Res Gestae 16
Res Gestae: Ammianus Marcellinus (Book 16)
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Res Gestae: Ammianus Marcellinus (Book 16)

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, [3] 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.

Footnote: 3. That is, Constantius Augustus

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 panegric.

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. [1]

Footnote: 1. This is also stated by Eutropius

5.  And since (as the authority of Cicero
informs us) [2] "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 [3] 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 and the meanders of the freezing
Rhine, here shed the blood of kings, breathing
cruel threats, and there loaded their arms
with chains.

Footnote: 2. Orator, 43, 147; a very free
quotation
          3. One of the earliest kings of
Athens, because of his discovery of many
useful arts said to have been educated
by Minerva.

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

1.  Accordingly, while he was passing a
busy winter in the abovementioned town, [1]
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.

Footnote: 1. I.e. Vienne

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 varius 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 Arbour, [2]
others by way of Saulieu [3] and Cora. [4]

Footnote: 2. The name cannot be completed
          3. In the department Cote d'Or
          4. A small place in the
neighbourhood of Autun

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 [1] and the crossbowman,
[2] who were far from suitable to defend a general,
and traversing the same road, he came to Auxerre.

Footnote: 1. The calaphractarii were mounted
warriors; both horses and men were heavily
clad in armour
          2.  The ballistarii had charge of
the ballistae, which took the place of modern
artillery

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 [1]
with closed ranks; and the soldiers went on in
that direction with unusual alacrity.

Footnote: 1. Dieuse

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 they
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), [2] he first of all
seized Brumath, but while he was still
approaching it a band of Germans met him and
offered battle.

Footnote: 2. In xxxi. 2, 4, a similar
statement is made of the huns, that they
avoid houses as they would tombs.

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 Frank, 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. [1]  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 [2] and a single tower near
Cologne itself.

Footnote: 1. See xv. 8, 19.
          2. Near Coblenz, which gets its
name from Confluentes.

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, [3] 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.

Footnote: 3. Cf. Val. Max. ii, 8, 5
(of Scipio and Marcellus).

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 [1] were at hand; for they had been
distributed in the towns, so as to be more
easily provisioned than before.

Footnote: 1. The gentiles were a cavalry
troop enlised from foreigners: Scythians,
Goths, Franks, Germans etc.

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 range 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 [2] 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.

Footnote: 2. I.e the ill-treatment of Julian

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 fo 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.	The merits of Julianus Caesar.

1. First, ten (and a hard thing to acomplish)
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, [1]
that is, the wooden tablets, [2] of Lycurgus;
and when they had long been observed, but were
going out of use, the dictator Sulla gradually
renewed them, [3] taking into account one of the
sayings of Democritus, that a pretentious table
is set by Fortune, a frugal one by Virtue.

Footnote: 1. The rhetrae were oracular
utterances which Lycurgus professed to have
received directly from Apollo at Delphi; later
the word was used generally for the laws of
Lyeurgus.
          2. The laws of Solon were so called
because they could be revolved in pivots.  Many
ancient writers state that the tablets were
originally of wood, and they retained this name
after they were republished on marble slabs.
          3. See Gellius, ii. 24, 11; i. 204 f,
L.C.L., for details of this and other
sumptuary laws.

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." [4]

  Footnote: 4. P. 110, 22, Jordan

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. [1]
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.

Footnote: 1. A coarse blanket made from the
fur or hide of an animal.

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 diverse
writers report) that King Cyrus and 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
cast 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 sayng: [1]
"A pack-saddle is put on an ox; that is
surely no burden for me."

Footnote: 1. Cic., ad Att. v. 15, 3

11. When the agents [2] 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."

Footnote: 2. The agentes in rebus formed
the imperial secret service under the
Magister Officorum

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 [1] 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.

Footnote: 1. The aureus was the
standard gold coin of Rome, equal
to 100 sesterces.

15. To conclude, we know that to the
very end of his reign, and of his life, he
observed this rule profitable, 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) [1]
when promoted under Magnentius to be
centurion in charge of works of art at
Rome, [2] accused Adelphius, prefect of
the city, of aiming at a higher station.

Footnote: 1. In one of the lost books
          2. Commander of the night-patrol
in charge of public buildings and
monuments 

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
irreglar vote, [3] 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. [4]

Footnote: 3. Cf. Sallust, Jug., xxix. 5,
where the reference is to voting on several
questions at once.
          4. We might say "The curtain is
dropped," but the lowering of the curtain
revealed the stage of the Roman theatre.
Here the reference is to putting the
curtain away and closing the theatre, as
in Juvenal, vi. 67 ff. 

