Vitellius consumed in mere eating, at least six millions of our money in about seven months. It is not easy to express his vices with dignity, or even decency. Tacitus fairly calls him a hog; but it is by substituting to a coarse word a very fine image.
"At Vitellius, umbraculis hortorum abditus, ut ignava animalia, quibus si cibum suggeras jacent torpentque, praeterita, instantia, futura, pari oblivione dimiserat. Atque illum nemore Arcino desidem et marcentem," etc. — Tacitus, The Histories, iii. 36, ii. 95. Suetonius in
Vitellius c. 13. Dion Cassius, 1. lxv. p. 1062.