one of the suburbs. Thither Eusebia sent me on several occasions messages
of good‐will, and urged me to write to her without hesitation about
anything that I desired. Accordingly I wrote her a letter, or rather a
petition containing vows like these: “May you have children to succeed
you; may God grant you this and that, if only you send me home as quickly
as possible!” But I suspected that it was not safe to send to the palace
letters addressed to the Emperor’s wife. Therefore I besought the gods to
inform me at night whether I ought to send the letter to the Empress. And
they warned me that if I sent it I should meet the most ignominious death.
I call all the gods to witness that what I write here is true. For this
reason, therefore, I forbore to send the letter. But from that night there
kept occurring to me an argument which it is perhaps worth your while also
to hear. “Now,” I said to myself, “I am planning to oppose the gods, and I
have imagined that I can devise wiser schemes for myself than those who
know all things. And yet human wisdom, which looks only to the present
moment, may be thankful if, with all its efforts, it succeed in avoiding
mistakes even for a short space. That is why no man takes thought for
things that are to happen thirty years hence, or for things that are
already past, for the one is superfluous, the other impossible, but only
for what lies near at hand and has already some beginnings and germs. But
the wisdom of the gods sees very far, or rather, sees the whole, and
therefore it directs aright and brings to pass what is best. For they are
the causes of all that now is, and so likewise of all that is to be.
Wherefore it is reasonable that they should have knowledge about the
present.” So far, then, it seemed to me that on this reasoning my second
determination was wiser than my first. And viewing the matter in the light
of justice, I immediately reflected: “Would you not be provoked if one of
your own beasts were to deprive you of its services,(460) or were even to
run away when you called it, a horse, or sheep, or calf, as the case might
be? And will you, who pretended to be a man, and not even a man of the
common herd or from the dregs of the people, but one belonging to the
superior and reasonable class, deprive the gods of your service, and not
trust yourself to them to dispose of you as they please? Beware lest you
not only fall into great folly, but also neglect your proper duties
towards the gods. Where is your courage, and of what sort is it? A sorry
thing it seems. At any rate, you are ready to cringe and flatter from fear
of death, and yet it is in your power to lay all that aside and leave it
to the gods to work their will, dividing with them the care of yourself,
as Socrates, for instance, chose to do: and you might, while doing such
things as best you can, commit the whole to their charge; seek to possess
nothing, seize nothing, but accept simply what is vouchsafed to you by
them.” And this course I thought was not only safe but becoming to a
reasonable man, since the response of the gods had suggested it. For to
rush headlong into unseemly and foreseen danger while trying to avoid
future plots seemed to me a topsy‐turvy procedure. Accordingly I consented
to yield. And immediately I was invested with the title and robe of
Caesar.(461) The slavery that ensued and the fear for my very life that
hung over me every day, Heracles, how great it was, and how terrible! My
doors locked, warders to guard them, the hands of my servants searched
lest one of them should convey to me the most trifling letter from my
friends, strange servants to wait on me! Only with difficulty was I able
to bring with me to court four of my own domestics for my personal
service, two of them mere boys and two older men, of whom only one knew of
my attitude to the gods, and, as far as he was able, secretly joined me in
their worship. I had entrusted with the care of my books, since he was the
only one with me of many loyal comrades and friends, a certain
physician(462) who had been allowed to leave home with me because it was
not known that he was my friend. And this state of things caused me such
alarm and I was so apprehensive about it, that though many of my friends
really wished to visit me, I very reluctantly refused them admittance; for
though I was most anxious to see them, I shrank from bringing disaster
upon them and myself at the same time. But this is somewhat foreign to my
narrative. The following relates to the actual course of events.)
