De Vita Caesarum--Galba, c. 110 C.E.
Translated by J. C. Rolfe.
[Arkenberg Introduction]. Rolfe's annotations appear in brackets with no
attribution; mine are noted. I have also replaced modern place names, as used by Rolfe,
with those in use by the Romans and Hellenes; thus, for example, Rolfe's "Italy"
is now "Italia".
I. THE race of the Caesars ended with Nero [Nero was the last who
bore the name because of connection with the family of Augustus; after him it became a
designation of rank]. 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 [38 B.C.E.], an eagle 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 ["The Hen-Roost"], 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 was struck by lightning, the heads fell from all the statues at the same time,
and his scepter, too, was dashed from the hand of Augustus.
II. Nero was succeeded by Galba [68 C.E.], who was related 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 great-grandson 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 [That is, of those Sulpicii who bore the surname
"Galba"]. 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 Hispania, he at
last set fire to it by torches smeared with galbanum [The gum of a Syrian
plant; see Pliny, Nat. Hist. 12.126]; 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. The family acquired distinction from Servius Galba, who became consul [146
B.C.E.] and was decidedly the most eloquent speaker of his time. This man, they say,
was the cause of the war with Viriathus [150-136 B.C.E.], because while governing
Hispania as propraetor, he treacherously massacred thirty thousand of the Lusitanians. His
grandson had been one of Caesar's lieutenants in Gallia, but angered because his commander
caused his defeat for the consulship, he joined the conspiracy with Brutus and Cassius,
and was consequently condemned to death by the Pedian law [See Nero, iii.1]. From
him were descended the grandfather and the father of the emperor Galba. The former, who
was more eminent for his learning than for his rank---for he did not advance beyond the
grade of praetor---published a voluminous and painstaking history. The father attained the
consulship [22 C.E.], and although he was short of stature and even hunchbacked,
besides being only an indifferent speaker, was an industrious pleader at the bar. He
married Mummia Achaica, the granddaughter of Catulus and great-granddaughter of Lucius
Mummius who destroyed Corinth; and later Livia Ocellina, a very rich and beautiful woman,
who, however, is thought to have sought marriage with him because of his high rank, and
the more eagerly when, in response to her frequent advances, he took off his robe in
private and showed her his deformity, so as not to seem to deceive her by concealing it.
By Achaica he had two sons, Gaius and Servius. Gaius, who was the elder, left Rome after
squandering the greater part of his estate, and committed suicide because Tiberius would
not allow him to take part in the allotment of the provinces in his year [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].
IV. 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 [December
24, 3 B.C.E.], 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: "You too, child, will 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." Again, when
Galba's grandfather was busy with a sacrifice for a stroke of lightning [The usual
procedure, to avert the evil omen], 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" [Proverbial for "never", like the Greek
Kalends; see Aug. lxxxvii.1]. 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 unfavorable omen, he alone regarded it as most propitious,
remembering the sacrifice and his grandfather's saying. 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
honored 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.
V. Among other liberal studies he applied himself to the law. He also
assumed a husband's duties [To marry and rear a family was regarded as one of the
duties of a good citizen], but after losing his wife Lepida and two sons whom 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. He showed marked respect to
Livia Augusta, to whose favor 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.
VI. 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 [cf. Nero, xi.2]. Then he governed the
province of Aquitania for nearly a year, and soon afterwards held a regular consulship [That
is to say, entering office on January 1, and with his colleague, L. Cornelius Sulla,
giving his name to the year] for six months [33 C.E.]; and it chanced that
in this office he succeeded Gnaeus 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. Appointed governor of
Upper Germania by Gaius Caesar [Arkenberg: I.e., Caligula] in the room of
Gaetulicus, the day after he appealed 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:
"Soldiers, learn to play the soldier; 'tis Galba, not Gaetulicus." 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 Gallia, and when Gaius arrived [See Calig.
xliii-xliv], 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
maneuvers shield in hand, by actually running for twenty miles close beside the emperor's
chariot [cf., Calig. xxvi.2].
