The Annals and the Histories · Hist. 3.31

The legions now began to form themselves into a "testudo," and the other troops to discharge volleys of stones and darts, when the courage of the Vitellianists began to flag. The higher their rank, the more readily they succumbed to fortune, fearing that when Cremona had fallen quarter could no longer be expected, and that all the [p. 556] fury of the conqueror would be turned, not on the penniless crowd, but on the tribunes and centurions, by whose slaughter something was to be gained. The common soldiers, careless of the future and safer in their obscurity, still held out. Roaming through the streets or concealed in the houses, they would not sue for peace even when they had abandoned the contest. The principal officers of the camp removed the name and images of Vitellius; Cæcina, who was still in confinement, they released from his chains, imploring him to plead their cause. When he…

Cornelius Tacitus · trans. Church & Brodribb, 1876
Source edition
Passage preview. Read in context for the complete text, notes and references.