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What an artist is dying." As he was dying with difficulty, Epaphroditus helped finish him off. He, then, died thus in the month of July, having lived thirty years, five months, and twenty days, of which he had ruled for thirteen years and eight months, lacking two days. In the eighth year of his reign, Annianus became the first bishop of Alexandria after the apostle and evangelist Mark. But Galba, when Nero was destroyed and the senate had voted him the rule and Rufus had joined him, took courage, yet he did not take the name of Caesar before the ambassadors of the senate came to him; nor had he previously inscribed that of imperator on any document. He punished those who had been informers or had borne false witness under Nero. And the slaves who had done or said anything against their masters were handed over to those very masters for punishment. And the money and properties which certain people had received from Nero were demanded back. Indeed, he brought back those exiled by him for some act of impiety against him, and he moved the bones of those of the royal family who had been slaughtered to the mausoleum of Augustus, and he restored their images. But the soldiers in the Germanies, having put Aulus Vitellius at their head, rose up in opposition. Galba, therefore, learning of the revolt, adopted Lucius Piso, a noble, gentle, and prudent young man, 3.44 and declared him Caesar. But Otho, Marcus Salvius, indignant that he himself had not been adopted by Galba, rose up against him, having prepared only thirty soldiers. For when he alone of the senators stood by Galba as he was sacrificing, and heard the seer say that a plot was being laid against him and advise him to stay home and not go out anywhere, he immediately ran down as if going to the camp for some other reason and was brought inside the wall by the soldiers who had conspired with him, and having won over the other soldiers, or rather, having bought them with many promises, he received the rule from them immediately, and from the others. But Galba, learning what was being done, sent some men to the camp as if he would be able to win over those in it. And at this point a certain soldier, holding up a bare and bloody sword, approached him, saying, "Take heart, emperor; for I have killed Otho." Believing him, therefore, Galba hurried to the Capitol as if to offer a sacrifice. And in the middle of the forum, horsemen and foot soldiers met him and there cut down the old man, the consul, the high priest, the Caesar, the emperor, as many looked on; and cutting off