Res Gestae

Thereupon a law was passed, as if at the proposal of Justice herself, which provided that no advocate at court should be troubled about payments which it was recognised that he had justly received.[*](For his services; these advocates were influential men at court, who appeared for men of humble rank when they brought petitions before the emperor. Evidently they were sometimes paid for their services. Julian’s law is to be found in Cod. Theod. ii. tit. 29.)

And so the first of January came, when the consular annals took on the names of Mamertinus and Nevitta; and the emperor showed himself especially condescending by going on foot to their inauguration in company with other high officials, an action which some commended but others criticised as affected and cheap.[*](It was, however, usual; cf. Spart., Hadr. ix. 7, praetorum et consulum official frequentavit; Claud. in Eutrop. i. 308; Ansonius, Prec. Consulis (Edyll. viii.), 34.)

Then, when Mamertinus gave games in the Circus and the slaves that were to be manumitted were led in by the assistant master of ceremonies,[*](The consuls on entering office gave games lasting three days, and usually freed some slaves in the presence of the people.) the emperor himself,

Meanwhile, he came frequently into the senate house to give attention to various matters with which the many changes in the state burdened him. And when one day, as he was sitting in judgement there, and it was announced that the philosopher Maximus[*](Letters of a familiar nature from Julian to Maximus have come down to us.) had come from Asia, he started up in an undignified manner, so far forgetting himself that he ran at full speed to a distance from the vestibule, and after having kissed the philosopher and received him with reverence, brought him back with him. This unseemly ostentation made him appear to be an excessive seeker for empty fame, and to have forgotten that splendid saying of Cicero’s,[*](Pro Archia, 11, 26.) which narrates the following in criticising such folk:

Those very same philosophers inscribe their names on the very books which they write on despising glory, so that even when they express scorn of honour and fame, they wish to be praised and known by name.

Not long after this, two former members of the secret service who were among those who had been discharged approached the emperor confidently and promised to point out the hiding-place of Florentius[*](Cf. 3, 6, above.) on condition that their military rank be restored to them.[*](They belonged to the so-called scholar Palatinae; see xiv. 7, 9, note 3.) But he rebuked them and called them informers, adding that it was not worthy of an

Present at all these events was Praetextatus,[*](His full name was Vettius Agorius Praetextatus. He pears as prefect of the city in xxvii. 9, 8, and xxviii. 1, 24.) a senator of noble character and old-time dignity, whom Julian had chanced to find engaged in private business at Constantinople and on his own initiative had appointed governor of Achaia with proconsular authority.

But, although he was so diligently engaged in reforming civil abuses, he did not on that account neglect military affairs, but put in command of the soldiers men approved by long trial; nay more, he repaired all the cities throughout Thrace as well as the fortifications on the borders, and took particular pains that the troops posted along the banks of the Danube, who, as he heard, were meeting inroads of the savages with watchfulness and valour, should lack neither arms and clothing nor pay and supplies.

While he was so arranging these matters, tolerating no slackness in action, his intimates tried to persuade him to attack the neighbouring Goths, who were often deceitful and treacherous; but he replied that he was looking for a better enemy; that for the Goths the Galatian traders were enough, by whom they were offered for sale everywhere without distinction of rank.[*](Cf. Claudian, In Eutr. i. 59, hinc fora venalis Galata ductore frequentat permutatque domos varias (Eutropius), next in the train of a Galatian slave-merchant he stands for sale in many a market and knows many diverse houses (L.C.L., i. p. 143).)

While he was attending to these and similar affairs he gained a reputation among foreign nations for eminence in bravery, sobriety, and knowledge of military affairs, as well as of all noble qualities; and his fame gradually spread

Then, since the fear of his coming extended widely over neighbouring and far distant nations, deputations hastened to him from all sides more speedily than usual: on one side, the peoples beyond the Tigris and the Armenians begged for peace; on another, the Indian nations as far as the Divi[*](The Divi, or Diveni, lived on some island off the west coast of India, the Serendivi probably on the island of Ceylon, called Serandib by the Arabs. Gibbon says that these embassies were not due to Julian’s widespread fame, since they must have thought that Constantius was still ruling. So also Zonaras, xiii. 12.) and the Serendivi vied with one another in sending their leading men with gifts ahead of time; on the south, the Moors offered their services to the Roman state; from the north and the desert regions, through which the Phasis flows to the sea, came embassies from the Bosporani and other hitherto unknown peoples, humbly asking that on payment of their annual tribute[*](See xx. 8, 4, note.) they might be allowed to live in peace within the bounds of their native lands.

