The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus Part 67

IV.

A.D. 376.

-- 1. Accordingly, under the command of their leader Alavivus, they occupied the banks of the Danube; and having sent amba.s.sadors to Valens, they humbly entreated to be received by him as his subjects, promising to live quietly, and to furnish a body of auxiliary troops if any necessity for such a force should arise.

2. While these events were pa.s.sing in foreign countries, a terrible rumour arose that the tribes of the north were planning new and unprecedented attacks upon us: and that over the whole region which extends from the country of the Marcomanni and Quadi to Pontus, a barbarian host composed of different distant nations, which had suddenly been driven by force from their own country, was now, with all their families, wandering about in different directions on the banks of the river Danube.

3. At first this intelligence was lightly treated by our people, because they were not in the habit of hearing of any wars in those remote districts till they were terminated either by victory or by treaty.

4. But presently, as the belief in these occurrences grew stronger, being confirmed, too, by the arrival of the foreign amba.s.sadors, who, with prayers and earnest entreaties, begged that the people thus driven from their homes and now encamped on the other side of the river, might be kindly received by us, the affair seemed a cause of joy rather than of fear, according to the skilful flatterers who were always extolling and exaggerating the good fortune of the emperor; congratulating him that an emba.s.sy had come from the furthest corners of the earth unexpectedly, offering him a large body of recruits; and that, by combining the strength of his own nation with these foreign forces, he would have an army absolutely invincible; observing further that, by the yearly payment for military reinforcements which came in every year from the provinces, a vast treasure of gold might be acc.u.mulated in his coffers.

5. Full of this hope he sent forth several officers to bring this ferocious people and their waggons into our territory. And such great pains were taken to gratify this nation which was destined to overthrow the empire of Rome, that not one was left behind, not even of those who were stricken with mortal disease. Moreover, having obtained permission of the emperor to cross the Danube and to cultivate some districts in Thrace, they crossed the stream day and night, without ceasing, embarking in troops on board s.h.i.+ps and rafts, and canoes made of the hollow trunks of trees, in which enterprise, as the Danube is the most difficult of all rivers to navigate, and was at that time swollen with continual rains, a great many were drowned, who, because they were too numerous for the vessels, tried to swim across, and in spite of all their exertions were swept away by the stream.

6. In this way, through the turbulent zeal of violent people, the ruin of the Roman empire was brought on. This, at all events, is neither obscure nor uncertain, that the unhappy officers who were intrusted with the charge of conducting the mult.i.tude of the barbarians across the river, though they repeatedly endeavoured to calculate their numbers, at last abandoned the attempt as hopeless: and the man who would wish to ascertain the number might as well (as the most ill.u.s.trious of poets[190] says) attempt to count the waves in the African sea, or the grains of sand tossed about by the zephyr.

7. Let, however, the ancient annals be accredited which record that the Persian host which was led into Greece, was, while encamped on the sh.o.r.es of the h.e.l.lespont, and making a new and artificial sea,[191]

numbered in battalions at Doriscus; a computation which has been unanimously regarded by all posterity as fabulous.

8. But after the innumerable mult.i.tudes of different nations, diffused over all our provinces, and spreading themselves over the vast expanse of our plains, who filled all the champaign country and all the mountain ranges, are considered, the credibility of the ancient accounts is confirmed by this modern instance. And first of all Fritigern was received with Alavivus; and the emperor a.s.signed them a temporary provision for their immediate support, and ordered lands to be a.s.signed them to cultivate.

9. At that time the defences of our provinces were much exposed, and the armies of barbarians spread over them like the lava of Mount Etna. The imminence of our danger manifestly called for generals already ill.u.s.trious for their past achievements in war: but nevertheless, as if some unpropitious deity had made the selection, the men who were sought out for the chief military appointments were of tainted character. The chief among them were Lupicinus and Maximus, the one being Count of Thrace, the other a leader notoriously wicked--and both men of great ignorance and rashness.

10. And their treacherous covetousness was the cause of all our disasters. For (to pa.s.s over other matters in which the officers aforesaid, or others with their unblus.h.i.+ng connivance, displayed the greatest profligacy in their injurious treatment of the foreigners dwelling in our territory, against whom no crime could be alleged) this one melancholy and unprecedented piece of conduct (which, even if they were to choose their own judges, must appear wholly unpardonable) must be mentioned.

