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,
ravaged the country on every side. Blesus, for an example of terror to the
rest, commanded those who were most laden with plunder, to be punished
with stripes and cast into prison: for the General was still dutifully
obeyed by the Centurions, and by all the soldiers of any merit; but the
criminals refused to submit, and even struggled with the guard who were
carrying them off; they clasped the knees of the bystanders, implored help
from their fellows, now calling upon every individual, and conjuring them
by their particular names; then appealed to them in a body, and
supplicated the company, the cohort, the legion to which they belonged;
warning and proclaiming that the same ignominy and chastisement hung over
them all.
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