The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus Part 4

Scudilo, being afflicted with a liver complaint which penetrated to his lungs, died vomiting; while Barbatio, who had long busied himself in inventing false accusations against Gallus, was accused by secret information of aiming at some post higher than his command of infantry, and being condemned, though unjustly, was put to death, and so by his melancholy end made atonement to the shade of the Caesar.

25. These, and innumerable other actions of the same kind, Adrastea, who is also called Nemesis, the avenger of wicked and the rewarder of good deeds, is continually bringing to pa.s.s: would that she could always do so! She is a kind of sublime agent of the powerful Deity, dwelling, according to common belief, above the human circle; or, as others define her, she is a substantial protection, presiding over the particular destinies of individuals, and feigned by the ancient theologians to be the daughter of Justice, looking down from a certain inscrutable eternity upon all terrestrial and mundane affairs.

26. She, as queen of all causes of events, and arbitress and umpire in all affairs of life, regulates the urn which contains the lots of men, and directs the alternations of fortune which we behold in the world, frequently bringing our undertakings to an issue different from what we intended, and involving and changing great numbers of actions. She also, binding the vainly swelling pride of mankind by the indissoluble fetters of necessity, and swaying the inclination of progress and decay according to her will, sometimes bows down and enfeebles the stiff neck of arrogance, and sometimes raises virtuous men from the lowest depth, leading them to a prosperous and happy life. And it is on this account that the fables of antiquity have represented her with wings, that she may be supposed to be present at all events with prompt celerity. And they have also placed a rudder in her hand and given her a wheel under her feet, that mankind may be aware that she governs the universe, running at will through all the elements.[23]

27. In this untimely manner did the Caesar, being himself also already weary of life, die, in the twenty-ninth year of his age, having reigned four years. He was born in the country of the Etrurians, in the district of Veternum,[24] being the son of Constantius, the brother of the Emperor Constantine; his mother was Galla, the sister of Rufinus and Cerealis, men who had been enn.o.bled by the offices of consul and prefect.

28. He was a man of splendid stature and great beauty of person and figure, with soft hair of a golden colour, his newly sprouting beard covering his cheeks with a tender down, and in spite of his youth his countenance showed dignity and authority. He differed as much from the temperate habits of his brother Julian, as the sons of Vespasian, Domitian and t.i.tus, differed from each other.

29. After he had been taken by the emperor as his colleague, and raised to the highest eminence of power, he experienced the fickle changeableness of fortune which mocks mortality, sometimes raising individuals to the stars, at others sinking them to the lowest depths of h.e.l.l.

30. And though the examples of such vicissitudes are beyond number, nevertheless I will only enumerable a few in a cursory manner. This changeable and fickle fortune made Agathocles, the Sicilian, a king from being a potter, and reduced Dionysius, formerly the terror of all nations, to be the master of a grammar school. This same fortune emboldened Andriscus of Adramyttium, who had been born in a fuller's shop, to a.s.sume the name of Philip, and compelled the legitimate son of Perseus[25] to descend to the trade of a blacksmith to obtain a livelihood. Again, fortune surrendered Mancinus[26] to the people of Numantia, after he had enjoyed the supreme command, exposed Veturius[27]

to the cruelty of the Samnites, Claudius[28] to that of the Corsicans, and made Regulus[29] a victim to the ferocity of the Carthaginians.

Through the injustice of fortune, Pompey,[30] after he had acquired the surname of the Great by the grandeur of his exploits, was murdered in aegypt at the pleasure of some eunuchs, while a fellow named Eunus, a slave who had escaped from a house of correction, commanded an army of runaway slaves in Sicily. How many men of the highest birth, through the connivance of this same fortune, submitted to the authority of Viriathus and of Spartacus![31] How many heads at which nations once trembled have fallen under the deadly hand of the executioner! One man is thrown into prison, another is promoted to unexpected power, a third is hurled down from the highest rank and dignity. But he who would endeavour to enumerate all the various and frequent instances of the caprice of fortune, might as well undertake to number the sands or ascertain the weight of mountains.

[1] Gallus and his brother Julian were the nephews of the great Constantine, sons of his brother Julius. When Constantius, who succeeded Constantine on the throne, murdered his uncles and most of his cousins, he spared these two, probably on account of their tender age.

[2] Hannibalia.n.u.s was another nephew of Constantine. That emperor raised his own three sons, Constantine, Constantius, and Constans, to the dignity of Caesar; and of his two favourite nephews, Dalmacius and Hannibalia.n.u.s, he raised the first, by the t.i.tle of Caesar, to an equality with his cousins; "in favour of the latter he invented the new and singular appellation of Fort.i.tissimus, to which he annexed the flattering distinction of a robe of purple and gold. But of the whole series of Roman princes in any age of the empire Hannibalia.n.u.s alone was distinguished by the t.i.tle of _king_, a name which the subjects of Tiberius would have detested as the profane and cruel insult of capricious tyranny."--Gibbon, cxviii. The editor of Bohn's edition adds in a note: "The t.i.tle given to Hannibalia.n.u.s did not apply to him as a _Roman_ prince, but as king of a territory a.s.signed to him in Asia. This territory consisted of Pontus, Cappadocia, and the lesser Armenia, the city of Caesarea being chosen for his residence."--Gibbon, Bohn's edition, vol. ii. pp. 256, 257.

