ARGUMENT.
I. Many persons, even senators and women of senatorial family are
accused at Rome of poisonings, adultery, and debauchery, and are
punished.--II. The Emperor Valentinian fortifies the whole Gallic
bank of the Rhine with forts, castles, and towers; the Allemanni
slay the Romans who are constructing a fortification on the other
side of the Rhine.--The Maratocupreni, who are ravaging Syria, are,
by the command of Valens, destroyed with their children and their
town.--III. Theodosius restores the cities of Britain which had
been laid waste by the barbarians, repairs the fortresses, and
recovers the province of the island which is called Valentia.--IV.
Concerning the administration of Olybrius and Ampelius as prefects
of the city: and concerning the vices of the Roman senate and
people.--V. The Saxons, after a time, are circumvented in Gaul by
the manoeuvres of the Romans. Valentinian having promised to
unite his forces with them, sends the Burgundians to invade
Germany; but they, finding themselves tricked and deceived, put all
their prisoners to the sword, and return home.--VI. The ravages
inflicted in the province of Tripoli, and on the people of Leptis
and OEa, by the Asturians, are concealed from Valentinian by the
bad faith of the Roman count; and so are not properly avenged.
I.
A.D. 368.
§ 1. While the perfidy of the king was exciting these unexpected
troubles in Persia, as we have related above, and while war was reviving
in the east, sixteen years and rather more after the death of
Nepotianus, Bellona, raging through the eternal city, destroyed
everything, proceeding from trifling beginnings to the most lamentable
disasters. Would that they could be buried in everlasting silence, lest
perhaps similar things may some day be again attempted, which will do
more harm by the general example thus set than even by the misery they
occasion.
2. And although after a careful consideration of different
circumstances, a reasonable fear would restrain me from giving a minute
account of the bloody deeds now perpetrated, yet, relying on the
moderation of the present age, I will briefly touch upon the things
most deserving of record, nor shall I regret giving a concise account of
the fears which the events that happened at a former period caused me.
3. In the first Median war, when the Persians had ravaged Asia, they
laid siege to Miletus with a vast host, threatening the garrison with
torture and death, and at last reduced the citizens to such straits,
that they all, being overwhelmed with the magnitude of their distresses,
slew their nearest relations, cast all their furniture and movables into
the fire, and then threw themselves in rivalry with one another on the
common funeral pile of their perishing country.
4. A short time afterwards, Phrynichus made this event the subject of a
tragedy which he exhibited on the stage at Athens; and after he had been
for a short time listened to with complacency, when amid all its fine
language the tragedy became more and more distressing, it was condemned
by the indignation of the people, who thought that it was insulting to
produce this as the subject of a dramatic poem, and that it had been
prompted not by a wish to console, but only to remind them to their own
disgrace of the sufferings which that beautiful city had endured without
receiving any aid from its founder and parent. For Miletus was a colony
of the Athenians, and had been established there among the other Ionian
states by Neleus, the son of that Codrus who is said to have devoted
himself for his country in the Dorian war.
5. Let us now return to our subject. Maximinus, formerly deputy prefect
of Rome, was born in a very obscure rank of life at Sopianæ, a town of
Valeria; his father being only a clerk in the president's office,
descended from the posterity of those Carpi whom Diocletian removed from
their ancient homes and transferred to Pannonia.
6. After a slight study of the liberal sciences, and some small practice
at the bar, he was promoted to be governor of Corsica, then of Sardinia,
and at last of Tuscany. From hence, as his successor loitered a long
while on his road, he proceeded to superintend the supplying of the
eternal city with provisions, still retaining the government of the
province; and three different considerations rendered him cautious on
his first entrance into office, namely:--
7. In the first place, because he bore in mind the prediction of his
father, a man pre-eminently skilful in interpreting what was portended
by birds from whom auguries were taken, or by the note of such birds as
spoke. And he had warned him that though he would rise to supreme
authority, he would perish by the axe of the executioner; secondly,
because he had fallen in with a Sardinian (whom he himself subsequently
put to death by treachery, as report generally affirmed) who was a man
skilled in raising up evil spirits, and in gathering presages from
ghosts; and as long as that Sardinian lived, he, fearing to be betrayed,
was more tractable and mild; lastly, because while he was slowly making
his way through inferior appointments, like a serpent that glides
underground, he was not yet of power sufficient to perpetrate any
extensive destruction or executions.
8. But the origin of his arriving at more extensive power lay in the
following transaction: Chilo, who had been deputy, and his wife, named
Maxima, complained to Olybrius, at that time prefect of the city,
asserting that their lives had been attacked by poison, and with such
earnestness that the men whom they suspected were at once arrested and
thrown into prison. These were Sericus, a musician, Asbolius, a
wrestling master, and Campensis, a soothsayer.
9. But as the affair began to cool on account of the long-continued
violence of some illness with which Olybrius was attacked, the persons
who had laid the complaint, becoming impatient of delay, presented a
petition in which they asked to have the investigation of their charge
referred to the superintendent of the corn-market; and, from a desire
for a speedy decision, this request was granted.
10. Now, therefore, that he had an opportunity of doing injury, Maximin
displayed the innate ferocity which was implanted in his cruel heart,
just as wild beasts exhibited in the amphitheatre often do when at
length released from their cages. And, as this affair was represented
first in various ways, as if in a kind of prelude, and some persons with
their sides lacerated named certain nobles, as if by means of their
clients and other low-born persons known as criminals and informers,
they had employed various artifices for injuring them. This infernal
delegate, carrying his investigations to an extravagant length,
presented a malicious report to the emperor, in which he told him that
such atrocious crimes as many people had committed at Rome could not be
investigated nor punished without the severest penalties.
11. When the emperor learnt this he was exasperated beyond measure,
being rather a furious than a rigorous enemy to vice; and accordingly,
by one single edict applying to causes of this kind, which in his
arrogance he treated as if they partook of treason, he commanded that
all those whom the equity of the ancient law and the judgment of the
gods had exempted from examination by torture, should, if the case
seemed to require it, be put to the rack.
12. And in order that the authority to be established, by being doubled
and raised to greater distinction, might be able to heap up greater
calamities, he appointed Maximin proprefect at Rome, and gave him as
colleague in the prosecution of these inquiries, which were being
prepared for the ruin of many persons, a secretary named Leo, who was
afterwards master of the ceremonies. He was by birth a Pannonian, and by
occupation originally a brigand, as savage as a wild beast, and
insatiable of human blood.
13. The accession of a colleague so much like himself, inflamed the
cruel and malignant disposition of Maximin, which was further encouraged
by the commission which conferred this dignity on them; so that,
flinging himself about in his exultation, he seemed rather to dance than
to walk, while he studied to imitate the Brachmans who, according to
some accounts, move in the air amid the altars.
14. And now the trumpets of intestine discords sounded, while all men
stood amazed at the atrocity of the things which were done. Among which,
besides many other cruel and inhuman actions so various and so numerous
that it is impossible for me to relate them all, the death of Marinus,
the celebrated advocate, was especially remarkable. He was condemned to
death on a charge which was not even attempted to be supported by
evidence, of having endeavoured by wicked acts to compass a marriage
with Hispanilla.
15. And since I think that perhaps some persons may read this history
who, after careful investigation, will object to it that such and such a
thing was done before another; or again that this or that circumstance
has been omitted, I consider that I have inserted enough, because it is
not every event which has been brought about by base people that is
worth recording; nor, if it were necessary to relate them all, would
there be materials for such an account, not even if the public records
themselves were examined, when so many atrocious deeds were common, and
when this new frenzy was throwing everything into confusion without the
slightest restraint; and when what was feared was evidently not a
judicial trial but a total cessation of all justice.
16. At this time, Cethegus, a senator, who was accused of adultery, was
beheaded, and a young man of noble birth, named Alypius, who had been
banished for some trivial misconduct, with some other persons of low
descent, were all publicly executed; while every one appeared in their
sufferings to see a representation of what they themselves might expect,
and dreamt of nothing but tortures, prisons, and dark dungeons.
