THE ancestors of Otho were originally of
					the town of Ferentum, of an ancient and honourable family, and, indeed, one of
					the most considerable in Etruria. His grandfather, M. Salvius Otho (whose father
					was a Roman knight, but his mother of mean extraction, for it is not certain
					whether she was free-born), by the favour of Livia Augusta, in whose house he
					had his education, was made a senator, but never rose higher than the
					praetorship. His father, Lucius Otho, was by the mother's side nobly descended,
					allied to several great families, and so dearly beloved by Tiberius , and so much resembled him in his
					features, that most people believed Tiberius was his father. He behaved with great strictness and
					severity, not only in the city offices, but in the pro-consulship of Africa , and some extraordinary commands in the
					army. He had the courage to punish with death some soldiers in Illyricum , who, in the disturbance attempted
					by Camillus , upon changing their minds,
					had put their generals to the sword, as promoters of that insurrection against
					Claudius. He ordered the execution to take place in the front of the camp, and under
					his own eyes; though he knew they had been advanced to higher ranks in the army
					by Claudius, on that very account. By this action he acquired fame, but lessened
					his favour at court; which, however, he soon recovered, by discovering to
					Claudius a design upon his life, carried on by a Roman knight, and which he had learnt from some of his slaves. For the senate ordered
					a statue of him to be erected in the palace; an honour which had been conferred
					but upon very few before him. And Claudius advanced him to the dignity of a
					patrician, commending him, at the same time, in the highest terms, and
					concluding with these words: " A man, than whom I don't so much as wish to have
					children that should be better." He had two sons by a very noble woman, Albia
					Terentia, namely, Lucius Titianus, and a younger called Marcus, who had the same
					cognomen as himself. He had also a daughter, whom he contracted to Drusus,
					Germanicus's son, before she was of marriageable age.

The emperor Otho was born upon the fourth of the calends of May [28th April], in
					the consulship of Camillus Aruntius and Domitius Aenobarbus. He was from his earliest youth
					so riotous and wild, that he was often severely scourged by his father. He was
					said to run about in the night-time, and seize upon any one he met, who was
					either drunk or too feeble to mal e resistance, and toss him in a blanket. After
					his father's death, to make his court more effectually to a freedwoman about the
					palace, who was in great favour, he pretended to be in love with her, though she
					was old and almost decrepit. Having by her means got into Nero 's good graces, he soon became one of the
					principal favourites, by the congeniality of his disposition to that of the
					emperor. He had so great a sway at court, that when a man of consular rank was
					condemned for bribery, having tampered with him for a large sum of money, to
					procure his pardon; before he had quite effected it, he scrupled not to
					introduce him into the senate, to return his thanks.

Having by means of this woman, insinuated himself into all the emperor's secrets,
					he, upon the day designed for the murder of his mother, entertained them both at
					a very splendid feast, to prevent suspicion. Poppaea Sabina, for whom Nero entertained such a violent passion that
					he had taken her from her husband and entrusted her to him, he received, and went through the form of
					marrying her. And not satisfied with obtaining her favour, he loved her so
					extravagantly, that he could not with patience bear Nero for his rival. It is
					certainly believed that he not only refused admittance to those who were sent by
					Nero to fetch her, but that, on one occasion, he shut him out, and kept him
					standing before the door, mixing prayers and menaces in vain, and demanding back
					again what was entrusted to his keeping. His pretended marriage, therefore,
					being dissolved, he was sent lieutenant into Lusitania . This treatment of him was thought sufficiently
					severe, because harsher proceedings might have brought the whole farce to light,
					which notwithstanding, at last came out, and was published to the world in the
					following distich: Cur Otho mentitus sit, quaeritis,
							exul honore? 
						 Uxoris moechus cseperat esse suae. 
					 You ask why Otho's banish'd? Know, the cause 
						 Comes not within the verge of vulgar laws, 
						 Against all rules of fashionable life, 
						 The rogue had dared to sleep with his own wife. He governed
					the province in quality of quaestor for ten years, with singular moderation and
					justice.

