He was the son of the eques Publius Vitellius, and belonged to the gens Vitellia.
During the retreat, Germanicus handed over command of the second and fourteenth legions to Vitellius.
[2] One year later, while Germanicus was preparing for his third and largest campaign in Germania, he sent Vitellius and Gaius Antius to Gaul to collect taxes.
Vitellius was given into the custody of his brother (Suetonius does not say which one), where anticipating the worst, he opened his veins with a penknife.
Shortly afterward, her accuser, the delator Decimus Laelius Balbus, was himself condemned and banished.