Ammianus: RES GESTAE A FINE CORNELI TACITI

1. Exacta hieme rex Persarum gentis Sapor, pugnarum fiducia pristinarum inmaniter adrogans, suppleto numero suorum abundeque firmato, erupturos in nostra cataphractos et sagittarios et conductam misit plebem.

1. With winter completed, Sapor, king of the Persian nation, monstrously arrogant in the confidence of former battles, once the number of his own had been replenished and abundantly strengthened, sent cataphracts and archers and a hired rabble to burst into our territory.

2. contra has copias Traianus comes et Vadomarius ex rege Alamannorum cum agminibus perrexere pervalidis, hoc observare principis iussu adpositi, ut arcerent potius quam lacesserent Persas.

2. against these forces Traianus, Count, and Vadomarius, formerly king of the Alamanni, advanced with very powerful columns, appointed by the emperor’s order to observe this: that they should ward off rather than provoke the Persians.

3. qui cum venissent Vagabanta, legionibus habilem locum, rapidos turmarum procursus hostilium in se ruentium acriter exceperunt inviti, operaque consulta retrocedentes, ne ferro violarent adversorum quemquam primi, et iudicarentur discissi foederis rei, ultima trudente necessitate congressi sunt, confossisque multis discessere victores.

3. who, when they had come to Vagabanta, a place suitable for legions, unwillingly sharply received the rapid onrushes of the squadrons of enemies rushing upon them, and, with deliberate effort withdrawing, so that they might not be the first to violate with iron any of their adversaries and be judged guilty of a broken foedus, with extreme necessity pressing they joined battle, and, many being pierced through, they departed victors.

4. inter moras tamen utrimquesecus temptatis aliquotiens levibus proeliis, varioque finitis eventu, pactis indutiis ex consensu aestateque consumpta, partium discessere ductores etiam tum discordes. et rex quidem Parthus hiemem Ctesiphonte acturus, redit ad sedes, et Antiochiam imperator Romanus ingressus. qui, dum ibi moratur securus interim hostium externorum, intestinis paene perierat fraudibus, ut aperiet series delata gestorum.

4. however, amid delays, with light skirmishes tried several times on both sides and ended with a varied outcome, an armistice was agreed by common consent, and with the summer consumed the leaders of the parties, still at odds even then, departed. And the Parthian king, about to spend the winter at Ctesiphon, returns to his seats, and the Roman emperor entered Antioch. He, while he tarries there secure for the time from external enemies, nearly perished by internal frauds, as the sequence of reported deeds will disclose.

5. Procopius quidam, inquies homo, turbarum cupiditati semper addictus, Anatolium detulerat et Spudasium palatinos, exigi, quae de aerario interceperant, iussos, insidiari comiti Fortunatiano, molesto illi flagitatori. qui animi asperitate confestim ad insanum percitus modum, pro potestatis auctoritate, quam regebat, Palladium quendam obscurissime natum ut veneficum a memoratis conductum, et Heliodorum fatorum per genituras interpretem, adigendos prodere quae scirent, praetorianae iudicio tradidit praefecturae.

5. A certain Procopius, you will say, a man always addicted to the lust for tumults, had denounced Anatolius and Spudasius, palatines, as, having been ordered that there be exacted what they had intercepted from the treasury, plotting against Count Fortunatianus, that troublesome dunner. He, by harshness of spirit forthwith driven to a mad measure, by the authority of the power which he administered, handed over a certain Palladius, most obscurely born, as a poisoner hired by the aforesaid, and Heliodorus, an interpreter of fates by genitures, to the judgment of the Praetorian Prefecture, to be forced to disclose what they knew.

6. cumque ad facti vel temptati quaestionem acrius veniretur, exclamabat Palladius confidenter levia esse haec, de quibus agitur, et praetereunda: alia se, si licuerit dicere, monstraturum metuenda et potiora, quae ingenti molimine iam praestructa, nisi prospectum fuerit, universa confundent. iussusque docere fidenter, quae norat, rudentem explicuit inmensum, adfirmans Fidustium praesidialem et cum Irenaeo Pergamium nomen imperaturi post Valentem detestandis praesagiis didicisse secretim.

6. and when the inquiry into the deed or the attempted one was being pressed more sharply, Palladius kept exclaiming confidently that these matters, which are being dealt with, are trivial and to be passed over: that he, if it were permitted to speak, would show other things to be feared and of greater weight, which, already prearranged with enormous effort, unless provision be made, will confound everything. And, ordered to set forth confidently what he knew, he unfurled an immense cable, affirming that Fidustius, a provincial presidial, had learned in secret by detestable presages that the name Pergamius, together with Irenaeus, would wield the imperium after Valens.

7. et correptus Fidustius ilico - namque aderat forte - occulteque inductus, viso indice, nulla infitiatione obumbrare iam publicata conatus rei totius calamitosum aperit textum, absolute confessus, se cum Hilario et Patricio vaticinandi peritis, quorum Hilarius militaverat in palatio, de imperio consuluisse futuro: motasque secretis artibus sortes et nuncupationem principis optimi et ipsis consultoribus luctuosos exitus praedixisse.

7. And Fidustius was seized immediately—for he happened to be present—and, brought in secretly, upon seeing the informer, with no attempt at denial to overshadow what was now made public, he laid open the calamitous web of the whole affair, confessing outright that he, together with Hilarius and Patricius, skilled in vaticination (of whom Hilarius had served in the palace), had consulted about the future imperial power: and that the lots, set in motion by secret arts, had foretold both the naming of a most excellent princeps and, for the consultants themselves, mournful outcomes.

8. atque cunctantibus, quisnam ea tempestate omnibus vigore animi antistaret, visus est aliis excellere Theodorus, secundum inter notarios adeptus iam gradum. et erat re vera ita ut opinati sunt. namque antiquitus claro genere in Galliis natus et liberaliter educatus a primis pueritiae rudimentis, modestia, prudentia, humanitate, gratia, litteris ornatissimus, semper officio locoque, quem retinebat, superior videbatur, altis humilibusque iuxta acceptus.

8. and as they were hesitating who at that time would stand before all in vigor of spirit, Theodore seemed to some to excel, having already attained the second rank among the notaries. And it was in truth as they had supposed. For, born in Gaul of a lineage illustrious from of old and liberally educated from the earliest rudiments of boyhood, most adorned with modesty, prudence, humanity, grace, and letters, he always seemed superior to the office and the place which he held, acceptable alike to the high and the low.

solusque paene omnium erat, cuius linguam non infrenem sed dispicientem quae loqueretur, nullius claudebat periculi metus.

and he was almost the only one of all, whose tongue, not unbridled but discerning of what it spoke, the fear of no peril shut.

9. his addebat idem Fidustius, excarnificatus iam ad interitum, omnia quae praedixit, se indicante Theodorum per Euserium didicisse, virum praestabili scientia litterarum abundeque honoratum: Asiam quippe paulo ante rexerat pro praefectis.

9. to these he added, the same Fidustius, already flayed to the point of destruction, that all the things which he had foretold, as he himself indicated, Theodore had learned through Euserius, a man with preeminent science of letters and abundantly honored: for he had a little before ruled Asia in place of the prefects.

10. quo in custodia condito, gestorumque volumine imperatori recitato de more, prodigiosa feritas in modum ardentissimae facis fusius vagabatur, elata turpi adulatione multorum, maximeque omnium praefecti praetorio tunc Modesti.

10. with him having been consigned to custody, and the volume of the proceedings having been read to the emperor according to custom, prodigious ferocity ranged more widely in the manner of a most blazing torch, exalted by the base adulation of many, and most of all by Modestus, then praetorian prefect.

11. qui dum formidine successoris agitaretur in dies, obumbratis blanditiarum concinnitatibus cavillando Valentem subrusticum hominem sibi varie conmulcebat, horridula eius verba et rudia flosculos Tullianos appellans et ad extollendam eius vanitiem sidera quoque, si iussisset, exhiberi posse promittens.

11. who, while he was agitated day by day by fear of a successor, with the shadowed concinnities of blandishments, by cavilling, variously soothed to himself Valens, a subrustic man, calling his rather rough and raw words Tullian little blossoms, and, to exalt his vanity, promising that even the stars, if he ordered, could be exhibited.

12. Igitur et Theodorus a Constantinopoli, quam ex negotio familiari petierat, rapi celeri iubetur effectu, et dum ille reducitur, ex praeiudiciis variis, quae diebus exercebantur et noctibus, plures a disiunctissimis regionibus trahebantur, dignitatibus et nobilitate conspicui .

12. Therefore Theodorus also is ordered to be snatched with swift effect from Constantinople, which he had sought on familial business; and while he is being brought back, from various prejudgments, which were being prosecuted by days and by nights, many were dragged from the most widely disjoined regions, conspicuous for dignities and nobility .

13. cumque nec carceres publici iam distenti inclusorum iam catervas, nec privata domicilia sustinerent constipatione vaporata confertas, quoniam vinculis maxima pars eorum attinebatur, et suam et proximi cuiusque vicem omnes horrebant.

13. and as neither the public prisons, already distended, could contain the crowds of those enclosed, nor could private domiciles sustain the masses crammed with steaming congestion, since the greater part of them was held in bonds, all shuddered both for their own lot and for that of each neighbor.

14. advenit aliquando tamen ipse quoque Theodorus, praemortuus et atratus, quo in devia territorii parte abscondito, paratis omnibus, quae indagines futurae poscebant, internarum cladum litui iam sonabant.

14. at length, however, Theodore himself also arrived, as if pre-dead and clad in black; he being hidden in a remote part of the territory, with everything prepared which the future investigations were demanding, the clarions of internal calamities were already sounding.

15. Et quia fallere non minus videtur, qui gesta praeterit sciens, quam ille, qui numquam facta fingit: non abnuimus - neque enim ambigitur - salutem Valentis et antea saepius per occultas coitiones, et tunc in extrema demersam, ferrumque ad iugulum eius prope adactum a militaribus, fato reflectente depulsum, quem lacrimosis in Thracia discriminibus destinarat.

15. And since he seems to deceive no less who knowingly passes over deeds than he who invents things never done: we do not deny—nor indeed is it in doubt—that Valens’s safety, both earlier and more often through occult collusions, and then when it had been submerged in the extreme, and the iron driven by the soldiery almost to his throat, was warded off by fate bending it back, which had destined him for tearful crises in Thrace.

16. namque et in nemoroso quodam inter Antiochiam et Seleuciam loco leni quiete post meridiem consopitus, a Sallustio tunc scutario, et saepe alias adpetitus insidiantibus multis, vitae terminis a primigenio ortu adscriptis ausa inmania frenantibus evadebat.

16. for even in a certain nemorous place between Antioch and Seleucia, lulled into gentle quiet after midday, though targeted by Sallustius, then a scutarius, and often at other times assailed by many lying in wait, he would escape, the termini of life assigned from his primigenial origin putting a bridle on monstrous ventures.

17. ut sub principibus Commodo et Severo non numquam accidebat, quorum summa vi salus crebro oppugnabatur, adeo ut post intestina pericula multa et varia alter in amphitheatrali cavea cum adfuturus spectaculis introiret, a Quintiano senatore inlicitae cupidinis homine ad debilitatem paene pugione vulneraretur: alter inopinabili impetu, tempore aetatis extremo, a Saturnino centurione consilio Plautiani praefecti in cubiculo iacens confoderetur, ni tulisset suppetias filius adulescens.

17. as under the emperors Commodus and Severus it sometimes happened, whose safety was frequently assailed with utmost force, to such a degree that, after many and various intestine perils, the one, in the amphitheatrical cavea, when he was entering to be present at the spectacles, was nearly wounded to debility by a dagger by Quintianus, a senator, a man of illicit cupidity; the other, by an unforeseeable onset, at the extreme season of his life, while lying in his bedchamber, was run through by Saturninus the centurion, at the counsel of the Prefect Plautianus, if his youthful son had not brought succor.

18. quocirca etiam Valens erat venia dignus, vitam, quam ereptum ire perfidi properabant, omni cautela defendens. sed inexpiabile illud erat, quod regaliter turgidus, pari eodemque iure, nihil inter se distantibus meritis, nocentes innocentesque maligna insectatione volucriter perurgebat, ut, dum adhuc dubitaretur de crimine, imperatore non dubitante de poena, damnatos se quidam prius discerent quam suspectos.

18. Wherefore even Valens was worthy of pardon, defending with every caution his life, which the perfidious were hurrying to wrest away. But that was inexpiable: that, regally puffed-up, with equal and the very same right, making no distinction of deserts, he swiftly pressed hard both the guilty and the innocent with malignant persecution, so that, while there was still doubt about the crime, the emperor not doubting about the penalty, certain men learned themselves to be condemned before they were even suspected.

19. adulescebat autem obstinatum eius propositum, admovente stimulos avaritia et sua et eorum, qui tunc in regia versabantur, novos hiatus aperientium, et, siqua humanitatis fuisset mentio rara, hanc appellantium tarditatem: qui cruentis adulationibus institutum hominis, mortem in acie linguae portantis, ad partem pessimam depravantes, omnia turbine intempestivo perflabant, eversum ire funditus domus opulentissimas festinantes.

19. But his obstinate purpose was maturing, avarice both his own and of those who were then frequenting the palace—opening new gulfs—applying spurs; and if there had been any rare mention of humanity, these called it “tardiness”: who, with bloody flatteries, perverting the man’s disposition—carrying death on the edge of his tongue—to the worst side, swept through everything with an unseasonable whirlwind, hastening the utter overthrow from the foundations of the most opulent houses.

20. erat enim expositus accessu insidiantium et reclusus, vitio gemino perniciose inplicitus, quod intoleranter irascebatur tunc magis, cum eum puderet irasci, et quae facilitate privati opertis susurris audierat, an vera essent, excutere tumore principis supersidens pro veris accipiebat et certis.

20. for he was both exposed to the access of plotters and shut away, perniciously entangled in a twin vice: that he grew angry intolerably, all the more then when he was ashamed to be angry; and those things which, with the facility of a private man, he had heard in covert whispers, instead of sifting whether they were true, buoyed up by the swelling of a princeps, he accepted as true and certain.

21. inde factum est, ut clementiae specie penatibus multi protruderentur insontes, praecipites in exilium acti, quorum in aerario bona coacta et ipse ad quaestus proprios redigebat, ut damnati cibo precario victitarent, angustiis formidandae paupertatis adtriti, cuius metu vel in mare nos ire praecipites suadet Theognis poeta vetus et prudens.

21. thence it came about that, under the semblance of clemency, many innocents were thrust from their household Penates, driven headlong into exile, and their goods, gathered into the treasury, he himself was converting to his own profits, so that the condemned might subsist on precarious food, worn down by the straits of formidable poverty, at the fear of which Theognis, an old and prudent poet, urges even us to go headlong into the sea.

22. quae etiam si recta fuisse concesserit quisquam, erat tamen ipsa nimietas odiosa. unde animadversum est recte hoc definitum, nullam esse crudeliorem sententiam ea, quae est, cum parcere videtur, asperior.

22. which, even if anyone should have conceded to have been right, nevertheless the very excess was odious. whence it has been rightly observed, this defined, that there is no sentence more cruel than that which, when it seems to spare, is harsher.