Τριακοσίους ἑξήκοντά μοι δοὺς στρατιώτας εἰς τὸ τῶν Κελτῶν ἔθνος
ἀνατετραμμένον ἔστειλε, μεσοῦντος ἤδη τοῦ χειμῶνος, οὐκ ἄρχοντα μᾶλλον τῶν
ἐκεῖσε στρατοπέδων ἢ τοῖς ἐκεῖσε στρατηγοῖς ὑπακούοντα.(463) ἐγέγραπτο γὰρ
αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐνετέταλτο διαρρήδην οὐ τοὺς πολεμίους μᾶλλον ἢ ἐμὲ
παραφυλάττειν, ὡς ἂν μὴ νεώτερόν τι πράξαιμι. τούτων δὲ ὃν ἔφην τρόπον
γενομένων, περὶ τὰς τροπὰς τὰς θερινὰς [278] ἐπιτρέπει μοι βαδίζειν εἰς τὰ
στρατόπεδα τὸ σχῆμα καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα περιοίσοντι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ· καὶ γάρ τοι καὶ
τοῦτο εἴρητο καὶ ἐγέγραπτο, ὅτι τοῖς Γάλλοις οὐ βασιλέα δίδωσιν, ἀλλὰ τὸν
τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς ἐκείνους εἰκόνα κομιοῦντα.
(Constantius gave me three hundred and sixty soldiers, and in the middle
of the winter(464) despatched me into Gaul, which was then in a state of
great disorder; and I was sent not as commander of the garrisons there but
rather as a subordinate of the generals there stationed. For letters had
been sent them and express orders given that they were to watch me as
vigilantly as they did the enemy, for far I should attempt to cause a
revolt. And when all this had happened in the manner I have described,
about the summer solstice he allowed me to join the army and to carry
about with me his dress and image. And indeed he had both said and written
that he was not giving the Gauls a king but one who should convey to them
his image.)
Οὐ κακῶς δέ, ὡς ἀκηκόατε, τοῦ πρώτου στρατηγηθέντος ἐνιαυτοῦ καὶ
πραχθέντος σπουδαίου, πρὸς τὰ χειμάδια [B] πάλιν ἐπανελθὼν εἰς τὸν ἔσχατον
κατέστην κίνδυνον. οὔτε γὰρ ἀθροίζειν ἐξῆν μοι στρατόπεδον· ἕτερος γὰρ ἦν
ὁ τούτου κύριος· αὐτός τε ξὺν ὀλίγοις ἀποκεκλεισμένος, εἶτα παρὰ τῶν
πλησίον πόλεων αἰτηθεὶς ἐπικουρίαν, ὧν εἶχον τὸ πλεῖστον ἐκείνοις δούς,
αὐτὸς(465) ἀπελείφθην μόνος. ἐκεῖνα μὲν οὖν οὕτως ἐπράχθη τότε. ὡς δὲ καὶ
ὁ τῶν στρατοπέδων ἄρχων ἐν ὑποψίᾳ γενόμενος αὐτῷ παρῃρέθη καὶ ἀπηλλάγη τῆς
ἀρχῆς, [C] οὐ σφόδρα ἐπιτήδειος δόξας, ἔγωγε ἐνομίσθην ἥκιστα σπουδαῖος
καὶ δεινὸς στρατηγός, ἅτε πρᾷον ἐμαυτὸν παρασχὼν καὶ μέτριον. οὐ γὰρ ᾤμην
δεῖν ζυγομαχεῖν οὐδὲ παραστρατηγεῖν, εἰ μή πού τι τῶν λίαν ἐπικινδένων
ἑώρων ἢ δέον γενέσθαι παρορώμενον ἢ καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν μὴ δέον γενέσθαι
γιγνόμενον. ἅπαξ δὲ καὶ δεύτερον οὐ καθηκόντως μοί τινων χρησαμένων, [D]
ἐμαυτὸν ᾠήθην χρῆναι τιμᾶν τῇ σιωπῇ, καὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ τὴν χλανίδα περιέφερον
καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα· τούτων γὰρ τὸ τηνικαῦτα διενοούμην ἀποπεφάνθαι κύριος.
