While some of the soldiers were already for adopting this proposal and others for rejecting it, one standard-bearer stole away and brought tidings of the matter by night to Vitellius, as he was entertaining many guests. The news spread swiftly to the troops, and first Fabius Valens, commander of a legion, rode up next day with a large body of horsemen and saluted Vitellius as emperor. Hitherto Vitellius had seemed to decline and avoid the office, fearing the magnitude of it; but on this day, as they say, being fortified with wine and a midday meal, he came out to the soldiers and accepted the title of Germanicus which they conferred upon him, though he rejected that of Caesar.