Plutarch's Lives, Volume 4 (of 4)

by Plutarch

XIV. It was now determined that Nymphidius should be conducted to the camp of the prætorians at midnight and there proclaimed emperor. Towards evening Antonius Honoratus, the first military tribune, assembled the soldiers under his command and addressed them, beginning by blaming himself and them for having in a short time so often changed their allegiance, which they had done, not according to any fixed plan, or in order to choose the best masters, but as though they were driven to commit one treason after another by some infatuation sent by the gods. Their desertion of Nero was indeed justified by his crimes; but they could not accuse Galba of having murdered his mother or his wife; nor could they allege that he had ever disgraced the purple by appearing on the stage. “Yet,” he continued, “it was not any of these things that made us desert Nero, but Nymphidius persuaded us into doing so when Nero had already deserted us and fled to Egypt. Shall we then kill Galba as well as Nero? Shall we choose the son of Nymphidia for our emperor, and slay the son of Livia as we slew the son of Agrippina? Or shall we rather punish this fellow for his crimes, and thus prove ourselves the avengers of Nero, and the faithful guards of Galba?”

This speech of the tribune was agreed to by all his soldiers, who proceeded to their comrades, and urged them to remain faithful to Galba, and most of them promised to do so. Soon a shout was raised, either because, according to some writers, Nymphidius believed that the soldiers were already calling for him, or else because he wished to be beforehand with them and fix them while they were wavering and uncertain whom they should follow. Nymphidius came forward in the glare of many torches, carrying in his hand a speech written by Cingonius Varro, which he had learned by heart and intended to address to the soldiers. When, however, he saw that the gates of the camp were closed, and that the walls were covered with armed men, he was alarmed, and, coming up to the gates, asked what they wanted, and by whose orders they were under arms. They all answered with one voice that they looked upon Galba as their emperor. At this Nymphidius went up to them, applauded their resolution, and bade his followers do likewise. The soldiers at the gate let him pass in, with a few others. Presently a spear was hurled at him, which Septimius caught before him on his shield; but as many now attacked Nymphidius with drawn swords, he ran away, was pursued into a soldier’s room, and slain there. The corpse was dragged into a public place where a railing was put round it, and it was left exposed to public view the next day.

XV. When Galba heard how Nymphidius had perished, he ordered such of his accomplices as had not voluntarily made away with themselves to be put to death: among whom were Cingonius Varro who wrote the speech, and Mithridates of Pontus. In this Galba was thought to have shown himself harsh beyond all usage, if not beyond all law, and this execution of men of rank without a trial[608] was a most unpopular message. Indeed, all men had expected a very different kind of rule, for they had been deceived, as is usually the case, by the reports spread at the beginning of Galba’s reign. They were still further grieved at the fate of Petronius Turpilianus, a man of consular rank and a faithful servant of Nero, whom Galba ordered to destroy himself. In Africa Macer had, it is true, been put to death by Trebonianus, and Fonteius in Germany by Fabius Valens, acting under Galba’s orders: yet in both these cases he had the excuse that he feared, them, as they were in open rebellion against him; but there could be no reason for refusing a trial to Turpilianus, an old and helpless man, if the emperor had any intention of carrying out in his acts the moderation of which he spoke in his proclamations. For all this, therefore, Galba was blamed by the Romans. When on his journey he arrived within five-and-twenty stadia (about three English miles) of the city, he met a disorderly mob of sailors[609] who occupied the entire road. These were the men whom Nero had formed into a legion and treated as soldiers. They now wished to have their appointment confirmed, and pushed forward towards the emperor noisily demanding standards for their legion and quarters to encamp in, crowding round him in such disorder that he could neither be seen nor heard by those citizens who had come out to meet him on his arrival. When he endeavoured to put the matter off, and said that he would give them an answer at another time, they, taking his delay to mean a refusal of their demand, became indignant, and followed him with loud shouts. As some of them drew their swords, Galba ordered his cavalry to charge them. No resistance was offered, but some were cut down in the act of turning to flee, and some while they ran. It was thought to be a very bad omen that Galba should make his entry into the city in the midst of so much blood and slaughter; but all who had before jeered at him as a feeble old man now looked upon him with fear and horror.

XVI. In the giving of presents Galba wished to show a marked change from the profuse liberality of Nero: but he seems to have missed his mark, as for example, when Canus, the celebrated flute-player, performed before him at dinner, Galba praised his playing and ordered his purse to be brought. From this he took several gold pieces and gave them to Canus, telling him that the money came from his own pocket, not from the revenues of the state. He also demanded the restitution of the largesses, which Nero had bestowed on his favourite actors and athletes, leaving them only a tenth part. As he could scarcely get any part of the money back from them, for the major part being reckless profligates who lived only for the day’s enjoyment, had spent it all, he began to search out those who had bought anything or received any presents from them, and obliged them to refund. This investigation caused infinite trouble, for it affected so many persons; it covered Galba with disgrace and made Vinius loathed and detested for making the emperor show himself so mean and pettifogging towards his subjects, while he himself used his power recklessly, confiscating and selling every one’s property. Hesiod, indeed, bids us drink deep of—

“The end and the beginning of the cask;”

and Vinius, seeing that Galba was old and feeble took his fill of his fortune, as though it were both beginning and ending.