(Now when, as you have heard, the first campaign was ended that year and
great advantage gained, I returned to winter quarters,(466) and there I
was exposed to the utmost danger. For I was not even allowed to assemble
the troops; this power was entrusted to another, while I was quartered
apart with only a few soldiers, and then, since the neighbouring towns
begged for my assistance, I assigned to them the greater part of the force
that I had, and so I myself was left isolated. This then was the condition
of affairs at that time. And when the commander‐in‐chief(467) of the
forces fell under the suspicions of Constantius and was deprived by him of
his command and superseded, I in my turn was thought to be by no means
capable or talented as a general, merely because I had shown myself mild
and moderate. For I thought I ought not to fight against my yoke or
interfere with the general in command except when in some very dangerous
undertaking I saw either that something was being overlooked, or that
something was being attempted that ought never to have been attempted at
all. But after certain persons had treated me with disrespect on one or
two occasions, I decided that for the future I ought to show my own self‐
respect by keeping silence, and henceforth I contented myself with
parading the imperial robe and the image. For I thought that to these at
any rate I had been given a right.)
Ἐξ ὧν ὁ Κωνστάντιος νομίσας ὀλίγον(468) μὲν ἐπιδώσειν, οὐκ εἰς τοσοῦτον δὲ
μεταβολῆς ἥξειν τὰ τῶν Κελτῶν πράγματα, δίδωσί μοι τῶν στρατοπέδων τὴν
ἡγεμονίαν ἦρος ἀρχῇ. καὶ στρατεύω μὲν ἀκμάζοντος τοῦ σίτου, πολλῶν πάνυ
Γερμανῶν [279] περὶ τὰς πεπορθημένας ἐν Κελτοῖς πόλεις ἀδεῶς κατοικούντων.
τὸ μὲν οὖν πλῆθος τῶν πόλεων πέντε που καὶ τεσσαράκοντά ἐστι, τείχη τὰ
διηρπασμένα δίχα τῶν πύργων καὶ τῶν ἐλασσόνων φρουρίων. ἧς δ᾽ ἐνέμοντο γῆς
ἐπὶ τάδε τοῦ Ῥήνου πάσης οἱ βάρβαροι τὸ μέγεθος ὁπόσον ἀπὸ τῶν πηγῶν αὐτῶν
ἀρχόμενος ἄχρι τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ περιλαμβάνει· τριακόσια δὲ ἀπεῖχον τῆς ᾐόνος
τοῦ Ῥήνου στάδια οἱ πρὸς ἡμᾶς οἰκοῦντες ἔσχατοι, τριπλάσιον δὲ ἦν ἔτι
τούτου πλάτος τὸ καταλειφθὲν ἔρημον [B] ὑπὸ τῆς λεηλασίας, ἔνθα οὐδὲ
νέμειν ἐξῆν τοῖς Κελτοῖς τὰ βοσκήματα, καὶ πόλεις τινὲς ἔρημοι τῶν
ἐνοικούντων, αἷς οὔπω παρῴκουν οἱ βάρβαροι. ἐν τούτοις οὖσαν καταλαβὼν ἐγὼ
τὴν Γαλατίαν πόλιν τε ἀνέλαβον τὴν Ἀγριππίναν ἐπὶ τῇ Ῥήνῳ, πρὸ μηνῶν
ἑαλωκυῖάν που δέκα, καὶ τεῖχος Ἀργέντορα πλησίον πρὸς ταῖς ὑπωρείαις αὐτοῦ
τοῦ Βοσέγου, καὶ ἐμαχεσάμην οὐκ ἀκλεῶς. [C] ἴσως καὶ εἰς ὑμᾶς ἀφίκετο ἡ
τοιαύτη μάχη. ἔνθα τῶν θεῶν δόντων μοι τὸν βασιλέα τῶν πολεμίων
αἰχμάλωτον, οὐκ ἐφθόνησα τοῦ κατορθώματος Κωνσταντίῳ. καίτοι εἰ μὴ
