It is no justification whatever of your sin to have sinned in behalf of a friend.

It is no justification whatever of your sin to have sinned in behalf of a friend. M. Tullius Cicero. De Amictia. Laelius on friendship. Section 37.

Image: Roman emperor Marcus Salvius Otho at The Louvre, 1st century CE, courtesy of Wikimedia Commons contributor Ricardo André Frantz.

Note: A member of a noble Etruscan family, Otho was initially a friend and courtier of the young emperor Nero, until he was effectively banished to the governorship of the remote province of Lusitania in 58 CE following his wife Poppaea Sabina's affair with Nero. After a period of moderate rule in the province, he allied himself with Galba, the governor of neighboring Hispania Tarraconensis, during the revolts of 68 CE. Galba was proclaimed emperor by the Senate and Otho accompanied Galba on his march to Rome in October 68 CE. On 1 January 69, the day Galba took the office of consul alongside Titus Vinius, the fourth and twenty-second legions of Upper Germany refused to swear loyalty to Galba. They toppled the statues of Galba and demanded that a new emperor be chosen. On the following day, the soldiers of Lower Germany also refused to swear their loyalty and proclaimed the governor of the province, Aulus Vitellius, as emperor. Galba tried to ensure his authority by adopting the nobleman Lucius Calpurnius Piso Licinianus as his successor, but this action angered Otho who thought he would become Galba's heir. So Otho incited the Praetorian guard to kill Galba along with Vinius and Piso and declare Otho emperor.