Editing Otho (section)

==Reign, decline and fall==
===Overthrow of Galba===
[[File:Otone - foto di euthman.jpg|thumb|Bust labelled as Otho in the [[National Archaeological Museum, Florence]].]]
On 1 January 69, the day Galba took the office of consul alongside [[Titus Vinius]], the [[Legio IV Macedonica|fourth]] and [[Legio XVIII|eighteenth]] legions of [[Germania Superior]] refused to swear loyalty to the emperor. They toppled the statues of Galba and demanded that a new emperor be chosen. On the following day, the soldiers of [[Germania inferior]] also refused to swear their loyalty and proclaimed the governor of the province, [[Aulus Vitellius]], as emperor.<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''[[Histories (Tacitus)|Histories]]'' [[wikisource:The_Histories_(Tacitus)/Book_1#57|1.27–57]]. </ref> Galba tried to ensure his authority as emperor was recognized by adopting the nobleman [[Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi Licinianus|Piso Licinianus]] as his successor,{{sfn|Greenhalgh|1975|pp=30, 37, 45, 47–54}} an action that gained resentment from Otho.{{sfn|Grant|2002|p=188}} Galba was killed by the praetorians on 15 January, followed shortly by Vinius and Piso. Their heads were placed on poles and Otho was proclaimed emperor.{{sfn|Greenhalgh|1975|pp=30, 37, 45, 47–54}}

[[Nero]]'s statues were again set up, his freedmen and household officers reinstalled, including the young castrated boy [[Sporus]] whom Nero had taken in marriage and Otho also would live intimately with.{{sfn|Smith|1849|pp=897, 2012}}{{sfn|Champlin|2005|pp=147–148}} The populace acclaimed him as "Nero Otho", although Otho did not appear to like the title.<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''[[Histories (Tacitus)|Histories]]'' [[wikisource:The_Histories_(Tacitus)/Book_1#78|1.78]]. </ref> 

At the same time, the fears of the more sober and respectable citizens were relieved by Otho's liberal professions of his intention to govern equitably, and by his judicious clemency towards [[Aulus Marius Celsus]], a consul-designate and devoted adherent of Galba. He assumed the [[Roman consul|consulate]] of the year alongside his brother [[Titianus]], but only until the 1st of March.<ref>[[Tacitus]], ''[[Histories (Tacitus)|Histories]]'' [[wikisource:The_Histories_(Tacitus)/Book_1#57|1.71ff, 77]].</ref>

===War with Vitellius===
{{unref|section|date=January 2022}}
Otho soon realized that it was much easier to overthrow an Emperor than rule as one: according to Suetonius<ref>[http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Otho*.html Chapter 7]</ref> Otho once remarked that "Playing the Long Pipes is hardly my trade" (i.e. undertaking something beyond one's ability to do so). Any further development of Otho's policy was checked once he had read through Galba's private correspondence and realized the extent of the revolution in [[Germania]], where several legions had declared for [[Vitellius]], the commander of the legions on the lower [[Rhine River]], and were already advancing upon Italy. After a vain attempt to conciliate Vitellius by the offer of a share in the Empire, Otho, with unexpected vigor, prepared for war. From the much more remote provinces, which had quietly accepted his accession, little help was to be expected, but the legions of [[Dalmatia (Roman province)|Dalmatia]], [[Pannonia]] and [[Moesia]] were eager in his cause, the Praetorian cohorts were a formidable force and an efficient [[Roman Navy|fleet]] gave him the mastery of the Italian seas.

The fleet was at once dispatched to secure [[Liguria]], and on 14 March Otho, undismayed by omens and prophecies, started northwards at the head of his troops in the hopes of preventing the entry of Vitellius' troops into Italy. But for this he was too late, and all that could be done was to throw troops into [[Placentia, Italy|Placentia]] and hold the line of the [[Po river|Po]]. Otho's advanced guard held Placentia against [[Aulus Caecina Alienus]], and compelled him to fall back on [[Cremona]], but the arrival of [[Fabius Valens]] altered the aspect of affairs.

Vitellius' commanders now resolved to bring on a decisive battle, the [[Battle of Bedriacum]], and their designs were assisted by the divided and irresolute counsels which prevailed in Otho's camp. The more experienced officers urged the importance of avoiding a battle until at least the legions from [[Dalmatia]] had arrived. The rashness of the emperor's brother [[Titianus]] and of Proculus, prefect of the Praetorian Guards, added to Otho's feverish impatience, overruled all opposition, and an immediate advance was decided upon.

Otho remained behind with a considerable reserve force at [[Brixellum]] on the southern bank of the Po. When this decision was taken, Otho's army had already crossed the Po and were encamped at [[Bedriacum]] (or Betriacum), a small village on the ''Via Postumia'', on the route by which the legions from Dalmatia would naturally arrive.

