Ammianus: RES GESTAE A FINE CORNELI TACITI

1. Haec eo anno — ut praetereamus negotiorum minutias — agebantur. Iulianus vero iam ter consul, adscito in collegium trabeae Sallustio praefecto per Gallias, quater ipse amplissimum inierat magistratum: et videbatur novum adiunctum esse Augusto privatum, quod post Diocletianum et Aristobulum nullus meminerat gestum.

1. These things in that year — to pass over the minutiae of affairs — were being carried out. Julianus, however, already thrice consul, having had Sallustius, prefect through the Gauls, admitted into the college of the trabea, had himself entered the most illustrious magistracy four times; and it seemed a novel adjunct to the Augustus, something which, after Diocletian and Aristobulus, no one remembered as having been done.

2. et licet accidentium varietatem sollicita mente praecipiens multiplicatos expeditionis apparatus flagranti studio perurgeret, diligentiam tamen ubique dividens imperiique sui memoriam magnitudine operum gestiens propagare, ambitiosum quondam apud Hierosolymam templum, quod post multa et interneciva certamina obsidente Vespasiano posteaque Tito aegre est expugnatum, instaurare sumptibus cogitabat inmodicis, negotiumque maturandum Alypio dederat Antiochensi, qui olim Brittannias curaverat pro praefectis.

2. and although prescribing the variety of accidents with an anxious mind, urging on through a blazing zeal the multiplied apparatus of the expedition, yet everywhere dividing his diligence and eager to propagate the memory of his empire by the magnitude of his works, he was thinking to restore at excessive expense an ambitious temple once at Jerusalem, which, Vespasian besieging and afterwards Titus, was with difficulty taken; and he had entrusted the business to be hastened to Alypius of Antioch, who formerly had cared for the Britains on behalf of the prefects.

3. cum itaque rei idem fortiter instaret Alypius iuvaretque provinciae rector, metuendi globi flammarum prope fundamenta crebris adsultibus erumpentes fecere locum exustis aliquotiens operantibus inaccessum, hocque modo elemento destinatius repellente cessavit inceptum.

3. and so when the same man was pressing forward bravely in the matter and Alypius, the governor of the province, was aiding, globes of flame, to be feared, bursting forth near the foundations with frequent assaults made the place inaccessible, the workmen having been burned several times; and thus, the element more resolutely repelling, the undertaking ceased.

4. Isdem diebus legatos ad se missos ab urbe aeterna clare natos meritisque probabilis vitae compertos imperator honoribus diversis adfecit. et Apronianum Romae decrevit esse praefectum, Octavianum proconsulem Africae, Venusto vicariam commisit Hispaniae, Rufinum Aradium comitem orientis in locum avunculi sui Iuliani recens defuncti provexit.

4. In the same days he honored envoys sent to him from the eternal city, clearly of noble birth and proved by merits and an approved life, with various imperial honours. And he decreed Apronianus to be prefect at Rome, Octavianus proconsul of Africa, entrusted the vicariate of Spain to Venustus, and promoted Rufinus Aradius to be comes of the East in the place of his uncle Julian, recently dead.

5. quibus ut convenerat ordinatis, terrebatur omine quodam ut docuit exitus praesentissimo. Felice enim largitionum comite profluvio sanguinis repente extincto eumque comite Iuliano secuto vulgus publicos contuens titulos Felicem Iulianum Augustumque pronuntiabat.

5. when these things had been agreed and put in order, men were terrified by a certain omen, as the very present outcome showed. For with Felix, the companion of largesses, suddenly cut off by a flow of blood, and with Julian following him as companion, the mob, gazing at the public inscriptions, proclaimed Felix, Julian, and Augustus.

6. praecesserat aliud saevum. namque kalendis ipsis ianuariis ascendente eo gradile Genii templum e sacerdotum consortio quidam ceteris diuturnior nullo pulsante repente concidit animamque insperato casu efflavit, quod adstantes — incertum per inperitiam an adulandi cupiditate — memorabant consulum seniori portendi nimirum Sallustio, sed ut apparuit non aetati sed potestati maiori interitum propinquare monstrabatur.

6. another cruel omen had preceded. For on the very Kalends of January, with the little step of the Genius rising, from the temple and from a consortium of priests a certain man, more long-lived than the others, suddenly collapsed without anyone striking him and, by an unexpected chance, breathed out his life; which those standing by — uncertain whether through ignorance or from a desire to flatter — reported as portending to the senior of the consuls, namely Sallustius, but as it appeared it showed that ruin was drawing near not to one greater in age but to one greater in power.

7. super his alia quoque minora signa subinde quid accideret ostendebant. inter ipsa enim exordia procinctus Parthici disponendi nuntiatum est Constantinopolim terrae pulsu vibratam: quod horum periti minus laetum esse pronuntiabant aliena pervadere molienti rectori. ideoque intempestivo conatu desistere suadebant, ita demum haec et similia contemni oportere firmantes, cum inruentibus armis externis lex una sit et perpetua, salutem omni ratione defendere, nihil remittente vi mortis.

7. moreover, other smaller signs continually showed what might happen. for even at the very outset, while arrayed for the Parthian deployment, it was reported that Constantinople had been shaken by an earth‑shock: which those skilled in such matters pronounced to be less joyous, as portending ill to the ruler attempting to pass into foreign parts. and therefore they advised to desist from the untimely enterprise; yet they finally affirmed that these and similar things ought to be contemned, since when foreign arms are rushing in there is one perpetual law — to defend safety by every means, yielding nothing to the force of death.

isdem diebus nuntiatum est ei per litteras Romae super hoc bello libros Sibyllae consultos, ut iusserat, imperatorem eo anno discedere a limitibus suis aperto prohibuisse responso.

in those same days it was reported to him by letters from Rome that, concerning this war, the books of the Sibyl had been consulted, and that, as they had ordered, by an open response they had forbidden the emperor that year to depart from his frontiers.

1. Inter haec tamen legationes gentium plurimarum auxilia pollicentium, liberaliter susceptae remittebantur, speciosa fiducia principe respondente, nequaquam decere adventiciis adiumentis rem vindicari Romanam, cuius opibus foveri conveniret amicos et socios, si auxilium eos adegerit necessitas inplorare.

1. Meanwhile, embassies of very many nations promising auxiliaries were liberally received and sent away, with a specious confidence answering the prince — that it was by no means fitting that the Roman res be vindicated by adventitious aids, whose opes it would be proper to foster for friends and socios, should necessity drive them to implore help.

2. solum Arsacem monuerat Armeniae regem ut collectis copiis validis iubenda operiretur, quo tenderet, quid deberet urgere propere cogniturus. proinde cum primam consultae rationes copiam praebuissent, rumore praecurso hostiles occupare properans terras nondum adulto vere, missa per militares numeros expeditionali tessera cunctos transire iussit Euphraten.

2. He had only warned Arsaces, king of Armenia, that when strong forces were gathered the things to be ordered should be undertaken, so that whither he should march and what he ought to press upon speedily would be known. Therefore, since the first deliberated plans had supplied a sufficient body, with rumor gone before and hastening to occupy hostile lands not yet in full spring, he sent through the military ranks an expeditionary tessera and ordered all to cross the Euphrates.

3. quo conperto omnes evolant ex hibernis transmissoque, ut textus docebat scriptorum, dispersi per stationes varias adventum principis exspectabant. ipse autem Antiochiam egressurus Heliopoliten quendam Alexandrum Syriacae iuris dictioni praefecit turbulentum et saevum: dicebatque non illum meruisse, sed Antiochensibus avaris et contumeliosis huius modi iudicem convenire.

3. when this was discovered, all flew forth from their winter-quarters, and, as the text of the writers teaches, having been sent on, dispersed through various stations they awaited the arrival of the prince. he himself, however, about to depart Antioch, put a certain Alexander of Heliopolis, turbulent and savage, in charge of the Syrian administration of justice: and he said that it was not that he had deserved it, but that for the Antiochenes a judge of this kind—avaricious and contumelious—was fitting.

4. cumque eum profecturum deduceret multitudo promiscua, itum felicem reditumque gloriosum exoptans oransque ut deinde placabilis esset et lenior, nondum ira, quam ex conpellationibus et probris conceperat, emollita loquebatur asperius se esse eos adserens postea non visurum.

4. and when a promiscuous multitude was conducting him as he was about to set out, desiring a happy departure and a glorious return and praying that he might thereafter be placable and gentler, the anger which he had conceived from reproaches and insults not yet having been softened, he spoke more harshly, declaring that he would not see them afterwards.

5. disposuisse enim aiebat hiemandi gratia per conpendiariam viam consummato procinctu Tarsum Ciliciae reversurum, scripsisseque ad Memorium praesidem, ut in eadem urbe cuncta usui congrua pararentur. et hoc haut diu postea contigit. corpus namque eius illuc relatum exsequiarum humili pompa in suburbano sepultum est ut ipse mandarat,

5. for he said that he had arranged, for the sake of wintering, to return to Tarsus of Cilicia by the shortest track once his outfit was completed, and had written to Memorium, the president, that in that same city all things fitting for use should be prepared. And this befell not long after. For his body, being carried thither, was buried in the suburbs with the humble pomp of funeral rites, as he himself had ordered,

6. Iamque apricante caelo tertium nonas Martias profectus Hierapolim solitis itineribus venit. ubi cum introierit civitatis capacissimae portas, sinistra porticus subito lapsa, subter tendentes quinquaginta milites exceptis plurimis vulneratis tignorum tegularumque pondere magno conlisit.

6. And now with the sky warm and sunny, on 5 March he set out and came to Hierapolis by the usual routes. When he had entered the gates of that most capacious city, the left portico suddenly gave way, and, collapsing, crushed beneath it fifty soldiers who were standing under it, many of them wounded, under the great weight of beams and tiles.

7. unde contractis copiis omnibus Mesopotamiam tam propere signa commovit ut fama de se nulla praeversa — id enim curatius observarat — inprovisus Assyrios occuparet. denique cum exercitu et Scytharum auxiliis Euphrate navali ponte transmisso venit ad Batnas municipium Osdroenae ibique inlaetabile portentum offendit.

7. whence, with all his forces gathered, he shifted his standards into Mesopotamia so near that no rumor of his having turned aside — for he had observed that more carefully — unexpectedly seized the Assyrians. finally, with his army and Scythian auxiliaries, having crossed the Euphrates by a naval bridge, he came to Batnae, a municipium of Osroene, and there encountered an inlaetabile portent.

8. cum enim calonum frequens multitudo ad suscipiendum consuete pabulum prope acervum palearum stetisset inpendio celsum — hoc enim modo per regiones illas tales species construuntur — rapientibus multis quassata congeries inclinata est, parique exitio quinquaginta obruit homines mole maxima ruinarum

8. for a numerous throng of calones, as was their custom, had been standing to receive fodder near a heap of chaff set up on an elevated support — for in those regions such contrivances are made in that manner — and with many snatching at it the shaken congeries toppled, and with like destruction overwhelmed 50 men beneath a very great mass of ruins

III

CHAPTER 3.

1. Maestus exinde digressus venit cursu propero Carras antiquum oppidum, Crassorum et Romani exercitus aerumnis insigne unde duae ducentes Persidem viae regiae distinguuntur, laeva per Adiabenam et Tigridem, dextra per Assyrios et Euphraten.

1. Sorrowful, thence departed, he came with a hasty course to Carras, an ancient town, a monument of the hardships of the Crassi and of the Roman army, whence two royal roads leading to Persia diverge: the left through Adiabenam and the Tigris, the right through the Assyrians and the Euphrates.

2. ibi moratus aliquot dies dum necessaria parat, et Lunae, quae religiose per eos colitur tractus, ritu locorum fert sacra, dicitur ante aras nullo arbitrorum admisso occulte paludamentum purpureum propinquo suo tradidisse Procopio mandasseque arripere fidentius principatum si se interisse didicerit apud Parthos.

2. there, having remained for several days while he prepared the necessities, and Luna, who is religiously venerated among them in her cult and, according to local rite, performs sacred observances, is said before the altars, no arbiters being admitted, to have secretly handed a purple paludamentum to her kinsman Procopius and to have commanded him to seize the principate more boldly if he should learn that she had perished among the Parthians.

3. hic Iuliani quiescentis animus agitatus insomniis eventurum triste aliquid praesagiebat. quocirca et ipse et visorum interpretes praesentia contemplantes, diem secuturum, qui erat quartum decimum kalendas Apriles, observari debere pronuntiabant. verum ut conpertum est postea, hac eadem nocte Palatini Apollinis templum praefecturam regente Aproniano in urbe conflagravit aeterna, ubi, ni multiplex iuvisset auxilium, etiam Cumana carmina consumpserat magnitudo flammarum.

3. here Julian’s mind, while at rest but troubled by insomnia, was presaging that some sad event would occur. wherefore both he himself and the interpreters of visions, contemplating present signs, proclaimed that the following day, which was the 14th day before the Kalends of April, ought to be observed. but as was learned afterward, on that very night the temple of Palatine Apollo in the city, Apronianus presiding over the prefecture, was consumed by an overwhelming fire; where, had manifold aid not come, the magnitude of the flames would have even consumed the Cumanean oracles.