23. Igitur cum praefecto praetorio summatibus quaesitis in unum, quibus cognitiones commissae sunt, intenduntur eculei, expediuntur pondera plumbea cum fidiculis et verberibus, resultabant omnia truculentae vocis horroribus, inter catenarum sonitus "tene, claude, conprime, abde" ministris officiorum tristium clamitantibus.

23. Therefore, with the Praetorian Prefect, the highest men having been summoned together into one, to whom the investigations have been entrusted, the racks are stretched, the leaden weights are made ready together with little cords and lashes, everything was echoing with the horrors of a truculent voice, amid the clanking of chains, "hold, shut, press, hide," the ministers of the grim offices shouting.

24. et quoniam addici post cruciabiles poenas vidimus multos, ut in tenebrosis rebus confusione cuncta miscente, summatim quia nos penitissima gestorum memoria fugit, quae recolere possumus expeditius absolvemus.

24. and since we have seen many adjudged after excruciating punishments, as in tenebrous matters, with confusion commingling all things, summarily, since the memory of the inmost details of the deeds escapes us, we will more expeditiously complete what we can recollect.

25. Primo intro vocatus post interrogatiunculas leves Pergamius, a Palladio, ut dictum est, proditus quaedam inprecationibus praescisse nefariis, sicut erat inpendio eloquentior et in verba periculosa proiectus, inter ambigentes iudices, quid prius quaeri debeat quidve posterius, dicere audacter exorsus, multa hominum milia quasi consciorum sine fine strependo fundebat, modo non ab extremo Atlante magnorum criminum arguendos poscens aliquos exhiberi. quo, ut consarcinante nimis ardua, morte multato, aliisque gregatim post illum occisis, ad ipsius Theodori causam quasi ad Olympici certaminis pulverum pervenitur.

25. First, called inside after brief little interrogatories, Pergamius—denounced by Palladius, as has been said, as having foreknown certain things by nefarious imprecations—since he was exceedingly eloquent and cast into perilous words, while the judges were wavering as to what ought to be asked first and what afterward, having begun to speak boldly, kept pouring out many thousands of men as if privy accomplices, clamoring without end, now demanding that some be produced to be arraigned for great crimes, well-nigh from the farthest Atlas. He, as one stitching together matters far too arduous, having been punished with death, and others after him slain in droves, they come to the case of Theodore himself, as it were to the dust of an Olympic contest.

26. eodem die inter conplura alia hoc quoque evenerat triste, quod Salia, thesaurorum paulo ante per Thracias comes, cum de vinculis educitur audiendus, et calceo inserit pedem, quasi ruina incidentis inmensi terroris repente perculsus, animam inter retinentium manus efflavit.

26. on the same day, among several other things, this too had occurred, a sad event: that Salia, Count of the Treasuries a little before throughout the Thracias, when he is led out from bonds to be heard and, as he inserts his foot into his shoe, as if suddenly smitten by the collapse of an immense terror falling upon him, breathed out his life amid the hands of those restraining him.

27. Constituto itaque iudicio, et cognitoribus praescripta ostentantibus legum, sed ex voluntate dominantis moderantibus momenta causarum, horror pervaserat universos. totus enim devius ab aequitate dilapsus, iamque eruditior ad laedendum in modum harenariae ferae, si admotus quisquam fabricae diffugisset, ad ultimam rabiem saeviebat.

27. Therefore, with the court constituted, and the investigators displaying the prescriptions of the laws, but, by the will of the ruler, moderating the weights of the cases, horror had pervaded everyone. For, wholly strayed from equity and now more schooled for harming, in the manner of a beast of the arena, if anyone, when brought near the apparatus, had scattered in flight, he raged to the last pitch of rabid fury.

28. Inducti itaque Patricius et Hilarius ordinemque replicare iussi gestorum, cum inter exordia variarent, fodicatis lateribus, inlato tripede quo utebantur, adacti ad summas angustias aperiunt negotii fidem ab ipsis exordiis replicatam. et prius Hilarius:

28. Therefore Patricius and Hilarius were led in and ordered to replicate the order of the deeds; and since they were varying in their beginnings, with their sides prodded, the tripod which they used having been brought in, driven to the utmost straits they lay open the credibility of the affair, replicated from the very beginnings. And first Hilarius:

29."Construximus", inquit "magnifici iudices, ad cortinae similitudinem Delphicae diris auspiciis de laureis virgulis infaustam hanc mensulam quam videtis, et inprecationibus carminum secretorum choragiisque multis ac diuturnis ritualiter consecratam movimus tandem: movendi autem, quotiens super rebus arcanis consulebatur, erat institutio talis.

29."We constructed," he says, "magnificent judges, to the likeness of the Delphic cauldron, under dire auspices, from laurel twigs, this ill-omened little table which you see; and, by imprecations of secret songs and with many and long choragic preparations, ritually consecrated, we at length set it in motion: and as for the moving, whenever consultation was made about arcane matters, the procedure was as follows.

30. conlocabatur in medio domus emaculatae odoribus Arabicis undique, lance rotunda pure superposita, ex diversis metallicis materiis fabrefacta. cuius in ambitu rotunditatis extremo elementorum viginti quattuor scriptiles formae incisae perite, diiungebantur spatiis examinate dimensis.

30. it was set in the middle of the house, made immaculate by Arabian odors on all sides, with a round platter cleanly placed on top, crafted from diverse metallic materials. on the outer circumference of its roundness, the scriptile forms of the twenty-four elements (letters) were skillfully incised, and were separated by intervals exactly measured.

31. ac linteis quidam indumentis amictus, calceatusque itidem linteis soccis, torvlo capiti circumflexo, verbenas felicis arboris gestans, litato conceptis carminibus numine praescitionum auctore, caerimoniali scientia supersistit cortinulae sacerdos pensilem anulum librans, sartum ex Carphathio filo perquam levi, mysticis disciplinis initiatum: qui per intervalla distincta retinentibus singulis litteris incidens saltuatim, heroos efficit versus interrogationibus consonos, ad numeros et modos plene conclusos, quales leguntur Pythici, vel ex oraculis editi Branchidarum.

31. and a certain man, clothed in linen garments, and likewise shod with linen socks, with a little fillet wound around his head, carrying sacred sprigs of a fortunate tree, the divinity—the author of presciences—having been propitiated by set incantations, by ceremonial science the priest stands over the little cortina, balancing a hanging ring, fastened by a very light Carpathian thread, initiated by mystic disciplines: which, leaping, striking by turns upon the distinct intervals, each retaining single letters, produces heroic verses consonant with the questions, fully concluded as to numbers and modes, such as are read of the Pythian, or issued from the oracles of the Branchidae.

32. ibi tum quaerentibus nobis, qui praesenti succedet imperio, quoniam omni parte expolitus fore memorabatur, et adsiliens anulus duas perstrinxerat syllabas THEO cum adiectione litterae postremae, exclamavit praesentium quidam, Theodorum praescribente fatali necessitate portendi. nec ultra super negotio est exploratum: satis enim apud nos constabat hunc esse qui poscebatur".

32. there then, as we were inquiring who would succeed to the present empire, since he was said to be accomplished in every respect, and the leaping ring had skimmed across two syllables THEO with the addition of the final letter, one of those present exclaimed that Theodore was being portended, fatal necessity prescribing it. Nor was anything further explored about the business: for it was sufficiently established among us that this was the one who was being demanded".

33. Cumque totius rei notitiam ita signate sub oculis iudicum subiecisset, adiecit benivole id Theodorum penitus ignorare. post haec interrogati an ex fide sortium, quas agitabant, ea praescierint quae sustinerent: versus illos notissimos ediderunt clare pronuntiantes capitalem eis hanc operam scrutandi sublimiora cito futuram: nihilo minus tamen ipsi quoque cum cognitoribus principi caedes incendiaque flagitantes furias inminere; quorum tres ponere sufficiet ultimos: ou man nepoinige syn essetai aima kai autois Tisiphone barymenis ephoplissei kakon oiton en pedioisi Mimantos agaiomenoio Areos. quibus lectis, unguibus male mulcati separantur exanimes.

33. And when he had thus, as if under seal, laid the knowledge of the whole matter beneath the eyes of the judges, he added kindly that Theodore was utterly ignorant of it. After this, asked whether, on the faith of the lots which they were working, they had foreknown the things which they were now sustaining, they produced those very well-known verses, clearly pronouncing that this capital task of theirs, of scrutinizing higher things, would soon be at hand; nonetheless that the Furies too were impending, demanding slaughters and conflagrations for the emperor along with his cognitors; of which it will suffice to set down the last three: not indeed unavenged shall the blood be, and for them also; Tisiphone, heavy with wrath, will equip a baleful doom in the plains of Mimas, vaunting in Ares. On the reading of these, badly mauled by the nails, they are separated, all but lifeless.

34. postea ut cogitati sceleris officina pateret aperte, honoratorum inducitur globus, vertices ipsos continens rerum. cumque nihil praeter se quisque cernens, ruinam suam inpelleret super alium, permissu quaesitorum coeptans dicere Theodorus, primo in precem venialem prostratus, dein artius respondere conpulsus ostendit se cognita per Euserium, ne ad imperatorem referret, ut conatus est aliquotiens, ab eo prohibitum adserente non adpetitu regni occupandi inlicito, sed ratione quadam indeclinabilis fati id, quod sperabatur ultro venturum.

34. afterwards, so that the workshop of the contemplated crime might lie open plainly, a cluster of honorables is brought in, containing the very summits of affairs. And when each, seeing nothing except himself, was pushing his own ruin onto another, with the permission of the inquisitors Theodorus, beginning to speak, first prostrated in a plea for pardon, then compelled to answer more closely, showed that, with things learned through Euserius, he had been forbidden by him to report to the emperor, as he tried several times, Euserius asserting that not by an illicit appetite for occupying the kingdom, but by a certain rationale of indeclinable fate, that which was hoped for would come of its own accord.

35. deinde haec eadem Euserio sub cruenta quaestione confesso confutabant Theodorum litterae suae per ambagis obliquas ad Hilarium scriptae, quibus spe iam firma concepta ex vatibus, de re non cunctabatur sed tempus patrandae cupidinis quaeritabat.

35. then these same matters, with Euserius having confessed under a bloody interrogation, were confuting Theodorus—his own letters written to Hilarius through oblique circumlocutions—in which, with hope now firm conceived from the vates, he was not hesitating about the matter but was seeking a time for the accomplishing of his desire.

36. Quibus post haec cognita sequestratis, Eutropius Asiam proconsulari tunc obtinens potestate, ut factionis conscius arcessitus in crimen, abscessit innocuus, Pasiphilo eximente philosopho, qui ut eum mendacio iniusto perverteret, crudeliter tortus de statu robustae mentis non potuit deturbari.

36. After these things had been discovered and sequestered, Eutropius, then holding Asia with proconsular authority, arraigned on a charge as privy to the faction, departed innocent, Pasiphilus the philosopher exonerating him—who, though cruelly tortured in order to make him pervert him with an unjust lie, could not be dislodged from the state of a robust mind.

37. his accessit philosophus Simonides, adulescens ille quidem, verum nostra memoria severissimus. qui cum audisse negotium per Fidustium deferretur, et causam non ex veritate sed ex unius nutu pensari vidisset, didicisse se dixit praedicta, sed conmissa pro firmitate animi tacuisse.

37. to these there acceded the philosopher Simonides, a youth indeed, but in our memory most severe. who, when through Fidustius it was being reported that he had heard of the business, and when he had seen that the case was being weighed not from truth but from the nod of a single man, said that he had learned the things aforesaid, but that, by reason of the firmness of his mind, he had kept the entrusted matters silent.

38. Quis omnibus perspicaciter inquisitis, imperator cognitorum consultationi respondens, sub uno proloquio cunctos iubet occidi, et vix sine animorum horrore funestum spectaculum multitudine innumera contuente et onerante questibus caelum - namque singulorum mala omnium esse communia credebantur - ducti universi flebiliter iugulantur praeter Simonidem, quem solum saevus ille sententiae lator, efferatus ob constantiam gravem, iusserat flammis exuri.

38. When, with all things carefully inquired into, the emperor, responding to the consultation of the examiners, with a single pronouncement orders all to be killed; and scarcely without a horror of hearts, the funereal spectacle, as an innumerable multitude looked on and burdened heaven with laments - for the evils of individuals were believed to be common to all - all, led away, are piteously slaughtered except Simonides, whom alone that savage bearer of the sentence, made furious on account of his weighty constancy, had ordered to be burned up by flames.

39. qui vitam ut dominam fugitans rabidam, ridens subitas momentorum ruinas, inmobilis conflagravit, Peregrinum illum imitatus Protea cognomine philosophum clarum, qui cum mundo digredi statuisset, Olympiae quinquennali certamine sub Graeciae conspectu totius escenso rogo, quem ipse construxit, flammis absumptus est.

39. who, fleeing life as a rabid mistress, laughing at the sudden ruins of moments, burned up motionless, imitating that Peregrinus, surnamed Proteus, the famous philosopher, who, when he had resolved to depart from the world, at Olympia, at the quinquennial contest, under the gaze of all Greece, after ascending a pyre which he himself constructed, was consumed by flames.

40. et post hunc diebus secutis omnium fere ordinum multitudo, quam nominatim recensere est arduum, in plagas calumniarum coniecta, percussorum dexteras fatigavit, tormentis et plumbo et verberibus ante debilitata, sumptumque est de quibusdam sine spiramento vel mora supplicium, dum quaeritur, an sumi deberet, et ut pecudum ubique trucidatio cernebatur.

40. and after him, in the days that followed, a multitude of almost all orders—which it is arduous to enumerate by name—having been cast into the snares of calumnies, wore out the right hands of the executioners, having first been debilitated by torments and by lead and by beatings; and punishment was exacted upon certain persons without breathing-space or delay, while it was being asked whether it ought to be exacted; and everywhere a slaughter like that of cattle was seen.

41. Deinde congesti innumeri codices et acervi voluminum multi sub conspectu iudicum concremati sunt, ex domibus eruti variis ut inliciti, ad leniendam caesorum invidiam, cum essent plerique liberalium disciplinarum indices variarum et iuris.

41. Then innumerable codices and many piles of volumes, heaped together, were cremated under the gaze of the judges, hauled out from various houses as illicit, to lessen the odium over those slain, although most were handbooks of the liberal disciplines of various kinds and of law.

42. Neque ita multo post Maximus ille philosophus, vir ingenti nomine doctrinarum, cuius ex uberrimis sermonibus ad scientiam copiosus Iulianus exstitit imperator, oraculi supra dicti versus audisse insimulatus, seque conperisse adsensus, sed reticenda professionis consideratione non effudisse, verum ultro praedixisse consultores ipsos suppliciis poenalibus perituros, Ephesum ad genuinam patriam ductus ibique [capite] truncatus, sensit docente periculo postremo, quaesitoris iniquitatem omnibus esse criminibus graviorem.

42. And not much later, that Maximus the philosopher, a man of vast renown for doctrines, by whose most abundant discourses the emperor Julian became copious in science, accused of having heard the verses of the aforesaid oracle, and having admitted that he had learned them, but that, in consideration of the reticence proper to his profession, he had not poured them forth, rather that he had of his own accord foretold that the consultants themselves would perish by penal punishments, led to Ephesus, his native fatherland, and there [head] cut off, learned, with his final peril as teacher, that the iniquity of the inquisitor is heavier than all crimes.