his head, they impaled it on a pole. And so he was murdered, saying only this: "And what wrong have I done?" Piso also died, and many others. After doing these things, the soldiers, cutting off their heads, brought them both to Otho in the camp and into the senate, so that the senators, terrified, pretended to rejoice and voted for Otho all things pertaining to the rule. But it was not unnoticed that he himself was coercing the senate 3.45 and that he was going to rule more wantonly and more cruelly than Nero. For Galba, then, who had lived seventy-two years and twenty-three days, and had ruled for nine months and thirteen days, this was the end; But Otho repented of what had been done, when the sacrifices offered by him appeared unfavorable and other signs occurred to him, but having entered into the rule he could not back out. And he remained in it and paid the penalty. Meanwhile, someone pretending to be Nero because of his resemblance to Nero disturbed almost all of Greece, and gathering a band of criminals, he set out for the legions in Syria. But as he was crossing at the Cydnus, Calpurnius arrested and killed him. But Otho secretly sent many men to Vitellius for a reconciliation. When he was not persuaded, he sent ambassadors openly. But Vitellius neither answered them anything nor sent them back. Then Otho sent

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οιος τεχνίτης ἀπόλλυμαι." δυσθανατοῦντα δ' αὐτὸν ὁ ̓Επαφρόδιτος προσκατειργάσατο. ̔Ο μὲν ουν ουτω κατὰ τὸν ̓Ιούλιον ἐτελεύτησε μῆνα, βιοὺς ετη τριάκοντα πρὸς μησὶν πέντε καὶ ἡμέραις εικοσιν, ἀφ' ων ηρξεν ετη τρισκαίδεκα καὶ μῆνας ὀκτὼ δυοῖν ἡμερῶν δέοντας. ἐν δὲ τῷ ὀγδόῳ τῆς τούτου βασιλείας ετει πρῶτος ἐπίσκοπος ̓Αλεξανδρείας μετὰ τὸν ἀπόστολον καὶ εὐαγγελιστὴν Μάρκον ̓Ανιανὸς γέγονεν. Γάλβας δ', ἐπεὶ ο τε Νέρων διέφθαρτο καὶ ἡ βουλὴ τὴν ἀρχήν οἱ ἐψηφίσατο καὶ ὁ ̔Ροῦφος αὐτῷ προσεχώρησεν, ἀνεθάρσησεν, οὐ μέντοι καὶ τὸ Καίσαρος ἀνέλαβεν ονομα πρὶν τοὺς τῆς βουλῆς πρεσβευτὰς πρὸς αὐτὸν ἐλθεῖν· ἀλλ' οὐδὲ τὸ τοῦ αὐτοκράτορος πρότερον εἰς οὐδὲν γράμμα ἐνεγεγράφει. τοὺς δὲ συκοφαντήσαντάς τινας ἐπὶ τοῦ Νέρωνος η ψευδομαρτυρήσαντας ἐκόλασε. καὶ οἱ δοῦλοι οἱ κατὰ τῶν δεσποτῶν πράξαντές τι η εἰπόντες αὐτοῖς ἐκείνοις ἐπὶ τιμωρίᾳ παρεδόθησαν. καὶ τὰ χρήματα δὲ καὶ τὰ κτήματα οσα τινὲς παρὰ τοῦ Νέρωνος εἰλήφεσαν ἀπῃτεῖτο. τούς γε μὴν ὑπ' ἐκείνου φυγαδευθέντας ὡς ἠσεβηκότας τι εἰς αὐτὸν κατήγαγε, καὶ τὰ ὀστᾶ τῶν ἐκ τοῦ βασιλικοῦ γένους σφαγέντων εἰς τὸ τοῦ Αὐγούστου μνημεῖον μετεκόμισε, καὶ τὰς εἰκόνας αὐτῶν ἀποκατέστησεν. Οἱ δὲ ἐν ταῖς Γερμανίαις στρατιῶται προστησάμενοι Αυλον Οὐιτέλλιον ἐνανέστησαν. ὁ ουν Γάλβας