if he’d been coached by Pantera or was simply using his natural leadership, but Julius Claudianus had a deft touch with the men. He moved from fireside to fireside in the evenings after we’d camped and gradually turned the conversation to Vespasian and how good his campaign had been in the east, and what had Vitellius ever done and wasn’t Lucius a complete nightmare? Imagine Rome if he ever became emperor, which he was clearly angling to do. He never said any of this, he just steered others to say it, and so yet more to think it. And he never answered those questions, just left the men to talk them over amongst themselves so that by the time we got to Misene they were practically begging him on bended knee to change sides.