As soon as an opportunity of revenge offered, he readily joined in Galba's
					enterprises, and at the same time conceived hopes of obtaining the imperial
					dignity for himself. To this he was much encouraged by the state of the times,
					but still more by the assurances given him by Seleucus, the astrologer, who,
					having formerly told him that he would certainly out-live Nero , came to him at that juncture
					unexpectedly, promising him again that he should succeed in the empire, and that
					in a very short time. He, therefore, let slip no opportunity of making his court
					to every one about him by all manner of civilities. As often as he entertained
					Galba at supper, he distributed to every man of the cohort which attended the
					emperor on guard, a gold piece; endeavouring likewise to oblige the rest of the
					soldiers in one way or another. Being chosen an arbitrator by one who had a
					dispute with his neighbour about a piece of land, he bought it, and gave it to
					him; so that now almost every body thought and said, that he was the only man
					worthy of succeeding to the empire.

He entertained hopes of being adopted by Galba, and expected it every day. But
					finding himself disappointed. by Piso's being preferred before him, he turned
					his thoughts to obtaining his purpose by the use of violence; and to this he was
					instigated, as well by the greatness of his debts, as by resentment at Galba's
					conduct towards him. For he did not conceal his conviction, "that he could not
					stand his ground unless he became emperor, and that it signified nothing whether
					he fell by the hands of his enemies in the field, or of his creditors in the
					forum." He had a few days before squeezed out of one of the emperor's slaves a
					million of sesterces for procuring him a stewardship; and this was the whole
					fund he had for carrying on so great an enterprise. At first the design was
					entrusted to only five of the guard, but afterward to ten others, each of the
					five naming two. They had every one ten thousand sesterces paid down, and were
					promised fifty thousand more. By these, others were drawn in, but not many; from
					a confident assurance, that when the matter came to the crisis, they should have
					enough to join them.

His first intention was, immediately after the departure of Piso, to seize the
					camp, and fall upon Galba whilst he was at supper in the palace; but he was
					restrained by a regard for the cohort at that time on duty, lest he should bring
					too great an odium upon it; because it happened that the same cohort was on
					guard before, both when Caius was slain, and Nero deserted. For some time
					afterwards, he was restrained also by scruples about the omens, and by the
					advice of Seleucus. Upon the day fixed at last for the enterprise, having given
					his accomplices notice to wait for him in the forum near the temple of Saturn,
					at the gilded mile-stone, he went in the morning to pay his respects to Galba; and
					being received with a kiss as usual, he attended him at sacrifice, and heard the
					predictions of the augur. A freedman of his, then bringing him word that the
					architects were come, which was the signal agreed upon, he withdrew, as if it
					were with a design to view a house upon sale, and went out by a back-door of the
					palace to the place appointed. Some say he pretended to be seized with an ague
					fit, and ordered those about him to make that excuse for him, if he was inquired
					after. Being then quickly concealed in a woman's litter, he made the best of his
					way for the camp. But the bearers growing tired, he got out, and began to run.
					His shoe becoming loose, he stopped again, but being immediately raised by his
					attendants upon their shoulders, and unanimously saluted by the fitle of
					EMPEROR, he came amidst auspicious acclamations and drawn swords into the
						Principia in the camp; all who met him joining in the
					cavalcade, as if they had been privy to the design. Upon this, sending some
					soldiers to dispatch Galba and Piso, he said nothing else in his address to the
					soldiery, to secure their affections, than these few words: ",I shall be content
					with whatever ye think fit to leave me."

