Ammianus Marcellinus, History

ToposText · Ammianus Marcellinus · 2,797 sections

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§ 15.10.11 At the same time, having an eye to the common welfare, he advised his brother, Gnaeus Scipio, to proceed to Spain and hold off Hasdrubal, who was planning to burst forth in like manner from that quarter. But Hannibal learned of this from deserters, and being of a nimble and crafty wit, came, under the guidance of natives from among the Taurini, through the Tricasini and the extreme edge of the Vocontii to the passes of the Tricorii. Starting out from there, he made another road, where it hitherto had been impassable; he hewed out a cliff which rose to a vast height by burning it with flames of immense power and crumbling it by pouring on vinegar; then he marched along the river Druentia, dangerous with its shifting eddies, and seized upon the district of Etruria. So much about the Alps; let us now turn to the rest of the country.
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§ 15.11.1 In early times, when these regions lay in darkness as savage, they are thought to have been threefold, divided into Celts (the same as the Gauls ), the Aquitanians, and the Belgians, differing in language, habits and laws.
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§ 15.11.2 Now the Gauls (who are the Celts ) are separated from the Aquitanians by the Garonne river, which rises in the hills of the Pyrenees, and after running past many towns disappears in the Ocean.
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§ 15.11.3 But from the Belgians this same nation is separated by the Matrona and the Sequana, rivers of identical size; they flow through the district of Lugdunum, and after encircling in the manner of an island a stronghold of the Parisii called Lutetia, they unite in one channel, and flowing on together pour into the sea not far from Castra Constantia.
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§ 15.11.4 Of all these nations the Belgae had the reputation in the ancient writers of being the most valiant, for the reason that being far removed from civilised life and not made effeminate by imported luxuries, they warred for a long time with the Germans across the Rhine.
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§ 15.11.5 The Aquitanians, on the contrary, to whose coasts, as being near at hand and peaceable, imported wares are conveyed, had their characters weakened to effeminacy and easily came under the sway of Rome.
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§ 15.11.6 All the Gauls, ever since under the perpetual pressure of wars they yielded to the dictator Julius, have been governed by an administration divided into four parts. Of these Gallia Narbonensis by itself comprised the districts of Vienne and Lugdunum; the second had control of all Aquitania; Upper and Lower Germania, as well as the Belgians, were governed by two administrations at that same time.
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§ 15.11.7 But now the provinces over the whole extent of Gaul are reckoned as follows: The first province (beginning on the western front) is Lower, or Second, Germania, fortified by the wealthy and populous cities of Agrippina and Tungris.
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§ 15.11.8 Next comes First, or Upper, Germania where besides other free towns are Mogontiacum and Vangiones and Nemetae and Argentoratum, famous for the disasters of the savages.
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§ 15.11.9 After these the First province of Belgium displays Mediomatrices and Treves, splendid abode of the emperors.
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§ 15.11.10 Adjoining this is the Second province of Belgium, in which are Ambiani, a city eminent above the rest, and Catelauni and Remi.
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§ 15.11.11 In the Seine province we see Bisontii and Rauraci, more important than its many other towns. The first Lyonnese province is made famous by Lugdunum, Cabillona and Senones and Biturigae and Augustodunum with its huge ancient walls.
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§ 15.11.12 As for the second Lugdenensis province, the Rotomagi make it distinguished, and the Turini Mediolanum, as well the Tricasini. The Graian and Pennine Alps, not counting towns of lesser note, have Aventicum, a city now abandoned, to be sure, but once of no slight importance, as is even yet evident from its half-ruined buildings. These are the goodly provinces and cities of Gaul.
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§ 15.11.13 In Aquitania, which trends towards the Pyrenees mountains and that part of the Ocean which extends towards Spain, the first province is Aquitania, much adorned by the greatness of its cities; leaving out numerous others, Burdigala and the Averni are conspicuous, as well as the Santones and Pictavi.
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§ 15.11.14 The “Nine Nations” are ennobled by the Ausci and Vasatae. In the Narbonese province Elusa, Narbonne, and Tolosa hold the primacy among the cities. The Viennese polity rejoices in the distinction conferred by many cities, of which the most important are Vienne itself, Arelate and Valentia; and joined to these is Marseilles, by whose alliance and power we read that Rome was several times supported in severe crises.
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§ 15.11.15 Near these are Saluvii, Nicaea, Antipolis, and the Stoechades islands.
