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GALBA, SERVIUS SULPICIUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V11, Page 397 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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GALBA, SERVIUS SULPICIUS , See also:Roman See also:emperor (See also:June A.D. 68 to See also:January 69), See also:born near See also:Terracina, on the 24th of See also:December 5 B.C. He came of a See also:noble See also:family and was a See also:man of See also:great See also:wealth, but unconnected either by See also:birth or by See also:adoption with the first six Caesars. In his See also:early years he was regarded as a youth of remarkable abilities, and it is said that both See also:Augustus and Tiberius prophesied his future See also:eminence (See also:Tacitus, See also:Annals, vi. 2o; Suetonius, Galba, 4). See also:Praetor in 20, and See also:consul in 33, he acquired a well-merited reputation in the provinces of See also:Gaul, See also:Germany, See also:Africa and See also:Spain by his military capability, strictness and impartiality. On the See also:death of Caligula, he refused the invitation of his See also:friends to make a bid for See also:empire, and loyally served See also:Claudius. For the first See also:half of See also:Nero's reign he lived in retirement, till, in 61, the emperor bestowed on him the See also:province of Hispania Tarraconensis. In the See also:spring of 68 Galbawasinformed of Nero's intention to put him to death, and of the insurrection of See also:Julius Vindex in Gaul. He was at first inclined to follow the example of Vindex, but the defeat and See also:suicide of the latter renewed his hesitation. The See also:news that Nymphidius Sabinus, the See also:praefect of the See also:praetorians, had declared in his favour revived Galba's See also:spirits. Hitherto, he had only dared to See also:call himself the See also:legate of the See also:senate and Roman See also:people; after the See also:murder of Nero, he assumed the See also:title of See also:Caesar, and marched straight for See also:Rome.

At first he was welcomed by the senate and the party of See also:

order, but he was never popular with the soldiers or the people. He incurred the hatred of the praetorians by scornfully refusing to pay them the See also:reward promised in his name, and disgusted the See also:mob by his meanness and dislike of pomp and display. His advanced See also:age had destroyed his See also:energy, and he was entirely in the hands of favourites. An outbreak amongst the legions of Germany, who demanded that the senate should choose another emperor, first made him aware of his own unpopularity and the See also:general discontent. In order to check the rising See also:storm, he adopted as his coadjutor and successor L. See also:Calpurnius See also:Piso Frugi See also:Licinianus, a man in every way worthy of the See also:honour. His choice was See also:wise and patriotic; but the populace regarded it as a sign of fear, and the praetorians were indignant, because the usual donative was not forthcoming. M. Salvias See also:Otho, formerly See also:governor of Lusitania, and one of Galba's earliest supporters, disappointed at not being chosen instead of Piso, entered into communication with the discontented praetorians, and was adopted by them as their emperor. Galba, who at once set out to meet the rebels—he was so feeble that he had to be carried in a litter—was met by a See also:troop of See also:cavalry and butchered near the Lacus See also:Curtius. During the later See also:period of his provincial ad-ministration he was indolent and apathetic, but this was due either to a See also:desire not to attract the See also:notice of Nero or to the growing infirmities of age. Tacitus rightly says that all would have pronounced him worthy of empire if he had never been emperor (" omnium consensu capax imperii nisi imperasset ").

See his See also:

life by See also:Plutarch and Suetonius; Tacitus, Histories, i. 7-49; Dio See also:Cassius lxiii. 23-lxiv. 6; B. W. See also:Henderson, See also:Civil See also:War and See also:Rebellion in the Roman Empire, A.D. 60-70 (1908) ;W. A. Spooner, On the Characters of Galba, Otho and See also:Vitellius in Introd. to his edition (1891) of the Histories of Tacitus.

End of Article: GALBA, SERVIUS SULPICIUS

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