Towards the close of the day, he entered the senate, and after he had made a
					short speech to them, pretending that he had been seized in the streets, and
					compelled by violence to assume the imperial authority, which he designed to
					exercise in conjunction with them, he retired to the palace Besides other
					compliments which he received from those who flocked about him to congratulate
					and flatter him, he was called Nero by the mob, and manifested no intention of
					declining that cognomen. Nay, some authors relate, that he used it in his
					official acts, and the first letters he sent to the governors of provinces. He
					suffered all his images and statues to be replaced, and restored his procurators
					and freedmen to their former posts. And the first writing which he signed as
					emperor, was a promise of fifty millions of sesterces to finish the
						Golden-house. He
					is said to have been greatly frightened that night in his sleep, and to have
					groaned heavily; and being found, by those who came running in to see what the
					matter was, lying upon the floor before his bed, he endeavoured by every kind of
					atonement to appease the ghost of Galba, by which he had found himself violently
					tumbled out of bed. The next day, as he was taking the omens, a great storm
					arising, and sustaining a grievous fall, he muttered to himself from time to
					time: τί γαρ 
					 What business have I the loud trumpets to
						sound?

About the same time, the armies in Germany took an oath to Vitellius as emperor. Upon receiving
					this intelligence, he advised the senate to send thither deputies, to inform
					them, that a prince had been already chosen; and to persuade them to peace and a
					good understanding. By letters and messengers, however, he offered Vitellius to
					make him his colleague in the empire, and his son-in-law. But a war being now
					unavoidable, and the generals and troops sent forward by Vitellius, advancing,
					he had a proof of the attachment and fidelity of the pretorian guards, which had
					nearly proved fatal to the senatorian order. It had been judged proper that some
					arms should be given out of the stores, and conveyed to the fleet by the marine
					troops. While they were employed in fetching these from the camp in the night,
					some of the guards suspecting treachery, excited a tumult; and suddenly the
					whole body, without any of their officers at their head, ran to the palace,
					demanding that the entire senate should be put to the sword; and having repulsed
					some of the tribunes who endeavoured to stop them, and slain others, they broke,
					all bloody as they were, into the banquetting room, inquiring for the emperor;
					nor would they quit the place until they had seen him. He now entered upon his
					expedition against Vitellius with great alacrity, but too much precipitation,
					and without any regard to the ominous circumstances which attended it. 
				 For the Ancilia had been
					taken out of the temple of Mars, for the usual procession, but were not yet
					replaced; during which interval it had of old been looked upon as very
					unfortunate to engage in any enterprise. He likewise set forward upon the day
					when the worshippers of the Mother of the gods begin their lamentations and wailing.
					Besides these, other unlucky omens attended him, For, in a victim offered to
					Father Dis, he found the signs such as upon all other occasions are
					regarded as favourable; whereas, in that sacrifice, the contrary intimations are
					judged the most propitious. At his first setting forward, he was stopped by
					inundations of the Tiber ; and at twenty
					miles' distance from the city, found the road blocked up by the fall of
					houses.

Though it was the general opinion that it would be proper to protract the war, as
					the enemy were distressed by famine and the straitness of their quarters, yet he
					resolved with equal rashness to force them to an engagement as soon as possible;
					whether from impatience of prolonged anxiety, and in the hope of bringing
					matters to an issue before the arrival of Vitellius, or because he could not
					resist the ardour of the troops, who were all clamorous for battle. He was not,
					however, present at any of those which ensued, but stayed behind at Brixellum . He had the advantage
					in three slight engagements, near the Alps , about Placentia , and a place called Castor's; but was, by a fraudulent stratagem of the
					enemy, defeated in the last and greatest battle at Bedriacum. For, some hopes of a
					conference being given, and the soldiers being drawn up to hear the conditions
					of peace declared, very unexpectedly, and amidst their mutual salutations, they
					were obliged to stand to their arms. Immediately upon this he determined to put
					an end to his life, more, as many think, and not without reason, out of shame,
					at persisting in a struggle for the empire to the hazard of the public interest
					and so many lives, than from despair, or distrust of his troops. For he had
					still in reserve, and in full force, those whom he had kept about him for a
					second trial of his fortune, and others were coming up from Dalmatia , Pannonia , and Moesia ;
					nor were the troops lately defeated so far discouraged as not to be ready, even
					of themselves, to run all risks in order to wipe off their recent disgrace.