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§ 15.11.16 And since we have reached these parts in the course of our work, it would be unfitting and absurd to say nothing of the Rhone, a river of the greatest celebrity. Rising in the Pennine Alps from a plenteous store of springs, the Rhone flows in headlong course towards more level places. It hides its banks with its own stream and bursts into the lagoon called Lake Leman. This it flows through, nowhere mingling with the water outside, but gliding along the surface of the less active water on either hand, it seeks an outlet and forces a way for itself by its swift onset.
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§ 15.11.17 From there without any loss of volume it flows through Savoy and the Seine Province, and, after going on for a long distance, it grazes the Viennese Province on the left side and the Lyonnese on the right side. Next, after describing many meanders, it receives the Arar, which they call the Sauconna, flowing between Upper Germania and the Seine Province, and gives it its own name. This point is the beginning of Gaul, and from there they measure distances, not in miles but in leagues.
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§ 15.11.18 After this the Rhone, enriched by the tributary waters of the Isre, carries very large craft, which are frequently wont to be tossed by gales of wind, and having finished the bounds which nature has set for it, its foaming waters are mingled with the Gallic Sea through a broad bay which they call Ad Gradus at about the eighteenth milestone distant from Arelate. Let this suffice for the topography of the region; I shall now describe the appearance and manners of its people.
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§ 15.12.1 Almost all the Gauls are of tall stature, fair and ruddy, terrible for the fierceness of their eyes, fond of quarrelling, and of overbearing insolence. In fact, a whole band of foreigners will be unable to cope with one of them in a fight, if he call in his wife, stronger than he by far and with flashing eyes; least of all when she swells her neck and gnashes her teeth, and poising her huge white arms, proceeds to rain punches mingled with kicks, like shots discharged by the twisted cords of a catapult.
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§ 15.12.2 The voices of most of them are formidable and threatening, alike when they are good-natured or angry. But all of them with equal care keep clean and neat, and in those districts, particularly in Aquitania, no man or woman can be seen, be she never so poor, in soiled and ragged clothing, as elsewhere.
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§ 15.12.3 All ages are most fit for military service, and the old man marches out on a campaign with a courage equal to that of the man in the prime of life; since his limbs are toughened by cold and constant toil, and he will make light of many formidable dangers. Nor does anyone of them, for dread of the service of Mars, cut off his thumb, as in Italy: there they call such men “murci,” or cowards.
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§ 15.12.4 It is a race greedy for wine, devising numerous drinks similar to wine, and some among them of the baser sort, with wits dulled by continual drunkenness (which Cato's saying pronounced a voluntary kind of madness) rush about in aimless revels, so that those words seem true which Cicero spoke when defending Fonteius: “The Gauls henceforth will drink wine mixed with water, which they once thought poison.”
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§ 15.12.5 These regions, and especially those bordering on Italy, came gradually and with slight effort under the dominion of Rome; they were first essayed by Fulvius, then undermined in petty battles by Sextius, and finally subdued by Fabius Maximus, on whom the full completion of this business (when he had vanquished the formidable tribe of the Allobroges ) conferred that surname. 6. Now the whole of Gaul (except where, as the authority of Sallust informs us, it was impassable with marshes), after losses on both sides during ten years of war the dictator Caesar subdued and joined to us in an everlasting covenant of alliance. I have digressed too far, but I shall at last return to my subject.
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§ 15.13.1 After Domitianus was dispatched by a cruel death, his successor Musonianus governed the East with the rank of pretorian prefect, a man famed for his command of both languages, from which he won higher distinction than was expected.
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§ 15.13.2 For when Constantine was closely investigating the different religious sects, Manichaeans and the like, and no suitable interpreter could be found, he chose him, as a person recommended to him as competent; and when he had done that duty skilfully, he wished him to be called Musonianus, whereas he had hitherto had the name of Strategius. From that beginning, having run through many grades of honour, he rose to the prefecture, a man intelligent in other respects and satisfactory to the provinces, mild also and well-spoken, but on any and every occasion, and especially (which is odious) in hard-fought lawsuits and under all circumstances greedily bent upon filthy lucre. This became clearly evident (among many other instances) in the investigations set on foot regarding the death of Theophilus, governor of Syria, who, because of the betrayal of Gallus Caesar, was torn to pieces in an onslaught of the rabble upon him; on which occasion sundry poor men were condemned, although it was known that they had been away when this happened, while the wealthy perpetrators of the foul crime were set free after being stripped of their property.
