414 



ROMAN EMPIRE. 



Roman No sooner did Nero hear of Galba' s resolution, than 

 Empire. } ie ren t his garments, and swore that he was undone. 

 s "" "V"""' He threatened to massacre all the governors of pro- 

 vinces, to murder every Gaul, to poison the senate, 

 burn the city, and turn adrift the lions among the peo- 

 ple. The absurdity ofthete threats was equalled only 

 by the folly which was exhibited in his preparations to 

 execute them. Instead of raising armies, and provid- 

 ing for their equipment, he constructed waggons for the 

 easy conveyance of his musical instruments, and he 

 -equipped his concubines in the drapery of Amazons. 

 The spirit of insurrection in the mean time was quickly 

 propagated among the legions in Germany, Africa, and 

 Lusitania. Virginius llufus, who commanded on the 

 Upper Rhine, hesitated for a while to take any active 

 part, and during that time his legions without his know- 

 ledge attacked and defeated the Gauls with great slaugh- 

 ter. Mortified at this circumstance, Vindex put himself 

 to death ; but distressing as this event was to the insur- 

 gents, it was attended with no general consequences. 

 Nero had so completely abandoned his cause, that he 

 provided himself with poison, and prepared to make his 

 escape to Egypt. His confidential servants were sent 

 off to equip a fleet at Ostia ; but when Nero requested 

 the tribunes and centurions to accompany him, he could 

 not find a single person to follow his fortunes. Agi- 

 tated and perplexed, he retired to his couch ; but wak- 

 ing in the middle of the night, and finding that his 

 guards had deserted him, he sent for his friends to ob- 

 tain their advice. No friend, however, was to be found. 

 He went from house to house ; but every door was 

 shut against him. He besought one of his gladiators 

 to take away his life ; but no hand would raise itself 

 to dispatch the low and de.-picable tyrant. Without a 

 friend, and unable to find even an enemy, he was on 

 the eve of plunging himself into the Tiber, when Phaon, 

 one of his freedmen, offered him his country house as a 

 place of refuge. Nero gratefully accepted the offer, 

 and, attended by four of his domestics on horseback, 

 he made many escapes, and at last reached the back of 

 Phaon's house, which he entered by a small hole in the 

 wall. When Nero was here reposing upon a wretched 

 pallet, and sustaining himself with brown bread and a 



Galba about three miles from Rome, to request a fulfil- 

 ment of that promise, and urging it in a disrespectful 

 manner, and even taking up arms, Galba dispersed them 

 with a body of horse, and killed no fewer than 7000. 

 When Galba was settled in Rome, he began by dis- 

 missing the German cohort, by replenishing the ex- 

 hausted exchequer, and by putting down those vices 

 which had polluted the preceding reign. Under the 

 system of economy which was now pursued, many acts 

 of meanness and even of avarice were observed ; and 

 the people, accustomed to partake in the splendid shows 

 and prodigalities of their emperors, had neither virtue 

 to admire, nor patience to endure, the retrenchments 

 of Galba. His popularity was slightly retrieved by the 

 public execution of Locusta, and various other instru- 

 ments of Nero's cruelty, who were dragged in fetters 

 through the city ; but this act of justice was again neu- 

 tralised by the pardon of Tigellinus and Helotus, who 

 are said to have procured it by bribes of enormous 

 magnitude, even though the people cried aloud for ven- 

 geance upon those atrocious murderers. 



The Roman legions in different provinces of the em- 

 pire, being bound by no tie to the interests of Galba, 

 exhibited various symptoms of disaffection. The army 

 commanded by Vitellius, an ambitious leader, openly 

 refused to obey any other orders than those of the se- 

 nate, and even sent a request to that body that they 

 would choose another emperor. 



When the news of this commotion reached Galba, he 

 resolved to adopt an heir to the throne, who should 

 have no other claim than his virtues and his talents. 

 Otho urged to Galba his claims to this situation ; but 

 the emperor wished to attend only to merit, and fixed 

 upon Piso Lucinianus as his successor. This young 

 man deserved the choice which thus fell upon him ; 

 but the senate and the army had not been accustomed 

 to admire the moral and intellectual qualities which 

 formed the ground of Piso's appointment. An open- 

 ing was therefore left for the ambition of Otho, who 

 resolved to obtain by force that appointment which 

 Galba had refused as a reward for his services. By 

 bribing and haranguing the soldiers, and exaggerating 

 the cruelties and avarice of Galba, he succeeded in a 



Roman 



Empire. 



Nero kills 

 himself. 

 A. D, 68. 



Galba 

 declared 

 emperor, 

 A. D. 68, 



cup of water, the senate were declaring Galba emperor, few days in gaining the affection of the soldiers, who 

 and condemning their oppressor to suffer the rigour of 

 the ancient laws. When he learned from one of Phaon's 

 slaves that he was thus to die, and that he was to be 

 scourged to death with his body naked, and his head 

 fixed to a pillory ; and when he heard the soldiers ac- 

 tually approaching to the house, he planted a dagger at 

 his throat, and contrived, with the aid of his secretary, 

 Epaphroditus, to inflict a mortal wound. One of the 

 centurions attempted in vain to stop the blood with his 

 cloak ; and Nero expired in the 32d year of his age, 

 and the 14th of his reign. 



Although Galba obtained the imperial power under 

 circumstances the most favourable, yet being in the 72d 

 year of his age, he wanted that strength of frame which 

 the arduous duties of his situation so imperiously de- 



proclaimed him emperor, and carried him with their Otho pro- 

 drawn swords into the camp. Galba was confounded claimed 

 with this intelligence, and being deceived by a ru- emperor. 

 mour of Otho's death, he rode into the forum, accom- 

 panied by several of his followers, when a body of 

 Otho's cavalry attacked the imperial party. Though 

 at first irresolute from the flight of his adherents, Galba 

 recovering his energy bent forwards his head on the 

 approach of the assassins, and commanded them to 

 strike it off if it would be of advantage to the people. 

 This command was speedily obeyed, and his head, fixed Galba 

 on the point of a lance, was carried in triumph round killed, 

 the camp of Otho. The new emperor, like all his pre- A. D. 09. 

 decessors, began his reign with acts of clemency and 

 justice. Though Marcius Celsus had been the favou- 



manded. An attempt to assassinate him, and a partial rite of Galba, and had adhered to the cause of his mas- 



revolt in his own army, conspired with the death of 

 Vindex, to make him repent of his elevation ; and ic is 

 said that he seriously thought of putting an end to his 

 existence. When he heard, however, of the death o'f 

 Nero, he assumed the title and badges of power. 



During Galba's journey towards Rome, an event oc- 

 curred which displayed the severity more than the jus- 

 tice of the emperor. A body of sailors, to whom Nero 

 had promised certain advantages, assembled round 



ter, yet Otho raised him to the highest honours as a re- 

 ward of his fidelity. He next gratified the just desire 

 of the people by putting Tigellinus to death, and by 

 restoring the estates of all those whom that monster 

 had banished or plundered. 



The legions of Vitellius, whom that general had at- Vitellius 

 tached to his interests by great promises as well as by declared 

 actual presents, proclaimed him emperor, and spread emperor by 

 terror throughout the capital. Otho was desirous of ll ' e " m ' 



