[26] See note 163.
[27] ii. 1.
[28] Cp. _Ann._, ii. 59. 'Amongst other secret principles of
his imperial policy, Augustus had put Egypt in a position by
itself, forbidding all senators and knights of the highest
class to enter that country without his permission. For Egypt
holds the key, as it were, both of sea and land' (tr. Ramsay).
Cp. iii. 8.
[29] i.e. to govern it by the emperor's private agents. The
province was regarded as part of the emperor's estate
(patrimonium). This post was the highest in the imperial
service.
[30] A member of a Jewish family settled in Alexandria and
thus entitled to Roman citizenship. He was a nephew of the
historian Philo; had been Procurator of Judaea and chief of
Corbulo's staff in Armenia.
[31] See chap. 7.
THE GERMAN REVOLT AND THE ADOPTION OF PISO
A few days after the first of January a dispatch arrived from 12
Belgica, in which Pompeius Propinquus,[32] the imperial agent,
announced that the legions of Upper Germany had broken their oath of
allegiance and were clamouring for a new emperor, but that by way of
tempering their treason they referred the final choice to the Senate
and People of Rome. Galba had already been deliberating and seeking
advice as to the adoption of a successor, and this occurrence hastened
his plans. During all these months this question formed the current
subject of gossip throughout the country; Galba was far spent in years
and the general propensity for such a topic knew no check.
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