θριαμβεύειν ἐξῆν, ἀποσφάττειν τὸν πολέμιον κύριος ἦν, καὶ μέντοι διὰ πάσης
αὐτὸν ἄγων τῆς Κελτίδος ταῖς πόλεσιν ἐπιδεικνύειν καὶ ὥσπερ ἐντρυφᾶν τοῦ
Χνοδομαρίου [D] ταῖς συμφοραῖς. τούτων οὐδὲν ᾠήθην δεῖν πράττειν, ἀλλὰ
πρὸς τὸν Κωνστάντιον αὐτὸν εὐθέως ἀπέπεμψα, τότε ἀπὸ τῶν Κουάδων καὶ
Σαυροματῶν ἐπανιόντα, συνέβη τοίνυν, ἐμοῦ μὲν ἀγωνισαμένου, ἐκείνου δὲ
ὁδεύσαντος μόνον καὶ φιλίως ἐντυχόντος τοῖς παροικοῦσι τὸν Ἴστρον ἔθνεσιν,
οὐχ ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκεῖνον θριαμβεῦσαι.
(After that, Constantius, thinking that there would be some improvement,
but not that so great a transformation would take place in the affairs of
Gaul, handed over to me in the beginning of spring(469) the command of all
the forces. And when the grain was ripe I took the field; for a great
number of Germans had settled themselves with impunity near the towns they
had sacked in Gaul. Now the number of the towns whose walls had been
dismantled was about forty‐five, without counting citadels and smaller
forts. And the barbarians then controlled on our side of the Rhine the
whole country that extends from its sources to the Ocean. Moreover those
who were settled nearest to us were as much as three hundred stades from
the banks of the Rhine, and a district three times as wide as that had
been left a desert by their raids; so that the Gauls could not even
pasture their cattle there. Then too there were certain cities deserted by
their inhabitants, near which the barbarians were not yet encamped. This
then was the condition of Gaul when I took it over. I recovered the city
of Agrippina(470) on the Rhine which had been taken about ten months
earlier, and also the neighbouring fort of Argentoratum,(471) near the
foot‐hills of the Vosges mountains, and there I engaged the enemy not
ingloriously. It may be that the fame of that battle has reached even your
ears. There though the gods gave into my hands as prisoner of war the
king(472) of the enemy, I did not begrudge Constantius the glory of that
success. And yet though I was not allowed to triumph for it, I had it in
my power to slay my enemy, and moreover I could have led him through the
whole of Gaul and exhibited him to the cities, and thus have luxuriated as
it were in the misfortunes of Chnodomar. I thought it my duty to do none
of these things, but sent him at once to Constantius who was returning
from the country of the Quadi and the Sarmatians. So it came about that,
though I had done all the fighting and he had only travelled in those
parts and held friendly intercourse with the tribes who dwell on the
borders of the Danube, it was not I but he who triumphed.)
