Res Gestae

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.