Trepidus ad haec Vitellius pauca purgandi sui causa respondit, culpam in militem conferens, cuius nimio ardori imparem esse modestiam suam; et monuit Martialem ut per secretam aedium partem occulte abiret, ne a militibus internuntius invisae pacis interficeretur: ipse neque iubendi neque vetandi potens non iam imperator sed tantum belli causa erat.
Vitellius was disturbed by these words and made a brief reply to excuse himself, putting the blame on his soldiers, with whose excessive ardour, he declared, his own moderation could not cope. At the same time he advised Martialis to go away privately through a secret part of the palace, that the soldiers might not kill him as the mediator of a peace which they detested. As for himself, he was powerless to order or to forbid; he was no longer emperor, but only a cause of war.
final_alignments\Tacitus_Histories_Book3.json