The Histories

While Mucianus was on route to Italy, Antonius Primus, one of the local commanders of the Danubian legions, was convincing his colleagues to attack Italy themselves. Primus argued that an immediate offensive against the Vitellians would take the maximum advantage of their present weakness.

Primus began his invasion of Italy by securing Aquileia, the neighboring towns, and blocking off the route up from Ravenna (which, by this time, had revolted, though this was not yet known). Flavian forces then fought and won a small skirmish against local Vitellians. Vespasian ordered the invasion to stop at Aquileia, planning to starve Italy into submission through cutting off the grain supply from Egypt. Mucianus repeated these orders, apparently because he wanted to lead the invasion and gain glory. However, Primus ignored them and moved to Verona.

Caecina also moved toward Verona, where he fought an inconclusive skirmish. Tacitus says that if Caecina was still loyal to Vitellius, he could have defeated the smaller Flavian vanguard and potentially driven them out of Italy altogether, but he chose to delay further combat so that he could defect. In the Flavian camp, riots broke out as soldiers suspected those who were conspiring to betray them. The suspects were forced to leave the camp in fear for their lives.