43. constrictus etiam Diogenes laqueis impiae falsitatis, vir nobili prosapia editus, ingenio facundia forensi suavitateque praestans, dudum Bithyniae rector, ut opimum patrimonium eius diriperetur, capitali est poena adfectus.

43. Diogenes also, constricted in the nooses of impious falsity, a man born of noble lineage, excelling in talent, forensic facundity, and suavity, formerly governor of Bithynia, so that his opulent patrimony might be plundered, was afflicted with the capital penalty.

44. ecce autem Alypius quoque ex vicario Brittanniarum, placiditatis homo iucundae post otiosam et repositam vitam - quoniam huc usque iniustitia tetenderat manus - in squalore maximo volutatus, ut veneficii reus citatus est cum Hierocle filio, adulescente indolis bonae, urgente Diogene quodam et vili et solo, omnique laniena excruciato, ut verba placentia principi vel potius accersitori loqueretur: quo, cum poenis non sufficerent membra, vivo exusto, ipse quoque Alypius post multationem bonorum exulare praeceptus, filium miserabiliter ductum ad mortem casu quodam prospero revocatum excepit.

44. behold moreover Alypius too, formerly vicarius of the Britains, a man of agreeable placidity after a life of leisure and retirement—since injustice had stretched its hand even hither—plunged in utmost squalor, was cited as a defendant for venefice (poisoning) along with his son Hierocles, a youth of good natural disposition, at the urging of a certain Diogenes, both vile and solitary, and tormented with every butchery of torture, in order that he might speak words pleasing to the princeps, or rather to the summoner: and when his limbs did not suffice for the punishments, with him burned alive, Alypius himself also, after the mulctation of his goods, was ordered to go into exile, and he received his son—miserably led to death—recalled by a certain favorable chance.

1. Per id omne tempus Palladius ille, coagulum omnium aerumnarum, quem captum a Fortunatiano docuimus primum, ipsa sortis infimitate ad omnia praeceps, clades alias super alias cumulando lacrimis universa perfuderat luctuosis.

1. Throughout that whole time, that Palladius, the coagulum of all hardships, whom we have reported was first seized by Fortunatianus, by the very abjectness of his lot headlong into everything, heaping disasters one upon another, had suffused the whole with mournful tears.

2. nanetus enim copiam nominandi sine fortunarum distantia quos voluisset ut artibus interdictis inbutos, ita ut ferarum occulta vestigia doctus observare venator, multos intra casses lugubres includebat, quosdam veneficiorum notitia pollutos, alios ut adpetitoribus inminuendae conscios maiestatis.

2. for, having gotten the license of naming without distinction of fortunes whom he wished as if imbued with interdicted arts, just as a hunter skilled to observe the hidden tracks of wild beasts, he was enclosing many within funereal snares, certain men polluted by the notoriety of poisonings and sorceries, others as privy to aspirants to the impairing of Majesty.

3. et ne vel coniugibus maritorum vacaret miserias flere, inmittebantur confestim qui signatis domibus inter scrutinia suppellectilis poenis addicti, incantamenta quaedam anilia vel ludibriosa subderent amatoria, ad insontium perniciem concinnata: quibus in iudicio recitatis, ubi non lex, non religio, non aequitas veritatem a mendaciis dirimebat, indefensi bonis ablatis, nullo contacti delicto, promiscue iuvenes aliique membris omnibus capti ad supplicia sellis gestatoriis ducebantur.

3. and, lest even the wives of husbands might have leisure to weep their miseries, there were immediately sent in men who, the houses having been sealed, amid the scrutinies of the household furnishings, bound under penalties, would plant certain incantations, old-womanish or ludicrous love-charms, contrived for the destruction of the innocent: when these were read out in court, where neither law, nor religion, nor equity separated truth from lies, undefended, their goods carried off, stained by no delict, promiscuously young men and others, with every limb pinioned, were led to tortures on sedan-chairs.

4. inde factum est per orientales provincias ut omnes metu similium exurerent libraria omnia: tantus universos invaserat terror. namque ut pressius loquar, omnes ea tempestate velut in Cimmeriis tenebris reptabamus, paria convivis Siculi Dionysii pavitantes, qui cum epulis omni tristioribus fame saginarentur, ex summis domorum laqueariis, in quibus discumbebant, setis nexos equinis et occipitiis incumbentes gladios perhorrebant.

4. thence it came about throughout the eastern provinces that all, from fear of the like, burned up all their libraries: so great a terror had invaded everyone. For, to speak more precisely, we all at that time were crawling as if in Cimmerian darkness, quailing like the dinner-guests of the Sicilian Dionysius, who, though they were being fattened with banquets more mournful than any hunger, shuddered at swords, tied by horsehairs and leaning upon their occiputs, from the highest ceilings of the houses in which they reclined.

5. Tunc et Bassianus procerum genere natus, notarius militans inter primos, quasi praenoscere altiora conatus, licet ipse de qualitate partus uxoris consuluisse firmaret, ambitioso necessitudinum studio, quibus tegebatur, morte ereptus, patrimonio opimo exutus est.

5. Then too Bassianus, born of the stock of the nobles, a notary serving among the foremost, as if attempting to foreknow higher things, although he himself asserted that he had consulted about the quality of his wife’s birth, by the ambitious zeal of his relations, under whose cover he was, was snatched from death, and was stripped of his opulent patrimony.

6. Inter fragores tot ruinarum Heliodorus, tartareus ille malorum omnium cum Palladio fabricator, mathematicus, ut memorat vulgus, conloquiis ex aula regia praepigneratus abstrusis, iam funebres aculeos excitabat, omni humanitatis invitamento ad prodenda, quae sciret vel fingeret, lacessitus.

6. Amid the crashes of so many ruins, Heliodorus, that Tartarean fabricator of all evils together with Palladius, a mathematicus (astrologer), as the common folk recount, pre‑pledged by abstruse colloquies from the royal court, was already arousing funereal stings, being provoked by every invitation of humanity to disclose what he knew or invented.

7. nam et sollicitius cibo mundissimo fovebatur, et ad largiendum paelicibus merebat aes conlaticium grave, et incedebat passim ac late os circumferens vultuosum, omnibusque formidatus, ea fiducia sublatior, quod ad lupanar, quo, sicut ipse voluit, liberius servabatur, cubiculariis officiis praepositus, adsidue propalam ventitabat, elogia parentis publici praeferens futura pluribus luctuosa.

7. for he was also more solicitously pampered with the most clean food, and for largessing to his concubines he was earning heavy pooled bronze, and he went about everywhere and far and wide, carrying around a haughty visage, and, feared by all, was the more uplifted in confidence, because to the brothel—where, as he himself wished, he was kept more freely—being placed over the cubicular services, he kept coming continually and openly, carrying before him the placards of the public parent, destined to be mournful for many.

8. perque eum ut forensium causarum patronum, quid in primis orationis partibus conlocaret, ut proficere possit facilius et valere, quibusve figurarum commentis splendida loca adtemptare debeat praemonebatur.

8. and through him, as a patron of forensic causes, he was pre-advised what to place in the first parts of the oration, so that he might advance more easily and prevail, and by what contrivances of figures he ought to attempt the splendid passages.

9. Et quoniam longum est quod cruciarius ille conflavit, hoc unum edisseram, quam praecipiti confidentia patriciatus columina ipsa pulsavit. qui ex clandestinis, ut dictum est, regiorum confabulationibus inmaniter adrogans, et ipsa vilitate ad facinus omne venalis, egregium illud par consulum Eusebium et Hypatium germanos fratres, Constanti principis quondam adfines, ad cupidinem altioris fortunae erectos et consuluisse et agitasse quaedam super imperio detulit, addens itineri ad mendacium ficte constructo, quod Eusebio, etiam principalia indumenta parata sint.

9. And since it would be a long tale, what that torturer concocted, this one thing I will set forth: how, with headlong confidence, he struck at the very pillars of the patriciate. Who, from clandestine, as has been said, royal confabulations, monstrously arrogant, and by his very cheapness venal for every crime, reported that that distinguished pair of consuls, Eusebius and Hypatius, brothers germane, once affines of the prince Constantius, having been raised to a desire for higher fortune, had both taken counsel and agitated certain matters concerning the sovereignty—adding, to make his feignedly constructed lie go further, that for Eusebius even the imperial garments had been prepared.

10. quibus haustis aventer, fremebundus et minax, cui nihil licere debuerat, quia omnia sibi licere etiam iniusta existimabat, inremisse ab extremis regionum intervallis exhibitis omnibus, quos solutus legibus accusator perduci debere profunda securitate mandarat, suscipi quaestionem criminose praecepit.

10. these things having been eagerly quaffed, roaring and menacing, one to whom nothing ought to have been permitted, since he supposed that everything, even unjust things, was licit to himself, unremittingly, with all from the farthest intervals of the regions having been produced—whom the accuser, loosed from the laws, had with profound assurance ordered to be led in—he criminally ordered that an inquisition be undertaken.

11. cumque nodosis coartationibus aequitate diu iactata, et nexibili adseveratione perditi nebulonis durante, nullam confessionem exprimere tormenta gravia potuissent, ablegatosque ab omni huius modi, conscientia ipsa viros ostenderet claros, calumniator quidem ita ut antea honorabiliter colebatur, illi vero exilio et pecuniariis adflicti dispendiis, paulo postea, reddita sibi multa, sunt revocati, dignitatibus integris et splendore.

11. and when, with knotty coartations fairness had long been tossed about, and with the nexible asseveration of a lost scoundrel continuing, the heavy torments could extract no confession, and, dismissed from everything of this sort, their very conscience showed the men to be clear, the calumniator indeed was, as before, honorably cultivated, but they, afflicted by exile and pecuniary losses, a little later, with many things restored to them, were recalled, with their dignities intact and their splendor.

12. Nec tamen post haec tam paenitenda repressius actum est vel pudenter, non reputante alta nimium potestate, quod recte institutis ne cum inimicorum quidem incommodis in delicta convenit ruere voluntaria, nihilque sit tam iniquum quam ad ardua imperii supercilia etiam acerbitatem naturae adiungi

12. Nor yet after these things so to be repented of was there conduct more repressed or modest, the over-lofty power not considering that, with right institutions, it is not fitting to rush voluntarily into offenses, not even with the disadvantages of enemies, and that nothing is so iniquitous as for even the bitterness of nature to be adjoined to the steep, supercilious brows of empire

13. sed Heliodoro - incertum morbo an quadam excogitata vi - mortuo (nolim dicere: utinam nec ipsa res loqueretur!) funus eius per vespillones elatum pullati praecedere honorati conplures, inter quos et fratres iussi sunt consulares.

13. but when Heliodorus - uncertain whether by disease or by some contrived force - had died (I would not wish to say: would that the fact itself were not speaking!) his funeral, carried out by undertakers, many distinguished men in mourning garb were ordered to go before, among whom even his brothers, men of consular rank.

14. ibi tunc rectoris imperii caries tota stoliditatis apertius est profanata, qui cum abstinere inconsolabili malo rogaretur, obnixe inflexibilis mansit, ut videretur aures occlusisse ceris quasi scopulos Sirenios transgressurus.

14. there then the caries of the ruler of the empire, the whole of his stolidity, was more openly profaned, who, when he was entreated to abstain from the inconsolable evil, remained stubbornly inflexible, so that he seemed to have closed his ears with wax as if about to pass the Siren rocks.

15. superatus tamen precibus destinatis tandem, nudatis capitibus infaustam bustuarii libitinam ad usque sepulcrum incedentes et pedibus, quosdam etiam conplicatis articulis, praeire mandavit. horret nunc reminisci quo iustitio humilitati tot rerum apices visebantur, et praecipue consulares post scipiones et trabeas et fastorum monumenta mundana.

15. overcome, however, at last by the determined entreaties, he ordered men, with heads laid bare, proceeding toward the ill-omened Libitina of the pyre-men up to the sepulcher, and on foot, some even with their joints interlaced (fingers clasped), to go before. I shudder now to recall how in that iustitium the summits of so many things were seen in humiliation, and especially the consulars—for all their scepters and trabeae and the worldly monuments of the Fasti.

16. inter quos omnes ex adulescentia virtutum pulchritudine commendabilis noster Hypatius praeminebat, vir quieti placidique consilii, honestatem lenium morum velut ad perpendiculum librans, qui et maiorum claritudini gloriae fuit et ipse posteritatem mirandis actibus praefecturae geminae decoravit.

16. among whom all, from adolescence commendable for the pulchritude of virtues, our Hypatius was preeminent, a man of quiet and placid counsel, weighing the honorableness of gentle mores as if by a plumb-line; who both was a glory to the renown of his ancestors, and himself adorned posterity with admirable acts of a twin prefecture.

17. Accesserat hoc quoque eodem tempore ad Valentis ceteras laudes, quod cum in aliis ita saeviret infeste, ut poenarum moras aegre ferret finiri cum morte, Pollentianum tribunum malitia quendam exsuperantem, isdem diebus convictum confessumque, quod exsecto vivae mulieris ventre atque intempestivo partu extracto, infernis manibus excitis de permutatione imperii consulere ausus est, familiaritatis contuitu, ordine omni musante abire iussit inlaesum, salutem et invidendas opes et militiae statum integrum retenturum.

17. There had been added also at the same time to Valens’s other praises, that while in others he raged so hostilely that he could hardly bear the delays of penalties to be ended with death, a certain Pollentianus, a tribune, surpassing in malice, who in those same days was convicted and confessed that, the womb of a living woman excised and an untimely offspring extracted, he had dared, with infernal shades summoned, to consult about the permutation of imperial power, out of regard for familiarity he ordered to depart unharmed, with every order muttering, to retain safety and enviable wealth and the status of his military service intact.

18. O praeclara informatio doctrinarum, munere caelesti indulta felicibus, quae vel vitiosas naturas saepe excoluisti! quanta in illa caligine temporum correxisses, si Valenti scire per te licuisset nihil aliud esse imperium, ut sapientes definiunt, nisi curam salutis alienae bonique esse moderatoris, restringere potestatem, resistere cupiditati omnium rerum et inplacabilibus iracundiis, nosseque, ut Caesar dictator aiebat, miserum esse instrumentum senectuti recordationem crudelitatis, ideoque de vita et spiritu hominis, qui pars mundi est et animantium numerum complet, laturum sententiam diu multumque cunctari oportere, nec praecipiti studio, ubi inrevocabile factum est, agitari, ut exemplum est illud antiquitati admodum notum.

18. O most illustrious formation of doctrines, a celestial munus bestowed upon the fortunate, you who have often even cultivated vicious natures! how much in that caliginous darkness of the times you would have corrected, if it had been permitted to Valens to know through you that imperium, as the wise define it, is nothing else than the care of another’s safety, and that it is the mark of a good moderator to restrain power, to resist the cupidity for all things and implacable angers, and to know, as Caesar the Dictator used to say, that the recollection of cruelty is a wretched instrument for old age; and therefore that one who is about to render a sentence concerning the life and breath of a man, who is a part of the world and completes the number of living beings, ought to hesitate long and very much, and not be driven by headlong zeal, when the deed is irrevocable, as in that example very well known to antiquity.