4. Post quae ita digesta, agmina et commeatus omnis generis disponenti procursatorum adventu anhelantium etiam tum indicatur equestres hostium turmas vicino limite quodam perrupto avertisse subito praedas.

4. After these things thus arranged, to him disposing the columns and supplies of every kind was even then reported the arrival of scouts panting, that the enemy’s equestrian squadrons, a certain nearby boundary having been breached, had suddenly borne off the plunder.

5. cuius atrocitate mali perculsus ilico, ut ante cogitaverat, triginta milia lectorum militum eidem commisit Procopio iuncto ad parilem potestatem Sebastiano comite ex duce Aegypti, isdemque praecepit, ut intra Tigridem interim agerent vigilanter omnia servaturi, nequid inopinum ex incauto latere oreretur, qualia multa saepe didicerat evenisse, mandabatque eis ut, si fieri potius posset, regi sociarentur Arsaci cumque eo per Corduenam et Moxoenam, Chiliocomo uberi Mediae tractu, partibusque aliis praestricto cursu vastatis apud Assyrios adhuc agenti sibi concurrerent necessitatum articulis adfuturi.

5. struck at once by the atrocity of that evil, and as he had previously devised, he committed thirty thousand chosen troops to the same Procopius, joining to equal authority Sebastian, a comes drawn from the duke of Egypt, and he likewise charged them that, meanwhile, on this side of the Tigris they should act vigilantly to keep all things safe, lest anything unexpected arise from an unguarded flank — such things as he had often learned had occurred — and he ordered them that, if it could rather be done, they should ally themselves to King Arsaces and, with him by way of Corduena and Moxoena, by the fertile Chiliocomus tract of Media, and having traversed and devastated other parts by a forced march, meeting him while he was still operating among the Assyrians, they should come to him to be present at the crucial joints of necessity.

6. His ita ordinatis ipse exitu simulato per Tigridem, quod iter etiam re cibaria de industria iusserat instrui, flexit dextrorsus et quieta nocte emensa, mane iumentum quo veheretur ex usu, poposcit, oblatusque ei equus Babylonius nomine ictu torminis consternatus dum dolorum inpatiens volvitur, auro lapillisque ornamenta distincta conspersit. quo ostento laetior exclamavit plaudentibus proximis �Babylona humi procidisse ornamentis omnibus spoliatam�.

6. With these things thus arranged he himself, having feigned a departure by the Tigris — which route he had also deliberately ordered to be furnished with food-supplies — turned to the right and, the quiet night having been measured off, in the morning demanded the beast by which he would be carried from among those in use; and when a Babylonian horse was offered to him, struck by the blow of the bit and overwhelmed, it rolled, impatient of its pains, and he besprinkled it with ornaments set with gold and small stones. At this display, more joyful, he cried aloud, the nearby applauders shouting, "Babylon has fallen to the ground, stripped of all her ornaments."

7. et paulisper detentus, ut omen per hostias litando firmaret, Davanam venit castra praesidiaria, unde ortus Belias fluvius funditur in Euphraten. hic corporibus cibo curatis et quiete, postridie ventum est ad Callinicum

7. and detained for a little while, that he might confirm the omen by a libation through sacrifices, he came to Davana, a garrison camp, whence the Belias River, rising, pours into the Euphrates. Here, their bodies cared for with food and rest, on the next day they reached Callinicum.

4, munimentum robustum et commercandi opimitate gratissimum, ubi diem sextum kalendas Apriles, quo Romae Matri deorum pompae celebrantur annales, et carpentum, quo vehitur simulacrum, Almonis undis ablui perhibetur, sacrorum sollemnitate prisco more conpleta, somno per otium capto exultans pernoctavit et laetus.

4, a strong bulwark and most welcome for the wealth of trade, where on the sixth day before the Kalends of April (March 27), on which the annual processions to the Mother of the gods are celebrated at Rome, and the chariot in which the image is borne is said to be washed by the waves of the Almo, the solemnity of the sacred rites being completed in the ancient manner, having taken rest in sleep through leisure, he spent the night exulting and joyful.

8. luce vero secuta profectus exinde per supercilia riparum fluvialium aquis adulescentibus undique convenis cum armigera gradiens manu in statione quadam sub pellibus mansit, ubi Saracenarum reguli gentium genibus supplices nixi oblata ex auro corona tamquam mundi nationumque suarum dominum adorarunt, suscepti gratanter ut ad furta bellorum adpositi.

8. and with daylight following he set out thence along the brows of the river banks, the waters growing young everywhere, and with an armed hand advancing he remained in a certain station beneath skins, where the rulers of the Saracens of the nations, kneeling suppliant on their knees and leaning, worshipped the crown offered from gold as if the lord of the world and of their nations; gladly received, as if allotted to them as the spoil of wars.

9. dumque hos adloquitur, Xerxis illius potentissimi regis instar, classis advenit tribuno Constantiano cum comite Lucilliano ductante, quae latissimum flumen Euphraten artabat, in qua mille erant onerariae naves ex diversa trabe confectae, commeatus abunde ferentes et tela et obsidionales machinas; quinquaginta aliae bellatrices totidemque ad conpaginandos necessariae pontes.

9. and while he addresses these, a fleet like that of Xerxes the most powerful king arrived, under the command of tribune Constantianus with comrade Lucillianus leading, which hemmed in the widest river, the Euphrates, in which were a thousand transport ships built from diverse timber, carrying abundant supplies and missiles and siege-machines; fifty other war-ships and an equal number necessary for joining (and assembling) pontoon-bridges.

4 IV

4 4

1. Re ipsa admoneor, breviter, quantum mediocre potest ingenium haec instrumentorum genera ignorantibus circumscripte monstrare; et ballistae figura docebitur prima.

1. Concerning the matter itself I am admonished, briefly, to show — as much as a middling wit can — these kinds of instruments, in a concise way, to those ignorant of them; and the figure of the ballista will be explained first.

2. ferrum inter axiculos duos firmum conpaginatur et vastum in modum regulae maioris extentum, cuius ex volumine tereti, quod in medio pars polita conponit, quadratus eminet stilus extentius, recto canalis angusti meatu cavatus, et hac multiplici chorda nervorum tortilium inligatus: eique cochleae duae ligneae coniunguntur aptissime, quarum prope unam adsistit artifex contemplabilis et subtiliter adponit in temonis cavamine sagittam ligneam spiculo maiore conglutinatam, hocque facto hinc inde validi iuvenes versant agiliter rotabilem flexum.

2. an iron bar is fastened between two small axles and fitted into a beam broadly extended like a larger rule, from whose rounded bulk — whose middle a polished part composes — a square spindle projects at greater length, hollowed with a straight channel of narrow passage, and to this is bound a multiple cord of twisted sinews; and to it two wooden screws are joined most aptly, beside one of which the contemplative artisan stands and subtly inserts into the pole’s socket a wooden arrow glued with a larger pin, and this done, strong youths here and there nimbly ply the rotatory crank.

3. cum ad extremitatem nervorum acumen venerit summum, percita interno pulsu a ballista ex oculis avolat, interdum nimio ardore scintillans, et evenit saepius, ut antequam telum cernatur, dolor letale vulnus agnoscat.

3. when the tip has come to the extremity of the sinews, roused by an internal pulse it flies from the eye of the ballista, sometimes sparkling with excessive heat, and it often happens that, before the missile is perceived, pain recognizes the lethal wound.

4. Scorpionis autem, quem appellant nunc Onagrum, huius modi forma est. dolantur axes duo quernei vel ilicei, curvanturque mediocriter, ut prominere videantur in gibbas, hique in modum serratoriae machinae conectuntur ex utroque latere patentius perforati, quos inter per cavernas funes conligantur robusti, conpagem, ne dissiliat, continentes.

4. The Scorpion, moreover, which they now call Onagrum, is of this form. Two shafts of oak or holm‑oak are worked, and are moderately curved so that they seem to project into humps, and these are joined in the manner of a saw‑machine, more openly pierced on each side; between them through cavities robust ropes are bound together, forming a framework that holds them so that it will not burst apart.

5. ab hac medietate restium ligneus stilus exsurgens obliquus et in modum iugalis temonis erectus ita nervorum nodulis inplicatur, ut altius tolli possit et inclinari, summitatique eius unci ferrei copulantur, e quibus pendet stuppea vel ferrea funda, cui ligno fulmentum prosternitur ingens, cilicium paleis confertum minutis, validis nexibus inligatum et locatum super congestos cespites vel latericios aggeres. nam muro saxeo huius modi moles inposita disiectat quidquid invenerit subter concussione violenta, non pondere.

5. from this mid-point a wooden stylus rises obliquely and, erected like the yoke of a pole, is so entangled with knots of sinew that it can be raised higher and inclined, and to its summit iron hooks are coupled, from which hangs a hempen or iron sling; to this a vast wooden prop is laid down, cilicium (coarse hair‑cloth) packed with straw‑mats, bound with small, strong knots and placed upon piled turfs or brick ramparts. For when a mass of this sort is set upon a stone wall it scatters whatever it finds beneath by violent concussion, not by weight.

6. cum igitur ad concertationem ventum fuerit, lapide rotundo fundae inposito, quaterni altrinsecus iuvenes repagula, quibus incorporati sunt funes, explicantes, retrorsus stilum paene supinum inclinant: itaque demum sublimis adstans magister claustrum, quod totius operis continet vincula, reserat malleo forti perculsum, unde absolutus ictu volucri stilus et mollitudine offensus cilicii saxum contorquet, quicquid incurrerit conlisurum.

6. when therefore the engagement has come, with a round stone placed in the sling, four youths on each side unfold the planks to which the ropes are fastened, and, drawing back, incline the beam almost supine; and so at last the lofty master standing unseals the bolt, which contains the bonds of the whole contrivance, struck with a strong mallet—whence the beam, freed by the flying blow and checked by the softness of the cilicium, hurls the stone and rends the rock, and will crush whatever it runs against.

7. et tormentum quidem appellatur ex eo quod omnis explicatio torquetur, scorpio autem quoniam aculeum desuper habet erectum, cui etiam onagri vocabulum indidit aetas novella ea re, quod asini feri eum venatibus agitantur, ita eminus lapides post terga calcitrando emittunt, ut perforent pectora sequentium aut perfractis ossibus capita ipsa displodant.

7. and the tormentum indeed is so called from that every explication is twisted, but the scorpio because it has a sting raised above; to this the new age also gave the appellation onager for that reason, because wild asses are driven in hunts by it; thus from afar they cast stones off their backs by kicking, so as to pierce the breasts of those following or, with bones shattered, to burst the very heads.

8. Hinc ad arietem veniemus. eligitur abies vel ornus excelsa, cuius summitas duro ferro concluditur et prolixo, arietis efficiens prominulam speciem, quae forma huic machinamento vocabulum indidit, et sic suspensa utrimque transversis asseribus et ferratis quasi ex lance vinculis trabis alterius continetur, eamque quantum mensurae ratio patitur multitudo retro repellens rursus ad obvia quaeque rumpenda protrudit ictibus validissimis instar adsurgentis et cedentis arietis qua crebritate velut reciproci fulminis impetu aedificiis scissis in rimas concidunt structurae laxatae murorum.

8. From here we come to the battering‑ram. A tall fir or ash is chosen, whose summit is closed and prolonged with hard iron, forming the projecting shape of a ram, which in form gave this machine its name, and thus, suspended on both sides by transverse beams and bound with iron as if by lance‑like chains to the timbers of another, it is held; and that same mass, as far as measure and reason permit, the multitude driving it from behind thrusts forth again against each obstacle to be broken, with blows most violent, like a rising and yielding ram, by whose frequency, as if by the reciprocal impulse of lightning, buildings split open and, their structures loosened, fall apart into cracks in the walls.

9. hoc genere operis si fuerit exserto vigore discussum, nudatis defensoribus ideoque solutis obsidiis civitates munitissimae recluduntur.

9. If by the exerted vigor of this sort of work it is driven off, the defenders having been laid bare and the siege-defenses therefore loosened, even the most strongly fortified cities are forced open.

10. Pro his arietum meditamentis iam crebritate despectis conditur machina scriptoribus historicis nota, quam elepolin Graeci cognominamus. cuius opera diuturna Demetrius Antigoni filius regis Rhodo aliisque urbibus oppugnatis Poliorcetes est appellatus.

10. For these ram-devices, now oft despised from their frequency, a machine is constructed known to historical writers, which the Greeks cognominate elepolin; by whose prolonged operations Demetrius, son of Antigonus, when Rhodes and other cities were besieged, was called Poliorcetes.

11. aedificatur autem hoc modo. testudo conpaginatur inmanis axibus roborata, longissimis ferreisque clavis aptata et contegitur coriis bubulis virgarumque recenti textura atque limo asperguntur eius suprema ut flammeos detrectet et missiles casus.

11. it is built, moreover, in this manner. the testudo is joined together, reinforced with immense beams, fitted with very long iron nails, and covered with bull hides and a fresh weaving of rods; and its top is sprinkled with mud so that it may repel flames and the fall of missiles.

12. conseruntur autem eius frontalibus trisulcae cuspides praeacutae, ponderibus ferreis graves, qualia nobis pictores ostendunt fulmina vel fictores, ut quicquid petierit aculeis exsertis abrumpat.