17. At the same time also, the affair of Hymetius, a man of very eminent
character, took place, of which the circumstances were as follows. When
he was governing Africa as proconsul, and the Carthaginians were in
extreme distress for want of food, he supplied them with corn out of the
granaries destined for the Roman people; and shortly afterwards, when
there was a fine harvest, he without delay fully replaced what he had
thus consumed.
18. But as at the time of the scarcity ten bushels had been sold to
those who were in want for a piece of gold, while he now bought thirty
for the same sum, he sent the profit derived from the difference in
price to the emperor's treasury. Therefore, Valentinian, suspecting that
there was not as much sent as there ought to have been as the proceeds
of this traffic, confiscated a portion of his property.
19. And to aggravate the severity of this infliction, another
circumstance happened about the same time which equally tended to his
ruin. Amantius was a soothsayer of pre-eminent celebrity at that period,
and having been accused by some secret informer of being employed by
this same Hymetius to offer a sacrifice for some evil purpose, he was
brought before a court of justice and put to the rack; but in spite of
all his tortures, he denied the charge with steadfast resolution.
20. And as he denied it, some secret papers were brought from his house,
among which was found a letter in the handwriting of Hymetius, in which
he asked Amantius to propitiate the gods by some solemn sacrifices to
engage them to make the disposition of the emperor favourable to him;
and at the end of the letter were found some reproachful terms applied
to the emperor as avaricious and cruel.
21. Valentinian learnt these facts from the report of some informers,
who exaggerated the offence given, and with very unnecessary vigour
ordered an inquiry to be made into the affair; and because Frontinus,
the assessor of Hymetius, was accused of having been the instrument of
drawing up this letter, he was scourged with rods till he confessed, and
then he was condemned to exile in Britain. But Amantius was subsequently
convicted of some capital crimes and was executed.
22. After these transactions, Hymetius was conducted to the town of
Otricoli, to be examined by Ampelius, the prefect of the city, and
deputy of Maximin; and when he was on the point of being condemned, as
was manifest to every one, he judiciously seized an opportunity that was
afforded to him of appealing to the protection of the emperor, and being
protected by his name, he came off for the time in safety.
23. The emperor, however, when he was consulted on the matter, remitted
it to the senate, who examined into the whole affair with justice, and
banished him to Boæ, a village in Dalmatia, for which they were visited
with the wrath of the emperor, who was exceedingly enraged when he heard
that a man whom in his own mind he had condemned to death had been let
off with a milder punishment.
24. These and similar transactions led every one to fear that the
treatment thus experienced by a few was intended for all: and that these
evils should not, by being concealed, grow greater and greater till they
reached an intolerable height, the nobles sent a deputation consisting
of Prætextatus, formerly a prefect of the city, Venustus, formerly
deputy, and Minervius, who had been a consular governor, to entreat the
emperor not to allow the punishments to exceed the offences, and not to
permit any senator to be exposed to the torture in an unprecedented and
unlawful manner.
25. But when these envoys were admitted into the council chamber,
Valentinian denied that he had ever given such orders, and insisted that
the charges made against him were calumnies. He was, however, refuted
with great moderation by the prætor Eupraxius; and in consequence of
this freedom, the cruel injunction that had been issued, and which had
surpassed all previous examples of cruelty, was amended.
26. About the same time, Lollianus, a youth of tender age, the son of
Lampadius, who had been prefect, being accused before Maximin, who
investigated his case with great care, and being convicted of having
copied out a book on the subject of the unlawful acts (though, as his
age made it likely, without any definite plan of using it), was, it
seemed, on the point of being sentenced to banishment, when, at the
suggestion of his father, he appealed to the emperor; and being by his
order brought to court, it appeared that he had, as the proverb has it,
gone from the frying-pan into the fire, as he was now handed over to
Phalangius, the consular governor of Bætica, and put to death by the
hand of the executioner.
27. There were also Tarratius Bassus, who afterwards became prefect of
the city, his brother Camenius, a man of the name of Marcian, and
Eusapius, all men of great eminence, who were prosecuted on the ground
of having protected the charioteer Auchenius, and being his accomplices
in the act of poisoning. The evidence was very doubtful, and they were
acquitted by the decision of Victorinus, as general report asserted;
Victorinus being a most intimate friend of Maximin.
28. Women too were equally exposed to similar treatment. For many of
this sex also, and of noble birth, were put to death on being convicted
of adultery or unchastity. The most notorious cases were those of
Claritas and Flaviana; the first of whom, when conducted to death, was
stripped of the clothes which she wore, not even being permitted to
retain enough to cover her with bare decency; and for this the
executioner also was convicted of having committed a great crime, and
burnt to death.
29. Paphius and Cornelius, both senators, confessed that they had
polluted themselves by the wicked practice of poisoning, and were put to
death by the sentence of Maximin; and by a similar sentence the master
of the mint was executed. He also condemned Sericus and Asbolius, who
have been mentioned before; and because while exhorting them to name any
others who occurred to them, he had promised them with an oath that they
should not themselves be punished either by fire or sword, he had them
slain by violent blows from balls of lead. After this he also burnt
alive Campensis the soothsayer, not having in his case bound himself by
any oath or promise.
30. Here it is in my opinion convenient to explain the cause which
brought Aginatius headlong to destruction, a man ennobled by a long race
of ancestors, as unvarying tradition affirms, though no proof of his
ancestral renown was ever substantiated.
31. Maximin, full of pride and arrogance, and being then also prefect of
the corn-market, and having many encouragements to audacity, proceeded
so far as to show his contempt for Probus, the most illustrious of all
the nobles, and who was governing the provinces with the authority of
prefect of the prætorium.
32. Aginatius, being indignant at this, and feeling it a hardship that
in the trial of causes Olybrius had preferred Maximin to himself, while
he was actually deputy at Rome, secretly informed Probus in private
letters that the arrogant and foolish man who had thus set himself
against his lofty merits, might easily be put down if he thought fit.
33. These letters, as some affirm, Probus sent to Maximin, hardened as
he was in wickedness, because he feared his influence with the emperor;
letting none but the bearer know the business. And when he had read
them, the cruel Maximin became furious, and henceforth set all his
engines at work to destroy Aginatius, like a serpent that had been
bruised by some one whom it knew.
34. There was another still more powerful cause for intriguing against
him, which ultimately became his destruction. For he charged Victorinus,
who was dead, and from whom he had received a very considerable legacy,
with having while alive made money of the decrees of Maximin; and with
similar maliciousness he had also threatened his wife Anepsia with a
lawsuit.
35. Anepsia, alarmed at this, and to support herself by the aid of
Maximin, pretended that her husband in a will which he had recently
made, had left him three thousand pounds weight of silver. He, full of
covetousness, for this too was one of his vices, demanded half the
inheritance, and afterwards, not being contented with that, as if it
were hardly sufficient, he contrived another device which he looked upon
as both honourable and safe; and not to lose his hold of the handle thus
put in his way for obtaining a large estate, he demanded the daughter of
Anepsia, who was the stepdaughter of Victorinus, as a wife for his son;
and this marriage was quickly arranged with the consent of the woman.
36. Through these and other atrocities equally lamentable, which threw a
gloom over the whole of the eternal city, this man, never to be named
without a groan, grew by the ruin of numerous other persons, and began
to stretch out his hands beyond the limits of lawsuits and trials: for
it is said that he had a small cord always suspended from a remote
window of the prætorium, the end of which had a loop which was easily
drawn tight, by means of which he received secret informations supported
by no evidence or testimony, but capable of being used to the ruin of
many innocent persons. And he used often to send his officers, Mucianus
and Barbarus, men fit for any deceit or treachery, secretly out of his
house.
37. Who then, as if bewailing some hardship which as they pretended had
fallen upon them, and exaggerating the cruelty of the judge, with
constant repetition assured those who really lay under execution that
there was no remedy by which they could save themselves except that of
advancing heavy accusation against men of high rank; because if such
men were involved in such accusations, they themselves would easily
procure an acquittal.