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§ 15.13.3 He was matched by Prosper, who was at that time still representing the cavalry commander in Gaul and held military authority there, an abject coward and, as the comic poet says, scorning artifice in thieving and plundering openly.
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§ 15.13.4 While these men were in league and enriching themselves by bringing mutual gain one to the other, the Persian generals stationed by the rivers, while their king was busied in the farthest bounds of his empire, kept raiding our territories with predatory bands, now fearlessly invading Armenia and sometimes Mesopotamia, while the Roman officers were occupied in gathering the spoils of those who paid them obedience.
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§ 16.1.1 Book 16 While the linked course of the fates was bringing this to pass in the Roman world, Julian Caesar at Vienne was admitted by Augustus, then consul for the eighth time, into the fellowship of the consular fasti. Urged on by his native energy, he dreamed of the din of battle and the slaughter of savages, already preparing to gather up the broken fragments of the province, if only fortune should at last aid him with her favouring breeze.
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§ 16.1.2 Accordingly, since the great deeds that he had the courage and good fortune to perform in Gaul surpass many valiant achievements of the ancients, I shall describe them one by one in progressive order, endeavouring to put in play all the resources of my modest ability, if only they will suffice.
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§ 16.1.3 Now whatever I shall tell (and no wordy deceit adorns my tale, but untrammelled faithfulness to fact, based upon clear proofs, composes it) will almost belong to the domain of the panegyric.
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§ 16.1.4 For some law of a higher life seems to have attended this youth from his noble cradle even to his last breath. For with rapid strides he grew so conspicuous at home and abroad that in his foresight he was esteemed a second Titus, son of Vespasian, in the glorious progress of his wars as very like Trajan, mild as Antoninus Pius, and in searching out the true and perfect reason of things in harmony with Marcus Aurelius, in emulation of whom he moulded his conduct and his character. 5. And since (as the authority of Cicero informs us) “we take delight in the loftiness of all noble arts, as we do of trees, but not so much in their roots and stumps,” just so the beginnings of his surpassing ability were then veiled by many overshadowing features. Yet they ought to be preferred to his many admirable later achievements, for the reason that while still in early youth, educated like Erechtheus in Minerva's retreat, and drawn from the peaceful shades of the Academy, not from a soldier's tent, to the dust of battle, he vanquished Germania, subdued the meanders of the freezing Rhine, here shed the blood of kings breathing cruel threats, and there loaded their arms with chains.
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§ 16.2.1 Accordingly, while he was passing a busy winter in the above-mentioned town, in the thick of rumours which kept persistently flying about, he learned that the walls of the ancient city of Augustodunum, of wide circuit, to be sure, but weakened by the decay of centuries, had been besieged by a sudden onset of the savages; and then, though the force of soldiers garrisoned there was paralysed, it had been defended by the watchfulness of veterans who hurried together forits aid, as it often happens that the extreme of desperation wards off imminent danger of death.
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§ 16.2.2 Therefore, without putting aside his cares, and disregarding the servile flattery with which his courtiers tried to turn him to pleasure and luxury, after making adequate preparation he reached Augustodunum on the 24th of June, like some experienced general, distinguished for power and policy, intending to fall upon the savages, who were straggling in various directions, whenever chance should give opportunity.
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§ 16.2.3 Accordingly, when he held a council, with men present who knew the country, to decide what route should be chosen as a safe one, there was much interchange of opinion, some saying that they ought to go by Arbor others by way of Sedelaucum and Cora. 4. But when some remarked that Silvanus, commander of the infantry, with 8000 reserve troops had shortly before passed (though with difficulty) by roads shorter but mistrusted because of the heavy shade of the branches, the Caesar with the greater confidence made a strong resolve to emulate the daring of that hardy man.
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§ 16.2.5 And to avoid any delay, he took only the cuirassiers and the crossbowmen, who were far from suitable to defend a general, and traversing the same road, he came to Autosiodorum [Auxerre].
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§ 16.2.6 There with but a short rest (as his custom was) he refreshed himself and his soldiers and kept on towards Tricasa; and when troops of savages kept making attacks on him, he sometimes, fearing that they might be in greater force, strengthened his flanks and reconnoitered; sometimes he took advantage of suitable ground, easily ran them down and trampled them under foot, capturing some who in terror gave themselves up, while the remainder exerted all their powers of speed in an effort to escape. These he allowed to get away unscathed, since he was unable to follow them up, encumbered as he was with heavy-armed soldiers.
