Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.5, 1865).djvu/492

 484 GALEA. He received several wounds ou his legs and arms, and at last was struck in the throat, as most say, by one Camurius, a soldier of the fifteenth legion. Some name Tei-entius, others Lecanlus ; and there are others that say it was Fabius Pabulus, who, it is reported, cut off the head and carried it away in the skirt of his coat, the baldness making it a difficult thing to take hold of But those that were with him would not allow him to keep it covered up, but bade him let ev£ry one see the brave deed he had done ; so that after a while he stuck upon the lance the head of the aged man that had been their grave and temperate ruler, their supreme priest and consul, and, tossing it up in the air, ran like a bacchanal, twirling and flourishing with it, while the blood ran down the spear. But when they brought the head to Otho, " Fellow-soldiers," he cried out, " this is nothing, unless you show me Piso's too," which was presented him not long after. The young man, re- treating upon a wound received, was pursued by one Mur- cus, and slain at the temple of Vesta. Titus Vinius was also despatched, avowing himself to have been privy to the conspiracy against Galba by calling out that they were killing him contrary to Otho's pleasure. However, they cut off his head, and Laco's too, and brought them to Otho, requesting a boon. And as Archilochus says — When six or seven lie breathless on the ground, 'Twas I, 'twas I, say thousands, gave the wound. Thus many that had no share in the murder wetted their hands and swords in blood, and came and showed them to Otho, presenting memorials suing for a gratuity. Not were many different stories of what it was ; " non interfiiit occidentium he said ; those who killed him quid diceret." could not be expected to care what