Servius Sulpicius Galba (consul 144 BC)

Servius Sulpicius Galba was a consul of Rome in 144 BC.

Servius Sulpicius Galba served as tribune of the soldiers as part of the second legion in Macedonia, under Lucius Aemilius Paullus Macedonicus, to whom he was not very favourable. After the conquest of Perseus in 167 BC, following Aemilius' return to Rome, Galba attempted to prevent a triumph for Aemilius; however he did not succeed, although his efforts created considerable sensation.

He was a praetor in 151 BC, and received Hispania (the Iberian Peninsula, including modern Spain and Portugal) as his province, where a war was carried on against the Celtiberians. On his arrival there, he hastened to the relief of some Roman subjects who were hard pressed by the Lusitanians. Galba succeeded so far as to put the enemy to flight. But as with his exhausted and undisciplined army, he was incautious in their pursuit, the Lusitanians turned around, and a fierce contest ensued in which 7000 Romans fell. Galba then collected the remnants of his army and his allies and took up his winter-quarters at Conistorgis.

In the spring of 150 BC, he again marched into Lusitania and ravaged the country. The Lusitanians sent an emissary to him, declaring that they repented of having violated the treaty that they had concluded with Atiliusand promised, therefore, to observe it faithfully. The mode in which Galba acted on that occasion has been viewed as one of the most historically infamous and atrocious acts of treachery and cruelty. He received the ambassadors kindly and lamented that circumstances, especially the poverty of their country, should have induced them to revolt against the Romans. He promised them fertile lands if they would remain faithful allies of Rome. He induced them, for this purpose, to leave their homes and assemble in three hosts with their women and children in the three places which he fixed upon, land in which he himself would inform each host what territory they were to occupy. When they were assembled in the manner he had prescribed, he went to the first body, commanded them to surrender their arms, surrounded them with a ditch, and then sent his armed soldiers into the place, who forthwith massacred them all. In the same manner, he treated the second and third hosts. Very few of the Lusitanians escaped with their lives; but among the survivors was Viriathus, destined one day to be the avenger of the wrong done to his countrymen. Appian states that Galba, although he was very wealthy, was extremely [stingy], and that he did not even scruple to lie or perjure himself, provided he could thereby gain pecuniary advantages.

...
Wikipedia