Editor’s Note

This e-book contains J.C. Rolfe’s complete translation of the surviving books of the Res Gestae of Ammianus Marcellinus, originally published in 1935-40 as three volumes of the bilingual Loeb Classical Library. The text, which is in the public domain, is taken from Bill Thayer’s meticulous transcription at LacusCurtius.

Ellipses in the translation indicate a lacuna or a place where the original Latin has been so mangled by copyists that its sense is irrecoverable. Square brackets mark words or letters missing from the printed edition, except in one case where Rolfe himself has used them to mark a conjectural reading (“[bringing]” in Book XXXI). A few corrections to the punctuation have been made silently.

It is with some regret that I have omitted Rolfe’s footnotes, which are generally helpful, if occasionally wrong; the labor required, not least that of linking his many cross-references, was daunting and would have jeopardized the completion of the project. Serious students of Ammianus will want to obtain the Loeb volumes, still in print, or consult Thayer’s pages, which also include generous links to sources cited in the notes.

— Peter Donnelly, July 2011

Version: 1.2

Introduction

The Life of Ammianus

Our knowledge of Ammianus is derived almost wholly from his own writings. He was born about A.D. 330 in Syrian Antioch, of a good Greek family, and probably received his early education in his native city. Antioch at that time was one of the principal cities of the Roman Empire, orientis apex pulcher, and Ammianus took just pride in its material prosperity. He was not, however, equally proud of his fellow citizens, a mixed population of Greeks, Jews, Syrians, and other peoples, united only in their devotion to luxury and the pursuit of pleasure. The historian makes no reply to the criticisms passed upon them by Julian, except to characterize them as exaggerated. But Greek still maintained its intellectual leadership, and the opportunities for education were good. The city produced other men of distinction, notably Libanius and Joannes Chrysostom.

Ammianus spent his active life during the reigns of Constantius II, Julian, Jovian, Valentinian, and Valens, in the second half of the fourth century, when, in spite of some memorable victories, the prestige of the empire was on the wane. The turning-point in its history was the disastrous defeat of Valens by the Goths at Adrianople in 378, in which the emperor himself met his death, and at that date our direct knowledge of Ammianus comes to an end.

At an early age the future historian was made one of the protectores domestici, a select corps of the imperial bodyguard, which is further testimony to his good birth. In 353 he was attached by the emperor’s order to the staff of Ursicinus, commander-in-chief of the army in the East, and joined him at Nisibis in Mesopotamia. He accompanied his general to Antioch, where Ursicinus was entrusted by Gallus Caesar with the conduct of trials for high treason. Ammianus’ early life is closely connected with the career of Ursicinus, to whom he was strongly attached, and with whom he shared prosperity and adversity. Incidentally, he immortalized his chief, of whom little or nothing is known from other sources.

In 354 Ursicinus, who had become an object of suspicion to the emperor, was summoned to the court at Mediolanum, accompanied by Ammianus.

There palace intrigues caused Ursicinus to be still more distrusted by Constantius, who accordingly assigned to him the difficult task of suppressing the revolt of Silvanus, who had assumed the purple at Cologne; but although the mission was successful, Ursicinus not only received no commendation from the emperor, but was even accused of embezzling some of the Gallic treasure. Ammianus remained with his chief in Gaul until the summer of 357, and hence was in close touch with the exploits of Julian, the newly appointed Caesar. Ursicinus was next summoned by the suspicious emperor to Sirmium in Pannonia, and from there, because of the danger which threatened from the Persians, was once more sent to the East, still accompanied by Ammianus. But when the Persians began hostilities in 359, Ursicinus was again recalled to court, but on reaching the river Hebrus received orders to return to Mesopotamia, which had already been invaded by the enemy.

Since Sabinianus, who in the meantime had been appointed commander-in-chief of the army in the East, took no action, Ursicinus with his staff went to Nisibis, to prevent that city from being surprised and taken by the Persians. From there he set out for Amida, to keep the roads from being occupied, but immediately after leaving Nisibis sent Ammianus back to the city on an errand. In order to escape the hardships of the siege with which Nisibis was threatened, Ammianus after hastily carrying out his orders tried to rejoin his general. He was all but captured on the way, but finally came up with Ursicinus and his following at Amudis, warned them of the approach of the Persians, and accompanied them in their retreat. By a clever stratagem they misled their pursuers into taking the wrong direction, and finally reached Amida. There by a cipher message from Procopius, who had gone to the Persians as an envoy and was detained by them, they were informed that the enemy's main body had crossed the Tigris, and Ursicinus sent Ammianus, accompanied by a faithful centurion, to the satrap of Corduene, who was secretly a friend of the Romans, in quest of more definite information. From a rocky height Ammianus saw the advance of Sapor’s army, witnessed their crossing of the river Anzaba, and reported what he had learned to Ursicinus. He, on hearing of the enemy’s advance, resolved to go to Samosata and destroy the bridges by which the Persians were planning to cross the Euphrates; but through the negligence of the Roman cavalry outposts his forces were attacked and scattered. Ammianus after several narrow escapes was forced to return to Amida, where he took part in the stubborn resistance of the city to the Persian attack. When Amida finally fell, he succeeded in making his escape under cover of night and after many adventures met Ursicinus at Melitene in Armenia Minor and with him returned safely to Antioch.

After the deposition of Ursicinus in 360 we hear little definite about the historian’s career. He took some part in Julian’s Persian campaign of 363, but in what capacity is uncertain; he apparently joined Julian with the arrival of the Euphrates fleet, since it is after that point in his narrative that we find him using the first person. After the return of the Roman army to Antioch on the death of Julian and the accession of Jovian he seems to have remained in his native city for a considerable time, since his account of the trials conducted there for high treason in 371 is clearly that of an eye-witness. He probably made his home in Antioch until the defeat and death of Valens, but his residence in the city was interrupted by journeys to Egypt and to Greece after the great earthquake of July 6, 366. It was doubtless in Antioch that he did some of his extensive reading in preparation for the writing of his History. His military career occupied a comparatively brief period of his life, the greater part of which was devoted to study and writing.

After the events of 378 Ammianus went to Rome by way of Thrace, where he seems to have inspected the battlefields, choosing the land route rather than the more convenient trip by sea in order to get material for his History. At any rate, he seems to have taken up his residence in the Eternal City before 383, and his bitter language about the expulsion of foreigners at that time because of threatened famine has led some to infer that he was one of those who were forced to leave. The words of Symmachus, defectum timemus annonae, pulsis omnibus quos exserto et pleno ubere Roma susceperat, imply that the expulsion was general, and Ammianus’ unfavourable opinion of the Anicii, who at that time were a powerful family at Rome, may have some bearing on the question. Others believe that his rank as a former protector domesticus, which carried with it the title of perfectissimus, would have spared him such an indignity. If he was driven out, it seems probable that the hope of Symmachus, quam primum revocet urbs nostra quos invita dimisit, was fulfilled, for Ammianus wrote his History in Rome, and acquired a certain position in the city, numbering among his friends Symmachus and Praetextatus, although apparently some circles of distinguished Romans did not admit an honestus advena to intimacy.

That Ammianus was not a Christian is evident from many of his utterances, for he speaks of Christian rites, ceremonies, and officials in a way which shows a lack of familiarity with them. At the same time he was liberal in his attitude towards the Church; he twice censures the closing of the schools of rhetoric to Christian teachers, praises the simple life of the provincial bishops, and in general favours absolute religious toleration. He often refers to a supreme power (numen), with such adjectives as magnum, superum, caeleste, divinum, sempiternum, and others of the same kind, and he sometimes speaks of this power as deus, but in much the same sense as the word is used by Horace and other pagan writers. He indicates a belief in astrology, divination, dreams, and other superstitions of his time, and he speaks of Fortuna and fatum as controlling powers, but shows that they may be overcome or influenced by man’s courage and resourcefulness. The view of Dill, that “his real creed was probably a vague monotheism with a more decided tendency to fatalism” is rightly questioned by Ensslin, who says that Ammianus was a determinist, but not a passive fatalist, one who in inactive quiet awaited what might come.

When Ammianus died is quite uncertain. The latest allusion in his History is to the consulship of Neotherius in 391. In the same year the Serapeum at Alexandria was burned, but the historian refers to the building as if it were still standing; other indications are his references to Probus and Theodosius. He was certainly living in 391, and probably in 393, but how much longer his life was prolonged cannot be determined.

His History

Ammianus set himself the vast project of succeeding Tacitus as an historian, and might have entitled his work Res Gestae a fine Corneli Taciti; but the title which has come down to us is simply Res Gestae. It covered the period between the accession of Nerva in A.D. 96 to the death of Valens in 378, and was divided into thirty-one books, of which the first thirteen are lost. Since the surviving eighteen books deal with a period of twenty-five years, from 353, the seventeenth year of the reign of Constantius II, to the battle of Adrianople, the lost books must have given a brief account of the two hundred and fifty-seven years to which they were devoted. In 391 Libanius implies that Ammianus published, and probably recited parts of his work at Rome with great success. Seeck thinks that the part which was published in 390 or 391 ended with the twenty-fifth book; that this was his original plan, and that he was encouraged to go farther by the favourable reception given to a public recitation; that he intended to continue beyond the death of Valens is indicated by his promise to tell of the fate that overtook Maximinus and Simplicius, but his failure to do so may possibly have been an oversight. That the work was published in instalments seems to be indicated by the prefatory remarks at the beginning of Books XV and XXVI.

There can be no doubt that Ammianus took his task seriously and made careful preparation for it, reading extensively in Latin literature and making copious notes of what he read. He naturally gave special attention to Tacitus, in particular to the Histories, and imitated him so far as he could. He also read Livy and sometimes attempts to use his periodic structure, occasionally with success. He also was acquainted with Sallust, although the traces of the Amiternian’s diction may be due to the latter’s influence on Tacitus. It is of no significance that he nowhere mentions either Tacitus or Livy in his work. To perfect his Latinity he read Cicero, whom he quotes more than thirty times; partly for the same reason and partly for information about Gaul, he read Caesar. In addition to these conspicuous examples he shows acquaintance, not only with such prose writers and Gellius, Valerius Maximus, the elder Pliny, Florus, and others, but also with the poets; for example, Plautus and Terence, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and Lucan. Of later writers he used the Annales of Virius Nicomachus Flavianus, and the work of an anonymous Greek writer who followed the Thucydidean chronology by summers and winters; Ammianus shows in this respect a mixture of the annalistic and the Thucydidean method. He depended also for historical information on the Diary of Magnus of Carrhae; and in his excursuses he made use of Seneca, Naturales Quaestiones, Solinus, Ptolemy, and others, as well as of the official lists of the provinces (Notitiae).

In addition to his literary sources Ammianus relied for a considerable part of his work on his own observation and personal experiences, and it is these that give his work its greatest charm. It is evident that he wished to write a history, rather than follow the biographical treatment which had been popular since the time of Suetonius; he speaks with scorn of those who, detestantes ut venena doctrinas, read only Juvenal and Marius Maximus. Yet he could not wholly escape the influence of the followers of Suetonius; he has a biographical sketch of each of the emperors and Caesars included in his History, besides an encomium of the eunuch Eutherius, but he did not follow any fixed form of biographical composition. He also disapproved of the epitomes which were fashionable in his day, yet he did not hesitate to draw on Eutropius, Rufius Festus, and Aurelius Victor.

Ammianus aimed at strict truthfulness without suppressing anything that was well authenticated or indulging in deliberate invention, faults which he censures in his criticism of the official reports of the emperor Constantius; and he avoided exaggeration. Although he recognised the danger of speaking freely and frankly of recent or contemporary personages and events, he does not profess to write sine ira et studio, but gives free expression to praise or blame; he did not hesitate to censure where censure was due, and he more than once finds faults even in his hero Julian. In the historical part of his work he may fairly he said to have attained his ideal of truthfulness; that he was less successful in his numerous excursuses was due in part to lack of knowledge, and to some extent to an apparent desire to conceal the extent of his dependence upon literary sources. If he had heeded Livy’s warning about digressions, his work would have been more uniformly successful. They could be omitted without interfering with the course of the narrative.

Ammianus wrote for Roman readers, and in particular for the leading literary circle of the Eternal City, of which Symmachus was a prominent member. It was for that reason, and not merely because he was continuing the narrative of Tacitus, that he wrote in Latin and not in his native language. His readers and hearers were of course utriusque linguae periti, but they knew their Roman literature and could appreciate and applaud his echoes of Livy, Cicero, and other greater writers of the past.

In modern times Gibbon found him sincere, modest, loyal to his superior officers, copious and authentic, an accurate and faithful guide. Mackail calls him an officer and a gentleman, worthy of a place among the great Roman historians. Seeck praises his ability in depicting character, all but unexampled in ancient literature, and ranking him with the first historians of all time. In ancient times his work was little known; it is cited only once, by Priscian, who seems to have had no more of the History before him than we have today. Cassiodorus is said to have written out the entire work and to have imitated its author’s style.

His Style

That Ammianus gave great attention to the style of his work is evident. Klein’s idea of the manner in which he composed the History seems plausible, namely, that he wrote his first draft in his natural Latin, using also from memory expressions which he had met in his wide reading. When he wished to publish, or recite, a part of it, he worked it over with particular attention to stylistic effect, drawing heavily on the results of his reading from the notes which he had collected. Being a soldier, he knew Latin as the official language of the army; he could speak, read, and write it but he did not acquire a thorough mastery of it, the Sprachgefühl of a native Roman. As Pliny aptly says, invenire praeclare, enuntiare magnifice, interdum etiam barbari solent; disponere apte, figurare varie nisi eruditis negatum est. It was in particular Ammianus’ attempt to decorate his style with ornaments of all kinds, drawn from every source, combined with his imitation of Tacitus, that produced his very extraordinary Latin; in the words of Kroll, “sein taciteisches Latein ist schwer zu verstehen, unleidlich geziert und überladen, eine Qual seiner Leser,” a verdict in which the present translator would take exception only to the last clause. Some of his peculiarities are an unnatural word-order, attempted picturesque and poetic forms of expression, and a general striving for effect, due in part to the general taste of the time in which he lived, and in part to the custom of public recitations. There are colloquial features: the use of the comparative for the positive, of quod with the indicative for the accusative and the infinitive, of the present for the future, the imperfect for the pluperfect, and the pluperfect for a preterit; also improper uses of the subjunctive, and a disregard of the sequence of tenses. Naturally, characteristics of his native language appear; some of the peculiarities already noted may be traced to that source, as well as his extensive use of participial constructions.

In spite of all this, when we consider the high value which the Romans, even of late times, set upon form and rhetoric, it does not seem possible that the success of his public recitations was due solely to the content of his History, or that his style could have been as offensive to his hearers as it is to the modern reader of his work.

Ammianus’ attention to form is further shown by the rhythmical structure of his prose; for it has long since been observed that he regularly ended his clauses with metrical clausulae. These have recently been made the object of special study by Clark and Harmon, with the result that they have been found to be based upon accent and not upon quantity. The system which he uses was a simple one: between the last two accents of a phrase two or four unaccented syllables are placed, never one or three. Quantity makes no difference and final vowels are never elided; Greek words as a rule retain the Greek accent; I and u may be read either as vowels or as consonants. Of course it is possible that in some instances the arrangement of syllables may be accidental, but the number of clausulae is too great to be other than designed. In spite of the simplicity of his system Ammianus has considerable variety in his endings, as is illustrated by Clark in the following scheme:

Cursus planus:

expeditiónis evéntus, XIV.1.1.

illúc transitúrus, XIV.6.16.

Aégyptum pétens, XXII.5.5.

régna Persídis, XXIII.5.16.

Cursus tardus:

pártium ánimis, XIV.1.1.

instruménta non lévia, XIV.6,18.

Cursus velox:

frégerat et labórum XIV.1.1.

relatúri quae audíret, XIV.1.6

obiécti sunt praeter mórem, XIV.2.1.

Aégypto trucidátur, XIV.11.32

gramínea prope rívum, XXIV.8.7.

nómine allocútus est, XV.6.3.

incénsas et habitácula, XVIII.2.19.

Roman Officials in the Time of Ammianus

The transformation of the Roman Empire into an oriental monarchy began in A.D. 284, when Diocletian became sole ruler. He abandoned all republican traditions and undertook the reorganisation of the civil and military administration. The process was continued by Constantine and his successors, until the government became a bureaucracy in the hands of a limited number of high officials. The powers and rank of these ministers varied during this period, and involve a number of difficult problems. For the sake of reasonable brevity the offices are described so far as possible as they were in the time of Ammianus.

Diocletian, realising that the rule of the vast empire was too great a task for one man, took Maximianus as his colleague, sharing with him also the title Augustus. The authority of the two Augusti was equal and all the laws and edicts were issued in their common name, but practically the empire was divided into two parts, Diocletian ruling the East, with his headquarters at Nicomedia, Maximian the West, at Mediolanum. The Augusti were not accountable to any legislative body or magistrate. They wore the imperial diadem and a robe trimmed with jewels, and an elaborate ceremonial was required of all who approached them. Everything connected with the emperor was called sacer, sanctissimus, or divinus.

Nine years after Diocletian became emperor he and Maximian chose two Caesars, who stood next to themselves in rank and dignity; they were, however, dependents of the Augusti, having no authority except what was conferred upon them by their superiors, and receiving a fixed salary. The administration was divided into four parts; Diocletian took Thrace, Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, and assigned to Galerius, the Caesar whom he had nominated, the Danubian provinces, Illyricum, Greece, and Crete; Maximian governed Italy and Africa; Constantius, his Caesar, ruled Gaul, Spain, and after 296 Britain. This division was only for administrative purposes; the empire in reality consisted of two parts, of which the two Augusti were the supreme rulers.

The main purpose of the institution of the Caesars was to provide for the succession, and it was a part of the plan that when one of the Augusti died or resigned, his place should be filled by one of the Caesars, who at the time of their appointment were adopted by the Augusti. When Diocletian and Maximian retired in 306, a series of wars followed among the Caesars and the Augusti. In that year Constantine I, later surnamed the Great, assumed the title of Caesar, which was acknowledged by Galerius; in 308 he was declared Augustus along with Galerius, and Severus and Maximinus were chosen as Caesars. Maxentius, son of Maximian, was proclaimed Augustus by the troops at Rome, but was not acknowledged by the other Augusti and Caesars; he defeated and slew Severus in Italy, whereupon Licinius was made an Augustus by Galerius. In 308 there were four Augusti: Constantine, Galerius, Licinius, and Maximinus in addition to the usurper Maxentius. A series of wars followed. Maximinus was defeated by Licinius and died shortly afterward; Galerius had died in 311. Constantine defeated Maxentius at Saxa Rubra in 312 and reigned for a time with Licinius. After two wars, with a brief interval of peace, Constantine defeated Licinius at Adrianople and Chalcedon in 324. In that year he became sole Augustus, with his sons Crispus, Constantine and Constantius as Caesars; in 335 Delmatius and Hannibalianus were added to the list of Caesars, making five in all.

Constantine ruled alone until his death in 337, when his sons Constantinus II, Constantius II, and Constans were declared Augusti; Crispus had in the meantime fallen victim to the jealousy of Fausta, his stepmother, and Delmatius and Hannibalianus were now put to death. In 340 war broke out between Constantinus II and Constans; the former was defeated and slain, and Constans became sole emperor in the West. In 350 Constans died, and three usurpers appeared: Magnentius in Gaul, Nepontianus at Rome, and Vetranio at Mursa in Pannonia. The last two were quickly disposed of; Nepontianus was killed in less than a month after his elevation to the supreme rank, and Vetranio was defeated and deposed by Constantius after ten months. The contest with Magnentius, who had appointed his brother Decentius to the position of Caesar, lasted for three years; Constantius defeated the usurper at Mursa and drove him into Gaul, where Magnentius was again defeated and took his own life. Constantius ruled as sole Augustus until 361; in 351, while the war with Magnentius was still going on, he had conferred the rank of Caesar on his cousin Gallus and sent him to the East, to carry on war against the Persians. With Gallus’ arrogance and cruelty to Antioch the extant part of Ammianus’ narrative begins.

After Constantius became sole emperor his authority was supreme, but the four-fold administrative division of the empire into the East, Illyricum, Italy, and Gaul was continued; the divisions were called prefectures, and were governed by praetorian prefects, resident at Constantinople, which Constantine had made the capital of the empire in 330; at Sirmium; at Mediolanum (Milan); and at Treveri (Treves) or at Eboracum (York). The prefectures were divided into dioceses, and the dioceses into provinces; the provinces were under the charge of a governor called consularis, corrector, or praeses. There were thirteen dioceses and 101 provinces (compared with 45 in Hadrian’s time), a number which was later increased to about 120.

The purpose of these divisions and of the consequent increase in the number of these and of other officials was to prevent any officer from becoming powerful enough to start a revolution and interfere with the regular succession to imperial power. The same end was sought by a sharp division between civil and military authority, and by the fact that the competence of the various official groups was not always clearly defined, which led to jealousy and rivalry among the officers. Also the subordinates of the higher officials were appointed by the emperor, and the conduct of their superiors was besides watched and reported to the Augustus by a corps of secret service men, the agentes in rebus. The effect of all this, and the elaborate ceremonial required in order to approach the emperor, removed him from contact with his subjects and enhanced his dignity and majesty; at the same time he was unable to hear the complaints of the people, since the officials, who often enriched themselves at the expense of the provincials, concealed one another’s misdemeanors. In fact, the emperor, although in theory all-powerful, was actually a tool in the hands of a hierarchy of powerful ministers; the real control was exercised by the highest civil and military officers, and those in charge of the affairs of the imperial household.

The entire body of officials was divided into a number of grades, each with its own title. All officers who held positions of sufficient importance became members of the senatorial order, with the title clarissimi, which was also held by the two higher grades. A smaller group of higher officials had the title spectabiles, and a third body, including not only the heads of the various administrative departments, made up the illustres. The title nobilissimus was reserved for the members of the imperial family. Two classes ranking below the clarissimi were the perfectissimi and the egregii; these included only a small number of officials, and the titles gradually went out of use.

Two other orders of a somewhat different character were created by Constantine. A purely honorary title, patricius, was open only to those who had held the positions of praetorian prefect, city prefect, commander-in-chief of the army, or consul ordinarius. It was held for life and its possessor took precedence of all officials except consuls in office.

To the comites, originally merely the companions of an emperor or high official on his travels, Constantine gave importance by making comes (count) a title of honour conferred upon the holders of some public offices, or conferred as a reward for service. The counts were attached to the emperor and the ruling house, but it was a natural and easy step to assign them various duties as the emperor’s deputies, both in a civil and in a military capacity. There were three grades (comites primi, secundi et tertii ordinis), and counts appear among the illustres, the spectabiles, and the clarissimi. Like other officials, they were variously designated as in actual service (in actu positi); as vacantes, men of inferior position who on retiring from office were given the rank and insignia of counts as a reward for good service; and as honorarii, who received the title by imperial favour or by purchase, but did not have the right to wear the insignia.

The emperors gathered about them a body of advisers, which entirely superseded the senate in importance. It was first called the auditorium or consilium principis, but Constantine gave it the title of consistorium principis or sacrum consistorium; consistorium does not appear in inscriptions until 353, and Ammianus seems to be the first writer to use the word. There is difference of opinion as to its membership. It was composed mainly of the heads of the various departments of administration, certainly of those most intimately connected with the imperial household (dignitates palatinae): the Minister of Finance (comes sacrarum largitionum), the Minister of the Privy Purse (comes rerum privatarum), the Quaestor (quaestor sacri palatii), who was the emperor’s legal adviser, and the Master of the Offices. The prefect, whose seat of government was at the capital (praefectus praetorio praesens), was probably a member, as well as the Grand Chamberlain (praepositus sacri cubiculi), and some officials of the grade spectabilis. The members of the council were called comites consistoriani or simply consistoriani. It was presided over by the emperor, or in his absence by the Quaestor, who was obliged to give his decisions in writing; the proceedings were taken down by secretaries and stenographers (notarii).

Since the consulship was often held by the emperor, that office was one of high honour and the consul in office ranked next to the emperor himself, above the patricii and the prefects. The consuls however, had little actual power. On the day of their accession to office they held a procession, which the emperor himself attended, exhibited games, and freed slaves. The title consularis, which was the highest title held by the governors of the provinces, did not necessarily imply that its holder was an ex-consul.

The Praetorian Prefect (praefectus praetorio) in the time of Augustus was a military officer, the commander of the praetorian cohorts in Rome, which formed the emperor’s body-guard. It was the highest grade in the equestrian cursus honorum, and its holder gradually acquired great power. Sejanus was practically the ruler of Rome during the absence of Tiberius, and Titus, although of senatorial rank, assumed the office in order to increase his authority and to have a freer hand. There were ordinarily two prefects, although occasionally there was only one, and in the latter part of the reign of Commodus there were three.

This official, as time went on, became more prominent as a judge and in a civil capacity, and under Septimius Severus and Gallienus he was practically a civil minister, although he retained some vestiges of military authority even under Diocletian. When Constantine abolished the praetorian guard and replaced it by the scholae Palatinae, the dignity and rank of the prefect survived and he became the highest civil servant of the emperor, without any participation in military affairs. He was appointed for an indefinite period, but because of his great power he was seldom kept in office for more than a year. Constantine also appointed a praefectus per Gallias and a praefectus per Orientem, and to these a praefectus per Illyricum was later added, so that each of the four grand divisions of the empire was governed by a prefect. The prefect had a number of vicarii, each of whom governed one of the dioceses into which his prefecture was divided.

In spite of various restrictions the power of a prefect was very extensive. His office, like that of the other illustres, was large and well organized with assistants, recorders, clerks, shorthand writers and mounted messengers. From the time of Alexander Severus he was a member of the senate. He had complete control of the general tax ordered by the emperor (indictio), and through his subordinates took part in levying it; he held court as the emperor’s representative; he issued edicts, which had the same force as those of the emperor, unless they were annulled by the Augustus; he supervised the governors and judges of the provinces, proposed their names, and paid their salaries; and he had a general supervision of the grain supplies, manufactures, coinage, roads and courier-service (cursus publicus). His insignia were a lofty chariot, a golden pen-case, a silver inkstand, and a silver tripod and bowl for receiving petitions. He wore a cloak like that of the emperor, except that it reached to the knees instead of to the feet; as a mark of his former military rank he carried a sword. Of the four praetorian prefects one who was resident at the court of an emperor or a Caesar seems to have been called praesens or praesentalis, if the number of Augusti and Caesars was less than four.

The Prefect of the City (praefectus urbis) in early times had charge of the city of Rome during the absence of the king or the consuls. His duties and powers were gradually taken over by the city praetor (praetor urbanus), until Augustus revived the office, in order to provide for the government of Rome during his absence. Under Tiberius, because of his long stay at Capri, the office became a permanent one, and it increased in power and importance until the City Prefect ranked next to the Praetorian. He had command of the city troops (cohortes urbanae) and general charge of the policing of the city. In addition to this he had a number of officers under his supervision, through whom he managed the census, the markets, and the granaries, and had power over all the corporations and guilds which carried on business in the city. Within the hundredth milestone he had supreme judicial, military, and administrative power. He convoked and presided over the senate, and made known its wishes to the emperor. His insignia were twelve fasces, he wore the toga, and shared with the praetorian prefect alone the privilege of using a chariot with the city. There was also a city prefect at Constantinople with corresponding powers.

In very early times the Master of the Horse (magister equitum) was an assistant of the dictator, and was appointed by him; he played a particularly important part between 49 and 44 B.C. because of the frequent absence of the dictator Caesar from Italy. Augustus transferred the powers of this official to the praefectus praetorio, who exercised them for a long time. Constantine in the early part of his reign, for the purpose of limiting the powers of the praetorian prefect, revived the office by appointing two commanders-in-chief of the military forces of the empire, one of the cavalry (magister equitum), the other of the infantry (magister peditum). From the middle of the fourth century these two officers began to be called magistri equitum et peditum, or magistri utriusque militiae, and finally, magistri militum. Ammianus uses both titles, as well as magister armorum, magister rei castrensis and pedestris militiae rector. Constantius added three more magistri militum, for the Orient, Gaul, and Illyricum, and in the Notitia Dignitatum we find five in the Eastern, and three in the Western Empire.

With the appointment of these officers the organisation of the army was changed. The limitanei, who guarded the boundaries of the empire, were diminished in number, while the comitatenses, or field-troops under command of the several magistri militum, and the palatini, attached to the court and commanded by the Master of the Offices, were increased. The magistri militum were the judges of the army under their control, and had the power of jurisdiction even in some civil cases involving their soldiers; but their civil powers were very strictly limited, and in civil matters the decision ordinarily rested with the provincial judges; and appeal from their decision went to the praefectus praetorio, and not the magister militum. The magistri militum were judges over their subordinates, the comites rei castrensis and the duces, but not over the subordinates of the comites and duces. They could not move troops from one part of the empire to another, without the emperor’s order, except in case of a very great emergency.

Next in rank to these three officials was the Grand Chamberlain (praepositus sacri cubiculi). Chamberlains are first mentioned in connection with Julius Caesar’s capture by the pirates. Four years later Cicero alludes to them in such a way as to imply that they were regular members of the families of the wealthier citizens; they had considerable importance as personal attendants of the governors of provinces, but were not members of their official staff. When Augustus reorganized the palace service, the chamberlains formed a corps under the headship of an officer called a cubiculo, who was in close touch with the emperor, later sometimes his companion and confidant, and hence gradually acquired wide influence. Another official of the corps is perhaps the decurio cubiculariorum, mentioned by Suetonius in connection with the murder of Domitian. The praepositi of the time of Ammianus were eunuchs, and as constant companions of the emperor they had great power; in once instance a praepositus who confessed that he had taken part in a conspiracy escaped punishment through the intervention of his fellow eunuchs, and Ammianus ironically says that the emperor Constantius had considerable influence, if the truth be told, with Eusebius, his Grand Chamberlain.

The Grand Chamberlain had a considerable body of subordinates, all of whom were employed in the personal service of the emperor; the primicerius sacri cubiculi was the head of those who served as the chamberlains of the emperor’s apartment, and the comes castrensis sacri palatii of all who were not chamberlains, such as pages, and the throng of palace servants; other subordinates, with appropriate titles, had charge of the royal wardrobe, of necessary repairs in the palace, and the keeping of any noise from reaching the imperial apartments (the silentiarii).

Another important official in close contact with the imperial household was the Master of the Offices (magister officiorum). In 321 and 323 we hear of a tribunus et magister officiorum, so that the office goes back at least as far as Constantine, although the earliest magister who appears in inscriptions held office in 346. Since tribunus implies military service, the office is supposed to have originated when Diocletian organized the officiales of the palace on a military basis and chose the senior tribune of the praetorian guard to take charge of the various corps of palace attendants, and also to command the soldiers attached to the court. As one of the dignitates palatinae the functions of the Master of the Offices came in conflict with those of the Praetorian Prefect, whose power he still further curtailed, and to some extent with those of the Grand Chamberlain. Besides being in command of the five scholae of the palace guards, he had supervision over the chiefs of the four imperial scrinia, or correspondence bureaus, and over the schola of the agentes in rebus, and he also had charge of the cursus publicus, or state courier-service. The management of this was at first in the hands of the Praetorian Prefect, but was transferred under Constantine to the Master of the Offices. This control of the means of conveying state dispatches and persons travelling on state business throughout the empire was a very important one, since it included the right to issue passes giving the privilege of using the cursus. It brought the Master into frequent collision with the Praetorian Prefect, but the Master had the superior supervision.

The Master of the Offices also had control of the great arsenals and manufactories of arms of Italy, and in particular it was through him that imperial audiences were obtained, and that the ambassadors of foreign powers were received and introduced. Actual entrance into the audience-chamber was under the direction of a magister admissionum, and a corps of admissionales; in the cases of distinguished applicants for audience the magister admissionum functioned and in very exceptional cases the magister officiorum himself, regularly in the case of women of distinction. He had a very large corps of assistants and subordinates; his duties were very complex and important, and he was one of the most powerful officials.

The Quaestor Sacri Palatii was also numbered among the dignitates palatinae and was in close touch with the emperor. In the days of Augustus the quaestorship was the lowest office that gave admission to the senate. It was given additional prestige by the arrangement by which some of its occupants were selected by the emperor himself (called quaestores candidati or quaestores Augusti, or principis), and because one of them was regularly attached to the person of the ruler, to read his letters and other communications to the senate. As the emperor’s letters came more and more to have the force of laws and edicts, the Quaestor was considered a legal officer connected with civil jurisprudence, and ranked as one of the highest officials of the court. He had the rank of Count and at fourth century became an illustris. His duties required him to be the mouthpiece of the emperor, and to suggest to the ruler anything that would be for the welfare of the state. He had the right to suggest laws and to answer petitions addressed to the emperor. It was therefore necessary that he should be a trained jurist, in order to be an exact and just interpreter of the law. He also had the supervision of every one who entered the capital; he made inquiries into the character of all who came from the provinces, and found out from what provinces they came and for what reasons, the purpose being to prevent worthless men from taking up their residence in the city.

Theodoric wrote to the senate with regard to the office of Quaestor: “It is only men whom we consider to be of the highest learning that we raise to the dignity of the quaestorship, such men as are fitted to be the interpreters of the laws and sharers of our counsels,” and Claudian said of that official “thou comest to give edicts to the world, to make reply to suppliants. A monarch’s utterance has won dignity from thine eloquence.”

The Count of the Sacred Largesses (comes sacrarum largitionum) was the Minister of Finance, who controlled the revenues of the state, except those which passed into the hands of the prefects, the Count of the Privy Purse (comes rerum privatarum), the Quaestor, and the Master of the Offices. He had supreme charge of the sacrum aerarium, or state treasury, including the former aerarium and fiscus, exerting it in the provinces through his subordinates, the comites largitionum, of whom there was one for each diocese. The latter had subordinates called rationales summarum, each of whom collected the money and taxes either of his whole diocese or of a great part of it.

The Comes Sacrarum Largitionum also had under his supervision numerous direct and indirect taxes, and the revenues from the provinces were sent to him by the first of March. Through subordinates he had control of the sea-coast and of merchants, who could not go beyond certain cities prescribed by law; and the trading in salt, which was a government monopoly, was under his direct supervision, including the granting of licenses for the working of the public salt mines, the revenues from which were under his control. Through other subordinates he had charge of the banks in the various provinces, in which the money that was collected was kept until it was sent to him. He controlled the other mines and those who worked in them, the coinage, and the mints. He was general superintendent of the imperial factories, the employees in which could not engage in private work and were hereditarily confined to their special trades; they were under the direct charge of procuratores.

He also had judicial control over his subordinates and the power of confirming the appointments of some judges in the provinces. As his title implies, he administered the bounties of the emperor (the largitiones). The disposition of the money under his charge was entirely dependent on the good will of the emperor, either in meeting the demands of the various necessities of state, or in giving presents, or in conferring rewards.

Like the other high officials he had in his office a great number of bureaus of correspondence (scrinia) consisting of officials who received the payments made each year by the provinces; kept accounts of the sacrae largitiones through tabularii; made out the fiscal accounts and supervised the largitiones; had charge of all the expenditures for clothing needed in the palace and for the soldiers, whether they belonged to the palace troops or not, of the silverware of the palace, and the like.

The Count of the Privy Purse (comes rerum privatarum) had charge of the aerarium privatum, consisting both of the res privatae, the inalienable crown property, and the patrimonium sacrum, the private and personal property of the emperor, which could be inherited by his family. His subordinates were at first the magistri (later the rationales) rei privatae, one for each diocese or province, who took care of all finances within their province, including lands belonging to the temples, and kept a record of the income. He had the superintendence through his rationales of the government estates, both at home and in the provinces, as well as of the revenues from estates which were especially assigned to the imperial house. The res privatae at this time included also the confiscated property of men who had been condemned or proscribed, which before Tiberius had gone to the state treasury (aerarium), as well as all deposited money which because of long lapse of time had no claimant, and property for which there were no heirs.

The Count of the Privy Purse also superintended the collectors of the rents of the imperial property in the provinces, and of the gifts of silver or gold demanded in time of need from those to whom the emperors had made presents of real estate, which was free from taxation.

To the dignitates palatinae, or offices whose duties did not call their holders away from the capital, might be added the Counts of the Body Guard (comes domesticorum equitum and comes domesticorum peditum), who are placed in the Notitia Dignitatum immediately after the Comes rerum privatarum, although they were not always illustres, but sometimes held that rank. With the domestici the protectores are sometimes coupled, and when Constantine in 312 disbanded the praetorian troops, he gave their rank and duties to the protectores et domestici. Thus we have two kinds of palace troops: the scholae palatinae under the command of the Master of the Offices, and two corps of protectores et domestici, who ranked higher than the members of the scholae palatinae and were commanded by the comites domesticorum. Ammianus is the first to refer to the protectores and domestici as also divided into scholae. These consisted of ten divisions of fifty men each, commanded by decemprimi, of the rank clarissimus, and these were under the supervision of a primicerius, of the grade spectabilis; the protectores themselves ranked as perfectissimi.

In addition to accompanying the emperor when he went abroad, the protectores and domestici were sent to the provinces to perform various public services, although a part had to be always in praesenti, or at court. Sometimes, as in the case of Ammianus, they were sent to a magister militum and placed under his orders. Whenever they were sent abroad, their pay, which was already large, was increased.

Tribunus is a title of various military officers in connection with the domestici, the armaturae, the scutarii, and the protectores; also of officers in charge of manufactories of arms and of the imperial stables. As has already been noted, the title was given also to civil officials, such as the higher in rank of the notarii. Tribuni vacantes had the title and rank of tribuni without a special assignment.

Manuscripts and Traditions.

There are twelve manuscripts that contain all the surviving books of Ammianus. Two break off at the end of Book XXVI (PR) and one ends abruptly at XXV.3.13 (D). There are besides six detached sheets which once formed part of a codex belonging to the abbey of Hersfeld; these are now in Kassel, and the manuscript to which they belonged is designated as M. Of the other fifteen manuscripts seven are in Rome (VDYEURP), one each in Florence (F), Modena (Q), Cesena (K), and Venice (W), and the remaining four in Paris (CHTN). V and M are of the ninth century, the rest of the fifteenth. A full description of all these and their relations to one another is given by Clark, who has convincingly shown that of the existing manuscripts only V had independent value. To this are added the readings of M, so far as that manuscript has been preserved, and so far as the readings of its lost part can be restored from the edition of Gelenius, who professed to follow M, but made extensive emendations of his own.

Clark reconstructs the history of the text as follows. A capital manuscript, presumably of the sixth century, was copied, probably in Germany by a writer using the scriptura Scottica. In the early Caroline period a copy was made from this insular manuscript, which is the parent of V (Fuldensis), and of the one of which the Hersfeld fragments formed a part (M. No copy of the Hersfeldensis exists, but many of its readings are found in the edition of Gelenius. Every other manuscript is copied from the Fuldensis (V), four directly (FDN and E), and the other nine through F, including Gardthausen’s codices mutili (P and R), which are copies of V at two removes at least.

Since the text of V is in bad shape, with numerous lacunae, some of the readings of the early editions are of value. The first printed edition (S) was that of Sabinus, Rome, 1474, containing Books XIV-XXVI; it is a reprint of R, the poorest manuscript in existence, and hence of little or no value. The next (B), that of Petrus Castellus, Bologna, 1517, was a reprint of S, in which the text was further debased by irresponsible emendations, which vitiated all the subsequent history of the text of books XIV-XXVI. A pirated reprint of B by Erasmus (b) was published at Basle in 1518.

The first improvement dates from the edition of Accursius (A), Augsburg, May, 1533, who used a manuscript copied from V and corrected from a copy of E, which is itself a transcript of V emended by a humanist. A still greater improvement was made by the edition of Gelenius, Basle, July, 1533, who also was partly dependent on the copy of E, but had access besides to the purer tradition of M.

Subsequent editions were those of Gruter, 1611, who corrected his text from V; of Lindenbrog, Hamburg, 1609, who made use of F and first provided the text with explanatory notes; of Henricus Valesius, Paris, 1636, whose annotations formed the basis of all later commentaries, while his brilliant scholarship and critical acumen led him to make numerous correct emendations, with the help of N (his codex Regius). He also recognised the existence of metrical clausulae, and says three or four times that certain emendations do not correspond with these. His punctuation also seems to take account of the clausulae, and hence is often the same as that of Clark. Also important are the editions of Wagner and Erfurdt, Leipzig, 1808, with a collection of the best material in previous commentaries, and of Ernesti, Leipzig, 1773, with a useful index verborum, which, however, is not complete, and gives only the numbers of the chapters, without those of the sections, a practice especially exasperating in the long chapters.

The critical study of the text begins with the edition of Henricus Valesius. His younger brother Hadrianus in his edition (Paris, 1681) had the use of two additional manuscripts,C and the codex Valentinus, which is now lost. Later editions were content with the readings of these editions until 1871, when Eyssenhardt published his text at Berlin, which was followed in 1874-75 by that of Gardthausen (Leipzig). The latter was the first to use the Petrinus (P), which he thought was written before V came into Italy, from an archetype on a plane with V, and that a copy of V, corrected from M, was the archetype of E and of Accursius’ codex. His readings of P are often erroneous, and it is now recognized, as already said, that P does not represent a tradition independent of V. The standard critical edition is that of C.U. Clark, of which volume one, containing Books XIV-XXV, and volume two, containing XXIV-XXXI, were published at Berlin in 1910 and 1915 respectively.

Book XIV

1 The cruelty of Gallus Caesar.

1 After the survival of the events of an unendurable campaign, when the spirits of both parties, broken by the variety of their dangers and hardships, were still drooping, before the blare of the trumpets had ceased or the soldiers been assigned to their winter quarters, the gusts of raging Fortune brought new storms upon the commonwealth through the misdeeds, many and notorious, of Gallus Caesar. He had been raised, at the very beginning of mature manhood, by an unexpected promotion from the utmost depths of wretchedness to princely heights, and overstepping the bounds of the authority conferred upon him, by excess of violence was causing trouble everywhere. For by his relationship to the imperial stock, and the affinity which he even then had with the name of Constantius, he was raised to such a height of presumption that, if he had been more powerful, he would have ventured (it seemed) upon a course hostile to the author of his good fortune. 2 To his cruelty his wife was besides a serious incentive, a woman beyond measure presumptuous because of her kinship to the emperor, and previously joined in marriage by her father Constantine with his brother’s son, King Hanniballianus. She, a Megaera in mortal guise, constantly aroused the savagery of Gallus, being as insatiable as he in her thirst for human blood. The pair in process of time gradually became more expert in doing harm, and through underhand and crafty eavesdroppers, who had the evil habit of lightly adding to their information and wanting to learn only what was false and agreeable to them, they fastened upon innocent victims false charges of aspiring to royal power or of practising magic. 3 There stood out among their lesser atrocities, when their unbridled power had already surpassed the limits of unimportant delinquencies, the sudden and awful death of one Clematius, a nobleman of Alexandria. This man’s mother-in-law, it was said, had a violent passion for her son-in-law, but was unable to seduce him; whereupon, gaining entrance to the palace by a back door, she presented the queen with a valuable necklace, and thus secured the dispatch of his death-warrant to Honoratus, at that time Count of the East; and so Clematius, a man contaminated by no guilt, was put to death without being allowed to protest or even to open his lips.

4 After the perpetration of this impious deed, which now began to arouse the fears of others also, as if cruelty were given free rein, some persons were adjudged guilty on the mere shadow of suspicion and condemned. Of these some were put to death, others punished by the confiscation of their property and driven from their homes into exile, where, having nothing left save tears and complaints, they lived on the doles of charity; and since constitutional and just rule had given place to cruel caprice, wealthy and famous houses were being closed. 5 And no words of an accuser, even though bribed, were required amid these accumulations of evils, in order that these crimes might be committed, at least ostensibly, under the forms of law, as has sometimes been done by cruel emperors; but whatever the implacable Caesar had resolved upon was rushed to fulfilment, as if it had been carefully weighed and determined to be right and lawful. 6 It was further devised that sundry low-born men, whose very insignificance made them little to be feared, should be appointed to gather gossip in all quarters of Antioch and report what they had heard. Then, as if travellers, and in disguise, attended the gatherings of distinguished citizens, and gained entrance to the houses of the wealthy in the guise of needy clients; then, being secretly admitted to the palace by a back door, they reported whatever they had been able to hear or learn, with one accord making it a rule to add inventions of their own and make doubly worse what they had learned, but suppressing the praise of Caesar which the fear of impending evils extorted from some against their will. 7 And sometimes it happened that if the head of a household, in the seclusion of his private apartments, with no confidential servant present, had whispered something in the ear of his wife, the emperor learned it on the following day, as if it were reported by Amphiaraus or Marcius, those famous seers of old. And so even the walls, the only sharers of secrets, were feared. 8 Moreover, his fixed purpose of ferreting out these and many similar things increased, spurred on by the queen, who pushed her husband’s fortunes headlong to sheer ruin, when she ought rather, with womanly gentleness, to have recalled him by helpful counsel to the path of truth and mercy, after the manner of the wife of that savage emperor Maximinus, as we have related in our account of the acts of the Gordians.

9 Finally, following an unprecedented and destructive course, Gallus also ventured to commit the atrocious crime which, to his utter disgrace, Gallienus is said to have once hazarded at Rome. Taking with him a few attendants with concealed weapons, he used to roam at evening about the inns and street-corners, inquiring of every one in Greek, of which he had remarkable command, what he thought of the Caesar. And this he did boldly in a city where the brightness of the lights at night commonly equals the resplendence of day. At last, being often recognized, and reflecting that if he continued that course he would be conspicuous, he appeared only in broad daylight, to attend to matters which he considered important. And all this conduct of his caused very deep sorrow to many.

10 Now at that time Thalassius was the Praetorian Prefect at court, a man who was himself of an imperious character. He, perceiving that Gallus’ temper was rising, to the peril of many, did not try to soothe it by ripe counsel, as sometimes high officials have moderated the ire of princes; but rather roused the Caesar to fury by opposing and reproving him at unseasonable times; very frequently he informed the emperor of Gallus’ doings, exaggerating them and taking pains — whatever his motive may have been — to do it openly. Through this conduct the Caesar was soon still more violently enraged, and as if raising higher, as it were, the standard of his obstinacy, with no regard for his own life or that of others, he rushed on with uncontrollable impetuosity, like a swift torrent, to overthrow whatever opposed him.

2 Inroads of the Isaurians.

1 And indeed this was not the only calamity to afflict the Orient with various disasters. For the Isaurians too, whose way it is now to keep the peace and now put everything in turmoil by sudden raids, abandoned their occasional secret plundering expeditions and, as impunity stimulated for the worse their growing boldness, broke out in a serious war. For a long time they had been inflaming their warlike spirits by reckless outbreaks, but they were now especially exasperated, as they declared, by the indignity of some of their associates, who had been taken prisoner, having been thrown to beasts of prey in the shows of the amphitheatre at Iconium, a town of Pisidia — an outrage without precedent. 2 And, in the words of Cicero, as even wild animals, when warned by hunger, generally return to the place where they were once fed, so they all, swooping like a whirlwind down from their steep and rugged mountains, made for the districts near the sea; and hiding themselves there in pathless lurking-places and defiles as the dark nights were coming on — the moon being still crescent and so not shining with full brilliance — they watched the sailors. And when they saw that they were buried in sleep, creeping on all fours along the anchor-ropes and making their way on tiptoe into the boats, they came upon the crew all unawares, and since their natural ferocity was fired by greed, they spared no one, even of those who surrendered, but massacred them all and without resistance carried off the cargoes, led either by their value or by their usefulness. 3 This however did not continue long; for when the fate of those whom they had butchered and plundered became known, no one afterwards put in at those ports, but avoiding them as they would the deadly cliffs of Sciron, they coasted along the shores of Cyprus, which lie opposite to the crags of Isauria. 4 Then presently, as time went on and nothing came their way from abroad, they left the sea-coast and withdrew to that part of Lycaonia that borders on Isauria; and there, blocking the roads with close barricades, they lived on the property of the provincials and of travellers. 5 Anger at this aroused the soldiers quartered in the numerous towns and fortresses which lie near those regions, and each division strove to the best of its power to check the marauders as they ranged more widely, now in solid bodies, sometimes even in isolated bands. But the soldiers were defeated by their strength and numbers; for since the Isaurians were born and brought up amid the steep and winding defiles of the mountains, they bounded over them as if they were a smooth and level plain, attacking the enemy with savage howls. 6 And sometimes our infantry in pursuing them were forced to scale lofty slopes, and when they lost their footing, even if they reached the very summits by catching hold of underbrush or briars, the narrow and pathless tracts allowed them neither to take order of battle nor with mighty effort to keep a firm footing; and while the enemy, running here and there, tore off and hurled down masses of rock from above, they made their perilous way down over steep slopes; or if, compelled by dire necessity, they made a brave fight, they were overwhelmed by falling boulders of enormous weight. 7 Therefore extreme caution was shown after that and when the marauders began to make for the mountain heights, the soldiers yielded to the unfavourable position. When, however, the Isaurians could be found on level ground, as constantly happened, they were allowed neither to stretch out their right arms nor poise their weapons, of which each carried two or three, but they were slaughtered like defenceless sheep.

8 Accordingly these same marauders, distrusting Lycaonia, which is for the most part level, and having learned by repeated experience that they would be no match for our soldiers in a stand-up fight, made their way by retired by-paths into Pamphylia, long unmolested, it is true, but through fear of raids and massacres protected everywhere by strong garrisons, while troops were spread all over the neighbouring country. 9 Therefore they made great haste, in order by extreme swiftness to anticipate the reports of their movements, trusting in their bodily strength and activity; but they made their way somewhat slowly to the summits of the hills over winding trails. And when, after overcoming extreme difficulties, they came to the steep banks of the Melas, a deep and eddying stream, which surrounds the inhabitants like a wall and protects them, the lateness of the night increased their alarm, and they halted for a time, waiting for daylight. They thought, indeed, to cross without opposition and by their unexpected raid to lay waste all before them; but they endured the greatest hardships to no purpose. 10 For when the sun rose, they were prevented from crossing by the size of the stream, which was narrow but deep. And while they were hunting for fishermen’s boats or preparing to cross on hastily woven hurdles, the legions that were then wintering at Side poured out and fell upon them in swift attack. And having set up their standards near the river-bank, the legions drew themselves up most skilfully for fighting hand to hand with a close formation of shields; and with perfect ease they slew some, who had even dared to cross the river secretly, trusting to swimming, or in hollowed out tree trunks. 11 From there, after trying the skill of our soldiers even to a final test without gaining anything, dislodged by fear and the strength of the legions, and not knowing what direction to take, they came to the neighborhood of the town of Laranda. 12 There they were refreshed with food and rest, and after their fear had left them, they attacked some rich villages; but since they were aided by some cohorts of cavalry, which chanced to come up, the enemy withdrew without attempting any resistance on the level plain; but as they retreated, they summoned all the flower of their youth that had been left at home. 13 And since they were distressed by severe hunger, they made for a place called Palaea, near the sea, which was protected by a strong wall. There supplies are regularly stored even to-day, for distribution to the troops that defend the whole frontier of Isauria. Therefore they invested the fortress for three days and three nights; but since the steep slope itself could not be approached without deadly peril, and nothing could be effected by mines, and no method of siege was successful, they withdrew in dejection, ready, under the pressure of extreme necessity, to undertake even tasks beyond their powers. 14 Accordingly, filled with still greater fury, to which despair and famine added fuel, with increased numbers and irresistible energy they rushed on to destroy Seleucia, the metropolis of the province, which Count Castricius was holding with three legions steeled by hard service. 15 Warned of their approach by trusty scouts, the officers of the garrison gave the watchword, according to regulations, and in a swift sally led out the entire force; and having quickly crossed the bridge over the river Calycadnus, whose mighty stream washes the towers of the city walls, they drew up their men in order of battle. And yet no one charged or was allowed to fight; for they feared that band on fire with madness, superior in numbers, and ready to rush upon the sword, regardless of their lives. 16 Consequently, when the army came into view afar off, and the notes of the trumpeters were heard, the marauders stopped and halted for a while; then, drawing their formidable swords, they came on at a slower pace. 17 And when the unperturbed soldiers made ready to meet them, deploying their ranks and striking their shields with their spears, an action which rouses the wrath and resentment of the combatants, they intimidated the nearest of the enemy by their very gestures. But as they were eagerly rushing to the fray, their leaders called them back, thinking it inadvisable to risk a doubtful combat when fortifications were not far distant, under the protection of which the safety of all could be put on a solid foundation. 18 In this conviction, then, the warriors were led back within the walls, the entrances to the gates on all sides were barred, and they took their place on the battlements and pinnacles with rocks gathered from every hand and weapons in readiness, so that, if anyone should force his way near to the walls, he might be overwhelmed by a shower of spears and stones. 19 Still, the besieged were greatly troubled by the fact that the Isaurians, having captured some boats which were carrying grain on the river, were abundantly supplied with provisions, while they themselves had already exhausted the regular stores and were dreading the deadly pangs of approaching famine. 20 When the news of this situation spread abroad, and repeated messages dispatched to Gallus Caesar had roused him to action, since the Master of the Horse was at the time too far removed from the spot, orders were given to Nebridius, Count of the East. He quickly got together troops from every side and with the greatest energy was hastening to rescue this great and strategically important city from danger. On learning this, the freebooters departed without accomplishing anything more of consequence, and scattering (after their usual fashion) made for the trackless wastes of the high mountains.

3 An unsuccessful plot of the Persians.

1 When affairs had reached this stage in Isauria, the king of Persia, involved in war with his neighbours, was driving back from his frontiers a number of very wild tribes which, with inconsistent policy, often make hostile raids upon his territories and sometimes aid him when he makes war upon us. One of his grandees, Nohodares by name, having received orders to invade Mesopotamia whenever occasion offered, was carefully reconnoitring our territory, intending a sudden incursion in case he found any opening. 2 And as all the districts of Mesopotamia, being exposed to frequent raids, were protected by frontier-guards and country garrisons, Nohodares, having turned his course to the left, had beset the remotest parts of Osdroene, attempting a novel and all but unprecedented manoeuvre; and if he had succeeded, he would have devastated the whole region like a thunderbolt. Now what he planned was the following.

3 The town of Batne, founded in Anthemusia in early times by a band of Macedonians, is separated by a short space from the river Euphrates; it is filled with wealthy traders when, at the yearly festival, near the beginning of the month of September, a great crowd of every condition gathers for the fair, to traffic in the wares sent from India and China, and in other articles that are regularly brought there in great abundance by land and sea. 4 This district the above-mentioned leader made ready to invade, on the days set for this celebration, through the wilderness and the grass-covered banks of the river Abora; but he was betrayed by information given by some of his own soldiers, who, fearing punishment for a crime which they had committed, deserted to the Roman garrison. Therefore, withdrawing without accomplishing anything, he languished thereafter in inaction.

4 Inroads of the Saracens; their customs.

1 The Saracens, however, whom we never found desirable either as friends or as enemies, ranging up and down the country, in a brief space of time laid waste whatever they could find, like rapacious kites which, whenever they have caught sight of any prey from on high, seize it with swift swoop, and directly they have seized it make off. 2 Although I recall having told of their customs in my history of the emperor Marcus, and several times after that, yet I will now briefly relate a few more particulars about them. 3 Among those tribes whose original abode extends from the Assyrians to the cataracts of the Nile and the frontiers of the Blemmyae all alike are warriors of equal rank, half-nude, clad in dyed cloaks as far as the loins, ranging widely with the help of swift horses and slender camels in times of peace or of disorder. No man ever grasps a plough-handle or cultivates a tree, none seeks a living by tilling the soil, but they rove continually over wide and extensive tracts without a home, without fixed abodes or laws; they cannot long endure the same sky, nor does the sun of a single district ever content them. 4 Their life is always on the move, and they have mercenary wives, hired under a temporary contract. But in order that there may be some semblance of matrimony, the future wife, by way of dower, offers her husband a spear and a tent, with the right to leave him after a stipulated time, if she so elect: and it is unbelievable with what ardour both sexes give themselves up to passion. 5 Moreover, they wander so widely as long as they live, that a woman marries in one place, gives birth in another, and rears her children far away, without being allowed an opportunity for rest. 6 They all feed upon game and an abundance of milk, which is their main sustenance, on a variety of plants, as well as on such birds as they are able to take by fowling; and I have seen many of them who were wholly unacquainted with grain and wine. 7 So much for this dangerous tribe. Let us now return to our original theme.

5 The torture of the followers of Magnentius.

1 While this was happening in the East, Constantius was passing the winter at Arelate, where he gave entertainments in the theatre and the circus with ostentatious magnificence. Then, on the 10th of October, which completed the thirtieth year of his reign, giving greater weight to his arrogance and accepting every false or doubtful charge as evident and proven, among other atrocities he tortured Gerontius, a count of the party of Magnentius, and visited him with the sorrow of exile. 2 And, as an ailing body is apt to be affected even by slight annoyances, so his narrow and sensitive mind, thinking that every sound indicated something done or planned at the expense of his safety, made his victory lamentable through the murder of innocent men. 3 For if anyone of the military commanders or ex-officials, or one of high rank in his own community, was accused even by rumour of having favoured the party of the emperor’s opponent, he was loaded with chains and dragged about like a wild beast. And whether a personal enemy pressed the charge or no one at all, as though it was enough that he had been named, informed against, or accused, he was condemned to death, or his property confiscated, or he was banished to some desert island.

4 Moreover his harsh cruelty, whenever the majesty of the empire was said to be insulted, and his angry passions and unfounded suspicions were increased by the bloodthirsty flattery of his courtiers, who exaggerated everything that happened and pretended to be greatly troubled by the thought of an attempt on the life of a prince on whose safety, as on a thread, they hypocritically declared that the condition of the whole world depended. 5 And he is even said to have given orders that no one who had ever been punished for these or similar offences should be given a new trial after a writ of condemnation had once been presented to him in the usual manner, which even the most inexorable emperors commonly allowed. And this fatal fault of cruelty, which in others sometimes grew less with advancing age, in his case became more violent, since a group of flatterers intensified his stubborn resolution.

6 Prominent among these was the state secretary Paulus, a native of Spain, a kind of viper, whose countenance concealed his character, but who was extremely clever in scenting out hidden means of danger for others. When he had been sent to Britain to fetch some officers who had dared to conspire with Magnentius, since they could make no resistance he autocratically exceeded his instructions and, like a flood, suddenly overwhelmed the fortunes of many, making his way amid manifold slaughter and destruction, imprisoning freeborn men and even degrading some with handcuffs; as a matter of fact, he patched together many accusations with utter disregard of the truth, and to him was due an impious crime, which fixed an eternal stain upon the time of Constantius. 7 Martinus, who was governing those provinces as substitute for the prefects, deeply deplored the woes suffered by innocent men; and after often begging that those who were free from any reproach should be spared, when he failed in his appeal he threatened to retire, in the hope that, at least through fear of this, that malevolent man-hunter might finally cease to expose to open danger men naturally given to peace. 8 Paulus thought that this would interfere with his profession, and being a formidable artist in devising complications, for which reason he was nicknamed “The Chain,” since the substitute continued to defend those whom he was appointed to govern, Paulus involved even him in the common peril, threatening to bring him also in chains to the emperor’s court, along with the tribunes and many others. Thereupon Martinus, alarmed at this threat, and thinking swift death imminent, drew his sword and attacked that same Paulus. But since the weakness of his hand prevented him from dealing a fatal blow, he plunged the sword which he had already drawn into his own side. And by that most ignominious death there passed from life a most just ruler, who had dared to lighten the unhappy lot of many. 9 After perpetrating these atrocious crimes, Paulus, stained with blood, returned to the emperor’s camp, bringing with him many men almost covered with chains and in a state of pitiful filth and wretchedness. On their arrival, the racks were made ready and the executioner prepared his hooks and other instruments of torture. Many of the prisoners were proscribed, others driven into exile; to some the sword dealt the penalty of death. For no one easily recalls the acquittal of anyone in the time of Constantius when an accusation against him had even been whispered.

6 The faults of the Roman Senate and People.

1 Meanwhile Orfitus was governing the eternal city with the rank of Prefect, and with an arrogance beyond the limit of the power that had been conferred upon him. He was a man of wisdom, it is true, and highly skilled in legal practice, but less equipped with the adornment of the liberal arts than became a man of noble rank. During his term of office serious riots broke out because of the scarcity of wine; for the people, eager for an unrestrained use of this commodity, are roused to frequent and violent disturbances.

2 Now I think that some foreigners who will perhaps read this work (if I shall be so fortunate) may wonder why it is that when the narrative turns to the description of what goes on at Rome, I tell of nothing save dissensions, taverns, and other similar vulgarities. Accordingly, I shall briefly touch upon the reasons, intending nowhere to depart intentionally from the truth.

3 At the time when Rome first began to rise into a position of world-wide splendour, in order that she might grow to a towering stature, Virtue and Fortune, ordinarily at variance, formed a pact of eternal peace; for if either one of them had failed her, Rome had not come to complete supremacy. 4 Her people, from the very cradle to the end of their childhood, a period of about three hundred years, carried on wars about her walls. Then, entering adult life, after many toilsome wars, they crossed the Alps and the sea. Grown to youth and manhood, from every region which the vast globe includes, they brought back laurels and triumphs. And now, declining into old age, and often owing victory to its name alone, it has come to a quieter period of life. 5 Thus the venerable city, after humbling the proud necks of savage nations, and making laws, the everlasting foundations and moorings of liberty, like a thrifty parent, wise and wealthy, has entrusted the management of her inheritance to the Caesars, as to her children. 6 And although for some time the tribes have been inactive and the centuries at peace, and there are no contests for votes but the tranquillity of Numa’s time has returned, yet throughout all regions and parts of the earth she is accepted as mistress and queen; everywhere the white hair of the senators and their authority are revered and the name of the Roman people is respected and honoured.

7 But this magnificence and splendour of the assemblies is marred by the rude worthlessness of a few, who do not consider where they were born, but, as if licence were granted to vice, descend to sin and wantonness. For as the lyric poet Simonides tells us, one who is going to live happy and in accord with perfect reason ought above all else to have a glorious fatherland. 8 Some of these men eagerly strive for statues, thinking that by them they can be made immortal, as if they would gain a greater reward from senseless brazen images than from the consciousness of honourable and virtuous conduct. And they take pains to have them overlaid with gold, a fashion first introduced by Acilius Glabrio, after his skill and his arms had overcome King Antiochus. But how noble it is, scorning these slight and trivial honours, to aim to read the long and steep ascent to true glory, as the bard of Ascra expresses it, is made clear by Cato the Censor. For when he was asked why he alone among many did not have a statue, he replied: “I would rather that the good men should wonder why I did not deserve one than (which is much worse) should mutter ‘Why was he given one?’”

9 Other men, taking great pride in the coaches higher than common and in ostentatious finery of apparel, sweat under heavy cloaks, which they fasten about their necks and bind around their very throats, while the air blows through them because of the excessive lightness of the material; and they lift them up with both hands and wave them with many gestures, especially with their left hands, in order that the over-long fringes and the tunics embroidered with party-coloured threads in multiform figures of animals may be conspicuous. 10 Others, though no one questions them, assume a grave expression and greatly exaggerate their wealth, doubling the annual yield of their fields, well cultivated (as they think), of which they assert that they possess a great number from the rising to the setting sun; they are clearly unaware that their forefathers, through whom the greatness of Rome was so far flung, gained renown, not by riches, but by fierce wars, and not differing from the common soldiers in wealth, mode of life, or simplicity of attire, overcame all obstacles by valour. 11 For that reason the eminent Valerius Publicola was buried by a contribution of money, and through the aid of her husband’s friends the needy wife of Regulus and her children were supported. And the daughter of Scipio received her dowry from the public treasury, since the nobles blushed to look upon the beauty of this marriageable maiden long unsought because of the absence of a father of modest means.

12 But now-a-days, if as a stranger of good position you enter for the first time to pay your respects to some man who is well-to-do and therefore puffed up, at first you will be greeted as if you were an eagerly expected friend, and after being asked many questions and forced to lie, you will wonder, since the man never saw you before, that a great personage should pay such marked attention to your humble self as to make you regret, because of such special kindness, that you did not see Rome ten years earlier. 13 When, encouraged by this affability, you make the same call on the following day, you will hang about unknown and unexpected, while the man who the day before urged you to call again counts up his clients, wondering who you are or whence you came. But when you are at last recognized and admitted to his friendship, if you devote yourself to calling upon for three years without interruption, then are away for the same number of days, and return to go through with a similar course, you will not be asked where you were, and unless you abandon the quest in sorrow, you will waste your whole life to no purpose in paying court to the blockhead.

14 And when, after a sufficient interval of time, the preparation of those tedious and unwholesome banquets begins, or the distribution of the customary doles, it is debated with anxious deliberation whether it will be suitable to invite a stranger, with the exception of those to whom a return of hospitality is due; and if, after full and mature deliberation, the decision is in the affirmative, the man who is invited is one who watches all night before the house of the charioteers, or who is a professional dicer, or who pretends to the knowledge of certain secrets. 15 For they avoid learned and serious everyone as unlucky and useless, in addition to which the announcers of names, who are wont to traffic in these and similar favours, on receiving a bribe, admit to the doles and the dinners obscure and low-born intruders.

16 But I pass over the gluttonous banquets and the various allurements of pleasures, lest I should go too far, and I shall pass to the fact that certain persons hasten without fear of danger through the broad streets of the city and over the upturned stones of the pavements as if they were driving post-horses with hoofs of fire (as the saying is), dragging after them armies of slaves like bands of brigands and not leaving even Sannio at home, as the comic writer says. And many matrons, imitating them, rush about through all quarters of the city with covered heads and in closed litters. 17 And as skilful directors of battles place in the van dense throngs of brave soldiers, then light-armed troops, after them the javelin-throwers, and last of all the reserve forces, to enter the action in case chance makes it needful, just so those who have charge of a city household, made conspicuous by wands grasped in their right hands, carefully and diligently draw up the array; then, as if the signal had been given in camp, close to the front of the carriage all the weavers march; next to these the blackened service of the kitchen, then all the rest of the slaves without distinction, accompanied by the idle plebeians of the neighbourhood; Italy, the throng of eunuchs, beginning with the old men and ending with the boys, sallow and disfigured by the distorted form of their members; so that, wherever anyone goes, beholding the troops of mutilated men, he would curse the memory of that Queen Samiramis of old, who was the first of all to castrate young males, thus doing violence, as it were, to Nature and wresting her from her intended course, since she at the very beginning of life, through the primitive founts of the seed, by a kind of secret law, shows the ways to propagate posterity.

18 In consequence of this state of things, the few houses that were formerly famed for devotion to serious pursuits now teem with the sports of sluggish indolence, re-echoing to the sound of singing and the tinkling of flutes and lyres. In short, in place of the philosopher the singer is called in, and in place of the orator the teacher of stagecraft, and while the libraries are shut up forever like tombs, water-organs are manufactured and lyres as large as carriages, and flutes and instruments heavy for gesticulating actors.

19 At last we have reached such a state of baseness, that whereas not so very long ago, when there was fear of a scarcity of food, foreigners were driven neck and crop from the city, and those who practised the liberal arts (very few in number) were thrust out without a breathing space, yet the genuine attendants upon actresses of the mimes, and those who for the time pretended to be such, were kept with us, while three thousand dancing girls, without even being questioned, remained here with their choruses, and an equal number of dancing masters. 20 And, wherever you turn your eyes, you may see a throng of women with curled hair, who might, if they had married, by this time, so far as age goes, have already produced three children, sweeping the pavements with their feet to the point of weariness and whirling in rapid gyrations, while they represent the innumerable figures that the stage-plays have devised.

21 Furthermore, there is no doubt that when once upon a time Rome was the abode of all the virtues, many of the nobles detained here foreigners of free birth by various kindly attentions, as the Lotus-eaters of Homer did by the sweetness of their fruits. 22 But now the vain arrogance of some men regards everything born outside the pomerium of our city as worthless, except the childless and unwedded; and it is beyond belief with what various kinds of obsequiousness men without children are courted at Rome. 23 And since among them, as is natural in the capital of the world, cruel disorders gain such heights that all the healing art is powerless even to mitigate them, it has been provided, as a means of safety, that no one shall visit a friend suffering from such a disease, and by a few who are more cautious another sufficiently effective remedy has been added, namely, that servants sent to inquire after the condition of a man’s acquaintances who have been attacked by that disorder should not be readmitted to their masters’ house until they have purified their persons by a bath. So fearful are they of a contagion seen only by the eyes of others. 24 But yet, although these precautions are so strictly observed, some men, when invited to a wedding, where gold is put into their cupped right hands, although the strength of their limbs is impaired, will run even all the way to Spoletium. Such are the habits of the nobles.

25 But of the multitude of lowest condition and greatest poverty some spend the entire night in wineshops, some lurk in the shade of the awnings of the theatres, which Catulus in his aedileship, imitating Campanian wantonness, was the first to spread, or they quarrel with one another in their games at dice, making a disgusting sound by drawing back the breath into their resounding nostrils; or, which is the favourite among all amusements, from sunrise until evening, in sunshine and in rain, they stand open-mouthed, examining minutely the good points or the defects of charioteers and their horses. 26 And it is most remarkable to see an innumerable crowd of plebeians, their minds filled with a kind of eagerness, hanging on the outcome of the chariot races. These and similar things prevent anything memorable or serious from being done in Rome. Accordingly, I must return to my subject.

7 Atrocities and savagery of Gallus Caesar.

1 His lawlessness now more widely extended, Caesar became offensive to all good men, and henceforth showing no restraint, he harassed all parts of the East, sparing neither ex-magistrates nor the chief men of the cities, nor even the plebeians. 2 Finally, he ordered the death of the leaders of the senate of Antioch in a single writ, enraged because when he urged a prompt introduction of cheap prices at an unseasonable time, since scarcity threatened, they had made a more vigorous reply than was fitting. And they would have perished to a man, had not Honoratus, then count-governor of the East, opposed him with firm resolution. 3 This also was a sign of his savage nature which was neither obscure nor hidden, that he delighted in cruel sports; and sometimes in the Circus, absorbed in six or seven contests, he exulted in the sight of boxers pounding each other to death and drenched with blood, as if he had made some great gain. 4 Besides this, his propensity for doing harm was inflamed and incited by a worthless woman, who, on being admitted to the palace (as she had demanded) had betrayed a plot that was secretly being made against him by some soldiers of the lowest condition. Whereupon Constantina, exulting as if the safety of her husband were now assured, gave her a reward, and seating her in a carriage, sent her out through the palace gates into the public streets, in order that by such inducements she might tempt others to reveal similar or greater conspiracies.

5 After this, when Gallus was on the point of leaving for Hierapolis, ostensibly to take part in the campaign, and the commons of Antioch suppliantly besought him to save them from the fear of a famine, which, through many difficulties of circumstance, was then believed to be imminent, he did not, after the manner of princes whose widely extended power sometimes cures local troubles, make any arrangements or command the bringing of supplies from neighbouring provinces; but to the multitude, which was in fear of the direst necessity, he delivered up Theophilus, consular governor of Syria, who was standing near by, constantly repeating the statement, that no one could lack food if the governor did not wish it. 6 These words increased the audacity of the lowest classes, and when the lack of provisions became more acute, driven by hunger and rage, they set fire to the pretentious house of a certain Eubulus, a man of distinction among his own people; then, as if the governor had been delivered into their hands by an imperial edict, they assailed him with kicks and blows, and trampling him under foot when he was half-dead, with awful mutilation tore him to pieces. After his wretched death each man saw in the end of one person an image of his own peril and dreaded a fate like that which he had just witnessed. 7 At that same time Serenianus, a former general, through whose inefficiency Celse in Phoenicia had been pillaged, as we have described, was justly and legally tried for high treason, and it was doubtful by what favour he could be acquitted; for it was clearly proved that he had enchanted by forbidden arts a cap which he used to wear, and sent a friend of his with it to a prophetic shrine, to seek for omens as to whether the imperial power was destined to be firmly and safely his, as he desired. 8 At that time a twofold evil befell, in that an awful fate took off Theophilus who was innocent, and Serenianus, who was deserving of universal execration, got off scotfree, almost without any strong public protest.

9 Constantius, hearing of these events from time to time, and being informed of some things by Thalassius, who, as he had now learned, had died a natural death, wrote in flattering terms to Caesar, but gradually withdrew from him his means of defence. He pretended to be anxious, since soldiers are apt to be disorderly in times of inaction, lest they might conspire for Gallus’ destruction, and bade him be satisfied with the palace troops only and those of the guards, besides the Targeteers and the Household troops. He further ordered Domitianus, a former state treasurer, and now prefect, that when he came into Syria, he should politely and respectfully urge Gallus, whom he had frequently summoned, to hasten to return to Italy. 10 But when Domitianus had quickened his pace because of these instructions and had come to Antioch, passing by the gates of the palace in contempt of the Caesar, on whom he ought to have called, he went to the general’s quarters with the usual pomp, and having for a long time pleaded illness, he neither entered the palace nor appeared in public, but remaining in hiding he made many plots for Gallus’ ruin, adding some superfluous details to the reports which from time to time he sent to the emperor. 11 At last, being invited to the palace and admitted to the council, without any preliminary remarks he said inconsiderately and coolly: “Depart, Caesar, and know that, if you delay, I shall at once order your supplies and those of your palace to be cut off.” Having said only this in an insolent tone, he went off in a passion, and although often sent for, he never afterwards came into Gallus’ presence. 12 Caesar, angered at this and feeling that such treatment was unjust and undeserved, ordered his faithful guards to arrest the prefect. When this became known, Montius, who was then quaestor, a spirited man but somewhat inclined to moderate measures, having in view the public welfare, sent for the foremost members of the palace troops and addressed them in mild terms, pointing out that such conduct was neither seemly nor expedient and adding in a tone of reproof that if they approved of this course, it would be fitting first to overthrow the statues of Constantius and then plan with less anxiety for taking the life of the prefect. 13 On learning this, Gallus, like a serpent attacked by darts or stones, waiting now for a last expedient and trying to save his life by any possible means, ordered all troops to be assembled under arms, and while they stood in amazement, he said, baring and gnashing his teeth, “Stand by me, my brave men, who are like myself in danger. 14 Montius with a kind of strange and unprecedented arrogance in this loud harangue of his accuses us of being rebels and as resisting the majesty of Augustus, no doubt in anger because I ordered an insolent prefect, who presumes to ignore what proper conduct requires, to be imprisoned, merely to frighten him.” 15 With no further delay the soldiers, as often eager for disturbance, first attacked Montius, who lodged close by, an old man frail of body and ill besides, bound coarse ropes to his legs, and dragged him spread-eagle fashion without any breathing-space all the way to Caesar’s headquarters. 16 And in the same access of rage they threw Domitianus down the steps, then bound him also with ropes, and tying the two together, dragged them at full speed through the broad streets of the city. And when finally their joints and limbs were torn asunder, leaping upon their dead bodies, they mutilated them in a horrible manner, and at last, as if glutted, threw them into the river. 17 Now these men, reckless to the point of madness, were roused to such atrocious deeds as they committed by a certain Luscus, curator of the city. He suddenly appeared and with repeated cries, like a bawling leader of porters, urged them to finish what they had begun. And for that not long afterwards he was burned alive.

18 And because Montius, when about to breathe his last in the hands of those who were rending him, cried out upon Epigonus and Eusebius, but without indicating their profession or rank, men of the same name were sought for with great diligence. And in order that the excitement might not cool, a philosopher Epigonus from Cilicia was arrested, and a Eusebius, surnamed Pittacas, a vehement orator, from Edessa, although it was not these that the quaestor had implicated, but some tribunes of forges, who had promised arms in case a revolution should be set on foot. 19 In those same days Apollinaris, son-in-law of Domitianus, who a short time before had been in charge of Caesar’s palace, being sent to Mesopotamia by his father-in-law, inquired with excessive interest among the companies of soldiers whether they had received any secret messages from Gallus which indicated that he was aiming higher; but when he heard what had happened at Antioch, he slipped off through Lesser Armenia and made for Constantinople, but from there he was brought back by the guards and kept in close confinement.

20 Now, while these things were happening, attention was drawn at Tyre to a royal robe that had been made secretly, but it was uncertain who had ordered it or for whose use it was made. Consequently the governor of the province at that time, who was the father of Apollinaris and of the same name, was brought to trial as his accomplice; and many others were gathered together from various cities and were bowed down by the weight of charges of heinous crimes.

21 And now, when the clarions of internal disaster were sounding, the disordered mind of Caesar, turned from consideration of the truth, and not secretly as before, vented its rage; and since no one conducted the usual examination of the charges either made or invented, or distinguished the innocent from association with the guilty, all justice vanished from the courts as though driven out. And while the legitimate defence of cases was put to silence, the executioner (trustee of plunderings), hoodwinking for execution, and confiscation of property ranged everywhere through the eastern provinces. These I think it now a suitable time to review, excepting Mesopotamia, which has already been described in connection with the account of the Parthian wars, and Egypt, which we will necessarily postpone to another time.

8 Description of the Eastern Provinces.

1 After one passes the summits of Mount Taurus, which on the east rise to a lofty height, Cilicia spreads out in widely extended plains, a land abounding in products of every kind; and adjoining its right side is Isauria, equally blest with fruitful vines and abundant grain, being divided in the middle by the navigable river Calycadnus. 2 This province too, in addition to many towns, is adorned by two cities; Seleucia, the work of king Seleucus, and Claudiopolis, which Claudius Caesar founded as a colony. For Isaura, which was formerly too powerful, was long ago overthrown as a dangerous rebel, and barely shows a few traces of its former glory. 3 Cilicia, however, which boasts of the river Cydnus, is ennobled by Tarsus, a fair city; this is said to have been founded by Perseus, son of Jupiter, and Danaë, or else by a wealthy and high-born man, Sandan by name, who came from Ethiopia. There is also Anazarbus, bearing the name of its founder, and Mobsuestia, the abode of that famous diviner Mobsus. He, wandering from his fellow-warriors the Argonauts when they were returning after carrying off the golden fleece, and being borne to the coast of Africa, met a sudden death. Thereafter his heroic remains, covered with Punic sod, have been for the most part effective in healing a variety of diseases. 4 These two provinces, crowded with bands of brigands, were long ago, during the war with the pirates, sent under the yoke by the proconsul Servilius and made to pay tribute. And these regions indeed, lying, as it were, upon a promontory, are separated from the eastern continent by Mount Amanus. 5 But the frontier of the East, extending a long distance in a straight line, reaches from the banks of the Euphrates to the borders of the Nile, being bounded on the left by the Saracenic races and on the right exposed to the waves of the sea. Of this district Nicator Seleucus took possession and greatly increased it in power, when by right of succession he was holding the rule of Persia after the death of Alexander of Macedon; and he was a successful and efficient king, as his surname Nicator indicates. 6 For by taking advantage of the great number of men whom he ruled for along time in peace, in place of their rustic dwellings he built cities of great strength and abundant wealth; and many of these, although they are now called by the Greek names which were imposed upon them by the will of their founder, nevertheless have not lost the old appellations in the Assyrian tongue which the original settlers gave them.

7 And first after Osdroene, which, as has been said, I have omitted from this account, Commagene, now called Euphratensis, gradually lifts itself into eminence; it is famous for the great cities of Hierapolis, the ancient Ninus, and Samosata.

8 Next Syria spreads for a distance over a beautiful plain. This is famed for Antioch, a city known to all the world, and without a rival, so rich is it in imported and domestic commodities; likewise for Laodicia, Apamia, and also Seleucia, most flourishing cities from their very origin.

9 After this come Phoenicia, lying at the foot of Mount Libanus, a region full of charm and beauty, adorned with many great cities; among these in attractiveness and the renown of their names Tyre, Sidon and Berytus are conspicuous, and equal to these are Emissa and Damascus, founded in days long past. 10 Now these provinces, encircled by the river Orontes, which, after flowing past the foot of that lofty mountain Cassius, empties into the Parthenian Sea, were taken from the realms of the Armenians by Gnaeus Pompeius, after his defeat of Tigranes, and brought under Roman sway.

11 The last region of the Syrias is Palestine, extending over a great extent of territory and abounding in cultivated and well-kept lands; it also has some splendid cities, none of which yields to any of the others, but they rival one another, as it were, by plumb-line. These are Caesarea, which Herodes built in honour of the emperor Octavianus, Eleutheropolis, and Neapolis, along with Ascalon and Gaza, built in a former age. 12 In these districts no navigable river is anywhere to be seen, but in numerous places natural warm springs gush forth, adapted to many medicinal uses. But these regions also met with a like fate, being formed into a province by Pompey, after he had defeated the Jews and taken Jerusalem, but left to the jurisdiction of a governor.

13 Adjacent to this region is Arabia, which on one side adjoins the country of the Nabataei, a land producing a rich variety of wares and studded with strong castles and fortresses, which the watchful care of the early inhabitants reared in suitable and readily defended defiles, to check the inroads of neighbouring tribes. This region also has, in addition to some towns, great cities, Bostra, Gerasa and Philadelphia, all strongly defended by mighty walls. It was given the name of a province, assigned a governor, and compelled to obey our laws by the emperor Trajan, who, by frequent victories crushed the arrogance of its inhabitants when he was waging glorious war with Media and the Parthians.

14 Cyprus, too, an island far removed from the mainland, and abounding in harbours, besides having numerous towns, is made famous by two cities, Salamis and Paphos, the one celebrated for its shrines of Jupiter, the other for its temple of Venus. This Cyprus is so fertile and abounds in products of every kind, that without the need of any help from without, by its native resources alone it builds cargo ships from the very keel to the topmast sails, and equipping them completely entrusts them to the deep. 15 Nor am I loth to say that the Roman people in invading that island showed more greed than justice; for King Ptolemy, our ally joined to us by a treaty, without any fault of his, merely because of the low state of our treasury was ordered to be proscribed, and in consequence committed suicide by drinking poison; whereupon the island was made tributary and its spoils, as though those of an enemy, were taken aboard our fleet and brought to Rome by Cato. I shall now resume the thread of my narrative.

9 Of Constantius Gallus Caesar.

1 Amid this variety of disasters Ursicinus, to whose attendance the imperial command had attached me, was summoned from Nisibis, of which he was in charge, and was compelled, in spite of his reluctance and his opposition to the clamorous troops of flatterers, to investigate the accusations in the deadly strife. He was in fact a warrior, having always been a soldier and a leader of soldiers, but far removed from the wranglings of the forum; accordingly, worried by fear of the danger which threatened him, seeing the corrupt accusers and judges with whom he was associated all coming forth from the same holes, he informed Constantius by secret letters of what was going on furtively or openly, and begged for aid, that through fear of it the well-known arrogance of the Caesar might subside. 2 But by too great caution he had fallen into worse snares, as we shall show later, since his rivals patched up dangerous plots with Constantius, who was in other respects a moderate emperor, but cruel and implacable if anyone, however obscure, had whispered in his ear anything of that kind, and in cases of that nature unlike himself.

3 Accordingly, on the day set for the fatal examinations the master of the horse took his seat, ostensibly as a judge, attended by others who had been told in advance what was to be done; and here and there shorthand writers were stationed who reported every question and every answer posthaste to Caesar; and by his cruel orders, instigated by the queen, who from time to time poked her face through a curtain, many were done to death without being allowed to clear themselves of the charges or to make any defence. 4 First of all, then, Epigonus and Eusebius were brought before them and ruined by the affinity of their names; for Montius, as I have said, at the very end of his life had accused certain tribunes of forges called by those names of having promised support to some imminent enterprise. 5 And Epigonus, for his part, was a philosopher only in his attire, as became evident; for when he had tried entreaties to no purpose, when his sides had been furrowed and he was threatened with death, by a shameful confession he declared that he was implicated in plans which never existed, whereas he had neither seen nor heard anything; he was wholly unacquainted with legal matters. Eusebius on the contrary, courageously denied the charges, and although he was put upon the rack, he remained firm in the same degree of constancy, crying out that it was the act of brigands and not of a court of justice. 6 And when, being acquainted with the law, he persistently called for his accuser and the usual formalities, Caesar, being informed of his demand and regarding his freedom of speech as arrogance, ordered that he be tortured as a reckless traducer. And when he had been so disembowelled that he had no parts left to torture, calling on Heaven for justice and smiling sardonically, he remained unshaken, with stout heart, neither deigning to according to himself nor anyone else; and at last, without having admitted his guilt or been convicted, he was condemned to death along with his abject associate. And he was led off to execution unafraid, railing at the wickedness of the time and imitating the ancient stoic Zeno, who, after being tortured for a long time, to induce him to give false witness, tore his tongue from its roots and hurled it with its blood and spittle into the eyes of the king of Cyprus, who was putting him to the question.

7 After this, the matter of the royal robe was investigated, and when those who were employed in dyeing purple were tortured and had confessed to making a short tunic to cover the chest, a man named Maras was brought in, a deacon, as the Christians call them. A letter of his was presented, written in Greek to the foreman of a weaving plant in Tyre, strongly urging him to speed up a piece of work; but what it was the letter did not say. But although finally Maras also was tortured within an inch of his life, he could not be forced to make any confession. 8 So when many men of various conditions had been put to the question, some things were found to be doubtful and others were obviously unimportant. And after many had been put to death, the two Apollinares, father and son, were exiled; but when they had come to a place called Craterae, namely, a villa of theirs distant twenty-four miles from Antioch, their legs were broken, according to orders, and they were killed. 9 After their death Gallus, no whit less ferocious than before, like a lion that had tasted blood, tried many cases of the kind; but of all these it is not worth while to give an account, for fear that I may exceed the limits which I have set myself, a thing which I certainly ought to avoid.

10 The Alamanni sue for peace, which is granted by Constantius Augustus.

1 While the East was enduring this long tyranny, as soon as the warm season began, Constantius, being in his seventh consulship with Gallus in his second, set out from Arelate for Valentia, to make war upon the brothers Gundomadus and Valomarius, kings of the Alamanni, whose frequent raids were devastating that part of Gaul which adjoined their frontiers. 2 And while he delayed there for a long time, waiting for supplies, the transport of which from Aquitania was hindered by spring rains of unusual frequency and by rivers in flood, Herculanus came there, one of his body-guard, the son of Hermogenes, formerly commander of the cavalry and, as we have before related, torn to pieces in a riot of the people at Constantinople. When this man gave a true account of what Gallus and his wife had done, the emperor, grieving over the past disasters and made anxious by fear of those to come, concealed the distress that he felt as long as he could. 3 The soldiers, however, who in the meantime had been assembled at Châlon, began to rage with impatience at the delay, being the more incensed because they lacked even the necessities of life, since the usual supplies had not yet been brought. 4 Therefore Rufinus, who was at that time praetorian prefect, was exposed to extreme danger; for he was forced to go in person before the troops, who were aroused both by the scarcity and by their natural savage temper, and besides were naturally inclined to be harsh and bitter towards men in civil positions, in order to pacify them and explain why the convoy of provisions was interrupted. 5 This was a shrewd plan, cunningly devised with set purpose, in order that by a plot of that kind the uncle of Gallus might perish, for fear that so very powerful a man might whet the boldness of his nephew and encourage his dangerous designs. But great precautions were taken, and when the design was postponed, Eusebius, the grand chamberlain, was sent to Châlon taking gold with him; when this had been secretly distributed among the turbulent inciters of rebellion, the rage of the soldiers abated and the safety of the prefect was assured. Then an abundant supply of food arrived and the camp was moved on the appointed day. 6 And so, after surmounting many difficulties, over paths many of which were heaped high with snow, they came near to Rauracum on the banks of the river Rhine. There a great force of the Alamanni opposed them, and hurling weapons from all sides like hail, by their superior numbers prevented the Romans from making a bridge by joining boats together. And when that was obviously impossible, the emperor was consumed with anxious thought and in doubt what course to take. 7 But lo! a guide acquainted with the region unexpectedly appeared, and, in return for money, pointed out by night a place abounding in shallows, where the river could be crossed. And there army might have been led over, while enemy’s attention was turned elsewhere, had not a few men of that same race, who held military positions of high rank, informed their countrymen of the design by secret messengers, as some thought. 8 Now the shame of that suspicion fell upon Latinus, count in command of the bodyguard, Agilo, tribune in charge of the stable, and Scudilo, commander of the targeteers, who were then highly regarded as having in their hands the defence of the state. 9 But the savages, taking such counsel as the immediate circumstances demanded, since the obstinacy which inspired a bold resistance was diminished perhaps because the auspices were unfavourable or because the authority of the sacrifices forbade an engagement, sent their chiefs to sue for peace and pardon for their offences. 10 Therefore the envoys of both kings were detained and the matter was discussed for a long time in secret; and since there was general agreement in the opinion that peace which was asked for on reasonable conditions ought to be granted, and that it would be expedient to do so under the present circumstances, the emperor summoned an assembly of the army, intending to say a few words appropriate to the occasion; and taking his place upon a tribunal, surrounded by a staff of high officials, he spoke after this fashion:

11 “Let no one, I pray, be surprised, if after going through the toil of long marches and getting together great quantities of supplies, I now, when approaching the abode of the savages, with my confidence in you leading the way, as if by a sudden change of plan have turned to milder designs. 12 For each one of you, according to his rank and judgment, upon consideration will find it to be true, that the soldier in all instances, however strong and vigorous of body, regards and defends only himself and his own life. The commander, on the other hand, has manifold duties, since he aims at fairness to all; and being the guardian of others’ safety, he realises that the interests of the people look to him wholly for protection and that therefore he ought eagerly to seize upon all remedies which the condition of affairs allows, as though offered to him by the favour of Heaven. 13 To put the matter, then, in a few words, and to explain why I have wished you all to be present here together, my loyal fellow-soldiers, receive with favourable ears what I shall briefly set forth; for perfect truth is always simple. 14 The kings and peoples of the Alamanni, in dread of the rising progress of your glory, which fame, growing greatly, has spread abroad even among the dwellers in far off lands, through the envoys whom you see with bowed heads ask for peace and indulgence for past offences. This I, being cautious, prudent, and an advisor of what is expedient, think ought to be granted to them (if I have your consent), for many reasons. First, to avoid the doubtful issue of war; then, that we may gain friends in place of enemies, as they promise; again, that without bloodshed we may tame their haughty fierceness, which is often destructive to the provinces; finally, bearing in mind this thought, that not only is the enemy vanquished who falls in battle, borne down by weight of arms and strength, but much more safely he who, while the trumpet is silent, of his own accord passes under the yoke and learns by experience that Romans lack neither courage against rebels nor mildness towards suppliants. 15 In short, I await your decision as arbiters, as it were, being myself convinced as a peace-loving prince, that it is best temperately to show moderation while prosperity is with us. For, believe me, such righteous conduct will be attributed, not to lack of spirit, but to discretion and humanity.”

16 No sooner had he finished speaking than the whole throng, fully in agreement with the emperor’s wish, praised his purpose and unanimously voted for peace. They were influenced especially by the conviction, which they had formed from frequent campaigns, that his fortune watched over him only in civil troubles, but that when foreign wars were undertaken, they had often ended disastrously. After this a treaty was struck in accordance with the rites of the Alamanni, and when the ceremony had been concluded, the emperor withdrew to Mediolanum for his winter quarters.

11 Constantius Gallus Caesar is summoned by Constantius Augustus and executed.

1 There having laid aside the burden of other cares, Constantius began to consider, as his most difficult knot and stumbling-block, how to uproot the Caesar by a mighty effort. And as he deliberated with his closest friends, in secret conference and by night, by what force or by what devices that might be done before the Caesar’s assurance should be more obstinately set upon throwing everything into disorder, it seemed best that Gallus should be summoned by courteous letters, under pretence of very urgent public business, to the end that, being deprived of support, he might be put to death without hindrance. 2 But this view was opposed by the groups of fickle flatterers, among whom was Arbitio, a man keen and eager in plotting treachery, and Eusebius, at that time grand chamberlain, who was sufficiently inclined to mischief, and it occurred to them to say that, if Caesar left the East, it would be dangerous to leave Ursicinus there, since he would be likely to think of a loftier station, if there were no one to restrain him. 3 And this faction was supported by the other royal eunuchs, whose love of gain at that time was growing beyond mortal limits. These, while performing duties of an intimate nature, by secret whispers supplied fuel for false accusations. They overwhelmed that most gallant man with the weight of a grave suspicion, muttering that his sons, who were now grown up, were beginning to have imperial hopes, being popular because of their youth and their handsome persons and through their knowledge of many kinds of weapons, and bodily activity gained amidst daily army exercises, besides being known to be of sound judgment; that Gallus, while naturally savage, had been incited to deeds of cruelty by persons attached to his person, to the end that, when he had incurred the merited detestation of all classes, the emblems of empire might be transferred to the children of the master of the horse.

4 When these and similar charges were dinned into the emperor’s anxious ears, which were always attentive and open to such gossip, the turmoil of his mind suggesting many plans, he at last chose the following as the best. First, in the most complimentary terms he directed Ursicinus to come to him, under pretence that, because of the urgent condition of affairs at the time, they might consult together and decide what increase of forces was necessary in order to crush the attacks of the Parthian tribes, which were threatening war. 5 And that Ursicinus might not suspect any unfriendly action, in case he should come, Count Prosper was sent to be his substitute until his return. So, when the letter was received and abundant transportation facilities were furnished, we hastened at full speed to Mediolanum.

6 After this the next thing was to summon Caesar and induce him to make equal haste, and in order to remove suspicion, Constantius with many feigned endearments urged his sister, the Caesar’s wife, at last to satisfy his longing and visit him. And although she hesitated, through fear of her brother’s habitual cruelty, yet she set forth, hoping that, since he was her own brother, she might be able to pacify him. But after she had entered Bithynia, at the station called Caeni Gallicani, she was carried off by a sudden attack of fever. After her death the Caesar, considering that the support on which he thought he could rely had failed him, hesitated in anxious deliberation what to do. 7 For in the midst of his embarrassments and troubles his anxious mind dwelt on this one thought, that Constantius, who measured everything by the standard of his own opinion, was not one to accept any excuse or pardon mistakes; but, being especially inclined to the ruin of his kin, would secretly set a snare for him and punish him with death, if he caught him off his guard. 8 But in such a critical situation and anticipating the worst if he were not on the watch, he secretly aimed at the highest rank, if any chance should offer; but for a twofold reason he feared treachery on the part of those nearest to his person, both because they stood in dread of him as cruel and untrustworthy, and because they feared the fortune of Constantius which in civil discords usually had the upper hand. 9 Amid this huge mass of anxieties he received constant letters from the emperor, admonishing and begging him to come to him and covertly hinting that the commonwealth could not be divided and ought not to be, but that each ought to the extent of his powers to lend it aid when it was tottering, doubtless referring to the devastation of Gaul. 10 To this he added an example of not so very great antiquity, that Diocletian and his colleague were obeyed by their Caesars as by attendants, who did not remain in one place but hastened about hither and thither, and that in Syria Galerius, clad in purple, walked for nearly a mile before the chariot of his Augustus when the latter was angry with him.

11 After many other messengers came Scudilo, tribune of the targeteers, a skilled artist in persuasion, under the cloak of a somewhat rough nature. He alone of all, by means of flattering words mingled with false oaths, succeeded in persuading Gallus to set out, constantly repeating with hypocritical expression that his cousin would ardently wish to see him, that being a mild and merciful prince he would overlap anything that was done through inadvertence; that he would make him a sharer in his rank, to be a partner also in the labours which the northern provinces, for a long time wearied, demanded. 12 And since, when the fates lay hands upon men, their senses are apt to be dulled and blunted, Gallus was roused by these blandishments to the hope of a better destiny, and leaving Antioch under the lead of an unpropitious power, he proceeded to go straight from the smoke into the fire, as the old proverb has it; and entering Constantinople as if in the height of prosperity and security, he exhibited horse-races and crowned Thorax the charioteer as victor.

13 On learning this Constantius was outraged beyond all human bounds, and lest by any chance Gallus should become uncertain as to the future and should try in the course of his journey to take measures for his own safety, all the soldiers in the towns through which he would pass were purposely removed. 14 And at that time Taurus, who had been sent to Armenia as quaestor, boldly passed that way without addressing him or going to see him. Others, however, visited him by the emperor’s orders, under pretext of various matters of business, but really to take care that he should not be able to make any move or indulge in any secret enterprise; among these was Leontius, then quaestor and later prefect of the city, Lucillianus, as count commander of the household troops, and a tribune of the targeteers called Bainobaudes. 15 Thus, after covering long distances over level country, he had entered Hadrianopolis, a city in the region of Mt. Haemus, formerly called Uscudama, and for twelve days was recovering his strength, exhausted by his exertions. There he learned that certain Theban legions that were passing the winter in near-by towns had sent some of their comrades to encourage him by faithful and sure promises to remain there, since they were full of confidence in their strength and were posted in large numbers in neighbouring encampments; but owing to the watchful care of those about him, he could not steal an opportunity of seeing them or hearing the message that they brought. 16 Then, as letter followed letter, urging him to leave, making use of ten public vehicles, as was directed, and leaving behind all his attendants with the exception of a few whom he had brought with him to serve in his bedroom and at his table, he was driven to make haste, being without proper care of his person and urged on by many, railing from time to time at the rashness which had reduced him, now mean and abject, to submit to the will of the lowest of mankind. 17 Yet all this time, whenever nature allowed him sleep, his senses were wounded by frightful spectres that shrieked about him, and throng of those whom he had slain, led by Domitianus and Montius, would seize him and fling him to the claws of the Furies, as he imagined in his dreams. 18 For the mind, when freed from the bonds of the body, being always filled with tireless movement, from the underlying thoughts and worries which torment the minds of mortals, conjures up the nocturnal visions to which we give the name of phantasies.

19 And thus with the way opened by the sad decree of fate, by which it was ordained that he should be stripped of life and rank, he hurried by the most direct way and with relays of horses and came to Petobio, a town of Noricum. There all the secret plots were revealed and Count Barbatio suddenly made his appearance — he had commanded the household troops under Gallus — accompanied by Apodemius, of the secret service, and at the head of soldiers whom Constantius had chosen because they were under obligation to him for favours and could not, he felt sure, be influenced by bribes or any feeling of pity.

20 And now the affair was being carried on with no disguised intrigue, but where the palace stood without the walls Barbatio surrounded with armed men. And entering when the light was now dim and removing the Caesar’s royal robes, he put upon him a tunic and an ordinary soldier’s cloak, assuring him with frequent oaths, as if by the emperor’s command, that he would suffer no further harm. Then he said to him: “Get up at once,” and having unexpectedly placed him in a private carriage, he took him to Histria, near the town of Pola, where in former times, as we are informed, Constantine’s son Crispus was killed. 21 And while he was kept there in closest confinement, already as good as buried by fear of his approaching end, there hastened to him Eusebius, at that time grand chamberlain, Pentadius, the secretary, and Mallobaudes, tribune of the guard, to compel him by order of the emperor to inform them, case by case, why he had ordered the execution of all those whom he had put to death at Antioch. 22 At this, o’erspread with the pallor of Adrastus, he was able to say only that he had slain most of them at the instigation of his wife Constantina, assuredly not knowing that when the mother of Alexander the Great urged her son to put an innocent man to death and said again and again, in the hope of later gaining what she desired, that she had carried him for nine months in her womb, the king made this wise answer: “Ask some other reward, dear mother, for a man’s life is not to be weighed against any favour.” 23 On hearing this the emperor, smitten with implacable anger and resentment, rested all his hopes of securing his safety on destroying Gallus; and sending Serenianus, who, as I have before shown, had been charged with high treason and acquitted by some jugglery or other, and with him Pentadius the secretary and Apodemius of the secret service, he condemned him to capital punishment. Accordingly his hands were bound, after the fashion of some guilty robber, and he was beheaded. Then his face and head were mutilated, and the man who a little while before had been a terror to cities and provinces was left a disfigured corpse. 24 But the justice of the heavenly power was everywhere watchful; for not only did his cruel deeds prove the ruin of Gallus, but not long afterwards a painful death overtook both of those whose false blandishments and perjuries led him, guilty though he was, into the snares of destruction. Of these Scudilo, because of an abscess of the liver, vomited up his lungs and so died; Barbatio, who for a long time had invented false accusations against Gallus, charged by the whispers of certain men of aiming higher than the mastership of the infantry, was found guilty and by an unwept end made atonement to the shades of the Caesar, whom he had treacherously done to death.

25 These and innumerable other instances of the kind are sometimes (and would that it were always so!) the work of Adrastia, the chastiser of evil deeds and the rewarder of good actions, whom we also call by the second name of Nemesis. She is, as it were, the sublime jurisdiction of an efficient divine power, dwelling, as men think, above the orbit of the moon; or as others define her, an actual guardian presiding with universal sway over the destinies of individual men. The ancient theologians, regarding her as the daughter of Justice, say that from an unknown eternity she looks down upon all the creatures of earth. 26 She, as queen of causes and arbiter and judge of events, controls the urn with its lots and causes the changes of fortune, and sometimes she gives our plans a different result than that at which we aimed, changing and confounding many actions. She too, binding the vainly swelling pride of mortals with the indissoluble bond of fate, and tilting changeably, as she knows how to do, the balance of gain and loss, now bends and weakens the uplifted necks of the proud, and now, raising the good from the lowest estate, lifts them to a happy life. Moreover, the storied past has given her wings in order that she might be thought to come to all with swift speed; and it has given her a helm to hold and has put a wheel beneath her feet, in order that none may fail to know that she runs through all the elements and rules the universe.

27 By this untimely death, although himself weary of his existence, the Caesar passed from life in the twenty-ninth year of his age, after a rule of four years. He was born in Etruria at Massa in the district of Vetulonia, being the son of Constantius, the brother of the emperor Constantine, and Galla, the sister of Rufinus and Cerealis, who were distinguished by the vesture of consul and prefect. 28 He was conspicuous for his handsome person, being well proportioned, with well-knit limbs. He had soft golden hair, and although his beard was just appearing in the form of tender down, yet he was conspicuous for the dignity of greater maturity. But he differed as much from the disciplined character of his brother Julian as did Domitian, son of Vespasian, from his brother Titus. 29 Raised to the highest rank in Fortune’s gift, he experienced her fickle changes, which make sport of mortals, now lifting some to the stars, now plunging them in the depths of Cocytus. But although instances of this are innumerable, I shall make cursory mention of only a few. 30 It was this mutable and fickle Fortune that changed the Sicilian Agathocles from a potter to a king, and Dionysius, once the terror of nations, to the head of an elementary school, at Corinth. 31 She it was that raised Andriscus of Adramyttium, who was born in a fullery, to the title of the Pseudo-Philip, and taught the legitimate son of Perseus the blacksmith’s trade as a means of livelihood. 32 She, too, delivered Mancinus, after his supreme command, to the Numantians, Veturius to the cruelty of the Samnites, and Claudius to the Corsicans, and she subjected Regulus to the savagery of the Carthaginians. Through her injustice Pompey, after he had gained the surname Great by his glorious deeds, was butchered in Egypt to give the eunuchs pleasure. 33 Eunus, too, a workhouse slave, commanded an army of runaways in Sicily. How many Romans of illustrious birth at the nod of that same arbiter of events embraced the knees of a Viriathus or a Spartacus! How many heads dreaded by all nations has the fatal executioner lopped off! One is led to prison, another is elevated to unlooked-for power, a third is cast down from the highest pinnacle of rank. 34 But if anyone should desire to know all these instances, varied and constantly occurring as they are, he will be mad enough to think of searching out the number of the sands and the weight of the mountains.

Book XV

1 The death of Gallus Caesar is reported to the Emperor.

1 So far as I could investigate the truth, I have, after putting the various events in clear order, related what I myself was allowed to witness in the course of my life, or to learn by meticulous questioning of those directly concerned. The rest, which the text to follow will disclose, we shall set forth to the best of our ability with still greater accuracy, feeling no fear of critics of the prolixity of our work, as they consider it; for conciseness is to be praised only when it breaks off ill-timed discursiveness, without detracting at all from an understanding of the course of events.

2 Hardly had Gallus been wholly stripped in Noricum, when Apodemius, a fiery inciter of disorder so long as he lived, seized and carried off Caesar’s shoes, and with such swift relays of horses that he killed some of them by over-driving, was the first to arrive in Milan as an advance informer. Entering the palace, he cast the shoes at Constantius’ feet, as if they were the spoils of the slain Parthian king. And on the arrival of the sudden tidings, which showed that an apparently hopeless and difficult enterprise had been carried out to their satisfaction with perfect ease, the highest court officials, as usual turning all their desire to please into flattery, extolled to the skies the emperor’s valour and good fortune, since at his beck two princes, though at different times, Veteranio to wit and Gallus, had been cashiered like common soldiers. 3 So Constantius, elated by this extravagant passion for flattery, and confidently believing that from now on he would be free from every mortal ill, swerved swiftly aside from just conduct so immoderately that sometimes in dictation he signed himself “My Eternity,” and in writing with his own hand called himself lord of the whole world — an expression which, if used by others, ought to have been received with just indignation by one who, as he often asserted, laboured with extreme care to model his life and character in rivalry with those of the constitutional emperors. 4 For even if he ruled the infinity of worlds postulated by Democritus, of which Alexander the Great dreamed under the stimulus of Anaxarchus, yet from reading or hearsay he should have considered that (as the astronomers unanimously teach) the circuit of whole earth, which to us seems endless, compared with the greatness of the universe has the likeness of a mere tiny point.

2 Ursicinus, commander of the cavalry in the Orient, Julian, brother of Gallus Caesar, and Gorgonius, his grand chamberlain, are accused of treason.

1 And now, after the pitiful downfall of the murdered Caesar, the trumpet of court trials sounded and Ursicinus was arraigned for high treason, since jealousy, the foe of all good men, grew more and more dangerous to his life. 2 For he fell victim to this difficulty, that the emperor’s ears were closed for receiving any just and easily proved defence, but were open to the secret whispers of plotters, who alleged that Constantius’ name was got rid of throughout all the eastern provinces and that the above-mentioned general was longed for both at home and abroad as being formidable to the Persian nation. 3 Yet in the face of events this high-souled hero stood immovable, taking care not to abase himself too abjectly, but lamenting from his heart that uprightness was so insecure, and the more depressed for the single reason that his friends, who had before been numerous, had deserted him for more powerful men, just as lictors are in the habit of passing, as custom requires, from magistrates to their successors. 4 Furthermore, he was attacked with the blandishments of counterfeit courtesy by Arbitio, who kept openly calling him his colleague and a brave man, but who was exceedingly shrewd in devising deadly snares for a straightforward character and was at that time altogether too powerful. For just as an underground serpent, lurking below the hidden entrance to its hole, watches each passer-by and attacks him with a sudden spring, so he, through envy of others’ fortune even after reaching the highest military position, without ever being injured or provoked kept staining his conscience from an insatiable determination to do harm. 5 So, in the presence of a few accomplices in the secret, after long deliberation it was privately arranged with the emperor that on the following night Ursicinus should be carried off far from the sight of the soldiers and slain with a trial, just as in days gone by it is said that Domitius Corbulo was murdered, a man who had been a loyal and prudent defender of the provinces amid the notorious corruption of Nero’s time. 6 When this had been so arranged and the persons appointed for it were awaiting the allotted time, the emperor changed his mind in the direction of mercy, and orders were given to postpone the wicked deed until after a second consultation.

7 But then the artillery of slander was turned against Julian, the future famous emperor, lately brought to account, and he was involved, as was unjustly held, in a two-fold accusation: first, that he had moved from the estate of Macellum, situated in Cappadocia, into the province of Asia, in his desire for a liberal education; and, second, that he had visited his brother Gallus as he passed through Constantinople. 8 And although he cleared himself of these implications and showed that he had done neither of these things without warrant, yet he would have perished at the instigation of the accursed crew of flatterers, had not, through the favour of divine power, Queen Eusebia befriended him; so he was brought to the town of Comum, near Milan, and after abiding there for a short time, he was allowed to go to Greece for the sake of perfecting his education, as he earnestly desired. 9 Nor were there wanting later actions arising from these occurrences which one might say had a happy issue, since the accusers were justly punished, or their charges came to naught as if void and vain. But it sometimes happened that rich men, knocking at the strongholds of the mighty, and clinging to them as ivy does to lofty trees, bought their acquittal at monstrous prices; but poor men, who had little or no means for purchasing safety, were condemned out of hand. And so both truth was masked by lies and sometimes false passed for true.

10 At that same time Gorgonius also, who had been appointed the Caesar’s head chamberlain, was brought to trial; and although it was clear from his own confession that he had been a party in his bold deeds, and sometimes their instigator, yet through a plot of the eunuchs justice was overshadowed with a clever tissue of lies, and he slipped out of danger and went his way.

3 Punishment is inflicted on the friends and tools of Gallus Caesar.

1 While these events were taking place at Milan, troops of soldiers were brought from the East to Aquileia together with several courtiers, their limbs wasting in chains as they drew feeble breaths and prayed to be delivered from longer life amid manifold miseries. For they were charged with having been tools of the savagery of Gallus, and it was through them, it was believed, that Domitianus and Montius were torn to pieces and others after them were driven to swift destruction. 2 To hear their defence were sent Arbetio and Eusebius, then grand chamberlain, both given to inconsiderate boasting, equally unjust and cruel. They, without examining anyone carefully or distinguishing between the innocent and the guilty, scourged and tortured some and condemned them to banishment, others they thrust down to the lowest military rank, the rest they sentenced to suffer death. And after filling the tombs with corpses, they returned as if in triumph and reported their exploits to the emperor, who in regard to these and similar cases was openly inflexible and severe. 3 Thereupon and henceforth Constantius, as if to upset the predestined order of the fates, more eagerly opened his heart and laid it bare to the plotters, many in number. Accordingly, numerous gossip-hunters suddenly arose, snapping with the jaws of wild beasts at even the highest officials, and afterwards at poor and rich indifferently, not like those Cibyrate hounds of Verres fawning upon the tribunal of only one governor, but afflicting the members of the whole commonwealth with a visitation of evils. 4 Among these Paulus and Mercurius were easily the leaders, the one a Persian by origin, the other born in Dacia; Paulus was a notary, Mercurius, a former imperial steward, was now a treasurer. And in fact this Paulus, as was told before, was nicknamed “the Chain,” because he was invincible in weaving coils of calumny, exerting himself in a wonderful variety of schemes, just as some expert wrestlers are in the habit of showing excessive skill in their contests. 5 But Mercurius was dubbed “Count of Dreams,” because, like a slinking, biting cur, savage within but peacefully wagging its tail, he would often worm his way into banquets and meetings, and if anyone had told a friend that he had seen anything in his sleep, when nature roams more freely, Mercurius would give it a worse colour by his venomous skill and pour it into the open ears of the emperor; and on such grounds a man, as though really chargeable with inexpiable guilt, would be beaten down by a heavy burden of accusation. 6 Since rumour exaggerated these reports and gave them wide currency, people were so far from revealing their nightly visions, that on the contrary they would hardly admit in the presence of strangers that they had slept at all, and certain scholars lamented that they had not been born near Mount Atlas, where it is said that dreams are not seen; but how that happens we may leave to those who are most versed in natural science.

7 Amid these dire aspects of trials and tortures there arose in Illyricum another disaster, which began with idle words and resulted in peril to many. At a dinner-party given by Africanus, governor of Pannonia Secunda, at Sirmium, certain men who were deep in their cups and supposed that no spy was present freely criticized the existing rule as most oppressive; whereupon some assured them, as if from portents, that the desired change of the times was at hand; others with inconceivable folly asserted that through auguries of the forefathers it was meant for them. 8 One of their number, Gaudentius, of the secret service, a dull man but of a hasty disposition, had reported the occurrence as serious to Rufinus, who was then chief steward of the praetorian prefecture, a man always eager for extreme measures and notorious for his natural depravity. 9 Rufinus at once, as though upborne on wings, flew to the emperor’s court and inflamed him, since he was easily influenced by such suspicions, to such excitement that without any deliberation Africanus and all those present at the fatal table were ordered to be quickly hoisted up and carried out. That done, the dire informer, more strongly desirous of things forbidden, as is the way of mankind, was directed to continue for two years in his present service, as he had requested. 10 So Teutomeres, the emperor’s bodyguard, was sent with a colleague to seize them, and loading them with chains, as he had been ordered, he brought them all in. But when they came to Aquileia, Marinus, an ex-drillmaster and now a tribune, who was on furlough at the time, the originator of that mischievous talk and besides a man of hot temper, being left in a tavern while things necessary for their journey were preparing, and chancing upon a long knife, stabbed himself in the side, at once plucked forth his vitals, and so died. 11 The rest were brought to Milan and cruelly tortured; and since they admitted that while feasting they had uttered some saucy expressions, it was ordered that they be kept in close confinement with some hope (though doubtful) of acquittal. But the members of the emperor’s guard, after being sentenced to leave the country for exile, since Marinus with their connivance had been allowed to die, at the suit of Arbetio obtained pardon.

4 Of the Lentienses, a tribe of the Alamanni, a part were slain and a part put to flight by Constantius Augustus.

1 The affair thus ended, war was declared on the . . . and Lentienses, tribes of the Alamanni, who often made extensive inroads through the Roman frontier defences. On that expedition the emperor himself set out and came to Raetia and the Campi Canini; and after long and careful deliberation it seemed both honorable and expedient that, while he waited there with a part of the soldiers, Arbetio, commander of the cavalry, with the stronger part of the army should march on, skirting the shores of Lake Brigantia, in order to engage at once with the savages. Here I will describe the appearance of this place as briefly as my project allows.

2 Between the defiles of lofty mountains the Rhine rises and pours with mighty current over high rocks, without receiving tributary streams, just as the Nile with headlong descent pours over the cataracts. And it could be navigated from its very source, since it overflows with waters of its own, did it not run along like a torrent rather than a quietly flowing river. 3 And now rolling to level ground and cutting its way between high and widely separated banks, it enters a vast round lake, which its Raetian neighbour calls Brigantia; this is four hundred and sixty stades long and in breadth spreads over an almost equal space; it is inaccessible through the bristling woods of the gloomy forest except where that old-time practical Roman ability, in spite of the opposition of the savages, the nature of the region, and the rigour of the climate, constructed a broad highroad. 4 Into this pool, then, the river bursts roaring with frothing eddies, and cleaving the sluggish quiet of the waters, cuts through its midst as if with a boundary line. And as if the element were divided by an everlasting discord, without increasing or diminishing the volume which it carried in, it emerges with name and force unchanged, and without thereafter suffering any contact it mingles with Ocean’s flood. 5 And what is exceeding strange, neither is the lake stirred by the swift passage of the waters nor is the hurrying river stayed by the foul mud of the lake, and though mingled they cannot be blended into one body; but if one’s very sight did not prove it to be so, one would not believe it possible for them to be kept apart by any power. 6 In the same way the river Alpheus, rising in Arcadia and falling in love with the fountain Arethusa, cleaves the Ionian Sea, as the myth tells us, and hastens to the retreat of the beloved nymph. 7 Arbetio did not wait for the coming of messengers to announce the arrival of the savages, although he knew that a dangerous war was on foot, and when he was decoyed into a hidden ambuscade, he stood immovable, overwhelmed by the sudden mischance. 8 For the enemy sprang unexpectedly out of their lurking places and without sparing pierced with many kinds of weapons everything within reach; and in fact not one of our men could resist, nor could they hope for any other means of saving their lives than swift flight. Therefore the soldiers, bent on avoiding wounds, straggled here and there in disorderly march, exposing their backs to blows. Very many however, scattering by narrow by-paths and saved from danger by the protecting darkness of the night, when daylight returned recovered their strength and rejoined each his own company. In this mischance, so heavy and so unexpected, an excessive number of soldiers and ten tribunes were lost. 9 As a result the Alamanni, elated in spirit, came on more boldly the following day against the Roman works; and while the morning mist obscured the light they rushed about with drawn swords, gnashing their teeth and giving vent to boastful threats. But the targeteers suddenly sallied forth, and when they were driven back by the opposition of the enemy’s battalions, and were at a standstill, with one mind they called out all their comrades to the fight. 10 But when the majority were terrified by the evidence of the recent disaster, and Arbetio hesitated, believing that the sequel would be dangerous, three tribunes sallied forth together: Arintheus, lieutenant-commander of the heavy-armed bodyguard, Seniauchus, leader of a squadron of the household cavalry, and Bappo, an officer of the veterans. 11 They with the soldiers under their command, devoting themselves on behalf of the common cause, like the Decii of old, poured like a torrent upon the enemy, and not in a pitched battle, but in a series of swift skirmishes, put them all to most shameful flight. And as they scattered with broken ranks and encumbered by their haste to escape, they exposed themselves unprotected, and by many a thrust of swords and spears were cut to pieces. 12 And many, as they lay there, slain horse and man together, seemed even then to be sitting fast upon the back of their mounts. On seeing this, all who had been in doubt about going into battle with their comrades poured forth from the camp, and careless of all precaution trod underfoot the horde of savages, except those whom flight had saved from death, trampling on heaps of dead bodies, and drenched with the blood of the slain. 13 The battle thus done and ended, the emperor returned in triumph and joy to Milan, to pass the winter.

5 Silvanus the Frank, commander of the infantry in Gaul, is hailed as Augustus at Cologne, but is treacherously slain on the twenty-eighth day of his reign.

1 Now there arises in this afflicted state of affairs a storm of new calamities, with no less mischief to the provinces; and it would have destroyed everything at once, had not Fortune, arbitress of human chances, brought to an end with speedy issue a most formidable uprising. 2 Since through long neglect Gaul was enduring bitter massacres, pillage, and the ravages of fire, as the savages plundered at will and no one helped, Silvanus, an infantry commander thought capable of redressing these outrages, came there at the emperor’s order; and Arbetio urged by whatever means he could that this should be hastened, in order that the burden of a perilous undertaking might be imposed upon an absent rival, whose survival even to this time he looked upon as an affliction.

3 A certain Dynamius, superintendent of the emperor’s pack-animals, had asked Silvanus for letters of recommendation to his friends, in order to make himself very conspicuous, as if he were one of his intimates. On obtaining this request, for Silvanus, suspecting nothing, had innocently granted it, he kept the letters, intending to work some mischief at the proper time. 4 So when the above-mentioned commander was traversing Gaul in the service of the government and driving forth the savages, who had now lost their confidence and courage, this same Dynamius, being restless in action, like the crafty man he was and practised in deceit, devised a wicked plot. He had as abettors and fellow conspirators, as uncertain rumours declared, Lampadius, the praetorian prefect, and Eusebius, former keeper of the privy purse, who had been nicknamed Mattyocopus, and Aedesius, late master of the rolls, all of whom the said prefect had arranged to have called to the consulship as his nearest friends. With a sponge he effaced the lines of writing, leaving only the signature intact, and wrote above it another text far different from the original, indicating that Silvanus in obscure terms was asking and urging his assistants within the palace or without official position, including both Tuscus Albinus and many more, to help him, aiming as he was at a loftier position and soon to mount to the imperial throne. 5 This packet of letters, thus forged at his pleasure to assail the life of an innocent man, the prefect received from Dynamius, and coming into the emperor’s private room at an opportune time and finding him alone, secretly handed it to him, accustomed as he was eagerly to investigate these and similar charges. Thereby the prefect hoped that he would be rewarded by the emperor, as a most watchful and careful guardian of his safety. And when these letters, patched together with cunning craft, were read to the consistory, orders were given that those tribunes whose names were mentioned in the letters should be imprisoned, and that the private individuals should be brought to the capital from the provinces. 6 But Malarichus, commander of the gentiles, was at once struck with the unfairness of the procedure, and summoning his colleagues, vigorously protested, exclaiming that men devoted to the empire ought not to be made victims of cliques and wiles. And he asked that he himself — leaving as hostages his relatives and having Mallobaudes, tribune of the heavy-armed guard, as surety for his return — might be commissioned to go quickly and fetch Silvanus, who was not entering upon any such attempt as those most bitter plotters had trumped up. Or as an alternative, he asked that he might make a like promise and that Mallobaudes be allowed to hurry there and perform what he himself had promised to do. 7 For he declared that he knew beyond question that, if any outsider should be sent, Silvanus, being by nature apprehensive, even when there was nothing alarming, would be likely to upset the peace.

8 But although his advice was expedient and necessary, yet he was talking vainly to the winds. For by Arbetio’s advice Apodemius, an inveterate and bitter enemy of every patriot, was sent with a letter to recall Silvanus. He, caring little for what might happen, on arriving in Gaul, departed from the instructions given him on his setting out and remained there without either interviewing Silvanus or citing him to come to court by delivering the letter; and associating with himself the fiscal agent of the province, as if the said infantry commander were proscribed and now to be executed, he abused his dependents and slaves with the arrogance of an enemy. 9 In the meantime, however, while Silvanus’ presence was awaited and Apodemius was disturbing the peace, Dynamius, in order to maintain the credibility of his wicked inventions with a stronger argument, had made up a letter tallying with the one which he had presented to the emperor through the prefect, and sent it to the tribune of the Cremona armory, in the name of Silvanus and Malarichus; in this letter the tribune, as one privy to their secret designs, was admonished to prepare everything with speed. 10 When the tribune had read this, hesitating for a long time and puzzling as to what in the world it meant (for he did not remember that the man whose letter he had received had ever talked with him about any confidential business), he sent the identical letter back to Malarichus by the carrier who had brought it, and with him a soldier, begging Malarichus to explain openly what he wanted, and not so enigmatically. For he declared that, being a somewhat rude and plain man, he had not understood what had been obscurely intimated. 11 Malarichus, on unexpectedly receiving this, being even then troubled and sad, and grievously lamenting his own lot and that of his fellow countryman Silvanus, called together the Franks, who at that time were numerous and influential in the palace, and now spoke more boldly, raising an outcry over the disclosure of the plot and the unveiling of the deceit by which their lives were avowedly aimed at. 12 And on learning this, the emperor decided that the matter should be investigated searchingly through the medium of his council and all his officers. And when the judges had taken their seats, Florentius, son of Nigrinianus, at the time deputy master of the offices, on scrutinising the script with greater care, and finding a kind of shadow, as it were, of the former letters, perceived what had been done, namely, that the earlier text had been tampered with and other matter added quite different from what Silvanus had dictated, in accordance with the intention of this patched-up forgery. 13 Accordingly, when this cloud of deceit had broken away, the emperor, learning of the events from a faithful report, deprived the prefect of his powers, and gave orders that he should be put under examination; but he was acquitted through an energetic conspiracy of many persons. Eusebius, however, former count of the privy purse, on being put upon the rack, admitted that this had been set on foot with his cognizance. 14 Aedesius, who maintained with stout denial that he had known nothing of what was done, got off scot-free. And so at the close of the business all those were acquitted whom the incriminating report had forced to be produced for trial; in fact Dynamius, as if given distinction by his illustrious conduct, was bidden to govern Etruria and Umbria with the rank of corrector.

15 Meanwhile Silvanus, stationed at Cologne and learning from his friends’ constant messages what Apodemius was undertaking to the ruin of his fortunes, knowing the pliant mind of the fickle emperor, and fearing lest he should be condemned to death absent and unheard, was put in a most difficult position and though of entrusting himself to the good faith of the savages. 16 But he was prevented by Laniogaisus, at that time a tribune, whom I have earlier stated to have been the sole witness of Constans’ death, while he was serving as a subaltern. He assured Silvanus that the Franks, whose fellow countryman he was, would kill him or on receipt of a bribe betray him. So Silvanus, seeing no safety under present conditions, was driven to extreme measures, and having gradually spoken more boldly with the chief officers, he aroused them by the greatness of the reward he promised; then as a temporary expedient he tore the purple decorations from the standards of the cohorts and the companies, and so mounted to the imperial dignity.

17 And while this was going on in Gaul, as the day was already drawing to its close, an unexpected messenger reached Milan, openly declaring that Silvanus aiming higher than the command of the infantry, had won over his army and risen to imperial eminence. 18 Constantius, struck down by the weight of this unexpected mischance as by a thunderbolt of Fate, called a council at about midnight, and all the chief officials hastened to the palace. And when no one’s mind or tongue was equal to showing what ought to be done, mention in subdued tones was made of Ursicinus, as a man conspicuous for his sagacity in the art of war, and one who had been without reason provoked by serious injustice. And when he had been summoned by the master of ceremonies (which is the more honourable way) and had entered the council chamber, he was offered the purple to kiss much more graciously than ever before. Now it was the emperor Diocletian who was the first to introduce this foreign and royal form of adoration, whereas we have read that always before our emperors were saluted like the higher officials. 19 So the man who shortly before with malicious slander was called the maelstrom of the East and a seeker after acquisition of imperial power through his sons, then became a most politic leader and mighty fellow soldier of Constantine’s, and the only person to extinguish the fire; but he was really being attacked under motives honourable, to be sure, but yet insidious. For great care was being taken that Silvanus should be destroyed as a very brave rebel; or, if that should fail, that Ursicinus, already deeply gangrened, should be utterly annihilated, in order that a rock so greatly to be dreaded should not be left. 20 Accordingly, when arrangements were being made for hastening his departure, and the general undertook the refutation of the charges brought against him, the emperor, forestalling him by a mild address, forbade it, declaring that it was not the time for taking up the defence of a disputed case, when the urgency of pressing affairs which should be mitigated before it grew worse, demanded that parties should mutually be restored to their old-time harmony. 21 Accordingly, after a many-sided debate, this point was chiefly discussed, namely, by what device Silvanus might be led to think that the emperor even then had no knowledge of his action. And they invented a plausible means of strengthening his confidence, advising him in a complimentary letter to receive Ursicinus as his successor and return with his dignities unimpaired. 22 After this had been thus settled, Ursicinus was ordered to set forth at once, accompanied (as he had requested) by some tribunes and ten of the body-guard, to assist the exigencies of the state. Among these I myself was one, with my colleague Verinianus; all the rest were relatives and friends. 23 And when he left, each of us attended him for a long distance in fear only for our own safety. But although we were, like gladiators, cast before ravening wild beasts, yet reflecting that melancholy events after all have this good sequel, that they give way to good fortune, we admired that saying of Tully’s, delivered even from the inmost depths of truth itself, which runs as follows: “And although it is most desirable that our fortune always remain wholly favourable, yet that evenness of life does not give so great a sense of satisfaction as when, after wretchedness and disaster, fortune is recalled to a better estate.”

