Res Gestae

Then Cethegus, a senator, was accused of adultery and beheaded, Alypius, a young man of noble birth, was banished for a trifling fault, and others of lower rank were publicly put to death; and every one, seeing in their unhappy fate the

At the same time, the case of Hymetius also, a man of distinguished character, was tried, of which we know this to have been the course of events. When he was governing Africa as proconsul he took from the storehouses grain intended for the Roman people[*](Egypt and Africa supplied the Romans with grain until the division of the empire, after which Africa supplied Rome, and Egypt Constantinople.) and sold it to the Carthaginians, who were by that time worn out from lack of food, and a little later, when the crops were again abundant, without any delay completely restored what he had taken.

Moreover, since ten bushels had been sold to the needy for one gold-piece, while he himself now bought thirty,[*](For the same amount; i.e., one gold-piece.) he sent the profit from the difference in price to the emperor’s treasury.[*](I.e., to the treasury in charge of the praetorian prefect, who had general supervision of the grain-supply; see Introd., Vol. I, pp. xxxi.-xxxii.) And so Valentinian, suspecting that he had sent less than he should have sent as the result of his trafficking, punished him with a fine of a part of his property.

To add to his calamity, this also had happened at that same time, which was not less fatal. The soothsayer Amantius, at that time especially notorious, was betrayed on secret evidence of having been employed by the said Hymetius, for the purpose of committing certain criminal acts, to perform a sacrifice; but when brought to trial, although he stood bent double upon the rack,[*](Tortured until he was permanently disfigured. For sub eculeo see xxvi. 10, 13, note.) he denied it with obstinate insistence.

Upon his denial, his secret papers were brought from his house and a memorandum in the handwriting of Hymetius was found, begging him that by carrying out a solemn sacrifice he should prevail upon the deity to make the

When the emperor learned this from the report of the judges, who gave what had been done a harsh interpretation, he issued orders that the affair should be investigated with excessive strictness. And since Frontinus, an adviser[*](For consiliarius = minister, cf. Suet., Tib. 55; Claud. 12, 2. He was one of the governor’s assistants, appointed to aid him in making judicial decisions, and corresponding to the members of the emperor’s consistorium; see Index II, Vol. I, s.v. consiliarius. ) of the said Hymetius, was charged with having drawn up the form of prayer that was made, he was mangled with rods, and having confessed his guilt, was exiled to Britain; but Amantius was later found guilty of a capital crime and executed.

After this course of events Hymetius was taken to the town of Ocriculum,[*](Modern Otricoli.) to be heard by Ampelius, prefect of the city,[*](He was city prefect in 371 and 372. Ammianus includes the whole time of the investigation.) and Maximinus, the deputy-prefect; and when it was evident that he would immediately be condemned to death, he boldly appealed to the emperor’s protection, when the opportunity was given him, and, defended under the refuge of that name, saved his life.

When the emperor was consulted[*](368 ff. A.D.) about this matter, he referred the business to the senate. And when they had weighed the case in the scales of justice and learned the truth and had exiled the accused to Boae,[*](An island on the Dalmatian Coast.) a place in Dalmatia, they could hardly bear the wrath of the emperor, who was greatly incensed on learning that a man whom he had intended to be condemned to death had been punished with a milder sentence.

On account of this occurrence and many others of the same kind, the fate which was seen to overtake a few persons began to be feared by all. And lest, by so many evils that were ignored, and gradually creeping on, the mass of troubles should be increased, by resolution of the nobles envoys were sent to the emperor. These were Praetextatus,[*](Cf. xxvii. 9, 8.) former prefect of the city, Venustus, a one-time deputy-prefect,[*](Cf. xxiii. 1, 4.) and Minervius, who had been a consular governor. They were to ask that punishments should be inflicted that were not too severe for the offences,[*](The punishment should fit the crime. According to Capitolinus, 24, 1, Marcus Aurelius punished all offences with a milder penalty than the laws allowed.) and that no senator should, in a fashion neither practised nor permitted, be subjected to torture.

When the deputation had been admitted to the council-chamber and had presented their request, Valentinian said that he had never made such a decree, and cried out that he was the victim of calumny. But the quaestor Eupraxius[*](Cf. xxvii. 6, 14.) mildly contradicted him, and through his freedom of speech the cruel order, which surpassed all examples of harshness, was rescinded.

At about that same time Lollianus, a youth just growing his first beard, son of the ex-prefect Lampadius,[*](Cf. xxvii. 3, 5.) as the result of a strict examination by Maximinus, was convicted of having written a book on destructive magic arts, when adult age had not yet endowed him with sound judgment. And when it was feared that he would be exiled, by his father’s advice he appealed to the emperor and was ordered to be taken to his court; but he went from the smoke (as the saying is)[*](Cf. from the frying-pan into the fire and xiv. 11, 12.) into the fire; for he was handed over to Phalangius, consular governor

Besides these also Tarracius Bassus, afterwards prefect of the city,[*](In 390.) his brother Camenius, a certain Marcianus, and Eusaphius, all men of senatorial rank, were brought to trial on the ground that they were said to be making much of the charioteer[*](For the bad repute of charioteers cf. 4, 25, below; xxvi. 3, 3.) Auchenius, and were his accomplices in the use of poisons; but because the evidence was even then doubtful, they were acquitted, as widespread rumour declared, through the influence of Victorinus, who was the closest friend of Maximinus.

Not even women were more immune from similar calamities. For many of high birth belonging to this sex too were charged with the disgrace of adultery or of fornication, and put to death. Conspicuous among these were Charitas and Flaviana, of whom the latter, when she was led to death, was stripped of the clothing which she wore, being allowed not even to keep sufficient covering for the secret parts of her body. But for that reason the executioner was convicted of having committed a monstrous crime, and was burned alive.

Nay more, two senators, Paphius and Cornelius, both of whom confessed to having disgraced themselves by the wicked practices of poisons, by the sentence of the same Maximinus were put to death. Even the head of the mint[*](Called monetae praepositus, xxii. 11, 9.) perished by a like fate. But Sericus and Asbolius, mentioned above,[*](See 1, 8.) because when he urged them to name indiscriminately such accomplices as they wished, he had declared on oath that he would order no