Res Gestae

Although I recall having told of their customs in my history of the emperor Marcus,[*](In one of the lost books.) and several times after that, yet I will now briefly relate a few more particulars about them.

Among those tribes whose original abode extends from the Assyrians to the cataracts of the Nile and the frontiers of the Blemmyae all alike are warriors of equal rank, half-nude, clad in dyed cloaks as far as the loins, ranging widely with the help of swift horses and slender camels in times of peace or of disorder. No man ever grasps a plough-handle or cultivates a tree, none seeks a living by tilling the soil, but they rove continually over wide and extensive tracts without a home, without fixed abodes or laws; they cannot long endure the same sky, nor does the sun of a single district ever content them.

Their life is always on the move, and they have mercenary wives, hired under a temporary contract. But in order that there may be some semblance of matrimony, the future wife, by way of dower, offers

Moreover, they wander so widely as long as they live, that a woman marries in one place, gives birth in another, and rears her children far away, without being allowed any opportunity for rest.

They all feed upon game and an abundance of milk, which is their main sustenance, on a variety of plants, as well as on such birds as they are able to take by fowling; and I have seen many of them who were wholly unacquainted with grain and wine.

So much for this dangerous tribe. Let us now return to our original theme.

While this was happening in the East, Constantius was passing the winter at Arelate, where he gave entertainments in the theatre and the circus with ostentatious magnificence. Then, on the 10th of October, which completed the thirtieth year of his reign,[*](This dates his reign from A.D. 323, when he and his brothers Constantine and Crispus were appointed Caesars by Constantine the Great. He became an Augustus with Constantine II. and Constans in 337, and reigned alone, after the death of Magnentius, from 353 to 361. The actual date seems to have been November 8th, 323; see Dessau, Inser. Lat. 708, note 2, and cf. De Jonge, p. 124, citing Seeck.) giving greater weight to his arrogance and accepting every false or doubtful charge as evident and proven, among other atrocities he tortured Gerontius, a count of the party of Magnentius,[*](See note, p. 1 and Index.) and visited him with the sorrow of exile.