Now is a fitting time (I think), since the history of a great prince has opportunely brought us to these places, to give some account of the remote parts of Thrace, and of the topography of the Pontic sea, with clearness and accuracy, partly from my own observation and partly from reading.[*](Ammianus’ account is confused and in places inaccurate.)

Athos,[*](Modern ʽἱερὸν ῎ορος, Monte Santo.) that lofty mountain in Macedonia through which the Medic ships once passed,[*](Under Xerxes; see Hdt. vii. 122.) and Caphereus, the headland of Euboea[*](Its mediæval name was Negroponte and the headland’s Cappo d’Oro.) where Nauplius,

From there, with back-flowing current,[*](Cf. Hor., Odes, i. 2, 13, retortis violenter undis.) it laves the temple of Apollo Sminthius,[*](On Tenedos; Iliad. i. 38; Strabo, xiii. 1, 46. The god had this epithet from σμίνθος, a kind of field-mouse destructive to the crops, destroyed by Apollo.) the Troad, and Ilium, famed for the death of heroes, and forms the bay of Melas,[*](The Bay of Saros, west of the Thracian Chersonese and the Hellespont.) facing the west wind, at the entrance of which is seen Abdera, the home of Protagoras and Democritus, and the bloodstained dwelling of the Thracian Diomedes,[*](According to the myth, he fed his horses on human flesh, and was slain by Hercules.) and the vales through which the Hebrus[*](To-day the Maritza.) flows into it, and Maronea and Aenos,[*](Modern Marogna. The identification of this town with the city founded by Aeneas in Thrace is doubtful, since Homer says that auxiliaries came from there to Ilium, and Apollodorus represents Heracles as landing there on his return from Troy; see Heyne, Excursus to Aen. iii. p. 416; and xxviii. 4, 13, below.) a city which Aeneas began under unfavourable auspices, but presently abandoned it and hastened on to ancient Ausonia under the guidance of the gods.

After this, the Aegean gradually grows narrower and flows as if by a kind of natural union into the Pontus; and joining with a part of this it takes the

Then swelling on both sides into the form of a half-circle and giving a view of widely separated lands, it laves with the spreading waters of the Propontis,[*](The Sea of Marmora.) on the eastern side Cyzicus[*](On the southern side of the Propontis.) and Dindyma,[*](Named from Mt. Dindymus, in Phrygia, near Pessinus. There is another Mt. Dindymus, five miles north of Cyzicus, and, apparently, a town or village called Dindyma.) where there is a sacred shrine of the Great Mother,[*](Cybele.) and Apamia and Cius, where Hylas was pursued and carried off by the nymph,[*](There is evidently a lacuna here. Lindenbrog suggested ubi Hylam insecuta rapuit nympha. Others refer Hyla to the river near Cius.) and Astacus, in a later age called after King Nicomedes.[*](Nicomedia.) Where it turns to the westward it beats upon the Cherronesus and Aegospotami, where Anaxagoras predicted a rain of stones from heaven,[*](Cf. Pliny, N.H. ii. 149; Strabo, vii. 55 (iii. 377, L.C.L.). It was also famous as the scene of the last battle of the Peloponnesian war.) and Lysimachia and the city which Hercules founded and dedicated to the name of his comrade Perinthus;

and in order to keep the form of the letter φ full and complete, in the

After reaching the extreme end of this part,[*](Here the reference clearly is to the whole of the Propontis.) it again contracts into a narrow strait, and flowing between Europe and Bithynia, passes by Chalcedon, Chrysopolis,[*](Modern Scutari, opposite Constantinople.) and some obscure stations.

Its left bank, however, is looked down upon by the port of Athyras and Selymbria, and Constantinople, the ancient Byzantium, a colony of the Athenians,[*](According to the Eusebian Chronicle, Byzantium was founded by the Megarians in Olymp. 30, 2 (600 B.C.); so also Herodotus (iv. 144), who, however, gives the date as Olym. 26, 2 (616 B.C.). Justin (ix. 1, 2 f.) names the Spartans; Velleius (ii. 7, 7) the Milesians, who were descended from the Athenians. The founding was probably attributed to the Athenians from the time of Constantine from motives of pride) and the promontory Ceras, which bears a tower built high and giving light to ships[*](A pharos, or lighthouse) ; therefore a very cold wind which often blows from that quarter is called Ceratas.

After being broken in this fashion and coming to an end through the mingling of the two seas, it now grows quieter and spreads out into the form of a flat of water extending in width and length as far as the eye can reach.[*](The Pontus, or Euxine Sea.)