My father, Suetonius Lenis, was in this
					battle, being at that time an angusticlavian tribune in the thirteenth legion.
					He used frequently to say, that Otho, before his advancement to the empire, had
					such an abhorrence of civil war, that once, upon hearing an account given at
					table of the death of Cassius and Brutus, he fell into a trembling, and that he
					neverwould have interfered with Galba, but that he was confident of succeeding
					in his enterprise without a war. Moreover, that he was then encouraged to
					despise life by the example of a common soldier, who bringing news of the defeat
					of the army, and finding that he met with no credit, but was railed at for a
					liar and a coward, as if he had run away from the field of battle, fell upon his
					sword at the emperor's feet; upon the sight of which, my father said that Otho
					cried out, " that he would expose to no farther danger such brave men, who had
					deserved so well at his hands." Advising therefore his brother, his brother's
					son, and the rest of his friends, to provide for their security in the best
					manner they could, after he had embraced and kissed them, he sent them away; and
					them withdrawing into a private room by himself, he wrote a letter of
					consolation to his sister, containing two sheets. He likewise sent another to
					Messalina, Nero's widow, whom he had intended to marry, committing her the care
					of his relics and memory. He then burnt all the letters which he had by him, to
					prevent the danger and mischief that might otherwise befall the writers from the
					conqueror. What ready money he had, he distributed among his domestics.

And now being prepared, and just upon the point of dispatching himself, he was
					induced to suspend the execution of his purpose by a great tumult which had
					broken out in the camp. Finding that some of the soldiers who were making off
					had been seized and detained as deserters, " Let us add," said he, " this night
					to our life." These were his very words. He then gave orders that no violence
					should be offered to any one; and keeping his chamber-door open until late at
					night, he allowed all who pleased the liberty to come and see him. At last,
					after quenching his thirst with a draught of cold water, he took up two
					poniards, and having examined the points of both, put one of them under his
					pillow, and shutting his chamber-door, slept very soundly, until, awaking about
					break of day. he stabbed himself under the left pap. Some persons bursting into
					the room upon his first groan, he at one time covered, and at another exposed
					his wound to the view of the bystanders, and thus life soon ebbed away. His
					funeral was hastily performed, according to his own order, in the thirty-eighth
					year of his age, and ninety-fifth day of his reign.

The person and appearance of Otho no way corresponded to the great spirit he
					displayed on this occasion; for he is said to have been of low stature,
					splayfooted, and bandy-legged. He was, however, effeminately nice in the care of
					his person: the hair on his body he plucked out by the roots; and because he was
					somewhat bald, he wore a kind of peruke, so exactly fitted to his head, that
					nobody could have known it for such. He used to shave every day, and rub his
					face with soaked bread; the use of which he began when the down first appeared
					upon his chin, to prevent his having any beard. It is said likewise that he
					celebrated publicly the sacred rites of Isis, clad in a linen garment, such as is used by the worshippers of that
					goddess. These circumstances, I imagine, caused the world to wonder the more
					that his death was so little in character with his life. Many of the soldiers
					who were present, kissing and bedewing with their tears his hands and feet as he
					lay dead, and celebrating him as "a most gallant man, and an incomparable
					emperor," immediately put an end to their own lives upon the spot, not far from
					his funeral pile. Many of those likewise who were at a distance, upon hearing
					the news of his death, in the anguish of their hearts, began fighting amongst
					themselves, until they dispatched one another. To conclude: the generality of
					mankind, though they hated him whilst living, yet highly extolled him after his
					death; insomuch that it was the common talk and opinion, "that Galba had been
					driven to destruction by his rival, not so much for the sake of reigning
					himself, as of restoring Rome to its
					ancient liberty."

Remarks on Otho 
				 IT is remarkable, in the fortune of this emperor, that he owed both his elevation
					and catastrophe to the inextricable embarrassments in which he was involved;
					first, in respect of pecuniary circumstances, and next, of political. He was
					not, so far as we can learn, a follower of any of the sects of philosophers
					which justified, and even recommended suicide, in particular cases: yet he
					perpetrated that act with extraordinary coolness and resolution; and, what is no
					less remarkable, from the motive, as he avowed, of public expediency only. It
					was observed of him, for many years after his death, that "none ever died like
					Otho."