11. When the barbarians who had been conducted across the river were in great distress from want of provisions, those detested generals conceived the idea of a most disgraceful traffic: and having collected hounds from all quarters with the most insatiable rapacity, they exchanged them for an equal number of slaves, among whom were several sons of men of n.o.ble birth.

12. About this time also, Vitheric, the king of the Gruthungi, with Alatheus and Saphrax, by whose influence he was mainly guided, and also with Farn.o.bius, approached the bank of the Danube, and sent envoys to the emperor to entreat that he also might be received with the same kindness that Alavivus and Fritigern had experienced.

13. But when, as seemed best for the interests of the state, these amba.s.sadors had been rejected, and were in great anxiety as to what they should do, Athanaric, fearing similar treatment, departed; recollecting that long ago when he was discussing a treaty of alliance with Valens, he had treated that emperor with contempt, in affirming that he was bound by a religious obligation never to set his foot on the Roman territory; and that by this excuse he had compelled the emperor to conclude a peace in the middle of the war. And he, fearing that the grudge which Valens bore him for this conduct was still lasting, withdrew with all his forces to Caucalandes, a place which, from the height of its mountains and the thickness of its woods, is completely inaccessible; and from which he had lately driven out the Sarmatians.

V.

-- 1. But the Thuringians, though they had some time since received permission to cross the river, were still wandering up and down the banks, being hindered by a twofold obstacle; first, that in consequence of the mischievous dissimulation of the said generals they were not supplied with the necessary provisions; and also because they were designedly detained that they might the more easily be plundered under the wicked semblance of traffic.

2. And when they ascertained these facts, they began to grumble, and proposed to resist the evils which they apprehended from the treachery of these men by open force; and Lupicinus, who feared that they would resist, brought up his troops close to them, in order to compel them to be gone with all possible rapidity.

3. The Gruthungi seized this as a favourable opportunity, and seeing that the Roman soldiers were occupied in another quarter, and that the vessels which used to go up and down, to prevent them from crossing, were now stationary, crossed the river on roughly-made rafts, and pitched their camp at a great distance from Fritigern.

4. But he, by his innate foresight, provided against everything that could happen, and marching on slowly as well in obedience to the commands he had received as to allow time for other powerful kings to join him, came by slow marches to Marcianopolis, arriving later than he was expected. And here another atrocious occurrence took place, which kindled the torches of the Furies for general calamity.

5. Alavivus and Fritigern were invited to a banquet; while Lupicinus drew up his soldiers against the chief host of the barbarians, and so kept them at a distance from the walls of the town; though they with humble perseverance implored admission in order so to procure necessary provisions, professing themselves loyal and obedient subjects. At last a serious strife arose between the citizens and the strangers who were thus refused admittance, which gradually led to a regular battle. And the barbarians, being excited to an unusual pitch of ferocity when they saw their relations treated as enemies, began to plunder the soldiers whom they had slain.

6. But when Lupicinus, of whom we have already spoken, learnt by secret intelligence that this was taking place, while he was engaged in an extravagant entertainment, surrounded by buffoons, and almost overcome by wine and sleep, he, fearing the issue, put to death all the guards who, partly as a compliment and partly as a guard to the chiefs, were on duty before the general's tent.

7. The people who were still around the walls heard of this with great indignation, and rising up by degrees into a resolution to avenge their kings, who, as they fancied, were being detained as prisoners, broke out with furious threats. And Fritigern, being a man of great readiness of resource, and fearing that perhaps he might be detained with the rest as a hostage, exclaimed that there would be a terrible and destructive conflict if he were not allowed to go forth with his companions in order to pacify the mult.i.tude, who he said had broken out in this tumult from believing that their leaders had been trepanned and murdered under show of courtesy. Having obtained permission, they all went forth, and were received with cheers and great delight; they then mounted their horses and fled, in order to kindle wars in many quarters.

8. When Fame, ever the malignant nurse of bad news, bruited this abroad, the whole nation of the Thuringians became suddenly inflamed with a desire for war; and among many preparations which seemed to betoken danger, the standards of war were raised according to custom, and the trumpets poured forth sounds of evil omen; while the predatory bands collected in troops plundering and burning villages, and throwing everything that came in their way into alarm by their fearful devastations.

