in sua contione Vitellius, inter suos milites, prospectantibus etiam feminis, pauca et praesenti maestitiae congruentia locutus'cedere se pacis et rei publicae causa, retinerent tantum memoriam sui fratremque et coniugem et innoxiam liberorum aetatem miserarentur'simul filium protendens, modo singulis modo universis commendans, postremo fletu praepediente adsistenti consuli (Caecilius Simplex erat) exsolutum a latere pugionem, velut ius necis vitaeque civium, reddebat.
But now Vitellius, in an assembly called by himself, surrounded by his own soldiers, while even women looked on, spoke briefly and in a manner befitting his present sad estate, saying that he withdrew for the sake of peace and his country; he asked the people simply to remember him and to have pity on his brother, his wife, and his innocent young children. As he spoke, he held out his young son in his arms, commending him now to one or another, again to the whole assembly; finally, when tears choked his voice, taking his dagger from his side he offered it to the consul who stood beside him, as if surrendering his power of life and death over the citizens. The consuls name was Caecilius Simplex.
final_alignments\Tacitus_Histories_Book3.json