Page:Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology (1870) - Volume 2.djvu/232

218 was too young to take part in the contest between Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. But his noble birth, his youth, and popularity, awakened the jealousy of Vespasian's prefect, Mucianus. Galerianus was arrested at Rome, conducted by a strong guard forty miles along the Appian road, and put to death by injecting poison into his veins. (Tac. Hist. iv. 11.) GALE′RIUS TRA′CHALUS. [.]  GALE′RIUS VALE'RIUS MAXIMIA'NUS. [.]  GA′LEUS, that is, "the lizard," a son of Apollo and Themisto, the daughter of the Hyperborean king Zabius. In pursuance of an oracle of the Dodonean Zeus, Galeus emigrated to Sicily, where he built a sanctuary to his father Apollo. The Galeotae, a family of Sicilian soothsayers, derived their origin from him. (Aelian, V. H. xii. 46; Cic. de Divin. 1. 20; Steph. Byz. s. v. .) The principal seat of the Galeatae was the town of Hybla, which was hence called or, as Thucydides (vi. 62.) writes it, )

GALI′NTHIAS, or, as Ovid (Met ix. 306) calls her, Galanthis, was a daughter of Proetus of Thebes and a friend of Alcmene. When the latter was on the point of giving birth to Heracles, and the Moerae and Eileithyia, at the request of Hera, were endeavouring to prevent or delay the birth, Galinthias suddenly rushed in with the false report that Alcmene had given birth to a son. The hostile goddesses were so surprised at this information that they dropped their arms. Thus the charm was broken, and Alcmene was enabled to give birth to Heracles. The deluded goddesses avenged the deception practised upon them by Galinthias by metamorphosing her into a weasel or cat, and dooming her to lead a joyless life in obscure holes and corners. Hecate, however, took pity upon her, and made her her attendant, and Heracles afterwards erected a sanctuary to her. At Thebes it was customary at the festival of Heracles first to offer sacrifices to Galinthias. (Ov. l.c.; Anton. Lib. 29; Aelian, H.A. xii. 5.) Pausanias (ix. 11. § 2) relates a similar story of Historis.  GALLA. 1. First wife of Julius Constantius, son of the emperor Constantius Chlorus by his second wife, Theodora. She bore her husband two sons, one of whom Valesius thinks was the Flavins Valerius Constantinus, consul in 327, but to whom others do not give a name; the younger was Gallus Caesar. [, p. 226, b.]

2. The daughter of the emperor Valentinian I., and second wife of Theodosius the Great. According to Zosimus, she accompanied her mother, Justina, and her brother, Valentinian II., when they fled to Theodosius, on the invasion of Italy by the usurper Maximus ( 387). Theodosius met the fugitives at Thessalonica, and Justina artfully placed her weeping daughter before him, to work at once on his compassion and his love. Galla was eminent for beauty, and the emperor was smitten, and requested her in marriage. Justina refused her consent, except on condition of his undertaking to attack Maximus, and restore Valentinian, to which condition he consented, and they were married, probably about the end of 387. Tillemont, who rejects the account of Zosimus as inconsistent with the piety of Theodosius, places the marriage in 386, before the flight of Valentinian; but we prefer, with Gibbon, the account of Zosimus. During the absence of Theodosius in Italy, Galla was turned out of the palace at Constantinople by her step-son, the boy Arcadius, or by those who governed in his name. She died in childbirth, 394, just as Theodosius was setting out to attack Arbogastes and Eugenius, after giving to Theodosius a daughter, Galla Placidia [No. 3], and apparently a son named Gratian. (Ambros. De Obit Theodos. Orat. c. 40, and note of the Benedictine editors.) Whether the latter, who certainly died before bis father, was the child whose birth occasioned her death, or whether there was a third child, is not clear. Tillemont understands Philostorgius to claim Galla as an Arian; but the passage in Philostorgius (x. 7) appears to refer rather to her mother, Justina. However, the Paschal Chronicle calls her an Arian, and the marked silence of Ambrose with respect to Galla in the passage just referred to makes it not unlikely that she was suspected or known to be not orthodox. (Zosim. iv. 44, 45, 55, 57; Marcellin. Chron.; Chron. Pasch. p. 563, ed. Bonn; Tillemont, Hist. des Emp. vol. v.; Gibbon, c. xxvii.)

3., so named in coins and inscriptions; but by historians more commonly called simply, was the daughter of Theodosius the Great by his second wife Galla [No. 2.], The date of her birth does not appear: it must have been not earlier than 388, and not later than 393. She was at Rome in 408, and is accused of being one of the parties to the death of her cousin Serena, Stilicho's widow, who was suspected of corresponding with or favouring Alaric, who was then besieging the city. It appears from this, that Placidia was then old enough to have some influence in public affairs, which consideration would lead us to throw back the date of her birth as far as possible. Gibbon says she was about twenty in 408, which is probably correct. When Alaric took Rome, 410, Placidia fell into his hands (if indeed she had not been previously in his power), and was detained by him as a hostage, but respectfully treated. After Alaric's death she continued in the power of his brother-in-law and successor, Ataulphus. [.] Constantius (afterwards emperor) the Patrician [, III.], on the part of the emperor Honorius, half brother of Placidia, demanded her restoration, having already, as Tillemont thinks, the intention of asking her in marriage. Ataulphus, however, having it also in view to marry her, evaded these demands, and married her (according to Jornandes), at Forum Livii, near Ravenna, but according to the better authority of Olympiodorus and Idatius, at Narbonne, 414. Idatius states that this matter was regarded by some as the fulfilment of the prophecy of Daniel (ch. xi.) respecting the King of the North and the daughter of the king of the South. Philostorgius considers that another passage of the same prophetical book was fulfilled by the event. Ataulphus treated her with great respect, and endeavoured to make an alliance with Honorius, but was not successful, through the opposition of Constantius. In 415 Ataulphus was killed at Barcelona, leaving no issue by Placidia, their only child, Theodosius, having died soon after its birth. Ataulphus, with his last breath, charged his brother to restore Placidia to Honorius, but the revolutions of the Visi-Gothic kingdom prevented this being done 