12. moreover, on its front are fixed three-pronged, very sharp cusps, heavy with iron weights, such as painters show us — lightning-bolts or artifices — so that whatever it seeks it may tear away with its projecting barbs.

13. hanc ita validam molem rotis et funibus regens numerosus intrinsecus miles languidiori murorum parti viribus admovet concitis, et nisi desuper propugnantium valuerint vires conlisis parietibus aditus patefacit ingentes.

13. steering this so mighty a bulk with wheels and ropes, a numerous force within applies its strength to the more languid part of the walls with forces set in motion, and unless from above the defenders’ powers have prevailed, with the walls broken down it lays open vast entrances.

14. Malleoli autem, teli genus, figurantur hac specie. sagitta est cannea inter spiculum et harundinem multifido ferro coagmentata, quae in muliebris coli formam, quo nentur lintea stamina, concavatur ventre subtiliter et plurifariam patens atque in alveo ipso ignem cum aliquo suscipit alimento.

14. Malleoli, however, a kind of missile, are fashioned in this form. It is an arrow of reed between point and shaft, bound with a many‑pronged piece of iron, which is shaped into the form of a woman’s distaff—on which linen threads are carried—subtly hollowed in the belly and opening in many places, and in that very cavity it receives fire together with some aliment (fuel).

15. et si emissa lentius arcu invalido — ictu enim rapidiore extinguitur — haeserit usquam, tenaciter cremat aquisque conspersa acriores excitat aestus incendiorum, nec remedio ullo quam superiacto pulvere consopitur. hactenus de instrumentis muralibus, e quibus pauca sunt dicta. nunc ad rerum ordinem revertamur.

15. and if, having been shot more slowly from a weak bow — for by a swifter stroke it is extinguished — it has stuck anywhere, it burns tenaciously, and when bedewed with water stirs up keener surges of the flames; nor by any remedy is it quelled except by powder cast over it. thus far concerning mural instruments, of which few things have been said. now to the order of matters let us return.

1. Adscitis Saracenorum auxiliis, quae animis obtulere promptissimis, tendens imperator agili gradu Cercusium principio mensis Aprilis ingressus est munimentum tutissimum et fabre politum. cuius moenia Abora et Euphrates ambiunt flumina velut spatium insulare fingentes.

1. With Saracen auxiliaries enrolled, which they offered with the most ready spirits, the emperor, advancing with a brisk step, at the beginning of the month of April entered Cercusium, a most secure muniment, artfully finished. Whose walls the rivers Abora and Euphrates encompass, the rivers shaping it as if an insular space.

2. quod Diocletianus exiguum antehac et suspectum muris turribusque circumdedit celsis, cum in ipsis barbarorum confiniis interiores limites ordinaret, ne vagarentur per Syriam Persae ita ut paucis ante annis cum magnis provinciarum contigerat damnis.

2. which Diocletian, small and formerly precarious, encompassed with lofty walls and towers, when in those very frontiers of the barbarians he was ordaining interior limits, lest the Persians wander through Syria, as had occurred a few years earlier with great losses to the provinces.

3. namque, cum Antiochiae in alto silentio scaenicis ludis mimus cum uxore inmissus e medio sumpta quaedam imitaretur, populo venustate attonito coniunx �nisi somnus est� inquit �en Persae� et retortis plebs universa cervicibus exacervantia in se tela declinans spargitur passim. ita civitate incensa et obtruncatis pluribus, qui pacis more palabantur effusius, incensisque locis finitimis et vastatis, onusti praeda hostes ad sua remearunt innoxii, Mareade vivo exusto, qui eos ad suorum interitum civium duxerat inconsulte. et haec quidem Gallieni

3. for when at Antioch, in the deep silence of the theatre, a mimus, admitted with his wife, was mimicking certain things taken from the midst, the people, struck by the charm, the wife cried out, "unless it is a dream" she said, "behold, the Persians!" and with that the whole populace, turning back the weapons that irritated their necks upon themselves, let them fall and were scattered everywhere. Thus the city, having been set on fire and with many slain—those who, in the manner of peace, were more freely speaking—its neighboring places also burned and laid waste, the enemies, laden with plunder, returned to their own things unharmed; Mareade, though alive, burned to the ground, who had rashly led them to the ruin of his own citizens. And these things indeed of Gallienus

2 temporibus evenerunt.

Two times they occurred.

4. Iulianus vero dum moratur apud Cercusium, ut per navalem Aborae pontem exercitus et omnes sequelae transirent, litteras tristes Sallusti Galliarum praefecti suscepit orantis suspendi expeditionem in Parthos obtestantisque, ne ita intempestive nondum pace numinum exorata inrevocabile subiret exitium.

4. Julian, however, while he lingered at Cercusium, that the army and all its sequelae might cross by the naval bridge of Abora, received doleful letters from Sallustius, prefect of the Gauls, begging that the expedition against the Parthians be suspended and imploring that, lest so untimely—his prayers to the gods’ peace not yet having been appeased—he incur irrevocable destruction.

5. posthabito tamen suasore cautissimo fidentius ultra tendebat, quoniam nulla vis humana vel virtus meruisse umquam potuit, ut quod praescripsit fatalis ordo non fiat. statimque transgressus pontem avelli praecepit, necui militum ab agminibus propriis revertendi fiducia remaneret.

5. yet, his most cautious counselor being set aside, he advanced more confidently onward, since no human force or virtue could ever have deserved that what the fatal order prescribed should not come to pass. And immediately, having crossed, he ordered the bridge to be pulled away, so that no confidence of the soldiers to return to their own ranks would remain.

6. pari sorte hic quoque omen inlaetabile visum est apparitoris cuiusdam cadaver extentum carnificis manu deleti, quem praefectus Sallustius praesens, ea re supplicio capitali damnarat, quod intra praestitutum diem alimentorum augmentum exhibere pollicitus casu inpediente frustratus est. sed miserando homine trucidato postridie advenit, ut ille promiserat, alia classis abunde vehens annonam.

6. in like sort here also an uncheerful omen was seen: the corpse of a certain apparitor stretched out, slain by the hand of an executioner, whom the praefect Sallustius, present, had condemned to capital punishment for that matter, because, having promised to produce an increase of provisions within the appointed day, he was, chance intervening, frustrated. But the next day, the pitiable man having been slaughtered, another fleet arrived, as he had promised, bearing abundance of grain.

7. Profecti exinde Zaitham venimus locum, qui olea arbor interpretatur. hic Gordiani imperatoris longe conspicuum vidimus tumulum, cuius actus a pueritia prima exercituumque felicissimos ductus et insidiosum interitum digessimus tempore conpetenti

7. Having set out thence we came to Zaitham, a place whose name is interpreted as “olive-tree.” Here we saw far off the tumulus of Emperor Gordian, whose deeds, from earliest pueritia and most felicitous in the leading of armies, and whose insidious interitum we related at a fitting time.

8. ubi cum pro ingenita pietate consecrato principi parentasset pergeretque ad Duram desertum oppidum, procul militarem cuneum conspicatus stetit inmobilis eique dubitanti quid ferrent, offertur ab eis inmanissimi corporis leo, cum aciem peteret multiplici telorum iactu confossus. quo omine velut certiore iam spe status prosperioris elatus exsultantius incedebat, sed incerto fatu fortunae aliorsum prorupit eventus. obitus enim regis portendebatur, sed cuius, erat incertum.

8. where, when he, from innate pietas, had paid homage to the consecrated prince and was proceeding to Dura, a deserted town, having espied from afar a military wedge he stood immobile; and to him, doubting what they bore, there was offered by them a lion of most enormous body, which, as it sought the line, was stabbed through by a multiplicity of hurled weapons. By that omen, as if now more certain in hope of a prospering state, he, elated, strode on more exultantly, but by the uncertain fate of Fortune the event burst forth elsewhere. For the death of a king was being portended, but of which one was uncertain.

9. nam et oracula dubia legimus, quae non nisi casus discrevere postremi, ut fidem vaticinii Delphici, quae post Halyn flumen transmissum maximum regnum deiecturum praedixerat Croesum, et aliam quae Atheniensibus ad certandum contra Medos oblique destinaverat mare, sortemque his posteriorem veram quidem sed non minus ambiguam: aio te Aeacida Romanos vincere posse.

9. for we read also dubious oracles, which were not resolved except by the last accidents of chance, as the faith of the Delphic vaticination, which, after the Halys river had been crossed, had foretold that the greatest kingdom would be overthrown — Croesus; and another which had obliquely destined to the Athenians the sea to contend against the Medes; and a later lot for these, true indeed but no less ambiguous: I say that you, Aeacidan, are able to conquer the Romans.

10. Etrusci tamen haruspices qui comitabantur, gnari prodigialium rerum, cum illis procinctum hunc saepe arcentibus non crederetur, prolatis libris exercitualibus ostendebant signum hoc esse prohibitorium principique aliena licet iuste invadenti contrarium.

10. The Etruscan haruspices, however, who accompanied them, versed in prodigial matters, since they were often not believed when with those barring him at hand he stood armed, produced the military books and showed that this sign was prohibitory and contrary to the prince, though he was justly invading another’s [territory].

11 . sed calcabantur philosophis refragantibus, quorum reverenda tunc erat auctoritas, errantium subinde et in parum cognitis perseverantium diu. et enim ut probabile argumentum ad fidem implendam scientiae suae id praetendebant, quod et Maximiano antehac Caesari cum Narseo Persarum rege iam congressuro itidem leo et aper ingens trucidati simul oblati sunt, et superata gente discessit incolumis, illo minime contemplato, quod aliena petenti portendebatur exitium et Narseus primus Armeniam Romano iuri obnoxiam occuparat.

11 . but they were trampled on by philosophers opposing them, whose authority then was reverend, those who constantly and for a long time persevered in the errors of the wandering and of the little‑known. For as a probable argument to fulfill belief in their science they alleged that even to Maximian formerly, when the Caesar was about to meet Narseus, king of the Persians, likewise a lion and a huge boar were slain together as presented, and he departed safe after the people had been subdued; least of all was that contemplated, that destruction was portended to the foreign suitor, and Narseus first had seized Armenia subject to Roman law.

12. secuto itidem die, qui erat septimum idus Aprilis, sole vergente iam in occasum ex parva nubecula subito aere crassato usus adimitur lucis, et post minacem tonitruum crebritatem et fulgurum Iovianus nomine miles de caelo tactus cum duobus equis concidit, quos potu satiatos a flumine reducebat.

12. on the same day following, which was the seventh day before the Ides of April, with the sun already leaning toward sunset, from a small cloud suddenly, the air having thickened, the light was taken away; and after a menacing thunder there came a frequent flashing of lightning, and a soldier named Jovian, struck from the sky, fell with two horses, which he was leading back from the river, sated with drink.

13. eoque viso harum rerum interpretes arcessiti interrogatique etiam id vetare procinctum fidentius adfirmabant, fulmen consiliarium esse monstrantes: ita enim appellantur quae dissuadent aliquid fieri vel suadent ideoque hoc nimis cavendum, quod militem celsi nominis cum bellatoriis iumentis extinxit, et hoc modo contacta loca nec intueri nec calcari debere fulgurales pronuntiant libri.

13. and with this seen the interpreters of such matters were summoned and questioned, and more boldly affirmed that this forbade the girded man, showing it to be a fulmen consiliarium (an advisory lightning): for thus are called those bolts which dissuade anything from being done or rather counsel, and therefore this must be most cautiously regarded — since it extinguished a soldier of high name together with his war-beasts — and the fulgural books declare that places so touched ought neither to be looked upon nor trodden.

14. contra philosophi candorem ignis sacri repente conspecti nihil significare aiebant, sed esse acrioris spiritus cursum ex aethere aliqua vi ad inferiora detrusum, aut si exinde praenoscitur aliquid, incrementa claritudinis imperatori portendi gloriosa coeptanti, cum constet flammas suapte natura nullo obstante ad sublimia convolare.

14. on the other hand the philosophers said that the brightness of the sacred fire suddenly seen signified nothing, but was the course of a keener spirit driven down from the ether to inferior things by some force; or if anything is foreknown from it, the increases of brightness portend glorious things for the emperor about to begin his enterprises, since it is established that flames by their own nature, with nothing opposing, rush up to the sublime heights.

15. Peracto igitur, ut ante dictum est, ponte cunctisque transgressis imperator antiquissimum omnium ratus est militem adloqui sui rectorisque fiducia properantem intrepide. signo itaque per lituos dato cum centuriae omnes et cohortes et manipuli convenissent, ipse aggere glebali adsistens coronaque celsarum circumdatus potestatum talia ore sereno disservit favorabilis studio concordi cunctorum:

15. Therefore, when it had been accomplished, as said before, the bridge and all things having been crossed, the emperor, thinking it the most ancient of all customs, intrepidly addressed the soldier of his and of the ruler whose confidence was hastening him. And so, the signal having been given by the lituus, when all the centuries and cohorts and maniples had assembled, he himself, standing on an earthen rampart and surrounded by a crown of the exalted powers, delivered such words with a serene countenance, favorable to the concordant zeal of all:

16. �Contemplans maximis viribus et alacritate vos vigere, fortissimi milites, contionari disposui, docturus ratione multiplici non nunc primitus, ut maledici mussitant, Romanos penetrasse regna Persidis. namque ut Lucullum transeam vel Pompeium, qui per Albanos et Massagetas, quos Alanos nunc appellamus, hac quoque natione perrupta vidit Caspios lacus, Ventidium novimus Antoni legatum strages per hos tractus innumeras edidisse.

