Publius Sulpicius Galba Maximus - First Consulship and The First Macedonian War

First Consulship and The First Macedonian War

A member of the Patrician gens Sulpicia, Sulpicius Galba was the son of Servius Sulpicius Galba. Although he had held no previous curule magistracy, the crisis of the Second Punic War saw him elected consul in 211 BC, alongside Gnaeus Fulvius Centumalus Maximus. Entering his office on the Ides of March, both consuls defended the city of Rome against a surprise attack by the Carthaginian general Hannibal.

Once the immediate crisis abated, and Hannibal retreated back to the south of Italy, provinces were allotted to the consuls. Although both were assigned to Apulia, the Senate, believing that Hannibal no longer posed a grave threat, decreed that one of the consuls only should remain in Apulia, and that the other should be assigned Macedonia for his province. When lots were drawn as to who was to leave Apulia, Sulpicius Galba was appointed proconsul in Macedonia, succeeding Marcus Valerius Laevinus. There he continued fighting the First Macedonian War against Philip V of Macedon.

In early 210 BC, at the end of his consulship, his imperium was prolonged for another year, but due to the exaggerated reports which Laevinus had made of his own achievements during his proconsulship, Sulpicius Galba was ordered to disband his army, and retained the command of only one legion and of the socii navales (or the local fleet), and he was given a sum of money to ensure his troops were well supplied and provisioned. Given the size of his forces, Sulpicius Galba could not do much in 210 BC, but he did achieve the feat of leading the first Roman fleet into the Aegean Sea and capturing Aegina, which was plundered and given to the Aetolians, who were allied with the Romans. That same year he unsuccessfully tried to relieve Echinus, which was besieged by Philip of Macedon.

For the following year (209 BC), his imperium was again prolonged, with Macedonia and Greece as his provinces. Besides allying themselves with the Aetolian League, the Romans also allied themselves with Attalus I of Pergamon against Philip. Galba provided 1,000 Romans to help the Aetolians in the First Battle of Lamia, while he himself was stationed at Naupactus. When Philip appeared at Dyme on his march against Elis, Galba had landed with fifteen of his ships on the northern coast of the Peloponnesus, where his soldiers were ravaging and plundering the country. However, Philip's sudden arrival forced them to return to their camp at Naupactus. When Philip was forced to return to Macedon, which was threatened with an invasion by some neighbouring tribes, Galba sailed to Aegina, where he joined the fleet of Attalus, and where both took up their winter quarters.

In the spring of 208 BC, Galba and Attalus united their fleets of sixty ships in a joint operation, sailed to Lemnos, while Philip pulled together all of his resources to prepare for the expected assault. Attalus attacked Peparethus, and then crossed with Galba over to Nicaea. From there they moved to Euboea, to attack the town of Oreus, which was occupied by a Macedonian garrison, but was betrayed from within and surrendered to Galba. Encouraged by this easy conquest, he also made an attempt to take Chalcis, but found it was too difficult a task. He therefore sailed to Cynus, a port town of Locris. With Attalus being driven back to Asia, Galba returned to Aegina, and remained in Greece for the remainder of his proconsulship, during which time he gave little further assistance to the Aetolian League in their war against Philip. In 205 BC, he was replaced as proconsul in Greece by Publius Sempronius Tuditanus.