There he was joined by his wife and child, whom he placed on a platform
and saluted as Germanicus and imperator, though the boy was only six years
old.

[Vitellius witnessed gladiatorial combats at Lugdunum and again at
Cremona, as if the crowds of men who had perished in the battles and were
even then exposed unburied to the elements did not suffice. He beheld the
slain with his own eyes, for he traversed all the ground where they lay
and gloated over the spectacle as if he were still in the moment of
victory; and not even after that did he order them to be buried.] Upon
reaching Rome and adjusting affairs to suit him, he issued a bulletin
banishing the astrologers and commanding them by this particular day
(mentioning a given date) to leave the whole country of Italy. They by
night put up in turn another document, in which they announced that he
should lose his life by the day on which he actually died. So accurate was
their previous knowledge of what should come to pass.

[Sidenote:--2--] Vitellius was fond of luxury and licentiousness and cared
for nothing else human or divine. He had always been the kind of man that
would spend his time in taverns and gaming houses, over dancers and
charioteers. Incalculable were the sums he spent on such pursuits, and the
consequence was that he had many creditors. Now, when he attained to so
great authority, his wantonness only increased, and his expenditures went
on most of the day and night alike. He was insatiate in filling himself,
yet kept constantly vomiting what he ate, apparently living on the mere
passage of food. Yet that was what enabled him to hold out; for his fellow
banqueters fared very badly. [He was always inviting numbers of the
foremost men to his table and he was frequently entertained at their
houses.]