VII. 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 favor with
Claudius, became one of his staff of intimate friends, and was treated with such
consideration that the departure of the expedition to Britannia was put off because Galba
was taken with a sudden illness, of no great severity. He governed Africa for two years
with the rank of proconsul, being specially chosen [Except in special cases, the
governors were appointed by lot from among those who were eligible] 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. When provisions were very scarce during a
foray and a soldier was accused of having sold for a hundred denarii a modius of wheat [The
modius was 8.75 liters] 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.
VIII. His services in Africa at that time, and previously in Germania,
were recognized by the triumphal regalia and three priesthoods, for he was chosen a member
of the Fifteen [See Jul. lxxix.3], of the brotherhood of Titius [The sodales
Titii were an ancient priesthood of uncertain origin. The tradition arose that they were
established to keep up the ancient Sabine worship, and named from Titus Tatius], and
of the priests of Augustus [see Claud. vi.2]. 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 [So
as to be able to leave the country on short notice]; until at last, while he was
staying in the town of Fundi, Hispania Tarraconensis was offered him [60 C.E.].
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
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.
IX. For eight years he governed the province in a variable and
inconsistent manner. At first he was rigorous 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 honor, 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. As he was holding the assizes at Nova
Carthago [Arkenberg: modern Cartagena], he learned of the rebellion of the Gallic
provinces through an urgent appeal for help from the governor of Aquitania; then came
letters from Vindex, calling upon him to make himself the liberator and leader of mankind.
So without much hesitation he accepted the proposal, led by fear as well as by hope. For
he had intercepted despatches ordering his own death, which had been secretly sent by Nero
to his agents. He was encouraged too, in addition to most favorable auspices and omens, by
the prediction of a young girl of high birth, and the more so because the priest of
Jupiter at Clunia, directed by a dream, had found in the inner shrine of his temple the
very same prediction, likewise spoken by an inspired girl two hundred years before. And
the purport of the verses was that one day there would come forth from Hispania the ruler
and lord of the world.
X. Accordingly, pretending that he was going to attend to the
manumitting of slaves, he mounted the tribunals, on the front of which he had set up as
many images as he could find of those who had been condemned and put to death by Nero; and
having by his side a boy of noble family, whom he had summoned for that very purpose from
his place of exile hard by in the Balearic Isles, he deplored the state of the times;
being thereupon hailed as emperor, he declared that he was their governor, representing
the Senate and People of Rome [Instead of the emperor, as before]. Then
proclaiming a holiday, he enrolled from the people of the province into legions and
auxiliaries in addition to his former force of one legion, two divisions of cavalry, and
three cohorts. But from the oldest and most experienced of the nobles he chose a kind of
Senate, to whom he might refer matters of special importance whenever it was necessary. He
also chose young men of the ordo equester, who were to have the title of
volunteers [Evocati were soldiers who, after serving their time, were invited to
continue their service. It is here an honorary title] and keep guard before his bed
chamber in place of the regular soldiers, without losing their right to wear the gold
ring. He also sent proclamations broadcast throughout the province, urging all men
individually and collectively to join the revolution and aid the common cause in every
possible way. At about this same time, during the fortification of a town which he had
chosen as the seat of war, a ring of ancient workmanship was found, containing a precious
stone engraved with a Victory and a trophy. Immediately afterwards a ship from Alexandria
loaded with arms arrived at Dertosa without a pilot, without a single sailor or passenger,
removing all doubt in anyone's mind that the war was just and holy and undertaken with the
approval of the gods. Then suddenly and unexpectedly the whole plan was almost brought to
naught. One of the two divisions of cavalrymen, repenting of its change of allegiance,
attempted to desert Galba as he was approaching his camp, and was with difficulty
prevented. Some slaves too, whom one of Nero's freedmen had given Galba with treachery in
view, all but slew him as he was going to the bath through a narrow passageway. In fact
they would have succeeded, had they not conjured one another not to miss the opportunity
and so been questioned as to what the opportunity was to which they referred; for when
they were put to the torture, a confession was wrung from them.
