Ammianus•RES GESTAE A FINE CORNELI TACITI
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1. Inter has turbarum difficultates, quas perfidia ducis rege Quadorum excitavit occiso per scelus, dirum in oriente committitur facinus, Papa Armeniorum rege clandestinis insidiis obtruncato: cuius materiae impio conceptae consilio hanc primordialem fuisse novimus causam.
1. Amid these difficulties of tumults, which the perfidy of a leader, the king of the Quadi having been slain by crime, had stirred up, a dire deed is committed in the East, Papa, king of the Armenians, being cut down by clandestine ambushes: of which matter, conceived by impious counsel, we know this to have been the primordial cause.
2. consarcinabant in hunc etiam tum adultum crimina quaedam apud Valentem exaggerentes male sollertes homines, dispendiis saepe communibus pasti. inter quos erat Terentius dux demisse ambulans, semperque submaestus, sed, quoad vixerat, acer dissensionum instinctor.
2. They were also at that time cobbling together certain crimes against him, now grown to manhood, before Valens, men maliciously clever, exaggerating them, often fattened on common losses. Among these was the general Terentius, walking humbly and always somewhat downcast, but, so long as he lived, a keen instigator of dissensions.
3. qui adscitis in societatem gentilibus paucis, ob flagitia sua suspensis in metum, scribendo ad comitatum adsidue Cylacis necem replicabat et Artabanis, addens eundem iuvenem ad superbos actus elatum nimis esse in subiectos inmanem.
3. who, with a few gentiles taken into partnership, kept suspended in fear on account of their flagitious deeds, by writing assiduously to the comitatus kept reiterating the killing of Cylaces and Artabanes, adding that the same youth, exalted to haughty acts, was excessively savage toward his subjects.
4. unde quasi futurus particeps suscipiendi tunc pro instantium rerum ratione tractatus, idem Papa regaliter vocatus, et apud Tarsum Ciliciae obsequiorum specie custoditus, cum neque ad imperatoris castra accipi nec urgentis adventus causam scire cunctis reticentibus posset, tandem secretiore indicio conperit, per litteras Romano rectori suadere Terentium, mittere prope diem alterum Armeniae regem, ne odio Papae speque quod revertetur, natio nobis oportuna deficeret ad iura Persarum, eam rapere vi vel metu vel adulatione flagrantium.
4. whence, as if about to be a participant in undertaking then, according to the condition of present affairs, a negotiation, that same Papa, summoned regally and kept at Tarsus of Cilicia under the appearance of obsequies, since he could neither be received into the emperor’s camp nor learn the cause of his urgent arrival, with all keeping silence, at length learned by a more secret indication that Terentius, by letters, was advising the Roman ruler to send before long another king for Armenia, lest, through hatred of Papa and the hope that he would return, the nation advantageous to us should defect to the jurisdiction of the Persians—they, aflame to snatch it by force, or fear, or adulation.
5. Quae reputans ille, inpendere sibi praesagiebat exitium grave. et doli iam prudens, neque aliam nisi cito discessu salutis reperiens viam, suadentibus his, quibus fidebat, conglobatis trecentis comitibus secutis eum e patria, cum equis velocissimis, ut in magnis solet dubiisque terroribus, audacter magis quam considerate pleraque diei parte emensa egressus cuneatim properabat intrepidus.
5. Weighing these things, he presaged that a grave doom was impending over him; and, now prudent of the deceit, and finding no way of safety except by a swift departure, with the counsel of those in whom he trusted, with three hundred companions, conglobated, having followed him from his homeland, with the most swift horses, as is wont in great and doubtful terrors, having gone out more audaciously than considerately, with the greater part of the day expended, he was hastening in wedge-formation, intrepid.
6. cumque eum provinciae moderator, apparitoris, qui portam tuebatur percitus festinato studio, repperisset in suburbanis, ut remaneret enixius obsecrabat, et parum hoc impetrato, mortis aversus est metu.
6. and when the governor of the province, stirred by the apparitor who was guarding the gate, had found him in the suburbs, he earnestly besought that he remain; and, having obtained little of this, he drew back for fear of death.
7. nec minus paulo postea legionem secutam iamque adventantem ipse cum promptissimis retrorsus excurrens, fundensque in modum scintillarum sagittas, sed voluntate errans, ita in fugam conpulit ut cum tribuno milites universi perterrefacti vividius quam venerant remearent ad muros.
7. And no less, a little later, as a legion that had followed and was now adventing, he himself, running back with the most forward, and pouring arrows in the manner of sparks, yet erring by will, drove them into flight, so that, with their tribune, all the soldiers, thoroughly terrified, returned to the walls more briskly than they had come.
8. exin solutus omni formidine, biduo et binoctio exanclatis itinerum laboribus magnis, cum ad flumen venisset Euphraten, et inopia navium voraginosum amnem vado transire non posset, nandi imprudentia paventibus multis, ipse omnium maxime cunctabatur: et remansisset, ni cunctis versantibus varia, id reperire potuisset effugium in necessitatis abrupto tutissimum.
8. thereafter released from all dread, after the great labors of the journeys had been exhausted in two days and two nights, when he had come to the river Euphrates, and for lack of ships could not cross the voraginous stream by a ford, with many, through unskillfulness at swimming, panicking, he himself most of all was hesitating; and he would have remained, had he not, while all were turning over various plans, been able to find that escape, on the precipice of necessity, the safest.
9. lectulos in villis repertos binis utribus suffulserunt, quorum erat abundans prope in agris vinariis copia: quibus singulis proceres insisidentes et regulus ipse, iumenta trahentes, praeruptos undarum occursantium fluctus obliquatis meatibus declinabant: hocque commento tandem ad ulteriorem ripam post extrema discrimina pervenerunt.
9. they propped up little couches found in the villas on two wine-skins apiece, of which there was an abundant supply close by in the wine‑growing fields: upon each of these the grandees, and the regulus himself, sitting, drawing along the beasts of burden, by oblique courses avoided the sheer billows of the onrushing waves: and by this contrivance at length they reached the farther bank after extreme perils.
10. residui omnes equis invecti natantibus, et circumluente flumine saepe demersi iactatique, infirmati periculoso madore expelluntur ad contrarias margines, ubi paulisper refecti expeditius quam diebus praeteritis incedebant.
10. all the remaining, borne on swimming horses, and often submerged and tossed by the river flowing around, weakened by the perilous moisture, were driven out to the opposite banks, where, refreshed for a little while, they advanced more expeditiously than on the preceding days.
11. Hoc nuntiato princeps ante dicti fuga perculsus, quem elaqueatum fidem rupturum existimabat, cum sagittariis mille succinctis et levibus Danielum mittit et Barzimerem revocaturos eum, comitem unum, alterum Scutariorum tribunum.
11. With this having been reported, the prince, struck by the flight of the aforesaid man, whom he supposed, once ensnared, would break his faith, sends Danielus and Barzimeres with a thousand archers, girded and light-armed, to call him back, the one a Count, the other a Tribune of the Scutarii.
12. hi locorum gnaritate confisi, quod ille properans ut peregrinus et insuetus, maeandros faciebat et gyros, conpendiosis vallibus eius itinera praevenerunt, et divisis inter se copiis, clausere vias proximas duas, trium milium intervallo distinctas, ut transiturus per utramvis caperetur inprovidus: sed evanuit cogitatum hoc casu.
12. These men, trusting in their knowledge of the localities, because he, hurrying as a peregrine and unaccustomed, was making meanders and gyres, by compendious valleys anticipated his routes; and, their forces divided among themselves, they closed two nearest roads, distinguished by an interval of 3 miles, so that, about to cross by either, he might be seized improvident: but this design vanished by a turn of chance.
13. viator quidam ad citeriora festinans cum clivum armato milite vidisset oppletum, per posterulam tramitem medium squalentem frutectis et sentibus vitabundus excedens, in Armenios incidit fessos, et ductus ad regem, arcano semone solum, quae viderat, docet ac retinetur intactus.
13. A certain wayfarer, hastening to the nearer parts, when he had seen the slope packed with armed soldiery, shunning it and going out by a postern path, a middle track foul with shrubberies and brambles, chanced upon weary Armenians; and, led to the king, by secret speech alone he tells what he had seen, and he is kept unharmed.
14. moxque metu dissimulato eques mittitur clandestinus ad dextrum itineris latus, diversoria paraturus et cibum, quo paulum progresso, in laevum tractum item talia facturus ire iubetur ocissime, alterum aliorsum nesciens missum.
14. and soon, fear dissimulated, a clandestine horseman is sent to the right side of the route, to prepare lodgings and food; when he had advanced a little, another is ordered to go very swiftly into the left tract likewise to do such things, he not knowing that another had been sent elsewhere.
15. quibus ita utiliter ordinatis, rex ipse cum suis, dumeta per quae venit relegente eo rursus monstranteque hispidam et iumento onusto exiguam callem post terga relictis militibus evolavit, qui captis eius ministris, missis ad mentes observantium praestringendas, quasi venaticiam praedam modo non porrectis brachiis exspectabant. dumque hi venturum operiuntur, ille regno incolumis restitutus et cum gaudio popularium summo susceptus fide grandi remansit inmobilis, iniuriis, quas pertulerat, omnibus demussatis.
15. with these things thus usefully ordered, the king himself with his men, as he retraced the thickets through which he had come and again pointed out the bristly and, for a loaded beast, exiguous path, with the soldiers left behind his back, flew off; these, after his ministers (attendants) had been seized, who had been sent to bedazzle the minds of the watchers, were awaiting, as if a hunting-prey, with arms almost outstretched. and while these awaited his coming, he, restored unharmed to his realm and received with the highest joy of his people, remained unmoved in great fidelity, all the injuries which he had endured having been swallowed down.
16. Danielus post haec et Barzimeres cum lusi iam iam revertissent, probrosis lacerati conviciis ac si inertes et desides, ut hebetatae primo adpetitu venenatae serpentes, ora exacuere letalia, cum primum potuissent, lapso pro virium copia nocituri.
16. After these things Danielus and Barzimeres, when, their game now played, they were just returning, torn with abusive reproaches as if inert and slothful, like venomous serpents dulled in their first onset, sharpened their lethal mouths, intending, as soon as they could, to harm the fallen in proportion to the supply of their forces.
17. et leniendi causa flagitii sui vel fraudis, quam meliore consilio pertulerunt, apud imperatoris aures rumorum omnium tenacissimas incessebant falsis criminibus Papam, incentiones Circeas in vertendis debilitandisque corporibus miris modis eum callere fingentes: addentesque quod huius modi artibus offusa sibi caligine mutata sua suorumque forma transgressus, tristes sollicitudines, si huic inrisioni superfuerit, excitabit.
17. and for the purpose of soothing their own scandal or fraud, which they had borne with better counsel, at the emperor’s ears, most tenacious of all rumors, they kept assailing the Pope with false charges, feigning that he is skilled in Circean incantations for turning and enfeebling bodies in wondrous ways, and adding that by arts of this sort, with a murk poured over himself and, his own and his followers’ form changed, having slipped across, he will rouse gloomy anxieties, if he should survive this derision.
18. Hinc in illum inexplicabile auctum principis odium, et doli struebantur in dies, ut per vim ei vel clam vita adimeretur: agentique tunc in Armenia Traiano, et rem militarem curanti id secretis committitur scriptis.
18. From this, the emperor’s inexplicable hatred toward him was augmented, and plots were being constructed day by day, so that his life might be taken from him either by force or by stealth: and to Trajan, who was then acting in Armenia and attending to the military affair, this was entrusted by secret writings.
19. qui inlecebrosis regem insidiis ambiens, et modo serenae mentis Valentis indices litteras tradens, modo ipse sese eius conviviis ingerens, ad ultimum conposita fraude ad prandium verecundius invitavit: qui nihil adversum metuens venit, concessoque honoratiore discubuit loco.
