Sergius Galba

Also known as: Livius / Ocella · Family: Sulpicii Galbae · Role: consular Roman and ancestor of Galba · First appears: Galba 3

Life events

Sergius Galba massacred thirty thousand Lusitanians, provoking the war of Viriatus.(Galba 3 · 📍 Spain)
- With: Viriatus
- “when he was pro-praetor of Spain, he perfidiously put to the sword thirty thousand Lusitanians, and by that means gave occasion to the war of Viriatus.”
Sergius Galba was born near Terracina.(Galba 4 · 📍 Terracina)
- “The emperor Sergius Galba was born in the consulship of M. Valerius Messala, and Cn. Lentulus, upon the ninth of the calends of January [24th December], in a villa standing upon a hill, near Terracina, on the left-hand side of the road to Fundi.”
Galba was adopted by his step-mother and assumed the name Livius.(Galba 4)
- “Being adopted by his step-mother, he assumed the name of Livius, with the cognomen of Ocella, and changed his praenomen;”
Galba declared against Nero.(Galba 4)
- With: Nero
- “When Galba first declared against Nero, nothing gave him so much confidence of success, as a mule’s happening at that time to have a foal.”
Galba consecrated Fortune’s statue and thereafter worshipped it with regular sacrifices and vigils.(Galba 4 · 📍 Tusculum)
- “and having consecrated it in an apartment of his house, he ever after worshipped it with a monthly sacrifice, and an anniversary vigil.”
Livius and Ennius taught Greek and Latin at Rome and abroad.(Grammarians 1 · 📍 Rome)
- With: Ennius
- “Livius and Ennius, who are acknowledged to have taught both languages as well at Rome as in foreign parts.”

younger kin: Galba “Sergius Galba, a person of consular rank, and the most eloquent man of his time, gave a lustre to the family. History relates, that, when he was pro-praetor of Spain, he perfidiously put to the sword thirty thousand Lusitanians, and by that means gave occasion to the war of Viriatus. His grandson being incensed against Julius Caesar, whose lieutenant he had been in Gaul, because he was through him disappointed of the consulship, joined with Cassius and Brutus in the conspiracy against him, for which he was condemned by the Pedian law. From him were descended the grandfather and father of the emperor Galba.”
enemies with Viriatus “History relates, that, when he was pro-praetor of Spain, he perfidiously put to the sword thirty thousand Lusitanians, and by that means gave occasion to the war of Viriatus.”

enemies with Nero “When Galba first declared against Nero, nothing gave him so much confidence of success, as a mule’s happening at that time to have a foal.”
with Augustus (Augustus addressed Galba and predicted his future imperial dignity.) “when he came once, amongst other boys of his own age, to pay his respects to Augustus, the latter, pinching his cheek, said to him, ‘And thou, child, too, wilt taste our imperial dignity.’”
with Tiberius (Tiberius reacted to the prediction that Galba would eventually become emperor.) “Tiberius, likewise, being told that he would come to be emperor, but at an advanced age, exclaimed, ‘Let him live, then, since that does not concern me!’”

Extracted from the original text of The Lives of the Twelve Caesars. Made with Rho MD.