Res Gestae

And Macrianus indeed, when admitted with his brother among the eagles and ensigns, was amazed at the variety and splendour of the arms and the forces, things which he saw then for the first time, and pleaded for his subjects. But Vadomarius, who was familiar with our affairs (since he lived near the frontier) did indeed admire the equipment of the splendid array, but remembered that he had often seen the like from early youth.

Finally, after long deliberation, by the unanimous consent of all, peace was indeed granted to Macrianus and Hariobaudus; but to Vadomarius, who had come to secure his own

But when they themselves also, after the burning of their harvests and homes and the capture or death of many men, sent envoys and made supplication as if they too had committed these sins against our people, they won peace on the same terms; and among these conditions it was especially stressed that they should give up all the prisoners whom they had taken in their frequent raids.

While in Gaul the providence of Heaven was reforming these abuses, in the court of Augustus a tempest of sedition arose, which from small beginnings proceeded to grief and lamentation. In the house of Barbatio, then commander of the infantry forces, bees made a conspicuous swarm; and when he anxiously consulted men skilled in prodigies about this, they replied that it portended great danger,[*](1 This was not always true. Cf. Pliny, N. H. xi. 55 ff.: Tunc (apes) ostenta faciunt privata ac publica, uva dependente in domibus templisque, saepe expiata magnis eventibus. Sedere in ore infantis turn etiam Platonis, suavitatem illam praedulcis eloqui portendentes. Sedere in castris Drusi imperatoris cum prosperrime pugnatum apud Arbalonem est, haud quaquam perpetua haruspicum coniectura, qui dirum id ostentum existimant semper.) obviously inferring this from the belief, that