38. In this way, Maximin's implacable temper overwhelmed those yet in
his power; numbers were thrown into prison, and persons of the highest
rank were seen with anxious faces and in mourning attire. Nor ought any
one of them to be blamed for bowing down to the ground in saluting this
monster, when they heard him vociferating with the tone of a wild beast,
that no one could ever be acquitted unless he choose.
39. For sayings like that, when instantly followed by their natural
result, would have terrified even men like Numa, Pompilius, or Cato. In
fact things went on in such a way that some persons never had their eyes
dried of the tears caused by the misfortunes of others, as often happens
in such unsettled and dangerous times.
40. And the iron-hearted judge, continually disregarding all law and
justice, had but one thing about him which made him endurable; for
sometimes he was prevailed upon by entreaties to spare some one, though
this too is affirmed to be nearly a vice in the following passage of
Cicero. "If anger be implacable, it is the extreme of severity; if it
yield to entreaties, it is the extreme of levity; though in times of
misfortune even levity is to be preferred to cruelty."
41. After these events, Leo arrived, and was received as his successor,
and Maximin was summoned to the emperor's court and promoted to the
office of prefect of the prætorium, where he was as cruel as ever,
having indeed greater power of inflicting injury, like a basilisk
serpent.
42. Just at this time, or not long before, the brooms with which the
senate-house of the nobles was swept out were seen to flower, and this
portended that some persons of the very lowest class would be raised to
high rank and power.
43. Though it is now time to return to the course of our regular
history, yet without neglecting the proper order of time, we must dwell
on a few incidents, which through the iniquity of the deputy prefects of
the city, were done most unjustly, being in fact done at the word and
will of Maximin by those same officers, who seemed to look on themselves
as the mere servants of his pleasure.
44. After him came Ursicinus, a man of a more merciful disposition,
who, wishing to act cautiously and in conformity to the constitution,
confronted a man named Esaias with some others who were in prison on a
charge of adultery with Rufina; who had attempted to establish a charge
of treason against Marcellus her husband, formerly in a situation of
high trust. But this act led to his being despised as a dawdler, and a
person little fit to carry out such designs with proper resolution, and
so he was removed from his place of deputy.
45. He was succeeded by Simplicius of Emona, who had been a
schoolmaster, but was now the assessor of Maximin. After receiving this
appointment, he did not grow more proud or arrogant, but assumed a
supercilious look, which gave a repulsive expression to his countenance.
His language was studiously moderate, while he meditated the most
rigorous proceedings against many persons. And first of all he put
Rufina to death with all the partners of her adultery, and all who were
privy to it, concerning whom Ursicinus, as we have related, had already
made a report. Then he put numbers of others to death, without any
distinction between the innocent and the guilty.
46. Running a race of bloodshed with Maximin, as if he had, as it were,
been his leader, he sought to surpass him in destroying the noblest
families, imitating Busiris and Antæus of old, and Phalaris, so that he
seemed to want nothing but the bull of Agrigentum.
47. After these and other similar transactions had taken place, a
certain matron named Hesychia, who was accused of having attempted some
crime, becoming greatly alarmed, and being of a fierce and resolute
disposition, killed herself in the house of the officer to whom she was
given in custody, by muffling her face in a bed of feathers, and
stopping up her nostrils and so becoming suffocated.
48. To all these calamities another of no less severity was added. For
Eumenius and Abienus, two men of the highest class, having been accused,
during Maximin's term of office, of adultery with Fausiana, a woman of
rank, after the death of Victorinus, under whose protection they were
safe, being alarmed at the arrival of Simplicius, who was as full of
audacity and threats as Maximin, withdrew to some secret hiding place.
49. But after Fausiana had been condemned they were recorded among the
accused, and were summoned by public edict to appear, but they only hid
themselves the more carefully. And Abrenus was for a very long time
concealed in the house of Anepsia. But as it continually happens that
unexpected accidents come to aggravate the distresses of those who are
already miserable, a slave of Anepsia named Apaudulus, being angry
because his wife had been flogged, went by night to Simplicius, and gave
information of the whole affair, and officers were sent to drag them
both from their place of concealment.
50. The charge against Abrenus was strengthened by another charge which
was brought against him, of having seduced Anepsia, and he was condemned
to death. But Anepsia herself, to get some hope of saving her life by at
least procuring the delay of her execution, affirmed that she had been
assailed by unlawful arts, and had been ravished in the house of
Aginatius.
51. Simplicius with loud indignation reported to the emperor all that
had taken place, and as Maximin, who was now at court, hated Aginatius
for the reason which we have already explained, and having his rage
increased against him at the same time that his power was augmented,
entreated with great urgency that he might be sentenced to death; and
such a favour was readily granted to this furious and influential
exciter of the emperor's severity.
52. Then fearing the exceeding unpopularity which would fall upon him if
a man of patrician family should perish by the sentence of Simplicius,
who was his new assessor and friend, he kept the imperial edict for the
execution by him for a short time, wavering and doubting whom to pitch
upon as a trusty and efficient perpetrator of so atrocious a deed.
53. At length, as like usually finds like, a certain Gaul of the name of
Doryphorianus was discovered, a man daring even to madness; and as he
promised to accomplish the matter in a short time, he obtained for him
the post of deputy, and gave him the emperor's letter with an additional
rescript; instructing the man, who though savage had no experience in
such matters, how, if he used sufficient speed, he would meet with no
obstacle to his slaying Aginatius; though, if there were any delay, he
would be very likely to escape.
54. Doryphorianus, as he was commanded, hastened to Rome by rapid
journeys; and while beginning to discharge the duties of his new office,
he exerted great industry to discover how he could put a senator of
eminent family to death without any assistance. And when he learnt that
he had been some time before found in his own house where he was still
kept in custody, he determined to have him brought before him as the
chief of all the criminals, with Anepsia, in the middle of the night; an
hour at which men's minds are especially apt to be bewildered by terror;
as, among many other instances, the Ajax of Homer[165] shows us, when he
expresses a wish rather to die by daylight, than to suffer the
additional terrors of the night.
55. And as the judge, I should rather call him the infamous robber,
intent only on the service he had promised to perform, carried
everything to excess, having ordered Aginatius to be brought in, he also
commanded the introduction of a troop of executioners; and while the
chains rattled with a mournful sound, he tortured the slaves who were
already exhausted by their long confinement, till they died, in order to
extract from them matter affecting the life of their master; a
proceeding which in a trial for adultery our merciful laws expressly
forbids.
56. At last, when the tortures which were all but mortal had wrung some
hints from the maid-servant, without any careful examination of the
truth of her words, Aginatius was at once sentenced to be led to
execution, and without being allowed to say a word in his defence,
though with loud outcries he appealed to and invoked the names of the
emperors, he was carried off and put to death, and Anepsia was executed
by a similar sentence. The eternal city was filled with mourning for
these executions which were perpetrated either by Maximin himself when
he was present in the city, or by his emissaries when he was at a
distance.
57. But the avenging Furies of those who had been murdered were
preparing retribution. For, as I will afterwards relate at the proper
season, this same Maximin giving way to his intolerable pride when
Gratian was emperor, was put to death by the sword of the executioner;
and Simplicius also was beheaded in Illyricum. Doryphorianus too was
condemned to death, and thrown into the Tullian prison, but was taken
from thence by the emperor at his mother's suggestion, and when he was
brought back to his own country was put to death with terrible torments.
Let us now return to the point at which we left our history. Such,
however, was the state of affairs in the city of Rome.
II.
A.D. 369.
§ 1. Valentinian having several great and useful projects in his head,
began to fortify the entire banks of the Rhine, from its beginning in
the Tyrol to the straits of the ocean,[166] with vast works; raising
lofty castles and fortresses, and a perfect range of towers in every
suitable place, so as to protect the whole frontier of Gaul; and
sometimes, by constructing works on the other side of the river, he
almost trenched upon the territories of the enemy.
