Plutarch: Lives of the noble Grecians and Romans
instead of giving it, he, rising up in rage and drawing his
scimitar, smote him till he had killed him; that then, going
forth into the court, he worshipped the sun, and said, "Depart
in peace, ye Persians, and declare to your fellow-subjects how
the mighty Oromasdes hath dealt out vengeance to the contrivers
of unjust and unlawful things."
Such, then, was the issue of this conspiracy. And now Ochus was
high in his hopes, being confident in the influence of Atossa;
but yet was afraid of Ariaspes, the only male surviving, besides
himself, of the legitimate off-spring of his father, and of
Arsames, one of his natural sons. For indeed Ariaspes was
already claimed as their prince by the wishes of the Persians,
not because he was the elder brother, but because he excelled
Ochus in gentleness, plain-dealing, and good-nature; and on the
other hand Arsames appeared, by his wisdom, fitted for the
throne, and that he was dear to his father, Ochus well knew. So
he laid snares for them both, and being no less treacherous than
bloody, he made use of the cruelty of his nature against
Arsames, and of his craft and wiliness against Ariaspes. For he
suborned the king's eunuchs and favorites to convey to him
menacing and harsh expressions from his father, as though he had
decreed to put him to a cruel and ignominious death. When they
daily communicated these things as secrets, and told him at one
time that the king would do so to him ere long, and at another,
that the blow was actually close impending, they so alarmed the
young man, struck; such a terror into him, and cast such a
confusion and anxiety upon his thoughts, that, having prepared
some poisonous drugs, he drank them, that he might be delivered
from his life. The king, on hearing what kind of death he died,
heartily lamented him, and was not without a suspicion of the
cause of it. But being disabled by his age to search into and
prove it, he was, after the loss of this son, more affectionate
than before to Arsames, did manifestly place his greatest
confidence in him, and made him privy to his counsels.
Whereupon Ochus had no longer patience to defer the execution of
his purpose, but having procured Arpates, Teribazus's son, for
the undertaking, he killed Arsames by his hand. Artaxerxes at
that time had but a little hold on life, by reason of his
extreme age, and so, when he heard of the fate of Arsames, he
could not sustain it at all, but sinking at once under the
weight of his grief and distress, expired, after a life of
ninety-four years, and a reign of sixty-two. And then he seemed
a moderate and gracious governor, more especially as compared to
his son Ochus, who outdid all his predecessors in
blood-thirstiness and cruelty.
GALBA
Iphicrates the Athenian used to say that it is best to have a
mercenary soldier fond of money and of pleasures, for thus he
will fight the more boldly, to procure the means to gratify his
desires. But most have been of opinion, that the body of an
army, as well as the natural one, when in its healthy condition,
should make no efforts apart, but in compliance with its head.
Wherefore they tell us that Paulus Aemilius, on taking command
of the forces in Macedonia, and finding them talkative and
impertinently busy, as though they were all commanders, issued
out his orders that they should have only ready hands and keen
swords, and leave the rest to him. And Plato, who can discern
no use of a good ruler or general, if his men are not on their
part obedient and conformable (the virtue of obeying, as of
ruling, being in his opinion one that does not exist without
first a noble nature, and then a philosophic education, where
the eager and active powers are allayed with the gentler and
humaner sentiments), may claim in confirmation of his doctrines
sundry mournful instances elsewhere, and, in particular, the
events that followed among the Romans upon the death of Nero, in
which plain proofs were given that nothing is more terrible than
a military force moving about in an empire upon uninstructed and
unreasoning impulses. Demades, after the death of Alexander,
compared the Macedonian army to the Cyclops after his eye was
out, seeing their many disorderly and unsteady motions. But the
calamities of the Roman government might be likened to the
motions of the giants that assailed heaven, convulsed as it was,
and distracted, and from every side recoiling, as it were, upon
itself, not so much by the ambition of those who were proclaimed
emperors, as by the covetousness and license of the soldiery,
who drove commander after commander out, like nails one upon
another.
Dionysius, in raillery, said of the Pheraean who enjoyed the
government of Thessaly only ten months, that he had been a
tragedy-king, but the Caesars' house in Rome, the Palatium,
received in a shorter space of time no less than four emperors,
passing, as it were, across the stage, and one making room for
another to enter.
This was the only satisfaction of the distressed, that they
needed not require any other justice on their oppressors, seeing
them thus murder each other, and first of all, and that most
justly, the one that ensnared them first, and taught them to
expect such happy results from a change of emperors, sullying a
good work by the pay he gave for its being done, and turning
revolt against Nero into nothing better than treason.
