No More Learning

The troops in the city[10] had long been inured to the allegiance 5
of the Caesars, and it was more by the pressure of intrigue than of
their own inclination that they came to desert Nero. They soon
realized that the donation promised in Galba's name was not to be paid
to them, and that peace would not, like war, offer opportunity for
great services and rich rewards. Since they also saw that the new
emperor's favour had been forestalled by the army which proclaimed
him, they were ripe for revolution and were further instigated by
their rascally Praefect Nymphidius Sabinus, who was plotting to be
emperor himself. His design was as a matter of fact detected and
quashed, but, though the ringleader was removed, many of the troops
still felt conscious of their treason and could be heard commenting on
Galba's senility and avarice. His austerity--a quality once admired
and set high in soldiers' estimation--only annoyed troops whose
contempt for the old methods of discipline had been fostered by
fourteen years of service under Nero. They had come to love the
emperors' vices as much as they once reverenced their virtues in older
days. Moreover Galba had let fall a remark, which augured well for
Rome, though it spelt danger to himself. 'I do not buy my soldiers,'
he said, 'I select them. ' And indeed, as things then stood, his words
sounded incongruous.

FOOTNOTES:

[9] Probably those who owned one million sesterces, the
property qualification for admission to the senate.

[10] This includes 'The Guards' (_cohortes praetoriae_) and
'The City Garrison' (_cohortes urbanae_), and possibly also
the _cohortes vigilum_, who were a sort of police corps and
fire brigade.


GALBA'S POSITION

Galba was old and ill. Of his two lieutenants Titus Vinius was the 6
vilest of men and Cornelius Laco the laziest. Hated as he was for
Vinius' crimes and despised for Laco's inefficiency, between them
Galba soon came to ruin. His march from Spain was slow and stained
with bloodshed.
He executed Cingonius Varro, the consul-elect, and
Petronius Turpilianus, an ex-consul, the former as an accomplice of
Nymphidius, the latter as one of Nero's generals. They were both
denied any opportunity of a hearing or defence--and might as well have
been innocent. On his arrival at Rome the butchery of thousands of
unarmed soldiers[11] gave an ill omen to his entry, and alarmed even
the men who did the slaughter. The city was filled with strange
troops. A legion had been brought from Spain,[12] and the regiment of
marines enrolled by Nero still remained. [11] Moreover there were
several detachments from Germany, Britain, and Illyricum,[13] which
had been selected by Nero, dispatched to the Caspian Pass[14] for the
projected war against the Albanians, and subsequently recalled to aid
in crushing the revolt of Vindex. [15] These were all fine fuel for a
revolution, and, although their favour centred on nobody in
particular, there they were at the disposal of any one who had
enterprise.

It happened by chance that the news of the death of Clodius Macer 7
and of Fonteius Capito arrived in Rome simultaneously. Macer,[16] who
was undoubtedly raising a disturbance in Africa, was put to death by
the imperial agent Trebonius Garutianus, acting under Galba's orders:
Capito[17] had made a similar attempt in Germany and was killed by two
officers, Cornelius Aquinus and Fabius Valens, without waiting for
instructions. While Capito had a foul reputation for extortion and
loose living, some people yet believed that he had withheld his hand
from treason. His officers, they supposed, had urged him to declare
war, and, when they could not persuade him, had gone on to charge him
falsely with their own offence,[18] while Galba from weakness of
character, or perhaps because he was afraid to inquire too far,
approved what had happened for good or for ill, since it was past
alteration. At any rate both executions were unpopular. Now that Galba
was disliked, everything he did, whether right or wrong, made him more
unpopular. His freedmen were all-powerful: money could do anything:
the slaves were thirsting for an upheaval, and with so elderly an
emperor were naturally expecting to see one soon. The evils of the new
court were those of the old, and while equally oppressive were not so
easily excused. Even Galba's age seemed comic and despicable to a
populace that was used to the young Nero and compared the emperors, as
such people will, in point of looks and personal attraction.