Page:Plutarch's Lives (Clough, v.5, 1865).djvu/471

 GALEA. 463 taking the name of Marcianus, held the first place of the freedmen. But at Rome, Nymphidius Sabinus, not gently and little by little, but at once, and without exception, engrossed all power to himself; Galba, being an old man (seventy-three years of age), would scarcely, he thought, live long enough to be carried in a litter to Eome ; and the troops in the city were from old time attached to him, and now bound by the vastness of the promised gift, for which they regarded him as their bene- factor, and Galba as their debtor. Thus presuming on his interest, he straightway commanded Tigellinus, who was in joint commission with himself, to lay down his sword ; * and giving entertainments, he invited the former consuls and commanders, making use of Galba's name for the invitation ; but at the same time prepared many in the - camp to propose that a request should be sent to Galba that he should appoint Nymphidius sole prefect for life without a colleague. And the modes which the senate took to show him honor and increase his power, styling him their benefactor, and attending daily at his gates, and giving him the compliment of heading with his own name and confirming all their acts, carried him on to a yet greater degree of arrogance, so that in a short time he became an object, not only of dislike, but of terror, to those that sought his favor. When the consuls them- selves had despatched their couriers with the decrees of the senate to the emperor, together with the sealed diplomas,^ which the authorities in all the towns where together with himself, of the prK- the republic by the consuls, now torian guard. by the emperors. Persons who t This is the beginning of the wished for the use of the state's system, still followed on the conti- horses and carriages got them ; nent of Europe, of a state-post couriers with despatches, of course, for conveyance. The diplomata, had them, or rfou6/e-papers, were issued for
 * His sword of office as prefect, this special purpose, sealed under