Galba (24 December 3 BC - 15 January 69 AD) (Latin:SERVIVS•SVLPICIVS•GALBA•IMPERATOR•CAESAR•AVGVSTVS) was Roman Emperor from June 68 until his death. He was the first emperor of the year of the four emperors.
He was born near Terracina in Campania. He comes from a noble and very wealthy family, but he has no connection, neither by descent nor by adoption, with the first six Roman emperors. In his youth he was respected for his remarkable abilities, and Augustus and Tiberius are said to have professed his future eminence[1].
Praetor in 20, then consul in 33, he acquired a deserved reputation in the provinces of Gaul, Germany, Africa and Spain for his military skills, his severity and his impartiality. When Caligula died, he refused the offer of his friends to offer himself the Empire, and loyally served Claudius. In the first part of the reign of Nero he was retired, before in 61 the emperor granted him the province of Hispania Tarraconaise.
In the summer of 68, Galba learned of Nero's intention to kill him, and of Julius Vindex's insurrection in Gaul. He was initially tempted to follow Vindex's lead, but Vindex's defeat and death made him hesitate. Then at the news that the prefect of the praetorian guard, Nymphidius Sabinus, had rallied in his favor, his aspirations were revived. Hitherto he had only dared to present himself as legate of the Roman senate and people, but after the murder of Nero he assumed the title of Caesar, and marched directly on Rome.
After Nero's death, Nymphidius Sabinus sought to seize power before Galba's arrival, but he could not gain the confidence of the Praetorian Guards and was killed. During Galba's approach to the city of Rome in October, soldiers came to meet him with requests; Galba responded with violence, killing many of them.
Galba's first concern during his brief reign was to restore the state of finances, and to this end he took a number of unpopular measures, the most dangerous being his refusal to pay the reward promised to the Praetorian Guards on his behalf. Galba disdained the notion of loyal subordination of soldiers. Later he disgusted the people with his aversion to splendour. His advanced age had destroyed his energy, and he was entirely in the hands of his devotees. All this made Galba a very unpopular emperor.
On January 1, 69, two legions of Upper Germania refused to swear loyalty to Galba and toppled his statues, demanding that a new emperor be chosen. The next day, the soldiers of Germania Inferior also rebelled and made the decision to choose who would be the new emperor, proclaiming the governor of the province, Vitellius, emperor. This manifestation of revolt made Galba aware of his unpopularity and the general discontent. In order to contain the spread of the revolt, he adopted a successor, Lucius Calpurnius Piso Frugi Licinianus, the grandson of Pison, a conspirator against Nero. The populace viewed the choice of a successor as a sign of weakness, and the praetorians were outraged at the failure to donate their usual reward.
Otho, once governor of Lusitania, and an early defender of Galba, disappointed at not having been chosen instead of Piso, won over the disgruntled Praetorians, who adopted him and proclaimed him emperor. Galba immediately went to meet the rebels; he was so weak that he had to be carried on a stretcher; but it was a trap, and arrived at Lacus Curtius, a troop of cavalry rushed on him and put him to death, bringing his head back to Otho.
During the last period of his provincial administration, he appeared nonchalant and apathetic, as much to remind Nero as to conceal the growing infirmities of his age. Tacitus rightly says that everyone would have considered him worthy of the Empire if he had never been named emperor (“omnium consensu capax imperii nisi imperasset”). [source:A.Br