24 Accordingly, we hastened by forced marches, since the commander-in-chief of the army, in his zeal, wished to appear in the suspected districts before any report of the usurpation had made its way into Italy. But for all our running haste, Rumour had flown before us by some aerial path and revealed our coming; and on arriving at Cologne we found everything above our reach. 25 For since a great crowd assembled from all sides gave a firm foundation to the enterprise so timidly begun, and large forces had been mustered, it seemed, in view of the state of affairs, more fitting that our general should complaisantly favour the upstart emperor’s purpose and desire to be strengthened in the growth of his power by deceptive omens; to the end that by means of manifold devices of flattery his feeling of security might be made more complete, and he might be caught off his guard against anything hostile. 26 But the issue of this project seemed difficult; for special care had to be observed that the onsets should take advantage of the right moment, neither anticipating it nor falling short of it. Since if they should break out prematurely, we were all sure to suffer death under a single sentence.

27 However, our general, being kindly received and forcing himself — since our very commission bent our necks — formally to reverence the high-aiming wearer of the purple, was welcomed as a distinguished and intimate friend. In freedom of access and honourable place at the royal table he was so preferred to others that he came to be confidentially consulted about the most important affairs. 28 Silvanus took it ill that while unworthy men were raised to the consulship and to high positions, he and Ursicinus alone, after having toiled through such heavy and repeated tasks for the government, had been so scorned that he himself had been cruelly harassed in an unworthy controversy through the examination of friends of his, and summoned to trial for treason, while Ursicinus, haled back from the East, was delivered over to the hatred of his enemies; and these continual complaints he made both covertly and openly. 29 We however were alarmed, in spite of these and similar speeches, at the uproarious complaints of the soldiers on every hand, pleading their destitution and eager to burst through the passes of the Cottian Alps with all speed.

30 Amid this perplexing distress of spirit we kept casting about in secret investigation for some plan likely to have results; and in the end, after often changing our minds through fear, we resolved to search with the greatest pains for discreet representatives, to bind our communication with solemn oaths, and try to win over the Bracchiati and Cornuti, troops wavering in their allegiance and ready to be swayed by any influence for an ample bribe. 31 Accordingly, the matter was arranged through some common soldiers as go-betweens, men who through their very inconspicuousness were suited to accomplish it; and just as sunrise was reddening the sky, a sudden group of armed men, fired by the expectation of rewards, burst forth; and as usually happens in critical moments, made bolder by slaying the sentinels, they forced their way into the palace, dragged Silvanus from a chapel where he had in breathless fear taken refuge, while on his way to the celebration of a Christian service, and butchered him with repeated sword-thrusts.

32 So fell by this manner of death a general of no slight merits, who through fear due to the slanders in which he was ensnared during his absence by a clique of his enemies, in order to save his life had resorted to the uttermost measures of defence. 33 For although he held Constantius under obligation through gratitude for that timely act of coming over to his side with his soldiers before the battle of Mursa, yet he feared him as variable and uncertain, although he could point also to the valiant deeds of his father Bonitus, a Frank it is true, but one who in the civil war often fought vigorously on the side of Constantine against the soldiers of Licinius. 34 Now it had happened that before anything of the kind was set on foot in Gaul, the people at Rome in the Great Circus (whether excited by some story or by some presentiment is uncertain) cried out with a loud voice: “Silvanus is vanquished.”

35 Accordingly, when Silvanus had been slain at Cologne, as had been related, the emperor learned of it with inconceivable joy, and swollen with vanity and pride, ascribed this also to the prosperous course of his own good fortune, in accordance with the way in which he always hated brave and energetic men, as Domitian did in times gone by, yet tried to overcome them by every possible scheme of opposition. 36 And so far was he from praising conscientious service, that he actually wrote that Ursicinus had embezzled funds from the Gallic treasury, which no one had touched. And he had ordered the matter to be closely examined, questioning Remigius, who at that time was already auditor of the general’s office of infantry supplies, and whose fate it was, long afterwards in the days of Valentinian, to take his life with the halter because of the affair of the embassy from Tripoli. 37 After this turn of affairs, Constantius, as one that now touched the skies with his head and would control all human chances, was puffed up by the grandiloquence of his flatterers, whose number he himself increased by scorning and rejecting those who were not adepts in that line; as we read of Croesus, that he drove Solon headlong out of his kingdom for the reason that he did not know how to flatter; and of Dionysius, that he threatened the poet Philoxenus with death, because when the tyrant was reading aloud his own silly and unrhythmical verses, and every one else applauded, the poet alone listened unmoved. 38 But this fault is a pernicious nurse of vices. For praise ought to be acceptable in high places only when opportunity is also sometimes given for reproach of things ill done.

6 The friends and accomplices of Silvanus are put to death.

1 And now after this relief the usual trials were set on foot, and many men were punished with bonds and chains, as malefactors. For up rose that diabolical informer Paulus, bubbling over with joy, to begin practising his venomous arts more freely; and when the councillors and officers (as was ordered) inquired into the matter, Proculus, Silvanus’ adjutant, was put upon the rack. Since he was a puny and sickly man, every one feared that his slight frame would yield to excessive torture, and that he would cause many persons of all conditions to be accused of heinous crimes. But the result was not at all what was expected. 2 For mindful of a dream, in which he was forbidden while asleep, as he himself declared, to strike a certain innocent person, although tortured to the very brink of death, he neither named or impeached anyone, but steadfastly defended the action of Silvanus, proving by credible evidence that he had attempted his enterprise, not driven on from ambition, but compelled by necessity. 3 For he brought forward a convincing reason, made clear by the testimony of many persons, namely, that four days before Silvanus assumed the badges of empire, he paid the soldiers and in Constantius’ name exhorted them to be brave and loyal. From which it was clear that if he were planning to appropriate the insignia of a higher rank, he would have bestowed so great a quantity of gold as his own gift. 4 After him Poemenius, doomed like evil doers, was haled to execution and perished; he was the man (as we have told above) who was chosen to protect his fellow-citizens when Treves closed its gates against Decentius Caesar. Then the counts Asclepiodotus, Lutto and Maudio were put to death, and many others, since the obduracy of the times made an intricate investigation into these and similar charges.

7 Riots of the Roman people are suppressed by Leontius, prefect of the City. The Bishop Liberius is deposed.

1 While the dire confusion was causing these calamities of general destruction, Leontius, governor of the Eternal City, gave many proofs of being an excellent judge; for he was prompt in hearing cases, most just in his decisions, by nature kindly, although for the sake of maintaining his authority he seemed to some to be severe and too apt to condemn. 2 Now the first device for stirring up rebellion against him was very slight and trivial. For when the arrest of the charioteer Philoromus was ordered, all the commons followed, as if to defend their own darling, and with a formidable onslaught set upon the governor, thinking him to be timid. But he, firm and resolute, sent his officers among them — seized some and put them to the torture, and then without anyone protesting or opposing him he punished them with exile to the islands. 3 And a few days later the people again, excited with their usual passion, and alleging a scarcity of wine, assembled at the Septemzodium, a much frequented spot, where the emperor Marcus Aurelius erected a Nymphaeum of pretentious style. Thither the governor resolutely proceeded, although earnestly entreated by all his legal and official suite not to trust himself to the self-confident and threatening throng, which was still angry from the former disturbance; but he, hard to frighten, kept straight on, so boldly that a part of his following deserted him, though he was hastening into imminent danger. 4 Then, seated in his carriage, with every appearance of confidence he scanned with keen eyes the faces of the crowds in their tiers, raging on all sides of him like serpents, and allowed many insults to be hurled at him; but recognising one fellow conspicuous among the rest, of huge stature and red-headed, he asked him if he were not Peter, surnamed Valuomeres, as he had heard. And when the man had replied in insolent tones that he was none other, the governor, who had known him of old as the ringleader of the malcontents, in spite of the outcries of many, gave orders to bind his hands behind him and hang him up. 5 On seeing him aloft, vainly begging for the aid of his fellows, the whole mob, until then crowded together, scattered through the various arteries of the city and vanished so completely that this most doughty promoter of riots had his sides well flogged, as if in a secret dungeon, and was banished to Picenum. There later he had the hardihood to offer violence to a maiden of good family, and under sentence of the governor Patruinus, suffered capital punishment.

6 During the administration of this Leontius, a priest of the Christian religion, Liberius by name, by order of Constantius was brought before the privy council on the charge of opposing the emperor’s commands and the decrees of the majority of his colleagues in an affair which I shall run over briefly. 7 Athanasius, at that time bishop of Alexandria, was a man who exalted himself above his calling and tried to pry into matters outside his province, as persistent rumours revealed; therefore an assembly which had been convoked of members of that same sect — a synod, as they call it — deposed him from the rank that he held. 8 For it was reported that, being highly skilled in the interpretation of prophetic lots or of omens indicated by birds, he had sometimes foretold future events; and besides this he was also charged with other practices repugnant to the purposes of the religion over which he presided. 9 Liberius, when directed by the emperor’s order to depose him from his priesthood by endorsing the official decree, though holding the same opinion as the rest strenuously objected, crying out that it was the height of injustice to condemn a man unseen and unheard, thus, of course, openly defying the emperor’s will. 10 For although Constantius, who was always hostile to Athanasius, knew that the matter had been carried out, yet he strove with eager desire to have it ratified also by the higher power of the bishop of the Eternal City; and since he could not obtain this, Liberius was spirited away, but only with the greatest difficulty and in the middle of the night, for fear of the populace, who were devotedly attached to him.

8 Julian, brother of Gallus, is appointed Caesar by his cousin Constantius Augustus, and given command over Gaul.

1 This, then, was the situation at Rome, as the preceding text has shown. But Constantius was disquieted by frequent messages reporting that Gaul was in desperate case, since the savages were ruinously devastating everything without opposition. And after worrying for a long time how he might forcibly avert these disasters, while himself remaining in Italy as he desired — for he thought it risky to thrust himself into a far-distant region — he at length hit upon the right plan and thought of associating with himself in a share of the empire his cousin Julian, who not so very long before had been summoned from the district of Achaia and still wore his student’s cloak.

2 When Constantius, driven by the weight of impending calamities, admitted his purpose to his intimates, openly declaring (what he had never done before) that in his lone state he was giving way before so many and such frequent crises, they, being trained to excessive flattery, tried to cajole him, constantly repeating that there was nothing so difficult that his surpassing ability and a good fortune so nearly celestial could not overcome as usual. And several, since the consciousness of their offences pricked them on, added that the title of Caesar ought henceforth to be avoided, rehearsing what had happened under Gallus. 3 To them in their obstinate resistance the queen alone opposed herself, whether she dreaded journeying to a far country or with her native intelligence took counsel for the common good, and she declared that a kinsman ought to be preferred to every one else. So, after much bandying the matter to and fro in fruitless deliberations, the emperor’s resolution stood firm, and setting aside all bootless discussion, he decided to admit Julian to a share in the imperial power. 4 So when he had been summoned and had arrived, on an appointed day all his fellow-soldiers there present were called together, and a platform was erected on a lofty scaffolding, surrounded by the eagles and the standards. On this Augustus stood, and holding Julian by the right hand, in a quiet tone delivered the following address:

5 “We stand before you, valiant defenders of our country, to avenge the common cause with one all but unanimous spirit; and how I shall accomplish this I shall briefly explain to you, as impartial judges. 6 After the death of those rebellious tyrants whom mad fury drove to attempt the designs which they projected, the savages, as if sacrificing to their wicked Manes with Roman blood, have forced our peaceful frontier and are over-running Gaul, encouraged by the belief that dire straits beset us throughout our far-flung empire. 7 If this evil therefore, which is already creeping on beyond set bounds, is met by the accord of our and your wills while time permits, the necks of these proud tribes will not swell so high, and the frontiers of our empire will remain inviolate. It remains for you to confirm with happy issue the hope of the future which I cherish. 8 This Julian, my cousin as you know, rightly honoured for the modesty through which he is as dear to us as through ties of blood, a young man of ability which is already conspicuous, I desire to admit to the rank of Caesar, and that this project, if it seems advantageous, may be confirmed also by your assent.”

9 As he was attempting to say more to this effect, the assembly interrupted and gently prevented him, declaring as if with foreknowledge of the future that this was the will of the supreme divinity rather than of any human mind. 10 And the emperor, standing motionless until they became silent, went on with the rest of his speech with greater assurance: “Since, then,” said he, “your joyful acclaim shows that I have your approval also, let this young man of quiet strength, whose temperate behaviour is rather to be imitated than proclaimed, rise to receive this honour conferred upon him by God’s favour. His excellent disposition, trained in all good arts, I seem to have fully described by the very fact that I have chosen him. Therefore with the immediate favour of the God of Heaven I will invest him with the imperial robes.”

11 This he said and then, after having clothed Julian in the ancestral purple and proclaimed him Caesar to the joy of the army, he thus addressed him, somewhat melancholy in aspect as he was, and with careworn countenance:

12 “My brother, dearest to me of all men, you have received in your prime the glorious flower of your origin; with increase of my own glory, I admit, since I seem to myself more truly great in bestowing almost equal power on a noble prince who is my kinsman, than through that power itself. 13 Come, then, to share in pains and perils, and undertake the charge of defending Gaul, ready to relieve the afflicted regions with every bounty. And if it becomes necessary to engage with the enemy, take your place with sure footing amid the standard bearers themselves; be a thoughtful advisor of daring in due season, animate the warriors by taking the lead with utmost caution, strengthen them when in disorder with reinforcements, modestly rebuke the slothful, and be present as a most faithful witness at the side of the strong, as well as of the weak. 14 Therefore, urged by the great crisis, go forth, yourself a brave man, ready to lead men equally brave. We shall stand by each other in turn with firm and steadfast affection, we shall campaign at the same time, and together we shall rule over a pacified world, provided only God grants our prayers, with equal moderation and conscientiousness. You will seem to be present with me everywhere, and I shall not fail you in whatever you undertake. In fine, go, hasten, with the united prayers of all, to defend with sleepless care the post assigned you, as it were, by your country herself.”

15 After this address was ended, no one held his peace, but all the soldiers with fearful din struck their shields against their knees (this is a sign of complete approval; for when, on the contrary, they smite their shields with their spears it is an indication of anger and resentment), and it was wonderful with what great joy all but a few approved Augustus’ choice and with due admiration welcomed the Caesar, brilliant with the gleam of the imperial purple. 16 Gazing long and earnestly on his eyes, at once terrible and full of charm, and on his face attractive in its unusual animation, they divined what manner of man he would be, as if they had perused those ancient books, the reading of which discloses from bodily signs the inward qualities of the soul. And that he might be regarded with the greater respect, they neither praised him beyond measure nor less than was fitting, and therefore their words were esteemed as those of censors, not of soldiers. 17 Finally, he was taken up to sit with the emperor in his carriage and conducted to the palace, whispering this verse from the Homeric song:

“By purple death I’m seized and fate supreme.”

This happened on the sixth of November of the year when Arbetio and Lollianus were consuls. 18 Then, within a few days, Helena, the maiden sister of Constantius, was joined in the bonds of wedlock to the Caesar; and when everything had been prepared which the imminence of his departure demanded, taking a small suite, he set out on the first of December, escorted by Augustus as far as the spot marked by two columns, lying between Laumello and Pavia, and came by direct marches to Turin. There he was staggered by serious news, which had lately been brought to the emperor’s court but had purposely been kept secret, for fear that the preparations might come to nothing. 19 The news stated that Cologne, a city of great renown in Lower Germany, after an obstinate siege by the savages in great force, had been stormed and destroyed. 20 Overwhelmed by sorrow at this, the first omen, as it were, of approaching ills, he was often heard to mutter in complaining tones that he had gained nothing, except to die with heavier work. 21 But when he reached Vienne and entered the city, all ages and ranks flocked together to receive him with honour, as a man both longed for and efficient; and when they saw him afar off, the whole populace with the immediate neighbourhood, saluted him as a commander gracious and fortunate, and marched ahead of him with a chorus of praise, the more eagerly beholding royal pomp in a legitimate prince. And in his coming they placed the redress of their common disasters, thinking that some helpful spirit had shone upon their desperate condition. 22 Then an old woman, who had lost her sight, on inquiring who had entered and learning that it was the Caesar Julian, cried out that he would repair the temples of the Gods.

9 Of the origin of the Gauls; and why the Celts and Galatians were so called; and of their learned men.

1 Now, since — as the lofty bard of Mantua said of old — a greater work I undertake, a greater train of events ariseth before me, I think now a suitable time to describe the regions and situation of the Gauls, for fear that amid fiery encounters and shifting fortunes of battle I may treat of matters unknown to some and seem to follow the example of slovenly sailors, who are forced amid surges and storms to mend their worn sails and rigging, which might have been put in order with less danger. 2 The ancient writers, in doubt as to the earliest origin of the Gauls, have left an incomplete account of the matter, but later Timagenes, a true Greek in accuracy as well as language, collected out of various books these facts that had been long forgotten; which, following his authority, and avoiding any obscurity, I shall state clearly and plainly. 3 Some asserted that the people first seen in these regions were Aborigines, called Celts from the name of a beloved king, and Galatae (for so the Greek language terms the Gauls) from the name of his mother. Others state that the Dorians, following the earlier Hercules, settled in the lands bordering on the Ocean. 4 The Drysidae say that a part of the people was in fact indigenous, but that others also poured in from the remote islands and the regions across the Rhine, driven from their homes by continual wars and by the inundation of the stormy sea. 5 Some assert that after the destruction of Troy a few of those who fled from the Greeks and were scattered everywhere occupied those regions, which were then deserted. 6 But the inhabitants of those countries affirm this beyond all else, and I have also read it inscribed upon their monuments, that Hercules, the son of Amphitryon, hastened to destroy the cruel tyrants Geryon and Tauriscus, of whom one oppressed Spain, the other, Gaul; and having overcome them both that he took to wife some high-born women and begat numerous children, who called by their own names the districts which they ruled. 7 But in fact a people of Asia from Phocaea, to avoid the severity of Harpalus, prefect of king Cyrus, set sail for Italy. A part of them founded Velia in Lucania, the rest, Massilia in the region of Vienne. Then in subsequent ages they established no small number of towns, as their strength and resources increased. But I must not discuss varying opinions, which often causes satiety. 8 Throughout these regions men gradually grew civilised and the study of the liberal arts flourished, initiated by the Bards, the Euhages and the Druids. Now, the Bards sang to the sweet strains of the lyre the valorous deeds of famous men composed in heroic verse, but the Euhages, investigating the sublime, attempted to explain the secret laws of nature. The Druids, being loftier than the rest in intellect, and bound together in fraternal organisations, as the authority of Pythagoras determined, were elevated by their investigation of obscure and profound subjects, and scorning all things human, pronounced the soul immortal.

10 Of the Gallic Alps and the various passes through them.

1 This country of Gaul, because of its lofty chains of mountains always covered with formidable snows, was formerly all but unknown to the inhabitants of the rest of the globe, except where it borders on the coast; and bulwarks enclose it on every side, surrounding it naturally, as if by the art of man. 2 Now on the southern side it is washed by the Tuscan and the Gallic Sea; where it looks up to the heavenly Wain, it is separated from the wild nations by the channels of the Rhine. Where it lies under the west-sloping sun it is bounded by the Ocean and the Pyrenaean heights; and where it rises towards the East it gives place to the bulk of the Cottian Alps. There King Cottius, after the subjugation of Gaul, lay hidden alone in their defiles, trusting to the pathless ruggedness of the region; finally, when his disaffection was allayed, and he was admitted to the emperor Octavian’s friendship, in lieu of a remarkable gift he built with great labour short cuts convenient to travellers, since they were midway between other ancient Alpine passes, about which I shall later tell what I have learned. 3 In these Cottian Alps, which begin at the town of Susa, there rises a lofty ridge, which scarcely anyone can cross without danger. 4 For as one comes from Gaul it falls off with sheer incline, terrible to look upon because of overhanging cliffs on either side, especially in the season of spring, when the ice melts and the snows thaw under the warmer breath of the wind; then over precipitous ravines on either side and chasms rendered treacherous through the accumulation of ice, men and animals descending with hesitating step slide forward, and waggons as well. And the only expedient that has been devised to ward off destruction is this: they bind together a number of vehicles with heavy ropes and hold them back from behind with powerful efforts of men or oxen at barely a snail’s pace; and so they roll down a little more safely. And this, as we have said, happens in the spring of the year. 5 But in winter the ground, caked with ice, and as it were polished and therefore slippery, drives men headlong in their gait and the spreading valleys in level places, made treacherous by ice, sometimes swallow up the traveller. Therefore those that know the country well drive projecting wooden stakes along the safer spots, in order that their line may guide the traveller in safety. But if these are covered with snow and hidden, or are overturned by the streams running down from the mountains, the paths are difficult to traverse even with natives leading the way. 6 But from the peak of this Italian slope a plateau extends for seven miles, as far as the post named from Mars; from there on another loftier height, equally difficult to surmount, reaches to the peak of the Matrona, so called from an accident to a noble lady. After that a route, steep to be sure, but easier to traverse extends to the fortress of Briançon. 7 The tomb of the prince, who, as we said, built these roads, is at Susa next to the walls, and his shades are devoutly venerated for a double reason: because he had ruled his subjects with a just government, and when admitted to alliance with the Roman state, procured eternal peace for his nation. 8 And although this road which I have described is the middle one, the short cut, and the more frequented, yet there are also others, constructed long before at various times. 9 Now the first of these the Theban Hercules, when travelling leisurely to destroy Geryon and Tauriscus, constructed near the Maritime Alps and gave them the name of Graian Alps. And in like manner he consecrated the castle and harbour of Monaco to his lasting memory. Then, later, after the passage of many centuries, the name Pennine was devised for these Alps for the following reason. 10 Publius Cornelius Scipio, father of the elder Africanus, when the Saguntines, famous both for their catastrophes and their loyalty, were besieged by the Africans with persistent obstinacy, wishing to help them, crossed to Spain with a fleet manned by a strong army. But as the city had been destroyed by a superior force, and he was unable to overtake Hannibal, who had crossed the Rhone three days before and was hastening to the regions of Italy, by swift sailing he crossed the intervening space — which is not great — and watched at Genoa, a town of Liguria, for Hannibal’s descent from the mountains, so that if chance should give him the opportunity, he might fight with him in the plain while exhausted by the roughness of the roads. 11 At the same time, having an eye to the common welfare, he advised his brother, Gnaeus Scipio, to proceed to Spain and hold off Hasdrubal, who was planning to burst forth in like manner from that quarter. But Hannibal learned of this from deserters, and being of a nimble and crafty wit, came, under the guidance of natives from among the Taurini, through the Tricasini and the extreme edge of the Vocontii to the passes of the Tricorii. Starting out from there, he made another road, where it hitherto had been impassable; he hewed out a cliff which rose to a vast height by burning it with flames of immense power and crumbling it by pouring on vinegar; then he marched along the river Druentia, dangerous with its shifting eddies, and seized upon the district of Etruria. So much about the Alps; let us now turn to the rest of the country.

11 A brief description of the various parts of Gaul and of the course of the Rhone.

1 In early times, when these regions lay in darkness as savage, they are thought to have been threefold, divided into Celts (the same as the Gauls), the Aquitanians, and the Belgians, differing in language, habits and laws. 2 Now the Gauls (who are the Celts) are separated from the Aquitanians by the Garonne river, which rises in the hills of the Pyrenees, and after running past many towns disappears in the Ocean. 3 But from the Belgians this same nation is separated by the Marne and the Seine, rivers of identical size; they flow through the district of Lyons, and after encircling in the manner of an island a stronghold of the Parisii called Lutetia, they unite in one channel, and flowing on together pour into the sea not far from Castra Constantia. 4 Of all these nations the Belgae had the reputation in the ancient writers of being the most valiant, for the reason that being far removed from civilised life and not made effeminate by imported luxuries, they warred for a long time with the Germans across the Rhine. 5 The Aquitanians, on the contrary, to whose coasts, as being near at hand and peaceable, imported wares are conveyed, had their characters weakened to effeminacy and easily came under the sway of Rome. 6 All the Gauls, ever since under the perpetual pressure of wars they yielded to the dictator Julius, have been governed by an administration divided into four parts. Of these Gallia Narbonensis by itself comprised the districts of Vienne and Lyons; the second had control of all Aquitania; Upper and Lower Germany, as well as the Belgians, were governed by two administrations at that same time. 7 But now the provinces over the whole extent of Gaul are reckoned as follows: The first province (beginning on the western front) is Lower, or Second, Germany, fortified by the wealthy and populous cities of Cologne and Tongres. 8 Next comes First, or Upper, Germany where besides other free towns are Mayence and Worms and Spires and Strasburg, famous for the disasters of the savages. 9 After these the First province of Belgium displays Metz and Treves, splendid abode of the emperors. 10 Adjoining this is the Second province of Belgium, in which are Amiens, a city eminent above the rest, and Châlons and Rheims. 11 In the Seine province we see Besançon and Augst, more important than its many other towns. The first Lyonnese province is made famous by Lyons, Châlon-sur-Saône, Sens, Bourges, and Autun with its huge ancient walls. 12 As for the second Lyonnese province, Rouen and Tours make it distinguished, as well as Evreux and Troyes. The Graian and Pennine Alps, not counting towns of lesser note, have Avenche, a city now abandoned, to be sure, but once of no slight importance, as is even yet evident from its half-ruined buildings. These are the goodly provinces and cities of Gaul. 13 In Aquitania, which trends towards the Pyrenees mountains and that part of the Ocean which extends towards Spain, the first province is Aquitania, much adorned by the greatness of its cities; leaving out numerous others, Bordeaux and Clermont are conspicuous, as well as Saintes and Poitiers. 14 The “Nine Nations” are ennobled by Auch and Bazas. In the Narbonese province Eauze, Narbonne, and Toulouse hold the primacy among the cities. The Viennese province rejoices in the distinction conferred by many cities, of which the most important are Vienne itself, Arles and Valence; and joined to these is Marseilles, by whose alliance and power we read that Rome was several times supported in severe crises. 15 Near these are Aix-en-Provence, Nice, Antibes, and the Iles d’Hyères. 16 And since we have reached these parts in the course of our work, it would be unfitting and absurd to say nothing of the Rhone, a river of the greatest celebrity. Rising in the Pennine Alps from a plenteous store of springs, the Rhone flows in headlong course towards more level places. It hides its banks with its own stream and bursts into the lagoon called Lake Leman. This it flows through, nowhere mingling with the water outside, but gliding along the surface of the less active water on either hand, it seeks an outlet and forces a way for itself by its swift onset. 17 From there without any loss of volume it flows through Savoy and the Seine Province, and after going on for a long distance, it grazes the Viennese Province on the left side and the Lyonnese on the right side. Next, after describing many meanders, it receives the Arar, which they call the Sauconna, flowing between Upper Germany and the Seine Province, and gives it its own name. This point is the beginning of Gaul, and from there they measure distances, not in miles but in leagues. 18 After this the Rhone, enriched by the tributary waters of the Isère, carries very large craft, which are frequently wont to be tossed by gales of wind, and having finished the bounds which nature has set for it, its foaming waters are mingled with the Gallic Sea through a broad bay which they call Ad Gradus at about the eighteenth milestone distant from Arles. Let this suffice for the topography of the region; I shall now describe the appearance and manners of its people.

12 The Manners and Customs of the Gauls.

1 Almost all the Gauls are of tall stature, fair and ruddy, terrible for the fierceness of their eyes, fond of quarrelling, and of overbearing insolence. In fact, a whole band of foreigners will be unable to cope with one of them in a fight, if he calls in his wife, stronger than he by far and with flashing eyes; least of all when she swells her neck and gnashes her teeth, and poising her huge white arms, proceeds to rain punches mingled with kicks, like shots discharged by the twisted cords of a catapult. 2 The voices of most of them are formidable and threatening, alike when they are good-natured or angry. But all of them with equal care keep clean and neat, and in those districts, particularly in Aquitania, no man or woman can be seen, be she never so poor, in soiled and ragged clothing, as elsewhere. 3 All ages are most fit for military service, and the old man marches out on a campaign with a courage equal to that of the man in the prime of life; since his limbs are toughened by cold and constant toil, and he will make light of many formidable dangers. Nor does anyone of them, for dread of the service of Mars, cut off his thumb, as in Italy: there they call such men “murci,” or cowards. 4 It is a race greedy for wine, devising numerous drinks similar to wine, and some among them of the baser sort, with wits dulled by continual drunkenness (which Cato’s saying pronounced a voluntary kind of madness) rush about in aimless revels, so that those words seem true which Cicero spoke when defending Fonteius: “The Gauls henceforth will drink wine mixed with water, which they once thought poison.”

5 These regions, and especially those bordering on Italy, came gradually and with slight effort under the dominion of Rome; they were first essayed by Fulvius, then undermined in petty battles by Sextius, and finally subdued by Fabius Maximus, on whom the full completion of this business (when he had vanquished the formidable tribe of the Allobroges) conferred that surname. 6 Now the whole of Gaul (except where, as the authority of Sallust informs us, it was impassable with marshes), after losses on both sides during ten years of war the dictator Caesar subdued and joined to us in an everlasting covenant of alliance. I have digressed too far, but I shall at last return to my subject.

13 The doings of the praetorian prefect, Musonianus, in the Orient.

1 After Domitianus was dispatched by a cruel death, his successor Musonianus governed the East with the rank of pretorian prefect, a man famed for his command of both languages, from which he won higher distinction than was expected. 2 For when Constantine was closely investigating the different religious sects, Manichaeans and the like, and no suitable interpreter could be found, he chose him, as a person recommended to him as competent; and when he had done that duty skilfully, he wished him to be called Musonianus, whereas he had hitherto had the name of Strategius. From that beginning, having run through many grades of honour, he rose to the prefecture, a man intelligent in other respects and satisfactory to the provinces, mild also and well-spoken, but on any and every occasion, and especially (which is odious) in hard-fought lawsuits and under all circumstances greedily bent upon filthy lucre. This became clearly evident (among many other instances) in the investigations set on foot regarding the death of Theophilus, governor of Syria, who, because of the betrayal of Gallus Caesar, was torn to pieces in an onslaught of the rabble upon him; on which occasion sundry poor men were condemned, although it was known that they had been away when this happened, while the wealthy perpetrators of the foul crime were set free after being stripped of their property.

3 He was matched by Prosper, who was at that time still representing the cavalry commander in Gaul and held military authority there, an abject coward and, as the comic poet says, scorning artifice in thieving and plundering openly.

4 While these men were in league and enriching themselves by bringing mutual gain one to the other, the Persian generals stationed by the rivers, while their king was busied in the farthest bounds of his empire, kept raiding our territories with predatory bands, now fearlessly invading Armenia and sometimes Mesopotamia, while the Roman officers were occupied in gathering the spoils of those who paid them obedience.

Book XVI

1 Praise of Julianus Caesar.

1 While the linked course of the fates was bringing this to pass in the Roman world, Julian Caesar at Vienne was admitted by Augustus, then consul for the eighth time, into the fellowship of the consular fasti. Urged on by his native energy, he dreamed of the din of battle and the slaughter of savages, already preparing to gather up the broken fragments of the province, if only fortune should at last aid him with her favouring breeze. 2 Accordingly, since the great deeds that he had the courage and good fortune to perform in Gaul surpass many valiant achievements of the ancients, I shall describe them one by one in progressive order, endeavouring to put in play all the resources of my modest ability, if only they will suffice. 3 Now whatever I shall tell (and no wordy deceit adorns my tale, but untrammelled faithfulness to fact, based upon clear proofs, composes it) will almost belong to the domain of the panegyric. 4 For some law of a higher life seems to have attended this youth from his cradle even to his last breath. For with rapid strides he grew so conspicuous at home and abroad that in his foresight he was esteemed a second Titus, son of Vespasian, in the glorious progress of his wars as very like Trajan, mild as Antoninus Pius, and in searching out the true and perfect reason of things in harmony with Marcus Aurelius, in emulation of whom he moulded his conduct and character. 5 And since (as the authority of Cicero informs us) “we take delight in the loftiness of all noble arts, as we do of trees, but not so much in their roots and stumps,” just so the beginnings of his surpassing ability were then veiled by many overshadowing features. Yet they ought to be preferred to his many admirable later achievements, for the reason that while still in early youth, educated like Erechtheus in Minerva’s retreat, and drawn from the peaceful shades of the Academy, not from a soldier’s tent, to the dust of battle, he vanquished Germany, subdued the meanders of the freezing Rhine, here shed the blood of kings, breathing cruel threats, and there loaded their arms with chains.

2 Julianus Caesar attacks the Alamanni, slaughters, captures, and vanquishes them.

1 Accordingly, while he was passing a busy winter in the above-mentioned town, in the thick of rumours which kept persistently flying about, he learned that the walls of the ancient city of Autun, of wide circuit, to be sure, but weakened by the decay of centuries, had been besieged by a sudden onset of the savages; and then, though the force of soldiers garrisoned there was paralysed, it had been defended by the watchfulness of veterans who hurried together for its aid, as it often happens that the extreme of desperation wards off imminent danger of death. 2 Therefore, without putting aside his cares, and disregarding the servile flattery with which his courtiers tried to turn him to pleasure and luxury, after making adequate preparation he reached Autun on the 24th of June, like some experienced general, distinguished for power and policy, intending to fall upon the savages, who were straggling in various directions, whenever chance should give opportunity. 3 Accordingly, when he held a council, with men present who knew the country, to decide what route should be chosen as a safe one, there was much interchange of opinion, some saying that they ought to go by Arbor . . . others by way of Saulieu and Cora. 4 But when some remarked that Silvanus, commander of the infantry, with 8000 reserve troops had shortly before passed (through with difficulty) by roads shorter but mistrusted because of the heavy shade of the branches, the Caesar with the greater confidence made a strong resolve to emulate the daring of that hardy man. 5 And to avoid any delay, he took only the cuirassiers and the crossbowmen, who were far from suitable to defend a general, and traversing the same road, he came to Auxerre. 6 There with but a short rest (as his custom was) he refreshed himself and his soldiers and kept on towards Troyes; and when troops of savages kept making attacks on him, he sometimes, fearing that they might be in greater force, strengthened his flanks and reconnoitered; sometimes he took advantage of suitable ground, easily ran them down and trampled them under foot, capturing some who in terror gave themselves up, while the remainder exerted all their powers of speed in an effort to escape. These he allowed to get away unscathed, since he was unable to follow them up, encumbered as he was with heavy-armed soldiers. 7 So, as he now had firmer hope of success in resisting their attacks, he proceeded among many dangers to Troyes, reaching there so unlooked for, that when he was almost knocking at the gates, the fear of the widespread bands of savages was such, that entrance to the city was vouchsafed only after anxious debate. 8 And after staying there a short time, out of consideration for this tired soldiers, he felt that he ought not to delay, and made for the city of Rheims. There he had ordered the whole army to assemble with provisions for a month and to await his coming; the place was commanded by Ursicinus’ successor Marcellus, and Ursicinus himself was directed to serve in the same region until the end of the campaign. 9 Accordingly, after the expression of many various opinions, it was agreed to attack the Alamannic horde by way of the Ten Cantons with closed ranks; and the soldiers went on in that direction with unusual alacrity. 10 And because the day was misty and overcast, so then even objects close at hand could not be seen, the enemy, aided by their acquaintance with the country, went around by way of a crossroad and made an attack on the two legions bringing up the rear of the Caesar’s army. And they would nearly have annihilated them, had not the shouts that they suddenly raised brought up the reinforcements of our allies. 11 Then and thereafter, thinking that he could cross neither roads nor rivers without ambuscades, Julian was wary and hesitant, which is a special merit in great commanders, and is wont both to help and save their armies. 12 Hearing therefore that Strasburg, Brumath, Saverne, Seltz, Speyer, Worms, and Mayence were held by the savages, who were living on their lands (for the towns themselves they avoid as if they were tombs surrounded by nets), he first of all seized Brumath, but while he was still approaching it a band of Germans met him and offered battle. 13 Julian drew up his forces in the form of a crescent, and when the fight began to come to close quarters, the enemy were overwhelmed by a double danger; some were captured, others were slain in the very heat of the battle, and rest got away, saved by recourse to speed.

3 Julian recovers Cologne, which had been captured by the Franks, and there makes peace with the kings of the Franks.

1 Accordingly, as after this no one offered resistance, Julian decided to go and recover Cologne, which had been destroyed before his arrival in Gaul. In all that region there is no city to be seen and no stronghold, except that at the Confluence, a place so called because there the river Moselle mingles with the Rhine, there is the town of Remagen and a single tower near Cologne itself. 2 So, having entered Cologne, he did not stir from there until he had overawed the Frankish kings and lessened their pugnacity, had made a peace with them which would benefit the state meanwhile, and had recovered that very strongly fortified city. 3 Pleased with these first-fruits of victory, he passed through the land of the Treveri, and went to winter at Sens, a town which was then convenient. There, bearing on his shoulders, as the saying is, the burden of a flood of wars, he was distracted by manifold cares — how the soldiers who had abandoned their usual posts might be taken back to danger-points, how he might scatter the tribes that had conspired to the hurt of the Roman cause, and how to see to it that food should not fail his army, as it was about to range in different directions.

4 Julian is besieged by the Alemanni in the town of Sens.

1 As he was anxiously weighing these problems, a host of the enemy attacked, fired with increased hope of taking the town, and full of confidence because they had learned from the statements of deserters that neither the targeteers nor the gentiles were at hand; for they had been distributed in the towns, so as to be more easily provisioned than before. 2 So, having shut the city gates and strengthened a weak section of the walls, Julian could be seen day and night with his soldiers among the bulwarks and battlements, boiling over with rage and fretting because however often he tried to sally forth, he was hampered by the scanty numbers of the troops at hand. Finally, after a month the savages withdrew crestfallen, muttering that they had been silly and foolish to have contemplated the blockade of the city. 3 But — a thing to be regarded as a shameful situation — while Caesar was in jeopardy, Marcellus, master of the horse, although he was stationed in neighbouring posts, postponed sending him reinforcements; whereas even if the city alone was endangered, to say nothing of the prince’s presence there, it ought to have been saved from the hardships of blockade by the intervention of a large force. 4 Once relieved of this fear, Caesar provided with the greatest efficiency and with unfailing solicitude that some rest should follow the long continued toil of the soldiers, a short one perhaps, but enough, at least, to restore their strength; and yet that region, a wilderness in its extreme destitution through having often been ravaged, provided very little suitable for rations. 5 But when this too had been provided for by his ever-watchful care, a happier hope of success was shed upon him, and with spirits revived he rose to the achievement of numerous enterprises.

5 The merits of Julianus Caesar.

1 First, then (and a hard thing to accomplish) he imposed moderation on himself, and kept to it, as if he were living bound by the sumptuary laws which were brought to Rome from the Edicts, that is, the wooden tablets, of Lycurgus; and when they had long been observed, but were going out of use, the dictator Sulla gradually renewed them, taking into account one of the sayings of Democritus, that a pretentious table is set by Fortune, a frugal one by Virtue. 2 Furthermore, Cato of Tusculum, whose austere manner of living conferred upon him the surname Censorius, wisely defined that point, saying: “Great care about food implies great neglect of virtue.” 3 Lastly, though he constantly read the booklet which Constantius, as if sending a stepson to the university, had written with his own hand, making lavish provision for what should be spent on Caesar’s table, he forbade the ordering and serving of pheasants and of sow’s matrix and udders, contenting himself with the coarse and ordinary rations of a common soldier.

4 So it came about that he divided his nights according to a threefold schedule — rest, affairs of state, and the Muses, a course which Alexander the Great, as we read, used to practise; but Julian was far more self-reliant. For Alexander used to set a bronze basin beside his couch and with outstretched arm hold a silver ball over it, so that when the coming of sleep relaxed the tension of his muscles, the clanging of the ball as it fell might break off his nap. 5 But Julian could wake up as often as he wished, without any artificial means. And when the night was half over, he always got up, not from a downy couch or silken coverlets glittering with varied hues, but from a rough blanket and rug, which the simple common folk call susurna. Then he secretly prayed to Mercury, whom the teaching of the theologians stated to be the swift intelligence of the universe, arousing the activity of men’s minds; and in spite of such great lack of material things he paid diligent heed to all his public duties. 6 And after bringing these (as his lofty and serious tasks) to an end, he turned to the exercise of his intellect, and it is unbelievable with what great eagerness he sought out the sublime knowledge of all chiefest things, and as if in search of some sort of sustenance for a soul soaring to loftier levels, ran through all the departments of philosophy in his learned discussions. 7 But yet, though he gained full and exhaustive knowledge in this sphere, he did not neglect more humble subjects, studying poetry to a moderate degree, and rhetoric (as is shown by the undefiled elegance and dignity of his speeches and letters) as well as the varied history of domestic and foreign affairs. Besides all this he had at his command adequate fluency also in Latin conversation. 8 If, then, it is true (as divers writers report) that King Cyrus and the lyric poet Simonides, and Hippias of Elis, keenest of the sophists, had such powerful memories because they had acquired that gift by drinking certain potions, we must believe that Julian, when only just arrived at manhood, had drained the entire cask of memory, if such could be found anywhere. These, then, were the nightly evidences of his self-restraint and his virtues.

9 But how he passed his days in brilliant and witty conversation, in preparation for war or in the actual clash of battle, or in lofty and liberal improvements in civil administration, shall later be shown in detail, each in its proper place. 10 When this philosopher, being a prince, was forced to practise the rudiments of military training and learn the art of marching rhythmically in pyrrhic measure to the harmony of the pipes, he often used to call on Plato’s name, quoting that famous old saying: “A pack-saddle is put on an ox; that is surely no burden for me.” 11 When the agents had been summoned by his order on a festival day to his council chamber, to receive their gold with the rest, one of the company took it, not (as the custom is) in a fold of his mantle, but in both his open hands. Whereupon the emperor said, “It is seizing, not accepting, that agents understand.” 12 When approached by the parents of a girl who had been assaulted, he ordered that her ravisher, if convicted, should be banished; and when they complained of the indignity suffered in that he was not punished with death, the emperor merely replied: “The laws may censure my clemency, but it is right for an emperor of very merciful disposition to rise above all other laws.” 13 When he was on the point of leaving on a campaign, many persons would appeal to him, as having grievances; but he used to recommend them to the provincial governors for their hearings. On his return he would inquire what had been decided in each case, and with his native kindliness would mitigate the punishment of the offences. 14 Last of all, not to speak of the victories in which he routed the savages, who often fell with spirits unbroken, what good he did to Gaul, labouring as it was in utmost destitution, appears most clearly from this fact: when he first entered those parts, he found that twenty-five pieces of gold were demanded by way of tribute from every one as a poll and land tax; but when he left, seven only for full satisfaction of all duties. And on account of this (as if clear sunshine had beamed upon them after ugly darkness), they expressed their joy in gaiety and dances. 15 To conclude, we know that to the very end of his reign, and of his life, he observed this rule profitably, not to remit arrears of tribute by so-called “indulgencies.” For he had learned that by so doing he would somewhat better the condition of the rich, since it is generally known that poor people at the very beginning of the tax levying are forced to pay in full without easement.

16 However, in the midst of these courses of wise governing, worthy of the imitation of good emperors, the fury of the savages had blazed forth again more than ever. 17 And as wild beasts accustomed to live by plundering when their guards are slack do not cease even when these guards are removed and stronger ones put in their place, but ravening with hunger rush upon flocks or herds without regard for their own lives: so they too, when they had used up all that they had seized by pillage, urged on by hunger, were continually driving off booty, and sometimes perishing of want before finding anything.

6 Arbetio, a man of consular rank, is accused and acquitted.

1 These were the events in Gaul during that year dubious in prospect, but successful in outcome. But in the court of the Augustus envy kept barking on every side at Arbetio, as one that would soon attain the highest rank and had already prepared the insignia of imperial dignity; and a certain count, Verissimus by name, assailed him with unbridled outcry, openly charging that although he had risen from the common soldiery to the chief military command, he was not satisfied even with this, but thinking it was a slight thing, was aiming at the imperial position. 2 But in particular one Dorus, ex-surgeon of the targeteers, kept pursuing him; he it was who (as I stated) when promoted under Magnentius to be centurion in charge of works of art at Rome, accused Adelphius, prefect of the city, of aiming at a higher station. 3 And when the matter came to an investigation, and everything needful for the business was at hand, a proof of the charges was looked for; when suddenly, as if by an irregular vote, at the instance of the chamberlains (as persistent rumour reported) both those persons under restraint as implicated were released from their fetters; Dorus disappeared, and Verissimus at once held his peace, just as when on the stage the curtain is lowered and put away.

7 Julianus Caesar is defended against Marcellus before the emperor by Eutherius, his chief chamberlain; and praise of Eutherius.

1 At that same time Constantius, apprised by approaching rumour that when Caesar was blockaded at Sens, Marcellus had not brought aid, discharged the latter from the army and commanded him to depart to his home. Whereupon Marcellus, as if staggered by a grievous insult, began to contrive a plot against Julian, presuming on Augustus, whose ears were open to every slander. 2 And so, when Marcellus was on his way, Eutherius, the head chamberlain, was sent immediately after him, to confute him in case he should trump up anything. But Marcellus, unaware of this, presently came to Milan, blustering and making trouble, being a vain talkative fool and all but mad; and when admitted to the council, he charged Julian with being arrogant and already fitting himself with stronger pinions, so as to soar up higher; for thus he spoke with a mighty movement of his body to match his words. 3 While he was freely forging these accusations, Eutherius (as he requested) was brought in, and being commanded to say what he wished, modestly and in few words showed that the truth was veiled with lies. For while the commander of the heavy-armed infantry (as was believed) deliberately held back, Caesar, who had long been blockaded in Sens, had by his watchful energy driven back the barbarians; and Eutherius staked his own head on the promise that Julian would be a loyal servitor to his superior, so long as he should live.

4 The subject prompts me to add a few facts about this same Eutherius, perhaps hardly to be credited, for the reason that if a Numa Pompilius or a Socrates should give any good report of a eunuch, they would be charged with having departed from the truth. But among brambles roses spring up, and among savage beasts some are tamed. Accordingly, I shall give a brief summary of the chief facts known about him. 5 He was born in Armenia of free parents, but when still very young he was kidnapped by hostile tribesman in that neighbourhood, who gelded him and sold him to some Roman traders, who brought him to Constantine’s palace. There, as he grew up, he gradually gave evidence of virtuous living and intelligence. He received as much training in letters as might suffice for one of that station; conspicuous for his remarkable keenness in devising and solving difficult and knotty problems, he had extraordinary powers of memory; he was eager to do kindnesses and full of sound counsel. And if the emperor Constans had listened to him in times past, when Eutherius had grown up and was already mature, and urged honourable and upright conduct upon him, he would have been guilty of no faults, or at least of only pardonable ones. 6 When he had become head chamberlain, he would sometimes criticise even Julian, as trained in the manners of Asia and therefore inconstant. Finally going into retirement, but afterwards summoned to the palace, always temperate and especially consistent, he so cultivated the noble virtues of loyalty and self-restraint that he was never charged, as the rest have been, with having disclosed a secret, unless it were to save another’s life, or to have been kindled with a desire to increase his wealth. 7 The result was, that when he presently retired to Rome and grew old there in a permanent home, he carried about with him a good conscience as his companion; he was honoured and loved by all classes, whereas that type of man, after amassing wealth by iniquitous means, usually seeks out secret lurking places, like creatures of darkness shunning the sight of the multitude they have wronged. 8 In unrolling many records of the past, to see which of the eunuchs of old I ought to compare him, I could find one. True, there were in times gone by those that were loyal and virtuous (although very few), but they were stained with some vice or other. For along with the excellent qualities which anyone of them had acquired by studious endeavour or natural ability he was either extortionate or despicable for his cruelty, or prone to do mischief, or too subservient to the rulers, or insolent through pride of power; but of one so well equipped in every direction I confess I have neither read nor heard, although I have relied on the abundant testimony of our age. 9 But if haply any curious student of ancient history should confront me with Menophilus, the eunuch of Mithridates, king of Pontus, let this reminder recall to him that nothing was recorded of Menophilus save this one fact, that in the supreme crisis he made a glorious showing. 10 The aforesaid king, after having been defeated in a mighty battle by Pompey and the Romans, fled to the kingdom of Colchis; he left his grown daughter, Drypetina by name, who was afflicted with a grievous disease, in the fortress of Sinhorium under the charge of this Menophilus. He, resorting to every healing remedy, entirely cured the girl and was guarding her in complete security for her father, when the fortress in which he was beleaguered began to be blockaded by Mallius Priscus, the Roman commander’s lieutenant-general; and when Menophilus learned that its defenders were thinking of surrender, fearing lest, to her father’s reproach, the high-born girl might be taken alive and suffer outrage, he killed her and then plunged the sword into his own vitals. Now let me return to the point from which I digressed.

8 Slanders and calumnies in the camp of Constantius Augustus, and the greed of the courtiers.

1 After Marcellus had been worsted, as I have said, and had returned to Serdica, his native place, in the camp of Augustus, under pretext of upholding his imperial majesty, many abominable acts were committed. 2 For if anyone consulted a soothsayer about the squeaking of a shrew-mouse, the meeting with a weasel on the way, or any like portent, or used some old wife’s charm to relieve pain (a thing which even medical authority allows), he was indicted (from what source he could not guess), was haled into court, and suffered death as the penalty.

3 At about that time a certain slave, Danus by name, was accused by his wife on trifling charges merely to intimidate him; this woman was approached by Rufinus, who had come to know her in some way or other. He was the man who had given certain information that he had learned through Gaudentius, one of the agents, and had caused the death of Africanus, then governor-general of Pannonia, along with his guests, as I have related; he was even then, because of his obsequiousness, chief steward of the praetorian prefecture. 4 This Rufinus (as he kept boastfully saying) led the fickle woman, first into shameful relations with him, and then into a dangerous deceit; he induced her by a tissue of lies to charge her guiltless husband with high treason, and to allege that he had stolen a purple robe from Diocletian’s tomb and with several accomplices was concealing it. 5 And having thus framed these matters to the destruction of many persons, Rufinus himself, in hope of greater profit, flies to the emperor’s camp, to stir up his customary scandals. And when the fact was divulged, Mavortius, then praetorian prefect, a man of high resolution, was bidden to look into the charge with a keen investigation, having associated with him, to hear the case in common. Ursulus, count of the largesses, likewise a man of praiseworthy severity. 6 So when the affair had been exaggerated, after the standard of the times, and after the torture of many persons nothing was discovered, and the judges were hesitating in perplexity, at last truth, crushed to earth, breathed again, and at the point of necessity the woman confessed that Rufinus was the contriver of the whole plot, and did not even keep back the shame of her adultery. And at once the laws were consulted and the judges, unanimous in their love of right and justice, condemned them both to death. 7 Constantius, on learning this, raged and lamented, as if the defender of his own life had perished; he sent fast horsemen and commanded Ursulus in threatening terms to return to the court. And when he had come there and wished to approach the emperor, the courtiers tried to keep him from being able to appear in defence of the truth. But he, scorning those who would hold him back, burst through fearlessly and, entering the council-chamber with frank speech and bold heart told what had been done; and by this confidence having stopped the mouths of the flatterers, he delivered both the prefect and himself from a grave danger.

8 Then a thing happened in Aquitania which fame bruited more widely abroad. A crafty old fellow who was invited to a sumptuous and elegant banquet, such as are very frequent in that country, noticed that the purple borders of the linen couch-covers were so very broad that the skill of the attendants made them seem all one piece, and that the table was covered with similar cloths; and by turning the front part of his cloak inward with both hands, he so adorned its whole structure, that it resembled an emperor’s garment; and this action ruined a rich estate.

9 With like malice a certain member of the secret service in Spain, who also invited to a dinner, when he heard the slaves who were bringing in the evening lights cry (as the manner is): “May we conquer,” gave the expression a serious meaning, and wickedly destroyed a noble house.

10 These and similar actions kept growing more and more common, for the reason that Constantius, who was excessively timid and fearful for his life, always anticipated that a knife was at his throat, like that famous Sicilian despot, Dionysius, who because of that same infirmity actually taught his daughters to be barbers, in order that he might not trust the shaving of his cheeks to an outsider; and he surrounded the little house in which he used to sleep, with a deep trench and spanned it with a knockdown bridge, the planks and pins of which he took apart and carried with him when he went off to bed; and reassembled them at daybreak, when he was on his way out. 11 These trumpet-blasts of internal revolt were likewise increased by powerful courtiers, to the end that they might lay claim to the property of condemned persons and incorporate it with their own, and thus have the means of encroaching widely on their neighbours. 12 For as clear proofs bore witness, the first of all to open the jaws of those nearest to him was Constantine, but it was Constantius who fattened them with the marrow of the provinces. 13 For under him the leading men of every rank were inflamed with a boundless eagerness for riches, without consideration for justice or right; among the civil functionaries first came Rufinus, the praetorian prefect; among the military, Arbetio, master of the horse, and the head-chamberlain Eusebius, . . .anus, the quaestor, and in Rome itself the members of the Anician family, whose younger generation, striving to outdo their forefathers, could never be satisfied with even much greater possessions.

9 Negotiations for peace with the Persians.

1 But the Persians in the East, rather by thieving and robbery than (as their former manner was) in set battles, kept driving off booty of men and animals; sometimes they got away with their loot, being unexpected; often they lost it, overmarched by the great number of our soldiers; occasionally they were not allowed to see anything at all which could be carried off. 2 None the less, Musonianus, the praetorian prefect, a man (as I have said before) gifted with many excellent accomplishments, but corrupt and easy to turn from the truth by a bribe, inquired into the designs of the Persians through emissaries of his who were adepts in deceit and incrimination; and he took into his counsels on this subject Cassianus, duke of Mesopotamia, who had been toughened by various campaigns and dangers. 3 When the two had certain knowledge from the unanimous reports of their scouts that Sapor, on the remotest frontiers of his realm, was with difficulty and with great bloodshed of his troops driving back hostile tribesmen, they made trial of Tamsapor, the commander nearest to our territory, in secret interviews through obscure soldiers, their idea being that, if chance gave an opportunity, he should by letter advise the king finally to make peace with the Roman emperor, in order that by so doing he might be secure on his whole western frontier and could rush upon his persistent enemies. 4 Tamsapor consented and relying on this information, reported to the king that Constantius, being involved in very serious wars, entreated and begged for peace. But while these communications were being sent to the Chionitae and Euseni, in whose territories Sapor was passing the winter, a long time elapsed.

10 Constantius Augustus in military attire and like a triumphator arrives in Rome.

1 While these events were so being arranged in the Orient and in Gaul in accordance with the times, Constantius, as if the temple of Janus had been closed and all his enemies overthrown, was eager to visit Rome and after the death of Magnentius to celebrate, without a title, a triumph over Roman blood. 2 For neither in person did he vanquish any nation that made war upon him, nor learn of any conquered by the valour of his generals; nor did he add anything to his empire; nor at critical moments was he ever seen to be foremost, or among the foremost; but he desired to display an inordinately long procession, banners stiff with gold-work, and the splendour of his retinue, to a populace living in perfect peace and neither expecting nor desiring to see this or anything like it. 3 Perhaps he did not know that some of our ancient commanders in time of peace were satisfied with the attendance of their lictors; but when the heat of battle could tolerate no inaction, one, with the mad blast of the winds shrieking, entrusted himself to a fisherman’s skiff; another, after the example of the Decii, vowed his life for the commonwealth; a third in his own person together with common soldiers explored the enemy’s camp; in short, various among them became famous through splendid deeds, so that they commended their glories to the frequent remembrance of posterity.

4 So soon, then, as much had been disbursed in regal preparation, and every sort of man had been rewarded according to his services, in the second prefecture of Orfitus he passed through Ocriculi, elated with his great honours and escorted by formidable troops; he was conducted, so as to speak, in battle array and everyone’s eyes were riveted upon him with fixed gaze. 5 And when he was nearing the city, as he beheld with calm countenance the dutiful attendance of the senate and the august likenesses of the patrician stock, he thought, not like Cineas, the famous envoy of Pyrrhus, that a throng of kings was assembled together, but that the sanctuary of the whole world was present before him. 6 And when he turned from them to the populace, he was amazed to see in what crowds men of every type had flocked from all quarters to Rome. And as if he were planning to overawe the Euphrates with a show of arms, or the Rhine, while the standards preceded him on each side, he himself sat alone upon a golden car in the resplendent blaze of shimmering precious stones, whose mingled glitter seemed to form a sort of shifting light. 7 And behind the manifold others that preceded him he was surrounded by dragons, woven out of purple thread and bound to the golden and jewelled tops of spears, with wide mouths open to the breeze and hence hissing as if roused by anger, and leaving their tails winding in the wind. 8 And there marched on either side twin lines of infantrymen with shields and crests gleaming with glittering rays, clad in shining mail; and scattered among them were the full-armoured cavalry (whom they called clibanarii), all masked, furnished with protecting breastplates and girt with iron belts, so that you might have supposed them statues polished by the hand of Praxiteles, not men. Thin circles of iron plates, fitted to the curves of their bodies, completely covered their limbs; so that whichever way they had to move their members, their garment fitted, so skilfully were the joinings made. 9 Accordingly, being saluted as Augustus with favouring shouts, while hills and shores thundered out the roar, he never stirred, but showed himself as calm and imperturbable as he was commonly seen in his provinces. 10 For he both stooped when passing through lofty gates (although he was very short), and as if his neck were in a vice, he kept the gaze of his eyes straight ahead, and turned his face neither to right nor to left, but (as if he were a lay figure) neither did he nod when the wheel jolted nor was he ever seen to spit, or to wipe or rub his face or nose, or move his hands about. 11 And although this was affectation on his part, yet these and various other features of his more intimate life were tokens of no slight endurance, granted to him alone, as was given to be understood. 12 Furthermore, that during the entire period of his reign he neither took up anyone to sit beside him in his car, nor admitted any private person to be his colleague in the insignia of the consulship, as other anointed princes did, and many like habits which in his pride of lofty conceit he observed as though they were most just laws, I pass by, remembering that I set them down when they occurred.

13 So then he entered Rome, the home of empire and of every virtue, and when he had come to the Rostra, the most renowned forum of ancient dominion, he stood amazed; and on every side on which his eyes rested he was dazzled by the array of marvellous sights. He addressed the nobles in the senate-house and the populace from the tribunal, and being welcomed to the place with manifold attentions, he enjoyed a longed-for pleasure; and on several occasions, when holding equestrian games, he took delight in the sallies of the commons, who were neither presumptuous nor regardless of their old-time freedom, while he himself also respectfully observed the due mean. 14 For he did not (as in the case of other cities) permit the contests to be terminated at his own discretion, but left them (as the custom is) to various chances. Then, as he surveyed the sections of the city and its suburbs, lying within the summits of the seven hills, along their slopes, or on level ground, he thought that whatever first met his gaze towered above all the rest: the sanctuaries of Tarpeian Jove so far surpassing as things divine excel those of earth; the baths built up to the measure of provinces; the huge bulk of the amphitheatre, strengthened by its framework of Tiburtine stone, to whose top human eyesight barely ascends; the Pantheon like a rounded city-district, vaulted over in lofty beauty; and the exalted heights which rise with platforms to which one may mount, and bear the likenesses of former emperors; the Temple of the City, the Forum of Peace, the Theatre of Pompey, the Odeum, the Stadium, and amongst these the other adornments of the Eternal City. 15 But when he came to the Forum of Trajan, a construction unique under the heavens, as we believe, and admirable even in the unanimous opinion of the gods, he stood fast in amazement, turning his attention to the gigantic complex about him, beggaring description and never again to be imitated by mortal men. Therefore abandoning all hope of attempting anything like it, he said that he would and could copy Trajan’s steed alone, which stands in the centre of the vestibule, carrying the emperor himself. 16 To this prince Ormisda, who was standing near him, and whose departure from Persia I have described above, replied with native wit: “First, Sire,” said he, “command a like stable to be built, if you can; let the steed which you propose to create range as widely as this which we see.” When Ormisda was asked directly what he thought of Rome, he said that he took comfort in this fact alone, that he had learned that even there men were mortal. 17 So then, when the emperor had viewed many objects with awe and amazement, he complained of Fame as either incapable or spiteful, because while always exaggerating everything, in describing what there is in Rome, she becomes shabby. And after long deliberation what he should do there, he determined to add to the adornments of the city by erecting in the Circus Maximus an obelisk, the provenance and figure of which I shall describe in the proper place.

18 Meanwhile Constantius’ sister Helena, wife of Julian Caesar, had been brought to Rome under pretence of affection, but the reigning queen, Eusebia, was plotting against her; she herself had been childless all her life, and by her wiles she coaxed Helena to drink a rare potion, so that as often as she was with child she should have a miscarriage. 19 For once before, in Gaul, when she had borne a baby boy, she lost it through machination: a midwife had been bribed with a sum of money, and as soon as the child was born cut the umbilical cord more than was right, and so killed it; such great pains and so much thought were taken that this most valiant man might have no heir. 20 Now the emperor desired to remain longer in this most majestic abode of all the world, to enjoy freer repose and pleasure, but he was alarmed by constant trustworthy reports, stating that the Suebi were raiding Raetia and the Quadi Valeria, while the Sarmatians, a tribe most accomplished in brigandage, were laying waste Upper Moesia and Lower Pannonia. Excited by this news, on the thirtieth day after entering Rome he left the city on May 29th, and marched rapidly into Illyricum by way of Tridentum. 21 From there he sent Severus, a general toughened by long military experience, to succeed Marcellus, and ordered Ursicinus to come to him. The latter received the letter with joy and came to Sirmium with his companions; and after long deliberations about the peace which Musonianus had reported might be established with the Persians, Ursicinus was sent back to the Orient with the powers of commander-in-chief; the elder members of our company were promoted to the command of his soldiers, while we younger men were directed to escort him and be ready to perform whatever he should direct on behalf of the commonwealth.

11 Julianus Caesar attacks the Alamanni on the islands of the Rhine, to which they had fled with their belongings, and refits Tres Tabernae against them.

1 But Julianus Caesar, after having passed a troubled winter at Sens, in the year when the emperor was consul for the ninth time and he for the second, with threats from the Germans thundering on every side, stirred by favourable omens hastened to Rheims. He felt the greater eagerness and pleasure because Severus was commanding the army, a man neither insubordinate nor overbearing but well known for his long excellent record in the army, who had followed Julian as he advanced straight ahead, as an obedient soldier follows his general. 2 From another direction Barbatio, who had been promoted after Silvanus’ death to the command of the infantry, came from Italy at the emperor’s order with twenty-five thousand soldiers to Augst. 3 For it was planned and carefully arranged beforehand that the Alamanni, who were raging beyond their customary manner and ranging more afield, should be driven into straits as if with a pair of pliers by twin forces of our soldiers, and cut to pieces. 4 But while these well-laid plans were being hurried on, the Laeti, a savage tribe skilled in seasonable raids, passed secretly between the encampments of both armies and made an unlooked for attack on Lyons; and with their sudden onset they would have sacked and burned the town, had they not been driven back from the closed gates but made havoc of whatever they could find outside the town. 5 This disaster was no sooner known than Caesar, with quick grasp of the situation, sent three squadrons of brave light cavalry and watched three roads, knowing that the raiders would doubtless burst forth by them; and his ambuscade was not in vain. 6 For all who passed out by those roads were butchered and all their booty recovered intact, and only those escaped unharmed who made their way undisturbed past the rampart of Barbatio; being allowed so to slip by because Bainobaudes, the tribune and Valentinian, afterwards emperor, who with the cavalry troops they commanded had been ordered to attend to that matter, were forbidden by Cella, tribune of the targeteers, who had come to the campaign as Barbatio’s colleague, to watch the road over which they were informed that the Germans would return. 7 And not content with that, the infantry commander, who was a coward and a persistent detractor of Julian’s reputation, knowing that what he had ordered was against the interests of the Roman cause (for when Cella was charged with this, he confessed it), deceived Constantius in his report and pretended that these same tribunes had come, under the pretext of public business, to tamper with the soldiers whom he had been commanding; and for that reason they were cashiered and returned to their homes in a private capacity.

8 At that same time the savages who had established their homes on our side of the Rhine, were alarmed by the approach of our armies, and some of them skilfully blocked the roads (which are difficult and naturally of heavy grades) by barricades of felled trees of huge size; others, taking possession of the islands which are scattered in numbers along the course of the Rhine, with wild and mournful cries heaped insults upon the Romans and Caesar. Whereupon he was inflamed with a mighty outburst of anger, and in order to catch some of them, asked Barbatio for seven of the ships which he had got ready for building bridges with the intention of crossing the river. but Barbatio burned them all, in order that he might be unable to give any help. 9 Finally, Julian, learning from the report of some scouts just captured, that now in the heat of summer the river could be forded, with words of encouragement sent the light-armed auxiliaries with Bainobaudes, tribune of the Cornuti, to perform a memorable feat, if fortune would favour them; and they, now wading through the shallows, now swimming on their shields, which they put under them like canoes, came to a neighbouring island and landing there they butchered everyone they found, men and women alike, without distinction of age, like so many sheep. Then, finding some empty boats, they rowed on in these, unsteady as they were, and raided a large number of such places; and when they were sated with slaughter, loaded down with a wealth of booty (a part of which they lost through the force of the current) they all came back safe and sound. 10 And the rest of the Germans, on learning of this, abandoned the islands as an unsafe refuge and carried off into the interior their families, their grain, and their rude treasures. 11 From here Julian turned aside to repair the fortress called Tres Tabernae, destroyed not long before by the enemy’s obstinate assault, the rebuilding of which ensured that the Germans could not approach the interior of Gaul, as they had been wont to do. And he both finished this work sooner than was expedited and, for the garrison that was to be stationed there, he stored up food for the needs of a whole year, gathered together by the hands of the soldiers, not without fear of danger, from the savages’ crops. 12 And not content with that alone, he gathered for himself also rations to serve for twenty days. For the warriors the more willingly made use of what they had won by their own right hands, being greatly incensed because from the supplies which had just been brought them they could get nothing, since Barbatio had arrogantly appropriated a part of them, when they were passing near him; and piled in a heap what remained over and burned it. Whether he did this like an empty-headed fool, or at the emperor’s bidding brazenly perpetrated his many abominable acts, has remained obscure up to this time. 13 However, it was current rumour everywhere, that Julian was not chosen to relieve the distress of Gaul, but that he might meet his death in the cruellest of wars, being even then (as it was thought) inexperienced and one who could not stand even the clash of arms. 14 While the fortifications of the camp were rapidly rising and part of the soldiers were garrisoning the country posts, part gathering in grain warily for fear of ambush, a horde of savages, outstripping by their extraordinary speed any rumour of their coming, with a sudden attack set upon Barbatio and the army he commanded, which was (as had been said) separated from the Gallic camp; and they followed them in their flight as far as Augst, and as much farther as they could; then, after seizing the greater part of his baggage and pack-animals, together with the camp-followers, they returned home again. 15 And Barbatio, as if he had ended the campaign successfully, distributed his soldiers in winter quarters and returned to the emperor’s court, to frame some charge against Caesar, as was his custom.

12 Julian Caesar attacks the seven kings of the Alamanni, who were oppressing the Gauls, and routs the savages in a battle at Argentoratum (Strasburg).

1 When this disgraceful panic had been spread abroad, the kings of the Alamanni, Chonodomarius and Vestralpus, as well as Urius and Ursicinus, together with Serapio and Suomarius and Hortarius, collected all the flower of their forces in one spot and having ordered the horns to sound the war-note, approached the city of Strasburg, thinking that Caesar had retired through fear of the worst, whereas he was even then busily employed in his project of completing the fort. 2 Moreover, as they tossed their heads proudly, their confidence was increased by a deserter from the targeteers; who, in fear of punishment for a crime he had committed, went over to them after the departure of his defeated leader, and informed them that only thirteen thousand soldiers had stayed with Julian; and in fact that was the number of his followers, while savage ferocity was arousing the frenzy of battle on every side. 3 Through this deserter’s frequent repetition of that statement their confidence was raised still higher; they sent delegates to Caesar and imperiously enough commanded him to depart from the lands which they had won by valour and the sword. But he, a stranger to fear, neither lost his temper nor felt aggrieved, but laughing at the presumption of the savages, he detained the envoys until the work of fortification was ended and remained steadfast in the same attitude of resolution.

4 Now King Chonodomarius was raising general disturbance and confusion, making his presence felt everywhere, without limit, a leader in dangerous enterprise, lifting up his brows in pride, being as he was conceited over frequent successes. 5 For he both met Decentius Caesar on equal terms and defeated him, and had destroyed and sacked many wealthy cities, and for a long time freely overran Gaul without opposition. To strengthen his confidence, there was added besides the recent rout of a general superior in numbers and strength. 6 For the Alamanni, on seeing the devices of their shields, realised that these soldiers, who had given ground before a few of their brigands, were the men in fear of whom they had at times in the past scattered and fled with heavy losses, before coming to close quarters. All this caused Julian worry and anxiety, because at the instance of urgent necessity, with the partner of his danger gone, he was forced with only a few (though brave) troops to meet swarming tribes.

7 Already the beams of the sun were reddening the sky, and the blare of the trumpets was sounding in unison, when the infantry forces were led out at a moderate pace, and to their flank were joined the squadrons of cavalry, among whom were the cuirassiers and the archers, a formidable branch of the service. 8 And since from the place where the Roman standards had begun advancing, the distance to the enemy’s camp was figured to be fourteen leagues — that is, twenty-one miles — Caesar had proper regard for both advantage and security, and having recalled his outposts, who had already gone ahead, and having proclaimed silence by the usual announcements, with his native calmness of speech he addressed the soldiers, who stood about him in companies, as follows:

9 “Regard for maintaining our common safety (to speak most sparingly) urges me, a Caesar far from pusillanimous, to urge and entreat you, fellow soldiers, to have confidence in our mature and sturdy courage, and to choose for all of us rather the path of caution, not the over-hasty and doubtful one, if we are to withstand or to repulse what we have to expect. 10 For in the midst of peril, while it is proper that young men should be energetic and daring, they should also (when occasion requires) be docile and circumspect. Let me therefore in few words detail what my opinion is and see if you will give me leave, and your just anger upholds it. 11 The day is already nearing noon; we are exhausted by the fatigue of the march; steep and blind paths will receive us; the moon is waning and the night will be relieved by no stars; the country is fairly ablaze with heat and relieved by no supply of water. If anyone should grant us the ability to pass through all this comfortably, what are we to do when the enemy’s swarms rush upon us, refreshed as they will be with rest and food and drink? What strength can we have, when our limbs are enfeebled with hunger, thirst and toil, to offer resistance? 12 Therefore, since even the most difficult situations have often been met by timely arrangement, and when suitable advice has been taken in good part, heaven-sent remedies have frequently restored the condition of affairs which threatened ruin, here, I ask of you, protected by a rampart and a trench and with our sentinels picketed, let us rest and for the present enjoy sleep and food suitable to the occasion; and then (with God’s leave be it spoken) let us advance our triumphant eagles and victorious standards at the first break of day.”

13 The soldiers did not allow him to finish what he was saying, but gnashed and ground their teeth and showed their eagerness for battle by striking their spears and shields together, and besought him that they might be led against an enemy who was already in sight, trusting in the favour of God in Heaven, in their own self-confidence, and in the tried valour of their lucky general; and (as the event showed) a sort of helpful guardian spirit was urging them to the fray, so long as he could be at hand. 14 To add to this eagerness there was the full approval of the high command and especially of Florentius, the praetorian prefect, who judged that though it was risky, they must none the less fight with hope of success while the savages were standing massed together; but if they scattered, the resentment of our soldiers, who, he said, are inclined by their native hotness of temper towards insubordination, would be impossible to withstand; for that victory (as they thought) should be wrested from their hands they would hardly endure without recourse to the last extremity. 15 Furthermore, our men’s confidence had been increased by a twofold consideration, since they recalled that during the year just elapsed, when the Romans were ranging freely all through the country beyond the Rhine, not a man was seen to defend his own home or to make a stand against them; but after blocking the paths everywhere with a thick barricade of felled trees, the savages, frost-bitten by winter climate, had much ado to live, moving far out of the way; and once the emperor had entered into their country they did not dare either to resist or show themselves, and obtained peace by suppliant entreaties. 16 But no one noticed that now the state of the case was changed, since then they were threatened with ruin from three sides; the emperor was menacing them by way of Raetia, Caesar was near at hand and would not allow them to slip out anywhere, and their neighbours (whom civil strife had made their enemies) were all but treading on their necks while they were hemmed in on all sides. But later, peace was granted and the emperor had departed; the source of their quarrels having disappeared, the border tribes were now in agreement; and the shameful departure of the Roman commander had greatly increased the savageness implanted in them by nature. 17 In another way also the Roman situation was made worse in consequence of the following occurrence; there they were two brothers of royal blood, who, bound by the obligation of the peace which they had obtained from Constantius the year before, dared neither to raise a disturbance nor to make any move; but a little later, when one of them, Gundomadus, who was the stronger of the two and truer to his promise, had been treacherously murdered, all his tribe made common cause with our enemies, and at once the subjects of Vadomarius (against his will, as he insisted) united with the armies of the savages who were clamouring for war.

18 So, since, the whole army, from the highest to the lowest, agreed that then was the suitable time to fight, and did not in the least abate their inflexibility of spirit, one of the standard bearers suddenly cried: “Forward, most fortunate of all Caesars, whither your lucky star guides you; in you at last we feel that both valour and good counsel are in the field. Leading the way for us like a lucky and valiant commander, you will find what the soldier will accomplish when his strength is called out to the full, under the eyes of a warlike general, the immediate witness of his achievements, if only the favour of the supreme deity be present.” 19 On hearing this no delay was permitted, but the army moved forward and approached a hill of gentle slope, covered with grain already ripe, and not far distant from the banks of the Rhine. From its top three of the enemy’s cavalry scouts galloped off and hastened to their troops, to bring speedy word of the Roman army’s approach. But one infantryman, who could not keep up with them, was caught through the quickness of our men, and reported that the Germans had been crossing the river for three days and three nights. 20 When our leading officers espied them, now near at hand, taking their places in close wedge-formation, they halted and stood fast, making a solid line, like an impregnable wall, of the vanguard, the standard bearers, and the staff-officers; and with like wariness the enemy held their ground in wedge-formation.  21 And when (just as the above-mentioned deserter had told us) they saw all our cavalry opposite them on the right flank, they put all their strongest cavalry forces on their flank in close order. And among them here and there they intermingled skirmishers and light-armed infantry, as safe policy certainly demanded. 22 For they realised that one of their warriors on horseback, no matter how skilful, in meeting one of our cavalry in coat-of-mail, must hold bridle and shield in one hand and brandish his spear with the other, and would thus be able to do no harm to a soldier hidden in iron armour; whereas the infantry soldier in the very hottest of the fight, when nothing is apt to be guarded against except what is straight before one, can creep about low and unseen, and by piercing a horse’s side throw its unsuspecting rider headlong, whereupon he can be slain with little trouble. 23 Having made this arrangement, they provided their right flank with secret and puzzling ambuscades. Now all these warlike and savage tribes were led by Chonodomarius and Serapio, kings higher than all the rest in authority. 24 And Chonodomarius, who was in fact the infamous instigator of the whole disturbance, rode before the left wing with a flame-coloured plume on his helmet, a bold man, who relied upon his mighty muscular strength, a huge figure on his foaming steed, he towered with a lance of formidable size; made conspicuous above others by the gleam of his armour, he was both a doughty soldier and a skilful general beyond all the rest. 25 But the right wing was led by Serapio, who was still a young man with downy cheeks, but his ability outran his years; he was the son of Mederichus, Chonodomarius’ brother, a man of the utmost treachery all his life; and he was so named because his father, who had for a long time ben kept as a hostage in Gaul and had been taught Greek mysteries, changed his son’s original native name of Agenarichus to that of Serapio. 26 These were followed by the kings next in power, five in number, by ten princes, with a long train of nobles, and 35,000 troops levied from various nations, partly for pay and partly under agreement to return the service.

27 And now as the trumpets blared ominously, Severus, the Roman general in command of the left wing, on coming near the trenches filled with soldiers, from which it had been arranged that the men in concealment should rise up suddenly and throw everything into confusion, halted fearlessly, and being somewhat suspicious of ambuscades, made no attempt either to draw back or to go further. 28 On seeing this, Caesar, who was courageous in the face of the greatest dangers, surrounded himself with an escort of two hundred horsemen, as the violence of this affair demanded, and with word and action urged the lines of infantry to deploy with swift speed. 29 And since to address them all at once was impossible, both on account of the wide extent of the field and the great numbers of the multitude that had been brought together (and besides he avoided the heavy burden of jealousy, for fear of seeming to have affected that which the emperor supposed to be due to himself alone) without thought of his own safety he flew past the enemy’s weapons and by these and similar speeches animated the soldiers, strangers as well as acquaintances, to deeds of valour. 30 “There has come now, comrades, the real time for fighting, which you and I have long since desired, and which you were just now demanding, when you were tumultuously calling for your weapons.” 31 Also, when he had come to others, who were stationed behind the standards and in the extreme rear, he said: “Behold, fellow-soldiers, the long-hoped-for day is now here, forcing us all to wash away the old-time stains and restore its due honour to the majesty of Rome. These are the savages whom madness and excessive folly have driven on to the ruin of their fortunes, doomed as they are to be overwhelmed by our might.” 32 In the same way, as he arranged in better order others who were experienced by long practice in warfare, he cheered them with such words of encouragement as these: “Let us bestir ourselves, brave soldiers, and by seasonable valour do away with the reproaches inflicted upon our cause, in consideration of which I have hesitatingly accepted the title of Caesar.” 33 But whenever he saw any soldiers who were calling for the battle-signal out of season, and foresaw that they would by their riotous actions break discipline, he said: “I beg of you, do not mar the glory of our coming victory by following too eagerly the enemy whom you are about to put to flight; and let none yield ground before the extremity of need. For I shall surely abandon those who are likely to flee, but I shall be inseparably present with those who shall wound their foeman’s backs, provided that it be done with regard for judgment and caution.

34 While he kept often repeating these and other words to the same effect, he placed the greater part of his army opposite the forefront of the savages, and suddenly there was heard the outcry of the German infantry, mingled with indignation, as they shouted with one accord that their princes ought to leave their horses and keep company with them, for fear that they, if anything adverse should occur, abandoning the wretched herd, would easily make shift to escape. 35 On learning of this, Chonodomarius at once sprang down from his horse, and the rest, following his example, did the same without delay; for not one of them doubted that their side would be victorious.

36 So, when the call to battle had been regularly given on both sides by the notes of the trumpeters, they began the fight with might and main; for a time missiles were hurled, and then the Germans, running forward with more haste than discretion, and wielding their weapons in their right hands, flew upon our cavalry squadrons; and as they gnashed their teeth hideously and raged beyond their usual manner, their flowing hair made a terrible sight, and a kind of madness shone from their eyes. Against them our soldiers resolutely protected their heads with the barriers of their shields, and with sword thrusts or by hurling darts threatened them with death and greatly terrified them. 37 And when in the very crisis of the battle the cavalry formed massed squadrons valiantly and the infantry stoutly protected their flanks by making a front of their bucklers joined fast together, clouds of thick dust arose. Then there were various manoeuvres, as our men now stood fast and now gave ground, and some of the most skilful warriors among the savages by the pressure of their knees tried to force their enemy back; but with extreme determination they came to hand-to-hand fighting, shield-boss pushed against shield, and the sky re-echoed with the loud cries of the victors or of the falling. And although our left wing, marching in close formation had driven back by main force the onrushing hordes of Germans and was advancing with shouts into the midst of the savages, our cavalry, which held the right wing, unexpectedly broke ranks and fled; but while the foremost of these fugitives hindered the hindmost, finding themselves sheltered in the bosom of the legions, they halted, and renewed the battle. 38 Now that had happened for the reason that while the order of their lines was being re-established, the cavalry in coat-of-mail, seeing their leader slightly wounded and one of their companions slipping over the neck of his horse, which had collapsed under the weight of his armour, scattered in whatever direction they could; the cavalry would have caused complete confusion by trampling the infantry underfoot, had not the latter, who were packed close together and intertwined one with the other, held their ground without stirring. So, when Caesar had seen from a distance that the cavalry were looking for nothing except safety in flight, he spurred on his horse and held them back like a kind of barrier. 39 On recognising him by the purple ensign of a dragon, fitted to the top of a very long lance and spreading out like the slough of a serpent, the tribune of one of the squadrons stopped, and pale and struck with fear rode back to renew the battle. 40 Whereupon Caesar, as is the custom to do in times of panic, rebuked them mildly and said: “Whither are we fleeing, my most valiant men? Do you know not that flight never leads to safety, but shows the folly of a useless effort? Let us return to our companions, to be at least sharers in their coming glory, if it is without consideration that we are abandoning them as they fight for their country.” 41 By his tactful way of saying this he recalled them all to perform their duty as soldiers, following (though with some difference) the example of Sulla of old. For when he had led out his forces against Mithradates’ general Archelaus and was being exhausted by the heat of battle and deserted by all his men, he rushed to the front rank, caught up a standard, flung it towards the enemy, and cried: “Go your way, you who were chosen to be companions of my dangers, and to those who ask you where I, your general, was left, answer truthfully: ‘Fighting along in Boeotia, and shedding his blood for all of us.’ “

42 Then the Alamanni, having beaten and scattered our cavalry, charged upon the front line of the infantry, supposing that their courage to resist was now lost and that they would therefore drive them back. 43 But as soon as they came to close quarters, the contest continued a long time on equal terms. For the Cornuti and the Bracchiati, toughened by long experience in fighting, at once intimidated them by their gestures, and raised their mighty battle-cry. This shout in the very heat of combat rises from a low murmur and gradually grows louder, like waves dashing against the cliffs. Then a cloud of hissing javelins flew hither and thither, the dust arose with steady motion on both sides and hid the view, so that weapon struck blindly on weapon and body against body. 44 But the savages, thrown into disorder by their violence and anger, flamed up like fire, and hacked with repeated strokes of their swords at the close-jointed array of shields, which protected our men like a tortoise-formation. 45 On learning this, the Batavians, with the “Kings” (a formidable band) came at the double quick to aid their comrades and (if fate would assist) to rescue them, girt about as they were, from the instant of dire need; and as their trumpets pealed savagely, they fought with all their powers. 46 But the Alamanni, who enter eagerly into wars, made all the greater effort, as if to destroy utterly everything in their way by a kind of fit of rage. Yet darts and javelins did not cease to fly, with showers of iron-tipped arrows, although at close quarters also blade clashed on blade and breastplates were cleft with the sword; the wounded too, before all their blood was shed, rose up to some more conspicuous deed of daring. 47 For in a way the combatants were evenly matched; the Alamanni were stronger and taller, our soldiers disciplined by long practice; they were savage and uncontrollable, our men quiet and wary, these relying on their courage, while the Germans presumed upon their huge size. 48 Yet frequently the Roman, driven from his post by the weight of armed men, rose up again; and the savage, with his legs giving way from fatigue, would drop on his bended left knee and even thus attack his foe, a proof of extreme resolution. 49 And so there suddenly leaped forth a fiery band of nobles, among whom even the kings fought, and with the common soldiers following they burst in upon our lines before the rest; and opening up a path for themselves they got as far as the legion of the Primani, which was stationed in the centre — a strong feature called praetorian camp; there our soldiers, closely packed and in fully-manned lines, stood their ground fast and firm, like towers, and renewed the battle with greater vigour; and being intent upon avoiding wounds, they protected themselves like murmillos, and with drawn swords pierced the enemy’s sides, left bare by their frenzied rage. 50 But the enemy strove to lavish their lives for victory and kept trying to break the fabric of our line. But as they fell in uninterrupted succession, and the Romans now laid them low with greater confidence, fresh savages took the places of the slain; but when they heard the frequent groans of the dying, they were overcome with panic and lost their courage. 51 Worn out at last by so many calamities, and now being eager for flight alone, over various paths they made haste with all speed to get away, just as sailors and passengers hurry to be cast up on land out of the midst of the billows of a raging sea, no matter where the wind has carried them; and anyone there present will admit that it was a means of escape more prayed for than expected. 52 Moreover, the gracious will of an appeased deity was on our side, and our soldiers slashed the backs of the fugitives; when sometimes their swords were bent, and no weapons were at hand for dealing blows, they seized their javelins from the savages themselves and sank them into their vitals; and not one of those who dealt these wounds could with their blood glut his rage or satiate his right hand by continual slaughter, or take pity on a suppliant and leave him. 53 And so a great number of them lay there pierced with mortal wounds, begging for death as a speedy relief; others half-dead, with their spirit already slipping away, sought with dying eyes for longer enjoyment of the light; some had their heads severed by pikes heavy as beams, so that they hung down, connected only by their throats; some had fallen in their comrades’ blood on the miry, slippery ground, and although their persons were untouched by the steel, they were perishing, buried beneath the heaps of those who kept falling above them. 54 When all this had turned out so very successfully, our victorious troops pressed on with greater vigour, blunting the edges of their swords with stroke after stroke, while gleaming helms and shields rolled about under foot. At last the savages, driven on by the utmost extremity, since the heaps of corpses were so high as to block their passage, made for the only recourse left, that of the river, which now almost grazed their backs. 55 And since our indefatigable soldiers, running fast even under their armour, pressed upon them as they fled, some of them, thinking that by their skill in swimming they could save themselves from the dangers, committed their lives to the waves. Whereupon Caesar, with swift intelligence foreseeing what might happen, joined with the tribunes and higher officers in restraining shouts, forbidding any of our men in their over-eager pursuit of the enemy to entrust themselves to the eddying flood. 56 As a result it was seen that they stood on the banks and transfixed the Germans with various kinds of darts; and if any of them by his speed escaped this death, he would sink to the bottom of the river through the weight of his struggling body. 57 And just as in some theatrical scene, when the curtain displays many wonderful sights, so now one could without apprehension see how some who did not know how to swim clung fast to good swimmers; how others floated like logs when they were left behind by those who swam faster; and some were swept into the currents and swallowed up, so to speak, by the struggling violence of the stream; some were carried along on their shields, and by frequently changing their direction avoided the steep masses of the onrushing waves, and so after many a risk reached the further shores. And at last the reddened river’s bed, foaming with the savages’ blood, was itself amazed at these strange additions to its waters.

58 While this was going on, King Chonodomarius found means to get away by slipping through the heaps of corpses with a few of his attendants, and hastened at top speed towards the camp which he had boldly pitched near the Roman fortifications of Tribunci and Concordia, his purpose being to embark in some boats which he had sometime before got ready for any emergency, and hide himself away in some secret retreat. 59 And since he could not reach his own territories except by crossing the Rhine, he covered his face for fear of being recognised and slowly retired. But when he was already nearing the river-bank and was skirting a lagoon which had been flooded with marsh water, in order to get by, his horse stumbled on the muddy and sticky ground and he was thrown off; but although he was fat and heavy, he quickly escaped to the refuge of a neighbouring hill. But he was recognised (for he could not conceal his identity, being betrayed by the greatness of his former estate); and immediately a cohort with its tribune followed him with breathless haste and surrounded the wooded height with their troops and cautiously invested it, afraid to break in for fear that some hidden ambush might meet them among the dark shadows of the branches. 60 On seeing them he was driven to the utmost fear and surrendered of his own accord, coming out alone; and his attendants, two hundred in number, with three of his closest friends, thinking it a disgrace to survive their king, or not to die for their king if an emergency required it, gave themselves up to be made prisoners. 61 And as the savages are by nature humble in adversity and overbearing in success, subservient as he now was to another’s will he was dragged along pale and abashed, tongue-tied by the consciousness of his crimes — how vastly different from the man who, after savage and woeful outrages, trampled upon the ashes of Gaul and threatened many dire deeds.

62 So the battle was thus finished by the favour of the supreme deity; the day had already ended and the trumpet sounded; the soldiers, very reluctant to be recalled, encamped near the banks of the Rhine, protected themselves by numerous rows of shields, and enjoyed food and sleep. 63 Now there fell in this battle on the Roman side two hundred and forty-three soldiers and four high officers: Bainobaudes, tribune of the Cornuti, and also Laipso; and Innocentius, commander of the mailed cavalry, and one unattached tribune, whose name is not available to me. But of the Alamanni there was counted six thousand corpses lying on the field, and heaps of dead, impossible to reckon, were carried off by the waves of the river. 64 Thereupon, since Julian was a man of greater mark than his position, and more powerful in his deserts than in his command, he was hailed as Augustus by the unanimous acclamation of the entire army; but he rebuked the soldiers for their thoughtless action, and declared with an oath that he neither expected nor desired to attain that honour. 65 And to enhance their rejoicing over their success, he called an assembly and offered rewards, and then courteously gave orders that Chonodomarius should be brought before him; the king at first bowed down and then humbly prostrated himself on the ground; and when he begged for forgiveness in his native tongue, he was told to be of good courage. 66 And a few days later he was conducted to the emperor’s court and thence sent to Rome; there in the Castra Peregrina, which is on the Caelian Hill, he died from senile decay.

67 On the successful outcome of these exploits, so numerous and so important, some of the courtiers in Constantius’ palace found fault with Julian, in order to please the emperor himself, or facetiously called him Victorinus, on the ground that, although he was modest in making reports whenever he led the army in battle, he often mentioned defeats of the Germans. 68 And between piling on empty praise, and pointing to what was clearly evident, they as usual puffed up the emperor, who was naturally conceited, by ascribing whatever was done anywhere in the world to his favourable auspices. 69 As a consequence, he was elated by the grandiloquence of his sycophants, and then and later in his published edicts he arrogantly lied about a great many matters, frequently writing that he alone (although he had not been present at the action) had both fought and conquered, and had raised up the suppliant kings of foreign nations. If, for example, when he himself was then in Italy, one of his generals had fought bravely against the Persians, he would make no mention of him in the course of a very long account, but would send out letters wreathed in laurel to the detriment of the provinces, indicating with odious self-praise that he had fought in the front ranks. 70 In short, there are extant statements filed among the public records of this emperor, in which ostentatious reports are given, of his boasting and exalting himself to the sky. When this battle was fought near Strasburg, although he was distant forty days’ march, in his description of the fight he falsely asserts that he arranged the order of battle, and stood among the standard-bearers, and drove the barbarians headlong, and that Chonodomarius was brought to him, saying nothing (Oh, shameful indignity!) of the glorious deeds of Julian, which he would have buried in oblivion, had not fame been unable to suppress his splendid exploits, however much many people would have obscured them.

Book XVII

1 Julianus Caesar, having crossed the Rhine, sacks and burns the villages of the Alamanni; he repairs a fortress of Trajan and grants the barbarians a truce of ten months.

1 After this conclusion of the variety of events which I have now summarised the young warrior, with mind at ease, since the Rhine flowed on peacefully after the battle of Strasburg, took care to keep birds of prey from devouring the bodies of the slain; and he gave orders that they should all be buried without distinction. Then, having dismissed the envoys, who (as we have related) had brought some insolent messages before the battle, he returned to Savernes. 2 From there he ordered the booty, with all the captives, to be taken to Metz and kept there until his return; he was himself planning to go to Mayence with the purpose of building a bridge, crossing the Rhine, and searching out the savages on their own ground, since he had left none of them in our territory; but he was opposed by the protests of the army. However, by his eloquence and the charm of his language he won them over and converted them to his will. For their affection, warmer after their experiences with him, prompted them to follow willingly one who was a fellow-soldier in every task, a leader brilliant in his prestige, and accustomed to prescribe more drudgery for himself than for a common soldier, as was clearly evident. And as soon as they came to the place above mentioned, crossing the river on the bridges which they made, they possessed themselves of the enemy’s country. 3 But the savages, thunderstruck at the vastness of the feat, since they little expected that they could be molested, settled as they were amid undisturbed peace, gave anxious thought to what might threaten their own fortunes, in view of the destruction of the others; and so under pretence of a prayer for peace, with the purpose of avoiding the brunt of the first onslaught, they sent envoys with set speeches, to declare the harmonious validity of the treaties with them; but for some unknown design that they suddenly formed they changed their minds, and by other messengers whom they forced to come post haste, they threatened our men with most bitter warfare, unless they should withdraw from their territory.

4 On learning this from a sure source, Caesar at the first quiet of nightfall embarked eight hundred soldiers on small, swift boats, so that they might go up the Rhine for a distance of twenty stadia, disembark, and with fire and sword lay waste whatever they could find. 5 This arrangement thus made, at the very break of day the savages were seen drawn up along the hill-tops, and the soldiers in high spirits were led up to the higher ground; but they found no one there (since the enemy, suspecting this, had hastily decamped), and then great columns of smoke were seen at a distance, revealing that our men had burst in and were devastating the enemy’s territory. 6 This action broke the Germans’ spirit, and abandoning the ambuscades which they had laid for our men in narrow and dangerous places, they fled across the river, Menus by name, to bear aid to their kinsfolk. 7 For, as is apt to happen in times of doubt and confusion, they were panic-stricken by the raid of our cavalry on the one side, and on the other by the sudden onset of our infantry, who had rowed up the river in their boats; and with their knowledge of the ground they had quick recourse to flight. Upon their departure our soldiers marched on undisturbed and plundered farms rich in cattle and crops, sparing none; and having dragged out the captives, they set fire to and burned down all the houses, which were built quite carefully in Roman fashion. 8 After having advanced approximately ten miles, they came to a forest formidable with its forbidding shade and their general stood in hesitation for some time, being informed by the report of a deserter that large forces were lurking in some hidden underground passages and wide-branching trenches, ready to burst forth when they saw an opportunity. 9 Yet they all ventured to draw near with the greatest confidence, but found the paths heaped with felled oak and ash-trees and a great quantity of fir. And so they warily retreated, their minds hardly containing their indignation, as they realised that they could not advance farther except by long and difficult detours. 10 And since the rigorous climate was trying to them and they struggled in vain with extreme difficulties (for the autumnal equinox had passed, and in those regions the fallen snows covered mountains and plains alike) they took in hand a memorable piece of work. 11 And while there was no one to withstand them, with eager haste they repaired a fortress which Trajan had built in the territory of the Alamanni and wished to be called by his name, and which had of late been very forcibly assaulted. There a temporary garrison was established and provisions were brought thither from the heart of the savages’ country. 12 When the enemy saw these preparations rapidly made for their destruction, they quickly assembled, dreading the completion of the work, and with prayers and extreme abasement sent envoys and sued for peace. And Caesar granted this for the space of ten months, since it was recommended by every kind of consideration, and he could allege very many plausible reasons for it; for doubtless he appreciated with his keen mind that the stronghold which, beyond any possible hope, he had seized without opposition, ought to be fortified with artillery on the walls and powerful appliances of war. 13 Confiding in this peace, three very savage kings finally appeared, though still somewhat apprehensive since they were of the number of those who had sent aid to the vanquished at Strasburg; and they took oath in words formally drawn up after the native manner that they would not disturb the peace, but would keep the agreement up to the appointed day, since that was our pleasure, and leave the fortress untouched; and they would even bring grain in on their shoulders, in case the defenders would let them know that they needed any; both of which things they did, since fear curbed their treacherous disposition.

14 In this memorable war, which in fact deserves to be compared with those against the Carthaginians and the Teutons, but was achieved with very slight losses to the Roman commonwealth, Caesar took pride as a fortunate and successful general. And one might well believe his detractors, who pretended that he had acted so courageously on all occasions because he chose rather to perish fighting gloriously than to be put to death like a condemned criminal (as he expected), after the manner of his brother Gallus — had he not with equal resolution, even after Constantius’ death, increased his renown by marvellous exploits.

2 Julianus Caesar besieges six hundred Franks, who were devastating Second Germany, and starves them into surrender.

1 Matters thus being firmly settled, so far as circumstances would permit, he returned to winter quarters and found the following sequel to his exertions. Severus, master of the horse, while on his way to Rheims by way of Cologne and Juliers, fell in with some very strong companies of Franks, to the number (as appeared later) of six hundred light-armed skirmishers, who were plundering the districts unprotected by garrisons; the favourable opportunity that had roused their boldness to the point of action was this, that they thought that while Caesar was busily employed among the retreats of the Alamanni, and there was no one to prevent them, they could load themselves with a wealth of booty. But in fear of the army, which had now returned, they possessed themselves of two strongholds, which had long since been left empty, and there defended themselves as well as they could. 2 Julian, disturbed by the novelty of the act, and guessing what might come of it if he passed by leaving them unmolested, halted his army, and made his plans to surround the strongholds, which the river Meuse flows past; and for fifty-four days (namely in the months of December and January) the delays of the siege were dragged out, while the savages with stout hearts and incredible resolution withstood him. 3 Then Caesar being very shrewd and fearing that the savages might take advantage of some moonless night and cross the frozen river, gave orders that every duty, from near sunset to the break of dawn, soldiers should row up and down stream in scouting vessels, so as to break up the cakes of ice and let no one get an opportunity of easy escape. And because of this device, since they were worn out by hunger, sleeplessness, and extreme desperation, they surrendered of their own accord and were sent at once to Augustus’ court. 4 A large troop of Franks had set out to rescue them from their danger; but on learning that they had been captured and carried off, without venturing on anything further they retired to their strongholds. And Caesar after these successes returned to Paris to pass the winter.

3 Julianus Caesar tries to relieve the Gauls of oppressive tributes.

1 Now since it was expected that a great number of tribes with greater forces would make head together, our cautious commander, weighing the doubtful issue of wars, was perplexed with great burdens of anxiety. So, thinking that during the truce, short though it was and full of business, some remedy might be found for the calamitous losses incurred by the land-holders, he set in order the system of taxation. 2 And whereas Florentius, the praetorian prefect, after having reviewed the whole matter (as he asserted) stated that whatever was lacking in the poll-tax and land-tax accounts he supplied out of special levies, Julian, knowing about such measures, declared that he would rather lose his life than allow it to be done. 3 For he knew that the incurable wounds of such arrangements, or rather derangements (to speak more truly) had often driven provinces to extreme poverty — a thing which (as will be shown later) was the complete ruin of Illyricum. 4 For this reason, though the praetorian prefect exclaimed that it was unbearable that he should suddenly become distrusted, when Augustus had conferred upon him the supreme charge of the state; Julian calmed him by his quiet manner, and by an exact and accurate computation proved that the amount of the poll-tax and land-tax was not only sufficient, but actually in excess of the inevitable requirements for government provisions. 5 But when long afterwards an increase of taxation was nevertheless proposed to him, he could not bring himself to read it or sign it, but threw it on the ground. And when he was advised by a letter of Augustus, after the prefect’s report, not to act so meticulously as to seem to discredit Florentius, he wrote back that it would be a cause for rejoicing if the provincials, harried as they were on every side, might at least have to furnish only the prescribed taxes, not the additional amounts, which no tortures could wring from the poverty-stricken. And so it came to pass then and thereafter, that through the resolution of one courageous spirit no one tried to extort from the Gauls anything beyond the normal tax. 6 Finally, contrary to precedent, Caesar by entreaty had obtained this favour from the prefect, that he should be entrusted with the administration of the province of Second Belgium, which was overwhelmed by many kinds of calamities, and indeed with the proviso that no agent either of the prefect or of the governor should force anyone to pay the tax. So every one whom he had taken under his charge was relieved by this comforting news, and without being dunned they brought in their dues before the appointed date.

4 By order of Constantius Augustus an obelisk is set up at Rome in the Circus Maximus; also an account of obelisks and hieroglyphics.

1 During these first steps towards the rehabilitation of Gaul, and while Orfitus was still conducting his second prefecture, an obelisk was set up at Rome in the Circus Maximus; and of it, since this is a suitable place, I shall give a brief account. 2 The city of Thebes, founded in primitive times and once famous for the stately structure of its walls and for the hundred approaches formed by its gates, was called by its builders from that feature Hecatompylos, or Hundred-gated Thebes; and from this name the province is to this day called Thebaid. 3 When Carthage was in its early career of wide expansion, Punic generals destroyed Thebes by unexpected attack; and when it was afterwards rebuilt, Cambyses, that renowned king of Persia, all his life covetous of others’ possessions, and cruel, overran Egypt and attacked Thebes, in the hope of carrying off therefrom its enviable wealth, since he did not spare even gifts made to the gods. 4 But while he was excitedly running among the plundering troops, tripped by the looseness of his garments, he fell headlong; and his own dagger, which he had fastened to his right thigh, was unsheathed by the sudden force of the fall and wounded him almost mortally. 5 Again long afterwards, when Octavian was ruling Rome, Cornelius Gallus, procurator of Egypt, drained the city by extensive embezzlements; and when on his return he was accused of peculation and the robbery of the province, in his fear of the bitterly exasperated nobility, to whom the emperor had committed the investigation of the case, he drew his sword and fell upon it. He was (if I am right in so thinking) the poet Gallus, whom Virgil laments in a way in the latter part of the Bucolics and celebrates in gentle verse.

6 In this city, amidst mighty shrines and colossal works of various kinds, which depict the likeness of the Egyptian deities, we have seen many obelisks, and others prostrate and broken, which kings of long ago, when they had subdued foreign nations in war or were proud of the prosperous condition of their realms, hewed out of the veins of the mountains which they sought for even among the remotest dwellers on the globe, set up, and in their religious devotion dedicated to the gods of heaven. 7 Now an obelisk is a very hard stone, rising gradually somewhat in the form of a turning-post to a lofty height; little by little it grows slenderer, to imitate a sunbeam; it is four-sided, tapers to a narrow point, and is polished by the workman’s hand. 8 Now the infinite carvings of characters called hieroglyphics, which we see cut into it on every side, have been made known by an ancient authority of primeval wisdom. 9 For by engraving many kinds of birds and beasts, even of another world, in order that the memory of their achievements might the more widely reach generations of a subsequent age, they registered the vows of kings, either promised or performed. 10 For not as nowadays, when a fixed and easy series of letters expresses whatever the mind of man may conceive, did the ancient Egyptian also write; but individual characters stood for individual nouns and verbs; and sometimes they meant whole phrases. 11 The principle of this thing for the time it will suffice to illustrate with these two examples: by a vulture they represented the word “nature”, because, as natural history records, no males can be found among these birds; and under the figure of the bee making honey they designate “a king”, showing by this imagery that in a ruler sweetness should be combined with a sting as well; and there are many similar instances.

12 And because sycophants, after their fashion, kept puffing up Constantius and endlessly dinning it into his ears that, whereas Octavius Augustus had brought over two obelisks from the city of Heliopolis in Egypt, one of which was set up in the Circus Maximus, the other in the Campus Martius, as for this one recently brought in, he neither ventured to meddle with it nor move it, overawed by the difficulties caused by its size — let me inform those who do not know it that that early emperor, after bringing over several obelisks, passed by this one and left it untouched because it was consecrated as a special gift to the Sun God, and because being placed in the sacred part of his sumptuous temple, which might not be profaned, there it towered aloft like the peak of the world. 13 But Constantine, making little account of that, tore the huge mass from its foundations; and since he rightly thought he was committing no sacrilege if he took this marvel from one temple and consecrated it at Rome, that is to say, in the temple of the whole world, he let it lie for a long time, while the things necessary for its transfer were being provided. And when it had been conveyed down the channel of the Nile and landed at Alexandria, a ship of a size hitherto unknown was constructed, to be rowed by three hundred oarsmen. 14 After these provisions, the aforesaid emperor departed this life and the urgency of the enterprise waned, but at last the obelisk was loaded on the ship, after long delay, and brought over the sea and up the channel of the Tiber, which seemed to fear that it could hardly forward over the difficulties of its outward course to the walls of its foster-child the gift which the almost unknown Nile had sent. But it was brought to the vicus Alexandri distant three miles from the city. There it was put on cradles and carefully drawn through the Ostian Gate and by the Piscina Publica and brought into the Circus Maximus. 15 After this there remained only the raising, which it was thought could be accomplished only with great difficulty, perhaps not at all. But it was done in the following manner: to tall beams which were brought and raised on end (so that you would see a very grove of derricks) were fastened long and heavy ropes in the likeness of a manifold web hiding the sky with their excessive numbers. To these was attached that veritable mountain engraved over with written characters, and it was gradually drawn up on high through the empty air, and after hanging for a long time, while many thousand men turned wheels resembling millstones, it was finally placed in the middle of the circus and capped by a bronze globe gleaming with gold leaf; this was immediately struck by a bolt of the divine fire and therefore removed and replaced by a bronze figure of a torch, likewise overlaid with gold foil and glowing like a mass of flame. 16 And subsequent generations have brought over other obelisks, of which one was set up on the Vatican, another in the gardens of Sallust, and two at the mausoleum of Augustus. 17 Now the text of the characters cut upon the ancient obelisk which we see in the Circus I add below in the Greek translation, following the work of Hermapion. The translation of the first line, beginning on the South side, reads as follows:

18 “The Sun speaks to King Ramestes. I have granted to thee that thou shouldst with joy rule over the whole earth, thou whom the Sun loveth — and powerful Apollo, lover of truth, son of Heron, god-born, creator of the world, whom the Sun hath chosen, the doughty son of Mars, King Ramestes. Unto him the whole earth is made subject through his valour and boldness. King Ramastes, eternal child of the Sun.”

SECOND LINE.

19 “Mighty Apollo, seated upon truth, Lord of the Diadem, who hath gloriously honoured Egypt as his peculiar possession, who hath beautified Heliopolis, created the rest of the world, and adorned with manifold honours the Gods erected in Heliopolis — he whom the Sun loveth.”

THIRD LINE.

20 “Mighty Apollo, child of the sun, all-radiant, whom the Sun hath chosen and valiant Mars endowed; whose blessings shall endure forever; whom Ammon loveth, as having filled his temple with the good fruits of the date palm; unto whom the Gods have given length of life.

“Apollo, mighty son of Heron, Ramestes, king of the world, who hath preserved Egypt by conquering other nations; whom the Sun loveth; to who the Gods have granted length of life; Lord of the world, Ramestes ever-living.”

WEST SIDE, SECOND LINE.

21 “The Sun, great God, Lord of Heaven; I have granted to thee life hitherto unforeseen. Apollo the mighty, Lord incomparable of the Diadem, who hath set up statues of the Gods in this kingdom, ruler of Egypt, and he adorned Heliopolis just as he did the Sun himself, Ruler of Heaven; he finished a good work, child of the Sun, the king ever-living.”

THIRD LINE.

22 “The God Sun, Lord of Heaven, to Ramastes the king. I have granted to thee the rule and the authority over all men; whom Apollo, lover of truth, Lord of seasons, and Vulcan, father of the Gods, hath chosen for Mars. King all-gladdening, child of the Sun and beloved of the Sun.”

EAST SIDE, FIRST LINE.

23 “The great God of Heliopolis, heavenly, mighty Apollo, son of Heron, whom the Sun hath loved, whom the Gods hath honoured, the ruler over all the earth, whom the Sun hath chosen, a king valiant for Mars, whom Ammon loveth, and he that is all-radiant, having set apart the king eternal”; and so on.

5 Constantius Augustus and Sapor, king of the Persians, negotiate for peace through letters and envoys; but to no purpose.

1 In the consulship of Datianus and Cerealis, while all provisions in Gaul were being made with very careful endeavour, and dismay due to past losses halted the raids of the savages, the king of Persia was still encamped in the confines of the frontier tribes; and having now made a treaty of alliance with the Chionitae and Gelani, the fiercest warriors of all, he was on the point of returning to his own territories, when he received Tamsapor’s letter, stating that the Roman emperor begged and entreated for peace. 2 Therefore, imagining that such a step would not be attempted unless the fabric of the empire were weakened, he swelled with greater pride, embraced the name of peace, and proposed hard conditions; and dispatching one Narseus with gifts as his envoy, he sent a letter to Constantius, the tenor of which, as we have learned, was as follows:—

3 “I Sapor, King of Kings, partner with the Stars, brother of the Sun and Moon, to my brother Constantius Caesar offer most ample greeting.

“I rejoice and at last take pleasure that you have returned to the best course and acknowledged the inviolable sanction of justice, having learned from actual experience what havoc has been caused at various times by obstinate covetousness of what belongs to others. 4 Since therefore the consideration of truth ought to be free and untrammelled, and it befits those in high station to speak as they feel, I shall state my proposal in brief terms, recalling that what I am about to say I have often repeated. 5 That my forefathers’ empire reached as far as the river Strymon and the boundaries of Macedonia even your own ancient records bear witness; these lands it is fitting that I should demand, since (and may what I say not seem arrogant) I surpass the kings of old in magnificence and array of conspicuous virtues. But at all times right reason is dear to me, and trained in it from my earliest youth, I have never allowed myself to do anything for which I had cause to repent. 6 And therefore it is my duty to recover Armenia with Mesopotamia, which double-dealing wrested from my grandfather. That principle shall never be brought to acceptance among us which you exultantly maintain, that without any distinction between virtue and deceit all successful events of war should be approved. 7 Finally, if you wish to follow my sound advice, disregard this small tract, always a source of woe and bloodshed, so that you may rule the rest in security, wisely recalling that even expert physicians sometimes cauterize, lance, and even cut away some parts of the body, in order to save the rest sound for use; and that even wild beasts do this: for when they observe for what possession they are being relentlessly hunted, they give that up of their own accord, so as afterwards to live free from fear. 8 This assuredly I declare, that if this embassy of mine returns unsuccessful, after the time of the winter rest is past I shall gird myself with all my strength and with fortune and the justice of my terms upholding my hope of a successful issue, I shall hasten to come on, so far as reason permits.”

9 After this letter had long been pondered, answer was made with upright heart, as they say, and circumspectly, as follows:—

10 “I, Constantius, victor by land and sea, perpetual Augustus, to my brother King Sapor, offer most ample greeting.

“I rejoice in your health, and if you will, I shall be your friend hereafter; but this covetousness of yours, always unbending and more widely encroaching, I vehemently reprobate. 11 You demand Mesopotamia as your own and likewise Armenia, and you recommend lopping off some members of a sound body, so that its health may afterwards be put upon a firm footing — advice which is rather to be refuted than to be confirmed by any agreement. Therefore listen to the truth, not obscured by any juggling, but transparent and not to be intimidated by any empty threats. 12 My praetorian prefect, thinking to undertake an enterprise conducing to the public weal, entered into conversations with a general of yours, through the agency of some individuals of little worth and without consulting me, on the subject of peace. This we neither reject nor refuse, if only it take place with dignity and honour, without at all prejudicing our self-respect or our majesty. 13 For at this time, when the sequence of events (may envy’s breezes be placated!) has beamed in manifold form upon us, when with the overthrow of the usurpers the whole Roman world is subject to us, it is absurd and silly to surrender what we long preserved unmolested when we were still confined within the bounds of the Orient. 14 Furthermore, pray make an end of those intimidations which (as usual) are directed against us, since there can be no doubt that it was not through slackness, but through self-restraint that we have sometimes accepted battle rather than offered it, and that when we are set upon, we defend our territories with the most valiant spirit of a good conscience; for we know both by experience and by reading that while in some battles, though rarely, the Roman cause has stumbled, yet in the main issue of our wars it has never succumbed to defeat.”

15 This embassy having been sent back without obtaining anything — for no fuller answer could be made to the king’s unbridled greed — after a very few days it was followed by Count Prosper, Spectatus, tribune and secretary, and likewise, at the suggestion of Musonianus, the philosopher Eustathius, as a master of persuasion; they carried with them letters of the emperor and gifts, and meanwhile planned by some craft or other to stay Sapor’s preparations, so that his northern provinces might not be fortified beyond the possibility of attack.

6 The Juthungi, a tribe of the Alamanni, who were devastating Raetia, were defeated and put to flight by the Romans.

1 In the midst of these uncertainties the Juthungi, a branch of the Alamanni bordering on Italian territory, forgetful of the peace and the treaty which they had obtained by their prayers, were laying waste Raetia with such violence as even to attempt the besieging of towns, contrary to their habit. 2 To drive them back Barbatio was sent with a strong force; he had been promoted in place of Silvanus to be infantry commander. He was a coward but a fluent speaker, and having thoroughly roused the enthusiasm of the soldiers he utterly defeated a large number of the foe, so that only a small remnant, who for fear of danger had taken to flight, barely escaped and returned to their homes, not without tears and lamentations. 3 In this battle, we are assured, Nevitta, commander of a troop of cavalry and afterwards consul, was present and conducted himself manfully.

7 Nicomedia is destroyed by an earthquake; the different ways in which the earth is shaken.

1 At that same time fearful earthquakes throughout Asia, Macedonia, and Pontus with their repeated shocks shattered numerous cities and mountains. Now among the instances of manifold disaster was pre-eminent the collapse of Nicomedia, the metropolis of Bithynia; and of the misfortune of its destruction I shall give a true and concise account.

2 On the twenty-fourth of August, at the first break of day, thick masses of darkling clouds overcast the face of the sky, which had just before been brilliant; the sun’s splendour was dimmed, and not even objects near at hand or close by could be discerned, so restricted was the range of vision, as a foul, dense mist rolled up and settled over the ground. 3 Then, as if the supreme deity were hurling his fateful bolts and raising the winds from their very quarters, a mighty tempest of raging gales burst forth; and at its onslaught were heard the groans of the smitten mountains and the crash of the wave-lashed shore; these were followed by whirlwinds and waterspouts, which, together with a terrific earthquake, completely overturned the city and its suburbs. 4 And since most of the houses were carried down the slopes of the hills, they fell upon one another, while everything resounded with the vast roar of their destruction. Meanwhile the highest points re-echoed all manner of outcries, of those seeking their wives, their children, and whatever near kinsfolk belonged to them. 5 Finally, after the second hour, but well before the third, the air, which was now bright and clear, revealed the fatal ravages that lay concealed. For some who had been crushed by the huge bulk of the debris falling upon them perished under its very weight; some were buried up to their necks in the heaps of rubbish, and might have survived had anyone helped them, but died for want of assistance; others hung impaled upon the sharp points of projecting timbers. 6 The greater number were killed at one blow, and where there were just now human beings, were then seen confused piles of corpses. Some were imprisoned unhurt within slanting houseroofs, to be consumed by the agony of starvation. Among these was Aristaenetus, vice-governor of the recently created diocese which Constantius, in honour of his wife, Eusebia, had named Pietas; by this kind of mishap he slowly panted out his life amid torments. 7 Others, who were overwhelmed by the sudden magnitude of the disaster, are still hidden under the same ruins; some who with fractured skulls or amputated arms or legs hovered between life and death, imploring the aid of others in the same case, were abandoned, despite their pleas and protestations. 8 And, the greater part of the temples and private houses might have been saved, and of the population as well, had not a sudden onrush of flames, sweeping over them for five days and nights, burned up whatever could be consumed.

9 I think the time has come to say a few words about the theories which the men of old have brought together about earthquakes; for the hidden depths of the truth itself have neither been sounded by this general ignorance of ours, nor even by the everlasting controversies of the natural philosophers, which are not yet ended after long study. 10 Hence in the books of ritual and in those which are in conformity with the pontifical priesthood, nothing is said about the god that causes earthquakes, and this with due caution, for fear that by naming one deity instead of another, since it is not clear which of them thus shakes the earth, impieties may be perpetrated. 11 Now earthquakes take place (as the theories state, and among them Aristotle is perplexed and troubled) either in the tiny recesses of the earth, which in Greek we call σύριγγαι, under the excessive pressure of surging waters; or at any rate (as Anaxagoras asserts) through the force of the winds, which penetrate the innermost parts of the earth; for when these strike the solidly cemented walls and find no outlet, they violently shake those stretches of land under which they crept when swollen. Hence it is generally observed that during an earthquake not a breath of wind is felt where we are, because the winds are busied in the remotest recesses of the earth. 12 Anaximander says that when the earth dries up after excessive summer drought, or after soaking rainstorms, great clefts open, through which the upper air enters with excessive violence; and the earth, shaken by the mighty draft of air through these, is stirred from its very foundations. Accordingly such terrible disasters happen either in seasons of stifling heat or after excessive precipitation of water from heaven. And that is why the ancient poets and theologians call Neptune (the power of the watery element) Ennosigaeos and Sisichthon.

13 Now earthquakes take place in four ways; for they are either brasmatiae, or upheavings, which lift up the ground from far within, like a tide and force upward huge masses, as in Asia Delos came to the surface, and Hiera, Anaphe, and Rhodes, called in former ages Ophiusa and Pelagia, and once drenched with a shower of gold; also Eleusis in Boeotia, Vulcanus in the Tyrrhenian Sea, and many more islands. Or they are climatiae which rush along to one side and obliquely, levelling cities, buildings, and mountains. Or they are chasmatiae, or gaping, which with their intensive movement suddenly open abysses and swallow up parts of the earth; as in the Atlantic Ocean an island more extensive than all Europe, and in the Crisaean Gulf, Helice and Bura; and in the Ciminian district of Italy the town of Saccumum; these were all sunk into the deep abysses of Erebus, and lie hidden in eternal darkness. 14 Among these three sorts of earthquakes the mycematiae are heard with a threatening roar, when the elements break up into their component parts and clash of their own accord, or slide back when the ground settles. For then of necessity the crashing and rumbling of the earth must resound like the bellowing of a bull. But to return to the episode which we began.

8 Julianus Caesar receives the surrender of the Salii, a Frankish people; he kills a part of the Chamavi, captures others, and grants peace to the rest.

1 Now Caesar, while wintering in Paris, hastened with the greatest diligence to forestall the Alamanni, who were not yet assembled in one body, but were all venturesome and cruel to the point of madness after the battle of Strasburg; and while waiting for the month of July, when the campaigns in Gaul begin, he was for a long time in much anxiety. For he could not leave until the grain supply was brought up from Aquitania during the mild summer season, and after the breaking up of the cold weather and frost. 2 But as careful planning is victorious over nearly all difficulties, he turned over in his mind many various possibilities; and this at last he found to be the only one, namely, without waiting for the height of the season, to fall upon the savages before he was looked for. And having settled on his plan, he had the grain allowance for twenty days taken from what was to be consumed in the winter quarters, and baked up to serve for some time; he put this hard-tack (as they commonly call it) on the backs of his willing soldiers, and relying on this supply he set out under favourable auspices (as he did before), thinking that within the fifth or sixth month two urgent and inevitable campaigns might be brought to completion. 3 After these preparations he first of all aimed at the Franks, those namely whom custom calls the Salii, who once had the great assurance to venture to fix their abodes on Roman soil at Toxiandria. But when he had reached Tongres, a deputation of the aforesaid people met him, expecting to find the commander even then in winter quarters; and they offered peace on these terms, that while they remained quiet, as in their own territories, no one should attack or molest them. After having fully discussed the matter and proposed in reply some puzzling conditions, as if intending to remain in the same district until they returned, he gave these envoys gifts and dismissed them. 4 But quicker than a flash he followed them up after their departure, and sending his general Severus along the river bank, fell upon the whole troop suddenly and smote them like a thunderstorm; at once they took to entreaties rather than to resistance, and he turned the outcome of his victory into the timely direction of mercy by receiving them in surrender with their property and their children. 5 The Chamavi also had ventured to make a similar attempt; with the same rapidity he attacked these, killed a part of them, and a part, who resisted stoutly and were taken alive, he put in irons; others, who made tracks for home in headlong flight, he allowed for the time to get away unharmed, in order not to tire his soldiers by a long chase. A little later they sent delegates to make supplication and to provide for their safety, and as they lay prostrate on the ground before his eyes he granted them peace on condition that they should return unmolested to their homes.

9 Julianus Caesar rebuilds three fortresses on the Meuse that had been destroyed by the savages, and is assailed with insults and threats by the soldiers, who are suffering from hunger.

1 So, as everything was proceeding in accordance with his prayers, he made haste with watchful solicitude to put the well-being of the provinces in every way on a firm footing; and he planned to repair (as time would permit) three forts situated in a straight line along the banks overhanging the river Meuse, which had long since been overthrown by the obstinate assaults of the savages; and they were immediately restored, the campaign being interrupted for a short time. 2 And to the end that speed might make his wise policy safe, he took a part of the seventeen days’ provisions, which the soldiers, when they marched forward on their expedition carried about their necks, and stored it in those same forts, hoping that what had been deducted might be replaced from the harvests of the Chamavi. 3 But it turned out far otherwise; for the crops were not yet even ripe, and the soldiers, after using up what they carried, could find no food anywhere; and resorting to outrageous threats, they assailed Julian with foul names and opprobrious language, calling him an Asiatic, a Greekling and a deceiver, and a fool with a show of wisdom. And as some are usually to be found among the soldiers who are noteworthy for their volubility, they kept bawling out such words as these and many others to the same purport: 4 “Where are we being dragged, robbed of the hope of a better lot? We have long endured hardships of the bitterest kind to bear, in the midst of snows and the pinch of cruel frosts; but now (Oh shameful indignity!), when we are pressing on to the final destruction of the enemy it is by hunger, the most despicable form of death, that we are wasting away. 5 And let no man imagine us incitors to mutiny; we protest that we are speaking for our lives alone, asking for neither gold nor silver, which we have not been able to handle or even look upon for a long time, and which are denied us just as if it were against our country that we had been convicted of having undertaken so much toil and danger.” 6 And they had good reason for their complaints. For through all their career of laudable achievements, and the critical moments of hazard, the soldiers, though worn out by their labours in Gaul, had received neither donative nor pay from the very day that Julian was sent there, for the reason that he himself had no funds available from which to give, nor did Constantius allow any to be expended in the usual manner. 7 And it was evident that this was done through malice rather than through niggardliness, from the fact that when this same Julian was asked by a common soldier, as they often do, for money for a shave, and had given him some small coin, he was assailed for it with slanderous speeches by Gaudentius, who was then a secretary. He had remained in Gaul for a long time to watch Julian’s actions, and Caesar afterwards ordered that he be put to death, as will be shown in the proper place.

10 Suomarius and Hortarius, kings of the Alamanni, on giving back their prisoners are granted peace by Julianus Caesar.

1 At length, after the mutiny had been quelled, not without various sorts of fair words, they built a pontoon bridge and crossed the Rhine; but when they set foot in the lands of the Alamanni, Severus, master of the horse, who had previously been a warlike and energetic officer, suddenly lost heart. 2 And he that had often encouraged one and all to brave deeds, now advised against fighting and seemed despicable and timid — perhaps through fear of his coming death, as we read in the books of Tages or of Vegoe that those who are shortly to be struck by lightning are so dulled in their senses that they can hear neither thunder nor any louder crashes whatsoever. And contrary to his usual custom, he had marched so lazily that he intimidated the guides, who were leading the way rapidly, and threatened them with death unless they would all agree, and unanimously make a statement, that they were wholly ignorant of the region. So they, being thus forbidden, and in fear of his authority, on no occasion went ahead after that.

3 Now in the midst of these delays Suomarius, king of the Alamanni, of his own initiative met the Romans unexpectedly with his troops, and although he had previously been haughty and cruelly bent upon harming the Romans, at that time on the contrary he thought it an unlooked-for gain if he were allowed to keep what belonged to him. And inasmuch as his looks and his gait showed him to be a suppliant, he was received and told to be of good cheer and set his mind at rest; whereupon he completely abandoned his own independence and begged for peace on bended knee. 4 And he obtained it, with pardon for all that was past, on these terms: that he should deliver up his Roman captives and supply the soldiers with food as often as it should be needed, receiving security for what he brought in just like any ordinary contractor. And if he did not present it on time, he was to know that the same amount would again be demanded of him.

5 When this, which was properly arranged, had been carried out without a hitch, since the territory of a second king, Hortarius by name, was to be attacked and nothing seemed to be lacking but guides, Caesar had given orders to Nestica, a tribune of the targeteers, and Charietto, a man of extraordinary bravery, to take great pains to seek out and catch one and bring him in captive. Quickly a young Alamann was seized and led in, and on condition of having his life spared he promised to show the way. 6 He led and the army followed, but it was prevented from going forward by a barricade of tall felled trees. But when they finally, by long and circuitous detours, reached the spot, every man in the army, wild with anger, joined in setting the fields on fire and raiding flocks and men; and if they resisted, they butchered them, without compunction. 7 The king was overwhelmed by these calamities, and when he saw the numerous legions and the ruins of his villages which they had burned down, now fully convinced that the final wreck of his fortunes was at hand, he too begged for pardon and under the solemn sanction of an oath promised that he would do what might be ordered. Being bidden to restore all prisoners — for that was insisted on with special earnestness — he did not keep faith but held back a large number and gave up only a few. 8 On learning this, Julian was roused to righteous indignation, and when the king came to receive presents, as was usual, he would not release his four attendants, on whose aid and loyalty he chiefly relied, until all the captives returned. 9 Finally the king was summoned by Caesar to an interview and reverenced him with trembling eyes; and overcome at the sight of the conqueror, he was forced to accept these hard terms, namely, that inasmuch as it was fitting that after so many successes the cities also should be rebuilt which the violence of the savages had destroyed, the king should furnish carts and timber from his own supplies and those of his subjects. And when he had promised this and taken oath that if he did any disloyal act, he should expiate it with his heart’s blood, he was allowed to return to his own domains. For as to supplying grain, as Suomarius did, he could not be coerced, for the reason that his country had been ravaged to the point of ruin, and nothing to give to us could be found.

10 So these kings, who in times past were inordinately puffed up with pride, and accustomed to enrich themselves with the spoils of our subjects, put their necks, now bowed down, under the yoke of Roman dominion, and ungrudgingly obeyed our commander, as if born and brought up among our tributaries. And after this conclusion of events the soldiers were distributed among their usual posts and Caesar returned to winter quarters.

11 Julianus Caesar, after these successful campaigns in Gaul, is derided by envious courtiers at the palace of Constantius, and called slothful and timid.

1 Presently, when all this became known at Constantius’ court — for it was necessary that Caesar, like any subordinate, should render an account to Augustus of all his acts — all those who had the chief influence in the palace and were now past masters in flattery turned Julian’s well-devised and successful achievements into mere mockery by endless silly jests of this sort: “This fellow, a nanny-goat and no man, is getting insufferable with his victories,” jibing at him for being hairy, and calling him a “chattering mole” and “an ape in purple,” and “a Greekish pedant,” and other names like these; and by ringing bells, so to speak, in the ear of an emperor eager to hear these and similar things, they tried to bury his merits with shameless speeches, railing at him as a lazy, timid, unpractical person, and one who embellished his ill success with fine words; all of which did not take place then for the first time. 2 For as the greatest glory is always habitually subject to envy, we read that even against the renowned leaders of ancient days faults and charges were trumped up, even if none could be discovered, by spiteful persons incensed by their brilliant exploits. 3 As, for example, Cimon, the son of Miltiades, was accused of incest, although often before and particularly near the river Eurymedon in Pamphylia he annihilated a countless host of the Persians, and compelled a nation always swollen with pride to sue humbly for peace. Likewise Scipio Aemilianus was accused of inactivity by the malice of his rivals, although by his effective vigilance two most powerful cities, bent on the destruction of Rome, were razed to the ground. And also even in the case of Pompey, some malevolent critics, who after much search found nothing for which he could be blamed, noted these two laughable and silly facts: that in a certain characteristic way he used to scratch his head with one finger, and that for some time, to cover up an ugly ulcer, he wore a white bandage tied around his leg; the one of these things he did, they affirmed, because he was dissipated, the other because he planned a revolution, snarling at him with the somewhat pointless reason, that it mattered not what part of his body he bound with the emblem of kingly majesty — and this to a man than whom, as the clearest proofs show, none was more valiant or circumspect with regard to his country.