16. Contemplating that you thrive with greatest vigor and alacrity, most valiant soldiers, I resolved to address an assembly, intending to instruct by manifold reasoning—not now for the first time—so that the slanderers may whisper that the Romans have penetrated the realms of the Persians. For, to name Lucullus or Pompey, who, having broken through by the Albani and the Massagetae, whom we now call Alans, saw the Caspian lakes; or Ventidius, Antony’s legate, whom we know to have brought forth innumerable slaughter through these tracts.

17. sed ut a vetustate discedam, haec quae tradidit recens memoria replicabo. Traianus et Verus et Severus hinc sunt digressi victores et tropaeati, redissetque pari splendore iunior Gordianus, cuius monumentum nunc vidimus honorate, apud Resainam superato fugatoque rege Persarum, ni factione Philippi praefecti praetorio sceleste iuvantibus paucis in hoc ubi sepultus est loco, vulnere impio cecidisset. nec erravere diu manes eius inulti, quod velut clarente iustitia omnes, qui in eum conspiravere, cruciabilibus interiere suppliciis.

17. but that I may depart from antiquity, I will relate again, from fresh memory, these things which were handed down. Trajan and Verus and Severus hence departed victorious and tropaied, and the younger Gordian returned with equal splendour, whose monument we have now seen with honour, at Resaina, having overcome and routed the Persian king, had he not, the faction of Philip the praetorian prefect wickedly assisting with a few men in this place where he is buried, fallen by an impious wound. Nor did his manes wander long unavenged, for, justice shining forth, all who conspired against him perished by excruciating punishments.

18. et illos quidem voluntas ad altiora propensior subire inpulit facinora memoranda, nos vero miseranda recens captarum urbium et inultae caesorum exercituum umbrae et damnorum magnitudines carorumque amissiones ad haec, quae proposuimus, hortantur, votis omnium sociis ut medeamur praeteritis et honorata huius lateris securitate re publica, quae de nobis magnifice loquatur posteritas relinquamus.

18. and indeed a will more inclined to higher things urged those men to undergo memorable crimes; but we, pitiable shades of captured cities and of unavenged slain armies and the great magnitudes of losses and of harms and of the losing of dear ones, are moved to these things which we have proposed, urged by the prayers of all comrades that we may remedy past evils, and let us leave the republic, honored by the security of this side, to posterity which may speak magnificently of us.

19. adero ubique vobis adiumento numinis sempiterni imperator et antesignanus et conturmalis ominibus secundis, ut reor. at si fortuna versabilis in pugna me usquam fuderit, mihi vero pro Romano orbe memet vovisse sufficiet ut Curtii Muciique veteres et clara prosapia Deciorum. abolenda nobis natio molestissima cuius in gladiis nondum nostrae propinquitatis exaruit cruor.

19. I will be present everywhere to you as aid of the ever‑lasting numen, commander and antesignanus and with camp‑omens favorable, so I think. But if fickle fortune in battle should rout me anywhere, it will suffice for me, instead of the Roman orb, that I have vowed for myself that the ancient Curtii and Mucii and the illustrious stock of the Decii be avenged. A most troublesome nation must be destroyed by us, whose gore on the swords of our kindred has not yet been dried.

20. plures absumptae sunt maioribus nostris aetates, ut interirent radicitus quae vexabant. devicta est perplexo et diuturno Marte Carthago, sed eam dux inclytus timuit superesse victoriae. evertit funditus Numantiam Scipio post multiplices casus obsidionis emensos.

20. many years were consumed from our ancestors, so that those things which vexed might perish root and branch. Carthage was subdued by a war both intricate and prolonged, but that renowned leader feared it would survive the victory. Scipio utterly overthrew Numantia after many vicissitudes of siege had been endured.

Fidenas ne imperio subcrescerent aemulae, Roma subvertit, et Faliscos ita oppressit et Veios, ut suadere nobis laboret monumentorum veterum fides, ut has civitates aliquando valuisse credamus.

So that rival cities might not grow up against her rule, Rome overthrew Fidenae, and so crushed the Falisci and Veii, that the testimony of ancient monuments scarce labors to persuade us that these cities ever were powerful.

21. haec ut antiquitatum peritus exposui, superest ut aviditate rapiendi posthabita, quae insidiatrix saepe Romani militis fuit, quisque agmini cohaerens incedat, cum ad necessitatem congrediendi fuerit ventum, signa propria secuturus sciens, quod, si remanserit quisquam, exsectis cruribus relinquetur. nihil enim praeter dolos et insidias hostium vereor nimium callidorum.

21. having thus set forth these matters as one learned in antiquities, it remains that, with the eagerness for seizing put aside — which has often proved treacherous to the Roman soldier — each man, clinging to his rank, should advance when the necessity of engaging has come, knowing that he will follow his own standards; for if anyone should remain behind, he will be left with his legs cut off. For I fear nothing, save the deceits and ambushes of the enemy, who are too crafty.

22. ad summam polliceor universis rebus post haec prospere mitigatis absque omni praerogativa principum, qui quod dixerint vel censuerint pro potestate auctoritatis iustum esse existimant, rationem me recte consultorum vel secus siquis exegerit redditurum.

22. in short I promise to all, once these matters have been prosperously mitigated, that, without any privilege of the princes—who judge that what they have said or decreed is just by the power of authority—I will render an account, if anyone demands it, whether I have rightly deliberated or otherwise.

23. quocirca erigite iam nunc, quaeso, erigite animos vestros, multa praesumentes et bona aequata sorte nobiscum quicquid occurrerit difficile subituri et coniectantes aequitati semper solere iungi victoriam�.

23. wherefore raise up now, I beseech you, raise up your spirits, anticipating many things and with goods equalized by lot; together with us, whatever shall occur, ready to undergo hardships, and supposing that victory is always wont to be joined to equity.

24. Conclusa oratione ad hunc gratissimum finem, ductoris gloria proeliator miles exsultans, speque prosperorum elatior, sublatis altius scutis nihil periculosum fore vel arduum clamitabat sub imperatore plus sibi laboris quam gregariis indicente.

24. With the speech concluded to this most welcome end, the leader’s glory — the battle-soldier exulting, and loftier with hope of prosperous things — with their shields raised higher cried that under the emperor nothing would be dangerous or arduous, indicating that there was more toil for himself than for the common soldiers.

25. maxime omnium id numeri Gallicani fremitu laetiore monstrabant, memores aliquotiens eo ductante perque ordines discurrente cadentes vidisse gentes aliquas, alias supplicantes.

25. above all this the Gallic ranks most joyfully showed with a louder roar, remembering that, with him at times leading and running along the ranks, they had seen some peoples falling, others supplicating.

1. Res adegit huc prolapsa, ut in excessu celeri situm monstrare Persidis, descriptoribus gentium curiose digestum, e quibus aegre vera dixere paucissimi. quod autem erit paulo prolixior textus, ad scientiam proficiet plenam. quisquis enim adfectat nimiam brevitatem ubi narrantur incognita non quid signatius explicet, sed quid debeat praeteriri, scrutatur.

1. The matter, having slipped forward, drove itself to this point, so that in a swift departure it might show the situation of the Persians, curiously arranged by describers of peoples, of whom very few with difficulty told the truths. But since the text will be a little more extended, it will conduce to full knowledge. For whoever aims at excessive brevity when unknown things are narrated, not setting forth what is more significant but what ought to be passed over, is prying.

2. Hoc regnum quondam exiguum multisque antea nominibus appellatum ob causas quas saepe rettulimus, cum apud Babylona Magnum fata rapuissent Alexandrum, in vocabulum Parthi concessit Arsacis obscure geniti, latronum inter adulescentiae rudimenta ductoris, verum paulatim in melius mutato proposito clarorum contextu factorum aucti sublimius.

2. This kingdom, once small and formerly called by many names for reasons which we have often related, when at Babylon the Fates had seized Alexander the Great, it assigned in the name Parthian to Arsaces, obscurely born, a leader among bandits in the rudiments of youth, but gradually, with purpose changed for the better, raised loftily by a woven fabric of famous deeds.

3. qui post multa gloriose et fortiter gesta superato Nicatore Seleuco eiusdem Alexandri successore, cui victoriarum crebritas hoc indiderat cognomentum, praesidiisque Macedonum pulsis ipse tranquillius agens temperator oboedientium fuit et arbiter lenis.

3. who, after many deeds gloriously and bravely accomplished, having overcome Nicator Seleucus, successor of that Alexander— to whom the frequency of victories had bestowed that cognomen— and with the garrisons of the Macedonians routed, himself conducting affairs more tranquilly was a ruler of the obedient and a gentle arbiter.

4. denique post finitima cuncta vi vel aequitatis consideratione vel metu subacta, civitatum et castrorum castellorumque munimentis oppleta Perside, adsuefactaque timori esse accolis omnibus, quos antea formidabat, medium ipse agens cursum aetatis placida morte decessit. certatimque summatum et vulgi sententiis concinentibus, astris, ut ipsi existimant, ritus sui consecratione permixtus est omnium primus.

4. finally, after all the neighboring regions had been subdued either by force or by the consideration of equity or by fear, Persia, filled with the fortifications of cities, camps, and castles, and its inhabitants all made accustomed to fear — those whom he had formerly dreaded — he himself, conducting the middle course of life, departed in a placid death. And eagerly, the summits and the opinions of the crowd concurring, and the stars, as they themselves suppose, having been mingled by the consecration of his rite, he was the first of all so consecrated.

5. unde ad id tempus reges eiusdem gentis praetumidi appellari se patiuntur Solis fratres et Lunae, utque imperatoribus nostris Augusta nuncupatio amabilis est et optata, ita regibus Parthicis abiectis et ignobilibus antea, incrementa dignitatum felicibus Arsacis auspiciis accessere vel maxima.

5. whence until that time the kings of the same people suffered themselves to be called the over-proud brothers of the Sun and of the Moon; and just as the appellation Augusta is agreeable and longed-for for our emperors, so for the Parthian kings, formerly cast down and ignoble, accessions of dignities, by the fortunate auspices of Arsaces, even the greatest were added.

6. quam ob rem numinis eum vice venerantur et colunt ea usque propagatis honoribus ut ad nostri memoriam non nisi Arsacides is sit, quisquam in suscipiendo regno cunctis anteponatur, et in qualibet civili concertatione, quae adsidue apud eos eveniunt, velut sacrilegium quisque caveat ne dextra sua Arsaciden arma gestantem feriat vel privatum.

6. for this reason they worship and honor him in the place of a divinity, and with honors propagated so far that in our memory no one but an Arsacid is ever preferred above all in taking up the kingship, and in every civil contention, which constantly occurs among them, each, as if committing sacrilege, takes care lest his right hand strike an Arsacid bearing arms or a private man.

7. Satisque constat hanc gentem regna populis vi superatis conpluribus dilatasse ad usque Propontidem et Thracias, sed alte spirantium ducum superbia licenter grassantium per longinqua aerumnis maximis inminutam primo per Cyrum, quem Bospori fretum cum multitudine fabulosa transgressum ad internecionem delevit Tomyris regina Scytharum ultrix acerrima filiorum.

7. And it is sufficiently agreed that this nation stretched its kingdoms, with many peoples subdued by force, even as far as the Propontis and the Thracian lands; but by the pride of their lofty-breathing chiefs, licentiously rampant, they were at first diminished through very great hardships in remote regions by Cyrus, whom, having crossed the Bosporan strait with a fabulous multitude into destruction, Tomyris, queen of the Scythians, the avenging and most fierce mother of sons, destroyed.

8. deinde cum Dareus posteaque Xerxes Graeciam elementorum usu mutato adgressi cunctis paene copiis terra marique consumptis vix ipsi tutum invenere discessum, ut bella praetereamus Alexandrina et testamento nationem omnem in successoris unius iura translatam.

8. then when Darius and afterwards Xerxes, having attacked Greece with the use of the elements changed, with almost all their forces consumed by land and sea, scarcely themselves found a safe retreat, — so that, leaving aside the Alexandrine wars, the whole nation by testament was transferred into the rights of a single successor.

9. Quibus peractis transcursisque temporibus longis sub consulibus et deinceps in potestatem Caesarum redacta re publica, nobiscum hae nationes subinde dimicarunt paribusque momentis interdum, aliquotiens superatae, non numquam abiere victrices.

9. After these things were accomplished and long times passed by, the res publica, reduced under the power of the Caesars under the consuls and thereafter, these nations likewise fought with us repeatedly, and at equal moments sometimes; several times they were overcome, and not seldom they departed victorious.

10. Nunc locorum situm, quantum ratio sinit, carptim breviterque absolvam. hae regiones in amplitudines diffusae longas et latas ex omni latere insulosum et celebre Persicum ambiunt mare, cuius ostia adeo esse perhibentur angusta, ut ex Harmozonte Carmaniae promuntorio contra oppositum aliud promuntorium, quod appellant incolae Maces, sine inpedimento cernatur.