19. he, surrounding the king with alluring ambushes, and now handing over letters, indices of Valens’s serene mind, now himself thrusting himself into his banquets, at the last, with a fraud composed, invited him to a luncheon more modestly: he, fearing nothing adverse, came, and, a more honorary place for reclining having been conceded, reclined.
20. cumque adponerentur exquisitae cuppediae, et aedes amplae nervorum et articulato flatilique sonitu resultarent, iam vino incalescente, ipso convivii domino per simulationem naturalis cuiusdam urgentis egresso, gladium destrictum intentans, torvo lumine ferociens quidam inmittitur barbarus asper ex his, quos scurras appellant, confossurus iuvenem, ne exilire posset etiam tum praepeditum.
20. and when exquisite delicacies were being set on, and the spacious halls resounded with the sound of strings and an articulated and windy sound, with the wine now heating, the host of the banquet himself, having gone out under the simulation of a certain natural urgency, a harsh barbarian is let in, one of those whom they call scurrae, brandishing a drawn sword and, raging with a grim gaze, to stab the youth, so that he might not be able to leap up, even then hampered.
21. quo viso regulus forte prominens ultra torvm, expedito dolone adsurgens ut vitam omni ratione defenderet, perforato pectore deformis procubuit victima, ictibus multiplicatis foede concisa.
21. at the sight of this the petty-king, by chance projecting beyond the couch, rising with his dolon made ready to defend his life by every method, with his chest perforated, he sank forward a hideous victim, foully cut to pieces by multiplied blows.
22. hocque figmento nefarie decepta credulitate, inter epulas, quae reverendae sunt vel in Euxino ponto, hospitali numine contuente peregrinus cruor in ambitiosa lintea conspersus spumante sanie satietati superfuit convivarum, horrore maximo dispersorum. ingemiscat siquis vita digressis est dolor, huius adrogantiam facti Fabricius ille Luscinus, sciens qua animi magnitudine Democharen vel, ut quidam scribunt, Niciam ministrum reppulerit regium, conloquio occultiore pollicitum, quod Pyrrum Italiam tunc bellis saevissimis exurentem veneno poculis necabit infectis, scripseritque ad regem ut ab interiore caveret obsequio. tantum reverentiae locum apud priscam illam iustitiam vel hostilis mensae genialitas obtinebat.
22. and by this contrivance, with credulity wickedly deceived, amid banquets—which are to be revered even on the Euxine Sea—the hospitable numen looking on, foreign blood, spattered upon ostentatious linens, with frothing gore, was beyond the satiety of the diners, who were scattered in the greatest horror. let there be a groan, if any grief exists for those who have departed life: that Fabricius Luscinus, knowing with what greatness of spirit he had repelled Demochares—or, as some write, Nicias—the royal attendant, who in a more secret colloquy had promised that he would kill Pyrrhus, then scorching Italy with most savage wars, by poison in tainted cups, and had written to the king to beware of intimate service. so great a place of reverence, with that ancient justice, even the geniality of a hostile table possessed.
23. verum excusabatur recens inusitatum facinus et pudendum necis exemplo Sertorianae, adulatoribus forsitan ignorantibus quod, ut Demosthenes perpetuum Graeciae decus adfirmat, numquam similitudine aut inpunitate alterius criminis diluitur id quod contra ac liceat arguitur factum.
23. but the recent, unaccustomed and shameful deed was being excused by the example of the Sertorian murder, the flatterers perhaps ignorant that, as Demosthenes, the perpetual honor of Greece, affirms, never is that which is alleged to have been done contrary to what is permitted washed away by the similarity or the impunity of another crime.
1. Haec per Armeniam notabiliter gesta sunt. Sapor vero post suorum pristinam cladem conperto interitu Papae, quem sociare sibi inpendio conabatur, maerore gravi perculsus augenteque nostri exercitus alacritate formidinem, maiora sibi praeseminans,
1. These things were notably accomplished through Armenia. But Sapor, after the former defeat of his own and upon learning of the death of Papa, whom he was striving to associate to himself by lavish outlay, struck with grievous mourning, and with the alacrity of our army increasing his fear, presaging greater things for himself,
2. Arsace legato ad principem misso, perpetuam aerumnarum causam deseri penitus suadebat Armeniam: si id displicuisset, aliud poscens, ut Hiberiae divisione cessante remotisque inde partis Romanae praesidiis, Aspacures solus regnare permitteretur, quem ipse praefecerat genti.
2. Arsaces, with a legate sent to the emperor, was urging that Armenia, the perpetual cause of miseries, be utterly deserted: if that were displeasing, demanding another thing, that, the division of Iberia ceasing and the garrisons of the Roman side removed from there, Aspacures be permitted to reign alone, whom he himself had set over the nation.
3. ad quae Valens in hanc respondit sententiam nihil derogare se posse placitis ex consensu firmatis, sed ea studio curatiore defendere. glorioso proposito contrariae regis litterae hieme iam extrema perlatae sunt, vana causantis et tumida. adseverabat enim non posse semina radicitus amputari discordiarum, nisi intervenissent conscii pacis foederatae cum Ioviano, quorum aliquos vita didicerat abscessisse.
3. to which Valens replied in this sense, that he could derogate nothing from the settlements ratified by common consent, but to defend them with more careful zeal. With this glorious purpose, the opposing king’s letters were delivered when winter was already at its end, alleging things vain and tumid. For he asserted that the seeds of discords could not be cut off by the roots, unless the privy witnesses of the peace federated with Jovian had intervened, some of whom he had learned had departed this life.
4. Ingravescente post haec altius cura, imperator eligere consilia quam invenire sufficiens, id conducere rebus existimans, Victorem magistrum equitum et Vrbicium Mesopotamiae ducem ire propere iussit in Persas, responsum absolutum et unius modi perferentes: quod rex iustus et suo contentus, ut iactitabat, sceleste concupiscat Armeniam, ad arbitrium suum vivere cultoribus eius permissis: sed ni Sauromaci praesidia militum inpertita principio sequentis anni, ut dispositum est, inpraepedita reverterint, invitus ea conplebit, quae sponte sua facere supersedit.
4. With the concern after these things deepening more gravely, the emperor, sufficient to choose counsels rather than to find them, thinking that that would conduce to affairs, ordered Victor, Master of the Horse, and Urbicius, duke of Mesopotamia, to go promptly to the Persians, carrying an answer complete and of a single tenor: that the king, just and content with his own, as he vaunted, wickedly covets Armenia, its inhabitants being permitted to live at his discretion: but unless the garrisons of soldiers imparted to Sauromaces shall have returned unimpeded at the beginning of the following year, as has been arranged, he will, unwillingly, accomplish those things which he has refrained from doing of his own accord.
5. quae legatio recta quidem et libera, ni deviasset in eo, quod absque mandatis oblatas sibi regiones in eadem Armenia suscepit exiguas. Qua regressa advenit Surena potestatis secundae post regem, has easdem imperatori offerens partes, quas audacter nostri sumpsere legati.
5. which embassy was indeed straightforward and free, had it not deviated in this, that without mandates it accepted for itself the small regions offered in that same Armenia. Upon its return Surena, second in power after the king, arrived, offering to the emperor these same parts which our envoys boldly assumed.
6. quo suscepto liberaliter et magnifice sed parum impetrato, quod poscebat, remisso, parabantur magna instrumenta bellorum, ut mollita hieme imperatore tribus agminibus perrupturo Persidem, ideoque Scytharum auxilia festina celeritate mercante.
6. this having been received liberally and magnificently, but with too little obtained of what he was demanding, he having been sent back, great instruments of war were being prepared, so that, with the winter softened, the emperor would break through Persia with three columns, and for that reason was purchasing the auxiliaries of the Scythians with hasty speed.
7. Proinde parum adeptus ea, quae spe vana conceperat Sapor, ultraque solitum asperatus, quod ad expeditionem accingi rectorem conpererat nostrum: iram eius conculcans Surenae dedit negotium, ut ea, quae Victor comes susceperat et Vrbicius, armis repeteret, si quisquam repugnaret, et milites Sauromacis praesidio destinati malis adfligerentur extremis.
7. Therefore, Sapor, having attained too little of those things which he had conceived in vain hope, and exasperated beyond what was customary because he had learned that our ruler was being girded for an expedition: trampling down his wrath, he gave a commission to Surena to reclaim by arms those things which the count Victor and Urbicius had undertaken, if anyone should resist, and that the soldiers appointed for the guard of Sauromaces be afflicted with extreme ills.
8. haecque, ut statuerat, maturata confestim nec emendari potuerunt nec vindicari, quia rem Romanam alius circumsteterat metus totius Gothiae, Thracias licentius perrumpentis: quae funera tunc explicari poterunt carptim, si ad ea quoque venerimus.
8. and these measures, as he had determined, having been hastened forthwith, could neither be amended nor vindicated, because another fear had hemmed in the Roman state, that of the whole of Gothia, breaking through Thrace more licentiously: which slaughters will then be able to be set forth piecemeal, if we also come to those.
9. Haec per eoos agitata sunt tractus. quorum inter seriem Africanas clades et legatorum Tripoleos manes inultos etiam tum et errantes sempiternus vindicavit iustitiae vigor, aliquotiens serus sed scrupulosus quaesitor gestorum recte vel secius, hoc modo.
9. These things were carried on through the eastern tracts. And amid their sequence, the African disasters and the shades of the legates of Tripolis, still even then unavenged and wandering, the sempiternal vigor of Justice vindicated, at times tardy but a scrupulous inquisitor of deeds done rightly or otherwise, in this way.
10. Remigius, quem populanti provincias rettulimus comiti favisse Romano, postquam Leo in eius locum magister esse coepit officiorum, a muneribus rei publicae iam quiescens, negotiis se ruralibus dedit prope Mogontiacum in genitalibus locis.
10. Remigius, whom we have reported to have favored the count Romanus as he was ravaging the provinces, after Leo began to be master of the offices in his place, now resting from the duties of the commonwealth, devoted himself to rural affairs near Mogontiacum in his native places.
11. quem ibi morantem securius praefectus praetorio Maximinus reversum ad otium spernens, ut solebat dirae luis ritu grassari per omnia, laedere modis quibus poterat adfectabat: utque rimaretur plura, quae latebant, Caesarium antehac eius domesticum, postea notarium principis, raptum, quae Remigius egerit vel quantum acceperit, ut Romani iuvaret actus infandos, per quaestionem cruentam interrogabat. I
11. him lingering there more securely, the Praetorian Prefect Maximinus spurning that he had returned to leisure, as he was wont to run riot through everything in the manner of a dire plague, strove to injure by whatever methods he could: and, so that he might probe more things which lay hidden, he seized Caesarius—formerly his domestic (household officer), afterwards notary of the emperor—, and he questioned him by bloody interrogation as to what Remigius had done or how much he had received, so that he might aid the unspeakable acts of Romanus. I
2. quibus ille cognitis, cum esset, ut dictum est, in secessu, conscientia malorum urgente, vel rationem formidine superante calumniarum, innodato gutture laquei nexibus interiit.
2. these things having been learned by him, since he was, as has been said, in seclusion, with the conscience of evils urging him, or with fear of calumnies overpowering reason, with his throat knotted in the coils of a noose, he perished.
1. Secuto post haec anno, Gratiano adscito in trabeae societatem Aequitio consule, Valentiniano post vastatos aliquos Alamanniae pagos munimentum aedificanti prope Basiliam, quod appellant accolae Robur, offertur praefecti relatio Probi, docentis Illyrici clades.
1. In the year following these things, Gratian having been admitted into the fellowship of the trabea, with Aequitius as consul, while Valentinian, after certain cantons of Alemannia had been laid waste, was building a fortification near Basel, which the inhabitants call the Oak, the report of the prefect Probus is presented, informing of the disasters of Illyricum.