Τὸ δὴ μετὰ τοῦτο δεύτερος ἐνιαυτὸς καὶ πρίτος, καὶ πάντες μὲν ἀπελήλαντο
τῆς Γαλατίας οἱ βάρβαροι, πλεῖσται δὲ ἀνελήφθησαν τῶν πόλεων, παμπληθεῖς
δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς Βρεττανίδος ναῦς ἀνήχθησαν. ἑξακοσίων νηῶν ἀνήγαγον στόλον,
[280] ὧν τὰς τετρακοσίας ἐν οὐδὲ ὅλοις μησὶ δέκα ναυπηγησάμενος πάσας
εἰσήγαγον εἰς τὸν Ῥῆνον, ἔργον οὐ μικρὸν διὰ τοὺς ἐπικειμένους καὶ
παροικοῦντας πλησίον βαρβάρους. ὁ γοῦν Φλωρέντιος οὕτως ᾤετο τοῦτο
ἀδύνατον, ὥστε ἀργύρου δισχιλίας λίτρας ὑπέσχετο μισθὸν ἀποτίσειν τοῖς
βαρβάροις ὑπὲρ τῆς παρόδου, καὶ ὁ Κωνστάντιος ὑπὲρ τούτου μαθών·
ἐκοινώσατο γὰρ αὐτῷ περὶ τῆς δόσεως· [B] ἐπέστειλε πρός με τὸ αὐτὸ
πράττειν(473) κελεύσας, εἰ μὴ παντάπασιν αἰσχρόν μοι φανείη. πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἦν
αἰσχρόν, ὅπου Κωνσταντίῳ τοιοῦτον ἐφάνη, λίαν εἰωθότι θεραπεύειν τοὺς
βαρβάρους; ἐδόθη μὴν αὐτοῖς οὐδέν· ἀλλ᾽ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς στρατεύσας, ἀμυνόντων
μοι καὶ παρεστώτων τῶν θεῶν, ὑπεδεξάμην μὲν μοῖραν τοῦ Σαλίων ἔθνους,
Χαμάβους δὲ ἐξήλασα, πολλὰς βοῦς καὶ γύναια μετὰ παιδαρίων συλλαβών. οὕτω
δὲ πάντας ἐφόβησα καὶ παρεσκεύασα καταπτῆξαι τὴν ἐμὴν ἔφοδον, [C] ὥστε
παραχρῆμα λαβεῖν ὁμήρους καὶ τῇ σιτοπομπίᾳ παρασχεῖν ἀσφαλῆ κομιδήν.
(Then followed the second and third years of that campaign, and by that
time all the barbarians had been driven out of Gaul, most of the towns had
been recovered, and a whole fleet of many ships had arrived from Britain.
I had collected a fleet of six hundred ships, four hundred of which I had
had built in less than ten months, and I brought them all into the Rhine,
no slight achievement, on account of the neighbouring barbarians who kept
attacking me. At least it seemed so impossible to Florentius that he had
promised to pay the barbarians a fee of two thousand pounds weight of
silver in return for a passage. Constantius when he learned this—for
Florentius had informed him about the proposed payment—wrote to me to
carry out the agreement, unless I thought it absolutely disgraceful. But
how could it fail to be disgraceful when it seemed so even to Constantius,
who was only too much in the habit of trying to conciliate the barbarians?
However, no payment was made to them. Instead I marched against them, and
since the gods protected me and were present to aid, I received the
submission of part of the Salian tribe, and drove out the Chamavi and took
many cattle and women and children. And I so terrified them all, and made
them tremble at my approach that I immediately received hostages from them
and secured a safe passage for my food supplies.)