10. Now I will briefly and piece by piece set forth the situation of the places, as far as reason permits. These regions, spread out into great lengths and breadths, are surrounded on every side by the insular and renowned Persian Sea, whose mouths are reported to be so narrow that from Harmozon, the promontory of Carmania, the opposite promontory, which the inhabitants call Maces, is seen without impediment.

11. quibus angustiis permeatis cum latitudo patuerit nimis extensa, navigatio ad usque urbem Teredona porrigitur, ubi post iacturas multiplices pelago miscetur Euphrates, omnisque sinus dimensione litorea in numerum viginti milium stadiorum velut spatio detornato finitur, cuius per oras omnes oppidorum est densitas et vicorum naviumque crebri discursus.

11. having passed through these narrows, when the breadth has opened overly wide, navigation is carried onward as far as the city Teredon, where, after many outlets to the sea, the Euphrates is mingled with the main, and every bay, by the measurement of the shore, is finished as if cut off at the distance of twenty thousand stadia, along whose coasts is the density of towns and villages and the frequent intercourse of ships.

12. ergo permeatis angustiis ante dictis venitur ad Carmaniae sinum orienti obiectum intervallo. Cantichus nomine panditur sinus australis. haut procul inde alius, quem vocant Chaliten, occiduo obnoxius sideri.

12. therefore, after the said narrows have been passed, one arrives at the Gulf of Carmania, lying opposite the East at an interval. A southern bay named Cantichus opens. Not far from there another, which they call Chaliten, is exposed to the western star.

hinc praestrictis pluribus insulis, e quibus paucae sunt notae, Indorum mari iunguntur oceano, qui ferventem solis exortum suscipit omnium primus ipse quoque nimium calens.

from here, with several islands set before it, of which few are known, they are joined to the ocean called the Indian Sea, which, first of all of all waters, receives the sun’s rising and is itself also excessively hot.

13. utque geographici stili formarunt, hac specie distinguitur omnis circuitus ante dictus. ab arctoo cardine usque ad Caspias portas Cadusiis conterminat et Scytharum gentibus multis et Arimaspis hominibus luscis et feris. ab occidua plaga contingit Armenios et Niphaten et in Asia sitos Albanos, mare rubrum et Scenitas Arabas, quos Saracenos posteritas appellavit: Mesopotamiam sub axe meridiali despectat: orienti a fronte contrarius ad Gangen extenditur flumen, quod Indorum intersecans terras in pelagus eiectatur australe.

13. and as the geographici style fashioned, in this manner the whole circuit aforesaid is distinguished. from the Arctic axis as far as the Caspian Gates it borders on the Cadusians and on many nations of the Scythians and on the Arimaspi, one‑eyed and savage men. from the western quarter it touches the Armenians and Niphates and the Albanians placed in Asia, the Red Sea and the Scenite Arabs, whom posterity called Saracens: it looks down upon Mesopotamia beneath its southern axis: to the east, opposite at the front, a river extends to the Ganges, which, cutting across the lands of the Indians, is cast forth into the southern sea.

14. Sunt autem in omni Perside hae regiones maximae, quas Vitaxae id est magistri equitum curant, et reges et satrapae — nam minores plurimas recensere difficile est et superfluvm Assyria, Susiana, Media, Persis, Parthia, Carmania maior, Hyrcania, Margiana, Bactriani, Sogdiani, Sacae, Scythia infra Imaum et ultra eundem montem, Serica, Aria, Paropanisadae, Drangiana, Arachosia et Gedrosia.

14. In all Persia, moreover, there are these principal regions, which the Vitaxae, that is, the masters of the cavalry, oversee, and kings and satraps — for it is difficult and superfluous to enumerate the very many smaller ones: Assyria, Susiana, Media, Persis, Parthia, greater Carmania, Hyrcania, Margiana, Bactria, Sogdiana, the Sacae, Scythia beneath the Imaus and beyond that same mountain, Serica, Aria, the Paropanisadae, Drangiana, Arachosia and Gedrosia.

15. Citra omnes provincias est nobilis Assyria celebritate et magnitudine et multiformi feracitate ditissima. quae per populos pagosque amplos diffusa quondam et copiosa, ad unum concessit vocabulum et nunc omnis appellatur Assyria, ubi inter bacarum vulgariumque abundantiam frugum bitumen nascitur prope lacum nomine Sosingiten, cuius alveo Tigris voratus fluensque subterraneus percursis spatiis longis emergit.

15. On this side of all the provinces is noble Assyria, rich in renown and magnitude and in manifold fertility. Which, once spread through peoples and wide pagi and abundant, has conceded to one name and is now altogether called Assyria, where, amid an abundance of reeds and common crops, bitumen is produced near a lake called Sosingites, whose bed the Tigris, having swallowed it and flowing subterraneously through long courses, emerges.

16. hic et naphtha gignitur picea specie glutinosa, similis ipsa quoque bitumini, cui etiam si avicula insederit brevis, praepedito volatu submersa penitus evanescit. et cum hoc liquoris ardere coeperit genus, nullum inveniet humana mens praeter pulverem extinguendi commentum.

16. here naphtha is produced, pitch-like in appearance and sticky, itself also similar to bitumen; and if a little bird alights on it, its flight impeded, submerged it utterly vanishes. and when this kind of liquid begins to burn, no human mind will find any means of extinguishing it except a contrived powder for quenching.

17. In his pagis hiatus quoque conspicitur terrae, unde halitus letalis exsurgens quodcumque animal proxime steterit odore gravi consumit. quae lues oriens a profundo quodam puteo, cum os eius excesserit latum, antequam sublimius vagaretur, terras circumsitas inhabitabiles acerbitate fecisset.

17. In these villages a hiatus of the earth is also seen, from which a lethal halitus rising consumes whatever animal stands nearest with a heavy odour. This lues, springing from a certain deep pit, when its mouth had opened wide, before it wandered further upward, made the lands encircling it uninhabitable by its acerbitas.

18. cuius simile foramen apud Hierapolim Phrygiae antehac, ut adserunt aliqui, videbatur. unde emergens itidem noxius spiritus perseveranti odore quicquid prope venerat conrumpebat absque spadonibus solis, quod qua causa eveniat, rationibus physicis permittatur.

18. a hole like which was formerly seen at Hierapolis in Phrygia, as some assert. From it emerging likewise a noxious spirit, with a persistent odour, corrupted whatever came near, without any exorcists at all; for the cause why this happens let be entrusted to physical reasoning.

19. apud Asbamaei quoque Iovis templum in Cappadocia, ubi amplissimus ille philosophus Apollonius traditur natus prope oppidum Tyana, stagno effluens fons cernitur, qui magnitudine aquarum inflatus seseque resorbens numquam extra margines intumescit.

19. at Asbamaeus also, the temple of Jupiter in Cappadocia, where that most eminent philosopher Apollonius is said to have been born near the town Tyana, a spring is seen issuing from a pool, which, swollen by the volume of its waters and drawing itself back, never surges beyond its margins.

20. Intra hunc circuitum Adiabena est, Assyria priscis temporibus vocitata longaque adsuetudine ad hoc translata vocabulum ea re quod inter Onam et Tigridem sita navigeros fluvios adiri vado numquam potuit: transire enim diabainein dicimus Graeci.

20. Within this circuit is Adiabene, called Assyria in ancient times and by long usage the name has been transferred to it because of the fact that the rivers lying between the Ona and the Tigris, navigable rivers, could never be approached by wading: for the Greeks say diabainein to cross.

21. et veteres quidem hoc arbitrantur. nos autem id dicimus quod in his terris amnes sunt duo perpetui, quos ipsi transivimus, Diabas et Adiabas iunctis navalibus pontibus, ideoque intellegi Adiabenam cognominatam ut a fluminibus maximis Aegyptos Homero auctore et India et Euphratensis ante hoc Commagena, itidemque Hiberia ex Hibero, nunc Hispania, et a Baeti amne insigni provincia Baetica.

21. and the ancients indeed judge this. But we say that in these lands there are two perpetual rivers, which we ourselves crossed, Diabas and Adiabas, joined by naval bridges; and therefore Adiabena is understood to have been named from the greatest rivers — Egypt, by Homer as authority, and India, and Euphratensis, formerly Commagene; likewise Hiberia from the Hiber (river), now Hispania, and the province Baetica from the notable Baetis river.

22. In hac Adiabena Ninus est civitas, quae olim Persidis regna possederat, nomen Nini potentissimi quondam regis Samiramidis mariti declarans, et Ecbatana et Arbela et Gaugamela, ubi Dareum Alexander post discrimina varia proeliorum incitato Marte prostravit.

22. In this Adiabena is the city Ninus, which once possessed the Persian kingdoms, bearing the name of Ninus, once the most powerful king, declared the husband of Samiramis, and Ecbatana and Arbela and Gaugamela, where Darius Alexander overthrew after various dangers of battles, with Mars having been incited.

23. In omni autem Assyria multae sunt urbes. inter quas Apamia eminet Mesene cognominata et Teredon et Apollonia et Vologessia hisque similes multae. splendidissimae vero et pervulgatae hae solae sunt tres: Babylon cuius moenia bitumine Samiramis struxit — arcem enim antiquissimus rex condidit Belus — et Ctesiphon quam Vardanes temporibus priscis instituit, posteaque rex Pacorus incolarum viribus amplificatam et moenibus Graeco indito nomine, Persidis effecit specimen summum.

23. In all Assyria, however, there are many cities. Among these Apamia, surnamed Mesene, stands forth, and Teredon and Apollonia and Vologessia and many similar; but the only three that are most splendid and most widely known are these: Babylon, whose walls Samiramis built with bitumen — for the very ancient king Belus founded the citadel — and Ctesiphon, which Vardanes established in former times, and afterwards King Pacorus, having enlarged it by the strength of its inhabitants and with walls and a Greek name bestowed, made a foremost exemplar of the Persians.

post hanc Seleucia ambitiosum opus Nicatoris Seleuci.

after this Seleucia the ambitious work of Seleucus Nicator.

24. qua per duces Veri Caesaris, ut ante rettulimus, expulsata, avulsum sedibus simulacrum Comei Apollinis perlatumque Romam in aede Apollinis Palatini deorum antistites collocarunt. fertur autem quod post direptum hoc idem figmentum incensa civitate milites fanum scrutantes invenere foramen angustum, quo reserato, ut pretiosum aliquid invenirent, ex adyto quodam concluso a Chaldaeorum arcanis labes primordialis exiluit, quae insanabilium vi concepta morborum eiusdem Veri Marcique Antonini temporibus ab ipsis Persarum finibus ad usque Rhenum et Gallias cuncta contagiis polluebat et mortibus.

24. where, after the seat of Verus Caesar had been expelled by his leaders, as we reported above, they tore away the image of Comeian Apollo from its seats and, having carried it to Rome, the deorum antistites placed it in the temple of Apollo Palatinus. It is moreover reported that after this same statue had been plundered, with the city burning the soldiers searching the shrine found a narrow aperture which, when opened so that they might find something precious, from a certain closed adytum burst forth a primordial pestilence released by the secrets of the Chaldaeans, which, conceived by the force of incurable maladies, in the times of the same Verus and Marcus Antoninus from the very borders of the Persians as far as the Rhine and the Gauls defiled all things with contagion and deaths.

25. Hic prope Chaldaeorum est regio altrix philosophiae veteris, ut memorant ipsi, apud quos veridica vaticinandi fides eluxit. perfluvnt autem has easdem terras potiores ante alios amnes hi, quos praediximus, et Marses et Flumen regium et Euphrates cunctis excellens. qui tripertitus navigabilis per omnes est rivos, insulasque circumfluens, et arva cultorum industria diligentius rigans vomeri et gignendis arbustis habilia facit.

25. Here near is the Chaldaeans’ region, nourisher of ancient philosophy, as they themselves recount, among whom the veridical faith of vaticination shone forth. Moreover these same lands are traversed by rivers more potent than others — those we have named, the Marses, the royal River, and the Euphrates, excelling all. The latter, navigable in threefold course, runs through all its rills and flows around islands, and, more diligently watering the fields by the labour of plough and fitting them for producing shrubs, makes them arable.

26. His tractibus Susiani iunguntur, apud quos non multa sunt oppida. inter alia tamen eminet Susa saepe domicilium regum, et Arsiana et Sele et Aracha. cetera brevia sunt et obscura.

26. To these tracts are joined the Susiani, among whom there are not many oppida. Among others, however, Susa often stands forth as the dwelling of kings, and Arsiana and Sele and Aracha. The rest are small and obscure.

fluvii vero multi per haec loca discurrunt, quibus praestant Oroates et Harax et Mosaeus, per harenosas angustias, quae a rubro prohibent Caspium mare, aequoream multitudinem inundantes.

many rivers indeed run through these places, among which the Oroates and the Harax and the Mosaeus stand out, through sandy narrows that keep the Caspian Sea from the Red and inundate the sea’s expanse.

27. At in laeva Media confinis Hyrcano panditur mari: quam ante regnum Cyri superioris et incrementa Persidos legimus Asiae reginam totius Assyriis domitis, quorum plurimos pagos in Atropatenae vocabulum permutatos belli iure possedit.

