Res Gestae

However, the fatal insistence of the emperor prevailed, supported by the flattering opinion of some of his courtiers, who urged him to make all haste in order that Gratian might not have a share in the victory which (as they represented) was already all but won.

While the necessary preparations for the decisive battle were going on, a Christian presbyter[*](Elder.) (to use their own term), who had been sent by Fritigem as an envoy, in company with some humble

Besides this the aforesaid Christian, apparently a confidant and trusted friend of Fritigern, presented also[*](For the translation of alias, see xxiii. 3, 9, note 5.) a private letter of the same king, who, all too skilled in craft and in various forms of deception, informed Valens, pretending that he hoped soon to be his friend and ally, that he could not tame the savagery of his people, or entice them to adopt conditions favourable to the Roman state, unless the emperor should from time to time show them near at hand his army ready for battle, and through the fear aroused by the imperial name check their destructive eagerness for war. But as to the envoys, their sincerity was doubted, and they left without accomplishing their purpose.

But on the dawn of that day which is numbered in the calendar as the fifth before the Ides of August[*](Aug. 9.) the army began its march with extreme haste, leaving all its baggage and packs near the walls of Hadrianopolis with a suitable guard of legions; for the treasury, and the insignia of imperial dignity besides,[*](Here cetera is used as alius often is; see note 1, above.) with the prefect[*](I.e., the praetorian prefect.) and the emperor’s council, were kept within the circuit of the walls.