Leaving a strong detachment to hold the camp at Bedriacum, the Othonian forces advanced along the ''Via Postumia'' in the direction of Cremona. At a short distance from Cremona they unexpectedly encountered the Vitellian troops. The Othonians, though at a disadvantage, fought desperately, but were eventually forced to fall back in disorder upon their camp at Bedriacum. There on the next day the victorious Vitellians followed them, but only to come to terms at once with their disheartened enemy, and to be welcomed into the camp as friends.

===Death===

Otho was still in command of a formidable force as the Dalmatian legions had reached [[Aquileia]] and the spirit of his soldiers and their officers was unbroken. He was resolved to accept the verdict of the battle that his own impatience had hastened. In a speech, he bade farewell to those about him, declaring: "It is far more just to perish one for all, than many for one",<ref>{{cite web|url=https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Cassius_Dio/63*.html#64-13.2|title=Cassius Dio – Epitome of Book&nbsp;63|website=penelope.uchicago.edu|access-date=29 September 2017}}</ref> and then retiring to rest soundly for some hours. Early in the morning he stabbed himself in the heart with a dagger, which he had concealed under his pillow, and died as his attendants entered the tent.

Otho had reigned three months; his ashes were placed within a modest monument and funeral was celebrated at once as he had wished. A plain tomb was erected in his honour at Brixellum, with the inscription ''Diis Manibus Marci Othonis''. His 91-day reign was the shortest until that of [[Pertinax]], whose reign lasted 87 days in 193 during the [[Year of the Five Emperors]].{{refn|[[Cassius Dio]] [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/e/roman/texts/cassius_dio/63*.html#14 63.15]: "He had lived thirty-seven years, lacking eleven days, and had reigned ninety days". This seems to give 15 April as Otho's date of death, yet "thirty-seven years lacking eleven days" actually gives 16 April.<ref group="n."> According to Dio, [[Augustus]] died after a rule of "forty-four years lacking thirteen days". If we subtract 13 days to 2 September, we have 20 August. The very same chapter precisely dates Augustus' death on "the nineteenth day of August". [[Caligula]] ascended to the throne at "twenty-five years of age, lacking five months and four days". This gives us 27 March; Dio (wrongly) dates Tiberius' death on 26 March. Therefore, Otho died on 16 April, not 17, as the calculation may suggest.</ref> This can be explained by placing Otho's ascension on 16 January. Other historians give similar dates.<ref>[[Josephus]], [[The Jewish War]] [https://www.gutenberg.org/files/2850/2850-h/2850-h.htm IV, 9]: "Three months and two days". 92 days including the end date, just as he did for Claudius' and Nero's dates.</ref><ref>[[Clement of Alexandria]], ''[[Stromata]]'': "Otho, five ['''three'''] months, one day". [91 days]</ref><ref>[[Suetonius]], [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Otho*.html#11 Otho 11]: "On the ninety-fifth day of his reign". Suetonius probably assumed Otho died on 19 April, the day in which Vitellius was formally installed as emperor.</ref><ref>[[Theophilus of Antioch]], [http://www.logoslibrary.org/theophilus/autolycus/327.html ''To Autolycus'' III.27]. "Otho, 3 months 5 days" [95 days].</ref>}}

[[File:Gold Aureus of Otho.jpg|thumb|[[Aureus]] of Otho. Legend: {{Smallcaps|{{abbr|imp|IMPERATOR}} {{abbr|m|MARCUS}} otho {{abbr|caes|CAESAR}} {{abbr|aug|AUGUSTUS}} {{abbr|tr p|TRIBUNICIA POSTESTAS}}}}]]
It has been thought that Otho's suicide was committed to steer his country away from the path to civil war and to avoid casualties in his legions. Just as he had come to power, many Romans learned to respect Otho in his death. Few could believe that a renowned former companion of [[Nero]] had chosen such an honourable end. Tacitus wrote that some of the soldiers committed suicide beside his funeral pyre "because they loved their emperor and wished to share his glory".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ourcivilisation.com/smartboard/shop/tacitusc/histries/chap6.htm|title=Otho's Suicide : The Histories [of Ancient Rome] by Tacitus|first=Cornelius|last=Tacitus|website=www.ourcivilisation.com|access-date=29 September 2017}}</ref> Writing during the reign of the Emperor [[Domitian]] (AD 81–96), the Roman poet [[Martial]] expressed his admiration for Otho's choice to spare the empire from civil war through sacrificing himself,

{{bquote|<poem>Although the goddess of civil warfare was still in doubt,
And soft Otho had perhaps still a chance of winning,
He renounced fighting that would have cost much blood,
And with sure hand pierced right through his breast.
By all means let [[Cato the Younger|Cato]] in his life be greater than [[Julius Caesar|Caesar]] himself;
In his death was he greater than Otho?<ref>Martial, Epigrams VI.32, translated by D. R. Shackleton Bailey]</ref></poem>}}