2. quibus ille ut cunctatorem decuerat ducem, examinatius lectis, attonitus cogitationibus anxiis, Paterniano notario misso negotium scrupulosa quaesivit indagine, moxque veris per eum nuntiis gestorum acceptis, evolare protinus festinabat, ausos temerare limitem barbaros primo fragore, ut mente conceperat, oppressurus armorum.
2. Upon which he, as it had befitted a delaying leader, having read them more carefully, thunderstruck with anxious thoughts, after Paternianus the notary was sent, sought out the matter with a scrupulous inquest, and soon, when through him true messages of the deeds had been received, was hastening to fly forth at once, to crush with arms, as he had conceived in his mind, the barbarians who had dared to violate the frontier at the first crash.
3. quia igitur abeunte autumno multa inpediebant et aspera, adnitebantur omnes per regiam optimates, ut ad usque principium veris oratum eum pertinerent et exoratum: primum durata pruinis itinera, ubi nec adultae in pastum herbae reperirentur nec cetera usui congrua, penetrari non posse firmantes: dein vicinorum Galliis regum inmanitatem, maximeque omnium Macriani ut formidati tunc praetendentes, quem constabat inpacatum relictum etiam ipsa urbium moenia temptaturum.
3. because, therefore, with autumn going away, many impediments and harsh conditions were obstructing, all the optimates through the palace were striving to hold him back, by entreaty and after having prevailed upon him, up to the very beginning of spring: first asserting that the roads hardened by hoarfrost, where neither grown grasses for fodder would be found nor the other things congruous for use, could not be penetrated; then putting forward the inhumanity of the kings neighboring the Gauls, and most of all of Macrianus, as at that time dreaded, whom it was agreed had been left unpacified and would even attempt the very walls of the cities.
4. haec memorantes addentesque utilia, reduxere eum in meliorem sententiam, statimque, ut conducebat rei communi, prope Mogontiacum blandius rex ante dictus accitur, proclivis ipse quoque ad excipiendum foedus, ut apparebat. et venit inmane quo quantoque flatu distentus ut futurus arbiter superior pacis, dieque praedicto conloquii ad ipsam marginem Rheni caput altius erigens stetit, hinc inde sonitu scutorum intonante gentilium.
4. recalling these things and adding useful ones, they brought him back into a better opinion, and immediately, as it was conducive to the common interest, near Mogontiacum the aforesaid king is summoned more coaxingly, he himself also inclined to accept the treaty, as was apparent. and he came, immense, puffed out with so great a blast as to be the superior arbiter of peace, and on the day appointed for the colloquy he stood at the very margin of the Rhine, raising his head higher, while on either side the sound of the shields of the tribesmen thundered.
5. contra Augustus escensis amnicis lembis, saeptus ipse quoque multitudine castrensium ordinum, tutius prope ripas accessit, signorum fulgentium nitore conspicuus, et inmodestis gestibus murmureque barbarico tandem sedato, post dicta et audita ultro citroque versus, amicitia media sacramenti fide firmatur.
5. on the other hand Augustus, having embarked on river skiffs, himself too enclosed by a multitude of the camp orders, approached more safely near the banks, conspicuous by the brightness of the gleaming standards, and, the immoderate gestures and barbarian murmur at last stilled, after things said and heard exchanged to and fro, friendship between them is made firm by the faith of an oath (sacrament).
6. hisque perfectis discessit turbarum rex artifex delenitus, futurus nobis deinceps socius, et dedit postea ad usque vitae tempus extremum constantis in concordiam animi facinorum documentum pulchrorum.
6. with these things completed, the king, an artificer of tumults, departed, won over, to be thereafter our ally, and afterward, even up to the last moment of his life, he gave proof by fair deeds of a mind constant toward concord.
7. periit autem in Francia postea, quam dum internecive vastando perrupit avidius, oppetit Mallobaudis bellicosi regis insidiis circumventus. post foedus tamen sollemni ritu impletum Treveros Valentinianus ad hiberna discessit.
7. he perished, moreover, in France afterwards, when, while by internecine ravaging he was breaking through too greedily, he met his end, surrounded by the ambush of Mallobaudes, a bellicose king. after the treaty, however, fulfilled with solemn rite, Valentinian departed to Trier for winter quarters.
1. Haec per Gallias et latus agebantur arctoum. at in eois partibus alto externorum silentio intestina pernicies augebatur per Valentis amicos et proximos, apud quos honestate utilitas erat antiquior. navabatur enim opera diligens ut homo rigidus, audire cupiens lites, a studio iudicandi revocaretur, metu ne ita ut Iuliani temporibus defensione innocentiae respirante, frangeretur potentium tumor adsumpta licentia latius solitus evagari.
1. These things were being conducted through the Gauls and on the northern flank. But in the eastern parts, with a deep silence of outsiders, intestine ruin was being increased by the friends and intimates of Valens, among whom utility was older than honesty. For diligent effort was plied that the rigid man, eager to hear lawsuits, might be called back from his zeal for judging, from fear lest, as in the times of Julian, with the defense of innocence taking breath, the swelling of the powerful be broken, their assumed license being wont to roam more widely.
2. ob haec et similia concordi consensu dehortantibus multis, maximeque Modesto praefecto praetorio regiorum arbitrio spadonum exposito, et subagreste ingenium nullis vetustatis lectionibus expolitum coacto vultu fallente, et adserente, quod infra imperiale columen causarum essent minutiae privatarum, ille ad humilitandam celsitudinem potestatis negotiorum examina spectanda instituta esse arbitratus, ut monebat, abstinuit penitus, laxavitque rapinarum fores, quae roborabantur in dies iudicum advocatorumque pravitate sentientium paria, qui tenuiorum negotia militaris rei rectoribus vel intra palatium validis venditantes, aut opes aut honores quaesivere praeclaros.
2. On account of these things and the like, with many dissuading by a concordant consensus, and most of all Modestus, praetorian prefect, exposed to the arbitration of the royal eunuchs, and a somewhat rustic ingenium, polished by no readings of antiquity, his constrained countenance deceiving, and asserting that the minutiae of private causes were beneath the imperial column, he, supposing that examinations of suits set to be viewed had been instituted to humiliate the loftiness of power, as he advised, abstained utterly, and unbarred the doors of rapine, which were reinforced day by day by the depravity of judges and advocates thinking alike, who, vending the affairs of the poorer to the rulers of the military business or to the powerful within the palace, sought either conspicuous riches or distinguished honors.
3. Hanc professionem oratorum forensium politikes moriou eidolon, id est civilitatis particulae umbram vel adulationis partem quartam esse definit amplitudo Platonis, Epicurus autem kakotechnian nominans inter artes numerat malas. Tisias suasionis opificem esse memorat adsentiente Leontino Gorgia.
3. The greatness of Plato defines this profession of forensic orators as a politikes moriou eidolon, that is, a shadow of a small particle of civility, or a fourth part of adulation. Epicurus, however, calling it kakotechnia, numbers it among the evil arts. Tisias records that it is a craftsman of suasion, with Gorgias the Leontine assenting.
4. quam a veteribus ita determinatam orientalium quorundam versutia ad usque bonorum extulit odium, unde etiam retinaculis temporis praestituti frenatur. ergo absolutis super eius indignitate paucis, quam in illis partibus agens expertus sum, ad coeptorum cursum regrediar institutum.
4. which, thus determined by the ancients, the craftiness of certain Orientals has raised even to the hatred of the good, whence also it is reined in by the retinacles of prescribed time. therefore with a few things completed about its indignity, which, acting in those parts, I experienced, I shall return to the instituted course of my undertakings.
5. Florebant elegantiae priscae patrociniis tribunalia, cum oratores concitae facundiae, attenti studiis doctrinarum, ingenio fide copiis ornamentisque dicendi pluribus eminebant, ut Demosthenes, quo dicturo concursus audiendi causa ex tota Graecia fieri solitos monumentis Atticis continetur, et Callistratus, quem nobilem illam super Oropo causam [qui locus in Euboea est] perorantem idem Demosthenes Academia cum Platone relicta sectatus est: ut Hyperides et Aeschines et Andocides et Dinarchus et Antiphon ille Rhamnusius, quem ob defensum negotium omnium primum antiquitas prodidit accepisse mercedem.
5. The tribunals flourished by the patronages of ancient elegance, when orators of stirred eloquence, attentive to the studies of doctrines, stood out by talent, credit, resources, and by the more numerous ornaments of speaking, like Demosthenes, about whom it is contained in the Attic monuments that, when he was about to speak, gatherings for the sake of hearing used to be made from all Greece; and Callistratus, whom, delivering that noble case about Oropus [which place is in Euboea], the same Demosthenes, with the Academy and Plato left behind, followed; like Hyperides and Aeschines and Andocides and Dinarchus and that Antiphon of Rhamnus, whom, on account of a defended case, antiquity has handed down as the very first of all to have received a fee.
6. nec minus apud Romanos Rutilii et Galbae et Scauri vita moribus frugalitateque spectati et postea per varias aevi sequentis aetates censorii et consulares multi et triumphales, Crassi et Antonii et cum Philippis Scaevolae aliique numerosi post exercitus prosperrime ductos, post victorias et tropaea civilibus stipendiorum officiis floruerunt, laureasque fori speciosis certaminibus occupantes summis gloriae honoribus fruebantur.
6. no less among the Romans did the Rutilii and the Galbae and the Scauri, men noted for life, morals, and frugality, and later, through the various ages of the ensuing era, many censorial and consular and triumphal men—the Crassi and the Antonii and, together with the Philippi, the Scaevolae, and many others—after armies had been led most prosperously, after victories and trophies, flourish in the civil duties of their services; and, seizing the laurels of the forum by splendid contests, they enjoyed the highest honors of glory.
7. post quos excellentissimus omnium Cicero, orationis imperiosae fluminibus saepe depressos aliquos iudiciorum eripiens flammis "non defendi homines sine vituperatione fortasse posse, neglegenter defendi sine scelere non posse" firmabat.
7. after whom the most excellent of all, Cicero, with the streams of imperious oration, often rescuing some pressed down from the flames of trials, affirmed: "men perhaps can be defended not without vituperation, but to be defended negligently cannot be without crime."
8. At nunc videre est per eoos omnes tractus violenta et rapacissima genera hominum per fora omnia volitantium, et subsidentium divites domus, ut Spartanos canes aut Cretas, vestigia sagacius colligendo ad ipsa cubilia pervenire causarum.
8. But now one may see through all the eastern tracts violent and most rapacious breeds of men flitting through all the fora, and sitting down at the houses of the wealthy, like Spartan or Cretan hounds, by more sagaciously gathering the tracks to reach the very lairs of lawsuits.
9. In his primus est coetus eorum, qui seminando diversa iurgia per vadimonia mille iactantur, viduarum postes et orborum liminia deterentes, et aut inter discordantes amicos aut propinquantes vel adfines, si simultatum levia senserint receptacula, odia struentes infesta : in quibus aetatis progressu non ut aliorum vitia intepescunt, sed magis magisque roborantur: inter rapinas insatiabiles inopes ad capiendam versutis orationibus iudicum fidem, quorum nomen ex iustitia natum est, sicam ingenii destringentes.
9. Among these the first is the cohort of those who, by seeding diverse quarrels, are tossed through a thousand vadimonia, wearing down the doorposts of widows and the thresholds of orphans, and either between disagreeing friends or relatives or affines, if they sense slight receptacles of feuds, building hostile hatreds infesta : in whom, with the progress of age, not as the vices of others grow tepid, but they are strengthened more and more: amid insatiable rapines, destitute, to capture with crafty speeches the credence of judges, whose very name is born from justice, drawing the dagger of their wit.