9. Against these hosts, Lupicinus, having collected his forces with the greatest possible rapidity, advanced with more rashness than prudence, and halted in battle array nine miles from the city. The barbarians, perceiving this, charged our battalions before we expected them, and das.h.i.+ng upon the s.h.i.+elds with which they covered their bodies, they cut down all who fell in their way with their swords and spears; and urged on by their bloodthirsty fury, they continued the slaughter, till they had taken our standards, and the tribunes and the greater part of the soldiers had fallen, with the exception of the unhappy general, who could find nothing to do but, while all the rest were fighting, to betake himself to flight, and return full gallop to the city. And then the enemies, clothing themselves in the arms of the Romans whom they had slain, pushed on their devastating march without hindrance.

10. And since, after recounting various other exploits, we have now come to this portion of our subject, we call upon our readers (if we shall ever have any) not to expect a minute detail of everything that took place, or of the number of the slain, which indeed it would be utterly impossible to give. It will be sufficient to abstain from concealing any part of the truth by a lie, and to give the general outline of what took place: since a faithful honesty of narration is always proper if one would hand events down to the recollection of posterity.

11. Those who are ignorant of antiquity declare that the republic was never so overwhelmed with the darkness of adverse fortune; but they are deceived in consequence of the stupor into which they are thrown by these calamities, which are still fresh in their memory. For if the events of former ages, or even of those immediately preceding our own times are considered, it will be plain that such melancholy events have often happened, of which I will bring to mind several instances.

12. The Teutones and the Cimbri came suddenly from the remote sh.o.r.es of the ocean, and overran Italy; but, after having inflicted enormous disasters on the Roman republic, they were at last overcome by our ill.u.s.trious generals, and being wholly vanquished, learnt by their ultimate destruction what martial valour, combined with skill, can effect.

13. Again, in the reign of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, the insane fury of a number of different nations combined together, after fearful wars ... would have left but a small part of them.

14. But, soon after these calamitous losses, the state was re-established in all its former strength and prosperity; because the soberness of our ancestry had not yet become infected with the luxury and softness of a more effeminate way of life, and had not learnt to indulge in splendid banquets, or the criminal acquisition of riches. But both the highest cla.s.ses and the lowest living in harmony, and imbued with one unanimous spirit, eagerly embraced a glorious death in the cause of the republic as a tranquil and quiet haven.

15. The great mult.i.tudes of the Scythian nations, having burst through the Bosphorus, and made their way to the sh.o.r.es of the Sea of Azov with 2000 s.h.i.+ps, inflicted fearful losses on us by land and sea; but also lost a great portion of their own men, and so at last returned to their own country.

16. Those great generals, the Decii, father and son, fell fighting against the barbarians. The cities of Pamphylia were besieged, many islands were laid waste; Macedon was ravaged with fire and sword. An enormous host for a long time blockaded Thessalonica and Cyzicus. Arabia also was taken; and so at the same time was Nicopolis, which had been built by the Emperor Trajan as a monument of his victory over the Dacians.

17. After many fearful losses had been both sustained and inflicted Philippopolis was destroyed, and, unless our annals speak falsely, 100,000 men were slaughtered within its walls. Foreign enemies roved unrestrained over Epirus, and Thessaly, and the whole of Greece; but after that glorious general Claudius had been taken as a colleague in the empire (though again lost to us by an honourable death), the enemy was routed by Aurelian, an untiring leader, and a severe avenger of injuries; and after that they remained quiet for a long time without attempting anything, except that some bands of robbers now and then ranged the districts in their own neighbourhood, always, however, to their own injury. And now I will return to the main history from which I have digressed.

VI.

-- 1. When this series of occurrences had been made generally known by frequent messengers, Sueridus and Colias, two n.o.bles of the Goths, who had some time before been friendly received with their people, and had been sent to Hadrianople to pa.s.s the winter in that city, thinking their own safety the most important of all objects, looked on all the events which were taking place with great indifference.

2. But, on a sudden, letters having arrived from the emperor, in which they were ordered to cross over to the province of the h.e.l.lespont, they asked, in a very modest manner, to be provided with money to defray the expenses of their march, as well as provisions, and to be allowed a respite of two days. But the chief magistrate of the city was indignant at this request, being also out of humour with them on account of some injury which had been done to property of his own in the suburbs, and collected a great mob of the lowest of the people, with a body of armourers, of whom there is a great number in that place, and led them forth armed to hasten the departure of the Goths. And ordering the trumpeters to sound an alarm, he menaced them with destruction unless they at once departed with all speed, as they had been ordered.