5 While these things were thus happening, at Rome Artemius, who held the office of vice-prefect, also succeeded Bassus, who a short time after he had been promoted to be prefect of the city had died a natural death. His administration suffered from mutinous disturbances, but had no remarkable incident which is worth relating.

12 Constantius Augustus compels the Sarmatians, formerly rulers, but now exiles, and the Quadi, who were laying waste Pannonia and Moesia, to give hostages and return their prisoners; and over the exiled Sarmatians, whom he restored to freedom and their ancestral abode, he appointed a king.

1 As Augustus meanwhile was taking his winter rest at Sirmium, frequent serious reports showed that the Sarmatians and the Quadi, who were in agreement because they were neighbours and had like customs and armour, had united and were raiding the Pannonias and Second Moesia in detached bands. 2 These people, better fitted for brigandage than for open warfare, have very long spears and cuirasses made from smooth and polished pieces of horn, fastened like scales to linen shirts; most of their horses are made serviceable by gelding, in order that they may not at sight of mares become excited and run away, or when in ambush become unruly and betray their riders by loud neighing. 3 And they run over very great distances, pursuing others or themselves turning their backs, being mounted on swift and obedient horses and leading one, or sometimes even two, to the end that an exchange may keep up the strength of their mounts and that their freshness may be renewed by alternate periods of rest.

4 And so, when the spring equinox was past, the emperor mustered a strong force of soldiers and set out under the guidance of a more propitious fortune; and although the river Ister was in flood since the masses of snow and ice were now melted, having come to the most suitable place, he crossed it on a bridge built over the decks of ships and invaded the savages’ lands with intent to lay them waste. They were outwitted by his rapid march, and on seeing already at their throats the troops of a fighting army, which they supposed could not yet be assembled owing to the time of year, they ventured neither to take breath nor make a stand, but to avoid unlooked-for destruction all took to precipitate flight. 5 The greater number, since fear clogged their steps, were cut down; if speed saved any from death, they hid in the obscure mountain gorges and saw their country perishing by the sword; and they might undoubtedly have protected her, had they resisted with the same vigour that had marked their flight. 6 This took place in that part of Sarmatia which faces Second Pannonia, and with equal courage our soldiers, like a tempest, laid waste the enemies’ possessions round about Valeria, burning and plundering everything before them. 7 Greatly disturbed by the vastness of this disaster, the Sarmatians abandoned their plan of hiding, and forming in three divisions, under pretence of suing for peace they planned to attack our soldiers with little danger, so that they could neither get their weapons ready nor parry the force of wounds, nor turn to flight, which is the last recourse in times of stress. 8 Furthermore the Quadi, who had often been their inseparable companions in raids, came at once to share the perils of the Sarmatians; but their ready boldness did not help them either, rushing as they were upon evident hazards. 9 For after very many of them had been cut down, the part that could save themselves escaped by paths familiar to them, and our army, their strength and courage aroused by this success, formed in closer order and hastened to the domain of the Quadi. They, dreading from their past disaster what impended, planned to sue suppliantly for peace and confidently presented themselves before the emperor, who was somewhat too lenient towards those and similar offences; and on the day named for settling the terms in like fashion, Zizais, a tall young man who was even then a royal prince, drew up the ranks of the Sarmatians in battle array to make their petition. And on seeing the emperor he threw aside his weapons and fell flat on his breast, as if lying lifeless. And since the use of his voice failed him from fear at the very time when he should have made his plea, he excited all the greater compassion; but after several attempts, interrupted by sobbing, he was able to set forth only a little of what he tried to ask. 10 At last, however, he was reassured and bidden to rise, and getting up on his knees and recovering the use of his voice, he begged that indulgence for his offences, and pardon, be granted him. Upon this the throng was admitted to make its entreaties, but mute terror closed their lips, so long as the fate of their superior was uncertain. But when he was told to get up from the ground and gave the long awaited signal for their petition, all threw down their shields and spears, stretched out their class with prayers, and succeeded in many ways in outdoing their prince in lowly supplication. 11 Their superior had also brought with the rest of the Sarmatians Rumo, Zinafer and Fragiledus, who were petty kings, and a number of nobles, to make like requests, which they hoped would be granted. They, though overjoyed that their lives were spared, offered to make up for their hostile acts by burdensome conditions, and would have willingly submitted themselves with their possessions, their children, their wives, and the whole of their territories to the power of the Romans. However, kindness combined with equity prevailed, and when they were told to retain their homes without fear, they returned all their Roman prisoners. They also brought in the hostages that were demanded and promised from that time on to obey orders with the utmost promptness. 12 Encouraged by this instance of mercy, there hastened to the spot with all their subjects the prince Araharius, and Usafer, a prominent noble, who were leaders of the army of their countrymen; one of them ruled a part of the Transiugitani and the Quadi, the other some of the Sarmatians, peoples closely united by the same frontiers and like savagery. Since the emperor feared their people, lest under pretence of striking a treaty they might suddenly rise to arms, he separated the united divisions and bade those who were interceding for the Sarmatians to withdraw for a time, while the case of Araharius and the Quadi was being considered. 13 When these presented themselves in the manner of criminals, standing with bended bodies, and were unable to clear themselves of serious misdeeds, in fear of calamities of the worst kind they gave the hostages which were demanded, although never before had they been forced to present pledges for a treaty. 14 When they had been justly and fairly disposed of, Usafer was admitted to make supplication, although Araharius stoutly objected and insisted that the terms which he himself had obtained ought to be valid also for the other as his partner, although Usafer was of inferior rank and accustomed to obey his commands. 15 But after a discussion of the question, orders were given that the Sarmatians (as permanent dependents of the Romans) should be freed from the domination of others and should present hostages as bonds for keeping the peace; an offer which they gladly accepted. 16 Moreover, after this there offered themselves a very great number of kings and nations, coming together in companies, and begged that swords be poised at their very throats, as soon as they learned that Araharius had got off scot-free. And they too in the same way gained the peace which they sought, and sooner than was expected they summoned from the innermost parts of the kingdom and brought in as hostages the sons of eminent men, and also our prisoners (as had been stipulated), from whom they parted with as deep sighs as they did from their own countrymen.

17 These affairs once set in order, his attention was turned to the Sarmatians, who were deserving rather of pity than of anger; and to them this situation brought an incredible degree of prosperity; so that the opinion of some might well be deemed true, that fortune is either mastered or made by the power of a prince. 18 The natives of this realm were once powerful and noble, but a secret conspiracy armed their slaves for rebellion; and since with savages all right is commonly might, they vanquished their masters, being their equals in courage and far superior in number. 19 The defeated, since fear prevented deliberation, fled to the Victohali, who dwelt afar off, thinking that to submit to protectors (considering their evil plight) was preferable to serving slaves. Bewailing this situation, after they had gained pardon and been assured of protection they asked that their freedom be guaranteed; whereupon the emperor, deeply moved by the injustice of their condition, in the presence of the whole army called them together, and addressing them in gracious terms, bade them yield obedience to none save himself and the Roman generals. 20 And to give their restoration to freedom an increase of dignity, he set over them as their king Zizais, a man even then surely suited for the honours of a conspicuous fortune and (as the result showed) loyal; but no one was allowed, after these glorious achievements, to leave the place, until (as had been agreed) the Roman prisoners should come back. 21 After these achievements in the savages’ country, the camp was moved to Bregetio, to the end that there also tears or blood might quench what was left of the war of the Quadi, who were astir in those regions. Then their prince Vitrodorus, son of King Viduarius, and Agilimundus, his vassal, along with other nobles and officials governing various nations, seeing the army in the heart of their kingdom and native soil, prostrated themselves before the marching soldiers, and having gained pardon, did what was ordered, giving their children as hostages by way of pledge that they would fulfil the conditions imposed upon them. Then, drawing their swords, which they venerate as gods, they swore that they would remain loyal.

13 Constantius Augustus compels the Limigantes, former slaves of the Sarmatians, after inflicting great bloodshed upon them, to leave their abodes; then he addresses his soldiers.

1 When these events had been brought to a successful issue, as has been told, the public welfare required that the standards be quickly transported to the Limigantes, former slaves of the Sarmatians, for it was most shameful that they had with impunity committed many infamous outrages. For as if forgetting the past, when the free Sarmatians rebelled, those others also found the opportunity most favourable and broke over the Roman frontier, for this outrage alone making common cause with their masters and enemies. 2 Nevertheless, it was determined after deliberation that this act should be punished less severely than the heinousness of their crimes demanded, and vengeance was confined to transferring them to remote places, where they would lose the opportunity of molesting our territories; yet the consciousness of their long series of misdeeds warned them to fear danger. 3 Accordingly, suspecting that the weight of war would be directed against them, they got ready wiles and arms and entreaties. But at the first sight of our army, as if smitten by a stroke of lightning and anticipating the utmost, after having pleaded for life they promised a yearly tribute, a levy of their able youth, and slavery; but they were ready, as they showed by gestures and expression, to refuse if they should be ordered to move elsewhere, trusting to the protection of the situation in which they had established themselves in security, after driving out their masters. 4 For the Parthiscus rushing into those lands with winding course, mingles with the Hister. But while it flows alone and unconfined, it slowly traverses a long expand of broad plain; near its mouth, however, it compresses this into a narrow tract, thus protecting those who dwell there from a Roman attack by the channel of the Danube, and making them safe from the inroads of other savages by the opposition of its own stream; for the greater part of the country is of a marshy nature, and since it is flooded when the rivers rise, is full of pools and overgrown with willows, and therefore impassable except for those well acquainted with the region. Besides this the larger river, enclosing the winding circuit of an island, which almost reaches the mouth of the Parthiscus, separates it from connection with the land. 5 So, at the emperor’s request, they came with their native arrogance to their bank of the river, not, as the event proved, intending to do what they were bidden, but in order not to appear to have feared the presence of the soldiers; and there they stood defiantly, thus giving the impression that they had come there to reject any orders that might be given. 6 But the emperor, suspecting that this might happen, had secretly divided his army into several bands, and with swift speed enclosed them, while they were delaying, within the lines of his own soldiers; then standing with a few followers on a loftier mound, protected by the defence of his guards, in mild terms he admonished them not to be unruly. 7 But they, wavering in uncertainty of mind, were distracted different ways, and with mingled craft and fury they thought both of entreaties and of battle; and preparing to sally out on our men where we lay near to them, they purposely threw forward their shields a long way, so that by advancing step by step to recover them they might without any show of treachery gain ground by stealth.

8 When the day was now declining to evening and the waning light warned them to do away with delay, the soldiers lifted up their standards and rushed upon them in a fiery attack. Thereupon the foe massed themselves together, and, huddled in close order, directed all their attack against the emperor himself, who, as was said, stood on higher ground, charging upon him with fierce looks and savage cries. 9 The furious madness of this onset so angered our army that it could not brook it, and as the savages hotly menaced the emperor (as was said), they took the form of a wedge (an order which the soldier’s naïve parlance calls “the pig’s head”), and scattered them with a hot charge; then on the right our infantry slaughtered the bands of their infantry, while on the left our cavalry poured into the nimble squadrons of their cavalry. 10 The praetorian cohort, which stood before Augustus and was carefully guarding him, fell upon the breasts of the resisting foe, and then upon their backs as they took flight. And the savages with invincible stubbornness showed as they fell, by their awful shrieking, that they did not so much resent death as the triumph of our soldiers; and besides the dead many lay about hamstrung and thus deprived of the means of flight, others had their right hands cut off, some were untouched by any steel but crushed by the weight of those who rushed over them; but all bore their anguish in deep silence. 11 And amid their varied torments not a single man asked for pardon or threw down his weapon, or even prayed for a speedy death, but they tightly grasped their weapons, although defeated, and thought it less shameful to be overcome by an enemy’s strength than by the judgement of their own conscience, while sometimes they were heard to mutter that what befell them was due to fortune, not to their deserts. Thus in the course of half an hour the decision of this battle was reached, and so many savages met a sudden death that the victory alone showed that there had been a fight.

12 Hardly yet had the hordes of the enemy been laid low, when the kinsfolk of the slain, dragged from their humble cots, were led forth in droves without regard to age or sex and abandoning the haughtiness of their former life, were reduced to the abjectness of servile submission; and only a brief space of time had elapsed, when heaps of slain and throngs of captives were to be seen. 13 Then, excited by the heat of battle and the fruits of victory, our soldiers roused themselves to destroy those who had deserted the battle or were lurking in concealment in their huts. And these, when the soldiers had come to the spot thirsting for the blood of the savages, they butchered after tearing to pieces the light straw; and no house, even though built with the stoutest of timbers, saved a single one from the danger of death. 14 Finally, when everything was in flames and none could longer hide, since every means of saving their lives was cut off, they either fell victims to fire in their obstinacy, or, fleeing the flames and coming out to avoid one torture, fell by the enemy’s steel. 15 Yet some escaped the weapons and the fires, great as they were, and plunged into the depths of the neighbouring river, hoping through skill in swimming to be able to reach the opposite banks; of these the most lost their lives by drowning, others were pierced by darts and perished, in such numbers that the whole course of the immense river foamed with the blood that flowed everywhere in abundance. Thus with the aid of two elements the wrath and valour of the victors annihilated the Sarmatians.

16 Then it was decided, after this course of events, that every hope and comfort of life should be taken from all, and after their homes had been burned and their families carried off, orders were given that boats should be brought together, for the purpose of hunting down those whom the opposite bank had kept aloof from our army. 17 And at once, for fear that the ardour of the warriors might cool, light-armed troops were put into skiffs, and taking the course which offered the greatest secrecy, came upon the lurking-places of the Sarmatians; and the enemy were deceived as they suddenly came in sight, seeing their native boats and the manner of rowing of their own country. 18 But when from the glittering of the weapons afar off they perceived that what they feared was approaching, they took refuge in marshy places; but the soldiers, following them still more mercilessly, slew great numbers of them, and gained a victory in a place where it seemed impossible to keep a firm footing or venture upon any action. 19 After the Amicenses had been scattered and all but wholly destroyed, the army immediately attacked the Picenses, so named from the adjoining regions, who had been put on their guard by the disasters to their allies, which were known from persistent rumours. To subdue these (for it was hard to pursue them, since they were scattered in divers places, and unfamiliarity with the roads was a hindrance) they resorted to the help of the Taifali and likewise of the free Sarmatians. 20 And as consideration of the terrain made it desirable to separate the troops of the allies, our soldiers chose the tracts near Moesia, the Taifali undertook those next to their own homes, and the free Sarmatians occupied the lands directly opposite to them.

21 The Limigantes having now suffered this fate, and terrified by the example of those who had been conquered and suddenly slain, hesitated long with wavering minds whether to die or plead, since for either course they had lessons of no slight weight; finally, however, the urgency of an assembly of the older men prevailed, and the resolve to surrender. Thus to the laurels of various victories there was added also the entreaties of those who had usurped freedom by arms; and such of them as survived bowed their necks with prayers before their former masters, whom they had despised as vanquished and weak, but now saw to be the stronger.

22 And so, having received a safe-conduct, the greater number of them forsook the defence of the mountains and hastened to the Roman camp, pouring forth over the broad and spacious plains with their parents, their children and wives, and as many of their poor possessions as haste allowed them to snatch up in time. 23 And those who (as it was supposed) would rather lose their lives than be compelled to change their country, since they believed mad licence to be freedom, now consented to obey orders and take other quiet and safe abodes, where they could neither be harried by wars nor affected by rebellions. And these men, being taken under protection according to their own wish (as was believed) remained quiet for a short time; later, through their inborn savagery they were aroused to an outrage which brought them destruction, as will be shown in the proper place.

24 Through this successful sequel of events adequate protection was provided for Illyricum in a twofold manner; and the emperor having in hand the greatness of this task fulfilled it in both ways. The unfaithful were laid low and trodden under foot, but exiled peoples (although equally unstable) who yet seemed likely to act with somewhat more respect, were at length recalled and settled in their ancestral homes. And as a crowning favour, he set over them, not some low-born king, but one whom they themselves had previously chosen as their ruler, a man eminent for his mental and physical gifts. 25 After such a series of successes Constantius, now raised above any fear, by the unanimous voice of the soldiers was hailed a second time as Sarmaticus, after the name of the conquered people; and now, on the point of departure, he called together all the cohorts, centuries, and maniples, and standing on a tribunal, surrounded by standards, eagles and a throng of many officers of high rank, he addressed the army with these words, being greeted (as usual) with the acclaim of all:

26 “The recollection of our glorious deeds, more grateful to brave men than any pleasure, moves me to rehearse to you, with due modesty, what abuses we most faithful defenders of the Roman state have corrected by the fortune of victory vouchsafed to us by Providence both before our battles and in the very heat of combat. For what is so noble, or so justly worthy to be commended to the memory of posterity, as that the soldier should rejoice in his valiant deeds, and the leader in the sagacity of his plans? 27 Our enemies in their madness were overrunning all Illyricum, with arrogant folly despising us in our absence, while we were defending Italy and Gaul, and in successive raids were laying waste our farthest frontiers, crossing the rivers now in dug-out canoes and sometimes on foot; they did not trust to engagements nor to arms and strength, but, as is their custom, to lurking brigandage, with the craft and various methods of deceit dreaded also by our forefathers from our very first knowledge of the race. These outrages we, being far away, endured as well as they could be borne, hoping that any more serious losses could be obviated by the efficiency of our generals. 28 But when, encouraged by impunity, they mounted higher and burst forth in destructive and repeated attacks upon our provinces, after securing the approaches to Raetia and by vigilant guard ensuring the safety of Gaul, leaving no cause of fear behind us, we came into Pannonia, intending, if it should please eternal God, to strengthen whatever was tottering. And sallying forth when all was ready (as you know) and spring was well advanced, we took in hand a mighty burden of tasks: first, to build a close-jointed bridge, without being overwhelmed by a shower of missiles, a work which was easily completed; and when we had seen and set foot upon the enemy’s territories, without any loss of our men we laid low the Sarmatians who, with spirits regardless of death attempted to resist us. And when with like impudence the Quadi bore aid to the Sarmatians and rushed upon the ranks of our noble legions, we trod them under foot. The latter, after grievous losses, having learned amid their raids and menacing efforts at resistance what our valour could effect, cast aside the protection of arms and offered hands that had been equipped for battle to be bound behind their backs; and seeing that their only safety lay in entreaties, they prostrated themselves at the feet of a merciful Augustus, whose battles they had often learned to have come to a happy issue. 29 These barely disposed of, we vanquished the Limigantes as well with equal valour, and after many of them had been slain, avoidance of danger forced the rest to seek the protection of their lairs in the marshes. 30 When these enterprises were brought to a successful issue, the time for seasonable mildness was at hand. The Limigantes we forced to move to remote places, so that they could make no further attempts to destroy our subjects, and very many of them we spared. And over the free Sarmatians we set Zizais, knowing that he would be devoted and loyal to us, and thinking it better to appoint a king for the savages than to take one from them; and it added to the happiness of the occasion, that a ruler was assigned them whom they had previously chosen and accepted. 31 Hence a fourfold prize, the fruit of a single campaign, was won by us and by our country: first, by taking vengeance on wicked robbers; then, in that you will have abundant booty taken from the enemy; for valour ought to be content with what it has won by toil and a strong arm. 32 We ourselves have ample wealth and great store of riches, if our labours and courage have preserved safe and sound the patrimonies of all; for this it is that beseems the mind of a good prince, this accords with prosperous successes. 33 Lastly, I also display the spoil of an enemy’s name, surnamed as I am Sarmaticus for the second time, a title not undeserved (without arrogance be it said), which you have with one accord bestowed upon me.”

After this speech was thus ended, the entire assembly with more enthusiasm than common, since the hope of betterment and gains had been increased, broke out into festal cries in praise of the emperor, and in customary fashion calling God to witness that Constantius was invincible, went back to their tents rejoicing. And when the emperor had been escorted to his palace and refreshed by two days’ rest, he returned in triumphal pomp to Sirmium, and the companies of soldiers went back to the quarters assigned them.

14 The Roman envoys about peace return from Persia without result, since Sapor was bent on recovering Armenia and Mesopotamia.

1 On these very same days Prosper, Spectatus, and Eustathius, who had been sent as envoys to the Persians (as we have shown above), approached the king on his return to Ctesiphon, bearing letters and gifts from the emperor, and demanded peace with no change in the present status. Mindful of the emperor’s instructions, they sacrificed no whit of the advantage and majesty of Rome, insisting that a treaty of friendship ought to be established with the condition that no move should be made to disturb the position of Armenia or Mesopotamia. 2 Having therefore tarried there for a long time, since they saw that the king was most obstinately hardened against accepting peace, unless the dominion over those regions should be made over to him, they returned without fulfilling their mission. 3 Afterwards Count Lucillianus was despatched, together with Procopius, at that time state secretary, to accomplish the self-same thing with like insistence on the conditions; the latter afterwards, bound as it were by a knot of stern necessity, rose in revolution.

Book XVIII

1 Julianus Caesar looks out for the welfare of Gaul, and sees to it that justice be observed everywhere by every one.

1 Such are the events of one and the same year in various parts of the world. But in Gaul, now that affairs were in a better condition and the brothers Eusebius and Hypatius had been honoured with the high title of consul, Julian, famed for his series of successes and in winter quarters at Paris, lay aside for a time the cares of war and with no less regard made many arrangements leading to the well-being of the provinces, diligently providing that no one should be overloaded with a burden of tribute; that the powerful should not grasp the property of others, or those hold positions of authority whose private estates were being increased by public disasters; and that no official should with impunity swerve from equity. 2 And this last abuse he reformed with slight difficulty, for the reason that he settled controversies himself whenever the importance of the cases or of the persons required, and distinguished inflexibly between right and wrong. 3 And although there are many praiseworthy instances of his conduct in such cases, yet it will suffice to cite one, as a sample of his acts and words. 4 Numerius, shortly before governor of Gallia Narbonensis, was accused of embezzlement, and Julian examined him with unusual judicial strictness before his tribunal publicly, admitting all who wished to attend. And when the accused defended himself by denying the charge, and could not be confuted on any point, Delphidius, a very vigorous speaker, assailing him violently and, exasperated by the lack of proofs, cried: “Can anyone, most mighty Caesar, ever be found guilty, if it be enough to deny the charge?” And Julian was inspired at once to reply to him wisely: “Can anyone be proved innocent, if it be enough to have accused him?” And this was one of many like instances of humanity.

2 Julianus Caesar repairs the walls of the fortress on the Rhine which he had recovered. He crosses the Rhine, and after laying waste the hostile part of Alamannia compels five of their kings to sue for peace and return their prisoners.

1 But being on the point of entering upon an urgent campaign, since he considered that some districts of the Alamanni were hostile and would venture on outrages unless they also were overthrown after the example of the rest, he was anxious and doubtful with what force and with what speed (as soon as prudence gave an opportunity) he might anticipate the news of his coming and invade their territories unexpected. 2 And after thinking over many varied plans he at last decided to try the one which the outcome proved to be expedient. Without anyone’s knowledge he had sent Hariobaudes, an unattached tribune of tried fidelity and courage, ostensibly as an envoy to Hortarius, a king already subdued, with the idea that he could easily go on from there to the frontiers of those against whom war was presently to be made, and find out what they were plotting; for he was thoroughly acquainted with the language of the savages. 3 When the tribune had fearlessly set out to execute these orders, Julian, since the season of the year was favourable, called together his soldiers from all quarters for a campaign, and set forth; and he thought that above all things he ought betimes to attend to this, namely, before the heat of battle to enter the cities long since destroyed and abandoned, regain and fortify them, and even build granaries in place of those that had been burned, in which he could store the grain which was regularly brought over from Britain; and both things were accomplished sooner than anyone expected. 4 For not only did the granaries quickly rise, but a sufficiency of food was stored in them; and the cities were seized, to the number of seven: Castra Herculis, Quadriburgium, Tricensima and Novesium, Bonna, Antennacum and Vingo, where by a happy stroke of fortune the prefect Florentius also appeared unexpectedly, leading a part of the forces and bringing a store of provisions sufficient to last a long time.

5 After this had been accomplished, one pressing necessity remained, namely, to repair the walls of the recovered cities, since even then no one hindered; and it is evident from clear indications that the savages through fear, and the Romans through love for their commander, at that time served the public welfare. 6 The kings, according to the compact of the preceding year, sent in their wagons an abundance of building material, and the auxiliary soldiers, who always disdain such tasks, induced to diligent compliance by Julian’s fair words, willingly carried on their shoulders timbers fifty feet or more in length, and in the work of building rendered the greatest service.

7 While these works were being pushed on with diligence and success, Hariobaudes returned after examining into everything, and reported what he had learned. After his arrival all came at top speed to Mayence; and there, when Florentius and Lupicinus (successor to Severus) strongly insisted that they ought to build a bridge at that place and cross the river, Caesar stoutly opposed, declaring that they ought not to set foot in the lands of those who had submitted, for fear that (as often happens) through the rudeness of the soldiers, destroying everything in their way, the treaties might be abruptly broken.

8 However, the Alamanni as a whole, against whom our army was marching, thinking danger to be close at hand, with threats warned king Suomarius, a friend of ours through a previous treaty, to debar the Romans from passing over; for his territories adjoined the opposite bank of the Rhine. And when he declared that he could resist single-handed, the savages united their forces and came to the neighbourhood of Mayence, intending with might and main to prevent our army from crossing the river. 9 Therefore for a twofold reason what Caesar had advised seemed fitting, namely, that they should not ravage the lands of peaceful natives, nor against the opposition of a most warlike people construct the bridge with loss of life to many of our men, but should go to the place best suited for building a bridge. 10 This step the enemy observed with the greatest care, slowly marching along the opposite bank; and when from afar they saw our men pitching their tents, they themselves also passed sleepless nights, keeping guard with watchful diligence to prevent an attempt at crossing. 11 Our soldiers, however, on coming to the appointed place rested, protected by a rampart and a trench, and Caesar, after taking counsel with Lupicinus, ordered trusty tribunes to provide with stakes three hundred light-armed troops, who as yet were wholly unaware what was to be done or where they were to go. 12 And having been brought together when night was well advanced, all were embarked whom forty scouting boats (as many as were available at the time) would hold, and ordered to go down stream so quietly that they were even to keep their oars lifted for fear that the sound of the waters might arouse the savages; and while the enemy were watching our campfires, the soldiers were ordered with nimbleness of mind and body to force the opposite bank.

13 While this was being done with all haste, Hortarius, a king previously allied with us, not intending any disloyalty but being a friend also to his neighbours, invited all the kings, princes, and kinglets to a banquet and detained them until the third watch, prolonging the feasting after the native fashion. And as they were leaving the feast, it chanced that our men unexpectedly attacked them, but in were in no way able to kill or take any of them, aided as they were by the darkness and their horses, which carried them off wherever panic haste drove them; they did, however, slay the lackeys or slaves, who followed their masters on foot, except such as the darkness of the hour saved from danger.

14 When word at last came of the crossing of the Romans, who then, as in former campaigns, expected to find rest from their labours wherever they should succeed in finding the enemy, the panic-stricken kings and their peoples, who were watching with eager intentness and dreading the building of the bridge, shuddering with fear, took to their heels in all directions; and their unbridled anger now laid aside, they hastened to transport their kindred and their possessions to a greater distance. And at once every difficulty was removed, the bridge was built, and before the anxious nations expected it our soldiers appeared in the land of the savages, and were passing through the realms of Hortarius without doing any damage. 15 But when they reached the territories of kings that were still hostile, they burned and pillaged everything, ranging without fear through the midst of the rebel country.

After firing the fragile huts that sheltered them, killing a great number of men, and seeing many falling and others begging for mercy, our soldiers reached the region called Capillacii or Palas where boundary stones marked the frontiers of the Alamanni and the Burgundians. There they encamped with the design of capturing Macrianus and Hariobaudus, kings and own brothers, before they took alarm; for they, perceiving the ruin that threatened them, had come with anxious minds to sue for peace. 16 The kings were at once followed also by Vadomarius, whose abode was over against the Rauraci, and since he presented a letter of the emperor Constantius, in which he was strongly commended, he was received kindly (as was fitting), since he had long before been taken by Augustus under the protection of the Roman empire. 17 And Macrianus indeed, when admitted with his brother among the eagles and ensigns, was amazed at the variety and splendour of the arms and the forces, things which he saw then for the first time, and pleaded for his subjects. But Vadomarius, who was familiar with our affairs (since he had lived near the frontier) did indeed admire the equipment of the splendid array, but remembered that he had often seen the like from early youth. 18 Finally, after long deliberation, by the unanimous consent of all, peace was indeed granted to Macrianus and Hariobaudus; but to Vadomarius, who had come to secure his own safety, but at the same time as an envoy and intercessor, begging for peace in behalf of the kings Urius, Ursicinus and Vestralpus, no immediate reply could be given, for fear that (since savages are of unstable loyalty) they might take courage after the departure of our army and not abide by a peace secured through others. 19 But when they themselves also, after the burning of their harvests and homes and the capture or death of many men, sent envoys and made supplication as if they too had committed these sins against our people, they won peace on the same terms; and among these conditions it was especially stressed that they should give up all the prisoners whom they had taken in their frequent raids.

3 Why Barbatio, commander of the infantry, and his wife were beheaded by order of Constantius.

1 While in Gaul the providence of Heaven was reforming these abuses, in the court of Augustus a tempest of sedition arose, which from small beginnings proceeded to grief and lamentation. In the house of Barbatio, then commander of the infantry forces, bees made a conspicuous swarm; and when he anxiously consulted men skilled in prodigies about this, they replied that it portended great danger, obviously inferring this from the belief, that when these insects have made their homes and gathered their treasures, they are only driven out by smoke and the wild clashing of cymbals. 2 Barbatio had a wife, Assyria by name, who was talkative and indiscreet. She, when her husband had gone forth on a campaign and was worried by many fears because of what he remembered had been foretold him, overcome by a woman’s folly, confided in a maidservant skilled in cryptic writing, whom she had acquired from the estate of Silvanus. Through her Assyria wrote at this untimely moment to her husband, entreating him in tearful accents that when, after Constantius’ approaching death, he himself had become emperor, as he hoped, he should not cast her off and prefer marriage with Eusebia, who was then queen and was conspicuous among many women for the beauty of her person. 3 After this letter had been sent with all possible secrecy, the maidservant, who had written it at her mistress’ dictation, as soon as all had returned from the campaign took a copy of it and ran off to Arbetio in the quiet of the night; and being eagerly received, she handed over the note. 4 Arbetio, who was of all men most clever in framing an accusation, trusting to this evidence reported the matter to the emperor. The affair was investigated, as usual, without delay or rest, and when Barbatio admitted that he had received the letter, and strong evidence proved that the woman had written it, both were beheaded. 5 When they had been executed, far-reaching inquisitions followed, and many suffered, the most innocent as well as the guilty. Among these also Valentinus, formerly captain of the guard and then a tribune, was suspected with many others of being implicated and, although totally ignorant of what had been done, was tortured several times, but survived. And so, as compensation for his wrongs and his peril, he gained the position of a general in Illyricum.

6 Now the aforesaid Barbatio was a somewhat boorish fellow, of arrogant intentions, who was hated by many for the reason that, while he commanded the household troops under Gallus Caesar, he was a perfidious traitor; and after Gallus’ death, puffed up with pride in his higher military rank, he made like plots against Julian, when he became Caesar; and to the disgust of all good men he chattered into the open ears of the Augustus many cruel accusations. 7 He surely was unaware of the wise saying of Aristotle of old, who, on sending his disciple and relative Callisthenes to King Alexander, charged him repeatedly to speak as seldom and as pleasantly as possible in the presence of a man who had at the tip of his tongue the power of life and death. 8 And it should not cause surprise that men, whose minds we regard as akin to the gods, sometimes distinguish what is advantageous from what is harmful; for even unreasoning animals are at times wont to protect their lives by deep silence, as appears from this well-known fact. 9 The geese, when leaving the east because of heat and flying westward, no sooner begin to traverse Mount Taurus, which abounds in eagles, than in fear of those mighty birds they close their beaks with little stones, so that even extreme necessity may not call forth a clamour from them; and after they have passed over those same hills in speedier flight, they cast out the pebbles and so go on with greater peace of mind.

4 Sapor, king of the Persians, prepares to attack the Romans with all his forces.

1 While at Sirmium these matters were being investigated with all diligence, the fortune of the Orient kept sounding the dread trumpets of danger; for the king of Persia, armed with the help of the savage tribes which he had subdued, and burning with superhuman desire of extending his domain, was preparing arms, forces, and supplies, embroiling his plans with infernal powers and consulting all superstitions about the future; and having assembled enough of these, he planned with the first mildness of spring to overrun everything. 2 And when news of this came, at first by rumours and then by trustworthy messengers, and great dread of impending disasters held all in suspense, the forge of the courtiers, hammering day and night at the instigation of the eunuchs on the same anvil (as the saying is), held up Ursicinus to the suspicious and timid emperor as a grim-visaged gorgon, often reiterating these and similar charges: that he, having on the death of Silvanus been sent as if in default of better men, to defend the east, was panting for higher honours. 3 Furthermore, by this foul and excessive flattery very many strove to purchase the favour of Eusebius, then head-chamberlain, upon whom (if the truth must be told) Constantius greatly depended, and who was vigorously attacking the safety of the aforesaid commander of the cavalry for a double reason: because he alone of all was not, like the rest, adding to Eusebius’ wealth, and would not give up to him his house at Antioch, which the head-chamberlain most importunately demanded. 4 Eusebius then, like a viper swelling with abundant poison and arousing its multitudinous brood to mischief when they were still barely able to crawl, sent out his chamberlains, already well grown, with directions that, amid the duties of their more private attendance, with the soft utterances of voices always childish and persuasive they should with bitter hatred batter the reputation of that brave man in the too receptive ears of the prince. And they promptly did what they were ordered. 5 Through disgust with these and their kind, I take pleasure in praising Domitian of old, for although, unlike his father and his brother, he drenched the memory of his name with indelible detestation, yet he won distinction by a most highly approved law, by which he had under heavy penalties forbidden anyone within the bounds of the Roman jurisdiction to geld a boy; for if this had not happened, who could endure the swarms of those whose small number is with difficulty tolerated? 6 However, Eusebius proceeded warily, lest (as he pretended) that same Ursicinus, if again summoned to court, should through fear cause general disturbance, but actually that he might, whenever chance should give the opportunity, be haled off to execution.

7 While they held these plots in abeyance and were distracted by anxious thoughts, and I was staying for a time at Samosata, the famous seat of the former kingdom of Commagene, on a sudden repeated and trustworthy rumours were heard of new commotions; and of these the following chapter of my history shall tell.

5 Antoninus, of the household troops, goes over with all his household to Sapor, and urges him to the war against the Romans which he had already set on foot of his own accord.

1 There was a certain Antoninus, at first a rich merchant, then an accountant in the service of the governor of Mesopotamia, and finally one of his body-guard, a man of experience and sagacity, who was widely known throughout all that region. This man, being involved in great losses through the greed of certain powerful men, found on contending against them that he was more and more oppressed by unjust means, since those who examined the case were inclined to curry favour with men of higher position. Accordingly, in order not to kick against the pricks, he turned to mildness and flattery and acknowledged the debt, which by collusion had been transferred to the account of the privy purse. And then, planning to venture upon a vast enterprise, he covertly pried into all parts of the entire empire, and being versed in the language of both tongues, busied himself with calculations, making record of what troops were serving anywhere or of what strength, or at what time expeditions would be made, inquiring also by tireless questioning whether supplies of arms, provisions, and other things that would be useful in war were at hand in abundance. 2 And when he had learned the internal affairs of the entire Orient, since the greater part of the troops and the money for their pay were distributed through Illyricum, where the emperor was distracted with serious affairs, and as the stipulated time would soon be at hand for paying the money which he was compelled by force and threats to admit by written bond that he owed, foreseeing that he must be crushed by all manner of dangers on every side, since the count of the largesses through favour to his creditor was pressing him more urgently, he made a great effort to flee to the Persians with his wife, his children, and all his dear ones. 3 And to the end that he might elude the sentinels, he bought at no great price a farm in Iaspis, a place washed by the waters of the Tigris. And since because of this device no one ventured to ask one who was now a land-holder with many attendants his reason for coming to the utmost frontier of the Roman Empire, through friends who were loyal and skilled in swimming he held many secret conferences with Tamsapor, then acting as governor of all the lands across the river, whom he already knew; and when active men had been sent to his aid from the Persian camp, he embarked in fishing boats and ferried over all his beloved household in the dead of night, like Zopyrus, that famous betrayer of Babylon, but with the opposite intention.

4 After affairs in Mesopotamia had been brought to this pass, the Palace gang, chanting the old refrain with a view to our destruction, at last found an opportunity for injuring the most valiant of men, aided and abetted by the corps of eunuchs, who are always cruel and sour, and since they lack other offspring, embrace riches alone as their most dearly beloved daughters. 5 So it was decided that Sabinianus, a cultivated man, it is true, and well-to-do, but unfit for war, inefficient, and because of his obscurity still far removed from obtaining magisterial rank, should be sent to govern the eastern regions; but that Ursicinus should return to court to command the infantry and succeed Barbatio: to the end that by his presence there that eager inciter to revolution (as they persisted in calling him) might be open to the attacks of his bitter and formidable enemies.

6 While this was being done in the camp of Constantius, after the manner of brothels and the stage, and the distributors were scattering the price of suddenly purchased power through the homes of the powerful, Antoninus was conducted to the king’s winter quarters and received with open arms, being graced with the distinction of the turban, an honour shared by those who sit at the royal table and allowing men of merit among the Persians to speak words of advice and to vote in the assemblies. Thus, not with poles or tow-rope (as the saying is), that is, not by ambiguous or obscure subterfuges, but under full sail he attacked his country, urging on the aforesaid king, as long ago Maharbal chided the slowness of Hannibal, and kept insisting that he could win victories, but not take advantage of them. 7 For having been brought up in their midst, as a man well informed on all matters, finding eager hearers, desirous of having their ears tickled, who did not praise him but like Homer’s Phaeacians admired him in silence, he would rehearse the history of the past forty years. He showed that after constant successes in war, especially at Hileia and Singara, where that furious contest at night took place and our troops were cut to pieces with great carnage, as if some fetial priest were intervening to stop the fight, the Persians did not yet reach Edessa nor the bridges of the Euphrates, in spite of being victorious; whereas trusting to their prowess and their splendid successes, they ought so to have extended their kingdom as to rule over all Asia, especially at a time when through the continual commotions of civil wars Rome’s stoutest soldiers were shedding their blood on two sides.

8 With these and similar speeches from time to time at banquets, where after the old Greek custom they used to consult about preparations for war and other serious affairs, the deserter kept sober and fired the already eager king, so soon as winter was over, at once to take the field, trusting to his good fortune, and Antoninus himself confidently promised to aid him in many important ways.

6 Ursicinus, commander of the army in the Orient, being summoned from there and having already reached Thrace, is sent back to Mesopotamia; on his return he tries to learn through Marcellinus of the coming of Sapor.

1 At about that same time Sabinianus, puffed up by his suddenly acquired power, entered the confines of Cilicia and handed his predecessor the emperor’s letter, which directed him to make all haste to the court, to be invested with higher rank; and that too at a crisis when, even if Ursicinus were living in Thule, the weight of affairs with good reason demanded that he be sent for, well acquainted as he was with the old-time discipline and with the Persian methods of warfare from long experience. 2 The rumour of this action greatly disquieted the provinces, and the senates and peoples of the various cities, while decrees and acclamations came thick and fast, laid hands on him and all but held fast their public defender, recalling that though he had been left to protect them with weak and ease-loving soldiers, he had for ten years suffered no loss; and at the same time they feared for their safety on learning that at a critical time he had been deposed and a most inefficient man had come to take his place. 3 We believe (and in fact there is no doubt of it) that Rumour flies swiftly through the paths of air, since it was through her circulation of the news of these events that the Persians held council as to their course of action. And after long debate to and fro it was decided, on the advice of Antoninus, that since Ursicinus was far away and the new commander was lightly regarded, they should give up the dangerous sieges of cities, pass the barrier of the Euphrates, and push on with the design of outstripping by speed the news of their coming and seizing upon the provinces, which in all previous wars (except in the time of Gallienus) had been untouched and had grown rich through long-continued peace; and Antoninus promised that with God’s favour he would be a most helpful leader in this enterprise. 4 When this plan had been commended and approved by unanimous consent, all turned their attention to such things as must be amassed with speed; and so the preparation of supplies, soldiers, weapons, and other equipment which the coming campaign required, went on all winter long.

5 We meanwhile lingered for a time on this side the Taurus, and then in accordance with our orders were hastening to the regions of Italy and had come to the vicinity of the river Hebrus, which flows down from the mountains of the Odrysae; there we received the emperor’s dispatch, which without offering any excuse ordered us to return to Mesopotamia without any attendants and take charge of a perilous campaign, after all power had been transferred to another. 6 This was devised by the mischievous moulders of the empire with the idea that, if the Persians were baffled and returned to their own country, the glorious deed would be attributed to the ability of the new leader; but if Fortune proved unfavourable, Ursicinus would be accused as a traitor to his country. 7 Accordingly, after careful consideration, and long hesitation, we returned, to find Sabinianus a man full of haughtiness, but of insignificant stature and small and narrow mind, barely able to endure the slight noise of a banquet without shameful apprehension, to say nothing of din of battle.

8 Nevertheless, since scouts, and deserters agreeing with them, most persistently declared that the enemy were pushing all their preparations with hot haste, while the manikin yawned, we hastily marched to Nisibis, to prepare what was useful, lest the Persians, masking their design of a siege, might surprise the city when off its guard. 9 And while within the walls the things that required haste were being pushed vigorously, smoke and gleaming fires constantly shone from the Tigris on past Castra Maurorum and Sisara and all the neighbour country as far as the city, in greater number than usual and in a continuous line, clearly showing that the enemy’s bands of plunderers had burst forth and crossed the river. 10 Therefore, for fear that the roads might be blocked, we hastened on at full speed, and when we were within two miles, we saw a fine-looking boy, wearing a neck-chain, a child eight years old (as we guessed) and the son of a man of position (as he said), crying in the middle of the highway; his mother, while she was fleeing, wild with fear of the pursuing enemy, being hampered and agitated had left him alone. While I, at the command of my general, who was filled with pity, set the boy before me on my horse and took him back to the city, the pillagers, after building a rampart around the entire wall, were ranging more widely. 11 And because the calamities of a siege alarmed me, I set the boy down within a half-open postern gate and with winged speed hastened breathless to our troop; and I was all but taken prisoner. 12 For a tribune called Abdigildus was fleeing with his camp-servant, pursued by a troop of the enemy’s cavalry. And while the master made his escape, they caught the slave and asked him (just as I passed by at full gallop) who had been appointed governor. And when they heard that Ursicinus had entered the city a short time before and was now on his way to Mount Izala, they killed their informant and a great number, got together into one body, followed me with tireless speed. 13 When through the fleetness of my mount I had outstripped them and come to Amudis, a weak fortress, I found our men lying about at their ease, while their horses had been turned out to graze. Extending my arm far forward and gathering up my cloak and waving it on high, I showed by the usual sign that the enemy were near, and joining with them I was hurried along at their pace, although my horse was now growing tired. 14 We were alarmed, moreover, by the fact that it was full moon at night and by the level stretch of plain, which (in case any pressing emergency surprised us) could offer no hiding-places, since neither trees nor shrubs were to be seen, but nothing except short grass. 15 Therefore we devised the plan of placing a lighted lantern on a single pack-animal, binding it fast, so that it should not fall off, and then turning loose the animal that carried the light and letting him go towards the left without a driver, while we made our way to the mountain heights lying on the right, in order that the Persians, supposing that a tallow torch was carried before the general as he went slowly on his way, should take that course rather than any other; and had it not been for this stratagem, we should have been surrounded and captured and come into the power of the enemy.

16 Saved from this danger, we came to a wooded tract planted with vineyards and fruitbearing orchards, called Meiacarire, so named from its cold springs. There all the inhabitants had decamped, but we found one soldier hiding in a remote spot. He, on being brought before the general, because of fear gave contradictory answers and so fell under suspicion. But influenced by threats made against him, he told the whole truth, saying that he was born at Paris in Gaul and served in a cavalry troop; but in fear of punishment for a fault that he had once committed he had deserted to the Persians. Then, being found to be of upright character, and to have married and reared children, he was sent as a spy to our territories and often brought back trustworthy news. But now he had been sent out by the grandees Tamsapor and Nohodares, who had led the bands of pillagers, and was returning to them, to report what he had learned. After this, having added what he knew about what the enemy were doing, he was put to death.

17 Then with our anxious cares increasing we went from there as quickly as circumstances allowed to Amida, a city afterwards notorious for the calamities which it suffered. And when our scouts had returned there, we found in the scabbard of a sword a parchment written in cipher, which had been brought to us by order of Procopius, who, as I said before, had previously been sent as an envoy to the Persians with Count Lucillianus. In this, with intentional obscurity, for fear that, if the bearers were taken and the meaning of the message known, most disastrous consequences would follow, he gave the following message:—

18 “Now that the envoys of the Greeks have been sent far away and perhaps are to be killed, that aged king, not content with Hellespontus, will bridge the Granicus and the Rhyndacus and come to invade Asia with many nations. He is naturally passionate and very cruel, and he has as an instigator and abetter the successor of the former Roman emperor Hadrian; unless Greece takes heed, it is all over with her and her dirge chanted.”

19 This writing meant that the king of the Persians had crossed the rivers Anzaba and Tigris, and, urged on by Antoninus, aspired to the rule of the entire Orient. When it had been read, with the greatest difficulty because of its excessive ambiguity, a sagacious plan was formed.

20 There was at that time in Corduene, which was subject to the Persian power, a satrap called Jovinianus on Roman soil, a youth who had secret sympathy with us for the reason that, having been detained in Syria as a hostage and allured by the charm of liberal studies, he felt a burning desire to return to our country. 21 To him I was sent with a centurion of tried loyalty, for the purpose of getting better informed of what was going on; and I reached him over pathless mountains and through steep defiles. After he had seen and recognized me, and received me cordially, I confided to him alone the reason for my presence. Thereupon with one silent attendant who knew with the country he sent me to some lofty cliffs a long distance from there, from which, unless one’s eyesight was impaired, even the smallest object was visible at a distance of fifty miles. 22 There we stayed for two full days, and at dawn of the third day we saw below us the whole circuit of the lands (which we call ὁρίζοντες) filled with innumerable troops with the king leading the way, glittering in splendid attire. Close by him on the left went Grumbates, king of the Chionitae, a man of moderate strength, it is true, and with shrivelled limbs, but of a certain greatness of mind and distinguished by the glory of many victories. On the right was the king of the Albani, of equal rank, high in honour. After them came various leaders, prominent in reputation and rank, followed by a multitude of every degree, chosen from the flower of the neighbouring nations and taught to endure hardship by long continued training. 23 How long, storied Greece, will you continue to tell us of Doriscus, the city of Thrace, and of the armies drawn up in troops within enclosures and numbered? For I am too cautious, or (to speak more truly) too timid, to exaggerate anything beyond what is proven by trustworthy and sure evidence.

7 Sapor with the kings of the Chionitae and the Albani invades Mesopotamia. The Romans set fire to their own fields, drive the peasants into the towns, and fortify our bank of the Euphrates with strongholds and garrisons.

1 After the kings had passed by Nineveh, a great city of Adiabene, and after sacrificing victims in the middle of the bridge over the Anzaba and finding the omens favourable, had crossed full of joy, I judged that all the rest of the throng could hardly enter in three days; so I quickly returned to the satrap and rested, entertained with hospitable attentions. 2 Then I returned, again passing through deserted and solitary places, more quickly than could be expected, led as I was by the great consolation of necessity, and cheered the spirits of those who were troubled because they were informed that the kings, without any detour, had crossed on a single bridge of boats. 3 Therefore at once swift horsemen were sent to Cassianus, commander in Mesopotamia, and to Euphronius, then governor of the province, to compel the peasants with their households and all their flocks to move to safer quarters, directing also that the city of Carrhae should quickly be abandoned, since the town was surrounded only by weak fortifications; and in addition that all the plains be set on fire, to prevent the enemy from getting fodder. 4 These orders were executed without delay, and when the fires had been kindled, the mighty violence of that raging element consumed all the grain, which was filled out on the now yellowing stalk, and every kind of growing plant, so utterly that from the very banks of the Tigris all the way to the Euphrates not a green thing was to be seen. At that time many wild beasts were burned up, especially lions, which are excessively savage in those regions and usually perish or are gradually blinded in the following manner. 5 Amid the reed-beds and thickets of the Mesopotamian rivers lions range in countless numbers; and during the moderate winter, which is there very mild, they are always harmless. But when the sun’s rays have brought the season of burning heat, in regions parched by drought they are tormented both by the sultry breath of the sun and by crowds of gnats, swarms of which fill all parts of that land. And since these same insects make for the eyes, as the moist and shining parts of the body, and settling along the eyelids bite them, those same lions, after suffering long torture, either plunge into the rivers, to which they flee for protection, and are drowned, or after losing their eyes, which they dig out by constantly scratching them with their claws, become frightfully savage. And were it not for this, the entire Orient would be overrun by such beasts.

6 While the plains were burning (as was said), tribunes were sent with the guard and fortified the nearer bank of the Euphrates with towers, sharp stakes, and every kind of defence, planting hurling-engines in suitable places, where the river was not full of eddies.

7 While these preparations were being hastened, Sabinianus, that splendid choice of a leader in a deadly war, when every moment should have been seized to avert the common dangers, amid the tombs of Edessa, as if he had nothing to fear when he had made his peace with the dead, and acting with wantonness of a life free from care, in complete inaction was being entertained by his soldiers with a pyrrhic dance, in which music accompanied the gestures of the performers — conduct ominous both in itself and in its occasion, since we learn that these and similar things that are ill-omened in word and deed ought to be avoided by every good man as time goes on as foreboding coming troubles. 8 Meanwhile the kings passed by Nisibis as an unimportant halting place, and since fires were spreading because of the variety of dry fuel, to avoid a scarcity of fodder were marching through the grassy valleys at the foot of the mountains. 9 And now they had come to a hamlet called Bebase, from which as far as the town of Constantina, which is a hundred miles distant, everything is parched by constant drought except for a little water to be found in wells. There they hesitated for a long time what to do, and finally were planning to cross, being confident of the hardiness of their men, when they learned from a faithful scout that the Euphrates was swollen by the melted snows and overflowing in wide pools, and hence could not be forded anywhere. 10 Therefore, being unexpectedly disappointed in the hope that they had conceived, they turned to embrace whatever the chance of fortune should offer; and on holding a council, with reference to the sudden urgent difficulties of their present situation, Antoninus, on being bidden to say what he thought, began by advising that they should turn their march to the right, in order to make a long detour through regions abounding in all sorts of supplies, and still untouched by the Romans in the belief that the enemy would march straight ahead, and that they should go under his guidance to the two garrison camps of Barzalo and Claudias; for there the river was shallow and narrow near its source, and as yet increased by no tributaries, and hence was fordable and easy to cross. 11 When this proposition had been heard and its author commended and bidden to lead them by the way that he knew, the whole army changed its intended line of march and followed its guide.

8 Seven hundred Illyrian horsemen are surprised and put to flight by the Persians. Ursicinus and Marcellinus escape in different directions.

1 When this was known through trustworthy scouts, we planned to hasten to Samosata, in order to cross the river from there and break down the bridges at Zeugma and Capersana, and so (if fortune should aid us at all) repel the enemy’s attacks. 2 But there befell a terrible disgrace, which deserves to be buried in utter silence. For about seven hundred horsemen, belonging to two squadrons who had recently been sent to the aid of Mesopotamia from Illyricum, a spiritless and cowardly lot, were keeping guard in those parts. And dreading a night attack, they withdrew to a distance from the public roads at evening, when all the paths ought to be better guarded. 3 This was observed by the Persians, and about twenty thousand of them, under the command of Tamsapor and Nohodares, passed by the horsemen unobserved, while these were overcome with wine and sleep, and hid themselves with arms behind some high mounds near Amida.

4 And presently, when we were on the point of going to Samosata (as has been said) and were on our way while it was still twilight, from a high point our eyes caught the gleam of shining arms, and an excited cry was raised that the enemy were upon us; then the usual signal for summoning to battle was given and we halted in close order, thinking it prudent neither to take flight when our pursuers were already in sight, nor yet (through fear of certain death) to engage with a foe far superior in cavalry and in numbers. 5 Finally, after it became absolutely necessary to resort to arms, while we were hesitating as to what ought to be done, some of our men ran forward rashly and were killed. And as both sides pressed forward, Antoninus, who was ostentatiously leading the troops, was recognised by Ursicinus and rated with chiding language; and after being called traitor and criminal, Antoninus took off the tiara which he wore on his head as a token of high honour, sprang from his horse, and bending his body so that he almost touched the ground with his face, he saluted Ursicinus, calling him patron and lord, clasping his hands together behind his back, which among the Assyrians is a gesture of supplication. 6 Then, “Pardon me,” said he, “most illustrious Count, since it is from necessity and not voluntarily that I have descended to this conduct, which I know to be infamous. It was unjust duns, as you know, that drove me mad, whose avarice not even your lofty station, which tried to protect my wretchedness, could check.” As he said these words he withdrew from sight, not turning about, but respectfully walking backwards until he disappeared, and presenting his breast.

7 While all this took place in the course of half an hour, our soldiers in the rear, who occupied the higher part of the hill, cry out that another force, of heavy-armed cavalry, was to be seen behind the others, and that they were approaching with all possible speed. 8 And, as is usual in times of trouble, we were in doubt whom we should, or could, resist, and pushed onward by the weight of the vast throng, we all scattered here and there, wherever each saw the nearest way of escape; and while every one was trying to save himself from the great danger, we were mingled in scattered groups with the enemy’s skirmishers. 9 And so, now scorning any desire for life and fighting manfully, we were driven to the banks of the Tigris, which were high and steep. From these some hurled themselves headlong, but entangled by their weapons stuck fast in the shoals of the river; others were dragged down in the eddying pools and swallowed up; some engaged the enemy and fought with varying success; others, terrified by the dense array of hostile ranks, sought to reach the nearest elevations of Mount Taurus. 10 Among these the commander himself was recognised and surrounded by a horde of warriors, but he was saved by the speed of his horse and got away, in company with Aiadalthes, a tribune, and a single groom.

11 I myself, having taken a direction apart from that of my comrades, was looking around to see what to do, when Verennianus, one of the guard, came up with an arrow in his thigh; and while at the earnest request of my colleague I was trying to pull it out, finding myself surrounded on all sides by the foremost Persians, I moved ahead at breathless speed and aimed for the city, which from the point where we were attacked lay high up and could be approached only by a single very narrow ascent and this was made still narrower by mills which had been built on the cliffs for the purpose of making the paths. 12 Here, mingled with the Persians, who were rushing to the higher ground with the same effort as ourselves, we remained motionless until sunrise of the next day, so crowded together that the bodies of the slain, held upright by the throng, could nowhere find room to fall, and that in front of me a soldier with his head cut in two, and split into equal halves by a powerful sword stroke, was so pressed on all sides that he stood erect like a stump. 13 And although showers of weapons from all kinds of artillery flew from the battlements, nevertheless the nearness of the walls saved us from that danger, and when I at last entered the city by a postern gate I found it crowded, since a throng of both sexes had flocked to it from the neighbouring countryside. For, as it chanced, it was at that very time that the annual fair was held in the suburbs, and there was a throng of country folk in addition to the foreign traders. 14 Meanwhile there was a confusion of varied cries, some bewailing their lost kindred, others wounded to the death, many calling upon loved ones from whom they were separated and could not see because of the press.

9 A description of Amida, and the number of the legions and troops of cavalry that were on guard there.

1 This city was once very small, but Constantius, when he was still a Caesar, in order that the neighbours might have a secure place of refuge, at the same time that he built another city called Antoninupolis, surrounded Amida with strong walls and towers; and by establishing there an armoury of mural artillery, he made it a terror to the enemy and wished it to be called after his own name. 2 Now, on the south side it is washed by the winding course of the Tigris, which rises near-by; where it faces the blasts of Eurus it looks down on Mesopotamia’s plains; where it is exposed to the north wind it is close to the river Nymphaeus and lies under the shadow of the peaks of Taurus, which separate the peoples beyond the Tigris from Armenia; opposite the breath of Zephyrus it borders on Gumathena, a region rich alike in fertility and in tillage, in which is the village called Abarne, famed for its warm baths of healing waters. Moreover, in the very heart of Amida, at the foot of the citadel, a bountiful spring gushes forth, drinkable indeed, but sometimes malodorous from hot vapours. 3 Of this town the regular garrison was formed by the Fifth Legion, Parthica, along with a force of no mean size of natives. But at that time six additional legions, having outstripped the advancing horde of Persians by rapid marches, were drawn up upon its very strong walls. These were the soldiers of Magnentius and Decentius, whom, after finishing the campaigns of the civil wars, the emperor had forced, as being untrustworthy and turbulent, to come to the Orient, where none but foreign wars are to be feared; also the soldiers of the Thirtieth, and the Tenth, also called Fortenses, and the Superventores and Praeventores with Aelianus, who was then a count; these troops, when still raw recruits, at the urging of the same Aelianus, then one of the guard, had made a sally from Singara (as I have said) and slain great numbers of the Persians while they were buried in sleep. 4 There were also in the town the greater part of the comites sagittarii (household archers), that is to say, a squadron of horsemen so-named, in which all the freeborn foreigners serve who are conspicuous above the rest for their prowess in arms and their bodily strength.

10 Sapor receives two Roman fortresses in surrender.

1 While the storm of the first attack was thus busied with unlooked-for undertakings, the king with his own people and the nations that he was leading turned his march to the right from the place called Bebase, as Antoninus had recommended, through Horre and Meiacarire and Charcha, as if he would pass by Amida; but when he had come near two fortresses of the Romans, of which one is called Reman and the other Busan, he learned from the information of deserters that the wealth of many people had been brought there and was kept in what were regarded as lofty and safe fortifications; and it was added that there was to be found there with a costly outfit a beautiful woman with her little daughter, the wife of a certain Craugasius of Nisibis, a man distinguished among the officials of his town for family, reputation, and influence. 2 Accordingly the king, with a haste due to his greed for seizing others’ property, attacked the fortresses with fiery confidence, whereupon the defenders, overcome with sudden panic and dazzled by the variety of arms, surrendered themselves and all those who had taken refuge with the garrison; and when ordered to depart, they at once handed over the keys of the gates. When entrance was given, whatever was stored there was brought out, and the women, paralysed with fear, were dragged forth with the children clinging to their mothers and experiencing grievous woes at the beginning of their tender years. 3 And when the king by inquiring whose wife the lady was had found that her husband was Craugasius, he allowed her, fearing as she did that violence would be offered her, to approach nearer without apprehension; and when she had been reassured and covered as far as her very lips with a black veil, he courteously encouraged her with sure hope of regaining her husband and of keeping her honour unsullied. For hearing that her husband ardently loved her, he thought that at this price he might purchase the betrayal of Nisibis. 4 Yet finding that there were others also who were maidens and consecrated to divine service according to the Christian custom, he ordered that they be kept uninjured and allowed to practise their religion in their wonted manner without any opposition; to be sure he made a pretence of mildness for the time, to the end that all whom he had heretofore terrified by his harshness and cruelty might lay aside their fear and come to him of their own volition, when they learned from recent instances that he now tempered the greatness of his fortune with kindliness and gracious deportment.

Book XIX

1 Sapor, while urging the people of Amida to surrender, is attacked by the garrison with arrows and spears. While King Grumbates attempts the same thing, his son is slain.

1 The king, rejoicing in the wretched imprisonment of our men that had come to pass, and anticipating like successes, set forth from there, and slowly advancing, came to Amida on the third day. 2 And when the first gleam of dawn appeared, everything so far as the eye could reach shone with glittering arms, and mail-clad cavalry filled hill and dale. 3 The king himself, mounted upon a charger and overtopping the others, rode before the whole army, wearing in place of a diadem a golden image of a ram’s head set with precious stones, distinguished too by a great retinue of men of the highest rank and of various nations. But it was clear that he would merely try the effect of a conference on the defenders of the walls, since by the advice of Antoninus he was in haste to go elsewhere. 4 However, the power of heaven, in order to compress the miseries of the whole Roman Empire within the confines of a single region, had driven the king to an enormous degree of self-confidence, and to the belief that all the besieged would be paralysed with fear at the mere sight of him, and would resort to suppliant prayers. 5 So he rode up to the gates attended by his royal escort, and while with too great assurance he came so near that even his features could clearly be recognised, because of his conspicuous adornment he became the target of arrows and other missiles, and would have fallen, had not the dust hidden him from the sight of his assailants, so that after a part of his garment was torn by the stroke of a lance he escaped, to cause the death of thousands at a later time. 6 In consequence of this attack he raged as if against sacrilegious violators of a temple, and declaring that the lord of so many kings and nations had been outraged, he pushed on with great effort every preparation for destroying the city; but when his most distinguished generals begged that he would not under stress of anger abandon his glorious enterprises, he was appeased by their soothing plea and decided that on the following day the defenders should again be warned to surrender.

7 And so, at the first dawn of day, Grumbates, king of the Chionitae, wishing to render courageous service to his lord, boldly advanced to the walls with a band of active attendants; but a skilful observer caught sight of him as soon as he chanced to come within range of his weapon, and discharging a ballista, pierced both cuirass and breast of Grumbates’ son, a youth just come to manhood, who was riding at his father’s side and was conspicuous among his companions for his height and his handsome person. 8 Upon his fall all his countrymen scattered in flight, but presently returned in well-founded fear that his body might be carried off, and with harsh outcries roused numerous tribes to arms; and on their onset weapons flew from both sides like hail and a fierce fight ensued. 9 After a murderous contest, protracted to the very end of the day, at nightfall the body, which had with difficulty been protected amid heaps of slain and streams of blood, was dragged off under cover of darkness, as once upon a time before Troy his companions contended in a fierce struggle over the lifeless comrade of the Thessalian leader. 10 By this death the palace was saddened, and all the nobles, as well as the father, were stunned by the sudden calamity; accordingly a truce was declared and the young man, honoured for his high birth and beloved, was mourned after the fashion of his own nation. Accordingly he was carried out, armed in his usual manner, and placed upon a large and lofty platform, and about him were spread ten couches bearing figures of dead men, so carefully made ready that the images were like bodies already in the tomb. For the space of seven days all men by communities and companies feasted (lamenting the young prince) with dances and the singing of certain sorrowful dirges. 11 The women for their part, woefully beating their breasts and weeping after their wonted manner, loudly bewailed the hope of their nation cut off in the bloom of youth, just as the priestesses of Venus are often seen to weep at the annual festival of Adonis, which, as the mystic lore of religion tells us, is a kind of symbol of the ripened grain.

2 Amida is besieged and assaulted twice within two days by the Persians.

1 After the body had been burned and the ashes collected and placed in a silver urn, since the father had decided that they should be taken to his native land to be consigned to the earth, they debated what it was best to do; and it was resolved to propitiate the spirit of the slain youth by burning and destroying the city; for Grumbates would not allow them to go farther while the shade of his only son was unavenged. 2 Accordingly, after two days had been given to rest, a large force was sent to devastate the rich, cultivated fields, which were unprotected as in time of peace; then the city was begirt by a fivefold line of shields, and on the morning of the third day gleaming bands of horsemen filled all places which the eye could reach, and the ranks, advancing at a quiet pace, took the places assigned them by lot. 3 The Persians beset the whole circuit of the walls. The part which faced the east fell to the lot of the Chionitae, the place where the youth so fatal to us was slain, whose shade was destined to be appeased by the destruction of the city. The Gelani were assigned to the southern side, the Albani guarded the quarter to the north, and to the western gate were opposed the Segestani, the bravest warriors of all. With them, making a lofty show, slowly marched the lines of elephants, frightful with their wrinkled bodies and loaded with armed men, a hideous spectacle, dreadful beyond every form of horror, as I have often declared.

4 Beholding such innumerable peoples, long got together to set fire to the Roman world and bent upon our destruction, we despaired of any hope of safety and henceforth strove to end our lives gloriously, which was now our sole desire. 5 And so from sunrise until the day’s end the battle lines stood fast, as though rooted in the same spot; no sound was heard, no neighing of horses; and they withdrew in the same order in which they had come, and then refreshed with food and sleep, when only a small part of the night remained, led by the trumpeters’ blast they surrounded the city with the same awful ring, as if it were soon to fall. 6 And hardly had Grumbates hurled a bloodstained spear, following the usage of his country and the custom of our fetial priest, than the army with clashing weapons flew to the walls, and at once the lamentable tempest of war grew fiercer, the cavalry advancing at full speed as they hurried to the fight with general eagerness, while our men resisted with courage and determination.

7 Then heads were shattered, as masses of stone, hurled from the scorpions, crushed many of the enemy; others were pierced by arrows, some were struck down by spears and the ground strewn with their bodies, while others that were only wounded retreated in headlong flight to their companions. 8 No less was the grief and no fewer the deaths in the city, whence a thick cloud of arrows in compact mass darkened the air, while the artillery which the Persians had acquired from the plunder of Singara inflicted still more wounds. 9 For the defenders, recovering their strength and returning in relays to the contest they had abandoned, when wounded in their great ardour for defence fell with destructive results; or if only mangled, they overturned in their writhing those who stood next to them, or at any rate, so long as they remained alive kept calling for those who had the skill to pull out the arrows implanted in their bodies. 10 Thus slaughter was piled upon slaughter and prolonged to the very end of the day, nor was it lessened even by the darkness of evening, with such great determination did both sides fight. 11 And so the night watches were passed under the burden of arms, while the hills re-echoed from the shouts rising from both sides, as our men praised the power of Constantius Caesar as lord of the world and the universe, and the Persians called Sapor “saansaan” and “pirosen,” which being interpreted is “king of kings” and “victor in wars.”

12 And before the dawn of the fifth day the signal was given on the trumpets and the countless forces were aroused anew from all sides to battles of equal heat, rushing to the strife like birds of prey; and the plains and dales as far and as wide as the eye could reach revealed nothing save the flashing arms of savage nations. 13 Presently a shout was raised and all rushed blindly forward, a vast shower of weapons flew from the walls, and as might be supposed, not one that fell among that dense throng of men was discharged in vain. For since so many ills hedged us about, we burned, not with the desire of saving our lives, but, as I have said, of dying bravely; and from the beginning of the day until the light was dim we fought with more fury than discretion, without a turn of the battle to either side. For the shouts of those who would terrify and of those who feared constantly rang out, and such was the heat of battle that scarcely anyone could stand his ground without a wound. 14 At length night put an end to the bloodshed and satiety of woes had brought both sides a longer rest from fighting; for even when time for rest was given us, constant toil and sleeplessness sapped the little strength that remained, and we were terrified by the blood and the pale faces of the dying, to whom not even the last consolation of burial could be given because of the confined space; for within the limits of a city that was none too large there were shut seven legions, a promiscuous throng of strangers and citizens of both sexes, and a few other soldiers, to the number of 120,000 in all. 15 Therefore each cured his wounds according to his ability or the supply of helpers; some, who were severely hurt, gave up the ghost slowly from loss of blood; others, pierced through by arrows, after vain attempts to relieve them, breathed out their lives, and were cast out when death came; others, whose limbs were gashed everywhere, the physicians forbade to be treated, lest their sufferings should be increased by useless infliction of pain; still others plucked out the arrows and through this doubtful remedy endured torments worse than death.

3 Ursicinus vainly attempts to surprise the besiegers by night, being opposed by Sabinianus, commander of the infantry.

1 While the fight was going on at Amida with such determination on both sides, Ursicinus, grieving because he was dependent upon the will of another, who was then of greater authority in the command of the soldiers, frequently admonished Sabinianus, who was still clinging to his graves, that, getting together all his skirmishers, he should hasten by secret paths along the foot of the mountains, so that with the help of these light-armed troops (if fortune was at all favourable) he might surprise the pickets and attack the night-watches of the enemy, who had surrounded the walls in wide extent, or by repeated assaults distract the attention of those who were stoutly persisting in the siege. 2 These proposals Sabinianus opposed as dangerous, publicly offering as a pretext letters of the emperor, which expressly directed that whatever could be done should be effected without injury to the soldiers anywhere, but secretly in his inmost heart keeping in mind that he had often been instructed at court to cut off from his predecessor, because of his burning desire for glory, every means of gaining honour, even though it promised to turn out to the advantage of the state. 3 Such great haste was made, even though attended with the destruction of the provinces, that this valiant warrior should not receive mention as author of, or participant in, any noteworthy action. Therefore, alarmed by this unhappy situation, Ursicinus often sent us scouts, although because of the strict guard no one could easily enter the town, and attempted many helpful things; but he obviously could accomplish nothing, being like a lion of huge size and terrible fierceness which did not dare to go to save from danger his whelps that were caught in a net, because he had been robbed of his claws and teeth.

4 A plague which broke out in Amida is ended within ten days by a light rain. Remarks on the causes and varieties of plagues.

1 But within the city, where the quantity of corpses scattered through the streets was too great to admit of burial, a plague was added to so many ills, fostered by the contagious infection of maggot-infested bodies, the steaming heat, and the weakness of the populace from various causes. The origin of diseases of this kind I shall briefly set forth.

2 Philosophers and eminent physicians have told us that an excess of cold or heat, or of moisture or dryness, produces plagues. Hence those who dwell in marshy or damp places suffer from coughs, from affections of the eyes, and from similar complaints; on the other hand, the inhabitants of hot climates dry up with the heat of fever. But by as much as the substance of fire is fiercer and more effective than the other elements, by so much is drought the swifter to kill. 3 Therefore when Greece was toiling in a ten years’ war in order that a foreigner might not evade the penalty for separating a royal pair, a scourge of this kind raged and many men perished by the darts of Apollo, who is regarded as the sun. 4 And, as Thucydides shows, that calamity which, at the beginning of the Peloponnesian war, harassed the Athenians with a grievous kind of sickness, gradually crept all the way from the torrid region of Africa and lay hold upon Attica. 5 Others believe that when the air, as often happens, and the waters are polluted by the stench of corpses or the like, the greater part of their healthfulness is spoiled, or at any rate that a sudden change of air causes minor ailments. 6 Some also assert that when the air is made heavy by grosser exhalations from the earth, it checks the secretions that should be expelled from the body, and is fatal to some; and it is for that reason, as we know on the authority of Homer as well as from many later experiences, that when such a pestilence has appeared, the other animals besides man, which constantly look downward, are the first to perish. 7 Now the first kind of plague is called endemic, and causes those who live in places that are too dry to be cut off by frequent fevers. The second is epidemic, which breaks out at certain seasons of the year, dimming the sight of the eyes and causing a dangerous flow of moisture. The third is loemodes, which is also periodic, but deadly from its winged speed.

8 After we had been exhausted by this destructive plague and a few had succumbed to the excessive heat and still more from the crowded conditions, at last on the night following the tenth day the thick and gross exhalations were dispelled by light showers, and sound health of body was regained.

5 Amida is attacked on one side about the walls, and on the other, under the lead of a deserter, by underground passages.

1 But meanwhile the restless Persian was surrounding the city with sheds and mantlets, and mounds began to be raised and towers were constructed; these last were lofty, with ironclad fronts, and on the top of each a ballista was placed, for the purpose of driving the defenders from the ramparts; yet not even for a moment did the skirmishing by the slingers and archers slacken. 2 There were with us two Magnentian legions, recently brought from Gaul (as I have said) and composed of brave, active men, experienced in battle in the open field, but to the sort of warfare to which we were constrained they were not merely unsuited, but actually a great hindrance; for whereas they were of no help with the artillery or in the construction of fortifications, they would sometimes make reckless sallies and after fighting with the greatest confidence return with diminished numbers, accomplishing just as much as would the pouring of a single handful of water (as the saying is) upon a general conflagration. 3 Finally, when the gates were very carefully barred, and their officers forbade them to go forth, they gnashed their teeth like wild beasts. But in the days that followed (as I shall show) their efficiency was conspicuous. 4 In a remote part of the walls on the southern side, which looks down on the river Tigris, there was a tower rising to a lofty height, beneath which yawned rocks so precipitous that one could not look down without shuddering dizziness. From these rocks subterranean arches had been hollowed out, and skilfully made steps led through the roots of the mountain as far as the plateau on which the city stood, in order that water might be brought secretly from the channel of the river, a device which I have seen in all the fortifications in those regions which border on streams. 5 Through these dark passages, left unguarded because of their steepness, led by a deserter in the city who had gone over to the opposite side, seventy Persian bowmen from the king’s bodyguard who excelled in skill and bravery, protected by the silence of the remote spot, suddenly one by one in the middle of the night mounted to the third story of the tower and there concealed themselves; in the morning they displayed a cloak of red hue, which was the signal for beginning battle, and when they saw the city surrounded on all sides with the floods of their forces, emptying their quivers, and throwing them at their feet, with a conflagration of shouts and yells they sent their shafts in all directions with the utmost skill. And presently all the Persian forces in dense array attacked the city with far greater fury than before. 6 We were perplexed and uncertain where first to offer resistance, whether to those who stood above us or to the throng mounting on scaling-ladders and already laying hold of the very battlements; so the work was divided among us and five of the lighter ballistae were moved and placed over against the tower, rapidly pouring forth wooden shafts, which sometimes pierced even two men at a time. Some of the enemy fell, severely wounded; others, through fear of the clanging engines, leaped off headlong and were dashed to pieces. 7 This being so quickly accomplished and the engines restored to their usual places, with a little greater confidence all ran together to defend the walls. 8 And since the wicked deed of the deserter increased the soldiers’ wrath, as if they were entering a level ground in a sham fight they used such strength of arm as they hurled their various weapons, that as the day inclined towards noon the enemy were scattered in bitter defeat, and lamenting the death of many of their number, retreated to their tents through fear of wounds.

6 A sally of the Gallic legions, destructive to the Persians.

1 Fortune thus breathed upon us some hope of safety, since a day had passed without harm to us and with disaster to the enemy; so the remainder of that day was devoted to rest, for refreshing our bodies. But at the arrival of the following dawn we saw from the citadel a countless throng which after the capture of the fortress of Ziata was being taken to the enemy’s camp; for in that stronghold, which was both capacious and well fortified (it has a circuit of ten stadia) a multitude of people of all sorts had taken refuge. 2 For other fortifications also were seized and burned during those same days, and from them many thousands of men had been dragged, and were following into slavery, among them many feeble old men, and women already advanced in years, who, when they gave out for various reasons, discouraged by the long march and abandoning the desire to live, were left behind with their calves or hams cut out.

3 The Gallic soldiers, seeing these throngs of wretches, with a reasonable, but untimely, impulse demanded that the opportunity be given them of encountering the enemy, threatening death to the tribunes who forbade them, and to the higher officers, if they in their turn prevented them. 4 And just as ravening beasts in cages, roused to greater fierceness by the odour of carrion, in hope of getting out dash against the revolving bars, so did they hew with swords at the gates, which (as I said above) were locked, being exceedingly anxious lest, if the city should be destroyed, they also might perish without any glorious action, or if it were saved from peril, they should be said to have done nothing worth while, as Gallic greatness of heart demanded; and yet before this they had made frequent sallies and attempted to interfere with the builders of mounds, had killed some, and had suffered the like themselves.

5 We, at our wit’s end and in doubt what opposition ought to be made to the raging Gauls, at last chose this course as the best, to which they reluctantly consented: that since they could no longer be restrained, they would wait for a while and then be allowed to attack the enemy’s outposts, which were stationed not much farther than a bowshot away, with the understanding that if they broke through them, they might keep right on. For it was apparent that, if their request were granted, they would deal immense slaughter. 6 While preparations for this were going on, the walls were being vigorously defended by various kinds of effort: by toil and watchfulness and by placing engines so as to scatter stones and darts in all directions. However, two lofty mounds were constructed by a troop of Persian infantry, and the storming of the city was being prepared with slowly built siege-works; and in opposition to these troops our soldiers also with extreme care were rearing earthworks of great height, equal in elevation to those of the enemy and capable of supporting the greatest possible weight of fighting men.

7 Meanwhile the Gauls, impatient of delay, armed with axes and swords rushed out through an opened postern gate, taking advantage of a gloomy, moonless night and praying for the protection of heaven, that it might propitiously and willingly aid them. And holding their very breath when they had come near the enemy, they rushed violently upon them in close order, and having slain some of the outposts, they butchered the outer guards of the camp in their sleep (since they feared nothing of the kind), and secretly thought of a surprise attack even on the king’s quarters, if a favourable fortune smiled on them. 8 But the sound of their cautious advance, slight though it was, and the groans of the dying were heard, and many of the enemy were roused from sleep and sprang up, while each for himself raised the call to arms. Our soldiers stood rooted to the spot, not daring to advance farther; for it no longer seemed prudent, when those against whom the surprise was directed were aroused, to rush into open danger, since now throngs of raging Persians were coming to battle from every side, fired with fury. 9 But the Gauls faced them, relying on their strength of body and keeping their courage unshaken as long as they could, cut down their opponents with the sword, while a part of their own number were slain or wounded by the cloud of arrows flying from every side. But when they saw that the whole weight of peril and all the troops of the enemy were turned against one spot, although not one of them turned his back, they made haste to get away; and as if retreating to music, they were gradually forced out beyond the rampart, and being now unable to withstand the bands of foemen rushing upon them in close order, and excited by the blare of trumpets from the camp, they withdrew. 10 And while many clarions sounded from the city, the gates were thrown open to admit our men, if they could succeed in getting so far, and the hurling-engines roared constantly, but without discharging any missiles, in order that since those in command of the outposts, after the death of their comrades were unaware of what was going on behind them, the men stationed before the walls of the city might abandon their unsafe position, and the brave men might be admitted through the gate without harm. 11 By this device the Gauls entered the gate about daybreak in diminished numbers, a part severely others slightly wounded (the losses of that night were four hundred); and if a mightier fate had not prevented, they would have slain, not Rhesus nor the Thracians encamped before the walls of Troy, but the king of the Persians in his own tent, protected by a hundred thousand armed men. 12 In honour of their officers, as leaders in these brave deeds, after the destruction of the city the emperor ordered statues in full armour to be made and set up in a frequented spot in Edessa, and they are preserved intact to the present time.

13 When on the following day the slaughter was revealed, and among the corpses of the slain there were found grandees and satraps, and dissonant cries and tears bore witness to the disasters in that place, everywhere mourning was heard and the indignation of the kings at the thought that the Romans had forced their way in through the guards posted before the walls. And as because of this event a truce of three days was granted by common consent, we also gained time to take breath.

7 Towers and other siege-works are brought up to the walls of the city; they are set on fire by the Romans.

1 Then the enemy, horrified and maddened by the unexpected mishap, set aside all delay, and since force was having little effect, now planned to decide the contest by siege-works; and all of them, fired with the greatest eagerness for battle, now hastened to meet a glorious death or with the downfall of the city to make offering to the spirits of the slain.

2 And now through the zeal of all the preparations were completed, and as the morning star shone forth various kinds of siege-works were brought up, along with ironclad towers, on the high tops of which ballistae were placed, and drove off the defenders who were busy lower down. 3 And day was now dawning, when mail-clad soldiers underspread the entire heaven, and the dense forces moved forward, not as before in disorder, but led by the slow notes of the trumpets and with no one running forward, protected too by pent-houses and holding before them wicker hurdles. 4 But when their approach brought them within bowshot, though holding their shields before them the Persian infantry found it hard to avoid the arrows shot from the walls by the artillery, and took open order, and almost no kind of dart failed to find its mark; even the mail-clad horsemen were checked and gave ground, and thus increased the courage of our men. 5 However, because the enemy’s ballistae, mounted as they were upon iron-clad towers, were effective from their higher place against those lower down, on account of their different position they had a different result and caused terrible carnage on our side; and when evening was already coming on and both sides rested, the greater part of the night was spent in trying to devise a remedy for this awful slaughter.

6 And at last, after turning over many plans, we resolved upon a plan which speedy action made the safer, namely, to oppose four scorpions to those same ballistae; but while they were being moved exactly opposite and cautiously put in place (an act calling for the greatest skill) the most sorrowful of days dawned upon us, showing as it did formidable bands of Persians along with troops of elephants, than whose noise and huge bodies the human mind can conceive nothing more terrible. 7 And while we were hard pressed on every side by the weight of armed men, siege-works, and monsters, round stones hurled at intervals from the battlements by the iron arms of our scorpions shattered the joints of the towers, and threw down the ballistae and those who worked them in such headlong fashion, that some perished without injury from wounds, others were crushed to death by the great weight of debris. The elephants, too, were driven back with great violence, for they were surrounded by firebrands thrown at them from every side, and as soon as these touched their bodies, they turned tail and their drivers were unable to control them. But though after that the siege-works were burned up, there was no cessation from strife. 8 For even the king of the Persians himself, who is never compelled to take part in battles, aroused by these storms of ill-fortune, rushed into the thick of the fight like a common soldier (a new thing, never before heard of) and because he was more conspicuous even to those who looked on from a distance because of the throng of his body-guard, he was the mark of many a missile; and when many of his attendants had been slain he withdrew, interchanging the tasks of his tractable forces, and at the end of the day, though terrified by the grim spectacle neither of the dead nor of the wounded he at last allowed a brief time to be given to rest.

8 Amida is attacked by the Persians over lofty mounds close to the walls, and is stormed. Marcellinus after the capture of the city escapes by night and flees to Antioch.

1 But night put an end to the conflict; and having taken a nap during the brief period of rest, the king, as soon as dawn appeared, boiling with wrath and resentment and closing his eyes to all right, aroused the barbarians against us, to win what he hoped for; and when the siege-works had been burned (as I have shown) they attempted battle over high mounds close to the walls, whereupon our men erected heaps of earth on the inside as well as they could with all their efforts, and under difficulties resisted with equal vigour.

2 For a long time the sanguinary battle remained undecided, and not a man anywhere through fear of death gave up his ardour for defence; and the contest had reached a point when the fate of both parties was governed by some unavoidable hap, when that mound of ours, the result of long toil, fell forward as if shattered by an earthquake. Thus the gulf which yawned between the wall and the heap built outside was made a level plain, as if by a causeway or a bridge built across it, and opened to the enemy a passage blocked by no obstacles, while the greater part of the soldiers that were thrown down ceased fighting, being either crushed or worn out. 3 Nevertheless others rushed to the spot from all sides, to avert so sudden a danger; but in their desire for haste they impeded one another, while the boldness of the enemy was increased by their very success. 4 Accordingly, by the king’s command all the warriors were summoned and there was hand-to-hand contest with drawn swords; blood streamed on all sides from the vast carnage; the trenches were blocked with bodies and so a broader path was furnished. And now the city was filled with the eager rush of the enemy’s forces, and since all hope of defence or of flight was cut off, armed and unarmed alike without distinction of sex were slaughtered like so many cattle.

5 Therefore when the darkness of evening was coming on and a large number of our soldiers, although adverse fortune still struggled against them, were joined in battle and thus kept busy, I hid with two others in a secluded part of the city, and under cover of a dark night made my escape through a postern gate at which no guard was kept; and, aided by my familiarity with desert places and by the speed of my companions, I at length reached the tenth milestone. 6 At the post-house there we got a little rest, and when we were making ready to go farther and I was already unequal to the excessive walking, to which as a gentleman I was unused, I met a terrible sight, which however furnished me a most timely relief, worn out as I was by extreme weariness. 7 A groom, mounted on a runaway horse without saddle or bit, in order not to fall off had tied the rein by which, in the usual manner, the horse was guided, tightly to his left hand; and afterwards, being thrown off and unable to loose the knot, he was torn limb from limb as he was dragged through desert places and woods, while the animal, exhausted by running, was held back by the weight of the dead body; so I caught it and making timely use of the service of its back, with those same companions I with difficulty reached some springs of sulphurous water, naturally hot. 8 And since the heat had caused us parching thirst, for a long time we went slowly about look for water. And we fortunately found a deep well, but it was neither possible to go down into it because of its depth, nor were there ropes at hand; so taught by extreme need, we cut the linen garments in which we were clad into long strips and from them made a great rope. To the extreme end of this we tied the cap which one of us wore under his helmet, and when this was let down by the rope and sucked up the water after the manner of a sponge, it readily quenched the thirst by which we were tormented. 9 From there we quickly made our way to the Euphrates river, planning to cross to the farther bank by a boat which long continued custom had kept in that vicinity for the transport of men and animals. 10 But lo! we saw afar off a scattered band of Romans with cavalry standards, pursued by a great force of Persians; and we could not understand how they appeared so suddenly behind us as we went along. 11 Judging from this instance, we believe that the famous “sons of earth” did not come forth from the bosom of the land, but were born with extraordinary swiftness — those so-called sparti, who, because they were seen unexpectedly in sundry places, were thought to have sprung from the earth, since antiquity gave the matter a fabulous origin. 12 Alarmed by this danger, since now all hope of life depended upon speed, through thickets and woods we made for the higher mountains, and came from there to the town of Melitina in lesser Armenia, where we presently found and accompanied an officer, who was just on the point of leaving; and so we returned unexpectedly to Antioch.

9 At Amida some of the Roman leaders are executed, others imprisoned. Craugasius of Nisibis, through longing for his captive wife, deserts to the Persians.

1 But the Persians, since the rapidly approaching end of autumn and the rising of the unfavourable constellation of the Kids prevented them from marching farther inland, were thinking of returning to their own country with their prisoners and their booty. 2 But in the midst of the slaughter and pillage of the destroyed city Count Aelianus and the tribunes, by whose efficient service the walls had been so long defended and the losses of the Persians increased, were shamefully gibbeted; Jacobus and Caesius, paymasters of the commander of the cavalry, and other officers of the bodyguard, were led off with their hands bound behind their backs; and those who had come from across the Tigris were hunted down with extreme care and butchered to a man, highest and lowest without distinction.

3 But the wife of Craugasius, who retained her chastity inviolate and was honoured as a woman of rank, grieved that she was likely to see another part of the world without her husband, although from present indications she had reason to hope for a loftier fortune. 4 Therefore, looking out for her own interests and foreseeing long beforehand what would happen, she was tormented by twofold anxiety, dreading both separation from her husband and marriage with another. Accordingly, she secretly sent a slave of hers, who was of tried fidelity and acquainted with the regions of Mesopotamia, to go over Mount Izala between the strongholds of Maride and Lorne to Nisibis, and take a message to her husband and certain tokens of their more private life, begging him that on hearing what had happened he should come to live happily with her. 5 When this had been arranged, the messenger, being lightly equipped, made his way with quick pace through forest paths and thickets and entered Nisibis. There giving out that he had seen his mistress nowhere, that she was perhaps slain, and that he himself, taking advantage of an opportunity to escape, had fled from the enemy’s camp, he was accordingly disregarded as of no consequence. Thereupon he told Craugasius and then, after receiving assurance that if it could safely be done he would gladly follow his wife, the messenger departed, bearing to the woman the desired news. She on hearing it begged the king through his general Tamsapor that, if the opportunity offered before he left the Roman territory, he would graciously give orders that her husband be received under his protection.

6 The sudden departure, contrary to every one’s expectation, of the stranger, who had returned by the right of postliminium and immediately vanished without anyone’s knowledge, aroused the suspicions of the general Cassianus and the other important officials in Nisibis, who assailed Craugasius with dire threats, loudly insisting that the man had neither come nor gone without his wish. 7 He, then, fearing a charge of treason and greatly troubled lest through the coming of the deserter it should become known that his wife was alive and treated with great respect, as a blind sought marriage with another, a maiden of high rank, and, under pretence of preparing what was needed for the wedding-banquet, went to a country house of his eight miles distant from the city; then, at full gallop he fled to a band of Persian pillagers that he had learned to be approaching. He was received with open arms, being recognized from the story that he told, and five days later was brought to Tamsapor, and by him taken to the king. And after recovering his property and all his kindred, as well as his wife, whom he had lost after a few months, he held the second place after Antoninus, but was, as the eminent poet says, “next by a long interval.” 8 For Antoninus, aided by his talent and his long experience of the world, had available plans at hand for all his enterprises, while Craugasius was by nature most simple, yet of an equally celebrated reputation. And these things happened not long afterward.

9 But the king, although making a show of ease of mind in his expression, and to all appearance seeming to exult in the destruction of the city, yet in the depths of his heart was greatly troubled, recalling that in unfortunate sieges he had often suffered sad losses, and had sacrificed far more men himself than he had taken alive of ours, or at any rate had killed in the various battles, as happened several times at Nisibis and at Singara; and in the same way, when he had invested Amida for seventy-three days with a great force of armed men, he lost 30,000 warriors, as was reckoned a little later by Discenes, a tribune and secretary, the more readily for this difference: that the corpses of our men soon after they are slain fall apart and waste away, to such a degree that the face of no dead man is recognisable after four days, but the bodies of the slain Persians dry up like tree-trunks, without their limbs wasting or becoming moist with corruption — a fact due to their more frugal life and the dry heat of their native country.

10 The Roman commons rebel, fearing a scarcity of grain.

1 While these storms were swiftly passing one after the other in the extreme East, the eternal city was fearing the disaster of a coming shortage of grain, and from time to time Tertullus, who was prefect at the time, was assailed by the violent threats of the commons, as they anticipated famine, the worst of all ills; and this was utterly unreasonable, since it was no fault of his that food was not brought at the proper time in the ships, which unusually rough weather at sea and adverse gales of wind drove to the nearest harbours, and by the greatness of the danger kept them from entering the Porta of Augustus. 2 Therefore that same prefect, since he had often been disquieted by uprisings, and the common people, in fear of imminent destruction, were now raging still more cruelly, being shut off from all hope of saving his life, as he thought, held out his little sons to the wildly riotous populace, who had however been wont to take a sensible view of such accidents, and said with tears: 3 “Behold your fellow citizens, who with you (but may the gods of heaven avert the omen!) will endure the same fate, unless a happier fortune shine upon us. If therefore you think that by the destruction of these no heavy calamity can befall you, here they are in your power.” Through pity at this sight the mob, of their own nature inclined to mercy, was appeased and held its peace, awaiting with patience the fortune that should come. 4 And presently by the will of the divine power that gave increase to Rome from its cradle and promised that it should last forever, while Tertullus was sacrificing in the temple of Castor and Pollux at Ostia, a calm smoothed the sea, the wind changed to a gentle southern breeze, and the ships entered the harbour under full sail and again crammed the storehouses with grain.

11 The Limigantes of Sarmatia deceive the emperor by a pretended request for peace and attack him; but they are repulsed with great slaughter.

1 In the midst of such troubles Constantius, who was still enjoying his winter rest at Sirmium, was disturbed by fearful and serious news, informing him of what he then greatly dreaded, namely, that the Sarmatian Limigantes, who (as we have already pointed out) had driven their masters from their ancestral abodes, having gradually abandoned the places which for the public good had been assigned them the year before for fear that they (as they are inconstant) might attempt some wrongful act, had seized upon the regions bordering upon their frontiers, were ranging freely in their native fashion, and unless they were driven back would cause general confusion.

2 The emperor, believing that these outrages would soon be pushed to greater heights if the matter were postponed, assembled from every quarter a great number of soldiers most eager for war and took the field before spring had yet fully come; he was the more eager for action from two considerations: first, because an army glutted with the rich booty of the past summer, by the hope of similar booty would be confidently encouraged to achieve successful enterprises, and because under Anatolius, who at that time was prefect of Illyricum, all necessary supplies had been brought together even ahead of time and were still coming in without trouble to anyone. 3 For never under the management of any other prefect up to the present time, as was generally agreed, had the northern provinces so abounded in all blessings, since by his kindly and skilful correction of abuses they were relieved of the great cost of the courier-service, which had closed homes without number, and there was considerable hope of freedom from the income tax. The dwellers in those parts might have lived thereafter happy and untroubled without grounds for complaint, had not later the most hated forms of taxation that could be imagined, criminally amplified by both tax-payers and tax-collectors, since the latter hoped to gain the protection of the governors in their efforts and the former hoped for safety if all were impoverished, resulted finally in proscriptions and the suicide of the wretched victims.

4 Well, then, the emperor (as I have said), in order to improve the pressing situation, set out with splendid equipment and came to Valeria, once a part of Pannonia, but made into a province and named in honour of Valeria, the daughter of Diocletian. There, with his army encamped along the banks of the river Hister, he watched the savages, who before his coming, under pretext of friendship but really intending secretly to devastate the country, were planning to enter Pannonia in the dead of winter, when the snows are not yet melted by the warmth of spring and so the river can be crossed everywhere, and when our soldiers would with difficulty, because of the frosts, endure life in the open.

5 Then having quickly sent two tribunes to the Limigantes, each with an interpreter, by courteous questioning he tried to find out why they had left their homes after the treaty of peace which had been granted to them at their own request, and were thus roaming at large and disturbing the frontiers, notwithstanding orders to the contrary. 6 They gave some frivolous and unsatisfactory excuses, since fear forced them to lie, and begged for pardon, entreating the emperor to forget his anger and allow them to cross the river and come to him, in order to inform him of the difficulties that they were suffering. They were ready to take up far distant lands, but within the compass of the Roman world, if he would allow them, in order that wrapped in lasting repose and worshipping Quiet (as a saving goddess), they might submit to the burdens and the name of tributaries.

7 When this was known after the return of the tribunes, the emperor, exulting in the accomplishment without any toil of a task which he thought insuperable, admitted them all, being inflamed with the desire for greater gain, which his crew of flatterers increased by constantly dinning it into his ears that now that foreign troubles were quieted, and peace made everywhere, he would gain more child-producing subjects and be able to muster a strong force of recruits; for the provincials are glad to contribute gold to save their bodies, a hope which has more than once proved disastrous to the Roman state. 8 Accordingly, having placed a rampart near Acimincum and erected a high mound in the manner of a tribunal, ships carrying some light-armed legionaries were ordered to patrol the channel of the river near the banks, with one Innocentius, a field-measurer, who had recommended the plan, in order that, if they should see the savages beginning disorder, they might attack them in the rear, when their attention was turned elsewhere. 9 But although the Limigantes knew that these plans were being hastened, yet they stood with bared heads, as if composing nothing save entreaties, but meditating deep in their hearts quite other things than their attitude and their words suggested.

10 And when the emperor was seen on the high tribunal and was already preparing to deliver a most mild address, intending to speak to them as future obedient subjects, one of their number, struck with savage madness, hurling his shoe at the tribunal, shouted “Marha, marha” (which is their warcry), and the rude crowd following him suddenly raised a barbarian banner and with savage howls rushed upon the emperor himself. 11 He, looking down from his high place and seeing everything filled with a mob running about with missiles, and death already imminent from their drawn swords and javelins, in the midst as he was of the enemy and of his own men, and with nothing to indicate whether he was a general or a common soldier, since there was no time for hesitation or delay mounted a swift horse and galloped off at full speed. 12 However, a few of his attendants, while they were trying to keep off the savages, who poured upon them like a stream of fire, were either wounded to death or trampled down by the mere weight of those who rushed over them; and the royal seat with its golden cushion was seized without resistance.

13 But when presently it was heard that the emperor had all but been drawn into extreme peril and was not yet on safe ground, the soldiers considered it their first duty to aid him (for they thought him not yet free from danger of death); so, with greater confidence because of their contempt of the enemy, although the attack was so sudden that they were only partly armed, with a loud battlecry they plunged into the bands of the savages, who were regardless of their lives. 14 And so eagerly did our forces rush forth in their desire to wipe out the disgrace by valour, at the same time venting their wrath on the treacherous foe, that they butchered everything in their way, trampling under foot without mercy the living, as well as those dying or dead; and before their hands were sated with slaughter of the savages, the dead lay piled in heaps. 15 For the rebels were completely overthrown, some being slain, others fleeing in terror in all directions; and a part of them, who hoped to save their lives by vain entreaties, were cut down by repeated strokes. And after all had been killed and the trumpets were sounding the recall, some of our men also, though few, were found among the dead, either trampled under foot in the fierce attack or, when they resisted the fury of the enemy and exposed their unprotected sides, destroyed by the fatal course of destiny. 16 But conspicuous above the rest was the death of Cella, tribune of the Targeteers, who at the beginning of the fight was first to rush into the thick of the Sarmatian forces.

17 After this cruel carnage Constantius, having made such arrangements for the safety of the frontiers as considerations of urgency recommended, returned to Sirmium after taking vengeance on a treacherous foe. Then, having quickly attended to what the pressing necessities of the time required, he set out from there and went to Constantinople, in order that being now nearer the Orient he might remedy the disgrace he had suffered at Amida, and by supplying the army there with reinforcements might with an equally strong force check the inroads of the Persian king; for it was clear that the latter (unless the will of heaven and the supreme efforts of many men repelled him) would leave Mesopotamia behind and seek a wider field for his arms.

12 Many are tried and condemned for high treason.

1 Yet in the midst of these anxieties, as if it were prescribed by some ancient custom, in place of civil wars the trumpets sounded for alleged cases of high treason; and to investigate and punish these there was sent that notorious state-secretary Paulus, often called Tartareus. He was skilled in the work of bloodshed, and just as a trainer of gladiators seeks profit and emolument from the traffic in funerals and festivals, so did he from the rack or the executioner. 2 Therefore, as his determination to do harm was fixed and obstinate, he did not refrain from secret fraud, devising fatal charges against innocent persons, provided only he might continue his pernicious traffic.

3 Moreover, a slight and trivial occasion gave opportunity to extend his inquisitions indefinitely. There is a town called Abydum, situated in the remotest part of the Thebaïs; here the oracle of a god called in that place Besa in days of old revealed the future and was wont to be honoured in the ancient ceremonials of the adjacent regions. 4 And since some in person, a part through others, by sending a written list of their desires, inquired the will of the deities after definitely stating their requests, the papers or parchments containing their petitions sometimes remained in the shrine even after the replies had been given. 5 Some of these were with malicious intent sent to the emperor who (being very narrow-minded), although deaf to other serious matters, on this point was softer than an earlobe, as the proverb has it; and being suspicious and petty, he grew furiously angry. At once he admonished Paulus to proceed quickly to the Orient, conferring on him, as a leader renowned for his experience, the power of conducting trials according to his good pleasure. 6 A commission was also given to Modestus (at that very time count in the Orient) a man fitted for these and similar affairs. For Hermogenes of Pontus, at that time praetorian prefect, was rejected as being of too mild a temper.

7 Off went Paulus (as he was ordered) in panting haste and teeming with deadly fury, and since free rein was given to general calumny, men were brought in from almost the whole world, noble and obscure alike; and some of them were bowed down with the weight of chains, others wasted away from the agony of imprisonment. 8 As the theatre of torture and death Scythopolis was chosen, a city of Palestine which for two reasons seemed more suitable than any other: because it is more secluded, and because it is midway between Antioch and Alexandria, from which cities the greater number were brought to meet charges.

9 Among the first, then, to be summoned was Simplicius, son of Philippus, a former prefect and consul, who was indicted for the reason that he had (as was said) inquired about gaining imperial power; and by a note of the emperor, who in such cases never condoned a fault or an error because of loyal service, he was ordered to be tortured but, protected by some fate, he was banished to a stated place, but with a whole skin. 10 Then Parnasius (ex-prefect of Egypt), a man of simple character, was brought into such peril that he was tried for his life, but he likewise was sent into exile; he had often been heard to say long before this, that when, for the purpose of gaining a certain office, he left Patrae, a town of Achaia where he was born and had his home, he had dreamt that many shadowy figures in tragic garb escorted him. 11 Later Andronicus, known for his liberal studies and the fame of his poems, was haled into court; but since he had a clear conscience, was under no suspicion, and most confidently asserted his innocence, he was acquitted. 12 Also Demetrius, surnamed Cythras, a philosopher of advanced years, it is true, but hardy of body and mind, being charged with offering sacrifice several times, could not deny it; he declared, however, that he had done so from early youth for the purpose of propitiating the deity, not of trying to reach a higher station by his investigations; for he did not know of anyone who had such aspirations. Therefore, after being long kept upon the rack, supported by his firm confidence he fearlessly made the same plea without variation; whereupon he was allowed to go without further harm to his native city of Alexandria.

13 These and a few others a just fate in alliance with truth saved from imminent danger. But as these charges made their way further by entangling snares extended endlessly, some died from the mangling of their bodies, others were condemned to further punishment and had their goods seized, while Paulus was the prompter of these scenes of cruelty, supplying as if from a storehouse many kinds of deception and cruelty; and on his nod (I might almost say) depended the life of all who walk the earth. 14 For if anyone wore on his neck an amulet against the quartan ague or any other complaint, or was accused by the testimony of the evil-disposed of passing by a grave in the evening, on the ground that he was a dealer in poisons, or a gatherer of the horrors of tombs and the vain illusions of the ghosts that walk there, he was condemned to capital punishment and so perished. 15 In fact, the matter was handled exactly as if many men had importuned Claros, the oaks of Dodona, and the once famous oracles of Delphi with regard to the death of the emperor. 16 Therefore the palace band of courtiers, ingeniously fabricating shameful devices of flattery, declared that he would be immune to ordinary ills, loudly exclaiming that his destiny had appeared at all times powerful and effective in destroying those who made attempts against him.

17 And that into such doings strict investigation was made no man of good sense will find fault. For we do not deny that the safety of a lawful prince, the protector and defender of good men, on whom depends the safety of others, ought to be safeguarded by the united diligence of all men; and in order to uphold him the more strongly when his violated majesty is defended, the Cornelian laws exempted no one of whatever estate from examination by torture, even with the shedding of blood. 18 But it is not seemly for a prince to rejoice beyond measure in such sorrowful events, lest his subjects should seem to be ruled by despotism rather than by lawful power. And the example of Tully ought to be followed, who, when it was in his power to spare or to harm, as he himself tells us, sought excuses for pardoning rather than opportunities for punishing; and that is the province of a mild and considerate official.

19 At that same time in Daphne, that charming and magnificent suburb of Antioch, a portent was born, horrible to see and to report: an infant, namely, with two heads, two sets of teeth, a beard, four eyes and two very small ears; and this misshapen birth foretold that the state was turning into a deformed condition. 20 Portents of this kind often see the light, as indications of the outcome of various affairs; but as they are not expiated by public rites, as they were in the time of our forefathers, they pass by unheard of and unknown.

13 Count Lauricius checks the raids of the Isaurians.

1 In these days the Isaurians, who had long been quiet after the acts of which an account is given above and the attempted siege of the city of Seleucia, gradually coming to life again just as snakes are wont to dart forth from their hovels in the spring time, sallying forth from their rocky and inaccessible mountain fastnesses, and massed together in dense bands, were harrying their neighbours with thefts and brigandage, eluding the frontier-defences of our soldiers by their skill as mountaineers and from experience easily running over rocks and through thickets. 2 In order to quiet them by force or by reason, Lauricius was sent as governor with the added rank of count; being a man skilled in statesmanship, he corrected many evils by threats rather than by actual severity, so that for a long time, while he governed the province, nothing occurred which was thought deserving of punishment.

Book XX

1 Lupicinus, master of arms, is sent with an army to Britain, to resist the inroads of the Scots and Picts.

Such was the course of events throughout Illyricum and the Orient. But in Britain in the tenth consulship of Constantius and the third of Julian raids of the savage tribes of the Scots and the Picts, who had broken the peace that had been agreed upon, were laying waste the regions near the frontiers, so that fear seized the provincials, wearied as they were by a mass of past calamities. And Julian, who was passing the winter in Paris and was distracted amid many cares, was afraid to go to the aid of those across the sea, as Constans once did (as I have told), for fear of leaving Gaul without a ruler at a time when the Alamanni were already roused to rage and war. 2 Therefore he decided that Lupicinus, who was at that time commander-in-chief, should be sent to settle the troubles either by argument or by force; he was indeed a warlike man and skilled in military affairs, but one who raised his brows like horns and ranted in the tragic buskin (as the saying is), and about whom men were long in doubt whether he was more covetous or more cruel. 3 Therefore, taking the light-armed auxiliaries, to wit the Aeruli, the Batavians, and two companies of Moesians, in the dead of winter the leader aforesaid came to Boulogne, and after procuring ships and embarking all his troops, he waited for a favourable breeze and then sailed to Richborough, which lay opposite, and went on to London, intending there to form his plans according to the situation of affairs and hasten quickly to take the field.

2 Ursicinus, commander of the infantry at the emperor’s court, is assailed by calumnies and cashiered.

1 While this was going on, Ursicinus, after the storming of Amida, had returned to the emperor’s service as commander of the infantry; for, as I have said, he succeeded Barbatio. There he was met by detractors, who at first spread whispered slanders, then openly added false charges. 2 These the emperor, since he judged most matters according to his prejudices and was ready to listen to secret attackers, took seriously and appointed Arbitrio and Florentius, master of the offices, to investigate as judges the reasons for the destruction of Amida. 3 These men rejected the evident and plausible reasons, and fearing that Eusebius, then head chamberlain, would take offence if they admitted evidence which clearly showed that what had happened was the result of the persistent inaction of Sabinianus, they turned from the truth and examined into trivial matters far remote from the business in hand.

4 The accused, exasperated at the injustice, said “Although the emperor despises me, the importance of the present business is such, that it cannot be examined into and punished, except by the judgement of the prince; yet let him know, as if from the words of a seer, that so long as he grieves over what he has learned on no good authority to have happened at Amida, and so long as he is swayed by the will of eunuchs, not even he in person with all the flower of his army will be able next spring to prevent the dismemberment of Mesopotamia.”

5 When this had been reported and much had been added in a malicious light, Constantius was angered beyond measure; and without sifting the matter or allowing the details of which he was ignorant to be explained, he ordered the victim of the calumnies to give up his command in the army and go into retirement. And by an extraordinary advancement Agilo, a former tribune of the household troops and of the targeteers, was promoted to his place.

3 An eclipse of the sun; about two suns; the causes of eclipses of the sun and the moon; about the various changes and phases of the moon.

1 At that same time, throughout the regions of the East the heaven was seen to be overcast with dark mist, through which the stars were visible continually from the first break of day until noon. It was an additional cause of terror when the light of heaven was hidden and its orb removed utterly from the sight of the world, that the timorous minds of men thought that the darkening of the sun lasted too long; but it thinned out at first into the form of the crescent moon, then growing to the shape of the half-moon, and was finally fully restored. 2 This phenomenon never takes place so clearly as when the moon, after its shifting courses, brings back its monthly journey to the same starting-point after fixed intervals of time; that is to say, when the entire moon, in the abode of the same sign of the zodiac, is found in a perfectly straight line directly under the sun, and for a brief time stands still in the minute points which the science of geometry calls parts of parts. 3 And although the revolutions and movements of both heavenly bodies, as the searchers for intelligible causes had observed, after the course of the moon is completed, meet at one and the same point always at the same distance from each other, yet the sun is not always eclipsed at such times, but only when the moon (by a kind of fiery plumb-line) is directly opposite the sun and interposed between its orb and our vision. 4 In short, the sun is hidden and his brightness suppressed, when he himself and the orb of the moon, the lowest of all the heavenly bodies, accompanying each other and each keeping its proper course, maintaining the relation of height between them and being in conjunction, as Ptolemy wisely and elegantly expresses it have come to the points which in Greek we call ἀναβιβάζοντας and καταβιβάζοντας ἐκλειπτικοὶ σύνδεσμοι (that is, eclipse nodes). And if they merely graze the spaces adjacent to these nodes, the eclipse will be partial. 5 If, on the other hand, they stand in the nodes themselves which closely unite the ascent and the descent, the heaven will be overcast with thicker darkness, so that because of the density of the air we cannot see even objects which are near and close at hand.

6 Now it is thought that two suns are seen, if a cloud, raised higher than common and shining brightly from its nearness to the eternal fires, reflects a second brilliant orb, as if from a very clear mirror.

7 Let us now turn to the moon. Then only does she suffer a clear and evident eclipse, when, rounded out with her full light and opposite the sun, she is distant from its orb by 180 degrees (i.e. is in the seventh sign). But although this happens at every full moon, yet there is not always an eclipse. 8 But since the moon is situated near the movement of the earth, and is the most remote from heaven of all that celestial beauty, she sometimes puts herself directly under the disc that strikes upon her, and is overshadowed and hidden for a time by the interposition of the goal of darkness ending in a narrow cone; and then she is wrapped in masses of darkness, when the sun, as if encompassed by the curve of the lower sphere, cannot light her with its rays, since the mass of the earth is between them; for that she has no light of her own has been assumed on various grounds.

9 And when under the same sign she meets the sun in a straight line, she is obscured (as was said) and her brightness is wholly dimmed; and this in Greek is called the moon’s σύνοδος. 10 Now she is thought to be born, when she has the sun above her with a slight deviation from the plumb-line, so to speak. But her rising, which is still very slender, first appears to mortals when she has left the sun and advanced to the second sign. Then having progressed farther and now having abundant light, she appears with horns and is called μηνοειδής. But when she begins to be separated from the sun by a long distance and has arrived at the fourth sign and the sun’s rays are turned towards her, she gains greater brilliance, and is called in the Greek tongue διχόμηνις, a form which shows a half-circle. 11 Then, proceeding to the greatest distance and attaining the fifth sign, she shows the figure called amphicyrtos, and has humps on both sides. But when she has taken a place directly opposite the sun she will gleam with full light, making her home in the seventh sign; and still keeping her place in that same sign, but advancing a little she grows smaller, the process which we call ἀπόκρουσις; and she repeats the same forms as she grows old, and it is maintained by the unanimous learning of many men that the moon is never seen in eclipse except at the time of her mid-course.

12 But when we said that the sun had its course now in the ether and now in the world below, it must be understood that the heavenly bodies (so far as the universe is concerned) neither set nor rise, but that they seem to do so to an eyesight whose fixed situation is on the earth; this is kept hanging in space by some inner force and in its relation to the universe is like a tiny point; and that now we seem to see the stars, whose order is eternal, fixed in the sky, and often through the imperfection of human vision we think that they leave their places. But let us now return to our subject.

4 At Paris, where he was wintering, Julianus Caesar is forcibly hailed as Augustus by the Gallic legions which Constantius had ordered to be taken from him and transferred to the Orient against the Persians.

1 When Constantius was hastening to lend aid to the Orient, which was likely soon to be disturbed by the inroads of Persians, as deserters reported in agreement with our scouts, he was tormented by the valorous deeds of Julian, which increasingly frequent report was spreading abroad through the mouths of divers nations, carrying the great glory of his mighty toils and achievements after the overthrow of several kingdoms of the Alamanni, and the recovery of the Gallic towns, which before had been destroyed and plundered by the savages whom he himself had made tributaries and subjects. 2 Excited by these and similar exploits, and fearing that their fame would grow greater, urged on besides, as was reported, by the prefect Florentius, he sent Decentius, the tribune and secretary, at once to take from Julian his auxiliaries, namely, the Aeruli and Batavi and the Celts with the Petulantes, as well as three hundred picked men from each of the other divisions of the army; and he ordered him to hasten their march under the pretext that they might be able to be on hand for an attack on the Parthians early in the spring.

3 And for speeding the departure of the auxiliaries and the divisions of three hundred Lupicinus alone was called upon (for that he had crossed over to Britain was not yet known at court); but the order to select the most active of the targeteers and the gentiles and personally lead them to the emperor was given to Sintula, then Julian’s chief stable-master.

4 Julian kept silence and submitted to this, leaving everything to the will of his more powerful associate. One thing, however, he could neither overlook nor pass over in silence, namely, that those men should suffer no inconvenience who had left their abodes beyond the Rhine and come to him under promise that they should never be led to regions beyond the Alps; for he declared that it was to be feared that the barbarian volunteer soldiers, who were often accustomed to come over to our side under conditions of that kind, might on having knowledge of this thereafter be kept from so doing. But his words were to no purpose. 5 For the tribune, considering Caesar’s remonstrances of little moment, carried out the orders of Augustus, chose the strongest and most active of the light-armed troops, and made off with them, while they were filled with hope of better fortunes.

6 And because Julian was anxious as to what ought to be done about the remaining troops which he had been ordered to send, and turned over many plans in his mind, he decided that the business ought to be managed with circumspection, pressed as he was on one side by savage barbarians and on the other by the authority of the emperor’s orders; and since the absence of his commander of the cavalry in particular increased his uncertainty, he urged the prefect to return to him; the latter had gone some time before to Vienne, ostensibly to get supplies, but actually to escape troubles in the camp. 7 For he bore in mind that it was in accordance with his own report, which he was thought to have sent some time before, that warlike troops, already formidable to the barbarians, were to be withdrawn from the defence of Gaul. 8 So when he received Julian’s letter, urging and begging him to hasten to come and aid his country by his counsels, he most emphatically refused; for his mind was disturbed with fear for the reason that Julian’s letter plainly indicated that the prefect ought never to be separated from his commander in the stress of dangerous times. And Julian added that if Florentius hesitated to do his duty, he would himself of his own accord lay down the emblems of princely power, thinking it more glorious to meet death by order, than that the ruin of the provinces should be attributed to him. But the obstinate resolution of the prefect prevailed, and with the greatest emphasis he refused to obey these reasonable demands.

9 However, amid this delay of the absent Lupicinus and of the prefect, who feared mutinies of the soldiers, Julian, deprived of the aid of counsellors and wavering in anxious hesitation, thought the following plan the best: he called out all the soldiers in the usual manner from the posts in which they were passing the winter, and arranged to hasten them on their way. 10 Scarcely was this known, when someone in the camp of the Petulantes secretly threw on the ground a libellous letter, which among many other things contained the following: “We verily are driven to the ends of the earth like condemned criminals, and our dear ones, whom we freed from their former captivity after mortal battles, will again be slaves to the Alamanni.” 11 When this note was brought to headquarters and read, Julian, although he found the complaints reasonable, nevertheless ordered them to set out with their families for the Orient, giving them the privilege of using the wagons of the courier-service. And when there was considerable hesitation as to what route they should take, it was decided, at the suggestion of the secretary Decentius, that they should all go by way of Paris, where Julian still lingered, having as yet made no move. And it was so done. 12 And when the soldiers arrived Caesar met them in the suburbs, and, in his usual manner praising those whom he personally knew, and reminding each one of his valiant deeds, with mild words he encouraged them to go with cheerful step to Augustus, where there was great and extensive power, and they would get worthy rewards for their toil. 13 And in order to treat with greater honour those who were going far away, he invited their officers to dinner and bade them make any request that was in their minds. And since they were so liberally entertained, they departed anxious and filled with twofold sorrow: because an unkindly fortune was depriving them both of a mild ruler and of the lands of their birth. But though possessed by this sorrow, they were apparently consoled and remained quiet in their quarters. 14 But no sooner had night come on than they broke out in open revolt, and, with their minds excited to the extent that each was distressed by the unexpected occurrence, they turned to arms and action; with mighty tumult they all made for the palace, and wholly surrounding it, so that no one could possibly get out, with terrifying outcries they hailed Julian as Augustus, urgently demanding that he should show himself to them. They were compelled to wait for the appearance of daylight, but finally forced him to come out; and as soon as they saw him, they redoubled their shouts and with determined unanimity hailed him as Augustus.

15 He, however, with unyielding resolution, opposed them one and all, now showing evident displeasure, again begging and entreating them with outstretched hands that after many happy victories nothing unseemly should be done, and that ill timed rashness and folly should not stir up material for discord. And when he had at last quieted them, with mild words he addressed them as follows:

16 “Let your anger, I pray you, cease for a time. Without dissension or attempts at revolution what you demand shall easily be obtained. And since it is the charm of your native land that holds you back and you dread strange places with which you are unacquainted, return at once to your homes; you shall see nothing beyond the Alps, since that is displeasing to you, and this I will justify to Augustus to his entire satisfaction, since he is willing to listen to reason and is most discreet.”

17 After this the shouts continued none the less on every side, and since all insisted with one and the same ardour and with loud and urgent outcries mingled with abuse and insults, Caesar was compelled to consent. Then, being placed upon an infantryman’s shield and raised on high, he was hailed by all as Augustus and bidden to bring out a diadem. And when he declared that he had never had one, they called for an ornament from his wife’s neck or head. 18 But since he insisted that at the time of his first auspices it was not fitting for him to wear a woman’s adornment, they looked about for a horse’s trapping, so that being crowned with it he might display at least some obscure token of a loftier station. But when he declared that this also was shameful, a man called Maurus, afterwards a count and defeated at the pass of Succi, but then a standard-bearer of the Petulantes, took off the neck-chain which he wore as carrier of the dragon and boldly placed it on Julian’s head. He, driven to the extremity of compulsion, and perceiving that he could not avoid imminent danger if he persisted in his resistance, promised each man five gold pieces and a pound of silver.

19 When this was done, troubled with no less anxiety than before and with quick intuition foreseeing the future, he neither wore a diadem, nor dared to appear anywhere or attend to any of the serious matters that were most pressing. 20 But when he had withdrawn to seclusion and retirement, alarmed by the change in his fortunes, one of the decurions of the palace, which is a position of dignity, hastened at rapid pace to the camp of the Petulantes and Celts, and wildly cried that a shameful crime had been committed, in that the man whom the day before their choice had proclaimed Augustus had been secretly done to death. 21 Upon hearing this the soldiers, who were equally excited by all news, known to be true or not, some brandishing darts, others with naked swords and uttering threats, rushing forth from different sides and in disorder (as is usual in a sudden commotion) quickly filled the palace. The fearful uproar alarmed the guards, the tribunes, and the count in command of the household troops, Excubitor by name, and in fear of treachery from the fickle soldiers they scattered in dread of sudden death and vanished from sight. 22 The armed men, however, seeing the perfect quiet, stood motionless for a time, and on being asked what was the cause of the ill-advised and sudden commotion, they kept silence for a long time, being in doubt as to the new emperor’s safety; and they would not leave until they were admitted to the council chamber and had seen him resplendent in the imperial garb.

5 Julianus Augustus makes an address to the soldiers.

1 Yet, hearing of these events the troops also that had gone before under the lead of Sintula (as I have said), now free from anxiety returned with him to Paris. Then proclamation was made that on the following day all should assemble in the plain, and the ruler appeared in greater state than common and took his place on the tribunal, surrounded by the standards, eagles, and banners, and for greater safety hedged about with bands of armed cohorts. 2 And after a brief silence, during which from his high position he surveyed the faces of those present, on finding them all eager and joyous, he stirred them as by the blare of clarions, speaking as follows:

3 “The difficulties of the situation, ye brave and faithful defenders of my person and of the state, who with me have often risked your lives for the welfare of the provinces, require and entreat, since by your firm resolve you have advanced your Caesar to the pinnacle of all human power, that I should touch briefly on a few matters, in order to devise just and wise remedies for those changed conditions. 4 Hardly had I come to my growth, when (as you know) I assumed the purple, so far as appearance goes, and was committed by Heaven’s will to your protection. Since then I have never been thwarted in my purpose of right living, and I have been closely observed with you in all your toils, when through the widespread arrogance of foreign nations, after the destruction of cities and the loss of countless thousands of our men, incalculable disaster was overrunning the few regions that were left half ruined. It is needless, methinks, to rehearse how often in raw winter and under a cold sky, when lands and seas are exempt from the labours of Mars, we repelled the hitherto invincible Alamanni and broke their strength. 5 But this surely it is right neither to pass by nor consign to silence, that when that happiest of days dawned near Argentoratus, which in a sense brought lasting freedom to the Gauls, while I hastened about amid showers of weapons, you, upheld by your might and by long experience, overcame the enemy, rushing on like mountain torrents, either striking them down with the steel or plunging them in the river’s depths; and that too with but few of our number left upon the field, whose funerals we honoured with plentiful praise rather than with grief. 6 After such great and glorious exploits, posterity, I believe, will not be silent about your services to your country, which are now well known to all nations, if you defend with courage and resolution the man whom you have honoured with a higher title of majesty, in case any adverse fortune should assail him. 7 And to the end that a sound course of conduct may be maintained, that the rewards of brave men may remain free from corruption, and that secret intrigue may not usurp honours, this I declare in the presence of your honorable assembly: that no civil official, no military officer, shall reach a higher rank through anyone supporting him beyond his merits, and that none who tries to intrigue for another shall escape without dishonour.”

8 Through confidence in this promise the soldiers of lower rank, who had long had no share in honours and rewards, were inspired with greater hope; rising to their feet and clashing their spears against their shields with mighty din, almost with one voice they acclaimed the emperor’s words and plans. 9 And at once, lest even an instant should be allowed to interfere with so resolved a purpose, the Petulantes and Celts begged in behalf of certain commissaries that they might be sent as governors to whatever provinces they might choose; and when the request was denied, they withdrew neither offended nor ill-humoured.

10 But in the night before he was proclaimed Augustus, as the emperor told his nearer and more intimate friends, a vision appeared to him in his sleep, taking the form in which the guardian spirit of the state is usually portrayed, and in a tone of reproach spoke as follows: “Long since, Julian, have I been secretly watching the vestibule of your house, desiring to increase your rank, and I have often gone away as though rebuffed. If I am not to be received even now, when the judgements of many men are in agreement, I shall depart downcast and forlorn. But keep this thought in the depths of your heart, that I shall no longer abide with you.”

6 Singara is besieged by Sapor, and captured. The citizens with the auxiliary cavalry and two legions on garrison duty are carried off to Persia. The city is destroyed.

1 While these things were being vigorously carried out in Gaul, that savage king of the Persians, since the urgency of Antoninus Pius was doubled by the coming of Craugasius, burned with the desire of gaining possession of Mesopotamia while Constantius was busy at a distance with his army. So, having increased his arms and his power and crossed the Tigris in due form, he proceeded to attack Singara, a town which, in the opinion of those who had charge of that region, was abundantly fortified with soldiers and with all necessities. 2 The defenders of the city, as soon as they saw the enemy a long way off, quickly closed the gates and full of courage ran to the various towers and battlements, and got together stones and engines of war; then, when everything was prepared, they all stood fast under arms, ready to repulse the horde, in case it should try to come near the walls.

3 Accordingly, the king on his arrival, through his grandees, who were allowed access, tried by peaceful mediation to bend the defenders to his will. Failing in this, he devoted the entire day to quiet, but at the coming of next morning’s light he gave the signal by raising the flame-coloured banner, and the city was assailed on every side; some brought ladders, others set up engines of war; the greater part, protected by the interposition of penthouses and mantlets, tried to approach the walls and undermine their foundations. 4 Against this onset the townsmen, standing upon their lofty battlements, from a distance with stones and all kinds of missile weapons tried to repel those who boldly strove to force an entrance.

5 The battle raged for several days with uncertain outcome, and on both sides many were killed and wounded. Finally, in the heat of the mighty conflict, just as evening was coming on, among many engines a ram of uncommon strength was brought up, which with rapidly repeated blows battered the round tower where (as we have related) the city was breached in the former siege. 6 To this spot the people flocked and the battle went on in dense array; from all sides flew firebrands with blazing torches and fiery darts to set fire to the great menace, while the showers of arrows and slingshots from both sides never ceased. But the sharp head of the ram overcame every attempt at defence, penetrating the joints of the new-laid stones, which were still moist and therefore weak. 7 And while the combat still went on with fire and sword, the tower collapsed and a way was made into the city; the defenders, scattered by the great danger, abandoned the place; the Persian hordes, raising shouts and yells, rushed from all sides and without opposition filled every part of the city; and after a very few of the defenders had been slain here and there, all the rest were taken alive by Sapor’s order and transported to the remotest parts of Persia.

8 This city was defended by two legions, the First Flavian and the First Parthian, as well as by a considerable number of natives, with the help of some horsemen who had hastily taken refuge there because of the sudden danger. All these (as I have said) were led off with hands bound, and none of our men could aid them. 9 For the greater part of the army was in camp guarding Nisibis, which was a very long distance off; besides, even in former days no one had ever been able to aid Singara when in trouble, since all the surrounding country was dried up from lack of water. And although in early times a stronghold had been established there as a convenient place for learning in advance of sudden outbreaks of the enemy, yet this was a detriment to the Roman cause, since the place was several times taken with the loss of its defenders.

7 The town of Bezabde, defended by three legions, is stormed by Sapor; who repaired it and supplied it with a garrison and provisions; he also makes a vain attack on the fortress of Virta.

1 After the destruction of the city the king prudently turned aside from Nisibis, doubtless remembering what he had often suffered there, and marched by to the right by side roads to Bezabde, which its early founders also called Phaenicha, hoping to gain entrance into the place by force or by winning the defenders with flattering promises. Bezabde was a very strong fortress, placed upon a hill of moderate height which sloped towards the banks of the Tigris, and where it was low and therefore exposed to danger it was fortified with a double wall. For the defence of the place three legions were assigned, the Second Flavian, the Second Armenian, and also the Second Parthian with a great number of bowmen of the Zabdiceni, on whose soil, at that time subject to us, this town was situated.

2 On his first attack the king himself, with a troop of horsemen gleaming in full armour and himself towering above the rest, rode about the circuit of the camp, and with over-boldness advanced to the very edge of the trenches. But becoming the target of repeated missiles from the ballistae and of arrows, he was protected by a close array of shields placed side by side as in a tortoise-mantlet, and got away unhurt. 3 However, he suppressed his anger for the time being, and sending heralds in the usual manner, courteously urged the besieged, taking regard for their lives and their hope for the future, to put an end to the blockade by a timely surrender, unbar their gates and come forth, presenting themselves as suppliants to the conqueror of the nations. 4 When these heralds dared to come close, the defenders of the walls spared them for the reason that they had brought in close company with them some freeborn men who had been taken prisoner at Singara and were recognised by the garrison. In pity for these men no one hurled a weapon; but to the offer of peace no answer was made.

