Res Gestae

Almost all the Gauls are of tall stature, fair and ruddy, terrible for the fierceness of their eyes, fond of quarrelling, and of overbearing insolence. In fact, a whole band of foreigners will be unable to cope with one of them in a fight, if he call in his wife, stronger than he by far and with flashing eyes; least of all when she swells her neck and gnashes her teeth, and poising her huge white arms, proceeds to rain punches mingled with kicks, like shots discharged by the twisted cords of a catapult.

The voices of most of them are formidable and threatening, alike when they are good-natured or angry. But all of them with equal care keep clean and neat, and in those districts, particularly in Aquitania, no man or woman can be seen, be she never

All ages are most fit for military service, and the old man marches out on a campaign with a courage equal to that of the man in the prime of life; since his limbs are toughened by cold and constant toil, and he will make light of many formidable dangers. Nor does anyone of them, for dread of the service of Mars, cut off his thumb, as in Italy[*](Cf. Suet., Aug. 24, 1.) : there they call such men murci, or cowards.

It is a race greedy for wine, devising numerous drinks similar to wine, and some among them of the baser sort, with wits dulled by continual drunkenness (which Cato’s saying pronounced a voluntary kind of madness) rush about in aimless revels, so that those words seem true which Cicero spoke when defending Fonteius[*](Ammianus is the only source for these words.) : The Gauls henceforth will drink wine mixed with water, which they once thought poison.

These regions, and especially those bordering on Italy, came gradually and with slight effort under the dominion of Rome; they were first essayed by Fulvius,[*](M. Fulvius Flaccus; see Index and cf. Livy, Periochae, lx. and lxi.) then undermined in petty battles by Sextius,[*](C. Sextius Calvinus; see Index and cf. Livy, Periocha, lxi.) and finally subdued by Fabius Maximus,[*](In 121 B.C.) on whom the full completion of this business (when he had vanquished the formidable tribe of the Allobroges)[*](In 121 B.C.) conferred that surname.[*](Allobrogicus.)

Now the whole of Gaul (except where, as the authority of Sallust[*](Hist.i. 11, Maurenbrecher.) informs us, it was impassable with marshes), after losses on both sides during ten years of war the dictator Caesar subdued and joined to us in an

After Domitianus was dispatched by a cruel death,[*](Cf. xiv. 7, 16.) his successor Musonianus governed the East with the rank of pretorian prefect, a man famed for his command of both languages,[*](Greek and Latin; cf. Suet., Claud. 42, l.) from which he won higher distinction than was expected.

For when Constantine was closely investigating the different religious sects, Manichaeans and the like, and no suitable interpreter could be found, he chose him, as a person recommended to him as competent; and when he had done that duty skilfully, he wished him to be called Musonianus, whereas he had hitherto had the name of Strategius. From that beginning, having run through many grades of honour, he rose to the prefecture, a man intelligent in other respects and satisfactory to the provinces, mild also and well-spoken, but on any and every occasion, and especially (which is odious) in hard-fought lawsuits and under all circumstances greedily bent upon filthy lucre. This became clearly evident (among many other instances) in the investigations set on foot regarding the death of Theophilus, governor of Syria, who, because of the betrayal of Gallus Caesar, was torn to pieces in an onslaught of the rabble upon him; on which occasion sundry poor men were condemned, although it was known that they had been away when this happened, while the wealthy perpetrators of the foul crime were set free after being stripped of their property.

He was matched by Prosper, who was at that time still representing the cavalry commander[*](Ursicinus (see xiv. 11, 5).) in Gaul and held military authority there, an abject coward and, as the comic poet says,[*](Plautus, Epidicus, 12, minus iam furtificus sum quam antehac. Quid ita? Rapio propalam.) scorning artifice in thieving and plundering openly.

While these men were in league and enriching themselves by bringing mutual gain one to the other, the Persian generals stationed by the rivers, while their king was busied in the farthest bounds of his empire, kept raiding our territories with predatory bands, now fearlessly invading Armenia and sometimes Mesopotamia, while the Roman officers were occupied in gathering the spoils of those who paid them obedience.

While the linked course of the fates was bringing this to pass in the Roman world, Julian Caesar at Vienne was admitted by Augustus,[*](That is, Constantius Augustus.) then consul for the eighth time, into the fellowship of the consular fasti. Urged on by his native energy, he dreamed of the din of battle and the slaughter of savages, already preparing to gather up the broken fragments of the province, if only fortune should at last aid him with her favouring breeze.

Accordingly, since the great deeds that he had the courage and good fortune to perform in Gaul surpass many valiant achievements of the ancients, I shall describe them one by one in progressive order,

Now whatever I shall tell (and no wordy deceit adorns my tale, but untrammelled faithfulness to fact, based upon clear proofs, composes it) will almost belong to the domain of the panegyric.

For some law of a higher life seems to have attended this youth from his noble cradle even to his last breath. For with rapid strides he grew so conspicuous at home and abroad that in his foresight he was esteemed a second Titus, son of Vespasian, in the glorious progress of his wars as very like Trajan, mild as Antoninus Pius, and in searching out the true and perfect reason of things in harmony with Marcus Aurelius, in emulation of whom he moulded his conduct and his character.[*](This is also stated by Eutropius, x. 16, 5, and by Julian himself in his Letter to Themistius, p. 253, 13; ii. p. 203, L.C.L.)

And since (as the authority of Cicero informs us)[*](Orator, 43, 147; a very free quotation.) we take delight in the loftiness of all noble arts, as we do of trees, but not so much in their roots and stumps, just so the beginnings of his surpassing ability were then veiled by many overshadowing features. Yet they ought to be preferred to his many admirable later achievements, for the reason that while still in early youth, educated like Erechtheus[*](One of the earliest kings of Athens, because of his discovery of many useful arts said to have been educated by Minerva; cf. Iliad, ii. 546 f.) in Minerva’s retreat, and drawn from the peaceful shades of the Academy, not from a soldier’s tent, to the dust of battle, he vanquished Germany, subdued the meanders of the freezing Rhine, here shed the blood of kings breathing cruel threats, and there loaded their arms with chains.

Accordingly, while he was passing a busy winter in the above-mentioned town,[*](I.e. Vienne) in the thick of rumours which kept persistently flying about, he learned that the walls of the ancient city of Autun, of wide circuit, to be sure, but weakened by the decay of centuries, had been besieged by a sudden onset of the savages; and then, though the force of soldiers garrisoned there was paralysed, it had been defended by the watchfulness of veterans who hurried together forits aid, as it often happens that the extreme of desperation wards off imminent danger of death.

Therefore, without putting aside his cares, and disregarding the servile flattery with which his courtiers tried to turn him to pleasure and luxury, after making adequate preparation he reached Autun on the 24th of June, like some experienced general, distinguished for power and policy, intending to fall upon the savages, who were straggling in various directions, whenever chance should give opportunity.

Accordingly, when he held a council, with men present who knew the country, to decide what route should be chosen as a safe one, there was much interchange of opinion, some saying that they ought to go by Arbor[*](The name cannot be completed.) others by way of Saulieu[*](In the department Côte d’ Or.) and Cora.[*](A small place in the neighbourhood of Autun.)