[3] "There was among the commanders of the soldiery one prefect who was especially ent.i.tled Praesens, or Praesentalis, because his office was to be always in the court or about the person of the prince, and because the emperor's body-guard was under his particular orders."--H. Valesius.

[4] The pa.s.sage is found in Cicero's Oration pro Cluentio, c. 25.

[5] Sciron was a pirate slain by Theseus, v. Ov. Metam. vii. 44 and the Epistle of Ariadne to Theseus.

"c.u.m fuerit Sciron lectus, torvusque Procrustes."

[6] His victory over Magnentius, whom he defeated at Mursa, on the Doave, in the year 351. Magnentius fled to Aquileia, but was pursued, and again defeated the next year, at a place called Mons Seleuci, in the neighbourhood of Gap, and threw himself on his own sword to avoid falling into the hands of Constantius.

[7] Hesiod. Ammia.n.u.s refers to the pa.s.sage in Hesiod's Op. et Dies, 289, beginning--t?? d' ??e?? ?d??ta ?e?? p??p?????e? ???sa?.

[8] A nomenclator was a slave who attended a great n.o.ble in his walk through the city to remind him of the names of those whom he met. See Cicero pro Muraena, c. 36.

[9] The name of a slave in the Eunuch, of Terence, who says, act. iv sc.

8--Sannio alone stays at home.

[10] It was customary on such solemnities, as also on the occasion of a.s.suming the toga virilis, or entering on any important magistracy, to make small presents of money to the guests who were invited to celebrate the occasion. Cf. Plin. Epist. x. 117.

[11] The Latin is Dux. It is about this period that the t.i.tle Duke and Count, which we have already had, arose, indicating however at first not territorial possessions, but military commands; and it is worth noticing that the rank of Count was the higher of the two.

[12] Constantine, on his conversion to Christianity, had issued an edict forbidding the consultation of oracles; but the practice was not wholly abandoned till the time of Theodosius.

[13] Schools was the name given at Rome to buildings where men were wont to meet for any purpose, whether of study, of traffic, or of the practice of any art. The schools of the Palatine were the station of the cohorts of the guard. The "Protectors or Guards" were a body of soldiers of higher rank, receiving also higher pay; called also "Domestici or household troops," as especially set apart for the protection of the imperial palace and person. The "Scutarii" (shield-bearers) belonged to the Palatine schools; and the Gentiles were troops enlisted from among those nations which were still accounted barbarous.

[14] Gibbon here proposes for le_n_itatem to read le_v_itatem, fickleness; himself describing Montius as "a statesman whose art and experience were frequently betrayed by the levity of his disposition."--Cap. xix., p. 298, vol. iii., Bohn's edition.

[15] Chalons sur Saone.

[16] Near Basle.

[17] It will be observed that Ammia.n.u.s here speaks of himself as in attendance upon Ursicinus.

[18] Maximia.n.u.s Herculius.

[19] Diocletian.

[20] As we say, Out of the frying-pan into the fire.

[21] The town of Pettau, on the Drave.

[22] A paleness such as overspread the countenance of Adrastus when he saw his two sons-in-law, Pydeus and Polynices, slain at Thebes. Virgil speaks of Adrasti pallentis imago, aen. vi. 480.

[23] Ammia.n.u.s here confounds Nemesis with Fortuna. Compare Horace's description of the latter G.o.ddess, Lib. i. Od. 34:--

" ... Valet ima summis Mutare, et insignia attenuat deus Obscura promens: hinc apicem rapax Fortuna c.u.m stridore acuto Sustulit; hic posuisse gaudet."

Or, as it is translated by Dr. Francis:--

"The hand of Jove can crush the proud Down to the meanness of the crowd: And raise the lowest in his stead: But rapid Fortune pulls him down, And s.n.a.t.c.hes his imperial crown, To place, not _fix_ it, on another's head."

[24] Near the modern city of Sienna.

[25] See Plutarch's Life of aemilius, c. 37. The name of the young prince was Alexander.

[26] Called also Hostilius; cf. Vell. Paterc. ii. 1.

[27] Cf. Liv. ix. c. x.; Cicero de Officiis, iii. 30.

[28] Cf. Val. Max. vi. 3.

[29] Cf. Horace, Od. iv. ult.; Florus, ii. 1. The story of the cruelties inflicted on Regulus is now, however, generally disbelieved.

[30] The fate of Pompey served also as an instance to Juvenal in his satire on the vanity of human wishes.

Provida Pompeio diderat Campania febres Optandas, sed multae urbes et publica vota Vicerunt; igitur Fortuna ipsius et urbis Servatum victo caput abstulit.

Sat. X. 283, &c.

[31] Spartacus was the celebrated leader of the slaves in the Servile War.

BOOK XV.

ARGUMENT.

I. The death of the Caesar Gallus is announced to the emperor.--II.