Otho, quamquam turbidis rebus et diversis militum animis, cum optimus quisque remedium praesentis licentiae posceret, vulgus et plures seditionibus et ambitioso imperio laeti per turbas et raptus facilius ad civile bellum impellerentur, simul reputans non posse principatum scelere quaesitum subita modestia et prisca gravitate retineri, sed discrimine urbis et periculo senatus anxius, postremo ita disseruit: Neque ut adfectus vestros in amorem mei accenderem, commilitones, neque ut animum ad virtutem cohortarer (utraque enim egregie supersunt), sed veni postulaturus a vobis temperamentum vestrae fortitudinis et erga me modum caritatis.
Otho was in a difficult position owing to the general disturbance and the divergences of sentiment among the soldiers; for the best of them demanded that some check be put on the present licence, while the larger mob delighted in mutinies and in an emperor whose power depended on popular favour, and were easily driven on to civil war by riots and rapine. He realized, however, that a throne gained by crime cannot be maintained by sudden moderation and old-fashioned dignity; but being distressed by the crisis that had befallen the city and the danger of the senate, he finally spoke as follows: Fellow soldiers, I have not come to kindle your sentiments into love for me, nor to exhort your hearts to courage, for both these qualities you have in marked abundance; but I have come to ask you to put some check to your bravery and some limit to your regard for me.
final_alignments\Tacitus_Histories_Book1.json