2. At last considering that one fortress, of which he himself had laid
the very foundations, though sufficiently high and safe, yet, being
built on the very edge of the river Neckar, was liable to be gradually
undermined by the violent beating of its waters, he formed a plan to
divert the river itself into another channel; and, having sought out
some workmen who were skilful in such works and collected a strong
military force, he began that arduous labour.
3. Day after day large masses of oaken beams were fastened together, and
thrown into the channel, and by them huge piles were continually fixed
and unfixed, being all thrown into disorder by the rising of the stream,
and afterwards they were broken and carried away by the current.
4. However, the resolute diligence of the emperor and the labour of the
obedient soldiery prevailed; though the troops were often up to their
chins in the water while at work; and at last, though not without
considerable risk, the fixed camp was protected against all danger from
the violence of the current, and is still safe and strong.
5. Joyful and exulting in this success, the emperor, perceiving that the
weather and the season of the year did not allow him any other
occupation, like a good and active prince began to apply his attention
to the general affairs of the republic. And thinking the time very
proper for completing one work which he had been meditating, he began
with all speed to raise a fortification on the other side of the Rhine,
on Mount Piri, a spot which belongs to the barbarians. And as rapidity
of action was one great means of executing this design with safety, he
sent orders to the Duke Arator, through Syagrius, who was then a
secretary, but who afterwards became prefect and consul, to attempt to
make himself master of this height in the dead of the night.
6. The duke at once crossed over with the secretary, as he was
commanded; and was beginning to employ the soldiers whom he had brought
with him to dig out the foundations, when he received a successor,
Hermogenes. At the very same moment there arrived some nobles of the
Allemanni, fathers of the hostages, whom, in accordance with our treaty,
we were detaining as important pledges for the long continuance of the
peace.
7. And they, with bended knees entreated him not to let the Romans, with
an improvident disregard of all safety (they whose fortune their
everlasting good faith had raised to the skies), now be misled by a base
error to trample all former agreements under foot, and attempt an act
unworthy of them.
8. But since it was to no purpose that they used these and similar
arguments, as they were not listened to, and finding that they had no
chance of a conciliatory answer, they reluctantly returned, bewailing
the loss of their sons; and when they were gone, from a secret
hiding-place in a neighbouring hill a troop of barbarians sprang forth,
waiting, as far as was understood, for the answer which was to be given
to the nobles; and attacking our half-naked soldiers, who were carrying
loads of earth, drew their swords and quickly slew them, and with them
the two generals.
9. Nor was any one left to relate what had happened, except Syagrius,
who, after they were all destroyed returned to the court, where by the
sentence of his offended emperor he was dismissed the service; on which
he retired to his own home; being judged by the severe decision of the
prince to have deserved this sentence because he was the only one who
escaped.
10. Meanwhile the wicked fury of bands of robbers raged through Gaul to
the injury of many persons; since they occupied the most frequented
roads, and without any hesitation seized upon everything valuable which
came in their way. Besides many other persons who were the victims of
these treacherous attacks, Constantianus, the tribune of the stable, was
attacked by a secret ambuscade and slain; he was a relation of
Valentinian, and the brother of Cerealis and Justina.
11. In other countries, as if the Furies were stirring up similar evils
to afflict us on every side, the Maratocupreni, those most cruel
banditti, spread their ravages in every direction. They were the natives
of a town of the same name in Syria, near Apamea; very numerous,
marvellously skilful in every kind of deceit, and an object of universal
fear, because, under the character of merchants or soldiers of high
rank, they spread themselves quietly over the country, and then pillaged
all the wealthy houses, villages, and towns which came in their way.
12. Nor could any one guard against their unexpected attacks; since they
fell not upon any previously selected victim, but in places in various
parts, and at great distances, and carried their devastations wherever
the wind led them. For which reason the Saxons were feared beyond all
other enemies, because of the suddenness of their attacks. They then,
in bands of sworn comrades, destroyed the riches of many persons; and
being under the impulse of absolute fury, they committed the most
mournful slaughters, being not less greedy of blood than of booty.
Nevertheless, that I may not, by entering into too minute details,
impede the progress of my history, it will be sufficient to relate one
destructive device of theirs.
13. A body of these wicked men assembled in one place, pretending to be
the retinue of a receiver of the revenue, or of the governor of the
province. In the darkness of the evening they entered the city, while
the crier made a mournful proclamation, and attacked with swords the
house of one of the nobles, as if he had been proscribed and sentenced
to death. They seized all his valuable furniture, because his servants,
being utterly bewildered by the suddenness of the danger, did not defend
the house; they slew several of them, and then before the return of
daylight withdrew with great speed.
14. But being loaded with a great quantity of plunder, since from their
love of booty they had left nothing behind, they were intercepted by a
movement of the emperor's troop, and were cut off and all slain to a
man. And their children, who were at the time very young, were also
destroyed to prevent their growing up in the likeness of their fathers;
and their houses which they had built with great splendour at the
expense of the misery of others, were all pulled down. These things
happened in the order in which they have been related.
III.
§ 1. But Theodosius, a general of very famous reputation, departed in
high spirits from Augusta, which the ancients used to call Londinium,
with an army which he had collected with great energy and skill;
bringing a mighty aid to the embarrassed and disturbed fortunes of the
Britons. His plan was to seek everywhere favourable situations for
laying ambuscades for the barbarians; and to impose no duties on his
troops of the performance of which he did not himself cheerfully set the
example.
2. And in this way, while he performed the duties of a gallant soldier,
and showed at the same time the prudence of an illustrious general, he
routed and vanquished the various tribes in whom their past security had
engendered an insolence which led them to attack the Roman territories;
and he entirely restored the cities and the fortresses which through the
manifold disasters of the time had been injured or destroyed, though
they had been originally founded to secure the tranquillity of the
country.
3. But while he was pursuing this career, a great crime was planned
which was likely to have resulted in serious danger, if it had not been
crushed at the very beginning.
4. A certain man named Valentine, in Valeria of Pannonia, a man of a
proud spirit, the brother-in-law of Maximin, that wicked and cruel
deputy, who afterwards became prefect, having been banished to Britain
for some grave crime, and being a restless and mischievous beast, was
eager for any kind of revolution or mischief, began to plot with great
insolence against Theodosius, whom he looked upon as the only person
with power to resist his wicked enterprise.
5. But while both openly and privily taking many precautions, as his
pride and covetousness increased, he began to tamper with the exiles and
the soldiers, promising them rewards sufficient to tempt them as far at
least as the circumstances and his enterprise would permit.
6. But when the time for putting his attempt into execution drew near,
the duke, who had received from some trustworthy quarter information of
what was going on, being always a man inclined to a bold line of
conduct, and resolutely bent on chastising crimes when detected, seized
Valentine with a few of his accomplices who were most deeply implicated,
and handed them over to the general Dulcitius to be put to death. But at
the same time conjecturing the future, through that knowledge of the
soldiers in which he surpassed other men, he forbade the institution of
any examination into the conspiracy generally, lest if the fear of such
an investigation should affect many, fresh troubles might revive in the
province.
7. After this he turned his attention to make many necessary amendments,
feeling wholly free from any danger in such attempts, since it was plain
that all his enterprises were attended by a propitious fortune. So he
restored cities and fortresses, as we have already mentioned, and
established stations and outposts on our frontiers; and he so completely
recovered the province which had yielded subjection to the enemy, that
through his agency it was again brought under the authority of its
legitimate ruler, and from that time forth was called Valentia, by
desire of the emperor, as a memorial of his success.
8. The Areans, a class of men instituted in former times, and of whom we
have already made some mention in recording the acts of Constans, had
now gradually fallen into bad practices, for which he removed them from
their stations; in fact they had been undeniably convicted of yielding
to the temptation of the great rewards which were given and promised to
them, so as to have continually betrayed to the barbarians what was done
among us. For their business was to traverse vast districts, and report
to our generals the warlike movements of the neighbouring nations.
