Res Gestae

Nevertheless, the foe took courage and resisted, and the contest continued with mighty struggles, the fortune of battle

But at last the Alamanni were thrown into confusion by the impetuosity of the Romans, and, disordered from fear, the foremost were mingled with the hindermost, and as they turned and fled they were pierced through by our javelins and pikes. At last, in panting and exhausted flight they exposed to their pursuers their hams, calves and backs. Then, after many had been laid low, Sebastianus, who had been posted with his reserve troops at the back of the mountains, surrounded a part of the fugitives on their exposed flank and slaughtered them; the rest in scattered flight took refuge in their haunts in the forests.

In this battle some of our fathers also were not insignificant persons. Among them were Valerianus, first officer of all the household troops, and Natuspardo, one of the targeteers, a warrior so distinguished that he may be compared with Sicinius and Sergius[*](Cf. xxv. 3, 13, notes.) of old. After finishing the campaign with these varied fortunes, the soldiers returned to their winter quarters, and the emperors to Treves.

In the course of this time Vulcacius Rufinus ended his life while still in office,[*](Cf. xxvii. 7, 2.) and Probus[*](His full name was C. Anicius Petronius Probus.) was summoned from Rome to fill the office of praetorian prefect, a man known for the distinction of his family, his influence, and his great wealth, throughout the whole Roman world, in almost all parts of which he possessed estates here and there, whether justly or unjustly is not a question for my humble

This man was carried on the swift wings—as the poets’ fancy expresses it-of a kind of congenital good fortune, which showed him to be now generous and ready to advance his friends, but sometimes a cruel schemer, working harm by his deadly jealousies. And although he had great power so long as he lived, because of the sums that he gave away[*](Cf. Claud, in cons. Oyb. et Prob. 42 f., hic non divitias iji(rantibus abdicit antris, nec tenebris damnavit opes; sed largior imbre sueverat innumeras hominum ditare catervas.) and his constant resumption of offices, yet he was sometimes timid when boldly confronted, though arrogant against those who feared him; so that in his moments of confidence he seemed to thunder from tragic buskin, and when he was afraid, to be more humble than any wearer of the slipper.[*](Of an actor of comedy.)

And as the finny tribe,[*](Cf. xxvi. 10, 16.) when removed from its own element, does not breathe very long on dry land, so he pined away when not holding prefectures; these he was compelled to seek because of the constant lawlessness of certain families which on account of their boundless avarice were never free from guilt, and in order to carry out their many evil designs with impunity, plunged their patron into affairs of state.[*](That is, they used their power secretly by controlling a high magistrate; mergentium suits the metaphor of the finny tribe. )

Now it must be admitted that he had such natural greatness of spirit that he never ordered a client or a slave to do anything illegal; but, on the other hand, if he learned that any one of them had committed any crime, even though Justice herself cried out against the man, without investigating the matter and without regard to honour and virtue, he defended him. That is a fault which Cicero[*](Philipp. ii. 12, 29.) censures in the following words: For what difference

Yet he was suspicious, and fortified by his own character; he could smile rather bitterly and sometimes resorted to flattery in order to work harm.

He had, moreover, what is a conspicuous evil in such characters, especially when one thinks to be able to conceal it, in that he was so merciless and unbending, that if he had made up his mind to injure anyone, he could not be made to relent nor induced to pardon errors; indeed, his ears seemed to be stopped, not with wax,[*](Cf. Odyss. xii. 47–9.) but with lead. At the very height of riches and honours he was worried and anxious, and hence always troubled with slight illnesses. This was the course of events throughout the western regions.

Now the king of the Persians, the famous[*](368–70 A.D.) Sapor, now aged,[*](He was now 70 years old.) and from the very outset of his reign given over to the pleasure of plunder, after the death of the emperor Julian and the shameful treaty of peace that was struck,[*](Cf. xxv. 7, 9 ff.) for a time appeared with his subjects to be friendly to us. But then, trampling under foot the promise of the pact made under Jovian,[*](Cf. xxv. 7, 14.) he laid his hand on Armenia, with the intention of bringing the country under his sway, as if all force of the agreements that had been made was at an end.

At first he tried to accomplish his purpose through various arts of deception, and he inflicted slight losses on this powerfully populous nation, by

Then, by carefully calculated flattery mingled with perjury, King Arsaces himself was tricked; for after being invited to a banquet he was taken according to orders to a secret rear-door; there, after his eyes had been gouged out, he was bound in silver chains, which among that people is regarded as a consolation, though an empty one, for the punishment of men of rank,[*](Cf. Curtius, v. 12, 20, ne tamen honos regi non haberetur, aureis compedibus Dareum vinciunt; Hdt. iii. 130.) and then he was banished to a fortress called Agabana, where after being tortured he was slain by the penal steel.

After this, in order to leave nothing unstained by treachery, Sapor drove out Sauromaces, who by Rome’s authority had been given the rule of Hiberia, and appointed a certain Aspacures[*](Cf. xxx. 2, 2, and p. 86, note 1.) to govern that same people; and besides he bestowed on him the crown, in order to show his contempt of our authority.

After thus effecting these abominable designs, he entrusted Armenia to Cylaces, a eunuch, and to Arrabannes, both of whom he had long before received as deserters—of these the former was said to have been previously a governor in that nation, the latter, a commander-in-chief-giving them orders to use all care to destroy Artogerassa, a powerful town with strong walls, which guarded the treasury of Arsaces, as well as his son and his wife.[*](She was called Olympias.)