was consul A. D. 68 with Silius Italicus, and a relation of Galeria
Fundana, the wife of Vitellius, who protected him on the accession of her husband to the
throne. Trachalus is frequently mentioned by his contemporary Quintilian, as one of the most
distinguished orators of his age. Tacitus takes notice of a report that Trachalus wrote the
orations which the emperor Otho delivered, but the speeches of Otho in the Histories of
Tacitus (1.37, 83) were composed by the historian and not by Trachalus. (Tac. Hist. 1.90, 2.60; Quint. Inst. 6.3.78, 8.5.19, 10.1.119, 12.5 § 5, 12.10.11; Spalding, ad
Quintil. 6.3.78; Bernardi, Recherches sur Galerius Trachalus, in
the
Mémoires de l'Institut Royal de France, vol. vii. p. 119, foll.,
Paris, 1824 ; Meyer, Oratorum Romanorum Fragmenta, p. 592, foll., 2d
ed.)