19. apud proconsulem Asiae Dolabellam Smyrnaea materfamilias filium proprium et maritum venenis necasse confessa, quod filium ex alio matrimonio ab eis occisum conperisset et conperendinata, cum consilium, ad quod res ex more delata est, anceps, quid inter ultionem et scelus statui debeat, haesitaret, ad Areopagitas missa est Athenienses iudices tristiores, quorum aequitas deorum quoque iurgia dicitur distinxisse. hi causa cognita centesimo post anno cum accusatore mulierem adesse iusserunt, ne aut absolverent veneficam aut ultrix necessitudinum puniretur. ita numquam tardum existimatur, quod est omnium ultimum.

19. before Dolabella, proconsul of Asia, a Smyrnaean materfamilias, having confessed to have slain with poisons her own son and husband, because she had learned that a son from another marriage had been killed by them, and the case having been adjourned, since the council, to which according to custom the matter was referred, wavering, hesitated as to what ought to be determined between vengeance and crime, she was sent to the Areopagites, the graver Athenian judges, whose equity is said to have adjudicated even the quarrels of the gods. These, the case having been heard, ordered the woman to appear with her accuser after 100 years, so that they might neither acquit a poisoner nor punish an avenger of family-ties. Thus what is the last of all things is never considered slow.

20. Post commissa iniquitatibus variis ante dicta, et inpressas foede corporibus liberis, quae suppervixerant, notas, inconivens Iustitiae oculus arbiter et vindex perpetuus rerum vigilavit adtente. namque caesorum ultimae dirae, perpetuum numen ratione querelarum iustissima commoventes, Bellonae accenderant faces, ut fides oraculi firmaretur, quod nihil inpune praedixerat perpetrari.

20. After the various iniquities previously mentioned had been committed, and the marks foully impressed upon the bodies of the children who had survived, the unblinking eye of Justice, the arbiter and perpetual avenger of affairs, kept watch attentively. For the last dire imprecations of the slain, stirring the perpetual numen by the most just reasoning of their complaints, had kindled Bellona’s torches, so that the credibility of the oracle might be confirmed, which had foretold that nothing would be perpetrated with impunity.

21. Dum haec, quae supra digesta sunt, Antiochiae Parthico fragore cessante per intestinas dilatantur aerumnas, coetus furiarum horrificus post inconvolutos multiplices casus ab eadem urbe digressus, cervicibus Asiae totius insedit hoc modo.

21. While these things, which have been set forth above, with the Parthian crash at Antioch ceasing, are spread through intestine afflictions, a horrific assembly of Furies, after manifold entangled incidents, having departed from that same city, settled upon the necks of all Asia in this manner.

22. Festinus quidam Tridentinus ultimi sanguinis et ignoti, in ne xum germanitatis a Maximino dilectus ut sodalis et contogatus, decernentibus fatis ad orientem transgressus est, ibique administrata Syria magisterioque memoriae peracto, bona lenitudinis et reverentia reliquit exempla, unde regere Asiam proconsulari potestate exorsus, velificatione tranquilla, ut aiunt, ferebatur ad gloriam.

22. A certain Festinus, a Tridentine, of the lowest and unknown blood, admitted by Maximinus into the bond of brotherhood and cherished as a comrade and fellow-togaed, with the Fates decreeing it crossed over to the East; and there, with Syria administered and the Mastership of the Memorials completed, he left good examples of mildness and reverence, whence, having begun to govern Asia with proconsular power, with tranquil sailing, as they say, he was borne toward glory.

23. audiens autem Maximinum optimo cuique exitialem, obtrectabat subinde actibus eius ut perniciosis et foedis. sed cum impie peremptorum exsequiis suffragantibus ad praefecturam venisse hominem conperisset inmeritum, exarsit ad agenda sperandaque similia, et histrionis ritu mutata repente persona, studio nocendi concepto incedebat oculis intentis ac rigidis, praefecturam autumans adfore prope diem, si ipse quoque se contaminasset insontium poenis.

23. hearing, moreover, that Maximinus was exitial to every best man, he kept detracting from his acts as pernicious and foul. But when he learned that the man, undeserving, had come to the prefecture with the obsequies of those impiously slain giving their suffrage, he flamed up to do and to hope for similar things; and, after the rite of an actor, his persona suddenly changed, with a zeal for harming conceived he went about with eyes intent and rigid, supposing the prefecture would be at hand before long, if he too had contaminated himself with the penalties of the innocent.

24. et quamquam sint multa et varia, quae, ut levius interpretemur, egit asperrime: pauca tamen dici sufficiet, quae sunt nota ac pervulgata, ad aemulationem eorum commissa, quae facta sunt Romae. ratio enim eadem est ubique recte secusve gestorum, etiam si magnitudo sit dissimilis rerum.

24. and although there are many and various things which, to interpret more lightly, he did most harshly: nevertheless it will suffice that a few be said, which are known and widely publicized, committed in emulation of those things which were done at Rome. For the rationale is the same everywhere of deeds done rightly or wrongly, even if the magnitude of the things is dissimilar.

25. philosophum quendam Coeranium, haut exilis meriti virum, ea causa tormentorum inmanitate multa occidit, quod ad coniugem suam familiariter scribens, id sermone addiderat Graeco sy de noei kai stephe ten tylen, quod dici proverbialiter solet, ut audiens altius aliquid agendum agnoscat.

25. he slew a certain philosopher, Coeranius, a man of not meager merit, with the much inhumanity of torments for this cause: that, writing familiarly to his wife, he had added in Greek this phrase sy de noei kai stephe ten tylen, which is commonly said proverbially, so that the hearer may recognize that something loftier is to be done.

26. anum quandam simplicem, intervallatis febribus mederi leni carmine consuetam, occidit ut noxiam, postquam filiam suam ipso conscio curavit accita.

26. a certain simple old woman, accustomed to heal intermittent fevers by a gentle incantation, he killed as noxious, after she, having been called in, cured his daughter with himself privy.

27. in chartis cuiusdam municipis clari scrutari ex negotio iussis, genitura Valentis cuiusdam inventa est, repellensque calumnias is, cuius intererat, cum obiectaretur ei, quam ob rem constellationem principis collegisset, fratrem suum fuisse Valentem, dudumque obisse documentorum plena fide monstrare pollicitus, inexspectato veritatis indicio laniatis lateribus trucidatus est.

27. when orders were given to search, in the papers of a certain distinguished municipal citizen, on a business matter, the geniture of a certain Valens was found; and he, whose concern it was, repelling the calumnies—when it was objected to him why he had collected the constellation of the emperor—promised to show, with the full credibility of documents, that Valens had been his brother and had long since died; but, without the proof of the truth being awaited, with his sides torn, he was butchered.

28. visus adulescens in balneis admovere marmori manus utriusque digitos alternatim et pectori, septemque vocales litteras numerasse, ad stomachi remedium prodesse id arbitratus: in iudicium tractus, percussus est gladio post tormenta.

28. A young man was seen in the baths to apply to the marble and to his chest, alternately, the digits of both hands, and to have numbered the seven vocal letters, having judged that this would profit as a remedy for the stomach: dragged into judgment, he was struck with the sword after torments.

III

1. His et mihi vertenti stilum in Gallias confunditur ordo seriesque gestorum, inter multa et saeva Maximinum reperiens iam praefectum, qui potestate late diffusa scaevum imperatori accesserat incentivum, maiestati fortunae miscenti licentiam gravem. quisquis igitur dicta considerat, perpendat etiam cetera, quae tacentur, veniam daturus ut prudens, si non cuncta conplectimur, quae consiliorum pravitas crimina in maius exaggerando commisit.

1. At this point also, as I turn my stylus toward the Gauls, the order and series of deeds is thrown into confusion, finding among many and savage things Maximinus already prefect, who, with power widely diffused, had come as a sinister incentive to the emperor, blending with the majesty of fortune a grievous license. Whoever therefore considers the things said, let him also weigh the rest, which are left unspoken, being ready, as a prudent man, to grant pardon if we do not embrace all the things which the depravity of counsels, by exaggerating crimes into the greater, has committed.

2. adulescente enim acerbitate, rationum inimica rectarum, trux suopte ingenio Valentinianus, post eiusdem Maximini adventum, nec meliora monente ullo nec retentante, per asperos actus velut aestu quodam fluctuum ferebatur et procellarum, adeo ut irascentis saepe vox et vultus et incessus mutaretur et color. quam rem indicia varia testantur et certa, e quibus pauca sufficiet poni.

2. for, as acerbity—an enemy to right reasons—was coming of age, Valentinian, grim by his very own nature, after that same Maximinus’s arrival, with no one advising better or restraining, was borne along through rough deeds as if by a certain surge of waves and of tempests, to such a degree that the voice, the countenance, the gait, and the color of the man in anger were often altered. Which matter various and sure indications attest, of which a few will suffice to be set forth.

3. Adultus quidam ex his, quos paedagogianos appellant, ad observandam venaticiam praedam Spartanum canem retinere dispositus, ante praedictum tempus absolvit, adsultu eius evadere conantis adpetitus et morsu: ideoque necatus ad exitium fustibus, eadem humatus est die.

3. A certain adult from among those whom they call paedagogiani, appointed to hold a Spartan dog to watch over the hunting prey, released it before the prescribed time, and, as he tried to escape its assault, was attacked and bitten: and therefore, beaten to death with cudgels, he was buried the same day.

4. praepositum fabricae oblato thorace polito faberrime, praemiumque ideo exspectantem, ea re praecepit occidi, quod pondus paulo minus habuit species ferrea quam ille firmarat. Epiroten aliquem ritus Christiani presbyterum.................... item Octavianum ex proconsule ...............offensarum auctore licet tardius redire ad sua permisso.

4. the superintendent of the factory, having presented a breastplate polished most skillfully, and therefore expecting a reward, he ordered to be killed for this reason: because the iron article had a weight a little less than he had affirmed. an Epirote, a presbyter of the Christian rite,.................... likewise Octavianus, a former proconsul, ............... with the author of the offenses, albeit more slowly, permitted to return to his own.

5. Constantianus strator paucos militares equos ex his ausus mutare, ad quos probandos missus est in Sardiniam, eodem iubente lapidum ictibus oppetit crebris. Athanasius favorabilis tunc auriga, suspectus ei vulgari levitate, ut vivus incendi iuberetur, si quid temptasset huius modi; non multo postea veneficiis usus merebatur, nullaque delata voluptatum artifici venia, ignibus aboleri praeceptus est.

5. Constantianus, the equerry, having dared to exchange a few military horses from these—sent to Sardinia to test them—at that same man’s order fell by repeated blows of stones. Athanasius, then a favorable (popular) charioteer, suspected by him on account of the common fickleness, was to be ordered burned alive, if he attempted anything of this sort; not much later, having employed poisons, he deserved it, and with no pardon granted to the artificer of pleasures, he was commanded to be destroyed by fire.

6. Africanus causarum in urbe defensor adsiduus, post administratam provinciam ad regendam aliam adspiravit, cuius suffragatori magistro equitum Theodosio id petenti, subagresti verbo pius respondit imperator: "abi," inquit "comes, et muta ei caput, qui sibi mutari provinciam cupit" et hoc elogio perit homo disertus ad potiora festinans ut multi.

6. Africanus, an assiduous defender of causes in the city, after a province had been administered aspired to govern another; and to his suffragator, the Master of Horse Theodosius, requesting this, the pious emperor replied with a somewhat rustic word: “go,” he said, “count, and change his head, who wishes his province to be changed for himself”; and by this epigram the eloquent man perished, hastening to better things, as many do.

7. Claudium et Sallustium ex Iovianorum numero, ad usque tribunatus dignitates progressos, accusabat quidam vilitate ipsa despectus, quod, cum imperium Procopius adfectasset, aliqua pro eo locuti sunt bona. cumque nihil quaestiones reperirent adsiduae, mandare magistris equitum auditoribus princeps, ut agerent Claudium in exilium et Sallustium pronuntiarent capitis reum, pollicitus, quod eum revocabit ad supplicium raptum ; hocque ita, ut statutum est, observato, nec Sallustius morte exemptus est, nec Claudius, nisi post eiusdem Valentiniani obitum deportationis maestitia liberatus ......
......................................................
longe recusaverit, cum illi saepissime torquerentur.

7. Claudius and Sallustius, from the number of the Jovians, having advanced up to the dignities of the tribunate, were being accused by a certain man despised for his very vileness, because, when Procopius had aspired to the imperial power, they spoke some good things on his behalf. And when persistent inquisitions found nothing, the emperor ordered the masters of cavalry, acting as auditors, to drive Claudius into exile and to pronounce Sallustius a defendant on a capital charge, promising that he would recall him, once seized, to punishment; and this, observed just as it was decreed, resulted in neither Sallustius being exempted from death, nor Claudius, except that after the death of the same Valentinian he was freed from the sadness of deportation ......
......................................................
he would have refused for a long time, while they were most frequently tortured.

8. replicatis igitur quaestionibus dense, et quibusdam vi nimia tormentorum absumptis, ne vestigia quidem ulla delatorum reperta sunt criminum. in hoc negotio protectores, ad exhibendas missi personas de fustibus praeter solitum caesi.

8. therefore, the interrogations having been repeated densely, and with some consumed by the excessive force of the tortures, not even the slightest traces of the crimes denounced by the informers were found. in this business the protectors, sent to produce the persons, were beaten with cudgels beyond the usual.

9. Horrescit animus omnia recensere, simulque reformidat, ne ex professo quaesisse videamur in vitia principis, alia commodissimi. illud tamen nec praeteriri est aequum nec sileri, quod cum duas haberet ursas saevas hominum ambestrices, Micam auream et Innocentiam, cultu ita curabat enixo, ut earum caveas prope cubiculum suum locaret, custodesque adderet fidos, visuros sollicite nequo casu ferarum deleretur luctificus calor. Innocentiam denique post multas, quas eius laniatu cadaverum viderat sepulturas, ut bene meritam in silvas abire dimisit innoxiam, exop .........simile sedit .....

9. The mind shudders to recount everything, and at the same time it dreads lest we seem to have sought out, as by design, the faults of the emperor, a man in other respects most advantageous. Yet it is neither fair to pass this by nor to be silent: that, since he had two savage she-bears, man-eaters, Mica Aurea and Innocentia, he cared for them with such strenuous attentiveness that he placed their cages near his own bedchamber and added faithful guards, who would watch anxiously lest by any chance the grief-bringing heat of the wild beasts be destroyed. Innocentia, finally, after the many burials which he had seen due to her rending of corpses, he dismissed, as well-deserving, to go away into the woods unharmed, exop .........simile sedit .....

1. Et haec quidem morum eius et propositi cruenti sunt documenta verissima. sollertiae vero circa rem publicam usquam digredientis nemo eum vel obtrectator pervicax incusabit, illud contemplans, quod maius pretium operae forsitan regendis verius milite barbaris quam pellendis. et cum dedisset ......
.......................................................
e speculis, siquis hostium se commovisset, desuper visus obruebatur.

1. And indeed these are the truest proofs of his character and bloody purpose. But as for sagacity regarding the republic ever straying, not even a stubborn detractor will accuse him, considering this: that perhaps there was a greater price of effort in more truly governing the barbarians by soldiery than in driving them off. and when he had given ......
.......................................................
from the watchtowers, if any of the enemy had stirred himself, once seen from above he was overwhelmed.