XI. To these great perils was added the death of Vindex, by which he
was especially panic-stricken and came near taking his own life, in the belief that all
was lost. But when some messengers came from the city, reporting that Nero was dead and
that all the people had sworn allegiance to him, he laid aside the title of governor and
assumed that of Caesar. He then began his march to Rome in a general's cloak with
a dagger hanging from his neck in front of his breast; and he did not resume the toga
until he had overthrown those who were plotting against him, Nyrnphidius Sabinus, prefect
of the Praetorian Guard at Rome, in Germania and Africa the governors Fonteius Capito and
Clodius Macer.
XII. His double reputation for cruelty and avarice had gone before
him; men said that he had punished the cities of the Hispanic and Gallic provinces which
had hesitated about taking sides with him by heavier taxes and some even by the razing of
their walls, putting to death the governors and imperial legati along with their
wives and children. Further, that he had melted down a golden crown of fifteen pounds
weight, which the people of Tarraco had taken from their ancient temple of Jupiter and
presented to him, with orders that the three ounces which were found lacking be exacted
from them. This reputation was confirmed and even augmented immediately on his arrival in
the city. For having compelled some marines whom Nero had made regular soldiers to return
to their former position as rowers, upon their refusing and obstinately demanding an eagle
and standards, he not only dispersed them by a cavalry charge, but even decimated them. He
also disbanded a cohort of Germans, whom the previous Caesars had made their body-guard
and had found absolutely faithful in many emergencies, and sent them back to their native
country without any rewards, alleging that they were more favorably inclined towards
Gnaeus Dolabella, near whose gardens they had their camp. The following tales too were
told in mockery of him, whether truly or falsely [Doubtless many of them were false or
exaggerated. Galba's frugality was naturally regarded as stinginess by a people accustomed
to a princeps like Nero; see Nero, xxxi.1]: that when an unusually elegant dinner was
set before him, he groaned aloud; that when his duly appointed steward presented his
expense account, he handed him a dish of beans in return for his industry and carefulness;
and that when the flute player Canus greatly pleased him, he presented him with five
denarii, which he took from his own purse with his own hand [Plutarch, Galba, xvi.,
gives the story quite a different aspect, saying that the gift was of gold pieces, and
that Galba said that it came from his own pocket, and not from the public funds].
XIII. Accordingly his coming was not so welcome as it might have been,
and this was apparent at the first performance in the theater: for when the actors of an
Atellan farce began the familiar lines "Here comes Onesimus from his farm" all
the spectators at once finished the song in chorus and repeated it several times with
appropriate gestures, beginning with that verse.
XIV. Thus his popularity and prestige were greater when he won, than
while he ruled the empire, though he gave many proofs of being an excellent princeps; but
he was by no means so much loved for those qualities as he was hated for his acts of the
opposite character. He was wholly under the control of three men, who were commonly known
as his tutors because they lived with him in the palace and never left his side. They were
Titus Vinius, one of his generals in Hispania, a man of unbounded covetousness; Cornelius
Laco, advanced from the position of judge's assistant to that of prefect of the Guard and
intolerably haughty and indolent; and his own freedman Icelus, who had only just before
received the honor of the gold ring and the surname of Marcianus, yet already aspired to
the highest office open to the ordo equester. To these brigands, each with his
different vice, he so entrusted and handed himself over as their tool, that his conduct
was far from consistent; for now he was more exacting and niggardly and now more
extravagant and reckless than became a princeps chosen by the people and of his
time of life. He condemned to death divers distinguished men of both orders on trivial
suspicions without a trial. He rarely granted Roman citizenship, and the privileges of
threefold paternity to hardly one or two, and even to those only for a fixed and limited
time. When the jurors petitioned that a sixth division be added to their number, he not
only refused, but even deprived them of the privilege granted by Claudius, of not being
summoned for court duty in winter and at the beginning of the year.