27. But on the left, bordering Media, it opens upon the Hyrcanian Sea: which formerly was the kingdom of Cyrus the Elder, and the conquests made the Persians mistress of Asia with all the Assyrians subdued; of whom he held by the law of war most districts, these having been transferred into the name Atropatene.

28. pugnatrix natio et formidanda post Parthos, quibus vincitur solis, regiones inhabitans ad speciem quadratae figurae formatas. harum terrarum incolae omnes ad latitudinem nimiam extenduntur, eisque maximae celsitudines imminent montium, quos Zagrum et Orontem et Iasonium vocant.

28. a warlike nation and to be feared after the Parthians, by whom the sun is vanquished, inhabiting regions formed to the semblance of a square figure. The inhabitants of these lands all extend to excessive latitude, and over them loom the very great heights of mountains, which they call Zagrum and Orontem and Iasonium.

29. Coroni quoque montis altissimi partem habitantes occiduam frumentariis agris adfluvnt et vinariis, pingui fecunditate laetissimi et fluminibus fontiumque venis liquidis locupletes.

29. The Coroni also, inhabiting the western part of the very high mountain, flow toward grain-bearing and vine-bearing fields, most joyful in their fat fertility and made wealthy by rivers and by the liquid veins of springs.

30. edunt apud eos prata virentia fetus equorum nobilium, quibus, ut scriptores antiqui docent nosque vidimus, ineuntes proelia viri summates vehi exultantes solent, quos Nesaeos appellant.

30. green meadows produce among them broods of noble horses, with which, as the ancient writers teach and as we ourselves have seen, men entering into battle are wont to be borne aloft, exulting, whom they call Nesaeos.

31. abundat aeque civitatibus ditibus Media et vicis in modum oppidorum exstructis et multitudine incolarum. utque absolute dicatur, uberrimum est habitaculum regum.

31. Media abounds equally in wealthy cities and in vici built in the manner of towns and in a multitude of inhabitants. And, to speak absolutely, it is the most fertile dwelling-place of kings.

32. In his tractibus Magorum agri sunt fertiles, super quorum secta studiisque, quoniam huc incidimus, pauca conveniet expediri. magiam opinionum insignium auctor amplissimus Plato machagistiam esse verbo mystico docet, divinorum incorruptissimum cultum, cuius scientiae saeculis priscis multa ex Chaldaeorum arcanis Bactrianus addidit Zoroastres, deinde Hystaspes rex prudentissimus Darei pater.

32. In the tracts of the Magi the fields are fertile, upon whose cultivation and pursuits, since we have fallen here, it will be fitting to set forth a few things. Plato, the most copious author of distinguished opinions, teaches that magic (machagistiam) is a mystic word, the most incorruptible worship of the divine; to this science in ancient ages Zoroastres of Bactria added many things from the Chaldaeans’ secrets, and afterwards Hystaspes the most prudent king, father of Darius.

33. qui cum superioris Indiae secreta fidentius penetraret, ad nemorosam quandam venerat solitudinem, cuius tranquillis silentiis praecelsa Brachmanorum ingenia potiuntur, eorumque monitu rationes mundani motus et siderum purosque sacrorum ritus quantum colligere potuit eruditus, ex his, quae didicit, aliqua sensibus magorum infudit, quae illi cum disciplinis praesentiendi futura per suam quisque progeniem posteris aetatibus tradunt.

33. who, when he more confidently penetrated the secrets of upper India, had come to a certain woody solitude, whose lofty Brahmanic minds avail themselves of tranquil silences, and by their counsel was instructed in the reasons of the world's motions and the pure rites of sacred things as far as he could gather; from these, out of what he learned, he poured into the senses of the magi some teachings, which they, with disciplines for foretelling things to come, hand down through their respective progeny to later ages.

34. ex eo per saecula multa ad praesens una eademque prosapia multitudo creata deorum cultibus dedicatur. feruntque, si iustum est credi, etiam ignem caelitus lapsum apud se sempiternis foculis custodiri, cuius portionem exiguam ut faustam praeisse quondam Asiaticis regibus dicunt.

34. From that source, through the ages many things down to the present have been created, and one and the same prosapia and multitude are dedicated to the cults of the gods. And they report, if it be right to believe, that even a fire fallen from the heavens is kept among them in everlasting hearths, of which they say a small portion once preceded as an auspice to the Asian kings.

35. huius originis apud veteres numerus erat exilis eiusque ministeriis Persicae potestates in faciendis rebus divinis sollemniter utebantur. eratque piaculum aras adire vel hostiam contrectare antequam magus conceptis precationibus libamenta diffunderet praecursoria. verum aucti paulatim in amplitudinem gentis solidae concesserunt et nomen villasque inhabitantes nulla murorum firmitudine conmunitas et legibus suis uti permissi religionis respectu sunt honorati.

35. Of this origin, among the ancients the number was scant, and its ministrations the Persian potentates solemnly employed in performing divine rites. And it was a sacrilege to approach the altars or lay hands on a victim before the magus, having framed his prayers, poured forth the libations that went before. But as they increased, they gradually expanded into the greatness of a settled people, and the name and the villas’ inhabitants, though not possessed of the firmness of walls, being permitted to use their own laws, were honored with respect because of their religion.

36. ex hoc magorum semine septem post mortem Cambysis regnum inisse Persidos antiqui memorant libri docentes eos Darei factione oppressos, imperitandi initium equino hinnitu sortiti.

36. From this seed of magi the ancients record that, seven after the death of Cambyses, the Persians entered the kingdom, the books teaching that they were oppressed by the faction of Darius, and that they obtained the beginning of ruling by the neighing of a horse.

37. In hac regione oleum conficitur Medicum, quo inlitum telum, si emissum lentius laxiore arcu — nam ictu extinguitur rapido — haeserit usquam, tenaciter cremat, et si aqua voluerit abluere quisquam, aestus excitat acriores incendiorum, nec remedio ullo quam iactu pulveris consopitur.

37. In this region a medicinal oil is prepared, with which, if a weapon be anointed and, when sent forth more slowly from a laxer bow — for by a rapid stroke it is extinguished — it has stuck anywhere, it burns tenaciously; and if any one wishes to wash it off with water, it stirs up the fiercer heats of the fires, nor is it quelled by any remedy except by the casting of dust.

38. paratur autem hoc modo. oleum usus communis herba quadam infectum condiunt harum rerum periti ad diuturnitatem servantes et coalescens durant ex materia venae naturalis similis oleo crassiori: quae species gignitur apud Persas, quam ut diximus, naphtam vocabulo appellavere gentili.

38. this is prepared in this way. For common use they mingle oil with a certain herb, the experts of these matters preserving it for long duration, and, coalescing, it lasts from a material of a natural vein similar to a thicker oil: a species produced among the Persians, which, as we said, they called by the native name naphtha.

39. Per haec loca civitates dispersae sunt plures, quis omnibus praestant Zombis et Patigran et Gazaca. inter quas opibus et magnitudine moenium conspicuae sunt Heraclia et Arsacia et Europos et Cyropolis et Ecbatana sub Iasonio monte in terris sitae Syromedorum.

39. Through these regions several cities are dispersed, which surpass all in wealth, Zombis and Patigran and Gazaca. Among them conspicuous in riches and in the magnitude of their walls are Heraclia and Arsacia and Europos and Cyropolis and Ecbatana, situated beneath Mount Iasonius in the lands of the Syromedians.

40. amnes has regiones praetereunt multi, quorum maximi sunt Choaspes et Gyndes et Amardus et Charinda et Cambyses et Cyrus, cui magno et specioso Cyrus ille superior rex amabilis abolito vetere id vocabulum dedit cum ereptum ire regna Scythica festinaret, quod et fortis est, ut ipse etiam ferebatur, et vias sibi ut ille impetu ingenti molitus in Caspium delabitur mare.

40. Many rivers pass through these regions, the greatest of which are the Choaspes and the Gyndes and the Amardus and the Charinda and the Cambyses and the Cyrus, to which the aforesaid greater king Cyrus, illustrious and magnificent, gave that name after the old one was abolished when he hastened to go to the Scythian kingdoms; which river is likewise mighty, as it itself was reported to be, and, striving to make channels for itself like that man, with great impetuous force pours down into the Caspian Sea.

41. Per tractus meridianos expansa post haec confinia litoribus proxima Persis habitatur antiqua, minutis frugibus dives et palmite aquarumque copia iucundissima. amnes quippe multi per eam ante dictum influvnt sinum, quorum maximi sunt Batradites et Rogomanius et Brisoana atque Bagrada.

41. Through meridional tracts extended, afterward these confines nearest the shores are inhabited by the ancient Persians, rich in small fruits and most pleasant with vine-growth and an abundance of waters. For many rivers indeed flow through it into the aforesaid gulf, whose greatest are the Batradites and Rogomanius and Brisoana and Bagrada.

42. oppida vero mediterranea sunt ampliora — incertum enim, qua ratione per oras maritimas nihil condiderunt insigne — inter quae Persepolis est clara et Ardea et Obroatis atque Tragonice. insulae vero visuntur ibi tres tantum Tabiana et Fara et Alexandria.

42. the inland towns, however, are larger — for it is uncertain by what reason along the maritime shores they founded nothing notable — among which Persepolis is famous and Ardea and Obroatis and Tragonice. the islands, however, are seen there only three: Tabiana and Fara and Alexandria.

43. His propinquant Parthi siti sub aquilone colentes nivales terras et pruinosas, quorum regiones Choatres fluvius interscindit ceteris abundantior: et haec potiora residuis sunt oppida Oenunia, Moesia, Charax, Apamia, Artacana et Hecatompylos, a cuius finibus per Caspia litora ad usque portarum angustias stadia quadraginta numerantur et mille.

43. Near these the Parthians dwell, parched under the north wind, inhabiting snowy and frosty lands, whose regions the river Choatres cleaves, more abundant than the rest: and these chief towns are superior to the remaining ones — Oenunia, Moesia, Charax, Apamia, Artacana and Hecatompylos — from whose borders along the Caspian shores to even the narrows of the gates forty and a thousand stadia (1,040 stadia) are reckoned.

44. feri sunt illic habitatores pagorum omnium atque pugnaces eosque ita certamina iuvant et bella, ut iudicetur inter alios omnes beatus, qui in proelio profuderit animam. excedentes enim e vita morte fortuita conviciis insectantur ut degeneres et ignavos.

44. the inhabitants of every hamlet there are wild and warlike, and contests and wars so delight them that one is judged above all others blessed who has poured out his life in battle. for those departing from life by a sudden death they assail with reproaches as though degenerate and cowardly.

45. Quibus ab orientali australique plaga Arabes beati conterminant, ideo sic appellati quod frugibus iuxta et fetibus et palmite odorumque suavitate multiplici sunt locupletes, magnaeque eorum partes mare rubrum a latere dextro contingunt, laeva Persico mari conlimitant, elementi utriusque potiri bonis omnibus adsueti.

45. To these on the eastern and southern quarter the blessed Arabs border, so called because they are wealthy in nearby crops and fruits and vine-branches and in a manifold sweetness of odors, and great parts of them touch the Red Sea on the right flank, on the left they adjoin the Persian Sea, accustomed to possess the good things of both elements.

46. ubi et stationes et portus tranquilli sunt plures et emporia densa et diversoria regum ambitiosa nimium et decora, aquarumque suapte natura calentium saluberrimi fontes et rivorum fluminumque multitudo perspicua, sospitalisque temperies caeli, ut recte spectantibus nihil eis videatur ad felicitatem deesse supremam.

46. where there are many stations and tranquil harbors and dense emporia and inns too ambitious and ornate as of kings, and very healthful springs of waters warm by their own nature and a clear multitude of streams and rivers, and the hospitable temperateness of the sky, so that to those who behold rightly nothing seems to be lacking to their supreme felicity.

47. ac licet abundet urbibus mediterraneis atque maritimis, campisque copiosis et vallibus, has tamen civitates habet eximias Geapolim et Nascon et Baraba itidemque Nagara et Maepham et Tapphara et Dioscurida. insulas autem conplures habet per utrumque proximas mare, quas dinumerare non refert. insignior tamen aliis Turgana est, in qua Serapidis maximum esse dicitur templum.

47. And though it abounds in Mediterranean and maritime cities, and in copious plains and valleys, yet it has notable towns Geapolim and Nascon and Baraba and likewise Nagara and Maepham and Tapphara and Dioscurida. Moreover it has very many islands close to each sea, which it is not worth to number. More distinguished than the others is Turgana, in which the greatest temple of Serapis is said to be.

48. Post huius terminos gentis Carmania maior verticibus celsis erigitur ad usque Indicum pertinens mare, fructuariis arboreisque fetibus culta sed obscurior Arabum terris multo et minor. fluminibus tamen ipsa quoque non minus abundans caespiteque ubere iuxta fecunda.

48. Beyond these bounds the greater people Carmania rises with lofty peaks and reaches as far as the Indian Sea, cultivated with fruit-bearing orchards and tree-fruits, yet much darker and smaller than the lands of the Arabs. Itself, however, is no less abundant in rivers and fertile nearby with a turf-like richness.