XVII. The old emperor received much wrong, first from the bad arrangements made by Vinius, and also because Vinius blamed or defeated his best intentions. An instance of this was his punishment of Nero’s favourites. He did, indeed, put to death many wretches, among whom were Helius, Polykleitus, Petinus, and Patrobius. The people applauded, and cried out as these men were being led through the Forum, that the sight was a fair one and pleasing to the gods, but that both gods and men demanded the punishment of Tigellinus, Nero’s tutor and instructor in wickedness. That worthy, however, had previously attached Vinius to himself by a most important pledge.[610] So, they argued, Turpilianus perished though he had committed no crime except that he remained faithful and did not betray a bad master; while the man, who first made Nero unfit to live, and then deserted and betrayed him, was still alive, an evident example that anything could be obtained from Vinius by those who could pay for it. The Roman people, who would have enjoyed no spectacle so much as that of Tigellinus dragged away to execution, and who never ceased to demand his head when they assembled in the theatre or the circus, were astonished at a proclamation in which the emperor, after declaring that Tigellinus was suffering from a wasting disease and could not live long, begged his people not to urge him to disgrace his reign by acts of tyranny and ferocity. In ridicule of the public exasperation Tigellinus offered a sacrifice of thanksgiving to the gods for the recovery of his health, and prepared a splendid banquet; while Vinius left the table of the emperor after dinner and led his widowed daughter to the house of Tigellinus in a riotous procession. Tigellinus made her a present of five-and-twenty thousand drachmas, and bade his chief concubine take off the necklace which she wore, which, was said to be worth fifteen thousand drachmas, and put it round his daughter’s neck.

XVIII. After these outrages Galba received no credit even when he acted mildly, as for instance, when he granted a remission of tribute and the Roman franchise to the Gauls who had risen in rebellion under Vindex, for it was believed that they had not received these privileges from the kindness of the emperor, but had bought them from Vinius. Thus the people began to dislike the emperor most cordially, but the prætorian guard, who had not received their looked-for donative, still cherished a hope that Galba would give them at least as much money as they had been wont to receive from Nero, if not as much as they had been promised by Nymphidius. When Galba heard of their discontent, he made that remark, so worthy of a great commander, that “he was wont to enlist his soldiers, not to buy them,” and this caused the soldiers to hate him bitterly, for they thought that, besides depriving them of what was their due, he was trying to regulate the conduct of future emperors towards them. Yet disaffection at Rome had not hitherto assumed any distinct form, for the awe inspired by the presence of Galba acted as a kind of check upon revolutionary schemes, and men concealed the dislike with which they regarded him because they did not see any distinct opportunity of effecting a change in the government. But the troops in Germany who had served under Virginius, and who were now commanded by Flaccus,[611] were elated with pride at the victory which they had won over Vindex, and as they were given nothing, became quite unmanageable by their officers. They paid no attention whatever to Flaccus, who, indeed, besides being quite helpless from his violent attacks of gout, was entirely without military experience. Once when the army was assembled at a public spectacle, and the tribunes and officers offered prayers, as is usual among the Romans, for the prosperity of the emperor Galba, the soldiers broke into loud murmurs of dissent, and then, as their chiefs continued the prayers, shouted as a response, “If he be worthy.”

XIX. Very similar reports to these reached Galba concerning the conduct of the legions under the command of Tigellinus.[612] The emperor, fearing that it was not only his age, but his want of children which brought him into contempt, now determined to adopt some noble youth as his son, and make him heir to the throne. There was one Marcus Otho, a man of illustrious family, and steeped from childhood in luxury and pleasure beyond most Romans of his time. As Homer calls Alexander the “spouse of fair-haired Helen,” celebrating him for the beauty of his wife, in default of any noble qualities of his own, so Otho was notorious at Rome in consequence of his marriage with Poppæa, with whom Nero fell in love when she was the wife of Crispinus, and, as he had still some feelings of respect for his own wife, and feared his mother, made use of Otho to obtain her for him. Otho’s extravagance made him a friend and companion of Nero, who was amused at being reproached by Otho for meanness and parsimony. It is said that once Nero scented himself with a very costly perfume, and sprinkled a little of it over Otho. On the next day Otho entertained Nero, when suddenly a number of gold and silver pipes squirted out the same perfume over them both as abundantly as if it were water. Otho seduced Poppæa for Nero, and prevailed upon her by holding out hopes of an intrigue with Nero to divorce her husband and marry him. After she became his wife, he did not like to share her favours, but showed great jealousy, at which it is said Poppæa was not offended, for she used sometimes to exclude Nero even when Otho was absent, either because she feared to surfeit him with her society, or according to some writers, because she did not wish to marry the emperor, though she was willing enough to have him for her lover. Otho ran a great risk of losing his life; and it is strange that Nero, who put to death his own wife and sister for Poppæa’s sake, should have spared Otho.

XX. But Seneca was Otho’s friend, and he persuaded Nero to appoint Otho to the command of the province of Further Lusitania. Otho gained the love and respect of his subjects, although he well knew that his appointment was merely intended as an honourable exile. When Galba revolted, Otho was the first to join him, brought all his silver and gold plate for Galba to coin into money, and presented him with slaves who knew how to wait upon an emperor. In everything he proved his fidelity to Galba, while he showed a rare capacity for business, and on the march to Rome he travelled for days together in the same chariot with Galba. During this journey, while he was so familiar with the emperor, he paid special court to Vinius, both by conversing with him and by giving him presents, and he firmly established his right to the second place in the emperor’s favour by always yielding the first to Vinius. He was more successful than Vinius in avoiding unpopularity, for he assisted all petitioners to obtain their demands without taking bribes from them, and showed himself easy of access and affable to all. He took special interest in the common soldiers, and obtained promotion for many of them, sometimes by applying directly to the emperor, at others by means of Vinius, or of the freedmen, Icelus and Asiaticus,[613] who were the most powerful personages of the court. Whenever Otho entertained Galba, he always presented each soldier of the guard in attendance on the emperor with a gold piece, and thus corrupted the army and won their affections for himself while he appeared to be doing honour to Galba.