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§ 16.2.7 So, as he now had firmer hope of success in resisting their attacks, he proceeded among many dangers to Tricasa, reaching there so unlooked for, that when he was almost knocking at the gates, the fear of the widespread bands of savages was such, that entrance to the city was vouchsafed only after anxious debate.
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§ 16.2.8 And after staying there a short time, out of consideration for his tired soldiers, he felt that he ought not to delay, and made for the city of Durocortorum. There he had ordered the whole army to assemble with provisions for a month and to await his coming; the place was commanded by Ursicinus' successor Marcellus, and Ursicinus himself was directed to serve in the same region until the end of the campaign.
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§ 16.2.9 Accordingly, after the expression of many various opinions, it was agreed to attack the Alamannic horde by way of the Ten Cantons with closed ranks; and the soldiers went on in that direction with unusual alacrity.
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§ 16.2.10 And because the day was misty and overcast, so that even objects close at hand could not be seen, the enemy, aided by their acquaintance with the country, went around by way of a crossroad and made an attack on the two legions bringing up the rear of the Caesar's army. And they would nearly have annihilated them, had not the shouts that they suddenly raised brought up the reinforcements of our allies.
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§ 16.2.11 Then and thereafter, thinking that he could cross neither roads nor rivers without ambuscades, Julian was wary and hesitant, which is a special merit in grett commanders, and is wont both to help and to save their armies.
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§ 16.2.12 Hearing therefore that Argentoratum, Brotomagum (Brumath), Tabernae (Saverne), Salisone, Nemetes, Vangiones (Worms), and Mogontiacum were held by the savages, who were living on their lands (for the towns themselves they avoid as if they were tombs surrounded by nets), he first of all seized Brotomagum, but while he was still approaching it a band of Germans met him and offered battle.
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§ 16.2.13 Julian drew up his forces in the form of a crescent, and when the fight began to come to close quarters, the enemy were overwhelmed by a double danger; some were captured, others were slain in the very heat of the battle, and the rest got away, saved by recourse to speed.
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§ 16.3.1 Accordingly, as after this no one offered resistance, Julian decided to go and recover Cologne, which had been destroyed before his arrival in Gaul. In all that region there is no city to be seen and no stronghold, except that at the Confluence, a place so called because there the river Moselle mingles with the Rhine, there is the town of Rigomagus and a single tower near Cologne itself.
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§ 16.3.2 So, having entered Cologne, he did not stir from there until he had overawed the Frankish kings and lessened their pugnacity, had made a peace with them which would benefit the state meanwhile, and had recovered that very strongly fortified city.
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§ 16.3.3 Pleased with these first-fruits of victory, he passed through the land of the Treveri, and went to winter at Senones, a town which was then convenient. There, bearing on his shoulders, as the saying is, the burden of a flood of wars, he was distracted by manifold cares — how the soldiers who had abandoned their usual posts might be taken back to danger-points, how he might scatter the tribes that had conspired to the hurt of the Roman cause, and how to see to it that food should not fail his army as it was about to range in different directions.
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§ 16.4.1 As he was anxiously weighing these problems, a host of the enemy attacked, fired with increased hope of taking the town, and full of confidence because they had learned from the statements of deserters that neither the targeteers nor the gentiles were at hand; for they had been distributed in the towns, so as to be more easily provisioned than before.
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§ 16.4.2 So, having shut the city gates and strengthened a weak section of the walls, Julian could be seen day and night with his soldiers among the bulwarks and battlements, boiling over with rage and fretting because however often he tried to sally forth, he was hampered by the scanty numbers of the troops at hand. Finally, after a month the savages withdrew crestfallen, muttering that they had been silly and foolish to have contemplated the blockade of the city.
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§ 16.4.3 But -- a thing to be regarded as a shameful situation while Caesar was in jeopardy -- Marcellus, master of the horse, although he was stationed in neighbouring posts, postponed sending him reinforcements; whereas even if the city alone was endangered, to say nothing of the prince's presence there, it ought to have been saved from the hardships of blockade by the intervention of a large force.
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§ 16.4.4 Once relieved of this fear, Caesar provided with the greatest efficiency and with unfailing solicitude that some rest should follow the long continued toil of the soldiers, a short one perhaps, but enough, at least, to restore their strength; and yet that region, a wilderness in its extreme destitution through having often been ravaged, provided very little suitable for rations.
