Res Gestae

Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, with an English translation, Vols. I-III. Rolfe, John C., translator. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; W. Heinemann, 1935-1940 (printing).

Finally, he was taken up to sit with the emperor in his carriage and conducted to the palace, whispering this verse from the Homeric song:[*](Iliad, v. 83; of. § 20; a play on πορφύρεος as the colour of blood and of royalty.)

  1. By purple death I’m seized and fate supreme.
This happened on the sixth of November of the year when Arbetio and Lollianus were consuls.

Then, within a few days, Helena, the maiden sister of Constantius, was joined in the bonds of wedlock to the Caesar; and when everything had

v1.p.175
been prepared which the imminence of his departure demanded, taking a small suite, he set out on the first of December, escorted by Augustus as far as the spot marked by two columns, lying between Laumello and Pavia, and came by direct marches to Turin. There he was staggered by serious news, which had lately been brought to the emperor’s court but had purposely been kept secret, for fear that the preparations might come to nothing.