Μακρόν ἐστι πάντα ἀπαριθμεῖσθαι καὶ τὰ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον γράφειν, ὅσα ἐν
ἐνιαυτοῖς ἔπραξα τέτταρσι· τὰ κεφάλαια δέ· τρίτον ἐπεραιώθην καῖσαρ ἔτι
τὸν Ῥῆνον· δισμυρίους ἀπῄτησα παρὰ τῶν βαρβάρων ὑπὲρ τὸν Ῥῆνον ὄντας
αἰχμαλώτους· ἐκ δυοῖν ἀγώνοιν καὶ μιᾶς πολιορκίας χιλίους ἐξελὼν ἐζώγρησα,
οὐ τὴν ἄχρηστον ἡλικίαν, ἄνδρας δὲ ἡβῶντας· [D] ἔπεμψα τῷ Κωνσταντίῳ
τέτταρας ἀριθμοὺς τῶν κρατίστων πεζῶν, τρεῖς ἄλλους τῶν ἐλαττόνων, ἱππέων
τάγματα δύο τὰ ἐντιμότατα· πόλεις ἀνέλαβον νῦν μὲν δὴ τῶν θεῶν ἐθελόντων
πάσας, τότε δὲ ἀνειλήφειν ἐλάττους ὀλίγῳ τῶν τεσσαράκοντα. μάρτυρας καλῶ
τὸν Δία καὶ πάντας θεοὺς πολιούχους τε καὶ ὁμογνίους ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐμῆς
προαιρέσεως εἰς αὐτὸν καὶ πίστεως, ὅτι τοιοῦτος γέγονα περὶ αὐτόν, οἷον ἂν
εἱλόμην ἐγὼ υἱὸν περὶ ἐμὲ γενέσθαι. [281] τετίμηκα μὲν οὖν αὐτὸν ὡς οὐδεὶς
καισάρων οὐδένα τῶν ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοκρατόρων. οὐδὲν γοῦν εἰς τὴν τήμερον
ὑπὲρ ἐκείνων ἐγκαλεῖ μοι, καὶ ταῦτα παρρησιασαμένῳ πρὸς αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ
γελοίους αἰτίας ὀργῆς ἀναπλάττει. Λουππικῖνον, φησί, καὶ τρεῖς ἄλλους
ἀνθρώπους κατέσχες· οὓς εἰ καὶ κτείνας ἤμην ἐπιβουλεύσαντας ἔμοιγε
φανερῶς, ἐχρῆν τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν παθόντων ὀργὴν ἀφεῖναι τῆς ὁμονοίας ἕνεκα.
τούτους δὲ οὐδὲν ἄχαρι διαθεὶς ὡς [B] ταραχώδεις φύσει καὶ πολεμοποιοὺς
κατέσχον, πολλὰ πάνυ δαπανῶν εἰς αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν δημοσίων, ἀφελόμενος
δ᾽(474) οὐδὲν τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ἐκείνοις. ὁρᾶτε, πῶς ἐπεξιέναι τούτοις ὁ
Κωνστάντιος νομοθετεῖ. ὁ γὰρ χαλεπαίνων ὑπὲρ τῶν προσηκόντων μηδὲν ἆρ᾽ οὐκ
ὀνειδίζει μοι καὶ κατεγελᾷ τῆς μωρίας, ὅτι τον φονέα πατρός, ἀδελφῶν,
ἀνεψιῶν, ἁπάσης ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν τῆς κοινῆς ἡμῶν ἑστίας καὶ συγγενείας τὸν
δήμιον εἰς τοῦτο ἐθεράπευσα; [C] σκοπεῖτε δὲ ὅπως καὶ γενόμενος αὐτοκράτωρ
ἔτι φεραπευτικῶς αὐτῷ προσηνέχθην ἐξ ὧν ἐπέστειλα.
(It would take too long to enumerate everything and to write down every
detail of the task that I accomplished within four years. But to sum it
all up: Three times, while I was still Caesar, I crossed the Rhine; one
thousand persons who were held as captives on the further side of the
Rhine I demanded and received back; in two battles and one siege I took
captive ten thousand prisoners, and those not of unserviceable age but men
in the prime of life; I sent to Constantius four levies of excellent
infantry, three more of infantry not so good, and two very distinguished
squadrons of cavalry. I have now with the help of the gods recovered all
the towns, and by that time I had already recovered almost forty. I call
Zeus and all the gods who protect cities and our race to bear witness as
to my behaviour towards Constantius and my loyalty to him, and that I
behaved to him as I would have chosen that my own son should behave to
me.(475) I have paid him more honour than any Caesar has paid to any
Emperor in the past. Indeed, to this very day he has no accusation to
bring against me on that score, though I have been entirely frank in my
dealings with him, but he invents absurd pretexts for his resentment. He
says, “You have detained Lupicinus and three other men.” And supposing I
had even put them to death after they had openly plotted against me, he
ought for the sake of keeping peace to have renounced his resentment at
their fate. But I did those men not the least injury, and I detained them
because they are by nature quarrelsome and mischief‐makers. And though I
am spending large sums of the public money on them, I have robbed them of
none of their property. Observe how Constantius really lays down the law
that I ought to proceed to extremities with such men! For by his anger on
behalf of men who are not related to him at all, does he not rebuke and
ridicule me for my folly in having served so faithfully the murderer of my
father, my brothers, my cousins; the executioner as it were of his and my
whole family and kindred? Consider too with what deference I have
continued to treat him even since I became Emperor, as is shown in my
letters.)