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§ 16.4.5 But when this too had been provided for by his ever-watchful care, a happier hope of success was shed upon him, and with spirits revived he rose to the achievement of numerous enterprises.
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§ 16.5.1 First, then (and a hard thing to accomplish) he imposed moderation on himself, and kept to it, as if he were living bound by the sumptuary laws which were brought to Rome from the Edicts, that is, the wooden tablets, of Lycurgus; and when they had long been observed, but were going out of use, the dictator Sulla gradually renewed them, taking account of one of the sayings of Democritus, that a pretentious table is set by Fortune, a frugal one by Virtue.
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§ 16.5.2 Furthermore, Cato of Tusculum, whose austere manner of living conferred upon him the surname Censorius, wisely defined that point, saying: “Great care about food implies great neglect of virtue.”
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§ 16.5.3 Lastly, though he constantly read the booklet which Constantius, as it sending a stepson to the university, had written with his own hand, making lavish provision for what should be spent on Caesar's table, he forbade the ordering and serving of pheasants and of sow's matrix and udders, contenting himself with the coarse and ordinary rations of a common soldier.
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§ 16.5.4 So it came about that he divided his nights according to a threefold schedule: rest, affairs of state, and the Muses, a course which Alexander the Great, as we read, used to practise; but Julian was far more self-reliant. For Alexander used to set a bronze basin beside his couch and with outstretched arm hold a silver ball over it, so that when the coming of sleep relaxed the tension of his muscles, the clanging of the ball as it fell might break off his nap.
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§ 16.5.5 But Julian could wake up as often as he wished, without any artificial means. And when the night was half over, he always got up, not from a downy couch or silken coverlets glittering with varied hues, but from a rough blanket and rug, which the simple common folk call susurna. Then he secretly prayed to Mercury, whom the teaching of the theologians stated to be the swift intelligence of the universe, arousing the activity of men's minds; and in spite of such great lack of material things he paid diligent heed to all his public duties.
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§ 16.5.6 And after bringing these (as his lofty and serious tasks) to an end, he turned to the exercise of his intellect, and it is unbelievable with what great eagerness he sought out the sublime knowledge of all chiefest things, and as if in search of some sort of sustenance for a soul soaring to loftier levels, ran through all the departments of philosophy in his learned discussions.
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§ 16.5.7 But yet, though he gained full and exhaustive knowledge in this sphere, he did not neglect more humble subjects, studying poetry to a moderate degree, and rhetoric (as is shown by the undefiled elegance and dignity of his speeches and letters) as well as the varied history of domestic and foreign affairs. Besides all this he had at his command adequate fluency also in Latin conversation.
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§ 16.5.8 If, then, it is true (as divers writers report) that King Cyrus and the lyric poet Simonides, and Hippias of Elis, keenest of the sophists, had such powerful memories because they had acquired that gift by drinking certain potions, we must believe that Julian, when only just arrived at manhood, had drained the entire cask of memory, if such could be found anywhere. These, then, were the nightly evidences of his self-restraint and his virtues.
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§ 16.5.9 But how he passed his days in brilliant and witty conversation, in preparation for war or in the actual clash of battle, or in lofty and liberal improvements in civil administration, shall later be shown in detail, each in its proper place.
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§ 16.5.10 When this philosopher, being a prince, was forced to practise the rudiments of military training and learn the art of marching rhythmically in pyrrhic measure to the harmony of the pipes, he often used to call on Plato's name, quoting that famous old saying: “A pack-saddle is put on an ox; that is surely no burden for me.”
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§ 16.5.11 When the agents had been summoned by his order on a festal day to his council chamber, to receive their gold with the rest, one of the company took it, not (as the custom is) in a fold of his mantle, but in both his open hands. Whereupon the emperor said, “It is seizing, not accepting, that agents understand.”
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§ 16.5.12 When approached by the parents of a girl who had been assaulted, he ordered that her ravisher, if convicted, should be banished; and when they complained of the indignity suffered in that he was not punished with death, the emperor merely replied: “The laws may censure my clemency, but it is right for an emperor of very merciful disposition to rise above all other laws.”
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§ 16.5.13 When he was on the point of leaving on a campaign, many persons would appeal to him, as having grievances; but he used to recommend them to the provincial governors for their hearings. On his return he would inquire what had been decided in each case, and with his native kindliness would mitigate the punishment of the offences.
