Who Gave You the Order? — AD 69 I: You Don’t Buy Soldiers

Tacitus admires this answer. The old man can barely stay upright in his litter, a crowd is shouting all around him, and even now he guards a single principle. A soldier does not kill when he pleases. A soldier kills on orders.

Except that the soldier is mistaken, or lying. Otho is alive. At this very moment he is standing in the Guard’s camp while the Praetorians swear loyalty to him one after another. Before the day is over, the old man will die in the Forum.

How did it come to this? The answer fits in one sentence.

For nearly a hundred years the throne passed within one family, in one palace. Now the family is gone. What remains are the legions in Hispania, on the Rhine and in the East. And the Guard in Rome, which knows what it is worth.

The old man in the litter is Servius Sulpicius Galba. He was born on December 24, 3 BC, in a country villa near Tarracina, into one of the oldest and most powerful families in Rome. Remember Catulus, who thundered against the young Caesar in the Senate? Galba is his great-grandson and has it inscribed on his statues.

He heard early on that he would rule. In AD 33 he is consul when Tiberius summons him for a talk and ends it by saying in Greek: “You too, Galba, will one day taste power.” The old emperor knew his astrology. Tacitus adds that he meant power that would be short and late.

Galba is rich but famous for his stinginess. He also has a way of landing in absurd situations. Livia, the wife of Augustus, left him fifty million sesterces. The sum was written in numerals, not in words. Tiberius, her heir, took advantage of this and cut the bequest to half a million. Galba did not even get that.

Above all he is strict. Under Caligula he takes over the legions on the Rhine, and the very next day he bans applause at a festival. The soldiers must keep their hands under their cloaks. A rhyme circulates in the camp: “Soldier, learn your soldiering. This is Galba, not Gaetulicus.” On maneuvers in front of Caligula he runs twenty miles with his shield beside the imperial chariot.

To end up in the Forum, he must first become emperor. And that begins in Hispania, with an order for his own death.