The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus Part 54

17. After these transactions, accompanied with this diversity of fortune, the army went into winter quarters, and the emperor returned to Treves.

XI.

-- 1. About this time, Vulcatius Rufinus died, while filling the office of prefect of the praetorium, and Probus was summoned from Rome to succeed him, a man well known to the whole Roman world for the eminence of his family, and his influence, as well as for his vast riches, for he possessed a patrimonial inheritance which was scattered over the whole empire; whether acquired justly or unjustly it is not for us to decide.

2. A certain good fortune, as the poets would represent it, attended him from his birth, and bore him on her rapid wings, exhibiting him sometimes as a man of beneficent character, promoting the interests of his friends, though often also a formidable intriguer, and cruel and mischievous in the gratification of his enmities. As long as he lived he had great power, owing to the magnificence of his gifts and to his frequent possession of office, and yet he was at times timid towards the bold, though domineering over the timid; so that when full of self-confidence he appeared to be spouting in the tragic buskin, and when he was afraid he seemed more abased than the most abject character in comedy.

3. And as fishes, when removed from their natural element, cannot live long on the land, so he began to pine when not in some post of authority which he was driven to be solicitous for by the squabbles of his troops of clients, whose boundless cupidity prevented their ever being innocent, and who thrust their patron forward into affairs of state in order to be able to perpetrate all sorts of crimes with impunity.

4. For it must be confessed that though he was a man of such magnanimity that he never desired any dependent or servant of his to do an unlawful thing, yet if he found that any one of them had committed a crime, he laid aside all consideration of justice, would not allow the case to be inquired into, but defended the man without the slightest regard for right or wrong. Now this is a fault expressly condemned by Cicero, who thus speaks: "For what difference is there between one who has advised an action, and one who approves of it after it is performed? or what difference does it make whether I wished it be done, or am glad that it is done?"

5. He was a man of a suspicious temper, self-relying, often wearing a bitter smile, and sometimes caressing a man the more effectually to injure him.

6. This vice is a very conspicuous one in dispositions of that kind, and mostly so when it is thought possible to conceal it. He was also so implacable and obstinate in his enmities, that if he ever resolved to injure any one he would never be diverted from his purpose by any entreaties, nor be led to pardon any faults, so that his ears seemed to be stopped not with wax but with lead.

7. Even when at the very summit of wealth and dignity he was always anxious and watchful, and therefore he was continually subject to trifling illnesses.

8. Such was the course of events which took place in the western provinces of the empire.

XII.

-- 1. The King of Persia, the aged Sapor, who from the very commencement of his reign had been addicted to the love of plunder, after the death of the Emperor Julian, and the disgraceful treaty of peace subsequently made, for a short time seemed with his people to be friendly to us; but presently he trampled under foot the agreement which he had made with Jovian, and poured a body of troops into Armenia to annex that country to his own dominions, as if the whole of the former arrangements had been abolished.

2. At first he contented himself with various tricks, intrigues, and deceits, inflicting some trifling injuries on the nation which unanimously resisted him, tampering with some of the n.o.bles and satraps, and making sudden inroads into the districts belonging to others.

3. Afterwards by a system of artful cajolery fortified by perjury, he got their king Arsaces into his hands, having invited him to a banquet, when he ordered him to be seized and conducted to a secret chamber behind, where his eyes were put out, and he was loaded with silver chains, which in that country is looked upon as a solace under punishment for men of rank, trifling though it be; then he removed him from his country to a fortress called Agabana, where he applied to him the torture, and finally put him to death.

4. After this, in order that his perfidy might leave nothing unpolluted, having expelled Sauromaces, whom the authority of the Romans had made governor of Hiberia, he conferred the government of that district on a man of the name of As.p.a.curas, even giving him a diadem, to mark the insult offered to the decision of our emperors.

5. And after these infamous actions he committed the charge of Armenia to an eunuch named Cylaces, and to Artabannes, a couple of deserters whom he had received some time before (one of them having been prefect of that nation, and the other commander in-chief); and he enjoined them to use every exertion to destroy the town of Artogera.s.sa, a place defended by strong walls and a sufficient garrison, in which were the treasures, and the wife and son of Arsaces.

6. These generals commenced the siege as they were ordered. And as it is a fortress placed on a very rugged mountain height, it was inaccessible at that time, while the ground was covered with snow and frost: and so Cylaces being an eunuch, and, as such, suited to feminine manoeuvres, taking Artabannes with him, approached the walls; after having received a promise of safety, and he and his companion had been admitted into the city, he sought by a mixture of advice and threats to persuade the garrison and the queen to pacify the wrath of the implacable Sapor by a speedy surrender.

7. And after many arguments had been urged on both sides, the woman bewailing the sad fortune of her husband, these men, who had been most active in wis.h.i.+ng to compel her to surrender, pitying her distress, changed their views; and conceiving a hope of higher preferment, they in secret conferences arranged that at an appointed hour of the night the gates should be suddenly thrown open, and a strong detachment should sally forth and fall upon the ramparts of the enemy's camp, surprising it with sudden slaughter; the traitors promising that, to prevent any knowledge of what was going on, they would come forward to meet them.

