that he would rule longer if his mother died first; alternatively there is a report that his mother asked for poison to commit suicide--a request he granted. Suetonius additionally remarks that Vitellius's besetting sins were luxury and cruelty. Other writers, namely Tacitus and Cassius Dio, disagree with some of Suetonius's assertions, even though their own accounts are scarcely positive ones.

Despite his short reign he made two important government contributions which