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§ 16.5.14 Last of all, not to speak of the victories in which he routed the savages, who often fell with spirits unbroken, what good he did to Gaul, labouring as it was in utmost destitution, appears most clearly from this fact: when he first entered those parts, he found that twenty-five pieces of gold were demanded by way of tribute from every one as a poll and land-tax; but when he left, seven only for full satisfaction of all duties. And on account of this (as if clear sunshine had beamed upon them after ugly darkness), they expressed their joy in gaiety and dances.
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§ 16.5.15 To conclude, we know that to the very end of his reign, and of his life, he observed this rule profitably, not to remit arrears of tribute by so-called “indulgencies.” For he had learned that by so doing he would somewhat better the condition of the rich, since it is generally known that poor people at the very beginning of the tax-levying are forced to pay in full without easement.
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§ 16.5.16 However, in the midst of these courses of wise governing, worthy of the imitation of good emperors, the fury of the savages had blazed forth again more than ever.
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§ 16.5.17 And as wild beasts accustomed to live by plundering when their guards are slack do not cease even when these guards are removed and stronger ones put in their place, but ravening with hunger rush upon flocks or herds without regard for their own lives: so they too, when they had used up all that they had seized by pillage, urged on by hunger, were continually driving off booty, and sometimes perishing of want before finding anything.
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§ 16.6.1 These were the events in Gaul during that year dubious in prospect, but successful in outcome. But in the court of the Augustus, envy kept barking on every side at Arbetio, as one that would soon attain the highest rank and had already prepared the insignia of imperial dignity; and a certain count, Verissimus by name, assailed him with unbridled outcry, openly charging that although he had risen from the common soldiery to the chief military command, he was not satisfied even with this, but thinking it was a slight thing, was aiming at the imperial position.
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§ 16.6.2 But in particular one Dorus, ex-surgeon of the targeteers, kept pursuing him; he it was who (as I stated) when promoted under Magnentius to be centurion in charge of works of art at Rome, accused Adelphius, prefect of the city, of aiming at a higher station.
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§ 16.6.3 And when the matter came to an investigation, and everything needful for the business was at hand, a proof of the charges was looked for; when suddenly, as if by an irregular vote, at the instance of the chamberlains (as persistent rumour reported) both those persons under restraint as implicated were released from their fetters; Dorus disappeared, and Verissimus at once held his peace, just as when on the stage the curtain is lowered and put away.
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§ 16.7.1 At that same time Constantius, apprised by approaching rumour that when Caesar was blockaded at Senones, Marcellus had not brought aid, discharged the latter from the army and commanded him to depart to his home. Whereupon Marcellus, as if staggered by a grievous insult, began to contrive a plot against Julian, presuming on Augustus, whose ears were open to every slander.
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§ 16.7.2 And so, when Marcellus was on his way, Eutherius, the head chamberlain, was sent immediately after him, to confute him in case he should trump up anything. But Marcellus, unware of this, presently came to Milan, blustering and making trouble, being a vain talkative fool and all but mad; and when admitted to the council, he charged Julian with being arrogant and already fitting himself with stronger pinions, so as to soar up higher; for thus he spoke with a mighty movement of his body to match his words.
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§ 16.7.3 While he was freely forging these accusations, Eutherius (as he requested) was brought in, and being commanded to say what he wished, modestly and in few words showed that the truth was veiled with lies. For while the commander of the heavy-armed infantry (as was believed) deliberately held back, Caesar, who had long been blockaded in Senones, had by his watchful energy driven back the barbarians; and Eutherius staked his own head on the promise that Julian would be a loyal servitor to his superior, so long as he should live.
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§ 16.7.4 The subject prompts me to add a few facts about this same Eutherius, perhaps hardly to be credited, for the reason that if a Numa Pompilius or a Socrates should give any good report of a eunuch, and should back their statements by a solemn oath, they would be charged with having departed from the truth. But among brambles roses spring up, and among savage beasts some are tamed. Accordingly, I shall give a brief summary of the chief facts known about him.
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§ 16.7.5 He was born in Armenia of free parents, but when still very young he was kidnapped by hostile tribesmen in that neighbourhood, who gelded him and sold him to some Roman traders, who brought him to Constantine's palace. There, as he grew up, he gradually gave evidence of virtuous living and intelligence. He received as much training in letters as might suffice for one of that station; conspicuous for his remarkable keenness in devising and solving difficult and knotty problems, he had extraordinary powers of memory; he was eager to do kindnesses and full of sound counsel. And if the emperor Constans had listened to him in times past, when Eutherius had grown up and was already mature, and urged honourable and upright conduct upon him, he would have been guilty of no faults, or at least of only pardonable ones.