10. horum [obstinatione] libertatem temeritas, constantiam audacia praeceps, eloquentiam inanis quaedam imitatur fluentia loquendi: quarum artium scaevitate, ut Tullius adseverat, nefas est religionem decipi iudicantis. ait enim "cumque nihil tam incorruptum esse debeat in re publica quam suffragium, quam sententia, non intellego cur, qui ea pecunia corruperit, poena dignus sit: qui eloquentia, laudem etiam ferat. mihi quidem hoc plus mali facere videtur, qui oratione, quam qui pretio iudicem corrumpit: quod pecunia corrumpere pudentem nemo potest, dicendo potest".
10. by the [obstinacy] of these men, temerity counterfeits liberty, headlong audacity counterfeits constancy, and a certain empty fluency of speaking counterfeits eloquence: by the perversity of which arts, as Tullius asserts, it is nefas that the religio of the judge be deceived. for he says, "and since nothing ought to be so incorrupt in the commonwealth as the vote and the judgment, I do not understand why he who has corrupted them with money is worthy of punishment, while he who with eloquence does so even bears praise. to me indeed he seems to do more harm who corrupts a judge by oration than he who does so by a price: because no one can corrupt a modest man with money; by speaking one can".
11. Secundum est genus eorum, qui iuris professi scientiam, quam repugnantium sibi legum abolevere discidia, velut vinculis ori inpositis reticentes, iugi silentio umbrarum sunt similes propriarum. hi velut fata natalicia praemonstrantes aut Sibyllae oraculorum interpretes, vultus gravitate ad habitum conposita tristiorem, ipsum quoque venditant, quod oscitantur.
11. The second is the kind of those who, having professed the science of law, which the dissensions of laws repugnant to one another have abolished, keep silent as if with fetters imposed upon the mouth; they are like their own shades in perpetual silence. These, as though foreshowing natal fates or interpreters of the Sibyl’s oracles, with faces by gravity composed to a sadder habit, even vend the very thing that they yawn.
12. hi ut altius videantur iura callere, Trebatium locuntur et Cascellium et Alfenum et Auruncorum Sicanorumque iam diu leges ignotas, cum Evandri matre abhinc saeculis obrutas multis. et si voluntate matrem tuam finxeris occidisse, multas tibi suffragari absolutionem lectiones reconditas pol]icentur, si te senserint esse nummatum.
12. these, so that they may seem to be more deeply versed in the laws, speak of Trebatius and Cascellius and Alfenus and the long-since unknown laws of the Aurunci and the Sicani, buried, along with Evander’s mother, many ages ago. And if you should have feigned to have killed your mother by intent, they promise many recondite readings to support your acquittal, if they perceive you to be moneyed.
13. Tertius eorum est ordo, qui ut in professione turbulenta clarescant, ad expugnandam veritatem ora mercenaria procudentes, per prostitutas frontes vilesque latratus, quo velint, aditus sibi patefaciunt crebros: qui inter sollicitudines iudicum per multa distentas inresolubili nexu vincientes negotia, laborant, ut omnis quies litibus inplicetur, et nodosis quaestionibus de industria iudicia circumscribunt, quae cum recte procedunt, delubra sunt aequitatis: cum depravantur, foveae fallaces et caecae: in quas si captus ceciderit quisquam, non nisi per multa exiliet lustra, ad usque ipsas medullas exsuctus.
13. The third order of them are those who, that they may become renowned in a turbulent profession, hammering out mercenary mouths to storm the truth, through prostituted foreheads and cheap barkings open for themselves frequent entrances wherever they wish: who, amid the anxieties of judges stretched over many matters, binding up cases with an irresoluble knot, labor that every repose be entangled in litigations, and with knotty questions on purpose circumscribe the courts, which, when they proceed rightly, are shrines of equity: when they are perverted, deceitful and blind pits: into which, if anyone, caught, should fall, he will not leap out except after many lustrums, drained down to the very marrow itself.
14. Quartum atque postremum est genus inpudens, pervicax et indoctmn eorum, qui cum inmature a litterariis eruperint ludis, per angulos civitatum discurrunt, mimiambos non causarum remediis congrua commentantes, fores divitum deterendo, cenarum ciborumque aucupantes delicias exquisitas.
14. The fourth and last kind is impudent, pervicacious, and unlearned, those who, when they have burst out immaturely from the literary schools, run about through the corners of the cities, composing mimiambs not congruent with the remedies of causes, wearing down the doors of the rich, angling for the exquisite delights of dinners and foods.
15. qui cum semel umbraticis lucris, et inhiandae undique pecuniae sese dediderint, litigare frustra quoslibet innocentes hortantur, et ad defendendam causam admissi, quod raro contingit, suscepti nomen et vim negotii sub ore disceptatoris inter ipsos conflictuum articulos instruuntur, circumlocutionibus indigestis ita scatentes, ut conluvionis taeterrimae audire existimes ululabili clamore Thersiten.
15. who, when once they have given themselves over to umbratile profits, and to gaping on every side for money, urge any whosoever, even the innocent, to litigate to no purpose; and, admitted to defend a cause, which rarely happens, once taken on they are instructed in the name and the force of the case under the mouth of the arbitrator, right amid the very articulations of the conflicts, so teeming with undigested circumlocutions that you would think you hear Thersites, with ululant clamor, from a most loathsome confluence of filth.
16. cum autem ad inopiam muniendarum venerint allegationum, ad effrenatam deflectunt conviciandi licentiam: quo nomine ob adsidua in personas honorabiles probra diebus dictis aliquotiens sunt damnati, e quibus ita sunt rudes non nulli ut numquam se codices habuisse meminerint.
16. when however they have come to an indigence of fortifying allegations, they deflect to an unbridled license of reviling: by which name, on account of assiduous reproaches against honorable persons, they have several times been condemned on the days set, of whom not a few are so raw that they remember never to have had codices.
17. et si in circulo doctorum auctoris veteris inciclerit nomen, piscis aut edulii peregrinum esse vocabulum arbitrantur: si vero advena quisquam inusitatum sibi antea Marcianum verbo tenus quaesierit oratorem, omnes confestim Marcianos appellari se fingunt.
17. and if in a circle of the learned the name of an ancient author should come up, they suppose it to be the vocable of a foreign fish or comestible: but if some stranger should by word only ask for an orator Marcianus previously unusual to him, they all immediately pretend to be called Marciani.
18. nec iam fas ullum prae oculis habent, sed tamquam avaritiae venundati et usucapti, nihil praeter interminatam petendi licentiam norunt. et siquem semel intra retia ceperint, cassibus mille inpedicant, per morborum simulationem vicissim consulto cessantes: utque pervulgati iuris proferatur lectio vana, septem vendibiles introitus praeparant, dilationum examina longissima contexentes.
18. and they no longer have any right at all before their eyes, but as if sold and usucapted to avarice, they know nothing except the unbounded license of petitioning. and if they once have taken someone within the nets, they entangle him with a thousand meshes, by a simulation of illnesses in turn deliberately holding back; and so that a vain reading of vulgarized law may be brought forward, they prepare seven marketable entrances, weaving together the longest swarms of dilations.
19. et cum nudatis litigatoribus dies cesserint et menses et anni, tandem obtrita vetustate controversia intromissa, ipsa capita splendoris ingressa alia secum advocatorum simulacra inducunt. cumque intra cancellorum venerint saepta, et agi coeperint alicuius fortunae vel salus, atque laborari debeat, ut ab insonte gladius vel calamitosa detrimenta pellantur, conrugatis hinc inde frontibus brachiisque histrionico gestu formatis, ut contionaria Gracchi fistula post occipitium desit, consistitur altrinsecus diu: tandemque ex praemeditato conludio per eum, qui est in verba fidentior, suave quoddam principium dicendi exeritur, Cluentianae vel pro Ctesiphonte orationum aemula ornamenta promittens: et in eam conclusionem cunctis finem cupientibus desinit, ut nondum se patroni post speciem litis triennium editam causentur instructos, spatioque prorogati temporis impetrato, quasi cum Antaeo vetere conluctati, perseveranter flagitant pulveris periculosi mercedes.
19. and when, with the litigants stripped bare, days and months and years have yielded, at length, the controversy, its antiquity worn to shreds, being admitted, the very heads of splendor having entered, introduce with themselves other simulacra of advocates. and when they have come within the fenced lattices of the bar, and the fortune or the safety of someone has begun to be proceeded with, and there ought to be toil, that from the innocent the sword or calamitous detriments be driven away, with brows wrinkled on this side and that, and arms composed in a histrionic gesture, as though the contionary pipe of a Gracchus were lacking behind the back of the head, they take position on either side for a long time: and at last, out of a premeditated collusion, through him who is more confident in words, a certain suave beginning of speaking is drawn forth, promising ornaments emulous of the Cluentian or the speech for Ctesiphon: and it ends in this conclusion, with all desiring a finish, that the patrons plead that they are not yet equipped even after three years since the appearance of the suit was published, and, a space of prorogated time having been obtained, as though having wrestled with the old Antaeus, they perseveringly demand fees for dangerous dust.
20. Verum tamen haec cum ita sint, non desunt advocatis incommoda plurima, parum sustinenda recte victuro. namque sellulariis quaestibus inescati, inter se hostiliter dissident et erupta maledicendi ferocia, ut dictum est, multos offendunt: quam tunc effutiunt cum commissarum sibi causarum infirmitatem rationibus validis convallare non possunt.
20. Nevertheless, since these things are so, there are not lacking for advocates very many inconveniences, scarcely to be endured by one who would live rightly. For, enticed by bench-fees, they disagree among themselves in hostile fashion, and by an outburst of malediction’s ferocity, as has been said, they offend many: which they then blurt out when they cannot buttress with strong reasons the weakness of the cases committed to them.
21. et iu dices patiuntur interdum doctos ex Philistionis aut Aesopi cavillationibus, quam ex Aristidis illius Iusti vel Catonis disciplina productos: qui aere gravi mercati publicas potestates, ut creditores molesti opes cuiusque modi fortunae rimantes, alienis gremiis excutiunt praedas.
21. and judges sometimes endure men trained from the cavillations of Philistion or Aesopus, rather than produced from the discipline of that Aristides the Just or of Cato: who, having purchased public powers for heavy bronze, like troublesome creditors rummaging the wealth of every sort of fortune, shake the spoils out of others’ laps.
22. ad ultimum id habet causidicina cum ceteris metuendum et grave, quod hoc ingenitum est paene litigantibus cunctis, ut, cum iurgia mille casibus cadant, accidentia secus in potestate esse existiment patronorum, et omnem certaminum exitum isdem soleant adsignare, et non vitiis rerum aut iniquitati aliquotiens disceptantium sed solis defensantibus irascantur. verum unde huc declinavimus revertamur.
22. at the last this lawyercraft has, fearful and grievous in common with the others, that this is inborn in almost all litigants, that, when quarrels fall out by a thousand chances, they suppose adverse accidents to be in the power of the patrons, and are wont to assign every outcome of contests to the same, and they grow angry not at the vices of the matters or at the iniquity at times of the arbiters, but at the defenders alone. but let us return to whence we have digressed hither.
1. Pubescente iam vere Valentinianus a Treveris motus, per nota itinera gradu celeri contendebat, eique regiones adventanti, quas petebat, legatio Sarmatarum offertur: pedibusque eius prostrata orabat pacifica prece, ut propitius veniret et lenis, nullius diri facinoris participes popularis suos inventurus aut conscios.
1. With spring already burgeoning, Valentinian, moved from Trier, was pressing on by known roads with a swift pace, and to him, as he was arriving at the regions which he sought, a legation of the Sarmatians was presented: and, prostrate at his feet, it was pleading with a pacific prayer, that he would come propitious and gentle, about to find his compatriots participants in no dire crime or privy to it.
