His austerity--a quality once admired
and set high in soldiers' estimation--only annoyed troops whose
contempt for the old methods of discipline had been fostered by
fourteen years of service under Nero. They had come to love the
emperors' vices as much as they once reverenced their virtues in older
days. Moreover Galba had let fall a remark, which augured well for
Rome, though it spelt danger to himself. 'I do not buy my soldiers,'
he said, 'I select them.' And indeed, as things then stood, his words
sounded incongruous.
FOOTNOTES:
[9] Probably those who owned one million sesterces, the
property qualification for admission to the senate.
[10] This includes 'The Guards' (_cohortes praetoriae_) and
'The City Garrison' (_cohortes urbanae_), and possibly also
the _cohortes vigilum_, who were a sort of police corps and
fire brigade.
GALBA'S POSITION
Galba was old and ill. Of his two lieutenants Titus Vinius was the 6
vilest of men and Cornelius Laco the laziest. Hated as he was for
Vinius' crimes and despised for Laco's inefficiency, between them
Galba soon came to ruin. His march from Spain was slow and stained
with bloodshed. He executed Cingonius Varro, the consul-elect, and
Petronius Turpilianus, an ex-consul, the former as an accomplice of
Nymphidius, the latter as one of Nero's generals. They were both
denied any opportunity of a hearing or defence--and might as well have
been innocent.
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