It had divulged a secret of state:
an emperor could be made elsewhere than at Rome. Still the senate was
satisfied. They had immediately taken advantage of their liberty and
were naturally emboldened against a prince who was new to the throne
and, moreover, absent. The highest class of the knights[9] seconded
the senate's satisfaction. Respectable citizens, who were attached as
clients or freedmen to the great families, and had seen their patrons
condemned or exiled, now revived their hopes. The lowest classes, who
had grown familiar with the pleasures of the theatre and the circus,
the most degraded of the slaves, and Nero's favourites who had
squandered their property and lived on his discreditable bounty, all
showed signs of depression and an eager greed for news.
The troops in the city[10] had long been inured to the allegiance 5
of the Caesars, and it was more by the pressure of intrigue than of
their own inclination that they came to desert Nero. They soon
realized that the donation promised in Galba's name was not to be paid
to them, and that peace would not, like war, offer opportunity for
great services and rich rewards. Since they also saw that the new
emperor's favour had been forestalled by the army which proclaimed
him, they were ripe for revolution and were further instigated by
their rascally Praefect Nymphidius Sabinus, who was plotting to be
emperor himself. His design was as a matter of fact detected and
quashed, but, though the ringleader was removed, many of the troops
still felt conscious of their treason and could be heard commenting on
Galba's senility and avarice.
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