Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/220

Rh 206 GALBA. defence against the charge of being bribed by Ju- gurtha was read by Cicero when yet a boy, and delighted him so much that he learned it by heart. At the time of his condemnation he belonged to the college of pontiffs, and was the first priest that was ever condemned at Rome by a judicium publicum. (Cic. Brut. 26, 33, 34, de Oral. . h^.) 9. P. (SuLPicius) Galea was appointed one of the judices in the case of Verres B. c. 70, but was rejected by Verres. Cicero calls him an honest, but severe judge, and says that he was to enter on some magistracy that same year. He seems to be the same as the Galba who was one of the competitors of Cicero for the consulship. In B. c. 57 he is mentioned as pontifex, and in 49 as augur. Whether he is the same as the Galba who served as legate under Sulla in the war against Mit.ridates must remain uncertain. (Cic. in Verr. i. 7, 10, de Petit. Cons. 2, ad Att. i. 1, ix. 9, deHa- rusp. Resp. 6 ; Ascon. in Cic. in Tog. cand. p. 82 ; Appian, Mithrid. 43.) 10. Ser. Sulpicius Galba, a grandson of No. 6, and great-grandfather of the emperor Galba. He was sent by Caesar at the beginning of his Gallic campaign, in B. c. 58, against the Nantnates, Veragri and Seduni, and defeated them ; but he, nevertheless, led his army back into the country of the AUobrogians. In b. c. 54 he was praetor ur- banus. In b. c. 49 he was a candidate for the consulship ; but, to the annoyance of his friend J. Caesar, he was not elected. He was a friend of Decimus Brutus and Cicero ; and in the war of Mutina, of which he himself gives an account in a letter to Cicero still extant (ad Fam. x. 30), he commanded the legio Martia. (Caes. B. G. iii. 1, 6, viii. 50 ; Dion Cass, xxxvii. 48, xxxix. 5, 65 ; Cic. ad Fam. vi. 18, xi. 18, PhUlp. xiii. 16 ; Val. Max. vi. 2. § 11.) According to Suetonius I {Galba, 3; comp. Appian, B. C. ii. 113), he was j one of the conspirators against the life of J. | GALBA. 11. Sulpicius Galba, a son of No. 10, and grandfather of the emperor Galba, was a man de- voted to literary pursuits, and never rose to a higher office in the state than the praetorship. He was the author of an historical work which Sueto- toiiius calls multiplex nee incuriosa Imtoria. The nature of this work is unknown. (Suet. Galb. 3.) 12. C. Sulpicius Galba, a son of No. 11, and father of the emperor Galba. He was consul in A. D. 22, with D. Haterius Agrippa. He was humpbacked, and an orator of moderate power. He was married to Muramia Achaica, a great granddaughter of Mummius, the destroyer of Co- rinth. After her death he married Livia Ocellina, a wealthy and beautiful woman. By his former wife he had two sons, Caius and Servius. The former of them is said by Suetonius {Galb. 3) to have made away with himself, because Tiberius would not allow him to enter on his proconsulship ; but ae it is not known that he ever was consul, it is more probable that Suetonius is mistaken, and that what he relates of the son Caius applies to his father, C. Sulpicius Galba, who, according to 'iacitus {AnTi, vi. 40), put an end to himself in A.D. 36. [L. S.] To which of the preceding P. Galbae the follow- ing coin belongs is doubtful. It has on the obverse a female head, and on the reverse a culter, a sim- puvium, and a secespita, with p. galb. aed. CUK. GALBA, SER. SULPI'CIUS, a Roman em- peror, who reigned from June, a. D. 68 to Janu- ary, A. D. 69. He was descended from the family of the Galbae, a branch of the patrician Sulpicia Gens, but had no connection with the family of Augustus, which became extinct by the death of Nero. He was a son of Sulpicius Galba [Galba, No. 12] and Mummia Achaica, and was born in a villa near Terracina, on the 24th of December, B. c. 3. Livia Ocellinii, a relative of Livia, the wife of Augustus, and the second wife of Galba's father, adopted young Ser. Sulpicius Galba, who on this account altered his name into L. Livius Ocella, which he bore down to the time of his ele- vation. Both Augustus and Tiberius are said to have told him, that one day he would be at the head of the Roman world, from which we must infer that he was a young man of more than ordi- nary talents. His education appears to have been the same as that of other young nobles of the time, and we know that he paid some attention to the study of the law. He married Lepida, who bore him two sons, but botli Lepida and her chil- dren died, and Galba never married again, although Agrippina, afterwards the wife of Claudius, did all she could to win his attachment. He was a man of great wealth, and a favourite of Livia, the wife of Augustus, through whose influence he obtained the consulship. She also left him a considerable le- gacy, of which, however, he was deprived by Tiberius. He was invested with the curule offices before attaining the legitimate age. After his praetorship, in A. D. 20, he had the administra- tion of the province of Aquitania. In a. d. 33 he was raised to the consulship on the recommend- ation of Livia Drusilla, and after this he dis- tinguished himself in the administration of the province of Gaul, a. d. 39, where he carried on a successful war against the Germans, and restored discipline among the troops. The Germans had invaded Gaul, but after severe losses they were compelled by Galba to return to their own country. On the death of Caligula many of his friends urged him on to take possession of the imperial throne, but he preferred living in a private station, and Claudius, the successor of Caligula, felt so grateful to him for this moderation, that he received him into his suite, and showed him very great kindness and attention. In a. d. 45 and 46, Galba was en- trusted with the administration of the province of Africa, which was at the time disturbed by the licentiousness of the Roman soldiers and by the incursions of the neighbouring barbarians. He restored peace, and managed the alfairs of the pro- vince with great strictness and care, and on his return he was honoured with the ornamenta tri- U7npjudia, and with the dignity of three priesthoods ; he became a member of the college of the Quin- decirnviri, of the sodalesTitii, and of the Augustales. In the reign of Nero he lived for several years in private retirement, for fear of becoming, like many others, the victim of the tyrant's suspicion, until, in B. c. 61, Nero gave him Hispania Turraconensis as his province, where he remained for a period of