Part 2 (1/2)
[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 t.i.tus 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 Turpilia.n.u.s, 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 Illyric.u.m,[13] which had been selected by Nero, dispatched to the Caspian Pa.s.s[14] for the projected war against the Albanians, and subsequently recalled to aid in crus.h.i.+ng the revolt of Vindex.[15] These were all fine fuel for a revolution, and, although their favour centred on n.o.body 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 Garutia.n.u.s, 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.
FOOTNOTES:
[11] i.e. the marines, whom Nero had formed into a reserve force (Legio I Adiutrix). They had met Galba at the Mulvian Bridge, probably with a pet.i.tion for service in the Line.
[12] Legio VII Galbiana, sent later to Pannonia.
[13] Illyric.u.m included all the Danube provinces.
[14] The Pa.s.s of Dariel over the centre of the Caucasus. The Albanians lay to the east of its southern end, on the south-west coast of the Caspian.
[15] Vindex, Pro-praetor in the Lyons division of Gaul, had revolted against Nero early in the year 68 and offered his support to Galba, then governor of the Tarragona division of Spain. He was defeated by Verginius Rufus, commanding the forces in Upper Germany, and committed suicide. Verginius afterwards declared for Galba, though his troops wanted to make him emperor. Cp. chap. 8.
[16] Clodius Macer commanded Legio III Augusta and governed Numidia, which Tiberius at the end of his reign had detached from the pro-consulate of Africa.
[17] Governor of Lower Germany. See chap. 58 and iii. 62.
[18] Cp. chap. 58.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF FORCES
Such then at Rome was the variety of feeling natural in so vast a 8 population. To turn to the provinces abroad: Spain was under the command of Cluvius Rufus, a man of great eloquence, and more skilled in the arts of peace than of war.[19] The Gallic provinces had not forgotten Vindex: moreover, they were bound to Galba by his recent grant of Roman citizens.h.i.+p and his rebate of their tribute for the future. The tribes, however, which lay nearest to the armies stationed in Germany had not received these honours: some even had lost part of their territory and were equally aggrieved at the magnitude of their own injuries and of their neighbours' benefits. The troops in Germany were proud of their recent victory, indignant at their treatment and perplexed by a nervous consciousness that they had supported the wrong side: a very dangerous state for so strong a force to be in. They had been slow to desert Nero, and Verginius[20] did not immediately declare for Galba. Whether he really did not want the throne is doubtful: without question his soldiers made him the offer. The death of Fonteius Capito aroused the indignation even of those who had no right to complain. However, they still lacked a leader: Galba had sent for Verginius under a pretence of friends.h.i.+p, and, when he was not allowed to return and was even charged with treachery, the soldiers considered his case their own.
The army of Upper Germany felt no respect for their commander, 9 Hordeonius Flaccus.[21] Weakened by age and an affection of the feet he was without resolution or authority, and could not have controlled the mildest troops. These fiery spirits were only the further inflamed when they felt such a weak hand on the reins. The legions of Lower Germany had been for some time without a commander,[22] until Aulus Vitellius appeared. He was the son of the Lucius Vitellius who had been censor and thrice consul,[23] and Galba thought this sufficient to impress the troops. The army in Britain showed no bad feeling. All through the disturbance of the civil wars no troops kept cleaner hands. This may have been because they were so far away and severed by the sea, or perhaps frequent engagements had taught them to keep their rancour for the enemy. Quiet ruled in Illyric.u.m also, although the legions, which had been summoned by Nero,[24] while lingering in Italy had made overtures to Verginius. But the armies lay far apart, always a sound a.s.sistance to the maintenance of military discipline, since the men could neither share vices nor join forces.
The East was still untroubled. Licinius Mucia.n.u.s held Syria with 10 four legions.[25] He was a man who was always famous, whether in good fortune or in bad. As a youth he was ambitious and cultivated the friends.h.i.+p of the great. Later he found himself in straitened circ.u.mstances and a very ambiguous position, and, suspecting Claudius'
displeasure, he withdrew into the wilds of Asia, where he came as near to being an exile as afterwards to being an emperor. He was a strange mixture of good and bad, of luxury and industry, courtesy and arrogance. In leisure he was self-indulgent, but full of vigour on service. His outward behaviour was praiseworthy, though ill was spoken of his private life. However, with those who were under him or near him, and with his colleagues he gained great influence by various devices, and seems to have been the sort of man who would more readily make an emperor than be one.
The Jewish war was being conducted by Flavius Vespasia.n.u.s--appointed by Nero--with three legions.[26] He had no ill-will against Galba, and nothing to hope from his fall. Indeed he had sent his son t.i.tus to carry his compliments and offer allegiance, an incident we must reserve for its proper place.[27] It was only after Vespasian's rise that Roman society came to believe in the mysterious movings of Providence, and supposed that portents and oracles had predestined the throne for him and his family.
Of Egypt and its garrison, ever since the days of the sainted 11 Augustus, the knights of Rome have been uncrowned kings.[28] The province being difficult to reach, rich in crops, torn and tossed by fanaticism and sedition, ignorant of law, unused to bureaucratic government, it seemed wiser to keep it in the control of the Household.[29] The governor at that date was Tiberius Alexander, himself a native of Egypt.[30] Africa and its legions, now that Clodius Macer had been executed,[31] were ready to put up with any ruler after their experience of a petty master. The two Mauretanias, Raetia, Noric.u.m, Thrace, and the other provinces governed by procurators had their sympathies determined by the neighbourhood of troops, and always caught their likes or dislikes from the strongest army. The ungarrisoned provinces, and chief amongst these Italy, were destined to be the prize of war, and lay at the mercy of any master.
Such was the state of the Roman world when Servius Galba, consul for the second time, and t.i.tus Vinius his colleague, inaugurated the year which was to be their last, and almost the last for the commonwealth of Rome.
FOOTNOTES:
[19] He wrote a history of his own time, which was one of Tacitus' chief authorities.
[20] See note 17.
[21] Verginius' successor.