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§ 16.7.6 When he had become head chamberlain, he would sometimes criticise even Julian, as trained in the manners of Asia and therefore inconstant. Finally going into retirement, but afterwards summoned to the palace, always temperate and especially consistent, he so cultivated the noble virtues of loyalty and self-restraint that he was never charged, as the rest have been, with having disclosed a secret, unless it were to save another's life, or to have been kindled with a desire to increase his wealth.
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§ 16.7.7 The result was, that when he presently retired to Rome and grew old there in a permanent home, he carried about with him a good conscience as his companion; he was honoured and loved by all classes, whereas that type of man, after amassing wealth by iniquitous means, usually seeks out secret lurking-places, like creatures of darkness shunning the sight of the multitude they have wronged.
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§ 16.7.8 In unrolling many records of the past, to see to which of the eunuchs of old I ought to compare him, I could find none. True, there were in times gone by those that were loyal and virtuous (although very few), but they were stained with some vice or other. For along with the excellent qualities which anyone of them had acquired by studious endeavour or natural ability he was either extortionate or despicable for his cruelty, or prone to do mischief, or too subservient to the rulers, or insolent through pride of power; but of one so well equipped in every direction I confess I have neither read nor heard, although I have relied on the abundant testimony of our age.
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§ 16.7.9 But if haply any curious student of ancient history should confront me with Menophilus, the eunuch of Mithridates, king of Pontus, let this reminder recall to him that nothing was recorded of Menophilus save this one fact, that in the supreme crisis he made a glorious showing.
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§ 16.7.10 The aforesaid king, after having been defeated in a mighty battle by Pompey and the Romans, fled to the kingdom of Colchis; he left his grown daughter, Dryptina by name, who was afflicted with a grievous disease, in the fortress of Sinhorium under the charge of this Menophilus. He, resorting to every healing remedy, entirely cured the girl and was guarding her in complete security for her father, when the fortress in which he was beleagured began to be blockaded by Mallius Priscus, the Roman commander's lieutenant-general; and when Menophilus learned that its defenders were thinking of surrender, fearing lest, to her father's reproach, the high-born girl might be taken alive and suffer outrage, he killed her and then plunged the sword into his own vitals. Now let me return to the point from which I digressed.
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§ 16.8.1 After Marcellus had been worsted, as I have said, and had returned to Serdica, his native place, in the camp of Augustus, under pretext of upholding his imperial majesty, many abominable acts were committed.
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§ 16.8.2 For if anyone consulted a soothsayer about the squeaking of a shrew- mouse, the meeting with a weasel on the way, or any like portent, or used some old wife's charm to relieve pain (a thing which even medical authority allows), he was indicted (from what source he could not guess), was haled into court, and suffered death as the penalty.
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§ 16.8.3 At about that time a certain slave, Danus by name, was accused by his wife on trifling charges merely to intimidate him; this woman was approached by Rufinus, who had come to know her in some way or other. He was the man who had given certain information that he had learned through Gaudentius, one of the agents, and had caused the death of Africanus, then governor-general of Pannonia, along with his guests, as I have related; he was even then, because of his obsequiousness, chief steward of the praetorian prefecture.
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§ 16.8.4 This Rufinus (as he kept boastfully saying) led the fickle woman, first into shameful relations with him, and then into a dangerous deceit; he induced her by a tissue of lies to charge her guiltless husband with high treason, and to allege that he had stolen a purple robe from Diocletian's tomb and with several accomplices was concealing it.
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§ 16.8.5 And having thus framed these matters to the destruction of many persons, Rufinus himself, in hope of greater profit, flies to the emperor's camp, to stir up his customary scandals. And when the fact was divulged, Mavortius, then praetorian prefect, a man of high resolution, was bidden to look into the charge with a keen investigation, having associated with him, to hear the case in common, Ursulus, count of the largesses, likewise a man of praiseworthy severity.
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§ 16.8.6 So when the affair had been exaggerated, after the standard of the times, and after the torture of many persons nothing was discovered, and the judges were hesitating in perplexity, at last truth, crushed to earth, breathed again, and at the point of necessity the woman confessed that Rufinus was the contriver of the whole plot, and did not even keep back the shame of her adultery. And at once the laws were consulted and the judges, unanimous in their love of right and justice, condemned them both to death.
