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).

Meanwhile, all who were present wept, where- upon even then maintaining his authority, he chided them, saying that it was unworthy to mourn for a prince who was called to union with heaven and the stars.

As this made them all silent, he himself engaged with the philosophers Maximus[*](Cf. xxii. 7, 3.) and Priscus in an intricate discussion about the nobility of the soul.[*](After the example of Socrates and others; of Thrasea, cf. Tac. Ann. xvi. 34.) Suddenly the wound in his pierced

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side opened wide, the pressure of the blood checked his breath, and after a draught of cold water for which he had asked, in the gloom of midnight he passed quietly away in the thirty-second year of his age. Born in Constantinople, he was left alone in childhood by the death both of his father Constantius (who, after the decease of his brother Constantinus, met his end with many others in the strife for the succession to the throne)[*](Constantine left the rule to his three sons, but Con- stantius had all his relatives slain, except Gallus and Julian, who were then children.) and of his mother Basilina, who came from an old and noble family.[*](She was a daughter of the praetorian prefect Julianus, and died a few years after the birth of her only child.)

He was a man truly to be numbered with the heroic spirits, distinguished for his illustrious deeds and his inborn majesty. For since there are, in the opinion of the philosophers, four principal virtues,[*](Cicero, De Off. i. 5, 15.) moderation, wisdom, justice, and courage and corresponding to these also some external characteristics, such as knowledge of the art of war, authority, good fortune, and liberality, these as a whole and separately Julian cultivated with constant zeal.

In the first place, he was so conspicuous for inviolate chastity that after the loss of his wife[*](Cf. xxi. 1, 5.) it is well known that he never gave a thought to love: bearing in mind what we read in Plato,[*](Rep. i, 329, B-C; cf. Cic. De Senec. 14, 47.) that Sophocles, the tragic poet, when he was asked, at a great age, whether he still had congress with women, said no, adding that he was glad that he had escaped from this passion as from some mad and cruel

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master.

Also, to give greater strength to this principle, Julian often repeated the saying of the lyric poet Bacchylides, whom he delighted to read, who declares that as a skilful painter gives a face beauty, just so chastity gives charm to a life of high aims. This blemish in the mature strength of manhood he avoided with such care, that even his most confidential attendants never (as often happens) accused him even of a suspicion of any lustfulness.

Moreover, this kind of self-restraint was made still greater through his moderation in eating and sleeping, which he strictly observed at home and abroad. For in time of peace the frugality of his living and his table excited the wonder of those who could judge aright, as if he intended soon to resume the philosopher’s cloak. And on his various campaigns, he was often seen partaking of common and scanty food, sometimes standing up like a common soldier.

As soon as he had refreshed his body, which was inured to toil, by a brief rest in sleep, he awoke and in person attended to the changing of the guards and pickets, and after these serious duties took refuge in the pursuit of learning.

And if the nightly lamps amid which he worked could have given oral testimony, they would certainly have borne witness that there was a great difference between him and some other princes, since they knew that he did not indulge in pleasure, even to the extent which nature demanded.

Then there were very many proofs of his wisdom, of which it will suffice to mention a few. He was thoroughly skilled in the arts of war and peace, greatly inclined to courtesy, and claiming for

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himself only so much deference as he thought preserved him from contempt and insolence. He was older in virtue than in years. He gave great attention to the administration of justice, and was sometimes an unbending judge; also a very strict censor in regulating conduct, with a calm contempt for riches, scorning everything mortal; in short, he often used to declare that it was shameful for a wise man, since he possessed a soul, to seek honour from bodily gifts.

By what high qualities he was distinguished in his administration of justice is clear from many indications: first, because taking into account circumstances and persons, he was awe-inspiring but free from cruelty. Secondly, because he checked vice by making examples of a few, and also because he more frequently threatened men with the sword than actually used it.

Finally, to be brief, it is well known that he was so merciful towards some open enemies who plotted against him, that he corrected the severity of their punishment by his inborn mildness.

His fortitude is shown by the great number of his battles and by his conduct of wars, as well as by his endurance of excessive cold and heat. And although bodily duty is demanded from a soldier, but mental duty from a general, yet he once boldly met a savage enemy in battle and struck him down,[*](Cf. xxiv. 4, 4.) and when our men gave ground, he several times alone checked their flight[*](Cf. Suet. Jul. 62.) by opposing his breast to them. When destroying the king- doms of the raging Germans and on the burning sands of Persia he added to the confidence of his

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soldiers by fighting among the foremost.

There are many notable evidences of his knowledge of military affairs: the sieges of cities and fortresses, undertaken amid the extremest dangers, the varied forms in which he arranged his lines of battle, the choice of safe and healthful places for camps, the wisely planned posting of frontier guards and field pickets.

His authority was so well established that, being feared as well as deeply loved as one who shared in the dangers and hardships of his men, he both in the heat of fierce battles condemned cowards to punishment, and, while he was still only a Caesar,[*](Under the authority of Constantius; see Introd., p. xxiv.) he controlled his men even without pay, when they were fighting with savage tribes, as I have long ago said. And when they were armed and mutinous, he did not fear to address them and threaten to return to private life, if they continued to be insubordinate.

Finally, one thing it will be enough to know in token of many, namely, that merely by a speech he induced his Gallic troops, accustomed to snow and to the Rhine, to traverse long stretches of country and follow him through torrid Assyria to the very frontiers of the Medes.

His success was so conspicuous that for a long time he seemed to ride on the shoulders of Fortune herself, his faithful guide as he in victorious career surmounted enormous difficulties. And after he left the western region, so long as he was on earth all nations preserved perfect quiet, as if a kind of earthly wand of Mercury were pacifying them.

There are many undoubted tokens of his

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generosity. Among these are his very light imposition of tribute, his remission of the crown-money,[*](The coronarium was the money presented to the emperor personally by the provinces on his ascension to the throne, which was often a great amount. Avaricious rulers claimed it on other occasions, such as victories over the barbarians, and the like. Augustus, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Alexander Severus had not exacted it.) the cancellation of many debts made great by long standing,[*](On taxes, cf. xvi. 5, 14.) the impartial treatment of disputes between the privy purse and private persons, the restoration of the revenues from taxes to various states along with their lands, except such as previous high officials[*](The pretorian prefects, etc. Also, Constantine, Con- stantius, and Valentinian sold or gave away lands belonging to the temples.) had alienated by a kind of legal sale; furthermore, that he was never eager to increase his wealth, which he thought was better secured in the hands of its possessors; and he often remarked that Alexander the Great, when asked where his treasures were, gave the kindly answer, in the hands of my friends.

Having set down his good qualities, so many as I could know, let me now come to an account of his faults, although they can be summed up briefly. In disposition ho was somewhat inconsistent, but he controlled this by the excellent habit of submitting, when he went wrong, to correction.

He was somewhat talkative, and very seldom silent; also too much given to the consideration of omens and portents, so that in this respect he seemed to equal the emperor Hadrian. Superstitious rather than truly religious, he sacrificed innumerable victims without regard to cost, so that one might believe that if he had returned from the Parthians, there would soon have been a scarcity of cattle; like the Caesar Marcus,[*](Marcus Aurelius.) of whom (as we learn) the following Greek distich was written:

  1. We the white steers do Marcus Caesar greet.
  2. Win once again, and death we all must meet.
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He delighted in the applause of the mob, and desired beyond measure praise for the slightest matters, and the desire for popularity often led him to converse with unworthy men.