Galba (8th June - 15th January AD 69) He was born near Terracina and came of a noble family. A man of great wealth, but unconnected either by birth or adoption with the first six Caesars. In his early years he was regarded as a youth of remarkable abilities, and it is said that both Augustus and Tiberius prophesied his future eminence (Tacitus, Annals, vi. 20; Suet. Galba, 4). Praetor in AD 20, and consul in AD 33, he acquired a well-merited reputation in the provinces of Gaul, Germania, Africa and Spain by his military capability, strictness and impartiality. On the death of Caligula, he refused the invitation of his friends to make a bid for empire, and loyally served Claudius. For the first half of Nero's reign he lived in retirement, till, in AD 61, the Emperor bestowed on him the province of Hispania Tarraconensis.
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