5 Then a truce was granted for a whole day and night, but before the beginning of the next day the entire force of the Persians fiercely attacked the rampart, uttering cruel threats and roaring outcries; and when they had boldly advanced close up to the walls, they began to fight with the townsmen, who resisted with great vigour. 6 And for this reason a large number of the Parthians were wounded, because, some carrying scaling ladders, others holding hurdles of osiers before them, they all rushed within range as though blinded; and our men were not unscathed. For clouds of arrows flew thick and fast, and transfixed the defenders as they stood crowded together. After sunset the two parties separated with equal losses, but just before dawn of the following day, while the trumpets sounded on one side and the other, the struggle was renewed with much greater ardour than before, and on either side equally great heaps of dead were to be seen, since both parties ought to most obstinately.

7 But on the following day, which after manifold losses had by common consent been devoted to rest, since great terror encircled the walls and the Persians had no less grounds for fear, the chief priest of the sect of Christians indicated by signs and nods that he wished to go forth; and when a pledge had been given that he would be allowed to return in safety, he came as far as the king’s seat. 8 There being given permission to say what he wished, with mild words he advised the Persians to return to their homes, declaring that after the lamentable losses on both sides it was to be feared that perhaps even greater ones might follow. But it was in vain that he persisted in making these and many similar pleas, opposed as they were by the frenzied rage of the king, who roundly swore that he would not leave the place until the fortress had been destroyed. 9 But the bishop incurred the shadow of a suspicion, unfounded in my opinion, though circulated confidently by many, of having told Sapor in a secret conference what parts of the wall to attack, as being slight within and weak. And in the end there seemed to be ground for this, since after his visit the enemy’s engines deliberately battered those places which were tottering and insecure from decay, and that too with spiteful exultation, as if those who directed them were acquainted with conditions within.

10 And though the narrow footpaths yielded difficult access to the walls, and the rams that had been prepared were moved forward with difficulty, since the fear of stones thrown by hand and of arrows kept them off, yet neither the ballistae nor the scorpions ceased, the former to hurl darts, the latter showers of stones and with them blazing wicker baskets, smeared with pitch and bitumen. Because of the constant fall of these as they rolled down the slope, the engines were halted as though held fast by deep roots, and the constant shower of fiery darts and brands set them on fire.

11 But in spite of all this, and though many fell on both sides, the besiegers were fired with the greater desire to destroy the town, defended though it was by its natural situation and by mighty works, before the winter season, believing that the king’s rage could not be quieted until that was done. Therefore neither the great outpouring of blood nor the many mortal wounds that were suffered deterred the survivors from like boldness. 12 But after a long and destructive struggle, they finally exposed themselves to extreme peril, and as the enemy pushed on the rams, huge stones coming thick from the walls, and varied devices for kindling fire, debarred them from going forward. 13 However, one ram, higher than the rest, which was covered with wet bull’s hide and therefore less exposed to danger from fire or darts, having gone ahead of all the others, made its way with mighty efforts to the wall. There, digging into the joints of the stones with its huge beak, it weakened a tower and overthrew it. As this fell with a mighty roar, those also who stood upon it were thrown down by its sudden collapse and either dashed to pieces or buried. Thus they perished by varied and unlooked-for forms of death, while the armed hordes of the enemy, finding the ascent safer, rushed into the town.

14 Then, while the din of the yelling Persians thundered on all sides in the terrified ears of the overmatched townsmen, a hotter fight raged within the walls, as bands of our soldiers and of the enemy struggled hand to hand; and since they were crowded body to body and both sides fought with drawn swords, they spared none who came in their way. 15 Finally the besieged, after long resisting imminent destruction, were at last with great difficulty scattered in all directions by the weight of the huge throng. After that the swords of the infuriated enemy cut down all that they could find, children were torn from their mothers’ breasts and the mothers themselves were butchered, and no man recked what he did. Amid such scenes of horror that nation, greedier still for plunder, laden with spoils of every sort, and leading off a great throng of captives, returned in triumph to their tents.

16 The king, however, filled with arrogant joy, and having long burned with a desire of taking Phaenicha, since it was a very convenient stronghold, did not leave the place until he had firmly repaired the shattered parts of the walls, stored up an immense quantity of supplies, and stationed there an armed force of men distinguished for their high birth and renowned for their military skill. For he feared what actually happened, namely, that the Romans, taking to heart the loss of such a powerful stronghold, would strive with all their might to recover it.

17 Then, filled with greater confidence and inspired with the hope of accomplishing whatever he might undertake, after capturing some insignificant strongholds, he prepared to attack Virta, a fortress of great antiquity, since it was believed to have been built by Alexander of Macedon; it was situated indeed on the outer frontier of Mesopotamia, but was girt by walls with salient and re-entrant angles and made difficult of access by manifold devices. 18 But after resorting to every artifice, now tempting the defenders with promises, now threatening them with the cruelest punishments, sometimes preparing to build embankments and bringing up siege-engines, after suffering more losses than he inflicted, he at last gave up the vain attempt and departed.

8 Julianus Augustus informs Constantius Augustus by letter of what happened at Paris.

1 These were the events of that year between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Constantius, learning of them through frequent reports and passing the winter in Constantinople for fear of a Parthian invasion, with particular care furnished the eastern frontier with all kinds of warlike equipment; he also got together arms and recruits, and by the addition of vigorous young men gave strength to the legions, whose steadiness in action had often been conspicuously successful in oriental campaigns. Besides this, he asked the Scythians for auxiliaries, either for pay or as a favour, intending in the late spring to set out from Thrace and at once occupy the points of danger.

2 Meanwhile Julian, who had taken up his winter quarters at Paris, was in anxious suspense, dreading the outcome of the step which he had taken. For after long and careful consideration he was convinced that Constantius would never consent to what had been done, since in the emperor’s eyes he was scorned as base and contemptible. 3 Therefore pondering well the dangers of beginning a revolution, he decided to send envoys to Constantius to inform him of what had happened; and he gave them a letter to the same purport, in which he more openly set forth and made clear what had been done, and what ought to be done later. 4 But yet he thought that Constantius had long since had news of the event through the reports of Decentius, who had come back some time before, and of the chamberlains, who had lately passed through on their way from Gaul after bringing the Caesar a part of his regular income. And although he reported the changed conditions, he did not write anything in a hostile tone nor in arrogant language, lest he should seem suddenly to have become full of haughtiness. The purport of the letter was as follows:

5 “I for my part have remained true to my principles, not less in my conduct than in the observance of agreements, so long as they remained in force, always keeping one and the same mind, as is clearly evident from many of my actions. 6 From the time when you first made me Caesar and exposed me to the dread tumults of war, content with the power committed to me, I filled your ears (like a trusty servant) with constant reports of successful achievements proceeding to my heart’s desire, never attributing anything at all to my own perils; and yet it is clear from constant proofs that in the contests with the widely scattered and often inter-allied Germans I was in toil, always seen first of all, and in rest from toil, last.

7 “But if now, with your kind indulgence be it said, there has been any change (as you think), it is the soldiers, exhausting themselves without profit in many cruel wars, who have in rebellious fashion carried out a resolve of long standing, being impatient of a leader of the second rank, since they thought that no recompense for their unremitting toil and repeated victories could be made by a Caesar. 8 To their anger at neither winning increase in rank nor receiving the annual pay was added the unlooked-for order, that men accustomed to cold regions should go to the remotest parts of the eastern world and be dragged away destitute and stripped of everything, separated from their wives and children. Angered by this beyond their wonted manner, they gathered together at night and beset the palace, shouting loudly again and again ‘Julian Augustus.’ 9 I was horrified (I confess it) and withdrew; and holding aloof as long as I could, I tried to save myself by remaining in hiding and concealment. But when no respite was given, protected by the repair of a free conscience (so to say), I went forth and stood before them all, supposing that the outbreak could be quieted by my authority or by persuasive words. 10 But their excitement was most unusual, and they went so far that when I tried to overcome their obstinacy by entreaties, they rushed upon me and threatened me with instant death. Overcome at last, and thinking to myself that if I were slain another would perhaps willingly be proclaimed emperor, I yielded, expecting that I could thus quiet their armed violence.

11 “This is a full account of what took place, and I pray that you will receive it in a spirit of peace. Do not suspect that anything different was done, or listen to malicious and pernicious whisperers, whose habit it is to excite dissension between princes for their own profit; but rejecting flattery, the nurse of vices, turn to justice, the most excellent of all virtues, and accept in good faith the fair conditions which I propose, convincing yourself that this is to the advantage of the rule of Rome as well as to ourselves, who are united by the tie of blood and by our lofty position. 12 And pardon me: I am so desirous that these things which are reasonably demanded should be done, as that they should be approved by you as expedient and right, and for the future also I shall eagerly receive your instructions.

13 “What ought to be done I will reduce to a few words. I will furnish Spanish horses for your chariots, and to be mingled with the household troops and the targeteers some young men of the Laeti, a tribe of barbarians on this side of the Rhine, or at any rate from those of them who voluntarily come over to us. And this I promise to do to the end of my life, with not only a willing but an eager spirit. 14 As praetorian prefects your clemency shall appoint for us those who are known for their justice and their merits; the promotion of the other civil officials and military officers, as well as of my bodyguard, is properly to be left to my decision. For it would be folly, since it can be prevented from happening, that those should be attached to an emperor’s person whose character and inclinations are unknown to him.

15 “This at least I would declare without any hesitation: the Gauls, since they have been harassed by long continued troubles and grievous misfortunes, cannot voluntarily or under compulsion send recruits to foreign and distant countries, for fear that, if they lose all their young manhood, downcast as they are by the memory of their past afflictions, even so they may perish from despair at what may befall thereafter. 16 Furthermore, it will not be expedient to draw from here auxiliaries to be opposed to the Parthian nations, since the onsets of the barbarians are not yet checked and (if you will permit me to speak the truth) these provinces which have been vexed with constant calamities need aid themselves from without, and valiant aid too.

17 “In urging these measures I have written (I think) to the advantage of the state both in my requests and in my demands. For I know, I do know, not to say anything more arrogantly than befits my authority, what wretched conditions, even when everything seemed already lost and without remedy, have been brought to a better state by the harmony of rulers yielding in turn to each other. Indeed, it is clear from the example of our forefathers that rulers who have these and similar designs are able somehow to find a way of living happily and successfully and of leaving to posterity and to all future time a happy memory of their lives.”

18 Along with this letter he sent another of a more private nature to be delivered to Constantius secretly, which was written in a more reproachful and bitter tone; the content of this it was not possible for me to examine, nor if it had been, would it have been fitting for me to make it public.

19 To perform this mission two men of importance were chosen, Pentadius, the court marshal, and Eutherius, who was then head chamberlain. After delivering the letters they were to report what he saw without concealing anything and to deal confidently with the course of future events.

20 Meanwhile the odium of the enterprise had been increased by the flight of the prefect Florentius, who, as if anticipating the disturbances that would arise from the summoning of the soldiers (which was the subject of common talk) had purposely withdrawn to Vienne, alleging the need of provisions as his excuse for parting with Caesar, whom he had often treated rudely and consequently feared. 21 Then, on hearing that Julian had been raised to the eminence of an Augustus, having small hope or none at all for his life, he became afraid and tried by distance to avoid the dangers that he suspected. So, abandoning all his family, he left and came by slow stages to Constantius, and to show his guiltlessness of any fault, he assailed Julian with many charges as a traitor. 22 After his departure, Julian, considering the matter well and wisely, and wishing it to be known that he would have spared him even if he had been present, left his dear ones and his property unmolested, gave them the use of the public courier-service, and bade them ride in safety to the Orient.

9 Constantius Augustus bids Julian to be content with the title of Caesar, but the Gallic legions firmly and unanimously object.

1 The envoys followed with no less diligence, bearing with them the messages which I have mentioned and intent upon their journey; when, however, they fell in with higher officials they were covertly detained, but after suffering continual and serious delays as they passed through Italy and Illyricum, they at last crossed the Bosporus, and proceeding by slow stages found Constantius still tarrying in Cappadocia at Caesarea. This was a well-situated and populous city, formerly called Mazaca, situated at the foot of Mount Argaeus. 2 When the envoys were given audience, they presented their letters, but no sooner were they read than the emperor burst out in an immoderate blaze of anger, and looking at them askance in such a way that they feared for their lives, he ordered them to get out, asking no further questions and refusing to listen to anything.

3 Yet, though burning with anger, he was tormented by uncertainty whether it were better to order those troops in which he had confidence to march against the Persians or against Julian. After hesitating long and weighing the counsel given him, he yielded to the advice of some who persuaded him to his advantage, and ordered a march towards the Orient. 4 The envoys, however, he dismissed at once, and only ordered his quaestor Leonas to proceed at rapid pace to Gaul with a letter which he had given him for Julian, in which he declared that he accepted none of the changes, but charged him, if he had any regard for his own life and that of his friends, to drop his swelling pride and keep within the bounds of a Caesar’s power. 5 And to the end that fear of his threats might bring this about the more easily, as an indication of confidence in his great strength in place of Florentius he appointed Nebridius, who was then quaestor of the aforesaid Caesar, to the rank of praetorian prefect, and the secretary Felix to that of master of offices, besides making some other appointments. And indeed Gomoarius had been advanced to the rank of commander-in-chief, as successor to Lupicinus, before Constantius knew anything of this kind.

6 Accordingly, Leonas, having entered Paris, was received as an honoured and discreet person, and on the following day, when the prince had come to the field with a great number of soldiers and townsmen, whom he had purposely summoned, and was standing aloft on a tribunal in order to be more conspicuous from a high position, he ordered the letter to be handed to him. And after unrolling the scroll of the edict which had been sent, he began to read it from the beginning. And when he had come to the place where Constantius, rejecting all that had been done, declared that the power of a Caesar was enough for Julian, on all sides terrifying shouts arose: 7 “Julianus Augustus,” as was decreed by authority of the province, the soldiers, and the state — a state restored indeed, but still fearful of renewed raids of the savages.

8 On hearing this, Leonas returned in safety, with a letter of Julian to the same purport, and Nebridius alone was admitted to the prefecture; for Caesar in his letter had openly said that such an appointment would be in accordance with his wishes. As to the master of offices, he had long before chosen for that office Anatolius, who previously had answered petitions, and some others, in accordance with what seemed to him expedient and safe.

9 But while matters were thus proceeding, Lupicinus was to be feared, although he was absent and even then in Britain, for he was a man of haughty and arrogant spirit and it was suspected that if he should learn of these things while across the sea, he would stir up material for a revolution; accordingly, a secretary was sent to Boulogne, to watch carefully and prevent anyone from crossing the strait. Because of this prohibition Lupicinus returned before hearing of anything that had happened, and so could cause no disturbance.

10 Julianus Caesar, having unexpectedly attacked the so-called Atthuarian Franks on the other side of the Rhine, and killed or captured the greater number of them, granted them peace at their request.

1 Julian, however, being now happier in his lofty station and in the confidence which the soldiers felt in him, in order not to become lukewarm or be accused of negligence and sloth, after sending envoys to Constantius set out for the frontier of Second Germany, and, thoroughly equipped with all the material that the business in hand demanded, drew near to the city of Tricensima. 2 Then crossing the Rhine, he suddenly invaded the territory of those Franks known as Atthuarii, a restless people, who even then were lawlessly overrunning the frontiers of Gaul. Having attacked them unexpectedly, when they feared no hostile demonstration and were quite off their guard, because they could remember no invasion of their land as yet by any emperor, protected as they were by rough and difficult roads, he defeated them with slight trouble; and after having captured or killed a great many, when the rest who survived begged for peace, he granted it on his own conditions, thinking this to be to the advantage of the neighbouring settlers. 3 From there he returned with equal speed by way of the river, and carefully examining and strengthening the defences of the frontier, he came as far as Augst; and there having recovered the places which the savages had formerly taken and were holding as their own, he fortified them with special care and went by way of Besançon to Vienne, to pass the winter.

11 Constantius Augustus attacks Bezabde with all his forces, but withdraws without accomplishing his purpose; and on the rainbow.

1 Such was the series of events in Gaul. While they were going on so successfully and so wisely, Constantius sent for Arsaces, king of Armenia, and after entertaining him with the greatest generosity forewarned and urged him to continue to be faithful and friendly to us. 2 For he heard that he had often been worked upon by the Persian king with deception, with threats, and with guile, to induce him to give up his alliance with the Romans and involve himself in the Persian’s designs. 3 And the king, swearing with many an oath that he could sooner give up his life than his resolve, after receiving rewards returned to his kingdom with the retinue that he had brought with him; and after that he never dared to violate any of his promises, being bound to Constantius by many ties of gratitude, among which this was especially strong — that the emperor had given him to wife Olympias, daughter of Ablabius, a former praetorian prefect, and the betrothed of his brother Constans.

4 After the king had been sent off from Cappadocia, Constantius going by way of Melitena (a town of Lesser Armenia), Lacotena, and Samosata, crossed the Euphrates and came to Edessa. There he lingered for a long time, while he was waiting for the troops of soldiers that were assembling from all sides and for plentiful supplies of provisions; after the autumnal equinox he set out on his way to Amida.

5 When he came near the walls and surveyed only a heap of ashes, he wept and groaned aloud as he thought of the calamities the wretched city had endured. And Ursulus, the state-treasurer, who chanced to be there at the time, was filled with sorrow and cried: “Behold with what courage the cities are defended by our soldiers, for whose abundance of pay the wealth of the empire is already becoming insufficient.” And this bitter remark the throng of soldiers recalled later at Chalcedon and conspired for his destruction.

6 After this advancing in close order and coming to Bezabde, Constantius pitched his tents and encircled them with a palisade and with deeper trenches. Then, riding about the circuit of the fort at a distance, he learned from many sources that the parts which before had been weakened by age and neglect had been restored to greater strength than ever. 7 And not wishing to leave anything undone that must be done before the heat of battle, he sent men of judgement and offered alternative conditions, urging the defenders of the walls either to give up the possessions of others without bloodshed and return to their own people, or to submit to the sway of Rome and receive increase of honours and rewards. And when with their native resolution they rejected these offers, being men of good birth and inured to perils and hardships, all the preparations for a siege were made.

8 Then in close array and urged on by the trumpets the soldiers most vigorously attacked the town on every side, and with the legions gathered together into various tortoise formations and so advancing slowly and safely, they tried to undermine the fortifications; but since every sort of weapon was showered upon them as they came up, the connection of the shields was broken and they gave way, while the trumpets sounded the recall. 9 Then, after a single day’s truce, on the third day, with the soldiers more carefully protected and amid loud outcries everywhere, they attempted from every quarter to scale the walls; but although the defenders were hidden within behind hair-cloth stretched before them, in order that the enemy might not see them, yet whenever necessity required they would fearlessly thrust out their right arms and attack the besiegers with stones and weapons. 10 But when the wicker mantlets went confidently on and were already close to the walls, great jars fell from above along with millstones and pieces of columns, by the excessive weight of which the assailants were overwhelmed; and since their devices for protection were rent asunder with great gaps, they made their escape with the greatest peril.

11 Therefore on the tenth day after the beginning of the siege, when the waning hope of our men was causing general dejection, it was decided to bring into action a ram of great size, which the Persians, after formerly using it to raze Antioch, had brought back and left at Carrhae. The unlooked-for sight of this and the skilful manner in which it was put together would have daunted the besieged, who had already been almost reduced to seeking safety in surrender, had they not taken heart and prepared defences against the menacing engine. 12 And after this they lacked neither rash courage nor good judgement. For although the ram, which was old and had been taken apart for ready transportation, was being set up with all skill and every exertion of power, and was protected by the besiegers with a mantlet of great strength, yet the artillery and the showers of stones and sling-shots continued none the less to destroy great numbers on both sides. The massive mounds too were rising with rapid additions, the siege grew hotter every day, and many of our men fell for the reason that, fighting as they were under the emperor’s eye, through the hope of rewards and wishing to be easily recognised they put off their helmets from their heads and so fell victims to the skill of the enemy’s archers. 13 After this, days and nights spent in wakefulness made both sides more cautious. The Persians, too, when the height of their mounds had already become great, stricken with horror at the huge ram, which other smaller ones followed, all strove with might and main to set fire to them, constantly hurling firebrands and blazing darts. But their efforts were vain, for the reason that the greater part of the timbers were covered with wetted hides and rags, while in other places they had been carefully coated with alum, so that the fire fell on them without effect. 14 But these rams the Romans pushed forward with great courage, and although they had difficulty in protecting them, yet through their eagerness to take the town, they were led to scorn even imminent dangers. 15 And on the other hand the defenders, when the huge ram was already drawing near to shake down a tower which stood in its way, by a subtle device entangled its projecting iron end (which in fact has the shape of a ram’s head) on both sides with very long ropes, and held it so that it might not move back and gather new strength, nor be able with good aim to batter the walls with repeated lunges; and in the meantime they poured down scalding-hot pitch. And the engines which had been brought up stood for a long time exposed to the huge stones and to the missiles.

16 And now, when the mounds were raised still higher, the garrison, fearing that destruction would soon be upon them unless they should rouse themselves, resorted to utter recklessness. Making a sudden rush through the gates, they attacked the foremost of our men, with all their strength hurling upon the rams firebrands and baskets made of iron and filled with flames. 17 But after fighting with shifting fortune the greater number were driven back from the walls without effecting anything. Then those same Persians, when they had taken their place on the bulwarks were assailed from the mounds, which the Romans had raised, with arrows, sling-shots, and fiery darts, which, however, though they flew through the coverings of the towers, for the most part fell without effect, since there were men at hand to put out the fires.

18 And when the fighting men on both sides became fewer, and the Persians were driven to the last extremity unless some better plan should suggest itself, a carefully devised sally from the fortress was attempted. A vast throng made a sudden rush, with still greater numbers of men carrying material for setting fires drawn up among the armed soldiers; then iron baskets filled with flames and other things best suited for kindling fires. 19 And because the pitch-black clouds of smoke made it impossible to see, the legions were roused to the fight by the clarion and in battle array advanced at rapid pace. Then, as their ardour for fighting gradually increased and they had come to hand-to-hand conflict, on a sudden all the siege-engines were destroyed by the spreading flames, except the greater ram; this, after the ropes which had been thrown from the walls and entangled it had been broken, the valiant efforts of some brave men barely rescued in a half-burned condition.

20 But when the darkness of night put an end to the fighting, the rest which was allowed the soldiers was not for long. For after being refreshed with a little food and sleep, they were aroused at the call of their officers and moved the siege-engines to a distance from the wall, preparing to fight with greater ease on the lofty earthworks, which were now finished and overtopped the walls. And in order that those who would defend the ramparts might the more easily be kept back, on the very highest part of each mound two ballistae were placed, through fear of which it was believed that no one of the enemy would be able even to put out his head. 21 When these preparations had been sufficiently made, just before dawn our men were drawn up in three divisions and tried an assault upon the walls, the cones of their helmets nodding in threatening wise and many carrying scaling-ladders. And now, while arms clashed and trumpets brayed, both sides fought with equal ardour and courage. And as the Romans extended their forces more widely and saw that the Persians were in hiding through fear of the engines placed upon the mounds, they attacked a tower with the ram; and in addition to mattocks, pickaxes, and crowbars the scaling-ladders also drew near, while missiles flew thick and fast from both sides. 22 The Persians, however, were more sorely troubled by the various missiles sent from the ballistae, which as if along a tight rope rushed down the artificial slopes of the earthworks. Therefore, thinking that their fortunes were now at their lowest ebb, they rushed to meet certain death, and distributing the duties of their soldiers in the midst of their desperate crisis, they left some behind to hold the walls, while a strong force secretly opened a postern gate and rushed out, drawn sword in hand, followed by others who carried concealed fires. 23 And while the Romans now pressed hard on those who gave way, and now met those who ventured to charge, the men who carried the fire-pans, stooping low and creeping along, pushed live coals into the joints of one of the mounds, which was built of the boughs of various kinds of trees, of rushes, and of bundles of cane. These, as soon as the dry fuel caught fire, at once burst into flame, and our soldiers only with extreme peril got away with their engines uninjured.

24 But when the coming of evening put an end to the fighting, and both sides withdrew for a brief rest, the emperor, divided between various plans and pondering them — since pressing reasons urged a longer attempt to destroy Phaenicha, a fortress opposed as an almost unsurmountable barrier to the enemy’s inroads; but the lateness of the season dissuaded him — finally decided to stay there, and to carry on light skirmishes, thinking that perhaps the Persians would yield through lack of supplies. But the result was not what he looked for. 25 For when the fighting slackened, wet weather followed, dripping clouds with menacing darkness appeared, and the ground was so drenched with continual rains, that soft and sticky mud caused general trouble in that region of rich turf. And, besides all this, thunder and lightning with repeated crashes terrified the timorous minds of men.

26 More than this, rainbows were constantly seen; and how that phenomenon is wont to occur, a brief explanation will show. The warmer exhalations of the earth and its moist vapours are condensed into clouds; these are then dissipated into a fine spray, which, made brilliant by the sun’s rays that fall upon it, rises swiftly and, coming opposite the fiery orb itself, forms the rainbow. And the bow is rounded into a great curve, because it extends over our world, which the science of natural philosophy tells us rests upon a hemisphere. 27 Its first colour, so far as mortal eye can discern, is yellow, the second golden or tawny, the third red, the fourth violet, and the last blue verging upon green. 28 It shows this combination of beautiful colours, as earthborn minds conceive, for the reason that its first part, corresponding in colour with the surrounding air, appears paler; the second is tawny, that is, somewhat more vivid than yellow; the third is red, because it is exposed to the brightness of the sun, and in proportion to alternation in the air absorbs its brilliance most purely, being just opposite; the fourth is violet, because receiving the brightness of the sun’s rays with a thick rain of spray glittering between, through which it rises, it shows an appearance more like fire; and that colour, the more it spreads, passes over into blue and green.

29 Others think that the form of the rainbow appears to earthly sight when the rays of the sun penetrate a thick and lofty cloud and fill it with clear light. Since this does not find an outlet, it forms itself into a mass and glows from the intense friction; and it takes the colours nearest to white from the sun higher up, but the greenish shades from resemblance to the cloud just above it. The same thing usually happens with the sea, where the waters that dash upon the shore are white, and those further out without any admixture are blue.

30 And since the rainbow is an indication of a change of weather (as I have said), from sunny skies bringing up masses of clouds, or on the contrary changing an overcast sky to one that is calm and pleasant, we often read in the poets that Iris is sent from heaven when it is necessary to change the present condition of affairs. There are many other different opinions, which it would be superfluous to enumerate at present, since my narrative is in haste to return to the point from which it digressed.

31 For these and similar reasons the emperor wavered between hope and fear, since the severity of winter was drawing near and attacks were to be looked for in that trackless region, while also he feared mutiny of the exasperated soldiers. Besides this, his anxious mind was tormented by the thought that when, so to speak, the door of a rich house was open before him, he was returning without success.

32 Therefore abandoning his fruitless attempt, he returned to Syria, purposing to winter in Antioch, having suffered severely and grievously; for the losses which the Persians had inflicted upon him were not slight but terrible and long to be lamented. For it had happened, as if some fateful constellation so controlled the several events, that when Constantius in person warred with the Persians, adverse fortune also attended him. Therefore he wished to conquer at least through his generals, which, as we recall, did sometimes happen.

Book XXI

1 Julianus Augustus celebrates quinquennial games at Vienne; how he knew beforehand that Constantius Augustus would shortly die; and on various means of foretelling future events.

1 While Constantius was involved in this hard fortune of wars beyond the river Euphrates, Julian passed the time at Vienne, spending days and nights in making secure plans for the future, so far as his narrow means allowed, constantly gaining greater confidence, but always in doubt whether to try every means for inducing Constantius to come to an understanding, or to strike him with terror by attacking him first. 2 Anxiously weighing these alternatives, he feared Constantius both as a cruel friend and as frequently victor in civil troubles; and in particular his mind was made anxious and uncertain by the example of his brother Gallus, whom his own negligence and the combined deceit and perjury of certain men had betrayed. 3 Sometimes, however, he took courage to meet many urgent affairs, thinking it far safer to show himself an open enemy to one whose conduct he, as a sagacious prince, could infer from the past, for fear of being deceived by secret plots under cover of a feigned friendship. 4 Therefore, making light of the letter that Constantius had sent through Leonas, and recognising the authority of none of those whom his rival had promoted except Nebridius, being now an Augustus he celebrated quinquennial games; and he wore a magnificent diadem, set with gleaming gems, whereas at the beginning of his principate he had assumed and worn a cheap crown, like that of the director of a gymnasium attired in purple. 5 While these games were going on he had sent to Rome the remains of his deceased wife Helena, to be laid to rest in his villa near the city on the via Nomentana, where also her sister Constantina, formerly the wife of Gallus, was buried.

6 Moreover, now that Gaul was quieted, his desire of first attacking Constantius was sharpened and fired, since he inferred from many prophetic signs (in which he was an adept) and from dreams, that Constantius would shortly depart from life.

7 And since to an emperor both learned and devoted to all knowledge malicious folk attribute evil arts for divining future events, we must briefly consider how this important kind of learning also may form part of a philosopher’s equipment.

8 The spirit pervading all the elements, seeing that they are eternal bodies, is always and everywhere strong in the power of prescience, and as the result of the knowledge which we acquire through varied studies makes us also sharers in the gifts of divination; and the elemental powers, when propitiated by divers rites, supply mortals with words of prophecy, as if from the veins of inexhaustible founts. These prophecies are said to be under the control of the divine Themis, so named because she reveals in advance decrees determined for the future by the law of the fates, which the Greeks call τεθειμένα; and therefore the ancient theologians gave her a share in the bed and throne of Jupiter, the life-giving power.

9 Auguries and auspices are not gained from the will of the fowls of the air which have no knowledge of future events (for that not even a fool will maintain), but a god so directs the flight of birds that the sound of their bills or the passing flight of their wings in disturbed or in gentle passage foretells future events. For the goodness of the deity, either because men deserve it, or moved by his affection for them, loves by these arts also to reveal impending events.

10 Those, too, who give attention to the prophetic entrails of beasts, which are wont to assume innumerable forms, know of impending events. And the teacher of this branch of learning is one named Tages, who (as the story goes) was seen suddenly to spring from the earth in the regions of Etruria.

11 Future events are further revealed when men’s hearts are in commotion, but speak divine words. For (as the natural philosophers say) the Sun, the soul of the universe, sending out our minds from himself after the manner of sparks, when he has fired men mightily, makes them aware of the future. And it is for this reason that the Sibyls often say that they are burning, since they are fired by the mighty power of the flames. Besides this, the loud sounds of voices give many signs, as well as the phenomena which meet our eyes, thunder even and lightning, and the gleam of a star’s train of light.

12 The faith in dreams, too, would be sure and indubitable, were it not that their interpreters are sometimes deceived in their conjectures. And dreams (as Aristotle declares) are certain and trustworthy, when the person is in a deep sleep and the pupil of his eye is inclined to neither side but looks directly forward. 13 And because the silly commons oftentimes object, ignorantly muttering such things as these: “If there were a science of prophecy, why did one man not know that he would fall in battle, or another that he would suffer this or that”: it will be enough to say, that a grammarian has sometimes spoken ungrammatically, a musician sung out of tune, and a physician been ignorant of a remedy, but for all that grammar, music, and the medical art have not come to a stop. 14 Wherefore Cicero has this fine saying, among others: “The gods,” says he, “show signs of coming events. With regard to these if one err, it is not the nature of the gods that is at fault, but man’s interpretation.” Therefore, that my discourse may not run beyond the mark (as the saying is) and weary my future reader, let us return and unfold the events that were foreseen.

2 Julianus Augustus at Vienne pretends to be a Christian, in order to win the favour of the populace; and on the day of a festival he prays to God in church among the Christians.

1 At Paris, when Julian, still a Caesar, was shaking his shield while engaged in various exercises in the field, the sections of which the orb of the shield was fashioned fell apart and only the handle remained, which he held in the grasp of a strong hand. 2 And when all who were present were terrified by what seemed a direful omen, he said: “Let no man be afraid; I hold firmly what I was holding.” Again at Vienne at a later time, when he went to sleep with a clear head, at night’s dread mid a gleaming form appeared and recited to him plainly, as he lay almost awake, the following heroic verses, repeating them several times; and trusting to these, he believed that no difficulty remained to trouble him:

“When Zeus the noble Aquarius’ bound shall reach,

And Saturn come to Virgo’s twenty-fifth degree,

Then shall Constantius, king of Asia, of this life

So sweet the end attain with heaviness and grief.”

3 Accordingly, he continued to make no change in his present condition, merely with calm and tranquil mind attending to everything that came up and gradually strengthening his position, to the end that his increase in rank might be attended also with a growth in power. 4 And in order to win the favour of all men and have opposition from none, he pretended to be an adherent of the Christian religion, from which he had long since secretly revolted; and making a few men sharers in his secrets, he was given up to soothsaying and auguries, and to other practices which the worshippers of the pagan gods have always followed. 5 And in order temporarily to conceal this, on the day of the festival which the Christians celebrate in the month of January and call the Epiphany, he went to their church, and departed after offering a prayer to their deity in the usual manner.

3 Vadomarius, king of the Alamanni, having broken the treaty, lays waste the frontiers through his emissaries and kills Count Libino and some others.

1 While these events were taking place, spring being now at hand, Julian was stirred by an unexpected piece of news, which turned him to sadness and grief. For he learned that the Alamanni had sallied forth from Vadomarius’ canton, a quarter from which he looked for no danger since the conclusion of the treaty, and were devastating the regions bordering on Raetia, and, ranging widely with bands of plunderers, were leaving nothing untried. 2 Since to ignore this would arouse new causes for war, he sent a certain Libino, a count, with the Celts and Petulantes, who were wintering with him, to set matters in order according as conditions demanded. 3 When Libino had quickly come to the neighbourhood of the town of Sanctio, he was seen from afar by the savages, who, already meditating battle, had hidden themselves in the valleys. Thereupon encouraging his men, who, though fewer in numbers, were inspired with an ardent longing for battle, he rashly attacked the Germans and at the beginning of the fighting was himself the first of all to fall. Since his death increased the confidence of the savages and fired the Romans with a desire to avenge their leader, an obstinate struggle ensued, in which our men, overcome by vast numbers, were put to flight after a few of them had been killed or wounded.

4 With this Vadomarius and his brother Gundomadus, who was also king, Constantius (as I have already said) had concluded a peace. When, after that event, Gundomadus died, Constantius, thinking that Vadomarius would be loyal to him, made him the secret and efficient executor of his plots (if rumour alone is to be trusted), and wrote to him that he should pretend to break the treaty of peace from time to time and attack the districts bordering on his domain; to the end that Julian, in fear of this, should nowhere abandon the defence of Gaul. 5 These commands Vadomarius obeyed (if it is right to believe the tale) and perpetrated this and similar outrages, wonderfully skilled as he was from the beginning of his life in deception and fraud, as he also showed later when governor of the province of Phoenicia. But when he was actually proved to be acting treacherously, he ceased his activities. For a secretary whom he had sent to Constantius was captured by the soldiers on guard, and when he was searched, to see if he carried anything, a letter from Vadomarius was found, in which besides many other things he had written this also: “Your Caesar lacks discipline.” But he was constantly addressing Julian in letters as Lord, Augustus and God.

4 Julianus Augustus, having intercepted a letter of Vadomarius to Constantius Augustus, had him arrested at a banquet; then, after slaying some of the Alamanni and receiving others in surrender, he granted peace to the rest at their request.

1 Julian, thinking that such actions, dangerous and dubious as they were, would break out into deadly mischief, directed all his thoughts to the one end of forcibly seizing Vadomarius while off his guard, in order to ensure his own safety and that of the provinces. And this was the plan that he formed. 2 He had sent to those regions his secretary, Philagrius, later Count of the Orient, in whose good judgement he had confidence, having already tested it; and, in addition to many other orders which he was to execute according as urgent affairs might require, he also gave him a sealed note with orders neither to open nor read it unless he saw Vadomarius on our side of the Rhine. 3 Philagrius went his way as ordered, and when he had arrived and was busy with sundry affairs, Vadomarius crossed the river, fearing nothing, as was natural in a time of profound peace, and pretending to know of no irregular doings. And on seeing the commander of the soldiers stationed there, he spoke briefly with him as usual; and in order to leave behind no suspicion on his departure, he even promised to come to a banquet of the commander’s, to which Philagrius also was invited. 4 The latter immediately upon entering and seeing the king recalled the words of his emperor, and offering as excuse some important and urgent piece of business, returned to his quarters; then, after reading the letter and learning what he was to do, he at once came back and took his place at table with the others. 5 As soon as the feast was ended, he laid a strong hand on Vadomarius and handed him over to the commander of the soldiers, to be closely confined in camp, having read to him the text of his orders; the king’s companions he compelled to return to their homes, since no order touching them had been given. 6 The aforesaid king, however, was taken to the camp of the prince, and though now without any hope of pardon, since he learned that his secretary had been taken and that what he had written to Constantius was now generally known, without even being addressed in reproachful terms he was sent to Spain. For the greatest precaution was taken lest, when Julian would withdraw from Gaul, that most savage king should not lawlessly disturb the condition of the provinces, which had been put in order with difficulty.

7 Although Julian was somewhat elated by this good fortune, in that the king, whom he dreaded when about to leave for far countries, had been apprehended sooner than he had expected, yet he did not at all relax his diligence, but planned an attack upon the savages who (as I have shown) had slain the Count Libino and a few of his followers in battle. 8 And in order that no rumour of his coming might lead them to flee to more distant places, he crossed the Rhine in the deep silence of night with the lightest equipped of his auxiliary forces and surrounded them while they feared nothing of the kind. And when they were awakened by the clash of hostile arms and were looking about for their swords and spear, he flew upon them swiftly; some he slew, others, who begged for mercy and offered booty, he received in surrender, to the rest who remained there he granted peace when they sued for it and promised lasting quiet.

5 Julianus Augustus addresses his soldiers and has them all swear allegiance to him, being resolved to make war upon Constantius Augustus.

1 While performing these exploits with resolute courage, Julian, surmising what a mass of civil strife he had aroused, and wisely foreseeing that nothing was so favourable to a sudden enterprise as speedy action, thought that he would be safer if he openly admitted his revolt, and being uncertain of the loyalty of the troops, he first propitiated Bellona with a secret rite, and then, after calling the army to an assembly with the clarion, he took his place on a tribunal of stone, and now feeling more confident (as was evident), spoke these words in a louder voice than common:

2 “Long since, noble fellow-soldiers, I have believed in my secret thoughts that you, fired by your valiant deeds, have been waiting to learn how the events that are expected may be weighed and provided for beforehand. For it becomes the soldier reared amid great and glorious deeds to use his ears rather than his tongue, and for a leader of tried justice to have no other thoughts than those which can worthily be praised and approved. Therefore, that I may cast aside vague circumlocution and set forth what I have purposed, kindly attend, I pray you, to what I shall briefly run through.

3 “By Heaven’s will united with you from the very beginning of my youth, I checked the constant inroads of the Alamanni and the Franks and their unending lust for plunder, and by our combined courage I made it possible for the Rhine to be crossed by Roman armies as often as they wished; and in standing firm against the clamour of rumours and the forcible invasions of mighty nations I relied, I assure you, on the support of your valour. 4 Gaul, an eye-witness of these labours that we have performed, and now restored after many losses and long and grievous calamities, will hand down these achievements of ours to posterity through countless ages. 5 But now that, forced by the authority of your choice and by stress of circumstances, I have been raised to Augustan dignity, with your support and that of the deity (if fortune favours our enterprises), I am aiming higher at greater deeds, openly declaring that to an army whose justice and greatness in arms are renowned I have seemed in time of peace a mild and self-controlled leader, and in many wars against the united forces of nations, sagacious and prudent. 6 Therefore, that we may with the closest unanimity of purpose forestall adverse events, follow my course of action, which is salutary (I think), since our intention and desire are in harmony with the welfare of the state; and while the regions of Illyricum are without greater garrisons, advancing with unobstructed course, let us meanwhile take possession of the utmost parts of Dacia, and from there learn by means of good success what ought to be done. 7 In support of this plan do you, I pray, after the manner of those who trust their leaders, promise under oath your lasting and faithful accord; I for my part will strive diligently and anxiously that nothing be done rashly or with faint heart, and I will show, if any one require it, my conscience clean, in that I will undertake nothing willingly except what contributes to the common weal. 8 This one thing I beg and implore: see to it that none of you under the impulse of growing ardour be guilty of injury to private citizens, bearing in mind that not so much the slaughter of countless foemen has made us famous as the prosperity and safety of the provinces, widely known through instances of virtuous conduct.”

9 By this speech of the emperor, no less approved than the words of some oracle, the assembly was strongly moved. Eager for revolution, with one accord they mingled fear-inspiring shouts with the violent clash of shields, calling him a great and exalted leader and (as they knew from experience) a fortunate victor over nations and kings. 10 And when all had been bidden to take the usual oath of allegiance, aiming their swords at their throats, they swore in set terms under pain of dire execrations, that they would endure all hazards for him, to the extent of pouring out their life-blood, if necessity required; their officers and all the emperor’s closest advisers followed their example, and pledged loyalty with like ceremony. 11 Alone among all the prefect Nebridius, with a loyalty that was firm rather than prudent, opposed him, declaring that he could by no means be bound by an oath against Constantius, to whom he was indebted for many and repeated acts of kindness. 12 Upon hearing this the soldiers who were standing near, inflamed with anger, rushed upon him to slay him; but the emperor, at whose knees he had fallen, covered him with his general’s cloak. Then Julian returned to the palace. And when he saw that Nebridius had preceded him and was lying there as a suppliant, begging that, to relieve his fears, the emperor would offer him his hand, Julian answered: “Will any special honour be reserved for my friends, if you shall touch my hand? But depart in safety whithersoever you please.” On hearing this, Nebridius withdrew unharmed to his home in Tuscany. 13 After taking these precautions, as the greatness of the enterprise demanded, Julian knowing by experience the value of anticipating and outstripping an adversary in troublous times, having given written order for a march into Pannonia, advanced his camp and his standards, and unhesitatingly committed himself to whatever Fortune might offer.

6 Constantius Augustus marries Faustina; he increases his army with additional recruits; by gifts he wins the support of the kings of Armenia and Hiberia.

1 It is now fitting to turn back to the past and give a brief account of what Constantius, who was wintering at Antioch, accomplished in peace and in war, while the events just described were taking place in Gaul. 2 Among many others of conspicuous distinction there were also appointed to greet the emperor when he came from abroad some illustrious tribunes. Therefore when Constantius, on his return from Mesopotamia, was received with this attention, Amphilochius, a former tribune from Paphlagonia, who had served long before under Constans and was under well-founded suspicion of having sown the seeds of discord between the deceased brothers, having dared to appear somewhat arrogantly, as if he also ought to be admitted to this service, was recognised and forbidden. And when many raised an outcry and shouted that he ought not to be allowed longer to look upon the light of day, being a stiff-necked traitor, Constantius, milder than usual on this occasion, said: “Cease to trouble a man who is, I believe, guilty, but has not yet been openly convicted; and remember that if he has committed anything of that kind, so long as he is in my sight he will be punished by the judgement of his own conscience, from which he will be unable to hide.” And that was the end of it. 3 On the next day, at the games in the Circus, the same man was looking on from a place opposite the emperor, where he usually sat. And when the expected contest began and a sudden shout was raised, the railing on which with many others he was leaning broke, and he with all the rest fell to the ground; and while a few were slightly injured, he alone was found to have suffered internal injuries and to have given up the ghost, whereat Constantius rejoiced greatly, as if he had a knowledge of future events also.

4 At that same time Constantius took to wife Faustina, having long since lost Eusebia, sister of the ex-consuls Eusebius and Hypatius, a lady distinguished before many others for beauty of person and of character, and kindly in spite of her lofty station, through whose well-deserved favour (as I have shown) Julian was saved from dangers and declared Caesar.

5 During those same days, attention was paid to Florentius also, who had left Gaul through fear of a change of government, and he was sent to take the place of Anatolius, praetorian prefect in Illyricum, who had recently died; and with Taurus, who was likewise praetorian prefect in Italy, he received the insignia of the highest magistracy.

6 Nevertheless, equipment for foreign and civil wars continued to be made, the number of squadrons of cavalry was increased, and with equal zeal levies were ordered throughout the provinces and reinforcements enrolled for the legions; every order and profession was burdened, supplying clothing, arms, and hurling-engines, nay even gold and silver, and an abundance of provisions of all kinds as well as various sorts of beasts of burden. 7 And since from the king of the Persians, who had regretfully been forced back into his own territories by the difficulty of the winter season, now that the mild weather had set in a more powerful attack was feared, envoys were sent to the kings and satraps beyond the Tigris with generous gifts, to admonish and exhort them all to be loyal to us and attempt no deceit or fraud. 8 But above all Arsaces and Meribanes, kings of Armenia and of Hiberia, were bribed with splendidly adorned garments and gifts of many kinds, since they would be likely to cause damage to Roman interests, if when affairs were already dubious they should revolt to the Persians. 9 In the midst of such urgent affairs Hermogenes died and Helpidius was promoted to the prefecture, a man born in Paphlagonia, ordinary in appearance and speech, but of a simple nature, so averse to bloodshed and so mild that once when Constantius had ordered him to torture an innocent man in his presence, he quietly asked that his office might be taken from him and these matters left to more suitable men, to be carried out according to the sovereign’s mind.

7 Constantius Augustus, then living at Antioch, retains Africa in his power through the state-secretary Gaudentius; he crosses the Euphrates and proceeds with his army to Edessa.

1 Therefore, Constantius, wavering amid the difficulty of pressing affairs, was in doubt what course to pursue, considering long and anxiously whether to go to distant lands against Julian, or to repel the Parthians, who (as they threatened) were soon about to cross the Euphrates; and after hesitating and often taking counsel with his generals, he at last inclined to this plan: that after finishing, or at any rate quieting, the nearer war, and leaving no one to fear behind his back, after overrunning Illyricum and Italy (as he thought), he should take Julian (like a hunter’s prey) in the very beginning of his enterprises; for so he kept continually declaring, to calm the fear of his men. 2 Nevertheless, that he might not grow lukewarm or seem to have neglected the other side of the war, spreading everywhere the terror of his coming; and fearing lest Africa should be invaded in his absence, a province advantageous to the emperors for all occasions, as if he were on the point of leaving the regions of the East, he sent to Africa by sea the secretary Gaudentius, who (as I have hinted before) had been for some time in Gaul to watch the actions of Julian. 3 For he hoped that Gaudentius would be able to accomplish everything with prompt obedience for two reasons: both because he feared the adverse side, which he had offended, and because he would be eager to take advantage of this opportunity to commend himself to Constantius, who he thought would undoubtedly be the victor; for at that time there was no one at all who did not hold that firm conviction. 4 So when Gaudentius came there, mindful of the emperor’s injunctions, he informed Count Cretio and the other commanders by letter what was to be done, assembled the bravest soldiers from every hand, brought over light-armed skirmishers from both the Mauritanian provinces, and closely guarded the shores lying opposite to Aquitania and Italy. 5 And Constantius made no mistake in adopting that plan, for so long as he lived none of his opponents reached those lands, although the coast of Sicily which extends from Lilybaeum to Pachynum was guarded by a strong armed force, which was ready to cross quickly, if an opportunity should offer.

6 When these and other less important and trifling matters had been arranged as Constantius thought would be to his advantage under the circumstances, he was informed by messages and letters of his generals that the Persian forces had united with their haughty king at their head, and were already drawing near to the banks of the Tigris, but that where they were intending to break through was uncertain. 7 Aroused by this news, Constantius left his winter quarters as speedily as possible, in order to act from nearer at hand and so be able to anticipate the coming attempts. He gathered from all sides cavalry and the flower of his infantry, on which he relied, and crossing the Euphrates by Capersana on a bridge of boats, proceeded to Edessa, a city strongly fortified and well supplied with provisions; there he waited for a time, until scouts or deserters should give information of the moving of the enemy’s camp.

8 Julianus Augustus, after having set the affairs of Gaul in order, makes for the bank of the Danube, sending a part of his forces on ahead through Italy and Raetia.

1 Meanwhile Julian, leaving Augst after finishing the business of which we have already spoken, sent Sallustius, who had been advanced to the rank of prefect, back to Gaul, bidding Germanianus take the place of Nebridius; he also made Nevitta commander of the cavalry, fearing Gomoarius as an old-time traitor, who (as he had heard), when leading the targeteers, secretly betrayed his prince, Veteranio. To Jovius, of whom I made mention in connection with the actions of Magnentius, he gave the quaestorship, and to Mamertinus the charge of the sacred largesses; he put Dagalaifus in command of the household troops, and assigned many others, whose services and loyalty he knew, to military commands on his own authority. 2 He intended then to make his way through the Marcian woods and along the roads near the banks of the river Danube, but being exceedingly uncertain amid the sudden changes of events, he feared lest his small retinue might bring him into contempt and lead the populace to oppose him. 3 To prevent this from happening, he devised an ingenious plan: he divided his army and sent one part with Jovinus and Jovius to march rapidly along the familiar roads of Italy; the others were assigned to Nevitta, the commander of the cavalry, to advance through the middle of Raetia; to the end that, being spread over various parts of the country, they might give the impression of a huge force and fill everything with alarm. For this was what Alexander the Great had done, and many other skilful generals after him, when occasion so required. 4 He also charged them, when they left, to be on their guard as they marched, as if the enemy were to meet them at once, and at night to keep watch and ward, so as not to be surprised by a hostile attack.

9 Taurus and Florentius, consuls and praetorian prefects, flee on the approach of Julianus Augustus, the one through Illyricum, the other through Italy. Lucillianus, commander of the cavalry, who was preparing to resist Julian, is defeated.

1 When these arrangements had thus been made (suitably, as it seemed), he proceeded to go farther on by the method through which he had often broken through the country of the savages, relying upon a series of successes. 2 And when he came to the place where he learned that the river was navigable, embarking in boats, of which by a fortunate chance there was a good supply, he was carried down the channel of the river as secretly as possible; and he escaped notice because, being enduring and strong and having no need of choice food, but content with a scanty and simple diet, he passed by the towns and fortresses without entering them, taking as his model that fine saying of Cyrus of old, who on coming to an inn and being asked by the host what viands he should prepare, replied: “Nothing but bread, for I hope to dine near a stream.” 3 But Rumour, which with a thousand tongues, as men say, strangely exaggerates the truth, spread herself abroad with many reports throughout all Illyricum, saying that Julian, after overthrowing a great number of kings and nations in Gaul, was on the way with a numerous army and puffed up by sundry successes. 4 Alarmed by this news, the pretorian prefect Taurus speedily retreated, as if avoiding a foreign enemy, and using the rapid changes of the public courier-service, he crossed the Julian Alps, at the same stroke taking away with him Florentius, who was also prefect. 5 None the less, Count Lucillianus, who then commanded the troops stationed in those regions, with headquarters at Sirmium, having some slight intelligence of Julian’s move, gathered together such forces as regard for speedy action allowed to be summoned from the neighbouring stations and planned to resist him when he should arrive. 6 But Julian, like a meteor or a blazing dart, hastened with winged speed to his goal; and when he had come to Bononea, distant nineteen miles from Sirmium, as the moon was waning and therefore making dark the greater part of the night, he unexpectedly landed, and at once sent Dagalaifus with a light-armed force to summon Lucillianus, and if he tried to resist, to bring him by force. 7 The prefect was still asleep, and when he was awakened by the noise and confusion and saw himself surrounded by a ring of strangers, he understood the situation and, overcome with fear on hearing the emperor’s name, obeyed his command, though most unwillingly. So the commander of the cavalry, just now so haughty and self-confident, following another’s behest, was set upon the first horse that could be found and brought before the emperor like a base captive, scarcely keeping his wits through terror. 8 But when at first sight of Julian he saw that the opportunity was given him of bowing down to the purple, taking heart at last and no longer in fear for his life, he said: “Incautiously and rashly, my Emperor, you have trusted yourself with a few followers to another’s territory.” To which Julian replied with a bitter smile: “Reserve these wise words for Constantius, for I have offered you the emblem of imperial majesty, not as to a counsellor, but that you might cease to fear.”

10 Julianus Augustus receives Sirmium, the capital of western Illyricum, into his power along with its garrison; he seizes Succi and writes to the senate, inveighing against Constantius.

1 Then, after getting rid of Lucillianus, thinking that it was no time for delay or for inaction, bold as he was and confident in times of peril, he marched to the city, which he looked on as surrendered. And advancing with rapid steps, he had no sooner come and the suburbs, which were large and extended to a great distance, than a crowd of soldiers and people of all sorts, with many lights, flowers, and good wishes, escorted him to the palace, hailing him as Augustus and Lord. 2 There, rejoicing in his success and in the good omen, and with increased hope of the future, since he believed that following the example of a populous and famous metropolis the other cities also would receive him as a health-giving star, he gave chariot races on the following day, to the joy of the people. But with the dawn of the third day, impatient of delay, he hastened along the public highways, and since no one ventured to oppose him, placed a force in the pass of Succi, and entrusted its defence to Nevitta, as a faithful officer. And it will now be suitable in a brief digression, to describe the situation of this place.

3 The closely united summits of the lofty mountain ranges Haemus and Rhodope, of which the one rises immediately from the banks of the Danube and the other, from those of the Axius, on our side, end with swelling hills in a narrow pass, and separate Illyricum and Thrace. On the one side they are near to the midlands of Dacia and to Serdica, on the other they look down upon Thrace and Philippopolis, great and famous cities; and as if nature had fore-knowledge that the surrounding nations must come under the sway of Rome, the pass was purposely so fashioned that in former times it opened obscurely between hills lying close together, but afterwards, when our power rose to greatness and splendour, it was opened even for the passage of carts; and yet it could sometimes be so closed as to check the attempts of great leaders and mighty peoples. 4 The part of this pass, which faces Illyricum, since it rises more gently, is sometimes easily surmounted, as though it kept no guard. But the opposite side, over against Thrace, precipitous and falling sheer downward, is made difficult on both sides by rough paths, and is hard to get over even when there is no opposition. At the foot of these heights on both sides lie spacious plains, the upper one extending as far as the Julian Alps, the other so flat and open that there is no hindrance to its habitation as far as the strait and the Propontis.

5 After these arrangements had been made in a matter so momentous and so urgent, the emperor, leaving the commander of the cavalry there, returned to Naessus (a well-supplied town), from which he might without hindrance attend to everything that would contribute to his advantage. 6 There he made Victor, the writer of history, whom he had seen at Sirmium and had bidden to come from there, consular governor of Pannonia Secunda, and honoured him with a statue in bronze, a man who was a model of temperance, and long afterwards prefect of the City. 7 And now, lifting himself higher and believing that Constantius could never be brought into harmony with him, he wrote to the senate a sharp oration full of invective, in which he specifically charged Constantius with disgraceful acts and faults. When these were read in the House, while Tertullus was still acting as prefect, the striking independence of the nobles was manifest as well as their grateful affection; for with complete agreement they one and all shouted: “We demand reverence for your own creator.”

8 Then he passed on to abuse the memory of Constantine as an innovator and a disturber of the ancient laws and of customs received of old, openly charging that he was the very first to advance barbarians even to the rods and robes of consuls. In so doing he showed neither good taste nor consideration; for instead of avoiding a fault which he so bitterly censured, he himself soon afterwards joined to Mamertinus as colleague in the consulship Nevitta, a man neither in birth, experience, nor renown comparable with those on whom Constantine had conferred the highest magistracy, but on the contrary uncultivated, somewhat boorish, and (what was more intolerable) cruel in his high office.

11 Two of Constantius’ legions, which at Sirmium had gone over to Julian and been sent by him to Gaul, take possession of Aquileia with the consent of the inhabitants, and close the gates to Julian’s army.

1 While Julian was thinking of these and like matters and troubled by important and grave affairs, terrifying and unexpected news came to him of the monstrous and daring acts of certain men, which would check his eager advance, unless he could by watchful care repress these also before they came to a head. These shall be set forth briefly.

2 Two of Constantius’ legions, which with one cohort of bowmen he had found at Sirmium, being not yet sure of their loyalty he had sent to Gaul under colour of urgent necessity. These were slow to move, through dread of the long march and of the Germans, our fierce and persistent foes, and were planning a rebellion, aided and abetted by Nigrinus, a native of Mesopotamia and commander of a troop of horsemen. Having arranged the plot by secret conferences and added to its strength by profound silence, on arriving at Aquileia, a well-situated and prosperous city, surrounded by strong walls, with hostile intent they suddenly closed its gates, supported in this revolt by the native population, because of the dread which was even then connected with the name of Constantius. 3 And having closed the entrances and posted armed men on the towers and bulwarks, they made ready whatever would be helpful in the coming contest, meanwhile living free from care or restraint; and by so daring an act they roused the neighbouring Italians to side with Constantius, whom they thought to be still living.

12 Aquileia, favouring the cause of Constantius Augustus, is besieged, but after learning of his death surrenders to Julian.

1 When Julian learned of this, being still at Naessus, and fearing no trouble from behind him, he recalled reading and hearing that this city had indeed oftentimes been besieged, but yet had never been razed nor had ever surrendered. Therefore he hastened with the greater earnestness to win it to his side either by craft or by sundry kinds of flattery before any greater mischief could arise. 2 Hence he ordered Jovinus, a commander of the horse, who was coming over the Alps and had entered Noricum, to return with speed, in order to quench in any way he could the fire that had broken out. Also, that nothing might be wanting, he gave orders that all soldiers who followed the court or the standards should be detained as they passed through that same town, in order to give help according to their powers.

3 These arrangements made, he himself, learning not long afterwards of the death of Constantius, hastily traversed Thrace and entered Constantinople. And being often advised that the said siege would be long rather than formidable, he assigned Immo with his other officers to that task and then ordered Jovinus to go and attend to other matters of greater urgency.

4 And so when Aquileia was surrounded with a double line of shields, it was thought best in the unanimous opinion of generals to try, partly by threats and partly by fair words, to induce the defenders to surrender; but when after much debate to and fro their obstinacy became immensely greater, the conference ended without result. 5 And since now nothing was looked for except battle, both sides refreshed themselves with food and sleep; at daybreak the sound of the trumpets roused them to slay one another, and raising a shout they rushed to battle with more boldness than discretion. 6 Then the besiegers, pushing before them mantlets and closely-woven hurdles, advanced slowly and cautiously, and with a great number of iron tools tried to undermine the walls. Many carried scaling-ladders made to match the height of the walls, but when they could all but touch the ramparts, some were crushed by stones that were hurled down upon them, others were pierced with whizzing darts; and as the survivors gave way, they carried with them all the rest, whom fear of a like fate turned from their purpose of fighting. 7 This first encounter raised the courage of the besieged, who felt confident of still greater success, and made light of what remained to do; with settled and resolute minds they placed artillery in suitable places and with unwearied labour kept guard and attended to other measures of safety. 8 On the other side the assailants, through anxious and fearful of danger, yet from shame of seeming spiritless and slack, seeing that assault by open force effected little, turned to the devices of the besiegers’ art. And since a suitable place could nowhere be found for moving up rams, for bringing engines to bear, or for digging mines, the fact that the river Natesio flows by the city only a short distance off suggested a device as worthy of admiration as those of old. 9 With eager speed they built wooden towers higher than the enemy’s ramparts and placed each upon three ships strongly fastened together. On these stood armed men, who, with forces gathered from near at hand strove with combined and equal courage to dislodge the defenders; and below, light-armed skirmishers issued forth from the lower rooms of the towers and threw out little bridges, which they had made beforehand, and hastened to cross on them. Thus they worked in unison, in order that while those stationed above on both sides assailed each other in turn with missiles and stones, those who had crossed by the bridges might without interference tear down a part of the wall and open an approach into the heart of the city. 10 But the result of this well-laid plan was unsuccessful. For when the towers were already drawing near, fire-darts steeped in pitch were hurled at them and they were assailed as well with reeds, faggots, and all kinds of kindling material. When by the rapidly spreading fire and the weight of the men who stood precariously upon them the towers toppled and fell into the river, some of the soldiers were killed on their very tops, pierced by missiles from the distant engines. 11 Meanwhile the foot-soldiers, left alone after the death of their companions on the ships, were crushed by huge stones, except a few whom speed of foot through the encumbered passageways saved from death. Finally, after the conflict had lasted until evening, the usual signal for retreat was given; whereupon both sides withdrew and spent what remained of the day with different feelings. 12 For the laments of the besiegers, as they grieved for the death of their comrades, encouraged the defenders to hope that they were now getting the upper hand, although they, too, had a few losses to mourn. Yet, in spite of this, no time was lost, and after a whole night, during which enough food and rest to recover their strength was allowed, the battle was renewed at daybreak at the sound of the trumpet. 13 Then some with their shields raised over their heads, to be less hampered in fighting, others carrying ladders on their shoulders as before, rushed forward in fiery haste, exposing their breasts to wounds from many kinds of weapons. Still others tried to break the iron bars of the gates, but were assailed in their turn with fire or slain by great stones hurled from the walls. Some, who boldly tried to cross the moat, taken unawares by the sudden onslaughts of those that secretly rushed forth through the postern gates, either fell, if overbold, or withdrew wounded. For the return to the walls was safe and a rampart before the walls covered with turf protected from all danger those who lay in wait. 14 But although the besieged, who had no help other than that of the walls, excelled in endurance and the arts of war, yet our soldiers, selected from the better companies, unable to bear the long delay, went about all the suburbs, diligently seeking for places where they could force an entrance into the city by main strength or by their artillery. 15 But when this proved impossible, prevented by the greatness of the difficulties, they began to conduct the siege with less energy, and the garrison troops, leaving behind only the sentinels and pickets, ransacked the neighbouring fields, got an abundance of all suitable things, and gave their comrades a large share of the plunder; and in consequence, by drinking immoderately and stuffing themselves with rich food, they lost their vigour.

16 When Julian, who was still wintering in Constantinople, heard from the report of Immo and his colleagues what had happened, he devised a shrewd remedy for the troubles; he at once sent Agilo, commander of the infantry, who was well known at that time, to Aquileia, hoping that the sight of so distinguished a man, and the announcement through him of Constantius’ death, might put an end to the blockade.

17 Meanwhile, that the siege of Aquileia might not be interrupted, it was decided, since all the rest of their toil had come to nothing, to force a surrender of the vigorous defenders by thirst. And when the aqueducts had been cut off, but in spite of that they resisted with still greater confidence, with a mighty effort the river was turned from its course; but that also was done in vain. For when the means of drinking more greedily were diminished, men whom their own rashness had beleaguered lived frugally, and contented themselves with water from wells.

18 While these events were taking place with the results already told, Agilo (as he was ordered) came to them, and covered by a close array of shields drew near confidently; but after giving a detailed and true account of the death of Constantius and the establishment of Julian’s rule, he was overwhelmed with endless abuse as a liar. And no one believed his account of what had happened until he was admitted alone within the walls under a pledge of safe conduct and repeated what he had said, adding a solemn oath that it was true. 19 When this was heard, the gates were opened, and after their long torment all poured forth and gladly met the peace-making general. Trying to excuse themselves, they presented Nigrinus as the author of the whole outrage, along with a few others, asking that by the execution of these men the crime of treason and the woes of their city might be expiated. 20 Finally, a few days later, after the affair had been more thoroughly investigated before Mamertinus, the praetorian prefect, then sitting in judgement, Nigrinus as the chief instigator of the war was burned alive. But after him Romulus and Sabostius, senators of Aquileia, being convicted of having sown seeds of discord without regard to its dangerous consequences, died by the executioner’s sword. All the rest, whom compulsion, rather than inclination, had driven to this mad strife, escaped unpunished. For so the emperor, naturally mild and merciful, had decided on grounds of justice.

21 Now these things happened later. But Julian was still at Naessus, beset by deep cares, since he feared many dangers from two quarters. For he stood in dread lest the soldiers besieged at Aquileia should by a sudden onset block the passes of the Julian Alps, and he should thus lose the provinces and the support which he daily expected from them. 22 Also he greatly feared the forces of the Orient, hearing that the soldiers dispersed over Thrace had been quickly concentrated to meet sudden violence and were approaching the frontiers of Succi under the lead of the count Martianus. But in spite of this he himself also, acting with an energy commensurate with the pressing mass of dangers, assembled the Illyrian army, reared in the toil of Mars and ready in times of strife to join with a warlike commander. 23 Nor did he at so critical a time disregard the interests of private persons, but he gave ear to their suits and disputes, especially those of the senators of the free towns, whom he was much inclined to favour, and unjustly invested many of them with high public office. 24 There it was that he found Symmachus and Maximus, two distinguished senators, who had been sent by the nobles as envoys to Constantius. On their return he received them with honour, and passing over the better man, in place of Tertullus made Maximus prefect of the eternal city, to please Rufinus Vulcatius, whose nephew he knew him to be. Under this man’s administration, however, there were supplies in abundance, and the complaints of the populace, which were often wont to arise, ceased altogether. 25 Then, to bring about a feeling of security in the crisis and to encourage those who were submissive, he promoted Mamertinus, the pretorian prefect in Illyricum, to the consulship, as well as Nevitta; and that too although he had lately beyond measure blamed Constantine as the first to raise the rank of base foreigners.

13 Sapor, since the auspices forbade war, leads home his forces. Constantius Augustus addresses his troops at Hierapolis, preparatory to making war upon Julian.

1 While by these and similar means Julian, wavering between hope and fear, was planning new measures, Constantius at Edessa, troubled by the varying reports of his scouts, was hesitating between two different courses, now preparing his soldiers for battle in the field, now, if opportunity should offer, planning a second siege of Bezabde, with the prudent design of not leaving the flank of Mesopotamia unprotected when he was presently about to march to the north. 2 But in this state of indecision he was kept back by many delays, since the Persian king was waiting on the other side of the Tigris until the signs from heaven should warrant a move; for if Sapor had crossed the river and found no one to oppose him, he could easily have penetrated to the Euphrates; besides this, since he was keeping his soldiers in condition for civil war, he feared to expose them to the dangers of an attack upon a walled city, knowing by experience the strength of its fortifications and the energy of its defenders.

3 However, in order not to be wholly inactive, nor be criticised for slackness, he ordered Arbitio and Agilo, commanders of the cavalry and of the infantry, to sally forth promptly with strong forces, not with a view of provoking the Persians to battle, but to draw a cordon on our bank of the Tigris and be on the watch to see where the impetuous king might break through. Moreover, he often warned them by word of mouth and in writing that if the enemy’s horde should begin to cross, they were to retreat quickly. 4 Now, while these generals were guarding the frontiers assigned them, and the hidden purposes of that most deceitful nation were being observed, he himself with the stronger part of his army was attending to urgent affairs (getting ready for battle) and now and then sallying forth to protect the towns. But the scouts and deserters who appeared from time to time brought conflicting accounts, being uncertain what would happen, because among the Persians plans are communicated to none save the grandees, who are reticent and loyal, and with whom among their other gods Silence is honoured. 5 Moreover, the aforesaid generals kept sending for the emperor and begging that reinforcements be sent to them. For they declared that the attack of a most energetic king could not be met, unless all the forces were united at one point.

6 During these anxious proceedings frequent and trusty messengers arrived, from whose clear and faithful reports it was learned that Julian, having in swift course passed through Italy and Illyricum, had meanwhile seized the pass of Succi, where he was awaiting auxiliaries summoned from every quarter, in order to invade Thrace attended by a great force of soldiers. 7 When this was known, Constantius, though overwhelmed with sorrow, was sustained by the one comforting thought, that in civil strife he had always come off victor; but while the present situation made it most difficult to decide upon a plan, he resolved, as the best course, gradually to send his soldiers on in advance in the public conveyances, in order the sooner to meet the dread and imminent peril. 8 This plan met with general approval and the troops set out lightly equipped, as was ordered. But as he was carrying out this arrangement, word came next morning that the king with the entire force under his command had returned home, since the auspices put an end to his enterprise; relieved therefore of fear, Constantius recalled all the troops, except those that formed the usual defence of Mesopotamia, and quickly returned to the city of Nicopolis.

9 There, being still uncertain as to the outcome of his main enterprise, as soon as the army had come together he summoned all the centuries, maniples, and cohorts to an assembly; and when the trumpets sounded and the plain was filled with the multitude, in order to make them the more inclined to carry out his orders, he took his place upon a high tribunal with a larger retinue than common, and assuming an expression of calm confidence, addressed them as follows:

10 “Being always careful by no act or word, however slight, to allow myself to do anything inconsistent with faultless honour, and like a cautious steersman putting my helm up or down according to the movements of the waves, I am now constrained, dearly beloved soldiers, to confess to you my mistake, or rather (if I may be allowed to use the right word) my kindheartedness, which I believed would be profitable to the interests of all. Therefore, that you may the more readily know the ground for convoking this assembly, hear me, I pray you, with unprejudiced and favourable ears.

11 “At the time when Magnentius, whom your valorous deeds overthrew, was obstinately bent upon making general confusion in the state, I raised my cousin Gallus to the high rank of Caesar and sent him to defend the Orient. When he by many deeds abominable to witness and to rehearse had forsaken the path of justice, he was punished by the laws’ decree. 12 And would to Heaven that Envy, that busiest inciter of trouble, had been content with that, in order that only this one recollection of grief now past, but unaccompanied by dangers, might disquiet me. But now another blow has fallen, more to be lamented, I might venture to say, than those that went before, which the aid of Heaven through your native valour will make harmless. 13 Julian, to whom we entrusted the defence of Gaul while you were fighting the foreign nations that raged around Illyricum, presuming upon some trivial battles which he fought with the half-armed Germans, exulting like a madman, has involved in his ambitious cabal a few auxiliaries, whom their savagery and hopeless condition made ready for a destructive act of recklessness; and he has conspired for the hurt of the state, treading under foot Justice, the mother and nurse of the Roman world, who, as I readily believe from experience and the lessons of the past, will in the end, as the punisher of evil deeds, take vengeance on them, and will blow away their proud spirits like ashes.

14 “What, then, remains but to meet the storms that have been raised, with the purpose of crushing by the remedies of speed the madness of the growing war before it attains greater strength? For there is no doubt that through the present help of the most high Deity, by whose eternal verdict the ungrateful are condemned, the sword that has been impiously whetted must inevitably be turned to the destruction of those who, not provoked, but made greater by many favours, have risen to endanger the guiltless. 15 For, as my mind presages, and as Justice promises, who will aid right purposes, I give you my word that, when we come hand to hand, they will be so benumbed with terror as to be able to endure neither the flashing light of your eyes nor the first sound of your battle-cry.”

16 After these words all were led to his opinion, and brandishing their spears in anger they first replied with many expressions of goodwill, and then asked to be led at once against the rebel. This mark of favour turned the emperor’s fear into joy; he at once dissolved the assembly and ordered Arbitio, whom he already knew from former experiences to be successful before all others in quelling civil wars, to go before him on his march with the lancers, the mattiarii, and the companies of light armed troops; also Gomoarius with the Laeti, to oppose the coming advance of the enemy in the pass of Succi, a man chosen before others because he was a bitter enemy of Julian, who had treated him with contempt in Gaul.

14 Omens of the death of Constantius Augustus.

1 In this welter of adverse events Constantius’ fortune, already wavering and at a standstill, showed clearly by signs almost as plain as words, that a crisis in his life was at hand. For at night he was alarmed by apparitions, and when he was not yet wholly sunk in sleep, the ghost of his father seemed to hold out to him a fair child; and when he took it and set it in his lap, it shook from him the ball which he held in his right hand and threw it to a great distance. And this foretold a change in the state, although the seers gave reassuring answers. 2 After that he admitted to his more intimate attendants that, as though forsaken, he ceased to see a kind of secret something which he used to think occasionally appeared to him, though somewhat dimly; and it was supposed that a sort of guardian spirit, assigned to protect his life, had deserted him, since he was destined quickly to leave this world. 3 For the theologians maintain that there are associated with all men at their birth, but without interference from the established course of destiny, certain divinities of that sort, as directors of their conduct; but they have been seen by only a very few, whom their manifold merits have raised to eminence. 4 And this oracles and writers of distinction have shown; among the latter is also the comic poet Menander, in whom we read these two senarii:

A daemon is assigned to every man

At birth, to be the leader of his life.

5 Likewise from the immortal poems of Homer were given to understand that it was not the gods of heaven that spoke with brave men, and stood by them or aided them as they fought, but that guardian spirits attended them; and through reliance upon their special support, it is said, that Pythagoras, Socrates, and Numa Pompilius became famous; also the earlier Scipio, and (as some believe) Marius and Octavianus, who first had the title of Augustus conferred upon him, and Hermes Trismegistus, Apollonius of Tyana, and Plotinus, who ventured to discourse on this mystic theme, and to present a profound discussion of the question by what elements these spirits are linked with men’s souls, and taking them to their bosoms, as it were, protect them (as long as possible) and give them higher instruction, if they perceive that they are pure and kept from the pollution of sin through association with an immaculate body.

15 Constantius Augustus dies at Mobsucrenae in Cilicia.

1 Constantius, therefore, having reached Antiochia by forced marches, intending (as was his custom) eagerly to encounter civil disturbances at their outset, and having made all his preparations, was in immoderate haste to set out, although many opposed it, but only by murmurs; for no one dared openly to dissuade or to forbid him. 2 When autumn was already waning he began his march, and on coming to a suburban estate called Hippocephalus, distant three miles from the city, he saw in broad daylight on the right side of the road the corpse of a man with head torn off, lying stretched out towards the west. Terrified by the omen, although the fates were preparing his end, he kept on with the greater determination and arrived at Tarsus. There he was taken with a slight fever, but in the expectation of being able to throw off the danger of his illness by the motion of the journey he kept on over difficult roads to Mobsucrenae, the last station of Cilicia as you go from here, situated at the foot of Mount Taurus; but when he tried to start again on the following day, he was detained by the increasing severity of the disease. Gradually the extreme heat of the fever so inflamed his veins that his body could not even be touched, since it burned like a furnace; and when the application of remedies proved useless, as he breathed his last he lamented his end. However, while his mind was still unimpaired he is said to have designated Julian as the successor to the throne. 3 Then the death-rattle began and he was silent, and after a long struggle with life now about to leave him, he died on the fifth of October, in the thirty-eighth year of his reign at the age of forty-four years and a few months.

4 After this followed the last mournful call to the deceased, and grief and wailing broke out; then those who held the first rank in the royal court considered what they should do, or what they ought to attempt. And after a few had been sounded secretly as to the choice of an emperor, at the suggestion of Eusebius (as was reported), whom the consciousness of his guilt pricked, since Julian’s nearness made an attempt at revolution inadvisable, Theolaifus and Aligildus, at that time counts, were sent to him, to report the death of his kinsman, and beg him to lay aside all delay and come to take over the Orient, which was ready to obey him. 5 However, rumour and an uncertain report had it that Constantius had made a last will, in which (as I have said) he wrote down Julian as his heir and gave commissions and legacies to those who were dear to him. 6 Now he left his wife with child, and the posthumous daughter to whom she afterwards gave birth was called by his name, and when she grew up was united in marriage with Gratianus.

16 The virtues of Constantius Augustus, and his faults.

1 Observing, therefore, a true distinction between his good qualities and his defects, it will be fitting to set forth his good points first. He always maintained the dignity of imperial majesty, and his great and lofty spirit disdained the favour of the populace. He was exceedingly sparing in conferring the higher dignities, with few exceptions allowing no innovations in the way of additions to the administrative offices; and he never let the military lift their heads too high. 2 Under him no leader of an army was advanced to the rank of clarissimus. For they were (according to my personal recollection) all perfectissimi. The governor of a province never officially met a commander of the cavalry, nor was the latter official allowed to take part in civil affairs. But all the military and civil officials always looked up to the praetorian prefects with the old-time respect, as the peak of all authority. 3 In the maintenance of the soldiers he was exceedingly careful; somewhat critical at times in evaluating services, he bestowed appointments at court by the plumb-line, as it were. Under him no one who was to hold a high position was appointed to a post in the palace suddenly or untried, but a man who after ten years was to be marshal of the court, or head treasurer, or to fill any similar post, was thoroughly known. It very rarely happened that any military officer passed to a civil magistracy, and on the other hand, none were put in command of soldiers who had not grown hardy in the dust of battle. 4 He made great pretensions to learning, but after failing in rhetoric because of dullness of mind, he turned to making verses, but accomplished nothing worth while. 5 By a prudent and temperate manner of life and by moderation in eating and drinking he maintained such sound health that he rarely suffered from illnesses, but such as he had were of a dangerous character. For that abstinence from dissipation and luxury have this effect on the body is shown by repeated experience, as well as by the statements of physicians. 6 He was content with little sleep when time and circumstances so required. Throughout the entire span of his life he was so extraordinarily chaste, that not even a suspicion could be raised against him even by an ill-disposed attendant on his private life, a charge which malice, even if it fails to discover it, still trumps up, having regard to the unrestrained liberty of supreme power. 7 In riding, in hurling the javelin, and especially in the skilful use of the bow, and in all the exercises of the foot-soldiers, he was an adept. That no one ever saw him wipe his mouth or nose in public, or spit, or turn his face in either direction, or that so long as he lived he never tasted fruit, I leave unmentioned, since it has often been related.

8 Having given a succinct account of his merits, so far as I could know them, let us now come to an enumeration of his defects. While in administrative affairs he was comparable to other emperors of medium quality, if he found any indication, however slight or groundless, of an aspiration to the supreme power, by endless investigations, in which he made no distinction between right and wrong, he easily surpassed the savagery of Caligula, Domitian, and Commodus. For it was in rivalry of the cruelty of those emperors that at the beginning of his reign he destroyed root and branch all who were related to him by blood and race. 9 To add to the sufferings of the wretches who were reported to him for impairment of, or insult to, his majesty, his bitterness and angry suspicions were stretched to the uttermost in all such cases. If anything of the kind was bruited abroad, he gave himself up to inquisitions with more eagerness than humanity, and appointed for such trials merciless judges; and in the punishment of some he tried to make their death lingering, if nature allowed, in some particulars being even more ruthless than Gallienus in such inquisitions. 10 As a matter of fact, he was the object of many genuine plots of traitors, such as Aureolus, Postumus, Ingenuus, Valens surnamed Thessalonicus, and several others, yet he often showed leniency in punishing crimes which would bring death to the victim; but he also tried to make false or doubtful cases appear well-founded by excessively violent tortures. 11 And in such affairs he showed deadly enmity to justice, although he made a special effort to be considered just and merciful. And as sparks flying from a dry forest even with a light breeze of wind come with irresistible course and bring danger to rural villages, so he also from trivial causes roused up a mass of evils, unlike that revered prince Marcus, who, when Cassius had mounted to imperial heights in Syria, and a packet of letters sent by him to his accomplices had fallen into the emperor’s hands through the capture of their bearer, at once ordered it to be burned unopened, in order that, being at the time still in Illyricum, he might not know who were plotting against him, and hence be forced to hate some men against his will. 12 And, as some right-thinking men believed, it would have been a striking indication of true worth in Constantius, if he had renounced his power without bloodshed, rather than defended it so mercilessly. 13 And this Tully also shows in a letter to Nepos, in which he taxes Caesar with cruelty, saying: “For happiness is nothing else than success in noble actions. Or, to express it differently, happiness is the good fortune that aids worthy designs, and one who does not aim at these can in no wise be happy. Therefore, in lawless and impious plans, such as Caesar followed, there could be no happiness. Happier, in my judgement, was Camillus in exile than was Manlius at that same time, even if (as he had desired) he had succeeded in making himself king.” 14 Heraclitus the Ephesian also agrees with this, when he reminds us that the weak and cowardly have sometimes, through the mutability of fortune, been victorious over eminent men; but that the most conspicuous praise is won, when high-placed power sending, as it were, under the yoke the inclination to harm, to be angry, and to show cruelty, on the citadel of a spirit victorious over itself has raised a glorious trophy.

15 Now, although this emperor in foreign wars met with loss and disaster, yet he was elated by his success in civil conflicts and drenched with awful gore from the internal wounds of the state. It was on this unworthy rather than just or usual ground that in Gaul and Pannonia he erected triumphal arches at great expense commemorating the ruin of the provinces, and added records of his deeds, that men might read of him so long as those monuments could last. 16 He was to an excessive degree under the influence of his wives, and the shrill-voiced eunuchs, and certain of the court officials, who applauded his every word, and listened for his “yes” or “no,” in order to be able to agree with him.

17 The bitterness of the times was increased by the insatiate exertions of the tax-collectors, who brought him more hatred than money; and to many this seemed the more intolerable, for the reason that he never investigated a dispute, nor had regard for the welfare of the provinces, although they were oppressed by a multiplicity of taxes and tributes. And besides this, he found it easy to take away exemptions which he had once given.

18 The plain and simple religion of the Christians he obscured by a dotard’s superstition, and by subtle and involved discussions about dogma, rather than by seriously trying to make them agree, he aroused many controversies; and as these spread more and more, he fed them with contentious words. And since throngs of bishops hastened hither and thither on the public post-horses to the various synods, as they call them, while he sought to make the whole ritual conform to his own will, he cut the sinews of the courier-service.

19 His bodily appearance and form were as follows: he was rather dark, with bulging eyes and sharp-sighted; his hair was soft and his regularly shaven cheeks were neat and shining; from the meeting of neck and shoulders to the groin he was unusually long, and his legs were very short and bowed, for which reason he was good at running and leaping.

20 When the corpse of the deceased emperor had been washed and placed in a coffin, Jovianus, who was at that time still an officer in the bodyguard, was ordered to escort it with regal pomp to Constantinople, to be interred beside his kinsfolk. 21 And as he sat in the carriage that bore the remains, samples of the soldiers’ rations (“probae,” as they themselves call them) were presented to him, as they commonly are to emperors, and the public courier-horses were shown to him, and the people thronged about him in the customary manner. These and similar things foretold imperial power for the said Jovianus, but of an empty and shadowy kind, since he was merely the director of a funeral procession.

Book XXII

1 Julianus Augustus, through fear of Constantius Augustus, halts in Dacia and secretly consults soothsayers and augurs.

1 While Fortune’s mutable phases were causing these occurrences in a different part of the world, Julian in the midst of his many occupations in Illyricum was constantly prying into the entrails of victims and watching the flight of birds, in his eagerness to foreknow the result of events; but he was perplexed by ambiguous and obscure predictions and continued to be uncertain of the future. 2 At length, however, Aprunculus, a Gallic orator skilled in soothsaying, afterwards advanced to be governor of Gallia Narbonensis, told him what would happen, having learned it (as he himself declared) from the inspection of a liver which he had seen covered with a double lobe. And although Julian feared that it might be a fiction conformable to his own desire, and was therefore troubled, he himself saw a much more evident sign which clearly foretold the death of Constantius. For at the very moment when that emperor died in Cilicia, a soldier who lifted Julian with his right hand to mount his horse slipped and fell to the ground; and Julian at once cried in the hearing of many: “The man has fallen who raised me to my high estate.” 3 But although he knew that these were favourable signs, yet as if standing fast upon his guard he remained within the confines of Dacia, and even so was troubled with many fears. For he did not deem it prudent to trust the predictions which might perhaps be fulfilled by contraries.

2 Julian, on learning of the death of Constantius, traverses Thrace and enters Constantinople without opposition, thus assuming the rule of the entire Roman empire without a struggle.

1 Amid this state of suspense the envoys Theolaifus and Aligildus, who had been sent to him, suddenly appeared and reported the death of Constantius, adding that with his last words he had made Julian the successor to his power. 2 On learning this, and being now saved from the fret of dangers and the throes of war’s anxieties, he was hugely elated. And now believing in the prophecies, and knowing by experience that speed had often been helpful to his enterprises, he ordered a march into Thrace, quickly broke camp, and passing the slope of Succi, made for Philippopolis, the ancient Eumolpias, followed with eager step by all who were under his command. 3 For they perceived that the throne, which they were on their way to usurp in the face of the greatest dangers, had beyond their hope been granted to him by the ordinary course of law. And as rumour is wont to exaggerate all novelties, he hastened on from there, now raised still higher, as though in some chariot of Triptolemus, which the poets of old, because of its swift turnings, represented as drawn through the air by winged dragons; and dreaded by land and sea and opposed by no delays, he entered Heraclea, also called Perinthus. 4 When this was presently known at Constantinople, all ages and sexes poured forth, as if to look upon someone sent from heaven. And so he was met on the eleventh of December with the respectful attendance of the senate and the unanimous applause of the people, and surrounded by troops of soldiers and citizens he was escorted as if by an army in line of battle, while all eyes were turned upon him, not only with a fixed gaze, but also with great admiration. 5 For it seemed almost like a dream that this young man, just come to his growth, of small stature but conspicuous for great deeds, after the bloodstained destruction of kings and nations had passed from city to city with unlooked-for speed; that increasing in power and strength wherever he went, he had easily seized upon all places as swiftly as rumour flies, and finally had received the imperial power, bestowed upon him by Heaven’s nod without any loss to the state.

3 Some adherents of Constantius are condemned to death, a part justly, others unjustly.

1 Shortly after this Salutius Secundus was raised to the rank of praetorian prefect, and given, as a trustworthy official, the chief oversight of the inquisitions that were to be set on foot; and with him were associated Mamertinus, Arbitio, Agilo, and Nevitta, and also Jovinus, lately advanced to be commander of the cavalry in Illyricum. 2 These crossed all to Chalcedon, and in the presence of the generals and tribunes of the Joviani and the Herculiani examined the cases with more passion than was just and right, with the exception of a few, in which the evidence showed that the accused were most guilty. 3 At first they banished to Britain Palladius, formerly chief marshal of the court, who was brought before them merely on the suspicion of having made certain charges to Constantius against Gallus, when he held the same office under the said Gallus, who was at the time Caesar. 4 Then Taurus, who had been praetorian prefect, was exiled to Vercellum, although before judges who could distinguish justice from injustice his action might have appeared deserving of pardon. For what sin did he commit, if in fear of a storm that had arisen he fled to the protection of his emperor? And the decisions that were passed upon him were read not without great horror in the public protocol, which contained this beginning, “In the consulate of Taurus and Florentius, when Taurus was summoned to court by the criers.” 5 Pentadius also was threatened with the same fate, against whom the charge was made, that, being sent by Constantius he took down in shorthand the answers that Gallus had made to the many questions put to him when his ruin was approaching. But since he justified himself, he finally got off unpunished. 6 With like injustice Florentius (son of Nigrinianus), then chief marshal of the court, was imprisoned in the Dalmatian island of Boae. For a second Florentius, a former praetorian prefect and consul at the time, being alarmed by the sudden change in the state, saved himself from danger with his wife, lay hid for a long time, and could not return until after the death of Julian; yet he was condemned to death in his absence. 7 In like manner Euagrius, count of the privy purse, and Saturninus, former steward of the household, and Cyrinus, a former secretary, were all exiled. But for the death of Ursulus, count of the sacred largesses, Justice herself seems to me to have wept, and to have accused the emperor of ingratitude. For when Julian was sent as Caesar to the western regions, to be treated with extreme niggardliness, being granted no power of making any donative to the soldiers to the end that he might be exposed to more serious mutinies of the army, this very Ursulus wrote to the man in charge of the Gallic treasury, ordering that whatever the Caesar asked for should be given him without hesitation. 8 After Ursulus’ death Julian found himself the object of the reproaches and curses of many men, and thinking that he could excuse himself for the unpardonable crime, he declared that the man had been put to death without his knowledge, alleging that his taking off was due to the anger of the soldiers, who remembered his words (which we have reported before) when he saw the ruins of Amida.

9 From this it was clear that Julian was timorous, or that he did not know what was fitting, when he put Arbitio, who was always untrustworthy and excessively haughty, in charge of these inquisitions, while the others, including the officers of the legions, were present merely for show; for Arbitio was a man whom he knew above all others to be a threat to his own safety, as was to be expected of one who had taken a valiant part in the victories of the civil wars.

10 But, although these acts which I have mentioned displeased even Julian’s supporters, yet those which follow were executed with proper vigour and severity. 11 For Apodemius, of the imperial secret service, who, as we have said, showed unbridled eagerness for the death of Silvanus and Gallus, was burned alive, as well as Paulus the notary, surnamed Catena, a man to be mentioned by many with groans, who thus met the fate which was to have been hoped for. 12 Eusebius besides, who had been made Constantius’ grand chamberlain, a man full of pride and cruelty, was condemned to death by the judges. This man, who had been raised from the lowest station to a position which enabled him almost to give orders like those of the emperor himself, and in consequence had become intolerable, Adrastia, the judge of human acts, had plucked by the ear (as the saying is) and warned him to live with more restraint; and when he demurred, she threw him headlong, as if from a lofty cliff.

4 Julianus Augustus drives all the eunuchs, barbers and cooks from the palace. On the vices of the eunuchs of the court and the corruption of military discipline.

1 After this the emperor turned his attention to the palace attendants, and dismissed all who belonged to that class or could be included in it, but not like a philosopher claiming to research into truth. 2 For he might have been commended if he at least retained some, few though they were, who were of modest behaviour or known to be of virtuous character. But it must be admitted that the major part of those creatures maintained a vast nursery of all the vices, to such a degree that they infected the state with evil passions, and rather by their example than by their license in wrong-doing injured many. 3 For some of them, fattened on the robbery of temples and scenting out gain from every source, on being raised from abject poverty at one bound to enormous wealth, knew no limit to bribery, robbery, and extravagance, always accustomed as they were to seize the property of others. 4 Hence sprang the seeds of a dissolute life, perjury and disregard for good name, and their mad pride stained their honour by shameful gains. 5 Meanwhile, gluttony and deep abysses of banquets grew apace, and the place of triumphs won in battle was taken by those gained at the table. The lavish use of silk and of the textile arts increased, and more anxious attention to the kitchen. Showy sites for richly adorned houses were eagerly sought, of such dimensions that if the consul Quinctius had owned as much in farmland, he would have lost the glory of his poverty even after his dictatorship.

6 To these conditions, shameful as they were, were added serious defects in military discipline. In place of the war-song the soldiers practised effeminate ditties; the warriors’ bed was not a stone (as in days of yore), but feathers and folding couches; their cups were now heavier than their swords (for they were ashamed to drink from earthenware); they even procured houses of marble, although it is written in the records of old that a Spartan soldier was severely punished because during a campaign he dared to be seen under a roof. 7 Moreover, the soldiers of those times were so insolent and rapacious towards their countrymen, and so cowardly and weak in the presence of the enemy, that having acquired riches by patronage and idleness, they were adepts in distinguishing the varieties of gold and gems, contrary to the usage even of recent times. 8 For it is well known that under Caesar Maximianus, when a fortified camp of the Persian king was pillaged, a common soldier after finding a Parthian jewel-box containing pearls, threw away the gems in ignorance of their value, and went his way, quite satisfied with the beauty of the leather alone.

9 It happened at that same time that a barber, who had been summoned to trim the emperor’s hair, appeared in splendid attire. On seeing him, Julian was amazed, and said: “I sent for a barber, not a fiscal agent.” However, he asked the man what his trade brought him in; to which the barber replied twenty daily allowances of bread, and the same amount of fodder for pack-animals (these they commonly call capita), as well as a heavy annual salary, not to mention many rich perquisites. 10 Incensed by this, Julian discharged all attendants of that kind (as being not at all necessary to him), as well as cooks and other similar servants, who were in the habit of receiving almost the same amount, giving them permission to go wherever they wished.

5 Julianus Augustus openly and freely professes the worship of the gods, which he had previously practised secretly, and sets the bishops of the Christians at odds.

1 Although Julian from the earliest days of his childhood had been more inclined towards the worship of the pagan gods, and as he gradually grew up burned with longing to practise it, yet because of his many reasons for anxiety he observed certain of its rites with the greatest possible secrecy. 2 But when his fears were ended, and he saw that the time had come when he could do as he wished, he revealed the secrets of his heart and by plain and formal decrees ordered the temples to be opened, victims brought to the altars, and the worship of the gods restored. 3 And in order to add to the effectiveness of these ordinances, he summoned to the palace the bishops of the Christians, who were of conflicting opinions, and the people, who were also at variance, and politely advised them to lay aside their differences, and each fearlessly and without opposition to observe his own beliefs. 4 On this he took a firm stand, to the end that, as this freedom increased their dissension, he might afterwards have no fear of a united populace, knowing as he did from experience that no wild beasts are such enemies to mankind as are most of the Christians in their deadly hatred of one another. And he often used to say: “Hear me, to whom the Alamanni and the Franks have given ear,” thinking that in this he was imitating a saying of the earlier emperor Marcus. But he did not observe that the two cases were very different. 5 For Marcus, as he was passing through Palestine on his way to Egypt, being often disgusted with the malodorous and rebellious Jews is reported to have cried: “O Marcomanni, O Quadi, O Sarmatians, at last I have found a people more unruly than you.”

6 The cleverness with which Julian forced several Egyptian petitioners, by whom he was annoyed and interrupted, to return to their homes.

1 At this same time, induced by sundry rumours, there came a number of Egyptians, a contentious race of men, by custom always delighting in intricate litigation, and especially eager for excessive indemnification if they had paid anything to a collector of debts, either for the purpose of being relieved of the debt or at any rate, to bring in what was demanded of them more conveniently by postponing it; or eager to charge wealthy men with extortion and threaten them with court proceedings. 2 All these, crowding together and chattering like jays, unseasonably interrupted the emperor himself, as well as the praetorian prefects, demanding after almost seventy years moneys that they declared that they had paid, justly or otherwise, to many individuals. 3 And, since they prevented any other business from receiving attention, the emperor issued an edict, in which he bade them all go to Chalcedon; he promised that he would himself also shortly come there, to settle all their claims. 4 After they had crossed, orders were given to the captains of ships going to or coming from that port not to dare to give an Egyptian passage; and since that order was strictly observed, this obstinate attempt at blackmail vanished, and they all returned to their homes, disappointed in the hopes that they had entertained. 5 Thereupon a law was passed, as if at the proposal of Justice herself, which provided that no advocate at court should be troubled about payments which it was recognised that he had justly received.

7 Julian often holds court in the senate-house at Constantinople, and there, while he is setting in order the affairs of Thrace, he is approached by several deputations from foreign nations.

1 And so the first of January came, when the consular annals took on the names of Mamertinus and Nevitta; and the emperor showed himself especially condescending by going on foot to their inauguration in company with other high officials, an action which some commended but others criticised as affected and cheap. 2 Then, when Mamertinus gave games in the Circus and the slaves that were to be manumitted were led in by the assistant master of ceremonies, the emperor himself, with too great haste, pronounced the usual formula, that it be done according to law; and on being reminded that the jurisdiction that day belonged to another, he fined himself ten pounds of gold, as guilty of an oversight.

3 Meanwhile, he came frequently into the senate house to give attention to various matters with which the many changes in the state burdened him. And when one day, as he was sitting in judgement there, and it was announced that the philosopher Maximus had come from Asia, he started up in an undignified manner, so far forgetting himself that he ran at full speed to a distance from the vestibule, and after having kissed the philosopher and received him with reverence, brought him back with him. This unseemly ostentation made him appear to be an excessive seeker for empty fame, and to have forgotten that splendid saying of Cicero’s, which narrates the following in criticising such folk: 4 “Those very same philosophers inscribe their names on the very books which they write despising glory, so that even when they express scorn of honour and fame, they wish to be praised and known by name.”

5 Not long after this, two former members of the secret service who were among those who had been discharged approached the emperor confidently and promised to point out the hiding-place of Florentius on condition that their military rank be restored to them. But he rebuked them and called them informers, adding that it was not worthy of an emperor to be led by indirect information to bring back a man who had concealed himself through fear of death, and who perhaps would not be allowed to remain long in hiding without hope of pardon.

6 Present at all these events was Praetextatus, a senator of noble character and old-time dignity, whom Julian had chanced to find engaged in private business at Constantinople and on his own initiative had appointed governor of Achaia with proconsular authority.

7 But, although he was so diligently engaged in reforming civil abuses, he did not on that account neglect military affairs, but put in command of the soldiers men approved by long trial; nay more, he repaired all the cities throughout Thrace as well as the fortifications on the borders, and took particular pains that the troops posted along the banks of the Danube, who, as he heard, were meeting inroads of the savages with watchfulness and valour, should lack neither arms and clothing nor pay and supplies. 8 While he was so arranging these matters, tolerating no slackness in action, his intimates tried to persuade him to attack the neighbouring Goths, who were often deceitful and treacherous; but he replied that he was looking for a better enemy; that for the Goths the Galatian traders were enough, by whom they were offered for sale everywhere without distinction of rank.

9 While he was attending to these and similar affairs he gained a reputation among foreign nations for eminence in bravery, sobriety, and knowledge of military affairs, as well as of all noble qualities; and his fame gradually spread and filled the entire world. 10 Then, since the fear of his coming extended widely over neighbouring and far distant nations, deputations hastened to him from all sides more speedily than usual: on one side, the peoples beyond the Tigris and the Armenians begged for peace; on another, the Indian nations as far as the Divi and the Serendivi vied with one another in sending their leading men with gifts ahead of time; on the south, the Moors offered their services to the Roman state; from the north and the desert regions, through which the Phasis flows to the sea, came embassies from the Bosporani and other hitherto unknown peoples, humbly asking that on payment of their annual tribute they might be allowed to live in peace within the bounds of their native lands.

8 A description of Thrace, of the Pontic sea, and of the regions and peoples adjacent to the latter.

1 Now is a fitting time (I think), since the history of a great prince has opportunely brought us to these places, to give some account of the remote parts of Thrace, and of the topography of the Pontic sea, with clearness and accuracy, partly from my own observation and partly from reading.

2 Athos, that lofty mountain in Macedonia through which the Medic ships once passed, and Caphereus, the headland of Euboea where Nauplius, father of Palamedes, wrecked the Argive fleet, although they face each other at a long distance apart, separate the Aegean and the Thessalian seas. The Aegean gradually grows larger, and on the right, where it is of wide extent, is rich in islands through the Sporades and Cyclades, so-called because they are all grouped about Delos, famous as the cradle of the gods. On the left, it washes Imbros and Tenedos, Lemnos and Thasos, and when the wind is strong, dashes violently upon Lesbos. 3 From there, with back-flowing current, it laves the temple of Apollo Sminthius, the Troad, and Ilium, famed for the death of heroes, and forms the bay of Melas, facing the west wind, at the entrance of which is seen Abdera, the home of Protagoras and Democritus, and the bloodstained dwelling of the Thracian Diomedes, and the vales through which the Hebrus flows into it, and Maronea and Aenos, a city which Aeneas began under unfavourable auspices, but presently abandoned it and hastened on to ancient Ausonia under the guidance of the gods.

4 After this, the Aegean gradually grows narrower and flows as if by a kind of natural union into the Pontus; and joining with a part of this it takes the form of the Greek letter Φ. Then it separates Hellespontus from the province of Rhodopa and flows past Cynossema, where Hecuba is supposed to be buried, and Coela, Sestos and Callipolis. On the opposite side it washes the tombs of Achilles and Ajax, and Dardanus and Abydus, from which Xerxes built a bridge and crossed the sea on foot; then Lampsacus, which the Persian king gave to Themistocles as a gift, and Parion, founded by Paris, the son of Iasion. 5 Then swelling on both sides into the form of a half-circle and giving a view of widely separated lands, it laves with the spreading waters of the Propontis, on the eastern side Cyzicus and Dindyma, where there is a sacred shrine of the Great Mother, and Apamia and Cius, where Hylas was pursued and carried off by the nymph, and Astacus, in a later age called after King Nicomedes. Where it turns to the westward it beats upon the Cherronesus and Aegospotami, where Anaxagoras predicted a rain of stones from heaven, and Lysimachia and the city which Hercules founded and dedicated to the name of his comrade Perinthus; 6 and in order to keep the form of the letter Φ full and complete, in the very middle of the circle lies the oblong island of Proconesos, and Besbicus.

7 After reaching the extreme end of this part, it again contracts into a narrow strait, and flowing between Europe and Bithynia, passes by Chalcedon, Chrysopolis, and some obscure stations. 8 Its left bank, however, is looked down upon by the port of Athyras and Selymbria, and Constantinople, the ancient Byzantium, a colony of the Athenians, and the promontory Ceras, which bears a tower built high and giving light to ships; therefore a very cold wind which often blows from that quarter is called Ceratas.

9 After being broken in this fashion and coming to an end through the mingling of the two seas, it now grows quieter and spreads out into the form of a flat of water extending in width and length as far as the eye can reach. 10 The complete voyage around its shores, as one would encircle an island, is a distance of 23,000 stadia, as is asserted by Eratosthenes, Hecataeus, Ptolemy, and other very accurate investigators of such problems; and according to the testimony of all geographers it has the form of a drawn Scythian bow. 11 And where the sun rises from the eastern ocean it comes to an end in the marshes of the Maeotis; where it inclines towards the west it is bounded by Roman provinces; where it looks up to the Bears it breeds men of varying languages and habits; on the southern side it slopes downward in a gentle curve. 12 Over this vast space are scattered cities of the Greeks, all of which, with a few exceptions, were founded at varying periods by the Milesians, who were themselves colonists of the Athenians. The Milesians in much earlier times were established among other Ionians in Asia by Nileus, the son of that Codrus who (they say) sacrificed himself for his country in the Dorian war. 13 Now the tips of the bow on both sides are represented by the two Bospori lying opposite to each other, the Thracian and the Cimmerian; and they are called Bospori, as the poets say, because the daughter of Inachus, when she was changed into a heifer, once crossed through them into the Ionian sea.

14 The right-hand curve of the Thracian Bosporus begins with the shore of Bithynia, which the men of old called Mygdonia, containing the provinces of Thynia and Mariandena, and also the Bebrycians, who were delivered from the cruelty of Amycus through the valour of Pollux; and a remote station, a place where the menacing harpies fluttered about the seer Phineus and filled him with fear. Along these shores, which curve into extensive bays, the rivers Sangarius and Phyllis, Lycus and Rheba pour into the sea; opposite them are the dark Symplegades, twin rocks rising on all sides into precipitous cliffs, which were wont in ages past to rush together and dash their huge mass upon each other with awful crash, and then to recoil with a swift spring and return to what they had struck. If should fly between these swiftly separating and clashing rocks, no speed of wing could save it from being crushed to death. 15 But these cliffs, ever since the Argo, first of all ships, hastening to Colchis to carry off the golden fleece, had passed between them unharmed, have stood motionless with their force assuaged and so united that no one of those who now look upon them would believe that they had ever been separated, were it not that all the songs of the poets of old agree about the story.

16 Beyond one part of Bithynia extend the provinces of Pontus and Paphlagonia, in which are the great cities of Heraclea, Sinope, Polemonion and Amisos, as well as Tios and Amastris, all owing their origin to the activity of the Greeks; also Cerasus, from which Lucullus brought the fruit so-named. There are also two islands, on which are situated the celebrated cities of Trapezus and Pityus. 17 Beyond these places is the Acherusian cave, which the natives call Mychopontion, and the port of Acone, besides the rivers Acheron (also called the Arcadius), Iris, Thybris, and hard by, the Parthenius, all of which flow with swift course into the sea. The next river to these is the Thermodon, flowing from Mount Armonius and gliding through the Themiscyraean groves, to which the Amazons were forced to migrate in days of yore for the following reason.

18 The Amazons of old, after having by constant losses worn out their neighbours, and devastated them by bloody raids, had higher aspirations; and considering their strength and feeling that it was too great merely for frequent attacks upon their neighbours, being carried away besides by the headstrong heat of covetousness, they broke through many nations and made war upon the Athenians. But after a bitter contest they were scattered in all directions, and since the flanks of their cavalry were left unprotected, they all perished. 19 Upon the news of the destruction the remainder, who had been left at home as unfit for war, suffered extreme hardship; and in order to avoid the deadly attacks of their neighbours, who paid them like for like, they moved to a quieter abode on the Thermodon. Thereafter their descendants, who had greatly increased, returned, thanks to their numerous offspring, with a very powerful force, and in later times were a cause of terror to peoples of divers nationalities.

20 Not far from there the hill called Carambis lifts itself with gentle slope, rising towards the Great Bear of the north, and opposite this, at a distance of 2500 stadia, is Criumetopon, a promontory of Taurica. From this point the whole seacoast, beginning at the river Halys, as if drawn in a straight line, has the form of the string joined to the two tips of the bow. 21 Bordering on these regions are the Dahae, the fiercest of all warriors, and the Chalybes, by whom iron was first mined and worked. Beyond these are open plains, inhabited by the Byzares, Sapires, Tibareni, Mossynoeci, Macrones and Philyres, peoples not known to us through any intercourse. 22 A short distance from these are the tombs of famous men, in which are buried Sthenelus, Idmon, and Tiphys; the first of these was a companion of Hercules, mortally wounded in the war with the Amazons, the second the augur of the Argonauts, the third the careful steersman of that same craft. 23 After passing the places mentioned, one comes to the grotto of Aulion and the river Callichorus, which owes its name to the fact that Bacchus, when he had after three years vanquished the peoples of India, returned to those regions, and on the green and shady banks of that river renewed the former orgies and dances; some think that this kind of festival was also called trieterica. 24 Beyond these territories are the populous districts of the Camaritae, and the Phasis in impetuous course borders on the Colchians, an ancient race of Egyptian origin. There, among other cities, is Phasis, which gets its name from the river, and Dioscurias, well known even to this day, said to have been founded by Amphitus and Cercius of Sparta, the charioteers of Castor and Pollux, and founders of the nation of the Heniochi. 25 A short distance from these are the Achaei, who, after the end of an earlier war at Troy (not the one which was fought about Helen, as some writers have asserted), being carried out of their course by contrary winds to Pontus, and meeting enemies everywhere, were unable to find a place for a permanent home, and so they settled on the tops of mountains covered with perpetual snow, where, compelled by the rigorous climate, they became accustomed to make a dangerous living by robbery, and hence became later beyond all measure savage. About the Cercetae, who adjoin them, we have no information worth mentioning.

26 Behind these dwell the inhabitants of the Cimmerian Bosporus, where Milesian cities are, and Panticapaeum, the mother, so to speak, of all; this the river Hypanis washes, swollen with its own and tributary waters. 27 Next, at a considerable distance, are the Amazons, who extend to the Caspian Sea and live about the Tanaïs, which rises among the crags of Caucasus, flows in a course with many windings, and after separating Europe from Asia vanishes in the standing pools of the Maeotis. 28 Near this is the river Ra, on whose banks grows a plant of the same name, the root of which is used for many medicinal purposes.

29 Beyond the Tanaïs the Sauromatae have a territory of wide extent, through which flow the never-failing rivers Maraccus, Rombites, Theophanes and Totordanes. However, there is also another nation of the Sauromatae, an enormous distance away, extending along the shore which receives the river Corax and pours it far out into the Euxine Sea.

30 Nearby is the Maeotic Gulf of wide circuit, from whose abundant springs a great body of water bursts through the narrows of Panticapes into the Pontus. On its right side are the islands Phanagorus and Hermonassa, founded by the industry of the Greeks. 31 Around these farthest and most distant marshes live numerous nations, differing in the variety of their languages and customs: the Ixomatae, Maeotae, Iazyges, Roxolani, Halani, Melanchlaenae, and with the Geloni, the Agathyrsi, in whose country an abundance of the stone called adamant is found; and farther beyond are other peoples, who are wholly unknown, since they are the remotest of all men. 32 But near the left side of the Maeotis is the Cherronesus, full of Greek colonies. Hence the inhabitants are quiet and peaceful, plying the plough and living on the products of the soil.

33 At no great distance from these are the Tauri, divided into various kingdoms, among whom the Arichi, the Sinchi, and the Napaei are terrible for their ruthless cruelty, and since long continued license has increased their savageness, they have given the sea the name of Inhospitable; but in irony it is called by the contrary name of Pontus Εὔξεινος, just as we Greeks call a fool εὐήθης, and night εὐφρόνη, and the Furies Εὐμενίδες. 34 For these peoples offer human victims to the gods and sacrifice strangers to Diana, whom they call Orsiloche, and affix the skulls of the slain to the walls of her temple, as a lasting memorial of their valorous deeds.

35 In this Tauric country is the island of Leuce, entirely uninhabited dedicated to Achilles. And if any happen to be carried to that island, after looking at the ancient remains, the temple, and the gifts consecrated to that hero, they return at evening to their ships; for it is said that no one can pass the night there except at the risk of his life. At that place there are also springs and white birds live there resembling halcyons, of whose origin and battles in the Hellespont I shall speak at the appropriate time. 36 Now there are some cities in the Taurica, conspicuous among which are Eupatoria, Dandace, and Theodosia, with other smaller towns, which are not contaminated with human sacrifices.

37 So far the peak of the bow is thought to extend; the remainder of it, gently curved and lying under the Bear in the heavens, we shall now follow as far as the left side of the Thracian Bosporus, as the order demands, with this warning; that while the bows of all other races are bent with the staves curved, in those of the Scythians alone, or the Parthians, since a straight rounded handle divides them in the middle, the ends are bent downwards on both sides and far apart, presenting the form of a waning moon.

38 Well then, at the very beginning of this district, where the Riphaean mountains sink to the plain, dwell the Aremphaei, just men and known for their gentleness, through whose country flow the rivers Chronius and Visula. Near them are the Massagetae, Halani, and Sargetae, as well as several other obscure peoples whose names and customs are unknown to us. 39 Then at a considerable distance the Carcinitian gulf opens up, with a river of the same name, and the grove of Trivia, sacred in those regions. 40 Next the Borysthenes, rising in the mountains of the Nervii, rich in waters from its own springs, which are increased by many tributaries, and mingle with the sea in high-rolling waves. On its well-wooded banks are the cities of Borysthenes and Cephalonesus and the altars consecrated to Alexander the Great and Augustus Caesar. 41 Then, a long distance away, is a peninsula inhabited by the Sindi, people of low birth, who after the disaster to their masters in Asia got possession of their wives and property. Next to these is a narrow strip of shore which the natives call Ἀχιλλέως δρόμος, memorable in times past for the exercises of the Thessalian leader. And next to it is the city Tyros, a colony of the Phoenicians, washed by the river Tyras.

42 Now in the middle space of the bow, which, as I have said, is widely rounded out and is fifteen days’ journey for an active traveller, are the European Halani, the Costobocae, and innumerable Scythian tribes, which extend to lands which have no known limit. Of these, only a small part live on the fruits of the earth; all the rest roam over desert wastes, which never knew plough nor seeds, but are rough from neglect and subject to frosts; and they feed after the foul manner of wild beasts. Their dear ones, their dwellings, and their poor belongings they pack upon wains covered with the bark of trees, and when the fancy takes them they change their abode without trouble, wheeling their carts to the place which has attracted them.

43 But when we have come to another bend, abounding in harbours, which forms the last part of the curve of the bow, the island of Peuce juts forth, and around this dwell the Trogodytae, the Peuci, and other lesser tribes. Here is Histros, once a powerful city, and Tomi, Apollonia, Anchialos, and Odessos, besides many other cities which lie along the Thracian coast. 44 But the river Danube, rising near Augst, and the mountains near the Raetian frontier, extends over a wide tract, and after receiving sixty tributaries, nearly all of which are navigable, breaks through this Scythian shore into the sea through seven mouths. 45 The first of these, as their names are interpreted in the Greek tongue, is the aforesaid island of Peuce, the second Naracustoma, the third Calonstoma, the fourth Pseudostoma; but the Borionstoma and Stenostoma are far smaller than the others; the seventh is muddy and black like a swamp.

46 Now the entire Pontus throughout its whole circuit is misty, has sweeter waters than the other seas, and is full of shoals, since the air is often thickened and condensed from the evaporation of moisture, and is tempered by the great masses of water that flow into it; and, because the many rivers that pour into it from every side bring in mud and clods, it rises in shoals that are full of ridges. 47 And it is a well-known fact that fish from the remotest bounds of our sea come in schools to this retreat for the purpose of spawning, in order that they may rear their young more healthfully in its sweet waters, and that in the refuge of the hollows, such as are very numerous there, they may be secure from voracious sea-beasts; for in the Pontus nothing of that kind has ever been seen, except small and harmless dolphins. 48 But the part of that same Pontic gulf which is scourged by the north wind and by frosts is so completely bound in ice, that neither are the courses of the rivers believed to flow beneath the ice, nor can men or animals keep their footing on the treacherous and slippery surface, a defect which an unmixed sea never has, but only one which is mingled with water from rivers. But since I have been carried somewhat farther than I expected, let us hasten on to the rest of our story.

49 Another thing was added, to crown the present joys, something long hoped for it is true, but delayed by an extensive complex of postponements. For it was announced by Agilo and Jovius, who was later quaestor, that the defenders of Aquileia, through weariness of the long siege and having learned of the death of Constantius, had opened their gates, come out, and surrendered the instigators of the revolt; that these were burned alive (as was told above), and all the rest obtained indulgence and pardon for their offences.

9 Julianus Augustus, after having enlarged and adorned Constantinople, went to Antioch. On the way he gave the people of Nicomedia funds for the restoration of their ruined city, and found time for holding court at Ancyra.

1 But Julian, elated by his success, now felt more than mortal aspirations, since he had been tried by so many dangers and now upon him, the undisputed ruler of the Roman world, propitious Fortune, as if bearing an earthly horn of plenty, was bestowing all glory and prosperity; also adding this to the records of his former victories, that so long as he was sole ruler he was disturbed by no internal strife and no barbarians crossed his frontiers; but all nations, laying aside their former eagerness for repeated attacks, as ruinous and liable to punishment, were fired with a wonderful desire of sounding his praises.

2 Therefore, after everything that the times and the changed circumstances demanded had been arranged with careful deliberation, and the soldiers had by numerous addresses and by adequate pay been roused to greater readiness for carrying out the coming enterprises, exulting in the favour of all men, he hastened to go to Antioch, leaving Constantinople supported by great increase of strength; for it was there that he was born, and he loved and cherished the city as his natal place. 3 Accordingly, having crossed the strait, and passed by Chalcedon and Libyssa, where Hannibal the Carthaginian was buried, he came to Nicomedia, a city famed of old and so enlarged at the great expense of earlier emperors, that because of the great number of its private and public buildings it was regarded by good judges as one of the regions, so to speak, of the Eternal City. 4 When he saw that its walls had sunk into a pitiful heap of ashes, showing his distress by silent tears he went with lagging step to the palace: and in particular he wept over the wretched state of the city because the senate and the people, who had formerly been in a most flourishing condition, met him in mourning garb. And certain of them he recognised, since he had been brought up there under the bishop Eusebius, whose distant relative he was. 5 Having here also in a similar way generously furnished many things that were necessary for repairing the damage done by the earthquake, he went on past Nicaea to the borders of Gallograecia. From there he made a detour to the right and turned to Pessinus, in order to visit the ancient shrine of the Great Mother. It was from that town, in the second Punic war, that at the direction of the Cumaean verses her image was brought to Rome by Scipio Nasica. 6 Of its arrival in Italy, along with other matters relating to the subject I have given a brief account by way of digression in telling of the acts of the emperor Commodus. But why the town was called by that name writers of history are not in agreement; 7 for some have maintained that since the image of the goddess fell from heaven, the city was named from πεσεῖν, which is the Greek word meaning “to fall.” Others say that Ilus, son of Tros, king of Dardania, gave the place that name. But Theopompus asserts that it was not Ilus who did it, but Midas, the once mighty king of Phrygia.

8 Then, after Julian had worshipped the deity and propitiated her with victims and vows, he returned to Ancyra. And as he continued his journey from there, the multitude annoyed him, some demanding the return of what had been wrested from them by violence, others complaining that they had unjustly been forced onto the boards of senators, while some, without regard to their own danger, exerted themselves to the point of madness to involve their opponents in charges of high treason. 9 But he, a judge more severe than a Cassius, or a Lycurgus, weighed the evidence in the cases with impartial justice and gave every man his due, never deviating from the truth, and showing particular severity towards calumniators, whom he hated because he had experienced the impudent madness of many such folk even to the peril of his life, while he was still a humble private citizen. 10 Of his patience in such matters it will suffice to give this single example, although there are many others. A certain man with great vehemence charged an enemy of his, with whom he was at bitter odds, of being guilty of high treason; and when the emperor ignored it, he repeated the same charge day after day. At last, on being asked who it was that he accused, he replied that it was a wealthy citizen. On hearing this, the emperor said with a smile: “On what evidence have you come to this conclusion?” 11 And the man answered: “He is making himself a purple robe out of a silk cloak”; and when after this he was bidden to depart in silence, but unpunished, as a low fellow making a serious charge against another of the same sort, he was none the less insistent. Whereupon Julian, wearied and disgusted with the man’s conduct, seeing his treasurer nearby, said to him: “Have a pair of purple shoes given to this dangerous chatterbox, to take to his enemy (who he says, so far as I can understand, has had a cloak of that colour sewn for him), in order that he may be able to learn what insignificant rags amount to without great power.”

12 But, although such conduct was laudable and worthy of imitation by good rulers, it was on the contrary hard and censurable that under his rule anyone who was sought by the curiales, even though protected by special privileges, by length of service in the army, or by proof that he was wholly ineligible by birth for such a position, could with difficulty obtain full justice; so that many of them through fear bought immunity from annoyance by secret and heavy bribes.

13 Thus proceeding on his way and arriving at the Gates, a place which separates the Cappadocians from the Cilicians, he received with a kiss the governor of the province, Celsus by name, whom he had known since his student days in Athens, gave him a seat in his carriage, and took him with him into Tarsus. 14 But hastening from there to visit Antioch, fair crown of the Orient, he reached it by the usual roads; and as he neared the city, he was received with public prayers, as if he were some deity, and he wondered at the cries of the great throng, who shouted that a lucky star had risen over the East. 15 Now, it chanced that at that same time the annual cycle was completed and they were celebrating, in the ancient fashion, the festival of Adonis (beloved by Venus, as the poet’s tales say), who was slain by the death-dealing tusk of a boar — a festival which is symbolic of the reaping of the ripe fruits of the field. And it seemed a gloomy omen, as the emperor now for the first time entered the great city, the residence of princes, that on all sides melancholy wailing was heard and cries of grief. 16 It was here that he gave a proof of his patience and mildness, slight, it is true, but surprising. He hated a certain Thalassius, a former assistant master of petitions, who had plotted against his brother Gallus. When this man had been prohibited from greeting the emperor and attending at court among the other dignitaries, some enemies of his, with whom he had a suit in the forum, gathered together next day a huge throng of his remaining foes and approaching the emperor, shouted: “Thalassius, your majesty’s enemy, has lawlessly robbed us of our goods.” 17 But, although Julian believed that this was an opportunity to ruin the man, he replied: “I know that the person to whom you refer has given me just cause for offence, but it is proper for you to keep silence until he gives satisfaction to me, his opponent of higher rank.” And he ordered the prefect who was sitting in judgement not to listen to their charge until he himself was reconciled with Thalassius, which shortly happened.

10 Julian, wintering at Antioch, holds court, but disturbs no one because of his religious beliefs.

1 Passing the winter there to his heart’s content, he was meanwhile carried away by no incitements of the pleasures in which all Syria abounds; but as if for recreation devoting his attention to cases at law, not less than to difficult and warlike affairs, he was distracted by many cares, as with remarkable willingness to receive information he deliberated how he might give each man his due by righteous decisions, bringing the guilty to order with moderate punishments and protecting the innocent with the safety of their property. 2 And, although in arguing cases he was sometimes untimely, asking at some inopportune moment what the religion of each of the litigants was, yet it cannot be found that in the decision of any suit he was inconsistent with equity, nor could he ever be accused because of a man’s religious views, or for any other cause, of having deviated from the straight path of justice. 3 For that is desirable and proper judgement, when, after examination of all the circumstances, just is distinguished from unjust; that he might not depart from this, he was as careful as of dangerous rocks. Now this he was able to accomplish for the reason that, recognizing the hastiness of his somewhat excitable disposition, he allowed his prefects and associates freely to curb his impulses, when they led him away from what was fitting, by a timely admonition; and at times he showed that he regretted his errors and was glad to be corrected. 4 And when the defenders of causes greeted him with the greatest applause, declaring that he understood perfect justice, he is said to have replied with emotion: “I should certainly rejoice and show my joy, if I were praised by those whom I knew to have also the power to blame me in case I was wrong in deed or word.” 5 But it will suffice, in place of many examples of the clemency that he showed in judicial processes, to set down this one, which is neither out of place nor ill-chosen. When a certain woman had been brought before the court, and contrary to her expectation saw that her accuser, who was one of the court servants that had been discharged, wore his girdle, she loudly complained at this act of insolence. Whereupon the emperor said: “Go on with your charge, woman, if you think that you have been wronged in any way; for this man has thus girt himself in order to go through the mire more easily; it can do little harm to your cause.”

6 And these and similar instances led to the belief, as he himself constantly affirmed, that the old goddess of Justice, whom Aratus takes up to heaven because she was displeased with the vices of mankind, had returned to earth during his reign, were it not that sometimes Julian followed his own inclination rather than the demands of the laws, and by occasionally erring clouded the many glories of his career. 7 For after many other things, he also corrected some of the laws, removing ambiguities, so that they showed clearly what they demanded or forbade to be done. But this one thing was inhumane, that he forbade teachers of rhetoric and literature to practise their profession, if they were followers of the Christian religion.

11 Georgius, bishop of Alexandria, with two others is dragged through the streets by the Pagans of Alexandria, torn to pieces, and burned to ashes; and no one was punished for it.

1 At about that same time, that notorious state-secretary Gaudentius, who (as I said before) had been sent to Africa by Constantius to oppose Julian there, and also Julianus, a former vice-governor, an intemperate partisan of the same faction, were brought back in chains and punished with death. 2 Then, too, Artemius, sometime military commander in Egypt, since the Alexandrians heaped upon him a mass of atrocious charges, suffered capital punishment. After him the son of Marcellus, at one time commander of the cavalry and infantry, was publicly executed, on the ground that he had aspired to the throne. Finally, even Romanus and Vincentius, tribunes of the first and the second corps of the targeteers, were convicted of designs beyond their powers and exiled.

3 Hardly had a brief time elapsed, when the Alexandrians, on learning of the death of Artemius, whom they dreaded, for fear that he would return with his power restored (for so he had threatened) and do harm to many for the wrong that he had suffered, turned their wrath against the bishop Georgius, who had often, so to speak, made them feel his poisonous fangs. 4 The story goes that he was born in a fullery at Epiphania, a town of Cilicia, and flourished to the ruin of many people. Then, contrary to his own advantage and that of the commonwealth, he was ordained bishop of Alexandria, a city which on its own impulse, and without ground, is frequently roused to rebellion and rioting, as the oracles themselves show. 5 To the frenzied minds of these people Georgius himself was also a powerful incentive by pouring, after his appointment, into the ready ears of Constantius charges against many, alleging that they were rebellious against his authority; and, forgetful of his calling, which counselled only justice and mildness, he descended to the informer’s deadly practices. 6 And, among other matters, it was said that he maliciously informed Constantius also of this, namely, that all the edifices standing on the soil of the said city had been built by its founder, Alexander, at great public cost, and ought justly to be a source of profit to the treasury. 7 To these evil deeds he had added still another, which soon after drove him headlong into destruction. As he was returning from the emperor’s court and passed by the beautiful temple of the Genius, attended as usual by a large crowd, he turned his eyes straight at the temple, and said: “How long shall this sepulchre stand?” On hearing this, many were struck as if by a thunderbolt, and fearing that he might try to overthrow even that building, they devised secret plots to destroy him in whatever way they could. 8 And lo! on the sudden arrival of the glad news that told of the death of Artemius, all the populace, transported by this unlooked-for joy, grinding their teeth and uttering fearful outcries, made for Georgius and seized him, maltreating him in divers ways and trampling upon him; then they dragged him about spread-eagle fashion, and killed him.

9 And with him Dracontius, superintendent of the mint, and one Diodorus, who had the honorary rank of count, were dragged about with ropes fastened to their legs and both killed; the former, because he overthrew an altar, newly set up in the mint, of which he had charge; the other, because, while overseer of the building of a church, he arbitrarily cut off the curls of some boys, thinking that this also was a fashion belonging to the pagan worship. 10 Not content with this, the inhuman mob loaded the mutilated bodies of the slain men upon camels and carried them to the shore; there they burned them on a fire and threw the ashes into the sea, fearing (as they shouted) that their relics might be collected and a church built for them, as for others who, when urged to abandon their religion, endured terrible tortures, even going so far as to meet a glorious death with unsullied faith; whence they are now called martyrs.

And these wretched men who were dragged off to cruel torture might have been protected by the aid of the Christians, were it not that all men without distinction burned with hatred for Georgius. 11 The emperor, on hearing of this abominable deed, was bent upon taking vengeance, but just as he was on the point of inflicting the extreme penalty upon the guilty parties, he was pacified by his intimates, who counselled leniency. Accordingly, he issued an edict expressing, in the strongest terms, his horror at the outrage that had been committed, and threatened extreme measures in case in the future anything was attempted contrary to justice and the laws.

12 Julian prepares for a campaign against the Persians, and in order to learn the outcome of the war, he consults the oracles and slays countless victims, abandoning himself wholly to soothsaying and prophecies.

1 Meanwhile, Julian was preparing a campaign against the Persians, which he had long before planned with lofty strength of mind, being exceedingly aroused to punish their misdeeds in the past, knowing and hearing as he did that this savage people for almost three score years had branded the Orient with the cruelest records of murder and pillage, and had often all but annihilated our armies. 2 He was inflamed besides with a two-fold longing for war, first, because he was tired of inactivity and dreamed of clarions and battle; and then, exposed as he had been in the first flower of his youth to warfare with savage nations, while his ears were still warm with the prayers of kings and princes who (as it was believed) could more easily be vanquished than led to hold out their hands as suppliants, he burned to add to the tokens of his glorious victories the surname Parthicus.

3 But his idle and envious detractors, seeing these mighty and hasty preparations, cried out that it was shameful and ruinous that through the exchange of one man for another so many untimely disturbances should be set on foot; and they devoted all their efforts to putting off the campaign. And they repeatedly said, in the presence of those who they thought could repeat to the emperor what they had heard, that if he did not conduct himself with more moderation in his excessive prosperity and success, like plants that grow rank from too great fertility, he would soon find destruction in his own good fortune. 4 But though they kept up this agitation long and persistently, it was in vain that they barked around a man as unmoved by secret insults, as was Hercules by those of the Pygmies, or by those of the Lindian peasant Thiodamas. 5 But Julian, being a man of uncommonly high spirit, no less carefully considered the importance of his campaign, and used every effort to make corresponding preparations.