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§ 16.8.7 Constantius, on learning this, raged and lamented, as if the defender of his own life had perished; he sent fast horsemen and commanded Ursulus in threatening terms to return to the court. And when he had come there and wished to approach the emperor, the courtiers tried to keep him from being able to appear in defence of the truth. But he, scorning those who would hold him back, burst through fearlessly and, entering the council-chamber, with frank speech and bold heart told what had been done; and by this confidence having stopped the mouths of the flatterers, he delivered both the prefect and himself from a grave danger.
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§ 16.8.8 Then a thing happened in Aquitania which fame bruited more widely abroad. A crafty old fellow who was invited to a sumptuous and elegant banquet, such as are very frequent in that country, noticed that the purple borders of the linen couch-covers were so very broad that the skill of the attendants made them seem all one piece, and that the table was covered with similar cloths; and by turning the front part of his cloak inward with both hands, he so adorned its whole structure, that it resembled an emperor's garment; and this action ruined a rich estate.
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§ 16.8.9 With like malice a certain member of the secret service in Spain, who also was invited to a dinner, when he heard the slaves who were bringing in the evening lights cry (as the manner is): “May we conquer,” gave the expression a serious meaning, and wickedly destroyed a noble house.
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§ 16.8.10 These and similar actions kept growing more and more common, for the reason that Constantius, who was excessively timid and fearful for his life, always anticipated that a knife was at his throat, like that famous Sicilian despot, Dionysius, who because of that same infirmity actually taught his daughters to be barbers, in order that he might not trust the shaving of his cheeks to an outsider; and he surrounded the little house in which he used to sleep, with a deep trench and spanned it with a knockdown bridge, the planks and pins of which he took apart and carried with him when he went off to bed; and reassembled them at daybreak, when he was on his way out.
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§ 16.8.11 These trumpet-blasts of internal revolt were likewise increased by powerful courtiers, to the end that they might lay claim to the property of condemned persons and incorporate it with their own, and thus have the means of encroaching widely on their neighbours.
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§ 16.8.12 For as clear proofs bore witness, the first of all to open the jaws of those nearest to him was Constantine, but it was Constantius who fattened them with the marrow of the provinces.
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§ 16.8.13 For under him the leading men of every rank were inflamed with a boundless eagerness for riches, without consideration for justice or right; among the civil functionaries first came Rufinus, the praetorian prefect; among the military, Arbetio, master of the horse, and the head-chamberlain Eusebius,... anus, the quaestor, and in Rome itself the members of the Anician family, whose younger generation, striving to outdo their forefathers, could never be satisfied with even much greater possessions.
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§ 16.9.1 But the Persians in the East, rather by thieving and robbery than (as their former manner was) in set battles, kept driving off booty of men and animals; sometimes they got away with their loot, being unexpected; often they lost it, over-marched by the great number of our soldiers; occasionally they were not allowed to see anything at all which could be carried off.
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§ 16.9.2 None the less, Musonianus, the praetorian prefect, a man (as I have said before) gifted with many excellent accomplishments, but corrupt and easy to turn from the truth by a bribe, inquired into the designs of the Persians through emissaries of his who were adepts in deceit and incrimination; and he took into his counsels on this subject Cassianus, duke of Mesopotamia, who had been toughened by various campaigns and dangers.
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§ 16.9.3 When the two had certain knowledge from the unanimous reports of their scouts that Sapor, on the remotest frontiers of his realm, was with difficulty and with great bloodshed of his troops driving back hostile tribesmen, they made trial of Tamsapor, the commander nearest to our territory, in secret interviews through obscure soldiers, their idea being that, if chance gave an opportunity, he should by letter advise the king finally to make peace with the Roman emperor, in order that by so doing he might be secure on his whole western frontier and could rush upon his persistent enemies.
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§ 16.9.4 Tamsapor consented and relying on this information, reported to the king that Constantius, being involved in very serious wars, entreated and begged for peace. But while these communications were being sent to the Chionitae and Euseni, in whose territories Sapor was passing the winter, a long time elapsed.
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§ 16.10.1 While these events were so being arranged in the Orient and in Gaul in accordance with the times, Constantius, as if the temple of Janus had been closed and all his enemies overthrown, was eager to visit Rome and after the death of Magnentius to celebrate, without a title, a triumph over Roman blood.

Via ToposText (topostext.org), a project of the Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation created by Brady Kiesling. Translated by John Carew Rolfe (1859-1943). Composed ca. 390 CE. Licence: public domain. Source.