2. Agitabatur autem inter multiplices curas id omnium primum et potissimum, ut Macrianum regem auctum inter mutationes crebras sententiarum, iamque in nostros adultis viribus exsurgentem, vi superstitem raperet vel insidiis, ut multo ante Vadomarium Iulianus: et provisis, quae negotium poscebat et tempus, cognitoque transfugarum indiciis, ubi conprehendi nihil operiens poterit ante dictus, tacite, quantum concessit facultas, nequi conserendo officeret ponti, iunxit navibus Rhenum.

2. However, among his manifold cares, this, first and foremost and most especially, was being agitated: that he might snatch King Macrianus, augmented amid the frequent mutations of counsels, and now rising up against our own with adult forces, by force or by ambush, as Julian long before [did] Vadomarius; and, with the things provided which the business and the time demanded, and the indications of deserters learned—where the aforesaid could be apprehended, with nothing covering him—quietly, so far as faculty permitted, lest anyone by joining battle should hinder the bridge, he joined the Rhine with ships.

3. et antegressus contra Mattiacas aquas primus Severus, qui pedestrem curabat exercitum, perpensa militum paucitate territus stetit timens, ne resistere nequiens inruentium opprimeretur hostilium agminum mole.

3. and having advanced against the Mattiac waters, Severus was first, who had charge of the infantry army; after weighing the paucity of the soldiers he halted, terrified, fearing lest, being unable to resist, he be overwhelmed by the mass of the onrushing hostile columns.

4. et quia suspicabatur venalia ducentes mancipia scurras, casu illic repertos, id, quod viderant, excursu celeri nuntiare, cunctos mercibus direptis occidit.

4. and because he suspected that buffoons leading slaves for sale, found there by chance, would announce with a swift excursion what they had seen, he killed them all, the merchandise plundered.

5. adventu itaque plurium copiarum animati iudices, castrisque ad tempus brevissimum fixis, quia nec sarcinale iumentum quisquam nec tabernaculum habuit praeter principem, cui tapetes......suffecerant pro tentorio, parumper ob tenebras morati nocturnas, exiliente procinctu pergebant ulterius, itinerum gnaris ducentibus, frequenti equitatu cum Theodosio rectore praeire disposito, ne quid lateret ........................................
.......................................................
.......................................................
tempore iaceat, extento strepitu suorum est inpeditus quibus adsidue mandans, ut rapinis et incendiis abstinerent, inpetrare non potuit. ignium enim crepitu dissonisque clamoribus satellites exciti, idque, quod acciderat, suspicati, carpento veloci inpositum regem angusto aditu circumfractis collibus abdiderunt.

5. therefore, heartened by the arrival of more troops, the commanders, and with the camp pitched for the briefest time, because no one had a pack-beast for baggage nor a tent except the chief, for whom carpets......had sufficed in place of a tent, having delayed a little on account of the nocturnal darkness, with the battle-line springing forth they kept going further, with guides skilled in the routes leading, a numerous cavalry, with Theodosius as director, set to go ahead, lest anything should lie hidden ........................................
.......................................................
.......................................................
may lie low for a time, he was hampered by the prolonged racket of his own men, whom he kept continually ordering to abstain from rapines and arsons, but he could not obtain it. for at the crackling of fires and the discordant shouts the bodyguards, roused and suspecting what had happened, hid the king, placed on a swift carriage, in a narrow pass, the hills broken off around.

6. hac Valentinianus gloria defraudatus nec sua culpa nec ducum sed intemperantia militis, quae dispendiis gravibus saepe rem Romanam adflixit, ad usque quinquagesimum lapidem terris hostilibus inflammatis, redit Treveros maestus.

6. thus Valentinian was defrauded of this glory, by neither his own fault nor that of the generals but by the intemperance of the soldier, which has often afflicted the Roman state with grievous losses; and, with the enemy lands set ablaze up to the 50th milestone, he returns to Trier sorrowful.

7. ubi tamquam leo ob cervum amissum vel capream morsus vacuos concrepans, dum hostium disiecta frangeret timor, in Macriani locum Bucinobantibus, quae contra Mogontiacum gens est Alamanna, regem Fraomarium ordinavit, quem paulo postea, quoniam recens excursus eundem penitus vastaverat pagum, in Brittannos translatum potestate tribuni Alamannorum praefecerat numero, multitudine viribusque ea tempestate florenti: Bitheridum vero et Hortarium nationis eiusdem primates item regere milites iussit, e quibus Hortarius proditus relatione Florenti Germaniae ducis contra rem publicam quaedam ad Macrianum scripsisse barbarosque optimates, veritate tormentis expressa, conflagravit flamma poenali.

7. where, like a lion, on account of a lost stag or roe-deer, gnashing with empty bites, while fear was breaking the scattered enemy, he appointed in place of Macrianus for the Bucinobantes, which opposite Mogontiacum is an Alamannic gens, a king Fraomarius, whom a little later, since a recent incursion had utterly devastated that same pagus, transferred to the Britons he had set over a numerus of Alamanni with the authority of a tribune, flourishing at that time in numbers and strength: but Bitheridus and Hortarius, chieftains of the same nation, likewise he ordered to command soldiers, of whom Hortarius, betrayed by the report of Florentius, duke of Germany, to have written certain things against the commonwealth to Macrianus and to barbarian magnates, the truth having been drawn out by tortures, was consumed by a punitive flame.

1. Abhinc inter ...................................
.......................................................
proximo haec narratione disseri continua placuit, ne, dum negotiis longe discretis et locis alia subseruntur, cognitio multiplex necessario confundatur.

1. From here among ...................................
.......................................................
it seemed good that these things be discussed in a continuous narration next, lest, while other things are interwoven with affairs and places far separated, the manifold cognition be necessarily confounded.

2. Nubel velut regulus per nationes Mauricas potentissimus vita digrediens, et legitimos et natos e concubinis reliquit filios, e quibus Zammac comiti nomine Romano acceptus, latenter a fratre Firmo peremptus discordias excitavit et bella. eius enim necem ulcisci inpensiore studio properans comes, ad insidiatoris perniciem multa ciebat et formidanda. utque rumores distulerunt adsidui, navabatur opera diligens in palatio, Romani quidem relationes multa et aspera congerentes in Firmum libenter suscipi recitarique principi, in earum favorem concinentibus multis: ea vero, quae contra Firmus salutis tuendae gratia docebat crebro per suos, accepta diutius occultari, Remigio tunc officiorum magistro, adfine amicoque Romani, inter potiores imperatoris necessitates haec velut minima et superflua non nisi oportune legi posse adseverante.

2. Nubel, as it were a petty king, most powerful among the Moorish nations, departing from life, left sons both legitimate and born from concubines, of whom Zammac—accepted by the comes named Romanus—was secretly slain by his brother Firmus, and this aroused discords and wars. For the comes, hastening with more impassioned zeal to avenge his death, was stirring up many things, and fearsome ones, for the ruin of the ambusher. And, as persistent rumors spread, diligent work was being plied in the palace: the relations of Romanus indeed, piling up many and harsh matters against Firmus, were gladly received and read to the emperor, with many concurring in their favor; but those things which, for the sake of defending his safety, Firmus was frequently setting forth through his own agents, though received, were concealed for a longer time, Remigius then Master of the Offices, a kinsman and friend of Romanus, asserting that, among the weightier necessities of the emperor, these, as though very small and superfluous, could not be read except when opportune.

3. Quae cum ad obruendam defensionem suam agitari adverteret Maurus, ultimorum metu iam trepidans, ne amendatis, quae praetendebat, ut perniciosus et contumax condemnatus occideretur, ab imperii dicione descivit et adiumenta ....................................tium ad vastandum .......................................................

3. When the Moor noticed that things were being driven forward to overwhelm his defense, now trembling with fear of the last extremities, lest, once the things which he was putting forward were emended, he should be condemned as pernicious and contumacious and be put to death, he seceded from the dominion of the empire and secured aids ....................................tium for laying waste .......................................................

4. Quare ne hostis inplacabilis incrementis virium adulescerent, ad abolendum cum comitatensis auxilio militis pauci Theodosius magister equitum mittitur, cuius virtutes ut inpetrabilis ea tempestate prae ceteris nitebant: Domitii Corbulonis et Lusii veterum simillimi, quorum prior sub Nerone, alter Traiano rem regente Romanam pluribus inclaruere fortibus factis.

4. Wherefore, lest the implacable enemy should mature with increments of strength, to abolish him, with the aid of a few soldiers of the comitatenses, Theodosius, Master of Horse, is sent, whose virtues, not to be withstood, at that time shone before the rest: most similar to the ancients, to Domitius Corbulo and to Lusius, of whom the former under Nero, the latter with Trajan ruling the commonwealth, became illustrious by many brave deeds.

5. proinde ab Arelate secundis egressus auspiciis, emeatoque mari cum classe, quam ductabat, nullo de se rumore praegresso, defertur ad Sitifensis Mauritaniae litus, quod appellant accolae Igilgitanum. ibique inventum casu Romanum leniter adlocutus, misit ad vigilias ordinandas et praetenturas, parum super his, quae verebatur, increpitum.

5. accordingly, having set out from Arelate under favorable auspices, and with the sea traversed with the fleet which he was leading, with no rumor about himself going before, he is borne to the shore of Mauretania Sitifensis, which the inhabitants call Igilgitanum. and there, having gently addressed a Roman found by chance, he sent him to arrange the watches and the outposts, little rebuked about those matters which he feared.

6. quo ad Caesariensem digresso Gildonem Firmi fratrem et Maximum misit correpturos Vincentium, qui curans Romani vicem, incivilitatis eius erat particeps et furtorum.

6. Whence, after he had gone to Caesarea, he sent Gildo, brother of Firmus, and Maximus to correct Vincentius, who, acting in Romanus’s stead, was a participant in his incivility and thefts.

7. recepto itaque tardius milite, quem amplitudo morabatur maris, Sitifim properans, Romanum cum domesticis custodiendum protectoribus conmitti mandavit, agensque in oppido sollicitudine diducebatur ancipiti, multa cum animo versans, qua via quibusve conmentis per exustas caloribus terras pruinis adsuetum duceret militem, vel hostem caperet discursatorem et repentinum insidiisque potius clandestinis quam proeliorum stabilitate confisum.

7. therefore, the soldiery having been received more slowly, whom the expanse of the sea was delaying, hastening to Sitifis, he ordered that Romanus with his domestics be committed to the protectors to be guarded; and while in the town he was divided by a twofold anxiety, turning many things in his mind, by what way or with what contrivances he might lead the soldier, accustomed to frosts, through lands scorched by heats, or might seize the enemy, a skirmisher and sudden, trusting rather in clandestine ambushes than in the stability of battles.

8. Quod ubi Firmo levi rumore, dein apertis est indiciis cognitum, spectatissimi ducis adventu praestrictus, veniam cum concessione praeteritorum, missis oratoribus poscebat et scriptis, docentibus eum non sponte sua ad id erupisse, quod norat scelestum sed iniquitate grassante licentius, ut monstrare pollicebatur.

8. When this had become known to Firmus, first by a light rumor and then by open indications, overawed by the advent of a most distinguished leader, he was demanding pardon with a concession of past things, sending envoys and writings that taught he had not of his own will erupted into that which he knew to be wicked, but, with iniquity rampaging, more licentiously—as he was promising to demonstrate.

9. quibus lectis paceque obsidibus acceptis promissa, duc recensendas legiones, quae Africam tuebantur, ire pergebat ad Pancharianam stationem, quo convenire praeceptae sunt. ibi magnificis verbis atque prudentibus spe cunctorum erecta, reversus Sitifim, concitato indigena milite cum eo, quem ipse perduxerat, aegre perpetiens moras ad procinctus ire ocius festinabat.

9. when these had been read and, with hostages, the promised peace accepted, the leader, to review the legions which were safeguarding Africa, kept on to go to the Pancharian station, whither they had been ordered to convene. There, by magnificent and prudent words, the hope of all having been raised, having returned to Sitifim, with the indigenous soldiery stirred up together with that which he himself had led, scarcely enduring delays he was hastening to go more swiftly to the battle-lines.

10. inter residua autem multa et clara id amorem eius auxerat in inmensum, quod a provincialibus commeatum exercitui prohibuit dari, messes et condita hostium virtutis nostrorum horrea esse, fiducia memorans speciosa.

10. among the many and illustrious remaining deeds, this had augmented their love for him to the immense: that he forbade provisions to be given to the army by the provincials, declaring with splendid confidence that the enemy’s harvests and stores are the granaries of the valor of our men.

11. His ita cum laetitia possessorum dispositis, ad Tubusuptum progressus, oppidum Ferrato contiguum monti, legationem secundam Firmi repudiavit, quae obsides, ut ante statutum est, non duxerat secum. unde omnibus pro loco et tempore cautius exploratis, concito gradu Tyndensium gentem et Masinissensium petit levibus armis instructas, quas Mascizel et Dius fratres Firmi ductabant.

11. With these matters thus arranged to the joy of the possessors, having advanced to Tubusuptum, a town contiguous to Mount Ferratus, he repudiated Firmus’s second embassy, which had not brought hostages with it, as had been stipulated before. Whence, with everything more cautiously explored according to place and time, at a quick pace he made for the people of the Tyndenses and the Masinissenses, equipped with light arms, whom Mascizel and Dius, brothers of Firmus, were leading.

12. cum essent hostes iam in contuitu membris omnibus celeres, post missilia hinc inde crebrius iacta committitur certamen asperrimum, interque gemitus mortis et vulnerum audiebantur barbarorum ululabiles fletus captorum et caesorum, pugnaque dirempta plures agri populati sunt et incensi.

12. when the enemies were already in sight, swift in all their limbs, after missiles had been more frequently hurled on this side and that, a most fierce contest is joined, and amid the groans of death and of wounds there were heard the ululant wailings of the barbarians, of the captured and the slain, and with the fight broken off, more fields were ravaged and burned.

13. inter quos clades eminuere fundi Petrensis, excisi radicitus, quem Salmaces dominus, Firmi frater, in modum urbis exstruxit. hoc successu victor elatus mira velocitate Lamfoctense oppidum occupavit, inter gentes positum ante dictas, ubi abunde rei cibariae copiam condi effecit, ut, si pergens interius alimentorum offendisset penuriam, iuberet e propinquo convectari.

13. among which the disasters of the Petrensian estate stood out, razed root and branch, which Salmaces the proprietor, brother of Firmus, had built up in the manner of a city. Uplifted by this success, the victor with wondrous velocity occupied the town of Lamfoctense, situated among the aforesaid peoples, where he brought it about that an abundant supply of foodstuffs be stored, so that, if as he proceeded farther inland he should encounter a scarcity of provisions, he might order them to be conveyed from nearby.

14. quae dum ita procedunt, Mascizel reparatis viribus nationum confinium adminicula ductans, conserta manu cum nostris, fusis e parte suorum pluribus, ipse equi pernicitate aegre discrimine mortis exemptus est.

14. while these things proceed thus, Mascizel, with his forces repaired, drawing the auxiliaries of the bordering nations, having joined battle hand-to-hand with our men, with many of his own routed, he himself was with difficulty rescued from the peril of death by the swiftness of his horse.

15. Fessus aerumnis gemini proelii Firmus, imoque aestuans corde, nequid ultimae rationis omitteret, Christiani ritus antistites oraturos pacem cum obsidibus misit. qui quoniam suscepti lenius, pollicitique victui congrua militibus, ut praeceptum est, laeta rettulere responsa: praemissis muneribus Maurus ipse fidentius ad Romanum perrexerat ducem, equo insidens apto ad ancipites casus, cumque prope venisset, fulgore signorum et terribili vultu Theodosi praestrictus, iumento desiluit, curvataque cervice humi paene adfixus, temeritatem suam flebiliter incusabat, pacem obsecrando cum venia.