9. In this manner the affairs which I have already mentioned, and others
like them, having been settled, he was summoned to the court, and
leaving the provinces in a state of exultation, like another Furius
Camillus or Papirius Cursor, he was celebrated everywhere for his
numerous and important victories. He was accompanied by a large crowd of
well-wishers to the coast, and crossing over with a fair wind, arrived
at the emperor's camp, where he was received with joy and high praise,
and appointed to succeed Valens Jovinus, who was commander of the
cavalry.
IV.
§ 1. I have thus made a long and extensive digression from the affairs
of the city, being constrained by the abundance of events which took
place abroad; and now I will return to give a cursory sketch of them,
beginning with the tranquil and moderate exercise of the prefect's
authority by Olybrius, who never forgot the rights of humanity, but was
continually anxious and careful that no word or deed of his should ever
be harsh or cruel. He was a merciless punisher of calumnies; he
restrained the exactions of the treasury wherever he could; he was a
careful discriminator of right and wrong; an equitable judge, and very
gentle towards those placed under his authority.
2. But all these good qualities were clouded by one vice which, though
not injurious to the commonwealth, was very discreditable to a judge of
high rank; namely, that his private life was one of great luxury,
devoted to theatrical exhibitions, and to amours, though not such as
were either infamous or incestuous.
3. After him Ampelius succeeded to the government of the city; he also
was a man addicted to pleasure, a native of Antioch, and one who from
having been master of the offices was twice promoted to a proconsulship,
and sometime afterwards to that supreme rank, the prefecture. In other
respects he was a cheerful man, and one admirably suited to win the
favour of the people; though sometimes over-severe, without being as
firm in his purposes as might have been wished. Had he been, he would
have corrected, though perhaps not effectually, the gluttonous and
debauched habits which prevailed; but, as it was, by his laxity of
conduct, he lost a glory which otherwise might have been enduring.
4. For he had determined that no wine-shop should be opened before the
fourth hour of the day; and that none of the common people, before a
certain fixed hour, should either warm water or expose dressed meat for
sale; and that no one of respectable rank should be seen eating in
public.
5. Since these unseemly practices, and others still worse, owing to long
neglect and connivance, had grown so frequent that even Epimenides of
Crete, if, according to the fabulous story, he could have risen from the
dead and returned to our times, would have been unable by himself to
purify Rome; such deep stains of incurable vices overwhelmed it.
6. And in the first place we will speak of the faults of the nobles, as
we have already repeatedly done as far as our space permitted; and then
we will proceed to the faults of the common people, touching, however,
only briefly and rapidly on either.
7. Some men, conspicuous for the illustriousness of their ancestry as
they think, gave themselves immoderate airs, and call themselves
Reburri, and Fabunii, and Pagonii, and Geriones, Dalii, Tarracii, or
Perrasii, and other finely-sounding appellations, indicating the
antiquity of their family.
8. Some also are magnificent in silken robes, as if they were being led
to execution, or, to speak without words of so unfavourable an omen, as
if after the army had passed they were bringing up the rear, and are
followed by a vast troop of servants, with a din like that of a company
of soldiers.
9. Such men when, while followed by fifty servants apiece, they have
entered the baths, cry out with threatening voice, "Where are my
people?" And if they suddenly find out that any unknown female slave has
appeared, or any worn-out courtesan who has long been subservient to the
pleasures of the townspeople, they run up, as if to win a race, and
patting and caressing her with disgusting and unseemly blandishments,
they extol her, as the Parthians might praise Semiramis, Egypt her
Cleopatra, the Carians Artemisia, or the Palmyrene citizens Zenobia. And
men do this, whose ancestor, even though a senator, would have been
branded with a mark of infamy because he dared, at an unbecoming time,
to kiss his wife in the presence of their common daughter.
10. Some of these, when any one meets and begins to salute them, toss
their heads like bulls preparing to butt, offering their flatterers
their knees or hands to kiss, thinking that quite enough for their
perfect happiness; while they deem it sufficient attention and civility
to a stranger who may happen to have laid them under some obligation to
ask him what warm or cold bath he frequents, or what house he lives in.
11. And while they are so solemn, looking upon themselves as especial
cultivators of virtue, if they learn that any one has brought
intelligence that any fine horses or skilful coachmen are coming from
any place, they rush with as much haste to see them, examine them, and
put questions concerning them, as their ancestors showed on beholding
the twin-brothers Tyndaridæ,[167] when they filled the whole city with
joy by the announcement of that ancient victory.
12. A number of idle chatterers frequent their houses, and, with various
pretended modes of adulation, applaud every word uttered by men of such
high fortune; resembling the parasites in a comedy, for as they puff up
bragging soldiers, attributing to them, as rivals of the heroes of old,
sieges of cities, and battles, and the death of thousands of enemies, so
these men admire the construction of the lofty pillars, and the walls
inlaid with stones of carefully chosen colours, and extol these grandees
with superhuman praises.
13. Sometimes scales are sent for at their entertainments to weigh the
fish, or the birds, or the dormice which are set on the table; and then
the size of them is dwelt on over and over again, to the great weariness
of those present, as something never seen before; especially when near
thirty secretaries stand by, with tablets and memorandum books, to
record all these circumstances; so that nothing seems to be wanting but
a schoolmaster.
14. Some of them, hating learning as they hate poison, read Juvenal and
Marius Maximus[168] with tolerably careful study; though, in their
profound laziness, they never touch any other volumes; why, it does not
belong to my poor judgment to decide.
15. For, in consideration of their great glories and long pedigrees,
they ought to read a great variety of books; in which, for instance,
they might learn that Socrates, when condemned to death and thrown into
prison, asked some one who was playing a song of the Greek poet
Stesichorus with great skill, to teach him also to do that, while it was
still in his power; and when the musician asked him of what use this
skill could be to him, as he was to die the next day, he answered, "that
I may know something more before I die."
16. And there are among them some who are such severe judges of
offences, that if a slave is too long in bringing them hot water, they
will order him to be scourged with three hundred stripes; but should he
intentionally have killed a man, while numbers insist that he ought to
be unhesitatingly condemned as guilty, his master will exclaim, "What
can the poor wretch do? what can one expect from a good-for-nothing
fellow like that?" But should any one else venture to do anything of the
kind, he would be corrected.
17. Their ideas of civility are such that a stranger had better kill a
man's brother than send an excuse to them if he be asked to dinner; for
a senator fancies that he has suffered a terrible grievance, equal to
the loss of his entire patrimony, if any guest be absent, whom, after
repeated deliberations, he has once invited.
18. Some of them, if they have gone any distance to see their estates in
the country, or to hunt at a meeting collected for their amusement by
others, think they have equalled the marches of Alexander the Great, or
of Cæsar; or if they have gone in some painted boats from Lake Avernus
to Pozzuoli or Cajeta, especially if they have ventured on such an
exploit in warm weather. Where if, amid their golden fans, a fly should
perch on the silken fringes, or if a slender ray of the sun should have
pierced through a hole in their awning, they complain that they were not
born among the Cimmerians.
19. Then, when they come from the bath of Silvanus, or the waters of
Mamæa, which are so good for the health, after they come out of the
water, and have wiped themselves with cloths of the finest linen, they
open the presses, and take out of them robes so delicate as to be
transparent, selecting them with care, till they have got enough to
clothe eleven persons; and at length, after they have picked out all
they choose, they wrap themselves up in them, and take the rings which
they had given to their attendants to hold, that they might not be
injured by the damp; and then they depart when their fingers are
properly cooled.
20. Again, if any one having lately quitted the military service of the
emperor, has retired to his home.[169] ...
21. Some of them, though not many, wish to avoid the name of gamblers,
and prefer to be called dice-players; the difference being much the same
as that between a thief and a robber. But this must be confessed that,
while all friendships at Rome are rather cool, those alone which are
engendered by dice are sociable and intimate, as if they had been formed
amid glorious exertions, and were firmly cemented by exceeding
affection; to which it is owing that some of this class of gamblers live
in such harmony that you might think them the brothers Quintilii.[170]
And so you may sometimes see a man of base extraction, who knows all the
secrets of the dice, as grave as Porcius Cato when he met with a repulse
which he had never expected nor dreamt of, when a candidate for the
prætorship, with affected solemnity and a serious face, because at some
grand entertainment or assembly some man of proconsular rank has been
preferred to himself.
