1st century BC king of the Suessiones, a Celtic polity in Belgic Gaul
Galba (fl. mid-1st century BC) was a
king (rex) of the
Suessiones, a
Celticpolity of
Belgic Gaul, during the
Gallic Wars. When
Julius Caesar entered the part of
Gaul that was still independent of Roman rule in 58 BC, a number of
Belgic polities formed a defensive alliance and acclaimed Galba commander-in-chief.[1] Caesar recognizes Galba for his sense of justice (iustitia) and intelligence (prudentia).[2]
Etymology of name
Galba as a Roman cognomen is associated with a branch of the gensSulpicia. Although the most famous bearer is the
Emperor Galba in the 1st century AD, a
Servius Sulpicius Galba also served under Caesar in Gaul.[3]Suetonius says that in
GaulishGalba means "fat"[4] (compare
Old Irishgolb, "paunchy, fat"), and Galba is usually regarded as Celtic in origin.[5] Since physical fitness was a requirement of Gallic fighting men, who might be fined if they reported for duty overweight, the Celtic name is likely either to have lost the connotations of its original meaning, or in regard to a king to refer to "fat times" or prosperity.[citation needed]
^Justitiam prudentiamque (Bellum Gallicum 2.4.7): "a just and able man," in the translation of S.A. Handford, Caesar: The Conquest of Gaul (Penguin Books, 1951, revised ed. 1982), p. 59. Prudentia combines the capacities of "foresight" and "practical wisdom" (OLD). In the usage of
Cicero, contemporary with that of Caesar, prudentia is the
Latin equivalent of
Greekphronesis.
^Suetonius, Galba 3, Bill Thayer's edition at
LacusCurtius.;
Quintilian says the cognomen originated as a type of nickname, like Rufus ("Red-headed"), Longus ("Tall"), Pansa ("Splay-footed"), etc.
^Xavier Delamarre, entry on galba, Dictionnaire de la langue gauloise (Éditions Errance, 2003), p. 174. See also D. Ellis Evans, Gaulish personal names: a study of some Continental Celtic formations (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967), pp. 293, 297, 349.