Background
Servius Sulpicius Galba lived in the 2nd century BC.
Servius Sulpicius Galba lived in the 2nd century BC.
He served under Lucius Aemilius Paulus in the third Macedonian War. As praetor in 151 B. C. in farther Spain he made himself infamous by the treacherous murder of a number of Lusitanians, with their wives and children, after inducing them to surrender by the promise of grants of land.
For this in 149 he was brought to trial, but secured an acquittal by bribery and by holding up his little children before the people to gain their sympathy.
He was consul in 144, and must have been alive in 138.
Galba's primary concern during his brief reign was restoring state finances, and to this end he undertook a number of unpopular measures, the most dangerous was his refusal to pay the praetorians the reward promised in his name. Galba scorned the notion that soldiers should be "bribed" for their loyalty. He was notoriously cruel throughout the Empire; according to the historian Suetonius, Galba levied massive taxes against areas that were slow to receive him as Emperor.
Quotations: According to Plutarch, during Galba's last moments he offered his neck, and said, "Strike, if it be for the good of the Romans!"
Suetonius's description of Galba was that "In sexual matters he was more inclined to males, and then none but the hard bodied and those past their prime". This seems to be the only case in Roman history where a named individual male is stated to prefer adult males.
