Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus - Dictatorship, Second Consulship and The Second Macedonian War

Dictatorship, Second Consulship and The Second Macedonian War

In 203 BC, Sulpicius Galba was appointed Dictator, with Marcus Servilius Pulex Geminus appointed his Master of the Horse. Galba was given the task of holding the comitia elections and to possibly prevent the consul Gnaeus Servilius Caepio from crossing over to Africa to confront Hannibal. He also spent the rest of the year investigating cities and prominent individuals who had been alienated by the war with Carthage.

Then in 200 BC, Sulpicius Galba was elected consul for a second time, this time with Gaius Aurelius Cotta as his colleague. During his consulship, he pushed to secure a renewal of the war against Philip V of Macedon. The people at Rome were very unhappy with a fresh war being undertaken before they had been able to recover from the ravages of the Second Punic War. But the Senate and Galba carried their plan, and the Second Macedonian War against Philip was launched. When the consuls drew their lots for their consular commands, Galba once again obtained Macedonia as his province.

Galba was permitted to recruit from the army which Scipio Africanus had brought back from Africa any that were willing to serve again, but none of those veterans were to be compelled. After having selected his men and his ships, he sailed from Brundusium and landed at Apollonia, as per the plan to invade Macedonia from the west. On his arrival he met some Athenian ambassadors, who asked for his protection against the Macedonians, and he at once sent Gaius Claudius Centho with 20 ships and 1,000 men to their assistance. But as the autumn was approaching when Galba arrived in his province, he took up his winter quarters in the vicinity of Apollonia.

In the spring of 199 BC, Sulpicius Galba advanced with his army through the lands of the Dassaretii, where all the towns and villages along his route surrendered to him, with only a few being taken by force. Both Philip and Galba were ignorant of each other’s movements, until Macedonian and Roman scouting parties encountered each other by accident, during which a skirmish took place. Near the passes of Eordaia the two armies set up camp some distance from each other, and several minor engagements took place, in one of which the Romans sustained considerable losses. This was followed by a cavalry engagement, in which the Romans were again beaten, but the Macedonians, who were too eager in their pursuit of the enemy, suddenly found themselves attacked on their flanks, and were forced to retreat, during which Philip nearly lost his life.

Immediately after this defeat Philip sent a messenger to Galba to ask for a truce; the Roman commander deferred his decision till the next day, but during the night Philip and his army secretly left the camp, without the Romans knowing in which direction Philip had gone. After having stayed for a few days longer, Galba marched towards Pluvina, and then set up his camp on the banks of the river Osphagus, not far from the place where Philip had established his camp. Here Galba spent his time securing the territory and taking a number of towns, but did not directly engage Philip in battle. In the autumn Galba went back with his army to Apollonia. Although the campaign was considered only a minor military success, it did convince the Aetolians to ally with Rome.

In 198 BC, Sulpicius Galba was replaced in Macedonia by Publius Villius Tappulus, whereupon he returned to Rome. Then in 197 BC, both he and Villius Tappulus were appointed legates under Titus Quinctius Flamininus in Macedonia. In the next year (196 BC), when it was decreed at Rome that ten senatorial commissioners should be sent to help Flamininus settle political issues in Greece, as well as arrange a treaty between Rome and Macedonia, Galba and Tappulus were ordered to act as two of those commissioners. In 195 BC, he may have accompanied Tappulus on his mission to report on the aggressive movements of Antiochus III the Great.

In 193 BC, Galba was sent as an ambassador to Antiochus III along with Villius Tappulus. They first stopped to have discussions with Eumenes II of Pergamon, as they had been ordered, where the king urged the Romans to attack Antiochus at once. While staying at Pergamon, Galba fell ill. Once he had recovered, he and Tappulus travelled to Ephesus, where, instead of Antiochus, they met with Minion, whom the king had granted with full power to negotiate with the Romans. After futile negotiations, Galba returned to Rome, whereupon the Senate decided to declare war against Antiochus III, launching the Roman-Syrian War.