Galba | Page 5

on purpose to murder him,
had like to have killed him as he went through a narrow passage to the
bath. Being overheard to encourage one another not to lose the
opportunity, they were called to an account concerning it; and recourse
being had to the torture, a confession was extorted from them.
XI. These dangers were followed by the death of Vindex, at which
being extremely discouraged, as if fortune had quite forsaken him, he
had thoughts of putting an end to his own life; but receiving advice by
his messengers from Rome that Nero was slain, and that all had taken
an oath to him as emperor, he laid aside the title of lieutenant, and took
upon him that of Caesar. Putting himself upon his march in his
general's cloak, and a dagger hanging from his neck before his breast,
he did not resume the use of the toga, until Nymphidius Sabinus,
prefect of the pretorian guards at Rome, with the two lieutenants,
Fonteius Capito in Germany, and Claudius Macer in Africa, who
opposed his advancement, were all put down.
XII. Rumours of his cruelty and avarice had reached the city before his
arrival; such as that he had punished some cities of Spain and Gaul, for
not joining him readily, by the imposition of heavy taxes, and some by
levelling their walls; and had put to death the governors and
procurators with their wives and children: likewise that a golden crown,
of fifteen pounds weight, taken out of the temple of Jupiter, with which
he was presented by the people of Tarracona, he had melted down, and
had exacted from them three ounces which were wanting in the weight.
This report of him was confirmed and increased, as soon as he entered
the town. For some seamen who had been taken from the fleet, and
enlisted (409) among the troops by Nero, he obliged to return to their
former condition; but they refusing to comply, and obstinately clinging
to the more honourable service under their eagles and standards, he not
only dispersed them by a body of horse, but likewise decimated them.
He also disbanded a cohort of Germans, which had been formed by the
preceding emperors, for their body-guard, and upon many occasions
found very faithful; and sent them back into their own country, without
giving them any gratuity, pretending that they were more inclined to
favour the advancement of Cneius Dolabella, near whose gardens they

encamped, than his own. The following ridiculous stories were also
related of him; but whether with or without foundation, I know not;
such as, that when a more sumptuous entertainment than usual was
served up, he fetched a deep groan: that when one of the stewards
presented him with an account of his expenses, he reached him a dish
of legumes from his table as a reward for his care and diligence; and
when Canus, the piper, had played much to his satisfaction, he
presented him, with his own hand, five denarii taken out of his pocket.
XIII. His arrival, therefore, in town was not very agreeable to the
people; and this appeared at the next public spectacle. For when the
actors in a farce began a well-known song,
Venit, io, Simus [665] a villa: Lo! Clodpate from his village comes;
all the spectators, with one voice, went on with the rest, repeating and
acting the first verse several times over.
XIV. He possessed himself of the imperial power with more favour and
authority than he administered it, although he gave many proofs of his
being an excellent prince: but these were not so grateful to the people,
as his misconduct was offensive. He was governed by three favourites,
who, because they lived in the palace, and were constantly about him,
obtained the name of his pedagogues. These were Titus Vinius, who
had been his lieutenant in Spain, a man of insatiable (410) avarice;
Cornelius Laco, who, from an assessor to the prince, was advanced to
be prefect of the pretorian guards, a person of intolerable arrogance, as
well as indolence; and his freedman Icelus, dignified a little before with
the privilege of wearing the gold ring, and the use of the cognomen
Martianus, who became a candidate for the highest honour within the
reach of any person of the equestrian order [666]. He resigned himself
so implicitly into the power of those three favourites, who governed in
every thing according to the capricious impulse of their vices and
tempers, and his authority was so much abused by them, that the tenor
of his conduct was not very consistent with itself. At one time, he was
more rigorous and frugal, at another, more lavish and negligent, than
became a prince who had been chosen by the people, and was so far