he heard that Sabinus had been killed, and the Capitol burnt;
the city was in panic; everything looked black; even the populace and
the slaves were arming for Vitellius. Petilius Cerialis, too, had been
defeated in a cavalry engagement. He had pushed on without caution,
thinking the enemy already beaten, and the Vitellians with a mixed
force of horse and foot had caught him unawares. The engagement had
taken place near the city among farm buildings and gardens and winding
lanes, with which the Vitellians were familiar, while the Flavians
were terrified by their ignorance. Besides, the troopers were not all
of one mind; some of them belonged to the force which had recently
surrendered at Narnia, and were waiting to see which side won. Julius
Flavianus, who commanded a regiment of cavalry, was taken prisoner.
The rest fell into a disgraceful panic and fled, but the pursuit was
not continued beyond Fidenae.

This success served to increase the popular excitement. The city 80
rabble now took arms. A few had service-shields: most of them snatched
up any weapons they could find and clamoured to be given the sign for
battle. Vitellius expressed his gratitude to them and bade them sally
forth to protect the city. He then summoned a meeting of the senate,
at which envoys were appointed to go to the two armies and urge them
in the name of public welfare to accept peace. The fortunes of the
envoys varied. Those who approached Petilius Cerialis found themselves
in dire danger, for the soldiers indignantly refused their terms. The
praetor, Arulenus Rusticus,[218] was wounded. Apart from the wrong
done to a praetor and an envoy, the man's own acknowledged worth made
this seem all the more scandalous. His companions were flogged, and
the lictor nearest to him was killed for venturing to make a way
through the crowd. Indeed, if the guard provided by the general had
not intervened, a Roman envoy, the sanctity of whose person even
foreign nations respect, might have been wickedly murdered in the mad
rage of civil strife under the very walls of Rome. Those who went to
Antonius met with a more reasonable reception; not that the soldiers
were less violent, but the general had more authority.

A knight named Musonius Rufus had attached himself to the envoys. 81
He was a student of philosophy and an enthusiastic advocate of
Stoicism. He mingled with the armed soldiers offering them advice and
discoursing on the advantages of pe