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

1. At that same time Constantius, 
apprised by approaching rumour that when
Caesar was blockaded at Sens, Marcellus
had not brought aid, [5] discharged the
latter from the army and commanded him to
depart to his home.  Whereupon Marcellus,
as if staggered by a grievious insult,
began to contrive a plot against Julian,
presuming an Augustus, whose ears were
open to every slander.

Footnote: 5. Cf. xvi. 4, 3.

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, unware 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
commandeer 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. [1]

Footnote: 1. Text and meaning are uncertain.
On the faults of Constans, cf. Aurel. Victor, 
41, and Zosimus, ii. 42.

6. When he had become head chamberlain,
[2] he would sometimes criticise even Julian,
as trained in the manners of Asia and 
herefore 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.

Footnote: 2. Cicero alludes to Chamberlains
in such a way as to imply that they were
regular members of the families of the
wealthier citizens.

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 beleagured 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 sworn
into his own vitals [1].  Now let me return
to the point from which I digressed.

Footnote: 1. This action is not
mentioned elsewhere, not even by Val. Max.,
i. 8, 13, where he speaks of Drypetina.


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 Serdics, [2]
his native place, in the camp of Augustus,
under pretext of upholding his imperial
majesty, many abominable acts were committed.

Footnote: 2. Moden Sophia, Bulgaria

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, [3] and had caused the death of
Africanus, then governor-general of Pannona,
along with his guests, as I have related; [4]
he was even then, because of his obsequiousness,
chief steward of the praetorian prefecture.

Footnote: 3. Imperial secret service.
          4. ???

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, [1] likewise a
man of praiseworthy severity.

Footnote: 1. Minister of Finance, who
controlled the revenues of the state, except
those which passed into the hands of the
prefects.

6. So when the affair had been
exaggerated, after the standard of 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 speechand 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; [1]
and this action ruined a rich estate.

Footnote: 1. The veterator showed that
the table decorations could be used for
an imperial cloak, and implied that they
had been so used.

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," [2] gave the expression a
serious meaning, and wickedly destroyed
a noble house. [3]

Footnote: 2. I.e. the darkness, a formula
at lighting up.
          3. Interpreted as referring
to some plot.

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 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, [1]
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.

Footnote: 1. That is, a bridge which
could be taken apart.

11. These trumpet-blasts of internal
revolt [2] 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.

Footnote: 2. I.e. signs of coming
disturbances in the state.

12. For as clear proofs bore witness,
the first of all to open the jaws of
those nearest to his 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, [3]
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.

Footnote: 3. Only the ending of the name
has been preserved.

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, one of the remotest frontiers
of his realm, was with difficulty and
with great bloodshed of his troops driving
back hostile tribesmen, they made trial of
Tamaspor, 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 ugustus 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; [1] another, after the example of the
Decii, vowed his life for the commonwealth [2]
a third in his own person together with
common soldiers explored the enemy's camp; [1]
in short, various among them became famous
through splendid deeds, so that they
commended their glories to the frequent
rememberance of posterity.

Footnote: 1. Julius Caesar; see Lucan, v. 533 ff
          2. Claudius II., in the Gothic war.
          1. Galerius Maximianus, who in
person reconnoitred the Persian camp.

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, [2]
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.

Footnote: 2. The imperial standards

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), [1] 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.

Footnote: 1. Cuirassirs; the word is
derived from "oven," and means entirely
encased in iron.

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, [1] to whose top human eyesight
barely ascends; the Pantheon like a rounded
city-district, [2] 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; [1]
the Temple of the City, [2] the Forum of
Peace, [3] the Theatre of Pompey, [4] the
Oleum, [5] the Stadium, [6] and amongst
these the other adornments of the Eternal City.

Footnote: 1. Travertine
          2. Refers to one of the
regions, or districts, into which the city
was divided.
          1. The columns of Trajan,
Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius. The
platform at the top was reached by a
stairway within the column.
          2. The double temple of Venus
and Roma, built by Hadrian and dedicated
in A.D. 135.
          3. The Forum Pacis, or Vespasiani,
was begun by Vespasian in A.D. 71, after 
the taking of Jerusalem, and dedicated in
75.  It lay behind the basilica Aemilia.
          4. Built in 55 B.C. in the
Campus Martius.
          5. A building for musical
performances, erected by Domitian,
probably near his Stadium.
          6. The Stadium of Domitian in
the Campus Martius, the shape and size of
which is almost exactly preserved by the
Piazza Navona.