15. Wearied by the hardships of the twin battle, and seething in his inmost heart, Firmus, that he might omit nothing of his last resort, sent the prelates of the Christian rite to pray for peace, with hostages. As these, since they were received more mildly, and provisions congruent to the soldiers’ victual, as had been ordered, were promised, brought back joyful answers: with gifts sent ahead, the Moor himself, more confidently, proceeded to the Roman leader, sitting a horse apt for doubtful contingencies; and when he had come near, overawed by the splendor of the standards and the terrible visage of Theodosius, he leapt down from his mount, and with neck bent, almost fastened to the ground, he mournfully blamed his own temerity, begging peace with pardon.

16. susceptusque cum osculo, quoniam id rei publicae conducebat, bonae spei iam plenus, sufficientia praebuit alimenta, et quibusdam propinquis suis ad obsidum vicem relictis abscessit, captivos, ut spoponderat, redditurus, quos primis turbarum exordiis rapuit: biduoque post Icosium oppidum, cuius supra docuimus conditores, militaria signa et coronam sacerdotalem cum ceteris quae interceperat, nihil cunctatus restituit, ut praeceptum est.

16. and received with a kiss, since that was conducive to the commonwealth, now full of good hope, he furnished sufficient provisions, and, with certain of his kinsmen left in the stead of hostages, he withdrew, to return the captives, as he had vowed, whom he had seized at the first beginnings of the disturbances: and two days later he, without any delay, restored, as it was ordered, the town of Icosium, whose founders we have explained above, the military standards, and the sacerdotal crown together with the rest which he had intercepted.

17. Exinde cum discursis itineribus magnis Tiposam noster dux introiret, legatis Mazicum, qui se consociaverant Firmo, suppliciter obsecrantibus veniam, animo elato respondit se in eos ut perfidos arma protinus commoturum.

17. Thereafter, when, after long marches, our leader was entering Tiposa, while the envoys of the Mazices, who had associated themselves with Firmus, were humbly beseeching pardon, he replied with uplifted spirit that he would forthwith set arms in motion against them as perfidious men.

18. quibus minantis periculi metu defixis revertique iussis ad sua, Caesarea mire tendebat urbem opulentam quondam et nobilem, cuius itidem originem in Africae situ digessimus plene, eamque ingressus cum omnem paene incendiis late dispersis vidisset exustam, horridasque canitie silices, primam et secundam legionem ad tempus ibi locari disposuit, ut favillarum egerentes acervos, agitarent ibi praesidium, ne repetito barbarorum impetu vastaretur.

18. with them fixed by the fear of menacing peril and ordered to return to their own, he was making for Caesarea, a city once opulent and noble, whose origin likewise we have fully set forth in the description of Africa’s site; and having entered it, when he had seen almost the whole burned up by fires widely scattered, and the flints horrid with hoariness, he arranged that the first and second legion be stationed there for a time, so that, clearing out heaps of cinders, they might maintain a garrison there, lest, with a renewed impetus of the barbarians, it be laid waste.

19. Quae cum rumores veri distulissent et crebri, provinciae rectores tribunusque Vincentius e latibulis, quibus sese commiserant, egressi, tandem intrepidi ad ducem ocius pervenerunt. quibus ille gratanter visis atque susceptis, agens etiam apud Caesaream, fide rerum diligentius explorata, conperit Firmum per speciem paventis et supplicis tectiore consilio id moliri ut nihil hostile metuentem exercitum in modum tempestatis subitae conturbaret.

19. When true and frequent rumors had spread these things, the governors of the provinces and the tribune Vincentius, having come forth from the hiding-places to which they had committed themselves, at last, intrepid, arrived more swiftly to the leader. He, having gladly seen and welcomed them, while still conducting affairs at Caesarea, after the credibility of the facts had been more diligently explored, ascertained that Firmus, under the guise of one panic-stricken and suppliant, with a more covert counsel was engineering this: to throw into confusion, like a sudden tempest, an army fearing nothing hostile.

20. quam ob rem conversus hinc venit ad municipium Sugabarritanum Transcellensi monti adcline, ubi inventos equites quartae Sagittariorum cohortis, quae ad rebellem defecerat, ut contentum se supplicio leniori monstraret, omnes contrusit ad infimum militiae gradum, eosque et Constantianorum peditum partem Tigavias venire iusserat cum tribunis, e quibus unus torquem pro diademate capiti inposuit Firmi.

20. wherefore, turning from here he came to the municipality of Sugabarritanum, leaning upon the Transcellensian mountain, where, having found the horsemen of the fourth cohort of the Sagittarii, which had defected to the rebel, so that he might show himself content with a milder punishment, he thrust them all down to the lowest rank of military service, and he had ordered them and a part of the infantry of the Constantians to come to Tigava with the tribunes, one of whom placed a torque upon Firmus’s head in place of a diadem.

21. dumque haec aguntur, reverterunt Gildo et Maximus, Bellen e principibus Mazicum et Fericium gentis praefectum ducentes, qui factionem iuverant quietis publicae turbatoris ...........................................
producerent vinctos.

21. while these things are being transacted, Gildo and Maximus returned, leading Belles, from among the princes of the Mazices, and Fericius, prefect of the nation, who had aided the faction of the disturber of the public peace ...........................................
they produced them bound.

22. quo ita ut statutum est facto, lucis primo exortu ipse egressus cum invenisset eos in exercitu circumsaeptos: "quid de istis nefariis" inquit "proditoribus fieri oportere, contubernales devoti, censetis?", secutusque adclamationem rogantium sanguine vindicari, eos qui inter Constantianos merebant, prisco more militibus dedit occidendos, Sagittariorum vero primoribus manus incidit, residuos supplicio capitali multavit, ad aemulationem Curionis acerrimi illius ducis, qui Dardanorum ferociam in modum Lernaeae serpentis aliquotiens renascentem hoc genere poenarum extinxit.

22. when this had been done as it was decreed, at first light he himself went out, and when he had found them hemmed in by the army, he said: "What do you, devoted contubernals, judge ought to be done with these nefarious traitors?", and, following the acclamation of those asking that it be vindicated with blood, those who were serving among the Constantiani he handed over to the soldiers to be killed, in the ancient manner; but of the Sagittarii he cut off the hands of the leaders, and the remaining he punished with capital punishment, in emulation of Curio, that most keen commander, who extinguished the ferocity of the Dardanians, again and again reborn in the manner of the Lernaean serpent, by this kind of punishments.

23. sed obtrectatores malivoli vetus factum laudantes, hoc ut dirum vituperant et asperrimum, Dardanos hostes memorantes internecivos, et iuste, quae sustinuere, perpessos, hos vero subsignanos milites debuisse lenius corrigi, ad unum prolapsos errorem. quos scientes forsitan admonemus, hanc cohortem et facto fuisse et exemplo adversam.

23. But malicious detractors, praising the old deed, revile this as dire and most harsh, recalling the Dardanians, internecine enemies, and that they justly suffered what they endured; whereas these subsignani soldiers, having slipped into a single error, ought to have been corrected more mildly. Those who perhaps know we remind, that this cohort was adverse both in deed and in example.

24. ante dictos Bellen et Fericium, quos duxerat Gildo, tribunumque Sagittariorum Curandium ea re iussit occidi, quod nec ipse umquam cum hostibus congredi voluit, nec suos ut pugnarent hortari. agebat autem haec Tullianum illud advertens quod ,salutaris rigor vincit inanem speciem clementiae",

24. he ordered the aforesaid Bellen and Fericius, whom Gildo had led, and Curandius, tribune of the Sagittarii, to be killed for this reason: that he himself never wished to engage with the enemies, nor to exhort his men to fight. He was doing these things, moreover, heeding that Tullian dictum, that ,salutary rigor conquers the empty appearance of clemency",

25. Exin profectus, fundum nomine Gaionatis, muro circumdatum valido, receptaculum Maurorum tutissimum arietibus admotis evertit, et caesis omnibus incolis moenibusque conplanatis, ad Tingitanum castellum progressus, per Ancorarium montem Mazicas in unum collectos invasit, iam tela reciprocantes volitantia grandinis ritu.

25. Then, setting out, he overturned with battering-rams brought up an estate by the name Gaionatis, surrounded by a strong wall, a most secure refuge of the Moors; and with all the inhabitants cut down and the ramparts leveled, advancing to the Tingitan fort, through Mount Ancorarius he attacked the Mazices gathered into one, who were already exchanging missiles, flying in the manner of hail.

26. et cum esset utrimque discursum, agmina viribus armisque incitata nostrorum non perferentes Mazices, licet bellicosum genus et durum, diversis stragibus inplicati foedo diffluxere terrore, ruentesque in fugam caesi sunt absque his, qui reperta copia discedendi, supplici prece veniam, quam dari tempus flagitaverat, inpetrarunt.

26. and when there had been skirmishing on both sides, the Mazices, not enduring the ranks of our men incited by strength and arms—though a warlike and hard race—entangled in diverse slaughters, dissolved in foul terror, and, rushing into flight, were cut down, apart from those who, having found an opportunity of departing, by suppliant prayer obtained the pardon which the time had demanded to be granted.

27. Suggen eorum ductorem .....................
.......................................................
Romano successerat, in Sitifensem Mauritaniam ire disposito ad agitanda praesidia, ne provincia pervaderetur, ipse praeteritis elatior casibus gentem petit Musonum, quam conscientia rapinarum et caedum actibus congregaverat Firmi, ut sperabatur maiora mox adepturi.

27. Suggen, their leader, .....................
.......................................................
had succeeded Romano; with him having been set to go into Mauretania Sitifensis to stir up the garrisons, lest the province be overrun, he himself, more elated by the past successes, made for the tribe of the Musones, whom a shared consciousness of robberies and deeds of slaughter—of Firmus—had gathered together, as was hoped, soon to obtain greater things.

28. Progressusque aliquantum iuxta Addense municipium comperit, dissonas cultu et sermonum varietate nationes plurimas unum spirantibus animis, inmanium exordia concitare bellorum, adigente hortanteque maxima spe praemiorum sorore Firmi nomine Cyria, quae abundans divitiis et destinatione feminea, nisibus magnis instituit iuvare germanum.

28. And having advanced somewhat near the municipium of Addense, he learned that very many nations, dissonant in culture and in the variety of their speech, with souls breathing as one, were stirring up the beginnings of immense wars, Firmus’s sister by name Cyria driving and exhorting them with the greatest hope of rewards, who, abounding in riches and in female determination, set about by great efforts to aid her own brother.

29. quocirca Theodosius veritus, ne Marti sese committeret inpari, congressusque multitudini inmensae cum paucis - tria enim armatorum milia ductabat atque quingentos - amitteret universos, inter pudorem cedendi pugnandique ardorem gradiens retro paulatim, trudente pondere plebis abscessit.

29. Wherefore Theodosius, fearing lest he commit himself to Mars on unequal terms, and, having come to grips with an immense multitude with few—for he was leading three thousand armed men and five hundred—might lose them all, moving between the shame of yielding and the ardor of fighting, he went back gradually, and, with the weight of the populace thrusting, withdrew.

30. hocque eventu barbari nimium quantum elati sequentesque pertinaciter ............
certare necessitate ..........semet ipsum et ad internecionem perdiderat cunctos, ni gentium turbulenta concussio procul Mazicum visis auxiliis, quos anteibant quidam Romani, arbitrata in se impetum agminum ferri conplurium, versa in pedes aperuisset nostris exitus antehac intersaeptos.

30. and by this outcome the barbarians, lifted up beyond measure, and following stubbornly ............
to contend by necessity .......... he would have ruined himself and all to extermination, had not a turbulent commotion of the tribes—when the Mazices, from afar, saw the auxiliaries, whom certain Romans were preceding—having supposed that an assault of several columns was being borne against themselves, turned to flight and opened for our men exits previously barricaded.

31. exinde cum militem ducens incolumem Theodosius ad fundum venisset nomine Mazucanum, exustis desertoribus paucis, aliisque ad sagittariorum exemplum, quibus manus ademptae sunt, contruncatis, Tipatam mense Februario venit.

31. thence, as Theodosius, leading the soldiery unscathed, had come to an estate by the name Mazucanum, after a few deserters had been burned, and others, after the example of the archers, from whom the hands were taken away, had been cut to pieces, he came to Tipata in the month of February.

32. ubi diutius agens ut antiquus ille Cunctator pro negotio consultabat, commentis potius et prudentia quam periculosis congressibus hostem pugnacem et inpetrabilem iactu telorum, si fors copiam dederit, oppressurus.

32. where, spending a longer time, like that ancient Cunctator, he was deliberating for the business, intending to overpower the enemy—combative and unassailable by the cast of missiles—by stratagems rather and by prudence than by perilous encounters, if chance should give opportunity.

33. mittebat tamen adsidue suadendi quosdam peritos ad gentes circumsitas, Baiuras Cantaurianos Avastomates Cafaves Davaresque et finitimos alios, nunc timore, nunc nummis eos ad societatem alliciens veniamque petulantiae interdum promittendo cum ..............................
per ambages et moras hostem frangentem suos impetus oppressurus, ut quondam Pompeius Mithridatem.

33. nevertheless he was constantly sending certain skilled in persuading to the surrounding peoples, the Baiuras, the Cantaurians, the Avastomates, the Cafaves, and the Davares, and other neighbors, now by fear, now by monies alluring them to alliance, and at times by promising pardon of petulance, with ..............................
by ambages and delays, about to crush the enemy who was shattering his own assaults, as once Pompey [crushed] Mithridates.

34. Qua causa declinans perniciem proximam Firmus, licet praesidiorum magnitudine communitus, relicta plebe, quam coegerat magna mercede, quoniam latendi copiam nocturna quies dedit, Caprarienses montes longe remotos penetravit, et diruptis rupibus inaccessos.

34. For which cause, declining the nearest perdition, Firmus, although fortified by the magnitude of his garrisons, leaving behind the plebs, whom he had mustered for great pay, since nocturnal quiet gave the opportunity for hiding, penetrated the Caprariensian mountains far remote, and inaccessible with rent crags.

35. cuius abitu clandestino multitudo dispersa, sine rectore particulatim diffluens, invadendi eius castra nostris copiam dedit. hisque direptis, et interfectis, qui resistebant, vel in deditionem acceptis, regionum maxima parte vastata, gentibus, per quas transibat dux consultissimus, adposuit fidei conpertae praefectos.

35. upon his clandestine departure, the dispersed multitude, without a ruler and draining away piecemeal, gave our men the opportunity of invading his camp. And these plundered, and those who resisted slain or received into surrender, with the greatest part of the regions laid waste, he appointed over the peoples through which the most judicious leader was passing prefects of proven fidelity.

36. hac inopina sequendi confidentia territus perduellis, servis comitantibus paucis, digressu celeri consulturus saluti, nequo praepediretur obstaculo, abiecit pretiosarum sarcinas specierum, quas avexerat secum. uxorem namque fessam labore continuo et per ancipitis .......................................................

