The Annals and the Histories · Hist. 3.9

Then Antonius by a sudden movement fell upon the outposts of the enemy, and made trial of their courage in a [p. 542] slight skirmish, the combatants separating on equal terms. Soon afterwards, Cæcina strongly fortified a camp between Hostilia, a village belonging to Verona, and the marshes of the river Tartarus, where his position was secure, as his rear was covered by the river, and his flank by intervening marshes. Had he only been loyal, those two legions, which had not been joined by the army of Mœsia, might have been crushed by the united strength of the Vitellianists, or driven back and compelled to evacuate Italy in a disgraceful retreat. Cæcina, however, by various delays betrayed to the enemy the early opportunities of the campaign, assailing by letters those whom it was easy to drive out by force of arms, until by his envoys he settled the conditions of his treachery. In this…

Cornelius Tacitus · trans. Church & Brodribb, 1876
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