Res Gestae

For although he held Constantius under obligation through gratitude for that timely act of coming over to his side with his soldiers before the battle of Mursa,[*](Against Magnentius; see note 2, p. 3.) yet he feared him as variable and uncertain, although he could point also to the valiant deeds of his father Bonitus, a Frank it is true, but one who in the civil war often fought vigorously on the side of Constantine against the soldiers of Licinius.

Now it had happened that before

Accordingly, when Silvanus had been slain at Cologne, as has been related, the emperor learned of it with inconceivable joy, and swollen with vanity and pride, ascribed this also to the prosperous course of his own good fortune, in accordance with the way in which he always hated brave and energetic men, as Domitian did in times gone by, yet tried to overcome them by every possible scheme of opposition.

And so far was he from praising conscientious service, that he actually wrote that Ursicinus had embezzled funds from the Gallic treasury, which no one had touched. And he had ordered the matter to be closely examined, questioning Remigius, who at that time was already auditor of the general’s office of infantry supplies, and whose fate it was, long afterwards, in the days of Valentinian, to take his life with the halter because of the affair of the embassy from Tripoli.[*](Cf. xxviii. 6, 7 and xxx. 2, 9.)

After this turn of affairs, Constantius, as one that now touched the skies with his head and would control all human chances, was puffed up by the grandiloquence of his flatterers, whose number he himself increased by scorning and rejecting those who were not adepts in that line; as we read of Croesus,[*](Cf. Herodotus, i. 33.) that he drove Solon headlong out of his kingdom for the reason that he did not know how to flatter; and of Dionysius, that he threatened the poet Philoxenus[*](Cf. Diod. Sic. xv. 6, and see Index.) with death, because when the tyrant was reading aloud

But this fault is a pernicious nurse of vices. For praise ought to be acceptable in high places only when opportunity is also sometimes given for reproach of things ill done.

And now after this relief the usual trials were set on foot, and many men were punished with bonds and chains, as malefactors. For up rose that diabolical informer Paulus, bubbling over with joy, to begin practising his venomous arts more freely; and when the councillors and officers (as was ordered) inquired into the matter, Proculus, Silvanus’ adjutant, was put upon the rack. Since he was a puny and sickly man, every one feared that his slight frame would yield to excessive torture, and that he would cause many persons of all conditions to be accused of heinous crimes. But the result was not at all what was expected.

For mindful of a dream, in which he was forbidden while asleep, as he himself declared, to strike a certain innocent person, although tortured to the very brink of death, he neither named nor impeached anyone, but steadfastly defended the action of Silvanus, proving by credible evidence that he had attempted his enterprise, not driven on from ambition, but compelled by necessity.

For he brought forward a convincing reason, made clear by the testimony of many persons, namely, that four days before Silvanus assumed

After him Poemenius, doomed like evil doers, was haled to execution and perished; he was the man (as we have told above)[*](In one of the lost books.) who was chosen to protect his fellow-citizens when Treves closed its gates against Decentius Caesar.[*](Decentius had been given the rank of Caesar by his brother Magnentius.) Then the counts Asclepiodotus, Lutto and Maudio were put to death, and many others, since the obduracy of the times made an intricate investigation into these and similar charges.

While the dire confusion was causing these calamities of general destruction, Leontius, governor of the Eternal City, gave many proofs of being an excellent judge; for he was prompt in hearing cases, most just in his decisions, by nature kindly, although for the sake of maintaining his authority he seemed to some to be severe and too apt to condemn.

Now the first device for stirring up rebellion against him was very slight and trivial. For when the arrest of the charioteer Philoromus was ordered, all the commons followed, as if to defend their own darling, and with a formidable

And a few days later the people again, excited with their usual passion, and alleging a scarcity of wine, assembled at the Septemzodium,[*](Probably the well-known building of Severus at the south-eastern corner of the Palatine, named from the seven planets; see Suet., L.C.L. ii. p. 321.) a much frequented spot, where the emperor Marcus Aurelius erected a Nymphaeum[*](Referring probably to the Septemzodium. See preceding note, and index, s.v. Marcus.) of pretentious style. Thither the governor resolutely proceeded, although earnestly entreated by all his legal and official suite not to trust himself to the self-confident and threatening throng, which was still angry from the former disturbance; but he, hard to frighten, kept straight on, so boldly that a part of his following deserted him, though he was hastening into imminent danger.

Then, seated in his carriage, with every appearance of confidence he scanned with keen eyes the faces of the crowds in their tiers, raging on all sides of him like serpents, and allowed many insults to be hurled at him; but recognising one fellow conspicuous among the rest, of huge stature and redheaded, he asked him if he were not Peter, surnamed Valuomeres, as he had heard. And when the man had replied in insolent tones that he was none other, the governor, who had known him of old as the ringleader of the malcontents, in spite of the outcries of many, gave orders to bind his hands behind him and hang him up.[*](To be flogged.)

On seeing him aloft, vainly begging for the aid of his fellows, the

During the administration of this Leontius, a priest of the Christian religion, Liberius by name, by order of Constantius[*](At Mediolanum, where Constantius then was.) was brought before the privy council on the charge of opposing the emperor’s commands and the decrees of the majority of his colleagues in an affair which I shall run over briefly.

Athanasius, at that time bishop of Alexandria, was a man who exalted himself above his calling and tried to pry into matters outside his province, as persistent rumours revealed; therefore an assembly which had been convoked of members of that same sect—a synod, as they call it—deposed him from the rank that he held.

For it was reported that, being highly skilled in the interpretation of prophetic lots or of the omens indicated by birds, he had sometimes foretold future events; and besides this he was also charged with other practices repugnant to the purposes of the religion over which he presided.

Liberius, when directed by the emperor’s order to depose him from his priesthood by endorsing the official decree, though holding the same opinion as the rest strenuously objected, crying out that it was the height of injustice to condemn a man unseen and unheard, thus, of course, openly defying the emperor’s will.

For although Constantius, who was always hostile to Athanasius, knew that the matter had been carried out, yet he strove with eager desire to have it ratified also by the higher power of the bishop of the Eternal City;[*](One of the earliest indications of the growing importance of the Roman bishops.) and since he could not obtain this, Liberius was spirited away, but only with the greatest difficulty and in the middle of the night, for fear of the populace, who were devotedly attached to him.