22. Some lay siege to wealthy men, whether old or young, childless or
unmarried, or even with wives and children (for with such an object no
distinction is ever regarded by them), seeking by most marvellous tricks
to allure them to make their wills; and then if, after observing all the
forms of law, they bequeath to these persons what they have to leave,
being won over by them to this compliance, they speedily die.[171]
23. Another person, perhaps only in some subordinate office, struts
along with his head up, looking with so slight and passing a glance upon
those with whom he was previously acquainted, that you might fancy it
must be Marcus Marcellus just returned from the capture of Syracuse.
24. Many among them deny the existence of a superior Power in heaven,
and yet neither appear in public, nor dine, nor think that they can
bathe with any prudence, before they have carefully consulted an
almanac, and learnt where (for example) the planet Mercury is, or in
what portion of Cancer the moon is as she passes through the heavens.
25. Another man, if he perceives his creditor to be importunate in
demanding a debt, flies to a charioteer who is bold enough to venture on
any audacious enterprise, and takes care that he shall be harassed with
dread of persecution as a poisoner; from which he cannot be released
without giving bail and incurring a very heavy expense. One may add to
this, that he includes under this head a debtor who is only so through
the engagements into which he has entered to avoid a prosecution, as if
he were a real debtor, and that he never lets him go till he has
obtained the discharge of the debt.
26. On the other side, a wife, who, as the old proverb has it, hammers
on the same anvil day and night, to compel her husband to make his will,
and then the husband is equally urgent that his wife shall do the same.
And men learned in the law are procured on each side, the one in the
bedchamber, and his opponent in the dining-room, to draw up
counter-documents. And under their employ are placed ambiguous
interpreters of the contracts of their victims, who, on the one side,
promise with great liberality high offices, and the funerals of wealthy
matrons; and from these they proceed to the obsequies of the husbands,
giving hints that everything necessary ought to be prepared; and[172]
... as Cicero says, "Nor in the affairs of men do they understand
anything good, except what is profitable; and they love those friends
most (as they would prefer sheep) from whom they expect to derive the
greatest advantage."[173]
27. And when they borrow anything, they are so humble and cringing, you
would think you were at a comedy, and seeing Micon or Laches; when they
are constrained to repay what they have borrowed, they become so turgid
and bombastic that you would take them for those descendants of
Hercules, Cresphontes and Temenus. This is enough to say of the
senatorial order.
28. And let us come to the idle and lazy common people, among whom some,
who have not even got shoes boast of high-sounding names; calling
themselves Cimessores, Statarii, Semicupæ, Serapina, or Cicimbricus, or
Gluturiorus, Trulla, Lucanicus, Pordaca, or Salsula,[174] with numbers
of other similar appellations. These men spend their whole lives in
drinking, and gambling, and brothels, and pleasures, and public
spectacles; and to them the Circus Maximus is their temple, their home,
their public assembly; in fact, their whole hope and desire.[175]
29. And you may see in the forum, and roads, and streets, and places of
meeting, knots of people collected, quarrelling violently with one
another, and objecting to one another, and splitting themselves into
violent parties.
30. Among whom those who have lived long, having influence by reason of
their age, their gray hairs and wrinkles, are continually crying out
that the republic cannot stand, if in the contest which is about to take
place, the skilful charioteer, whom some individual backs, is not
foremost in the race, and does not dextrously shave the turning-post
with the trace-horses.
31. And when there is so much ruinous carelessness, when the wished-for
day of the equestrian games dawns, before the sun has visibly risen,
they all rush out with headlong haste, as if with their speed they would
outstrip the very chariots which are going to race; while as to the
event of the contest they are all torn asunder by opposite wishes, and
the greater part of them, through their anxiety, pass sleepless nights.
32. From hence, if you go to some cheap theatre, the actors on the stage
are driven off by hisses, if they have not taken the precaution to
conciliate the lowest of the people by gifts of money. And if there
should be no noise, then, in imitation of the people in the Tauric
Chersonese, they raise an outcry that the strangers ought to be expelled
(on whose assistance they have always relied for their principal
support), using foul and ridiculous expressions; such as are greatly at
variance with the pursuits and inclinations of that populace of old,
whose many facetious and elegant expressions are recorded by tradition
and by history.
33. For these clever gentlemen have now devised a new method of
expressing applause, which is, at every spectacle to cry out to those
who appear at the end, whether they are couriers, huntsmen, or
charioteers--in short, to the whole body of actors, and to the
magistrates, whether of great or small importance, and even to nations,
"It is to your school that he ought to go." But what he is to learn
there no one can explain.
34. Among these men are many chiefly addicted to fattening themselves up
by gluttony, who, following the scent of any delicate food, and the
shrill voices of the women who, from cockcrow, cry out with a shrill
scream, like so many peacocks, and gliding over the ground on tiptoe,
get an entrance into the halls, biting their nails while the dishes are
getting cool. Others fix their eyes intently on the tainted meat which
is being cooked, that you might fancy Democritus, with a number of
anatomists, was gazing into the entrails of sacrificed victims, in order
to teach posterity how best to relieve internal pains.
35. For the present this is enough to say of the affairs of the city;
now let us return to other events which various circumstances brought to
pass in the provinces.
V.
§ 1. In the third consulship of the emperors a vast multitude of Saxons
burst forth, and having crossed the difficult passage of the ocean, made
towards the Roman frontier by rapid marches, having before often
battened on the slaughter of our men. The first storm of this invasion
fell upon the count Nannenus, who was in command in that district, being
a veteran general of great merit and experience.
2. He now engaged in battle with a host which fought as if resolved on
death; but when he found that he had lost many of his men, and that he
himself, having been wounded, would be unequal to a succession of
battles, he sent word to the emperor of what was necessary, and
prevailed on him to send Severus, the commander of the infantry, to aid
him at this crisis.
3. That general brought with him a sufficient body of troops, and when
he arrived in the country he so arrayed his men that he terrified the
barbarians, and threw them into such disorder, even before any battle
took place, that they did not venture to engage him, but, panic-stricken
at the brilliant appearance of the standards and eagles, they implored
pardon and peace.
4. The question of granting it to them was long discussed, with variety
of opinion, between the Roman commanders; but at last, as it seemed for
the advantage of the republic, a truce was granted, and after they had
agreed to the conditions proposed, one of which was that they should
furnish a number of young men suitable for military service, the Saxons
were permitted to withdraw, but without their baggage, and to return to
their own country.
5. But when they, being now freed from all fear, were preparing to
return, some of our infantry were sent forward, who secretly laid an
ambuscade in a certain hidden defile, from which they would easily be
able to attack them as they passed. But the matter turned out very
differently from what was expected.
6. For some of our men being roused by the noise of the Saxons, sprang
from their ambush unseasonably; and being suddenly seen, while they were
hastening to establish themselves, the barbarians, with a terrible yell,
put them to flight. Presently, however, they halted in a solid body, and
being now driven to extremities, were compelled to fight, though their
strength was far from great. The slaughter was great, and they would
have been all cut off to a man, had not a column of cuirassier cavalry,
which had been similarly placed in ambuscade at a place where the road
divided, in order there also to attack the barbarians in their passage,
been roused by the uproar, and come up suddenly.
7. Then the battle raged more fiercely, and with dauntless breasts the
Romans pressed forward on all sides, and with drawn swords hemmed in
their enemies, and slew them; nor did any of them ever return home, for
not one survived the slaughter. And although an impartial judge will
blame the action as treacherous and disgraceful, still if he weighs all
the circumstances, he will not regret that a mischievous band of robbers
was at length destroyed when such an opportunity presented itself.
