army, and when violence reigns murder may show its
face, but pardon must be stealthy. So Burdo was kept in confinement
and only released after victory had allayed the soldiers' rancour.
Meanwhile a centurion, named Crispinus, was offered as a scape-goat.
He had actually stained his hands with Capito's blood, so his guilt
seemed more obvious to those who clamoured for his punishment, and
Vitellius felt he was a cheaper sacrifice.

Julius Civilis[112] was the next to be rescued from danger. He was 59
all-powerful among the Batavi,[113] and Vitellius did not want to
alienate so spirited a people by punishing him. Besides, eight cohorts
of Batavian troops were stationed among the Lingones. They had been an
auxiliary force attached to the Fourteenth, and in the general
disturbance had deserted the legion. Their decision for one side or
the other would be of the first importance. Nonius, Donatius,
Romilius, and Calpurnius, the centurions mentioned above,[114] were
executed by order of Vitellius. They had been convicted of loyalty, a
heinous offence among deserters. His party soon gained the accession
of Valerius Asiaticus, governor of Belgica, who subsequently married
Vitellius' daughter, and of Junius Blaesus,[115] governor of the Lyons
division of Gaul, who brought with him the Italian legion[116] and a
regiment of cavalry known as 'Taurus' Horse',[117] which had been
quartered at Lugdunum. The forces in Raetia lost no time in joining
his standard, and even the troops in Britain showed no hesitation.
Trebellius Maximus, the governor of Britain, had earned by his 60
meanness and cupidity the contempt and hatred of the army,[118] which
was further inflamed by the action of his old enemy Roscius Coelius,
who commanded the Twentieth legion, and they now seized the
opportunity of the civil war to break out into a fierce quarrel.
Trebellius blamed Coelius for the mutinous temper and insubordination
of the army: Coelius complained that Trebellius had robbed his men and
impaired their efficiency. Meanwhile their unseemly quarrel ruined the
discipline of the forces, whose insubordination soon came to a head.
The auxiliary horse and foot joined in the attacks on the governor,
and rallied round Coelius. Trebellius, thus hunted out and abandoned,
took refuge with Vitellius. The province remained quiet, despite the
removal of the ex-consul. The government was carried on by the
commanding officers of the legions, who were