Filling the great offices before the age required for it by law, during his
					praetorship, at the celebration of games in honour of the goddess Flora, he
					presented the new spectacle of elephants walking upon ropes. He was then
					governor of the province of Aquitania 
					for near a year, and soon afterwards took the consulship in the usual course,
					and held it for six months. A.U.C. 786 It so
					happened that he succeeded L. Domitius, the father of Nero, and was succeeded by
					Salvius Otho, father to the emperor of that name; so that his holding it between
					the sons of these two men, looked like a presage of his future advancement to
					the empire. Being appointed by Caius Caesar Caius Caesar
						Caligula. He gave the command of the legions in Germany to Galba. to supersede Gaetulicus in his
					command, the day after his joining the legions, he put a stop to their plaudits
					in a public spectacle, by issuing an order, "That they should keep their hands
					under their cloaks." Immediately upon which, the following verse became very
					common in the camp: Disce, miles, militare: Galba est,
							non Gaetulicus. 
					 Learn, soldier, now in arms to use your hands, 'Tis Galba, not Getulicus, commands. With equal strictness,
					he would allow of no petitions for leave of absence from the camp. He hardened
					the soldiers, both old and young, by constant exercise; and having quickly
					reduced within their own limits the barbarians who had made inroads into
						 Gaul , upon Caius's coming into
						 Germany , he so far recommended
					himself and his army to that emperor's approbation, that, amongst the
					innumerable troops drawn from all the provinces of the empire, none met with
					higher commendation, or greater rewards from him. He likewise distinguished
					himself by heading an escort, with a shield in his hand; "Scuto moderatus;" another reading in the parallel passage of Tacitus is
						scuto immodice oneratus, burdened with the heavy weight of a shield. 
					and running at the side of the emperor's chariot twenty miles together. Upon the news of Caius's death, though many earnestly pressed him to lay hold of
					that opportunity of seizing the empire, he chose rather to be quiet. On this
					account, he. was in favour with Claudius, and being received into the number of
					friends, stood so high in his good opinion, that the expedition to Britain It would appear
						that Galba was to have accompanied Claudius in his expedition to Britain ; which is related before,
						CLAUDIUS, c. xvii. was for some time suspended, because he was
					suddenly seized with a slight indisposition. He governed Africa , as pro-consul, for two years; being
					chosen out of the regular course to restore order in the province, which was in
					great disorder from civil dissensions, and the alarms of the barbarians. His
					administration was distinguished by great strictness and equity, even in matters
					of small importance. A soldier upon some expedition being charged with selling,
					in a great scarcity of corn, a bushel of wheat, which was all he had left, for a
					hundred denarii, he forbad him to be relieved by anybody, when he came to be in
					want himself: and accordingly he died of famine. When sitting in judgment, a
					cause being brought before him about some beast of burden, the ownership of
					which was claimed by two persons; the evidence being slight on both sides, and
					it being difficult to come at the truth, he ordered the beast to be led to the
					pond at which he had used to be watered, with his head muffled up, and the
					covering being there removed, that he should be the property of the person whom
					he followed of his own accord, after drinking. For his achievements, both at this time in Africa , and formerly in Germany , he received the triumphal ornaments, and three
					sacerdotal appointments, one among The Fifteen, another in the college of
					Titius, and a third amongst the Augustals; and from that time to the middle of
					Nero's reign, he lived for the most part in retirement. He never went abroad so
					much as to take the air, without a carriage attending him, in which there was a
					million of sesterces in gold ready at hand; until at last, at the time he was
					living in the town of Fundi , the
					province of Hispanic Tarraconensis was offered him. After his arrival in the
					province, whilst he was sacrificing in a temple, a boy who attended with a
					censer, became all on a sudden grey-headed. This incident was regarded by some
					as a token of an approaching revolution in the government, and that an old man
					would succeed a young one: that is that he would succeed Nero. And not long
					after, a thunderbolt falling into a lake in Cantabria , It has been remarked before,
						that the Cantabria of the ancients
						is now the province of Biscay .
