[5] Then Celsus was assigned to meet with the vexillations from the Illyrian legions camped in the Porticus Vipsania and convince them to accept Galba's choice of heir; the soldiers drove him away at spear-point.
Celsus' military knowledge was esteemed enough that he was included in Otho's council prior to the battle; there he supported Suetonius' advice that the Othonian forces play for time so they could be joined by other units expected from the Illyrian provinces and the Danubean legions.
[10] The two generals were reduced to members of Licinius Proculus's staff, "advisers in name, in fact as scapegoats for any mishaps that occurred," as Gwyn Morgan pointedly notes.
Suetonius and Proculus claimed they had actually supported Vitellius, and had done everything they could to sabotage Otho's military effectiveness, but received only his contempt in exchange.
[13] Under Emperor Vespasian, Celsus served as governor of the important imperial provinces of Germania Inferior in 71–73,[14] leading Syme to make "the rational assumption that he terminated the Batavian Rebellion.