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).

But conspicuous above the rest was the death of Cella, tribune of the Targeteers, who at the beginning of the fight was first to rush into the thick of the Sarmatian forces.

After this cruel carnage Constantius, having made such arrangements for the safety of the frontiers as considerations of urgency recommended, returned to Sirmium after taking vengeance on a treacherous foe. Then, having quickly attended to what the pressing necessities of the time required, he set out from there and went to Constantinople, in order that being now nearer the Orient he might remedy the disaster which he had suffered at Amida,

v1.p.535
and by supplying the army there with reinforcements might with an equally strong force check the inroads of the Persian king; for it was clear that the latter (unless the will of heaven and the supreme efforts of many men repelled him) would leave Mesopotamia behind and seek a wider field for his arms.

Yet in the midst of these anxieties, as if it were prescribed by some ancient custom, in place of civil wars the trumpets sounded for alleged cases of high treason; and to investigate and punish these there was sent that notorious state-secretary Paulus, often called Tartareus.[*](The Diabolical, from Tartarus. He is called Catena in xiv. 5, 8 and xv. 3, 4.) He was skilled in the. work of bloodshed, and just as a trainer of gladiators seeks profit and emolument from the traffic in funerals[*](Gladiatorial shows were given at the funerals of distinguished Romans, as well as at festivals.) and festivals, so did he from the rack or the executioner.