36. frightened by this unlooked-for confidence in pursuing, the rebel, with a few slaves accompanying, seeking his safety by a swift withdrawal, so that he might not be hampered by any obstacle, threw away the packs of precious commodities which he had carried off with him. for his wife, weary with continuous toil and through the perilous .......................................................

37. Theodosius nullique adeuntium parcens, mundiore victu stipendioque milite recreato, Caprariensibus Abannisque eorum vicinis proelio levi sublatis, ad municipium properavit ...... ense: verisque nuntiis doctus barbaros occupasse iam tumulos, per anfracta undique spatia in sublime porrectos, nullique pervios nisi indigenis locorum perquam gnaris, repedando dedit hostibus facultatem per indutias licet breves Aethiopum iuxta agentium adminiculis augeri vel maximis.

37. Theodosius, sparing none of those approaching, with the soldiery refreshed by cleaner victual and stipend, the Caprarienses and the Abanni, their neighbors, having been removed by a light engagement, hastened to the municipium ...... sword: and, informed by true messengers that the barbarians had already occupied the mounds, stretched aloft through anfractuous spaces on every side, and passable to no one except the indigenous exceedingly well-versed in the places, by stepping back he gave the enemies the opportunity, under a truce, albeit brief, to be augmented with the very greatest auxiliaries of Ethiopians dwelling nearby.

38. qui concatervatis copiis fremituque minaci sine sui respectu ruentes in pugnam, averterunt eum inaestimabilium turmarum specie dira perterrefactum, statimque redintegratis animis, commeatus vehens abunde, revertit et conglobatis suis scutaque in formidabilem moventibus gestum, controversas isdem opposuit manus.

38. who, with their forces packed together and with a menacing roar, rushing into battle without regard for themselves, turned him away, terrified by the dire appearance of innumerable squadrons; and immediately, with spirits restored, carrying supplies in abundance, he returned and, his own men massed and their shields moved into a formidable gesture, he set opposing bands against those same.

39. quamquam igitur inmite quiddam barbaricis concrepantibus armis manipuli furentium inminebant, ipsi quoque parmas genibus inlidentes: tamen ut pugnator ille cautus et prudens, militis paucitate diffisus, audacter agmine quadrato incedens, ad civitatem nomine Contensem flexit iter intrepidus, ubi captivos nostros Firmus ut in munimento abstruso locarat et celso: cunctisque receptis in proditores satellitesque memorati animadvertit acriter, ut solebat.

39. although therefore something savage was looming, the companies of raging men with barbaric arms clashing, they themselves also striking their small shields against their knees: nevertheless, as that cautious and prudent fighter, distrustful because of the paucity of soldiers, advancing boldly in a square formation, he turned his route unafraid to the city by the name Contense, where Firmus had placed our captives as in a hidden and lofty stronghold: and, with all received, he took sharp action against the traitors and the henchmen of the aforementioned, as he was accustomed.

40. Hoc ei magni numinis adiumento gerenti prosperrime, verus indicat explorator confugisse ad Isaflensium populum Firmum: ad quem resposcendum una cum fratre Mazuca ceterisque necessitudinibus illuc ingressus, cum adipisci non posset, genti bellum indixit.

40. As he was conducting this most prosperously with the aid of a great divine power, a true scout indicates that Firmus had fled for refuge to the people of the Isaflenses: and, to demand him back, having gone thither together with his brother Mazuca and the other kinsmen, since he could not obtain him, he declared war upon the nation.

41. et proelio atroci commisso, ferocientibus barbaris ultra modum, aciem in rotundo habitu figuratam opponit, adeoque Isaflenses pondere catervarum urgentium inclinati sunt, ut plurimi caderent, et ipse Firmus ferox et saepe in suam perniciem praeceps equo auferretur in fugam, per saxa et rupes discurrere citius adsueto, Mazuca vero frater eius caperetur letaliter saucius.

41. and when a most atrocious battle had been joined, the barbarians raging beyond measure, he opposed a battle-line shaped in a rounded formation; and the Isaflenses were so borne down by the weight of the pressing companies that very many fell, and Firmus himself, fierce and often headlong to his own ruin, was carried off on his horse into flight, his mount being accustomed to run more swiftly over rocks and crags, while Mazuca, his brother, was taken, mortally wounded.

42. qui Caesaream mitti dispositus, ubi saeva inusserat monumenta facinorum pessimorum, dilatato vulneris hiatu decessit. caput tamen eius avulsum residuo corpore, cum magno visentium gaudio urbi inlatum est ante dictae.

42. he, arranged to be sent to Caesarea, where he had branded savage monuments of the worst crimes, departed, the gape of the wound having been dilated. his head, however, torn from the remaining body, was brought into the aforesaid city with great joy of the onlookers.

43. post haec Isaflensium gentem, quae obstitit, superatam dux nobilis incommodis multis, ut aequitas poscebat, adflixit. ibi Evasium potentem municipem Florumque eius filium et quosdam alios, per secretiora consilia temeratorem quietis iuvisse confutatos aperte, flammis absumpsit.

43. after these things, the people of the Isaflenses, who had resisted, now overcome, the noble leader afflicted with many penalties, as equity demanded. there he consumed by flames Evasium, a powerful townsman, and Florus his son, and certain others who, having been openly confuted to have aided the violator of the peace through more secret counsels, were burned.

44. Exindeque pergens interius, nationem Iubalenam spiritu adgressus ingenti, ubi natum Nubelem patrem didicerat Firmi, repulsus altitudine montium et flexuosis angustiis stetit. et quamlibet facto in hostem impetu, pluribusque peremptis aperuerit viam, formidans tamen sublimia collium ad insidiandum aptissima, ducens suos incolumes revertit ad Audiense castellum: ubi Iesalensium gens fera semet dedit, voluntaria auxilia praestare spondens et commeatus.

44. And thence proceeding further inland, he attacked the nation of the Iubaleni with a mighty spirit, where he had learned that Nubel, the father of Firmus, was born; repulsed by the altitude of the mountains and the winding narrow defiles, he halted. And although, with an assault made upon the enemy and several slain, he had opened a way, yet fearing the lofty heights of the hills, most apt for ambush, leading his men unharmed he returned to the Audiense castle: where the fierce nation of the Iesalenses surrendered themselves, promising to furnish voluntary auxiliaries and supplies.

45. His et eius modi gloriosis actibus exultans amplissimus ductor, ipsum otii turbatorem petebat valido virium nisu, ideoque prope munimentum nomine Medianum diu consistens, per multas prudentesque sententiarum vias eundem sibi prodi posse sperabat.

45. Exulting in these and such glorious acts, the most ample commander was seeking the very disturber of peace with a strong exertion of forces; and therefore, remaining for a long time near a muniment by the name Medianum, through many prudent avenues of counsels he hoped that this same man could be betrayed to himself.

46. haecque cogitationibus anxiis altioreque prospiciens cura, rursus ad Isaflenses hostem conperit revertisse: quos nihil moratus, ut antea, agminibus adoritur incitatis. cui rex Igmazen nomine, spectatus per eos tractus opibusque insignis, progressus obviam confidenter: "cuius loci es tu" inquit "vel quid acturus huc venisti? responde." quem Theodosius fundata mente intuens torvum: "comes" ait "Valentiniani sum, orbis terrarum domini, ad opprimendum latronem funereum missus: quem nisi statim reddideris, ut invictus statuit imperator, peribis funditus cum gente, quam regis." quo audito Igmazen post convicia multa, quae congessit in ducem, ira doloreque perculsus abscessit.

46. and pondering these things with anxious thoughts and looking ahead with a higher concern, he learned that the enemy had returned again to the Isaflenses: whom, delaying not at all, as before, he assaults with his columns incited. To him King Igmazen by name, renowned through those tracts and distinguished by wealth, going forward to meet him confidently, said: "Of what place are you, or what are you going to do that you have come here? Answer." Theodosius, looking at him grimly with a settled mind, said: "I am the count of Valentinian, lord of the circle of lands, sent to oppress a death-dealing brigand; whom, unless you immediately hand over, as the unconquered emperor has decreed, you will perish utterly, with the nation which you rule." On hearing this, Igmazen, after many invectives which he heaped upon the leader, struck with anger and grief, withdrew.

47. et secutae principio lucis, utrimque occursurae sibi ad confligendum processerunt acies minacissimae, et barbarorum viginti paene milia in ipsis locata sunt frontibus, occultatis pone terga subsidialibus globis, ut adsurgentes paulatim nostros multitudine clauderent insperata: hisque Iesalenses auxiliares accessere quam plures, quos adiumenta et commeatus nostris docuimus promisisse.

47. and, the beginning of light having followed, the most menacing battle-lines, on both sides about to run together to fight, advanced, and nearly twenty thousand of the barbarians were placed in the very fronts, with subsidial masses hidden behind their backs, so that, rising up gradually, they might enclose our men with an unexpected multitude: and to these there joined very many Iesalensian auxiliaries, whom we have shown to have promised aids and supplies to our side.

48. contra Romani, quamvis admodum pauci, tamen fortibus animis victoriisque antegressis elati, densatis lateribus, scutisque in testudinis formam cohaerenter aptatis restiterunt gradibus fixis, et a sole orto usque ad diei extimum pugna protenta, paulo ante vesperam visus est Firmus, equo celsiori insidens, sago puniceo porrectius panso milites clamoribus magnis hortari, ut dedant Theodosium oportune, truculentum eum adpellans et dirum et suppliciorum saevum repertorem, si discriminibus eximi vellent, quae perferebant.

48. on the other hand the Romans, although very few indeed, yet with brave spirits and uplifted by victories that had gone before, with their flanks compacted, and with their shields coherently fitted in the form of a tortoise, stood fast with steps fixed; and, the battle protracted from sunrise to the day’s extremity, a little before evening Firmus was seen, sitting upon a loftier horse, with his punic-purple cloak more broadly spread, exhorting the soldiers with great shouts to hand over Theodosius opportunely, calling him truculent and dire and a savage inventor of punishments, if they wished to be taken out of the perils which they were enduring.

49. hae insperatae voces ad dimicandum quosdam acrius incitarunt, alios deserere proelium inlexerunt. proinde ubi noctis advenit quies prima, partibus tenebrarum obvolutis horrore, dux reversus ad Duodiense castellum, militesque recognoscens, eos quos a pugnandi proposito pavor et verba detorserant Firmi, diverso genere poenarum extinxit: alios ademptis dexteris, quosdam vivos conbustos.

49. these unlooked-for voices incited some more sharply to fight, lured others to desert the battle. accordingly, when the first repose of night arrived, the parts of darkness being wrapped with horror, the leader returned to the Duodiense castellum, and, reviewing the soldiers, those whom fear and the words of Firmus had turned aside from the purpose of fighting, he punished by a diverse kind of punishments: some with their right hands taken away, certain burned alive.

50. excubiasque agens cura pervigili, barbarorum aliquos ausos, cum apparere non possent, post occasum lunae castra sua temptare, fudit, vel inruentes audentius capit. digressus exinde passibus citis, Iesalenses ut ambiguae fidei per tramites adortus obliquos, unde parum sperari potuit, ad penuriam vastavit extremam, perque Caesariensis Mauritaniae oppida reversus Sitifim, Castorem et Martinianum rapinarum flagitiorumque Romani participes, ad interitum tortos incendit.

50. and keeping the watches with ever-vigilant care, he routed certain of the barbarians who dared, when they could not be seen, after the setting of the moon to make an attempt on his camp, or he captured those rushing in more boldly. Having departed thence with swift steps, attacking the Iesalenses as of ambiguous faith by oblique byways, from where little could be hoped, he laid them waste to extreme penury; and, through the towns of Mauretania Caesariensis returning to Sitifis, he burned Castor and Martinianus, accomplices of a Roman in rapines and flagitious deeds, after torturing them to destruction.

51. Redintegratur post haec cum Isaflensibus bellum, primoque conflictu barbarorum pluribus pulsis et interfectis, rex eorum Igmazen, vincere antehac adsuetus, terrore fluctuans mali praesentis, nihilque commerciis vetitis ad vitam spei sibi restare, si obstinatius egerit, arbitratus, quantum caute fieri potuit et occulte, prorupit ex acie solus, visumque Theodosium suppliciter petit, ut Masillam Mazicum optimatem ad se venire iuberet.

51. After these things the war is redintegrated with the Isaflenses, and in the first conflict, with many of the barbarians routed and slain, their king Igmazen, accustomed heretofore to conquer, wavering with terror at the present ill, and judging that, with commerce forbidden, nothing of hope for life remained to him if he should act more obstinately, as cautiously and secretly as could be done burst forth from the battle-line alone, and humbly petitions to see Theodosius, that he order Masilla, a Mazic optimate, to come to him.

52. per quem, ut rogaverat, missum, clandestinis conloquiis monuit ducem suopte ingenio pertinacem, ut ad praebendam sibi copiam agendi, quae vellet, popularibus suis acriter inmineret, eosque adsiduitate pugnandi mutaret in metum, promptos quidem ad perduellis favorum sed iacturis multiplicibus fessos.

52. through whom, as he had requested, having been sent, by clandestine colloquies he warned the leader, stubborn by his very nature, that, to provide himself with the opportunity of doing what he wished, he should press sharply upon his compatriots, and by the assiduity of fighting turn them into fear, ready indeed to favor a public enemy but wearied by manifold losses.

53. paruit Theodosius dictis et crebritate certaminlum Isaflenses ita protrivit, ut isdem labentibus move pecudum, Firmus latenter evaderet, et aviis et diuturnis latebris amendandus, inibi, dum de fuga consultat, tentus ab Igmazene custodiretur.

53. Theodosius obeyed the words and by the frequency of engagements so trounced the Isaflenses that, as those same men were collapsing in the manner of cattle, Firmus slipped away covertly and, to be concealed in trackless places and protracted hideouts; there, while he takes counsel about flight, he was kept under guard by Igmazen.

54. et quoniam obscurius gesta didicerat per Masillam, in extremis rebus unum remedium superesse contemplans, calcare vivendi cupiditatem voluntaria statuit morte: vinoque consulto distentis et crapulentis, silenti nocte oppressis altiore somno custodibus, pervigil ipse inpendentis aerumnae terrore, insonis gradibus relicto cubili, manibus repens et pedibus longius sese discrevit, repertumque funicu]um, quem finiendae vitae paravere casus, de clavo parieti adfixo suspendit, ubi collo inserto animam absque mortis cruciabilibus exhalavit.

54. and since he had learned the deeds somewhat obscurely through Masilla, contemplating that in extremities one remedy remained, he resolved to tread down the desire of living by a voluntary death: and, the guards, by design, stuffed and crapulous with wine, and in the silent night weighed down by a deeper sleep, he himself, pervigil from the terror of the impending affliction, with noiseless steps having left his couch, creeping on hands and feet he put a greater distance between himself; and finding a little cord, which chances had prepared for the finishing of life, he hung it from a nail fixed in the wall, where, his neck inserted, he breathed out his spirit without the cruciations of death.

55. Quod dolenter ferens Igmazen, ereptamque sibi gloriam gemens, quia non contigerat ad castra Romana vivum ducere perduellem, interposita fide publica per Masillam, ipse camelo necati cadaver inpositum ferens, cum tentoria exercitus adventaret ad Subicarense castellum locata, in iumentum transtulit sarcinale, et Theodosio obtulit exultanti.