49. amnes autem sunt hic ceteris notiores Sagareus et Saganis et Hydriacus. sunt etiam civitates licet numero paucae victu tamen et cultu perquam copiosae, inter quas nitet Carmana omnium mater et Portospana et Alexandria et Hermupolis.

49. moreover the rivers here, more renowned than the others, are the Sagareus and the Saganis and the Hydriacus. There are also cities, though few in number, yet exceedingly abundant in victuals and in cultivation, among which Carmana shines as mother of all, and Portospana and Alexandria and Hermupolis.

50. Interius vero pergenti occurrunt Hyrcani, quos eiusdem nominis adluit mare. apud quos, glebae macie internecante sementes, ruris colendi cura est levior, sed vescuntur venatibus, quorum varietate inmane quantum exuberant. ubi etiam tigridum milia multa cernuntur feraeque bestiae plures, quae cuiusmodi solent capi commentis dudum nos meminimus rettulisse.

50. Further inland, however, there meet the Hyrcani, whom a sea of the same name bathes. Among them, the thinness of the soil wasting away the sowings makes the care of tilling the countryside lighter, but they live on venationes, of which, by variety, how enormously they abound. There also many thousands of tigrids are seen and even more wild beasts, which sort of beasts they are wont to be taken we have long since reported.

51. nec ideo tamen stivam ignorant, sed seminibus teguntur aliquae partes ubi solum est pinguius, nec arbusta desunt in locis habilibus ad plantandum et marinis mercibus plerique sustentantur.

51. nor therefore are they ignorant of the plough; but some tracts are sown with seeds where the soil is richer, nor are orchards lacking in places fit for planting, and most are sustained by maritime merchandise.

52. hic amnes duo pervulgati sunt nominis Oxus et Maxera, quos urgente inedia superantes natatu aliquotiens tigris improvisae finitima populantur. habent etiam civitates inter minora municipia validas duas quidem maritimas Socanda et Saramanna, mediterraneas alias Asmurnam et Salen et his nobiliorem Hyrcanam.

52. here two rivers are widely known by the names Oxus and Maxera, which, the tiger, overcoming pressing starvation, by swimming at times unexpectedly plunders the neighboring peoples. they also have towns among the lesser municipia — two indeed strong maritime ones, Socanda and Saramanna, interior/mediterranean others Asmurna and Salen, and among these the more noble Hyrcana.

53. Contra hanc gentem sub aquilone dicuntur Abii versari genus piissimum, calcare cuncta mortalia consuetum, quos, ut Homerus fabulosius canit, Iuppiter ab Idaeis montibus contuetur.

53. Opposite this people, to the north, the Abii are said to dwell, a most pious race, accustomed to trample all things mortal underfoot; whom, as Homer more fabulously sings, Jupiter gazes upon from the Idaean mountains.

54. Sedes vicinas post Hyrcanos sortiti sunt Margiani, omnes paene collibus altis undique circumsaepti, ideo a mari discreti. et quamquam pleraque sunt ibi deserta soli aquarum penuria, quaedam tamen habent oppida; sed Iasonion et Antiochia et Nigaea sunt aliis notiora.

54. After the Hyrcanians the Margiani obtained the neighboring seats, almost all shut in on every side by high hills, and therefore cut off from the sea. And although most places there are desolate and solitary for want of water, yet some have towns; but Iasonion and Antiochia and Nigaea are better known to others.

55. Proximos his limites possident Bactriani, natio antehac bellatrix et potentissima Persisque semper infesta antequam circumsitos populos omnes ad dicionem gentilitatemque traheret nominis sui, quam rexere veteribus saeculis etiam Arsaci formidabiles reges.

55. Adjacent to these the Bactrians possess the nearest limits, a nation formerly warlike and most potent, and always hostile to the Persians, before they drew all the surrounding peoples into the sway and kinship of their name — peoples whom in the old ages the Arsaci likewise ruled as formidable kings.

56. eius pleraeque partes ita ut Margiana procul a litoribus sunt disparatae, sed humi gignentium fertiles, et pecus, quod illic per campestria loca vescitur et montana, membris est magis conpactis et validis, ut indicio sunt cameli a Mithridate exinde perducti et primitus in obsidione Cyzicena visi Romanis.

56. most of its parts are so that Margiana, being set apart far from the shores, are distinct, but fertile in the soil of things that bear, and the cattle which there feed through the plains and the mountains have limbs more compact and strong, as is shown by camels brought from Mithridates thence and first seen by the Romans in the siege of Cyzicus.

57. gentes isdem Bactrianis oboediunt plures, quas exsuperant Tochari, et ad Italiae speciem crebris fluminibus inundantur. e quibus Artamis et Zariaspes ante sibi consociati itidemque Ochus et Dargomanes iuncti convenis aquis augent inmania Oxi fluenta.

57. many peoples obey those same Bactrians, whom the Tochari surpass, and are inundated by frequent rivers to a likeness of Italy. of these, Artamis and Zariaspes, previously allied to them, and likewise Ochus and Dargomanes, joined at their meeting waters, swell the vast streams of the Oxus.

58. sunt et hic civitates, quas amnes diversi perstringunt, his cedentes ut melioribus, Chatracharta et Alicodra et Astacana et Menapia et Bactra ipsa, unde regnum et vocabulum nationis est institutum.

58. there are also cities here, which diverse rivers skirt, yielding to these as the better, Chatracharta and Alicodra and Astacana and Menapia and Bactra itself, whence the kingdom and the name of the nation were established.

59.... sub imis montium pedibus, quos appellant Sogdios, inter quos amnes duo fluvnt navium capacissimi Araxates et Dymas, qui per iuga vallesque praecipites in campestrem planitiem fluvii decurrentes Oxiam nomine paludem efficiunt late longeque diffusam. hic inter alia oppida celebrantur Alexandria et Cyreschata et Drepsa metropolis.

59.... beneath the lowest feet of the mountains, which they call the Sogdi, between which two rivers flow, the most ship-capable Araxates and Dymas, which, running down through ridges and precipitous vales into a level plain, make a marsh called Oxia, spread far and wide. Here, among other towns, the celebrated Alexandria and Cyreschata and the metropolis Drepsa are famed.

60. His contigui sunt Sacae natio fera, squalentia incolens loca soli pecori fructuosa, ideo nec civitatibus culta. cui Ascanimia mons inminet et Comedus. praeter quorum radices et vicum, quem Lithinon pyrgon appellant, iter longissimum patet mercatoribus pervium ad Seras subinde commeantibus.

60. Bordering these is the Sacae, a fierce nation, inhabiting squalid places, the soil fruitfully for cattle, and therefore not settled with cities. To them towers Mount Ascanimia and Comedus. Beyond the foots of these and a village, which they call Lithinon pyrgon, a very long road lies open to merchants, passable for those who make frequent journeys to the Seres.

61. Circa defectus et crepidines montium, quos Imavos et Apurios vocant, Scythae sunt intra Persicos fines Asianis contermini Sarmatis Halanorumque latus tangentes extremum. qui velut agentes quodam secessu coalitique solitudine per intervalla dispersi sunt longa adsueti victu vili et paupertino.

61. Around the escarpments and foots of the mountains, which they call Imavi and Apurii, the Scythae lie within the Persian borders, contiguous to the Asian Sarmatians and touching the outermost flank of the Halani. who, as if living in a certain secession and united by solitude, are dispersed at intervals, long accustomed to cheap and meagre victuals.

62. et gentes quidem variae hos incolunt tractus, quas nunc recensere alio properans superfluvm puto. illud tamen sciendum est inter has nationes paene ob asperitatem nimiam inaccessas homines esse quosdam mites et pios ut Iaxartae sunt et Galactophagi, quorum meminit vates Homerus in hoc versu glaktophagon Abion te dikaiotaton anthropon.

62. and truly diverse peoples inhabit these tracts, which I now, hastening to recount elsewhere, consider superfluous. Yet this must be known: among these nations are some men almost inaccessible because of excessive asperity, and who nevertheless are mild and pious, as the Iaxartae and the Galactophagi, of whom the poet Homer remembers in this verse: glaktophagon Abion te dikaiotaton anthropon.

63. inter flumina vero multa, quae per has terras vel potioribus iungit natura vel lapsu post trahit in mare, Rhymmus celebris est et Iaxartes, et Daicus. civitates autem non nisi tres solas habere noscuntur Aspabota et Chauriana et Saga.

63. Among rivers, moreover, many which through these lands either by more powerful nature join together or afterwards by their fall carry themselves into the sea, the celebrated Rhymmus and the Iaxartes and the Daicus are found. As for cities, however, only three alone are known to exist: Aspabota and Chauriana and Saga.

64. Vltra haec utriusque Scythiae loca contra orientalem plagam in orbis speciem consertae celsorum aggerum summitates ambiunt Seras ubertate regionum et amplitudine circumspectos, ab occidentali latere Scythis adnexos, a septentrione et orientali nivosae solitudini cohaerentes: qua meridiem spectant ad usque Indiam porrectos et Gangen. appellantur autem ibidem montes Anniba et Auzacium et Asmira et Emodon et Oporocorra.

64. Beyond these places of both Scythias, against the eastern quarter and gathered into the shape of the world, the summits of lofty ramparts, the Seras, encircle, watching over the fertility of the regions and their amplitude, attached on the western flank to the Scythians, and cohering on the north and east to a snowy solitude; toward which they look southward as far as India stretched out and the Ganges. The mountains there are called Anniba and Auzacium and Asmira and Emodon and Oporocorra.

65. hanc itaque planitiem undique prona declivitate praeruptam terrasque lato situ distentas duo famosi nominis flumina Oechardes et Bautis lentiore meatu percurrunt. et dispar est tractuum diversorum ingenium: hic patulum, alibi molli devexitate subductum, ideoque satietate frugum et pecoribus et arbustis exuberat.

65. therefore two rivers of famed name, Oechardes and Bautis, run through this plain — everywhere precipitous with a prone declivity and the lands stretched out in wide extent — moving with a slower course. And the genius of the diverse tracts is unequal: here broad and open, elsewhere withdrawn by a soft devexity, and therefore abounds in a satiety of crops and in cattle and shrubs.

66. incolunt autem fecundissimam glebam variae gentes, e quibus Anthropophagi et Annibi et Sizyges et Chardi aquilonibus obiecti sunt et pruinis. exortum vero solis suspiciunt Rabannae et Asmirae et Essedones omnium splendidissimi, quibus Athagurae ab occidentali parte cohaerent et Aspacarae: Baetae vero australi celsitudine montium inclinati. urbibus licet non multis, magnis tamen celebrantur et opulentis, inter quas maximae Asmira et Essedon et Aspacara et Sera nitidae sunt et notissimae.

66. upon that very fertile soil dwell various peoples, among whom the Anthropophagi and Annibi and Sizyges and Chardi are exposed to northern winds and to frosts. Yet they behold the rising of the sun: the Rabannae and Asmirae and Essedones, most splendid of all, to whom the Athagurae adhere on the western side and the Aspacarae; the Baetae, however, are inclined by the southern loftiness of the mountains. Though they have not many cities, they are nevertheless celebrated and opulent, among which the greatest—Asmira and Essedon and Aspacara and Sera—are bright and most renowned.

67. agunt autem ipsi quietius Seres, armorum semper et proeliorum expertes, utque hominibus sedatis et placidis otium est voluptabile, nulli finitimorum molesti. caeli apud eos iucunda salubrisque temperies, aeris facies munda leniumque ventorum commodissimus flatus et abunde silvae sublucidae, a quibus arborum fetus aquarum asperginibus crebris velut quaedam vellera molientes ex lanugine et liquore mixtam subtilitatem tenerrimam pectunt, nentesque subtegmina conficiunt sericum ad usus antehac nobilium, nunc etiam infimorum sine ulla discretione proficiens.

67. the Seres themselves live more quietly, ever unacquainted with arms and battles, and, as with men sedate and placid leisure is delightful, they are troublesome to none of their neighbors. The heavens with them have a pleasant and salubrious temperate air, the aspect of the atmosphere clear and the most commodious breath of gentle winds, and abundantly gleaming forests, from which the fruit of the trees, by frequent sprinklings of waters, as if some fleeces, grinding out a fineness mixed of down and liquid, they comb into the most delicate thread, and from these they make threads and undergarments of sericum (silk) for uses formerly of the noble, now also serving the lowest without any discrimination.

68. ipsi praeter alios frugalissimi pacatioris vitae cultores vitantes reliquorum mortalium coetus. cumque ad coemenda fila vel quaedam alia fluvium transierint advenae, nulla sermonum vice propositarum rerum pretia solis oculis aestimantur, et ita sunt abstinentes ut apud se tradentes gignentia nihil ipsi comparent adventicium.

68. they themselves, more than others, most frugal cultivators of a more pacatious life, avoiding the assemblies of other mortals. and when strangers have crossed the river to buy up threads or certain other wares, the prices of things proposed in the course of talk are judged by the eyes alone, and they are so abstinent that, at home when handing down to their offspring, they themselves purchase nothing foreign.

69. Ariani vivunt post Seras, Boreae obnoxii flatibus, quorum terras amnis vehendis sufficiens navibus Arias perfluit nomine, faciens lacum ingentem eodem vocabulo dictitatum. abundat autem haec eadem Aria oppidis, inter quae sunt celebria Vitaxa Sarmatina et Sotira et Nisibis et Alexandria, unde naviganti ad Caspium mare quingenta stadia numerantur et mille.