2. Quibus saepe eadem iterantibus, hactenus perpensa deliberatione respondit, haec in locis, ubi dicuntur admissa, quaerenda verissimis documentis et vindicanda. cumque exinde Carnuntum Illyriorum oppidum introisset, desertum quidem nunc et squalens sed ductori exercitus perquam oportunum, ubi fors copiam dedisset aut ratio, e statione proxima reprimebat barbaricos adpetitus.
2. To those who often repeated the same things, after deliberation weighed thus far he replied, that these matters must be sought in the places where they are said to have been committed, by the truest documents, and vindicated. and when from there he had entered Carnuntum, a town of the Illyrians, deserted indeed now and squalid but for a leader of the army very opportune, whenever chance had given an opportunity or reason, from the nearest station he was checking the barbarian attempts.
3. Et quamquam terrori cunctis erat, dum sperabatur ut acer et vehemens mox iudices damnari iussurus, quorum perfidia vel secessione Pannoniarum nudatum est latus: cum illuc venisset, ita intepuit ut neque in Gabinii regis inquireret necem neque inusta rei publicae vulnera, quo sinente vel agente segnius evenissent, accuratius vestigaret: eo videlicet more quo erat severus in gregariis corrigendis, remissior erga maiores fortunas vel verbis asperioribus incessendas.
3. And although he was a terror to all, while it was hoped that, as keen and vehement, he would soon be about to order the judges to be condemned, by whose perfidy or secession the flank of the Pannonias was laid bare: when he had come there, he so grew lukewarm that he neither investigated the murder of King Gabinius nor more carefully tracked the branded wounds to the commonwealth, which, with him either permitting it or acting, had come about more remissly: namely in that manner in which he was severe in correcting the rank-and-file, more remiss toward greater fortunes, even to be assailed with harsher words.
4. solum tamen incitato petebat odio Probum, numquam, ex quo eum viderat, minari desinens vel mitescens: cuius rei causae nec obscurae fuerunt nec leves. hic praefecturam praetorio non tunc primitus nanctus, eamque multis atque utinam probabilibus modis in longum proferre gestiens, non ut prosapiae suae claritudo monebat, plus adulationi quam verecundiae dedit.
4. only, however, with incited hatred he was assailing Probus, never, since he had seen him, ceasing to menace nor mellowing: the causes of which matter were neither obscure nor light. he, having not then for the first time obtained the praetorian prefecture, and eager to prolong it by many and—would that they were— probable modes, for a long time, not as the renown of his lineage advised, gave more to adulation than to modesty.
5. contemplatus enim propositum principis, quaerendae undique pecuniae vias absque iustormn iniustorumque discretione scrutantis, errantem non reducebat ad aequitatis tramitem, ut saepe moderatores fecere tranquilli: sed ipse quoque flexibilem sequebatur atque transversum.
5. for, having contemplated the purpose of the emperor, who was scrutinizing everywhere the ways of money to be sought, without discrimination between the just and the unjust, he did not lead the erring one back to the track of equity, as calm governors have often done: but he too followed a pliant and oblique course.
6. uncle graves obedientium casus, exitialia provisorum nomina titulorum, iuxta opulentas et tenues enervatas succidere fortunas, argumentis aliis post validioribus aliis, usu laedendi reperiente longaevo. denique tributorum onera vectigaliumque augmenta multiplicata, optimatum quosdam ultimorum metu exagitatos mutare conpulerunt sedes, et flagitantium ministrorum amaritudine quidam expressi, cum non suppeteret quod daretur, erant perpetui carcerum inquilini: e quibus aliquos, cum vitae iam taederet et lucis, suspendiorum exoptata remedia consumpserunt.
6. whence the grave downfalls of the obedient, the deadly names of provisor titles, to cut down enervated fortunes alike of the wealthy and the poor, by arguments now stronger now weaker, as a long-aged practice of harming kept discovering. finally, the burdens of tribute and the multiplied increases of taxes drove certain of the optimates, harried by fear of the worst, to change their seats, and some, squeezed by the bitterness of the demanding ministers, when what might be given was not at hand, were perpetual lodgers of prisons: of whom some, when they were already weary of life and of the light, consumed the longed-for remedies of hangings.
7. haec ita inlecebrosius atque inhumani�s agi loquebatur quidem pertinax rumor, Valentinianus vero tamquam auribus cera inlitis ignorabat, indifferenter quidem lucrandi vel ex rebus minimis avidus, idque tantum cogitans quod offerebatur, parsurus tamen fortasse Pannoniis, si haec ante ingemiscenda conpendia conperisset, quae nimium sero tali didicit casu.
7. that these things were being carried on more seductively and more inhumanly, a pertinacious rumor indeed was saying; but Valentinian, as if his ears were smeared with wax, was unaware, indifferently indeed avid for lucre even from the smallest things, and thinking only of what was being offered; yet he would perhaps have spared the Pannonians, if he had learned beforehand these economies to be groaned over, which he learned far too late by such a case.
8. ad provincialium residuorum exemplum etiam Epirotae acturos sibi gratias a praefecto mittere conpulsi legatos, Iphiclem quendam philosophum, spectatum robore pectoris hominem, adegere non sponte propria pergere ad id munus implendum.
8. Following the example of the remaining provincials, even the Epirotes, compelled to send legates to the prefect to render thanks on their own behalf, drove a certain philosopher, Iphicles, a man proven in robustness of breast, to proceed not by his own will to fulfill that office.
9. qui cum imperatorem vidisset, agnitus adventusque sui causam interrogatus, Graece respondit, atque ut philosophus veritatis professor quaerente curatius principe si hi, qui misere, ex animo bene sentiunt de praefecto, "gementes", inquit "et inviti".
9. when he had seen the emperor, and, being recognized, was asked the cause of his arrival, he answered in Greek; and, as a philosopher, a professor of truth, with the emperor inquiring more carefully whether those who sent him feel well from the heart about the prefect, "groaning," he said, "and unwilling."
10. quo ille verbo tamquam telo perculsus, actus eius ut sagax bestia rimabatur, genuino percunctando sermone, quos noscitabat: ubinam ille esset verbi gratia honore ante suos excellens et nomine, vel ille dives, aut alius ordinis primus. cumque disceret perisse aliquem laqueo, abisse alium trans mare, conscivisse sibi alium mortem, aut plumbo vita erepta extinctum, in inmensum excanduit, urente irarum nutrimenta tunc officiorum magistro Leone - pro nefas - ipso quoque praefecturam, ut e celsiore scopulo caderet, adfectante: quam si adeptus rexisset, prae his, quae erat ausurus, administratio Probi ferebatur in caelum.
10. by which word he, as if struck by a weapon, probed his conduct like a sagacious beast, by inquiring in genuine speech those whom he recognized: where, for example, was that man who before his own excelled in honor and in name, or that rich one, or another, first of his order. And when he learned that someone had perished by the noose, another had gone across the sea, another had contrived death for himself, or that someone, life snatched by lead, had been extinguished, he flared up beyond measure, Leo then master of the Offices — O nefas — himself also aiming at the prefecture, so that he might fall from a higher crag: which, if he had obtained and governed, in comparison with the things he was about to dare, the administration of Probus was being borne to the sky.
11. Agens itaque apud Carnuntum imperator per continuos tres menses aestivos arma parabat et alimenta, siqua fors secundasset, pervasurus oportune Quados, tumultus atrocis auctores; in quo oppido Faustinus, filius sororis Viventii praefecti praetorio, notarius militans, Probo spectante negotium, carnificis manu peremptus est post tormenta, vocatus in crimen, quod asinum occidisse dicebatur ad usum artium secretarum, ut adserebant quidam urgentes, ut autem aiebat ille, ad imbecillitatem firmandam fluentium capillorum.
11. Therefore, the emperor, conducting affairs at Carnuntum for three continuous summer months, was preparing arms and provisions, if any fortune should have seconded him, being about to overrun at an opportune time the Quadi, authors of the atrocious tumult; in which town Faustinus, the son of the sister of Viventius, praetorian prefect, a notary serving as a soldier, with Probus looking on at the affair, was done to death by the hand of the executioner after tortures, arraigned on a charge, namely that he was said to have killed a donkey for the use of secret arts, as certain men, pressing the charge, asserted, but, as he said, to strengthen the feebleness of his flowing hair.
12. alio quoque in eum perniciose conposito, quod petenti per iocum cuidam Nigrino, ut eum notarium faceret, exclamavit ille hominem ridens "fac me imperatorem, si id volueris impetrare". hocque ludibrio inique interpretato et Faustinus ipse et Nigrinus et alii sunt interfecti.
12. another plot, perniciously contrived, was also laid against him, because when a certain Nigrinus, asking in jest that he make him a notary, he cried out, laughing at the man, "make me emperor, if you shall wish to obtain that." and with this mockery unjustly interpreted, both Faustinus himself and Nigrinus and others were killed.
13. Praemisso igitur Merobaude cum militari peditum manu, quam regebat, ad vastandos cremandosque barbaricos pagos, comite adiuncto Sebastiano, Valentinianus Acincum propere castra commovit, navigiisque ad repentinum casum coniunctis, et contabulato celeri studio ponte, per partem aliam transiit in Quados, speculantes quidem ex diruptis montibus eius adventum, quo plerique ancipites incertique accidentium cum suis caritatibus secesserunt: sed stupore defixos cum in regionibus suis contra quam opinabantur augusta cernerent signa.
13. Therefore, Merobaudes having been sent ahead with a military hand of foot-soldiers, which he commanded, to devastate and burn barbarian villages, with Count Sebastian attached, Valentinian swiftly moved the camp to Acincum, and with the boats joined for a sudden contingency, and with a bridge decked with swift zeal, by another route he crossed into the Quadi, watching indeed from the rent mountains for his arrival, whereupon many, wavering and uncertain of what might befall, with their loved ones withdrew: but they were fixed in stupor when, in their own regions, contrary to what they expected, they beheld august standards.
14. progressus ergo coacto gradu in quantum res tulit, iugulataque aetate promiscua, quam etiam tum palantem subitus occupavit excursus, et tectis conbustis redit cum incolumibus cunctis, quos duxerat secum, itidemque apud Acincum moratus autumno praecipiti, per tractus conglaciari frigoribus adsuetos commoda quaerebat hiberna, nullaque sedes idonea reperiri praeter Sabariam poterat, quamvis eo invalidam tempore adsiduisque malis adflictam.
14. having advanced therefore at a compelled pace as far as the situation allowed, and with a populace of mixed age slaughtered, which even then, as it was straggling, a sudden sortie overtook, and with the dwellings burned he returns with all unharmed whom he had led with him, and likewise, having tarried at Acincum with the autumn headlong, he was seeking commodious winter-quarters through tracts accustomed to be congealed by frosts, he was seeking commodious winter-quarters, and no suitable seat could be found except Sabaria, although at that time weak, and by continual evils afflicted.
15. unde hoc etiam si magni intererat, paulisper sequestrato, inpigre motus, peragrata fluminis ripa, castrisque praesidio conpetenti munitis atque castellis, Bregitionem pervenit, ibique diu conpositum ad quietem principis fatum sortem denuntiabat ei supremam prodigiis ingerentibus multis.
15. whence this matter too, although it was of great moment, having been sequestered for a little while, he moved energetically, the river’s bank having been traversed, and the camps and fortlets fortified with a competent garrison, he reached Bregition; and there the emperor’s fate, long composed for repose, was announcing to him his supreme lot, with many prodigies pressing in.
16. namque diebus ante paucissimis ruinas fortunarum indicantia celsarum, arsere crinita sidera cometarum, quorum originem supra docuimus. ante apud Sirmium repentino fragore nubium fulmen excussum, palatii et curiae partem incendit et fori, et apud Sabariam eodem adhuc constituto, bubo culminibus regii lavacri insidens occentansque funebria, nulla iacientium sagittas et lapides contemplabili dextera cadere potuit, certatim licet ardenti studio petebatur.