6 Nevertheless, he drenched the altars with the blood of an excessive number of victims, sometimes offering up a hundred oxen at once, with countless flocks of various other animals, and with white birds hunted out by land and sea; to such a degree that almost every day his soldiers, who gorged themselves on the abundance of meat, living boorishly and corrupted by their eagerness for drink, were carried through the squares to their lodgings on the shoulders of passers-by from the public temples, where they indulged in banquets that deserved punishment rather than indulgence; especially the Petulantes and the Celts, whose wilfulness at that time had passed all bounds. 7 Moreover, the ceremonial rites were excessively increased, with an expenditure of money hitherto unusual and burdensome. And, as it was now allowed without hindrance, everyone who professed a knowledge of divination, alike the learned and the ignorant, without limit or prescribed rules, were permitted to question the oracles and the entrails, which sometimes disclose the future; and from the notes of birds, from their flight, and from omens, the truth was sought with studied variety, if anywhere it might be found. 8 While these things were thus going on, as if in time of peace, Julian devoted to many interests, entered upon a new way of consultation, and thought of opening the prophetic springs of the Castalian fount; this, it is said, Caesar Hadrian had blocked up with a huge mass of stones, for fear that (as he himself had learned from the prophetic waters that he was destined to become emperor), others also might get similar information. And Julian, after invoking the god, decided that the bodies which had been buried around the spring, should be moved to another place, under the same ceremonial with which the Athenians had purified the island of Delos.

13 The Burning of the temple of Apollo, at Daphne, is falsely attributed to the Christians by Julian, who therefore orders the greater church of Antioch to be closed.

1 At that same time, on the twenty-second of October, the splendid temple of the Daphnaean Apollo, which that hot-tempered and cruel king Antiochus Epiphanes had built, and with it the statue of the god, a copy of that of the Olympian Zeus and of equal size, was reduced to ashes by a sudden fire. 2 The sudden destruction of this shrine by so terrible an accident inflamed the emperor with such anger, that he ordered stricter investigations than usual to be made, and the greater church at Antioch to be closed. For he suspected that the Christians had done the deed, aroused by jealousy and unwillingness to see the temple enclosed by a magnificent colonnade. 3 It was said, however, though on very slight evidence, that the cause of the burning of the temple was this: the philosopher Asclepiades, whom I have mentioned in the history of Magnentius, when he had come to that suburb from abroad to visit Julian, placed before the lofty feet of the statue a little silver image of the Dea Caelestis, which he always carried with him wherever he went, and after lighting some wax tapers as usual, went away. From these tapers after midnight, when no one could be present to render aid, some flying sparks alighted on the woodwork, which was very old, and the fire, fed by the dry fuel, mounted and burned whatever it could reach, at however great a height it was. 4 In that year also, just as the winter season was at hand, there was such a fearful scarcity of water that some brooks dried up, as well as springs which had before overflowed with plentiful jets of water; the later these were restored to their former condition. 5 Then, on the second of December, just before evening, the rest of Nicomedia was wholly destroyed by an earthquake, as well as a good part of Nicaea.

14 Julian offers sacrifice to Jupiter on Mt. Casius. Why he wrote the Misopogon through anger at the people of Antioch.

1 Although these disasters filled the prince with sorrow and anxiety, yet he did not neglect the urgent duties that remained to be done before the longed-for time of battle arrived. All the same, amid such weighty and serious affairs, it did seem superfluous, that with no satisfactory reason for such a measure, but merely from a desire for popularity, he wished to lower the price of commodities; although sometimes, when this matter is not properly regulated, it is wont to cause scarcity and famine. 2 And, although the senate at Antioch clearly pointed out that this could not be done at the time when he ordered it, he in no wise gave up his plan, since he resembled his brother Gallus, though without his cruelty. Therefore raging against them one by one as recalcitrant and stubborn, he composed an invective, which he entitled The Antiochian or Misopogon, in which he enumerated in a hostile spirit the faults of the city, including more than were justified. After this, finding that he was the object of many jests, he was forced at the time to disregard them, but was filled with suppressed wrath. 3 For he was ridiculed as a Cercops, as a dwarf, spreading his narrow shoulders and displaying a billy-goat’s beard, taking mighty strides as if he were the brother of Otus and Ephialtes, whose height Homer describes as enormous. He was also called by many a slaughterer instead of high-priest, in jesting allusion to his many offerings; and in fact he was fittingly criticised because for the sake of display he improperly took pleasure in carrying the sacred emblems in place of the priests, and in being attended by a company of women. But although he was indignant for these and similar reasons, he held his peace, kept control of his feelings, and continued to celebrate the festivals.

4 Finally, on a previously appointed festal day, he ascended Mount Casius, a wooded hill rising on high with a rounded contour, from which at the second cock-crow the sun is first seen to rise. And as he was offering sacrifice to Jove, he suddenly caught sight of a man lying flat upon the ground, and in suppliant words begging for life and pardon. And when Julian asked who he was, the man answered that he was the ex-governor Theodotus of Hierapolis; that when in company with other dignitaries he was escorting Constantius as he set out from his city, he shamefully flattered him, in the belief that he would unquestionably be victorious, begging him with feigned tears and wailing to send them the head of Julian, that ungrateful rebel, just as he remembered that the head of Magnentius had been paraded about. 5 Upon hearing this, the emperor answered: “I heard of this speech of yours long ago from the mouths of many; but go to your home carefree, relieved of all fear by the mercy of your prince, who (as the philosopher advised) of his own accord and willingly strives to diminish the number of his enemies and increase that of his friends.”

6 When he left there after completing the sacred rites, a letter was presented to him from the governor of Egypt, reporting that after laborious search for a new Apis bull, they had finally, after a time, been able to find one, which (in the belief of the people of that region) is an indication of prosperity, fruitful crops, and various blessings.

7 About this matter it will be in place to give a brief explanation. Among the animals consecrated by ancient religious observance, the better known are Mnevis and Apis. Mnevis is consecrated to the Sun, but about him there is nothing noteworthy to be said; Apis to the moon. Apis, then, is a bull distinguished by natural marks of various forms, and most of all conspicuous for the image of a crescent moon on his right side. When this bull, after its destined span of life, is plunged in the sacred fount and dies (for it is not lawful for him to prolong his life beyond the time prescribed by the secret authority of the mystic books), there is slain with the same ceremony a cow, which has been found with special marks and presented to him. After his death another Apis is sought amid public mourning; and if it has been possible to find one, complete with all its marks, it is taken to Memphis, famed for the frequent presence of the god Aesculapius. 8 And when he has been led into the city by a hundred priests and conducted to his chamber, he begins to be an object of worship; and it is said that by manifest signs he gives indications of coming events; and some of those who approach him he evidently rejects by unfavourable signs, as once (so we read) he turned away from Caesar Germanicus when he offered him food, and thus prophesied what soon after came to pass.

15 A description of Egypt, and of the Nile, the crocodile, the ibis, and the Pyramids.

1 Accordingly, since the occasion seems to demand it, let us touch briefly on matters Egyptian, of which I discoursed at length in connection with the history of the emperors Hadrian and Severus, telling for the most part what I myself had seen. 2 The Egyptian nation is the most ancient of all, except that in antiquity it vies with the Scythians. It is bounded on the south by the Greater Syrtes, the promontories Phycus and Borion, by the Garamantes and various other nations. Where it looks directly east it extends to Elephantine and Meroë, cities of the Aethiopians, to the Catadupi and the Red Sea, and to the Scenitic Arabs, whom we now call the Saracens. On the north it forms part of the boundless tract from which Asia and the provinces of Syria take their beginning. On the west its boundary is the Issiac Sea, which some have called the Parthenian.

3 Now it will be in place to touch briefly on the most helpful of all rivers, the Nile, which Homer calls the Aegyptus, and then to describe other remarkable things to be found in those lands. 4 The origin of the sources of the Nile (so at least I am wont to think) will be unknown also to future ages, as it has been up to the present. But, since the poets’ tales and dissenting geographers give varying accounts of this unknown subject, I shall succinctly set forth such of their views as in my opinion approach the truth. 5 Some natural philosophers affirm that in the tracts lying beneath the north, when the cold winters freeze everything, great masses of snow are congealed; that afterwards when these are melted by the heat of the blazing sun, they form clouds filled with flowing moisture, which are then driven towards the south by the Etesian winds, and when melted by the excessive warmth, are believed to cause the rich overflow of the Nile. 6 Others assert that it is by the Aethiopian rains, which are said to fall in abundance in those regions in the season of torrid heat, that its floods are raised at the appointed season of the year; but both these reasons seem to be out of harmony with the truth. For it is reported that in the land of the Aethiopians rains fall either not at all or at long intervals of time. 7 Another, more widespread opinion is, that when the Prodromoi blow and after them the Etesians for forty-five consecutive days, since they drive back the course of the river and check its speed, it swells with overflowing waves; and while the contrary wind blows against it, it increases more and more, since on the one side the force of the wind hurls it back and on the other the flow of its perennial springs forces it onward; and rising high it covers everything, and hiding the ground, over the low-lying plains it has the appearance of a sea. 8 But King Juba, relying upon the testimony of Punic books, thinks that the Nile rises in a mountain situated in Mauritania and looking down upon the ocean, and he says that this is proved by the fact that in those marshes are found fishes, plants, and animals like those of the Nile. 9 But the river, flowing through the regions of Aethiopia, and going under various names, which many nations have given it in its course over the earth, swelling with its rich flood, comes to the cataracts, which are steep rocks, from which it plunges headlong rather than flows; for which reason the Ati, who formerly lived nearby, since their hearing was impaired by the continual roar, were forced to change their abode to a quieter spot. 10 Flowing more gently from there, through seven mouths, each of which has the appearance of an uninterrupted river, and is equally usable, it empties into the sea without being increased by any tributaries in Egypt. And besides many streams which flow from the main channel and fall into others nearly as great, seven are full of surges and navigable, and to them the ancients gave the following names: the Heracleotic, Sebennytic, Bolbitic, Pathmitic, Mendesian, Tanitic, and Pelusiac. 11 Rising, then, in the quarter which has been mentioned, it passes from the marshes as far as the cataracts and forms many islands, some of which (it is said) extend over such wide-spread spaces that the stream hardly leaves each of them behind on the third day. 12 Of these two are famous, namely Meroë and Delta, the latter clearly so-called from the form of the triangular letter. But when the sun has begun to ride through the sign of the Crab, the river increases until it passes into the Balance; then, flowing at high water for a hundred days, the river becomes smaller, and as the weight of its waters decreases, it shows the plains that before were navigable for boats now suitable for riders on horseback. 13 However, too great a rise of the Nile is as harmful to the crops as too small a one is unfruitful. For if it soaks the land for too long a time with an excess of water, it delays the cultivation of the fields; but if the rise is too small, it threatens a bad harvest. No landowner has ever wished for a higher rise than sixteen cubits. But if there is a more moderate rise, seeds sown on a place where the soil is very rich sometimes return an increase of nearly seventy-fold. And it is the only river that does not raise a breeze.

14 Egypt abounds also in many animals, some of which are terrestrial, some aquatic; and there are others which live both on land and in the water, and hence are called amphibious. And on the dry plains roebucks feed and antelopes and spinturnicia, laughable for their utter ugliness, and other monsters, which it is not worth while to enumerate.

15 Now among aquatic animals crocodiles abound everywhere in that region, a destructive four-footed monster, a curse to the land, accustomed to both elements. It has no tongue, and moves only its upper jaw; its teeth are arranged like those of a comb, and whatever it meets it persistently attacks with destructive bites. It produces its young from eggs resembling those of geese. 16 And, if besides the claws with which it is armed it also had thumbs, its strength would be great enough to overturn even ships; for it sometimes attains a length of eighteen cubits. At night it remains quiet in the water; in the daytime it suns itself on land, trusting to its hide, which is so strong that its mail-clad back can hardly be pierced by the bolts of artillery. 17 Now, savage as these same beasts always are, during the seven festal days on which the priests at Memphis celebrate the birthday of the Nile, as if by a kind of military truce they lay aside all their fierceness and become mild. 18 Besides those that lose their lives through accident, some are destroyed by creatures resembling dolphins, which are found in that same river and with sawlike dorsal fins tear the crocodiles’ soft bellies; and others die in the following manner. 19 The trochilus, a little bird, as it looks for bits of food, flutters and plays about the crocodile as it lies outstretched, and pleasantly tickling its cheeks, makes its way as far as its throat. Seeing this going on, a water rat, a kind of ichneumon, enters the opening of the crocodile’s mouth, to which the bird has shown the way, and after lacerating its belly and tearing its vitals to pieces, forces its way out. 20 Yet daring as this monster is towards those who run from it, when it sees that it has a daring opponent it is most timorous. It has sharper sight when on land, and during the four winter months it is said to take no food.

21 Hippopotami also, or river-horses, are produced in those parts, animals sagacious beyond all unreasoning beasts, with cloven hooves like horses and short tails. Of their cunning it will suffice for the present to give two instances. 22 This monster makes it lair amid a thick growth of high and rough reeds and with watchful care looks about for a time of quiet; when free means are offered, it goes forth to feed upon the cornfields. And when it has finally begun to return, gorged with food, it walks backward and makes several paths, for fear that hunters, following the lines of one direct course, may find and stab it without difficulty. 23 Also, when by excessive greed it has made its belly bulge and grown sluggish, it rolls its thighs and legs on freshly cut reeds, in order that the blood flowing from its wounded feet may relieve its repletion; and it keeps the injured parts covered with mud until the raw places scab over. 24 This monstrous and once rare kind of beast the Roman people first saw when Scaurus was aedile, the father of that Scaurus in whose defence Cicero spoke and bade the Sardinians also to conform with the authority of the whole world in their judgement of so noble a family; and for many ages after that more hippopotami were often brought to Rome. But now they can nowhere be found, since, as the inhabitants of those regions conjecture, they were forced from weariness of the multitude that hunted them to take refuge in the land of the Blemmyae.

25 Among Egyptian birds, the variety of which is countless, the ibis is sacred, harmless, and beloved for the reason that by carrying the eggs of serpents to its nestlings for food it destroys and makes fewer those destructive pests. 26 These same birds meet the winged armies of snakes which issue from the marshes of Arabia, producing deadly poisons, and before they leave their own lands vanquish them in battles in the air, and devour them. And it is said of those birds that they lay their eggs through their beaks. 27 Egypt also breeds innumerable serpents, surpassing all their destructive kind in fierceness: basilisks, amphisbaenae, scytalae, acontiae, dipsades, vipers, and many others, all of which are easily surpassed in size and beauty by the asp, which never of its own accord leaves the bed of the Nile.

28 Many and great things there are in that land which it is worth while to see; of these it will be in place to describe a few. Everywhere temples of vast size have been erected. The Pyramids have been enrolled among the seven wonders of the world, and of their slow and difficult construction the historian Herodotus tells us. These are towers higher than any others which can be erected by human hands, extremely broad at the base and tapering to very pointed summits. 29 The figure pyramid has that name among geometers because it narrows into a cone after the manner of fire, which in our language is called πῦρ; for their size, as they mount to a vast height, gradually becomes slenderer, and also they cast no shadows at all, in accordance with a principle of mechanics.

30 There are also subterranean fissures and winding passages called syringes, which, it is said, those acquainted with the ancient rites, since they had fore-knowledge that a deluge was coming, and feared that the memory of the ceremonies might be destroyed, dug in the earth in many places with great labour; and on the walls of these caverns they carved many kinds of birds and beasts, and those countless forms of animals which they called hierographic writing.

31 Then comes Syene, where at the solstice, to which the sun extends its summer course, its rays surround all upright bodies and do not allow their shadows to extend beyond the bodies themselves. At that time if one fixes a stake upright in the earth, or looks at a man or a tree standing anywhere, he will observe that the shadows are lost in the outer circumference of the figures. The same thing is said to happen at Meroë, a part of Aethiopia lying next to the equinoctial circle, where for ninety days the shadows fall on the side opposite to ours, for which reason those who dwell there are called Antiscii. 32 But since there are many such wonders, which extend beyond the plan of my little work, let me refer them to lofty minds, since I wish to tell a few things about the provinces.

16 Of the five provinces of Egypt and their famous cities.

1 In early times Egypt is said to have had three provinces: Egypt proper, Thebaïs, and Libya. To these later times have added two: Augustamnica being taken from Egypt, and Pentapolis from the dryer part of Libya.

2 Now Thebaïs has these among cities that are especially famous: Hermopolis, Coptos and Antinoü, which Hadrian founded in honour of his favourite Antinoüs; for hundred-gated Thebes everyone knows.

3 In Augustamnica is the famous city of Pelusium, which Peleus, the father of Achilles, is said to have founded, being bidden by order of the gods to purify himself in the lake which washes the walls of that city, when after the murder of his brother, Phocus by name, he was hounded by the dread forms of the furies; also Cassium, where is the tomb of Pompey the Great, and Ostracine, and Rhinocorura.

4 In Pentapolis-Libya is , an ancient city, but deserted, founded by the Spartan Battus, and Ptolemaïs, and , and Darnis and Berenice, which two they call Hesperidae. 5 But in dry Libya are Paraetonion, Chaerecla, Neapolis, and a few small towns.

6 Egypt itself, which from the time when it was joined with the Roman empire has been governed by prefects in place of kings, is adorned by the great cities of Athribis, Oxyrynchus, Thumis, and Memphis, to say nothing of many lesser towns.

7 But the crown of all cities is Alexandria, which is made famous by many splendid things, through the wisdom of its mighty founder and by the cleverness of the architect Dinocrates. The latter, when laying out its extensive and beautiful walls, for lack of lime, of which too little could at the time be found, sprinkled the whole line of its circuit with flour, which chanced to be a sign that later the city would abound with a plentiful store of food. 8 There healthful breezes blow, the air is calm and mild, and as the accumulated experience of many ages has shown, there is almost no day on which the dwellers in that city do not see a cloudless sun. 9 Since this coast in former times, because of its treacherous and perilous approaches, involved seafarers in many dangers, Cleopatra devised a lofty tower in the harbour, which from its situation is called the Pharos and furnishes the means of showing lights to ships by night; whereas before that, as they came from the Parthenian or the Libyan sea past flat and low shores, seeing no landmarks of mountains or signs of hills, they were dashed upon the soft, tenacious sandbanks and wrecked. 10 This same queen built the Heptastadium, remarkable alike for its great size and for the incredible speed with which it was constructed, for a well-known and sufficient reason. The island of Pharos, where Proteus, as Homer relates in lofty language, lived with his herd of seals, lay a mile from the shore of the city, and was subject to tribute by the Rhodians. 11 When they had come one day to collect this tax, which was excessive, the queen, who was ever skilled in deception, under pretence of a solemn festival, took the same tax-collectors with her to the suburbs, and gave orders that the work should be completed by unremitting toil. In seven days, by building dams in the sea near the shore, the same number of stadia were won for the land; then the queen rode to the spot in a carriage drawn by horses, and laughed at the Rhodians, since it was on islands and not on the mainland that they imposed a duty.

12 There are besides in the city temples pompous with lofty roofs, conspicuous among them the Serapeum, which, though feeble words merely belittle it, yet is so adorned with extensive columned halls, with almost breathing statues, and a great number of other works of art, that next to the Capitolium, with which revered Rome elevates herself to eternity, the whole world beholds nothing more magnificent. 13 In this were invaluable libraries, and the unanimous testimony of ancient records declares that 700,000 books, brought together by the unremitting energy of the Ptolemaïc kings, were burned in the Alexandrine war, when the city was sacked under the dictator Caesar.

14 At a distance of twelve miles from Alexandria is Canopus, which, according to the statements of ancient writers, got its name from the burial there of Menelaüs’ steersman. The place is most delightful because of its beautiful pleasure-resorts, its soft air and healthful climate, so that anyone staying in that region believes that he is living outside of this world, as oftentimes he hears the winds that murmur a welcome with sunny breath.

15 But Alexandria herself, not gradually (like other cities), but at her very origin, attained her wide extent; and for a long time she was grievously troubled by internal dissensions, until at last, many years later under the rule of Aurelian, the quarrels of the citizens turned into deadly strife; then her walls were destroyed and she lost the greater part of the district called Bruchion, which had long been the abode of distinguished men. 16 From there came Aristarchus, eminent in thorny problems of grammatical lore, and Herodian, a most accurate investigator in science and Saccas Ammonius, the teacher of Plotinus, and numerous other writers in many famous branches of literature. Among these Didymus Chalcenterus was conspicuous for the abundance of his diversified knowledge, although in those six books in which he criticises Cicero, imitating the scurrilous writers of Silli, he makes the same impression on learned ears as a puppy-dog barking from a distance with quavering voice around a lion roaring awfully. 17 And although very many writers flourished in early times as well as these whom I have mentioned, nevertheless not even to-day is learning of various kinds silent in that same city; for the teachers of the arts show signs of life, and the geometrical measuring-rod brings to light whatever is concealed, the stream of music is not yet wholly dried up among them, harmony is not reduced to silence, the consideration of the motion of the universe and of the stars is still kept warm with some, few though they be, and there are others who are skilled in numbers; and a few besides are versed in the knowledge which reveals the course of the fates. 18 Moreover, studies in the art of healing, whose help is often required in this life of ours, which is neither frugal nor sober, are so enriched from day to day, that although a physician’s work itself indicates it, yet in place of every testimony it is enough to commend his knowledge of the art, if he has said that he was trained at Alexandria. 19 But enough on this point. If one wishes to investigate with attentive mind the many publications on the knowledge of the divine, and the origin of divination, he will find that learning of this kind has been spread abroad from Egypt through the whole world. 20 There, for the first time, long before other men, they discovered the cradles, so to speak, of the various religions, and now carefully guard the first beginnings of worship, stored up in secret writings. 21 Trained in this wisdom, Pythagoras, secretly honoring the gods, made whatever he said or believed recognised authority, and often showed his golden thigh at Olympia, and let himself be seen from time to time talking with an eagle. 22 From here Anaxagoras foretold a rain of stones, and by handling mud from a well predicted an earthquake. Solon, too, aided by the opinions of the Egyptian priests, passed laws in accordance with the measure of justice, and thus gave also to Roman law its greatest support. On this source, Plato drew and after visiting Egypt, traversed higher regions, and rivalled Jupiter in lofty language, gloriously serving in the field of wisdom.

23 Now the men of Egypt are, as a rule, somewhat swarthy and dark of complexion, and rather gloomy-looking, slender and hardy, excitable in all their movements, quarrelsome, and most persistent duns. Any one of them would blush if he did not, in consequence of refusing tribute, show many stripes on his body; and as yet it has been possible to find no torture cruel enough to compel a hardened robber of that region against his will to reveal his own name.

24 Moreover, it is a well-known fact, as the ancient annals show, that all Egypt was formerly ruled by their ancestral kings; but after Antony and Cleopatra were vanquished in the sea-fight at Actium, the country fell into the power of Octavianus Augustus and received the name of a province. We acquired the dryer part of Libya by the last will of King Apion; we received Cyrene, with the remaining cities of Libya-Pentapolis, through the generosity of Ptolemy. After this long digression, I shall return to the order of my narrative.

Book XXIII

1 Julianus Augustus vainly tries to restore the temple at Jerusalem, which had been destroyed long before.

1 These were the events of that year, to pass over minor details. But Julian, who had already been consul three times, assumed the chief magistracy for the fourth time, taking as his colleague in the office Sallustius, prefect of Gaul. And for a private citizen to be associated with the reigning emperor seemed an innovation which no one recalled to have been made since Diocletian and Aristobulus. 2 And although he weighed every possible variety of events with anxious thought, and pushed on with burning zeal at many preparations for his campaign, yet turning his activity to every part, and eager to extend the memory of his reign by great works, he planned at vast cost to restore the once splendid temple at Jerusalem, which after many mortal combats during the siege by Vespasian and later by Titus, had barely been stormed. He had entrusted the speedy performance of this work to Alypius of Antioch, who had once been vice-prefect of Britain. 3 But, though this Alypius pushed the work on with vigour, aided by the governor of the province, terrifying balls of flame kept bursting forth near the foundations of the temple, and made the place inaccessible to the workmen, some of whom were burned to death; and since in this way the element persistently repelled them, the enterprise halted.

4 At that time envoys were sent to him from the eternal city, men illustrious by birth and approved by the services of a commendable life, on whom the emperor conferred various honours. Apronianus he appointed prefect of Rome, and Octavianus proconsular governor of Africa; to Venustus he entrusted the vice-governorship of Spain, Rufinus Aradius he raised to the rank of Count of the Orient in room of his uncle Julian, who had recently died. 5 When these matters had been arranged as planned, he was alarmed by an omen which, as the result showed, was most trustworthy. For when Felix, head of the public treasury, had suddenly died of a haemorrhage, and Count Julian had followed him to the grave, the people as they looked at the public inscriptions, uttered the names as Felix, Julianus and Augustus. 6 Another unlucky thing had happened before this; for just on the Kalends of January, as the emperor was mounting the steps of the temple of the Genius, one of the college of priests who was older than the rest suddenly, without being pushed, fell and died of the unlooked-for accident. The bystanders — whether through ignorance or desire to flatter is uncertain — said that this surely pointed to Sallustius, the elder of the two consuls; but (as was evident) it showed that death was approaching, not the man of greater age, but the higher in rank. 7 Besides these, other lesser signs also indicated from time to time what came to pass. For amid the very beginning of the preparations for the Parthian campaign word came that Constantinople had been shaken by an earthquake, which those skilled in such matters said was not a favourable omen for a ruler who was planning to invade another’s country. And so they tried to dissuade Julian from the untimely enterprise, declaring that these and similar signs ought to be disregarded only in the case of attack by an enemy, when the one fixed rule is, to defend the State by every possible means and with unremitting effort. Just at that time it was reported to him by letter, that at Rome the Sibylline books had been consulted about this war, as he had ordered, and had given the definite reply that the emperor must not that year leave his frontiers.

2 Julian, after ordering Arsaces, king of Armenia, to get ready for a Persian war, crosses the Euphrates with his army and with Scythian auxiliaries.

1 Meanwhile, however, embassies from many nations which promised aid were cordially received and sent back; for the emperor with laudable confidence replied, that it was by no means fitting for the Roman State to defend itself by means of foreign aid, since its duty was rather by its power to protect its friends and allies, if necessity forced them to apply for help. 2 Arsaces only, the king of Armenia, did he order to muster a strong army and await his orders, since he would shortly learn to what place he was to march and what he ought to push forward. Thereupon, as soon as regard for prudence offered the opportunity, he hastened to invade the enemy’s country, outstripping the report of his coming; and spring had barely arrived, when he ordered all to cross the Euphrates, sending marching orders to every division of his army. 3 As soon as this was known, all hastened from their winter quarters, and having crossed as their written orders directed, they dispersed to their several posts and awaited the coming of the emperor. He himself, when on the point of leaving Antioch, appointed as governor of Syria a certain Alexander of Heliopolis, who was hot-tempered and cruel; and he said that the man did not deserve the post, but was the kind of judge proper for the avaricious and rebellious people of Antioch. 4 And when a crowd of all conditions of men escorted him as he was leaving the city, wishing him a successful march and a glorious return, and begging that in the future he might be more placable and mild, since the anger which their attacks and insults had aroused was not yet assuaged, he replied harshly, saying that they would never see him again. 5 For he said that he had arranged when the campaign was finished to return by a shorter route to Tarsus in Cilicia for the purpose of wintering, and that he had written to Memorius, the governor of that city, to prepare everything that was necessary for his use. And this not long afterwards came to pass; for his body was brought back there, and he was buried in a suburb of the city with simple rites, as he himself had directed.

6 And when the season was now sunny, he set out on the fifth of March, and came by the usual route to Hierapolis. There, as he was entering the gates of the great city, a colonnade on his left suddenly collapsed and crushed with a great weight of timbers and tiles fifty soldiers who were encamped under it, besides wounding many more. 7 Then, uniting all his forces, he marched to Mesopotamia so rapidly that, since no report of his coming had preceded him (for he had carefully guarded against that), he came upon the Assyrians unawares. Finally, having crossed the Euphrates on a bridge of boats, he arrived with his army and his Scythian auxiliaries at Batnae, a town of Osdroëne, where he met with a sad portent. 8 For when a great throng of ostlers, in order to get fodder as usual, had taken their place near a very high stack of chaff (such as are commonly constructed in that country), since many at once laid hold on what they wanted, the heap was broken and gave way, and fifty men at once met death by being buried under the huge mass that fell upon them.

3 As Julianus Augustus marches through Mesopotamia, the princes of the Saracen nations of their own accord offer him a golden crown and auxiliary troops. A Roman fleet of 1100 ships arrives and bridges the Euphrates.

1 Departing from there in sorrow, by a forced march he came to Carrae, an ancient town, notorious for the disaster of the Crassi and the Roman army. From there two different royal highways lead to Persia: the one on the left through Adiabene and over the Tigris; the other, on the right, through Assyria and across the Euphrates. 2 Having delayed there several days for necessary preparations, and to offer sacrifices according to the native rites to the Moon, which is religiously venerated in that region, before the altar, with no witness present, Julian is said secretly to have handed his purple mantle to his relative Procopius, and to have ordered him boldly to assume the rule, if he learned that the emperor had died among the Parthians. 3 Here, as Julian slept, his mind was disturbed by dreams, which made him think that some sorrow would come to him. Therefore, both he himself and the interpreters of dreams, considering the present conditions, declared that the following day, which was the nineteenth of March, ought to be carefully watched. But, as was afterwards learned, it was on that same night that the temple of the Palatine Apollo, under the prefecture of Apronianus, was burned in the eternal city; and if it had not been for the employment of every possible help, the Cumaean books also would have been destroyed by the raging flames.

4 After these matters were thus arranged, just as Julian was busy with the army and in getting supplies of every kind, it was reported to him by scouts who arrived in breathless haste, that some bands of the enemy’s horsemen had suddenly broken through a part of the neighbouring frontier and carried off booty. 5 Startled by this cruel disaster, Julian (as he had previously planned) instantly put 30,000 picked men under the command of the aforesaid Procopius, and joined to him with equal powers Sebastianus, formerly a military commander in Egypt, and now a count, with orders to keep for the present on this side of the Tigris and to watch carefully everywhere and see that nothing unexpected should happen on the unprotected side, such as he had heard often occurred. And he gave the order that (if it could be done to greater advantage) they should join King Arsaces, march with him through Corduene and Moxoëne, lay waste in passing by Chiliocomum, a fruitful region of Media, and other places, and meet him while he was still in Assyria, so as to aid him in cases of necessity.

6 After these arrangements had been made, he himself feigned a march across the Tigris, an expedition for which he had also ordered supplies to be carefully prepared, but then turned to the right and, after passing a quiet night, called next morning for the mount which he usually rode. And when the horse, called Babylonianus, was brought to him, it was laid low by a missile from the artillery, and as it rolled on the ground in unbearable pain, it scattered about its ornaments, which were adorned with gold and precious stones. Delighted by this omen, Julian cried out amid expressions of joy from the bystanders, that Babylon had fallen to the ground, stripped of all its adornments. 7 Then, delaying for a time, in order to confirm the omen by favourable signs from victims, he came to the fortified camp of Davana at the source of the river Belias, a tributary of the Euphrates. Here we rested and took food, and on the following day arrived at Callinicum, a strong fortress, and most welcome because of its rich trade. There, on the twenty-seventh of March, the day on which at Rome the annual procession in honour of the Mother of the Gods takes place, and the carriage in which her image is carried is washed, as it is said, in the waters of the Almo, he celebrated the usual rites in the ancient fashion and spent the night in peaceful sleep, happy and full of confidence. 8 The next day he marched on from there along the brow of the river-banks, since the waters were rising from streams flowing in on all sides, and kept on with his armed force until he came to an outpost, where he encamped. There the princes of the Saracen nations as suppliants on bended knees presented him with a golden crown and did obeisance to him as lord of the world and of its peoples; and they were gladly received, since they were adapted for guerilla warfare. 9 And while he was giving him audience his fleet arrived, equal to that of the mighty king Xerxes, under the command of the tribune Constantianus and Count Lucillianus; and the broad Euphrates was almost too narrow for it, consisting as it did of a thousand cargo-carriers of varied construction, and bringing an abundance of supplies, weapons, and also siege-engines; there were besides fifty warships and an equal number which were needed for making bridges.

4 A description of mural artillery: the ballista, the scorpion or wild ass, the ram, the helepolis, and fire-darts.

1 What I have just said suggests that I should, as briefly as my modest ability permits, give a concise description of engines of this kind, for the benefit of those who are unacquainted with them; and I shall first explain the form of the ballista.

2 Between two posts a long, strong iron bar is fastened, and projects like a great ruler; from its smooth, rounded surface, which in the middle is highly polished, a squared staff extends to a considerable distance, hollowed out along its length with a narrow groove, and bound there with a great number of twisted cords. To this two wooden rollers are very firmly attached, and near one of them stands the gunner who aims the shot. He carefully places in the groove of the projecting iron bar a wooden arrow, tipped with a great iron point. When this is done, strong young men on both sides quickly turn the rollers and the cords. 3 When its point has reached the outermost ropes, the arrow, driven by the power within, flies from the ballista out of sight, sometimes emitting sparks because of the excessive heat. And if often happens that before the weapon is seen, the pain of a mortal wound makes itself felt.

4 The scorpion, which is now-a-days called the wild ass, has the following form. Two posts of oak or holm-oak are hewn out and slightly bent, so that they seem to stand forth like humps. These are fastened together like a sawing-machine and bored through on both sides with fairly large holes. Between them, through the holes, strong ropes are bound, holding the machine together, so that it may not fly apart. 5 From the middle of these ropes a wooden arm rises obliquely, pointed upward like the pole of a chariot, and is twined around with cords in such a way that it can be raised higher or depressed. To the top of this arm, iron hooks are fastened, from which hangs a sling of hemp or iron. In front of the arm is placed a great cushion of hair-cloth stuffed with fine chaff, bound on with strong cords, and placed on a heap of turf or a pile of sundried bricks; for a heavy machine of this kind, if placed upon a stone wall, shatters everything beneath it by its violent concussion, rather than by its weight. 6 Then, when there is a battle, a round stone is placed in the sling and four young men on each side turn back the bar with which the ropes are connected and bend the pole almost flat. Then finally the gunner, standing above, strikes out the pole-bolt, which holds the fastenings of the whole work, with a strong hammer, thereupon the pole is set free, and flying forward with a swift stroke, and meeting the soft hair-cloth, hurls the stone, which will crush whatever it hits. 7 And the machine is called tormentum as all the released tension is caused by twisting (torquetur); and scorpion, because it has an upraised sting; modern times have given it the new name onager, because when wild asses are pursued by hunters, by kicking they hurl back stones to a distance, either crushing the breasts of their pursuers, or breaking the bones of their skulls and shattering them.

8 Now we shall come to the ram. A tall fir or mountain ash is selected, to the end of which is fastened a long, hard iron; this has the appearance of a projecting ram’s head, and it is this shape which his given the machine its name. This is suspended between ironbound beams running across on both sides, so that it hangs from a third beam like the pan of a balance. Then a number of men, as great as the length of the pole permits, draw it back and then shove it forward again with powerful blows, just as a ram charges and retreats, to break everything in its way. As this is renewed with the force of a repeated stroke of lightning, buildings are cracked and shattered as the structure of their walls is destroyed. 9 If this kind of engine is worked with full vigour, the strongest cities, after their walls have been stripped of defenders, are laid open, and the siege is thus brought to an end.

10 In place of these devices of rams, which, because they are now so frequent, are in less esteem, a machine is made, well known to the historians, which we Greeks call helepolis. It was through the constant employment of this engine that Demetrius, the son of King Antigonus, after taking Rhodes and other cities gained the name of Poliorcetes. 11 It is built in the following manner: a huge mantlet is constructed of strong planks of great length fastened together with iron nails, and covered with ox-hides and hurdles of green twigs; and over these is spread mud, in order to protect it from fire and falling missiles. 12 On its front side are set very sharp, three-pronged spear points, of the form which our painters and sculptors give to thunderbolts, made heavy with iron weights, so that whatever it attacks it shatters with the projecting points. 13 This powerful mass is guided by numerous soldiers within by means of wheels and ropes, and by their united efforts is brought up to the weaker part of the walls; and unless the strength of the defenders above is too great, it shatters the walls and opens great breaches.

14 But fire-darts (a kind of missile) are made in this form: the shaft is of reed, and between this and the point is a covering of bands of iron; it looks like a woman’s distaff for making linen threads. It is skilfully hollowed out on the lower side with many openings, and in the cavity fire and some inflammable matter are placed. 15 And if it is shot slowly from a somewhat loose bow (for it is extinguished by too swift a flight) and has stuck anywhere, it burns persistently, and water poured upon it rouses the fire to still greater heat; and there is no way of extinguishing it except by sprinkling it with dust. So much for mural engines, of which I have described only a few. Now let us return to the course of our narrative.

5 Julianus Augustus with his whole army crosses the river Abora at Cercusium on a bridge of boats. He addresses his troops.

1 After having received the auxiliaries of the Saracens, which they offered him with great willingness, the emperor marched at quick step to Cercusium, a very safe and skilfully built fortress, whose walls are washed by the Abora and Euphrates rivers, which form a kind of island, and entered it at the beginning of the month of April. 2 This place, which was formerly small and exposed to danger, Diocletian, alarmed by a recent experience, encircled with walls and lofty towers, at the time when he was arranging the inner lines of defence on the very frontiers of the barbarians, in order to prevent the Persians from overrunning Syria, as had happened a few years before with great damage to the provinces. 3 For once upon a time at Antioch, amid deep silence, an actor of mimes, who with his wife had been presented in stage-plays, was presenting some scenes from everyday life. And while all the people were amazed at the charm of the performance, the wife suddenly cried: “Is it a dream, or are the Persians here?” Whereupon all the people turned their heads about and then fled in all directions, to avoid the arrows that were showered upon them from the citadel. Thus the city was set on fire, and many people who were carelessly wandering about, as in time of peace, were butchered; neighbouring places were burned and devastated, and the enemy, laden with plunder, returned home without the loss of a single man. Mareaces, who had inconsiderately brought the Persians there to the destruction of his own people, was burned alive. This took place in the time of Gallienus.

4 But while Julian was lingering at Cercusium, to the end that his army with all its followers might cross the Abora on a bridge of boats, he received a sorrowful letter from Sallustius, prefect of Gaul, begging that the campaign against the Parthians might be put off, and that Julian should not thus prematurely, without having yet prayed for the protection of the gods, expose himself to inevitable destruction. 5 But the emperor, disregarding his cautious counsellor, pushed confidently on, since no human power or virtue has ever been great enough to turn aside what the decrees of fate had ordained. Immediately upon crossing the bridge he ordered it to be destroyed, so that no soldier in his own army might entertain hope of a return. 6 Here also, with like fatality, an unfavourable omen appeared: the outstretched corpse of a certain attendant slain by the hand of an executioner, whom the resident prefect Salutius had condemned to death because, after promising to supply additional provisions within a designated time, he had been prevented by an accident from keeping his word. But on the day after the wretched man had been executed another fleet arrived, as he had promised, bringing an abundance of supplies.

7 Setting out from there we came to a place called Zaitha, which means “Olive tree.” Here we saw, conspicuous from afar, the tomb of the Emperor Gordianus, of whose deeds from early childhood, his successful campaigns, and his treacherous murder we have spoken at the appropriate time. 8 When Julian had there, in accordance with his native piety, made offerings to the deified emperor, and was on his way to Dura (a deserted town), he saw a troop of soldiers in the distance and halted. And while he was in doubt what they were bringing, they presented him with a lion of huge size, which had attacked their line and had been slain by a shower of arrows. Elated by this omen, as if he now had surer hopes of a successful outcome, the emperor pushed on with proud confidence, but since the breeze of fortune is uncertain, the result turned out otherwise; for the death of a king was foretold, but of which king was uncertain. 9 And, in fact, we read of other ambiguous oracles, the meaning of which only the final results determined: as, for example, the truth of the Delphic prediction which declared that Croesus, after crossing the river Halys, would overthrow a mighty kingdom; and another which in veiled language designated the sea as the place for the Athenians to fight against the Medes; and a later one than these, which was in fact true, but none the less ambiguous:

Aeacus’ son, I say, the Roman people can conquer.

10 However, the Etruscan soothsayers, who accompanied the other adepts in interpreting prodigies, since they were not believed when they often tried to prevent this campaign, now brought out their books on war, and showed that this sign was adverse and prohibitory to a prince invading another’s territory, even though he was in the right. 11 But they were spurned by the opposition of the philosophers, whose authority was then highly valued, but who were sometimes in error and very persistent in matters with which they had little acquaintance. They, indeed, advanced as a specious argument for establishing belief in their knowledge, that when the former Caesar Maximianus was already on the point of engaging with Narseus, king of the Persians, in the same way a lion and a huge boar that had been killed were brought to him, and that he came back safely after conquering the enemy. And there was no idea at all that such a portent threatened destruction to the invader of another’s territory, although Narseus had first seized Armenia, which was subject to Roman jurisdiction. 12 Likewise, on the following day, which was the seventh of April, as the sun was already sloping towards its setting, starting with a little cloud thick darkness suddenly filled the air and daylight was removed; and after much menacing thunder and lightning a soldier named Jovian, with two horses which he was bringing back after watering them at the river, was struck dead by a bolt from the sky. 13 Upon seeing this, Julian again called in the interpreters of omens, and on being questioned they declared emphatically that this sign also forbade the expedition, pointing out that the thunderbolt was of the advisory kind; for so those are called which either recommend or dissuade any act. And so much the more was it necessary to guard against this one, because it killed a soldier of lofty name as well as war-horses, and because places which were struck in that manner — so the books on lightning declare — must neither be looked upon nor trodden. 14 The philosophers, on the other hand, maintained that the brilliance of the sacred fire which suddenly appeared signified nothing at all, but was merely the course of a stronger mass of air sent downward from the aether by some force; or if did give any sign, it foretold an increase in renown for the emperor, as he was beginning a glorious enterprise, since it is well known that flames by their very nature mount on high without opposition.

15 So when the bridge had been broken down (as was said before) and all had crossed, the emperor thought that the most urgent of all his duties was to address his soldiers, who were advancing confidently through trust in themselves and their leader. Therefore, when the signal had been given with the trumpets, and all the centuries, cohorts and maniples had come together, he took his place upon a mound of earth, surrounded by a ring of high officials, and with calm countenance and favoured with the unanimous devotion of all, spoke as follows:

16 “Seeing the great vigour and eagerness that animate you, my valiant soldiers, I have resolved to address you, in order to explain in full detail that this is not the first time — as some evil-minded men mutter — that the Romans have invaded the Persian kingdom. For not to mention Lucullus and Pompey, who, passing through the Albani and the Massagetae, whom we now call the Alani, broke into this nation also and came to the Caspian Sea, we know that Ventidius, the lieutenant-general of Antony, inflicted innumerable sanguinary defeats in this region. 17 But to leave ancient times, I will disclose what recent history has transmitted to us. Trajan, Verus, and Severus returned from here victorious and adorned with trophies, and the younger Gordianus, whose monument we just looked upon with reverence, would have come back with equal glory, after vanquishing the Persian king and putting him to flight at Resaina, had he not been struck down by an impious wound inflicted by the faction of Philippus, the praetorian prefect, and a few wicked accomplices, in the very place where he now lies buried. But his shade did not long wander unavenged, for as if their deeds were weighed in the scales of Justice, all who had conspired against him perished by agonising deaths. 18 Those emperors, indeed, their own desire, inclined as they were to lofty enterprise, drove to undertake noteworthy exploits, but we are urged on to our present purpose by the pitiful fate of recently captured cities, by the unavenged shades of armies destroyed, by the great disasters that have been suffered, and by the loss of many a camp. For everybody’s desires are one with ours to make good the past and give strength to our country by making this side of her domain safe, and thus leave to future generations material for singing our praises. 19 Everywhere shall I, with the help of the eternal deity, be by your side, as emperor, as leader, and as fellow horseman, and (as I think) under favourable auspices. But if fickle fortune should overthrow me in any battle, I shall be content with having sacrificed myself for the Roman world, after the example of the Curtii and Mucii of old and the noble family of the Decii. We must wipe out a most mischievous nation, on whose sword-blades the blood of our kinsmen is not yet dry. 20 Out forefathers spent many ages in eradicating whatever caused them trouble. Carthage was conquered in a long and difficult war, but our distinguished leader feared that she might survive the victory. Scipio utterly destroyed Numantia, after undergoing many vicissitudes in its siege. Rome laid Fidenae low, in order that no rivals of her power might grow up, and for that same reason crushed Falerii and Veii; and even trustworthy ancient histories would have difficulty in convincing us that those cities were ever powerful. 21 This I have set forth from my knowledge of ancient records; it remains for each of you, putting aside the desire for plunder, which has often tempted the Roman soldier, to keep with the army on its march, and when battle must be joined, to follow each his own standard, remembering that if anyone falls behind, he will be left hamstrung. For I fear nothing, save the craft and treachery of the over-cunning enemy. 22 Finally, I promise one and all that when, after this, affairs shall be brought to a successful conclusion, waiving all prior rights of princes, who by reason of their full powers think that whatever they have said or resolved is just, I will give to anyone who demands it an account of what has been rightly or wrongly undertaken. 23 Therefore rouse, I pray you, at once rouse your courage, both in the anticipation of great success, since you will undergo whatever difficulty arises on equal terms with me, and with the conviction that victory must always attend the just cause.”

24 After the speech had been brought to this most welcome conclusion, the warriors, exulting in the fame of their leader, and still more greatly fired with the hope of success, lifted their shields on high and cried that nothing would be dangerous or difficult under a leader who imposed more toil upon himself than on the common soldiers. 25 In particular, the Gallic troops showed this feeling by joyful shouts, remembering how often under his command, and as he ran about from company to company, they had seen some nations overcome and others reduced to entreaties.

6 A description of the eighteen greater provinces of the Persian kingdom, with the strength of each and the customs of their inhabitants.

1 Affairs have reached a point where I am led in a rapid digression to explain the topography of the Persian kingdom, carefully compiled from the descriptions of the nations, in only a few of which the truth has been told, and that barely. My account, however, will be a little fuller, which will be to the advantage of complete knowledge. For anyone who aims at extreme brevity in telling of the unknown tries to discover what he ought to leave out rather than what he may explain more clearly.

2 This kingdom, which was once small and for reasons which we have often given was called before by various names, after the fates had taken off Alexander the Great at Babylon, took its name from the Parthian Arsaces, a man of low birth; he had been a brigand chief during his younger days, but since his ideals gradually changed for the better, by a series of brilliant exploits he rose to greater heights. 3 After many glorious and valiant deeds, and after he had conquered Seleucus Nicator, successor of the said Alexander, on whom his many victories had conferred that surname, and had driven out the Macedonian garrisons, he passed his life in quiet peace, and was a mild ruler and judge of his subjects. 4 Finally, after all the neighbouring lands had been brought under his rule, by force, by regard for justice, or by fear, and he had filled Persia with cities, with fortified camps, and with strongholds, and to all the neighbouring peoples, which she had previously feared, he had made her a constant cause of dread, he died a peaceful death in middle life. And nobles and commons rivalling each other in agreement, he was placed among the stars according to the sacred custom of their country; and (as they believe) he was the first of all to be so honoured. 5 Hence to this very day the over-boastful kings of that race suffer themselves to be called brothers of the Sun and Moon, and just as for our emperors the title of Augustus is beloved and coveted, so to the Parthian kings, who were formerly low and obscure, there fell the very greatest increase in distinction, won by the happy auspices of Arsaces. 6 Hence they venerate and worship Arsaces as a god, and their regard for him has been carried so far, that even down to the memory of our time only a man who is of the stock of Arsaces (if there is one anywhere) is preferred to all in mounting the throne. Even in any civil strife, which constantly arises among them, everyone avoids as sacrilege the lifting of his hand against an Arsacid, whether he is bearing arms or is a private citizen.

7 It is well known that this nation, after vanquishing many peoples by its power, extended its domain as far as the Propontis and Thrace, but through the arrogance of its haughty leaders, who lawlessly extended their raids to a great distance, it was weakened by severe losses: first through Cyrus, who crossed the Bosporus with an army of incredible size, but was completely annihilated by the Scythian queen Tomyris, the fierce avenger of her sons. 8 Later, when Darius, and after him Xerxes, changed the use of the elements and attacked Greece, almost all their forces were destroyed by land and sea, and they themselves barely found a safe return; not to mention the wars of Alexander and the passing by his will and testament of the whole nation to the jurisdiction of a single successor.

9 After this was done and a long time had passed, during which the Roman commonwealth was governed by consuls and later brought under the sway of the Caesars, these nations carried on wars with us from time to time, and sometimes the contest was equal, at other times they were conquered, and occasionally they came off victorious.

10 I shall now describe the lie of the land so far as my purpose allows — briefly and succinctly. These regions extend to a wide area in length and breadth, and run all along the Persian Gulf, which has many islands and peoples all round. The entrance to this sea (they say) is so narrow that from Harmoz, the promontory of Carmania, the other headland opposite it, which the natives call Maces, may be seen without difficulty. 11 After one has passed through this narrow strait, a wide expanse of sea opens, which is favourable to navigation as far as the city of Teredon, where after many losses the Euphrates mingles with the deep. The entire gulf is bounded by a shore of 20,000 stadia, which is rounded as if turned on a lathe. All along the coast is a throng of cities and villages, and many ships sail to and fro. 12 After passing the strait which has been mentioned, one comes to the bay of Carmania facing the east. Then, a long distance to the south, the bay of Canthicus opens, and not far off is another, called Chalites, facing the setting sun. Next, after one has skirted many islands, few of which are well known, those bays unite with the Indian ocean, which is first of all to receive the glowing sun when it rises, and is itself also exceedingly warm. 13 And as the pens of geographers have drawn it, the whole circuit just described has this form. In the northern direction, to the Caspian Gates it borders on the Cadusii, on many tribes of the Scythians, and on the Arimaspae, wild, one-eyed men. On the west it touches Armenia, Niphates, the Asiatic Albani, the Red Sea, and the Scenitic Arabs, whom men of later times called the Saracens. Under the southern heaven it looks down on Mesopotamia. Opposite the eastern front it extends to the Ganges river, which cuts through India and empties into the southern ocean.

14 Now there are in all Persia these greater provinces, ruled by vitaxae, or commanders of cavalry, by kings, and by satraps — for to enumerate the great number of smaller districts would be difficult and superfluous — namely, Assyria, Susiana, Media, Persis, Parthia, Greater Carmania, Hyrcania, Margiana, the Bactriani, the Sogdiani, the Sacae, Scythia at the foot of Imaus, and beyond the same mountain, Serica, Aria, the Paropanisadae, Drangiana, Arachosia, and Gedrosia.

15 Nearest to us of all the provinces is Assyria, famous for its large population, its size, and the abundance and great variety of its products. This province once spread over great and prosperous peoples and districts, then it was combined under a single name, and to-day the whole region is called Assyria. There, besides a great abundance of berries and common fruits, bitumen is found near the lake called Sosingites, in whose bed the Tigris is swallowed up, and then, after flowing under ground, and traversing a long distance, appears again. 16 Here naphtha also is produced, a glutinous substance which looks like pitch. This too is similar to bitumen, and even a little bird, if it lights upon it, is prevented from flying, sinks, and disappears utterly. And when fluid of this kind catches fire, the mind of man will find no means of putting it out, except dust.

17 In these regions there is also to be seen a cleft in the earth, from which rises a deadly exhalation, which with its foul odour destroys every living creature that comes near it. If this pestilential stuff, rising from a kind of deep well, should spread out widely from its spring before rising on high, it would by its fetid odour have made the surrounding country a desert. 18 A similar opening was formerly to be seen (as some say) at Hierapolis in Phrygia. And from this also a noxious vapour with a penetrating stench came forth and was destructive to whatever came near it, excepting only eunuchs; and the reason for this may be left to natural philosophers to determine. 19 Also at the temple of Jupiter Asbamaeus in Cappadocia, where that famous philosopher Apollonius is said to have been born near the town of Tyana, a spring may be seen, flowing from a pool, which now is filled with an abundance of water, and again sucks itself back, and so never swells beyond its banks.

20 Within this area is Adiabena, called Assyria in ancient times, but by long custom changed to this name because, lying between the navigable rivers Ona and Tigris it could never be approached by a ford; for we Greeks for transire say διαβαίνειν. At least, this is the opinion of the ancients. 21 But I myself say that there are two perpetually flowing rivers to be found in these lands, the Diabas and Adiabas, which I myself have crossed, and over which there are bridges of boats; and therefore it is to be assumed that Adiabena was named from them, as from great rivers Egypt was named, according to Homer, as well as India, and the Euphratensis, before my time called Commagena; likewise from the Hiberus, Hiberia (now Hispania), and the province of Baetica from the noble river Baetis.

22 In this Adiabena is the city of Ninus, which once possessed the rule over Persia, perpetuating the name of Ninus, once a most powerful king and the husband of Semiramis; also Ecbatana, Arbela, and Gaugamela, where Alexander, after various other battles, overthrew Darius in a hot contest.

23 But in all Assyria there are many cities, among which Apamia, formerly called Mesene, and Teredon, Apollonia and Vologessia, and many similar ones are conspicuous. But these three are especially magnificent and widely known: Babylon, whose walls Semiramis built with bitumen (for the ancient king Belus built the citadel), and Ctesiphon, which Vardanes founded long ago; and later king Pacorus strengthened it with additional inhabitants and with walls, gave it a Greek name, and made it the crowning ornament of Persia. And finally there is Seleucia, the splendid work of Seleucus Nicator. 24 When this city was stormed by the generals of Verus Caesar (as I have related before), the statue of Apollo Comaeus was torn from its place and taken to Rome, where the priests of the gods set it up in the temple of the Palatine Apollo. And it is said that, after this same statue had been carried off and the city burned, the soldiers in ransacking the temple found a narrow crevice; this they widened in the hope of finding something valuable; but from a kind of shrine, closed by the occult arts of the Chaldaeans, the germ of that pestilence burst forth, which after generating the virulence of incurable diseases, in the time of the same Verus and of Marcus Antoninus polluted everything with contagion and death, from the frontiers of Persia all the way to the Rhine and to Gaul.

25 Near these is the land of the Chaldaeans, the foster-mother of the old-time philosophy — as they themselves say — where the true art of divination first made its appearance. Now the most important rivers that flow through those lands, besides the others that I have mentioned, are the Marses, the Royal River, and the Euphrates, greatest of all. The last-named divides into three branches, all of which are navigable, forms several islands, and often thoroughly waters the fields through the diligence of the farmers, and prepares them for the ploughshare and for tree-culture.

26 Neighbours to these lands are the Susiani, who have few cities. Conspicuous among them, however, is Susa, often the residence of the kings, and Arsiana, Sele, and Aracha. The others are small and little known. On the other hand, many rivers flow through this region; most notable among them are the Oroates, Harax, and Mosaeus, which along the narrow sandy tract that separates the Caspian from the Red Sea overflow into a great number of pools.

27 On the left Media extends, bordering on the Hyrcanian Sea. Of this province we read that before the reign of the elder Cyrus and the growth in Persia’s power, it was the queen of all Asia, after it had overcome Assyria, whose many provinces, changed in name to Agropatena, it possessed by the right of conquest. 28 It is a warlike nation, and most of all to be feared next to the Parthians, by whom alone it is surpassed, and its territory has the form of a rectangle. The inhabitants of these lands as a whole dwell in a most spacious country, overhung by very lofty mountains, which they call Zagrus, Orontes, and Iasonius. 29 Those who dwell on the western side of the lofty mountain Coronus abound in fields of grain and vineyards, enjoy the fertility of a productive soil, and are rich in rivers and clear springs. 30 Their green meadows produce a noble breed of horses, on which their chiefs (as the writers of old say, and as I myself have seen) when entering battle are wont to ride full of courage. These horses they call Nesaean. 31 Therefore Media abounds in rich cities, in villages built up like towns, and in a great number of inhabitants; it is (to speak briefly) the richest residence of the kings.

32 In these parts are the fertile lands of the Magi, about whose sects and pursuits — since we have chanced on this point — it will be in place to give a few words of explanation. According to Plato, the most eminent author of lofty ideas, magic, under the mystic name of hagistia, is the purest worship of the gods. To the science of this, derived from the secret lore of the Chaldaeans, in ages long past the Bactrian Zoroaster made many contributions, and after him the wise king Hystaspes, the father of Darius.

33 When Zoroaster had boldly made his way into the unknown regions of Upper India, he reached a wooded wilderness, whose calm silence the lofty intellects of the Brahmins control. From their teaching he learned as much as he could grasp of the laws regulating the movements of the earth and the stars, and of the pure sacrificial rites. Of what he had learned he communicated something to the understanding of the Magi, which they, along with the art of divining the future, hand on from generation to generation to later times. 34 From that time on for many ages down to the present a large class of men of one and the same descent have devoted themselves to the service of the gods. The Magi also say (for it is right to believe them) that they guard on ever-burning braziers a fire sent down from heaven in their country, and that a small portion of it, as a good omen, used to be carried before the Asiatic kings. 35 The number of Magi of this origin in old times was very small, and the Persian potentates made regular use of their services in the worship of their gods. And it was sin to approach an altar, or touch a sacrificial victim, before one of the Magi, with a set form of prayer, poured the preliminary libations. But they gradually increased in number and became a strong clan, with a name of their own; they possessed country residences, which were protected by no great walls, and they were allowed to live in accordance with their own laws, and through respect for religion were held in high esteem. 36 From this seed of the Magi, as the ancient records relate, seven men after the death of Cambyses mounted the Persian throne, but (we are told), they were overthrown by the party of Darius, who made himself king by the neighing of a horse.

37 In this neighbourhood the Medic oil is made. If a missile is smeared with this oil and shot somewhat slowly from a loosened bow (for it is extinguished by a swift flight), wherever it lands it burns persistently; and if one tries to put it out with water, he makes it burn the more fiercely, and it can be quelled in no other way than by throwing dust upon it. 38 Now, the oil is made in this way. Those who are skilled in such matters take oil of general use, mix it with a certain herb, and let it stand for a long time and thicken, until it gets magic power from the material. Another kind, like a thicker sort of oil, is native to Persia, and (as I have said) is called in that language naphtha.

39 In these lands are many scattered cities; greater than all the rest are Zombis, Patigran and Gazaca. Conspicuous for their wealth and their mighty walls are Heraclia, Arsacia, Europos, Cyropolis and Ecbatana, all situated at the foot of Mount Iasonius in the land of the Syrmedi. 40 Many streams flow through this country, of which the greatest are the Choaspes, Gyndes, Amarus, Charinda, Cambyses, and Cyrus. To this last, a great and beautiful river, the elder Cyrus, that lovable king, when he was hastening on his way to seize the realms of the Scythians, gave that name in place of its older one, because it is valiant, as he himself also was said to be, and forcing its way with the exercise of great power, as he did, flows into the Caspian Sea.

41 Beyond these tracts, but extending farther to the south, next to the seacoast lies Old Persia, rich in small fruits, date-palms, and an abundance of excellent water. For many rivers flow through it into the above-mentioned gulf, the greatest of which are the Batradites, Rogomanius, Brisoana, and Bagrada. 42 But the inland cities are the greater — and uncertain for what reason they built nothing conspicuous along the seacoast — notable among which are Persepolis, Ardea, Habroatis, and Tragonice. But only three islands are to be seen there: Tabiana, Fara, and Alexandria.

43 Near these to the north are the Parthians, dwelling in lands abounding in snow and frost. Their land is cut by [the] Choatres river, more copious than the rest, and the following cities are more important than the others: Oenunia, Moesia, Charax, Apamia, Artacana and Hecatompylos, from which place one reckons along the Caspian Sea to the Caspian Gates 1040 stadia. 44 There the inhabitants of all the districts are savage and warlike, and take such pleasure in war and conflict, that one who loses his life in battle is regarded as happy beyond all others. For those who depart from this life by a natural death they assail with insults, as degenerate and cowardly.

45 On the south-eastern border of these are the “Happy” Arabs, so-called because they are rich in the fruits of the field, as well as in cattle, dates, and many varieties of perfumes. A great part of their lands border to the right on the Red Sea, and on the left form the boundary of the Persian Sea, and the people know how to avail themselves of all the advantages of both elements. 46 On that coast there are both many anchorages and numerous safe harbours, trading cities in an uninterrupted line, uncommonly splendid and richly adorned residences of their kings, natural hot springs of remarkable curative powers, a conspicuous abundance of brooks and rivers, and a very salubrious climate; so that to men of good judgement they evidently lack nothing for supreme happiness. 47 And while they have an abundance of towns, inland and on the coast, as well as fruitful plains and valleys, yet the choicest cities are Geapolis and Nascos, Baraba, and also Nagara, Maephe, Taphra, and Dioscuris. Moreover, in both seas, and near to the shore, there are many islands, which it is not worth while to enumerate. The most prominent among them is Turgana, on which there is said to be a great temple of Serapis.

48 Beyond the frontier of this people Greater Carmania rises with lofty peaks, extending as far as the Indian Sea, supplied with products of the soil and fruit trees, but far inferior in fame and in extent to the lands of the Arabs; however, the country is no less rich in rivers, and equally blest with a fertile soil. 49 The rivers better known than the rest are the Sagareus, Saganis, and Hydriacus. There are also cities which, though few in number, are very rich in all that contributes to the maintenance and enjoyment of life. Conspicuous among them are Carmana, mother city of them all, Portospana, Alexandria, and Hermupolis.

50 Proceeding inland, one meets with the Hyrcanians, whose coast the sea of the same name washes. Among them, since the leanness of their soil kills the seeds, less attention is given to agriculture, but they live upon game, of which there is a monstrous great variety and abundance. There are also many thousand tigers, and numerous other wild beasts, and by what kind of devices they are usually taken I recall that I gave an account long ago. 51 But for all that, they are not unacquainted with the plough-tail, but some districts, where the soil is richer, are covered over with sown fields. Groves of trees, too, are not lacking in places suited for planting them, and many people support themselves by commerce on the sea. 52 Here are two rivers well known by name, the Oxus and the Maxera, over which tigers, driven by hunger, sometimes swim and unexpectedly cause great losses to the neighbouring places. They also have some strong cities, among lesser towns; two are on the sea, Socanda and Saramanna, and others inland, Asmurna, Sale, and, better known than these, Hyrcana.

53 Over against this people to the north the Abii are said to dwell, a most kindly race, accustomed to trample on all mortal things, on whom, as Homer sings as part of his tale, Jupiter looks with favour from the mountains of Ida.

54 Next after the Hyrcanians the Margiani have found homes, a people all but wholly surrounded by lofty hills, and thus separated from the sea. And although the greater part of their soil, from dearth of water, is a desert, they nevertheless have some towns; but Iasonion, Antiochia, and Nigaea are better known than the others.

55 The lands next to these the Bactriani possess, a nation formerly warlike and very powerful, and always at odds with the Persians, until they reduced all the peoples about them to submission and incorporated them under their own name. In ancient times they were ruled by kings who were formidable even to Arsaces. 56 Many parts of this land, like Margiana, are widely separated from the coast, but rich in vegetation and the herds which graze on their plains and mountains are thick-set, with strong limbs, as appears from the camels brought from there by Mithridates and seen for the first time by the Romans at the siege of Cyzicus. 57 Several peoples are subject to these same Bactrians, notably the Tochari, and like Italy the country is watered by many rivers. Of these, the Artamis and Zariaspes first unite as well as the Ochus and Orgomanes, and when joined they increase the mighty flow of the Oxus with their combined waters. 58 There are also cities here which are laved by other rivers, but they recognize these as their betters: namely, Chatracharta, Alicodra, Astatia, Menapila, and Bactra itself, from which the kingdom and the nation have derived their name.

59 Next the Sogdiani dwell at the foot of the mountains which they call the Sogdii, through whose territories two rivers flow which are navigable by ships, the Araxates and the Dymas. These streams rush headlong over mountains and valleys into a level plain and form a lake, Oxia by name, which is both long and broad. Here among other towns Alexandria, Cyreschata, and the metropolis, Drepsa, are famous.

60 Next to these are the Sacae, a tribe of savages, inhabiting a rough country rich only for cattle, and hence without cities. It is overhung by the mountains Ascanimia and Comedus, along the base of which and through a village, which they call Lithinos Pyrgos, a very long road extends, which is the route taken by the traders who journey from time to time to the land of the Seres.

61 Along the slopes and at the foot of the mountains which they call Imavi and Apurii, various Scythian tribes dwell within the Persian territories, bordering on the Asiatic Sarmatians and reaching to the outermost side of the Halani. These, as if living in a nook of the world, and brought up in solitude, are widely scattered, and are accustomed to common and poor food. 62 And various other tribes dwell in these parts, which at present I think it superfluous to enumerate, since I am hastening on to another topic. It is necessary only to know, that among these nations, which because of the extreme roughness of their land are almost inaccessible, there are some mild and kindly folk, such as the Iaxartae and the Galactophagi, whom the bard Homer mentions in this verse:

“Of the Galactophagi and Abii, righteous men.”

63 Now, among the many rivers of this land, which nature either joins with larger streams or by their own flow carries on to the sea, the Rhymmus, Iaxartes and Daicus are celebrated. But there are only three cities which the region is known to have, namely, Aspabota, Chauriana, and Saga.

64 Beyond these lands of both Scythias, towards the east, the summits of lofty walls form a circle and enclose the Seres, remarkable for the richness and extent of their country. On the west they are bounded by the Scythians, and on the north and the east they extend to a snowclad waste; on the south they reach India and the Ganges. There are mountains there, called Anniba, Nazavicium, Asmira, Emodon, and Opurocorra. 65 Through this land, consisting of a plain of wide extent, surrounded on all sides by precipitous cliffs, two rivers of famous name, the Oechartis and the Bautis, flow in a somewhat slow course. The nature of the various tracts is unlike, being now open and flat and now descending in gentle slopes; and therefore the land overflows in grain, flocks and orchards. 66 On this very fruitful soil dwell various peoples, of which the Anthropophagi, Anibi, Sizyges and Chardi lie towards the north and the snows. Towards the rising sun are the Rabannae, Asmira, and the Essedones, the most famed of all; close to them, on the west, are the Athagorae, and the Aspacarae. In the south are the Baetae, dwelling on the slopes of high mountains. They are famed for cities which, though not numerous, are large and prosperous; the greatest of these, Asmira, Essedon, Asparata, and Sera, are beautiful and well known. 67 The Seres themselves live a peaceful life, for ever unacquainted with arms and warfare; and since to gentle and quiet folk ease is pleasurable, they are troublesome to none of their neighbours. Their climate is agreeable and healthful, the sky is clear, the winds gentle and very pleasant. There is an abundance of well-lighted woods, the trees of which produce a substance which they work with frequent sprinkling, like a kind of fleece; then from the wool-like material, mixed with water, they draw out very fine threads, spin the yarn, and make sericum, formerly for the use of the nobility, but nowadays available even to the lowest without any distinction. 68 The Seres themselves are frugal beyond all others, live a quiet life, and avoid intercourse with the rest of mortals. And when strangers, in order to buy threads or anything else, cross the river, their wares are laid out and with no exchange of words their value is estimated by the eye alone; and they are so abstemious, that they hand over their own products without themselves getting any foreign ware in return.

69 Beyond the Seres live the Ariani, exposed to the blasts of the north wind; through their lands flows a river called the Arias, large enough to carry ships, which forms a great lake called by the same name. Moreover, this same Aria has many cities, among which the following are renowned: Vitaxa Sarmatina, Sotira, Nisibis, and Alexandria, from which the voyage to the Caspian Sea is reckoned as fifteen hundred stadia.

70 Neighbours to these places are the Paropanisadae, facing the Indi on the east, and the Caucasus on the west; they themselves also dwell on the slopes of the mountains and through their country (besides some smaller rivers) flows the Gordomaris, rising in Bactria. And they also have some cities, of which the better-known are Agazaca, Naulibus, and Ortospana, from which the distance along the bank of the river to the frontiers of Media next to the Caspian Gates is 2200 stadia.

71 Joining the aforesaid are the Drangiani, connected with them by hills. Their land is washed by the river Arabius, so-called from the place of its rise. Among other towns they are proud of two, Prophthasia and Ariaspe, because of their wealth and fame.

72 Then, opposite to these, we see Arachosia, on the right facing the Indi. From a much smaller river, flowing out from the mighty Indus, from which the whole region takes its name, Arachosia receives an abundance of water; this river forms a lake, called Arachotoscrene. Here also among insignificant cities, are Alexandria, Arbaca, and Choaspa.

73 Now far within Persia lies Gedrosia, on the right reaching the frontiers of the Indi; it is made fertile by the Artabius, in addition to smaller streams. Here the Arbitani mountains come to an end, and from their bases flow other rivers, which mingle with the Indus, losing their names through the size of the greater stream. But here, too, there are famous cities, in addition to islands; but Ratira and Gynaecon limen are more highly esteemed than the rest.

74 But we would not give a detailed account of the seacoast at the extremities of Persia, and wander too far from our subject. So it will be enough to say that the sea extending from the Caspian mountains along the northern side to the above-mentioned strait is 9000 stadia; but the southern frontier, from the mouths of the river Nile to where Carmania begins, is reckoned at 14,000 stadia.

75 Among these many men of differing tongues there are varieties of persons, as well as of places. But, to describe their bodily characteristics and their customs in general, they are almost all slender, somewhat dark, or of a leaden pallor, with eyes grim as goats’, eyebrows joined and curved in the form of a half-circle, not uncomely beards, and long, shaggy hair. All of them without exception, even at banquets and on festal days, appear girt with swords; an old Greek custom which, according to the trustworthy testimony of Thucydides, the Athenians were the first to abandon. 76 Most of them are extravagantly given to venery, and are hardly contented with a multitude of concubines; they are far from immoral relations with boys. Each man according to his means contracts many or few marriages, whence their affection, divided as it is among various objects, grows cold. They avoid as they would the plague splendid and luxurious banquets, and especially, excessive drinking. 77 Except for the kings’ tables, they have no fixed hours for meal-times, but every man’s belly is, as it were, his sundial; when this gives the call, they eat whatever is at hand, and no one, after he is satisfied, loads himself with superfluous food. 78 They are immensely moderate and cautious, so much so that they sometimes march through an enemy’s gardens and vineyards without coveting or touching anything, through fear of poison or magic arts. 79 Besides this, one seldom sees a Persian stop to pass water or step aside in response to a call of nature; so scrupulously do they avoid these and other unseemly actions. 80 On the other hand, they are so free and easy, and stroll about with such a loose and unsteady gait, that one might think them effeminate; but, in fact, they are most gallant warriors, though rather crafty than courageous, and to be feared only at long range. They are given to empty words, and talk madly and extravagantly. They are boastful, harsh and offensive, threatening in adversity and prosperity alike, crafty, haughty, cruel, claiming the power of life and death over slaves and commons. They flay men alive, either bit by bit or all at once, and no servant who waits upon them, or stands at table, is allowed to open his mouth, either to speak or to spit; to such a degree, after the skins are spread, are the mouths of all fettered. 81 They stand in special fear of the laws, among which those dealing with ingrates and deserters are particularly severe; and some laws are detestable, namely, those which provide that because of the guilt of a single person all his relatives are put to death. 82 For the office of judge, upright men of proved experience are chosen, who have little need of advice from others; therefore they ridicule our custom, which at times places eloquent men, highly skilled in public law, behind the backs of judges without learning. But that one judge was forced to take his seat on the skin of another who had been condemned to death for injustice is either a fiction of antiquity, or, if once customary, has long since been given up. 83 Through military training and discipline, through constant exercise in warfare and military manoeuvres, which we have often described, they cause dread even to great armies; they rely especially on the valour of their cavalry, in which all the nobles and men of rank undergo hard service; for the infantry are armed like the murmillones, and they obey orders like so many horse-boys. The whole throng of them always follows in the rear, as if doomed to perpetual slavery, without ever being supported by pay or gifts. And this nation, so bold and so well trained for the dust of Mars, would have brought many other peoples under the yoke in addition to those whom they fully subdued, were they not constantly plagued by domestic and foreign wars. 84 Most of them are so covered with clothes gleaming with many shimmering colours, that although they leave their robes open in front and on the sides, and let them flutter in the wind, yet from their head to their shoes no part of the body is seen uncovered. To the use of golden armlets and neck-chains, gems, and especially pearls, of which they possess a great number, they first became accustomed after their victory over Lydia and Croesus.

85 It remains for me to speak briefly about the origin of this gem. Among the Indians and the Persians pearls are found in strong, white sea-shells, being conceived at a definite time of the year by mixture with dew. For at that time they desire, as it were, a kind of copulation, and by often opening and shutting quickly they take in moisture by sprinkling with moonlight. Thereby becoming pregnant, they each bear two or three small pearls, or else uniones, so called because the shell-fish, when opened, sometimes yield only one pearl, but in that case they are of greater size. 86 And it is a proof that they are of ethereal origin, rather than that they are conceived and fed from nourishment derived from the sea, that when drops of morning dew fall upon these gems, they make them brilliant and round, but the dew of evening, on the contrary, makes them irregular, red, and sometimes spotted; and they become large or small under varying conditions, according to the quality of what they have taken in. Very often the shell-fish close through fear of thunderstorms, and either produce imperfect stones or none at all; or at any rate, it melts away as the result of abortion. 87 Their taking is difficult and dangerous, and their price is high, for the reason that they avoid shores that are usually frequented, to escape the snares of the pearlfishers, as some believe, and hide amid solitary rocks and the lairs of sea-hounds. 88 That this kind of gem is found and gathered in the lonely bays of the Britannic Sea, although of less value than these, is well known to us.

Book XXIV

1 Julian with his army invades Assyria; he receives the fortress of Anathas on the Euphrates into surrender, and destroys it by fire.

1 After thus testing the spirit of the soldiers, who with unanimous eagerness and the usual acclaim called God to witness that so successful a prince could not be vanquished, Julian, believing that their main purpose must speedily be accomplished, cut short the night’s rest and ordered the trumpets to give the signal for the march. And having made every preparation which the difficulties of a dangerous war demanded, just as the clear light of day was appearing he passed the frontiers of Assyria, riding in a lofty spirit above all others from rank to rank, and firing every man with a desire to rival him in deeds of valour. 2 And being a general trained by experience and study of the art of war, and fearing lest, being unacquainted with the terrain, he might be entrapped by hidden ambuscades, he began his march with his army in order of battle. He also arranged to have 1500 mounted scouts riding a little ahead of the army, who advancing with caution on both flanks, as well as in front, kept watch that no sudden attack be made. He himself in the centre led the infantry, which formed the main strength of his entire force, and ordered Nevitta on the right with several legions to skirt the banks of the Euphrates. The left wing with the cavalry he put in charge of Arintheus and Ormisda, to be led in close order through the level fields and meadows. Dagalaifus and Victor brought up the rear, and last of all was Secundinus, military leader in Osdruena.

3 Then in order to fill the enemy (if they should burst out anywhere), even when they saw him from afar, with fear of a greater force than he had, by a loose order he so extended the ranks of horses and men, that the hindermost were nearly ten miles distant from the standard-bearers in the van. This is the wonderful device that Pyrrhus, the famous king of Epirus, is said often to have used; for he was most skilful in choosing suitable places for his camp, and able to disguise the look of his forces so that the enemy might think them greater or fewer as it suited him.

4 His packs, servants, unarmed attendants, and every kind of baggage he placed between two divisions of the rank and file, in order that they might not be carried off (as often happens) by a sudden attack, if they were left unprotected. The fleet, although the river along which it went winds with many a bend, was not permitted to lag behind or get ahead.

5 After making a march of two days in this manner, we approached the deserted city of Dura, situated on the river bank. Here so many herds of deer were found, some of which were slain with arrows, others knocked down with heavy oars, that all ate to satiety; but the greater number of the animals, accustomed to rapid swimming, leaped into the river and with a speed that could not be checked escaped to their familiar deserts.

6 Then, after completing a leisurely march of four days, just as evening was coming on Count Lucillianus, with a thousand light-armed troops embarked in ships, was sent, by the emperor’s order, to capture the fortress of Anatha, which, like many others, is girt by the waters of the Euphrates. The ships, according to orders, took suitable positions and blockaded the island, while a misty night hid the secret enterprise. 7 But as soon as daylight appeared, a man who went out to fetch water, suddenly catching sight of the enemy, raised a loud outcry, and by his excited shouts called the defenders to arms. Then the emperor, who from an elevated point had been looking for a site for a camp, with all possible haste crossed the river, under the protection of two ships, followed by a great number of boats carrying siege-artillery. 8 But on drawing near the walls he considered that a battle must be accompanied by many dangers, and accordingly, partly in mild terms, partly in harsh and threatening language, he urged the defenders to surrender. They asked for a conference with Ormizda, and were induced by his promises and oaths to expect much from the mercy of the Romans. 9 Finally, driving before them a garlanded ox, they came down in suppliant guise. At once the whole fortress was set on fire; Pusaeus, its commander, later a general in Egypt, was given the rank of tribune. As for the rest, they were treated kindly, and with their families and possessions were sent to Chalcis, a city of Syria. 10 Among them was a soldier who, when in former times Maximianus made an inroad into Persian territory, had been left in these parts because of illness; he was then a young man, whose beard was just beginning to grow. He had been given several wives (as he told us) according to the custom of the country, and was on our arrival a bent old man with numerous offspring. He was overjoyed, having advised the surrender, and when taken to our camp, he called several to witness that he had known and declared long ago that he, when nearly a hundred years old, would find a grave on Roman soil. After this the Saracens, to the emperor’s great delight, brought in some skirmishers belonging to a division of the enemy, and after receiving rewards were sent back to engage in like activities.

11 On the following day another thing happened, this time a disaster. For a hurricane arose, which stirred up numerous whirlwinds and caused such general confusion, that many tents were rent asunder and numerous soldiers were prevented by the force of the gale from keeping a firm footing and were hurled to the ground on their faces or on their backs. On that same day another equally dangerous thing happened. For the river suddenly overflowed its banks and some grain-ships were sunk, since the sluices built of masonry, which served to hold in or let out the water used for irrigating the fields, were broken through; but whether this was a device of the enemy or was due to the weight of the waters could not be learned.

12 After storming and burning the first city to which we had come, and moving the prisoners to another place, the hopes of the army were raised to fuller confidence and with loud shouts they rose to praise the prince, convinced that even now the protection of the god of heaven would be with them.

13 And for one who was traversing unknown regions greater precautions against hidden dangers were necessary, since the craft and many wiles of the nation were to be feared. Therefore the emperor, with light-armed skirmishers, now took his place at the head of the army, and now brought up the rear; and in order that no hidden danger might escape his notice, he scanned the rough thickets and valleys, using either his native affability or threats to keep his men from scattering too loosely or too far.

14 However, he allowed the enemy’s fields, abounding in fruits of every kind, to be set on fire with their crops and huts, but only after each man had fully supplied himself with everything that he needed; and in this way the safety of their foes was impaired before they knew it. 15 For the warriors gladly made use of what they had won with their own hands, thinking that their valour had found new granaries; and they were delighted to have an abundance of provisions and at the same time save the food that was carried in the ships. 16 At this place a drunken soldier, who had rashly and without orders crossed to the opposite bank, was seized by the enemy before our eyes and killed.

2 The emperor, after passing by some fortresses and towns and burning others, that had been abandoned, receives the surrender of Pirisabora and destroys it by fire.

1 After these successful operations we reached a fortress called Thilutha, situated in the middle of the river, a place rising in a lofty peak and fortified by nature’s power as if by the hand of man. Since the difficulty and the height of the place made it impregnable, an attempt was made with friendly words (as was fitting) to induce the inhabitants to surrender; but they insisted that such defection then would be untimely. But they went so far as to reply, that as soon as the Romans by further advance had got possession of the interior, they also would go over to the victors, as appendages of the kingdom. 2 After this, as our ships went by under their very walls, they looked in respectful silence without making any move. After passing this place we came to another fortress, Achaiachala by name, also protected by the encircling river, and difficult of ascent; there too we received a similar refusal and went on. The next day another castle, which because of the weakness of its walls had been abandoned, was burned in passing. 3 Then during the following two days we covered 200 stadia and arrived at a place called Baraxmalcha. From there we crossed the river and entered the city of Diacira, seven miles distant. This place was without inhabitants, but rich in grain and fine white salt; there we saw a temple, standing on a lofty citadel. After burning the city, and killing a few women whom we found, we passed over a spring bubbling with bitumen and took possession of the town of Ozogardana, which the inhabitants had likewise deserted through fear of the approaching army. Here a tribunal of the emperor Trajan was to be seen. 4 After burning this city also, and taking two days’ rest, towards the end of the night which followed the second day, the Surena, who among the Persians has won the highest rank after the king, and the Malechus, Podosaces by name, phylarch of the Assanitic Saracens, a notorious brigand, who with every kind of cruelty had long raided our territories, laid an ambuscade for Ormizda, who, as they had learned (one knew not from what source), was on the point of setting out to reconnoitre. But their attempt failed, because the river at that point is narrow and very deep, and hence could not be forded. 5 At daybreak the enemy were already in sight, and we then saw them for the first time in their gleaming helmets and bristling with stiff coats of mail; but our soldiers rushed to battle at quick step, and fell upon them most valiantly. And although the bows were bent with strong hand and the flashing gleam of steel added to the fear of the Romans, yet anger whetted their valour, and covered with a close array of shields they pressed the enemy so hard that they could not use their bows. 6 Inspired by these first-fruits of victory, our soldiers came to the village of Macepracta, where the half-destroyed traces of walls were seen; these in early times had a wide extent, it was said, and protected Assyria from hostile inroads. 7 Here a part of the river is drawn off by large canals which take the water into the interior parts of Babylon, for the use of the fields and the neighbouring cities; another part, Naarmalcha by name, which being interpreted means “the kings’ river,” flows past Ctesiphon. Where it begins, a tower of considerable height rises, like the Pharos. Over this arm of the river all the infantry crossed on carefully constructed bridges. 8 But the cavalry with the pack-animals swam across in full armour where a bend in the river made it less deep and rapid; some of them were carried off by the current and drowned, others were assailed by the enemy with a sudden shower of arrows; but a troop of auxiliaries, very lightly equipped for running, sallied forth, followed hard on the backs of the flying foe, and like so many birds of prey, struck them down.

9 When this undertaking also had been accomplished with glory, we came to the large and populous city of Pirisabora, surrounded on all sides by the river. The emperor, after riding up and inspecting the walls and the situation, began the siege with all caution, as if he wished by mere terror to take from the townsmen the desire for defence. But after they had been tried by many conferences, and not one could be moved either by promises or by threats, the siege was begun. The walls were surrounded by a triple line of armed men, and from dawn until nightfall they fought with missiles. 10 Then the defenders, who were strong and full of courage, spread over the ramparts everywhere loose strips of haircloth to check the force of the missiles, and themselves protected by shields firmly woven of osier and covered with thick layers of rawhide, resisted most resolutely. They looked as if they were entirely of iron; for the plates exactly fitted the various parts of their bodies and fully protecting them, covered them from head to foot. 11 And again and again they earnestly demanded an interview with Ormizda, as a fellow countryman and of royal rank, but when he came near they assailed him with insults and abuse, as a traitor and a deserter. This tedious raillery used up the greater part of the day, but in the first stillness of night many kinds of siege-engines were brought to bear and the deep trenches began to be filled up. 12 When the defenders, who were watching intently, made this out by the still uncertain light, and besides, that a mighty blow of the ram had breached a corner tower, they abandoned the double walls of the city and took possession of the citadel connected with them, which stood on a precipitous plateau at the top of a rough mountain. The middle of this mountain rose to a lofty height, and its rounded circuit had the form of an Argolic shield, except that on the north side, where its roundness was broken, cliffs which descended into the current of the Euphrates still more strongly protected it. On this stronghold, battlements of walls rose high, and were built of bitumen and baked brick, a kind of structure (as is well known) than which nothing is safer. 13 And now the soldiers with greater confidence rushed through the city, seeing it deserted, and fought fiercely with the inhabitants, who from the citadel showered upon them missiles of many kinds. For although those same defenders were hard pressed by our catapults and ballistae, they in turn set up on the height strongly stretched bows, whose wide curves extending on both sides were bent so pliably that when the strings were let go by the fingers, the iron-tipped arrows which they sent forth in violent thrusts crashed into the bodies exposed to them and transfixed them with deadly effect. 14 Nevertheless both armies fought with clouds of stones thrown by hand; neither side gave way but the hot fight continued with great determination from dawn until nightfall, and ended indecisively. Then, on the following day, they continued the battle most fiercely, many fell on both sides, and their equal strength held the victory in balance. Whereupon the emperor, hastening to try every lucky throw amid the mutual slaughter, surrounded by a band in wedge-formation, and protected from the fall of arrows by shields held closely together, in swift assault with a company of vigorous warriors, came near the enemy’s gate, which was heavily overlaid with iron. 15 And although he and those who shared in his peril were assailed with rocks, bullets from slings, and other missiles, nevertheless he often cheered on his men as they tried to break in the leaves of the folding gates, in order to effect an entrance, and he did not withdraw until he saw that he must soon be overwhelmed by the volleys which were being hurled down upon him. 16 After all, he got back with all his men; a few were slightly wounded, he himself was unhurt, but bore a blush of shame upon his face. For he had read that Scipio Aemilianus, accompanied by the historian Polybius of Megalopolis in Arcadia and thirty soldiers, had undermined a gate of Carthage in a like attack. But the admitted credibility of the writers of old upholds the recent exploit. 17 For Aemilianus had come close up to the gate, and it was protected by an arch of masonry, under which he was safely hidden while the enemy were trying to lift off the masses of stone; and he broke into the city when it was stripped of its defenders. But Julian attacked an exposed place, and was forced to retreat only when the face of heaven was darkened by fragments of mountains and other missiles showered upon him; and then with difficulty.

18 These actions went on in haste and confusion, and since it was evident that the construction of mantlet-sheds and mounds was greatly interfered with by other pressing matters, Julian gave orders that the engine called helepolis should quickly be built, by the use of which, as I have said above, King Demetrius overcame many cities and won the name of Poliorcetes. 19 To this huge mass, which would rise above the battlements of the lofty towers, the defenders turned an attentive eye, and at the same time considering the resolution of the besiegers, they suddenly fell to their prayers, and standing on the towers and battlements, and with outstretched hands imploring the protection of the Romans, they craved pardon and life. 20 And when they saw that the works were discontinued, and that those who were constructing them were attempting nothing further, which was a sure sign of peace, they asked that an opportunity be given them of conferring with Ormizda. 21 When this was granted, and Mamersides, commander of the garrison, was let down on a rope and taken to the emperor, he obtained (as he besought) a sure promise of life and impunity for himself and his followers, and was allowed to return. When he reported what he had accomplished, all the people of both sexes, since everything that they desired had been accepted, made peace with trustworthy religious rites. Then the gates were thrown open and they came out, shouting that a potent protecting angel had appeared to them in the person of a Caesar great and merciful. 22 The prisoners numbered only 2500; for the rest of the population, in anticipation of a siege, had crossed the river in small boats and made off. In this citadel there was found a great abundance of arms and provisions; of these the victors took what they needed and burned the rest along with the place itself.

3 Julianus Augustus promises the soldiers a hundred denarii each, as a reward for their good services, and when they express contempt for so small a gift, he recalls them to their senses in a temperate address.

1 The day after these events the serious news came to the emperor, while he was quietly at table, that the Persian leader called the Surena had unexpectedly attacked three squadrons of our scouting cavalry, had killed a very few of them, including one of their tribunes, and carried off a standard. 2 At once roused to furious anger, Julian hurried forth with an armed force, — his safest course lay in his very speed — and routed the marauders in shameful confusion; he cashiered the two surviving tribunes as inefficient and cowardly, and following the ancient laws, discharged and put to death ten of the soldiers who had fled from the field.

3 Then, after the city was burned (as has been told), Julian mounted a tribunal erected for the purpose and thanked the assembled army, urging them all to act in the same way in the future, and promised each man a hundred pieces of silver. But when he perceived that the smallness of the promised sum excited a mutinous uproar, he was roused to deep indignation and spoke as follows:

4 “Behold the Persians,” said he, “abounding in wealth of every kind. The riches of this people can enrich you, if we show ourselves brave men of united purpose. But from endless resources (believe me, pray) the Roman empire has sunk to extremest want through those men who (to enrich themselves) have taught princes to buy peace from the barbarians with gold. 5 The treasury has been pillaged, cities depopulated, provinces laid waste. I have neither wealth nor family connections (although I am of noble birth), only a heart that knows no fear; and an emperor who finds his sole happiness in the training of his mind will feel no shame in admitting an honourable poverty. For the Fabricii too, though poor in worldly goods, conducted serious wars and were rich in glory. 6 All this you may possess in abundance, if you fearlessly follow God’s lead and your general’s, who will be careful (so far as human foresight can provide), and if you act with moderation; but if you oppose me and repeat the shameful scenes of former revolts, go to it now! 7 I alone, as becomes a commander, having reached the end of a career of great deeds, will die standing on my feet, indifferent to a life which one little fever may take from me; or at any rate I will abdicate, since I have not lived such a life that I cannot some time be a private citizen. And I may say with pride and joy that we have with us thoroughly tried generals, perfect in their knowledge of every kind of warfare.”

8 By this address of an emperor self-contained amid prosperity and adversity the soldiers were quieted for the time, and, gaining confidence through the anticipation of better days, they promised to be obedient and compliant. With unanimous applause they lauded his leadership and high spirit to the skies; and when such utterances are sincere and come from the heart, it is usually shown by a slight clashing of shields. 9 After this they retired to their tents and (so far as the circumstances allowed) refreshed themselves with food and sleep. It gave courage to the army besides that Julian constantly took oath, not by those dear to him, but by the great deeds that he planned, saying: “As I hope to send the Persians under the yoke”; “As I hope to restore the shattered Roman world.” Just as Trajan is said sometimes to have emphasized a statement by the oaths: “As I hope to see Dacia reduced to the form of a province”; “As I hope to cross the Hister and the Euphrates on bridges”; and many other oaths of the same kind.

10 Next, after a march of fourteen miles, we came to a place where the fields are made fertile by an abundance of water; but the Persians, having learned in advance that we should take that route, had broken the dykes and allowed the water to flow everywhere without restraint. 11 Therefore, as the ground was covered far and wide with standing pools, the emperor gave the soldiers another day of rest, and went on himself; and after overcoming many dangers, he made such bridges as he could from bladders, as well as boats from the trunks of palm trees, and so got his army across, though not without difficulty.

12 In these regions there are many fields, planted with vineyards and various kinds of fruits. Here too palm trees are wont to grow, extending over a wide expanse as far as Mesene and the great sea, in mighty groves. And wherever anyone goes, one constantly sees palm branches with and without fruit, and from their yield an abundance of honey and wine is made. The palms themselves are said to couple, and the sexes may easily be distinguished. 13 It is also said that the female trees conceive when smeared with the seeds of the male, and they assert that the trees take pleasure in mutual love, and that this is evident from the fact that they lean towards each other, and cannot be parted even by gales of wind. And if the female tree is not smeared in the usual way with the seed of the male, it suffers abortion and loses its fruit before it is ripe. And if it is not known with what male any female tree is in love, her trunk is smeared with her own perfume, and the other tree by a law of nature is attracted by the sweet odour. It is from these signs that the belief in a kind of copulation is created.

14 Abundantly supplied with food of that kind, our army passed by several islands, and where formerly there was dread of scarcity there was now serious danger of over-eating. Finally, they were assailed by a hidden attack of the enemy’s archers, but not unavenged; and came to a place where the main body of the Euphrates is divided into many small streams.

4 The town of Maiozamalcha is stormed and sacked by the Romans.

1 In this tract a city which, because of its low walls, had been abandoned by its Jewish inhabitants, was burned by the hands of the angry soldiers. This done, the emperor went on farther, still more hopeful because of the gracious aid of the deity, as he interpreted it. 2 And when he had come to Maiozamalcha, a great city surrounded by strong walls, he pitched his tents and took anxious precautions that the camp might not be disturbed by a sudden onset of the Persian cavalry, whose valour in the open field was enormously feared by all peoples. 3 After making this provision, attended by a few light-armed soldiers and himself also marching on foot, Julian planned to make a careful examination of the position of the city; but he fell into a dangerous ambuscade, from which he escaped only with difficulty and at the risk of his life. 4 For through a secret gate of the town ten armed Persians came out, and after crossing the lower slopes on bended knees made a sudden onslaught on our men. Two with drawn swords attacked the emperor, whose bearing made him conspicuous, but he met their strokes by lifting up his shield. Thus protected, with great and lofty courage he plunged his sword into the side of one assailant, while his followers with many a stroke cut down the other. The rest, of whom some were wounded, fled in all directions. After stripping the two of their arms, Julian returned to camp with the spoils, bringing back his companions uninjured, and was received by all with great joy. 5 Torquatus once took from a prostrate foe his golden neck-chain; Valerius, afterwards surnamed Corvinus, laid low a bold and bragging Gaul with the aid of a crow, and by these glorious deeds they gained fame with posterity. We do not begrudge the praise; let this fine exploit also be added to the records of the past.

6 On the following day bridges were built and the army led across, and a camp was measured off in another and more advantageous place and girt by a double palisade, since (as I have said) Julian feared the open plains. Then he began the siege of the town, thinking that it would be dangerous to advance farther, and leave behind him an enemy whom he feared.

7 While great preparations were being made for the siege, the Surena, who was in command of the enemy, made an attack on the pack-animals, which were grazing in the palm-groves; but he was met by our scouting-cohorts, and after loss of a few of the men, was baffled by our forces and withdrew 8 The inhabitants of two cities, which were on islands made by the winding river, alarmed and distrustful of their strength, tried to make their way to the walls of Ctesiphon; some of them slipped off through the thick woods, others crossed the neighbouring pools in their boats made from hollowed trees, thinking this their only hope and the best means for making the long journey which confronted them, if they were to reach that distant land. 9 Some of them, who offered resistance, were slain by our troops, who also rushed about everywhere in skiffs and boats and from time to time brought in others as prisoners. For Julian had provided with balanced care, that while the infantry were besieging the town, the cavalry forces, divided into detachments, should give their attention to driving off booty; and through this arrangement the soldiers, without burdening the provincials at all, fed upon the vitals of the enemy.

10 And now the emperor, having surrounded, with a triple line of shields, the town, which had a double wall about it, assailed it with all his might, in the hope of gaining his end. But necessary as the attack was, so was it very difficult to bring it to a successful issue. For on every side the approaches were surrounded by high and precipitous cliffs and many windings made them doubly perilous and the town inaccessible, especially since the towers, formidable for both their number and their height, rose to the same elevation as the eminence of natural rock which formed the citadel, while the sloping plateau overlooking the river was fortified with strong battlements. 11 Added to this was an equally serious disadvantage, in that the large and carefully chosen force of the besieged could not by any enticements be led to surrender, but resisted as though resolved either to be victorious or to die amid the ashes of their native city. But our soldiers could with difficulty kept from the attack, mutinously pressing on and demanding a pitched battle even in the open field; and when the trumpet sounded the recall, they continually tormented themselves with spirited attempts to assail the enemy.

12 However, the judgement of our leaders overcame their extreme violence; the work was divided, and each man undertook with all speed the task assigned him. For here lofty embankments were being raised, there others were filling up the deep ditches; elsewhere long passages were being constructed in the bowels of the earth, and those in charge of the artillery were setting up their hurling engines, soon to break out with deadly roar. 13 Nevitta and Dagalaifus had charge of the mines and mantelets; the opening of the attack, and the protection of the artillery from fire or sallies was undertaken by the emperor in person.

And when all the preparations for destroying the city had been completed with much painful toil and the soldiers demanded battle, the general named Victor, who had reconnoitred the roads as far as Ctesiphon, returned and reported that he had found no obstacles. 14 Upon this all the soldiers were wild with joy, and aroused to greater confidence awaited under arms the signal for battle.

15 And now, as the trumpets sounded their martial note, both sides raised a loud shout. The Romans were the first with repeated onslaughts and threatening roars to attack the foe, who were covered with plates of iron as if by a thin layer of feathers, and were full of confidence since the arrows flew back as they struck the folds of the hard iron; but at times the covering of joined shields, with which our men skilfully covered themselves as if by the protection of irregularly shaped arches, because of their continual movements yawned apart. The Persians, on the other hand, obstinately clinging to their walls, tried with every possible effort to avoid and baffle the death-dealing attacks. 16 But when the besiegers, carrying before them hurdles of wicker work, were already threatening the walls, the enemy’s slingers and archers, others even rolling down huge stones, with torches and fiery shafts tried to keep them at a distance; then ballistae adapted for wooden arrows were bent and plied with screaming sound, sending forth showers of missiles; and scorpions, hauled to various places by skilled hands hurled round stones. 17 But after the renewed and repeated contests, as the heat increased towards the middle of the day and the sun burnt like fire, both sides, though intent upon the preparation of the siege-works and eager for battle, were forced to retire worn out and drenched with sweat.

18 With the same fixity of purpose, the contending parties on the following day also carried on the battle persistently with contests of various kinds, and separated on equal terms and with indecisive result. But in the face of every danger, the emperor, in closest company with combatants, urged on the destruction of the city, lest by lingering too long about its walls, he should be forced to abandon his greater projects. 19 But in case of dire necessity nothing is so trifling that it may not at times, even contrary to expectation, tip the balance in some great undertaking. For when, as often, the combatants were on the point of separating and the fighting slackened, a more violent blow from a ram which had shortly before been brought up shattered a tower which was higher than all the rest and strongly built of kiln-dried brick; and in its fall it carried with it amid a tremendous crash the adjacent side of the wall. 20 Thereupon, according to changes of the situation, the vigour of the besiegers and in turn the energy of the besieged was shown by splendid deeds. For nothing seemed too hard for our soldiers, inflamed as they were with wrath and resentment, nothing was formidable or terrible in the eyes of the defenders as they joined issue for their lives. For it was not until the fight had raged for a long time without result and blood had been shed in much slaughter on both sides, that the close of the day brought it to an end and the combatants then yielded to fatigue.

21 While this was going on in the light of day and before the eyes of all, it was reported to the emperor, who kept a watchful eye on everything, that the legionary soldiers to whom the laying of the mines had been assigned, having completed their underground passages and supported them by beams, had made their way to the bottom of the foundations of the walls, and were ready to sally out when he himself should give the word. 22 Therefore, although the night was far advanced, the trumpets sounded, and at the given signal for entering battle they rushed to arms. And, as had been planned, the fronts of the wall were attacked on two sides in order that while the defenders were rushing here and there to avert the danger, the clink of the iron of tools digging at the parts close by might not be heard, and that with no hindrance from within, the band of sappers might suddenly make its appearance. 23 When these matters were arranged as had been determined, and the defenders were fully occupied, the mines were opened and Exsuperius, a soldier of a cohort of the Victores, leaped out; next came Magnus, a tribune and Jovianus, a notary, followed by the whole daring band. They first slew those who were found in the room through which they had come into daylight; then advancing on tiptoe they cut down all the watch, who, according to the custom of the race, were loudly praising in song the justice and good fortune of their king. 24 It was thought that Mars himself (if it is lawful for the majesty of the gods to mingle with mortals) had been with Luscinus, when he stormed the camp of the Lucanians; and this was believed because in the heat of battle an armed warrior of formidable size was seen carrying scaling-ladders, and on the following day, when the army was reviewed, could not be found, although he was sought for with particular care; whereas, if he had been a soldier, from consciousness of a memorable exploit he would have presented himself of his own accord. But although then the doer of that noble deed was wholly unknown, on the present occasion those who had fought valiantly were made conspicuous by gifts of siege-crowns, and according to the ancient custom were commended in the presence of the assembled army.

25 At last the city, stripped of its defenders, laid open with many breaches and on the point of falling, was entered, and the violence of the enraged soldiers destroyed whatever they found in their way, without distinction of age or sex; others, in fear of imminent death, being threatened on one side by fire, on the other by the sword, shedding their last tears voluntarily hurled themselves headlong from the walls, and with all their limbs shattered endured for a time a life more awful than death, until they were put out of their misery. 26 Nabdates, however, the commandant of the garrison, with eighty followers, was dragged out alive, and when he was brought before the emperor, who was happy and inclined to mercy, orders were given that he be spared unharmed with the others and kept in custody.

Then when the booty was divided according to the estimate of merit and hard service, the emperor, being content with little, took only a dumb boy who was offered to him, who was acquainted with sign-language and explained many things in which he was skilled by most graceful gestures, was valued at three pieces of gold; and this he considered a reward for the victory that he had won that was both agreeable and deserving of gratitude. 27 But as to the maidens who were taken prisoners (and they were beautiful, as is usual in Persia, where the women excel in that respect) he refused to touch a single one or even to look on her, following the example of Alexander and Africanus, worth avoided such conduct, lest those who showed themselves unwearied by hardships should be unnerved by passion.

28 In the course of these contests a builder on our side, whose name I do not recall, happened to be standing behind a scorpion, when a stone which one of the gunners had fitted insecurely to the sling was hurled backward. The unfortunate man was thrown on his back with his breast crushed, and killed; and his limbs were so torn asunder that not even parts of his whole body could be identified.

29 The emperor was on the point of leaving the spot, when a trustworthy informant reported that in some dark and hidden pits near the walls of the destroyed city, such as are numerous in those parts, a band of the enemy was treacherously lying in wait, intending to rush out unexpectedly and attack the rear of our army. 30 At once a band of foot soldiers of tried valour was sent to dislodge them, and when they could neither force an entrance through the openings nor lure to battle those hidden within, they gathered straw and faggots and piled them before the entrances of the caves. The smoke from this, becoming thicker the narrower the space which it penetrated, killed some by suffocation; others scorched by the blast of fires, were forced to come out and met a swift death; and so, when all had fallen victims to steel or flame, our men quickly returned to their standards. Thus a great and populous city, destroyed by Roman strength and valour, was reduced to dust and ruins.

31 After these glorious deeds we passed over a series of bridges, made necessary by the union of many streams, and came to two fortresses built with special care. Here a son of the Persian king, who had come from Ctesiphon with some magnates and an armed force, tried to prevent Count Victor, who was leading our van, from crossing the river; but on seeing the throng of soldiers that followed, he retreated.

5 The Romans capture and burn a stronghold well fortified by its position and by defensive works.

1 Then going on, we came to groves and fields rich with the bloom of many kinds of fruits; there we found a palace built in Roman style, with which we were so pleased that we left it untouched. 2 There was also in that same region an extensive round tract, enclosed by a strong fence and containing the wild beasts that were kept for the king’s entertainment: lions with flowing manes, boars with bristling shoulders, and bears savage beyond all manner of madness (as they usually are in Persia), and other choice animals of enormous size; our cavalry burst the fastenings of the gates and butchered them all with hunting-spears and showers of missiles. 3 This district is fruitful in fields of grain and in cultivation. Not far from it is Coche, which they call Seleucia; there a camp was hastily fortified, and the entire army because of the convenience of water and fodder rested for two days. But the emperor went on ahead with some light-armed skirmishers, in order to visit a deserted city destroyed in former days by the emperor Carus; in this there is an everflowing spring forming a great pool which empties into the Tigris. There he saw the impaled bodies of many kinsmen of the man who (as I have already said) had surrendered the city of Pirisabora. 4 Here too Nabdates, who (as I have said) was dragged with eighty men from a hiding-place in a captured city, was burned alive, because in early in the beginning of the siege he had secretly promised to betray the town, but had fought most vigorously, and after obtaining an unhoped-for pardon had gone to such a pitch of insolence as to assail Ormisda with every kind of insult.

5 We had gone on some distance, when we were shocked by a sad misfortune. For while three cohorts of light-armed skirmishers were fighting with a band of Persians which had burst forth from the suddenly opened gates of a town, others who had sallied forth from the opposite side of the river, cut off and butchered the pack-animals that followed us, along with a few foragers who were carelessly roaming about. 6 The emperor left the spot in a rage, grinding his teeth, and was already nearing the vicinity of Ctesiphon, when he came upon a lofty, well-fortified stronghold. He ventured to approach and examine the place, riding up to the walls with a few followers and thinking that he was not recognized; but when with somewhat too great rashness he appeared within arrow-shot, he could not escape recognition, and was at once exposed to a rain of various missiles and all but met death from a mural engine. But only his armour-bearer, who was close at his side, was wounded; he himself was protected by a close array of shields, and so escaped the great danger and went his way.

7 Fearfully enraged because of this, he resolved to besiege the fortress, and its garrison was intent upon a vigorous resistance, trusting to their position, which was all but inaccessible, and believing that the king, who was rapidly advancing with an impressive force, would shortly make his appearance. 8 Already the mantlets and all the other equipment required for a siege were being made ready, when, as the night chanced to be clear and the bright moonlight clearly revealed everything to those who stood upon the battlements, near the end of the second watch a throng quickly gathered and burst from the suddenly opened gates, and falling unawares on one of our cohorts, killed a great number, including also a tribune who tried to avert the danger. 9 While this was going on, the Persians, in the same way as before, attacked a part of our men from the opposite side of the river, killed some, and took a few alive. And from fear, and at the same time because they thought that the enemy had gained greater numbers, our men for a time were held irresolute; but when they had recovered their courage, had armed themselves as well as they could in the confusion, and our army, aroused by the trumpets’ blast, was hastening to the spot with threatening cries, the attacking force retreated in terror, though without loss. 10 The emperor, roused to bitter anger, reduced the surviving members of the cohort, who had shown no spirit in resisting the marauders’ attack, to the infantry service (which is more burdensome) with loss of rank. 11 This set him afire to destroy the fortress before which he had been so endangered, and he devoted his energies and thoughts to that end, never himself leaving the van, in order that by fighting among the foremost he might by his personal example rouse the soldiers to deeds of valour, as the witness and judge of their conduct. And so when he had exposed himself valiantly and long to extreme peril, after using every kind of attack and weapons, through the unanimous valour of the besiegers that same fortress was at last taken and destroyed by fire. 12 After this, in consideration of the difficult tasks already performed and those which impended, the army, exhausted by excessive toil, was given a rest and many kinds of provisions were distributed in abundance. However, after that time the palisade of the camp was more carefully constructed with a close array of stakes and a deep moat, since there was fear of sudden sallies and other secret attempts from Ctesiphon, which was now not far distant.

6 After killing 2500 Persians with the loss of barely seventy of his own men, Julian presents many of his soldiers with crowns in the presence of the assembled army.

1 Then we came to an artificial river, by name Naarmalcha, meaning “the kings’ river,” which at that time was dried up. Here in days gone by Trajan, and after him Severus, had with immense effort caused the accumulated earth to be dug out, and had made a great canal, in order to let in the water from the Euphrates and give boats and ships access to the Tigris. 2 It seemed to Julian in all respects safest to clean out the same canal, which formerly the Persians, when in fear of a similar invasion, had blocked with a huge dam of stones. As soon as the canal was cleared, the dams were swept away by the great flow of water, and the fleet in safety covered thirty stadia and was carried into the channel of the Tigris. Thereupon bridges were at once made, and the army crossed and pushed on towards Coche. 3 Then, so that a timely rest might follow the wearisome toil, we encamped in a rich territory, abounding in orchards, vineyards, and green cypress groves. In its midst is a pleasant and shady dwelling, displaying in every part of the house, after the custom of that nation, paintings representing the king killing wild beasts in various kinds of hunting; for nothing in their country is painted or sculptured except slaughter in divers forms and scenes of war.

4 Since thus far everything had resulted as he desired, the Augustus now with greater confidence strode on to meet all dangers, hoping for so much from a fortune which had never failed him that he often dared many enterprises bordering upon rashness. He unloaded the stronger ships of those which carried provisions and artillery, and manned them each with eight hundred armed soldiers; then keeping by him the stronger part of the fleet, which he had formed into three divisions, in the first quiet of night he sent one part under Count Victor with orders speedily to cross the river and take possession of the enemy’s side of the stream. 5 His generals in great alarm with unanimous entreaties tried to prevent him from taking this step, but could not shake the emperor’s determination. The flag was raised according to his orders, and five ships immediately vanished from sight. But no sooner had they reached the opposite bank than they were assailed so persistently with firebrands and every kind of inflammable material, that ships and soldiers would have been consumed, had not the emperor, carried away by the keen vigour of his spirit, cried out that our soldiers had, as directed, raised the signal that they were already in possession of the shore, and ordered the entire fleet to hasten to the spot with all the speed of their oars. 6 The result was that the ships were saved uninjured, and the surviving soldiers, although assailed from above with stones and every kind of missiles, after a fierce struggle scaled the high, precipitous banks and held their positions unyieldingly. 7 History acclaims Sertorius for swimming across the Rhine with arms and cuirass; but on this occasion some panic-stricken soldiers, fearing to remain behind after the signal had been given, lying on their shields, which are broad and curved, and clinging fast to them, though they showed little skill in guiding them, kept up with the swift ships across the eddying stream.

8 The Persians opposed to us serried bands of mail-called horsemen in such close order that the gleam of moving bodies covered with densely fitting plates of iron dazzled the eyes of those who looked upon them, while the whole throng of horse was protected by coverings of leather. The cavalry was backed up by companies of infantry, who, protected by oblong, curved shields covered with wickerwork and raw hides, advanced in very close order. Behind these were elephants, looking like walking hills, and, by the movements of their enormous bodies, they threatened destruction to all who came near them, dreaded as they were from past experience.

9 Hereupon the emperor, following Homeric tactics, filled the space between the lines with the weakest of the infantry, fearing that if they formed part of the van and shamefully gave way, they might carry off all the rest with them; or if they were posted in the rear behind all the centuries, they might run off at will with no one to check them. He himself with the light-armed auxiliaries hastened now to the front, and now to the rear.

10 So, when both sides were near enough to look each other in the face, the Romans, gleaming in their crested helmets and swinging their shields as if to the rhythm of the anapaestic foot, advanced slowly; and the light-armed skirmishers opened the battle by hurling their javelins, while the earth everywhere was turned to dust by both sides and swept away in a swift whirlwind. 11 And when the battle-cry was raised in the usual manner by both sides and the trumpets’ blare increased the ardour of the men, here and there they fought hand-to-hand with spears and drawn swords; and the soldiers were freer from the danger of the arrows the more quickly they forced their way into the enemy’s ranks. Meanwhile Julian was busily engaged in giving support to those who gave way and in spurring on the laggards, playing the part both of a valiant fellow-soldier and of a commander. 12 Finally, the first battle-line of the Persians began to waver, and at first slowly, then at quick step, turned back and made for the neighbouring city with their armour well heated up. Our soldiers pursued them, wearied though they also were after fighting on the scorching plains from sunrise to the end of the day, and following close at their heels and hacking at their legs and backs, drove the whole force with Pigranes, the Surena, and Narseus, their most distinguished generals, in headlong flight to the very walls of Ctesiphon. 13 And they would have pressed in through the gates of the city, mingled with the throng of fugitives, had not the general called Victor, who had himself received a flesh-wound in the shoulder from an arrow, raising his hand and shouting, restrained them; for he feared that the excited soldiers, if they rashly entered the circuit of the walls and could find no way out, might be overcome by weight of numbers.

14 Let the poets of old sing of Hector’s battles and extol the valour of the Thessalian leader; let long ages tell of Sophanes, Aminias, Callimachus, Cynaegirus, those glorious high lights of the Medic wars: but not less distinguished was the valour of some of our soldiers on that day, as is shown by the admission of all men.

15 After their fear was past, trampling on the overthrown bodies of their foes, our soldiers, still dripping with blood righteously shed, gathered at their emperor’s tent, rendering him praise and thanks because he had won so glorious a victory, everywhere without recognition whether he was leader or soldier, and considering the welfare of others rather than his own. For as many as 2500 Persians had been slain, with the loss of only seventy of our men. 16 Julian addressed many of them by name, whose heroic deeds performed with unshaken courage he himself had witnessed, and rewarded them with naval, civic, and camp crowns.

17 Fully convinced that similar successes would follow these, he prepared to offer many victims to Mars the Avenger; but of ten fine bulls that were brought for this purpose nine, even before they were brought to the altar, of their own accord sank in sadness to the ground; but the tenth broke his bonds and escaped, and after he had been with difficulty brought back and sacrificed, showed ominous signs. Upon seeing these, Julian in deep indignation cried out, and called Jove to witness, that he would make no more offerings to Mars; and he did not sacrifice again, since he was carried off by a speedy death.

7 The emperor, after being deterred from besieging Ctesiphon, rashly orders all his ships to be burned, and retreats from the river.

1 Having held council with his most distinguished generals about the siege of Ctesiphon, the opinion of some was adopted, who felt sure that the undertaking was rash and untimely, since the city, impregnable by its situation alone, was well defended; and, besides, it was believed that the king would soon appear with a formidable force. 2 So the better opinion prevailed, and the most careful of emperors, recognizing its advantage, sent Arintheus with a band of light-armed infantry, to lay waste the surrounding country, which was rich in herds and crops; Arintheus was also bidden, with equal energy to pursue the enemy, who had been lately scattered and concealed by impenetrable by-paths and their familiar hiding-places. 3 But Julian, ever driven on by his eager ambitions, made light of words of warning, and upbraiding his generals for urging him through cowardice and love of ease to loose his hold on the Persian kingdom, which he had already all but won; with the river on his left and with ill-omened guides leading the way, resolved to march rapidly into the interior. 4 And it seemed as if Bellona herself lighted the fire with fatal torch, when he gave orders that all the ships should be burned, with the exception of twelve of the smaller ones, which he decided to transport on wagons as helpful for making bridges. And he thought that this plan had the advantage that the fleet, if abandoned, could not be used by the enemy, or at any rate, that nearly 20,000 soldiers would not be employed in transporting and guiding the ships, as had been the case since the beginning of the campaign.

5 Then, as every man murmured, in fear for his life, and manifest truth made clear, that if the dryness of the country or high mountains made it necessary to retreat, they could not return to the waters; and as the deserters, on being put to the torture, openly confessed that they had used deceit, orders were given to use the greatest efforts of the army to put out the flames. But the frightful spread of the fire had already consumed the greater number of the ships, and only the twelve could be saved unharmed which had been set aside to be kept. 6 By this disaster the fleet was needlessly lost, but Julian, trusting to his united army, since none of the soldiers was distracted by other duties, and now stronger in numbers, advanced into the interior, where the fruitful country furnished an abundance of supplies.

7 On learning this the enemy, in order to torment us with hunger, set fire to the plants and the ripe grain; and we, being prevented from advancing by the conflagration, were forced to stay in a permanent camp until the flames should die down. The Persians too, began to harass us at long range, now purposely spreading out, sometimes opposing us in close order, so that from a distance it seemed as if the king’s aid had already arrived; and we were led to think that it was for that reason that they had made such bold attacks and unusual attempts. 8 Yet the emperor and the soldiers were troubled for this reason — that since the ships had been rashly destroyed, there was no means of making a bridge; and the movements of the advancing enemy could not be halted, whose approach was shown by the bright gleam of their armour, which skilfully fitted every limb. And there was also another great evil, in that the reinforcements that were awaited under Arsaces and our other generals did not appear, being hindered by the reasons already mentioned.

8 Since the emperor could no longer make bridges nor join the rest of his troops, he decided to return by way of Corduena.

1 Under these conditions, in order to reassure the anxious soldiers, the emperor gave orders that some of the prisoners, who were naturally slender, as almost all the Persians are, besides now being thin from exhaustion, should be placed before them; then, looking towards our men, he said: “Behold those whom your heroic hearts think to be men, mere ugly she-goats disfigured with filth, who, as abundant experience has shown, throw away their arms and take to flight before they come to grips.” 2 After these words the prisoners were led away, and a council was held to discuss the situation. And after much interchange of opinion, the inexperienced mob crying that we must return by the way we had come, and the emperor steadfastly opposing them, while he and many others pointed out that it was out of the question to go back through a flat country of wide extent where all the fodder and crops had been destroyed, and where what remained of the burnt villages was hideous from the utmost destitution; moreover, since the frosts of winter were now melting the whole soil was soaked, and the streams had passed the bounds of their banks and becoming raging torrents. 3 Still another difficulty faced the undertaking, in that in those lands heated by the sun’s rays, every place is filled with such swarms of flies and gnats that their flight hides the light of day and the sight of the stars that twinkle at night. 4 And since human wisdom availed nothing, after long wavering and hesitation we built altars and slew victims, in order to learn the purpose of the gods, whether they advised us to return through Assyria, of to march slowly along the foot of the mountains and unexpectedly lay waste Chiliocomum, situated near Corduena; but on inspection of the organs it was announced that neither course would suit the signs. 5 Nevertheless it was decided, since all hope of anything better was cut off, to seize upon Corduena. Accordingly, on the sixteenth day of June, camp was broken, and the emperor was on his way at break of day, when smoke or a great whirling cloud of dust was seen; so that one was led to think that it was herds of wild asses, of which there is a countless number in those regions, and that they were travelling together so that pressed body to body they might foil the fierce attacks of lions. 6 Some believed that Arsaces and our generals were coming at last, aroused by the reports that the emperor was besieging Ctesiphon with great forces; and some declared that the Persians had waylaid us. 7 Under such uncertain conditions, in order that no disaster might befall, the trumpets called the ranks together and we encamped in a grassy valley near a stream; and after measuring off a camp we rested in safety behind a multiple row of shields arranged in a circle. For not until evening, because of the thick dust, could we make out what it was that we saw so dimly.

Book XXV

1 The Persians attack the Romans on their march, but are bravely repulsed.

1 Now this night, which was lighted by the gleam of no stars, we passed as is usual in difficult and doubtful circumstances, as fear prevented anyone from daring to sit down or to close his eyes in sleep. But no sooner had the first light of day appeared, than the glittering coats of mail, girt with bands of steel, and the gleaming cuirasses, seen from afar, showed that the king’s forces were at hand. 2 Our soldiers, inflamed by this sight, since only a small stream separated them from the enemy, were in haste to attack them, but the emperor restrained them; however, a fierce fight took place not far from our very rampart between our outposts and those of the Persians, in which Machameus, general of one of our battalions, fell. His brother Maurus, later a general in Phoenicia, tried to protect him, and after cutting down the man who had killed his brother, he terrified all who came in his way, and although he was himself partly disabled by an arrow through his shoulder, by main strength he succeeded in bringing off Machameus, already pale with approaching death, from the fray.

3 And when, because of the almost unendurable heat and the repeated attacks, both sides were growing weary, finally the enemy’s troops were utterly routed and fled in all directions. As we withdrew from the spot, the Saracens followed us for some distance but were forced to retreat through fear of our infantry; a little later they joined with the main body of the Persians and attacked with greater safety, hoping to carry off the Romans’ baggage; but on seeing the emperor they returned to the cavalry held in reserve. 4 Leaving this region we came to an estate called Hucumbra, where contrary to our expectation we refreshed ourselves for two days, procuring everything that was useful and an abundance of grain; then we moved on after immediately burning everything except such things as time allowed us to carry off.

5 On the following day, as the army was advancing more quietly, the Persians unexpectedly attacked the last division, which on that day chanced to have the duty of bringing up the rear, and would have slain them with little trouble, had not our cavalry, who were near by, quickly noticed this, and, spreading widely over the open valleys, prevented so great a disaster, inflicting wounds on those who came up with them. 6 In this battle Adaces, a distinguished satrap, fell; he had once been sent as an envoy to the emperor Constantius and kindly received. The man who killed him brought his armour to Julianus and received the reward which he deserved. 7 On that same day the legions made complaint of the cavalry troop of the Tertiaci, on the ground that just as they themselves were forcing their way into the opposing lines of the enemy, the Tertiaci had gradually given way and so had damped the ardour of almost the entire army. 8 At this the emperor was roused to righteous indignation, had their standards taken from them and their lances broken, and forced all those who were charged with running away to march with the packs, baggage, and prisoners; but their leader, who alone had fought bravely, was given the command of another troop, whose tribune was found guilty of having shamefully left the field. 9 Also four other tribunes of the cavalry were dismissed for similar disgraceful conduct; for in view of the impending difficulties the emperor contented himself with this mild form of punishment.

10 We then advanced for seventy stadia, while every kind of supplies grew less, since the grass and grain had been burned and every man had to snatch from the very flames whatever produce and fodder he could carry. 11 Leaving this place as well, the whole army had come to a district called Maranga, when near daybreak a huge force of Persians appeared with Merena, general of their cavalry, two sons of the king, and many other magnates. 12 Moreover, all the companies were clad in iron, and all parts of their bodies were covered with thick plates, so fitted that the stiff joints conformed with those of their limbs; and the forms of human faces were so skilfully fitted to their heads, that, since their entire bodies were plated with metal, arrows that fell upon them could lodge only where they could see a little through tiny openings fitted to the circle of the eye, or where through the tips of their noses they were able to get a little breath. 13 Of these some, who were armed with pikes, stood so motionless that you would think them held fast by clamps of bronze. Hard by, the archers (for that nation has especially trusted in this art from the very cradle) were bending their flexible bows with such wide-stretched arms that the strings touched their right breasts, while the arrow-points were close to their left hands; and by a highly skilful stroke of the fingers the arrows flew hissing forth and brought with them deadly wounds. 14 Behind them the gleaming elephants, with their awful figures and savage, gaping mouths could scarcely be endured by the faint-hearted; and their trumpeting, their odour, and their strange aspect alarmed the horses still more. 15 Seated upon these, their drivers carried knives with handles bound to their right hands, remembering the disaster suffered at Nisibis; and if the strength of the driver proved no match for the excited brute, that he might not turn upon his own people (as happened then) and crush masses of them to the ground, he would with a mighty stroke cut through the vertebra which separates the head from the neck. For long ago Hasdrubal, brother of Hannibal, discovered that in that way brutes of this kind could quickly be killed. 16 Although these sights caused no little fear, the emperor, guarded by troops of armed men and with his trustworthy generals, full of confidence, as the great and dangerous power of the enemy demanded, drew up his soldiers in the form of a crescent with curving wings to meet the enemy. 17 And in order that the onset of the bowmen might not throw our ranks into confusion, he advanced at a swift page, and so ruined the effectiveness of the arrows. Then the usual signal for battle was given, and the Roman infantry in close order with mighty effort drove the serried ranks of the enemy before them. 18 And in the heat of the combat that followed, the clash of shields, the shouts of the men, and the doleful sound of the whirring arrows continued without intermission. The plains were covered with blood and dead bodies, but the Persian losses were greater; for they often lacked endurance in battle and could with difficulty maintain a close contest man to man, since they were accustomed to fight bravely at long range, but if they perceived that their forces were giving way, as they retreated they would shoot their arrows back like a shower of rain and keep the enemy from a bold pursuit. So by the weight of great strength the Parthians were driven back, and when the signal for retreat was given in the usual manner, our soldiers, long wearied by the fiery course of the sun, returned to their tents, encouraged to dare greater deeds of valour in the future.

19 In this battle (as was said) the loss of the Persians was clearly the greater, while that of our men was very slight. But noteworthy among the various calamities of the combats was the death of Vetranio, a valiant fighter, who commanded the legion of the Zianni.

2 The army is hard pressed by scarcity of grain and fodder. Julianus is alarmed by omens.

1 After this three days were devoted to a truce, while each man gave attention to his own wound or his neighbour’s, but since we were without supplies we were tormented by hunger that was already unendurable; and because grain and fodder had everywhere been burned, and both men and animals experienced extreme danger, a great part of the food which the pack-animals of the tribunes and generals carried was distributed even to the lowest soldiers, who were in dire want. 2 And the emperor, who had no dainties awaiting him, after the manner of princes, but a scant portion of porridge under the low poles of a humble tent — a meal which would have been scorned even by one who served as a common soldier — regardless of himself distributed through the tents of the poorer of his men whatever was demanded for his own needs. 3 Moreover, when he was forced for a time to indulge in an anxious and restless sleep, he threw it off in his usual manner, and, following the example of Julius Caesar, did some writing in his tent. Once when in the darkness of night he was intent upon the lofty thought of some philosopher, he saw somewhat dimly, as he admitted to his intimates, that form of the protecting deity of the state which he had seen in Gaul when he was rising to Augustan dignity, but now with veil over both head and horn of plenty, sorrowfully passing out through the curtains of his tent. 4 And although for a moment he remained sunk in stupefaction, yet rising above all fear, he commended his future fate to the decrees of heaven, and now fully awake, the night being now far advanced, he left his bed, which was spread on the ground, and prayed to the gods with rites designed to avert their displeasure. Then he thought he saw a blazing torch of fire, like a falling star, which furrowed part of the air and disappeared. And he was filled with fear lest the threatening star of Mars had thus visibly shown itself.

5 That fiery brilliance was of the kind that we call διαΐσσων, which never falls anywhere or touches the earth; for anyone who believes that bodies can fall from heaven is rightly considered a layman, or a fool. But this sort of thing happens in many ways, and it will be enough to explain a few of them. 6 Some believe that sparks glowing from the ethereal force, are not strong enough to go very far and then are extinguished; or at least that beams of light are forced into thick clouds, and because of the heavy clash throw out sparks, or when some light has come in contact with a cloud. For this takes the form of a star, and falls downward, so long as it is sustained by the strength of the fire; but, exhausted by the greatness of the space which it traverses, it loses itself in the air, passing back into the substance whose friction gave it all that heat.

7 Accordingly, before dawn the Etruscan soothsayers were hastily summoned, and asked what this unusual kind of star portended. Their reply was, that any undertaking at that time must be most carefully avoided, pointing out that in the Tarquitian books, under the rubric “On signs from heaven” it was written, that when a meteor was seen in the sky, battle ought not to be joined, or anything similar attempted. 8 When the emperor scorned this also, as well as many other signs, the soothsayers begged that at least he would put off his departure for some hours; but even this they could not gain, since the emperor was opposed to the whole science of divination, but since day had now dawned, camp was broken.

3 When the emperor rushed into battle rashly without his coat of mail, in order to drive back the Persians, who were pressing us on all sides, he was wounded by a spear and taken to his tent; there he addresses those who stood about him and after a draught of cold water dies.