8. After these affairs had been consummated thus successfully,
Valentinian revolving in his mind a great variety of opinions, was
filled with anxious solicitude, considering and contemplating different
measures for breaking the pride of the Allemanni and their king
Macrianus, who were incessantly and furiously disturbing the republic
with their restless movements.
9. For that ferocious nation, though from its earliest origin
diminished by various disasters, yet continually revives, so that it
might be considered as having been free from attacks for many ages. At
last, after the emperor had considered and approved of one plan after
another, it was finally determined to excite the Burgundians to attack
them, the Burgundians being a warlike people, with an immense population
of active youths, and therefore formidable to all their neighbours.
10. And the emperor sent repeated letters to their chiefs by some silent
and trustworthy messengers, to urge them to attack the Allemanni at a
certain fixed time, and promising that he likewise would cross the Rhine
with the Roman legions, and attack their forces when in disorder, and
seeking to escape the unexpected attack of the Burgundians.
11. The letters of the emperor were received with joy, for two reasons:
first, because for many ages the Burgundians had looked upon themselves
as descended from the Romans; and secondly, because they had continual
quarrels with the Allemanni about their salt-pits and their borders. So
they sent against them some picked battalions, which, before the Roman
soldiers could be collected, advanced as far as the banks of the Rhine,
and, while the emperor was engaged in the construction of some
fortresses, caused the greatest alarm to our people.
12. Therefore, after waiting for some time, Valentinian having failed to
come on the appointed day as promised, and finding that none of his
engagements were performed, they sent ambassadors to the court,
requesting assistance to enable them to return in safety to their own
land, and to save them from exposing their rear unprotected to their
enemies.
13. But when they perceived that their request was virtually refused by
the excuses and pleas for delay with which it was received, they
departed from the court in sorrow and indignation; and when the chiefs
of the Burgundians received their report, they were very furious,
thinking they had been mocked; and so they slew all their prisoners and
returned to their native land.
14. Among them their king is called by one general name of "Hendinos,"
and according to a very ancient custom of theirs, is deposed from his
authority if under his government the state meets with any disaster in
war; or if the earth fails to produce a good crop; in the same way as
the Egyptians are accustomed to attribute calamities of that kind to
their rulers. The chief priest among the Burgundians is called "the
Sinistus." But he is irremovable and not exposed to any such dangers as
the kings.
15. Taking advantage of this favourable opportunity, Theodosius, the
commander of the cavalry, passed through the Tyrol and attacked the
Allemanni, who, out of fear of the Burgundians, had dispersed into their
villages. He slew a great number, and took some prisoners, whom by the
emperor's command he sent to Italy, where some fertile districts around
the Po were assigned to them, which they still inhabit as tributaries.
VI.
§ 1. Let us now migrate, as it were, to another quarter of the world,
and proceed to relate the distresses of Tripoli, a province of Africa;
distresses which, in my opinion, even Justice herself must have
lamented, and which burst out rapidly like flames. I will now give an
account both of them and of their causes.
2. The Asturians are barbarians lying on the frontier of this province,
a people always in readiness for rapid invasions, accustomed to live on
plunder and bloodshed; and who, after having been quiet for a while, now
relapsed into their natural state of disquiet, alleging the following as
the serious cause for their movements.
3. One of their countrymen, by name Stachao, while freely traversing our
territories, as in time of peace, did some things forbidden by the laws;
the most flagrant of his illegal acts being that he endeavoured, by
every kind of deceit and intrigue, to betray the province, as was shown
by the most undeniable evidence, for which crime he was burnt to death.
4. To avenge his death, the Asturians, claiming him as their clansman,
and affirming that he had been unjustly condemned, burst forth from
their own territory like so many mad wild beasts during the reign of
Jovian, but fearing to approach close to Leptis, which was a city with
a numerous population, and fortified by strong walls, they occupied the
district around it, which is very fertile, for three days: and having
slain the agricultural population on it, whom terror at their sudden
inroad had deprived of all spirit, or had driven to take refuge in
caves, and burnt a great quantity of furniture which could not be
carried off, they returned home, loaded with vast plunder, taking with
them as prisoner a man named Silva, the principal noble of Leptis, whom
they found with his family at his country house.
5. The people of Leptis being terrified at this sudden disaster, not
wishing to incur the further calamities with which the arrogance of the
barbarians threatened them, implored the protection of Count Romanus,
who had recently been promoted to the government of Africa. But when he
came at the head of an army, and received their request to come to their
immediate assistance in their distress, he declared that he would not
move a step further unless abundant magazines and four thousand camels
were provided for his troops.
6. At this answer the wretched citizens were stupefied, and declared to
him, that after the devastations and conflagrations to which they had
been exposed, it was impossible for them to make such exertions, even
for the reparation of the cruel disasters which they had suffered; and,
after waiting forty days there with vain pretences and excuses, the
count retired without attempting any enterprise.
7. The people of Tripoli, disappointed in their hopes, and dreading the
worst extremities, at their next council day, appointed Severus and
Flaccianus ambassadors to carry to Valentinian some golden images of
victory in honour of his accession to the empire, and to state fully and
boldly to him the miserable distress of the province.
8. When this step became known, Romanus sent a swift horseman as a
messenger to the master of the offices, Remigius, his own kinsman and
his partner in plunder, bidding him take care, that by the emperor's
decision, the investigation into this matter should be committed to the
deputy and himself.
9. The ambassadors arrived at the court, and having obtained access to
the emperor, they, in a set speech, laid all their distresses before
him, and presented him with a decree of their council in which the whole
affair was fully set forth. When the emperor had read it, he neither
trusted the report of the master of the offices, framed to defend the
misconduct of the count, nor, on the other hand, did he place confidence
in these men who made a contrary report; but promised a full
investigation into the affair, which however was deferred in the manner
in which high authorities are wont to let such matters give place to
their more pleasant occupations and amusements.
10. While waiting in suspense and protracted anxiety for some relief
from the emperor's camp, the citizens of Tripoli were again attacked by
troops of the same barbarians, now elated with additional confidence by
their past successes. They ravaged the whole territory of Leptis and
also that of OEa, spreading total ruin and desolation everywhere, and,
at last, retired loaded with an enormous quantity of spoil, and having
slain many of our officers, the most distinguished of whom were
Rusticianus, one of the priests, and the ædile, Nicasius.
11. This invasion was prevented from being repelled by the fact, that at
the entreaty of the ambassadors, the conduct of the military affairs,
which had at first been intrusted to Ruricius, the president, had been
subsequently transferred to Count Romanus.
12. So now a new messenger was sent to Gaul with an account of this
fresh disaster; and his intelligence roused the emperor to great anger.
So Palladius, his secretary, who had also the rank of tribune, was sent
at once to liquidate the pay due to the soldiers, who were dispersed
over Africa, and to examine into all that had taken place in Tripoli, he
being an officer whose report could be trusted.
13. But while all these delays took place from the continual
deliberations held on the case, and while the people of Tripoli were
still waiting for the answer, the Asturians, now still more insolent
after their double success, like birds of prey whose ferocity has been
sharpened by the taste of blood, flew once more to attack them; and
having slain every one who did not flee from the danger, they carried
off all the spoil which they had previously left behind, cutting down
all the trees and vines.
14. Then a certain citizen named Mychon, a man of high station and
great influence, was taken prisoner in the district outside of the city;
but before they could bind him he gave them the slip, and because an
attack of gout rendered him unable to effect his escape, he threw
himself down a dry well, from which he was drawn up by the barbarians
with his ribs broken, and was conducted near to the gates of the city,
where he was ransomed by the affection of his wife, and was drawn up to
the battlements of the wall by a rope; but two days afterwards he died.
15. These events encouraged the pertinacity of the invaders, so that
they advanced and attacked the very walls of Leptis, which resounded
with the mournful wailings of the women, who were terrified in an
extraordinary manner and quite bewildered, because they had never before
been blockaded by an enemy. And after the city had been besieged for
eight days continuously, during which many of the besiegers were
wounded, while they made no progress, they retired much discouraged to
their own country.
