LIBER VII ·

GALBA OTHO VITELLIUS

GALBA

I. PROGENIES Caesarum in Nerone defecit: quod futurum compluribus quidem signis, sed vel evidentissimis duobus apparuit. Liviae olim post Augusti statim nuptias Veientanum suum revisenti praetervolans aquila gallinam albam ramulum lauri rostro tenentem, ita ut rapuerat, demisit in gremium; cumque nutriri alitem, pangi ramulum placuisset, tanta pullorum suboles provenit, ut hodieque ea villa "ad Gallinas" vocetur, tale vero lauretum, ut triumphaturi Caesares inde laureas decerperent; fuitque mos triumphantibus, alias confestim eodem loco pangere; et observatum est sub cuiusque obitum arborem ab ipso institutam elanguisse. Ergo novissimo Neronis anno et silva omnis exaruit radicitus, et quidquid ibi gallinarum erat interiit. Ac subinde tacta de caelo Caesarum aede capita omnibus simul statuis deciderunt, Augusti etiam sceptrum e manibus

excussum est.

a Nero was the last who bore the name because of connection with the family of Augustus; after him it became a designation of rank. "The Hen Roost."

Those which they carried in their triumph, according to Pliny, N.H. 15. 136 f. No such temple is known.

BOOK VII

GALBA, OTHO, AND VITELLIUS

GALBA

I. THE race of the Caesars ended with Nero." That this would be so was shown by many portents and especially by two very significant ones. Years before, as Livia was returning to her estate near Veii, immediately after her marriage with Augustus, an eagle 38 B.C. which flew by dropped into her lap a white hen, holding in its beak a sprig of laurel, just as the eagle had carried it off. Livia resolved to rear the fowl and plant the sprig, whereupon such a great brood of chickens was hatched that to this day the villa is called Ad Gallinas, and such a grove of laurel sprang up, that the Caesars gathered their laurels from it when they were going to celebrate triumphs. Moreover it was the habit of those who triumphed to plant other branches at once in that same place, and it was observed that just before the death of each of them the tree which he had planted withered. Now in Nero's last year the whole grove died from the root up, as well as all the hens. Furthermore, when shortly afterwards the temple of the Caesars d was struck by lightning, the heads fell from all the statues at the same time, and his sceptre, too, was dashed from the hand of Augustus.

II. Neroni Galba successit nullo gradu contingens Caesarum domum, sed haud dubie nobilissimus magnaque et vetere prosapia, ut qui statuarum titulis pronepotem se Quinti Catuli Capitolini semper ascripserit, imperator vero etiam stemma in atrio proposuerit, quo paternam originem ad Iovem, maternam ad Pasiphaam Minonis uxorem referret.

III. Imagines et elogia universi generis exsequi longum est, familiae breviter attingam. Qui primus Sulpiciorum cognomen Galbae tulit cur aut unde traxerit, ambigitur. Quidam putant, quod oppidum Hispaniae frustra diu oppugnatum inlitis demum galbano facibus succenderit; alii, quod in diuturna valitudine galbeo, id est remediis lana involutis, assidue uteretur; nonnulli, quod praepinguis fuerit visus, quem galbam Galli vocent; vel contra, quod tam exilis, quam sunt animalia quae in aesculis nascuntur appellanturque galbae.

2 Familiam illustravit Servius Galba consularis, temporum suorum vel1 eloquentissimus, quem tradunt Hispaniam ex praetura optinentem, triginta Lusitanorum milibus perfidia trucidatis, Viriatini belli causam exstitisse. Eius nepos ob repulsam consulatus infensus Iulio Caesari, cuius legatus in Gallia fuerat, con1 vel, Bentley; et, mss. except 1, which omits the word. a No existing inscription confirms this statement. That is, of those of the Sulpicii who bore the surname Galba.

The gum of a Syrian plant; see Pliny, N.H. 12. 126.

II. Nero was succeeded by Galba, who was related 68 A.D. in no degree to the house of the Caesars, although unquestionably of noble origin and of an old and powerful family; for he always added to the inscriptions on his statues that he was the greatgrandson of Quintus Catulus Capitolinus," and when he became emperor he even displayed a family tree in his hall in which he carried back his ancestry on his father's side to Jupiter and on his mother's to Pasiphae, the wife of Minos.

III. It would be a long story to give in detail his illustrious ancestors and the honorary inscriptions of the entire race, but I shall give a brief account of his immediate family. It is uncertain who was the first of the Sulpicii to bear the surname Galba, why he assumed it, and whence it was derived. Some think that it was because after having for a long time unsuccessfully besieged a town in Spain, he at last set fire to it by torches smeared with galbanum © ; others because during a long illness he made constant use of galbeum, that is to say of remedies wrapped in wool; still others, because he was a very fat man, such as the Gauls term galba, or because he was, on the contrary, as slender as the insects called galbae, which breed in oak trees.

B.C.

The family acquired distinction from Servius Galba, 145 B.. who became consul and was decidedly the most eloquent speaker of his time. This man, they say, was the cause of the war with Viriathus, because 150-136 while governing Spain as propraetor, he treacherously massacred thirty thousand of the Lusitanians. His grandson had been one of Caesar's lieutenants in Gaul, but angered because his commander caused his defeat for the consulship, he joined the conspiracy

VOL. II.

spiravit cum Cassio et Bruto, propter quod Pedia lege 3 damnatus est. Ab hoc sunt imperatoris Galbae avus ac pater: avus clarior studiis quam dignitate—non enim egressus praeturae gradum-multiplicem nec incuriosam historiam edidit; pater consulatu functus, quanquam brevi corpore atque etiam gibber modicaeque in dicendo facultatis, causas industrie actitavit. Uxores habuit Mummiam Achaicam, neptem Catuli proneptemque L. Mummi, qui Corinthum excidit; item Liviam Ocellinam ditem admodum et pulchram, a qua tamen nobilitatis causa appetitus ultro existimatur et aliquanto enixius, postquam subinde instanti vitium corporis secreto posita veste detexit, ne quasi ignaram fallere videretur. Ex Achaica liberos Gaium et Servium 1 procreavit, quorum maior Gaius attritis facultatibus urbe cessit prohibitusque a Tiberio sortiri anno suo proconsulatum voluntaria

morte obiit.

IV. Ser. Galba imperator M. Valerio Messala Cn.2 Lentulo cons. natus est VIIII. Kal. Ian. in villa colli superposita prope Tarracinam 3 sinistrorsus Fundos | petentibus, adoptatusque a noverca sua Livia nomen et Ocellare cognomen assumpsit mutato praenomine ; nam Lucium mox pro Servio usque ad tempus imperii usurpavit. Constat Augustum puero adhuc, 1 Servium, Glareanus; Sergium, .

2 Cn., mss.; it should be L.

Terracinam, N.

a See Nero, iii. 1.

4 Sergio, .

That is, after his consulship. Tiberius doubtless suspected him of a desire to enrich himself at the expense of the provincials; cf. Tib. xxxii. 2, at the end.