1 When we marched on from this place, the Persians, since their frequent losses made them dread regular battles with the infantry, laid ambuscades, and secretly attended us, from the high hills on both sides watching our companies as they marched, so that the soldiers, suspicious of this, all day long neither raised a palisade nor fortified themselves with stakes. 2 And while the flanks were strongly protected and the army, as the nature of the ground made necessary, advanced in square formation, but with the battalions in open order, it was reported to the emperor, who even then unarmed had gone forward to reconnoitre, that the rear guard had suddenly been attacked from behind. 3 Excited by the misfortune, he forgot his coat-of-mail, and merely caught up a shield in the confusion; but as he was hastening to bring aid to those in the rear, he was recalled by another danger — the news that the van, which he had just left, was just as badly off. 4 While he was hastening to restore order there without regard to his own peril, a Parthian band of mailed cavalry on another side attacked the centre companies, and quickly overflowed the left wing, which gave way, since our men could hardly endure the smell and trumpeting of the elephants, they were trying to end the battle with pikes and volleys of arrows. 5 But while the emperor rushed hither and thither amid the foremost ranks of the combatants, and as the Persians turned in flight, they hacked at their legs and backs, and those of the elephants. 6 Julianus, careless of his own safety, shouting and raising his hands tried to make it clear to his men that the enemy had fled in disorder, and, to rouse them to a still more furious pursuit, rushed boldly into the fight. His guards, who had scattered in their alarm, were crying to him from all sides to get clear of the mass of fugitives, as dangerous as the fall of a badly built roof, when suddenly — no one knows whence — a cavalryman’s spear grazed the skin of his arm, pierced his ribs, and lodged in the lower lobe of his liver. 7 While he was trying to pluck this out with his right hand, he felt that the sinews of his fingers were cut through on both sides by the sharp steel. Then he fell from his horse, all present hastened to the spot, he was taken to camp and given medical treatment. 8 And soon, as the pain diminished somewhat, he ceased to fear, and fighting with great spirit against death, he called for his arms and his horse in order by his return to the fight to restore the confidence of his men, and troubling nothing about himself, to show that he was filled with great anxiety for the safety of the others; with the same vigour, though under different conditions, with which the famous leader Epaminondas, when mortally wounded at Mantinia and carried from the field, took particular care to ask for his shield. And when he saw it near him, he died of his terrible wound, happy; for he who gave up his life without fear dreaded the loss of his shield. 9 But since Julianus’s strength was not equal to his will, and he was weakened by great loss of blood, he lay still, having lost all hope for his life because, on inquiry, he learned that the place where he had fallen was called Phrygia. For he had heard that it was fate’s decree that he should die there. 10 But when the emperor had been taken to his tent, the soldiers, burning with wrath and grief, with incredible vigour rushed to avenge him, clashing their spears against their shields, resolved even to die if it should be the will of fate. And although the high clouds of dust blinded the eyes, and the burning heat weakened the activity of their limbs, yet as though discharged by the loss of their leader, without sparing themselves, they rushed upon the swords of the enemy. 11 On the other hand, the exulting Persians sent forth such a shower of arrows that they prevented their opponents from seeing the bowmen. 12 Before them slowly marched the elephants, which with their huge size of body and horrifying crests, struck terror into horses and men. Further off, the trampling of the combatants, the groans of the falling, the panting of the horses, and the ring of arms were heard, until finally both parties were weary of inflicting wounds and the darkness of night ended the battle. 13 On that day fifty Persian grandees and satraps fell, besides a great number of common soldiers, and among them the distinguished generals Merena and Nohodares were slain. The boastfulness of antiquity may view with amazement the twenty battles of Marcellus in various places; it may add Sicinius Dentatus, honoured with a multitude of military crowns; it may besides admire Sergius, who (they say) was wounded twenty-three times in different battles, and whose last descendant Catiline tarnished the glorious renown of these victories with an indelible stain. Yet the joy in our success was marred by sorrow. 14 For while the fight went on everywhere after the withdrawal of the leader, the right wing of the army was exhausted, and Anatolius, at that time chief marshal of the court, was killed. Salutius, the prefect, was in extreme danger, but was saved by the help of his adjutant, and by a fortunate chance escaped death, while Phosphorius, a councillor who chanced to be at his side, was lost. Some of the court officials and soldiers, amid many dangers, took refuge in a neighbouring fortress, and were able to rejoin the army only after three days.

15 While all this was going on, Julianus, lying in his tent, addressed his disconsolate and sorrowful companions as follows: “Most opportunely, friends, has the time now come for me to leave this life, which I rejoice to return to Nature, at her demand, like an honourable debtor, not (as some might think) bowed down with sorrow, but having learned from the general conviction of philosophers how much happier the soul is than the body, and bearing in mind that whenever a better condition is severed from a worse, one should rejoice rather than grieve. Thinking also of this, that the gods of heaven themselves have given death to some men of the greatest virtue as their supreme reward. 16 But this gift, I know well, was given to me, that I might not yield to great difficulties, nor ever bow down and humiliate myself; for experience teaches me that all sorrows overcome only weaklings, but yield to the steadfast. 17 I do not regret what I have done, nor does the recollection of any grave misdeed torment me; either when I was consigned to the shade and obscurity, or after I attained the principate, I have preserved my soul, as taking its origin from relationship with the gods, stainless (in my opinion), conducting civil affairs with moderation, and making and repelling wars only after mature deliberation. And yet success and well-laid plans do not always go hand in hand, since higher powers claim for themselves the outcome of all enterprises. 18 Considering, then, that the aim of a just rule is the welfare and security of its subjects, I was always, as you know, more inclined to peaceful measures, excluding from my conduct all license, the corrupter of deeds and of character. On the other hand, I depart rejoicing that, so often as the state, like an imperious parent, has exposed me deliberately to dangers, I have stood four-square, accustomed as I am to tread under foot the storms of fate. 19 And I shall not be ashamed to admit, that I learned long ago through the words of trustworthy prophecy, that I should perish by the sword. And therefore I thank the eternal power that I meet my end, not from secret plots, nor from the pain of a tedious illness, nor by the fate of a criminal, but that in the mid-career of glorious renown I have been found worthy of so noble a departure from this world. For he is justly regarded as equally weak and cowardly who desires to die when he ought not, or he who seeks to avoid death when his time has come. 20 So much it will be enough to say, since my vital strength is failing. But as to the choice of an emperor, I am prudently silent, lest I pass over some worthy person through ignorance, or if I name some of whom I consider suitable, and perhaps another is preferred, I may expose him to extreme danger. But as an honourable foster-child of our country, I wish that a good ruler may be found to succeed me.”

21 After having spoken these words in a calm tone, wishing to distribute his private property to his closer friends, as if with the last stroke of his pen, he called for Anatolius, his chief court-marshal. And when the prefect Salutius replied “He has been happy,” he understood that he had been slain, and he who recently with such courage had been indifferent to his own fate, grieved deeply over that of a friend. 22 Meanwhile, all who were present wept, whereupon even then maintaining his authority, he chided them, saying that it was unworthy to mourn for a prince who was called to union with heaven and the stars. 23 As this made them all silent, he himself engaged with the philosophers Maximus and Priscus in an intricate discussion about the nobility of the soul. Suddenly the wound in his pierced side opened wide, the pressure of the blood checked his breath, and after a draught of cold water for which he had asked, in the gloom of midnight he passed quietly away in the thirty-second year of his age. Born in Constantinople, he was left alone in childhood by the death both of his father Constantius (who, after the decease of his brother Constantinus, met his end with many others in the strife for the succession to the throne) and of his mother Basilina, who came from an old and noble family.

4 Julianus’s merits and defects, his bodily form and stature.

1 He was a man truly to be numbered with the heroic spirits, distinguished for his illustrious deeds and his inborn majesty. For since there are, in the opinion of the philosophers, four principal virtues, moderation, wisdom, justice, and courage and corresponding to these also some external characteristics, such as knowledge of the art of war, authority, good fortune, and liberality, these as a whole and separately Julianus cultivated with constant zeal.

2 In the first place, he was so conspicuous for inviolate chastity that after the loss of his wife it is well known that he never gave a thought to love: bearing in mind what we read in Plato, that Sophocles, the tragic poet, when we was asked, at a great age, whether he still had congress with women, said no, adding that he was glad that he had escaped from this passion as from some mad and cruel master. 3 Also, to give greater strength to this principle, Julianus often repeated the saying of the lyric poet Bacchylides, whom he delighted to read, who declares that as a skilful painter gives a face beauty, just so chastity gives charm to a life of high aims. This blemish in the mature strength of manhood he avoided with such care, that even his most confidential attendants never (as often happens) accused him even of a suspicion of any lustfulness.

4 Moreover, this kind of self restraint was made still greater through his moderation in eating and sleeping, which he strictly observed at home and abroad. For in time of peace the frugality of his table excited the wonder of those who could judge aright, as if he intended soon to resume the philosopher’s cloak. And on his various campaigns, he was often seen partaking of common and scanty food, sometimes standing up like a common soldier. 5 As soon as he had refreshed his body, which was inured to toil, by a brief rest in sleep, he awoke and in person attended to the changing of the guards and pickets, and after these serious duties took refuge in the pursuit of learning. 6 And if the nightly lamps amid which he worked could have given oral testimony, they would certainly have borne witness that there was a great difference between him and some other princes, since they knew that he did not indulge in pleasure, even to the extent which nature demanded.

7 Then there were very many proofs of his wisdom, of which it will suffice to mention a few. He was thoroughly skilled in the arts of war and peace, greatly inclined to courtesy, and claiming for himself only so much deference as he thought preserved him from contempt and insolence. He was older in virtue than in years. He gave great attention to the administration of justice, and was sometimes an unbending judge; also a very strict censor in regulating conduct, with a calm contempt for riches, scorning everything mortal; in short, he often used to declare that it was shameful for a wise man, since he possessed a soul, to seek honour from bodily gifts.

8 By what high qualities he was distinguished in his administration of justice is clear from many indications: first, because taking into account circumstances and persons, he was awe-inspiring but free from cruelty. Secondly, because he checked vice by making examples of a few, and also because he more frequently threatened men with the sword than actually used it. 9 Finally, to be brief, it is well known that he was so merciful towards some open enemies who plotted against him, that he corrected the severity of their punishment by his inborn mildness.

10 His fortitude is shown by the great number of his battles and by his conduct of wars, as well as by his endurance of excessive cold and heat. And although bodily duty is demanded from a soldier, but mental duty from a general, yet he once boldly met a savage enemy in battle and struck him down, and when our men gave ground, he several times alone checked their flight by opposing his breast to them. When destroying the kingdoms of the raging Germans and on the burning sands of Persia he added to the confidence of his soldiers by fighting among the foremost. 11 There are many notable evidences of his knowledge of military affairs: the sieges of cities and fortresses, undertaken amid the extremest dangers, the varied forms in which he arranged the lines of battle, the choice of safe and healthful places for camps, the wisely planned posting of frontier guards and field pickets. 12 His authority was so well established that, being feared as well as deeply loved as one who shared in the dangers and hardships of his men, he both in the heat of fierce battles condemned cowards to punishment, and, while he was still only a Caesar, he controlled his men even without pay, when they were fighting with savage tribes, as I have long ago said. And when they were armed and mutinous, he did not fear to address them and threaten to return to private life, if they continued to be insubordinate. 13 Finally, one thing it will be enough to know in token of many, namely, that merely by a speech he induced his Gallic troops, accustomed to snow and to the Rhine, to traverse long stretches of country and follow him through torrid Assyria to the very frontiers of the Medes.

14 His success was so conspicuous that for a long time he seemed to ride on the shoulders of Fortune herself, his faithful guide as he in victorious career surmounted enormous difficulties. And after he left the western region, so long as he was on earth all nations preserved perfect quiet, as if a kind of earthly wand of Mercury were pacifying them.

15 There are many undoubted tokens of his generosity. Among these are his very light imposition of tribute, his remission of the crown-money, the cancellation of many debts made great by long standing, the impartial treatment of disputes between the privy purse and private persons, the restoration of the revenues from taxes to various states along with their lands, except such as previous high officials had alienated by a kind of legal sale; furthermore, that he was never eager to increase his wealth, which he thought was better secured in the hands of its possessors; and he often remarked that Alexander the Great, when asked where his treasures were, gave the kindly answer, “in the hands of my friends.”

16 Having set down his good qualities, so many as I could know, let me now come to an account of his faults, although they can be summed up briefly. In disposition he was somewhat inconsistent, but he controlled this by the excellent habit of submitting, when he went wrong, to correction. 17 He was somewhat talkative, and very seldom silent; also too much given to the consideration of omens and portents, so that in this respect he seemed to equal the emperor Hadrian. Superstitious rather than truly religious, he sacrificed innumerable victims without regard to cost, so that one might believe that if he had returned from the Parthians, there would soon have been a scarcity of cattle; like the Caesar Marcus, of whom (as we learn) the following Greek distich was written:

We the white steers do Marcus Caesar greet.

Win once again, and death we all must meet.

18 He delighted in the applause of the mob, and desired beyond measure praise for the slightest matters, and the desire for popularity often led him to converse with unworthy men.

19 But yet, in spite of this, his own saying might be regarded as sound, namely, that the ancient goddess of Justice, whom Aratus raised to heaven because of her impatience with men’s sins, returned to earth again during his rule, were it not that sometimes he acted arbitrarily, and now and then seemed unlike himself. 20 For the laws which he enacted were not oppressive, but stated exactly what was to be done or left undone, with a few exceptions. For example, it was a harsh law that forbade Christian rhetoricians and grammarians to teach, unless they consented to worship the pagan deities. 21 And also it was almost unbearable that in the municipal towns he unjustly allowed persons to be made members of the councils, who, either as foreigners, or because of personal privileges or birth, were wholly exempt from such assemblies.

22 The figure and proportion of his body were as follows. He was of medium stature. His hair lay smooth as if it had been combed, his beard was shaggy and trimmed so as to end in a point, his eyes were fine and full of fire, an indication of the acuteness of his mind. His eyebrows were handsome, his nose very straight, his mouth somewhat large with a pendulous lower lip. His neck was thick and somewhat bent, his shoulders large and broad. Moreover, right from top to toe he was a man of straight well-proportioned bodily frame and as a result was strong and a good runner.

23 And since his detractors alleged that he had stirred up the storms of war anew, to the ruin of his country, they should know clearly through the teachings of truth, that it was not Julianus, but Constantine, who kindled the Parthian fires, when he confided too greedily in the lies of Metrodorus, as I explained fully some time ago. 24 This it was that caused the annihilation of our armies, the capture so often of whole companies of soldiers, the destruction of cities, the seizure or overthrow of fortresses, the exhaustion of our provinces by heavy expenses, and the threats of the Persians which were soon brought into effect, as they claimed everything as far as Bithynia and the shores of the Propontis. 25 But in Gaul, where barbarian arrogance grew apace, as the Germans swarmed through our territories, and the Alps were on the point of being forced with the resulting devastation of Italy, after the inhabitants had suffered many unspeakable woes, nothing was left save tears and fears, since the recollection of the past was bitter and the anticipation of what threatened was sadder still: all this that young man, sent to the western region, a Caesar in name only, wholly corrected with almost incredible speed, driving kings before him like common slaves. 26 And in order to restore the Orient with similar energy, he attacked the Persians, and he would have won from them a triumph and a surname, if the decrees of heaven had been in accord with his plans and his splendid deeds. 27 And although we know that some men thoughtlessly laugh at experience to such an extent that they sometimes renew wars when defeated, and go to sea again after shipwreck, and return to meet difficulties to which they have often yielded, there are some who blame a prince who had been everywhere victorious for trying to equal his past exploits.

5 Jovian, commander of the household troops, in tumultuous haste is chosen emperor.

1 After this there was no time for laments or tears. For after caring for Julianus’s body as well as the means at hand and the circumstances allowed, in order that he might be laid to rest in the place which he had previously chosen, at dawn of the following day, which was the twenty-seventh of June, with the enemy swarming about us on every side, the generals of the army assembled, and having called in the commanders of the legions and of the squadrons of cavalry, they consulted about choosing an emperor. 2 They were divided into turbulent factions, for Arintheus and Victor, with the other survivors of the palace officials of Constantius, looked around for a suitable man from their party; on the other hand, Nevitta and Dagalaifus, as well as the chiefs of the Gauls, sought such a man among their fellow-soldiers. 3 After some discussion, all by general agreement united on Salutius, and when he pleaded illness and old age, one of the soldiers of higher rank, perceiving Salutius’ determined opposition, said: “What would you do if the emperor (as often happens) had in his absence committed to you the conduct of this war? Would you not put aside everything else and save the soldiers from the threatening dangers? Do that now, and if we are permitted to see Mesopotamia, the united votes of both armies will decide upon a lawful emperor.”

4 During this delay, which was slight considering the importance of the matter, before the various opinions had been weighed, a few hot-headed soldiers (as often happens in an extreme crisis) chose an emperor in the person of Jovianus, commander of the household troops, who had claims for some slight consideration because of the services of his father. For he was the son of Varronianus, a well-known count, who not long since, after ending his military career, had retired to a quieter life. 5 Now Jovian, as soon as he had been clothed in the imperial robes and suddenly brought out from his tent, already hastening through the ranks of the soldiers, who were getting ready to march. 6 And since the army extended for four miles, those in the van, on hearing some men shouting “Jovianus Augustus,” repeated the same sounds much more loudly; for struck by the near relationship of the name, since it differed in only one letter, they thought that Julianus had recovered and was being brought out amid the usual great acclaim. But when Jovianus a taller and bent man was seen advancing, they suspected what had happened, and all burst into tears and lamentation. 7 But if any onlooker of strict justice with undue haste blames such a step taken in a moment of extreme danger, he will, with even more justice, reproach sailors, if after the loss of a skilled pilot, amid the raging winds and seas, they committed the guidance of the helm of their ship to any companion in their peril, whoever he might be. 8 When this had been done as described, as if by the blind decree of fortune, the standard-bearer of the Joviani, formerly commanded by Varronianus, who was at odds with the new emperor even when he was still a private citizen, just as he had been a persistent critic of his father, fearing danger from an enemy who had now risen above the ordinary rank, deserted to the Persians. And as soon as he had the opportunity of telling what he knew to Sapor, who was already drawing near, he informed the king that the man whom he feared was dead, and that an excited throng of camp-followers had chosen a mere shadow of imperial power in the person of Jovian, up to that time one of the bodyguard, and a slothful, weak man. 9 On hearing this news, for which he had always longed with anxious prayers, the king, elated by the unexpected good fortune, added a corps of the royal cavalry to the army opposed to us and hastened on, ordering an attack upon the rear of our army.

6 The Romans, hastening to return from Persia, and already on their way, are assailed in frequent battles by the Persians and Saracens, but repel them with great loss.

1 While these arrangements were being made on both sides, in Jovian’s behalf victims were killed, when the entrails were inspected it was announced that he would ruin everything, if he remained within the rampart of the camp (as he thought of doing), but would be victor if he marched out. 2 But when we accordingly were just beginning to leave, the Persians attacked us, with the elephants in front. By the unapproachable and frightful stench of these brutes horses and men were at first thrown into confusion, but the Joviani and Herculiani, after killing a few of the beasts, bravely resisted the mail-clad horsemen. 3 Then the legions of the Jovii and the Victores came to the aid of their struggling companions and slew two elephants, along with a considerable number of the enemy. On our left wing some valiant warriors fell, Julianus, Macrobius and Maximus, tribunes of the legions which then held first place in our army. 4 Having buried these men as well as the pressing conditions allowed, when towards nightfall we were coming at rapid pace to a fortress called Sumere, we recognized the corpse of Anatolius lying in the road, and it was hastily committed to the earth. Here, too, we recovered sixty soldiers with some court officials, who (as I have related above) had taken refuge in a deserted stronghold.

5 On the next day we pitched our camp in the best place we could find, a broad plain in a valley; it was surrounded as if by a natural wall, and had only one exit, which was a wide one, and all about it we set stakes with sharp ends like the points of swords. 6 On seeing this, the enemy from the wooded heights assailed us with weapons of all kinds and with insulting language, as traitors and murderers of an excellent prince. For they also had heard from the mouths of deserters, in consequence of an unfounded rumour, that Julianus had been killed by a Roman weapon. 7 Finally, some troops of horsemen meanwhile ventured to break through the praetorian gate and to come near the very tent of the emperor, but with the loss of many killed and wounded they were vigorously driven back.

8 Then we set out on the following night and took possession of the place called Charcha; here we were safe because there were mounds along the banks, constructed by men’s hands to prevent the Saracens from continually making raids on Assyria, and no one harassed our lines, as had been done before this. 9 And from here, having completed a march of thirty stadia, on the first of July we reached a city called Dura. Our horses were tired, and their riders, who marched on foot and fell to the rear, were surrounded by a throng of Saracens, and would at once have perished, had not some squadrons of our light-armed cavalry brought help to them in their distress. 10 We found these Saracens hostile for the reason that they had been prevented by Julian’s order from receiving pay and numerous gifts, as in times past, and when they complained to him, had received the simple reply that a warlike and watchful emperor had steel and not gold. 11 In this place the persistence of the Persians delayed us for four days. For when we began to march, they followed us, and by frequent onsets forced us to turn back; if we halted to do battle with them, they little by little retired and harassed us by continual delays. But now (since to those who are in fear of the worst even false reports are commonly welcome) the rumour was circulated that the frontiers of our possessions were not far distant; whereupon the army, with mutinous bluster, demanded that they be allowed to cross the Tigris. 12 The emperor, as well as the generals, opposed them, and pointing to the river, which was in flood, since the dog-star had already risen, begged them not to trust themselves to the dangerous currents, declaring that very many could not swim, and adding that the scattered bands of the enemy had beset the banks of the swollen stream in various places. 13 But when these warnings, though several times repeated, had no effect, and the loud shouts of the excited soldiers threatened violence, Jovian reluctantly consented that the Gauls, mingled with the northern Germans, should enter the river first of all, to the end that if these were swept away by the force of the stream, the obstinacy of the rest might be broken down; or if they accomplished their purpose without harm, the rest might try to cross with greater confidence. 14 For this attempt the most skilful men were chosen, who from early childhood were taught in their native lands to cross the greatest of all river, and as soon as the quiet of night gave an opportunity for concealment, as if starting all together in a race, they gained the opposite bank more quickly than could have been expected, and after trampling under foot and killing a great number of the Persians, who had been posted to guard the places, but from a feeling of security were buried in quiet sleep, they raised their hands and waved their mantles, to show that their bold attempt had succeeded. 15 When this was seen from afar, the soldiers, now eager to cross, were delayed only by the promise of the pontoon builders to make bridges of bladders from the hides of slain animals.

7 Jovian Augustus, led by the hunger and want of his men, makes a peace with Sapor which was necessary, but shameful, giving up five provinces, as well as Nisibis and Singara.

1 While these vain attempts were being made, King Sapor, both when far away and when he had come near, learned from the true accounts of scouts and deserters of the brave deeds of our men and the shameful defeats of his army, accompanied by a greater loss of elephants than he had ever known in his reign; also that the Roman army, inured to constant hardship after the loss of their glorious leader, were looking out (as they said), not for their safety, but for revenge, and would end the difficulties of their situation by either a decisive victory or a glorious death. 2 This news filled his mind with fear for many reasons: for he knew by experience that the troops scattered in great numbers through the provinces could easily be assembled by one little ticket, and he was aware that his own subjects, after the loss of so many men were in a state of extreme panic, and, besides, that in Mesopotamia a Roman army had been left which was not much smaller. 3 More than all, it dulled his anxious mind that five hundred men together in one swim had crossed unharmed the swollen river, had slain his guards, and had roused their comrades who had remained behind to similar boldness.

4 Meanwhile our men, since the raging waters prevented bridges from being made, and everything edible had been used up, passed two days in wretchedness, deprived of everything useful; excited by hunger and wrath, they were in a state of frenzy and eager to lose their lives by the sword rather than by starvation, the most shameful kind of death.

5 However, the eternal power of God in heaven was on our side, and the Persians, beyond our hopes, took the first step and sent as envoys for securing peace the Surena and another magistrate, being themselves also low in their minds, which the fact that the Roman side was superior in almost every battle shook more and more every day. 6 Nevertheless, they offered conditions which were difficult and involved, for they pretended that from feelings of humanity the most merciful of kings would allow the remnants of the army to return, if the emperor and his most distinguished generals would comply with his demands. 7 In reply to this Arintheus was sent to him with the prefect Salutius, but, while a deliberate discussion was going on as to what ought to be determined, four days passed by, full of torments from hunger and worse than any death. 8 If the emperor, before letting these envoys go, had used this space of time to withdraw gradually from the enemy’s territories, he could surely have reached the protection of Corduena, a rich region belonging to us, and distant only a hundred miles from the spot where all this took place.

9 Now the king obstinately demanded the lands which (he said) were his and had been taken from him long ago by Maximianus; but, in fact, as the negotiations showed, he required as our ransom five provinces on the far side of the Tigris: Arzanena, Moxoëna, and Zabdicena, as well as Rehimena and Corduena with fifteen fortresses, besides Nisibis, Singara and Castra Maurorum, a very important stronghold. 10 And whereas it would have been better to fight ten battles than give up any one of these, the band of flatterers pressed upon the timid emperor, harping upon the dreaded name of Procopius, and declaring that if he returned on learning of the death of Julianus, he would with the fresh troops under his command easily and without opposition make himself emperor. 11 Jovian, inflamed by these dangerous hints too continually repeated, without delay surrendered all that was asked, except that with difficulty he succeeded in bringing it about that Nisibis and Singara should pass into control of the Persians without their inhabitants, and that the Romans in the fortresses that were to be taken from us should be allowed to return to our protection. 12 To these conditions there was added another which was destructive and impious, namely, that after the completion of these agreements, Arsaces, our steadfast and faithful friend should never, if he asked it, be given help against the Persians. This was contrived with a double purpose, that a man who at the emperor’s order had devastated Chiliocomum might be punished, and that the opportunity might be left of presently invading Armenia without opposition. The result was that later this same Arsaces was taken alive, and that the Parthians amid various dissensions and disturbances seized a great tract of Armenia bordering on Media, along with Artaxata.

13 When this treaty was concluded, lest anything contrary to the agreements should be done during the truce, distinguished men were given on both sides as hostages: from our side Nemota, Victor, and Bellovaedius, tribunes of famous corps, and from the opposite party Bineses, one of the distinguished magnates, and three satraps besides of no obscure name. 14 And so a peace of thirty years was made and consecrated by the sanctity of oaths; but we returned by other routes, and since the places near the river were avoided as rough and uneven, we suffered from lack of water and food.

8 The Romans, after crossing the river Tigris and suffering continued and great scarcity of food, which they endured with fortitude, at length arrive in Mesopotamia. Jovian Augustus sets in order, so far as possible, the affairs of Illyricum and Gaul.

1 But the peace which was granted under pretence of humanity caused the destruction of many, who, tormented by hunger up to their last breath, and so going ahead unnoticed by the army, were either, being unskilled in swimming, swallowed up in the depths of the river, or if they mastered the power of the stream and reached the opposite bank, were seized by the Saracens or Persians (who, as I said shortly before, had been routed by the Germans), and were either cut down like so many cattle, or led off farther inland to be sold. 2 But as soon as the trumpets’ blast openly gave the signal for crossing the river, it was remarkable with what great eagerness and haste they rushed into all kinds of danger. Each man strove to outstrip all others and hastened to save himself from so many terrors; some used the hastily constructed rafts, holding to their horses as they swam here and there, others seated themselves on bladders, still others under the pressure of necessity found various other helps and rushed in an oblique direction into the waves of the onrushing waters. 3 The emperor himself with a few others crossed in small boats, which, as I have said, survived the burning of the fleet, and ordered the same craft to go back and forth, until we were all transported. At last all of us (except those who were drowned) reached the opposite bank, saved from danger by the favour of the supreme deity after many difficulties.

4 While the fear of impending disasters oppressed us, we learned from the report of our scouting cavalry, that the Persians, too far off to be seen, were making a bridge, in order that when all hostilities should cease after the conclusion of the treaty of peace, and our men were marching carelessly, they might attack the sick and the animals which had long been exhausted; but when they found that they were discovered, they gave up their wicked design. 5 Relieved now from this anxiety and hastening on by forced marched we approached Hatra, an old city lying in the midst of a desert and long since abandoned. The warlike emperors Trajan and Severus tried at various times to destroy it, but almost perished with their armies; I have related these acts also in telling of their careers. 6 Here we learned that on a plain extending for seventy miles through dry regions only water that was salt and ill-smelling could be found, and nothing to eat except southernwood, wormwood, dragonwort and other plants of the most wretched sort. Therefore the vessels which we carried with us were filled with fresh water, and by killing camels and other pack animals we provided ourselves with food, unwholesome though it was.

7 And after completing a march of six days and finding not even grass as the solace of their extreme necessity, Cassianus, the duke commanding the army in Mesopotamia, and the tribune Mauricius (who had been sent long before for that purpose) came to Persian stronghold called Ur and brought food from the supplies which the army left with Procopius and Sebastianus had saved by frugal living. 8 From here another Procopius, a state-secretary, and the military tribune Memoridus were sent to the lands of Illyricum and Gaul, to announce the death of Julianus, and the elevation of Jovian (after Julianus’s decease) to Augustan rank. 9 To them the emperor had also given instructions to hand his father-in-law Lucillianus, who after his dismissal from the army had retired to a life of leisure and was then living at Sirmium, the commission as commander of the cavalry and infantry which he had delivered to them, and urge him to hasten to Milan, in order to attend to any difficulties there, or if (as was now rather to be feared) any new dangers should arise, to resist them. 10 To these instructions the emperor had added a secret letter, in which he also directed Lucillianus to take with him some men selected for their tried vigour and loyalty, with the view of making use of their support as the condition of affairs might suggest. 11 And he took the prudent step of appointing Malarichus, who also was even then living in Italy in a private capacity, as successor to Jovinus, commander of the cavalry in Gaul, sending him the insignia of that rank. Thereby he aimed at a double advantage: first, in getting rid of a general of distinguished service and therefore an object of suspicion; and, second, the hope that a man of slight expectations, when raised to a high rank, might show great zeal in supporting the position of his benefactor, which was still uncertain. 12 Also the men who were commissioned to carry out these plans were ordered to set the course of events in a favourable light, and wherever they went, to agree with each other in spreading the report that the Parthian campaign had been brought to a successful end. They were to hasten their journey by adding night to day, to put into the hands of the governors and the military commanders of the provinces the messages of the new emperor, to secretly sound the sentiments of all of them, and to return speedily with their replies, in order that as soon as it was learned how matters stood in the distant provinces, timely and careful plans might be made for safeguarding the imperial power.

13 Meanwhile rumour, the swiftest messenger of sad events, outstripping these messengers, flew through provinces and nations, and most of all struck the people of Nisibis with bitter grief; when they learned that their city had been surrendered to Sapor, whose anger and hostility they feared, recalling as they did what constant losses he had suffered in his frequent attempts to take their city. 14 For it was clear that the entire Orient might have passed into the control of Persia, had not this city with its advantageous situation and mighty walls resisted him. Nevertheless, however much the unhappy people were tormented with great fear of the future, yet they could sustain themselves with one slight hope, namely, that the emperor would, of his own accord or prevailed upon by their entreaties, keep the city in its present condition, as the strongest bulwark of the Orient.

15 While varied rumours were spreading the news of the course of events everywhere, in the army, since the few provisions which (as I have said) we had brought with us were used up, we should have been forced to resort to human bodies, had not the flesh of the slain pack-animals held out for a time; but the result was, that many arms and packs were thrown away; for we were so wasted by fearful hunger, that if anywhere a modius of flour was found (which seldom happened) it was sold for ten gold-pieces, and that was considered a cheap price.

16 Setting out from there, we came to Thilsaphata, where Sebastianus and Procopius, with the tribunes and officers of the soldiers which had been entrusted to them for the defence of Mesopotamia, came out to meet us as formal usage required. And after having been courteously received, they joined our march. 17 After this we went on more speedily, and looking eagerly at Nisibis, the emperor made a permanent camp outside of the city; but in spite of the earnest request of many of the populace to enter and take up his residence in the palace as was usual with the emperors, he obstinately refused, from shame that during his own stay within its walls the impregnable city should be handed over to the enemy. 18 There, as the darkness of evening was then approaching, Jovianus, chief among all the secretaries, who (as I have already said) at the siege of the city of Maiozamalcha had with others been first to come out through the mine, was taken from the dining-table, led to a secluded spot, thrown headlong into a dry well, and crushed by a great number of stones that were thrown upon him. The reason for this was undoubtedly that, after Julianus’s death, he too was named by a few as worthy of the throne, and that after the election of Jovian he had not acted with moderation, but was overheard whispering this and that about some business, and from time to time had even invited military officers to his table.

9 Bineses, a noble Persian, receives the impregnable city of Nisibis from Jovian. The citizens were compelled against their will to leave the city and move to Amida. The five provinces, with the city of Singara and sixteen strongholds, in accordance with the treaty were handed over to Persian grandees.

1 On the following day Bineses, one of the Persians, who (as I have said) was eminent beyond all others, hastening to fulfil the orders of his king, urgently demanded what had been promised. Therefore, with the permission of the Roman emperor, he entered the city and raised the flag of his nation on the top of the citadel, announcing to the citizens their sorrowful departure from their native place. 2 And when all were commanded to leave their homes at once, with tears and outstretched hands they begged that they might not be compelled to depart, declaring that they alone, without aid from the empire in provisions and men, were able to defend their hearths, trusting that Justice herself would, as they had often found, aid them in fighting for their ancestral dwelling-place. But suppliantly as the council and people entreated, all was spoken vainly to the winds, since the emperor (as he pretended, while moved by other fears) did not wish to incur the guilt of perjury. 3 Thereupon Sabinus, distinguished among his fellow-citizens for his wealth and high birth, declared in impassioned language that Constantius once, when the flames of a cruel war were raging, had been defeated by the Persians and finally had been driven in flight with a few followers to the unprotected post of Hibita, where he was obliged to live on a bit of bread which he begged from an old peasant woman; yet up to his last day he had lost nothing, whereas Jovian at the beginning of his principate, had abandoned the defences of provinces whose bulwarks had remained unshaken from the earliest times. 4 But when nothing came of this, since the emperor the more stoutly maintained the sanctity of his oath; and when for a time he had refused the crown that was offered him but was finally forced to accept it, one Silvanus, a pleader at the bar, was bold enough to say: “Thus may you be crowned, O emperor, by the rest of the cities.” Exasperated by these words, the emperor gave orders that all must leave the walls within three days, they the while expressing horror at such a condition of affairs.

5 Accordingly, men were appointed to drive them out, and threatened with death all who hesitated to leave. Lamentation and grief filled the city, and in all its parts no sound save universal wailing was to be heard; the matrons tore their hair, since they were to be sent into exile from the homes in which they were born and reared; mothers who had lost their children, and widows bereft of their husbands, mourned that they were driven far from the ashes of the loved ones; and the weeping throng embraced the doors or the thresholds of their homes. 6 Then the various roads were filled with people going wherever each could find refuge. In their haste many secretly carried off such of their own property as they thought they could take with them, disregarding the rest of their possessions, which though many and valuable, they were obliged to leave behind for lack of pack-animals.

7 You are here justly censured, O Fortune of the Roman world! that, when storms shattered our country, you did snatch the helm from the hands of an experienced steersman and entrust it to an untried youth, who, since he was known during his previous life for no brilliant deeds in that field, cannot be justly either blamed or praised. 8 But what grieved the very heart of every patriotic citizen was this, that fearful of a rival to his power and bearing in mind that it was in Gaul and Illyricum that many men had taken the first steps to loftier power, in his haste to outstrip the report of his coming, under pretext of avoiding perjury he committed an act unworthy of an emperor, betraying Nisibis, which ever since the time of King Mithridates’ reign had resisted with all its might the occupation of the Orient by the Persians. 9 For never (I think) since the founding of our city can it be found by a reader of history that any part of our territory has been yielded to an enemy by an emperor or a consul; but that not even the recovery of anything that had been lost was ever enough for the honour of a triumph, but only the increase of our dominions. 10 Hence it was that triumphs were refused to Publius Scipio for the recovery of Spain; to Fulvius, when Capua was overcome after long contests, and to Opimius, when, after shifting fortunes of war, the people of Fregellae, at that time our deadly enemies, were forced to surrender. 11 In fact, the ancient records teach us that treaties made in extreme necessity with shameful conditions, even when both parties had taken oath in set terms, were at once annulled by a renewal of war. For example, when in days of old our legions were sent under the yoke at the Caudine Forks in Samnium; when Albinus in Numidia devised a shameful peace; and when Mancinus, the author of a disgracefully hasty treaty, was surrendered to the people of Numantia.

12 So then, after the inhabitants had been withdrawn, and the city had been handed over, the tribune Constantius was sent to deliver the strongholds, with the surrounding country, to the Persian grandees. Then Procopius was sent with the remains of Julianus, in order to inter him, as he had directed when still alive, in the suburb of Tarsus. 13 Procopius set out to fulfil his mission, but immediately after burying the body he disappeared and in spite of the most careful search could not be found anywhere, unless afterwards he suddenly appeared at Constantinople, clad in the purple.

10 Jovian, fearful of an uprising, quickly marched through Syria, Cilicia, Cappadocia and Galatia. At Ancyra he assumed the consulship with his infant son Varronianus, and shortly afterwards died suddenly at Dadastana.

1 After this business had been thus attended to, we came by long marches to Antioch; where for successive days, as though the divinity were angered, many fearful portents were seen, which those skilled in such signs declared would have sad results. 2 For the statue of the Caesar Maximianus, which stood in the vestibule of the royal palace, suddenly dropped the brazen ball, in the form of the globe of heaven, which it was holding, the beams of the council hall gave forth an awful creaking, and in broad daylight comets were seen, about which the views of those versed in natural history are at variance. 3 For some think that they are so called because they are numerous stars united in one body, and send out writhing fires resembling hair. Others believe that they take fire from the dryer exhalations of the earth, which gradually rise higher. Others again think that the rays streaming from the sun are prevented by the interposition of a heavier cloud from going downward, and when the brightness is suffused through the thick substance, it presents to men’s eyes a kind of star-spangled light. Yet others have formed the opinion that this phenomenon occurs when an unusually high cloud is lit up by the nearness of the eternal fires, or at any rate, that comets are stars like the rest, the appointed times of whose rising and setting are not understood by human minds. Many other theories about comets are to be found in the writings of those who are skilled in knowledge of the universe; but from discussing these I am prevented by my haste to continue my narrative.

4 The emperor lingered for a time at Antioch, bowed down by the weight of divers cares, but pursued by an extraordinary desire for getting out of the place. Accordingly, he left there on a day in the dead of winter, sparing neither horse nor man, although many signs (as has been said) forbade, and entered Tarsus, the famous city of Cilicia, of whose origin I have already spoken. 5 Though in excessive haste to leave that place, he determined to adorn the tomb of Julianus, situated just outside the walls on the road which leads to the passes of Mount Taurus. But his remains and ashes, if anyone then showed sound judgement, ought not to be looked on by the Cydnus, although it is a beautiful and clear stream, but to perpetuate the glory of his noble deeds they should be laved by the Tiber, which cuts through the eternal city and flows by the memorials of the deified emperors of old.

6 After this the emperor left Tarsus, and making long marches arrived at Tyana, a town of Cappadocia, where on their return the secretary Procopius and the tribune Memoridus met him. They gave him an account of their missions, beginning (as order demanded) with the entry of Lucillianus with the tribunes Seniauchus and Valentinianus, whom he had taken with him, into Mediolanum; but on learning that Malarichus had refused to accept the position he had gone at full speed to Rheims. 7 Then, as if that nation were in profound peace, he ran off the track (as the saying is), and quite out of season, since everything was not yet secure, devoted his attention to examining the accounts of a former actuary. This man, being conscious of deceit and wrong-doing, fled for refuge to the army and falsely asserted that Julianus was still alive and that a man of no distinction had raised a rebellion; in consequence of his falsehoods a veritable storm broke out among the soldiery, and Lucillianus and Seniauchus were killed. For Valentinianus, who was shortly afterwards emperor, in terror and not knowing where to turn, was safely gotten out of the way by Primitivus, his guest-friend. 8 This sad news was followed by another message, this time a happy one, namely, that soldiers sent by Jovinus, heads of the divisions, as camp parlance termed them, were on the way, reporting that the Gallic army embraced with favour the rule of Jovian.

9 On receipt of this news Valentinian, who had returned with the others, was entrusted with the command of the second division of the targeteers, and Vitalianus, formerly a soldier in the division of the Eruli, was made a member of the household troops; long afterwards he was raised to the rank of Count, but suffered a defeat in Illyricum. Arintheus was hastily sent to Gaul, bearing letters to Jovinus, urging him to act firmly in holding his position; he was also bidden to punish the originator of the disturbance and to send the ringleaders in the rebellion in fetters to the court. 10 After these arrangements had been made as seemed expedient, the officers of the Gallic troops had audience with the emperor at Aspuna, a small town in Galatia; when they entered the council chamber, the news which they brought was heard with pleasure, and after receiving rewards, they were ordered to return to their posts.

11 When the emperor had entered Ancyra, after the necessary arrangements for his procession had been made, so far as the conditions allowed, he assumed the consulship, taking as his colleague in the office his son Varronianus, who was still a small child; and his crying and obstinate resistance to being carried, as usual, on the curule chair, were an omen of what presently occurred.

12 From here also the destined day for ending his life drove Jovian swiftly on. For when he had come to Dadastana, which forms the boundary between Bithynia and Galatia, he was found dead that night. As to his taking-off, many doubtful points have come up. 13 For it is said that he was unable to endure the unwholesome odour of a recently plastered bedroom, or that his head was swollen from the burning of a great amount of charcoal and so he died, or at any rate that he had a fit of acute indigestion from an immoderate amount of food of different kinds. At all events he died in the thirty-third year of his age. The end of his life was like that of Scipio Aemilianus, but so far as I know no investigation was made of the death of either.

14 He walked with a dignified bearing; his expression was very cheerful. His eyes were gray. He was so unusually tall that for some time no imperial robe could be found that was long enough for him. He took as his model Constantius, often spending the afternoon in some serious occupation, but accustomed to jest in public with his intimates. 15 So too he was devoted to the Christian doctrine and sometimes paid it honour. He was only moderately educated, of a kindly nature, and (as appears from the few promotions that he made) inclined to select state officials with care. But he was an immoderate eater, given to wine and women, faults which perhaps he would have corrected out of regard for the imperial dignity. 16 It was said that his father, Varronianus, learned what would happen long beforehand from the suggestion of a dream, and trusted the information to two of his confidential friends, adding the remark that the consular robe would be conferred also on himself. But although one prophecy was fulfilled, he could not attain the other prediction. For after learning of the elevation of his son, he was overtaken by death before seeing him again. 17 And since it was foretold to the old man in a dream that the highest magistracy awaited one of that name, his grandson Varronianus, then still a child, was (as I have before related) made consul together with his father Jovianus.

Book XXVI

1 Valentinianus, tribune of the second division of the targeteers, by general consent of the civil and military officials, is chosen emperor at Nicaea in his absence. And on the principle of the bisextile year.

1 Having narrated the course of events with the strictest care up to the bounds of the present epoch, I had already determined to withdraw my foot from the more familiar tracks, partly to avoid the dangers which are often connected with the truth, and partly to escape unreasonable critics of the work which I am composing, who cry out as if wronged, if one has failed to mention what an emperor said at table, or left out the reason why the common soldiers were led before the standards for punishment, or because in an ample account of regions he ought not to have been silent about some insignificant forts; also because the names of all who came together to pay their respects to the city-praetor were not given, and many similar matters, which are not in accordance with the principles of history; for it is wont to detail the high lights of events, not to ferret out the trifling details of unimportant matters. For whoever wishes to know these may hope to be able to count the small indivisible bodies which fly through space, and to which we give the name of atoms. 2 This is what some of the writers of old feared, who during their lifetime set down their knowledge of various historical events with eloquent pen, but did not publish them while they lived: as also Cicero, a witness worthy of respect, declares in a letter to Cornelius Nepos. Accordingly, disregarding the ignorance of the vulgar, let us hasten to continue our narrative.

3 So this ferocity of changeable circumstances came to a lamentable end after the death of three emperors at short intervals; and the body of the deceased prince was embalmed and sent to Constantinople, to be laid to rest among the remains of the Augusti. But the army marched on towards Nicaea, which is the metropolis of the Bithynian cities; the principal civil and military leaders, busied with important cares for the general welfare, and some of them puffed up with vain hopes, were looking about for a ruler who had long been proved and possessed dignity.

4 And rumour, in the obscure whispers of a few, touched on the name of Aequitius, who was at that time tribune of the first division of the targeteers, but he did not find favour in the judgement of the more important authorities, because he was rude and somewhat boorish. Then fickle favour was transferred to Januarius, a relative of Jovian, who had charge of the commissary department in Illyricum. 5 He also was rejected because he was living far away, and under the inspiration of the powers of heaven Valentinian was chosen without a dissenting voice, as being fully up to the requirements and suitable; he was commander of the second division of the targeteers, and had been left behind at Ancyra, to follow later according to orders. And as it was agreed without contradiction that this was to the advantage of the state, envoys were sent to urge him to hasten his coming; but for ten days no one held the helm of the empire, which the soothsayer Marcus, on inspection of the entrails at Rome, had declared to have happened at that time.

6 Meanwhile, however, to prevent any interference with the decision that had been made, and to keep the fickle temper of the soldiers, who are always ready for a change, from turning towards someone who was on the spot, Aequitius made earnest efforts, and with him Leo; the latter was still holding the office of military paymaster under Dagalaifus, commander of the cavalry, and later played a deadly part as chief-marshal of the court. Both endeavoured, so far as their efforts could prevail, being Pannonians and adherents of the emperor elect, to maintain the decision which the whole army had made.

7 When the emperor arrived in answer to the summons, informed either by presentiments about the task he must fulfil (as was given to be understood) or by repeated dreams, he did not let himself be seen the next day, nor would he appear in public, avoiding the bisextile day of the month of February, which dawned at that time and (as he had heard) had sometimes been unlucky for the Roman state. Of this day I will give a clear explanation.

8 The extent of the revolving year is completed, according to the calculations of men of old who were versed in the movements of the universe and the stars, of whom the most eminent are Meton, Euctemon, Hipparchus, and Archimedes, when the sun, in accordance with the eternal law of the heavenly bodies, has traversed the signs of the heaven[s] which in Greek are called ζωδιακός, the zodiac, and after the course of 365 days and nights returns to the same turning-point; that is (for instance) when it has started from the second degree of the Ram and after completing its course has returned to the same place. 9 But the true length of a year ends, in the said 365 days and six hours besides, at high noon, and the first day of the next year will extend from the end of the sixth hour to evening. The third year begins with the first watch and ends with the sixth hour of the night. The fourth goes on from midnight until broad daylight. 10 Therefore, in order that this computation because of the variations in the beginning of the year (since one year commences after the sixth hour of the day and another after the sixth hour of the night) may not confuse all science by a disorderly diversity, and an autumnal month may not sometimes be found to be in the spring, it was decided to combine those series of six hours, which in four years amounted to twenty-four, into one day and an added night. 11 And after deep consideration, by the agreement of many learned men it was arranged that the completion of the year’s course has a single definite end, and is neither changeable nor uncertain; so that the reckoning of the sun’s course no longer appears beclouded by any error, and the months retain their appointed seasons. 12 The Romans were long ignorant of all this, since their realm was not yet widely extended, and for many centuries they were involved in obscure difficulties; and they wandered in still deeper darkness of error when they gave over the power of intercalation to the priests, who lawlessly served the advantage of tax-collectors or of parties in litigation by arbitrarily subtracting or adding days. 13 From this beginning many other errors arose, which I think it superfluous to mention here. These were done away with by Octavianus Augustus who, following the Greeks, corrected the confusion and brought order into this inconsistency by adopting after great deliberation the arrangement of twelve months and six hours, during which the sun in its eternal course through the twelve signs completes a whole year. 14 This reason for the “bisextile year” Rome, which will live even through the centuries, with the aid of the divine power approved and firmly established. Now let us go on to the rest of our narrative.

2 When Valentinian, on being summoned from Ancyra had quickly come to Nicaea, he was again chosen emperor by the unanimous voice of all. Wearing the purple robe and a diadem, and hailed as Augustus, he addressed the soldiers.

1 When the day unfavourable (as some think) for beginning great enterprises had passed, just as evening was coming on, at the motion of the prefect Salutius it was promptly and unanimously decided that, under penalty of death, no one who held high authority, or had been suspected of aiming at a higher station, should appear in public on the following morning. 2 And when to the chagrin of many, tormented by their vain hopes, the night ended and day at last appeared, the whole army was assembled. Then Valentinian appeared on the plain, was allowed to mount a tribunal raised on high and after the custom of elections was chosen by the favourable votes of all present as a man of serious purpose, to be the ruler of the empire. 3 Then, wearing the imperial robes and a coronet, with all the praises which the charm of novelty could call forth he was hailed as Augustus, and was already getting ready to make the speech he had prepared. But as he bared his arm, in order to speak more conveniently, a threatening murmur arose, as the centuries and maniples made a loud noise and all the common maniples clashed their shields and all the common soldiers persistently urged that a second emperor should at once be named. 4 But although some thought that a few had been bribed to do this in favour of those who had been passed over, yet such a suspicion seemed to have no ground, for the reason that the shouts which were heard were not purchased, but came unanimously as an expression of the wish of the whole throng, since from a recent example they dreaded the frailty of lofty fortunes. Then the whispers of the uproarious army seemed likely to be succeeded by a violent outbreak, and men began to fear recklessness of the soldiers, who sometimes break out in deeds of violence. 5 Since Valentinian more than all others feared lest this should happen, quickly raising his hand, with the authority of an emperor who was full of confidence, he had the courage to upbraid some of them as rebellious and intractable. Then, without further interruption, he delivered the speech which he had prepared:—

6 “I rejoice, brave defenders of the our provinces, and I maintain and always shall maintain that it is your services that have bestowed on me, rather than another, the rule of the Roman world, which I neither hoped for nor desired. 7 The task, then, which was placed in your hands before the ruler of the empire was chosen you carried out expediently and gloriously, by raising to the pinnacle of honours one whom from his earliest youth until the present prime of life you know by experience to have lived with distinction and uprightness. Therefore, I beg of you, listen with friendly ears while I tell you in simple words what I think is best for the common welfare. 8 That to meet all chances necessity demands the choice of a colleague with equal powers, at the demands of much varied reasoning I neither doubt nor dispute, since I myself also, as a man, fear masses of cares and varied changes of circumstances. But with all our strength we must strive for harmony, through which even the weakest states grow strong; and this will easily be attained, if your calmness combined with fairness willingly allows me what belongs to my position. 9 For Fortune (I hope) which aids good purposes, so far as I can accomplish this and effect it, will give me after careful search a man of sober character. For as the philosophers teach us, not only in royal power, where the greatest and most numerous dangers are found, but also in the relations of private and everyday life, a stranger ought to be admitted to friendship by a prudent man only after he has first tested him; not tested after has been admitted to friendship. 10 This I promise you with the hope of a happier future. Do you, while the winter rest allows, retain your firmness and loyalty of conduct and refresh your strength of spirit and body: then be sure that you will receive without delay what is your due because of your imperial nomination of myself.”

11 Having finished his address, to which his unexpected assumption of authority had given greater weight, the emperor gained the favour of the whole assembly; and even those who shortly before were with excited cries making another demand followed his advice and escorted him to the imperial quarters, surrounded by eagles and standards, with a splendid retinue of various ranks, and already an object of fear.

3 On the city prefecture of Apronianus at Rome.

1 While the changing lots of the fates were unfolding these events in the Orient, Apronianus, prefect of the eternal city, a just and strict official, among urgent cares with which that office is often burdened, made it his first main effort that the sorcerers, who at that time were becoming few in number, should be arrested, and that those who, after having been put to the question, were clearly convicted of having harmed anybody, after naming their accomplices, should be punished with death; and that thus through the danger to a few, the remainder, if any were still in concealment, might be driven away through dread of a similar fate. 2 In this work he is said to have shown special activity for the following reason, namely, that after his appointment by authority of Julian, when he was still living in Syria, he had lost one eye on the way, and suspecting that he had been attacked by wicked arts, with justifiable but extraordinary resentment he tracked out these and other crimes with great energy. In this he seemed cruel to some because more than once during the races in the amphitheatre, while throngs of people were crowding in, he investigated the greatest crimes. 3 Finally, after many punishments of this kind, a charioteer called Hilarinus was convicted on his own confession of having entrusted his son, who had barely reached the age of puberty, to a mixer of poisons to be instructed in certain secret practices forbidden by law, in order to use his help at home without other witnesses; and he was condemned to death. But since the executioner was lax in guarding him, the man suddenly escaped and took refuge in a chapel of the Christian sect; however, he was at once dragged from there and beheaded. 4 But efforts were still made to check these and similar offences, and none, or at any rate very few, who were engaged in such abominations defied the public diligence. But later, long-continued impunity nourished these monstrous offences, and lawlessness went so far that a certain senator followed the example of Hilarinus, and was convicted of having apprenticed a slave of his almost by a written contract to a teacher of evil practices to be initiated into criminal secrets; but he bought escape from the death penalty, as current gossip asserted, for a large sum of money. 5 And this very man, after being freed in the manner alleged, although he ought to be ashamed of his life and his offence, has made no effort to get rid of the stain on his character, but as if among many wicked men he alone was free from any fault, mounts a caparisoned horse and rides over the pavements, and even now is followed by great bands of slaves, by a new kind of distinction aiming to draw special attention to himself. Just as we hear of Duillius of old, that after that glorious sea-fight, he assumed the privilege, when he returned home after a dinner, of having a flute-player play soft music before him.

6 However, under this Apronianus there was such a constant abundance of all the necessary articles of food, that there never arose even the slightest murmur about a scarcity of victuals — a thing which constantly happens in Rome.

4 Valentinian appoints his brother Valens tribune of the stable at Nicomedia; then in the Hebdomum at Constantinople, with the consent of the army, he takes him as colleague in the imperial power.

1 Now Valentinian was chosen emperor in Bithynia (as we have said before). He gave the signal for the march for the next day but one, and assembling the chief civil and military officials, as if ready to follow safe and sound advice rather than his own inclination, inquired who ought to be chosen as partner in the rule. When all the rest were silent, Dagalaifus, at that time commander of the cavalry, boldly answered: “If you love your relatives, most excellent emperor, you have a brother; if it is the state that you love, seek out another man to clothe with the purple.” 2 The emperor, angered by this, but keeping silence and concealing his thoughts, forcing the pace, entered Nicomedia on the first of March, and appointed his brother Valens chief of his stable with the rank of tribune. 3 Then, on his arrival in Constantinople, after much counsel with himself, considering that he was already unequal to the amount of pressing business and believing that there was no room for delay, on the twenty-eighth of March he brought the aforesaid Valens into one of the suburbs and with the consent of all (for no one ventured to oppose) proclaimed him Augustus. Then he adorned him with the imperial insignia and put a diadem on his head, and brought him back in his own carriage, thus having indeed a lawful partner in his power, but, as the further course of our narrative will show, one who was as compliant as a subordinate.

4 No sooner were these arrangements perfected without disturbance than both emperors were seized with violent and lingering fevers; but as soon as their hope of life was assured, being more successful in investigating various matters than in settling them, they commissioned Ursatius, the chief-marshal of the court, a rough Dalmatian, and Viventius of Siscia, who was then quaestor, to make a strict investigation of what they suspected to be the cause of these diseases. Persistent rumour had it, that their purpose was, by asserting that they had been harmed by secret sorcery, to rouse hatred of the memory of the emperor Julian and his friends. But this charge was easily shown to have nothing in it, since no evidence of such plots was found, even in a single word.

5 At this time, as if trumpets were sounding the war-note throughout the whole Roman world, the most savage peoples roused themselves and poured across the nearest frontiers. At the same time the Alamanni were devastating Gaul and Raetia, the Sarmatae and Quadi Pannonia, while the Picts, Saxons, Scots and Attacotti were harassing the Britons with constant disasters. The Austoriani and other Moorish tribes raided Africa more fiercely than ever and predatory bands of Goths were plundering Thrace and Pannonia. 6 The king of the Persians was laying hands on Armenia, hastening with mighty efforts to bring that country again under his sway, under the false pretext that after the death of Jovian, with whom he had concluded a treaty of peace, nothing ought to prevent his recovery of what he claimed had formerly belonged to his forefathers.

5 The two emperors share the generals and the army between them, and shortly afterward, the one at Mediolanum and the other at Constantinople, enter on their first consulship. The Alamanni devastate Gaul; Procopius attempts a revolution in the Orient.

1 So, then, the emperors spent the winter quietly in perfect harmony, the one eminent through the choice that had fallen upon him, the other joined with him in the office, but only in appearance. After hastening through Thrace, they came to Naessus, where in a suburb called Mediana, distant three miles from the city, they shared the generals between them in view of their coming separation. 2 To Valentinian, in accordance with whose wish the matter was settled, fell Jovinus, who had previously been promoted by Julian to be commander of the cavalry in Gaul, and Dagalaifus, whom Jovian had raised to the same rank. But it was arranged that Victor, who had also been promoted by the decision of the aforesaid emperor, should follow Valens to the Orient, and with him Arintheus was associated. For Lupicinus, who also had formerly been made commander of the cavalry by Jovian, was already in charge of the eastern provinces. 3 At the same time Aequitius, who was not yet a commander-in-chief, but only a count, was put in charge of the army in Illyricum, and Serenianus, who some time before had been retired from service, being a Pannonian girded on his sword and was joined with Valens in command of a part of the bodyguard. After matters had been thus arranged, the troops also were divided between the two emperors.

4 And when after this the two brothers had entered Sirmium, after sharing the places of residence according to the wishes of the superior, Valentinian went off to Mediolanum, Valens to Constantinople. 5 The Orient was governed by Salutius with the rank of prefect, Italy with Africa and Illyricum by Mamertinus, and the Gallic provinces by Germanianus. 6 Living therefore in the cities named, the emperors for the first time assumed the consular robes; and this whole year brought heavy losses to the Roman state. 7 For the Alamanni broke through the frontiers of Germany, being unusually hostile for the following reason: when their envoys had been sent to the headquarters, in order as usual to receive the regular appointed gifts, smaller and cheaper ones were given them, which they received with indignation and threw away as unworthy of them. And being roughly treated by Ursatius, who was then court-marshal, a hot-tempered and cruel man, they returned home, and exaggerating what had happened, aroused the savage peoples, on the ground that they had been grievously insulted.

8 And about that time, or not much later, in the Orient Procopius had started a revolution. This and the Alamannic revolt were reported to Valentinian on one and the same day about the first of November as he was on his way to Paris.

9 Then Valentinian ordered Dagalaifus to go in haste to meet the Alamanni, who after devastating places near the frontier had withdrawn to a distance without the loss of a man. But as to checking the attempt of Procopius before it became ripe, he was distracted by doubt and anxiety, being especially troubled because he did not know whether Valens was alive or whether his death had led Procopius to aspire to the throne. 10 For Aequitius knew of the matter only from the report of the tribune Antonius, who commanded the soldiers in central Dacia and gave a vague account of the affair from that which he himself had heard; and Aequitius himself had not yet heard anything trustworthy, and so merely reported the circumstance to the emperor in simple words. 11 Upon hearing the news, Valentinian, after raising the said Aequitius to the rank of a commander-in-chief, decided to go back to Illyricum, lest the rebel after rushing through Thrace and being already formidable should invade Pannonia with a hostile army. For he was greatly alarmed by a recent example, recalling that Julian a short time before, making light of an emperor who had been victor in all civil wars, contrary to all hope and expectation had passed with incredible speed from city to city. 12 But his eager longing to return was modified by the advice of his confidential friends, who advised, nay begged him, not to give up Gaul to the savages who threatened destruction, and not under that pretext to abandon provinces which needed strong support. These were supported by deputations from famous cities, who begged that he should not leave unprotected in such hard and doubtful times cities which by his presence he could save from the greatest dangers, since the glory of his name would strike fear into the Germans. 13 At last, after giving careful thought to what was expedient, he followed the view of the majority, often repeating that Procopius was only his own and his brother’s enemy, but the Alamanni were enemies of the whole Roman world; and so he resolved for the present nowhere to leave the boundaries of Gaul. 14 And having returned as far as Rheims, and feeling anxious about Africa, for fear that it might suddenly be invaded, he decided that Neoterius, afterwards consul but at that time a secretary, should go to protect that province, and also Masaucio, an officer of the household troops, bearing in mind that, having had long training there under his father, the former Count Cretio, he knew all the suspected places; and he joined with them Gaudentius, an officer of the targeteers, a loyal man who long had been known to him.

15 Because, then, at one and the same time lamentable storms arose on both sides, we shall set down the single events in their proper place, first giving an account of a part of what took place in the Orient, then of the wars with the savages; since most of the events both in the west and in the east took place in the same months; for I fear that by hastening to return from one place to another by leaps and bounds we might confuse everything and involve the course of events in the deepest darkness.

6 The native land, race, character and dignities of Procopius; his hiding-places under Jovian; and how he was proclaimed emperor in Constantinople.

1 Procopius was born in Cilicia of a distinguished family and correspondingly educated, and for the reason that he was related to Julian, who was afterwards Emperor, he was conspicuous from his first entry into a public position; and as he was somewhat strict in his life and character, although retiring and silent, he served for a long time with distinction as state-secretary and tribune, and already had prospects of attaining the highest positions. But when after the death of Constantius he became through the change in the situation a relative of the emperor, he aimed higher and entered the order of counts; and it was evident that, if ever he had the opportunity, he would be a disturber of the public peace. 2 When Julian invaded Persia, he left Procopius in Mesopotamia, in association with Sebastianus, who was given the same rank, with a strong force of soldiers, and ordered him (as rumour darkly whispered, for no one vouched for the truth of the report) to act in accordance with the conditions that arose, and if he learned that the Roman power in Persia was weakened, to take measures quickly to have himself named emperor. 3 Procopius followed these directions with moderation and prudence, but when he learned that Julian had been mortally wounded and died, and that Jovian had been raised to the rule of the empire, and that the false report was circulated that Julian had with the last breath of his failing life declared that it was his wish that Procopius should be entrusted with the helm of the state, he feared that on that account he might be put to death without a trial. Accordingly, he withdrew from public sight; and he was in special fear after the death of Jovianus, the chief of all the secretaries, because he had learned that after Julian’s death Jovianus had been named by a few soldiers as worthy of imperial power, and that from that time on he had been suspected of rebellious designs and had suffered a cruel death. 4 And because Procopius had learned that he was being tracked with extreme care, in order to avoid the weight of greater hatred he retreated to still more remote and secret places. Then hearing that Jovianus was diligently hunting for his hiding-places, and being already thoroughly wearied of living the life of a wild beast — for being cast down from a lofty station to a lower condition and confined to desert places, he actually suffered from hunger and was deprived of intercourse with mankind — under the compulsion of extreme necessity he came by round-about ways to the vicinity of Chalcedon. 5 There, since it seemed to him a safe refuge, he hid himself with the most loyal of his friends, a certain Strategius, a soldier of the court guards who rose to be a senator, often going as secretly as possible to Constantinople, as was afterwards known from the testimony of that same Strategius when frequent investigations were held of the accomplices in the cabal. 6 And so, after the fashion of some clever spy, being unrecognizable because of his unkempt appearance and his leanness, he gathered the gossip, which was then becoming frequent, of many who, since men are always discontented with present conditions, were finding fault with Valens, as being inflamed with a desire of seizing the property of others. 7 To the emperor’s cruelty deadly incentive was given by his father-in-law Petronius, who from the command of the Martensian legion had by a sudden jump been promoted to the rank of patrician. He was a man ugly in spirit and in appearance, who, burning with an immoderate longing to strip everyone without distinction, condemned guilty and innocent alike, after exquisite tortures, to fourfold indemnities, looking up debts going back to the time of the emperor Aurelian, grieving excessively if he was obliged to let any one escape unscathed. 8 Along with his intolerable character he had this additional incentive to his devastations, that while he was enriching himself through the woes of others, he was inexorable, cruel, savage and fearlessly hard-hearted, never capable of giving or receiving reason, more hated than Cleander, who, as we read, when prefect under the emperor Commodus, in his haughty madness had ruined the fortunes of many men; more oppressive than Plautianus, also a prefect under Severus, who with superhuman arrogance would have caused general confusion, if he had not perished by the avenging sword. 9 These lamentable occurrences, which under Valens, aided and abetted by Petronius, closed the houses of the poor and the palaces of the rich in great numbers, added to the fear of a still more dreadful future, sank deeply into the minds of the provincials and of the soldiers, who groaned under similar oppression, and with universal sighs everyone prayed (although darkly and in silence) for a change in the present condition of affairs with the help of the supreme deity.

10 All this Procopius observed from his hiding-place, and thinking that when a more favourable turn of fortune should occur, the crown of supreme power could be gained with little trouble, he lay in wait like a beast of prey, ready to leap forth at once on seeing anything which he could seize. 11 And while he was burning with impatience to hasten his designs, fate offered him this most timely opportunity. For Valens at the end of winter hastened to Syria and had already crossed the frontier of Bithynia, when he learned from the reports of his generals that the Gothic tribes, at that time unassailed and therefore very savage, were conspiring together and making preparations to invade the Thracian provinces. On learning this, in order that he himself might reach his destination without hindrance, Valens ordered a sufficient reinforcement of cavalry and infantry to be sent to the places where inroads of the savages were feared. 12 And so, since the emperor was removed to a distance, Procopius, worn out by long-continued troubles, and thinking that even a cruel death would be more merciful than the evils by which he was tormented, hazarded at one cast all perils whatsoever; and without fear now of suffering the worst, led by a desperate resolve he essayed the bold deed of hastening to tempt the legions of Divitenses and the Younger Tungricani, who had been ordered with other troops to hasten to the urgent service in Thrace, and as usual were to remain for two days in Constantinople. This he did by hastening to appeal to certain acquaintances that he had among those same troops; but because it would be dangerous and difficult to speak with all, he confided in only a few. 13 These men, enticed by the hope of great rewards, promised under the sanctity of an oath that they would do everything that he wished, guaranteeing also the favour of their comrades, with whom they held an important place in giving advice, since they were the highest paid and the most deserving. 14 So, as had been agreed, as soon as the sun’s rays illumined the day, the aforesaid Procopius, full of conflicting emotions, went to the Anastasian Baths, named for the sister of Constantine, where he knew that the legions had their quarters. There he learned from the confidants of his secrets that their whole number in a meeting by night had united in his support. Then, after a pledge of safety was willingly given him, he was received by the throng of venal soldiers and treated indeed with honour, although he seemed in a way to be held as a prisoner; for just as once before, after the death of Pertinax, the praetorians took up Julianus, when he was a bidder for the imperial power, so now also these troops, with an eye to every possible gain, defended Procopius, as he plotted to enter upon his ill-starred rule.

15 So there he stood rather wasted (you would think that he had come up from the lower world), and because a purple robe could nowhere be found, he was dressed in a gold-embroidered tunic, like an attendant at court, but from foot to waist he looked like a page in the service of the palace; he wore purple shoes on his feet, and bore a lance, and a small piece of purple cloth in his left hand; just as sometimes on the stage you might think that a splendidly decorated figure was suddenly made to appear as the curtain was raised, or through some mimic deception. 16 Raised in a laughable manner to this dishonour of all honours, he addressed his supporters with servile flattery, and promised them ample riches and dignities as the first-fruits of his principate. Then he appeared in public, surrounded by a number of armed men, and now advancing with more confidence and with upraised standards, attended with a fearful din of shields mournfully clashing together, which the soldiers from fear of his being pelted from housetops with stones or pieces of tile held closely joined together over the very crests of their helmets.

17 And as he advanced more boldly, the people neither opposed nor favoured him; nevertheless, they were aroused by the sudden charm of novelty which is inborn in most of the commons, and they were still more strongly moved because they one and all (as we have already said) hated Petronius, who was enriching himself by violence, and was reviving transactions that were long since buried, and debts of the misty past brought up again against all classes. 18 Accordingly, when the said Procopius had mounted the tribunal, and all were filled with amazement, fearing the gloomy silence, and believing (as indeed he had expected) that had merely come to a steeper road to death, since a trembling which pervaded all his limbs hindered his speaking, he stood for a long time without a word. Finally, he began with broken and dying utterance to say a little, justifying his action by his relationship with the imperial family; then at first by the low whispers of a few, who had been hired for the purpose, later by the tumultuous acclamations of the people, he was hailed as emperor in disorderly fashion, and hastily went on to the Senate House. There finding none of the distinguished senators, but only a few persons of low rank, with rapid steps he hastened to the palace and entered it with ill-omened step.

19 Certainly some may wonder that so laughable a reign, rashly and blindly begun, broke out into such lamentable disasters to the state, if perchance they are unacquainted with previous instances, and think that this happened for the first time. 20 It was thus that Andriscus of Adramytium, a man born to the lowest condition, raised himself to the title of a Pseudophilippus and added to the Macedonian wars a third, full of danger. It was thus, when the emperor Macrinus was living at Antioch, that Heliogabalus Antoninus burst forth from Emesa. Thus, by the unexpected uprising of Maximinus, Alexander was murdered with his mother Mamaea. Thus in Africa the elder Gordian was hurried to the throne, but when he found himself entangled in the terror of coming dangers, ended his life with the noose.

7 Procopius reduces Thrace under his power without bloodshed. By promises he gains the support of a division of cavalry and infantry, who were marching through Thrace, and by a speech he wins over the Jovii and Victores, who had been sent against him by Valens.

1 Thus the dealers in cheap dainties, the palace attendants, or those who had once been such, and former soldiers who had now retired to a most peaceful mode of life, a part unwillingly, others voluntarily, were induced to participate in the uncertainties of this unusual enterprise. But some, thinking that anything was safer than the present condition, secretly left the city and went at rapid pace to the emperor’s camp.

2 All these were outstripped by the swift course of Sophronias, at that time a secretary and later city-prefect in Constantinople. He met Valens just as he was on the point of leaving Caesarea in Cappadocia, in order to go to his residence at Antioch, since the oppressive heat in Cilicia was already somewhat diminished, and after telling him what had happened, induced him, discouraged by this event and amazed, as was natural at such a crisis, to go to Galatia, in order to take hold of affairs while they were still unsettled.

3 While Valens was hastening on by forced marches, Procopius with strictest attention was busy day and night, and brought forward certain emissaries, who with crafty assurance pretended that they had come, some from the Orient, others from Gaul, and falsely announced that Valentinian was dead and that everything was open to the new and beloved emperor. 4 And because attempts at revolution, even though audaciously begun, are sometimes wont to be strengthened by quick action, accordingly, that nothing might be neglected which could arouse fear, Nebridius, recently promoted to be praetorian prefect in place of Salutius by the party of Petronius, and Caesarius, prefect of the city of Constantinople, were thrown into chains. Phronimius was ordered to take charge of the city with the usual powers, and Euphrasius was made chief-marshal of the court; both were Gauls, distinguished for their training in the noble arts. The direction of military affairs was entrusted to Gomoarius and Agilo, who were recalled to service — being an unwise appointment, as the result of their treachery revealed. 5 Therefore because it was feared that Count Julius, who commanded the military forces in Thrace, if he should hear of the attempt, would march from the neighbouring posts to crush the rebels, an effective plan was devised. For a letter was extorted by violence from Nebridius, who was still in prison, in which it was pretended that by Valens’ order Julius was to discuss serious measures relating to the disturbances among the barbarians; and so he was summoned to Constantinople and there held in strict confinement. Through this clever trick the warlike nations of Thrace were now won over without bloodshed, and this powerful support was gained by the rebellious venture. 6 After this had been effected with such happy success, Araxius by soliciting the favour of the court became praetorian prefect, under pretext that he was supported by his son-in-law Agilo; and many others were employed in various services at court or in administrative posts in the provinces, some against their will, others because they offered themselves and paid for the positions. 7 And as commonly happens in times of civil strife, some rose from the dregs of the people, led by desperation or by blind ambitions, while on the other hand some men of distinguished origin fell from their high estate even to death and exile.

8 When through these and like conditions the party seemed firmly established, it remained to muster a sufficient force of soldiers, and a thing which in public disturbances has often times hampered bold enterprises even when their origin was justified, was managed with ease. 9 For some divisions of cavalry and infantry which had been raised for the campaign in Thrace passed that way; they were received courteously and generously, and when they were all united in one body, there was already the appearance of an army. Eager for the riches that were promised, they swore allegiance to Procopius with dire penalties for disloyalty, promising to stand by him and protect him with their lives. 10 There was found, besides, a very favourable means of winning them over, namely, that Procopius took in his arms the little daughter of Constantius, whose memory they honoured, and carried her about, claiming kinship with the former emperor. And he gained another timely advantage in that Faustina, the girl’s mother, happened to be present when he had received some insignia forming a part of the imperial adornment. 11 Also he added another stroke which was to be hastened with swift energy; for certain men chosen for their foolhardy daring were sent to take possession of Illyricum; these set out relying on no other aid than their impudence, using for their purpose goldpieces bearing the image of the new emperor and trying other devices for enticement; but Aequitius, the military commander in these regions, seized them and put them to death in various ways. 12 Then, through fear of similar attempts, Aequitius blockaded the three narrow passes leading to the northern provinces, one through Dacia Ripensis, a second, the best known, through Succi, the third through Macedonia, and called Acontisma. And in consequence of these prudent measures, the usurper of illegitimate power was disappointed in his vain hope of seizing Illyricum and lost a great source of material for the war.

13 While these things were thus going on, Valens, shocked by the terrible news and already returning through Galatia, on hearing what had happened at Constantinople advanced with distrust and fear. His sudden terror made him unfit for all ways of precaution, and his spirit had sunk so low that he even thought of casting aside his imperial robes as a heavy burden; and he would actually have done so, had he not been kept by the remonstrances of his intimates from the shameful intention and given courage by the advice of better men; accordingly, he ordered two legions, named the Jovii and the Victores, to go on ahead and attack the rebels in their camp. 14 When these were already approaching, Procopius himself, having returned from Nicaea, to which place he had gone shortly before, with the Divitenses and a promiscuous rabble of deserters which he had got together in a brief space of time, hastened to Mygdus, a place laved by the river Sangarius. 15 There the legions were already advancing upon each other, ready for battle, when Procopius rushed alone between them, while they were exchanging volleys, as if he wished to challenge the enemy. And by a stroke of good fortune as if he recognised in the enemy’s lines a certain Vitalianus — whether he actually knew him is a matter of doubt — he saluted him courteously in Latin, and called him forward in a friendly fashion. Then he held out his hand to him and kissed him, to the amazement of all on both sides, and cried out: 16 “So this is the old loyalty of Roman armies and their oaths bound by firm religious rites! Is this your pleasure, my brave men? All this mass of Roman swords uplifted for strangers! That a base Pannonian should shake and trample upon the world, to gain a throne which he never so much as dared to pray for, we groan over your wounds and ours! No, no — follow rather the house of your own royal line, one who has taken up arms with the greatest justice, not in order to seize what is another’s, but to restore himself to the possession of his ancestral majesty.”

17 Through these calm words, all the men who had come to fight hotly against him were pacified, and willingly went over to his side with the eagles and the tips of their standards lowered; and in place of terrible shouts that the barbarians call barritus he was hailed as emperor; all crowded about him in the customary manner, and in harmony escorted him back to the camp, swearing, in the soldiers’ manner, by Jupiter that Procopius would be invincible.

8 After Nicaea and Chalcedon have been freed from siege, Bithynia is brought under the sway of Procopius, and later, by the taking of Cyzicus, Hellespontus also.

1 To this success of the rebels was added another still happier event. For a tribune called Rumitalca, who had been won over to the party of Procopius and given the charge of the palace, upon a carefully devised plan crossed the sea with his soldiers and came to the place formerly called Drepanum, now Helenopolis, and then with unexpected speed seized Nicaea. 2 To besiege this city Valens sent, besides others skilled in that kind of fighting, Vadomarius, a former general and king of the Alamanni, and went on himself to Nicomedia. Leaving that place, he carried on the siege of Chalcedon with great vigour, from the walls of which city insults were hurled at him and he was derisively addressed as Sabaiarius. Now sabaia is a drink of the poorer people in Illyricum, a liquor made from barley or some other grain. 3 Finally, worn out by scarcity of supplies and the very obstinate resistance of the defenders, he was already preparing to depart, when those who had been meanwhile blockaded at Nicaea suddenly opened the gates and rushed out, and after slaying a great part of the besiegers, headed by their bold leader, Rumitalca, hastened eagerly on with the purpose of surrounding Valens from the rear; for he had not left the suburb of Chalcedon. And they would have been successful, if the emperor had not from an earlier rumour learned of the danger that threatened him, and by a hasty retreat by way of the Sunonian lake and the many windings of the river Gallus outwitted the enemy, who were close upon his heels in vain pursuit. And by this mischance Bithynia also fell into the power of Procopius.

4 When Valens had returned thence by rapid marches to Ancyra and learned that Lupicinus with a force not to be despised was drawing near from the Orient, his hopes for better success were aroused, and he sent his best general Arintheus to attack the enemy. 5 When Arintheus reached Dadastana, the station where, as we have said, Jovian died, he suddenly saw Hyperechius and his forces opposed to him; he had before been merely in charge of the commander’s supplies (that is, a servant of his belly and gullet), but Procopius had entrusted him as a friend with the command of a band of auxiliaries. And scorning to overcome in battle so despicable a man, relying on his authority and his imposing stature, Arintheus ordered the enemy themselves to put their leader in irons; and thus this shadow of a commander was taken prisoner by the hands of his own men.

6 While affairs were proceeding in this way, a certain Venustus, an attendant on the state-treasury under Valens, who had been sent long before to Nicomedia, in order to distribute into the soldiers’ hands the money that had been raised for the pay of those stationed in various parts of the Orient, hearing of this unfortunate occurrence, and seeing that the time was unfavourable for his task, quickly made his way to Cyzicus with the money he had received. 7 There he chanced to meet Serenianus, at that time commander of the household troops, who had been sent to protect the treasures there; and since the city had an impregnable circuit of walls, and was known because of its old monuments, he tried to hold it, relying on the hastily formed garrison. Procopius had appointed a strong force to storm that city, in order to join Hellespontus to his side now he held Bithynia. 8 However, the success of the work was delayed because often whole masses of the besiegers were slain by arrows, sling-shots, and other missiles, and through the skill of the garrison the entrance to the port had been barred by a very strong iron chain, which was fastened to land on both sides, so that even the armoured ships of the enemy could not force their way in. 9 This chain, after various efforts of the soldiers and their leaders, who were exhausted by the hot fighting, was broken through by a tribune called Aliso, a distinguished and skilful warrior, in the following manner. He fastened together three boats and built upon them a protective covering after this fashion: in front stood armed men on the thwarts with their shields held close together over their heads, those behind them stooped down somewhat lower, and those in the third rank gradually lower still, so that, since the hindermost rested on their hams, the whole gave the appearance of an arched building. This kind of device, used in battles against walls, has this form in order that the volleys of missiles and rocks, gliding down the sloping side, may flow off like showers of rain. 10 Thus Aliso, defended for the time being from the volleys of missiles, being a man of great bodily strength, placed a block underneath and struck the chain heavy blows with an axe, breaking it in such a way that it fell apart and opened a broad entrance; and by this result the city was exposed unprotected to the enemy’s attack. Because of this, when the ring-leader of the whole rebellion was later killed, and the members of his party were cruelly treated, this same tribune, being allowed to keep his life and his position in the army in view of his brilliant exploit, was slain long afterwards in Isauria at the hands of a predatory band.

11 When Cyzicus had been opened to him by this martial stroke, Procopius quickly hastened to the city; he pardoned all who had opposed him, except Serenianus alone, who was by his order put in irons and taken to Nicaea to be closely guarded. 12 And immediately afterwards Ormisdas, a mature young man, son of the royal prince of the same name, was given the rank of proconsul, and therewith according to ancient usage the control of civil and military affairs. This man acted with great mildness, in accordance with his disposition, and when he was on the point of being seized by a sudden onset of the soldiers whom Valens had sent through by-paths of Phrygia, he made his escape with such vigorous courage, that he embarked on board a ship which he had got ready in case of danger, and carried off his wife safely amid volleys of arrows when she followed him and was all but taken prisoner; she was a rich and distinguished matron, whose high reputation and commendable firmness later saved her husband amid extreme dangers.

13 By this victory Procopius was elated, beyond what is lawful for mortals, and forgetting that any happy man, if Fortune’s wheel turns, may before evening become most wretched, he ordered the house of Arbitio, full of priceless furniture, to be completely stripped. Hitherto he had spared it as if it were his own, believing that the man was on his side; but he had been incensed because he had summoned Arbitio several times to come to him and Arbitio had put him off, pleading the infirmities of age and illness. 14 And although for this reason the usurper feared serious consequences, nevertheless, since he could now boldly invade the oriental provinces without opposition, in fact even with the free consent of all — as those provinces were eager to see any change, from their dislike of the strict rule under which they were then held — for the purpose of winning over some cities of Asia and surrounding himself with men skilled in raising money (as likely to be helpful to him in the numerous great battles which he expected) he slothfully delayed and became blunt, just as a sharp sword might. 15 Exactly so formerly Pescennius Niger, when often summoned by the Roman people to aid them in their expectation of extreme need, while he was delaying a long time in Syria, was defeated by Severus at the Issic Gulf (which is in Cilicia, where Alexander routed Darius), and driven from the field lost his life in a suburb of Antioch at the hands of a common soldier.

9 Procopius, deserted by his followers in Bithynia, Lycia, and Phrygia, and delivered alive to Valens, is beheaded.

1 This is what happened in the mid-winter of the consulship of Valentinian and Valens. But when the highest magistracy passed to Gratianus, who was as yet a private citizen, and to Dagalaifus, after the beginning of spring Valens called forth his troops and joining with him Lupicinus and a strong force of auxiliaries, he hastened to Pessinus, formerly a town of Phrygia, now of Galatia. 2 Having safely garrisoned this place in order to suffer no surprise in those parts, he marched along the foot of the lofty mountain called Olympus, and over rocky paths, towards Lycia, planning to attack Gomoarius, while he loitered there half asleep. 3 But he was met with general and obstinate resistance, for this reason in particular — that his enemy (as has been mentioned) both on the march and when they were almost in battle array, carried about with him in a litter the little daughter of Constantius, and her mother Faustina; and thereby had inflamed the passions of the soldiers to fight more bravely in defence of the imperial stock, with which he claimed that he himself was connected. Just so once the Macedonians, when on the point of engaging with the Illyrians, placed their king, who was still an infant, in his cradle behind the battle line, and from fear that he might be taken prisoner, beat down their adversaries with greater valour.

4 Against this crafty device the emperor aided his wavering cause by a clever expedient; for he urged the ex-consul Arbitio, who had long been in retirement, to come to him, in order that respect due to one of Constantine’s generals might calm the savage spirits of the rebels; and so it turned out. 5 For Arbitio, who was older than the rest and of higher rank, showing to many who were inclined to rebellion his venerable gray hair, called Procopius a public brigand, while he pleaded with the soldiers who had followed the usurper’s delusion as with his children and comrades in his former labours; and he begged them rather to obey him, as a parent who was known for his successful campaigns, than a profligate wretch who was already on the point of being deserted and was approaching his fall. 6 Gomoarius, on learning of this, might have eluded the enemy and returned safely whence he had come; but since the emperor’s camp was conveniently near, he went over to it under pretext of being a prisoner, pretending that he had been surrounded by a throng of the enemy who had suddenly appeared.

7 Fired with eagerness at this, Valens marched on to Phrygia, and the two sides had already joined battle near Nacolia, when Agilo at this critical point in the contest turned traitor by suddenly going over to the enemy; then many others followed him who were already brandishing their pikes and swords, and deserted to the emperor with their standards and with their shields reversed, which is the most evident sign of defection.

8 By this sight, unexpected to all, Procopius was bereft of every aid to safety; so he took to flight and sought a hiding-place in the surrounding woods and mountains, followed by Florentius and the tribune Barchalba, who from the time of Constantius had gained fame in the fiercest wars, and had been led to treason by necessity, not by inclination. 9 The greater part of the night had passed. The moon, brightly shining from its evening rise until dawn, increased the fear of Procopius; and since on all sides the opportunity for escape was cut off and he was completely at a loss, he began, as is usual in extreme necessity, to rail at Fortune as cruel and oppressive; and so, overwhelmed as he was by many anxieties, he was suddenly tightly bound by his companions and at daybreak was taken to the camp and handed over to the emperor, silent and terror-stricken. He was at once beheaded, and so put an end to the rising storm of civil strife and war. His fate was like that of Perpenna of old, who after killing Sertorius at table, for a short time was in possession of the rule, but was dragged from the thickets where he had hidden himself, brought before Pompey, and by his order put to death.

10 In the same heat of resentment Florentius and Barchalba, who had brought Procopius in, were at once put to death without consideration of reason. For if they had betrayed a legitimate prince, even Justice herself would declare that they were justly executed; but if he whom they betrayed was a rebel and a disturber of the public peace, as he was said to be, they ought to have been given great rewards for a noteworthy deed.

11 Procopius departed this life at the age of forty years and ten months. Personally he was a tall man and not bad looking; he was somewhat dark complexioned, and walked with his gaze always fixed on the ground. In his secretive and gloomy nature he was like that Crassus who, as Lucilius and Cicero declare, laughed only once in his life; but the surprising thing is, that throughout all his life he was not stained with bloodshed.

10 Marcellus, an officer of the Guard, a relative of Procopius, and many adherents of the usurper’s party are executed.

1 At about the same time Marcellus, an officer of the guard and a relative of Procopius, commanding the garrison at Nicaea and learning of the betrayal of the usurper by soldiers and his consequent death, at the fearful hour of midnight unexpectedly attacked Serenianus, who was imprisoned within the palace, and killed him; and his death saved the lives of many. 2 For if this man of rude nature, burning with a cruel desire to hurt, had survived the victory, being dear to Valens because of their likeness of character and their common fatherland, and well aware of the secret wishes of a prince inclined to cruelty, he would have caused the death of many innocent people.

3 After killing Serenianus, Marcellus quickly got possession of Chalcedon, and, supported by the cheers of a few, whom their worthlessness and desperation drove to crime, seized the shadow of a fatal principate. He was deceived by two ideas, first because the kings of the Goths, who had now been conciliated, had sent three thousand men to the aid of Procopius, led by his show of relationship to Constantius, and Marcellus thought that these men could for a small sum be brought over to his side; and secondly, because he had not yet learned what had happened in Illyricum.

4 In the midst of this great confusion Aequitius, who had learned from trustworthy sources that the whole burden of the war had been transferred to Asia, marched through the pass of Succi and with all his might tried to open Philippopolis, formerly Eumolpias, which had been closed by the enemy’s garrison; for that city was very favourably situated and, if left in his rear, could hinder his attempt, if he should be compelled to hasten to Haemimontus in order to bring reinforcements to Valens; for he had not yet learned what had happened at Nacolia. 5 But learning a little later of the vain presumption of Marcellus, he at once sent bold and active soldiers who seized him and imprisoned him as a guilty slave. A few days later the usurper was brought out, his body was soundly scourged, and after his accomplices had been similarly treated, he was put to death: a man who deserves credit only for making away with Serenianus, who was cruel as Phalaris, and loyal to Procopius because of the accursed science which for vain reasons he pretended to have.

6 Through the death of the leader the horrors of war were rooted out; but many were punished more severely than their errors or faults demanded, especially the defenders of Philippopolis, who surrendered the city and themselves most reluctantly, only when they saw the head of Procopius, which was being taken to Gaul. 7 Some, however, through the influence of those who interceded for them, were treated more leniently, among them notably Araxius, who in the very heat of the conflagration had solicited and gained the prefecture; he, through the intercession of his son-in-law Agilo, was deported to an island, but soon afterwards made his escape. 8 Euphrasius, however, and also Phronimius were sent to the west and left to the decision of Valentinian. Euphrasius was pardoned, but Phronimius was banished to the Chersonesus, receiving a severer punishment for the same offence because he had been well regarded by the deified Julian, whose noteworthy merits both the imperial brothers depreciated, without being his equal or anywhere near it.

9 To these events were added other more serious matters, far more to be feared than those of war-time. For executioner, instruments of torture, and bloody inquisitions raged without any distinction of age or of rank through all classes and orders, and under the mantle of peace abominable robbery was carried on, while all cursed the ill-omened victory, which was worse than any war, however destructive. 10 For amid arms and clarions, equality of condition makes dangers lighter; the force of martial valour either destroys what it attacks, or ennobles it; and death (if it comes) is attended with no sense of shame and brings with it at once an end of life and of suffering. But when the laws and statutes are pretexts for impious designs, and judges take their seats in a false imitation of the character of a Cato or a Cassius, but everything is decided according to the will of men of swollen powers, and by their caprice the question of the life or death of all those who come before them is weighed, then, destruction results that is deadly and sudden. 11 For when any one at that time had become powerful for any reason, and having almost royal authority and being consumed with longing to seize the goods of others, accused some clearly guiltless person, he was welcomed as an intimate and loyal friend, who was to be enriched by the ruin of other men. 12 For the emperor, rather inclined himself to do injury, lent his ear to accusers, listened to death-dealing denunciations, and took unbridled joy in various kinds of executions; unaware of that saying of Cicero’s which asserts that those are unlucky who think that they have power to do anything they wish. 13 This implacability in a cause which was most just, but where victory brought shame, delivered many innocent victims to the torturers, either placing them on the rack until they were bowed down or exposing them to the sword-stroke of a cruel executioner. It would have been better for them (if nature allowed it), to lose even ten lives in battle, rather than though free from all blame, with lacerated sides, amid general groans to suffer punishment for alleged treason, with their bodies first mutilated, a thing which is more awful than any death. 14 When finally ferocity was overcome by the grief that it caused, and had burnt itself out, the most distinguished men suffered proscription, exile, and other punishments which seem lighter to some, terrible though they are; and in order that another might be enriched, a man of noble birth and perhaps richer in deserts was deprived of his patrimony and driven headlong into banishment, there to waste away from sorrow, or to support his life by beggary; and no limit was set to the deadly cruelties, until the emperor and his nearest friends were glutted with wealth and bloodshed.

15 While that usurper of whose many deeds and his death we have told, still survived, on the twenty-first of July in the first consulship of Valentinian with his brother, horrible phenomena suddenly spread through the entire extent of the world, such as are related to us neither in fable nor in truthful history. 16 For a little after daybreak, preceded by heavy and repeated thunder and lightning, the whole of the firm and solid earth was shaken and trembled, the sea with its rolling waves was driven back and withdrew from the land, so that in the abyss of the deep thus revealed men saw many kinds of sea-creatures stuck fast in the slime; and vast mountains and deep valleys, which Nature, the creator, had hidden in the unplumbed depths, then, as one might well believe, first saw the beams of the sun. 17 Hence, many ships were stranded as if on dry land, and since many men roamed about without fear in the little that remained of the waters, to gather fish and similar things with their hands, the roaring sea, resenting, as it were, this forced retreat, rose in its turn; and over the boiling shoals it dashed mightily upon islands and broad stretches of the mainland, and levelled innumerable buildings in the cities and where else they were found; so that amid the mad discord of the elements the altered face of the earth revealed marvellous sights. 18 For the great mass of waters, returning when it was least expected, killed many thousands of men by drowning; and by the swift recoil of the eddying tides a number of ships, after the swelling of the wet element subsided, were seen to have foundered, and lifeless bodies of shipwrecked persons lay floating on their backs or on their faces. 19 Other great ships, driven by the mad blasts, landed on the tops of buildings (as happened at Alexandria), and some were driven almost two miles inland, like a Laconian ship which I myself in passing that way saw near the town of Mothone, yawning apart through long decay.

Book XXVII

1 The Alamanni route the Romans in battle and kill the generals Charietto and Severianus.

1 While throughout the Orient the changing course of events was developing as we have narrated, the Alamanni, after the sad losses and wounds which they had suffered from their frequent battles with Julianus Caesar, having at last renewed their strength (which yet did not equal its old vigour), and being an object of dread for the reasons which we have mentioned above, were already overleaping the frontiers of Gaul. And immediately after the first of January, while throughout those ice-bound regions the grim season of winter bristled, they hurried forth in divisions, and, without restraint a host was ranging everywhere. 2 Charietto, who was then commanding general throughout both Germanies, along with soldiers eager for war, set out to meet their first division, taking as a partner in the campaign Severianus, who was also a general, an aged and feeble man, who at Cabillona commanded the Divitenses and Tungricani. 3 Accordingly, when the force had been more closely united in one, and with the speed of haste they had built a bridge over a small stream, the Romans, on seeing the savages at a distance, assailed them with arrows and other light missiles, which the enemy vigorously returned throw for throw. 4 But when the forces came to close quarters and fought with drawn swords, our men’s lines were broken by the foe’s fiercer onset, and found no means either of resisting or of acting bravely. And when they [saw] Severianus, who had been thrown from his horse and pierced through by a missile, they were all terrified and put to flight. 5 Lastly Charietto himself, by boldly opposing his body and by reproachful words, held back his retreating men, and by confidence caused by his long stand, tried to wipe out shame and disgrace; but fell pierced by a fatal shaft. 6 After his death the standard of the Eruli and Batavians was taken, which the barbarians with insulting cries and dancing with joy frequently raised on high and displayed, until after hard struggles it was recovered.

2 Jovinus, commander of the cavalry in Gaul, unexpectedly attacks two companies of the Alamanni and cuts them to pieces. He vanquishes a third part of the savages in a battle at Châlons-sur-Marne, where 6000 of the enemy were killed and 4000 wounded.

1 The news of this disaster was received with extreme grief, and Dagalaifus was sent from Paris to make good the defeat; but since he delayed for a long time under pretext that it was impossible for him to attack the barbarians while they were scattered over various places, he was recalled a little later in order to receive the consular insignia with Gratianus, who was still a private citizen. Then Jovinus, commander of the cavalry, was appointed to the task, and after being most thoroughly equipped and prepared, carefully guarding both wings of his army, he arrived near a place called Scarponna; there he suddenly fell upon a great throng of the savages, took them by surprise before they could arm themselves, and in a short time utterly annihilated them. 2 Then he led on his soldiers, rejoicing in the glory of this bloodless victory, to destroy the second division of the enemy; and the glorious leader was advancing slowly, when he learned from a trustworthy scouting party, that after plundering the neighbouring farmhouses a predatory band was resting near the river. On coming nearer, and being hidden in a valley concealed by a thick growth of trees, he saw that some were bathing, others were reddening their hair after their national custom, and still others were drinking. 3 So taking advantage of this most favourable time, he suddenly gave the signal with the clarions and broke into the robbers’ camp, while on the other hand the Germans, merely uttering boastfully vain threats and shouts, were pressed so hard by the victor that they could not gather up their arms, which were lying about here and there, nor form in line, nor rally for a stout resistance. Therefore most of them fell, run through by pikes and swords, except such as took to their heels and found shelter on the winding and narrow paths.

4 His confidence now increased by this successful stroke, the result of both valour and good fortune, Jovinus led on his soldiers, sending ahead an efficient scouting party, and hastily advanced against the remaining third division; and when by a rapid march he came near Châlons, he found the enemy fully ready for battle. 5 Having measured off a stockade to suit the conditions, and refreshed his men with food and sleep, so far as time allowed, at the first coming of dawn he drew up his line of battle in the open plain; and he extended it with such skilful art, that the Romans, who were inferior in number (though equal in strength), by occupying a greater space appeared to be as numerous as the enemy. 6 And so, when the signal had been given by the trumpet and they began to engage at close quarters, the Germans stood amazed, terrified by the fearful sight of the gleaming standards. For a while their ardour was blunted, but they quickly recovered and prolonged the fighting to the end of the day; and our vigorously attacking soldiers would have gained the fruit of victory without loss, had not Balchobaudes, tribune of the heavy-armed guard, a man by nature both boastful and cowardly, withdrawn in disorder at the approach of evening. And if the rest of the cohorts had followed his example and left the field, the affair would have come to such a sad ending that not one of our number could have survived to tell what had happened. 7 But the soldiers resisted with bold energy and courage, and were so superior in strength that they wounded 4000 of the enemy and killed 6000 more, while they themselves lost not more than 1200, and had only 200 wounded. 8 When therefore the battle was now broken off by the coming of night, and the wearied soldiers had recovered their strength, their distinguished general towards daybreak led forward his army in square formation; and finding that the savages had slipped away under cover of darkness, free from worry about ambuscades he followed them over the open and easy plains, trampling underfoot the dying, and the contracted bodies of those whom, since the severity of the cold had drawn their wounds together, the extreme pain had taken off. 9 Then, after advancing farther but returning on finding none of the enemy, he learned that the Ascarii (whom he himself had sent by another route to plunder the tents of the Alamanni) had captured a king of the hostile army with a few of his followers, and had gibbeted him. Angered at this, he decided to punish the tribune who had ventured to take this action without consulting higher authority; and he would have condemned him to death, if it had not been clear from convincing evidence that the cruel deed had been committed through passion to which soldiers are prone.

10 When Jovinus returned to Paris after these brilliant victories, Valentinian went out joyfully to meet him, and shortly afterwards made him consul; and, you may be sure it added to his great happiness that he had received at that same time the head of Procopius, sent to him by Valens. 11 Besides these battles, many others less worthy of mention were fought in various parts of Gaul, which it would be superfluous to describe, both because their results led to nothing worth while, and because it is not fitting to spin out a history with insignificant details.

3 Of the three prefects of the City, Symmachus, Lampadius, and Iuventius; and of the contest under the last-named of Damasus and Ursinus for the Bishopric of Rome.

1 At this time or a little earlier a new form of portent appeared in Annonarian Tuscany, and how it would turn out even those who were skilled in interpreting prodigies were wholly at a loss to know. For in the town of Pistoria, at about the third hour of the day, in the sight of many persons, an ass mounted the tribunal and was heard to bray persistently, to the amazement both of all who were present and of those who heard of it from the reports of others; and no one could guess what was to come, until later the portended event came to pass. 2 For one Terentius, born in that city, a fellow of low origin and a baker by trade, by way of reward because he had brought Orfitus, an ex-prefect, into court on the charge of embezzlement, held the position of governor in that province. Emboldened by this, he proceeded to stir up many disturbances, and being convicted of cheating in a matter of business with some ship-captains, as was reported, he met death at the hands of the executioner when Claudius was city-prefect.

3 However, long before this happened, Apronianus was succeeded by Symmachus, a man worthy to be classed among the conspicuous examples of learning and moderation, through whose efforts the sacred city enjoyed an unusual period of quiet and prosperity, and prides itself on a handsome bridge, which Symmachus himself, by the decision of our mighty emperors, dedicated, and to the great joy of the citizens, who proved ungrateful, as the result most clearly showed. 4 For after some years had passed, they set fire to Symmachus’ beautiful house in the Transtiberine district, spurred on by the fact that a common fellow among the plebeians had alleged, without any informant or witness, that the prefect had said that he would rather use his own wine for quenching lime-kilns than sell it at the price which the people hoped for.

5 Symmachus was succeeded as prefect of the city by Lampadius, a former praetorian prefect, a man who took it very ill if even his manner of spitting was not praised, on the ground that he did that also with greater skill than anyone else; but yet he was sometimes strict and honest. 6 When this man, in his praetorship, gave magnificent games and made very rich largesses, being unable to endure the blustering of the commons, who often urged that many things should be given to those who were unworthy of them, in order to show his generosity and his contempt of the mob, he summoned some beggars from the Vatican and presented them with valuable gifts. 7 But of his vanity, not to digress too far, it will suffice to give this single instance, insignificant indeed, but something to be shunned by high officials. For through all quarters of the city which had been adorned at the expenses of various emperors, he had his own name inscribed, not as the restorer of old buildings, but as their founder. From this fault the emperor Trajan also is said to have suffered, and for that reason he was jestingly called “wall-wort.”

8 As prefect, Lampadius was disturbed by frequent outbreaks, the greatest of all being when a mob, composed of the dregs of the populace, by throwing fire-brands and fire-darts upon his house near the Baths of Constantine would have burned it, had not his friends and neighbors quickly rushed to the spot and driven them off by pelting them with stones and tiles from the house-tops. 9 He himself, terrified by such violence in the first stages of a growing tumult, fled to the Mulvian bridge — which the elder Scaurus is said to have built — as though to wait there for the cessation of the tumult, which a serious cause had aroused. 10 For when preparing to erect new buildings or restoring old ones, he did not order materials to be obtained from the usual taxes, but if there was need of iron, lead, bronze, or anything of the kind, attendants were set on, in order that they might, under pretence of buying the various articles, seize them without paying anything. In consequence, he was barely able by swift flight to avoid the anger of the incensed poor, who had repeated losses to lament.

11 As his successor came Viventius, a former court-chancellor, a just and prudent man of Pannonia, whose administration was quiet and mild, rich in an abundance of everything. But he, too, was alarmed by sanguinary outbreaks of the factions of the people, which were caused by the following affair. 12 Damasus and Ursinus, burning with a superhuman desire of seizing the bishopric, engaged in bitter strife because of their opposing interests; and the supporters of both parties went even so far as conflicts ending in bloodshed and death. Since Viventius was able neither to end nor to diminish this strife, he was compelled to yield to its great violence, and retired to the suburbs. 13 And in the struggle Damasus was victorious through the efforts of the party which favoured him. It is a well-known fact that in the basilica of Sicininus, where the assembly of the Christian sect is held, in a single day a hundred and thirty-seven corpses of the slain were found, and that it was only with difficulty that the long-continued frenzy of the people was afterwards quieted.

14 Bearing in mind the ostentation in city life, I do not deny that those who are desirous of such a thing ought to struggle with the exercise of all their strength to gain what they seek; for when they attain it, they will be so free from care that they are enriched from the offerings of matrons, ride seated in carriages, wearing clothing chosen with care, and serve banquets so lavish that their entertainments outdo the tables of kings. 15 These men might be truly happy, if they would disregard the greatness of the city behind which they hide their faults, and live after the manner of some provincial bishops, whose moderation in food and drink, plain apparel also, and gaze fixed upon the earth, commend them to the eternal Deity and to his true servants as pure and reverent men. But this will be a sufficient digression; let me now return to the course of events.

4 A description of the six provinces of Thrace and their peoples, and of the famous cities in each.

1 While the above-mentioned events were taking place in Gaul and Italy, a new campaign was set on foot in Thrace. For Valens, in accordance with the desire of his brother, whom he consulted and by whose will he was guided, took up arms against the Goths, influenced by a just reason, namely, that they had sent aid to Procopius, when he began his civil war. It will be fitting, then, to sketch hastily in a brief digression the early history and the topography of those regions.

2 A description of Thrace would be easy, if the pens of the earlier writers agreed; but since their obscurity and their differences lend no aid to a work whose aim is truth, it will suffice to set forth what I myself remember to have seen. 3 That this land formerly consisted of a boundless expand of gentle plains and lofty mountains, we know from the immortal testimony of Homer, who imagines that the north and west winds begin to blow from there; but this is either a fable, or else in former times the widely extended tracts marked out to be the home of barbarian tribes were all included under the name of Thrace. 4 A part of these were inhabited by the Scordisci, who are now widely separated from those same provinces: a people formerly cruel and savage, and, as ancient history declares, accustomed to offer up their prisoners as victims to Bellona and Mars, and from their hollowed skulls greedily to drink human blood. By their savageness the Roman state was often sorely troubled and after many lamentable calamities finally lost a whole army with its commander.

5 But, as we now see them, those same places, formed in the shape of a crescent moon, present the appearance of a beautiful theatre. At its western summit are the steep mountains through which the narrow pass of Succi opens, separating Thrace from Dacia. 6 The left side, towards the northern stars, is shut in by the lofty heights of Mount Haemus and the Hister, which, where it washes Roman soil, borders on many cities, fortresses, and castles. 7 On the right, which is the south side, extend the cliffs of Rhodope, and where the morning star rises it is bounded by the strait which flows with an abundance of water from the Euxine, and going on with alternating current to the Aegaean, opens a narrow cleft between the lands. 8 But on the eastern corner the land is connected with the frontiers of Macedonia by a steep and narrow pass, which is called Acontisma. Next to this is the posting-station of Arethusa, in which is to be seen the tomb of Euripides, noted for his lofty tragedies, and Stagira, known as the birthplace of Aristotle, who, as Cicero says, poured forth a golden stream. 9 These regions also were occupied in former times by barbarians, who differed from one another in customs and language. Of these the Odrysae are noted for their savage cruelty beyond all others, being so habituated to the shedding of human blood that when there were no enemies at hand, at their feasts, after a satiety of food and drink they plunged the sword into the bodies of their own countrymen, as if they were those of foreigners.

10 But when our country increased in power, and the rule of consuls was in full sway, Marcus Didius, with great determination, checked these tribes that before had been always invincible and were roaming about without civilization or laws. Drusus confined them within their own bounds. Minucius utterly defeated them in a battle near the river Hebrus, which flows from the high mountains of the Odrysae, and after these the survivors were completely annihilated by the proconsul Appius Claudius in a hot fight. Indeed, the Roman fleets took possession of the towns situated on the Bosphorus and the Propontis. 11 After these came General Lucullus, who was the first of all to encounter the savage tribe of the Bessi and in the same onslaught overcame the Haemimontani in spite of their stout resistance. While he threatened that region, all parts of Thrace passed under the sway of our forefathers, and in this way, after dangerous campaigns, six provinces were won for the republic.

12 The first of these on the side bordering on Illyricum is called Thrace in the narrower sense, and is adorned by the splendid cities of Philippopolis, formerly Eumolpias, and Beroea. After this, Haemimontus has Hadrianopolis, also once called Uscudama, and Anchialos, both great and rich cities. Then comes Mysia, with Marcianopolis (so named from the sister of the emperor Trajan), Dorostorus, Nicopolis, and Odessus. Hard by is Scythia, in which the more famous towns are Dionysopolis, Tomi, and Callatia. Europa, the remotest province of all, in addition to various towns, is conspicuous for two cities, Apri and Perinthus, in later times called Heraclea. 13 Rhodopa, next to this, has Maximianopolis, Maronea and Aenus, which Aeneas founded and abandoned, and after long wanderings under continued good auspices, reached Italy.

14 Now it is well known, as constant reports have spread abroad, that almost all the country folk who dwell in the high mountains throughout the lands just described surpass us in health and strength, and in the prerogative (so to speak) of prolonging life; and it is thought that this is due to abstinence from a conglomeration of diet and from hot baths, and a lasting freshness knits their bodies through cold sprinklings with dew; and they enjoy the sweetness of a purer air; further they are first of all to feel the rays of the sun, which are by their own nature life-giving, before they are infected with any stains from human affairs. After having thus given an account of these matters, let us return to our task.

5 Valens Augustus makes war on the Goths, who had sent aid to Procopius against him, and after three years concludes peace with them.

1 After Procopius had been vanquished in Phrygia, and the source of internal strife lulled to rest, Victor, commander of the cavalry, was sent to the Goths, in order to get clear information why a people friendly to the Romans and bound by the treaties of a long-continued peace had lent support to a usurper who was making war on the legitimate emperors. They, in order to excuse their action by a strong defence, presented a letter from the said Procopius, in which he asserted that he had assumed the sovereignty that was due him as nearly related to the family of Constantine; and they maintained that their error was pardonable.

2 When this was learned from the report of the aforesaid Victor, Valens, taking little account of so trivial an excuse, marched against the Goths, who already knew of the coming activity. Getting his army together at the beginning of spring, he measured off a camp near the fortress called Daphne; and having made a bridge of planks over the gangways of ships, he crossed the river Hister without any opposition. 3 And now he was exalted in confidence, since, as he hastened hither and thither, he found no one whom he could conquer or terrify; for all had been struck with fear at the approach of the soldiers with their splendid equipment, and made for the mountains of the Serri, which are lofty and inaccessible except to those who are thoroughly familiar with them. 4 Therefore, to avoid wasting the whole summer and returning without accomplishing anything, he sent Arintheus, commander of the infantry, with plundering bands and seized some of the families which could be captured before they reached the steep and winding mountain-regions and while they were still wandering over the level plains. And after having attained only this, which was what chance offered him, he returned harmlessly with his men, without having inflicted or suffered serious harm.

5 In the following year, having attempted with equal energy to invade the enemy’s territory, he was prevented by extensive floods of the Danube and remained inactive, near a village of the Carpi in a permanent camp which he had made, until the end of autumn. And since he was cut off by the extent of the waters from doing anything, he returned from there to Marcianopolis for winter quarters.

6 With like persistence in the third year also he made a bridge of boats to cross the river at Novidunum and forced his way into the barbarian territory; and after continuous marches he attacked the warlike people of the Greuthungi, who lived very far off, and after some slight contests Athanaricus, at that time their most powerful ruler, who dared to resist with a band which he believed to be more than sufficient for himself, was forced to flee, in fear of utter destruction. Then he himself with all his men returned to Marcianopolis as a suitable place (considering that region) for passing the winter.

7 After the many vicissitudes of these three years timely opportunities arose for ending the war. First, because the long stay of the emperor was increasing the enemy’s fears; secondly, because the savages, since commerce was cut off, were so distressed by extreme scarcity of the necessities of life that they often sent suppliant deputations to beg for pardon and peace. 8 The emperor was indeed inexperienced, but very reasonable as yet in his judgment of conditions, until he was led astray by the fatal blandishments of his flatterers and inflicted on his country losses ever to be lamented; therefore, consulting for the common welfare, he decided that peace ought to be granted. 9 Accordingly, he in his turn sent as envoys Victor and Arintheus, of whom one then commanded the cavalry and the other the infantry, and when their trustworthy report had informed him that the Goths agreed to the conditions which he offered, a convenient place was appointed for concluding peace. But since Athanaricus declared that he was bound by an oath accompanied by a fearful imprecation, and thus prevented by his father’s orders from ever setting foot on Roman soil, and since he could not be induced to do so, and it was unbecoming and degrading for the emperor to cross to him, it was decided by those of good judgment that ships should be rowed into mid-stream, one carrying the emperor with his guard, the other the Gothic ruler with his men, and that thus a treaty of peace should be struck, as had been agreed. 10 When this had been arranged and hostages received, Valens returned to Constantinople, where later Athanaricus, driven from his native land by a faction of his kinsmen, died a natural death and was buried after our fashion with splendid rites.

6 Valentinian with the consent of the army appoints his son Gratianus an Augustus, exhorts the boy, who is clad in the purple, to brave deeds, and commends him to the care of the soldiers.

1 Meanwhile, when Valentinian was attacked by a severe illness and was at the point of death, the Gauls who were at court in the emperor’s service, at a secret conference demanded that Rusticus Julianus, then master of the rolls, should be made emperor: a man who, as if smitten by a blast of madness, was as greedy for human blood as a wild beast, as he showed when governing Africa with proconsular power. 2 For as prefect of the city, in the administration of which office he died, through fear of the precarious situation of the tyrant, through whose choice he had risen to that high position as if for the lack of worthy men, he was compelled to assume the appearance of mildness and clemency. 3 Against these Gauls some with higher aims strove in the cause of Severus, then commander of the infantry, as a man fitted for attaining that rank; and, although he was strict and feared, yet he was more endurable and in every way to be preferred to the aforenamed aspirant.

4 But while these designs were being agitated to no purpose, the emperor was restored with the help of numerous remedies; and observing that he was hardly yet rescued from the danger of death, he purposed to bestow the imperial insignia upon his son Gratianus, who had by this time nearly reached the age of puberty. 5 And when everything was ready, when the soldiers had been won over to accept this with willing minds, and Gratianus had appeared, the emperor advanced into the plain and mounted the tribunal; then, surrounded by a brilliant assemblage of men of high rank, he took the boy by the hand, led him into their midst, and commended the future emperor to the army in the following public address:—

6 “It is a propitious sign of your devotion to me that I parade this robe of imperial rank, by which I have been judged preferable to other men, many and distinguished; so taking you as partners in my plans and favourers of my wishes, I shall proceed to an act of dutiful affection, which is timely since the god, through whose eternal aid the Roman state will endure unshaken, now promises success. 7 Therefore, my valiant men, accept I pray you with friendly minds my heart’s desire, convinced that we have wished this action, which the duties of affection sanction, not only to be brought to your knowledge, but also to be confirmed by your approval as agreeable to you and likely to be advantageous. 8 This son of mine, Gratianus, now become a man, has long lived among your children, and you love him as a tie between you and me; therefore, in order to secure the public peace on all sides, I plan to take him as my associate in the imperial power, if the propitious will of the god of heaven and of your dignity shall support what a father’s love suggests. He has not been, as we have been, brought up in a severe school from his very cradle, nor trained in the endurance of adversity, and (as you see) he is not yet able to endure the dust of Mars; but, in harmony with the glory of his family and the great deeds of his forefathers, he will forthwith rise (I speak with moderation, in fear of Nemesis) to greater heights. 9 For as I am wont to think, when I consider, as I often do, his character and his inclinations, although they are not yet fully developed: when he enters on the years of youth, since he has been instructed in the liberal arts and in the pursuit of skilful accomplishments, he will weigh with impartial justice the value of right and wrong actions; he will so conduct himself that good men will know that he understands them; he will rush forward to noble deeds and cling close to the military standards and eagles; he will endure sun and snow, frost and thirst, and wakeful hours; he will defend his camp, if necessity ever requires it; he will risk his life for the companions of his dangers; and, what is the first and highest duty of loyalty, he will know how to love his country as he loves the home of his father and grandfather.”

10 The emperor had not yet ended his address when his words were received with joyful acclaim, and the soldiers, each according to his rank and feeling, striving to outdo the others, as though sharers in this prosperity and joy, hailed Gratianus as Augustus, with loud shouts mingled with the favouring clash of arms. 11 On perceiving this, Valentinian, filled with greater joy and confidence, adorned his son with the crown and the robes of supreme rank, and kissed him; then, resplendent as Gratianus was and listening attentively to his father’s words, Valentinian addressed him as follows:—

12 “Behold, my dear Gratian, you now wear, as we have all hoped, the imperial robes, bestowed upon you under favourable auspices by my will and that of our fellow-soldiers. Therefore prepare yourself, considering the weight of your urgent duties, to be the colleague of your father and your uncle and accustom yourself fearlessly to make your way with the infantry over the ice of the Danube and the Rhine, to keep your place close beside your soldiers, to give your life’s blood, with all thoughtfulness, for those under your command, and to think nothing alien to your duty, which affects the interests of the Roman Empire. 13 This will suffice for the present by way of admonition; for the future I shall not cease to advise you. And for the rest I turn to you, great defenders of our country, whom I beg and implore with firm affection to watch over your emperor, not yet grown up, thus entrusted to your loyalty.”

14 After these words had been ratified with all solemnity, Eupraxius, a Moor of Caesariensis, then master of the rolls, was the first of all to cry out: “The house of Gratianus is worthy of this”; whereupon he was at once advanced to the quaestorship. He was a man who left many proofs of noble self-confidence worthy of imitation by sensible men, one who never deviated from the principles of a fearless nature, but was always firm and resembled the laws, which, as we know, in the manifold cases in court speak with one and the same voice; and he then remained truer to the side of justice which he had espoused, even when the emperor, becoming arbitrary, assailed him with threats when he gave him good advice. 15 After this, all rose up to praise the boy, who was recommended by the fiercer gleam of his eyes, the delightful charm of his face and his whole body, and the noble nature of his heart; these qualities would have completed an emperor fit to be compared with the choicest rulers of the olden time, had this been allowed by the fates and by his intimates, who, by evil actions, cast a cloud over his virtue, which was even then not firmly steadfast.

16 However, in this affair Valentinian overstepped the usage established of old, in that he named his brother and his son, not Caesar, but Augustus, generously enough. For before that no one had appointed a colleague of equal power with himself except the emperor Marcus, who made his adopted brother Verus his partner, but without any impairment of his own imperial majesty.

7 The propensity to anger, savageness, and cruelty of Valentinianus Augustus.

1 Scarcely had a few days passed since these affairs were settled according to the desire of the emperor and the soldiers, when Mamertinus, the praetorian prefect, on his return from Rome, to which he had gone to correct certain abuses, was charged with peculation by Avitianus, a former deputy governor. 2 Therefore he was displaced by Vulcatius Rufinus, a man excellent in all respects, who seemed to be displaying the crown of an honoured old age, except that he never let slip a favourable opportunity for gain, if there was hope of concealment. 3 As soon as he gained the imperial ear, he brought it about that Orfitus, a former prefect of Rome, was freed from banishment, and, after restoration of his lost patrimony, was restored to his home.

4 Valentinian was known to be a cruel man, and although in the early part of his reign, in order to lessen his reputation for harshness, he sometimes strove to keep his savage impulses under his mind’s control, yet the fault, as yet lurking and postponed, little by little broke forth without restraint and caused the destruction of many men; and was increased by fierce outbreaks of hot anger. For the philosophers define anger as a long-continued, sometimes permanent, ulcer of the mind, usually caused by weakness of the intellect; and they give for their opinion the plausible ground that the sickly are more inclined to anger than the sound, women than men, the old than the young, and the wretched than the fortunate.

5 Most conspicuous, however, at that time was the death (among the executions of other persons of low rank) of Diocles, former head of the state treasury in Illyricum, whom the emperor ordered to be burned to death because of some small offences; and also that of Diodorus, former state agent, and of three attendants of the deputy-governor of Italy; all these suffered cruel execution because the commanding general complained to the emperor that Diodorus had implored the aid of the law against him, as was his right, and that the officials, by order of the judge, had ventured to summon him as he was going on a journey, to answer to the action according to law. The memory of these victims is still honoured by the Christians in Milan, who call the place where they are buried “The Place of the Innocents”.

6 Later, in the affair of a certain Maxentius of Pannonia, when the judge had rightly commanded a speedy execution, the emperor ordered the death of the decurions of three towns; but Eupraxius, who was then quaestor, intervened, saying: “Act more mercifully, most dutiful emperor, for these men whom you order to be put to death as criminals the Christian religion will honour as martyrs (that is to say, as beloved of God).” 7 Eupraxius’ helpful self-confidence was imitated by the prefect Florentius when he heard that, because of some pardonable offence, the emperor had flown into a passion and ordered the execution likewise of three decurions in each of a number of cities; for he said: “What is to be done, then, if any town does not have so many decurions? To the rest this also should be added, that they shall be killed, when the town has them.” 8 To this ruthlessness was added another thing, dreadful to do or even to tell of, namely, that if anyone came before him to avoid being tried before some powerful enemy, and asked that another judge be assigned him, the request was denied and the man was sent back to the person whom he feared, however many just reasons for the change he might present. Still another horrible thing was talked about; for when he learned that any debtor could pay nothing because of the pressure of want, the emperor ruled that he ought to be put to death.

9 That some princes commit these and similar arbitrary acts with lofty arrogance is because they do not allow their friends the opportunity of dissuading them from unjust designs or deeds, and that because of their great power they make their enemies afraid to speak. No correction is possible of the perverse actions of those who believe that what they desire to do must be the highest virtue.

8 When the Picts, Attacotti, and Scots, after killing a general and a count, were devastating Britain without resistance, Count Theodosius routed them and took their booty from them.

1 Having set out then from Amiens and hastening to Treves, Valentinian was alarmed by serious news which showed that Britain was brought into a state of extreme need by a conspiracy of the savages, that Nectaridus, the commanding general of the seacoast region, had been killed, and that another general, Fullofaudes, had been ambushed by the enemy and taken prisoner. 2 This report aroused great horror, and the emperor sent Severus, who at that time was still commander of the household troops, to set right the disasters, if chance should offer the desired opportunity. But he was recalled a little later, and Jovinus . . . having set out for the same regions, allowed them to return at quick step, intending to seek the support of a strong army; for he declared that this was demanded by the pressing necessities of the situation. 3 Finally, because of the many alarming things which constant rumours reported about that same island, Theodosius, a man most favourably known for his services in war, was chosen to be sent there with all speed, and having enrolled legions and cohorts of courageous young men, he hastened to depart, preceded by brilliant expectations.

4 And, since in giving an account of the history of the emperor Constans I described the ebb and flow of the ocean and the situation of Britain, as well as my powers permitted, I have thought it superfluous to unfold again what has once been set forth, just as Homer’s Ulysses among the Phaeacians shrinks from repeating the details of his adventures because of the excessive difficulty of the task.

5 It will, however, be in place to say, that at that time the Picts, divided into two tribes, called Dicalydones and Verturiones, as well as the Attacotti, a warlike race of men, and the Scots, were ranging widely and causing great devastation; while the Gallic regions, wherever anyone could break in by land or by sea, were harassed by the Franks and their neighbours, the Saxons, with cruel robbery, fire, and the murder of all who were taken prisoners.

6 In order to prevent these outrages, if favourable fortune gave an opportunity, that most energetic leader hastened to the world’s end, and reached the coast of Bononia, which from the spacious lands opposite is separated only by a narrow space of sea wont in turn to swell with dreadful surges, and again, without any danger for sailors, to sink to the form of a level plain. From there he quietly crossed the strait and landed at Rutupiae, a quiet haven on the opposite coast. 7 When the Batavi, Heruli, Jovii, and Victores, who followed him, had arrived, troops confident in their strength, he began his march and came to the old town of Lundinium, which later times called Augusta. There he divided his troops into many parts and attacked the predatory bands of the enemy, which were ranging about and were laden with heavy packs; quickly routing those who were driving along prisoners and cattle, he wrested from them the booty which the wretched tribute-paying people had lost. 8 And when all this had been restored to them, except for a small part which was allotted to the wearied soldiers, he entered the city, which had previously been plunged into the greatest difficulties, but had been restored more quickly than rescue could have been expected, rejoicing and as if celebrating an ovation.

9 While he lingered there, encouraged by the successful outcome to dare greater deeds, he carefully considered what plans would be safe; and he was in doubt about his future course, since he learned from the confessions of the captives and the reports of deserters that the widely scattered enemy, a mob of various natives and frightfully savage, could be overcome only by secret craft and unforeseen attacks. 10 Finally, he issued proclamations, and under promise of pardon summoned the deserters to return to service, as well as many others who were wandering about in various places on furlough. In consequence of this demand and strongly moved by his offer, most returned, and Theodosius, relieved of his anxious cares, asked that Civilis be sent to him to govern Britain as deputy-prefect, a man of somewhat fiery temper, but steadfast in justice and uprightness, and also Dulcitius, a general distinguished for his knowledge of the art of war.

9 The Moorish tribes devastate Africa. Valens checks the brigandage of the Isaurians. Of the city prefecture of Praetextatus.

1 This is what was happening in Britain. But Africa from the very beginning of Valentinian’s reign was sore distressed by the madness of the savages, who made daring forays, and were eager for wholesome bloodshed and robbery. This evil was increased by the slackness of the army and its greed for seizing the property of others; and especially by the conduct of the governor, Romanus by name. 2 He, having an eye to the future and being an adept in shifting odium to others, was hated by many because of his savage disposition, but especially for his haste to outdo the enemy in devastating the provinces. He relied especially on his relationship with Remigius, then chief marshal of the court, who sent in false and contradictory reports; hence the emperor, in spite of the great caution which in his own opinion he exhibited, for a long time remained unaware of the lamentable losses of the people of Africa.

3 The complete series of events in those regions, the death of the governor Ruricius and of the ambassadors and the other mournful occurrences I shall set forth carefully when my plan calls for it. 4 But since I have a free opportunity of saying what I think, I shall declare openly that Valentinian was the first of all emperors to increase the arrogance of the military, to the injury of the commonwealth, by raising their rank and power to excess; moreover (a thing equally to be deplored, both publicly and privately), he punished the peccadilloes of the common soldiers with unbending severity, while sparing those of higher rank; so that these assumed that they had complete licence for their sins, and were aroused to shameful and monstrous crimes. In consequence, they are so arrogant as to believe that the fortunes of all without distinction are dependent on their nod. 5 In order to diminish their bluster and self-importance, the lawgivers of old were of the opinion that sometimes even some innocent persons should be punished with death. And this often happens when, because of the wrongdoings of any multitude, through the injustice of fate, some guiltless persons suffer; for that sometimes has applied to the trials of private citizens.

6 Now in Isauria bands of brigands were overrunning the neighbouring places, harassing towns and rich villas with unrestrained pillage, and inflicting great losses on Pamphylia and the Cilicians. Musonius, the deputy-governor of Asia at that time, who had formerly been a teacher of rhetoric in Attic Athens, perceived that, since no one resisted them, they were devastating everything with utter destruction; so at last, finding the situation deplorable and that the luxury of the soldiers made their aid feeble, he gathered together a few half-armed troops, whom they call Diogmitae, and attempted to attack one band of the marauders, if the opportunity should offer. But in passing down through a narrow and winding pass he came into an ambuscade from which he could not escape, and was slain there with those whom he was leading. 7 When the brigands, highly elated by this success, with greater confidence extended their raids in various directions, at last our troops were called out and after killing some of them drove the rest to the rocky retreats in the mountains where they live. Then, since no opportunity was revealed there for taking rest or finding anything fit for food, they called a truce and asked that peace be granted them, following the advice of the Germanicopolitani, whose opinions were always decisive with them, as if they were those of the standard-bearers in battle. Then they gave the hostages that were demanded, and remained quiet for a long time, without venturing on any hostile act.

8 Meanwhile Praetextatus, who with high distinction acted as prefect of the city of Rome, through repeated acts of honesty and uprightness, for which he was famous from early youth, attained what rarely falls to a man’s lot; for although he was feared by his fellow-citizens, he did not lose their love, which as a rule is apt to be less strong towards officials who are dreaded. 9 Through his authority and his decisions based upon justice and truth the outbreak which was stirred up by the quarrels of the Christians was quelled, and after the banishment of Ursinus profound quiet reigned, which most suited the wish of the citizens of Rome; and the fame of this illustrious ruler increased because of his many salutary measures. 10 For he removed all the Maeniana, the building of which in Rome was forbidden by early laws also, and he separated from the sacred buildings the walls of private houses, which had been irreverently built against them. He established standard weights in every quarter of the city, since otherwise the greed of many, who rigged up their balances after their own inclination, could not be dealt with. And in the examination of legal cases he deserved above all others the distinction which Cicero mentions in the commendation of Brutus, that although he did nothing to gain favour, yet everything that he did was looked upon with favour.

10 Valentinianus Augustus, after crossing the Rhine, routs and puts to flight the Alamanni, who had fled to the mountain heights; but not, however, without bloodshed on both sides.