16. for indeed a very few days earlier, betokening the ruins of exalted fortunes, the hairy stars of comets blazed, whose origin we have taught above. Previously at Sirmium, with a sudden crash of the clouds, a lightning-bolt, struck out, set on fire part of the palace and the curia, and of the forum; and at Sabaria, while he was still stationed there, a bubo, sitting on the gables of the royal bath and chanting funeral songs, could not be made to fall by any remarkable right hand of those casting arrows and stones, although it was being targeted in rivalry with burning zeal.
17. item cum ab urbe praedicta tenderet ad procinctum, per portam volvit, unde introiit, exire, ut omen colligeret, quod cito remeabit ad Gallias. cumque locus adgestis ruderibus neglectus purgatur, lapsam forem ferratam, quae exitum obseravit, multitudo removere non potuit viribus magnis enisa, et dum frustra tereret diem, coactus per aliam egressus est portam.
17. likewise, when from the aforementioned city he was tending toward the battle-line (procinct), he wished to go out through the gate by which he had entered, that he might collect an omen that he would soon return to Gaul. And when the place, with rubble heaped up, neglected, was being cleared, a fallen iron-bound door, which had barred the exit, the multitude could not remove, though striving with great strength; and while it was wasting the day in vain, he was compelled to go out through another gate.
18. nocteque, quam lux eruptura eum vita secuta est, ut per quietem solet, videbat coniugem suam absentem sedere passis capillis, amictu squalenti contectam: quam aestimari dabatur Fortunam eius esse cum taetro habitu iam discessuram.
18. and in the night which the light about to burst forth would follow, his life departing, as is usual in sleep, he saw his consort, though absent, sitting with hair unbound, covered with a squalid amict: whom it was being reckoned to be his Fortune, now about to depart with a grim aspect.
19. progressus deinde matutinus, contractiore vultu substristis cum eum oblatus non susciperet equus, anteriores pedes praeter morem erigens in sublime, innata feritate concitus, ut erat inmanis, dexteram stratoris militis iussit abscidi, quae eum insilientem iumento pulsarat inconsulto: perissetque cruciabiliter innocens iuvenis, ni tribunus stabuli Cerealis dirum nefas cum sui periculo distulisset.
19. then, at the matutinal going-forth, with his countenance more contracted and rather downcast, when the horse presented would not receive him, rearing its forefeet unusually on high, stirred by inborn ferocity, as it was monstrous, he ordered the right hand of the strator-soldier to be cut off, which had struck him, as he was leaping onto the mount, unwittingly; and the innocent youth would have perished excruciatingly, had not Cerealis, tribune of the stable, deferred the dire nefas with danger to himself.
1. Post haec Quadorum venere legati, pacem cum praeteritorum oblitteratione suppliciter obsecrantes, quam ut adipisci sine obstaculo possent, et tirocinium et quaedam utilia rei Romanae pollicebantur.
1. After these things the envoys of the Quadi came, humbly beseeching peace with an obliteration of past matters, which, so that they might obtain without impediment, they were promising both a levy of recruits and certain things useful to the Roman State.
2. quos quoniam suscipi placuit, et redire indutiis, quae poscebantur, indultis - quippe eos vexari diutius nec ciborum inopia nec alienum tempus anni patiebantur - in consistorium Aequitio suadente sunt intromissi. cumque membris incurvatis starent metu debiles et praestricti, docere iussi, quae ferebant, usitatas illas causationum species iurandi fidem addendo firmabant: nihil ex communi mente procerum gentis delictum adseverantes in nostros, sed per extimos quosdam latrones amnique confines evenisse, quae inciviliter gesta sunt, etiam id quoque addendo, ut sufficiens ad facta purganda firmantes, quod munimentum extrui coeptum nec iuste nec oportune, ad ferociam animos agrestes accendit.
2. since it was decided that they should be received, and that they should return with an armistice, which was being demanded, granted—for neither scarcity of provisions nor the unsuitable season of the year allowed them to be harassed longer—they were admitted into the consistory at Aequitius’s urging. And when, with limbs bent, they stood weak and benumbed with fear, ordered to explain what they were bringing, they were confirming those customary kinds of pleas by adding the pledge of an oath: asserting that nothing had been committed against our people by the common mind of the nobles of the nation, but that the things which were done incivilly had occurred through certain outlying brigands and neighbors along the river; adding this also, affirming it as sufficient for purging the deeds: that the muniment, begun to be built neither justly nor opportunely, had kindled rustic spirits to ferocity.
3. ad haec imperator ira vehementi perculsus, et inter exordia respondendi tumidior, increpabat verborum obiurgatorio sonu nationem omnem ut beneficiorum inmemorem et ingratam. paulatimque lenitus et ad molliora propensior, tamquam ictus e caelo vitalique via voceque simul obstructa, suffectus igneo lamine cernebatur; et repente cohibito sanguine, letali sudore perfusus, ne laberetur spectantibus et vilibus, concursu ministrorum vitae secretioris ad conclave ductus est intimum.
3. at this the emperor, struck with vehement anger, and, amid the beginnings of replying, more swollen, was chiding with a scolding sound of words the whole nation as forgetful of benefactions and ungrateful. And gradually softened and more inclined to gentler things, as if smitten from heaven, and with the vital passage and the voice at once obstructed, he was seen to be suffused with a fiery flush; and suddenly, his blood checked, drenched with a lethal sweat, lest he should collapse with spectators and commoners looking on, by the rush of the ministers of his more private life he was led to the innermost chamber.
4. ubi locatus in lecto, exiguas spiritus reliquias trahens, nondum intellegendi minuto vigore, cunctos agnoscebat adstantes, quos cubicularii, nequis eum necatum suspicaretur, celeritate maxima conrogarant. et quoniam viscerum flagrante conpage laxanda erat necessario vena, nullus inveniri potuit medicus hanc ob causam, quod eos per varia sparserat, curaturos militem pestilentiae morbo temptatum.
4. when placed on the bed, drawing scant remnants of breath, not yet with the minute vigor of understanding, he was recognizing all standing by, whom the chamberlains, lest anyone suspect him slain, had convoked with the greatest speed. And since, with the framework of his viscera blazing, a vein had of necessity to be loosened, no physician could be found for this cause, because he had scattered them through various places, to care for the soldiery assailed by the disease of pestilence.
5. unus tamen repertus, venam eius iterum saepiusque pungendo, ne guttam quidem cruoris elicere potuit, internis nimietate calorum ambustis, vel, ut quidam existimabant, arefactis ideo membris, quod meatus aliqui, quos haemorrhoidas nunc appellamus, obserati sunt gelidis frigoribus concrustati.
5. one, however, having been found, by puncturing his vein again and again, could not elicit even a drop of blood, the inner parts having been scorched by an excess of heats, or, as some thought, the limbs dried up for this reason, because certain meatus, which we now call haemorrhoids, were obstructed, encrusted by icy chills.
6. sensit inmensa vi quadam urgente morborum, ultimae necessitatis adesse praescripta, dicereque conatus aliqua vel mandare, ut singultus ilia crebrius pulsans, stridorque dentium et brachiorum motus velut caestibus dimicantium indicabat, iam superatus liventibusque maculis interfusus, animam diu conluctatam efflavit, aetatis quinquagesimo anno et quinto, imperii, minus centum dies, secundo et decimo.
6. he felt, with an immense force of diseases pressing, that the prescriptions of final necessity were at hand, and, having tried to say some things or to give commands, as the sobbing striking his flanks more frequently, the gnashing of teeth, and the movements of his arms like men fighting with cestuses indicated, now overcome and suffused with livid spots, he breathed out a soul long struggling, in the fifty-fifth year of age, and of his reign, less by a hundred days, the twelfth year.
1. Replicare nunc est oportunum, ut aliquotiens fecimus, et ab ortu primigenio patris huiusce principis ad usque ipsius obitum actus eius discurrere per epilogos brevis, nec vitiorum praetermisso discrimine vel bonorum, quae potestatis amplitudo monstravit, nudare solita semper animorum interna.
1. It is opportune now to replicate, as we have done several times, and from the primigenial origin of the father of this prince down to his own death to run through his acts in brief epilogues, not with the discrimination of vices or of good things omitted, and to lay bare the inner things of minds, which the amplitude of power has demonstrated itself always accustomed to do.
2. Natus apud Cibalas Pannoniae oppidum Gratianus maior ignobili stirpe, cognominatus est a pueritia prima Funa rius ea re, quod nondum adultus venalem circumferens funem, quinque militibus eum rapere studio magno conatis nequaquam cessit: aemulatus Crotoniaten Milonem, cui mala saepe cohaerenter laeva manu retinenti vel dextra, nulla umquam virium fortitudo abstraxit.
2. Born at Cibalas, a town of Pannonia, Gratian the elder, of ignoble stock, was surnamed from his earliest boyhood Funarius for this reason: that, not yet full-grown, while carrying about a rope for sale, he by no means yielded when five soldiers, attempting with great zeal to snatch it away, tried to do so; emulating Milo the Crotoniate, from whose left hand or right, when he often held apples tightly clinging together, no strength of might ever wrenched them away.
3. ob ergo validi corporis robur, et peritiam militum more luctandi notior multis, post dignitatem protectoris atque tribuni comes praefuit rei castrensi per Africam, unde furtorum suspicione contactus digressusque, multo postea pari potestate Brittannum rexit exercitum, tandemque honeste sacramento solutus revertit ad larem, et agens procul a strepitu, multatione bonorum adflictus est a Constantio hoc nomine, quod civili flagrante discordia, hospitio dicebatur suscepisse Magnentium, per agrum suum ad proposita festinantem.
3. therefore on account of the robustness of a sturdy body, and, more noted to many, for expertise in wrestling in the soldiers’ manner, after the dignity of protector and tribune, as count he presided over the castrensian affair through Africa, whence, touched by suspicion of thefts and having departed, much later with equal power he ruled the British army, and at length, honorably released from the oath, he returned to his hearth, and, living far from the din, he was afflicted by a confiscation of goods by Constantius for this reason, that, while civil discord was blazing, he was said to have received Magnentius as a guest, hastening through his estate toward his objectives.
4. Cuius meritis Valentinianus ab ineunte adulescentia commendabilis, contextu suarum quoque suffragante virtutum, indutibus imperatoriae maiestatis apud Nicaeam ornatus, in Augustum collegium fratrem Valentem adscivit, ut germanitate ita concordia sibi iunctissimum, inter probra medium et praecipua, quae loco docebimus conpetenti.
4. By whose merits Valentinian, commendable from his incipient youth, the contexture of his own virtues likewise giving suffrage, having been adorned at Nicaea with the garments of imperial majesty, admitted his brother Valens into the college of the Augusti, as most closely joined to himself by brotherhood as also by concord, amid reproaches both middling and preeminent, which we will show in the fitting place.
5. igitur Valentinianus post periculorum molestias plures, dum esset privatus, emensas, inperitare exorsus, arces prope flumina sitas et urbes, et Gallias petit Alamannicis patentes excursibus, reviviscentibus erectius cognito principis Iuliani interitu, quem post Constantem solum omnium formidabant.
5. therefore Valentinian, after many annoyances of perils, while he was a private person, having been passed, having begun to exercise rule, made for fortresses situated near rivers and for cities, and for the Gauls lying open to Alamannic excursions, they having revived more boldly once the death of the prince Julian was known, whom, after Constans, alone of all they feared.
6. ideo autem etiam Valentinianus merito timebatur, quod auxit et exercitus valido supplemento, et utrubique Rhenum celsioribus castris munivit atque castellis, ne latere usquam hostis ad nostra se proripiens possit.
