Igitur laudata militum alacritate Vitellius ministeria principatus per libertos agi solita in equites Romanos disponit, vacationes centurionibus et fisco numerat, saevitiam militum plerosque ad poenam exposcentium saepius adprobat, raro simulatione vinculorum frustratur.
Therefore Vitellius praised the eager spirit of the soldiers and then distributed the imperial offices which had been usually held by freedmen among Roman knights; he also paid the fees for furloughs to the centurions out of his own purse. He frequently gave his approval to the savagery of the soldiers who demanded that many be given up to punishment; in some rare instances he evaded it by throwing the accused into chains.
final_alignments\Tacitus_Histories_Book1.json