1'If the immense body of the empire could stand and keep its balance without a ruler, I would be worthy to have the republic begin with me: as it is, we have long since come to such a pass of necessity that neither can my old age confer more on the Roman people than a good successor, nor your youth more than a good emperor. 1Under Tiberius, Gaius and Claudius we were, as it were, the inheritance of a single family: that we have begun to be chosen will take the place of liberty; 1and now that the house of the Julii and Claudii has come to an end, adoption will find the best man.
1For to be begotten and born of emperors is a matter of chance, and is valued no further: the judgement of the adopter is free, and, if you wish to choose, it is pointed out by general consent. 1Keep before your eyes Nero, whom, swollen with pride in the long line of Caesars, not Vindex with an unarmed province nor I with one legion, but his own monstrousness, his own extravagance threw from the necks of the people; 1and there was as yet no precedent of an emperor condemned. 1We, brought in by war and by men who weighed our merits, will be envied, however outstanding we may be. 1Do not be alarmed, though, if two legions in this upheaval of a shaken world are not yet quiet: I myself did not come to a secure position either, and once the adoption is heard of I shall cease to seem old, which is now the only charge made against me.
1Nero will always be missed by all the worst men: you and I must see to it that he is not missed by the good as well. 1To advise you at greater length does not suit this moment, and all my purpose is fulfilled if I have chosen you well. 1The most useful and also the shortest way of distinguishing good from bad is to consider what you would have wished or not wished under another emperor; 1for here it is not as with peoples ruled by kings, where there is a fixed house of masters and all the rest are slaves, but you are going to rule men who can endure neither complete servitude nor complete freedom.' 1Galba, then, spoke in this way and to this effect, as though he were making an emperor, the rest as though speaking to one already made.