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).

And when Hilarius had laid the knowledge of the whole matter so clearly before the eyes of the judges, he kindly added that Theodorus was completely ignorant of what was done. After this, being asked whether they had, from belief in the oracles which they practised, known beforehand what they were now suffering, they uttered those familiar verses which clearly announced that this work of inquiring into the superhuman would soon be fatal to them, but that nevertheless the Furies, breathing out death and fire, threatened also the emperor himself and his judges. Of these verses it will suffice to quote the last three:

  1. Avenged will be your blood. Against them too
  2. Tisiphonê’s deep wrath arms evil fate,
  3. While Ares rages on the plain of Mimas.
When these verses had been read, both were terribly torn by the hooks of the torturers and taken away senseless.

Later, in order wholly to lay bare this factory of the crimes that had been meditated, a group of distinguished men was led in, comprising the very heads of the undertaking. But since each one had regard for nothing but himself, and tried to shift his ruin to another, by permission of the inquisitors Theodorus

v3.p.209
began to speak; at first lying prostrate in a humble prayer for pardon, but then, when compelled to talk more to the point, he declared that he had learned of the affair through Euserius and tried more than once to report it to the emperor, but was prevented by his informant, who assured him that no illicit attempt to usurp the throne, but some inevitable will of fate, would realize their hopes without effort on their part.

Then Euserius, under bloody torture, made the same confession, but Theodorus was convicted by a letter of his own written in ambiguous and tortuous language to Hilarius, in which he did not hesitate about the matter, but only sought an opportunity to attain his desire, having already a strong confidence begotten from the soothsayers.

When these had been removed after this information, Eutropius,[*](Praetorian prefect in 380 and 381; whether he was the same as the author of the Epitome of Roman History is uncertain.) then governing Asia with proconsular authority, was summoned on the charge of complicity in the plot. But he escaped without harm, saved by the philosopher Pasiphilus, who, although cruelly tortured to induce him to bring about the ruin of Eutropius through a false charge, could not be turned from the firmness of a steadfast mind.