Each new emperor of the Julio-Claudian dynasty had faced considerable but quite different problems in establishing himself. Galba had to face most of them together. At Tiberius' accession, there had been no previous transfer of power from one emperor to another; but Tiberius, Caligula and Nero had been the legitimate heirs of their predecessors. Galba's links with the Julio-Claudians were so tenuous as to be worthless in terms of loyalty. He made what he could of these links: an official document from Egypt calls him 'Lucius Livius Galba', and Livia's head appears on his coins.4 But like Claudius, Galba was an 'outsider' taking over possessio of the domus Caesaris after the death of its previous paterfamilias, and in the absence of direct heirs. As in a.d. 41, there were others who put forward their own claims and who either had to be eliminated (like Clodius Macer in Africa), or whose support had to
4 Galba is called 'Livius' in the Edict of Tiberius lulius Alexander: MW )iS = AN 600 (see above, p. 249). DIVA AVGVSTA coin: MW 75.
be won, at least until they could be made safe, like Verginius Rufus. Galba had to ensure that all these groups would come to be as dependent upon him as they had been on earlier Caesars; under the circumstances, we should not be too surprised at his lack of success.
The nature of the Principate naturally gave any new emperor the advantage of having patronage to bestow, and being able to remove from positions of authority men upon whose loyalty he had no claims, to replace them with others who would be ipso facto in the new emperor's debt. While Verginius Rufus was beholden to no one, his successor Hordeonius Flaccus was indebted for his office to Galba. At the start of a new reign, individuals competed to win the favour of a man who brought few supporters with him from Spain. Thus although the legions on the lower Rhine, under the command of Fonteius Capito, had not been involved in the events at Vesontio, individual officers were keen to show exceptional loyalty to Galba. At Bonn, the legionary commander Fabius Valens (who claimed to have been a supporter of Rufus, and therefore, perhaps, an opponent of Nero) was quick to administer the oath of loyalty to Galba. Later on in the year he again tried to demonstrate his loyalty by executing his commander, Fonteius Capito, on the grounds that he was plotting against Galba. Valens will have assumed that he deserved a reward for his efforts, perhaps in the shape of the Rhine army command. Galba did not reward him, and instead appointed Aulus Vitellius to command the army on the lower Rhine in December. It was Otho who had to pay the price for Galba's ingratitude.
With the exception of Africa under Macer - whom Galba soon destroyed, possibly after a naval campaign - there was now no province which failed to recognize the new emperor. But not all those who held military power owed their authority to Galba. Galba's authority might be seen as stemming from the decision by the praetorian prefect Nymphidius Sabinus to abandon Nero. It was Sabinus who was in effective control of Rome. He allowed sections of the urban mob, those who thought that they had suffered under Nero, to indulge in attacks of physical violence on some of Nero's freedmen. He also removed the invalid Ofonius Tigellinus from his position as co-commander of the guard, claiming that Tigellinus had been particularly involved in all the evil aspects of Nero's administration (a myth which those who had loyally served Nero for many years were happy to accept). The removal of Tigellinus concentrated power in Sabinus' hands; and Sabinus soon came to think of himself as potentially more than a kingmaker. To justify a bid for control of the imperial household, rumours were circulated that he was in fact an illegitimate son of Caligula, whose freedman his grandfather had been.
Galba's insistence that, since he was a member of a republican family
a.d. 68
that could be traced back for several centuries, his authority stemmed from his own domus as well as, and as much as, that of the Caesars, is not likely to have endeared him to those who belonged to the imperial household. Like other emperors, Galba depended on the help of trusted freedmen — but his own freedmen, Asiaticus and Icelus (to whom he granted equestrian privileges), were naturally a threat to those who had served the Julio-Claudians. Otho was later to win considerable success by representing himself as Nero's successor as head of that domus. Anecdotes were told of how Galba's idea of distributing largesse was to give people dny amounts of money, but stress that they came from his private purse, and not that of the Caesars. He had at first rejected the dtle of 'Caesar' altogether; although he accepted it from the senatorial delegation which met him at Narbo on his journey from Spain to Rome, the senators noted that they were entertained off Galba's family dinner- service, and not off that of the Caesars which had been specially sent out to him. Titus Vinius had to make it clear to Galba that this snobbery would not help him to gain legitimacy.
Galba's arrival in Rome would mean changes in the distribution of power there; he was bringing his own supporters with him, Icelus and Asiaticus to help him in the domus, and Titus Vinius and Otho in the government. These men were bound to replace not just the leading administrators within the domus, but also public officials appointed by Nero — for instance, the praefectus urbi, Flavius Sabinus. Rumours that Galba might appoint the commander of his legionary guard, Cornelius Laco, to the praetorian prefectship, implied that Nymphidius Sabinus would either have to accept a much less prominent role than that which as 'Benefactor of the Senate and People' he had been playing since Nero's death, or seize power before Galba and his supporters reached Rome. In addition, Macer's interruption of corn supplies from Africa was one of the factors that undermined Galba's popularity at Rome. We do not have enough evidence to be entirely certain whether Nymphidius Sabinus did in fact plan a conspiracy, or whether he and his friends were 'framed' either by those at Rome who wished to curry Galba's favour, or those accompanying Galba on his journey who had no wish to tolerate potential rivals. We are told that one night in late summer, Sabinus attempted to enter the praetorian camp; his way was blocked by one of the tribunes, Antonius Honoratus, who had him killed. It was claimed that Sabinus held in his hands a speech, composed by the senator Cingonius Varro, appealing for the support of the troops.