8. Having ratified this agreement with an oath, they quitted the town, and led the besiegers to acquiesce in inaction by representing that the besieged had required two days to deliberate on what course they ought to pursue. Then in the middle of the night, when they were all soundly asleep in fancied security, the gates of the city were thrown open, and a strong body of young men poured forth with great speed, creeping on with noiseless steps and drawn swords, till they entered the camp of the unsuspecting enemy, where they slew numbers of sleeping men, without meeting with any resistance.

8. This unexpected treachery of his officers, and the loss thus inflicted on the Persians, caused a terrible quarrel between us and Sapor; and another cause for his anger was added, as the Emperor Valens received Para, the son of Arsaces, who at his mother's instigation had quitted the fortress with a small escort, and had desired him to stay at Neo-Caesarea, a most celebrated city on the Black Sea, where he was treated with great liberality and high respect. Cylaces and Artabannes, being allured by this humanity of Valens, sent envoys to him to ask for a.s.sistance, and to request that Para might be given them for their king.

10. However, for the moment a.s.sistance was refused them; but Para was conducted by the general Terentius back to Armenia, where he was to rule that nation without any of the insignia of royalty; which was a very wise regulation, in order that we might not be accused of breaking our treaty of peace.

11. When this arrangement became known, Sapor was enraged beyond all bounds, and collecting a vast army, entered Armenia and ravaged it with the most ferocious devastation. Para was terrified at his approach, as were also Cylaces and Artabannes, and, as they saw no other resource, fled into the recesses of the lofty mountains which separate our frontiers from Lazica; where they hid in the depths of the woods and among the defiles of the hills for five months, eluding the various attempts of the king to discover them.

12. And Sapor, when he saw that he was losing his labour in the middle of winter, burnt all the fruit trees, and all the fortified castles and camps, of which he had become master by force or treachery, and also burnt Artogera.s.sa, which had long been blockaded by his whole army, and after many battles was taken through the exhaustion of the garrison; and he carried off from thence the wife of Arsaces and all his treasures.

13. For these reasons, Arinthaeus was sent into these districts with the rank of count, to aid the Armenians if the Persians should attempt to hara.s.s them by a second campaign.

14. At the same time, Sapor, with extraordinary cunning, being either humble or arrogant as best suited him, under pretence of an intended alliance, sent secret messengers to Para to reproach him as neglectful of his own dignity, since, with the appearance of royal majesty, he was really the slave of Cylaces and Artabannes. On which Para, with great precipitation, cajoled them with caresses till he got them in his power, and slew them, sending their heads to Sapor in proof of his obedience.

15. When the death of these men became generally known, it caused such dismay that Armenia would have been ruined without striking a blow in its own defence, if the Persians had not been so alarmed at the approach of Arinthaeus that they forbore to invade it again, contenting themselves with sending amba.s.sadors to the emperor, demanding of him not to defend that nation, according to the agreement made between them and Jovian.

16. Their amba.s.sadors were rejected, and Sauromaces, who, as we have said before, had been expelled from the kingdom of Hiberia, was sent back with twelve legions under the command of Terentius; and when he reached the river Cyrus, As.p.a.curas entreated him that they might both reign as partners, being cousins; alleging that he could not withdraw nor cross over to the side of the Romans, because his son Ultra was as a hostage in the hands of the Persians.

17. The emperor learning this, in order by wisdom and prudence to put an end to the difficulties arising out of this affair, acquiesced in the division of Hiberia, allowing the Cyrus to be the boundary of the two divisions: Sauromaces to have the portion next to the Armenians and Lazians, and As.p.a.curas the districts which border on Albania and Persia.

18. Sapor, indignant at this, exclaimed that he was unworthily treated, because we had a.s.sisted Armenia contrary to our treaty, and because the emba.s.sy had failed which he had sent to procure redress, and because the kingdom of Hiberia was divided without his consent or privity; and so, shutting as it were, the gates of friends.h.i.+p, he sought a.s.sistance among the neighbouring nations, and prepared his own army in order, with the return of fine weather, to overturn all the arrangements which the Romans had made with a view to their own interests.

[160] Cabillonum is Chalons-sur-Soane, in Burgundy; Catalauni is Chalons-sur-Marne, in Champagne.

[161] These seem to have been a tribe of the _Batavi_; but some editors give, as a various reading, _Hastarii_, which may be translated, a detachment of lancers.

[162] Probably the church of Santa Maria Maggiore; but see note in Gibbon, ch. xxv. (vol. iii. p. 91, Bohn).

[163] See Iliad, ix. 5:--

?????? ?a? ??f???? t?te T?????e? ??t??

?????t' ???p????.

Thus translated by Pope:--

"As from its cloudy dungeon, issuing forth A double tempest of the west and north Swells o'er the sea from Thracia's frozen sh.o.r.e, Heaps waves on waves, and bids th' aegean roar."

[164] The contents of the sixty-third book of Livy record that C.

Porcius Cato lost his whole army in a campaign against the Scordisci, who were a Pannonian tribe; but neither Livy nor any other writer, except Ammia.n.u.s, mentions that Cato himself was killed.

BOOK XXVIII.

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 circ.u.mvented 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 Nepotia.n.u.s, 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 circ.u.mstances, a reasonable fear would restrain me from giving a minute account of the b.l.o.o.d.y 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 peris.h.i.+ng country.