Res Gestae

A certain Procopius, a turbulent man, always[*](371–2 A.D.) given over to a lust for disturbances, had charged two courtiers named Anatolias and Spudasius, about whom orders had been given that money of which they had defrauded the treasury be exacted of them, with having attempted the life of Count Fortunatianus, notorious as being a tiresome dunner. He, being hot-tempered, was immediately aroused to a mad degree of wrath, and by the authority of the office

But when they came to a vigorous investigation of the deed, or the attempt, Palladius boldly cried out that those matters about which they were inquiring were trivial and negligible; that if he were allowed to speak, he would tell of other things more important and fearful, which had already been plotted with great preparations, and unless foresight were used would upset the whole state. And on being bidden to tell freely what he knew, he uncoiled an endless cable of crimes,[*](Cf. Cic., De Div. i. 56, 127, est quasi rudentis explicatio. ) declaring that the ex-governor Fidustius, and Pergamius, with Irenaeus, by detestable arts of divination, had secretly learned the name of the man who was to succeed Valens.

Fidustius was seized on the spot—for he chanced to be near by —and was brought up secretly, and on being faced with the informer, he did not attempt to veil with any denial a matter already publicly known, but disclosed the deadly details of the whole plot; he freely admitted that he had, with Hilarius and Patricius, men skilled in divination, of whom the former had served in the household troops, sought information about the succession, and that the predictions inspired by secret arts had both foretold the naming of an excellent prince, and for the questioners themselves a sad end.

And while they were in doubt who there was at the time

Fidustius, already tortured almost to death, also added to this that Theodorus had learned all these prophecies from information which he himself had given him through Euserius, a man of remarkable learning and highly honoured; for shortly before that he had governed Asia with the rank of vice-prefect.

When Euserius also was put in prison, and the record of what had been done had been read to the emperor as usual, Valens’ monstrous savagery spread everywhere like a fiercely blazing torch, and was increased by the base flattery of many men, and in particular by that of Modestus,[*](Because of his services in these inquiries he was made consul by Valens in the following year. Greg. Naz. also charges him with servile flattery of the emperor.) who was then praetorian prefect.

This man, being daily terrified by the thought of a successor, by tricking Valens, who was somewhat simple-minded, with veiled but clever flattery tried to wheedle over the emperor’s favour in various ways, calling his rough, crude words

Accordingly, orders were given that Theodorus also should be with swift dispatch hurried there[*](That is, to Antioch, where Valens was.) from Constantinople, to which he had gone on domestic business, and while he was being brought back, as the result of sundry preliminary trials, which were carried on day and night, a number of men, conspicuous for their rank and high birth, were brought from widely separated places.

And, since neither the public dungeons, already full to overflowing, nor private houses could contain the throngs of prisoners, although they were crammed together in hot and stifling crowds, and since the greater number of them were in irons, they all dreaded their own fate and that of their nearest relatives.

Finally Theodorus himself also arrived, half dead with fear and in mourning garb, and when he had been hidden in a remote part of the country,[*](I.e., the country about Antioch.) and everything was ready that the coming inquiries required, the trumpets were already sounding the signal for the murder of citizens.

And because that man does not seem less deceitful who knowingly passes over what has been done, than one who invents things that never happened, I do not deny—and in fact there is no doubt about it—that Valens’ life, not only often before through secret conspiracies, but also on this occasion, was plunged into extreme danger, and that a sword was almost driven into his throat by the soldiers; it was thrust away and turned aside by the hand of Fate only because she had destined him to

For when he was quietly sleeping after midday in a wooded spot between Antioch and Seleucia, he was attacked by Sallustius, then one of the targeteers; but although at other times many men often eagerly made plots against his life, he escaped them all, since the limits of life assigned him at his very birth curbed these monstrous attempts.

The same thing sometimes happened during the reigns of Commodus and Severus, whose life was often attempted with extreme violence, until finally the one, after escaping many varied dangers within the palace, as he was entering the pit of the amphitheatre to attend the games, was dangerously wounded with a dagger by the senator Quintianus, a man of unlawful ambition, and almost disabled;[*](Ammianus agrees with Herodian, i. 8, 5, but Dio, Epit., lxxiii. 4, 1–5; Lamprid., Comm., 4, 2–4, and Zonaras, xii. 41 (p. 598) call him Claudius Pompeianus. Apparently his name was Quintianus Pompeianus.) the other, when far advanced in years, would have been stabbed by the centurion Saturninus (who at the instigation of the prefect Plautianus made an unexpected attack on him as he lay in bed) had not his young son borne him aid.

Therefore Valens also deserved excuse for taking every precaution to protect his life, which treacherous foes were trying in haste to take from him. But it was inexcusable that, with despotic anger, he was swift to assail with malicious persecution guilty and innocent under one and the same law, making no distinction in their deserts; so that while there was still doubt about the crime, the emperor had made up his mind about the penalty, and some learned that they had been condemned to death before knowing that they were under suspicion.

This persistent purpose of his increased, spurred on as it was both by his own greed and that of persons who frequented the court at that time, and opened the way to fresh

For he was exposed and open to the approach of plotters through his dangerous tendency to two faults: first, he was more prone to intolerable anger, when to be angry at all was shameful; secondly, in his princely pride he did not condescend to sift the truth of what, with the readiness of access of a man in private life, he had heard in secret whispers, but accepted as true and certain.

The result was that many innocent persons under the appearance of mercy were thrust forth from their homes, and driven headlong into exile; and their property, which was consigned to the treasury, the emperor himself turned to his own profit,[*](Hadrian and Septimius Severus put such money into the public treasury; see Spart., Hadr. 7, 7; Capitolinus, Albinus, 12, 4.) while the condemned, worn out by the privations of fearful poverty, were reduced to beggary—and that is a fate to avoid which the wise old poet Theognis advises us actually to hurl ourselves into the sea.[*](Edmonds, Elegy and Iambus, i. p. 248, 175 ff., L.C.L.:— Ἄνδρ᾽ ἀγαθὸν πενίη πάντων δάμνησι μάλιστα, καὶ γήρως πολιοῦ, κύρνε, καὶ ἠπιάλου. ἣν δὴ χρὴ φεύγοντα καὶ ἐς βαθυκήτεα πόντον ρἱπτεῖν, καὶ πετρέων, κύρνε, κατ᾽ ἠλιβάτων.)

And even if anyone should admit that these things were right, yet their excess alone was hateful. Whence it was observed that the maxim is true, that no sentence

Accordingly, when the highest officials, to whom the investigations had been entrusted together with the praetorian prefect, had been called together, the racks were made taut, the leaden weights[*](Not lead balls on the scourges (cf. xxviii. 1, 29, note), but actual weights, which were hung to the feet of those who sat on the eculeus, or rack.) were brought out along with the cords and the scourges. The whole place echoed with the horrible cries of a savage voice, as those who did the awful work shouted amid the clanking of chains: Hold him; clamp; tighten; away with him.[*](Cf. Aeschylus, Prom. 58)

And, since I have seen many condemned after horrible tortures, but everything is a jumble of confusion as in times of darkness, I shall, since the complete recollection of what was done has escaped me, give a brief and summary account of what I can recall.