Life+of+Galba+-+dealing+with+difficult+emperors

Suetonius, Galba, 6-9:

The emperor Servius Galba was born in the consulship of Marcus Valerius Messala and Gnaeus Lentulus, on the ninth day before the Kalends of January, in a country house situated on a hill near Tarracina, on the left as you go towards Fundi. Adopted by his stepmother Livia, he took her name and the surname Ocella, and also changed his forename; for he used Lucius, instead of Servius, from that time until he became emperor. It is well known that when he was still a boy and called to pay his respects to Augustus with others of his age, the emperor pinched his cheek and said in Greek: "Thou too, child, wilt have a nibble at this power of mine." [|Tiberius] too, when he heard that Galba was destined to be emperor, but in his old age, said: "Well, let him live then, since that does not concern me." 2 Again, when Galba's grandfather was busy with a sacrifice for a stroke of lightning,[|10] and an eagle snatched the intestines from his hand and carried them to an oak full of acorns, the prediction was made that the highest dignity would come to the family, but late; whereupon he said with a laugh: "Very likely, when a mule has a foal."[|11] Afterwards when Galba was beginning his revolt, nothing gave him so much encouragement as the foaling of a mule, and while the rest were horrified and looked on it as an unfavourable omen, he alone regarded it as most propitious, remembering the sacrifice and his grandfather's saying.

3 When he assumed the gown of manhood, he dreamt that Fortune said that she was tired of standing before his door, and that unless she were quickly admitted, she would fall a prey to the first comer. When he awoke, opening the door of the hall, he found close by the threshold a bronze statue of Fortune more than a cubit high. This he carried in his arms to Tusculum, where he usually spent the summer, and consecrated it in a room of his house; and from that time on he honoured it with monthly sacrifices and a yearly vigil.Even before he reached middle life, he persisted in keeping up an old and forgotten custom of his country, which survived only in his own household, of having his freedmen and slaves appear before him twice a day in a body, greeting him in the morning and bidding him farewell at evening, one by one.

5 Among other liberal studies he applied himself to the law. He also assumed a husband's duties,[|12] but after losing his wife Lepida and two sons he had by her, he remained a widower. And he could not be tempted afterwards by any match, not even with Agrippina, who no sooner lost Domitius by death than she set her cap for Galba so obviously, even before the death of his wife, that Lepida's mother scolded her roundly before a company of matrons and went so far as to slap her. 2 He showed marked respect to Livia Augusta, to whose favour he owed great influence during her lifetime and by whose last will he almost became a rich man; for he had the largest bequest among her legatees, one of fifty million [|sesterces]. But because the sum was designated in figures and not written out in words, Tiberius, who was her heir, reduced the bequest to five hundred thousand, and Galba never received even that amount.

6 He began his career of office before the legal age, and in celebrating the games of the Floralia in his praetorship he gave a new kind of exhibition, namely of elephants walking the rope.[|13] Then he governed the province of Aquitania for nearly a year and soon afterwards held a regular consulship[|14] for six months; and it chanced that in this office he succeeded Lucius[|15] Domitius, the father of Nero, and was succeeded by Salvius Otho, the father of the emperor Otho, a kind of omen of what happened later, when he became emperor between the reigns of the sons of these two men. 2 Appointed governor of Upper Germany by Gaius Caesar in room of Gaetulicus, the day after he appeared before the legions he put a stop to their applause at a festival which chanced to fall at that time, by issuing a written order to keep their hands under their cloaks; and immediately this verse was bandied about the camp:

