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Rh who laid all the blame of discomfiture on their commanders, and threatened them with death.

Otho was not present in the action. His soldiers demanded, his two best officers advised, him to remain with the legions, or to defer a battle. They urged that fortune, the gods, and the genius (the guardian angel of pagan belief) of Otho must be crowned by victory. "The day" on which their counsel was accepted "first gave the death-blow to the Othonian cause."

Otho, now at Brocello (Brixellum), a few miles distant from Bedriacum, was awaiting without fear or drooping spirit—for his mind, in case of reverse, had long been made up—the report of the battle. Vague and discordant rumours at first reached his ear. But at last increasing troops of fugitives brought sure intelligence that all was lost. The soldiers who had accompanied him, without waiting to hear his opinion, exhorted him not to despair, but to try again "the fortune of the die." They themselves were ready to brave every danger; there were forces still in reserve: the Mæsian and Pannonian legions would join them in a few days. Flattery, they said, had done its worst in urging him to leave the army, in hurrying on the unfortunate engagement. But it was not the voice of flatterers that now implored him to take heart, and to lead them against the enemy. The soldiers who were near him fell at his feet and clasped his knees: those at a distance stretched forth their hands in token of assent. , who commanded a detachment of the body-guard, joined his prayer to those of the legions. "The noble mind," he said, "battles with adversity: it is the craven spirit that capitulates at once. Your soldiers, Cæsar, have undergone much,