XV. It was thought too that he intended to limit the offices open to
senators and equites to a period of two years, and to give them only to such as did not
wish them and declined them. He had all the grants of Nero revoked, allowing only a tenth
part to be retained; and he exacted repayment with the help of fifty Roman equites,
stipulating that even if the actors and athletes had sold anything that had formerly been
given them, it should be taken away from the purchasers, in case the recipient had spent
the money and could not repay it. On the other hand, there was nothing that he did not
allow his friends and freedmen to sell at a price or bestow as a favor, taxes and freedom
from taxation, the punishment of the guiltless and impunity for the guilty. Nay more, when
the Roman people called for the punishment of Halotus and Tigellinus, the most utterly
abandoned of all Nero's creatures, not content with saving their lives, he honored Halotus
with a very important stewardship and in the case of Tigellinus even issued an edict
rebuking the people for their cruelty
XVI. Having thus incurred the hatred of almost all men of every class,
he was especially detested by the soldiers; for although their officers [According to
Plutarch (Galba, 2), it was Nymphidius Sabinus, Prefect of the Praetorian Guard, who made
this promise] had promised them a larger gift than common when they swore allegiance
to Galba in his absence, so far from keeping the promise, he declared more than once that
it was his habit to levy troops, not buy them; and on this account he embittered the
soldiers all over the empire. The praetorians he filled besides with both fear and
indignation by discharging many of them from time to time as under suspicion of being
partisans of Nymphidius. But loudest of all was the grumbling of the army in Upper
Germania, because it was defrauded of the reward for its services against the Gauls and
Vindex. Hence, they were the first to venture on mutiny, refusing on the Kalends of
January to swear allegiance to anyone save the Senate, and at once resolving to send a
deputation to the Praetorians with the following message: that the emperor created in
Hispania did not suit them and the Guard must choose one who would be acceptable to all
the armies.
XVII. When this was reported to Galba, thinking that it was not so
much his age as his lack of children that was criticized, he picked out Piso Frugi
Licinianus from the midst of the throng at one of his morning receptions, a young man of
noble birth and high character, who had long been one of his special favorites and always
named in his will as heir to his property and his name. Calling him son, he led him to the
Praetorian camp and adopted him before the assembled soldiers. But even then he made no
mention of largess, thus making it easier for Marcus Salvius Otho to accomplish his
purpose within six days after the adoption.
XVIII. Many prodigies in rapid succession from the very beginning of
his reign had foretold Galba's end exactly as it happened. When victims were being slain
to right and left all along his route in every town [As he was on his way to Rome],
an ox, maddened by the stroke of an axe, broke its bonds and charged the emperor's
chariot, and as it raised its feet, deluged him with blood. And as Galba dismounted, one
of his guards, flushed forward by the crowd, almost wounded him with his lance. Again, as
he entered the city, and later the palaces, he was met by a shock of an earthquake and a
sound like the lowing of kine. There followed even clearer signs. He had set apart from
all the treasure a necklace fashioned of pearls and precious stones, for the adornment of
his image of Fortuna at Tusculum. This on a sudden impulse he consecrated to the
Capitoline Venus, thinking it worthy of a more August position. The next night Fortuna
appeared to him in his dreams, complaining of being robbed of the gift intended for her
and threatening in her turn to take away what she had bestowed. When Galba hastened in
terror to Tusculum at daybreak to offer expiatory sacrifices because of the dream and sent
on men to make preparations for the ceremony he found on the altar nothing but warm ashes
and beside it an old man dressed in black, holding the incense in a glass dish and the
wine in an earthen cup [The fire should have been blazing brightly and a youth clad in
white should have carried the incense in a proper box, and the wine in a more costly and
appropriate vessel]. It was also remarked that as he was sacrificing on the Kalends
of January the garland fell from his head, and that as he took the auspices, the sacred
chickens flew away. As he was on the point of addressing the soldiers on the day of the
adoption [Of Piso], his camp chair, through the forgetfulness of his attendants,
was not placed on the tribunal as is customary, and in the Senate his curule chair was set
wrong side foremost.
