Res Gestae

The subject prompts me to add a few facts about this same Eutherius, perhaps hardly to be credited, for the reason that if a Numa Pompilius or a Socrates should give any good report of a eunuch, and should back their statements by a solemn oath, they would be charged with having departed from the truth. But among brambles roses spring up, and among savage beasts some are tamed. Accordingly, I shall give a brief summary of the chief facts known about him.

He was born in Armenia of free parents, but when still very young he was kidnapped by hostile tribesmen in that neighbourhood,

When he had become head chamberlain,[*](See Introd., xxxv.) he would sometimes criticise even Julian, as trained in the manners of Asia and therefore inconstant. Finally going into retirement, but afterwards summoned to the palace, always temperate and especially consistent, he so cultivated the noble virtues of loyalty and self-restraint that he was never charged, as the rest have been, with having disclosed a secret, unless it were to save another’s life, or to have been kindled with a desire to increase his wealth.

The result was, that when he presently retired to Rome and grew old there in a permanent home, he carried about with him a good conscience as his companion; he was honoured and loved by all classes, whereas that type of man, after amassing wealth by iniquitous means, usually seeks out secret lurking-places, like creatures of darkness shunning the sight of the multitude they have wronged.

In unrolling many records of the past, to see to which of the

But if haply any curious student of ancient history should confront me with Menophilus, the eunuch of Mithridates, king of Pontus, let this reminder recall to him that nothing was recorded of Menophilus save this one fact, that in the supreme crisis he made a glorious showing.

The aforesaid king, after having been defeated in a mighty battle by Pompey and the Romans, fled to the kingdom of Colchis; he left his grown daughter, Dryptina by name, who was afflicted with a grievous disease, in the fortress of Sinhorium under the charge of this Menophilus. He, resorting to every healing remedy, entirely cured the girl and was guarding her in complete security for her father, when the fortress in which he was beleagured began to be blockaded by Mallius Priscus, the Roman commander’s lieutenant-general; and when Menophilus learned that its defenders were thinking of surrender, fearing lest, to her father’s reproach, the high-born girl might be taken alive and suffer outrage, he killed her and then plunged the sword

After Marcellus had been worsted, as I have said, and had returned to Serdica,[*](Modern Sophia, Bulgaria.) his native place, in the camp of Augustus, under pretext of upholding his imperial majesty, many abominable acts were committed.

For if anyone consulted a soothsayer about the squeaking of a shrew-mouse, the meeting with a weasel on the way, or any like portent, or used some old wife’s charm to relieve pain (a thing which even medical authority allows), he was indicted (from what source he could not guess), was haled into court, and suffered death as the penalty.

At about that time a certain slave, Danus by name, was accused by his wife on trifling charges merely to intimidate him; this woman was approached by Rufinus, who had come to know her in some way or other. He was the man who had given certain information that he had learned through Gaudentius, one of the agents,[*](See note 2, p. 98.) and had caused the death of Africanus, then governor-general of Pannonia, along with his guests, as I have related;[*](xv. 3, 7.) he was even then, because of his obsequiousness, chief steward of the praetorian prefecture.

This Rufinus (as he kept boastfully saying) led the fickle woman, first into shameful

And having thus framed these matters to the destruction of many persons, Rufinus himself, in hope of greater profit, flies to the emperor’s camp, to stir up his customary scandals. And when the fact was divulged, Mavortius, then praetorian prefect, a man of high resolution, was bidden to look into the charge with a keen investigation, having associated with him, to hear the case in common, Ursulus, count of the largesses,[*](See Introd., pp. xl f.) likewise a man of praiseworthy severity.

So when the affair had been exaggerated, after the standard of the times, and after the torture of many persons nothing was discovered, and the judges were hesitating in perplexity, at last truth, crushed to earth, breathed again, and at the point of necessity the woman confessed that Rufinus was the contriver of the whole plot, and did not even keep back the shame of her adultery. And at once the laws were consulted and the judges, unanimous in their love of right and justice, condemned them both to death.

Constantius, on learning this, raged and lamented, as if the defender of his own life had perished; he sent fast horsemen and commanded Ursulus in threatening terms to return to the court. And when he had come there and wished to approach the emperor, the courtiers tried to keep him from being able to appear in defence of the truth. But he, scorning those who would hold him back, burst through

Then a thing happened in Aquitania which fame bruited more widely abroad. A crafty old fellow who was invited to a sumptuous and elegant banquet, such as are very frequent in that country, noticed that the purple borders of the linen couch-covers were so very broad that the skill of the attendants made them seem all one piece, and that the table was covered with similar cloths; and by turning the front part of his cloak inward with both hands, he so adorned its whole structure, that it resembled an emperor’s garment[*](The veterator showed that the table decorations could be used for an imperial cloak, and implied that they had been so used.) ; and this action ruined a rich estate.