"that the son of Blesus, one of their Tribunes, should execute that
deputation; and demand in their name that, after sixteen years' service
they should be discharged: they said they would give him new orders, when
he had succeeded in these." After the departure of the young officer, a
moderate recess ensued; the soldiers however exulted to have carried such
a point: the sending the son of their General, as the public advocate for
their cause, was to them full proof that they had gained by force and
terror that which by modesty and gentle means they would never have
gained.

In the meantime those companies which, before the sedition began, were
sent to Nauportum [Footnote: Over-Laybach, in Carniola.] to mend roads and
bridges, and upon other duties, no sooner heard of the uproar in the camp,
but they cast off all obedience, tore away the ensigns, and plundered the
neighbouring villages; even Nauportum itself, which for greatness
resembled a municipal town, was plundered. The endeavours of the
Centurions to restrain this violence, were first returned with mockery and
contempt, then with invectives and contumelies, at last with outrage and
blows. Their vengeance was chiefly bent against the Camp-Marshal,
Aufidienus Rufus: him they dragged from his chariot, and, loading him with
baggage, drove him before the first ranks; they then insulted him, and
asked in scorn, "whether he would gladly bear such enormous burdens,
whether endure such immense marches?" Rufus had been long a common
soldier, then became a Centurion, and afterwards Camp-Marshal; a severe
restorer of primitive strictness and discipline; an indefatigable observer
of every military duty, which he exacted from others with the more rigour,
as he had himself undergone them all with patience.

By the arrival of this tumultuous band the sedition was again awakened to
its former outrage, and the seditious, roving abroad without control,