6. therefore moreover even Valentinian was deservedly feared, because he augmented the armies with a robust supplement, and on both sides he fortified the Rhine with loftier camps and with little forts, lest the enemy, lurking anywhere, himself hurling upon our territory, might be able.
7. Utque multa praetereamus, quae egit moderatoris auctoritate fundati, quaeque per se vel duces correxit industrios : post Gratianum filium in societatem suae potestatis adsumptum, Vithicabium regem Alamannorum Vadomario genitum, adulescentem in flore primo genarum, nationes ad tumultus cientem et bella, clam, quia non potuit aperte, confodit: et Alamannis congressus prope Solicinium locum, ubi insidiis paene perierat circumventus, ad exitium ultimum delere potuit universos, ni paucos velox effugium tenebris amendasset.
7. And to pass by many things which he did with the authority of a moderator as his foundation, and which he corrected either by himself or through industrious leaders : after his son Gratian had been taken into a partnership of his power, Vithicabius, king of the Alamanni, born of Vadomarius, a youth in the first bloom of his cheeks, stirring up the nations to tumults and wars, he secretly stabbed, because he could not do it openly; and, having engaged the Alamanni near the place Solicinium, where, surrounded by ambushes, he had nearly perished, he was able to destroy them all to ultimate extinction, if swift flight in the darkness had not carried off a few.
8. Inter haec tamen caute gesta, iam conversos ad metuendam rabiem Saxonas, semper quolibet inexplorato ruentes, delatosque tunc ad terrestres tractus, quorum spoliis paene redierant locupletes, malefido quidem sed utili commento peremit, praeda raptoribus vi fractis excussa.
8. Amid these things, however, cautiously managed, the Saxons, now turned to a fear-inspiring rabidity, always rushing wherever un-reconnoitred, and then carried to terrestrial tracts, from whose spoils they had almost returned opulent, he did away with by a treacherous indeed but useful stratagem, the booty shaken out from the robbers, their force broken by force.
9. Itidemque Brittannos, catervas superfusorum ostium non ferentes, spe meliorum adsumpta, in libertatem et quietem restituit placidam, nullo paene redire permisso grassatorum ad sua.
9. And likewise the Britons, not bearing the throngs of overrunning foes, with hope of better things assumed, he restored to liberty and placid quiet, with scarcely any of the marauders permitted to return to their own.
10. Efficacia pari Valentinum quoque Pannonium exulem, per has provincias molientem otium turbare commune, antequam negotium effervescat, oppressit. Africam deinde malo repentino perturbatam discriminibus magnis exemit, cum voraces militarium fastus ferre nequiens Firmus, ad omnes dissensionum motus perflabiles gentes Mauricas concitasset. Similique fortitudine clades ingemiscendas Illyrici vindicasset, ni morte praeventus reliquisset rem seriam inperfectam.
10. With equal efficacy he also suppressed Valentinus, a Pannonian exile, who through these provinces was contriving to disturb the common repose, before the affair should effervesce. Then he exempted Africa, thrown into perturbation by a sudden evil, from great crises, when Firmus, unable to bear the voracious haughtiness of the soldiery, had stirred up the Moorish peoples, easily swept by every movement of dissensions. And with like fortitude he would have vindicated the lamentable disasters of Illyricum, had he not, anticipated by death, left the serious matter imperfect.
11. Ac licet opera praestabilium ducum haec, quae rettulimus, consummata sunt: tamen ipsum quoque satis constat ut erat expeditae mentis usuque castrensis negotii diuturno firmatus, egisse conplura : inter quae illud elucere clarius potuit, si Macrianum regem ea tempestate terribilem, vivum capere potuisset, ut industria magna temptarat, postquam eum evasisse Burgundios, quos ipse admoverat Alamannis, maerens didicisset et tristis.
11. And although by the works of most outstanding leaders these things which we have recounted were consummated: nevertheless it is quite agreed that he himself also, as he was of a ready mind and strengthened by long use of camp-business, accomplished many things : among which this could have shone forth more clearly, if he had been able to capture alive Macrianus, a king at that time terrible, as he had attempted with great industry, after he, grieving and sad, had learned that he had slipped away to the Burgundians, whom he himself had brought to bear upon the Alamanni.
1. Haec super actibus principis brevi sunt textu percursa: nunc confisi, quod nec metu nec adulandi foeditate constricta posteritas, incorrupta praeteritorum solet esse spectatrix, summatim eius numerabimus vitia, post et bene merita narraturi.
1. These things concerning the acts of the prince have been run through in a brief text: now, confident that posterity, constrained by neither fear nor the foulness of adulation, is wont to be an uncorrupted spectator of things past, we shall summarily enumerate his vices, afterward about to relate his well-merited services as well.
2. adsimulavit non numquam clementiae speciem cum esset in acerbitatem naturae calore propensior, oblitus profecto quod regenti imperium omnia nimia velut praerupti scopuli sunt devitanda.
2. he sometimes simulated a semblance of clemency, since by the heat of his nature he was more inclined to acerbity, having indeed forgotten that for one governing an empire all excesses, like precipitous crags, are to be shunned.
3. nec enim usquam reperitur miti cohercitione contentus sed aliquotiens quaestiones multiplicari iussisse cruentas, post interrogationes funestas non nullis ad usque discrimina vitae vexatis: et ita erat effusior ad nocendum ut nullum aliquando damnatorum capitis eriperet morte subscriptionis elogio leni, cum id etiam principes interdum fecere saevissimi.
3. nor indeed anywhere is he found content with mild coercition, but at times to have ordered the bloody interrogations to be multiplied, after fatal examinations having harassed some to the very crises of life: and he was so prodigal to do harm that he never at any time snatched any of those condemned on a capital charge from death by the gentle endorsement of his subscription, although even the most savage emperors sometimes did this.
4. atquin potuit exempla multa contueri maiorum et imitari peregrina atque interna humanitatis et pietatis, quas sapientes consanguineas virtutum esse definiunt bonas. e quibus haec sufficiet poni. Artaxerxes Persarum ille rex potentissimus, quem Macrochira membri unius longitudo commemoravit, suppliciorum varietates, quas natio semper exercuit cruda, lenitate genuina castigans, tiaras ad vicem capitum quibusdam noxiis amputabat: et ne secaret aures more regio pro delictis, ex galeris fila pendentia praecidebat: quae temperantia morum ita tolerabilem eum fecit et verecundum, ut adnitentibus cunctis multos et mirabiles actus impleret Graecis scriptoribus celebratos.
4. and yet he could behold many examples of the ancestors and imitate both foreign and internal examples of humanity and piety, which the wise define to be good and consanguine with the virtues. of which let this suffice to be set forth. Artaxerxes, that most powerful king of the Persians, whom the length of one limb commemorated as Macrochira, chastising by native lenity the varieties of punishments which the nation, ever cruel, practiced, would amputate tiaras in place of heads for certain guilty men; and, lest he cut off ears according to the royal custom for offenses, he would clip the threads hanging from their caps; which temperance of manners made him so tolerable and modest, that, with all striving, he accomplished many and wondrous acts celebrated by Greek writers.
5. Praenestino praetore, qui bello quodam Samnitico properare iussus ad praesidium venerat segnius, ad crimen diluendum exhibito Papinus Cursor ea tempestate dictator securem per lictorem expediri, homineque abiecta purgandi se fiducia stupefacto, visum prope fruticem iussit abscidi: hocque ioci genere castigatum eum absolvit, non ideo contemptus, ut qui bella diuturna per se superavit et gravia, solus ad resistendum aptus Alexandro Magno, si calcasset Italiam, aestimatus.
5. When the Praenestine praetor—who, in a certain Samnite war, having been ordered to hurry, had come too slowly to the aid—was produced to wash away the charge, Papinus Cursor, then dictator, ordered the axe to be made ready by the lictor; and when the man, with his confidence of clearing himself cast down, was stupefied, he ordered a shrub seen nearby to be cut down: and with this kind of jest he chastised him and absolved him, nor was he on that account despised, as one who by himself overcame long and grievous wars, esteemed the only man fit to resist Alexander the Great, if he had trodden Italy.
6. haec forsitan Valentinianus ignorans minimeque reputans adflicti solacia status semper esse lenitudinem principum, poenas per ignes augebat et gladios: quod ultimum in adversis rebus remedium pietas reperitur animorum, ut Isocratis memorat pulchritudo: cuius vox est perpetua docentis, ignosci debere interdum armis superato rectori, quam iustum quid sit ignoranti.
6. Valentinian, perhaps ignorant of these things and in no way considering that the lenity of princes is always the solace of an afflicted state, was augmenting punishments by fires and swords: whereas in adverse affairs the piety of souls is found to be the ultimate remedy, as the beauty of Isocrates records: whose voice is perpetual in teaching that pardon ought sometimes to be granted to a ruler overcome in arms, who is ignorant of what is just.
7. unde motum existimo Tullium praeclare pronuntiasse, cum defenderet Oppium "et enim multum posse ad salutem alterius, honori multis; parum potuisse ad exitium, probro nemini umquam fuit".
7. whence I think Tullius pronounced excellently, when he was defending Oppius "for indeed to be able much for the safety of another has been an honor to many; to have been able little for destruction has never been a reproach to anyone".
8. Aviditas plus habendi sine honesti pravique differentia, et indagandi quaestus varios per alienae vitae naufragia exundavit in hoc principe flagrantius adulescens. quam quidam praetendentes imperatorem Aurelianum purgare temptabant, id adfirmando quod, ut ille post Gallienum et lamentabilis rei publicae casus exinanito aerario torrentis ritu ferebatur in divites, ita hic quoque post procinctus Parthici clades magnitudine indigens inpensarum, ut militi supplementa suppeterent et inpendium, crudelitati cupiditatem opes nimias congerendi miscebat: dissimulans scire quod sunt aliqua, quae fieri non oportet, etiam si licet, Themistoclis illius veteris dissimilis, qui cum post pugnam agminaque deleta Persarum licenter obambulans, armillas aureas vidisset humi proiectas et torquem "tolle" inquit "haec" ad comitum quendam prope adstantem versus quia Themistocles non es, quodlibet spernens in duce magnanimo lucrum....
8. The avidity of having more, without a distinction between the honorable and the depraved, and the tracking out of various profits through the shipwrecks of another’s life, overflowed in this prince more flagrantly while a youth. Some, putting forward the emperor Aurelian, were attempting to purge him, by asserting this: that, just as that man, after Gallienus and the lamentable disasters of the commonwealth, with the treasury drained, was borne in the manner of a torrent against the wealthy, so this man also, after the disasters of the Parthian battle-lines, needing an outlay of great magnitude, so that supplements and pay might be forthcoming for the soldiery, was mixing with cruelty a cupidity of heaping up excessive wealth: dissembling that he knew that there are some things which ought not to be done, even if it is permitted, unlike that old Themistocles, who, after the battle and the ranks of the Persians destroyed, strolling at liberty, when he had seen golden bracelets and a torque thrown on the ground, said “pick these up” to a certain companion standing near, turning toward him, “because you are not Themistocles,” spurning any gain in a great-souled leader....
9. huius exempla continentiae similia plurima in Romanis exuberant ducibus : quibus omissis quoniam non sunt perfectae virtutis indicia - nec enim aliena non rapere laudis est - unum ex multis constans innocentiae vulgi veteris specimen ponam. cum proscriptorum locupletes domus diripiendas Romanae plebi Marius dedisset et Cinna, vulgi rudes animi sed humana soliti respectare, alienis laboribus pepercerunt, ut nullus egens reperiretur aut infimus qui de civili luctu fructum contrectare pateretur sibi concessum.
