The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus Part 56

53. At length, as like usually finds like, a certain Gaul of the name of Doryphoria.n.u.s 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. Doryphoria.n.u.s, 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 a.s.sistance. 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 Illyric.u.m. Doryphoria.n.u.s 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 ma.s.ses 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 n.o.bles 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 n.o.bles; 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, Constantia.n.u.s, 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 a.s.sembled 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 n.o.bles, 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 quant.i.ty 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 embarra.s.sed 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 ill.u.s.trious 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 circ.u.mstances 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 surpa.s.sed other men, he forbade the inst.i.tution 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 cla.s.s of men inst.i.tuted 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 n.o.bles, as we have already repeatedly done as far as our s.p.a.ce 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 ill.u.s.triousness 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 pa.s.sed 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 Zen.o.bia. 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 b.u.t.t, 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 Tyndaridae,[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 circ.u.mstances; 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.