A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

GALBA. OALENUS. 007
eight years. In maintaining discipline' among T.-Vinius, Cornelius Laco, and Icelus; and the
his troops, his strictness at first bordered upon arbitrary manner. in which he acted under their
cruelty, for the severest punishments were inflicted.influence showed that the times were little better
for slight, offences, but during the latter period of than they had been under Nero. His unpopularity
his administration he became indolent, for fear, it with all classes daily increased, and more espeis said, of attracting the attention of Nero, but cially among the soldiers. The first open outbreak
more probably as a natural consequence of old of discontent was among the legions of Germany,
age. In A. D. 68, when the insurrection of C. which sent word- to the Praetorians at Rome, that
Julius Vindex broke out in Gaul, and Vindex they disliked the emperor created in Spain, and
called upon the most distinguished men in the that one should be elected who was approved of by
other provinces to join him, he also sent messen- all.the legions. Similar outbreaks occurred in
gers to Galba, whom he looked upon as the most Africa. Galba, apparently blind to the real. cause
eminent among the generals of the time, and whom pf the discontent, and attributing it to hiss. oId age
he had destined in his mind as the successor of and his having no heir, adopte&d:'so Licinianus, a
Nero. Vindex accordingly exhorted him to vindi- noble young tloma,.who was to be his coadjutor
cate the rights of oppressed humanity. Galba, who and sucoter. But even this act only increased
was at the same time informed that some officers in ]his unpopularity; for he presented his adopted son
Spain had received secret orders from Nero o'to the senate and the soldiers, without giving to the
murder him, resolved at once to take the perilous latter the donatives customary on such occasions.
step, and place himself at the head of the Roman Salvius Otho, who had hoped to be adopted by
world, although he was already upwards of seventy.Galba, and had been strongly recommended by
years old. He assembled his troops, excited their T. Vinius, now secretly formed a conspiracy
sympathy for those who had been murdered by among the troops. The insurrection broke out six
Nero, and was at once proclaimed imperator by the days after the adoption of Piso Licinianus. Galba
soldiers..He himself, however, a-t first professed at first despaired, and did not know what to do,
to act only as the legate of the Roman senate and but at last he took courage, and went out to meet
people. He began to organise his army in Spain, the:rebels; but as he.was carried across the forum
instituted a kind of senate which was to act as his in a sedan-chair, a troop of horsemen, who had been
council, and made all preparations for a war against *waiting for his arrival, rushed forward and.cut him
Nero. Some of his soldiers, however, soon began down, near the Lacus Curtius, where his body was
to repent, and as he was engaged in suppressing, left, until a common soldier, who passed by, cut off
this spirit among his own men, he.received the in- his head, and carried it to Otho, who had in. the
telligence of the fall of Vindex, who in despair had mean time been proclaimed'emperor by the prae;
put an end to himself.'Being thus deprived, of his torians and legions. His remains were afterwards
principal: supporter, Galba withdrew to Clunia, a buried by one Argius in his own garden.. A statue
small town of his province, and was on the point of his, which the senate erected on the spot where
of following the example of Vindex. But things he had been murdered, was afterwards destroyed
suddenly took a different turn. Nymphidius Sa- by Vespasian, who,believed.that Galba had sent
binus, praefect of the praetorians at Rome, created assassins into Judaea to- murder him. (Tac. Hist.
an insurrection there, and some of the friends of i. 1-42,; Dion. Cass. lxiv." 1 —6; Suet. Galba;
Galba, by makingmunificent promises in his name, Plut. Galba; Aurel. Vict. De Caes. 6; Eutrop;
succeeded in winning the troops for him. Nero was vii. 10; Niebuhr, Lect. on the. Hist. of Rotne, vol.
murdered. Galba now took the title of Caesar, ii. p. 226, ed. L. Schmitz.) [L. S.]
and, accompanied by Salvius Otho, the governor of
Lusitania, he went to Rome, where ambassadors
soon arrived from all parts of the empire to do ~i
homage to Galba as the lawful sovereign.
Galba, by this time seems to have lost the good I f g "~,!'
qualities that distinguished his earlier years: a re-
port of his severity and avarice had preceded him "o
to Rome; and it soon became manifest that the..
accounts of his avarice were not exaggerated. Instead of doing. all he could to win the favour of the
rona Civica; and is therefore accompanied with the'
soldiers, who had only just. become aware of the
fact that they had it in their power to dispose of inscription on c. s., that is, ob eves seroatos.
the sovereignty, and that they might depose him GALE'NE (raFxvor ), a personification of the
just as they had raised him, he made several calm sea, and perhaps identical with Galateia, one
unpopular.changes in the army at Rome, and of the Nereides, is called by Hesiod (TZleog. 244)
punished with severity those who opposed his mea- a daughter of Nereus and Doris. [L. -S.]
sures. The large donatives which his friends had GALE'NUS, CLAU'DIUS (KAavdaos rampromised in his name were not given, and various v6s), commonly called Galen, a very celebrated
rumours about his niggardly and miserly character physician, whose works have had a longer and
were sedulously spread at Rome, and increased more extensive influence on the different branches
the discontent. Some of his arrangements were of medical science than those of any other indiwise enough; and had he not. been the victim of
wvarice, the common foible of old age, and been
hble to part with some of his treasures, he might'ave maintained himself on the throne, and the Little is told us of the personal history of Galen
Roman World would probably not have had much by any ancient author, but this deficiency is.abun-:eason. to complain. In addition to this, he was dantly supplied by his own writings, in which are:ompletely under the sway of three. favourites, I to be found such numerous anecdotes of himself aiid