Καὶ τὰ πρὸ τούτου δὲ ὁποῖός τις γέγονα περὶ αὐτὸν ἐντεῦθεν εἴσεσθε.
αἰσθόμενος, ὅτι τῶν ἁμαρτανομένων κληρονομήσω μὲν αὐτὸς τὴν ἀδοξίαν καὶ
τὸν κίνδυνον, ἐξεργασθήσεται δὲ ἑτέροις τὰ πλεῖστα, [D] πρῶτον μὲν
ἱκέτευον, εἰ ταῦτα πράττειν αὐτῷ φαίνοιτο καὶ πάντως ἐμὲ προσαγορεύειν
καίσαρα δεδογμένον εἴη, ἄνδρας ἀγαθοὺς καὶ σπουδαίους δοῦναί μοι τοὺς
ὑπουργοῦντας· ὁ δὲ πρότερον ἔδωκε τοὺς μοχθηροτάτους. ὡς δὲ ὁ μὲν εἷς ὁ
πονηρότατος καὶ μάλα ἄσμενος(476) ὑπήκουσεν, οὐδεὶς δὲ ἠξίου τῶν ἄλλων,
ἄνδρα δίδωσιν ἄκων ἐμοὶ καὶ μάλα ἀγαθὸν Σαλούστιον, ὃς διὰ τὴν ἀρετὴν
εὐθέως αὐτῷ γέγονεν ὕποπτος. οὐκ ἀρκεσθεὶς ἐγὼ τῷ τοιούτῳ, βλέπων δὲ πρὸς
τὸ διάφορον τοῦ τρόπου καὶ κατανόησας(477) τῷ μὲν ἄγαν αὐτὸν πιστεύοντα,
[282] τῷ δὲ οὐδ᾽ ὅλως προσέχοντα, τῆς δεξιᾶς αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν γονάτων
ἁψάμενος· Τούτων, ἔφην, οὐδείς ἐστί μοι συνήθης οὐδὲ γέγονεν ἔμπροσθεν·
ἐπιστάμενος δὲ αὐτοὺς ἐκ φήμης, σοῦ κελεύσαντος, ἑταίρους ἐμαυτοῦ καὶ
φίλους νομίζω, τοῖς πάλαι γνωρίμοις ἐπ᾽ ἴσης τιμῶν. οῦ μὴν δίκαιον ἢ
τούτοις ἐπιτετράφθαι τὰ ἐμὰ ἢ τὰ τούτων ἡμῖν συγκινδυνεῦσαι. τί οὖν
ἱκετεύω; γραπτοὺς ἡμῖν δὸς ὥσπερ νόμους, [B] τίμων ἀπέχεσθαι χρὴ καὶ ὅσα
πράττειν ἐπιτρέπεις. δῆλον γάρ, ὅτι τὸν μὲν πειθόμενον ἐπαινέσεις, τὸν δὲ
ἀπειθοῦντα κολάσεις, εἰ καὶ ὅ, τι μάλιστα νομίζω μηδένα ἀπειθήσειν.