16. In consequence of these events, the citizens, being still doubtful
of their safety, and desirous of trying every possible resource, before
the ambassadors who had been first sent had returned, sent Jovinus and
Pancratius to lay before the emperor a faithful account of the
sufferings which they had endured, and which they themselves had seen:
these envoys found the former ambassadors, Severus and Flaccianus, at
Carthage; and on asking them what they had done, they learnt that they
had been referred for a hearing to the deputy and the count. And
immediately after this Severus was attacked by a dangerous illness and
died; but notwithstanding what they had heard, the new ambassadors
proceeded on their journey to the court.
17. After this, when Palladius arrived in Africa, the count, who knew on
what account he had come, and who had been warned before to take
measures for his own safety, sent orders to the principal officers of
the army by certain persons who were in his secrets, to pay over to him,
as being a person of great influence, and being the person most nearly
connected with the principal nobles of the palace, the chief part of
the money for the soldiers' pay which he had brought over, and they
obeyed him.
18. So he, having been thus suddenly enriched, reached Leptis; and that
he might arrive at a knowledge of the truth, he took with him to the
districts that had been laid waste, Erecthius and Aristomenes, two
citizens of great eloquence and reputation, who freely unfolded to him
the distress which their fellow-citizens and the inhabitants of the
adjacent districts had suffered. They showed him everything openly; and
so he returned after seeing the lamentable desolation of the province:
and reproaching Romanus for his inactivity, he threatened to report to
the emperor an accurate statement of everything which he had seen.
19. He, inflamed with anger and indignation, retorted that he also
should soon make a report, that the man who had been sent as an
incorruptible secretary had converted to his own uses all the money
which had been sent out as a donation to the soldiers.
20. The consequence was that Palladius, being hampered by the
consciousness of his flagitious conduct, proceeded from henceforth in
harmony with Romanus, and when he returned to court, he deceived
Valentinian with atrocious falsehoods, affirming that the citizens of
Tripoli complained without reason. Therefore he was sent back to Africa
a second time with Jovinus, the last of all the ambassadors (for
Pancratius had died at Treves), in order that he, in conjunction with
the deputy, might inquire into everything connected with the second
embassy. And besides this, the emperor ordered the tongues of Erecthius
and Aristomenes to be cut out, because this same Palladius had intimated
that they made some malignant and disloyal statements.
21. The secretary, following the deputy, as had been arranged, came to
Tripoli. When his arrival was known, Romanus sent one of his servants
thither with all speed, and Cæcilius, his assessor, who was a native of
the province; and by their agency (whether they employed bribery or
deceit is doubtful) all the citizens were won over to accuse Jovinus,
vigorously asserting that he had never issued any of the commands which
he had reported to the emperor; carrying their iniquity to such a
pitch, that Jovinus himself was compelled by them to confess, to his
own great danger, that he had made a false report to the emperor.
22. When these events were learnt from Palladius on his return,
Valentinian, being always inclined to severe measures, commanded the
execution of Jovinus as the author of such a report, and of Cælestinus,
Concordius, and Lucius, as privy to it, and partners in it. He also
commanded Ruricius, the president, to be put to death for falsehood; the
charge against him being aggravated by the circumstance that his report
contained some violent and intemperate expressions.
23. Ruricius was executed at Sitifis; the rest were condemned at Utica
by the sentence of the deputy Crescens. But before the death of the
ambassadors, Flaccianus, while being examined by the deputy and the
count, and while resolutely defending his own safety, was assailed with
abuse, and then attacked with loud outcries and violence by the angry
soldiers, and was nearly killed; the charge which they made against him
being that the cause which had prevented the people of Tripoli from
being defended was, that they had refused to furnish necessaries for the
use of any expedition.
24. On this account he was thrown into prison, till the emperor could be
consulted on his case, and should decide what ought to be done; but his
gaolers were tampered with, as was believed, and he escaped from prison
and fled to Rome, where he concealed himself for some time, till his
death.
25. In consequence of this memorable catastrophe, Tripoli, which had
been often harassed by external and domestic calamities, brought forward
no further accusations against those who had left it undefended, knowing
that the eternal eye of justice was awake, as well as the avenging
furies of the ambassadors and the president. And a long time afterwards
the following event took place:--Palladius, having been dismissed from
the military service, and stript of all that nourished his pride,
retired into private life.
26. And when Theodosius, that magnificent commander of armies, came into
Africa to put down Firmus, who was entertaining some pernicious designs,
and, as he was ordered, began to examine the movable effects of
Romanus, he found among his papers a letter of a certain person named
Meterius, containing this passage: "Meterius, to his lord and patron,
Romanus;" and at the end of the letter many expressions unconnected with
its general subject. "Palladius, who has been cashiered, salutes you. He
who says he was cashiered for no other reason than that in the case of
the people of Tripoli he made a false report to the sacred ears."
27. When this letter was sent to the court and read, Meterius was
arrested by order of Valentinian, and confessed that the letter was his
writing. Therefore Palladius also was ordered to appear, and reflecting
on all the crimes he had committed, while at a halting place on the
road, he watched an opportunity afforded him by the absence of his
guards, as soon as it got dark (for, as it was a festival of the
Christian religion, they passed the whole night in the church), and
hanged himself.
28. The news of this propitious event--the death of the principal cause
of their sad troubles--being known, Erecthius and Aristomenes, who when
they first heard that their tongues were ordered to be cut out for
sedition, had escaped, now issued from their hiding-places. And when the
emperor Gratian was informed of the wicked deceit that had been
practised (for by this time Valentinian was dead), their fears vanished,
and they were sent to have their cause heard before Hesperus the
proconsul and Flavian the deputy, men whose justice was supported by the
righteous authority of the emperor, and who, after putting Cæcilius to
the torture, learnt from his clear confession that he himself had
persuaded the citizens to bring false accusations against the
ambassadors. These actions were followed by a report which gave the
fullest possible account of all that had taken place, to which no answer
was given.
29. And that the whole story might want nothing of tragic interest, the
following occurrence also took place after the curtain had fallen.
Romanus went to court, taking with him Cæcilius, with the intent to
accuse the judges as having been unduly biassed in favour of the
province; and being received graciously by Merobaudes, he demanded that
some more necessary witnesses should be summoned. And when they had
come to Milan, and had shown by proofs which seemed correct, though
these were false, that they had been falsely accused, they were
acquitted, and returned home. Valentinian was still alive, when after
these events which we have related, Remigius also retired from public
life, and afterwards hanged himself, as we shall relate in the proper
place.
[165] See the Iliad, XVIII. 1. 645, where Ajax prays:--
"Lord of earth and air,
O King! O Father, hear my humble prayer!
Dispel this cloud, the light of heaven restore;
Give me to see, and Ajax asks no more!
If Greece must perish, we thy will obey,
But let us perish in the face of day."
POPE'S _Trans._, 1. 727, etc.
[166] See Gibbon, vol. III. p. 97 (Bohn's edition).
[167] This is an allusion to the story of Castor and Pollux bringing
news of the victory gained at the battle of Regillus to Domitius (B.C.
496). The legend adds that they stroked his black beard, which
immediately became red; from which he and his posterity derived the
surname of Ænobarbus.--See Dion. Hal. vi. 13.
[168] Marius Maximus was an author who wrote an account of the lives of
the Cæsars.
[169] § 20 is mutilated, so that no sense can be extracted from the
remainder of it.
[170] Two brothers who had been colleagues in several important offices,
and who were at last put to death together by Commodus.
[171] The end of § 22 is also mutilated.
[172] This passage, again, seems hopelessly mutilated.
[173] Cicero, de Amicitia, c. xxi.
[174] These are not in reality noble names, but names derived from low
occupations. Trulla is a dish; Salsula, belonging to pickles, &c.
[175] Compare Juvenal's description of the circumspect in his time:--
"Atque duas tantum resarexius optat
Panem et Circenses."