Servius Sulpicius Galba was a

consul Consul (abbrev. ''cos.''; Latin plural ''consules'') was the title of one of the two chief magistrates of the Roman Republic, and subsequently also an important title under the Roman Empire. The title was used in other European city-states throu ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus ( legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

in 144 BC.Adrian Goldsworthy, ''Pax Romana'' (Yale UP, 2016), 39-60 - "n.4: For Galba and his campaign, the fullest account is in Appian, ''Bell. Hisp.'' 55-60, with comments in S. Dyson, ''The Creation of the Roman Frontier (1985), pp. 203-9, J. Richardson, ''Hispaniae. Spain and the Development of Roman Imperialism, 218-82 BC'' (pp. 126-7, 136-7); for the Lusitanians, see Strabo, ''Geog.''3.3.3-8...

Macedonia

Galba served as tribune of the soldiers for part of the second legion in

Macedon Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled ...

ia, under

Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus (c. 229 – 160 BC) was a two-time consul of the Roman Republic and a general who conquered Macedon, putting an end to the Antigonid dynasty in the Third Macedonian War. Family Paullus' father was Luciu ...

. After the conquest of

Perseus In Greek mythology, Perseus ( /ˈpɜːrsiəs, -sjuːs/; Greek: Περσεύς, translit. Perseús) is the legendary founder of Mycenae and of the Perseid dynasty. He was, alongside Cadmus and Bellerophon, the greatest Greek hero and slayer ...

in 167 BC, following Aemilius' return to Rome, Galba attempted to prevent his

triumph The Roman triumph (Latin triumphus) was a celebration for a victorious military commander in ancient Rome. For later imitations, in life or in art, see Trionfo. Numerous later uses of the term, up to the present, are derived directly or indirectl ...

. Galba did not succeed, but his efforts created notoriety.Text copied verbatim from ''Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology''

Hispania

Galba was a

praetor Praetor ( , ), also pretor, was the title granted by the government of Ancient Rome to a man acting in one of two official capacities: (i) the commander of an army, and (ii) as an elected '' magistratus'' (magistrate), assigned to discharge vari ...

in 151 BC. He was awarded

Hispania Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hi ...

(the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

, including modern

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

and

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

) as his province, where a war was being fought against the

Celtiberia The Celtiberians were a group of Celts and Celticized peoples inhabiting an area in the central-northeastern Iberian Peninsula during the final centuries BCE. They were explicitly mentioned as being Celts by several classic authors (e.g. Strab ...

ns. When Galba arrived, he immediately confronted the

Lusitania Lusitania (; ) was an ancient Iberian Roman province located where modern Portugal (south of the Douro river) and a portion of western Spain (the present Extremadura and the province of Salamanca) lie. It was named after the Lusitani or Lu ...

ns. Galba successfully drove the enemy away, but he exhausted his undisciplined army and decided not to pursue the enemy. The Lusitanians turned around and a fierce battle ensued in which 7,000 Romans died. Galba then led the remnants of his army and his allies to his winter-quarters at Conistorgis. In the spring of 150 BC, Galba again went to war against the Lusitanians. They soon sent an emissary to Galba, declaring they had made a mistake of making war against Roman subjects, and requested to return to a treaty they had made with Atilius. He met with the Lusitanian emissaries and agreed that it had not been their fault in waging war against the Roman (and Galba's) provinces – they had no choice due to their poverty – so Galba suggested that the Lusitanians become allies of Rome and receive fertile land to colonise. Galba promised lands in different areas, so when the Lusitanians agreed to Galba's offer, they split into three factions to march to their destinations. When each arrived, they were attacked by Galba's forces and massacred. Few Lusitanians escaped with their lives; but among the survivors was

Viriathus Viriathus (also spelled Viriatus; known as Viriato in Portuguese and Spanish; died 139 BC) was the most important leader of the Lusitanian people that resisted Roman expansion into the regions of western Hispania (as the Romans called it) or ...

, destined one day to avenge the wrong done to his countrymen.

Appian Appian of Alexandria (; grc-gre, Ἀππιανὸς Ἀλεξανδρεύς ''Appianòs Alexandreús''; la, Appianus Alexandrinus; ) was a Greek historian with Roman citizenship who flourished during the reigns of Emperors of Rome Trajan, Ha ...

states that Galba, although wealthy, was miserly, and that he did not even lie or perjure himself, provided he could thereby gain pecuniary advantages. In the following year, when Galba had returned to Rome, the

tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs acted as a check on th ...

Lucius Scribonius Libo Several men of plebeian status were named Lucius Scribonius Libo during the Roman Republic and Roman Empire; they were members of the ''gens'' Scribonia. L. Scribonius Libo (praetor 204 BC) Lucius Scribonius Libo was a tribune of the plebs in 216 ...

, brought a charge against him for the outrage he had committed on the Lusitanians.

Cato the Censor Marcus Porcius Cato (; 234–149 BC), also known as Cato the Censor ( la, Censorius), the Elder and the Wise, was a Roman soldier, senator, and historian known for his conservatism and opposition to Hellenization. He was the first to write his ...

, then 85 years old, attacked him mercilessly in the assembly of the people. Galba, educated in the rhetoric of the day, had nothing to say in his own defence. Instead, Galba relied on bribery before bringing his children, and the orphan child of a relative, before the people. Imploring mercy, he was acquitted.

Consul

Despite his atrocities, Galba was made

in the year 144 BC, with Lucius Aurelius Cotta. The two consuls fought over who would take military command in a conflict against Viriathus in Hispania. They pulled the senate into factions and the resolution was that neither of them would go. The senate chose Quintus Fabius Maximus Aemilianus, the consul of the year before, to continue commanding the army in Hispania.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sulpicius Galba, Servius (consul 610 AUC) 2nd-century BC Roman consuls Ancient Roman generals Roman governors of Hispania Servius (consul 610 AUC)

Macedonia

Hispania

Consul

See also

References