(And how I behaved to him before that you shall now learn. Since I was
well aware that whenever mistakes were made I alone should incur the
disgrace and danger, though most of the work was carried on by others, I
first of all implored him, if he had made up his mind to that course and
was altogether determined to proclaim me Caesar, to give me good and able
men to assist me. He however at first gave me the vilest wretches. And
when one, the most worthless of them, had very gladly accepted and no one
of the others consented, he gave me with a bad grace an officer who was
indeed excellent, Sallust, who on account of his virtue has at once fallen
under his suspicion. And since I was not satisfied with such an
arrangement and saw how his manner to them varied, for I observed that he
trusted one of them too much and paid no attention at all to the other, I
clasped his right hand and his knees and said: “I have no acquaintance
with any of these men nor have had in the past. But I know them by report,
and since you bid me I regard them as my comrades and friends and pay them
as much respect as I would to old acquaintances. Nevertheless it is not
just that my affairs should be entrusted to them or that their fortunes
should be hazarded with mine. What then is my petition? Give me some sort
of written rules as to what I must avoid and what you entrust to me to
perform. For it is clear that you will approve of him who obeys you and
punish him who is disobedient, though indeed I am very sure that no one
will disobey you.”)
Ὅσα μὲν οὖν ἐπεχείρησεν ὁ Πεντάδιος αὐτίκα καινοτομεῖν, οὐδὲν χρὴ λέγειν·
ἀντέπραττον δὲ ἐγὼ πρὸς πάντα, καὶ γίνεταί μοι δυσμενὴς ἐκεῖθεν. εἶτ᾽
ἄλλον λαβὼν καὶ παρασκευάσας δεύτερον καὶ τρίτον, Παῦλον, [C] Γαυδέντιον,
τοὺς ὀνομαστοὺς ἐπ᾽ ἑμὲ μισθωσάμενος συκοφάντας, Σαλούστιον μὲν ὡς ἐμοὶ
φίλον ἀποστῆναι παρασκευάζει, Λουκιλιανὸν δὲ δοθῆναι διάδοχον αὐτίκα. καὶ
μικρὸν ὕστερον καὶ Φλωρέντιος ἦν ἐχθρὸς ἐμοὶ διὰ τὰς πλεονεξίας, αἷς
ἠναντιούμην. πείθουσιν οὗτοι τὸν Κωνστάντιον ἀφελέσθαι με τῶν στρατοπέδων
ἁπάντων, ἴσως τι καὶ ὑπὸ τῆς ζηλοτυπίας τῶν κατορθωμάτων κνιζόμενον, [D]
καὶ γράφει γράμματα πολλῆς μὲν ἀτιμίας εἰς ἐμὲ πλήρη, Κελτοῖς δὲ ἀνάστασιν
ἀπειλοῦντα· μικροῦ γὰρ δέω φάναι τὸ στρατιωτικὸν ἅπαν ἀδιακρίτως τὸ
μαχιμώτατον ἀπαγαγεῖν τῆς Γαλατίας ἐκέλευσεν, ἐπιτάξας τοῦτο τὸ ἔργον
Λουππικίνῳ τε καὶ Γιντωνίῳ, ἐμοὶ δὲ ὡς ἂν πρὸς μηδὲν ἐναντιωθείην αὐτοῖς
ἐπέστειλεν.
(Now I need not mention the innovations that Pentadius at once tried to
introduce. But I kept opposing him in everything and for that reason he
became my enemy. Then Constantius chose another and a second and a third
and fashioned them for his purpose, I mean Paul and Gaudentius, those
notorious sycophants; he hired them to attack me and then took measures to
remove Sallust, because he was my friend, and to appoint Lucilianus
immediately, as his successor. And a little later Florentius also became
my enemy on account of his avarice which I used to oppose. These men
persuaded Constantius, who was perhaps already somewhat irritated by
jealousy of my successes, to remove me altogether from command of the
troops. And he wrote letters full of insults directed against me and
threatening ruin to the Gauls. For he gave orders for the withdrawal from
Gaul of, I might almost say, the whole of the most efficient troops
without exception, and assigned this commission to Lupicinus and
Gintonius, while to me he wrote that I must oppose them in nothing.)