3 With equal strictness he put a stop to the requests for furloughs. He got both the veterans and the new recruits into condition by plenty of hard work, speedily checked the barbarians, who had already made inroads even into Gaul, and when Gaius arrived,[|16] Galba and his army made such a good impression, that out of the great body of troops assembled from all the provinces none received greater commendation or richer rewards. Galba particularly distinguished himself, while directing the military manoeuvres shield in hand, by actually running for twenty miles close beside the emperor's chariot.[|17] 7 When the murder of Gaius was announced, although many urged Galba to take advantage of the opportunity, he preferred quiet. Hence he was in high favour with Claudius, became one of his staff of intimate friends, and was treated with such consideration that the departure of the expedition to Britain was put off because Galba was taken with a sudden illness, of no great severity. He governed p203 Africa for two years with the rank of proconsul, being specially chosen<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super;">[|18] to restore order in the province, which was disturbed both by internal strife and by a revolt of the barbarians. And he was successful, owing to his insistence on strict discipline and his observance of justice even in trifling matters. 2 When provisions were very scarce during a foray and a soldier was accused of having sold for a hundred denarii a peck<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super;">[|19] of wheat which was left from his rations, Galba gave orders that when the man began to lack food, he should receive aid from no one; and he starved to death. On another occasion when he was holding court and the question of the ownership of a beast of burden was laid before him, as the evidence on both sides was slight and the witnesses unreliable, so that it was difficult to get at the truth, he ruled that the beast should be led with its head muffled up to the pool where it was usually watered, that it should then be unmuffled, and should belong to the man to whom it returned of its own accord after drinking. <span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: Georgia,Palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">8 His services in Africa at that time, and previously in Germany, were recognised by the triumphal regalia and three priesthoods, for he was chosen a member of the Fifteen,<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super;">[|20] of the brotherhood of Titius,<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super;">[|21] and of the priests of Augustus.<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super;">[|22] After that he lived for the most part in retirement until about the middle of Nero's reign, never going out even for recreation without taking a million sesterces in gold with him in a second carriage;<span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 10px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: super;">[|23] until at last, while he was staying in the town of Fundi, [|Hispania Tarraconensis] was offered him. 2 And it fell out that as he was offering sacrifice in a public temple after his arrival in the province, the hair of a young attendant who was carrying an incense-box suddenly p205 turned white all over his head, and there were some who did not hesitate to interpret this as a sign of a change of rulers and of the succession of an old man to a young one; that is to say, of Galba to Nero. Not long after this lightning struck a lake of Cantabria and twelve axes were found there, an unmistakable token of supreme power.
 * <span style="display: block; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">"Soldier, learn to play the soldier; 'tis Galba, not Gaetulicus." ||

<span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: Georgia,Palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">9 For eight years he governed the province in a variable and inconsistent manner. At first he was vigorous and energetic and even over severe in punishing offences; for he cut off the hands of a money-lender who carried on his business dishonestly and nailed them to his counter; crucified a man for poisoning his ward, whose property he was to inherit in case of his death; and when the man invoked the law and declared that he was a Roman citizen, Galba, pretending to lighten his punishment by some consolation and honour, ordered that a cross much higher than the rest and painted white be set up, and the man transferred to it. But he gradually changed to sloth and inaction, not to give Nero any cause for jealousy, and as he used to say himself, because no one could be forced to render an account for doing nothing.

<span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: Georgia,Palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Questions:


 * 1) <span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: Georgia,Palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Why is "the foaling of a mule" considered to be a bad Omen?
 * <span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: Georgia,Palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">In Greece, when a mule was born it meant that there was a great disaster approaching. At times a certain mule would be respected or honored when an army is about to capture a city, as in a great disaster for that city.
 * 1) <span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: Georgia,Palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">Who is Tiberius? Where is Tusculum?
 * <span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: Georgia,Palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">//Follow Hyperlink//
 * 1) <span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: Georgia,Palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">How did Galba lose Lepida and their two sons?
 * <span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: Georgia,Palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;"> I was unable to find an answer to this question, the only thing that the sources mention is that they all died young.
 * 1) <span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: Georgia,Palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">What do fifty million sesterces amount to ?
 * <span style="color: #000066; display: block; font-family: Georgia,Palatino,serif; font-size: medium; text-align: justify;">A thousand sesterces would be enough to fee a family of 5 a year. In the US today, it takes an income of $25,790 to feed a family of 5, and that would be right on the poverty line. By that calculation 50 million sesterces could reach around $1.2 Billion.

Heba Abdel-Messieh