The long year, A.D. 69

On 1 January A.D. 69, the Roman people particularly the inhabitants of Rome, had every reason to feel optimistic. The infamous Nero was dead and Galba, in his seventies, a greatly respected governor of Nearer Spain, had been chosen emperor with the whole-hearted consent of army and Senate. And yet, within the first fortnight of the New Year, Galba had been brutally assassinated in the Roman Forum. During a year which had begun with such high hopes of peace and stability two further emperors, Otho and Vitellius, were to meet equally violent deaths, two desperate battles were to be fought at Cremona, Rome was to be captured for Vespasian, and civil war was not only to rack Italy but to touch areas as remote as Britain and Syria. Few years in history, certainly in the Roman empire, have been so eventful: the appearance of four emperors in one year is spectacular in itself. A.D. 69 is, however, important as well as dramatic.^ It marks the watershed between the first and second imperial dynasties and the passing of an old order. The Long Year also reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the empire. The Senate, which had long been living on the past glory of its republican days, proved petty and ineffectual in the hour of crisis; while, ironically, the battles between rival Roman armies only enhanced their endurance. The military efficiency of the empire was not impaired by the civil war within; and its political structure was reaffirmed. Exceptional years invite exceptional scrutiny, of everyday life as well as the deeds of the great. It is fortunate for us that the events of the Long Year were recorded in colourful and cunning detail by one of the greatest historians of all time, Tacitus. Mr. Wellesley draws skilfully on his famous source but by no means exclusively or uncritically.^ His own interpretation of the motives and characters of the chief contestants and of the much debated battles of Cremona will appeal to the classical student and scholar; but we can all enjoy his elegant, imaginative retelling of an exciting story now nineteen hundred years old. (Book jacket).