celebrity.estateAn EGRET.LAW propertyWorld map3D timeline
Home / Greece and Rome / A senator was accused of biting the severed head of Galba's heir, and years later he swore…
Case file s1522 · Greece and Rome · 69
See 69 on the timelineSee it in 3D
69
Galba: Gold Aureus of Galba (MANTIS)
Galba. American Numismatic Society. CC0, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
AD 69 (Piso); Verania's death not dated
Place
Rome, Italy
Field
Roman senatorial aristocracy · Politics and government on the timeline
Legal tradition
Roman law of wills and legacies; captatio (legacy hunting) · Roman law
Historical event
Murder of Galba and his adopted heir Piso, AD 69
Religion
Galba: Ancient and traditional religions (recorded as ancient Roman religion on Wikidata)
Greece and RomeMurder and sudden deathCrowns and successionAncient worldEuropeItaly

A senator was accused of biting the severed head of Galba's heir, and years later he swore on his son's life to get into the heir's widow's will

In AD 69 the emperor Galba adopted Piso Licinianus as his heir. Both were murdered. In AD 70 the senator Curtius Montanus told the Senate that Marcus Aquilius Regulus had paid Piso's killer and "had torn Piso's head with his teeth." Tacitus records the speech, which also accused Regulus of earning seven million sesterces and a priesthood by prosecuting the family of the Crassi. Regulus kept his place. Pliny the Younger tells what came later. Piso's widow Verania fell gravely ill. She detested Regulus, her husband's open enemy. He visited her anyway, asked the day and hour of her birth, made a show of calculating, and told her she was in a dangerous year but would recover. He said a diviner's sacrifice agreed and swore by his son's life. She had her will rewritten and left him a legacy. Then she got worse. Pliny says she died calling him a wicked, treacherous and perjured wretch. Pliny gives two more cases. When the dying Velleius Blaesus was changing his will, Regulus begged the doctors to keep him alive; once the will was signed, he asked them why they grudged him death. Blaesus left him nothing. When Aurelia dressed in her best clothes to sign her will, Regulus asked her to leave him the clothes, and she wrote them in. Pliny says Regulus asked the omens when he would be worth 60 million sesterces and was told double.

What the law took from it

A will made in the last days of an illness, with a visitor at the bedside, is the will most open to pressure.

Sources
  1. University of Chicago, LacusCurtiusScholarship
  2. Project GutenbergScholarship

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “A senator was accused of biting the severed head of Galba's heir, and years later he swore on his son's life to get into the heir's widow's will,” story s1522, https://www.celebrity.estate/regulus-piso-head-69, updated 30 October 2026.

Related cases

Each one shares a person, a kind of fight, a subject, a period or a place with this case. The line under each headline says which.

Claudius: Claudius crop54 · Palatine, Rome, ItalyClaudius's will was never read in public, and Nero poisoned Claudius's son Britannicus four months after taking the throneShared: murder and sudden death; crowns and succession; also Greece and Rome; 15 years apart; also EuropeThe emperor Claudius had a son, Britannicus, born on the 22nd day of his reign. He later married Agrippina and adopted her son Nero. Suetonius says that late in life Claudius regretted the marriage and the adoption.University of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 morePliny the Younger: 'Pliny the Younger and His Mother at Miseno'54 · Rome, Italy; Africa Proconsularis (Tunisia)Pliny says six men owned half of Roman Africa when Nero had them killed, and Suetonius says Nero seized the estates of anyone whose will left him too littleShared: murder and sudden death; crowns and succession; also Greece and Rome; 15 years apart; also EuropePliny the Elder wrote that great estates had ruined Italy. He added that six proprietors held half of the province of Africa when Nero had them put to death. Suetonius lists Nero's methods for raising money.perseus.tufts.edu and 3 moreAureus Didius Iulianus: Didius Julianus, 193, Aureus, Rome, AV 7.25 g. IMP CAES M DID – IVLIAN AVG Laureate head r. Rev. RECTOR – ORBIS Julianus standing l., holding globe and roll193 · Rome, ItalyThe Praetorian Guard sold the Roman Empire to Didius Julianus for 25,000 sesterces a soldier, and he lasted 66 daysShared: murder and sudden death; crowns and succession; also Greece and Rome; same era, ancient world; also EuropeThe emperor Pertinax had divided his own property among his children and placed them with their grandfather rather than raise them in the palace. On 28 March 193 the Praetorian Guard murdered him.University of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 moreSeptimius Severus: Septimius Severus busto-Musei Capitolini211 · Eboracum (York), England; Palatine, Rome, ItalySeverus left Rome to two sons, their mother stopped them dividing the empire, and Caracalla had his brother killed in her armsShared: murder and sudden death; crowns and succession; also Greece and Rome; same era, ancient world; also EuropeThe emperor Septimius Severus died in Britain on 4 February 211. Cassius Dio says his illness carried him off "not without some help, they say," from his elder son Antoninus, known as Caracalla.University of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 moreAureus Didius Iulianus: Didius Julianus, 193, Aureus, Rome, AV 7.25 g. IMP CAES M DID – IVLIAN AVG Laureate head r. Rev. RECTOR – ORBIS Julianus standing l., holding globe and roll193 · Praetorian camp, Rome, ItalyThe praetorian guard killed the emperor Pertinax and sold the empire to the highest bidder for 25,000 sesterces a soldierShared: murder and sudden death; crowns and succession; also Greece and Rome; same era, ancient world; also EuropeIn AD 193 the praetorian guard killed the emperor Pertinax. Herodian says the guards then announced from their camp walls that the empire was for sale.University of Chicago, LacusCurtius and 2 moreSuetonius: Suetonius etching (cropped)25 · Rome, ItalySuetonius says Tiberius frightened a man worth 400 million sesterces into suicide to inherit, and Caligula sent poisoned sweets to men who named him heirShared: murder and sudden death; crowns and succession; also Greece and Rome; same era, ancient world; also EuropeSeneca says Gnaeus Lentulus the Augur was thought to be worth 400 million sesterces, owed his rise to Augustus, and was as barren in intellect as in spirit.Project Gutenberg and 5 more

Where this case sits

Greece and RomeMurder and sudden deathCrowns and successionAncient worldEuropeRoman lawItaly