1 At about this same time, Valentinian had begun his campaign with wariness, as he himself thought, when a prince of the Alamanni called Rando, after long preparation for his design, with a light-armed band equipped for plundering, secretly made his way into Mogontiacus, which had no garrison. 2 And since he chanced to find that a festival of the Christian religion was being celebrated, he was not hindered in carrying off defenceless men and women of every kind of station along with no small amount of household goods.

3 Then, after a brief interval, the hope of better fortune unexpectedly dawned upon the Roman state. For since King Vithicabius, son of Vadomarius, who was somewhat weak and sickly in appearance, but valiant and vigorous, again and again kindled the flames of war against us, no efforts were spared to dispose of him by any possible manner of death. 4 And because after several attempts he could in no way be overcome or treacherously surrendered, he was slain by the perfidy of an attendant on his private life through the earnest solicitation of our men; and after his death the enemy’s raids slackened somewhat. But the assassin, through fear of the punishment which he dreaded in case the affair should become known, hastened to take refuge on Roman soil.

5 After this, with especially diligent care and with troops of various kinds, a more serious campaign than common was prepared against the Alamanni, since the public safety imperiously demanded it; for from a race that so easily recovered its strength treacherous attacks were to be feared; and the soldiers were equally incensed against them, since the untrustworthy nature of an enemy who was at one time abject and suppliant and soon afterwards threatening the worst, allowed them no rest or cessation from warfare.

6 Therefore a mighty mass of troops was assembled from all quarters and carefully provided with arms and supplies of food, Count Sebastianus was summoned with the Illyrian and Italian legions which he commanded, and as soon as the warm season began, Valentinian with Gratianus crossed the Main. Seeing no one, the emperor divided his army and advanced in square formation with himself in the centre and the generals Jovinus and Severus guarding the flanks on both sides, in order that they might not be exposed to a sudden attack. 7 Then, guided by men who knew the roads, and carefully reconnoitring the approaches, they at once marched slowly onward, through a widely extended tract of country, while the soldiers, more and more eager for battle, ground their teeth in a threatening way, as if they had already come upon the savages. But since after the lapse of several days no one could be found to oppose them, all the cornfields and dwellings which they saw were laid waste by devouring flames kindled by a band of the cohorts, with the exception of such foodstuffs as doubt about the outcome of affairs forced them to gather and keep. 8 After this the emperor went on at slower pace, and when he had come near a place called Solicinium, he halted as if checked by some barrier, since he was reliably informed by the scouting troops in the van that the savages had been seen at a distance. 9 And, in fact, the enemy, seeing no way left to save their lives except to defend themselves by a swift onset, trusting to their knowledge of the ground and in general agreement with one another, had stationed themselves on a lofty mountain, surrounded on all sides by rocky and precipitous heights and inaccessible except on the northern side, where it has an easy and gentle slope. At once our standards were planted in the usual manner, while everywhere the call to arms was sounded; but, at the command of the emperor and his generals, the well-disciplined soldiers stood fast, waiting for the raising of the banner, which was the signal that it was the fit time to begin the battle. 10 Therefore, because little or no time for deliberation was given, since on one side the impatience of our soldiers were alarming, and on the other the Alamanni were yelling dreadfully all round, need for quick action made this plan advisable: that Sebastianus with his men should seize the northern part of the mountains, which (as we have said) had a gentle slope, in order that, if fortune should so decree, they might with little trouble strike down the Germans as they fled. The plan thus agreed upon was hastily carried out, and Gratianus, whose youth was even then unequal to battles and toil, was kept back with the legion of the Joviani, while Valentinian, as a deliberate and cautious leader, with uncovered head surveyed the centuries and maniples; and without taking anyone of the higher officers into his confidence he dismissed his throng of attendants, and with a few companions, known to him for their energy and fidelity, hastened off to inspect the foot of the hills, declaring (for he had a lofty opinion of his own judgment) that another way besides that which the scouts had seen could be found leading to the steep heights. 11 Then, as he was making his way by devious paths over unknown places and marshy bogs, a band of the enemy placed in ambush in a hidden spot would have slain him by a sudden attack, had he not resorted to the last means of safety, put spurs to his horse, ridden away through the slippery mud, and taken refuge in the bosom of his legions after an imminent danger to which he was so very close that the chamberlain who carried the emperor’s helmet, adorned with gold and precious stones, completely disappeared together with the helmet itself, and could be found later neither alive nor dead.

12 Then, after the troops had been given a rest for recovering their strength, and the standard had been raised, which is accustomed to rouse men to battle, urged on by the menacing blare of trumpets they advanced to attack with bold confidence. Two choice young warriors, Salvius and Lupicinus, the one a targeteer, the other belonging to the troop of gentiles, at the very beginning of the struggle, at once dashed forward before the others, urging on the battle with terrifying shouts. Brandishing their lances, they came to the opposing mass of rocks, and while the Alamanni were trying to push them back and they were striving to mount higher, the whole weight of our army came up, and, led by the same champions through places rough and shaggy with thickets, by a mighty effort scrambled up to the lofty heights. 13 Then with bitterness of spirit on both sides the conflict was essayed with levelled lances; on one side soldiers more skilled in the art of war, on the other the savages, fierce but reckless, joined in hand-to-hand conflict. Finally, our army, extending its lines and encircling the enemy on both flanks, began to cut them down, terrified as they were by the din, by the neighing of horses, and by the blare of trumpets. 14 Nevertheless, the foe took courage and resisted, and the contest continued with mighty struggles, the fortune of battle being for a long time undecided, while dire death and mutual destruction accompanied the fighting. 15 But at last the Alamanni were thrown into confusion by the impetuosity of the Romans, and, disordered from fear, the foremost were mingled with the hindermost, and as they turned and fled they were pierced through by our javelins and pikes. At last, in panting and exhausted flight they exposed to their pursuers their hams, calves and backs. Then, after many had been laid low, Sebastianus, who had been posted with his reserve troops at the back of the mountains, surrounded a part of the fugitives on their exposed flank and slaughtered them; the rest in scattered flight took refuge in their haunts in the forests.

16 In this battle some of our fathers also were not insignificant persons. Among them were Valentinianus, first officer of all the household troops, and Natuspardo, one of the targeteers, a warrior so distinguished that he may be compared with Sicinius and Sergius of old. After finishing the campaign with these varied fortunes, the soldiers returned to their winter quarters, and the emperors to Treves.

11 Of the noble birth, wealth, honours, and character of Probus.

1 In the course of this time Vulcacius Rufinus ended his life while still in office, and Probus was summoned from Rome to fill the office of praetorian prefect, a man known for the distinction of his family, his influence, and his great wealth, throughout the whole Roman world, in almost all parts of which he possessed estates here and there, whether justly or unjustly is not a question for my humble judgement. 2 This man was carried on the swift wings — as the poets’ fancy expresses it — of a kind of congenital good fortune, which showed him to be now generous and ready to advance his friends, but sometimes a cruel schemer, working harm by his deadly jealousies. And although he had great power so long as he lived, because of the sums that he gave away and his constant resumption of offices, yet he was sometimes timid when boldly confronted, though arrogant against those who feared him; so that in his moments of confidence he seemed to thunder from tragic buskin, and when he was afraid, to be more humble than any wearer of the slipper. 3 And as the finny tribe, when removed from its own element, does not breathe very long on dry land, so he pined away when not holding prefectures; these he was compelled to seek because of the constant lawlessness of certain families which on account of their boundless avarice were never free from guilt, and in order to carry out their many evil designs with impunity, plunged their patron into affairs of state. 4 Now it must be admitted that he had such natural greatness of spirit that he never ordered a client or a slave to do anything illegal; but, on the other hand, if he learned that any one of them had committed any crime, even though Justice herself cried out against the man, without investigating the matter and without regard to honour and virtue, he defended him. That is a fault which Cicero censures in the following words: “For what difference is there between one who advises an act and one who approves it? Or what does it matter whether I wished anything to happen or rejoice that it has happened?” 5 Yet he was suspicious, and fortified by his own character; he could smile rather bitterly and sometimes resorted to flattery in order to work harm. 6 He had, moreover, what is a conspicuous evil in such characters, especially when one thinks to be able to conceal it, in that he was so merciless and unbending, that if he had made up his mind to injure anyone, he could not be made to relent nor induced to pardon errors; indeed, his ears seemed to be stopped, not with wax, but with lead. At the very height of riches and honours he was worried and anxious, and hence always troubled with slight illnesses. This was the course of events throughout the western regions.

12 The Romans and the Persians fight with each other over Armenia and Hiberia.

1 Now the king of the Persians, the famous Sapor, now aged, and from the very outset of his reign given over to the pleasure of plunder, after the death of the emperor Julian and the shameful treaty of peace that was struck, for a time appeared with his subjects to be friendly to us. But then, trampling under foot the promise of the pact made under Jovian, he laid his hand on Armenia, with the intention of bringing the country under his sway, as if all force of the agreements that had been made was at an end. 2 At first he tried to accomplish his purpose through various arts of deception, and he inflicted slight losses on this powerfully populous nation, by soliciting some of the grandees and satraps and surprising others by unexpected forays. 3 Then, by carefully calculated flattery mingled with perjury, King Arsaces himself was tricked; for after being invited to a banquet he was taken according to orders to a secret rear-door; there after his eyes had been gouged out, he was bound in silver chains, which among that people is regarded as a consolation, though an empty one, for the punishment of men of rank, and then he was banished to a fortress called Agabana, where after being tortured he was slain by the penal steel. 4 After this, in order to leave nothing unstained by treachery, Sapor drove out Sauromaces, who by Rome’s authority had been given the rule of Hiberia, and appointed a certain Aspacures to govern that same people; and besides he bestowed on him the crown, in order to show his contempt of our authority. 5 After thus effecting these abominable designs, he entrusted Armenia to Cylaces, a eunuch, and to Arrabannes, both of whom he had long before received as deserters — of these the former was said to have been previously a governor in that nation, the latter, a commander-in-chief — giving them orders to use all care to destroy Artogerassa, a powerful town with strong walls, which guarded the treasury of Arsaces, as well as his son and his wife. 6 These leaders began the siege according to their orders. And since they could not gain access to the fortress, which was situated on a rough mountain, because the weather was then stiff with snow and frost, Cylaces, being a eunuch and skilled in cajoling like a woman, in company with Arrabannes, having first obtained a pledge that their lives would be spared, came quickly up to the very walls; and when at his request he was allowed to enter with his colleague, he persuaded the defenders and the queen, also using threats, that by a speedy surrender they should try to mollify the violent nature of Sapor, who was a man of unexampled cruelty. 7 After this there was much discussion pro and con and the queen lamented the cruel fate of her husband; whereupon the most zealous inciters to the act of perfidy were turned to pity and changed their plan. Encouraged by the hope of greater rewards, in secret conferences they arranged that at an appointed hour of the night the gates should suddenly be thrown open and a strong force should sally forth and suddenly attack the enemy’s camp with murderous intent; and they promised to see to it that their attempt should not be known. 8 When this promise had been confirmed by an oath, they left the city, and by asserting that the besieged had asked that two days be allowed them to consider what course they ought to take, they brought over the besiegers into inaction. Then, in the watches of the night when all men, free from care, are in deep sleep, and snoring, the gate of the city was unbarred, young warriors rushed quickly out, with noiseless step and drawn swords crept up to the camp, where men were in no fear of danger, then rushed in, and without opposition butchered a great many as they lay asleep. 9 This unexpected treachery and the unforeseen slaughter of the Persians aroused reasons for frightful hatred between ourselves and Sapor, which was made still worse because Papa, son of Arsaces, at the persuasion of his mother, had departed with a few followers from the fortified town and been received by the emperor Valens, who advised that he stay a while at Neocaesarea, a well-known city of Pontus Polemoniacus, where he was to receive liberal support and education.

This act of clemency encouraged Cylaces and Arrabannes to send envoys to Valens to ask that he aid them and give them the said Papa as their king. 10 The aid, however, was denied them for the time, but Papa was sent back to Armenia through the general Terentius, that he might rule the land for a time, but without any emblems of royal rank; a condition which was complied with for a legitimate reason, namely, that we might not be charged with breaking the treaty and violating the peace.

11 On learning of this course of events, Sapor was filled with superhuman wrath, and mustering greater forces began to devastate Armenia with open pillage. By his coming Papa, as well as Cylaces and Arrabannes, were seized with such fear that, after looking about and seeing no help from any source, they sought the refuge of the high mountains which separate our territory from Lazica. There they remained concealed in the deep woods and defiles of the hills for five months, and eluded the many attempts which the king made to find them. 12 Since Sapor saw, as the winter stars were galling, that he was wasting his labour to no purpose, after burning the fruit-bearing trees and the fortified castles and strongholds that he had taken by force or by betrayal, he blockaded Artogerassa with the whole weight of his forces and after some battles of varying result and the exhaustion of the defenders, forced his way into the city and set it on fire, dragging out and carrying off the wife and the treasures of Arsaces.

13 For these reasons Count Arintheus was sent to those parts with an army, to render aid to the Armenians in case the Persians should try to harass them in a second campaign.

14 Meanwhile Sapor, who was immensely crafty and according to his advantage either humble or arrogant, under pretence of a future alliance, upbraided Papa through secret messengers as regardless of his own interests in being the slave of Cylaces and Arrabannes under the semblance of royal power. Papa, in headlong haste, and using the allurements of flattering blandishments, had the two men killed, and, when they were slain, sent their heads to Sapor as a sign of his submission.

15 The news of this disaster spread widely and all Armenia would have been lost for lack of defenders, had not the Persians, terrified by the coming of Arintheus, postponed a second invasion of the land. For the present they contented themselves with merely sending envoys to the emperor, asking that, in accordance with the agreement that Jovian had made with Sapor, he should not defend that nation. 16 This proposal was rejected, and Sauromaces, who (as I have already said) had been driven from the throne of Hiberia, was sent back there with Terentius and twelve legions. And when he had nearly reached the river Cyrus, Aspacures begged him that they should, being cousins, rule the country with conjoint authority, pleading that he could not withdraw or go over to the Roman side, for the reason that his son Ultra was still held in the condition of a hostage by the Persians.

17 When the emperor learned of this, in order by a prudent plan to appease the disturbances that would be aroused from this affair also, he consented to a division of Hiberia with the river Cyrus as the boundary line. Sauromaces was to hold the part of that country bordering on Armenia and the Lazi, and Aspacures the part next to Albania and the Persians.

18 At this Sapor was greatly incensed, declaring that he was shamefully treated in that help was given to the Armenians contrary to the provisions of the treaties, and that the deputation which he had sent to remonstrate against this had come to nothing; also, because without his consent or knowledge it had been decided to divide the kingdom of Hiberia. Accordingly, having bolted, as it were, the door to friendship, he sought aid from the neighbouring nations and got his own army ready, in order that with the opening of mild weather he might overturn everything that the Romans had contrived to their own interests.

Book XXVIII

1 Many people, even senators and women of senatorial families are accused at Rome of poisoning, fornication, and adultery, and executed.

1 While among the Persians (as I have already related) the perfidy of the king was arousing unexpected disturbances, and in the eastern regions wars were rising with renewed strength, somewhat more than sixteen years after the death of Nepotianus, Bellona, raging throughout the Eternal City, set all ablaze, being aroused from insignificant beginnings to lamentable massacres; and I could wish that everlasting silence had consigned these to oblivion, lest haply at some time similar crimes should be attempted, which might do more harm from their general example and precedent than through the offences themselves. 2 And although, after long consideration of various circumstances, well-grounded dread restrained me from giving a minute account of this series of bloody deeds, yet I shall, relying on the better morals of the present day, set forth briefly such of them as are worthy of notice; and I shall not be sorry to tell concisely what I have feared from events of antiquity. 3 When in the first Medic war the Persians had plundered Asia, they besieged Miletus with mighty forces, threatened the defenders with death by torture, and drove the besieged to the necessity, overwhelmed as they all were by a weight of evils, of killing their own dear ones, consigning their movable possessions to the flames, and each one striving to be first to throw himself into the fire, to burn on the common funeral pyre of their country. 4 Soon after this, Phrynichus composed a play with this disaster as its plot, which he put upon the stage at Athens in the lofty language of tragedy. At first he was heard with pleasure, but as the sad story went on in too tragic style, the people became angry and punished him, thinking that consolation was not his object but blame and reproach, when he had the bad taste to include among stage-plays a portrayal even of those sufferings which a well-beloved city had undergone, without receiving any support from its founders. For Miletus was a colony of the Athenians founded by Nileus, the son of Codrus (who is said to have sacrificed himself for his country in the Dorian war) and by other Ionians. 5 But let us come to our subject.

Maximinus, who formerly held the office of vice-prefect at Rome, was born at Sopianae, a town of Valeria, of very humble parents, his father being an accountant in the governor’s office and sprung from ancestors who were Carpi, a people whom Diocletian drove from its ancient abode and transferred to Pannonia. 6 Maximinus, after some slight study of the liberal arts, and after acting as a pleader without acquiring distinction, became governor of Corsica, also of Sardinia, and finally of Tuscia. Then, because his successor lingered too long on the way, although transferred to the charge of the city’s grain supply, he retained also the rule of Tuscia, and at the beginning acted with moderation, for a three-fold reason. 7 First, because the prophecies of his father were still warm in his ears, a man exceedingly skilful in interpreting omens from the flight or the notes of birds, who declared he would attain to high power, but would die by the sword of the executioner; secondly, because he had got hold of a man from Sardinia who was highly skilled in calling up baneful spirits and eliciting predictions from the ghosts of the dead. This man he himself afterwards put to death, so the rumour went, in a treacherous fashion, — so long as he survived, Maximinus was more yielding and mild, for fear that he might be betrayed — finally, because while creeping through low places like a serpent under ground he could not yet stir up causes for death on a larger scale.

8 The first opportunity to widen the sphere of his operations arose from the following affair. Chilo, a former deputy-governor, and his wife Maxima made complaint before Olybrius, at that time prefect of the city, declaring that their life had been attempted by poison; and they managed that those whom they suspected should at once be seized and put in prison. The accused were an organ-builder Sericus, a wrestler Asbolius, and a soothsayer Campensis. 9 But as the affair languished because of a severe illness with which Olybrius was long affected, those who had brought the charge, impatient of delay, presented a petition, asking that the examination of the dispute should be turned over to the prefect of the grain supply; and from a desire for a speedy decision this was granted. 10 Thus Maximinus gained the power of doing harm and poured out the natural cruelty implanted in his hard heart, as often happens with wild beasts in the amphitheatre, when they break in pieces the back-gates and are at last set free.

And while the business was being looked into in many ways, as if in a kind of preliminary practice, and some persons, whose sides had been torn into furrows, had named certain nobles as having, through their clients and other common people who were notorious as malefactors and informers, made use of men skilled in harmful practices, the hellish judge, “going beyond his last” (as the saying is), in a malicious report to the emperor informed him that the offences which many men had committed at Rome could not be investigated or punished except by severer measures. 11 On hearing this, the emperor, in anger, being rather a cruel than a strict foe of vices, gave one general judicial sentence to cover cases of the kind, which he arbitrarily fused with the design of treason, and ruled that all those whom the justice of the ancient code and the edicts of deified emperors had made exempt from inquisitions by torture should, if circumstances demanded, be examined with torments. 12 And that with doubled power and higher ranks Maximinus might patch together a greater heap of calamities, the emperor gave him a temporary appointment as acting prefect at Rome; and he associated with him in the investigation of these charges which were being devised for the peril of many the secretary Leo, afterward chief-marshal of the court, a Pannonian and a grave-robber, snorting forth cruelty from the grinning jaws of a wild beast, and no less insatiable in his thirst for human blood than Maximinus. 13 The persistent natural bent of Maximinus to cruel conduct was increased by the coming of a colleague of the same character and by the charm of a commission conferring lofty rank. Therefore, full of joy, he turned his steps this way and that, seeming to dance rather than walk, and seeking to imitate the Brahmins, who march (as some say) above the earth among their altars.

14 And now, as the trumpets sounded the signal for the murder of citizens and all were stupefied by the horrible situation, besides many harsh and merciless acts, which because of their variety and number cannot be enumerated, the execution of Marinus, a public advocate, was conspicuous. This man was accused of having dared by forbidden arts to try to gain a certain Hispanilla as his wife, and when the truthfulness of the evidence had been perfunctorily examined, Maximinus condemned him to death. 15 And since I think that perchance some of my readers by careful examination may note and bring it against me as a reproach that this, and not that, happened first, or that those things which they themselves saw are passed over, I must satisfy them to this extent: that not everything which has taken place among persons of the lowest class is worth narrating; and if this were necessary to be done, even the arrays of facts to be gained from the public records themselves would not suffice, when there was such a general fever of evils, and a new and unbridled madness was mingling the highest with the lowest; for it was clearly evident that it was not a judicial trial which was to be feared, but a suspension of legal proceedings.

16 Then Cethegus, a senator, was accused of adultery and beheaded, Alypius, a young man of noble birth, was banished for a trifling fault, and others of lower rank were publicly put to death; and every one, seeing in their unhappy fate the picture (as it were) of his own danger, dreamt of the torturer and of fetters and lodgings of darkness.

17 At the same time, the case of Hymetius also, a man of distinguished character, was tried, of which we know this to have been the course of events. When he was governing Africa as proconsul he took from the storehouses grain intended for the Roman people and sold it to the Carthaginians, who were by that time worn out from lack of food, and a little later, when the crops were again abundant, without any delay completely restored what he had taken. 18 Moreover, since ten bushels had been sold to the needy for one gold-piece, while he himself now bought thirty, he sent the profit from the difference in price to the emperor’s treasury. And so Valentinian, suspecting that he had sent less than he should have sent as the result of his trafficking, punished him with a fine of a part of his property. 19 To add to his calamity, this also had happened at that same time, which was not less fatal. The soothsayer Amantius, at that time especially notorious, was betrayed on secret evidence of having been employed by the said Hymetius, for the purpose of committing certain criminal acts, to perform a sacrifice; but when brought to trial, although he stood bent double upon the rack, he denied it with obstinate insistence. 20 Upon his denial, his secret papers were brought from his house and a memorandum in the handwriting of Hymetius was found, begging him that by carrying out a solemn sacrifice he should prevail upon the deity to make the emperors milder towards him; and at the end of the document were read some reproaches of Valentinian as avaricious and cruel. 21 When the emperor learned this from the report of the judges, who gave what had been done a harsh interpretation, he issued orders that the affair should be investigated with excessive strictness. And since Frontinus, an adviser of the said Hymetius, was charged with having drawn up the form of prayer that was made, he was mangled with rods, and having confessed his guilt, was exiled to Britain; but Amantius was later found guilty of a capital crime and executed. 22 After this course of events Hymetius was taken to the town of Ocriculum to be heard by Ampelius, prefect of the city, and Maximinus, the deputy-prefect; and when it was evident that he would immediately be condemned to death, he boldly appealed to the emperor’s protection, when the opportunity was given him, and, defended under the refuge of that name, saved his life. 23 When the emperor was consulted about this matter, he referred the business to the senate. And when they had weighed the case in the scales of justice and learned the truth and had exiled the accused to Boae, a place in Dalmatia, they could hardly bear the wrath of the emperor, who was greatly incensed on learning that a man whom he had intended to be condemned to death had been punished with a milder sentence.

24 On account of this occurrence and many others of the same kind, the fate which was seen to overtake a few persons began to be feared by all. And lest, by so many evils that were ignored, and gradually creeping on, the mass of troubles should be increased, by resolution of the nobles envoys were sent to the emperor. These were Praetextatus, former prefect of the city, Venustus, a one-time deputy-prefect, and Minervius, who had been a consular governor. They were to ask that punishments should be inflicted that were not too severe for the offences, and that no senator should, in a fashion neither practised nor permitted, be subjected to torture. 25 When the deputation had been admitted to the council-chamber and had presented their request, Valentinian said that he had never made such a decree, and cried out that he was the victim of calumny. But the quaestor Eupraxius mildly contradicted him, and through his freedom of speech the cruel order, which surpassed all examples of harshness, was rescinded.

26 At about that same time Lollianus, a youth just growing his first beard, son of the ex-prefect Lampadius, as the result of a strict examination by Maximinus, was convicted of having written a book on destructive magic arts, when adult age had not yet endowed him with sound judgment. And when it was feared that he would be exiled, by his father’s advice he appealed to the emperor and was ordered to be taken to his court; but he went from the smoke (as the saying is) into the fire; for he was handed over to Phalangius, consular governor of Baetica, and died at the hand of the dread executioner.

27 Besides these also Tarracius Bassus, afterwards prefect of the city, his brother Camenius, a certain Marcianus, and Eusaphius, all men of senatorial rank, were brought to trial on the ground that they were said to be making much of the charioteer Auchenius, and were his accomplices in the use of poisons; but because the evidence was even then doubtful, they were acquitted, as widespread rumour declared, through the influence of Victorinus, who was the closest friend of Maximinus.

28 Not even women were more immune from similar calamities. For many of high birth belonging to this sex too were charged with the disgrace of adultery or of fornication, and put to death. Conspicuous among these were Charitas and Flaviana, of whom the latter, when she was led to death, was stripped of the clothing which she wore, being allowed not even to keep sufficient covering for the secret parts of her body. But for that reason the executioner was convicted of having committed a monstrous crime, and was burned alive.

29 Nay more, two senators, Paphius and Cornelius, both of whom confessed to having disgraced themselves by the wicked practices of poisons, by the sentence of the same Maximinus were put to death. Even the head of the mint perished by a like fate. But Sericus and Asbolius, mentioned above, because when he urged them to name indiscriminately such accomplices as they wished, he had declared on oath that he would order no one to be punished with fire or steel, he killed with heavy blows of lead. And after this he consigned the soothsayer Campensis to the flames, being bound in his case by no oath.

30 It is, I think, fitting now to set forth the cause which drove Aginatius headlong to death, a man of noble descent from his early ancestors, as persistent report declared; for as to this there is no trustworthy documentary evidence. 31 Maximinus, breathing blasts of arrogance, while he was still prefect of the grain supply, and finding no slight incentives to his audacity, went so far as to insult Probus, the most distinguished man among all the highest officials, and governing several provinces with the rank of praetorian prefect. 32 Aginatius, filled with indignation at this, and resentful because Maximinus, in conducting examinations, was preferred to him by Olybrius, although he himself was vice-prefect of Rome, secretly informed Probus in a confidential communication that the worthless man, one who quarrelled with high merits, could easily be brought low, if Probus decided it should be done. 33 This letter Probus, as some maintained, without the knowledge of anyone except the bearer, sent to Maximinus, fearing him as a man already very highly trained in wickedness and in favour with the emperor. On reading the letter that savage man fell into such a blaze of anger, that from then on he set all devices in motion against Aginatius, after the manner of a serpent crushed by a wound from some unknown person. 34 There was added to this another more powerful impulse to treacherous attacks, which ruined the said Aginatius. For he accused Victorinus after his death of having sold decisions of Maximinus during his lifetime, although he himself had received no contemptible legacies from Victorinus’ will; and with like impudence he threatened Anepsia also, Victorinus’ widow, with charges and litigious suits. 35 The woman, fearful of these troubles, and wishing to protect herself by the help of Maximinus, pretended that her husband in a will which he had made shortly before his death had left him 3000 pounds of silver. Maximinus then, enflamed with excessive greed — for he was not free from that vice also — demanded half of her inheritance. But by no means content even with this, which he thought too little, he devised another plan, honourable and safe (as he thought), and in order not to lose the opportunity which was offered him for profiting far from rich estate, he asked for the hand of the step-daughter of Victorinus (Anepsia’s own child) for his son; and this was quickly secured with the woman’s consent.

36 Through these and other equally lamentable crimes, which were a blot on the fair aspect of the Eternal City, this man, to be named only with groans, made his violent way over the ruins of many fortunes, passing beyond the limits afforded by the courts. For he is said to have had a cord hanging from a secluded window of his palace, the lower end of which could pick up certain seeming generally incriminating charges, supported, it is true, by no evidence, but nevertheless likely to injure many innocent persons. And sometimes he ordered Mucianus and Barbarus, his attendants, who were most skilled in deception, severally to be cast out of his house. 37 These two then, as if bewailing the fate by which they pretended to be overwhelmed, exaggerated the cruelty of the judge and often repeated the assertion that the accused had no other means of saving their lives than by charging men of high rank with serious crimes; for they declared that by involving such men in the same accusations with themselves they could easily secure an acquittal.

38 Because of this, with a recklessness now passing all bounds, the hands of very many were bound in fetters, and men of noble birth were seen in mourning garb and in distress. And none of them could rightly be blamed, since very often when waiting upon him with bodies bent so as almost to touch the ground, they constantly heard that brigand with the heart of a wild beast shout that no one could be found innocent without his consent. 39 Such words, which accomplishment quickly followed, would surely have terrified men like Numa Pompilius, and a Cato. For, in fact, the business was conducted in such a way that some people could not even contemplate the ills of others with dry eyes, a thing which often happens in the many difficult trials of life. 40 Nevertheless, the iron-hearted judge, often as he deviated from law and justice, was endurable in what may be called one special thing. For at times he could be prevailed upon to show mercy to some; although this, we read in the following passage in Cicero, is almost a vice: “For,” he says, “when anger is implacable, there is extreme severity; but if it yields to entreaties, the greatest inconstancy: yet the latter, as a choice of evils, is to be preferred to severity.”

41 After this, Maximinus received a successor, and was summoned to the emperor’s court, as Leo had been before him; and there, being promoted to the praetorian prefecture, he was no whit milder, but like the basilisk, was harmful even from a distance. 42 At that time, or not much earlier, the brooms with which the assembly-hall of the nobles was swept were seen to bloom, and this was an omen that some men of the most despised station would be raised to high rank in the offices of state.

43 Although it is high time to return to the course of the history which we have begun, yet, in order not to interfere with the connection of events, I shall linger over a few of the wrongful acts committed by the iniquity of the vice-prefects in the city, since it was according to the nod and wish of Maximinus that they were done by those same subordinates — I might say “attendants.” 44 After him came Ursicinus, inclined to milder measures; he, wishing to be prudent and kindly, had referred to the Court the information that Esaias (with others who had been imprisoned because of adulterous relations with Rufina) was trying to bring a charge of treason against her husband, Marcellus, a former agent of the state. In consequence, Ursicinus was despised as inactive and unfit for the vigorous prosecution of such matters, and was forced to withdraw from his deputyship. 45 To him succeeded Simplicius of Hemona, a former teacher of literature and later an advisor of Maximinus, a man who during the administration of the prefecture was neither proud nor arrogant, but excited fear by his sidelong glance, and in language of studied moderation plotted severity for many. And first he put to death Rufina, with all who were implicated in, or aware of, the adultery that she had committed, whose case (as we have previously said) Ursicinus had referred to the Court; and then many others, regardless of whether they were guilty or innocent. 46 For vying in bloody rivalry with Maximinus, as his leader, he strove to outdo him in cutting the sinews of distinguished families, imitating Busiris of old, and Antaeus and Phalaris to such a degree that he seemed to lack only the Agrigentine bull of the last-named.

47 Amid these and such acts so perpetrated a matron called Hesychia, who because of an attempted crime was committed to an official’s attendant to be guarded at his house, and was in fear of much cruel treatment, pressed her face in the feather bed on which she was lying and so stopped her nose and her breath and gave up the ghost.

48 There was added to these another no less cruel evil. For Eumenius and Abienus, both of senatorial rank, being accused under Maximinus of improper conduct with Fausiana, a woman of position, after the death of Victorinus, under whose protection they lived with less anxiety, terrified by Simplicius’ coming who with threats planned no less cruelty than Maximinus, fled to secret retreats. 49 But after Fausiana had been found guilty, a charge was made against them also; but though summoned by edicts, they kept themselves in still closer concealment, and Abienus remained hidden for a long time in the house of Anepsia. But as unexpected chances often aggravate lamentable disasters, a slave of Anepsia, Sapaudulus by name, seized with resentment because his wife had been flogged, went by night to Simplicius and reported the matter; then attendants were sent and dragged the accused, whose whereabouts had been pointed out, from their hiding-places. 50 And Abienus, assailed with an additional accusation of improper relations which he was said to have had with Anepsia, was punished with death. But the woman, that she might have strong hope of retaining her life by putting off her punishment, declared that she had been worked upon by evil arts and had suffered violence in the house of Aginatius. 51 Simplicius gave the emperor a spiteful account of what had been done, and Maximinus, who was at court, and, for the reason which I have given above, was hostile to Aginatius, while his hatred was set ablaze with his rise in power, strongly urged the emperor to give him a warrant for putting Aginatius to death; and this the mad and powerful instigator easily brought to pass. 52 But Maximinus, fearing the weight of greater hatred, if a man of patrician stock should die by the sentence of Simplicius, who was his adviser and his friend, kept back the emperor’s order for some time, in perplexity and doubt as to whom he would find most trustworthy and efficient in carrying out the cruel design. 53 At last, since like and like readily flock together, a Gaul called Doryphorianus was found, reckless to the point of insanity, on whom, since he promised to accomplish the business in a short time, he arranged to have the post of deputy conferred. Accordingly, he gave him with the epistle of Augustus a letter of advice instructing the savage but inexperienced man how he might quickly and without any hindrance destroy Aginatius, who, if he gained any possible respite, would perhaps make his escape. 54 Doryphorianus, as had been ordered, hastened to Rome by long days’ journeys, and at the beginning of his administration cast about with great energy, to see by what act of violence he could without anyone’s help destroy a senator of conspicuous lineage. And on learning that Aginatius had long since been found, and was under guard in his own villa, he arranged personally to examine him, and Anepsia as well, as the chief of the guilty persons, in the midst of the horrors of night, when men’s minds are commonly dulled in the bonds of terrors: as among countless other instances is shown by Homer’s Ajax, who wished rather to die by daylight than endure the additional suffering of dread by night. 55 And since the judge, nay, rather the godless brigand, intent only on keeping his promise, carried everything to excess, having ordered Aginatius to be put to the question, he caused a whole train of executioners to enter, and amid the gloomy clanking of chains had the slaves, who were already drooping through long continued filth and neglect, tortured to the very verge of death, to give evidence to endanger their master’s life: a thing which our merciful laws forbade to be done in a trial for fornication. 56 Finally, when tortures already almost mortal had extorted from a maid-servant a few ambiguous words, without fully examining the trustworthiness of the testimony, he ordered Aginatius to be led off to execution, hastily and without a hearing, although with loud cries he called upon the emperors’ names. Accordingly he was hoisted up and put to death; and Anepsia was executed on a like sentence. While Maximinus was thus busied in person when he was in Rome and through his emissaries when he acted from a distance, the Eternal City wept bitterly for its dead.

57 But the final curses of his victims did not sleep. For, under Gratian, as shall be told later at the proper time, not only did this same Maximinus, because of his intolerable arrogance, fall victim to the executioner’s sword, but Simplicius also was beheaded in Illyricum. Doryphorianus, too, was charged with a capital crime and thrown into the prison called Tullianum, but Gratian, at the suggestion of his mother, had him taken from there, and on his return home put him to death with tremendous tortures. But let us return to the point from which we made this digression. This, if I may say so, was the state of affairs in Rome.

2 Valentinian Augustus fortifies the entire Gallic bank of the Rhine with fortresses, castles, and towers. The Alamanni kill some Romans who were building a fortification on the far side of the Rhine. Maratocuprenian freebooters, by order of Valens Augustus, were destroyed in Syria with their children and their village.

1 But Valentinian, meditating important and useful plans, fortified the entire Rhine from the beginnings of Rhaetia as far as the strait of the Ocean with great earthworks, erecting lofty fortresses and castles, and towers at frequent intervals, in suitable and convenient places as far as the whole length of Gaul extends; in some places also works were constructed even on the farther bank of the river, which flows by the lands of the savages. 2 Finally, when he considered that a lofty and secure fortification (which he himself had built from its very foundations) since a river called the Nicer flowed at its foot could gradually be undermined by the immense force of the waters, he even thought of turning the course of the stream in a different direction; and after he had hunted up men skilled in hydraulic work, the difficult task was begun with a great force of soldiers. 3 For during many days beams of oak were bound together and placed in the bed of the river; but although they were fastened again and again by great piles driven close to them on both sides, they were forced from their place by the rising waters, and finally were swept away by the force of the current and lost. 4 Yet finally the day was won by the efficient supervision of the emperor and the labour of his obedient soldiers, who as they worked were often sunk chin-deep in the water; and at last, though not without danger to some of the men, the defensive works, relieved of the pressure of the snarling river, are now strong.

5 Being joyful and exultant because of these and similar successes, the emperor then, considering the time of year and the state of the season, as became a dutiful prince devoted himself to those matters which would be helpful to the commonwealth. And thinking it most suitable for accomplishing what he had in mind, he planned hastily to build a fortification on the farther side of the Rhine on Mount Pirus, which is in the country of the savages. And in order that speed might make the accomplishment of the work secure, through Syagrius, at that time a secretary, afterwards prefect and consul, he ordered the general Arator to try to speed that work, while deep quiet reigned everywhere. 6 The general at once crossed the river with the secretary, as was ordered, and, with the soldiers under his command, had begun to dig the foundations, when Hermogenes was appointed as his successor. At the same moment some chiefs of the Alamanni arrived, fathers of the hostages whom we were holding in accordance with the treaty as important pledges of the continued permanence of peace. 7 They on bended knees begged that the Romans, whose fortune consistent trustworthiness had raised to [the] skies, should not, regardless of their security, be led astray by a perverse error, and, treading their promises under foot, enter upon an unworthy undertaking. 8 But, since they said these and similar things to no purpose, as they were not listened to, and perceived that they would receive no peaceful nor mild reply, they withdrew, weeping at the fate of their sons. Scarcely had they left the place, when a band of barbarians who were awaiting the reply to be made (as they were given to understand) at that time to their chiefs, dashing forth from the hollow defile of a neighbouring hill, attacked our soldiers, who were half-nude and still carrying earth, and quickly drawing their swords were cutting them down; and with them also both leaders were slain. 9 Not a single man survived to tell what had happened, except Syagrius. He, after all the others had been slain, returned to the court, but by sentence of the angry emperor he was cashiered and went to his home, being considered by a cruel judgment to have deserved this because he alone had escaped.

10 Meanwhile throughout Gaul there spread, to the ruin of many, a savage frenzy for brigandage, which kept watch of the frequented roads and fell indiscriminately upon everything profitable that fell in its way. Finally, in addition to many others who fell victim to such ambuscades, Constantianus, chief of the imperial stables, a relative by marriage of Valentinian and own brother to Cerealis and Justina, was surprised by an unexpected attack and presently slain.

11 But at a distance from there, as if the furies were stirring up similar troubles, the Maratocupreni, a fierce race of brigands, were ranging about on every side; they dwelt in a village of the same name situated near Apamia in Syria, were exceedingly numerous, skilled in crafty wiles, and dreaded because they roamed about quietly under the guise of honourable traders and soldiers, and fell upon rich houses, estates, and towns. 12 No one could guard against their unexpected coming, since they did not assail previously chosen places, but various quarters and those that were far removed, breaking out wherever the wind took them — the same reason that makes the Saxons feared before all other enemies for their sudden raids. But although these confederate bands destroyed the property of many, and, driven by the gadfly of the madness which they had conceived, caused lamentable slaughter, being no less greedy for blood than for booty, yet for fear that by giving a minute account of their deeds I may somewhat delay the direct course of my project, it will suffice to tell of this one destructive and well-devised stroke of theirs. 13 A united body of these godless men, disguised as the retinue of a state treasurer, and one of them as that official himself, in the darkness of evening, preceded by the mournful cry of a herald, entered a city and beset with swords the fine house of a distinguished citizen, as if he had been proscribed and condemned to death. They seized all his valuable furniture, and since the servants were struck with sudden fear, and in their bewilderment did not defend their master, they killed many of them, and before the return of daylight departed at quick step. 14 But when, after being enriched by the booty of many men, they abandoned the sweet pleasure of robbery, which was interrupted by a movement of the emperor’s forces, they were crushed, and perished to the last man. Even their children, who were still small, in order that they might not grow up to follow the example of their fathers, were destroyed in the same fate; and the houses which they had built in showy fashion at the sorrowful expense of others were torn down. These things, then, happened in the connection in which they have been told.

3 Theodosius restores the cities of Britain which had been devastated by the savages, repairs the fortresses, and recovers for the island the province which was called Valentia.

1 But Theodosius, that leader of celebrated name, filled with courageous vigour sallied forth from Augusta, which was earlier called Lundinium, with a force which he had mustered with energy and skill, and rendered the greatest aid to the troubled and confused fortunes of the Britons. He secured beforehand everywhere the places suitable for ambushing the savages, requiring nothing of the common soldiers in which he himself did not smartly take the first tasks. 2 In this way, while he performed the duties of an active common soldier and observed the care of a distinguished general, after having routed and put to flight tribes which an insolence fostered by impunity was inflaming with a desire to attack the Romans, he completely restored the cities and strongholds which had been founded to secure a long period of peace, but had suffered repeated misfortunes.

3 But while he was thus engaged, a dread event had taken place, which would have resulted in grave danger, if it had not been crushed in the very beginning of its attempt. 4 A certain Valentinus, born in Valeria, a part of Pannonia, a man of haughty spirit, brother-in-law of that pernicious vice-governor Maximinus, who was afterwards prefect, had been exiled to Britain because of a serious crime. There, impatient of quiet like a noxious beast, he roused himself to new and destructive plans, nursing a certain grudge against Theodosius, since he perceived that he was the only one who could resist his abominable designs. 5 However, after a good deal of looking about secretly and openly, driven by the swelling gale of his vast ambition, he began to tempt exiles and soldiers by promising for bold deeds as enticing rewards as his circumstances at the time permitted. 6 And already the time for carrying out the plans was near at hand, when that leader, eager for deeds of daring, learning of this from a prearranged source, resolved with lofty heart to punish those who were found guilty: Valentinus indeed, along with a few of his closest associates, he had consigned to the general Dulcitius, to be punished with death; but with the military knowledge in which he surpassed all his contemporaries, he divined future dangers, and as to the rest of the conspirators forbade the carrying on of investigations, lest by spreading fear among many the disturbances in the provinces, which had just been lulled to sleep, should be revived.

7 Then, after the danger had been wholly removed, since it was common knowledge that propitious fortune had failed him in none of his undertakings, he turned his attention to making many necessary improvements, restoring the cities and defences, as we have said, and protecting the frontiers by sentinels and outposts. And so completely did he recover a province which had passed into the enemy’s hands and restore it to its former condition, that, in the words of his report, it had a legitimate governor; and it was henceforth called Valentia, in accordance with the emperor’s wish, who, one might almost say, celebrated an ovation in his joy on hearing the priceless news.

8 In the midst of such important events the Arcani, a class of men established in early times, about which I said something in the history of Constans, had gradually become corrupted, and consequently he removed them from their posts. For they were clearly convicted of having been led by the receipt, or the promise, of great booty at various times to betray to the savages what was going on among us. For it was their duty to hasten about hither and thither over long spaces, to give information to our generals of the clashes of rebellion among neighbouring peoples.

9 After the above-mentioned affairs and other similar ones had been so brilliantly managed, Theodosius was summoned to the court, leaving the provinces dancing for joy, after distinguishing himself by many helpful victories like Furius Camillus or Papirius Cursor. And because of his general popularity he was escorted as far as the strait, where he crossed with a light wind, and came into the emperor’s company. He was received with joy and words of praise, and succeeded to the position of Jovinus, commander of the cavalry forces, whom the emperor Valentinian considered to be lacking in energy.

4 Of the city-prefecture of Olybrius and Ampelius; and of the faults of the senate and people of Rome.

1 After long lasting and serious dispersion from affairs in Rome, constrained by the great mass of foreign events, I shall return to a brief account of these, beginning with the prefecture of Olybrius, which was exceedingly peaceful and mild; for he never allowed himself to be turned from humane conduct, but was careful and anxious that no word or act of his should ever be found harsh. He severely punished calumny, cut down the profits of the privy-purse wherever it was possible, fully and impartially distinguished justice from injustice, and showed himself most lenient towards those whom he governed. 2 But a cloud was thrown over all these merits by a fault which indeed was not harmful to the community, but yet was a stain on a high official; for almost his whole private life, since he was inclined to luxury, he spent in playhouses and love affairs, though the latter were neither unlawful nor incestuous.

3 After him Ampelius governed the city, a man who himself also lusted after pleasures. Born at Antioch, he had been formerly marshal of the court, was twice raised to the rank of proconsul, and then, long afterwards, to the high honour of the prefecture. Although admirable in other respects and well suited to gaining the favour of the people, he was nevertheless sometimes hard, and I wish he had been steadfast of purpose; for he could have corrected in part, even though to a small extent, the incitements of appetite and gross gluttony, if he had not let himself be turned to laxity and thus lost enduring fame. 4 For he gave orders that no wine-shop should be opened before the fourth hour, that no one of the common people should heat water, that up to a fixed hour of the day no victualler should offer cooked meat for sale, and that no respectable man should be seen chewing anything in public. 5 These shameful acts, and others worse than these, had, by being constantly overlooked, blazed up to such unbridled heights that not even that celebrated Cretan Epimenides, if, after the manner of myth, he had been called up from the lower world and returned to our times, would have able single-handed to purify Rome; such was the stain of incurable sins that had overwhelmed most people.

6 And first, as often, according to the quantity of topics, I shall give an account of the delinquencies of the nobles and then of the common people, condensing the events in a rapid digression. 7 Some men, distinguished (as they think) by famous fore-names, pride themselves beyond measure in being called Reburri, Flavonii, Pagonii, Gereones, and Dalii, along with Tarracii and Pherrasii, and many other equally fine-sounding indications of eminent ancestry. 8 Others, resplendent in silken garments, as though they were to be led to death, or as if (to speak without any evil omen) they were bringing up the rear preceded by an army, are followed by a throng of slaves drawn up in troops, amid noise and confusion. 9 When such men, each attended by fifty servants, have entered the vaulted rooms of a bath, they shout in threatening tones: “Where on earth are our attendants?” If they have learned that an unknown courtesan has suddenly appeared, some woman who has been a common prostitute of the crowd of our city, some old strumpet, they all strive to be the first to reach her, and caressing the new-comer, extol her with such disgraceful flattery as the Parthians do Samiramis, the Egyptians their Cleopatras, the Carians Artemisia, or the people of Palmyra Zenobia. And those who stoop to do such things are men in the time of whose forefathers a senator was punished with the censor’s brand of infamy, if he had dared, while this was still considered unseemly, to kiss his wife in the presence of their own daughter.

10 Some of these men, when one begins to salute them breast to breast, like menacing bulls turn to one side their heads, where they should be kissed, and offer their flatterers their knees to kiss or their hands, thinking that quite enough to ensure them a happy life; and they believe that a stranger is given an abundance of all the duties of courtesy, even though the great men may perhaps be under obligation to him, if he is asked what hot baths or waters he uses, or at what house he has been put up.

11 And although they are so important and, in their own opinion, such cultivators of the virtues, if they learn that someone has announced that horses or chariots are coming from anywhere whatever, they hover over this same man and ask him questions as anxiously as their ancestors looked up to the two sons of Tyndareus, when they filled everything with joy by announcing those famous victories of olden days.

12 Their houses are frequented by idle chatterboxes, who with various pretences of approval applaud every word of the man of loftier fortune, emulating the witty flatteries of the parasites in the comedies. For just as the parasites puff up boastful soldiers by attributing to them the sieges and battles against thousands of enemies, comparing them with the heroes of old, so these also, admiring the rows of columns hanging in the air with lofty façade, and the walls gleaming with the remarkable colours of precious stones, raise these noble men to the gods. 13 Sometimes at their banquets the scales are even called for, in order to weigh the fish, birds, and dormice that are served, whose great size they recommend again and again, as hitherto unexampled, often repeating it to the weariness of those present, especially when thirty secretaries stand near by, with pen-cases and small tablets, recording these same items, so that the only thing lacking seems to be a schoolmaster.

14 Some of them hate learning as they do poison, and read with attentive care only Juvenal and Marius Maximus, in their boundless idleness handling no other books than these, for what reason it is not for my humble mind to judge. 15 Whereas, considering the greatness of their fame and of their parentage, they ought to pore over many and varied works; they ought to learn that Socrates, when condemned to death and thrown into prison, asked a musician, who was skilfully rendering a song of the lyric poet Stesichorus, that he might be taught to do this while there was still time. And when the musician asked of what use that could be to him, since he was to die on the following day, Socrates replied: “In order that I may know something more before I depart from life.”

16 But a few among them are so strict in punishing offences, that if a slave is slow in bringing the hot water, they condemn him to suffer three hundred lashes; if he has intentionally killed a man, although many people insist that he be condemned to death, his master cry out: “What should a worthless fellow do, notorious for wicked deeds? But if he dares to do anything else like that hereafter, he shall be punished.”

17 But the height of refinement with these men at present is, that it is better for a stranger to kill any man’s brother than to decline his invitation to dinner. For a senator thinks that he is suffering the loss of a rich property, if the man whom he had, after considerable weighing of pros and cons, invited once, fails to appear at his table.

18 Some of them, if they make a longish journey to visit their estates, or to hunt by the labours of others, think that they have equalled the marches of Alexander the Great or of Caesar; or if they have sailed in their gaily-painted boats from the Lake of Avernus to Puteoli, it is the adventure of the golden fleece, especially if they should dare it in the hot season. And if amid the gilded fans flies have lighted on the silken fringes, or through a rent in the hanging curtain a little ray of sun has broken in, they lament that they were not born in the land of the Cimmerians. 19 Then when they come from the bath of Silvanus or from the healing waters of Mamaea, as any one of them emerges he has himself dried with the finest linens, opens the presses and carefully searches amongst garments shimmering with shifting light, of which he brings enough with him to clothe eleven men. At length, some are chosen and he puts them on; then he takes back his rings, which, in order that the dampness may not injure them, he has handed to a servant, and after his fingers have been as good as measured to receive them, he departs.

20 And, indeed, if any veteran has recently retired because of his years from service with the emperor, such a company of admirers attend him that . . . is considered to be the leader of the old song; the others quietly listen to what he says. He alone, like the father of a family, tells irrelevant stories and entertaining tales, and in most of them cleverly deceiving his hearers.

21 Some of these, though few in number, shrink from the name of gamblers, and therefore desire to be called rather tesserarii, persons who differ from each other only as much as thieves do from brigands. But this must be admitted, that while all friendships at Rome are lukewarm, those alone which are formed at the gambling table, as if they were gained by glorious toil, have a bond of union and are united by a complete firmness of exceeding affection; whence some members of these companies are found to be so harmonious that you would take them for the brothers Quintilius. And so you may see a man of low station, who is skilled in the secrets of dice-playing, walking abroad like Porcius Cato after his unexpected and unlooked-for defeat for the praetorship, with a set expression of dignity and sorrow because at some great banquet or assemblage a former proconsul was given a higher place of honour.

22 Some lie in wait for men of wealth, old or young, childless or unmarried, or even for those who have wives or children — for no distinction is observed in this respect — enticing them by wonderful trickeries to make their wills; and when they have set their last decisions in order and left some things to these men, to humour whom they have made their wills in their favour, they forthwith die; so that you would not think that the death was brought about by the working of the allotment of destiny, nor could an illness easily be proved by the testimony of witnesses; nor is the funeral of these men attended by any mourners.

23 Another, who attained some rank, moderate though it be, walking with neck puffed up, looks askance at his former acquaintances, so that you might think that a Marcellus was returning after the taking of Syracuse.

24 Many of them, who deny that there are higher powers in heaven, neither appear in public nor eat a meal nor think they can with due caution take a bath, until they have critically examined the calendar and learned where, for example, the planet Mercury is, or what degree of the constellation of the Crab the moon occupies in its course through the heavens.

25 Another, if he finds a creditor of his demanding his due with too great urgency, resorts to a charioteer who is all too ready to dare any enterprise, and causes the creditor to be charged with being a poisoner; and he is not let off until he has surrendered the bill of indebtedness and paid heavy costs. And besides, the accuser has the voluntary debtor put in prison as if he were his property, and does not set him free until he acknowledges the debt.

26 In another place a wife by hammering day and night on the same anvil — as the old proverb has it — drives her husband to make a will, and the husband insistently urges his wife to do the same. Skilled jurists are brought in on both sides, one in a bedroom, the other, his rival, in the dining-room to discuss disputed points. These are joined by opposing interpreters of horoscopes, on the one side making profuse promises of prefectures and the burial of rich matrons, on the other telling women that for their husbands’ funerals now quietly approaching they must make the necessary preparations. And a maid-servant bears witness, by nature somewhat pale, . . . As Cicero says: “They know of nothing on earth that is good unless it brings gain. Of their friends, as of their cattle, they love those best from whom they hope to get the greatest profit.”

27 When these people seek any loan, you will see them in slippers like a Micon or a Laches; when they are urged to pay, they wear such lofty buskins and are so arrogant that you would think them Cresphontes and Temenus, the famous Heraclidae. So much for the senate.

28 Let us now turn to the idle and slothful commons. Among them some who have no shoes are conspicuous as though they had cultured names, such as the Messores, Statarii, Semicupae and Serapini, and Cicymbricus, with Gluturinus and Trulla, and Lucanicus with Porclaca and Salsula, and countless others. 29 These spend all their life with wine and dice, in low haunts, pleasures, and the games. Their temple, their dwelling, their assembly, and the height of all their hopes is the Circus Maximus. You may see many groups of them gathered in the fora, the cross-roads, the streets, and their other meeting-places, engaged in quarrelsome arguments with one another, some (as usual) defending this, others that. 30 Among them those who have enjoyed a surfeit of life, influential through long experience, often swear by their hoary hair and wrinkles that the state cannot exist if in the coming race the charioteer whom each favours is not first to rush forth from the barriers, and fails to round the turning-point closely with his ill-omened horses. 31 And when there is such a dry rot of thoughtlessness, as soon as the longed-for day of the chariot-races begins to dawn, before the sun is yet shining clearly they all hasten in crowds to the spot at top speed, as if they would outstrip the very chariots that are to take part in the contest; and torn by their conflicting hopes about the result of the race, the greater number of them in their anxiety pass sleepless nights.

32 If from there they come to worthless theatrical pieces, any actor is hissed off the boards who has not won favour of the low rabble with money. And if this noisy form of demonstration is lacking, they cry in imitation of the Tauric race that all strangers — on whose aid they have always depended and stood upright — ought to be driven from city. All this in foul and absurd terms, very different from the expressions of their interests and desires made by your commons of old, of whose many witty and happy sayings tradition tells us. 33 And it has now come to this, that in place of the lively sound of approval from men appointed to applaud, at every public show an actor of afterpieces, a beast-baiter, a charioteer, every kind of player, and the magistrates of higher and lower rank, nay even matrons, are greeted with the shout “You should be these fellows’ teachers!”; but what they ought to learn no one is able to explain.

34 The greater number of these gentry, given over to over-stuffing themselves with food, led by the charm of the odour of cooking and by the shrill voices of the women, like a flock of peacocks screaming with hunger, stand even from cockcrow beside the pots on tip-toe and gnaw the ends of their fingers as they wait for the dishes to cool. Others hang over the nauseous mass of half-raw meat, while it is cooking, watching it so intently that one would think that Democritus with other dissectors was examining the internal organs of dismembered animals and showing by what means future generations might be cured of internal pains.

35 But enough for the present of this account of affairs in the city. Now let us return to the other events which were caused by various incidents in the provinces.

5 The Saxons in Gaul, after a truce had been made, were ambushed by the Romans. Valentinian, under promise of joining forces with them, roused the Burgundians to invade Alamannia, but they, after being betrayed and deceived, killed all their prisoners and returned home.

1 In the third consulship of the two Augusti a horde of Saxons broke out, and after overcoming the dangers of the Ocean advanced at rapid pace towards the Roman frontier, having often been glutted with the slaughter of our people. The storm of this first inroad was met by Nannenus, the general in charge of those regions, a leader approved by long experience in wars. 2 But meeting then with a people resolved to fight to the death, after he had lost some of his men and had himself been wounded, he perceived that he would be unequal to frequent contests with them. Accordingly, having reported to the emperor what ought to be done, he managed that Severus, commander of the infantry, should come to help him in his difficult situation. 3 When he, bringing forces adequate for the purpose, had reached the spot and the troops had been drawn up in divisions, he so terrified and confused the arrogant barbarians before the struggle began, that they did not oppose him in strife, but, dazzled by the gleam of the standards and eagles, begged for pardon and peace. 4 And after a long and varied discussion, since it seemed to be in the interest of the state, a truce was agreed upon, and in accordance with the conditions that were proposed the Saxons gave us as hostages many young men fit for military service, and then were allowed to depart and return without hindrance to the place from which they had come. 5 When they thought themselves now free from all fear and were preparing to return, foot-soldiers were secretly sent and laid an ambuscade in a secluded valley, from which they could attack the Saxons with slight trouble as they passed by. But the result was far otherwise than was hoped. 6 For, excited by the sound of the approaching Saxons, some of our men rushed out before the proper time; on their sudden appearance the savages raised terrible howls, and while the Romans were hastening to steady themselves, they were put to flight. Presently, however, they halted and massed themselves together, and as their dangerous plight gave them strength (though somewhat impaired), they were forced to fight; but after suffering great losses they were routed and would have perished to a man, had not a troop of mail-clad horsemen, which had been similarly stationed on another side, near a byway, to cause danger to the savages as they passed by, been aroused by their cries of terror, and quickly come to their aid. 7 Then the contest became hotter and Romans with fortified courage pressed upon the Saxons from all sides, surrounded them, and slew them with their drawn swords; not one of them could again return to his native home, not a single one was allowed to survive the slaughter of his comrades. And although some just judge will condemn this act as treacherous and hateful, yet on careful consideration of the matter he will not think it improper that a destructive band of brigands was destroyed when the opportunity was at last offered.

8 After these affairs had been so successfully concluded, Valentinian, turning over various thoughts in his mind, was oppressed by anxious care, as he thought over many plans and considered by what devices he might break the arrogance of the Alamanni and their king Macrianus, who without limit or measure was confusing the Roman state by his reckless disturbances. 9 For this savage nation, although from its very cradle weakened by a variety of disasters, so often recovers its youthful strength, that people think it has been unassailed for long ages. And the emperor finally decided, after favouring first one plan and then another, to bring about their destruction through the Burgundians, a warlike people, rich in the strength of countless young warriors, and therefore a cause of terror to all their neighbours. 10 Accordingly, he often sent letters to their kings through silent and loyal messengers, urging them to attack the Alamanni at an appointed time, and promising that he too would cross the Rhine with the Roman armies and, if the Alamanni tried to avoid the unexpected weight of armed forces, would intercept them in their panic.

11 The emperor’s letters were gladly received for two reasons: first, because the Burgundians know that they are descendants of the Romans from ancient times; and then, since they frequently quarrelled with the Alamanni about salt-pits and boundaries. They therefore sent their choicest troops, which, before our soldiers were gathered together, advanced as far as the banks of the Rhine; and while the emperor was still occupied with the building of fortifications, they caused the very greatest alarm to our people. 12 And so they halted for a time, but when Valentinian did not appear on the appointed day, as he had agreed, and they saw that none of his promises had been fulfilled, they sent envoys to the emperor’s camp, demanding that support be given them for their return to their homes, in order that they might not expose their unprotected rear to the enemy. 13 And when they perceived that by subterfuges and delays their request was practically denied, they went off from there in sorrow and indignation. And their kings, on learning what had happened, furious at being mocked, killed all their prisoners and returned to their native lands.

14 In their country a king is called by the general name Hendinos, and, according to an ancient custom, lays down his power and is deposed, if under him the fortune of war has wavered, or the earth has denied sufficient crops; just as the Egyptians commonly blame their rulers for such occurrences. On the other hand the chief priest among the Burgundians is called Sinistus, holds his power for life, and is exposed to no such dangers as threaten the kings.

15 Taking advantage of this very timely occasion, Theodosius, at that time commander of the cavalry, made an attack through Raetia upon the Alamanni, who through fear of the aforesaid people were scattered; he killed many of them, and by the emperor’s order sent all his prisoners to Italy, where they received fertile cantons, and now live as our subjects on the banks of the Po.

6 Disasters are inflicted upon the province of Tripolis and on the Lepcitani and Oeenses by the Austoriani, but through the duplicity of the commanding general, Romanus, these are concealed from Valentinian, and left unpunished.

1 From here, as if moving to another part of the world, let us come to the sorrows of the African province of Tripolis, over which (I think) even Justice herself has wept; and from what cause these blazed out like flames will appear when my narrative is completed.

2 The Austoriani, who are neighbours to those regions, are savages, always ready for sudden raids and accustomed to live by murder and robbery. These were subdued for a time, but then returned to their natural turbulence, for which they seriously alleged this reason:— 3 A certain man of their country, Stachao by name, when he was wandering freely in our territory, it being a time of peace, committed some violations of the laws, among which the most conspicuous was, that he tried by every kind of deceit to betray the province, as was proved by most trustworthy testimony. Accordingly he was burned to death.

4 To avenge his execution, under the pretext that he was a countryman of theirs and had been unjustly condemned, like beasts aroused by madness, they sallied forth from their homes while Jovian was still ruling, and, fearing to come near Lepcis, , they encamped for three days in the fertile districts near the city. There they slaughtered the peasants, whom sudden fear had paralysed or had compelled to take refuge in caves, burned a great deal of furniture which could not be carried off, and returned laden with immense spoils, taking with them also as prisoner one Silva, the most eminent of the local magistrates, who chanced to be found in the country with his wife and children.

5 The people of Lepcis, greatly alarmed by this sudden calamity, before the evils which the insolence of the barbarians threatened should increase, implored the protection of Romanus, the newly-promoted commanding-general for Africa. As soon as he arrived, leading his military forces, and was asked to lend his aid in these troubles, he declared that he would not move his camp unless provisions in abundance should first be brought and 4000 camels equipped. 6 The unhappy citizens were stupefied by this answer, and declared that after suffering from fires and pillage they could not procure a remedy for their tremendous losses by providing such enormous supplies. Whereupon the general, after deluding them by spending forty days there, marched away without actually attempting anything.

7 The people of Tripolis, disappointed in this hope and fearing the worst, when the lawful day for the popular assembly (which with them comes once a year) had arrived, appointed Severus and Flaccianus as envoys, who were to take to Valentinian golden statues of Victory because of his accession to power, and to tell him fearlessly of the lamentable ruin of the province. 8 As soon as Romanus heard of this, he sent a swift horseman to Remigius, the chief-marshal of the court, a relative of his by marriage and a partner in his robberies, asking him to see to it that the investigation of this affair should be assigned by the emperor’s authority to the deputy governor Vincentius and himself. 9 The envoys came to the court, and being given audience with the emperor, stated orally what they had suffered; and they presented decrees, containing a full account of the whole affair. Since the emperor, after reading these, neither believed the communication of the marshal, who countenanced the misdeeds of Romanus, nor the envoys, who gave contrary testimony, a full investigation was promised, but it was put off, in the way in which supreme powers are usually deceived among the distractions to which the powerful are liable.

10 While the people of Tripolis were long in a state of anxiety and suspense, looking for some aid from the emperor’s military support, the hordes of barbarians again came up, given confidence by what had happened before; and after overrunning the territory of Lepcis and Oea with death and devastation, went away again, laden with vast heaps of booty; a number of decurions were put to death, among whom the former high-priest Rusticianus and the aedile Nicasius were conspicuous. 11 But the reason why this inroad could not be prevented was that, although at the request of the envoys the charge of military affairs also had been entrusted to the governor Ruricius, it was soon afterwards transferred to Romanus. 12 When now the news of this newly inflicted catastrophe was sent to Gaul, it greatly angered the emperor. Accordingly, Palladius, a tribune and secretary, was sent to pay the wages that were due the soldiers in various parts of Africa, and to investigate and give a fully trustworthy report of what had happened at Tripolis.

13 However, during such delays caused by consultations and waiting for supplies, the Austoriani, made insolent by two successful raids, flew to the spot like birds of prey made more savage by the incitement of blood, and after slaying all those who did not escape danger by flight, carried off the booty which they had previously left behind, besides cutting down the trees and vines. 14 Then one Mychon, a high-born and powerful townsman, was caught in the suburbs but gave them the slip before he was bound; and because he was lame and it was wholly impossible for him to make good his escape, he threw himself into an empty well; but the barbarians pulled him out with his rib broken, and placed him near the city gates; there, at the pitiful entreaties of his wife, he was ransomed but was drawn up by a rope to the battlements, and died after two days. 15 Then the savage marauders, roused to greater persistence, assailed the very walls of Lepcis, which re-echoed with the mournful wailing of the women, who had never before been besieged by an enemy, and were half-dead with a terror to which they were unused. But after blockading the city for eight days together, during which some of the besiegers were wounded without accomplishing anything, they returned in saddened mood to their own abodes.

16 Because of this the citizens, despairing of being saved and resorting to the last hope, although the envoys they had already sent had not yet returned, dispatched Jovinus and Pancratius to give the emperor a trustworthy account of what they had seen and had personally suffered. These envoys, by inquiring of those mentioned above (Severus, whom they met at Carthage, and Flaccianus), what they had done, learned that they had been ordered to make their report to the deputy and the general. Of these Severus was at once attacked by a painful illness and died; but the aforementioned envoys nevertheless hastened by long marches to the court.

17 After this, Palladius had entered Africa, and Romanus, intending to block in advance the purpose for which he had come, in order to secure his own safety, had ordered the officers of the companies through certain confidants of his secrets, that they should hand over to Palladius the greater part of the pay which he had brought, since he was an influential man and in close relations with the highest officials of the palace; and so it was done. 18 Palladius immediately, being thus enriched, proceeded to Lepcis, and in order to succeed in ferreting out the truth, he took with him to the devastated regions two eloquent and distinguished townsmen, Erechthius and Aristomenes, who freely told him of their own troubles and those of their fellow-citizens and neighbours. 19 They openly showed him everything, and after he had seen the lamentable ashes of the province, he returned, and reproaching Romanus for his inactivity, threatened to give the emperor a true report of everything that he had seen. Then Romanus, filled with anger and resentment, assured him that he also would then at once report that Palladius, sent as an incorruptible notary, had diverted to his own profit all the money intended for the soldiers. 20 Therefore, since his conscience was witness to disgraceful acts, Palladius then came to an understanding with Romanus, and on his return to the palace, he misled Valentinian by the atrocious art of lying, declaring that the people of Tripolis had no cause for complaint. Accordingly, he was sent again to Africa with Jovinus, the last of all the envoys (for Pancratius had died at Treves), in order with the deputy to examine in person the value of the work of the second deputation also. Besides this, the emperor gave orders that the tongues of Erechthius and Aristomenes should be cut out, since the aforesaid Palladius had intimated that they had made some offensive statements.

21 The secretary, following the deputy, as had been arranged, came to Tripolis. As soon as Romanus learned of this, with all speed he sent his attendant thither, and with him an adviser of his, Caecilius by name, a native of that province. Through these all the townspeople were induced — whether by bribes or deceit is uncertain — to make grave charges against Jovinus, positively declaring that they had given him no commission to report what he had reported to the emperor. In fact, their dishonesty went so far that even Jovinus himself was forced to endanger his own life by confessing that he had lied to the emperor.

22 When this was known through Palladius, who had now returned, Valentinian, being rather inclined to severity, gave orders that Jovinus, as the originator of the false statement, with Caelestinus, Concordius, and Lucius as accomplices and participants, should suffer capital punishment; further, that Ruricius, the governor, should suffer death as the author of a false report, the following also being counted against him — that there were read in his report certain expressions of his which seemed immoderate. 23 Ruricius was executed at Sitifis, the rest were punished at Utica through sentence of the deputy-governor Crescens. Flaccianus, however, before the death of the other envoys, was heard by the deputy and the general; and when he stoutly defended his life, he was all but killed by the angry soldiers, who rushed upon him with shouts and abusive language; for they declared against him that the Tripolitani could not possibly be defended for the reason that they themselves had declined to furnish what was necessary for the campaign. 24 And for this reason Flaccianus was imprisoned, until the emperor, who had been consulted about him, should make up his mind what ought to be done. But he bribed his guards — so it was permissible to believe — and made his escape to the city of Rome, where he kept in hiding until he passed away by a natural death.

25 In consequence of this remarkable end of the affair, Tripolis, though harassed by disasters from without and from within, remained silent, but not without defence; for the eternal eye of Justice watched over her, as well as the last curses of the envoys and the governor. For long afterwards the following event came to pass: Palladius was dismissed from service, and stript of the haughtiness with which he swelled, and retired to a life of inaction. 26 And when Theodosius, that famous leader of armies, had come into Africa to put an end to the dangerous attempts of Firmus, and, as he had been ordered, examined the moveable property of the outlawed Romanus, there was found also among his papers the letter of one Meterius, containing the words, “Meterius to Romanus his Lord and patron,” and at the end, after much matter that would here be irrelevant: “The disgraced Palladius salutes you, and says that he was deposed for no other reason than that in the cause of the people of Tripolis he spoke to sacred ears what was not true.” 27 When this letter had been sent to the Palace and read, Meterius, on being seized by order of Valentinian, admitted that the letter was his. Therefore Palladius was ordered to be produced, but thinking of the mass of crimes that he had concocted, at a halting-station, as darkness was coming on, on noticing the absence of the guards, who on a festal day of the Christian religion were spending the whole night in church, he knotted a noose about his neck and strangled himself. 28 When this favourable turn of fortune was fully known and the instigator of the awful troubles put to death, Erechthius and Aristomenes, who, when they learned that it had been ordered that their tongues should be cut out, as over-lavishly used, had withdrawn to far remote and hidden places, now hastened from concealment; and when the emperor Gratian — for Valentinian had died — was given trustworthy information of the abominable deception, they were sent for trial to the proconsul Hesperius and the deputy Flavianus. These officials, being men of impartial justice combined with most rightful authority, having put Caecilius to the torture, learned from his open confession that he himself had persuaded his citizens to make trouble for the envoys by false statements. This investigation was followed by a report, which disclosed the fullest confirmation of the acts which had been committed; to this no reply was made.

29 And that these dramas should leave no awful tragic effect untried, this also was added after the curtain had dropped. Romanus, setting out to the Palace, brought with him Caecilius, who intended to accuse the judges of having been biased in favour of the province; and being received with favour by Merobaudes, he had sought that some more witnesses whom he needed should be produced. 30 When these had come to Milan, and shown by credible evidence that they had been brought there under false pretences to satisfy a grudge, they were discharged and returned to their homes. Nevertheless, in Valentinianus’ lifetime, in consequence of what we have stated above, Remigius also after retiring into private life strangled himself, as I shall show in the proper place.

Book XXIX

1 Theodorus, a notary, aspires to the throne, and being accused of treason at Antioch before Valens and convicted, along with many accomplices of his crime he is put to death.

1 At the end of the winter Sapor, king of the Persian nations, made immoderately arrogant by the confidence inspired by his former battles, having filled up the number of his army and greatly strengthened it, had sent his mailed horsemen, archers, and mercenary soldiers to invade our territories. 2 To meet these forces the general Trajanus and Vadomarius, the former king of the Alamanni, advanced with very powerful forces, appointed by the emperor’s order to observe the policy of keeping off the Persians rather than attacking them. 3 When they had come to Vagabanta, a favourable place for the legions, they met unwillingly the swift attacks of the enemy’s cavalry fiercely rushing upon them, and purposely retreated, in order not to be first to wound anyone of their adversaries and thus be judged guilty of violating the treaty; but at last, driven by extreme necessity, they engaged in battle, and, after slaying many of the Persians, came off victorious. 4 But during the delay which followed, several skirmishes were tried by both sides, which ended with varying results; and an armistice having been concluded by common consent, and the summer having ended, the leaders of both sides departed in different directions, still at enmity with each other. Now the king of the Parthians returned home, to spend the winter in Ctesiphon; but the Roman emperor entered Antioch. And while the latter was staying there, he almost fell victim to domestic treason, as an account of the series of events will show.

5 A certain Procopius, a turbulent man, always given over to a lust for disturbance, had charged two courtiers named Anatolius and Spudasius, about whom orders had been given that money of which they had defrauded the treasury be exacted of them, with having attempted the life of Count Fortunatianus, notorious as being a tiresome dunner. He, being hot-tempered, was immediately aroused to a mad degree of wrath, and by the authority of the office which he held, handed over a certain Palladius, a man of low birth, as one who had been hired as a poisoner by the afore-mentioned courtiers, and an interpreter of the fates by horoscope, Heliodorus by name, to the court of the praetorian prefecture, in order that they might be forced to tell what they knew about the matter. 6 But when they came to a vigorous investigation of the deed, or the attempt, Palladius boldly cried out that those matters about which they were inquiring were trivial and negligible; that if he were allowed to speak, he would tell of other things more important and fearful, which had already been plotted with great preparations, and unless foresight were used would upset the whole state. And on being bidden to tell freely what he knew, he uncoiled an endless cable of crimes, declaring that the ex-governor Fidustius, and Pergamius, with Irenaeus, by detestable arts of divination, had secretly learned the name of the man who was to succeed Valens. 7 Fidustius was seized on the spot — for he chanced to be near by — and was brought up secretly, and on being faced with the informer, he did not attempt to veil with any denial a matter already publicly known, but disclosed the deadly details of the whole plot; he freely admitted that he had, with Hilarius and Patricius, men skilled in divination, of whom the former had served in the household troops, sought information about the succession, and that the predictions inspired by secret arts had both foretold the naming of an excellent prince, and for the questioners themselves a sad end. 8 And while they were in doubt who there was at the time that was superior to all in strength of character, it seemed to them that Theodorus surpassed all others; he had already gained second rank among the secretaries, and was in fact such a man as they thought him. For he was born of a clan famous in olden times in Gaul, liberally educated from earliest childhood, and so eminent for his modesty, good sense, refinement, charm, and learning that he always seemed superior in to every office and rank that he was holding, and was dear like to high and low. He was also almost the only man whose mouth was closed by no fear of danger, since he bridled his tongue and reflected on what he was going to say. 9 Fidustius, already tortured almost to death, also added to this that Theodorus had learned all these prophecies from information which he himself had given him through Euserius, a man of remarkable learning and highly honoured; for shortly before that he had governed Asia with the rank of vice-prefect. 10 When Euserius also was put in prison, and the record of what had been done had been read to the emperor as usual, Valens’ monstrous savagery spread everywhere like a fiercely blazing torch, and was increased by the base flattery of many men, and in particular by that of Modestus, who was then praetorian prefect. 11 This man, being daily terrified by the thought of a successor, by tricking Valens, who was somewhat simple-minded, with veiled but clever flattery tried to wheedle over the emperor’s favour in various ways, calling his rough, crude words ‘choice Ciceronian posies’; and to increase his vanity he declared that, if Valens should order it, even the stars could be brought down and displayed for him.

12 Accordingly, orders were given that Theodorus also should be with swift dispatch hurried there from Constantinople, to which he had gone on domestic business, and while he was being brought back, as the result of sundry preliminary trials, which were carried on day and night, a number of men, conspicuous for their rank and high birth, were brought from widely separated places. 13 And, since neither the public dungeons, already full to overflowing, nor private houses could contain the throngs of prisoners, although they were crammed together in hot and stifling crowds, and since the greater number of them were in irons, they all dreaded their own fate and that of their nearest relatives. 14 Finally Theodorus himself also arrived, half dead with fear and in mourning garb, and when he had been hidden in a remote part of the country, and everything was ready that the coming inquiries required, the trumpets were already sounding the signal for the murder of citizens.

15 And because that man does not seem less deceitful who knowingly passes over what has been done, than one who invents things that never happened, I do not deny — and in fact there is no doubt about it — that Valens’ life, not only often before through secret conspiracies, but also on this occasion, was plunged into extreme danger, and that a sword was almost driven into his throat by the soldiers; it was thrust away and turned aside by the hand of Fate only because she had destined him to suffer lamentable disasters in Thrace. 16 For when he was quietly sleeping after midday in a wooded spot between Antioch and Seleucia, he was attacked by Sallustius, then one of the targeteers; but although at other times many men often eagerly made plots against his life, he escaped them all, since the limits of life assigned him at his very birth curbed these monstrous attempts. 17 The same thing sometimes happened during the reigns of Commodus and Severus, whose life was often attempted with extreme violence, until finally the one, after escaping many varied dangers within the palace, as he was entering the pit of the amphitheatre to attend the games, was dangerously wounded with a dagger by the senator Quintianus, a man of unlawful ambition, and almost disabled; the other, when far advanced in years, would have been stabbed by the centurion Saturninus (who at the instigation of the prefect Plautianus made an unexpected attack on him as he lay in bed) had not his young son borne him aid. 18 Therefore Valens also deserved excuse for taking every precaution to protect his life, which treacherous foes were trying in haste to take from him. But it was inexcusable that, with despotic anger, he was swift to assail with malicious persecution guilty and innocent under one and the same law, making no distinction in their deserts; so that while there was still doubt about the crime, the emperor had made up his mind about the penalty, and some learned that they had been condemned to death before knowing that they were under suspicion. 19 This persistent purpose of his increased, spurred on as it was both by his own greed and that of persons who frequented the court at that time, and opened the way to fresh desires, and if any mention of mercy was made — which rarely happened — called it slackness. These men through their bloodthirsty flatteries perverted in the worst possible direction the character of a man who carried death at the tip of his tongue, and blew everything down with an untimely hurricane, hastening to overturn utterly the richest houses. 20 For he was exposed and open to the approach of plotters through his dangerous tendency to two faults: first, he was more prone to intolerable anger, when to be angry at all was shameful; secondly, in his princely pride he did not condescend to sift the truth of what, with the readiness of access of a man in private life, he had heard in secret whispers, but accepted as true and certain. 21 The result was that many innocent persons under the appearance of mercy were thrust forth from their homes, and driven headlong into exile; and their property, which was consigned to the treasury, the emperor himself turned to his own profit, while the condemned, worn out by the privations of fearful poverty, were reduced to beggary — and that is a fate to avoid which the wise old poet Theognis advises us actually to hurl ourselves into the sea. 22 And even if anyone should admit that these things were right, yet their excess alone was harmful. Whence it was observed that the maxim is true, that no sentence is more cruel than the one which conceals great severity under the guise of mercy.

23 Accordingly, when the highest officials, to whom the investigations had been entrusted together with the praetorian prefect, had been called together, the racks were made taut, the leaden weights were brought out along with the cords and the scourges. The whole place echoed with the horrible cries of a savage voice, as those who did the awful work shouted amid the clanking of chains: “Hold him; clamp; tighten; away with him.” 24 And, since I have seen many condemned after horrible tortures, but everything is a jumble of confusion as in times of darkness, I shall, since the complete recollection of what was done has escaped me, give a brief and summary account of what I can recall.

25 First, after some unimportant questions, Pergamius was called in, betrayed (as has been said) by Palladius of having foreknowledge of certain things through criminal incantations. Since he was very eloquent and was prone to say dangerous things, while the judges were in doubt what ought to be asked first and what last, he began to speak boldly, and shouted out in an endless flood the names of a very large number of men as accomplices, demanding that some be produced from all but the ends of the earth, to be accused of great crimes. He, as the contriver of too hard a task, was punished with death; and after him others were executed in flocks; then finally they came to the case of Theodorus himself, as if to the dusty arena of an Olympic contest. 26 And that same day, among very many others, this sad event also happened, that Salia, shortly before the master of the treasures in Thrace, when he was brought out of prison to be heard, just as he was putting his foot into his shoe, as if under the stroke of great terror suddenly falling upon him, breathed his last in the arms of those who held him.

27 Well then, when the court was ready to act, while the judges called attention to the provisions of the laws, but nevertheless regulated their handling of the cases according to the wish of the ruler, terror seized upon all. For Valens had entirely swerved from the high-way of justice, and had now learned better how to hurt; so he broke out into frenzied fits of rage, like a wild beast trained for the arena if it sees that anyone brought near to the barrier has made his escape.

28 Then Patricius and Hilarius were brought in and ordered to give a connected account of what had happened. In the beginning they were at variance with each other, but when their sides had been furrowed and the tripod which they were in the habit of using was brought in, they were driven into a corner, and gave a true account of the whole business, which they unfolded from its very beginning. First Hilarius said:

29 “O most honoured judges, we constructed from laurel twigs under dire auspices this unlucky little table which you see, in the likeness of the Delphic tripod, and having duly consecrated it by secret incantations, after many long-continued rehearsals we at length made it work. Now the manner of its working, whenever it was consulted about hidden matters, was as follows. 30 It was placed in the middle of a house purified thoroughly with Arabic perfumes; on it was placed a perfectly round plate made of various metallic substances. Around its outer rim the written forms of the twenty-four letters of the alphabet were skillfully engraved, separated from one another by carefully measured spaces. 31 Then a man clad in linen garments, shod also in linen sandals and having a fillet wound about his head, carrying twigs from a tree of good omen, after propitiating in a set formula the divine power from whom predictions come, having full knowledge of the ceremonial, stood over the tripod as priest and set swinging a hanging ring fitted to a very fine linen thread and consecrated with mystic arts. This ring, passing over the designated intervals in a series of jumps, and falling upon this and that letter which detained it, made hexameters corresponding with the questions and completely finished in feet and rhythm, like the Pythian verses which we read, or those given out from the oracles of the Branchidae. 32 When we then and there inquired, ‘what man will succeed the present emperor’?, since it was said that he would be perfect in every particular, and the ring leaped forward and lightly touched the two syllables ΘΕΟ, adding the next letter, then one of those present cried out that by the decision of inevitable fate Theodorus was meant. And there was no further investigation of the matter; for it was agreed among us that he was the man who was sought.”

33 And when Hilarius had laid the knowledge of the whole matter so clearly before the eyes of the judges, he kindly added that Theodorus was completely ignorant of what was done. After this, being asked whether they had, from belief in the oracles which they practised, known beforehand what they were now suffering, they uttered those familiar verses which clearly announced that this work of inquiring into the superhuman would soon be fatal to them, but that nevertheless the Furies, breathing out death and fire, threatened also the emperor himself and his judges. Of these verses it will suffice to quote the last three:

“Avenged will be your blood. Against them too

Tisiphonê’s deep wrath arms evil fate,

While Ares ranges on the plain of Mimas.”

When these verses had been read, both were terribly torn by the hooks of the torturers and taken away senseless. 34 Later, in order wholly to lay bare this factory of the crimes that had been meditated, a group of distinguished men was led in, comprising the very heads of the undertaking. But since each one had regard for nothing but himself, and tried to shift his ruin to another, by permission of the inquisitors Theodorus began to speak; at first lying prostrate in a humble prayer for pardon, but then, when compelled to talk more to the point, he declared that he had learned of the affair through Euserius and tried more than once to report it to the emperor, but was prevented by his informant, who assured him that no illicit attempt to usurp the throne, but some inevitable will of fate, would realize their hopes without effort on their part. 35 Then Euserius, under bloody torture, made the same confession, but Theodorus was convicted by a letter of his own written in ambiguous and tortuous language to Hilarius, in which he did not hesitate about the matter, but only sought an opportunity to attain his desire, having already a strong confidence begotten from the soothsayers.

36 When these had been removed after this information, Eutropius, then governing Asia with proconsular authority, was summoned on the charge of complicity in the plot. But he escaped without harm, saved by the philosopher Pasiphilus, who, although cruelly tortured to induce him to bring about the ruin of Eutropius through a false charge, could not be turned from the firmness of a steadfast mind. 37 There was, besides these, the philosopher Simonides, a young man, it is true, but of anyone within our memory the strictest in his principles. When he was charged with having heard of the affair through Fidustius and saw that the trial depended, not on the truth, but on the nod of one man, he said that he had learned of the predictions, but as a man of firm purpose he kept the secret which had been confided to him.

38 After all these matters had been examined with sharp eye, the emperor, in answer to the question put by the judges, under one decree ordered the execution of all of the accused; and in the presence of a vast throng, who could hardly look upon the dreadful sight without inward shuddering and burdening the air with laments — for the woes of individuals were regarded as common to all — they were all led away and wretchedly strangled except Simonides; him alone that cruel author of the verdict, maddened by his steadfast firmness, had ordered to be burned alive. 39 Simonides, however, ready to escape from life as from a cruel tyrant, and laughing at the sudden disasters of human destiny, stood unmoved amid the flames; imitating that celebrated philosopher Peregrinus, surnamed Proteus, who, when he had determined to depart from life, at the quinquennial Olympic festival, in the sight of all Greece, mounted a funeral pyre which he himself had constructed and was consumed by the flames. 40 And after him, in the days that followed, a throng of men of almost all ranks, whom it would be difficult to enumerate by name, involved in the snares of calumny, wearied the arms of the executioners after being first crippled by rack, lead, and scourge. Some were punished without breathing-space or delay, while inquiry was being made whether they deserved punishment; everywhere the scene was like a slaughtering of cattle.

41 Then, innumerable writings and many heaps of volumes were hauled out from various houses and under the eyes of the judges were burned in heaps as being unlawful, to allay the indignation at the executions, although the greater number were treatises on the liberal arts and on jurisprudence.

42 And not so very long afterward that famous philosopher Maximus, a man with a great reputation for learning, through whose rich discourses Julian stood out as an emperor well stored as regards knowledge, was alleged to have heard the verses of the aforesaid oracle. And he admitted that he had learnt of them, but out of regard for his philosophical principles had not divulged secrets, although he had volunteered the prediction that the consultors of the future would themselves perish by capital punishment. Thereupon he was taken to his native city of Ephesus and there beheaded; and taught by his final danger he came to know that the injustice of a judge was more formidable than any accusation. 43 Diogenes also was entangled in the snares of an impious falsehood. He was a man born of noble stock, eminent for his talent, his fearless eloquence, and his charm; he was a former governor of Bithynia, but was now punished with death in order that his rich patrimony might be plundered. 44 Lo! even Alypius also, former vice-governor of Britain, a man amiable and gentle, after living in leisure and retirement — since even as far as this had injustice stretched her hand — was made to wallow in utmost wretchedness; he was accused with his son Hierocles, a young man of good character, as guilty of magic, on the sole evidence of a certain Diogenes, a man of low origin, who was tortured with every degree of butchery, to lead him to give testimony agreeable to the emperor, or rather to the instigator of the charge. Diogenes, when not enough of his body was left for torture, was burned alive; Alypius himself also, after confiscation of his goods, was condemned to exile, but recovered his son, who was already being led to a wretched death, but by a lucky chance was reprieved.

2 Many in the Orient, accused of magic and other crimes and condemned, are put to death, some justly, other unjustly.

1 During all this time, the notorious Palladius, the fomenter of all these troubles, who, as we said at first, was taken in custody by Fortunatianus, being by the very lowness of his condition ready to plunge into anything, by heaping disaster on disaster, had drenched the whole empire with grief and tears. 2 For having gained leave to name all whom he desired, without distinction of fortune, as dabbling in forbidden practices, like a hunter skilled in observing the secret tracks of wild beasts, he entangled many persons in his lamentable nets, some of them on the ground of having stained themselves with the knowledge of magic, others as accomplices of those who were aiming at treason. 3 And in order that even wives should have no time to weep over the misfortunes of their husbands, men were immediately sent to put the seal on the houses, and during the examination of the furniture of the householder who had been condemned, to introduce privily old-wives’ incantations or unbecoming love-potions, contrived for the ruin of innocent people. And when these were in a court where there was no law or scruple or justice to distinguish truth from falsehood, without opportunity for defence young and old without discrimination were robbed of their goods and, although they were found stained by no fault, after being maimed in all their limbs were carried off in litters to execution. 4 As a result, throughout the oriental provinces owners of books, through fear of a like fate, burned their entire libraries; so great was the terror that had seized upon all. Indeed, to speak briefly, at that time we all crept about as if in Cimmerian darkness, feeling the same fears as the guests of the Sicilian Dionysius, who, while filled to repletion with banquets more terrible than any possible hunger, saw with a shudder the swords hanging over their heads from the ceilings of the rooms in which they reclined and held only by single horsehairs.

5 At that time Bassianus also, one of a most illustrious family and serving as a secretary of the first class, was accused of trying to gain foreknowledge of higher power, although he himself declared that he had merely inquired about the sex of a child which his wife expected; but by the urgent efforts of the kinsfolk by whom he was defended, he was saved from death; but he was stripped of his rich patrimony.

6 Amid the crash of so many ruins Heliodorus, that hellish contriver with Palladius of all evils, being a mathematician (in the parlance of the vulgar) and pledged by secret instructions from the imperial court, after he had been cajoled by every enticement of kindness to induce him to reveal what he knew or could invent, now put forth his deadly stings. 7 For he was most solicitously pampered with the choicest foods, and earned a great amount of contributed money for presents to his concubines; and so he strode about anywhere and everywhere, displaying his grim face, which struck fear into all. And his assurance was the greater because, in his capacity as chamberlain, he constantly and openly visited the women’s apartments, to which, as he himself desired, he freely resorted, displaying the warrants of the Father of his People, which were to be a cause of grief to many. 8 And through these warrants Heliodorus instructed Palladius (as though he were an advocate in public law-suits) what to put at the beginning of his speech, in order the more easily to make it effective and strong, or with which figures of rhetoric he ought to aim at brilliant passages.

9 And since it would be a long story to tell all this gallows-bird contrived, I will recount this one case, showing with what audacious confidence he smote the very pillars of the patriciate. For made enormously insolent by secret conferences with people of the court, as has been said, and through his very worthlessness easy to be hired to commit any and every crime, he accused that admirable pair of consuls, the two brothers Eusebius and Hypatius (connections by marriage of the late emperor Constantius) of having aspired to a desire for higher fortune, and of having made inquiries and formed plans about the sovereignty; and he added to the path which he had falsely devised for his fabrication that royal robes had even been made ready for Eusebius. 10 Eagerly drinking this in, the menacing madman, to whom nothing ought to have been permitted, since he thought that everything, even what was unjust, was allowed him, inexorably summoned from the farthest boundaries of the empire all those whom the accuser, exempt from the laws, with profound assurance had insisted ought to be brought before him, and ordered a calumnious trial to be set on foot. 11 And when in much-knotted bonds of constriction justice had long been trodden down and tied tightly, and the wretched scoundrel persisted in his strings of assertions, severe tortures could force no confession, but showed that these distinguished men were far removed even from any knowledge of anything of the kind. Nevertheless, the calumniator was as highly honoured as before, while the accused were punished with exile and with fines; but shortly afterwards they were recalled, had their fines remitted, and were restored to their former rank and honour unimpaired.

12 Yet after these so lamentable events Valens acted with no more restraint or shame; since excessive power does not reflect that it is unworthy for men of right principles, even to the disadvantage of their enemies, willingly to plunge into crime, and that nothing is so ugly as for a cruel nature to be joined to lofty pride of power. 13 But when Heliodorus died (whether naturally or through some deliberate violence is uncertain; I would rather not say “too late”: I only wish that even the facts did not speak to that effect!) his body was carried out by the undertakers, and many men of rank, clad in mourning, were ordered to precede it, including the brothers who had been consuls. 14 Thereby the entire rottenness of the folly of the empire’s ruler was then completely revealed; for although he was earnestly besought to refrain from this inexcusable insult, yet he remained so inflexible that he seemed to have stopped his ears with wax, as if he were going to pass the rocks of the Sirens. 15 At last, however, he yielded to insistent prayers, and ordered that some persons should precede the ill-omened bier of the body-snatcher to the tomb, marching with bare heads and feet, some also with folded hands. My mind shrinks from recalling, during that suspension of justice, how many men of the highest rank, especially ex-consuls, after having carried the staves of honour and worn purple robes, and having their names made known to all the world in the Roman calendar, were seen exposed to humiliation. 16 Conspicuous among all of these was our Hypatius, a man recommended from his youth by noble virtues, of quiet and calm discretion, and of a nobility and gentleness measured as it were by the plumb-line; he conferred honour on the fame of his ancestors and himself gave glory to posterity by the admirable acts of his two prefectures.

17 At the time Valens added this also to the rest of his glories, that while in other instances he was so savagely cruel as to grieve that the great pain of his punishments could not continue after death, yet he spared the tribune Numerius, a man of surpassing wickedness! This man was convicted at that same time on his own confession of having dared to cut open the womb of a living woman and take out her unripe offspring, in order to evoke the ghosts of the dead and consult them about a change of rulers; yet Valens, who looked on him with the eye of an intimate friend, in spite of the murmurs of the whole Senate gave orders that he should escape unpunished, and retain his life, his enviable wealth, and his military rank unimpaired.

18 O noble system of wisdom, by heaven’s gift bestowed upon the fortunate, thou who hast often ennobled even sinful natures! How much wouldst thou have corrected in those dark days, if it had been permitted Valens to learn through you that royal power — as the philosophers declare — is nothing else than the care for others’ welfare; that it is the duty of a good ruler to restrain his power, to resist unbounded desire and implacable anger, and to know — as the dictator Caesar used to say — that the recollection of cruelty is a wretched support for old age. And therefore, if he is going to pass judgment affecting the life and breath of a human being, who forms a part of the world and completes the number of living things, he ought to hesitate long and greatly and not be carried away by headlong passion to a point where what is done cannot be undone; of which we have a very well-known instance in olden times. 19 A woman of Smyrna confessed before Dolabella, the proconsul of Asia, that she had poisoned her husband and her own son by him, because (as she said) she had discovered that they had killed her son by a former marriage; but she was ordered to appear again two days later. Since the council, to which according to custom the matter was referred, uncertain what distinction ought to be made between revenge and crimes, hesitated to decide, she was sent before the Areopagites, those strict judges at Athens, whose justice is said to have decided disputes even among the gods. They, after having considered the case, ordered the woman to appear before them with her accuser a hundred years later, since they did not wish either to acquit a poisoner or punish an avenger of her kindred; for that is never thought late which is the last of all things.

20 After these various deeds of injustice which have already been mentioned, and the marks of torture shamefully branded upon the bodies of such free men as had survived, the never-closing eye of Justice, the eternal witness and avenger of all things, was watchfully attentive. For the last curses of the murdered, moving the eternal godhead through the just ground of their complaints, had kindled the firebrands of Bellona; so that the truth of the oracle was confirmed, which had predicted that no crimes would go unpunished.

21 While these events, which have just been described, during the cessation of the Parthian storm were being spread abroad at Antioch in the form of internal troubles, the awful band of the Furies, after making a rolling flood of manifold disasters, left that city and settled on the shoulders of all Asia, in the following way. 22 A certain Festinus of Tridentum, a man of the lowest and most obscure parentage, was admitted by Maximinus even into the ties of affection which true brothers show, for he had been his boon companion and with him had assumed the manly gown. By decree of the fates this man passed over to the Orient, and there in the administration of Syria, and after serving as master of the rolls, he left behind him praiseworthy examples of mildness and of respect for law; and when later he was advanced to the governorship of Asia with proconsular authority, he sailed to glory with a fair wind, as the saying is. 23 But hearing that Maximinus planned to wipe out all decent men, from that time on he decried his actions as dangerous and shameful. But when he learned that Maximinus, merely through the recommendation of the deaths of those whom he had impiously slain, had attained the honour of prefect contrary to his deserts, he was aroused to similar deeds and hopes. Like an actor, suddenly changing his mask, he conceived the desire of doing harm and stalked about with intent and cruel eyes, imagining that the prefecture would soon be his if he also should have stained himself with the punishment of the innocent. 24 And although many of the various acts which he committed were very harsh, to express it mildly, yet it will suffice to mention a few which are familiar and generally known, and done in emulation of those which had taken place in Rome. For the principle of good or bad deeds is the same everywhere, even if the greatness of the situation is not the same. 25 He executed a philosopher called Coeranius, a man of no slight merit, after he had resisted tortures of savage cruelty, because in a letter to his wife of a personal nature he had added in Greek: “But do you take note and crown the house door,” which is a common proverbial expression, used in order that the hearer may know that something of greater importance than usual is to be done. 26 There was a simple-minded old woman who was in the habit of curing intermittent fevers with a harmless charm. He caused her to be put to death as a criminal, after she had been called in with his own knowledge and had treated his daughter. 27 Among the papers of a distinguished townsman, of which an examination had been ordered for some business reason, the horoscope of a certain Valens was found; when the person concerned was asked why he had cast the nativity of the emperor, he defended himself against the false charge by saying that he had had a brother named Valens, and that he had died long ago. He promised to show this by proofs of full credibility, but they did not wait for the truth to be discovered, and he was tortured and butchered. 28 In the bath a young man was seen to touch alternately with the fingers of either hand first the marble and then his breast, and to count the seven vowels, thinking it a helpful remedy for a stomach trouble. He was haled into court, tortured and beheaded.

3 Various instances of the ferocity and savage cruelty of Valentinianus Augustus in the western regions.

1 At this point, as I turn my pen to Gaul, the order and series of events is a turmoil, since we find Maximus, who is now prefect, in the midst of many cruel deeds; for being in possession of extensive power, he was added as an ill-omened incentive to the emperor, who united with the majesty of his position unendurable tyranny. Therefore, whoever ponders what I have told, should also carefully weigh the rest which are passed over in silence; and, like a reasonable person, he will pardon me for not including everything which deliberate wickedness committed by exaggerating the importance of the charges. 2 For Valentinian, who was naturally savage, as bitterness (which is a foe to righteous conduct) increased in him after the coming of the aforesaid Maximinus, having no one to give better advice or to restrain him, was carried as if by surging waves and tempests from one cruel act to another; to such a degree that, when he was in a passion, often his voice and expression, his gait and his colour, were changed. For his cruelty we have the testimony of various sure pieces of evidence, of which it will suffice to set down a few.

3 A well-grown youth of the class called pages was posted, holding in leash a Spartan hound, to watch for game at a hunt; but he let the dog loose before the designated time, because the animal in an effort to escape leaped at him in a rush and bit him; for that he was beaten to death with cudgels and buried the same day. 4 A man in charge of a smithy brought to the emperor a breastplate artistically embellished, and expected a reward for it; but Valentinian ordered him to be put to death with equal cruelty because the piece of iron armour had a little less weight than he had stipulated. An elder of the Christian faith from Epirus, who was a favourite of Octavianus, the former proconsul, . . . and the author of the charges was sent back, although somewhat tardily, to his home. 5 Constantianus, an officer of the stable, was sent to Sardinia to test horses to be used for military service, and because he had dared to exchange a few of them, he was stoned to death by the emperor’s order. Athanasius, a favourite charioteer of the day, so suspected by him for his general light-mindedness that he was ordered to be burned alive if he should try anything of the kind, not long afterward used magic arts and was charged therewith; and without indulgence being granted to a man who was an artist in entertainments, he was condemned to be burned to death. 6 Africanus, a busy pleader of cases at law in the city, after governing a province, aspired to the rule of another; but when Theodosius, general of the cavalry, supported him in his request, the kind emperor gave this somewhat boorish reply: “Go, general, and change his head for him, since he wants a change in his province.” And by this pronouncement an eloquent man lost his life merely for hastening, like many, for advancement. 7 Claudius and Sallustius, of the Jovian legion, who had advanced as far as the rank of tribune, were accused by a fellow whose low origin in itself made him an object of contempt, on the ground that when Procopius had aspired to the imperial power they had spoken some good words for him; but although constant inquisitions revealed nothing, the emperor ordered the generals of the cavalry, who were hearing the case, to drive Claudius into exile and condemn Sallustius to death, promising to pardon the latter on his way to execution. But when this had been done according to the directions, Sallustius’ life was not spared and Claudius was not freed from the sorrow of banishment until after the death of the aforesaid Valentinian . . . decidedly refused, although they were repeatedly tortured. 8 Accordingly, although inquisitions followed thick and fast, and some died in consequence of excessive torture, not even a trace of the alleged crimes was found. In this business even the bodyguards who had been sent to arrest persons . . . were beaten to death with cudgels, contrary to all precedent.

9 My mind shrinks from enumerating all the cases, and at the same time I dread seeming to give the impression of purposely having sought out merely the defects of a prince who was a very proper man in other ways. Yet one thing it is just neither to pass over nor to leave unmentioned, namely this, that having two savage, man-eating she-bears, one called Goldflake and the other Innocence, he looked after them with such extreme care that he placed their cages near his own bedroom, and appointed trustworthy keepers, who were to take particular care that the beasts’ lamentable savageness should not by any chance be destroyed. Finally, after he had seen the burial of many corpses of those whom Innocence had torn to pieces, he allowed her to return to the forest unhurt, as a good and faithful servant, in the hope that she would have cubs like herself . . .

4 Valentinianus Augustus crosses the Rhine on a bridge of boats, but although Macrianus, king of the Alamanni, was off his guard, he was prevented from capturing him through the fault of the soldiers.

1 These, then, are undeniable indications of Valentinian’s character and his blood-thirsty tendency. But, on the other hand, no one, not even one of his persistent detractors, will reproach him with lack of ingenuity in behalf of the state, especially if one bears in mind that it was a more valuable service to check the barbarians by frontier defences than to defeat them in battle. And when he had given . . . if any of the enemy made a move, he was seen from above from the watch-towers, and overcome.

2 But among many other cares, his first and principal aim was to capture alive by violence or by craft King Macrianus, just as, long before, Julian took Vadomarius; for Macrianus, amid the frequent changes in the policy followed towards him, had increased in power, and now was rising against our countrymen with full-grown strength. Accordingly, having first provided what the circumstances and the time demanded, and having learned from the reports of deserters where the said king, who expected no hostile move, could be seized, Valentinian threw a pontoon across the Rhine as quietly as his means allowed, lest anyone should interfere with the bridge while it was being put together. 3 And first Severus, who commanded the infantry forces, took the lead by marching against Mattiacae Aquae; but alarmed when he considered the small number of his soldiers, he halted, fearing that he might be unable to resist the onrushing hordes of the enemy, and so might be overcome by them. 4 There he chanced to find some of the traders loading slaves intended for sale, and because he suspected that they would quickly run off and report what they had seen, he took their wares from them and killed them all. 5 Then the generals, encouraged by the arrival of additional troops, encamped, with a view to a very short stay, since no one had a pack-animal or a tent, except the emperor, for whom a rug and a rough blanket sufficed for such a shelter. Then, after delaying for a time on account of the darkness of night, as soon as the morning-star uprose, since the campaign called for haste, they advanced farther, led by guides who knew the roads; and a large force of cavalry was ordered to precede them under command of Theodosius, that nothing might be unobserved . . . was lying at the time; but he was prevented by the continuous noise made by his men; for although he constantly commanded them to abstain from plundering and setting fires, he could not make them obey. For the crackling flames and the dissonant shouts awakened the king’s attendants, and suspecting what had happened, they placed him in a swift wagon and hid him in a narrow pass of the precipitous hills. 6 Valentinian was robbed of this glory, not by his own fault or that of his generals, but by the indiscipline of the soldiers, which has often caused the Roman state heavy losses; so, after reducing the enemy’s territory to ashes for fifty miles, he returned sadly to Treves. 7 There, as a lion, because he has lost a deer or a goat, gnashes his empty jaws, just when the forces of the enemy were broken and scattered by fear, in place of Macrianus he made Fraomarius king of the Bucinobantes, a tribe of the Alamanni dwelling opposite Mainz. And soon afterwards, since a recent invasion had utterly devastated that canton, he transferred him to Britain with the rank of tribune, and gave him command of a troop of the Alamanni which at that time was distinguished for its numbers and its strength. Bitheridus, indeed, and Hortarius (chiefs of the same nation) he appointed to commands in the army; but of these Hortarius was betrayed by a report of Florentius, commander in Germany, of having written certain things to the detriment of the state to Macrianus and the chiefs of the barbarians, and after the truth was wrung from him by torture he suffered the penalty of death by burning.

5 Theodosius, commander of the cavalry in Gaul, in many battles exhausts the Moor Firmus, son of prince Nubel, who had revolted from Valentinian, and after finally driving him to suicide restores peace to Africa.

1 Then amid . . . it has seemed best to give an account, without a break, of what happened next, lest while, amongst matters and places widely separated, others are intruded, the survey of many varying events may inevitably be confused.

2 Nubel, as a petty king, had great power among the Moorish peoples; on departing from life, besides legitimate sons he left some that were the offspring of concubines. Of the latter Zammac, who was beloved by the general called Romanus, was secretly murdered by his brother Firmus, an act which occasioned dissensions and wars. For Romanus, hastening with extreme zeal to avenge his death, resorted to many formidable means for the destruction of the assassin; and, as persistent rumours divulged, even at court vigorous measures were taken to make sure that the reports of Romanus, which heaped up many serious charges against Firmus, should be gladly received and read out to the emperor; and many voices united in supporting these reports. But, on the contrary, the arguments which Firmus through his friends frequently presented in his defence for the purpose of saving his life, although they were received, were long concealed; for Remigius, at that time marshal of the court, a relative and friend of Romanus, declared that amid the more important and pressing business of the emperor such trivial and superfluous communications could not be read until opportunity offered.

3 When the Moor perceived that these things were being done to break down his defence, he was now in dread of the worst; and fearing that the rebuttal which he offered would be set aside and he would be executed without a trial as dangerous and unruly, he revolted from the rule of the empire, and sought the help of neighbouring peoples . . . for devastating . . . 4 To avert this danger before an implacable enemy should increase in strength, Theodosius, commander of the cavalry, was sent with the aid of a small body of the court troops, since in his merits (as a man efficient in accomplishing his ends) he surpassed all others of his time. He might well be compared with Domitius Corbulo and Lusius of old, of whom the former under Nero, the latter during Trajan’s reign, were famed for many brave deeds. 5 Then setting out from Arles under favourable auspices and crossing the sea with the fleet under his command, preceded by no report of his coming he landed on the coast of Sitifian Mauritania, which the natives call Igilgilitanum. There he chanced upon Romanus, whom he addressed courteously, and sent him to take charge of the guards and frontier defences, with a very slight rebuke for the conduct which made him apprehensive. 6 When Theodorus had departed to Caesarean Mauritania, he sent Gildo, the brother of Firmus, and Maximus to arrest Vincentius, who as second in command to Romanus participated in his insolence and thefts. 7 Then, after being joined by his troops somewhat tardily, since they were delayed by the long sea-voyage, he hastened to Sitifis, and gave orders that Romanus should, with his attendants, be handed over to the guard, to be kept in custody. During his stay in that town Theodosius was torn with twofold anxiety and turned over many things in his mind, considering by what way and by what devices he might lead his soldiers, who were accustomed to a cold climate, through lands parched with heat, or might capture an enemy who was a runabout, making sudden moves and trusting rather to secret ambuscades than to stand-up fights.

8 When this became known to Firmus, at first through uncertain rumour and then through definite information, overcome by the arrival of so brilliant a general, he sent envoys with a letter to ask pardon and indulgence for what had happened, declaring that he had not of his own volition taken a hasty step which he knew to be criminal, but because of unjust and outrageous treatment by Romanus, as he promised to show. 9 When the general had read the letter, he accepted hostages and promised peace; he then proceeded to the station called Pancharia, in order to review the legions which were guarding Africa and had been bidden to assemble in that place. There he aroused the hope of all by a lofty, but discreet, address, and returned to Sitifis, where he united the native troops and those which he himself had brought; then, impatient of further delay, he hastened with all speed to open the campaign. 10 But among many other excellent measures he made himself immensely more beloved by this — that he did not allow the provincials to furnish supplies for the army, declaring with splendid confidence that the harvests and stores of the enemy were the granaries of our valorous troops.

11 After these arrangements had thus been made to the joy of the land-owners, he marched to Tubusuptum, a town near Mount Ferratus, but declined to receive a second deputation from Firmus, because, contrary to the previous agreement, it had brought no hostages with it. From there he carefully examined into everything, so far as present circumstances allowed, and then advanced rapidly against the peoples of the Tyndenses and the Masinissenses, who were provided only with light arms and were led by Mascizel and Dius, brothers of Firmus. 12 When the enemy, active in all their limbs, were in sight, a fierce battle began after volleys of missiles from both sides; amid the groans of the dying and the wounded the mournful howls of the barbarians were heard, as they were taken prisoner or killed; and when the contest was ended, many fields were plundered and burned. 13 Among such disasters conspicuous were those to an estate called Petrensis, which its owner, Salmaces, a brother of Firmus had built up in the manner of a city, and which was utterly destroyed. The victor, elated by this success, with remarkable speed seized the town of Lamfoctum, situated among the aforesaid peoples, where he caused an abundance of provisions to be stored, so that if on penetrating farther into the country he met with a scarcity of food, he might order it to be brought from near at hand. 14 During the course of these events Mascizel, having recovered his strength by bringing in helpers from neighbouring tribes, engaged with our men; but when very many of his troops were routed, he himself barely escaped the danger of death through the swiftness of his horse.

15 Firmus, weakened by the losses of two battles and chafing in his inmost heart, in order not to neglect even one last measure, sent priests of the Christian sect with hostages to beg for peace. These were received courteously and, on their promise to furnish the necessities of life for the soldiers, as was ordered, they brought back a favourable reply and peace; whereupon the Moor himself, after sending presents, went with some confidence to the Roman general, mounted upon a horse that would prove useful in times of danger; and when he had come near, dazzled by the gleaming standards and the fear-inspiring expression of Theodorus, he sprang from his mount, and with bowed neck almost prostrate on the ground blamed with tears his rashness, and begged for pardon and peace. 16 Being received with a kiss, since the interests of the state so demanded, he was now filled with joyful hope, furnished a sufficient amount of provisions, left some of his relatives by way of hostages, and went away, after agreeing to fulfil his promise and return the captives which he had taken at the very beginning of the rebellion. Two days later, without hesitation, he restored, as had been ordered, the town of Icosium, of whose founders I spoke before, the military standards, and the priestly crown, as well as the rest of the booty which he had taken.

17 When after this our general had hurried through long marches and was now entering Tipasa, to envoys from the Mazices, who had joined with Firmus, and humbly begged for pardon, he replied with lofty spirit that he would at once take the field against them as traitors. 18 And when they, paralysed with fear of the imminent danger, had been ordered to return to their homes, he went on to Caesarea, formerly a powerful and famous city, the origin of which I have also fully discussed in my description of the topography of Africa. On entering the city, and finding it almost wholly burned down from widespread fires, and the paving-stones white with mould, he decided to station the first and second legions there for a time, with orders to clear away the heaps of ashes and keep guard there, to prevent the place for being devastated by a renewed attack of the savages.

19 When these events had been spread abroad by frequent and trustworthy rumours, the officials of the province and the tribune Vincentius came out of the hiding-places in which they had taken refuge, and at last, free from fear, quickly appeared before the general. He, after having seen and received them gladly, being then still at Caesarea, inquired carefully about the true state of affairs; he learned that Firmus, under pretence of fear and submission, was secretly forming the plan of throwing our army into confusion, as if by a sudden tempest, while it feared no hostile demonstration. 20 Therefore he turned from there and came to the municipal town of Sugabarritanum, on the slope of the Transcellian mountain, where he found the horsemen of the fourth cohort of archers, which had gone over to the rebel; and to show that he was content with a somewhat mild punishment, he degraded them all to the lowest class of the service; then he ordered them and a part of the Constantian infantry, with their tribunes, one of whom had placed his neck-chain, in place of a diadem, on Firmus’ head, to come to Tigaviae. 21 While this was going on, Gildo and Maximus returned, bringing Belles, one of the chiefs of the Mazices, and Fericius, prefect of the tribe, who had aided the party of the disturber of the public peace . . . 22 When this had been done according to order, at daybreak he himself came out, and finding the rebels surrounded by his army, he said: “What think you, my devoted comrades, ought to be done with these abominable traitors?” And acceding to the acclamation of those who asked that they should pay for it with their blood, he turned over those who served among the Constantiani to the soldiers, seem to be slain in the old-fashioned way. But he had the hands of the leaders of the archers cut off and punished the rest with death, following the example of that strictest of leaders Curio, who put an end by a punishment of that kind to the wildness of the Dardani, when, like the Lernaean hydra, they constantly gained new life. 23 But malevolent detractors, while praising that act of the olden time, find fault with this one as cruel and inhuman, declaring that the Dardani were murderous enemies and justly suffered the punishment which befell them, while these, on the contrary, were soldiers under the flag who had allowed themselves to commit a single fault and deserved to have been punished more leniently. But such folk we remind of what they perhaps do not know, that this cohort was harmful, not only in its action, but also in the example which it set. 24 The aforesaid Belles and Fericius, whom Gildo had brought, and Curandius, tribune of the archers, he ordered to be put to death, the last named on the ground that he never wished either to engage with the enemy himself or to encourage his men to fight. Moreover, Theodorus did this bearing in mind the saying of Cicero: “Wholesome strength is better than a vain show of mercy.”

25 Setting out from there, he came to an estate called Gaionatis, surrounded by a strong wall and hence a very safe refuge for the Moors. Against this he brought up his battering-rams and destroyed it, including all the inhabitants and levelling the walls; then advancing over the Ancorarian mountain to Castellum Tingitanum, he attacked the Mazices, who were gathered together into one body and replied with missiles which came flying like hail. 26 And after both sides had rushed in to the attack, the Mazices, though a warlike and hardy race, could not resist the columns of our men, charging with all their strength and weapons, but involved in heavy losses at various points fled in shameful terror; and as they rushed to escape all were cut down except those who found a means of getting away, and later by abject prayers obtained the pardon which circumstances made it advisable to grant. 27 Suggen, when their leader . . . had succeeded Romanus, was ordered to go to Mauritania Sitifensis, in order to keep guard and prevent the province from being overrun, while he himself, encouraged by past successes, marched against the tribe of the Musones, which consciousness of their deeds of plunder and blood had joined with the enterprise of Firmus, since they hoped he would soon attain greater power.

28 Having advanced some distance, near the municipal town of Adda Theodosius learned that a great number of tribes, differing in civilization and in variety of language, but united in their purpose, were stirring up the beginnings of cruel wars, instigated and abetted through very great hope of rewards by a sister of Firmus named Cyria, who, abounding in wealth and in feminine persistence, had resolved to make great efforts to aid her brother. 29 Therefore Theodosius, fearing lest he should involve himself in an unequal contest, and if he confronted a vast horde with only a few troops — for he had under his command only 2500 armed men — might lose them all, wavered between the shame of retreat and the desire for battle; but at last he gradually withdrew and made off, with the horde pressing at his heels. 30 The foe, tremendously elated by this success, followed persistently . . . so that he found it necessary to fight; but he himself would have been killed and his army utterly annihilated, had not the enemy, attacking in disorder, seen afar off the auxiliaries of the Mazices, in the van of which were some Romans; so thinking that they were attacked by many columns, they turned in flight and opened to our men ways of escape which before had been blocked. 31 From there, leading his army safe and sound, Theodosius came to an estate called Mazucanus, where he burned a few deserters alive and mutilated the rest as he had the archers whose hands were cut off; and in the month of February he reached Tipasa. 32 There he made a long halt, and after the manner of the famous Lingerer of old took counsel with himself as the circumstances demanded, planning, if chance gave the opportunity, rather through strategy and discretion than by the danger of battle, to overthrow an enemy who was pugnacious and effective in the use of missiles. 33 Nevertheless he constantly sent men experienced in persuasion to the surrounding tribes, the Baiurae, Cantauriani, Avastomates, Cafaves, Bavares, and other neighbours, to entice them to an alliance, now by fear, now by bribes, and sometimes by promising pardon for their impudence with . . . intending by subterfuges and delays to overcome an enemy who foiled his attacks, as Pompey once vanquished Mithridates.

34 Therefore Firmus, to avoid imminent destruction, although he was protected by a strong body of troops, abandoned the army which he had got together at great expense; and when the quiet of night gave him the opportunity of concealment, he made his way into the far distant Caprariensian mountains, which are inaccessible because of their steep crags. 35 In consequence of his secret departure his army scattered and roamed about in small bands without a leader, thus giving our men the opportunity of invading their camp. After this was plundered and those who resisted were killed or received in surrender, the greater part of the country was devastated and our prudent leader put prefects of tried fidelity in charge of the peoples through whose country he was marching. 36 The public enemy, terrified by this unexpected confidence of the pursuit, quickly departed, accompanied by a few slaves, in order to provide for his safety; and to prevent being impeded by any hindrance, he threw away packs containing valuable articles which he had carried off with him. For his wife, worn out by continual hardships and by dangers 37 . . . Theodosius, sparing none of the enemy who came near, after refreshing his soldiers with better food and their pay, as well as disposing of the Caprarienses and their neighbours the Abanni in a slight skirmish, hastened to the municipal town of Audia. But having learned from trustworthy sources that the savages had already taken possession of hills which extended upwards in all directions in winding masses, and could be penetrated by no one except natives who were thoroughly acquainted with the locality, he retreated and thereby during the cessation of hostilities, brief though it was, gave the enemy an opportunity of being strengthened by very numerous auxiliaries from the Aethiopians who dwelt near by. 38 When the foe, with united forces and threatening uproar, taking no thought for their own lives, rushed to battle, they drove off Theodosius in great terror at the fearful sight of their countless throngs. But he took courage and at once returned, bringing an abundance of provisions, and with his men in close order and brandishing their shields in a terrifying posture, met the enemy hand to hand. 39 Then, although the bands of raging savages, blaring some ferocious tune on their barbaric trumpets and also clashing their bucklers against their knees, were close upon him, nevertheless, like a careful and discreet warrior, though distrusting the small number of his men, he formed a hollow square and then advanced boldly. Then he fearlessly turned aside to a city called Conta, where Firmus, since it was a concealed and lofty fortress, had placed those of our men whom he had captured. But Theodosius recovered them all, and severely punished the traitors and the attendants of Firmus, as was his custom.

40 While he was thus most successful, with the aid of the mighty godhead, a trustworthy scout informed him that Firmus had fled to the Isaflenses; whereupon he invaded their lands, to demand the traitor as well as his brother Mazuca and the rest of his kinsfolk; and when his demand was refused, he declared war upon that race. 41 A fierce battle followed, since the savages were uncommonly ferocious; but he opposed his army to them in circular formation and the Isaflenses were so overcome by the weight of the onrushing troops that many of them were slain. Firmus himself, after fighting bravely and often risking his life, was carried off in headlong flight by his horse, which was accustomed to run swiftly over rocks and crags; but his brother Mazuca was fatally wounded and taken prisoner. 42 Theodosius gave orders to send Mazuca to Caesarea, a city on which the Moor had branded the savage marks of his evil deeds; but he tore open his wound and died. However, his head was torn off, leaving the rest of his body intact, and to the great joy of all who saw it was brought into the aforesaid city. 43 After this our famous general overcame the race of the Isaflenses, who still resisted, and, as justice demanded, inflicted many vexatious penalties upon them. There Evasius, an important citizen, Florus his son, and some others, who were clearly convicted of having aided the violator of peace by secret counsel, were burned alive.

44 Then Theodosius marched further into the country, and with great courage attacked the tribe of the Iubaleni, to which he had learned that Nubel, the father of Firmus, belonged; but he was brought to a halt by the high mountains and the circuitous passes; and although he attacked the enemy and after killing many of them opened a way, yet dreading the high hills, so well adapted to ambuscades, he led his men back in safety to the fortress of Audia. There the wild race of the Iesalenses voluntarily surrendered, promising to furnish aid and provisions.

45 The mighty leader, exulting in these and similar glorious actions, then went in quest of the disturber of peace himself with a mighty effort of strength. To that end he made a long halt near the castle of Medianum, hoping that through many carefully devised plans Firmus might be betrayed into his hands. 46 While he was looking forward to this with perplexed thoughts and deep care, he found that his enemy had returned to the Isaflenses; whereupon he did not delay, as before, but attacked them with all the speed he could. Their king, Igmazen by name, who was highly regarded in those parts and notable for his resources, boldly came forward to meet him. “What is your rank,” said he, “or what have you come here to do? Tell me.” Theodosius, with stern glance and resolute mind, replied: “I am the general of Valentinian, lord of the world, sent to destroy a murderous robber. Unless you give him up at once, as the invincible emperor has ordered, you will perish utterly with the race over which you rule.” On hearing this, Igmazen, after heaping a flood of abuse upon the general, departed, full of wrath and resentment. 47 At the first appearance of the following daylight both armies, with threatening mien, advanced to meet each other in battle. Nearly 20,000 savages were stationed in the very van, with bands of reserves concealed behind them, in order that they might gradually rise up and surround our men with their unexpected numbers. Besides these there were a great many auxiliaries from the Iesalenses, who, as we have pointed out, had promised help and provisions to our side. 48 On the other hand, the Romans, although very few in number, nevertheless brave in spirit and encouraged by their former victories, pressed side to side in close order and with shields closely held together in the tortoise-formation, stood fast and resisted them; and the battle was continued from sunrise to the end of the day. A little before evening Firmus was seen, mounted on a tall horse, his purple cloak trailing out and spreading wide, urging our soldiers with loud shouts to take advantage of the opportunity and give up Theodosius, if they wished to be saved from the dangers to which they were exposed, calling him a fierce savage and a cruel deviser of inhuman punishments. 49 These unexpected words roused some to fight more fiercely but induced others to abandon the battle. Accordingly, when the first quiet of night came, and the landscape was wrapped in fear-inspiring darkness, the general returned to the stronghold of Duodia, and, reviewing his soldiers, rid himself by various forms of punishment of those whom panic and the words of Firmus had turned from their duty in the battle; some had their right hands cut off, others were burned alive. 50 And keeping watch by night with most vigilant care, he repulsed some of the barbarians who ventured to make an attempt on his camp after the setting of the moon, when they thought they could not be seen, or took prisoners those who rushed in table. Then departing by quick marches and following bypaths, he attacked the Iesalenses from a quarter where they could least expect it, believing them to be of doubtful loyalty, and so devastated their lands that they were reduced to dire need; then he returned by way of the towns of Mauritania Caesariensis to Sitifis, where he tortured to the verge of death and then burned alive Castor and Martinianus, as sharers in the robberies and atrocities of Romanus.

51 After this the war with the Isaflenses was renewed; and when in the first engagement great numbers of the savages were put to flight or killed, their king Igmazen, who had before been accustomed to victory, wavering through fear of the present danger, and thinking that because of his unlawful associations no hope of life was left him if he made obstinate resistance, rushed forth alone and with all possible caution and secrecy from the scene of the battle. When he came into the presence of Theodosius, he humbly begged that the general would order Masilla, a chief of the Mazices, to appear before him. 52 When Masilla had been sent to Theodosius, as he had asked, the king through him, in a secret interview, urged the general, who by his own nature was inclined to resolution, that in order to provide himself with the means of accomplishing his desires, he should vigorously assail his fellow-countrymen, and by constant fighting reduce them to fear; he said that they were indeed inclined to favour the public enemy, but were wearied by their many losses. 53 Theodosius did as he was advised, and so wore out the Isaflenses by frequent contests, that they were falling like cattle; and Firmus for this secretly escaped, intending to hide in remote and lasting retreats; but while he was there planning flight, he was taken prisoner by Igmazen and kept in custody. 54 And since he had learned through Masilla of the secret negotiations, he saw that in his extremity only one remedy was left, and decided by a voluntary death to spurn with his foot the desire to live. Accordingly, having purposely filled his guards and made them drunk, and in the silence of the night they were buried in sound sleep, he himself, kept awake by fear of the trouble which hung over him, with noiseless steps left his bed, by creeping on hands and knees got himself some distance off, and finding a rope which he had procured for the calamity of ending his life, he hung it from a nail fastened in the wall, and putting his neck in it breathed his last without the torments of a painful death.

55 This event troubled Igmazen, who lamented that he had been robbed of glory, in not having had the good fortune of bringing the usurper alive to the Roman camp. Therefore, after gaining a public pledge of safety through Masilla he placed the corpse of the dead man on his camel to bring it in; and on reaching the tents of the army, which were pitched near the fortress of Subicara, he transferred the body to a pack-animal and himself offered it to the exultant Theodosius. 56 The latter called together his soldiers and with them the populace, and asked them whether they recognized the features; and when he had learned beyond any doubt that it was the face of Firmus, after a brief stay there he returned to Sitifis in the guise of a triumphing general, where he was received with applause and commendation by all, of every age and rank.

6 The Quadi, aroused by the ruthless murder of their king Gabinius, with the Sarmatians lay waste Pannonia and Valeria with fire and sword, and almost wholly destroyed two legions. Of the city prefecture of Claudius.

1 While the said general was panting through this dust of Mars throughout Mauritania and Africa, the Quadi, who had long been quiet, were suddenly aroused to an outbreak; they are a nation now not greatly to be feared, but were formerly immensely warlike and powerful, as is shown by their swift and sudden swoops in former times, their siege of Aquileia in company with the Marcomanni, the destruction of Opitergium, and many other bloody deeds performed in rapid campaigns; so that when they broke through the Julian Alps, the emperor Marcus Pius, of whom we have previously written, could with difficulty check them. And, for savages, they had a just cause of complaint. 2 For Valentinian from the very beginning of his reign burned with a desire of protecting his frontiers, which was indeed praiseworthy, but carried too far; for he ordered the building of a garrison-camp across the Danube in the very territories of the Quadi, as if they were already claimed for Roman rule. The natives, being indignant at this and cautious for their own interests, tried to prevent them for a time merely by a deputation and by whispered complaints. 3 But Maximinus, being prone to every kind of wickedness and unable to control his native arrogance, which was swollen still more by his prefecture, upbraided Aequitius, who was at the time commander of the cavalry in Illyricum, as rebellious and slothful in not yet having finished the work the earlier construction of which had been arranged; and he added, as if having regard for the general welfare, that if the rank of general in Valeria were given to his own son Marcellianus, the fortification would rise without any excuses. 4 Both objects were presently attained. When the newly appointed general had set out and had reached the spot, with unreasonable arrogance, as was to be expected of the son of such a father, without any words to soothe those whom the dreams of a design never actually carried out was driving from their country, he took up the work which had been begun a short time before, but was suspended because of the opportunity given for protesting. 5 Finally, when king Gabinius mildly asked that no new step should be taken, he pretended that he would assent, and with feigned kindness invited the king with others to a banquet. But as Gabinius was departing after the feast and suspected no treachery, Marcellianus, with abominable violation of the sacred duties of hospitality, had him murdered.

