GAL'BA, SERVIUS SULPICIUS (n.c. 69). Roman Emperor from June, A.D. 68, to January 15, 69. Born December 24, B.C. 3, of a respectable family, he was raised to the consulship in A.D. 33, and in the administration of the Province of Aquitania under Tiberius, of Germany under Caligula, of Africa under Claudius, and of His pania Tarraconensis under Nero, he distinguished himself for bravery, strictness, and justice. His friends had urged him, on the death of Caligula, to take possession of the throne, but he continued faithful to Claudius, and therefore stood high in his favor. In 68 Julius Vindex rose with the Gallic legions against Nero, and called on Galba to assume the Imperial dignity and thus rid the earth of its oppressor. Galba, who had been in formed that Nero was contriving his death, came forward against him at first as the legate of the Roman people, and it was only when he heard of Nero's death that he proceeded to Rome to take possession of the throne offered him by the Prntorians. Galba was now upward of seventy years old, and it soon appeared that his character had deteriorated, as, indeed, had already been manifested in his later administrations. Indul gence to greedy favorites, ill-timed severity, above all, avarice, which led him to withhold the usual donatives to the troops, made him unpopular. The legions in upper Germany called on the Praetorians to choose another emperor; Galba thought to soothe them by adopting Piso as his coadjutor and successor; but he thus offended Otho, who, as administrator of Lusitania, had supported Galba, and looked to be rewarded. The Prntorians, who had received no donative on the occasion of Piso's adoption, were easily excited to insurrection by Otho, and the Emperor, having gone out to quell the rebellion, was cut down by the soldiers as he crossed the Forum.
(Lat., from Gk. xetticiJni, chal bane, from Heb. khebenah, galbanum, from kha lab, to be fat). A -soft, ductile, white gum resin used in medicine like asafetida, principally in cases of chronic catarrh, and, especially by the Germans, in amenorrhoea and chronic rheuma tism. Though sometimes applied externally in plasters as a mild stimulant in indolent swellings, it is generally administered in the form of the compound galbanum pill, which contains galba num, sagapenum, asafetida, myrrh, and soft soap. It is brought from the Levant in tears or in large masses, which become yellowish with age and which have a peculiar balsamic odor and acrid, bitter taste. Although it is mentioned in Ex. xxx. 34, the plant from which it is derived has not been definitely determined. Since Poly lophium orientate, Ferula galbaniflua, and Ferula rubricaulis, all of the order Umbelliferce, have been supposed to be the source of galbanum, it is highly probable that it is the product of an umbelliferous plant. But the confidence with which the species have been so represented has perhaps prevented travelers from making that inquiry into the subject which otherwise they might have made. Peueedanum Galbanum, a plant of this order found at the Cape of Good Hope, yields a gum resin very similar to gal banum.