τὴν ἐπανάστασιν πυθόμενος, Λούκιον Πείσωνα, νεανίσκον εὐγενῆ, ἐπιεικῆ, φρόνιμον, υἱοθετήσατο 3.44 καὶ ἀπέδειξε Καίσαρα. ὁ δὲ Οθων ὁ Μάρκος ὁ Σαλούιος, ἀγανακτήσας οτι μὴ αὐτὸς ὑπὸ τοῦ Γάλβου υἱοθετήθη, ἐπανέστη αὐτῷ, τριάκοντα μόνους στρατιώτας ἑτοιμασάμενος. ἐπεὶ γὰρ θύοντι τῷ Γάλβᾳ μόνος τῶν βουλευτῶν αὐτῷ παρέστη, καὶ τοῦ ἱερόπτου ἐπιβουλευθήσεσθαι αὐτὸν εἰπόντος ηκουσε καὶ παραινοῦντος οικοι μεῖναι καὶ μηδαμῇ προελθεῖν, κατέδραμέ τε εὐθὺς ὡς ἐπ' αλλο τι εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδον ἀπιὼν καὶ ὑπὸ τῶν συνομωμοκότων αὐτῷ στρατιωτῶν εἰς τὸ τεῖχος εἰσήχθη, καὶ τοὺς αλλους στρατιώτας προσαναπείσας, η μᾶλλον εἰπεῖν, ἐκπριάμενος πολλαῖς ὑποσχέσεσι, παρ' ἐκείνων τε παραχρῆμα καὶ τῶν αλλων ελαβε τὴν ἀρχήν. ̔Ο Γάλβας δὲ μαθὼν τὰ πρασσόμενα επεμψεν εἰς τὸ στρατόπεδόν τινας ὡς μεταπεῖσαι τοὺς ἐν αὐτῷ δυνησόμενος. κἀν τούτῳ στρατιώτης τις γυμνὸν τὸ ξίφος καὶ ᾑμαγμένον ἀνατείνων προσῆλθεν αὐτῷ, φάσκων "θάρσει, αὐτόκρατορ· Οθωνα γὰρ ἀπέκτεινα." πιστεύσας ουν ὁ Γάλβας εἰς τὸ Καπιτώλιον ὡς θύσων ωρμησε. καὶ ἐν μέσῃ τῇ ἀγορᾷ ἀπαντήσαντες αὐτῷ ἱππεῖς καὶ πεζοὶ ἐκεῖ τὸν γέροντα, τὸν υπατον, τὸν ἀρχιερέα, τὸν Καίσαρα, τὸν αὐτοκράτορα πολλῶν ὁρώντων κατέκοψαν· καὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν ἀποκόψαντες κοντῷ ἐνέπειραν. καὶ ὁ μὲν ουτως ἐφονεύθη, τοῦτο μόνον εἰπών "καὶ τί κακὸν ἐποίησα;" ἀπέθανε δὲ καὶ ὁ Πείσων καὶ αλλοι συχνοί. πράξαντες δὲ ταῦτα οἱ στρατιῶται, καὶ τὰς κεφαλὰς ἐκείνων ἀποτεμόντες, πρός τε τὸν Οθωνα αὐτὰς ἐν τῷ στρατοπέδῳ καὶ εἰς τὸ συνέδριον ἐκόμισαν, ωστε τοὺς βουλευτὰς καταπλαγέντας χαίρειν τε προσποιεῖσθαι καὶ τῷ Οθωνι πάντα τὰ πρὸς τὴν ἀρχὴν φέροντα ψηφίσασθαι. οὐκ ἐλάνθανε δὲ οτι αὐτὸς τὴν βουλὴν ἐβιάζετο 3.45 καὶ ὡς ἀσελγέστερον καὶ πικρότερον τοῦ Νέρωνος αρξειν εμελλε. Γάλβᾳ μὲν ουν ζήσαντι ετη δύο καὶ ἑβδομήκοντα καὶ ἡμέρας τρεῖς καὶ εικοσιν, αρξαντι δὲ μῆνας ἐννέα καὶ ἡμέρας τρισκαίδεκα, τοῦτο τέλος ἐγένετο· ὁ δὲ Οθων μετέγνω μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς πεπραγμένοις, τῶν ἱερῶν αὐτῷ θύοντι πονηρῶν ὀφθέντων καὶ αλλων σημείων αὐτῷ γενομένων, ἀλλ' οὐκ ειχεν εἰς τὴν ἀρχὴν εἰσελθὼν ἀναδῦναι. καὶ ἐνέμεινεν αὐτῇ καὶ δίκην δέδωκεν. ̓Εν τούτοις δέ τις πλασάμενος Νέρων ειναι ἐκ τῆς πρὸς τὸν Νέρωνα ουσης ἐμφερείας αὐτῷ τὴν ̔Ελλάδα ὀλίγου πᾶσαν ἐτάραξε, καὶ χεῖρα κακούργων ἀνδρῶν ἀθροίσας πρὸς τὰ ἐν τῇ Συρίᾳ στρατόπεδα ωρμησεν. ἐν Κύδνῳ δὲ περαιούμενον αὐτὸν ὁ Καλπούρνιος συνέλαβε καὶ ἀπέκτεινεν. ̔Ο δὲ Οθων λάθρᾳ πολλοὺς πρὸς τὸν Οὐιτέλλιον ἐπὶ καταλλαγῇ επεμψεν. ὡς δ' οὐκ ἐπείθετο, πρεσβευτὰς ἀπέστειλε φανερῶς. ουτε δὲ ἀπεκρίνατό τι αὐτοῖς Οὐιτέλλιος ουτε ἀντέπεμψεν αὐτούς. ειτα επεμψεν Οθων