55. Bearing this painfully, Igmazen, and lamenting the glory snatched from him—because it had not fallen to him to lead the public enemy alive to the Roman camp—after public faith had been interposed through Masilla, he himself, carrying on a camel the cadaver of the slain man set upon it, when he came up to the tents of the army pitched at the Subicarensian castellum, transferred it onto a pack-beast and offered it to Theodosius exultant.

56. qui convocatis armatis simul atque plebeiis, interrogatisque an agnoscerent vultum, cum eiusdem esse sine ulla didicisset ambage, ibi paulisper moratus Sitifim triumphanti similis redit, aetatum ordinumque omnium celebrabili favore susceptus.

56. who, having convened the armed men and likewise the plebeians, and having asked whether they recognized the visage, when he had learned without any ambiguity that it was the same person, lingering there for a little while, returned to Sitifis like one celebrating a triumph, received with celebratory favor by people of all ages and orders.

1. Dum hoc pulvere per Mauritaniam dux ante dictus anhelat et Africam, Quadorum natio motu est excita repentino, parum nunc formidanda, sed inmensum quantum antehac bellatrix et potens, ut indicant properata quondam raptu proclivi, obsessaque ab isdem ac Marcomannis Aquileia Opitergiumque excisum et cruenta conplura perceleri acta procinctu, vix resistente perruptis Alpibus Iuliis principe serio, quem ante docuimus, Marco. et erat, ut barbaris, ratio iusta querelarum.

1. While amid this dust through Mauretania and Africa the afore-said leader pants, the nation of the Quadi was stirred by a sudden motion—now little to be feared, but once upon a time immensely warlike and potent, as is indicated by raids formerly hurried with an easy sweep, and by Aquileia besieged by them together with the Marcomanni, and Opitergium exscinded (razed), and many bloody deeds done in a very swift battle-preparation, the Julian Alps having been broken through, the earnest prince, Marcus, whom we have previously shown, scarcely resisting. And there was, for barbarians, a just ground of complaints.

2. Valentinianus enim studio muniendorum limitum glorioso quidem sed nimio ab ipso principatus initio flagrans, trans flumen Histrum in ipsis Quadorum terris quasi Romano iuri iam vindicatis aedificari praesidiaria castra mandavit: quod accolae ferentes indigne, suique cautiores, legatione tenus interim et susurris arcebant.

2. For Valentinian, from the very beginning of his principate burning with a zeal for fortifying the frontiers—glorious indeed, but excessive—ordered garrison camps to be built across the river Hister in the very lands of the Quadi, as if already vindicated to Roman law; this the inhabitants, bearing it indignantly and being the more cautious for their own interest, for the time being were fending off by an embassy only and by whispers.

3. sed Maximinus in omne avidus nefas et genuinos mitigare nequiens flatus, quibus praefecturae accesserat tumor, increpabat Aequitium per Illyricum eo tempore magistrum armorum ut pervicacem et desidem, nec dum opere, quod maturari dispositum est, consummato: addebatque ut consulens in commune quod, si parvo suo Marcelliano deferretur potestas per Valeriam ducis, munimentum absque ulla causatione consurgeret.

3. but Maximinus, greedy for every nefariousness and unable to mitigate his inborn gusts, to which the swelling of the prefecture had been added, kept reproaching Aequitius, at that time master of arms through Illyricum, as pervicacious and slothful, the work, which had been arranged to be expedited, not yet consummated; and he would add, as if consulting for the common good, that, if ducal power over Valeria were conferred upon his pet Marcellianus, the fortification would rise without any pretext.

4. utrumque mox est impetratum. qui promotus profectusque cum venisset ad loca, intempestive turgens ut filius, nullis adfatibus delinitis his, quos numquam temptatae cupiditatis figmenta regionum suarum faciebant extorres, opus paulo ante inchoatum adgreditur, admissa copia rogandi suspensum.

4. Both were soon obtained. He who, promoted and having set out, when he had come to the places, swelling inopportunely, as the son, with no addresses having soothed those whom the figments of tempted cupidity never made exiles from their own regions, sets upon the work a little before begun, leave to petition having been admitted, the work suspended.

5. denique Gabinium regem, nequid novaretur modeste poscentem, ut adsensurus humanitate simulata cum aliis ad convivium conrogavit, quem digredientem post epulas, hospitalis officii sanctitate nefarie violata, trucidari securum fecit.

5. finally he convoked King Gabinius, who was modestly requesting that nothing be innovated, as if about to assent, with simulated humanity, together with others to a banquet; and him, departing after the feasts, the sanctity of the hospitable office nefariously violated, he caused to be butchered off his guard.

6. Cuius rei tam atrocis disseminatus rumor ilico per diversa et Quados et gentes circumsitas efferavit, regisque flentes interitum, in unum coactae misere vastatorias manus, quae Danubium transgressae, cum nihil exspectaretur hostile, occupatam circa messem agrestem adortae sunt plebem, maioreque parte truncata, quicquid superfuit, domum cum multitudine varii pecoris abduxerunt.

6. The rumor of so atrocious a deed, disseminated immediately, through diverse quarters both among the Quadi and the surrounding peoples, made them savage; and, weeping the king’s demise, gathered into one, they sent out ravaging bands, which, having crossed the Danube, when nothing hostile was expected, assailed the rural plebeian populace occupied about the harvest, and, the greater part having been cut down, whatever survived they led home with a multitude of various livestock.

7. evenisset profecto tunc inexpiabile scelus, numerandum inter probrosas rei Romanae iacturas - paulo enim afuit, quin filia caperetur Constanti cibum sumens in publica villa, quam appellant Pistrensem, cum duceretur Gratiano nuptura - ni favore propitii nmninis praesens Messalla provinciae rector eam iudiciali carpento inpositam ad Sirmium vicensimo sexto lapide disparatam cursu reduxisset effuso.

7. an inexpiable crime would indeed then have come to pass, to be numbered among the shameful losses of the Roman commonwealth - for it was little short of happening that the daughter of Constantius be captured while taking food in a public villa, which they call the Pistrensis, as she was being led to marry Gratian - had not, by the favor of a propitious numen, Messalla, present, the governor of the province, brought her back at full speed, set upon a judicial carriage, after she had been separated at the 26th milestone on the way to Sirmium.

8. Hoc casu prospero regia virgine periculo miserae servitutis exempta, cuius nisi potuisset impetrari redemptio captae, magnas inussisset rei publicae clades, latius se cum Sarmatis Quadi pandentes, ad raptus et latrocinia gentes aptissimae, praedas hominum virile et muliebre secus agebant et pecorum, villarum cineribus exustarum caesorumque incolentium exultantes aerumnis, quos necopinantes sine ulla parsimonia deleverunt.

8. By this propitious chance the royal virgin, exempted from the danger of wretched servitude—since, had a redemption (ransom) for her, once captured, not been able to be obtained, it would have branded the republic with great disasters—the Quadi, spreading themselves more widely with the Sarmatians, peoples most apt for rapines and latrociny, were driving off prey of humans, of the male and the female sex, and of herds, exulting in the ashes of villas burned to cinders and in the hardships of the inhabitants who had been cut down, whom, taken unawares, they annihilated without any sparing.

9. per omnia itaque propinqua malorum similium dispersa formidine, praefectus praetorio agens tunc apud Sirmium Probus, nullis bellorum terroribus adsuetus, rerum novarum lugubri visu praestrictus, oculosque vix attollens, haerebat diu, quid capesseret ambigens: et cum paratis velocibus equis noctem proximam destinasset in fugam, monitus tutiore consilio mansit inmobilis.

9. Accordingly, with fear of like evils spread through all the neighboring parts, Probus, the praetorian prefect then acting at Sirmium, unaccustomed to any terrors of wars, benumbed by the lugubrious sight of new disorders, and scarcely lifting his eyes, lingered long, wavering what course to take; and though, with swift horses prepared, he had destined the coming night for flight, being warned by a safer counsel he remained immobile.

10. didicerat enim omnes secuturos confestim, qui moenibus claudebantur, tegendos latebris oportunis: quod si contigisset, impropugnata civitas venisset in manus hostiles.

10. for he had learned that all who were shut in by the walls would immediately follow, needing to be covered in opportune hiding-places: and if this had come to pass, the city, un-defended, would have come into hostile hands.

11. proinde parumper lenito pavore, ad arripienda, quae urgebant, acri animo adsurgens, retersit obrutas ruderibus fossas, murorumque maximam partem pacis diuturnitate contemptam et subversam ad usque celsarum turrium minas expediit, studio aedificandi coalitus: hac ratione opere velociter absoluto, quod inpensas aedificandi causa theatri dudum congestas sufficientes ad id, quod efficere maturabat, invenit. atque huic spectato consilio salutare addidit aliud, et sagittariorum cohortem e statione proxima, adfuturam obsidio, si venisset, accivit.

11. Accordingly, with fear for a little soothed, rising with a keen spirit to seize what was pressing, he scoured the ditches buried under rubble, and he cleared and made ready the greatest part of the walls—held in contempt and subverted by the long continuance of peace—up to the very battlements of the lofty towers, being strengthened by zeal for building: by this method the work was swiftly completed, since he found the funds long since heaped up for the purpose of building a theater sufficient for that which he was hastening to accomplish. And to this tried-and-proved plan he added another salutary one, and he summoned a cohort of archers from the nearest station, which would be present for the siege, if it should come.

12. His velut obicibus barbari ab oppugnanda urbe depulsi, parum ad has calliditates dimicandi sollertes, sarcinisque inpediti praedarum, ad Aequitii vertuntur indaginem. et cum ad Valeriae spatia longe remota secessisse raptorum didicissent indiciis, illuc properato petierant. gradu frendentes, hacque ex causa iugulo eius intenti, quod per ipsum circumventum regem existimabant insontem.

12. By these, as by barriers, the barbarians, repelled from attacking the city, little skilled in these callidities of fighting and hampered by packs of booty, turn to the pursuit of Aequitius. And when by indications they had learned that the raiders had withdrawn to the regions of Valeria far distant, they made for that place in haste, gnashing as they marched; and for this cause they were bent upon his throat, because they reckoned that through him the innocent king had been circumvented.

13. quibus concito cursu ruentibus infestius, obviam legiones motae sunt duae, Pannonica et Moesiaca, valida proeliis manus: quae si conspirasset, abierat procul dubio victrix. sed dum discretim grassatores adoriri festinant, ortis inter se discordiis inpediti de honore certabant et dignitate.

13. as they were rushing with a hastened course, more aggressively, two legions were moved to meet them, the Pannonian and the Moesian, a band strong in battles: which, if it had conspired, would, beyond doubt, have departed victorious. but while they hasten to assault the raiders discretely, impeded by discords arisen among themselves, they were contending about honor and dignity.

14. quo intellecto Sarmatae sagacissimi, non exspectato certandi signo sollemni, Moesiacam primam incessunt, dumque milites arma tardius per tumultum expediunt, interfectis plurimis aucti fiducia, aciem perrupere Pannonicam, disiectaque agminis mole, geminatis ictibus omnem paene delessent, ni periculo mortis aliquos citum extraxisset effugium.

14. this understood, the most sagacious Sarmatians, not waiting for the customary signal for contesting, attack the Moesian first; and while the soldiers amid the tumult are more slowly getting their arms ready, with very many slain and increased in confidence, they broke through the Pannonian battle-line, and, the mass of the column scattered, with doubled blows they would have destroyed almost all, if a swift flight had not drawn some out from the danger of death.

15. Inter haec fortunae dispendia tristioris dux Moesiae Theodosius iunior, prima etiam tum lanugine iuvenis, princeps postea perspectissimus, Sarmatas Liberos ad discretionem servorum rebellium appellatos, conlimitia nostra ex alio latere invadentes, aliquotiens expulit et adflixit, congressibus densis adtritos, adeoque obsistentes fortissime turbas confluentes oppressit, ut caesorum plurium alites iuste sanguine satiaret et feras.

15. Amid these losses of a grimmer fortune, the dux of Moesia, Theodosius the younger, a youth even then with the first down of adolescence upon him, afterwards a most thoroughly approved emperor, several times expelled and afflicted the Free Sarmatians—so called to distinguish them from the rebellious slaves—who were invading our conterminous borders from another flank; worn down by close engagements, he so overwhelmed the confluent throngs that resisted most stoutly, that he rightly satiated birds and wild beasts with the blood of many slain.

16. unde residui tumore iam deflagrante metuentes, ne idem dux virtutis, ut apparuit, expeditae, in primo finium aditu incursantes cuneos sterneret aut fugaret, vel insidias per silvarum locaret occulta, post multos perrumpendi conatus subinde temptatos in cassum, abiecta pugnandi fiducia concessionem petivere praeteritorum et veniam, victique ad tempus indultae foederibus pacis nihil egere contrarium, eo maxime timore perculsi quod ad tutelam Illyrici Gallicani militis validum accesserat robur.

16. whence the survivors, with their swelling now burnt out, fearing lest that same leader of ready virtue, as it appeared, at the first entrance of the borders should lay low or put to flight the charging wedges, or should plant ambushes through the hidden places of the woods, after many attempts at breaking through repeatedly tried in vain, their confidence for fighting cast aside, sought a concession and a pardon for what was past; and, conquered, for a time they did nothing contrary to the pardon granted by the treaties of peace, being struck especially by this fear, that for the protection of Illyricum there had been added the strong strength of Gallican soldiery.

17. Dum haec tot ac talia per turbines agitantur adsiduos, Claudio regente urbem aeternam, Tiberis, qui media intersecans moenia, cloacis et fluviis abundantibus multis Tyrreno mari miscetur, effusione imbrium exuberans nimia et supra amnis speciem pansus, omnia paene contexit.

17. While so many and such things are being agitated through continual whirlwinds, with Claudius governing the Eternal City, the Tiber, which, cutting through the middle of the walls, is mingled with the Tyrrhenian Sea by sewers and many abundant rivers, swelling with an excessive effusion of rains and spread out beyond the semblance of a river, covered almost everything.

18. et stagnantibus civitatis residuis membris, quae tenduntur in planitiem molliorem, monti soli et quicquid insularum celsius eminebat, a praesenti metu defendebatur: et ne multi inedia contabescerent, undarum magnitudine nusquam progredi permittente, lembis et scaphis copia suggerebatur abunde ciborum at vero ubi tempestas mollivit et flumen retinaculis ruptis redit ad solitum cursum, absterso metu nihil postea molestum exspectabatur.

18. and with the remaining limbs of the city, which are stretched into the softer plain, lying stagnant, the hill alone, and whatever of the apartment-blocks rose higher, was defended from the present fear: and, lest many should waste away with starvation, the greatness of the waves permitting progress nowhere, by lembi and skiffs there was supplied in abundance a stock of provisions but indeed when the tempest softened and the river, the restraints broken, returned to its accustomed course, with fear wiped away nothing troublesome was thereafter expected.

19. hic ipse praefectus egit admodum quiete, nullam seditionem super querela iusta perpessus, et instauravit vetera plurima. inter quae porticum excitavit ingentem lavacro Agrippae contiguam, Eventus Boni cognominatam ea re, quod huius numinis prope visitur templum.

19. this very prefect conducted himself quite quietly, suffering no sedition on account of a just complaint, and he restored very many ancient things. among which he raised a huge portico contiguous to the Bath of Agrippa, surnamed Good Event for this reason, that a temple of this divinity is seen nearby.