Res Gestae

Then, after getting rid of Lucillianus, thinking that it was no time for delay or for inaction, bold as he was and confident in times of peril, he marched to the city, which he looked on as surrendered. And advancing with rapid steps, he had no sooner come near the suburbs, which were large and extended to a great distance, than a crowd of soldiers and people of all sorts, with many lights, flowers, and good wishes, escorted him to the palace, hailing him as Augustus and Lord.

There, rejoicing in his success and in the good omen, and with increased

The closely united summits of the lofty mountain ranges Haemus and Rhodope, of which the one rises immediately from the banks of the Danube and the other, from those of the Axius,[*](In Macedonia.) on our side, end with swelling hills in a narrow pass, and separate Illyricum and Thrace. On the one side they are near to the midlands of Dacia and to Serdica,[*](See xvi. 8, 1, note.) on the other they look down upon Thrace and Philippop- olis,[*](Named from its founder, Philip I. of Macedon; modern Philibe.) great and famous cities; and as if nature had fore-knowledge that the surrounding nations must come under the sway of Rome, the pass was purposely so fashioned that in former times it opened obscurely between hills lying close together, but afterwards, when our power rose to greatness and splendour, it was opened even for the passage of carts; and yet it could sometimes be so closed as to check the attempts of great leaders and mighty peoples.

The part of this pass, which faces Illy- ricum, since it rises more gently, is sometimes easily surmounted, as though it kept no guard. But the