15. But when he came to the Formum 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 agin 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, [7] 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 [8] in this fact alone, that he had
learned that even there men were mortal.

Footnote: 7. In 323 (Zosimus, ii. 27); hence
is one of the lost books of Ammianus.
          8. Valesius read displicuisse, and
was followed by Gibbon.  Robert Heron
(pseudonym of John Pinkerton) in Letters
of Literature (London, 1789), xii., p.68,
discusses this remark at some length,
disagreeing with Gibbon.  He thinks that
"the prince's envy at the pleasures of the
inhabitants of Rome could only be moderated
by the reflectin that their pleasures were
transitory."

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. [1]

Footnote: 1. xvii. 4, 6 ff

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, 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, [2]
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. [1]

Footnote: 2. A division of Pannonia,
named from Valeria, daughter of Diocletian
and wife Galerius.
          1. Trent

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 [2] 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.

Footnote: 2. An important city in the
South-Eastern part of Lower Pannonia, the
capital of the prefecture of Illyricum.

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 Sens, [3] 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.

Footnote: 3. Cf. 7, 1

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
Angst.

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 [1]
by twin forces of our soldiers, and cut
to pieces.

Footnote: 1. The forceps or forfex was a
military formatin with diverging wings for
meeting and baffling.  The open part of the
V of course fced the enemy.

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 driven back from the closed
gates but made havoc of whatever they
could find outside the town.

5. This disaster was no sooner known
that 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 persisent 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, [1] 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.

Footnote: ???

10. And the rest of the Germans, on
learning of this, abandoned the islands
as an unsafe refuge and carried off into
the interor their families, their grain,
and their rude treasures.

11. From here Julian turned aside to
repair the fortress called Tres Tabernae, [2]
destroyed not long before by the enemy's
obstinate assault, the rebuilding of which
ensured taht 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 expedted 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.

Footnote: The Three Taverns; modern
Savernes, Germ. Rheinzabern

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 attaccks 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 Uriscinus, together with Serapia
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 comitted, 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
delegate 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 inpride, 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. [1]

Footnote: Namely, Barbatio.

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 [2] and the archers, a formidable
branch of the service.

Footnote: 2. Mounted warriors. Both men and
horses were heavily clad in armour.

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
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 notices 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 lest abate their inflexiblity
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; [1]
and with like wariness the enemy held their
ground in wedge-formation.

Footnote: Officers ranking between the
centurions and the tribunes.

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. [1]

Footnote: 1. The name is connected Serapis,
as that of a god similar to Dis; cf. Caesar, B.G.
vi 18.

26. These were followed by the kings next
in power, five in number, by then 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 judgement 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 victorius.

36. So, when the call to battle had
been regularly given on both sides by the notes
of the trumpeteers, 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
manouevres, as our men now stood fast and
now gave ground, and some fo the most
skilful warriors among the savages by the
pressure of the 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, follwing (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 chosed 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
sheding 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
Braecchiati, 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 higher 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. [1]

Footnote: 1. In this formation the
soldiers held their shields close
togeher over their heads; here, before
their bodies.

45. On learning this, the Batavians,
with the "Kings" [2] (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.

Footnote: 2. They seem to have been a
select body of household troops  The
Batavians had no kings at this time.

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 weight of armed men, rose
up again; and the savage, wtih 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, [1] which was
stationed in the centre - a strong feature
called praetorian camp; there our soldiers,
closely packed an in fully-manned lines,
stood their ground fast and firm, like
towers, [2] and renewed the battle with
greater vigour; and being intent upon
avoiding wounds, they protected themselves
like murmillos, [3] and with drawn swords
pierced the enemy's sides, left bare by
their frenzied rage.

Footnote: 1. The Primani fromed a part of
the household troops, under command of the
magister militum.  Here, probably, a
select legion forming a reserve corps.
          2. Turres was also a military
formation, but here the word is clearly used
in its liteal sense.
          3. The murmillones, a kind of
gladiator, so called from a fish which they
wore on their helmets, were armed in
Gallic fashion.  They were matched against
the retiarii, who tried to throw a net
over them.

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
hald-dead, with their spirit already
slippng 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, committted
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 [1] and Concordia, [2] 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.

Footnote: 1. Near Strasburg
          2. Drusenheim

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; Bainobandes,
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 [1] of the
provinces, indicating with odius
self-praise that he had fought in the
front ranks.

Footnote: 1. They were a detriment
becaue of the expense they caused for
celebrations, and "graft" by the
agentes in rebus.

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. [2]  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 glorius 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.

Footnote: 2. The text is uncertain, but the
general sense is clear.

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