3. The Goths, bewildered by this unexpected calamity, and alarmed at this outbreak of the citizens, which looked more as if caused by a sudden impulse than by any deliberate purpose, stood without moving. And being a.s.sailed beyond all endurance by reproaches and manifestations of ill will, and also by occasional missiles, they at last broke out into open revolt; having slain several of those who had at first attacked them with too much petulance, and having put the rest to flight, and wounded many with all kinds of weapons, they stripped their corpses and armed themselves with the spoils in the Roman fas.h.i.+on; and then, seeing Fritigern near them, they united themselves to him as obedient allies, and blockaded the city. They remained some time, maintaining this difficult position and making promiscuous attacks, during which they lost some of their number by their own audacity, without being able to avenge them; while many were slain by arrows and large stones hurled from slings.

4. Then Fritigern, perceiving that his men, who were unaccustomed to sieges, were struggling in vain, and sustaining heavy losses, advised his army to leave a force sufficient to maintain the blockade, and to depart with the rest, acknowledging their failure, and saying that "He did not war with stone walls." Advising them also to lay waste all the fertile regions around without any distinction, and to plunder those places which were not defended by any garrisons.

5. His counsel was approved, as his troops knew that he was always a very able commander in bringing their plans to success; and then they dispersed over the whole district of Thrace, advancing cautiously; while those who came of their own accord to surrender, or those whom they had taken prisoners, pointed out to them the richest towns, and especially those where it was said that supplies of provisions could be found. And in addition to their natural confidence they were greatly encouraged by this circ.u.mstance, that a mult.i.tude of that nation came in daily to join them who had formerly been sold as slaves by the merchants, with many others whom, when at their first pa.s.sage of the river they were suffering from severe want, they had bartered for a little bad wine or morsels of bread.

6. To these were added no inconsiderable number of men skilled in tracing out veins of gold, but who were unable to endure the heavy burden of their taxes; and who, having been received with the cheerful consent of all, they were of great use to them while traversing strange districts--showing them the secret stores of grain, the retreats of men, and other hiding-places of divers kinds.

7. Nor while these men led them on as their guides did anything remain untouched by them, except what was inaccessible or wholly out of the way; for without any distinction of age or s.e.x they went forward destroying everything in one vast slaughter and conflagration: tearing infants even from their mother's breast and slaying them; ravis.h.i.+ng their mothers; slaughtering women's husbands before the eyes of those whom they thus made widows; while boys of tender and of adult age were dragged over the corpses of their parents.

8. Lastly, numbers of old men, crying out that they had lived long enough, having lost all their wealth, together with beautiful women, had their hands bound behind their back, and were driven into banishment, bewailing the ashes of their native homes.

VII.

A.D. 377.

-- 1. This news from Thrace was received with great sorrow, and caused the Emperor Valens much anxiety.[192] He instantly sent Victor, the commander of the cavalry, into Persia, to make such arrangements in Armenia as were required by the impending danger. While he himself prepared at once to quit Antioch and go to Constantinople, sending before him Profuturus and Trajan, both officers of rank and ambition, but of no great skill in war.

2. When they arrived at the place where it seemed most expedient to combat this hostile mult.i.tude in detail and by ambuscades and surprises, they very injudiciously adopted the ill-considered plan of opposing the legions which had arrived from Armenia to barbarians who were still raging like madmen. Though the legions had repeatedly proved equal to the dangers of a pitched battle and regular warfare, they were not suited to encounter an innumerable host which occupied all the chains of the lofty hills, and also all the plains.

3. Our men had never yet experienced what can be effected by indomitable rage united with despair, and so having driven back the enemy beyond the abrupt precipices of the Balkan, they seized upon the rugged defiles in order to hem in the barbarians on ground from which they would be unable to find any exit, and where it seemed they might be overcome by famine. They themselves intended to await the arrival of Frigeridus, the duke, who was hastening towards them with the auxiliaries from Pannonia and other countries, and whom, at the request of Valens, Gratian had commanded to march to the camp to aid those who were menaced with total destruction.

4. After him, Richomeres, at that time count of the domestics, who also, by the command of Gratian, had moved forwards from Gaul, hastened towards Thrace,[193] bringing with him some cohorts, which were cohorts in name, though the greater portion of them had already deserted (if we would believe some people), by the persuasion of Merobaudes, fearing lest Gaul, now divested of all the troops, would be ravaged without check after the barbarians had forced the pa.s.sage of the Rhine.