XIX. As he was offering sacrifice on the morning before he was killed,
a soothsayer warned him again and again to look out for danger, since assassins were not
far off. Not long after this he learned that Otho held possession of the Camp [of the
Praetorian Guard], and when several advised him to proceed there as soon as
possible---for they said that he could win the day by his presence and prestige---he
decided to do no more than hold his present position and strengthen it by getting together
a guard of the legionaries, who were encamped in many different quarters of the city. He
did, however, put on a linen cuirass, though he openly declared that it would afford
little protection against so many swords. But he was lured out by false reports,
circulated by the conspirators to induce him to appear in public; for when a few rashly
assured him that the trouble was over, that the rebels had been overthrown, and that the
rest were coming in a body to offer their congratulations, ready to submit to all his
orders, he went out to meet them with so much confidence, that when one of the soldiers
boasted that he had slain Otho, he asked him, "On whose authority?" and then he
went on as far as the Forum. There the horsemen who had been bidden to slay him, spurring
their horses through the streets and dispersing the crowd of civilians, caught sight of
him from a distance and halted for a moment. Then they rushed upon him again and butchered
him, abandoned by his followers.
XX. Some say that at the beginning of the disturbance he cried out,
"What mean you, fellow soldiers? I am yours and you are mine," and that he even
promised them largesse. But the more general account is, that he offered them his neck
without resistance, urging them to do their duty and strike, since it was their will. It
was very surprising that none of those present tried to lend aid to their emperor, and
that all who were sent for treated the summons with contempt except a company of German
troops. These, because of his recent kindness in showing them great indulgence when they
were weakened by illness, flew to his help, but through their unfamiliarity with the city
took a roundabout way and arrived too late. He was killed beside the Lake of Curtius [In
the Forum] and was left lying just as he was, until a common soldier, returning from
a distribution of grain, threw down his load and cut off the head. Then, since there was
no hair by which to grasp it, he put it under his robe, but later thrust his thumb into
the mouth and so carried it to Otho. He handed it over to his servants and camp-followers,
who set it on a lance and paraded it about the camp with jeers, crying out from time to
time, "Galba, you Cupid, exult in your vigor!" The special reason for this saucy
jest was, that the report had gone abroad a few days before, that when someone had
congratulated him on still looking young and vigorous, he replied: "As yet my
strength is unimpaired" [Iliad, 5.254; Odyss., 21.426]. From these it was
bought by a freedman of Patrobius Neronianus for a hundred pieces of gold and thrown aside
in the place where his patron had been executed by Galba's order. At last, however, his
steward Argivus consigned it to the tomb with the rest of the body in Galba's private
gardens on the Aurelian Road.
XXI. He was of average height, very bald, with blue eyes and a hooked
nose. His hands and feet were so distorted by gout that he could not endure a shoe for
long, unroll a book, or even hold one.
The flesh on his left side too had grown out and hung down to such an extent, that it
could with difficulty be held in place by a bandage.
XXII. It is said that he was a heavy eater and in winter time was in
the habit of taking food even before daylight, while at dinner he helped himself so
lavishly that he would have the leavings which remained in a heap before him passed along
and distributed among the attendants who waited on him. He was more inclined to unnatural
desire, and in gratifying it preferred full-grown, strong men. They say that when Icelus,
one of his old-time favorites, brought him news in Hispania of Nero's death, he not only
received him openly with the fondest kisses, but begged him to prepare himself without
delay and took him one side.
XXIII. He met his end in the seventy-third year of his age and the
seventh month of his reign [69 C.E.]. The Senate, as soon as it was allowed to do
so, voted him a statue standing upon a column adorned with the beaks of ships, in the part
of the Forum where he was slain; but Vespasian annulled this decree, believing that Galba
had sent assassins from Hispania to Judaea, to take his life.
Source:
From: J. C. Rolfe, ed., Suetonius, 2 Vols., The Loeb Classical Library
(London: William Heinemann, and New York: The MacMillan Co., 1914), II.191-227.
Scanned by: J. S. Arkenberg, Dept. of History, Cal. State Fullerton. Prof. Arkenberg
has modernized the text.
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© Paul Halsall, October 2000