69. After the Seres dwell the Ariani, subject to the blasts of Boreas, whose lands the river Arias flows through — sufficient for conveying ships — making a vast lake frequently named by the same word. Moreover this same Aria abounds in towns, among which are the famed Vitaxa Sarmatina and Sotira and Nisibis and Alexandria, from which, to one sailing to the Caspian Sea, 500 and 1,000 stadia are reckoned.

70. His locis Paropanisadae sunt proximi, Indos ab oriente Caucasumque ab occidentali latere prospectantes, ipsi quoque montium defectibus inclinati, quos residuis omnibus maior Ortogordomaris interluit fluvius a Bactrianis exsurgens. habent autem etiam civitates aliquas, quibus clariores sunt Agazaca et Naulibus et Ortospana, unde litorea navigatio ad usque Mediae fines, portis proximos Caspiis stadiorum sunt duo milia et ducenta.

70. In these places dwell the Paropanisadae nearest, gazing toward the Indoi on the east and the Caucasus on the western side, themselves also sloping by mountain declivities, which a larger river, the Ortogordomaris, rising from the Bactrians, washes about all the rest. They likewise have some cities, the more famed of which are Agazaca and Naulibus and Ortospana, from whence coastal navigation as far as the borders of Media measures two thousand two hundred stadia to the gates nearest the Caspian.

71. Ante dictis continui sunt Drangiani collibus cohaerentes, ... Arabium nomine ideo adpellatum quod inde exoritur, interque alia duobus municipiis exultantes Prophthasia et Ariaspe ut opulentis et claris.

71. Before the aforesaid are the Drangiani, contiguous to the hills, ... hence called by the name Arabium because it issues forth from there, and among other things boasting two municipia, Prophthasia and Ariaspe, as opulent and renowned.

72. Post quos exadversum Arachosia visitur, dextrum vergens in latus Indis obiecta, quam ab Indo fluviorum maximo, unde regiones cognominatae sunt, amnis multo minor exoriens aquarum adluit amplitudine efficitque paludem Arachotoscrenem appellatam. hic quoque civitates sunt inter alias viles Alexandria et Arbaca et Choaspa.

72. After these, opposite Arachosia is visited, turning to the right and lying against the flank of the Indies; from the Indus, the greatest of rivers, there springs a river much smaller, whence the regions take their name, and with the abundance of its waters it washes and makes a marsh called Arachotoscrenes. Here also there are cities, among others the small Alexandria and Arbaca and Choaspa.

73. At in penitissima parte Persidos Gedrosia est, dextra terminos contingens Indorum, inter minores alios Arabio uberior flumine, ubi montes deficiunt Arbitani, quorum ex pedibus imis emergentes alii fluvii Indo miscentur, amittentes nomina magnitudine potioris. civitates autem etiam hic sunt praeter insulas Sedratira et Gynaecon limen meliores residuis aestimantur.

73. But Gedrosia lies in the most remote part of the Persians, touching on the right the borders of the Indians, among the lesser regions the more bounteous river Arabios, where the Arbitani mountains fail, from whose lowest feet other rivers, emerging, are mingled with the Indus, losing their names to the greatness of the greater river. Cities also are here, besides the islands Sedratira and Gynaecon, and the harbour of Gynaecon is esteemed better than the remaining ones.

74. Ne igitur orae maritimae spatia adluentia Persidis extremitates per minutias demonstrantes a proposito longius aberremus, id sufficiet dici, quod mare praetentum a Caspiis montibus per borium latus ad usque memoratas angustias novem milium stadiorum, australe vero ab ostiis Nili fluminis ad usque principia Carmanorum quattuordecim milium stadiorum numero definitur.

74. Therefore, lest I stray too far from my purpose by marking out the maritime stretches of the Persian extremities in fine detail, it will suffice to say that the sea, thrust forward from the Caspian Mountains along its northern flank to the aforesaid narrows for 9,000 stadia, and on the south from the mouths of the Nile River as far as the beginnings of the Carmanians for 14,000 stadia, is defined in extent.

75. Per has nationes dissonas et multiplices hominum quoque diversitates sunt ut locorum. sed ut generaliter corpora describamus et mores graciles paene sunt omnes, subnigri vel livido colore pallentes, caprinis oculis torvi et superciliis in semiorbium speciem curvatis iunctisque, non indecoribus barbis capillisque promissis hirsuti, omnes tamen promiscue vel inter epulas festosque dies gladiis cincti cernuntur. quem Graecorum veterum morem abiecisse primos Athenienses Thucydides est auctor amplissimus.

75. Through these nations discordant and manifold are the diversities of men as of places. But to describe bodies and manners generally: they are almost all gracile, darkish beneath or pale with a livid colour, with caprine eyes stern and with eyebrows curved and joined into the semblance of a half-orbit, hirsute with unbecoming beards and long hair left hanging; yet all are seen promiscuously, even among banquets and festive days, girded with swords. That the earliest Athenians cast off the custom of the ancient Greeks Thucydides is the most ample authority.

76. effusius plerique soluti in venerem aegreque contenti multitudine pelicum, puerilium stuprorum expertes, pro opibus quisque adsciscens matrimonia plura vel pauca. unde apud eos per libidines varias caritas dispersa torpescit. munditias conviviorum et luxum maximeque potandi aviditatem vitantes ut luem.

76. More diffusely, most are loose in venery and ill-content with the multitude of concubines, lacking in boyish rapes; each, according to his means, taking on more or fewer marriages. Whence among them affectionate regard, dispersed through various lusts, grows numb. They shun the refinements of banquets and luxury, and above all the greed for drinking, as if it were a plague.

77. nec apud eos extra regales mensas hora est praestituta prandendi, sed venter uni cuique velut solarium est, eoque monente quod inciderit editur, nec quisquam post satietatem superfluos sibi ingerit cibos.

77. nor among them, apart from the royal tables, is there a fixed hour for dining, but the belly to each is like a sundial, and, its warning showing which hour has fallen, one eats; nor does anyone, after satiety, force superfluous foods upon himself.

78. inmane quantum restricti et cauti, ut inter hostiles hortos gradientes non numquam et vineta, nec cupiant aliquid nec contingant venenorum et secretarum artium metu.

78. how immensely restrained and cautious they are, that, walking amid hostile gardens and sometimes even vineyards, they neither desire anything nor touch anything, through fear of poisons and secret arts.

79. super his nec stando mingens nec ad requisita naturae secedens facile visitur Persa: ita observantius haec aliaque pudenda declinant.

79. moreover, furthermore, the Persian is not easily seen standing and urinating, nor retiring to the requisites of nature; thus more observantly these and other pudenda are avoided.

80. adeo autem dissoluti sunt et artuum laxitate vagoque incessu se iactitantes ut effeminatos existimes, cum sint acerrimi bellatores, sed magis artifices quam fortes eminusque terribiles, abundantes inanibus verbis insanumque loquentes et ferum, magnidici et graves ac taetri, minaces iuxta in adversis rebus et prosperis, callidi superbi crudeles, vitae necisque potestatem in servos et plebeios vindicantes obscuros: cutes vivis hominibus detrahunt particulatim vel solidas, nec ministranti apud eos famulo mensaeque adstanti hiscere vel loqui licet vel spuere: ita prostratis pellibus labra omnium vinciuntur.

80. moreover they are so dissolved and, with a laxity of limbs and a wandering gait, vaunting themselves, that you would judge them effeminate, when they are the fiercest warriors, but more artificers than brave and dreadful at a distance, abounding in empty words and speaking madness and fierceness, boastful and grave and foul, threatening alike in adverse and prosperous affairs, crafty, proud, cruel, claiming the power of life and death over obscure slaves and commoners: they tear off the skins of living men bit by bit or strip them whole, nor is it permitted to the serving slave or the attendant standing at the table to yawn or speak or spit: with skins laid low, the lips of all are conquered.

81. leges apud eos inpendio formidatae, inter quas diritate exsuperant latae contra ingratos et desertores, et abominandae aliae, per quas ob noxam unius omnis propinquitas perit.

81. laws among them devised as a penalty, among which those enacted against the ungrateful and deserters surpass in harshness, and others abominable, by which, for the crime of one, all kinship perishes.

82. ad iudicandum autem usu rerum spectati destinantur et integri, parum alienis consiliis indigentes, unde nostram consuetudinem rident, quae interdum facundos iurisque publici peritissimos post indoctorum conlocat terga. nam quod supersidere corio damnati ob iniquitatem iudicis iudex alius cogebatur, aut finxit vetustas aut olim recepta consuetudo cessavit.

82. as for judging, they are appointed experienced in the use of matters and honest, needing little of alien counsels, whence they mock our custom, which at times places eloquent men and the most expert of public law behind the backs of the unlearned. For that thing — namely that, because by the iniquity of a judge another judge was forced to sit upon the hide of the condemned — either antiquity invented it or a once-received custom has ceased.

83. militari cultu ac disciplina proludiisque continuis rei castrensis et armaturae, quam saepe formavimus metuendi vel exercitibus maximis, equitatus virtute confisi, ubi desudat nobilitas omnis et splendor. pedites enim in speciem mirmillonum contecti iussa faciunt ut calones. sequiturque semper haec turba tamquam addicta perenni servitio nec stipendiis aliquando fulta nec donis.

83. with military cult and discipline and with continuous rehearsals of camp-life and armature, which we have often fashioned to be feared even by the greatest armies, the cavalry trusting in its virtue, where all nobility and splendor sweat. for the footsoldiers, covered in the guise of mirmillones, execute orders like camp-followers. and this throng ever follows as if bound to perpetual service, supported by neither pay at any time nor by gifts.

et gentes plurimas praeter eas quas abunde perdomuit, sub iugum haec natio miserat ita audax et ad pulveres Martios erudita, ni bellis civilibus externisque adsidue vexarentur.

and very many peoples besides those which it had abundantly subdued, this nation had sent under the yoke, so audacious and trained to Martial dust, if they were not continually harassed by civil and foreign wars.

84. indumentis plerique eorum ita operiuntur lumine colorum fulgentibus vario ut, licet sinus lateraque dissuta relinquant flatibus agitari ventorum, inter calceos tamen et verticem nihil videatur intectum. armillis uti monilibusque aureis et gemmis, praecipue margaritis quibus abundant, adsuefacti post Lydiam victam et Croesum.

84. most of them are clad in garments so overlaid with a variegated sheen of shining colours that, although they leave sleeves and sides torn to be buffeted by blasts of the winds, yet between their shoes and their crown nothing seems unadorned. Accustomed to wear armlets and gold necklaces and gems, especially pearls with which they abound, since Lydia was conquered and Croesus.

85. Restat ut super ortu lapidis huius pauca succinctius explicentur. apud Indos et Persas margaritae reperiuntur in testis marinis robustis et candidis permixtione roris anni tempore praestituto conceptae. cupientes enim velut coitum quendam humores ex lunari aspergine capiunt densius oscitando.

85. It remains that concerning the origin of this stone a few things be explained more succinctly. Among the Indians and Persians pearls are found in marine shells robust and white, conceived by a mingling of dew provided at the season of the year. For desiring, as it were, a certain coitus, they draw up humors from the lunar spray, and by yawning they take them in the more densely.

exindeque gravidulae edunt minutas binas aut ternas vel uniones ideo sic appellatas quod evisceratae conchulae singulas aliquotiens pariunt sed maiores.

And thence the gravid females produce minute pairs or triplets, or unions — so called because, the shells being eviscerated, they at times bear single (offspring), but larger.

86. idque indicium est aetheria potius derivatione, quam saginis pelagi hos oriri fetus vesci, quod guttae matutini roris isdem infusae claros efficiunt lapillos et teretes, vespertini vero flexuosos contra et rutilos et maculosos interdum. minima autem vel magna pro qualitate haustuum figurantur casibus variatis. conclusae vero saepissime metu fulgurum inanescunt aut debilia pariunt aut certe vitiis diffluvnt abortivis.

86. and this is a sign of aetherial rather than of sea-sustenance derivation, that these fetuses arise and feed from the juices of the sea, because drops of morning dew, when poured into the same, make them clear little and rounded stones, whereas the evening drops, on the contrary, make them crooked and reddish and sometimes spotted. moreover the very small or very large are shaped according to the quality of the draughts, with varied outcomes. those enclosed, however, very often, for fear of lightning, become void or bring forth weak ones or certainly flow away in abortive defects.

87. capturas autem difficiles et periculosas et amplitudines pretiorum illa efficit ratio quod frequentari sueta litora propter piscantium insidias declinantes, ut quidam coniciunt, circa devios scopulos et marinorum canum receptacula delitescunt.

87. and this practice makes captures difficult and dangerous and the magnitudes of prices high, since the shores, wont to be frequented, are shunned because of the ambuscades of fishermen; so, as some conjecture, they lurk about the outlying rocks and hide in the retreats of the marine dogs.

88. quod genus gemmae etiam in Brittannici secessibus maris gigni legique licet dignitate dispari non ignoramus.

88. That sort of gem is also produced and gathered in the recesses of the British sea; we are not unaware that it is of unequal dignity.