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Otho, not succeeding by frequent invitations in persuading Vitellius to come and share the imperial office, eventually plunged into open war against him. And he sent soldiers whom he put in charge of several different leaders; this fact was largely responsible for his reverses.
Otho declined battle, saying that he could not see a battle fought between kindred, just as if he had become emperor in some legitimate fashion and had not killed the consuls and the Caesar [
] and the emperor [
] in Rome itself. There fell in the battles which took place near Cremona four myriads of men on both sides. Here, they say, various omens appeared before the battle, most noteworthy being an unusual bird, such as men had never before beheld, that was seen for a number of days.
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