9. examples of similar continence of this kind abound in Roman leaders : passing these over, since they are not indices of perfect virtue - for not to snatch what is another’s is no matter for praise - I will set down one, out of many, a steadfast specimen of the innocence of the old common crowd. When Marius and Cinna had given the opulent houses of the proscribed to the Roman plebs to be plundered, the crowd, rude of mind yet accustomed to have regard for human things, spared the labors of others, so that no needy person might be found, nor any lowliest man, who would allow himself to handle as granted to him any fruit from civil mourning.
10. Invidia praeter haec ante dictus medullitus urebatur et sciens pleraque vitiorum imitari solere virtutes, memorabat adsidue livorem severitatis rectae potestatis esse [invidiam] sociam. utque sunt dignitatum apices maximi, licere sibi cuncta existimantes, et ad supplicandum contrarios exturbandosque meliores pronius inclinati, bene vestitos oderat et eruditos et opulentos et nobiles: et fortibus detra hebat, ut solus videretur bonis artibus eminere, quo vitio exarsisse principem legimus Hadrianum.
10. Besides these things, the afore‑mentioned man was burned to the marrow by envy, and, knowing that many traits of vices are wont to imitate virtues, he kept recalling continually that livor, [envy], is the companion of the severity of rightful power. And, as is the way with the highest pinnacles of dignities, thinking that everything is permitted to themselves, and more readily inclined to inflict punishment, to expel opponents and even the better men, he hated the well‑dressed and the learned and the opulent and the noble; and he would detract from the brave, so that he alone might seem to be pre‑eminent in good arts—a vice in which, we read, the emperor Hadrian blazed.
11. Arguebat hic idem princeps timidos saepius, maculosos tales appellans et sordidos et intra sortem humilem amendandos, ad pavores inritos aliquotiens abiectius pallens et, quod nusquam erat, ima mente formidans.
11. This same emperor reproved the timid rather often, calling such men maculate and sordid and to be amended within a humble lot, at times growing paler in a more abject way at ineffectual terrors, and, in his inmost mind, fearing what was nowhere.
12 quo intellecto magister officiorum Remigius cum eum ex incidentibus ira fervere sentiret, fieri motus quosdam barbaricos inter alia subserebat: hocque ille audito, quia timore mox frangebatur, ut Antoninus Pius erat serenus et clemens.
12 upon this being understood, the master of the offices Remigius, when he sensed that he was seething with anger from incidental happenings, would weave in among other things that certain barbarian disturbances were occurring: and when he heard this, because he was soon broken by fear, he was, like Antoninus Pius, serene and clement.
13. iudices numquam consulto malignos elegit, sed si semel promotos agere didicit inmaniter, Lycurgos invenisse praedicabat et Cassios, columina iustitiae prisca, scribensque hortabatur adsidue ut noxas vel leves acerbius vindicarent.
13. he never deliberately chose judges malignant, but if once he learned that, once promoted, they acted inhumanely, he used to proclaim that he had found Lycurguses and Cassii, columns of ancient justice, and writing he would exhort them assiduously to punish even slight offenses more sharply.
14. nec adflictis, si fors ingruisset inferior, erat ullum in principis benignitate perfugium, quod semper ut agitato mari iactatis portus patuit exoptatus. finis enim iusti imperii, ut sapientes docent, utilitas obedientium aestimatur et salus.
14. nor was there for the afflicted, if fortune had come upon them unfavorably, any refuge in the prince’s benignity, which always, as to those tossed on an agitated sea, the longed-for harbor stood open. For the end of a just imperium, as the wise teach, is reckoned the utility and safety of the obedient.
1. Consentaneum est venire post haec ad eius actus sequendos recte sentientibus et probandos: cum quibus si reliqua temperasset, vixerat ut Traianus et Marcus. in provinciales admodum parcus, tributorum ubique molliens sarcinas ': oppidorum et limitum conditor tempestivus: militaris disciplinae censor eximius, in hoc tantum deerrans quod, cum gregariorum etiam levia puniret errata, potiorum ducum flagitia progredi sinebat in maius, ad querelas in eos motas aliquotiens obsurdescens: unde Brittannici strepitus et Africanae clades et vastitas emersit Illyrici.
1. It is consentaneous to come, after these things, to his actions, to be followed by those thinking rightly and to be approved: with which, if he had tempered the rest, he would have lived as Trajan and Marcus. toward the provincials very sparing, everywhere softening the burdens of tributes ': a timely founder of towns and of frontiers: an eminent censor of military discipline, erring only in this, that, while he punished even the light mistakes of the rank-and-file, he allowed the disgraces of superior commanders to advance into something greater, at times turning a deaf ear to complaints brought against them: whence the British uproar and the African disasters and the devastation of Illyricum emerged.
2. Omni pudicitiae cultu domi castus et foris, nullo contagio conscientiae violatus obscenae, nihil incestum: hancque ob causam tamquam retinaculis petulantiam frenarat aulae regalis, quod custodire facile potuit, necessitudinibus suis nihil indulgens, quas aut in otio reprimebat aut mediocriter honoravit absque fratre, quem temporis conpulsus angustiis in amplitudinis suae societatem adsumpsit.
2. With every cultivation of modesty, chaste at home and abroad, violated by no contagion of an obscene conscience, nothing incestuous: and for this cause he had, as if with reins, curbed the petulance of the royal court, which he could easily safeguard, indulging nothing to his kinsfolk, whom he either restrained in leisure or honored moderately, apart from his brother, whom, compelled by the straits of the time, he took into a partnership of his greatness.
3. Scrupulosus in deferendis potestatibus celsis nec imperante eo provinciam nummularius rexit aut administratio venundata, nisi inter initia ut solent occupationis spe vel inpunitatis quaedam scelesta committi.
3. Scrupulous in conferring lofty authorities, and while he ruled no province was governed by a money‑changer (banker), nor was an administration put up for sale, except that at the beginning, as is the custom, certain criminal deeds were committed in the hope of pre‑occupation or of impunity.
4. Ad inferenda propulsandaque bella sollertissimus, cautus, aestu Martii pulveris induratus, boni pravique suasor et desuasor admodum prudens, militaris rei ordinum scrutantissimus: scribens decore, venusteque pingens et fingens et novorum inventor armorum: memoria sermoneque incitato quidem sed raro, facundiae proximo vigens, amator munditiarum laetusque non profusis epulis sed excultis.
4. Most skillful for bringing on and for repelling wars, cautious, hardened by the heat of Martial dust, a very prudent persuader of the good and dissuader of the crooked, a most scrutinizing examiner of the orders of the military art: writing with decorum, and charmingly painting and fashioning, and an inventor of new arms: with memory and speech indeed impassioned, but rare, vigorous and next to eloquence, a lover of neatness, and delighted not with lavish banquets but with cultivated ones.
5. Postremo hoc moderamine principatus inclaruit quod inter religionum diversitates medius stetit nec quemquam inquietavit neque, ut hoc coleretur, imperavit aut illud: nec interdictis minacibus subiectorum cervicem ad id, quod ipse coluit, inclinabat, sed intemeratas reliquit has partes ut repperit.
5. Finally, by this moderation of his principate he became renowned, that amid the diversities of religions he stood in the middle, nor did he disquiet anyone, nor did he command, that this be worshiped, or that: nor with menacing interdicts was he bending the neck of his subjects to that which he himself worshiped, but he left these parts inviolate as he found them.
6. Corpus eius lacertosum et validum, capilli fulgor colorisque nitor, cum oculis caesiis semper obliquum intuentis et torvum, atque pulchritudo staturae liniamentorumque recta conpago maiestatis regiae decus implebat.
6. His body muscular and strong, the sheen of his hair and the luster of his complexion, with blue-gray eyes always looking askance and grim, and the beauty of his stature and the straight compaction of his lineaments filled the grace of royal majesty.
1. Post conclamata imperatoris suprema corpusque curatum ad sepulturam, ut missum Constantinopolim inter divorum reliquias humaretur, suspenso instante procinctu anceps rei timebatur eventus cohortibus Gallicanis, quae, non semper dicatae legitimorum principum fidei velut imperiorum arbitrae, ausurae novum quoddam in tempore sperabantur: hoc temptandae novitati res adiuvante quod gestorum ignarus etiam tum Gratianus agebat tum apud Treveros, ubi profecturus eum morari disposuerat pater.
1. After the emperor’s last rites had been cried, and the body cared for for burial, so that, sent to Constantinople, it might be interred among the relics of the deified, with the marching-out in battle-readiness, though urgent, suspended, a doubtful outcome of the affair was feared because of the Gallic cohorts, which, not always dedicated to the faith of lawful princes, as though arbiters of empires, were expected to dare some new thing at the opportune moment: the situation aiding an attempt at such novelty by the fact that Gratian, ignorant of what had been done, was still then at Trier, where his father, being about to set out, had arranged for him to tarry.
2. cum negotium in his esset angustiis et tamquam in eadem navi futuri periculorum, si accidissent, participes, omnes eadem formidarent: sedit summatum consilio, avulso ponte, quem compaginarat ante necessitas, invadens terras hostilis, ut superstitis Valentiniani mandato Merobaudes protinus acciretur.
2. since the business was in these straits and, as if in the same ship, participants of the dangers to come, if they should have happened, all feared the same things: it was settled by a council of the leading men, with the bridge torn away, which necessity had earlier put together, as they were invading the enemy’s lands, that, by the mandate of the surviving Valentinian, Merobaudes be summoned at once.
3. hocque ille ut erat sollertis ingenii, quod evenerat ratus, aut forte doctus ab eo, per quem vocabatur, rupturum concordiae iura Gallicanum militem suspicatus, missam ad se tesseram finxit redeundi cum eo ad observandas Rheni ripas quasi furore barbarico crudescente: utque erat secrete mandatum, Sebastianum principis adhuc ignorantem excessum longius amendavit, quietum quidem virum et placidum sed militari favore sublatum, ideo maxime tunc cavendum.
3. and he, as he was of ingenious mind, thinking what had come to pass, or perhaps instructed by him through whom he was being summoned, suspecting that the Gallic soldiery would rupture the rights of concord, he feigned that a tessera had been sent to him to return with that man to observe the banks of the Rhine as if a barbaric fury were growing savage: and as it had been secretly mandated, he sent Sebastianus farther away, still ignorant of the prince’s decease, a man indeed quiet and placid but elevated by military favor, therefore especially then to be guarded against.
4. Reverso itaque Merobaude, altiore cura prospectum, expedito consilio Valentinianus puer defuncti filius tum quadrimus, vocaretur in imperium cooptandus, centesimo lapide disparatus degensque cum Iustina matre in villa, quam Murocinctam appellant.
4. Merobaudes therefore having returned, with higher care provision being looked to and the counsel expedited, that Valentinian, the boy, son of the deceased, then four years old, be called into the imperium to be co-opted, he being separated by the hundredth milestone and living with his mother Justina in a villa which they call Murocincta.
5. hocque concinenti omnium sententia confirmato Cerealis avunculus eius ocius missus eundem puerum lectica inpositum duxit in castra sextoque die post parentis obitum imperator legitime declaratus Augustus nuncupatur more sollemni.
5. and this, with the concordant judgment of all confirmed, Cerealis, his maternal uncle, promptly sent, led the same boy, placed in a litter, into the camp, and on the sixth day after his parent's death, having been legitimately declared emperor, he is named Augustus according to solemn custom.
6. et licet cum haec agerentur, Gratianum indigne laturum existimantes absque sui permissu principem alium institutum, postea metus sollicitudine discussa vixere securius, quod ille, ut erat benivolus et peritus, consanguineum pietate nimia dilexit et educavit.
6. and although, while these things were being done, thinking that Gratian would bear it indignantly that another prince had been instituted without his permission, afterwards, with their anxious fear dispelled, they lived more securely, because he, as he was benevolent and expert, loved his kinsman with excessive piety and brought him up.