For, as already related, Nymphidius Sabinus, captain of the
guards, together with Tigellinus, after Nero's circumstances
were now desperate, and it was perceived that he designed to fly
into Egypt, persuaded the troops to declare Galba emperor, as if
Nero had been already gone, promising to all the court and
praetorian soldiers, as they are called, seven thousand five
hundred drachmas apiece, and to those in service abroad twelve
hundred and fifty drachmas each; so vast a sum for a largess as
it was impossible anyone could raise, but he must be infinitely
more exacting and oppressive than ever Nero was. This quickly
brought Nero to his grave, and soon after Galba too; they
murdered the first in expectation of the promised gift, and not
long after the other because they did not obtain it from him;
and then, seeking about to find someone who would purchase at
such a rate, they consumed themselves in a succession of
treacheries and rebellions before they obtained their demands.
But to give a particular relation of all that passed would
require a history in full form; I have only to notice what is
properly to my purpose, namely, what the Caesars did and
suffered.
Sulpicius Galba is owned by all to have been the richest private
person that ever came to the imperial seat. And besides the
additional honor of being of the family of the Servii, he valued
himself more especially for his relationship to Catulus, the
most eminent citizen of his time both for virtue and renown,
however he may have voluntarily yielded to others as regards
power and authority. Galba was also akin to Livia, the wife of
Augustus, by whose interest he was preferred to the consulship
by the emperor. It is said of him that he commanded the troops
well in Germany, and, being made proconsul in Libya, gained a
reputation that few ever had. But his quiet manner of living
and his sparingness in expenses and his disregard of appearance
gave him, when he became emperor, an ill-name for meanness,
being, in fact, his worn-out credit for regularity and
moderation. He was entrusted by Nero with the government of
Spain, before Nero had yet learned to be apprehensive of men of
great repute. To the opinion, moreover, entertained of his mild
natural temper, his old age added a belief that he would never
act incautiously.
There while Nero's iniquitous agents savagely and cruelly
harassed the provinces under Nero's authority, he could afford
no succor, but merely offer this only ease and consolation, that
he seemed plainly to sympathize, as a fellow-sufferer, with
those who were condemned upon suits and sold. And when lampoons
were made upon Nero and circulated and sung everywhere about, he
neither prohibited them, nor showed any indignation on behalf of
the emperor's agents, and for this was the more beloved; as also
that he was now well acquainted with them, having been in chief
power there eight years at the time when Junius Vindex, general
of the forces in Gaul, began his insurrection against Nero. And
it is reported that letters came to Galba before it fully broke
out into an open rebellion, which he neither seemed to give
credit to, nor on the other hand to take means to let Nero know,
as other officers did, sending to him the letters which came to
them, and so spoiled the design, as much as in them lay, who yet
afterwards shared in the conspiracy, and confessed they had been
treacherous to themselves as well as him. At last Vindex,
plainly declaring war, wrote to Galba, encouraging him to take
the government upon him, and give a head to this strong body,
the Gaulish provinces, which could already count a hundred
thousand men in arms, and were able to arm a yet greater number
if occasion were. Galba laid the matter before his friends,
some of whom thought it fit to wait, and see what movement there
might be and what inclinations displayed at Rome for the
revolution. But Titus Vinius, captain of his praetorian guard,
spoke thus: "Galba, what means this inquiry? To question
whether we shall continue faithful to Nero is, in itself, to
cease to be faithful. Nero is our enemy, and we must by no
means decline the help of Vindex: or else we must at once
denounce him, and march to attack him, because he wishes you to
be the governor of the Romans, rather than Nero their tyrant."
Thereupon Galba, by an edict, appointed a day when he would
receive manumissions, and general rumor and talk beforehand
about his purpose brought together a great crowd of men so ready
for a change, that he scarcely appeared, stepping up to the
tribunal, but they with one consent saluted him emperor. That
title he refused at present to take upon him; but after he had a
while inveighed against Nero, and bemoaned the loss of the more
conspicuous of those that had been destroyed by him, he offered
himself and service to his country, not by the titles of Caesar
or emperor, but as the lieutenant of the Roman senate and
people.
Now that Vindex did wisely in inviting Galba to the empire, Nero
himself bore testimony; who, though he seemed to despise Vindex
and altogether to slight the Gauls and their concerns, yet when
he heard of Galba (as by chance he had just bathed and sat down
to his morning meal), at this news he overturned the table. But
the senate having voted Galba an enemy, presently, to make his
jest, and likewise to personate a confidence among his friends,
"This is a very happy opportunity," he said, "for me, who sadly
want such a booty as that of the Gauls, which must all fall in
as lawful prize; and Galba's estate I can use or sell at once,
he being now an open enemy." And accordingly he had Galba's
property exposed to sale, which when Galba heard of; he
sequestered all that was Nero's in Spain, and found far readier
bidders.
Many now began to revolt from Nero, and pretty nearly all
adhered to Galba; only Clodius Macer in Africa, and Virginius
Rufus, commander of the German forces in Gaul, followed counsel
of their own; yet these two were not of one and the same advice,
for Clodius, being sensible of the rapines and murders to which
he had been led by cruelty and covetousness, was in perplexity,
and felt it was not safe for him either to retain or quit his
command. But Virginius, who had the command of the strongest
legions, by whom he was many repeated times saluted emperor and
pressed to take the title upon him, declared that he neither