					 twelve axes were found in it; a manifest sign of the supreme power. He governed the province during eight years, his administration being of an
					uncertain and capricious character. At first he was active, vigorous, and indeed
					excessively severe, in the punishment of offenders. For, a money-dealer having
					committed some fraud in the way of his business, he cut off his hands, and
					nailed them to his counter. Another, who had poisoned an orphan, to whom he was
					guardian, and next heir to the estate, he crucified. On this delinquent
					imploring the protection of the law, and crying out that he was a Roman citizen,
					he affected to afford him some alleviation, and to mitigate his punishment, by a
					mark of honour, ordered a cross, higher than usual, and painted white, to be
					erected for him But by degrees he gave himself up to a life of indolence and
					inactivity, from the fear of giving Nero any occasion of jealousy, and because,
					as he used to say, " Nobody was obliged to render an account of their leisure
					hours." He was holding a court of justice on the circuit at New Carthage, Now Carthagena. when he received intelligence of the
					insurrection in Gaul ; A.U.C. 821 and while the lieutenant of Aquitania was soliciting his assistance,
					letters were brought from Vindex, requesting him " to assert the rights of
					mankind, and put himself at their head to relieve them from the tyranny of
					Nero." Without any long demur, he accepted the invitation, from a mixture of
					fear and hope. For he had discovered that private orders had been sent by Nero
					to his procurators in the province to get him dispatched; and he was encouraged
					to the enterprise, as well by several auspices and omens, as by the prophecy of
					a young woman of good family. The more so, because the priest of Jupiter at
						 Clunia , Now
							 Corunna . admonished by
					a dream, had discovered in the recesses of the temple some verses similar to
					those in which she had delivered her prophecy. These had also been uttered by a
					girl under divine inspiration, about two hundred years before. The import of the
					verses was, "That in time, Spain should
					give the world a lord and master." Taking his seat on the tribunal, therefore, as if there was no other business
					than the manumitting of slaves, he had the effigies of a number of persons who
					had been condemned and put to death by Nero, set up before him, whilst a noble
					youth stood by, who had been banished, and whom he had purposely sent for from
					one of the neighbouring Balearic isles; and lamenting the condition of the
					times, and being thereupon unanimously saluted by the title of Emperor, he
					publicly declared himself "only the lieutenant of the senate and people of
						 Rome ." Then shutting the courts,
					he levied legions and auxiliary troops among the provincials, besides his
					veteran army consisting of one legion, two wings of horse, and three cohorts.
					Out of the military leaders most distinguished for age and prudence, he formed a
					kind of senate, with whom to advise upon all matters of importance, as often as
					occasion should require. He likewise chose several young men of the equestrian
					order, who were to be allowed the privilege of wearing the gold ring, and, being
					called " The Reserve," should mount guard before his bed-chamber, instead of the
					legionary soldiers. He likewise issued proclamations throughout the provinces of
					the empire, exhorting all to rise in arms unanimously, and aid the common cause,
					by all the ways and means in their power. About the same time, in fortifying a
					town, which he had pitched upon as a military post, a ring was found, of antique
					workmanship, in the stone of which was engraved the goddess Victory with a
					trophy. Presently after, a ship of Alexandria arrived at Dertosa , Tortosa , on the Ebro . loaded with arms, without any person to steer
					it, or so much as a single sailor or passenger on board. From this incident,
					nobody entertained the least doubt but the war upon which they were entering was
					just and honourable, and favoured likewise by the gods; when all on a sudden the
					whole design was exposed to failure. One of the two wings of horse, repenting of
					the violation of their oath to Nero, attempted to desert him upon his approach
					to the camp, and were with some difficulty kept in their duty. And some slaves
					which had been presented to him by a freedman of Nero's, on purpose to murder
					him, had like to have killed him as he went through a narrow passage to the
					bath. Being overheard to encourage one another not to lose the opportunity, they
					were called to an account concerning it; and recourse being had to the torture,
					a confession was extorted from them.