6 The report of so atrocious a deed at once spread abroad on all sides and roused the Quadi and the tribes around them to madness. Weeping for the death of the king, they mustered and sent out devastating bands, which crossed the Danube while no hostility was anticipated, and fell upon the country people, who were busy with their harvest; most of them they killed, the survivors they led home as prisoners, along with a quantity of all kinds of domestic animals. 7 Surely at that time an irreparable crime would have been committed, to be numbered among the shameful disasters of Roman history; for the daughter of Constantius, when being conducted to marry Gratianus, was very nearly captured while she was taking food in a public villa called Pristensis, but (by the favour of the propitious godhead) Messalla, the governor of the province, was at hand and placed her in a state-carriage and took her in all haste back to Sirmium, twenty-six miles away.

8 After the princess was saved by this fortunate chance from the danger of wretched slavery, which, if it had been impossible to ransom the captive, would have branded the state with the greatest disaster, the Quadi, in company with the Sarmatians, ranged more widely; and being peoples most skilled in rapine and brigandage, they drove off as booty human beings of both sexes as well as cattle, exulting in the ashes of burned farmhouses and the sufferings of the slain inhabitants, whom they took by surprise and destroyed without any mercy. 9 So, when the dread of similar evils spread over the whole neighbouring country, Probus, the praetorian prefect, then at Sirmium, being accustomed to no horrors of war and so overcome by the sorrowful and unusual sights that he barely raised his eyes, hesitated for a long time in doubt what action to take. And after he had equipped swift horses and determined on flight the next night, he thought of a safer plan and remained where he was. 10 For he had learnt that all those who were shut up within the walls would at once follow him, in order to take refuge in convenient hiding-places; and that if this should happen, the city, being without defenders, would fall into the hands of the enemy. 11 Therefore, soon calming his fear, he roused himself with vigorous effort to meet the urgent situation. He cleared out the moats, which were choked with rubbish, and being naturally inclined to building, since the walls through long-continued peace had in great part been neglected and had fallen, he raised them even to the completion of pinnacles of lofty towers. And the work was quickly finished, because he found that the materials which had long been collected for the purpose of building a theatre were sufficient for what he was hastening to accomplish. Also to this excellent plan he added another equally useful by summoning a cohort of bowmen from the nearest station, to aid them in a siege, if one should come.

12 By these stumbling-blocks (so to speak) the barbarians were turned from attacking the city, having little skill in such refinements of warfare as well as being impeded by their packs of booty, and turned to the pursuit of Aequitius. And when they learned from the information of prisoners that he had gone to the remote spaces of Valeria, they quickly made their way thither, grinding their teeth and bent upon cutting his throat for this reason — that they believed that it was he who had brought their guiltless king to destruction. 13 When this became known, at headlong speed two legions were sent to meet them in battle, the Pannonica and the Moesiaca, a strong combination for fighting, which, if they had acted in harmony, would undoubtedly have come off victorious. But while they were hastening to attack the bands of plunderers separately, they were made ineffective by quarrels that broke out between them, and contended for honour and prestige. 14 When the Sarmatians, who were very keen-witted, learned of this, without waiting for the usual signal for battle, they attacked the Moesiaca first; and while the soldiers were somewhat slow in getting their arms ready because of the confusion, they killed a great number of them, and then with increased confidence broke through the line of the Pannonica. They thus threw the whole army into disorder, and with repeated attacks would almost have annihilated it, had not speedy flight saved some from the danger of death.

15 At the time of these losses due to a harsher fortune, Theodosius the younger, general in Moesia, a young man whose beard was then only just beginning to appear, afterwards a most glorious emperor, worn out by frequent engagements, drove back and defeated the Free Sarmatians (so called to distinguish them from their rebellious slaves) who were invading our territories from the other side, crushing them in densely packed conflicts; and so thoroughly did he overwhelm the hordes which converged in floods and resisted most bravely, that he sated the birds and beasts of prey with a veritable feast of many slain. 16 Therefore, the remainder, their arrogance now cooling down, feared lest the same leader, a man of ready valour (as was evident), on his first entrance into their territories should lay low or put to flight the invading hordes, or should lay ambuscades for them in the dark woods; so, after making many vain attempts from time to time to break through, they lost their confidence for battle and begged for indulgence and pardon for the past. And after being thus conquered for the time, they did nothing in violation of the conditions of the peace that was granted them, being especially struck with fear because a strong force of Gallic troops had been added to the defence of Illyricum.

17 At the time when these storms, so many and so terrible, were causing constant disturbances, while Claudius was governing the Eternal City, the Tiber, which cuts through the midst of our walled town and, with many drains and streams pouring into it, mingles with the Tyrrenian Sea, was swollen by an excessive rainfall, and extending beyond the appearance of a river, covered almost the whole place. 18 While all the remaining quarters of the city, which extend down to a gentler level, were under water, the mountains alone, and such buildings as were especially high, were protected from present danger. And since the height of the waters prevented movement anywhere on foot, a supply of food was furnished in abundance by boats and skiffs, for fear that many people might starve to death. But, in fact, when the stormy weather moderated, and the river, which had broken its bonds, returned to its usual course, all fear was dispelled and no further trouble was looked for. 19 This prefect himself passed his term of office in complete quiet, allowing no public discord over and above reasonable remonstrance; and he restored many old buildings. Among others he built a huge colonnade near the Baths of Agrippa and called it the Portico of Good Outcome, because there is a temple to that deity to be seen near by.

Book XXX

1 Papa, king of the Armenians, called to the court by Valens and held prisoner at Tarsus under pretence of doing him honour, flees with 300 of his countrymen, and, eluding those who were watching the roads, returns to his kingdom on horseback, and shortly afterwards is killed at a banquet by the general Trajanus.

1 Amid these troublesome disturbances, which the treachery of a general brought about by the atrocious murder of the king of the Quadi, a terrible crime was committed in the Orient, where Papa, king of the Armenians, was killed by secret plots. Of this matter, which was conceived by a nefarious plan, the following (as we have learned) was the original cause. 2 Some crafty men, who had often fattened themselves through losses sustained by the public, brought before Valens and maliciously exaggerated a patchwork of charges against this kind, even then only just come to manhood. Among these was the general Terentius, a man who walked humbly and always wore a somewhat sad expression, but so long as he lived was a zealous abettor of dissensions. 3 He formed a cabal with a few of the gentiles who were in fear and suspense because of their misdeeds, and writing constantly to the court harped on the death of Cylaces and Arrabanes, adding that this same young king was aroused to acts of arrogance and was excessively cruel to his subjects. 4 Accordingly, under pretence that he was to take part in a consultation to be held at the time with regard to the present situation of affairs, the said Papa was summoned with the courtesy due to his royal rank; but at Tarsus in Cilicia he was put under guard as if it were doing him honour. And when he could neither get access to the emperor’s quarters, nor learn the reason for his urgent coming, since all kept silence, he finally found out through secret information, that Terentius by letters was advising the Roman ruler at once to appoint another king of Armenia, to prevent a nation that was useful to us from going over to the side of the Persians through hatred of Papa and the expectation that he would return; for they were burning with the desire of seizing Armenia by force, or threats, or flattery.

5 The king, thinking over the matter, foresaw that he was threatened by a sad end. And being now aware of the plot, and seeing no other way to save himself except by a swift departure, at the advice of trusted friends he got together three hundred companions who had followed him from his native country; and when the greater part of the day had passed they mounted swift horses and set out with more boldness than discretion, as is usual under pressing and doubtful alarms, and fearlessly hastened away in close order. 6 The governor of the province, aroused by a message from the officer who guarded the gate, proceeded in eager haste and overtook the king in the suburbs. He earnestly besought him to remain; but since this request was not granted, he turned his back through fear of his life. 7 More than that, when a legion followed him a little later and overtook him, Papa charged back with his bravest men, pouring in his arrows like a shower of sparks. He missed intentionally but put them to flight, so that the whole legion with its tribune was terrified and they all returned to the walls more briskly than they had come. 8 Then, freed from all fear, after completing two days and two nights of very toilsome marching, he came to the bank of the Euphrates; but since he had no boats he could not ford the eddying stream, so that many of his men, being unable to swim, were terrified, and the king himself hesitated most of all. Indeed, he would have remained there, if he had not, amid the various plans suggested by all, been able to find an expedient which seemed safest in their dire necessity. 9 They took the beds which they found in the farmhouses and supported each of them upon two bladders, of which there was an abundant supply in the vine-producing fields. The prince himself and his most distinguished followers seated themselves upon one of these, led their horses behind them, and by taking oblique courses avoided the high waves of the onrushing waters; and by this device, after extreme dangers, they at length reached the opposite bank. 10 All the rest, carried by their swimming horses, and often submerged and tossed about by the flood swirling around them, exhausted by the danger and the wetting, were thrown out on the opposite bank. There they refreshed themselves with a brief rest and went on more rapidly than on the days just past.

11 When this was reported, the emperor, greatly troubled by the flight of the king, and thinking that after escaping this snare he would break faith, sent Danielus and Barzimeres (the one a general, the other tribune of the targeteers) with a thousand nimble and light-armed archers, to call him back. 12 They, trusting to their knowledge of the region, since the king, though in haste, yet being a foreigner and unacquainted with the neighbourhood, kept making meanders and circles, got ahead of him by short cuts through the valleys. Then, dividing their forces, they beset the two nearest roads, which were separated by a distance of three miles, in order that, through whichever of the two he should pass, he might be caught off his guard; but the plan came to nothing through this chance event: 13 A wayfarer who was hastening towards the nearer bank of the river, seeing the ascent filled with armed soldiers, in order to avoid them took to a bypath between the two roads, rough with thickets and brambles; falling in with the wearied Armenians, and being led before the king, he told him in a private interview what he had seen; he was then detained, but not harmed. 14 Presently the king, pretending that there was nothing to fear, secretly sent a horseman on the road to the right with orders to secure lodging and food; but after he had gone a little way, another was ordered to go with all speed towards the left on a similar errand, but without knowing that the other horseman had been sent in a different direction. 15 After these helpful precautions, the king himself, with his followers — the wayfarer tracing his way back amongst the thickets through which he had come and showing a rough path very narrow indeed for a loaded pack-animal — left the soldiers behind him, and made his escape. They, after capturing his messengers, who had been sent merely to confuse the minds of those who were lying in wait for the king, were almost expecting him to rush into their open arms, like a wild beast at a hunt. But while they were waiting for his coming, he was restored safe and sound to his kingdom, where he was received with the greatest joy by his subjects; but thereafter he remained unmoved in true allegiance, bearing in silence all the wrongs that he had suffered.

16 After this, as soon as Danielus and Barzimeres, baffled, had returned, they were assailed with shameful reproaches as blunderers and slothful, and like venomous serpents whose bite had been blunted by the first attack, they sharpened their deadly fangs, intending as soon as they could and to the extent of their powers to injure him who had given them the slip. 17 And to palliate their fault or the deception which they had suffered from greater cleverness, they bombarded the ears of the emperor (most retentive of all gossip) with false charges against Papa, alleging that he was wonderfully skilled through the incantations of Circe in changing and weakening men’s bodies; and they added that, having by arts of that kind spread darkness round himself, and by changing his own form and that of his followers, having passed through their lines, if he survived this trickery, he would cause sad troubles.

18 In this way the irreconcilable hatred of the emperor for Papa was increased, and plots were devised every day for taking his life either by violence or secretly; and to Trajanus, who was then in Armenia in command of the military forces, this work was entrusted through secret letters. 19 That general sought to win the king by treacherous flattery, now showing him letters of Valens as tokens of his calm state of mind, and now forcing himself upon his banquets; finally, when his plot was matured, he invited him with great respect to a luncheon. The king came, fearing no hostility, and took his place in the seat of honour granted him. 20 And when choice dainties were set before him, and the great building rang with the music of strings, songs, and wind-instruments, the host himself, already heated with wine, went out, under pretence of a call of nature. Then a rude barbarian, fiercely glaring with savage eyes and brandishing a drawn sword, one of the class called scurrae, was sent in to kill the young man, who had already been cut off from any possibility of escape. 21 At this sight the young king, who, as it happened, was leaning forward beyond his couch, drew his dagger and was rising to defend his life by every possible means, but fell disfigured, pierced through the breast like some victim at the altar, foully slain by repeated strokes. 22 By such treachery was credulity basely deceived, and at a banquet, which ought to be respected even on the Euxine Sea, before the eyes of the god of hospitality a stranger’s blood was shed, which bespattered the splendid linen cloths with foaming gore, was more than enough to sate the guests, who scattered in utmost horror. If the dead can feel grief, the famous Fabricius Luscinus might groan at this arrogant act, when he recalled with what greatness of soul he rejected the promise of Demochares or (as some write) Nicias, the king’s attendant, made in a secret conference; for he said that he would kill king Pyrrhus, who at that time was reducing Italy to ashes in cruel warfare, by mixing poison with his cups; but Fabricius warned the king in a letter to beware of his more intimate servants. Such a place of respect in those days of old-time justice was held by the conviviality even of an enemy’s table. 23 True, some sought to excuse this recent extraordinary and shameful deed by the example of the assassination of Sertorius, but those flatterers perhaps did not know that no act which is proved to be contrary to law is justified because another crime was similar or went unpunished, as Demosthenes, eternal glory of Greece, declares.

2 The deputations of Valens Augustus and Sapor, king of the Persians, in their contest for the rule of Armenia and Hiberia.

1 These are the noteworthy events that took place in Armenia. But Sapor, after the former disaster to his men, on learning of the murder of Papa, whom he was making great efforts to enlist on his side, overwhelmed with heavy grief and with his fear increased by the activity of our army, sowed the seeds of greater troubles for himself. 2 Accordingly, he sent Arraces as an envoy to the emperor, advising him to withdraw entirely from Armenia, since it was a continual source of troubles; or if that was not acceptable, proposing as an alternative that abandoning the division of Hiberia and withdrawing the garrisons of the Roman part, he should allow Aspacures, whom Sapor had made ruler of that nation, to reign alone. 3 To this Valens made answer to this effect: that he could not repeal anything of that which had been agreed upon by common consent, but would maintain it with the utmost vigour. In reply to this noble utterance a letter was brought from the king when the winter was already nearly ended, giving trivial and arrogant reasons. For he asserted that the weeds of discord could not be pruned away by the roots except in the presence of those who had been witnesses to the conclusion of the peace with Jovian, some of whom (as he had learned) had since died.

4 After this the emperor’s cares grew heavier. Now he was in condition rather to make a choice of plans than to discover any; and so, thinking it to be to the advantage of the State, he ordered Victor, commander of the cavalry, and Urbicius, general in Mesopotamia, to go quickly to the Persians, bearing an ultimatum in plain language: that it was criminal of a king who was just and contented with his own (as he boasted) wrongfully to covet Armenia, whose people had been granted permission to live independently; and that, unless the guard of soldiers given to Sauromaces should return without hindrance at the beginning of the following year (as had been agreed), Sapor would be forced to do against his will what he had refrained from doing of his own accord. 5 This embassy was indeed straightforward and frank, had its members not erred in one particular; for they accepted without orders some small territories that offered themselves to them in that same Armenia.

On their return the Surena, who ranked next to the king, came and offered to the emperor these same lands that our envoys had recklessly taken. 6 He was received courteously and handsomely entertained, but was sent back without obtaining what he asked, and in consequence great preparations were made for war, in the expectation that when the winter grew milder the emperor would invade Persia with three armies and for that purpose was in great haste hiring mercenaries from the Scythians.

7 Accordingly Sapor, having failed to gain that for which he had vainly hoped, and exasperated even more than usual because he had learned that our ruler was preparing for a campaign, defied Valens’ anger and instructed the Surena to recover by arms, in case anyone made opposition, the lands which Count Victor and Urbicius had taken over; also to do all possible harm to the soldiers appointed for the protection of Sauromaces. 8 These instructions were hastily carried out, as he had ordered, and could not be remedied or punished, since the Roman state was encompassed by another danger from all the Gothic peoples, who were lawlessly overrunning Thrace; these disasters can briefly be set forth, when I come also to that part of my narrative.

9 This is what happened in the eastern regions. During the course of these events the eternal power of Justice, the judge, sometimes tardy, but always strict, of right or wrong actions, avenged the disasters in Africa and the still unsatisfied and wandering shades of the envoys of Tripolis, in the following manner. 10 Remigius, who (as we have said) favoured the general Romanus in his oppression of the provinces, after Leo had been appointed chief marshal of the court in his place, was now resting from public duties and gave himself up to rural life in his native place near Mayence. 11 While he was there passing a care-free life, Maximinus, the praetorian prefect, scorning him, now that he turned back to a life of leisure, and being wont to overrun all things like a dire pestilence, aspired to injure him in every possible manner. And in his desire to discover more secrets, he seized Caesarius, who had formerly been in the service of Remigius and later a secretary of the emperor, and tried by cruel tortures to learn what Remigius had done, and how much he had received for aiding the criminal acts of Romanus. 12 When Remigius (who, as has been said, was in retirement) learned of this, either driven by the consciousness of guilt or because the dread of false charges overcame his reason, he strangled himself, and so died.

3 Valentinian Augustus, after devastating some cantons of the Alamanni, has a conference with their king Macrianus, and makes peace.

1 In the year following these events, Gratianus was made consul as the colleague of Aequitius; and Valentinian, who after devastating several cantons of the Alamanni was building a fortification near Basle, which the neighbours call Robur, received the report of the prefect Probus, telling of the devastation in Illyricum. 2 On reading this with careful attention, as became a cautious general, he was distracted by anxious reflections and sending the secretary Paternianus, gave the matter the most searching investigation. As soon as he received through him a true account of what had happened, he hastened to set out at once, in order (as he intended) to crush by the first clash of his arms the savages who had ventured to violate our frontier. 3 But since autumn was waning and many difficulties stood in the way, all the principal men at the court strove by entreaties and prayers to hold him back until the beginning of spring. In the first place, they urged that the roads, hardened with frost, where neither any growth of grass would be found for fodder nor anything else fit for the use of the army, could not be penetrated. In the second place, they set before him the alleged savagery of the kings bordering on Gaul, and most of all of Macrianus, who was formidable, and (as was well known) had been left unsubdued, and would actually attack even fortified cities. 4 Calling to mind these things and adding other salutary advice, they led the emperor to a better opinion, and at once (as was for the advantage of the state) the said king was courteously summoned to the vicinity of Mayence, being himself also inclined (as was evident) to accepting a treaty. And he arrived enormously puffed up in every way, as if he expected to be the supreme arbiter of peace, and on the day set for the conference, with head high uplifted, he stood at the very edge of the Rhine while the clashing shields of his countrymen thundered all about him. 5 On the other side the Augustus embarked on some river-boats, himself also hedged by a throng of military officers and conspicuous amid the brilliance of flashing standards, and cautiously approached the shore. Finally, the savages ceased their immoderate gesticulation and barbaric tumult, and after much had been said and heard on both sides, friendship was confirmed between them by the sanctity of an oath. 6 When this was accomplished, the king who had caused the disturbances withdrew pacified, henceforth to be our ally; and after that up to the very end his life he gave proof by noble conduct of a spirit of steadfast loyalty. 7 He found his death later in the land of the Franks; for while amid murderous devastation he penetrated that country too eagerly, he was lured into an ambush by the warlike king Mallobaudes and perished. But after the solemn ratification of the treaty Valentinian retired to Treves for winter quarters.

4 Modestus, the praetorian prefect, leads Valens to give up the administration of justice; a discussion of the pleader’s profession, of jurisconsults, and of various classes of advocates.

1 This is what took place throughout Gaul and the northern part of the empire. But in the regions of the East, amid the profound quiet of foreign affairs, destructive internal corruption was increasing through the friends and intimates of Valens, with whom advantage prevailed over honour. For diligent efforts were exerted to turn the emperor, as a severe man and eager to hear cases at law, from his desire to act as judge; for fear that as in the times of Julian, if the defence of innocence should revive, the arrogance of powerful men, which under the licence that they had assumed was in the habit of always reaching out farther, might be checked. 2 On these and similar grounds many united in a common attempt at dissuasion and in particular the praetorian prefect Modestus, a man wholly subjected to the influence of the eunuchs of the court, of a boorish nature refined by no reading of the ancient writers. He, wearing a forced and deceptive expression, declared that the trivialities of private cases at law were beneath the dignity of the imperial majesty. Accordingly Valens, thinking that the examination of swarms of legal cases was devised to humble the loftiness of the royal power, in accordance with the advice of Modestus, abstained from it wholly, thereby opening the doors to robbery; and this grew stronger day by day through the wickedness of judges and advocates in collusion; for they sold their decisions of the cases of poorer people to officers in the army, or to powerful men within the palace, and thus gained either wealth or high position.

3 This trade of forensic oratory the great Plato defined as πολιτικῆς μορίου εἴδωλον (that is, the shadow of a small part of the science of government) or as the fourth part of flattery; but Epicurus counts it among evil arts, calling it κακοτεχνία. Tisias says that it is the artist of persuasion, and Gorgias of Leontini agrees with him. 4 This art, thus defined by the men of old, the cunning of certain Orientals raised to a degree hateful to good men, for which reason it is even confined by the restraints of a time fixed beforehand. Therefore after having described in a very few words its unworthiness, with which I became acquainted while I was living in those parts, I shall return to the course of the narrative with which I began.

5 Formerly judgment-seats gained glory through the support of old-time refinement, when orators of fiery eloquence, devoted to learned studies, were eminent for talent and justice, and for the fluency and many adornments of their diction; for example Demosthenes, to hear whom, when he was going to speak, as the Attic records testify, the people were wont to flock together from all Greece; and Callistratus, to whom, when he pleaded in that celebrated case in defence of Oropos (which is a place in Euboea) that same Demosthenes attached himself, forsaking the Academy and Plato; also, Hyperides, Aeschines, Andocides, Dinarchus, and the famous Antiphon of Rhamnus, who, according to the testimony of antiquity, was the first of all to accept a fee for conducting a defence. 6 Not less eminent among the Romans were men like Rutilius, Galba, and Scaurus, conspicuous for their life, their character, and their uprightness; and later in the various epochs of subsequent times many former censors and consuls, and men who had been honoured with triumphs, such as Crassus, Antonius, Philippus, Scaevola, and many others, after successful campaigns, after victories and trophies, distinguished themselves by civic services to the State, and winning laurels in the glorious contests of the Forum, enjoyed Fame’s highest honours. 7 After these Cicero, the most eminent of them all, by the floods of his all-conquering oratory often saved the oppressed from the fiery ordeal of the courts, and declared: “It might perhaps be pardonable to refuse to defend some men, but to defend them negligently could be nothing but criminal.”

8 But now it is possible to see in all the regions of the Orient powerful and rapacious classes of men flitting from one forum to another, besieging the homes of the wealthy, and like Spartan or Cretan hounds sagaciously picking up the tracks until they come to the very lairs of lawsuits.

9 Among these the first class consists of those who, by sowing the seeds of all sorts of quarrels, busy themselves with thousands of recognisances, wearing out the doors of widows and the thresholds of childless men; and if they have found even slight retreats of secret enmity, they rouse deadly hatred among discordant friends, kinsfolk, or relatives. And in these men their vices do not cool down in course of time, as do those of others, but grow stronger and stronger. Poor amid insatiable robbery, they draw the dagger of their talent to lead astray by crafty speeches the good faith of the judges, whose title is derived from justice. 10 By their persistence rashness tries to pass itself off as freedom of speech; and reckless audacity as firmness of purpose; a kind of empty flow of words as eloquence. By the perversity of these arts, as Cicero insists, it is a sin for the conscientiousness of a judge to be deceived. For he says: “And since nothing in a state ought to be so free from corruption as the suffrage and judicial decisions, I do not understand why one who corrupts them by his eloquence is even praised. For my part, I think that he does more evil who corrupts a judge by a speech than one who does so by money; for no one can corrupt a sensible man by money, but he can do so by words.”

11 A second class consists of those who profess a knowledge of law, which, however, the self-contradictory statutes have destroyed, and reticent as if they were muzzled, in never-ending silence they are like their own shadows. These men, as though revealing destinies by nativities or interpreting a Sibyl’s oracles, assume a solemn expression of severe bearing and try to make even their yawning saleable. 12 In order to seem to have a deeper knowledge of the law, they talk of Trebatius, Cascellius, and Alfenus, and of the laws of the Aurunci and Sicani, which were long since forgotten and buried many ages ago along with Evander’s mother. And if you pretend that you have purposely murdered your mother, they promise, if they have observed that you are a moneyed man, that their many recondite studies will secure an acquittal for you.

13 A third group consists of those who, in order to gain glory by their troublous profession, sharpen their venal tongues to attack the truth, and with shameless brow and base yelping often gain entrance wherever they wish. When the anxious judges are distracted by many cares, they tie up the business in an inexplicable tangle, and do their best to involve all peace and quiet in lawsuits and purposely by knotty inquisitions they deceive the courts, which, when their procedure is right, are temples of justice, when corrupted, are deceptive and hidden pits: and if anyone is deluded and falls into those pits, he will not get out except after many a term of years, when he has been sucked dry to his very marrow.

14 The fourth and last class, shameless, headstrong, and ignorant, consists of those who have broken away too soon from the elementary schools, run to and fro through the corners of the cities, think out mimiambic lines, rather than speeches suitable to win law-suits, wearing out the doors of the rich, and hunting for banquets and fine choice food. 15 When they have once devoted themselves to shady gain and to eagerness for money from any and every source, they urge all kinds of innocent people to involve themselves in vain litigations. And when they are allowed to defend suits, which rarely happens, amidst the very turning-points of the disputes they learn the name of their client and the purport of the business in hand from the mouth of the judge, and they so overflow with disarranged circumlocutions that in the foul hotchpotch you would think you were hearing a Thersites with his howling din. 16 But when they find themselves in the end unable to defend the charges, they turn to unbridled licence in abuse; and on this account, because of their constant insults of persons of rank, they are prosecuted and often condemned; and among them are some who are so ignorant that they cannot remember that they ever possessed a law-book. 17 And if in a circle of learned men the name of an ancient writer happens to be mentioned, they think it is a foreign word for some fish or other edible; but if any stranger asks for the orator Marcianus (for example), who was before unknown to him, at once they all pretend that their own name is Marcianus. 18 And they no longer have before their eyes any right, but as if sold to and enslaved by avarice, they understand nothing except endless licence in making demands. And if once they have caught anyone in their nets, they entangle him in a thousand toils, purposely defaulting by pretending sicknesses one after another; and they prepare seven plausible preambles in order that the useless reading of well-known law may be introduced, thus weaving swarms of long delays. 19 And when the contending parties are stripped of everything, and days, months and years are used up, at last the case, now worn out with age, is introduced, and those brilliant principals come forth, bringing with them other shadows of advocates. And when they have come within the barriers of the court, and the fortunes or safety of some one begins to be discussed, and they ought to work to turn the sword or ruinous loss from an innocent person, the advocates on both sides wrinkling their brows and waving their arms in semblance of the gestures of actors (so that they lack only the oratorical pipe of Gracchus behind them) stand for a long time opposite each other. At last, in accordance with a prearranged agreement, the one who is more confident in speech utters a kind of a sweet prologue, promising to emulate the ornamental language of a speech for Cluentius or Ctesiphon; and when all are wishing for the end, such is the method of his peroration that the advocates, after the semblance of a trial has gone on for three years, allege that they are not yet fully informed; and after they have obtained a further postponement, as if they had struggled with Antaeus of old, they persistently demand the pay for their danger and toil.

20 But yet, in spite of this, advocates suffer many inconveniences, not easy to be endured by a man who would live rightly. For, allured by the profits of their sedentary trade, they differ among themselves and become enemies, and they offend many by their outbursts of abusive ferocity (as has been said), which they blab out in a torrent when they have no arguments strong enough to fortify the weakness of the cases which have been entrusted to them. 21 And they have to deal with judges who sometimes are taught by the sophisms of Philistion or Aesopus, rather than just reared in the discipline of your Aristides the Just or Cato. Such men, having bought public office for large sums of money, like tiresome creditors prying into the resources of every kind of fortune, shake out booty from other men’s bosoms. 22 Finally, the profession of advocate has, with the rest, this serious and dangerous evil, which is native to almost all litigants, that although their cases may be lost by a thousand accidents, they think their ill-success lies wholly in the ability of their advocates, and they are accustomed to attribute the outcome of every contest to them; and they vent their anger not on the weakness of their case or the frequent injustice of the magistrate who decides it, but only on their defenders. But let us return to the point from which we made the digression.

5 Valentinian goes to Illyricum to make war on the Sarmatians and the Quadi, who are devastating Pannonia. Crossing the Danube he lays waste the cantons of the Quadi, burns their villages, and massacres savages of all ages.

1 When spring was already ripening, Valentinian moved from Trier and hastened by quick marches along the familiar roads; and when he came to the regions for which he was aiming, he was met by a deputation of the Sarmatians, who threw themselves at his feet and begged in peaceful terms that his visit might be favourable and merciful to them, since he would find that their countrymen were neither participants in, nor aware of, any outrage. 2 When they often repeated these same statements, after mature deliberation the emperor made his answer: that these acts must be investigated, in the place where they were said to have been committed, and punished in the light of the most reliable evidence. And when thereafter he entered Carnuntum, a town of the prefecture of Illyricum, now indeed deserted and in ruins, but very convenient for the leader of an army, he proceeded (whenever chance or design gave the opportunity) to check the attacks of the savages from a station near by.

3 And though he was a terror to all while his arrival was waited for, since he was likely in bitter anger to order at once the punishment of officials who through perfidy or desertion had exposed that side of Pannonia, yet on his arrival he became so mild that he neither made inquiry into the murder of King Gabinius, nor carefully investigated the wounds branded on the body of the state to learn through whose negligence or guilt they had come about. And indeed it was his way to be severe in punishing common people, but more lenient towards personages of higher rank, even when they deserved a severe rebuke in harsh words. 4 Probus alone he attacked with bitter hatred, never ceasing to threaten him from the first time he had seen him, nor showing him any mildness; and for this conduct there were obvious weighty reasons. Probus had then, not for the first time, attained the rank of praetorian prefect, and in his longing to prolong his tenure of office in many ways (I only wish that they had been justifiable), he relied more on flattery than on worth otherwise than the glory of his stock admonished him. 5 For considering the emperor’s inclination to seek out ways of getting money from every quarter without distinction between right and wrong, he did not call him back when he strayed from the path of justice (as peace-loving counsellors have often done), but himself also followed the emperor on his devious and perverse course. 6 Hence resulted the grievous troubles of his subjects, and the ruinous items of imposts that had been instituted, long-continued practice in oppression finding one pretext after another, each more effective than the others, enfeebled and cut the sinews of the fortunes of rich and poor alike. Finally, the burden of tributes and the repeated increase in taxes compelled some of the most distinguished families, hounded by the fear of the worst, to leave the country; others, crushed by the severity of the dunning tax-collectors, having nothing to give, became permanent inmates of the prisons; and some of these, now weary of life and light, died by the noose as a welcome release. 7 These things, as persistent rumour maintained, went on thus with increasing treachery and ruthlessness; but Valentinian knew nothing of them, as if his ears were stopped with wax, being eager for indiscriminate gain even from the slightest things, and taking into consideration only what was offered. Yet perhaps he would have spared Pannonia, if he had known earlier of these lamentable sources of profit, of which he learned all too late from the following chance occurrence. 8 After the example of the rest of the provincials the Epirotes also were compelled by the prefect to send envoys to the emperor to offer him their thanks, and forced a philosopher called Iphicles, a man renowned for his strength of soul, against his own desire to go and perform that duty. 9 And he, when he came into the emperor’s presence, being recognized and asked the reason for his coming, replied in Greek; and when the emperor asked explicitly whether those who sent him thought well of the prefect in their hearts, he said, as became a philosopher who made a profession of truth: “With groans and against their will.” 10 By these words the emperor was struck as by a dagger, and like a keen-scented hound he searched into all the conduct of the prefect, asking Iphicles in his native tongue about people whom he personally knew: where in the world, for example, was so and so who excelled his countrymen in honour and reputation; or another, who was rich; or still another of high rank. And when he learned that one had fallen victim to the noose, that another had gone across the sea, that a third had committed suicide or had died under the blows of the knout, he burned with tremendous rage, to which Leo, who was then chief marshal of the Court (oh, horror!), added blazing fuel, a man who himself aspired to the prefecture, in order to fall from a greater height. And if he had attained and ruled the office, in comparison with what he would have dared, the administration of a Probus would be praised to the skies!

11 And so the emperor remained at Carnuntum, where throughout the entire three summer months he was preparing arms and supplies, intending, if in any way fortune favoured, to find opportunity to attack the Quadi, the instigators of the terrible uprising. It was in that town that Faustinus, nephew of Viventius, the praetorian prefect, when serving as a state-secretary, after an investigation conducted by Probus, was first tortured and then put to death by the hand of the executioner. The charge was that he had killed an ass, as some of his accusers alleged, for use in secret arts, but as he himself declared, to strengthen the weakness of his hair, which was falling out. 12 According to another, who was also suborned to ruin him, when one Nigrinus in jest asked for an appointment as state-secretary, Faustinus laughed at the man and said: “Make me emperor, if you want to get that office.” Since this jest was unjustly interpreted, Faustinus himself, as well as Nigrinus and others, were put to death.

13 Valentinian now sent Merobaudes on ahead with a division of foot-soldiers under his command, and in company with Count Sebastianus, to plunder and burn the cantons of the barbarians; the emperor himself quickly moved his camp to Acincum, joined together boats for the sudden emergency, and having with swift energy made a bridge of planks upon them, crossed through another quarter into the territory of the Quadi. They indeed were watching for his coming from the steep mountains, to which most of them, in doubt and uncertain what was happening, had withdrawn with their families; but they were overcome with amazement when, contrary to their expectation, they saw the imperial standards in their territories. 14 Valentinian then advanced forcing the pace as far as occasion demanded, put to death without distinction of age all those who were still roaming about and were taken unawares by his sudden onset, burned the dwellings, and returned without losing a man of those whom he had led with him. He also lingered at Acincum, since the autumn was swiftly passing on, and being in lands where the cold weather always covered everything with ice, he looked about for suitable winter quarters; and he could find no convenient place except Savaria, although that town was then weak and had suffered from repeated misfortunes. 15 Therefore, setting this aside for a time, in spite of the great need for a halt, he quickly moved from there, marched along the banks of the river, and having protected his camp with an adequate force and with castles came to Bregitio. There the fate which had long been designed to end the emperor’s labours foretold his approaching end by a repeated series of portents. 16 For a very few days before his arrival comets blazed in the heavens; these foreshadow the downfall of men of high position, and of their origin I have already given an account. Before that, at Sirmium, with sudden crash of the clouds, a thunderbolt fell and set fire to a part of the palace, the senate house, and the forum. Also at Savaria, where the emperor was still settled, an owl perched on the top of the imperial bath, and uttered notes foretelling death; and no skilful hand could bring it down with arrows or with stones, although many vied with one another in eager attacks upon it. 17 Again, when he was on his way from the aforesaid city to a campaign, he wished to go out through the same gate by which he had entered, in order to gain an omen that he would quickly return to Gaul; but while the neglected place was being cleared of accumulated débris, the iron-clad door which barred the exit was found to have fallen, and could not be removed by the greatest efforts of a large number of men; and to avoid wasting a day there, he was forced to go out by another gate. 18 And on the night before the day which was to deprive him of life, he had a vision (as men often do in their sleep); he saw his absent wife sitting with disordered hair and dressed in mourning attire; and it was possible to infer that she was his own Fortune, on the point of leaving him in the garb of sorrow. 19 Then the next morning, when he came out somewhat gloomy and with frowning brow, the horse that was brought to him would not allow him to mount, but reared its fore feet high in the air contrary to its usual manner; whereupon the emperor fell into one of his innate fits of anger and, being naturally cruel, ordered the groom’s right hand, which as usual had supported him in leaping on to the animal, to be cut off. And the guiltless young man would have suffered a cruel fate, had not Cerealis, the tribune in charge of the stable, at the risk of his own life postponed the terrible wrong.

6 Valentinian, while making an angry reply to the envoys of the Quadi, who were trying to excuse their fellow-countrymen, dies of apoplexy.

1 After this, envoys of the Quadi appeared, humbly begging for peace and forgetfulness of their past offences; and in order to obtain this without hindrance, they promised to provide recruits and some other things helpful to the Roman state. 2 When it was decided that the envoys be received and allowed to return home with the grant of the truce for which they were asking (for neither lack of supplies nor the unfavourable time of year allowed further attacks upon them), on the advice of Aequitius they were admitted to the council-chamber. And as they stood there with bended limbs weak and stricken with fear, on being bidden to tell their mission, they gave the usual series of excuses and supported them by adding the pledge of an oath. They declared that there had been no common consent of the chiefs of their race in any wrong that had been done us, but that the hostile acts had been committed by bands of foreign brigands dwelling near the river; and they added, and maintained that it was a valid excuse for their conduct, that the building of a barrier, which was begun both unjustly and without due occasion, roused their rude spirits to anger. 3 At this the emperor burst into a mighty fit of wrath, and being particularly incensed during the first part of his reply, he railed at the whole nation in noisy and abusive language, as ungrateful and forgetful of acts of kindness. Then he gradually calmed himself and seemed more inclined to mildness, when, as if struck by a bolt from the sky, he was seen to be speechless and suffocating, and his face was tinged with a fiery flush. On a sudden his blood was checked and the sweat of death broke out upon him. Then, that he might not fall before the eyes of a throng of the common sort, his body-servants rushed to him and led him into an inner chamber. 4 There he was laid upon a bed; but although he was drawing more feeble remnants of breath, the vigour of his mind was not yet lessened, and he recognized all those who stood about him, whom the chamberlains had summoned with all speed, in order to avert any suspicion that he had been murdered. And since all parts of his body were burning hot, it was necessary to open a vein, but no physician could be found, since he had sent them to various places, to give attention to the soldiers who were attacked by the plague. 5 At last however one was found, but although he repeatedly pierced a vein, he could not draw even a single drop of blood, since the emperor’s inner parts were consumed by excessive heat, or (as some thought) because his body was dried up, since some passages for the blood (which we now call haemorrhoidae) were closed and incrusted by the cold chills. 6 He felt the disease crushing him with a mighty force, and knew that the fated end of his life was at hand; and he tried to speak or give some orders, as was indicated by the gasps that often heaved his sides, by the grinding of his teeth, and by movements of his arms as if of men fighting with the cestus; but finally his strength failed him, his body was covered with livid spots, and after a long struggle for life he breathed his last, in the fifty-fifth year of his age and the twelfth of his reign, less a hundred days.

7 Valentinian’s parentage and his deeds as a ruler.

1 It is now in place to go back and (as we have often done) in a brief epilogue run through the deeds of this emperor, from the very birth of his father to his own decease, without omitting to distinguish his faults or his good qualities, brought to light as they were by greatness of power, which is always wont to lay bare a man’s inmost character.

2 His father, the elder Gratianus, was born at Cibalae, a town of Pannonia, of a humble family, and from his early boyhood was surnamed Funarius, because when he was not yet grown up and was carrying around a rope for sale, and five soldiers tried with all their might to tear it from him, he gave way not an inch; he thus rivalled Milo of Croton, from whom no possible exercise of strength could ever take an apple, when he held it tightly in his left or his right hand, as he often did. 3 Hence, because of his mighty strength of body and his skill in wrestling in the soldiers’ fashion he became widely known, and after holding position of one of the bodyguard and of a tribune, he commanded the army in Africa with the title of count. There he incurred the suspicion of theft, but he departed long afterwards and commanded the army in Britain with the same rank; and at last, after being honourably discharged, he returned to his home. While he was living there far from the noise and bustle, his property was confiscated by Constantius, on the ground that when civil discord was raging he was said to have shown hospitality to Magnentius when the usurper was hastening through Gratianus’s land to carry out his designs.

4 Because of his father’s services Valentinian was favoured from early youth, and being commended also by the addition of his own merits, he was clad in the insignia of imperial majesty at Nicaea. He took as his imperial colleague his brother Valens, to whom he was greatly attached both by the tie of fraternity and by sympathy, a man with an equal amount of excellent and bad qualities, as we shall point out in the proper place. 5 Valentinian, then, after suffering many annoyances and dangers while he was a private citizen, had no sooner begun to reign than he went to Gaul, to fortify the strongholds and cities lying near the rivers; for these were exposed to the raids of the Alamanni, who were raising their heads higher after learning of the death of the emperor Julian, who was absolutely the only one whom they feared after the death of Constans. 6 But Valentinian also was rightly dreaded by them, both because he increased the armies with a strong reinforcement and because he so fortified both banks of the Rhine with lofty castles and strongholds, that nowhere should an enemy be able to hurl himself at our territories unobserved.

7 And to pass over many things which he did with the authority of an established ruler, and the reforms that he effected either personally or through energetic generals, after admitting his son Gratianus to a share in his power, he secretly, since he could not do so openly, caused Vithicabius, king of the Alamanni, son of Vadomarius, a young man in the first bloom of manhood, to be stabbed, because he was rousing his people to rebellion and war. And joining battle with the Alamanni near a place called Solicinium, where, after falling into an ambuscade and all but losing his life, he could have utterly destroyed the entire army, had not swift flight saved a few of them under cover of darkness.

8 While he was accomplishing these exploits with due caution, the Saxons, who had already broken out into formidable madness and were always rushing wherever they pleased without reconnaissances, had then invaded the maritime districts, and had almost returned enriched with the spoils which they took; but by a device which was treacherous but expedient he overwhelmed and stripped of their booty the robbers thus forcibly crushed.

9 Again, when the Britons could not resist the hordes of enemies that were overrunning their country, he restored them to freedom and quiet peace with the hope of better conditions, and allowed almost none of the plunderers to return to his home.

10 With like effectiveness he also crushed Valentinus, the exile from Pannonia, who was trying to disturb the public peace in that province, before his design came to a head.

Next, he saved Africa from great dangers, when that country was in the throes of an unexpected disaster; for Firmus was unable to endure the greed and arrogance of the military officials and had aroused the Moorish tribes, whose ardour can always easily be fanned to any plan of dissension.

With equal courage he would have avenged the lamentable catastrophes in Illyricum, had he not been overtaken by death and left that important matter unfinished.

11 And although these successes which I have mentioned were brought about by his admirable generals, yet it is also well known that he himself, being a man of nimble mind and hardened by long experience in military life, performed very many exploits; and among these it would have been a most glorious feat if have had been able to take King Macrianus alive, who was at that time formidable. He had made great efforts to do so after he learned with grief and sorrow that the king had escaped from the Burgundians, whom Valentinian himself had aroused against the Alamanni.

8 His cruelty, greed, jealousy, and cowardice.

1 This is a brief account of the emperor’s deeds. Now, in the belief that posterity, being bound neither by fear nor by base flattery, is usually an uncorrupted judge of the past, I shall give a summary of his defects, to be followed by an account of his excellent qualities. 2 He sometimes assumed an appearance of mildness, although his hot temper made him more inclined to severity; for he evidently forgot that a ruler should avoid all excess, as he would a precipice. 3 For he was never found to be content with a mild punishment, but he continually ordered blood-thirsty investigations one after the other; and in his cruel inquisitions some were tortured even to the danger of their lives; in fact, he was so prone to cruelty that he never rescued from death any of those who had been capitally condemned, by merciful terms in a warrant which was presented for his subscription, although sometimes this has been done even by the most savage of princes. 4 And yet he could have contemplated many examples of the men of old, and might have imitated native and foreign instances of humanity and righteous mercy, which philosophers call the kind sisters of the virtues. Of these it will suffice to mention the following. Artaxerxes, that mighty king of the Persians, whom the length of one of his limbs made known as Macrochir, with inborn mildness corrected various punishments which that cruel nation had always practised, by sometimes cutting off the turbans of the guilty, in lieu of their heads; and instead of cutting off men’s ears for various offences, as was the habit of the kings, he sheared off threads hanging from their head-coverings. This moderation of character so won for him the contentment and respect of his subjects, that through their unanimous support he accomplished many noteworthy deeds, which are celebrated by the Greek writers. 5 A general of Praeneste in one of the Samnite wars had been ordered to hasten to his post, but had been slow to obey, and was summoned to expiate that misdeed; Papirius Cursor, who was dictator at the time, ordered the lictor to make ready his axe, and in sight of the man, who was overcome with terror and had given up hope of excusing himself, he gave orders that a bush seen near should be cut down, by a jest of this kind at the same time punishing and acquitting the man; and thereby he suffered no loss of respect, and he brought to an end the long and difficult wars of his fathers and was considered the only man capable of resisting Alexander the Great, if that king should have set foot on Italian soil.

6 Valentinian, who perhaps knew nothing of these instances, and did not consider that slowness to anger in rulers is always a solace for unhappy circumstances, increased the number of punishments by fire and sword, which a righteous spirit regards as the last resort in times of stress, as the splendid writer Isocrates says; there is an utterance of his for all time whereby he teaches that sometimes a ruler who has been overcome by arms ought to be pardoned, more than one who did not know what is just. 7 I think it was under the influence of this that Cicero made the glorious statement in his defence of Oppius: “and indeed, to have great power for the salvation of another has brought honour to many; to have had too little power to destroy him has never been a reproach to anyone.”

8 The greed for greater possessions without distinguishing right from wrong, and of seeking advantages of various kinds through the shipwreck of others’ lives, grew ever greater and became excessive in this emperor. This fault some tried to excuse by offering the example of the emperor Aurelian, declaring that as, when the treasury was exhausted after Gallienus and the lamentable disasters to the state, he fell upon the rich like a torrent, so Valentinian, after the losses of the Parthian campaign, feeling the need of a vast quantity of expenditure in order to provide reinforcements and pay for his troops, mingled with cruelty the desire to amass excessive wealth, affecting not to know that there are some things which ought not to be done, even if one has the power to do them. In this he was quite unlike the famous Themistocles, for when after the fight with the Persians and the annihilation of their army the Athenian was aimlessly strolling about, and saw golden bracelets and a neck-chain lying on the ground, he turned to one of his attendants who stood near by and said: “Pick up these, since you are not Themistocles,” thus showing his scorn of any love of money in a noble leader. 9 Like instances of this same self-restraint are found in abundance in Roman generals. Passing these by, since they are no indication of perfect virtue (for not to seize the property of others deserves no praise), I will give one certain indication (among many) of the integrity of the common people of early days. When Marius and Cinna had turned over to the Roman plebeians the rich dwellings of the proscribed to be plundered, the rough spirit of the commons, wont however to respect human misfortunes, so spared what had been gained by the toil of others that no one of the poor or of the lowest class was found who allowed himself, though permission was given him, to handle profits from the woes of his country.

10 Besides this there was a fire of envy in the very marrow of this same emperor, and knowing that most vices are wont to assume the appearance of virtues, he had ever upon his lips the saying, that malice of severity is the inseparable associate of rightful power. And as men of the highest position always think that everything is allowed them, and they are strongly inclined to suspect those who oppose them and to overthrow better men than themselves, so he hated the well dressed, the learned, the rich, and the high-born; and he depreciated brave men, in order to give the appearance of surpassing all men in good qualities, a fault, as we read, by which the emperor Hadrian was inflamed.

11 This same prince often denounced cowards, calling such men sullied, unclean, and deserving to be thrust down below the humblest estate; and yet he himself, in the presence of empty terrors, sometimes turned abjectly pale and dreaded in his inmost soul something that did not exist at all. 12 It was the knowledge of this that led Remigius, marshal of the court, when he perceived that the emperor was boiling with anger at something which had occurred, to hint among other things that some outbreaks of the barbarians threatened; and when Valentinian heard this, immediately he was so overcome with fear that he became as calm and mild as Antoninus the Good himself. 13 He never intentionally chose cruel judges, but if he had learned that those whom he had once advanced were acting cruelly, he maintained that he had found men like Lycurgus and Cassius, those ancient pillars of justice; and he often urged them in writing to punish even light offences with all severity. 14 Those in trouble, whom a reverse of fortune had befallen, found no refuge in the kindness of their prince, which has always been a longed-for haven, as it were, for those tossed on a stormy sea. For the purpose of a just rule (as the philosophers teach) is supposed to be the advantage and safety of its subjects.

9 His virtues.

1 It is fitting after this to pass to those acts of his which were praiseworthy and to be imitated by right-thinking men; and if he had regulated the rest of his conduct in accordance with these, his career would have been that of a Trajan or a Marcus. He was very indulgent towards the provincials and everywhere lightened the burden of their tributes; he was always timely in founding towns and establishing frontier defences. He was an excellent critic of military discipline, failing only in this, that while he punished even slight offences of the common soldiers, he suffered the serious offences of his higher commanders to go to excess, often turning a deaf ear to the complaints made against them. The result of this was turmoil in Britain, disaster in Africa, and the devastation of Illyricum.

2 In every observance of chastity he was pure at home and abroad; he was stained by the foul touch of no obscene feelings or lewdness; and for that reason he controlled the wantonness of the imperial court as if by a curb; and this course he could easily keep; he showed no indulgence to his own kindred, whom he either restrained in retirement or honoured with unimportant posts, with the exception of his brother, whom, compelled by press of circumstances, he admitted to a share in his own eminence.

3 He was most cautious in bestowing high official positions: under his rule no money-changer governed a province, no office was ever sold, except at the beginning of his reign, a time when it is usual for some crimes to be committed with impunity through reliance on the distractions of a new ruler.

4 In war, whether offensive or defensive, he was most skilful and careful, a veteran in the heat and dust of the battlefield. In council he was a foresighted persuader of what was right and a dissuader of wrong, most strict in examining all ranks of the military service. He wrote a neat hand, was an elegant painter and modeller, and an inventor of new kinds of arms. His memory was lively; so was his speech (although he spoke seldom), and he was vigorous therein, almost to the point of eloquence. He loved neatness, and enjoyed banquets that were choice but not extravagant.

5 Finally, his reign was distinguished by toleration, in that he remained neutral in religious differences neither troubling anyone on that ground nor ordering him to reverence this or that. He did not bend the necks of his subjects to his own belief by threatening edicts, but left such matters undisturbed as he found them.

6 His strong and muscular body, the gleam of his hair, his brilliant complexion, his grey eyes, with a gaze that was always sidelong and stern, his fine stature, and his regular features completed a figure of regal charm and majesty.

10 The younger Valentinian, son of the late emperor, is hailed as Augustus in the camp at Bregetio.

1 After the last invocation of the emperor his body was prepared for burial, in order to be sent to Constantinople and interred among the remains of the deified rulers. Meanwhile the campaign that was approaching was suspended, and an uncertain outcome of the situation was feared, because of the cohorts serving in Gaul, which were not always of devoted loyalty to legitimate emperors, and regarded themselves as arbiters of the imperial power; and it was suspected that they might take the opportunity to venture on some new step; and this fact added some hopes of attempting a revolution — that Gratianus was still at Trier (where his father, when he was on the point of beginning his march, had arranged for him to stay) and even then knew nothing of what had happened. 2 When affairs were in this critical state, and all were equally in dread, and likely to share in whatever dangers that might arise, as if in the same boat, it was agreed in accordance with the advice of the highest officers, after having torn down the bridge, which they had previously built under necessity when invading the enemy’s territory, that Merobaudes at once should be summoned by order of Valentinian when he was still alive. 3 He, being a sharp-witted man, either guessing what had happened, or perhaps having learned it from the messenger who summoned him, and suspecting that the Gallic troops would violate the terms of peace, pretended that an order-ticket had been sent to him to return with the messenger, in order to guard the banks of the Rhine because the barbarians were getting wilder. And Sebastianus, who was still unaware of the emperor’s death, he sent to a more distant post, which had been secretly ordered; for although Sebastianus was a quiet and peace-loving man, he stood in high favour with the troops, and hence he was particularly to be feared at that time.

4 Accordingly, after Merobaudes turned back, the matter of succession was carefully considered and the plan was unfolded that the boy Valentinianus, son of the deceased emperor and then four years old, should be summoned and given a share in the rule. He was at the time a hundred miles distant, living with his mother Justina at the country house called Murocincta. 5 When this had been approved by unanimous consent, the boys’ uncle Cerealis was immediately sent to the place, put him in a litter, and brought him to the camp; and on the sixth day after the passing of his father he was in due form declared emperor, and after the customary manner hailed as Augustus. 6 And although, while this was being done, there was some thought that Gratianus would take it amiss that another emperor was chosen without his permission, this fear later vanished and men lived free from care, since Gratianus, besides being a kindly and righteous man, loved his kinsman with great affection and saw to his education.

Book XXXI

1 Omens of the death of Valens Augustus and of the impending defeat by the Goths.

1 Meanwhile Fortune’s rapid wheel, which is always interchanging adversity and prosperity, armed Bellona in the company of her attendant Furies, and transferred to the Orient melancholy events, the coming of which was foreshadowed by the clear testimony of omens and portents. 2 For after many true predictions of seers and augurs, dogs leaped back when wolves howled, night birds rang out a kind of doleful lament, the sun rose in gloom and dimmed the clear morning light; at Antioch, in quarrels and riots of the common people, it became usual that whoever thought that he was suffering wrong shouted without restraint: “Let Valens be burned alive!” and the words of public criers were continually heard, directing the people to gather firewood, to set fire to the baths of Valens, in the building of which the emperor himself had taken such interest. 3 All this almost in plain speech showed that this kind of death threatened him. Furthermore, the ghostly form of the king of Armenia and the piteous shades of those who shortly before had been executed in connection with the fall of Theodorus, shrieking horrible songs at night, in the form of dirges, tormented many with dire terrors. 4 A heifer was found lying lifeless with its windpipe cut, and its death was an indication of great and widespread sorrow from funerals of the people. Finally, when the old walls of Chalcedon were torn down, in order that a bath might be built at Constantinople, and the rows of stones were taken apart, there was found on a squared block hidden in the midst of the structure of the wall an inscription containing the following Greek verses, clearly revealing what was to happen:

5 When gaily through the city’s festal streets

Shall whirl soft maidens in a happy dance,

When mournfully a wall shall guard a bath,

Then countless hordes of men spread far and wide

With warlike arms shall cross clear Istrus’ stream

To ravage Scythia’s fields and Mysia’s land.

But mad with hope when they Pannonia raid,

There battle and life’s end their course shall check.

2 Of the houses and customs of the Huns, the Halani, and other nations of Asiatic Scythia.

1 However, the seed and origin of all the ruin and various disasters that the wrath of Mars aroused, putting in turmoil all places with unwonted fires, we have found to be this. The people of the Huns, but little known from ancient records, dwelling beyond the Maeotic Sea near the ice-bound ocean, exceed every degree of savagery. 2 Since there the cheeks of the children are deeply furrowed with the steel from their very birth, in order that the growth of hair, when it appears at the proper time, may be checked by the wrinkled scars, they grow old without beards and without any beauty, like eunuchs. They all have compact, strong limbs and thick necks, and are so monstrously ugly and misshapen, that one might take them for two-legged beasts or for the stumps, rough-hewn into images, that are used in putting sides to bridges. 3 But although they have the form of men, however ugly, they are so hardy in their mode of life that they have no need of fire nor of savory food, but eat the roots of wild plants and the half-raw flesh of any kind of animal whatever, which they put between their thighs and the backs of their horses, and thus warm it a little. 4 They are never protected by any buildings, but they avoid these like tombs, which are set apart from everyday use. For not even a hut thatched with reed can be found among them. But roaming at large amid the mountains and woods, they learn from the cradle to endure cold, hunger, and thirst. When away from their homes they never enter a house unless compelled by extreme necessity; for they think they are not safe when staying under a roof. 5 They dress in linen cloth or in the skins of field-mice sewn together, and they wear the same clothing indoors and out. But when they have once put their necks into a faded tunic, it is not taken off or changed until by long wear and tear it has been reduced to rags and fallen from them bit by bit. 6 They cover their heads with round caps and protect their hairy legs with goatskins; their shoes are formed upon no lasts, and so prevent their walking with free step. For this reason they are not at all adapted to battles on foot, but they are almost glued to their horses, which are hardy, it is true, but ugly, and sometimes they sit them woman-fashion and thus perform their ordinary tasks. From their horses by night or day every one of that nation buys and sells, eats and drinks, and bowed over the narrow neck of the animal relaxes into a sleep so deep as to be accompanied by many dreams. 7 And when deliberation is called for about weighty matters, they all consult as a common body in that fashion. They are subject to no royal restraint, but they are content with the disorderly government of their important men, and led by them they force their way through every obstacle. 8 They also sometimes fight when provoked, and then they enter the battle drawn up in wedge-shaped masses, while their medley of voices makes a savage noise. And as they are lightly equipped for swift motion, and unexpected in action, they purposely divide suddenly into scattered bands and attack, rushing about in disorder here and there, dealing terrific slaughter; and because of their extraordinary rapidity of movement they are never seen to attack a rampart or pillage an enemy’s camp. 9 And on this account you would not hesitate to call them the most terrible of all warriors, because they fight from a distance with missiles having sharp bone, instead of their usual points, joined to the shafts with wonderful skill; then they gallop over the intervening spaces and fight hand to hand with swords, regardless of their own lives; and while the enemy are guarding against wounds from the sabre-thrusts, they throw strips of cloth plaited into nooses over their opponents and so entangle them that they fetter their limbs and take from them the power of riding or walking. 10 No one in their country ever plows a field or touches a plow-handle. They are all without fixed abode, without hearth, or law, or settled mode of life, and keep roaming from place to place, like fugitives, accompanied by the wagons in which they live; in wagons their wives weave for them their hideous garments, in wagons they cohabit with their husbands, bear children, and rear them to the age of puberty. None of their offspring, when asked, can tell you where he comes from, since he was conceived in one place, born far from there, and brought up still farther away. 11 In truces they are faithless and unreliable, strongly inclined to sway to the motion of every breeze of new hope that presents itself, and sacrificing every feeling to the mad impulse of the moment. Like unreasoning beasts, they are utterly ignorant of the difference between right and wrong; they are deceitful and ambiguous in speech, never bound by any reverence for religion or for superstition. They burn with an infinite thirst for gold, and they are so fickle and prone to anger, that they often quarrel with their allies without provocation, more than once on the same day, and make friends with them again without a mediator.

12 This race of untamed men, without encumbrances, aflame with an inhuman desire for plundering others’ property, made their violent way amid the rapine and slaughter of the neighbouring peoples as far as the Halani, once known as the Massagetae. And since we have come to this point, it is in place to tell of the origin and dwelling-place of this people also, and to point out the confused opinions of geographers, who after many different attempts to deal with the subject have at last come upon the core of the truth.

13 The Hister, filled to overflowing by a great number of tributaries, flows past the Sauromatians, and these extend as far as the river Tanaïs, which separates Asia from Europe. On the other side of this river the Halani, so called from the mountain range of the same name, inhabit the measureless wastes of Scythia; and by repeated victories they gradually wore down the peoples whom they met and like the Persians incorporated them under their own national name. 14 Among these the Nervii inhabit the interior of the country near the lofty, precipitous peaks nipped by the north winds and benumbed with ice and snow. Behind these are the Vidini and the Geloni, exceedingly savage races, who strip the skins from their slain enemies to make clothing for themselves and coverings for their horses in war. On the frontier of the Geloni are the Agathyrsi, who checker their bodies and dye their hair with a blue colour — the common people with a few small marks, but the nobles with more and broader spots of dye. 15 Beyond these are the Melanchlaenae and the Anthropophagi, who according to report lead a nomadic life and feed upon human flesh; and because of this abominable food they are left to themselves and all their former neighbours have moved to distant parts of the earth. And so the entire north-eastern tract, until one comes to the Seres, has remained uninhabitable. 16 In another part of the country, near the abodes of the Amazons, the Halani mount to the eastward, divided into populous and extensive nations; these reach as far as Asia, and, as I have heard, stretch all the way to the river Ganges, which flows through the territories of India and empties into the southern ocean.

17 Thus the Halani (whose various people it is unnecessary now to enumerate) are divided between the two parts of the earth, but although widely separated from each other and roaming over vast tracts, as Nomads do, yet in the course of time they have united under one name, and are, for short, all called Halani because of the similarity in their customs, their savage mode of life, and their weapons. 18 For they have no huts and care nothing for using the plowshare, but they live upon flesh and an abundance of milk, and dwell in wagons, which they cover with rounded canopies of bark and drive over the boundless wastes. And when they come to a place rich in grass, they place their carts in a circle and feed like wild beasts. As soon as the fodder is used up, they place their cities, as we might call them, on the wagons and so convey them: in the wagons the males have intercourse with the women, and in the wagons their babes are born and reared; wagons form their permanent dwellings, and wherever they come, that place they look upon as their natural home. 19 Driving their plow-cattle before them, they pasture them with their flocks, and they give particular attention to breeding horses. In that land the fields are always green, and here and there are places set thick with fruit trees. Hence, wherever they go, they lack neither food for themselves nor fodder for their cattle, because of the moist soil and the numerous courses of rivers that flow hard by them. 20 Therefore, all those who through age or sex are unfit for war remain close by the wagons and are occupied in light tasks; but the young men grow up in the habit of riding from their earliest boyhood and regard it as contemptible to go on foot; and by various forms of training they are all skilled warriors. From the same causes the Persians also, who are Scythians by origin, are highly expert in fighting.

21 Moreover, almost all the Halani are tall and handsome, their hair inclines to blond, by the ferocity of their glance they inspire dread, subdued though it is. They are light and active in the use of arms. In all respects they are somewhat like the Huns, but in their manner of life and their habits they are less savage. In their plundering and hunting expeditions they roam here and there as far as the Maeotic Sea and the Cimmerian Bosporus, and also to Armenia and Media. 22 Just as quiet and peaceful men find pleasure in rest, so the Halani delight in danger and warfare. There the man is judged happy who has sacrificed his life in battle, while those who grow old and depart from the world by a natural death they assail with bitter reproaches, as degenerate and cowardly; and there is nothing in which they take more pride than in killing any man whatever: as glorious spoils of the slain they tear off their heads, then strip off their skins and hang them upon their war-horses as trappings. 23 No temple or sacred place is to be seen in their country, not even a hut thatched with straw can be discerned anywhere, but after the manner of barbarians a naked sword is fixed in the ground and they reverently worship it as their god of war, the presiding deity of those lands over which they range. 24 They have a remarkable way of divining the future; for they gather very straight twigs of osier and sort them out at an appointed time with certain secret incantations, and thus clearly learn what impends. 25 They do not know the meaning of slavery, since all are born of noble blood, and moreover they choose as chiefs those men who are conspicuous for long experience as warriors. But let us return to what remains of our chosen subject.

3 The Huns compel the Halani on the Tanaïs to join them, either by force of arms or by treaties; they invade the Goths, and drive them from their homes.

1 The Huns, then, having overrun the territories of those Halani (bordering on the Greuthungi) to whom usage has given the surname Tanaïtes, killed and plundered many of them, and joined the survivors to themselves in a treaty of alliance; then in company with these they made the more boldly a sudden inroad into the extensive and rich cantons of Ermenrichus, a most warlike monarch, dreaded by the neighbouring nations because of his many and varied deeds of valour. 2 He was struck with consternation at the violence of this sudden storm; for a long time he did his best to maintain a firm and continued stand, but since rumour gave wide currency to and exaggerated the horror of the impending dangers, he put an end to his fear of these great perils by a voluntary death. 3 After his demise Vithimiris was made king and resisted the Halani for a time, relying on other Huns, whom he had paid to take his side. But after many defeats which he sustained, he was overcome by force of arms and died in battle. In the name of his little son, Viderichus, the management of affairs was undertaken by Alatheus and Saphrax, experienced generals known for their courage; but since the stress of circumstances compelled them to abandon confidence in resistance, they cautiously retreated until they came to the river Danastius, which flows through the wide extent of plain between the Hister and the Borysthenes. 4 On learning of these unexpected events, Athanarichus, the chief of the Theruingi (against whom, as has been told before, because of aid which he had sent to Procopius, Valens had recently taken the field) attempted to stand his ground, and if he too should be attacked like the rest, was ready to put forth all his strength. 5 Accordingly, he established his camp near the banks of the Danastius, conveniently at some distance from the stockade of the Greuthungi, and sent Munderichus, afterwards in charge of the frontier throughout Arabia, with Lagarimanus and some other men of high rank, to a distance of twenty miles in advance, to observe the advance of the enemy, while he himself in the meantime, disturbed by no one, was preparing his army for battle. 6 But the result was far other than he expected. For the Huns, who are shrewd in arriving at conclusions, suspecting that there was some large force farther off, disregarded the troops which they had seen, and who had disposed themselves to rest, as it there was nothing to disturb them; then, when the moon broke into the darkness of night, they chose what seemed to be the best course, crossed the river by a ford, and fearing lest some informer should get ahead of them and frighten off the enemy who were at a distance, they made a swift attack on Athanaricus himself. 7 As he was stunned by their first onset, they forced him to take speedy refuge in the steep mountains, after losing a few of their own men. Athanaricus, troubled by this unexpected attack and still more through fear of what might come, had walls built high, skirting the lands of the Taifali from the banks of the river Gerasus as far as the Danube, thinking that by this hastily but diligently constructed barrier his security and safety would be assured. 8 But while this well-planned work was being pushed on, the Huns swiftly fell upon him, and would have crushed him at once on their arrival had they not been so loaded down with booty that they gave up the attempt.

Yet when the report spread widely among the other Gothic peoples, that a race of men hitherto unknown had now arisen from a hidden nook of the earth, like a tempest of snows from the high mountains, and was seizing or destroying everything in its way, the greater part of the people, who, worn out by lack of the necessities of life, had deserted Athanaricus, looked for a home removed from all knowledge of the savages; and after long deliberation what abode to choose they thought that Thrace offered them a convenient refuge, for two reasons: both because it has a very fertile soil, and because it is separated by the mighty flood of the Hister from the fields that were already exposed to the thunderbolts of a foreign war; and the rest of the nation as if with one mind agreed to this plan.

4 The greater part of the so-called Theruingian Goths, driven from their lands, are transported to Thrace by the Romans with Valens’ consent, after promising obedience and help in war. The Greuthungi also, another division of the Goths, secretly cross the Hister on rafts.

1 Therefore, under the lead of Alavivus, they took possession of the banks of the Danube, and sending envoys to Valens, with humble entreaty begged to be received, promising that they would not only lead a peaceful life but would also furnish auxiliaries, if circumstances required. 2 While this was happening in foreign parts, terrifying rumours spread abroad that the peoples of the north were stirring up new and uncommonly great commotions: that throughout the entire region which extends from the Marcomanni and the Quadi to the Pontus, a savage horde of unknown peoples, driven from their abodes by sudden violence, were roving about the river Hister in scattered bands with their families. 3 In the very beginning this news was viewed with contempt by our people, because wars in those districts were not ordinarily heard of by those living at a distance until they were ended or at least quieted for a time. 4 But when the belief in what had taken place gained strength, and was confirmed by the coming of the foreign envoys, who begged with prayers and protestations that an exiled race might be received on our side of the river, the affair caused more joy than fear; and experienced flatterers immoderately praised the good fortune of the prince, which unexpectedly brought him so many young recruits from the ends of the earth, that by the union of his own and foreign forces he would have an invincible army; also that instead of the levy of soldiers which was contributed annually by each province, there would accrue to the treasuries a vast amount of gold. 5 In this expectation various officials were sent with vehicles to transport the savage horde, and diligent care was taken that no future destroyer of the Roman state should be left behind, even if he were smitten by a fatal disease. Accordingly, having by the emperor’s permission obtained the privilege of crossing the Danube and settling in parts of Thrace, they were ferried over for some nights and days embarked by companies in boats, on rafts, and in hollowed tree-trunks; and because the river is by far the most dangerous of all and was then swollen by frequent rains, some who, because of the great crowd, struggled against the force of the waves and tried to swim were drowned; and they were a good many.

6 With such stormy eagerness on the part of insistent men was the ruin of the Roman world brought in. This at any rate is neither obscure nor uncertain, that the ill-omened officials who ferried the barbarian hordes often tried to reckon their number, but gave up their vain attempt; as the most distinguished of poets says:

Who wishes to know this would wish to know

How many grains of sand on Libyan plain

By Zephyrus are swept.

7 Well then, let the old tales revive of bringing the Medic hordes to Greece; for while they describe the bridging of the Hellespont, the quest of a sea at the foot of Mount Athos by a kind of mechanical severing, and the numbering of the armies by squadrons at Doriscus, later times have unanimously regarded all this as fabulous reading. 8 For after the countless swarms of nations were poured through the provinces, spreading over a great extent of plain and filling all regions and every mountain height, by this new evidence the trustworthiness also of old stories was confirmed. First Fritigern and Alavivus were received, and the emperor gave orders that they should be given food for their present needs and fields to cultivate.

9 During this time, when the barriers of our frontier were unlocked and the realm of savagery was spreading far and wide columns of armed men like glowing ashes from Aetna, when our difficulties and imminent dangers called for military reformers who were most distinguished for the fame of their exploits: then it was, as if at the choice of some adverse deity, that men were gathered together and given command of armies who bore stained reputations. At their head were two rivals in recklessness: one was Lupicinus, commanding general in Thrace, the other Maximus, a pernicious leader. 10 Their treacherous greed was the source of all our evils. I say nothing of other crimes which these two men, or at least others with their permission, with the worst of motives committed against the foreign new-comers, who were as yet blameless; but one melancholy and unheard-of act shall be mentioned, of which, even if they were their own judges of their own case, they could not be acquitted by any excuse. 11 When the barbarians after their crossing were harassed by lack of food, those most hateful generals devised a disgraceful traffic; they exchanged every dog that their insatiability could gather from far and wide for one slave each, and among these were carried off also sons of the chieftains.

12 During these days also Vithericus, king of the Greuthungi, accompanied by Alatheus and Saphrax, by whose will he was ruled, and also by Farnobius, coming near to the banks of the Danube, hastily sent envoys and besought the emperor that he might be received with like kindness. 13 When these envoys were rejected, as the interests of the state seemed to demand, and were in doubt what course to take, Athanarichus, fearing a like fate, departed, remembering that he had some time before treated Valens with contempt when they were making a treaty of friendship, declaring that he was prevented by conscientious scruples from ever setting foot on Roman soil; and by this excuse he had forced the emperor to conclude peace in the middle of the river. Fearing that the grudge caused by this still endured, Athanaricus withdrew with all his followers to Caucalanda, a place inaccessible because of high mountains and deep forests, from which he first drove out the Sarmatians.

5 The Theruingi, hard pressed by famine and want, and shamefully treated, under the lead of Alavivus and Fritigern revolt from Valens, and rout Lupicinus and his army.

1 But now the Theruingi, who had long since been permitted to cross, were still roaming about near the banks of the river, detained by a twofold obstacle, both because, through the ruinous negligence of the generals, they were not supplied with the necessaries of life, and also because they were prudently held back by an abominable kind of traffic. 2 When this became clear to them, they muttered that they were being forced to disloyalty as a remedy for the evils that threatened them, and Lupicinus, fearing that they might soon revolt, sent soldiers and compelled them to move out more quickly.

3 The Greuthungi took advantage of this favourable opportunity, and when they saw that our soldiers were busy elsewhere, and that the boats that usually went up and down the river and prevented them from crossing were inactive, they passed over the stream in badly made craft and pitched their camp at a long distance from Fritigern.

4 But he with his natural cleverness in foresight protecting himself against anything that might happen, in order to obey the emperor’s commands and at the same time join with the powerful Gothic kings, advanced slowly and in leisurely marches arrived late at Marcianopolis. There another, and more atrocious, thing was done, which kindled the frightful torches that were to burn for the destruction of the state. 5 Having invited Alavivus and Fritigern to a dinner-party, Lupicinus posted soldiers against the main body of the barbarians and kept them at a distance from the walls of the town; and when they asked with continual entreaties that they might, as friendly people submissive to our rule, be allowed to enter and obtain what they needed for food, great wrangling arose between the inhabitants and those who were shut out, which finally reached a point where fighting was inevitable. Whereupon the barbarians, becoming wildly excited when they perceived that some of their kindred were being carried off by force, killed and despoiled a great troop of soldiers. 6 When the aforesaid Lupicinus learned by a secret message that this had happened, while he had long been reclining at the prodigal table amid noisy entertainments and was drowsy and half drunk, guessing what the outcome would be, he put to death all the attendants of the two leaders, who as a guard of honour and to ensure their safety, were waiting for them before the general’s quarters. 7 When the people who were besieging the walls heard this news, in their resentment they gradually increased their number to avenge their kings, who, as they thought, had been detained by force; and they uttered many savage threats. And since Fritigern was quickwitted and feared that he might be held with the rest as a hostage, he cried out that they would have to fight with heavy loss of life, unless he himself were allowed to go out with his companions to quiet the people, who, believing that their leaders had been slain under pretence of friendly entertainment, had blazed out into turbulence. And when this request was granted, they all departed. They were received with applause and rejoicing, and mounting horses hastened away, to set in motion the various incitements that lead to wars. 8 When report, that spiteful nurse of rumours, spread abroad what had happened, the whole nation of the Theruingi was fired with ardour for battle, and amid many fearful scenes, portentous of extreme dangers, after the standards had been raised according to their custom and the doleful sound of the trumpets had been heard, predatory bands were already rushing about, pillaging and burning the country-houses and making whatever places they could find a confusion of awful devastation.

9 Against them Lupicinus mustered all his soldiers in tumultuous speed, and advancing with more haste than discretion, halted nine miles from the city, ready to join battle. On seeing this the barbarians rushed recklessly on crowds of our men, dashed their shields upon opponents’ bodies, and with lance and sword ran through those who opposed them. And in the press of mad and bloody strife the tribunes and the greater part of the army perished, with the loss of their standards, except for their ill-omened leader, who, intent only upon saving himself by flight while the others were fighting, made for the town in hot haste. After this the enemy put on the Romans’ arms and ranged about, devastating sundry places without opposition.

10 And since after many events the narrative has reached this point, I earnestly entreat my readers (if I ever have any) not to demand of me a strictly accurate account of what happened or the exact number of the slain, which there was no way of finding out. For it will be enough to describe simply the main points of events, without concealing the truth through any false statement, since faithful honesty is ever a requisite in giving an historical account. 11 Those who are unacquainted with ancient records say that the state was never before overspread by such a dark cloud of misfortune, but they are deceived by the horror of the recent ills which have overwhelmed them. For if they study earlier times or those which have recently passed, these will show that such dire disturbances have often happened. 12 The Teutones with the Cimbri, coming from unknown parts of the ocean, suddenly overflowed Italy, but after inflicting enormous disasters on our country, in the final battles they were overcome by our great generals, and being destroyed root and branch, they learned from the uttermost perils what warlike might combined with prudent discipline can accomplish. 13 Again, when Marcus was ruling the empire, the united madness of different tribes, after endless alarms of war, after the woes of captured and plundered cities, after the destruction of forces shaken by the death of their able leader, would have left only a small part of them unscathed. 14 But after calamitous losses the state was presently restored to its former condition, because the temperance of old times was not yet infected by the effeminacy of a more licentious mode of life, and did not crave extravagant feasts or shameful gains; but high and low alike with united ardour and in agreement hastened to a noble death for their country, as if to some quiet and peaceful haven.

15 Swarms of the Scythian peoples with two thousand ships broke through the Bosporus and the shores of the Propontis, and after crossing inflicted bitter losses by land and sea; but they lost the greater part of their number and were obliged to retreat. 16 Emperor Decius and Decius his son fell in battle with the barbarians. The cities of Pamphylia were beleaguered, very many islands laid waste, all Macedonia was given to the flames; for a long time the horde laid siege to Thessalonica and to Cyzicus as well. Anchialos was taken, and at the same time Nicopolis, which the emperor Trajan founded to commemorate his victory over the Dacians. 17 After many disasters had been suffered and many cruel calamities had been inflicted, Philippopolis was destroyed and a hundred thousand people (unless the histories are false) were butchered within her walls. Foreign foes roamed at will over Epirus, Thessaly and the whole of Greece; but after the illustrious general Claudius became emperor and after he had been snatched from us by a noble death, they were driven out by Aurelian, a vigorous man and a severe avenger of their sins, and remained quiet for long ages, except that afterwards single bands of robbers made raids into the neighbouring regions, but very rarely and to their own destruction. But let me go on with the narrative from which I digressed.

6 Why the Gothic chieftains, Sueridus and Colias, who had previously been received with their people, rebelled, and after slaying the inhabitants of Hadrianopolis, joined with Fritigern and turned to plundering Thrace.

1 When this series of events was noised abroad by one message coming after another, Sueridus and Colias, Gothic chieftains, who had long since been received with their peoples and assigned to keep winter quarters at Hadrianopolis, considering their own welfare the most important thing of all, looked with indifference on all that took place. 2 But when on a sudden a letter came from the emperor, in which they were ordered to cross to Hellespontus, without any arrogance they asked for money for the journey, food, and a postponement of two days. At this the chief magistrate of the city was vexed — for he was incensed at them besides, because of the pillaging of his own property in his suburban villa; so he brought out and armed for their destruction all the lowest of the populace, along with the Armourers, of whom there is a large force there, and ordering the horns to sound the alarm, threatened them all with the utmost punishment, if they did not leave at once, as had been ordered. 3 The Goths, shocked by this unexpected ill-treatment, and alarmed by the attack of the citizens, rather excited than well-considered, remained immovable; but when they were finally driven desperate by curses and abuse, and a few missiles were hurled at them, they broke out into open rebellion. They slew very many citizens, whom their too impudent attack had entrapped, and put to flight the rest, wounding them with various kinds of weapons. Then, plundering the dead bodies and arming themselves in the Roman equipment, they joined forces with Fritigern, whom they saw to be near at hand, as compliant allies, and beleaguered the city, visiting it with all the horrors of a siege. Remaining in this difficult situation for some time, they made scattered and promiscuous attacks; the conspicuous audacity of some perished unavenged, and many lost their lives from arrows or from stones whirled from slings. 4 Then Fritigern, seeing that his men, being inexperienced in conducting a siege, were carrying on the struggle with such loss of life, left a sufficient force there and persuaded the rest to go away without finishing the task; he reminded them that he kept peace with walls and advised them to attack and devastate the rich and fruitful parts of the country, which were still without protectors and could be pillaged without any danger. 5 They approved the counsel of the king, who they knew would be an active participator in the plan, and advancing cautiously they spread over every quarter of Thrace, while their prisoners or those who surrendered to them pointed out the rich villages, especially those in which it was said that abundant supplies of food were to be found. Besides their native self-confidence, they were encouraged especially by this help, that day by day great numbers of their countrymen flocked to them, including those who had been sold some time before by the traders, as well as many other persons, whom those who were half-dead with hunger when they first crossed into the country had bartered for a drink of bad wine or bits of the poorest of bread. 6 Besides these there were not a few who were expert in following out veins of gold, and who could no longer endure the heavy burden of taxes; these were welcomed with the glad consent of all, and rendered great service to the same, as they wandered through strange places, by pointing out hidden stores of grain, and the secret refuges and hiding-places of the inhabitants. 7 With such guides nothing that was not inaccessible and out of the way remained untouched. For without distinction of age or sex all places were ablaze with slaughter and great fires, sucklings were torn from the very breasts of their mothers and slain, matrons and widows whose husbands had been killed before their eyes were carried off, boys of tender or adult age were dragged away over the dead bodies of their parents. 8 Finally many aged men, crying that they had lived long enough after losing their possessions and their beautiful women, were led into exile with their arms pinioned behind their backs, and weeping over the glowing ashes of their ancestral homes.

7 Profuturus, Trajanus, and Richomeres fight a drawn battle with the Goths.

1 This news, received from Thrace with great sorrow, distracted the emperor Valens with manifold cares. He quickly sent Victor, commander of the cavalry, to Persia, that he might, in view of great impending dangers, arrange about the status of Armenia; he himself, planning to leave Antioch at once and go to Constantinople in the meantime, sent on in advance Profuturus and Trajanus, both generals who had high aspirations, but were unfit for war. 2 When these men had come to places where it was more fitting in small divisions to diminish the enemy’s numbers by stealthy and guerilla warfare, they turned to the ruinous and untimely plan of opposing to the barbarians, who were still breathing out madness, the legions brought from Armenia; these had indeed often given a good account of themselves in warfare, but were no match for the countless horde that had taken possession of the mountain heights as well as the plains. 3 These troops, who had not yet learned the power of unbridled madness combined with desperation, drove the enemy beyond the precipitous crags of Mount Haemus and forced them into the steep defiles, in order that shut up in deserted and solitary places, and finding nowhere an outlet, they might be worn out by long continued hunger; they themselves in the meantime would await the coming of the general Frigeridus, who was on his way with the Pannonian and the transalpine auxiliaries, since Gratian, at Valens’ request, had directed him to take the field and bear aid to those who were harassed to the point of utter destruction. 4 After him Richomeres, then commander of the household troops, who had been moved from Gaul, also at the order of Gratian, hastened to Thrace at the head of some so-called cohorts, of which the greater part had deserted, induced (as some maintained) by Merobaudes, who feared that if Gaul should be deprived of its defences, it would be laid waste at will by raids from across the Rhine. 5 But since Frigeridus was disabled by an attack of gout, or at any rate, as his envious detractors alleged, feigned illness in order to avoid taking part in the hot contests, Richomeres by common consent took command of the whole force, and was joined by Profuturus and Trajanus, who were encamped near the town of Salices. Not far from there a countless mass of the barbarians had arranged their numerous wagons in the form of a circle, and as if enclosed in a space between city-walls, were enjoying their rich booty at their ease.

6 The Roman leaders, therefore, led by hopes for a more favourable turn of affairs, and intending to dare some glorious deed when chance brought the opportunity, were keenly watching for any movement that the Goths might attempt; making ready of course for this, that in case the enemy moved their camp to any other place, as they very frequently did, they might attack the hindermost in the rear, kill many of them with their spikes, and appropriate a great part of their spoils. 7 When the Goths perceived this, or were informed by the reports of deserters, through whom everything was made known to them, they remained for a long time in the same position. But overwhelmed with fear of the opposing army, and of the additional soldiers that they now expected to flock to it, by means of the message used by their race they summoned the predatory bands scattered over various places near by; these at once, in obedience to the orders of their chiefs, like fire-darts, returned with winged speed to their wagon city (as they themselves call it) and gave their countrymen an incentive to greater deeds of daring. 8 After this there was no rest for either side except for a short armistice. For upon the return of those whom necessity had called forth, the whole multitude, even then crowded within the ring of their defences, with frightful outcries and roused by their furious mood were all in haste with headlong eagerness to try to extremest dangers; and the chiefs of the nation who were present were in accord with them. But since these things took place when it was nearly sundown, and the coming of night kept them quiet against their wills and in sorrow, they took food at leisure, but remained sleepless. 9 For their part the Romans, on learning this, also spent the night without sleep, because they feared the enemy and their insane leaders as they might fear madly raging beasts; and although the outcome was doubtful, since they were considerably fewer in number, yet because of the greater justice of their cause they looked for success with unterrified minds.

10 Therefore the light of day had hardly appeared, when the trumpets on both sides sounded the call to take up arms, and the barbarians, after taking oath together according to their custom, tried to reach the heights, in order that from there by a swift rush down the slope like so many rollers they might overwhelm all before them. On seeing this, our soldiers hastened each to his own company, where they stood fast without moving about or leaving the ranks and rushing forward. 11 So, when both armies after advancing cautiously remained unmoved, the opposing warriors stared at each other with savage and sidelong glances. The Romans in unison sounded their war-cry, as usual rising from a low to a louder tone, of which the national name is barritus, and thus roused themselves to mighty strength. But the barbarians sounded the glories of their forefathers with wild shouts, and amid this discordant clamour of different languages skirmishes were first tried. 12 And now, after attacking each other from a distance with javelins and other missiles, they came together menacingly for a hand-to-hand conflict; the shields were fixed side to side in the form of a tortoise-shed, and they stood foot to foot. The barbarians, who are always alert and nimble, threw at our men huge clubs, hardened in the fire, and ran their swords through the breasts of those who showed most resistance; thus they broke through the left wing. When this gave way, a strong troop of reserves bravely hastened to their aid from near at hand, and rallied them when death already sat upon their necks. 13 Then the battle grew hot and the slaughter was great; all the more active rushed into the thick of the fray and met their death from the arrows that flew like hail, or from the swords. Those who fled were pursued on this side and on that by troops of cavalry, who with mighty strength slashed at their heads and backs; and likewise on both sides by foot soldiers, hamstringing those who were in the toils of fear and had fallen. 14 And while the whole battlefield was covered with corpses, some were lying among them who were mortally wounded, and cherished a vain hope of life; some were smitten with a bullet from a sling or pierced with arrows tipped with iron; the heads of others were split through mid forehead and crown with swords and hung down on both shoulders, a most horrible sight. 15 But not yet wearied by the obstinate struggle, both sides continued to assail each other without a decision, and felt no diminution at all of their native hardihood, so long as eager courage kept up their strength. But at last day gave way to evening and ended the murderous contests, and withdrawing in disorder wherever each one could, all the survivors returned in sorrow to their tents. 16 Finally, some of the dead, who were men of distinction, were buried in such manner as the present circumstances allowed; the bodies of the rest of the slain were devoured by the foul birds that are wont at such a time to feed upon corpses, as is shown by the plains even now white with bones. However, while it is a fact that the Romans, who, far fewer in number, struggled with that vast multitude, suffered great losses, yet lamentable was the distress with which they afflicted the barbarian horde.

8 The Goths, after being beleaguered in the defiles of Mount Haemus and then allowed by the Romans to escape, lay waste Thrace with robbery, murder, rape, and fire, and slay Barzimeres tribune of the body-guard.

1 When these disasters of battle were thus mournfully ended, our men sought retreat in the neighbouring city of Marcianopolis. The Goths, of their own accord, crowded within the winding line of wagons, did not venture to come out or show themselves for seven days, and our soldiers, having thus found an opportunity, shut in the other huge hordes of barbarians within the narrow passes of the Haemus range by building high barriers. They doubtless hoped that the dangerous mass of enemies, crowded together between the Hister and the waste places, and finding no way out, would perish from lack of food; for all the necessities of life had been taken to the strong cities, none of which the enemy even then attempted to besiege because of their complete ignorance of these and other operations of the kind. 2 After this Richomeres returned to Gaul, in order to bring aid from there because there was expectation of still greater tumult of war. All this took place in the consulships of Gratian and Merobaudes, the former for the fourth time, towards the coming of autumn.

3 Meanwhile Valens, on hearing of the sad results of the war and the pillage, sent Saturninus, who was temporarily given command of the cavalry, to render aid to Trajanus and Profuturus. 4 And it chanced at that same time, since everything that could serve as food throughout the lands of Scythia and Moesia had been used up, that the barbarians, driven alike by ferocity and hunger, strove with all their might to break out. And when after many attempts they were overwhelmed by the vigour of our men, who strongly opposed them amid the rugged heights, compelled by dire necessity they gained an alliance with some of the Huns and Halani by holding out the hope of immense booty.

5 As soon as Saturninus heard of this — for he had already arrived and was arranging a line of outposts and field pickets — he gradually gathered his forces together and prepared to retreat; his plan was not a foolish one — namely that suddenly the mass of barbarians, like a river that has burst its barriers and rushes forth with an awful drive of waters, might not with slight difficulty whirl to destruction one and all while keenly watching the points of danger. 6 But scarcely were the passes open and our men conveniently gone, when the imprisoned barbarians, in disorder, wherever each man found no opposition, pressed on to set all in confusion; and unhindered they spread devastation over all the wide plains of Thrace, beginning at the very regions past which the Hister flows, and filling the whole country, as far as Rhodope and the strait which separates two great seas, with a most foul confusion of robbery, murder, bloodshed, fires, and shameful violation of the bodies of freemen. 7 Then there were to be seen and to lament acts most frightful to see and to describe: women driven along by cracking whips, and stupefied with fear, still heavy with their unborn children, which before coming into the world endured many horrors; little children too clinging to their mothers. Then could be heard the laments of high-born boys and maidens, whose hands were fettered in cruel captivity. 8 Behind these were led last of all grown-up girls and chaste wives, weeping and with downcast faces, longing even by a death of torment to forestall the imminent violation of their modesty. Among these was a freeborn man, not long ago rich and independent, dragged along like some wild beast and railing at thee, Fortune, as merciless and blind, since thou hadst in a brief moment deprived him of his possessions, and of the sweet society of his dear ones; had driven him from his home, which he saw fallen to ashes and ruins, and sacrificed him to a bloody victor, either to be torn from limb to limb or amid blows and tortures to serve as a slave.

9 The barbarians, however, like savage beasts that had broken their cages, poured raging over the wide extent of Thrace and made for a town called Dibaltum, where they found Barzimeres, tribune of the targeteers, a leader experienced in the dust of warfare, with his own men, the Cornuti, and other companies of infantry, and fell upon him just as he was pitching his camp. 10 He at once, as the exigency of imminent destruction compelled him, ordered the trumpet to sound the attack, and having protected his flanks, charged out at the head of his brave soldiers, who were ready and armed for battle; and by his valiant resistance he would have withdrawn on equal terms, had not the charge of a large force of cavalry surrounded him when he was breathless from fatigue. And so he fell, after having slain not a few of the barbarians, whose losses were concealed by their great numbers.

9 Frigeridus, Gratian’s general, slays the chieftain Farnobius with many of the Goths and the Taifali; to the rest, their lives and lands about the Po were granted.

1 After accomplishing this as related, the Goths, uncertain what to try next, sought for Frigeridus, with the intention of extirpating him, when they found him, as a powerful obstacle in their way; and after taking better food than usual and sleeping for a short time, they followed his trail like wild beasts; for they had learned that at Gratian’s advice he had returned to Thrace, and, having constructed a fortification near Beroea, was watching the uncertain outcome of events. 2 And they indeed in rapid march hastened to the execution of their design. But he, knowing how both to command his soldiers and to preserve them, either suspected their purpose or had plain information of it from the report of the scouts that he had sent out; so he returned over lofty mountains and through dense forests to Illyricum, much uplifted in spirit by the passing great opportunity which an unhoped-for chance put in his way. 3 For while he was returning and, massed into wedge-formations, slowly advancing, he came upon the Gothic chieftain Farnobius, who was freely ranging about with his predatory bands and leading the Taifali, whom he had lately received as allies. Since our people (if it is proper to say so) through fear of these unknown peoples had dispersed, they crossed the river, intending to pillage the unprotected country. 4 When their bands suddenly came in sight, our careful leader prepared for a hand-to-hand conflict and opened an attack upon these marauders of both nations, which even then were threatening cruel carnage; he killed a large number and he would have slaughtered them all to the last man, leaving not even anyone to report the disaster, had he not, after the fall of Farnobius, before this a dreaded inciter of turmoil, and many others with him, spared the survivors in response to their earnest entreaties. But though he spared their lives, he banished them to the neighbourhood of Mutina, Regium, and Parma, towns in Italy, where they were to work in the fields. 5 We have learned that these Taifali were a shameful folk, so sunken in a life of shame and obscenity, that in their country the boys are coupled with the men in a union of unmentionable lust, to consume the flower of their youth in the polluted intercourse of those paramours. We may add that, if any grown person alone catches a boar or kills a huge bear, he is purified thereby from the shame of unchastity.

10 The Lentiensian Alamanni are defeated in battle by the generals of Gratianus Augustus, and their king Priarius also is slain; after their surrender they give Gratian recruits and are allowed to return to their homes.

1 This is what, throughout Thrace, the destructive storms of affairs swept together as autumn was verging upon winter. And this madness of the times, as if the Furies were stirring up the whole world, spread widely and made its way also to distant regions. 2 And now the Lentienses, an Alamannic race bordering on Raetia, by treacherous raids broke the treaty which had long since been concluded with them and made an attempt upon our frontier; the ruinous beginning of this disaster was the following occurrence. 3 One of their nation, who was serving among the emperor’s armour-bearers, returned to his home because of pressing business, and being a loose talker, when many asked him what was going on in the palace, he told them that Gratian, summoned by his uncle Valens, would presently march towards the Orient, in order that with doubled forces he might repel the peoples dwelling on the border, who had conspired to destroy the Roman state. 4 The Lentienses greedily seized upon this information, and, looking on these acts from the point of view of neighbours of the frontier, and being swift and hasty in action, they formed themselves into predatory bands, and in the month of February tried to cross the Rhine, which was sufficiently frozen over to be passable. But the Celts, who were encamped near by with the Petulantes, with mighty strength turned them back with great slaughter, yet not without loss to themselves. 5 But although the Germans were forced to retire, being aware that the greater part of the army had gone ahead to Illyricum, where the emperor was soon expected to appear, they were fired with hotter rage; and planning still greater enterprises, they gathered into one place the inhabitants of all the villages, and with forty thousand armed men, or seventy thousand, as some boasted in order to exaggerate the emperor’s glory, full of pride and confidence broke into our territory.

6 Gratian learned of this with great alarm, recalled the cohorts which he had sent on into Pannonia, brought together the others, which wise policy had kept in Gaul, and gave the command to Nannienus, a leader of valour and discretion; but he joined with him a colleague of equal rank Mallobaudes, commander of the household troops and king of the Franks, a brave man, always ready for fighting. 7 Accordingly, while Nannienus weighed the changeable events of fortune and hence believed that they ought to act deliberately, Mallobaudes, carried away (as usual) by his strong eagerness for battle and impatient of postponement, was tormented with longing to go against the foe. 8 Therefore, when from the opposite side the terrifying battle-cry was heard, the signal was given by the horn-blowers and the battle began at Argentaria; and many were struck down on both sides by wounds from flying arrows and javelins. 9 But in the very heat of the fight, our soldiers, seeing countless numbers of the enemy, and avoiding combat in the open, dispersed as best they could over the narrow pastures planted with trees, and presently stood their ground with greater confidence; and gleaming with like resplendence and brilliance of arms when seen from afar, they struck the barbarians with fear that the emperor was coming. 10 So the enemy turned in flight, sometimes however resisting, that they might not lose their last chance of safety; but they were so thoroughly defeated that from the above mentioned number it was estimated that not more than five thousand escaped under cover of the thick woods, and among other bold and brave men King Priarius also, the inciter of the deadly battles, was killed.

11 Gratian, filled with confidence at this happy success, and being already on his way to the regions of the east, turned his line of march to the left, secretly crossed the Rhine, and spurred on the more by sanguine hope, determined, if fortune favoured his attempt, utterly to destroy a race faithless and greedy for trouble. 12 When one urgent message after another brought this news to the Lentienses, who were almost annihilated by the disasters to their people and were stunned by the emperor’s sudden arrival, they were in doubt what plan to adopt; and since they could find no respite, however short, from fighting, nor from any action or effort, in swift course they made for the hills, which were beset by pathless crags. There, taking their place round about on the sheer rocks, they tried to defend their possessions and their dear wives and children, whom they had brought with them, with all the strength that they possessed. 13 After consideration of the difficult situation, five hundred soldiers who were approved by experience as prudent in battle were selected from each legion, to be opposed to obstacles like those of city walls. Their confident spirit was all the greater because the emperor was seen actively engaged in the foremost ranks, and they strove to scale the mountains, expecting that if they should set foot on the higher places, they would at once and without a struggle carry them off, as if they were booty taken in the chase. But the battle, which began towards midday, was even overtaken by the darkness of night. 14 Both sides indeed suffered severe losses; our men slew many, but not a few of their own number fell, and at the same time the armour of the imperial guard, gleaming with gold and bright colours, was shattered by the heavy missiles thickly cast upon it.

15 Then, after long conference with the men of highest rank, Gratian thought it dangerous and fruitless to struggle with untimely obstinacy against rugged jutting heights; opinions varied greatly, as was natural in such circumstances, but it was finally decided that, with the soldiers at rest, the barbarians should be shut in on all sides and exhausted by famine, since they were protected by the unevenness of the ground. 16 But when the Germans resisted with the same persistence, and, being acquainted with the country, made for other mountains, higher than those which they had occupied before, the emperor wheeled in that direction with his army, and with the same courage as before sought to find paths leading to the heights. 17 When the Lentienses perceived that he was determined with most earnest persistence to have their lives, they obtained mercy as the result of humble supplications, and surrendered; then giving their strong young manhood (as they were ordered) to be mingled with our recruits, they were allowed to go without punishment to their native lands.

18 Incredibly great energy and conspicuous rapidity were shown by Gratian, while he was hastening in another direction, when through the favour of the eternal deity he won this victory, which was at once seasonable and profitable, since it tamed the western nations. He was a young man of splendid character, eloquent, self-restrained, war-like, and merciful, and was already on his way to rivalry with the most distinguished emperors while yet a comely down was creeping over his cheeks, had not his natural inclination for unbecoming conduct, which was given free rein by his intimates, turned him to the frivolous pursuits of the emperor Commodus, although without that prince’s thirst for blood. 19 For as that emperor felt superhuman exultation because he so often killed a great number of wild animals with javelins in the presence of the people, and slaughtered with various kinds of weapons in the arena of the amphitheatre a hundred lions that were let in together, without needing to inflict a second wound, just so Gratian also, while he pierced sharptoothed beasts with many an arrow-shot within the enclosures which are called vivaria, neglected as of little moment many serious occurrences; and that too at a time when, even if Marcus Antoninus had been emperor, he could not without like-minded colleagues and most prudent counsel have mitigated the grievous disasters to our country.

20 Gratian, then, after making the arrangements which affairs and policy throughout Gaul demanded according to the trend of the times, and punishing the traitorous targeteer who had revealed to the barbarians that the emperor was hurrying to Illyricum, hastened next to go by long marches past the castle called Felix Arbor and past Lauriacum, to bring aid to the hard-pressed part of the country.

21 At that same time Frigeridus, who was carefully making many useful plans for the general security, and was hastening to fortify the pass of Succi, in order that the roving light-armed bands of the enemy might not, like torrents swollen by melting snow, roam at large over the northern provinces, was given a successor in the person of a general called Maurus, notoriously venal under a pretence of boldness, and changeable and unreliable in all his conduct. He it was who (as I have told in my narrative of previous events) when Caesar Julian was in doubt about the crown to be put upon his head, with haughty cleverness took off his neck-chain and boldly offered it to him for the purpose, being at the time one of Julian’s bodyguard. 22 Thus even in the dizzy whirl of disasters a careful and active leader was removed, whereas he should have been recalled to active service at the demand of such important affairs, even if he had long since retired to a peaceful life.

11 Sebastianus at Beroea surprises and cuts to pieces the Goths laden with booty; a few were saved by flight. Gratianus Augustus hastens to his uncle Valens, to bring him aid against the Goths.

1 It chanced that at that time Valens was at last called forth from Antioch, and after making the long journey arrived at Constantinople, where his stay was for only a very few days, and he was disturbed by a slight outbreak of the populace. He gave the command of the infantry, which Trajanus had formerly held, to Sebastianus, a leader of recognized vigilance, who had shortly before been sent from Italy at his own request. He himself went to the imperial villa Melanthias and tried to win the favour of the soldiers by pay, supplies, and many fighting words. 2 Having commanded a march from there by written order, he came to the military post called Nice, where he learned from the report of scouts that the barbarians, laden with rich spoils, had returned from the lands at the foot of Rhodope to the neighbourhood of Hadrianopolis; they, on hearing that the emperor was on the march with a large force, were hastening to join their countrymen, who were staying in a permanent garrison near Beroea and Nicopolis. At once, as timeliness of the offered opportunity demanded, Sebastianus had been directed to choose three hundred soldiers from each legion and hasten to the spot, to do, as he promised, something advantageous to the state. 3 He advanced by rapid marches until he was seen near Hadrianopolis, when the gates were strongly barred, and he was not allowed to approach them; for the besieged feared that he came as one who had been captured by the enemy, and won over to their side, and some harm might be caused to the city; such as had happened through the general Acacius, when the troops of Magnentius had captured him by treachery, and brought about the opening of the fastnesses of the Julian Alps. 4 However, when Sebastianus was recognized, although late, and allowed to enter the city, his men were refreshed with such food and rest as were available; and on the following morning he sallied forth in secret haste. Just as evening was coming on some predatory bands of Goths suddenly came in sight near the river Hebrus, whereupon Sebastianus remained hidden for a time behind mounds and thickets; and when it was dark night he advanced with light step and fell upon them in their sleep, inflicting such a defeat upon them that all the rest perished except a few, whom swiftness of foot saved from death. He brought back countless booty, which was too great to be contained in the city and the broad plain about it. 5 Fritigern was greatly alarmed by this stroke, and feared lest the general, whom he had always heard to be successful, might make an unexpected attack upon his scattered and heedless bands, which were intent only upon pillage, and utterly destroy them; he therefore recalled all his men to the vicinity of the town of Cabyle and quickly left that neighbourhood, in order that his people, by living in the open plains, might not suffer from famine or from secret attacks.

6 While this was going on in Thrace, Gratian, having informed his uncle by letter with what energy he had overthrown the Alamanni, sent on ahead by land all his baggage and packs, and descending the Danube with a band of light-armed troops, came to Bononia and entered Sirmium. Having delayed there for four days, he went on over the same river to the Camp of Mars, although attacked by intermittent fevers. In that region the Halani unexpectedly fell upon him, and he lost a few of his followers.

12 Valens Augustus decides to fight with the Goths before the coming of Gratian.

1 In those same days Valens was troubled for two reasons: first, by the news that the Lentienses had been defeated; secondly, because Sebastianus wrote from time to time exaggerating his exploits. He therefore marched forth from Melanthias, being eager to do some glorious deed to equal his young nephew, whose valiant exploits consumed him with envy. He had under his command a force made up of varying elements, but one neither contemptible, nor unwarlike; for he had joined with them also a large number of veterans, among whom were other officers of high rank and Trajanus, shortly before a commander-in-chief, whom he had recalled to active service. 2 And since it was learned from careful reconnoitring that the enemy were planning with strong guards to block the roads over which the necessary supplies were being brought, he tried competently to frustrate this attempt by quickly sending an infantry troop of bowmen and a squadron of cavalry, in order to secure the advantages of the narrow passes, which were near by. 3 During the next three days, when the barbarians, advancing at a slow pace and through unfrequented places, since they feared a sally, were fifteen miles distant from the city, and were making for the station of Nice, through some mistake or other the emperor was assured by his skirmishers that all that part of the enemy’s horde which they had seen consisted of only ten thousand men, and carried away by a kind of rash ardour, he determined to attack them at once. 4 Accordingly, advancing in square formation, he came to the vicinity of a suburb of Hadrianopolis, where he made a strong rampart of stakes, surrounded by a moat, and impatiently waited for Gratian; there he received Richomeres, general of the household troops, sent in advance by Gratian with a letter, in which he said that he himself also would soon be there. 5 Since the contents besought him to wait a while for the partner in his dangers, and not rashly to expose himself alone to serious perils, Valens called a council of various of his higher officers and considered what ought to be done. 6 And while some, influenced by Sebastianus, urged him to give battle at once, the man called Victor, a commander of cavalry, a Sarmatian by birth, but foresighted and careful, with the support of many others recommended that his imperial colleague be awaited, so that, strengthened by the addition of the Gallic army, he might the more easily crush the fiery over-confidence of the barbarians. 7 However, the fatal insistence of the emperor prevailed, supported by the flattering opinion of some of his courtiers, who urged him to make all haste in order that Gratian might not have a share in the victory which (as they represented) was already all but won.

8 While the necessary preparations for the deceive battle were going on, a Christian presbyter (to use their own term), who had been sent by Fritigern as an envoy, in company with some humble folk came to the emperor’s camp. He was courteously received and presented a letter from the same chieftain, openly requesting that to him and his people, whom the rapid forays of savage races had made exiles from their native lands, Thrace only should be granted as a habitation, with all its flocks and crops; and they promised lasting peace if this request were granted. 9 Besides this the aforesaid Christian, apparently a confidant and trusted friend of Fritigern, presented also a private letter of the same king, who, all too skilled in craft and in various forms of deception, informed Valens, pretending that he hoped soon to be his friend and ally, that he could not tame the savagery of his people, or entice them to adopt conditions favourable to the Roman state, unless the emperor should from time to time show them near at hand his army ready for battle, and through the fear aroused by the imperial name check their destructive eagerness for war. But as to the envoys, their sincerity was doubted, and they left without accomplishing their purpose.

10 But on the dawn of that day which is numbered in the calendar as the fifth before the Ides of August the army began its march with extreme haste, leaving all its baggage and packs near the walls of Hadrianopolis with a suitable guard of legions; for the treasury, and the insignia of imperial dignity besides, with the prefect and the emperor’s council, were kept within the circuit of the walls. 11 So after hastening a long distance over rough ground, while the hot day was advancing towards noon, finally at the eighth hour they saw the wagons of the enemy, which, as the report of the scouts had declared, were arranged in the form of a perfect circle. And while the barbarian soldiers, according to their custom, uttered savage and dismal howls, the Roman leader so drew up their line of battle that the cavalry on the right wing were first pushed forward, while the greater part of the infantry waited in reserve. 12 But the left wing of the horsemen (which was formed with the greatest difficulty, since very many of them were still scattered along the roads) was hastening to the spot at swift pace. And while that same wing was being extended, still without interruption, the barbarians were terrified by the awful din, the hiss of whirring arrows and the menacing clash of shields; and since a part of their forces under Alatheus and Saphrax was far away and, though sent for, had not yet returned, they sent envoys to beg for peace. 13 The emperor scorned these because of their low origin, demanding for the execution of a lasting treaty that suitable chieftains be sent; meanwhile the enemy purposely delayed, in order that during the pretended truce their cavalry might return, who, they hoped, would soon make their appearance; also that our soldiers might be exposed to the fiery summer heat and exhausted by their dry throats, while the broad plains gleamed with fires, which the enemy were feeding with wood and dry fuel, for this same purpose. To that evil was added another deadly one, namely, that men and beasts were tormented by severe hunger.

14 Meanwhile Fritigern, shrewd to foresee the future and fearing the uncertainty of war, on his own initiative sent one of his common soldiers as a herald, requesting that picked men of noble rank be sent to him at once as hostages and saying that he himself would fearlessly meet the threats of his soldiers and do what was necessary. 15 The proposal of the dreaded leader was welcome and approved, and the tribune Aequitius, then marshal of the court and a relative of Valens, with the general consent was chosen to go speedily as a surety. When he objected, on the ground that he had once been captured by enemy but had escaped from Dibaltum, and therefore feared their unreasonable anger, Richomeres voluntarily offered his own services and gladly promised to go, thinking this also to be a fine act and worthy of a brave man. And soon he was on his way [bringing] proofs of his rank and birth. . . . 16 As he was on his way to the enemy’s rampart, the archers and the targeteers, then under the command of one Bacurius of Hiberia and Cassio, had rushed forward too eagerly in hot attack, and were already engaged with their adversaries; and as their charge had been untimely, so their retreat was cowardly; and thus they gave an unfavourable omen to the beginning of the battle. 17 This unseasonable proceeding not only thwarted the prompt action of Richomeres, who was not allowed to go at all, but also the Gothic cavalry, returning with Alatheus and Saphrax, combined with a band of the Halani, dashed out as a thunderbolt does near high mountains, and threw into confusion all those whom they could find in the way of their swift onslaught, and quickly slew them.

13 All the Goths united, namely, the Theruingi under the command of King Fritigern, and the Greuthungi led by Alatheus and Saphrax, and engaged with the Romans in the open, routed their cavalry, and put to flight the infantry, thus left unprotected and crowded together, with enormous losses; Valens was killed, but his body could not be found.

1 On every side armour and weapons clashed, and Bellona, raging with more than usual madness for the destruction of the Romans, blew her lamentable war-trumpets; our soldiers who were giving way rallied, exchanging many encouraging shouts, but the battle, spreading like flames, filled their hearts with terror, as numbers of them were pierced by strokes of whirling spears and arrows. 2 Then the lines dashed together like beaked ships, pushing each other back and forth in turn, and tossed about by alternate movements, like waves at sea.

And because the left wing, which had made its way as far as the very wagons, and would have gone farther if it had had any support, being deserted by the rest of the cavalry, was hard pressed by the enemy’s numbers, it was crushed, and overwhelmed, as if by the downfall of a mighty rampart. The foot-soldiers thus stood unprotected, and their companies were so crowded together that hardly anyone could pull out his sword or draw back his arm. Because of clouds of dust the heavens could no longer be seen, and echoed with frightful cries. Hence the arrows whirling death from every side always found their mark with fatal effect, since they could not be seen beforehand nor guarded against. 3 But when the barbarians, pouring forth in huge hordes, trampled down horse and man, and in the press of ranks no room for retreat could be gained anywhere, and the increased crowding left no opportunity for escape, our soldiers also, showing extreme contempt of falling in the fight, received their death-blows, yet struck down their assailants; and on both sides the strokes of axes split helmet and breastplate. 4 Here one might see a barbarian filled with lofty courage, his cheeks contracted in a hiss, hamstrung or with right hand severed, or pierced through the side, on the very verge of death threateningly casting about his fierce glance; and by the fall of the combatants on both sides the plains were covered with the bodies of the slain strewn over the ground, while the groans of the dying and of those who had suffered deep wounds caused immense fear when they were heard. 5 In this great tumult and confusion the infantry, exhausted by their efforts and the danger, when in turn strength and mind for planning anything were lacking, their lances for the most part broken by constant clashing, content to fight with drawn swords, plunged into the dense masses of the foe, regardless of their lives, seeing all around that every loophole of escape was lost. 6 The ground covered with streams of blood whirled their slippery foothold from under them, so they could only strain every nerve to sell their lives dearly; and they opposed the onrushing foe with such great resolution that some fell by the weapons of their own comrades. Finally, when the whole scene was discoloured with the hue of dark blood, and wherever men turned their eyes heaps of slain met them, they trod upon the bodies of the dead without mercy. 7 Now the sun had risen higher, and when it had finished its course through Leo, and was passing into the house of the heavenly Virgo, scorched the Romans, who were more and more exhausted by hunger and worn out by thirst, as well as distressed by the heavy burden of their armour. Finally our line was broken by the onrushing weight of the barbarians, and since that was the only resort in their last extremity, they took to their heels in disorder as best they could.

8 While all scattered in flight over unknown paths, the emperor, hedged about by dire terrors, and slowly treading over heaps of corpses, took refuge with the lancers and the mattiarii, who, so long as the vast numbers of the enemy could be sustained, had stood unshaken with bodies firmly planted. On seeing him Trajanus cried that all hope was gone, unless the emperor, abandoned by his body-guard, should at least be protected by his foreign auxiliaries. 9 On hearing this the general called Victor hastened to bring quickly to the emperor’s aid the Batavi, who had been posted not far off as a reserve force; but when he could find none of them, he retired and went away. And in the same way Richomeres and Saturninus made their escape from danger.

10 And so the barbarians, their eyes blazing with frenzy, were pursuing our men, in whose veins the blood was chilled with numb horror: some fell without knowing who struck them down, others were buried beneath the mere weight of their assailants; some were slain by the sword of a comrade; for though they often rallied, there was no ground given, nor did anyone spare those who retreated. 11 Besides all this, the roads were blocked by many who lay mortally wounded, lamenting the torment of their wounds; and with them also mounds of fallen horses filled the plains with corpses. To these ever irreparable losses, so costly to the Roman state, a night without the bright light of the moon put an end.

12 At the first coming of darkness the emperor, amid the common soldiers as was supposed (for no one asserted that he had seen him or been with him), fell mortally wounded by an arrow, and presently breathed his last breath; and he was never afterwards found anywhere. For since a few of the foe were active for long in the neighbourhood for the purpose of robbing the dead, no one of the fugitives or of the natives ventured to approach the spot. 13 The Caesar Decius, we are told, met a similar fate; for when he was fiercely fighting with the barbarians and his horse, whose excitement he could not restrain, stumbled and threw him, he fell into a marsh, from which he could not get out, nor could his body be found. 14 Others say that Valens did not give up the ghost at once, but with his bodyguard and a few eunuchs was taken to a peasant’s cottage near by, well fortified in its second storey; and while he was being treated by unskilful hands, he was surrounded by the enemy, who did not know who he was, but was saved from the shame of captivity. 15 For while the pursuers were trying to break open the bolted doors, they were assailed with arrows from a balcony of the house; and fearing through the inevitable delay to lose the opportunity for pillage, they piled bundles of straw and firewood about the house, set fire to them, and burned it men and all. 16 From it one of the bodyguard leaped through a window, but was taken by the enemy; when he told them what had happened, he filled them with sorrow at being cheated of great glory, in not having taken the ruler of the Roman empire alive. This same young man, having later escaped and returned secretly to our army, gave this account of what had occurred. 17 When Spain had been recovered, with a similar disaster the second of the Scipios, we are told, was burned with a tower in which he had taken refuge and which the enemy had set on fire. This much, at any rate, is certain, that neither Scipio nor Valens had the fortune of burial which is death’s final honour.

18 Amid this manifold loss of distinguished men, the deaths of Trajanus and Sebastianus stood out. With them fell thirty-five tribunes, without special assignments, and leaders of bodies of troops, as well as Valerianus and Aequitius, the one having charge of the stables, the other, of the Palace. Among these also Potentius lost his life in the first flower of his youth; he was tribune of the promoti, respected by all good men and honoured both for his own services and those of his father Ursicinus, formerly a commander-in-chief. Certain it is that barely a third part of our army escaped. 19 The annals record no such massacre of a battle except the one at Cannae, although the Romans more than once, deceived by trickery due to an adverse breeze of Fortune, yielded for a time to ill-success in their wars, and although the storied dirges of the Greeks have mourned over many a contest.

14 The merits and defects of Valens Augustus.

1 Thus then died Valens, at the age of almost fifty and after a reign of a little less than fourteen years. 2 Of his merits, as known to many, we shall now speak, and of his defects. He was a firm and faithful friend, severe in punishing ambitious designs, strict in maintaining discipline in the army and in civil life, always watchful and anxious lest anyone should elevate himself on the ground of kinship with him; he was excessively slow towards conferring or taking away official positions, very just in his rule of the provinces, each of which he protected from injury as he would his own house, lightening the burden of tributes with a kind of special care, allowing no increase in taxes, not extortionate in estimating the indebtedness from arrears, a harsh and bitter enemy of thievish officials and of those detected in peculation. Under no other emperor does the Orient recall meeting better treatment in matters of this kind. 3 Besides all this, he combined liberality with moderation, and although there are many instances of such conduct, yet it will suffice to set forth one. Since there are always at court some men who are greedy for others’ possessions, if anyone, as often happens, claimed a lapsed estate or anything else of the kind, he distinguished clearly between justice and injustice, allowing those who intended to protest a chance to state their case; and if he gave it to the petitioner, he often added as sharers in the gifts gained three or four absentees, to the end that restless people might act with more restraint, when they saw that by this device the gain for which they were so greedy was diminished. 4 As to the public buildings which he restored or built from their very beginning in various cities and towns, in order not to be prolix I say nothing, but leaving this matter to the objects themselves to demonstrate it more obviously than I can. Such conduct is worthy, I think, of emulation by all good men; let me now run through his defects.

5 He was immoderately desirous of great wealth, and impatient of toil, rather affecting awesome austerity than possessing it, and somewhat inclined to cruelty; he had rather an uncultivated mind, and was trained neither in the art of war nor in liberal studies; he was ready to gain advantage and profit at the expense of others’ suffering, and more intolerable when he attributed offences that were committed to contempt of, or injury to, the imperial dignity; then he vented his rage in bloodshed, and on the ruin of the rich. 6 It was unendurable also, that although he wished to appear to refer all controversies and judicial investigations to the laws, and entrusted the examination of such affairs to the regular judges as being specially selected men, nevertheless he suffered nothing to be done contrary to his own caprice. He was in other ways unjust, hot tempered, and ready to listen to informers without distinguishing truth from falsity — a shameful fault, which is very greatly to be dreaded even in these our private affairs of every-day occurrence.

7 He was a procrastinator and irresolute. His complexion was dark, the pupil of one of his eyes was dimmed, but in such a way as not to be noticed at a distance; his body was well-knit, his height neither above nor below the average; he was knock-kneed, and somewhat pot-bellied.

8 This will be enough to say about Valens, and it is fully confirmed by the testimony of records contemporary with me. But it is proper not to omit the following story. At the time of the oracle of the tripod, for which, as I have said, Patricius and Hilarius were responsible, he had heard of those three prophetic verses, of which the last is:

When in Mimas’ plains the war-god Ares rages.

Being uneducated and rude, he disregarded them at first, but as his very great troubles increased he became abjectly timid, and in recalling that prediction used to shudder at the mention of Asia, where, as he heard from the mouths of learned men, Homer and Cicero have written of a mountain called Mimas, rising above the city of Erythrae. 9 Finally, after his death and the departure of the enemy, it is said that near the place where he was thought to have fallen a monument made of a heap of stones was found, to which was fastened a tablet engraved with Greek characters, showing that a distinguished man of old called Mimas was buried there.

15 The victorious Goths lay siege to Hadrianopolis, where Valens had left his treasures and the imperial insignia in charge of the prefect and the members of the council; but after vainly trying every means of taking the city they withdrew unsuccessful.

1 After the murderous battle, when night had already spread darkness over the earth, the survivors departed, some to the right, others to the left, or wherever their fear took them, each seeking his nearest associates, for none could see anything save himself, and everyone imagined that the enemy’s sword hung over his own head. Yet there were still heard, though from afar off, the pitiful cries of those who were left behind, the death-rattle of the dying, and the tortured wails of the wounded.

2 But at daybreak the victors, like wild beasts roused to cruel ferocity by the provocative tang of blood, driven by the lure of a vain hope, made for Hadrianopolis in dense throngs, intending to destroy the city even at the cost of the utmost dangers; for they had heard through traitors and deserters that the most distinguished officials, the insignia of imperial fortune, and the treasures of Valens were hidden there, as within an impregnable fortress. 3 And in order that no delays meanwhile might cool their ardour, at the fourth hour of the day they had encircled the walls and were engaged in a most bitter struggle; for the besiegers with their natural ferocity rushed upon swift death, while on the other hand the defenders were encouraged to vigorous resistance with might and main. 4 And because a great number of soldiers and batmen had been prevented from entering the city with their beasts, they took their place close to the shelter of the walls and in the adjoining buildings, and made a brave fight considering their low position; and the mad rage of their assailants had lasted until the ninth hour of the day, when on a sudden three hundred of our infantry, of those who stood near the very breastworks, formed a wedge and went over to the barbarians. They were eagerly seized by the Goths, and (it is not known why) were immediately butchered; and from that time on, it was noticed that not a man thought of any similar action, even when the outlook was most desperate. 5 Now, while this accumulation of misfortunes was raging, suddenly with peals of thunder rain poured from the black clouds and scattered the hordes roaring around the city; but they returned to the circular rampart formed by their wagons, and carried their measureless arrogance so far as to send an envoy with a threatening letter, ordering our men to surrender the city on receiving a pledge that their lives would be spared. 6 The messenger did not dare to enter the city, and the letter was delivered by a certain Christian and read: but it was scorned, as was fitting, and the rest of the day and the whole night were spent in preparing defensive works. For the gates were blocked from within with huge rocks, the unsafe parts of the walls were strengthened, artillery was placed in suitable places for hurling missiles or rocks in all directions, and a supply of water that was sufficient was stored nearby; for on the day before some of those who fought were tormented with thirst almost to the point of death.

7 The Goths on the other hand, bearing in mind the dangerous chances of war, and worried from seeing their bravest men stretched dead or wounded, while their strength was being worn away bit by bit, formed a clever plan, which Justice herself revealed. 8 For they enticed some of our subalterns, who had deserted to them the day before, to simulate flight, as if returning to their own side, and to manage to be admitted within the walls, and when let in, secretly to set fire to some part of the city; in order that as if a kind of secret signal had been raised, while the attention of the throng of the besieged was distracted with extinguishing the flames, the city, left undefended, might be broken into. 9 The subalterns when on their way as had been arranged, and when they had come near the moat, with outstretched hands and prayers they begged to be admitted, as being Romans. And they were let in, as there was no suspicion to prevent it; but on being questioned as to the plans of the enemy they varied in their answers. The result was that after being tortured in a bloody investigation they openly confessed with what purpose they had come, and were beheaded.

10 So, when all the preparations for battle had been made, the barbarians just before the beginning of the third watch, since the fear caused by their former wounds had died out, poured in more numerous masses upon the barred gates of the city, with the great persistency of those who are guarding against disaster. But with the soldiers the provincials and the court attendants rose up with all the greater vigour to overwhelm them, and such were the numbers of the foe that weapons of every kind, even through thrown at random, could not fall without effect. 11 Our men noticed that the barbarians were using the same missiles that had been burled at them. And so it was ordered that the cords by which the barbs were fastened to the shaft should be partly severed before the arrows were shot from the bows; these during their flight kept their whole strength, and when they were fixed in the bodies of the enemy lost none of their effectiveness, or at any rate, if they found no mark, were at once broken. 12 But an entirely unexpected chance had great influence in the midst of this hot fight. A piece of artillery known as a “scorpion,” but called a “wild ass” in the language of the people, placed exactly opposite a great mass of the enemy, hurled a huge stone, and although it dashed to the ground without effect, yet the sight of it caused the enemy such great terror, that in their amazement at the strange spectacle they fled to a distance and tried to leave the place. 13 But at the order of their chief the horns sounded and the battle was renewed, and in the same way the Romans held the upper hand, since almost no bullet from the thong of a slinger, or any other missile when hurled, missed its mark. For the chiefs, inflamed by a desire to carry off the treasures which Valens had acquired by his ill-gotten gains, took their place in the foremost ranks and were followed by the rest, who made a display of equalling the dangers of their superiors. For some were writhing mortally wounded, either crushed by great masses of stone, or with their breasts pierced with javelins; others who carried scaling-ladders and were preparing to mount the walls from every side were buried under their own burdens, as stones, fragments and whole drums of columns were thrown down upon them. 14 But until late in the day, not a man of the raging throng was turned by the awful sight of carnage from his desire to play a brave part, being excited by the numbers of the defenders who also fell, slain by all kinds of weapons, as they saw from afar with joy. So, without any rest or respite, the battle in defence of the walls and against the walls went on with great determination. 15 And since they no longer fought in any order, but rushed forward in detached groups (a sign of extreme discouragement) as the day was drawing towards evening all the enemy retired disconsolate to their tents, accusing one another of reckless folly because they had not, as Fritigern had earlier advised, wholly held aloof from the miseries of a siege.

16 The Goths, after bribing the forces of the Huns and the Halani to join them, make a vain attempt on Constantinople. With what skill Julius, the commanding general beyond the Taurus, relieved the eastern provinces of the Goths.

1 After this the Goths gave their attention during the whole night-time, which was not long in the summer season, to caring for their wounds, using their native methods of treatment. When day broke again, their minds were led this way and that as to their plans, since they were in doubt whither they should turn; and after a great deal of talk and disagreement they decided to take possession of Perinthus, and afterwards of any neighbouring cities that were brimful of riches, of which they were given such full information by deserters that they knew even the interior of the houses, to say nothing of the cities. Following this decision, which they thought advantageous, they marched on slowly without opposition, devastating the whole district with pillage and fires.

2 After their timely departure, those who had been besieged in Hadrianopolis, having learned from scouts who had been found trustworthy that the neighbouring places were free from enemies, set out at midnight and avoiding the public highways and devising every effort for increasing their speed, hastened with the valuables which they were carrying still safe, through wooded and pathless places, some to Philippopolis and from there to Serdica, others to Macedonia, in the hope of finding Valens in those regions (for it was wholly unknown to them that he had fallen in the midst of the storms of battle, or at any rate had taken refuge in a hut, where it was thought that he had been burned to death).

3 But the Goths, joined with the Huns and the Halani, exceedingly warlike and brave peoples, hardened to the difficulties of severe toils, whom the craft of Fritigern had won over to them by the attractions of wonderful prizes, set up their camp near Perinthus; but mindful of their previous disasters they did not indeed venture to approach or attempt the city itself, but reduced to utter ruin the fertile fields which extend far and wide about it, killing or capturing those who dwelt there. 4 From there they hastened in rapid march to Constantinople, greedy for its vast heaps of treasure, marching in square formations for fear of ambuscades, and intending to make many mighty efforts to destroy the famous city. But while they were madly rushing on and almost knocking at the barriers of the gates, the celestial power checked them by the following event. 5 A troop of Saracens (of whose origin and customs I have spoken at length in various places), who are more adapted to stealthy raiding expeditions than to pitched battles, and had recently been summoned to the city, desiring to attack the horde of barbarians of which they had suddenly caught sight, rushed forth boldly from the city to attack them. The contest was long and obstinate, and both sides separated on equal terms. 6 But the oriental troop had the advantage from a strange event, never witnessed before. For one of their number, a man with long hair and naked except for a loin-cloth, uttering hoarse and dismal cries, with drawn dagger rushed into the thick of the Gothic army, and after killing a man applied his lips to his throat and sucked the blood that poured out. The barbarians, terrified by this strange and monstrous sight, after that did not show their usual self-confidence when they attempted any action, but advanced with hesitating steps. 7 Then, as they went on, their courage was further broken when they beheld the oblong circuit of the walls, the blocks of houses covering a vast space, the beauties of the city beyond their reach, the vast population inhabiting it, and the strait near by that separates the Pontus from the Aegean; so the Goths destroyed the manufactories of warlike materials which they were preparing, and after suffering greater losses than they had inflicted they then departed and spread everywhere over the northern provinces, which they traversed at will as far as the foot of the Julian, or, as they were formerly called, the Venetic Alps.

8 At that time the salutary and swift efficiency of Julius, commander-in-chief of the troops beyond the Taurus, was conspicuous. For on learning of the ill-fated events in Thrace, by secret letters to their leaders, who were all Romans (a rare case in these times) he gave orders that the Goths who had been admitted before and were scattered through the various cities and camps, should be enticed to come without suspicion into the suburbs in the hope of receiving the pay that had been promised them, and there, as if on the raising of a banner, should all be slain on one and the same day. This prudent plan was carried out without confusion or delay, and thus the eastern provinces were saved from great dangers.

9 These dangers, from the principate of the emperor Nerva to the death of Valens, I, a former soldier and a Greek, have set forth to the measure of my ability, without ever (I believe) consciously venturing to debase through silence or through falsehood a work whose aim was the truth. The rest may be written by abler men, who are in the prime of life and learning. But if they chose to undertake such a task, I advise them to forge their tongues to the loftier style.

Table of Contents

Editor’s Note

Introduction

Book XIV

Book XV

Book XVI

Book XVII

Book XVIII

Book XIX

Book XX

Book XXI

Book XXII

Book XXIII

Book XXIV

Book XXV

Book XXVI

Book XXVII

Book XXVIII

Book XXIX

Book XXX

Book XXXI