Galba

Family: Galba · Role: Roman commander · First appears: Nero 42

Galba came from an ancient family. His ancestry was traced through Q. Catulus Capitolinus to Jupiter on his father’s side and to Pasiphae through his mother, while Sergius Galba gave distinction to the family; that ancestor joined Cassius and Brutus in the conspiracy against Julius Caesar and was condemned under the Pedian law. Galba married Lepida and had two sons, but Lepida and the children died, leaving him a widower. He refused to marry Agrippina the Younger, despite her attempts to attract him, while he courted Livia, whose intended legacy to him was reduced by Tiberius and never received.

Galba governed Aquitania, held the consulship after L. Domitius and before Salvius Otho, and was appointed by Caligula to command in place of Gaetulicus. He drove invading barbarians back in Gaul, received high commendation and rewards from Caligula, and later governed Africa as proconsul, receiving triumphal ornaments and priestly appointments. Though urged to seize power after Caligula’s death, he remained quiet; Claudius regarded him highly, and an expedition to Britain was suspended when Galba became indisposed. After being offered Hispania Tarraconensis, he accepted Vindex’s invitation to revolt against Nero, having discovered that Nero had ordered his procurators to dispatch him. Galba was saluted as Emperor and declared himself “only the lieutenant of the senate and people of Rome”; he raised troops, formed an advisory senate of experienced military leaders, and urged the provinces to support the revolt. Nero became his enemy, while Icelus, Galba’s freedman, brought him news of Nero’s death, and the soldiers turned toward Galba before Nero was succeeded by him.

Once in power, Galba took the title of Caesar after Nymphidius Sabinus, Fonteius Capito, and Claudius Macer were overthrown. He punished resisting cities in Spain and Gaul, executed governors and procurators with their families, melted a temple crown from Tarracona, punished resisting seamen, and disbanded the German bodyguard. He recalled nearly all of Nero’s grants, but protected Halotus and Tigellinus, giving Halotus a prominent procuration and reprimanding the people for their treatment of Tigellinus. He was governed by Titus Vinius, Cornelius Laco, and Icelus, advancing Laco to command the praetorian guards and granting Icelus the gold ring and the cognomen Martianus. Galba also condemned prominent senators and equestrians without trial, restricted citizenship, and abolished the judges’ vacation granted by Claudius.