Res Gestae

Where are we being dragged, robbed of the

And let no man imagine us incitors to mutiny; we protest that we are speaking for our lives alone, asking for neither gold nor silver, which we have not been able to handle or even look upon for a long time, and which are denied us just as if it were against our country that we had been convicted of having undertaken so much toil and danger.

And they had good reason for their complaints. For through all their career of laudable achievements, and the critical moments of hazard, the soldiers, though worn out by their labours in Gaul, had received neither donative nor pay from the very day that Julian was sent there, for the reason that he himself had no funds available anywhere from which to give, nor did Constantius allow any to be expended in the usual manner.

And it was evident that this was done through malice rather than through niggardliness, from the fact that when this same Julian was asked by a common soldier, as they often do, for money for a shave, and had given him some small coin, he was assailed for it with slanderous speeches by Gaudentius,[*](He appears as agens in rebus, xv. 3, 8, and as set as a spy over Julian in xxi. 7, 2. He was finally executed by Julian’s order.) who was then a secretary. He had remained in Gaul for a long time to watch Julian’s actions, and Caesar afterwards ordered that he be put to death, as will be shown in the proper place.[*](xxii. 11, 1.)

At length, after the mutiny had been quelled, not without various sorts of fair words, they built a pontoon bridge and crossed the Rhine; but when they set foot in the lands of the Alamanni, Severus, master of the horse, who had previously been a warlike and energetic officer, suddenly lost heart.

And he that had often encouraged one and all to brave deeds, now advised against fighting and seemed despicable and timid—perhaps through fear of his coming death, as we read in the books of Tages[*](According to Censorinus, De Die Nat. 4, 13, and others, these books came from a certain Tages, who came up from the ground when a peasant was ploughing near Tarquinii in Etruria, and taught the people who flocked to him the secrets of prophecy. He is described as a boy with the wisdom of an old man; see Cic., De Div. ii. 23, 50 and Pease’s note. The Tarquitian books of xxv. 2, 7 are perhaps the same.) or of Vegoe[*](Cf. Servius, on Aen. vi. 72, libri Begoes nymphae, quae artem scripserat fulguritorum apud Tuscos. The correct spelling is Vegoe. ) that those who are shortly to be struck by lightning are so dulled in their senses that they can hear neither thunder nor any louder crashes whatsoever. And contrary to his usual custom, he had marched so lazily that he intimidated the guides, who were leading the way rapidly, and threatened them with death unless they would all agree, and unanimously make a statement, that they were wholly ignorant of the region. So they, being thus forbidden, and in fear of his authority, on no occasion went ahead after that.

Now in the midst of these delays Suomarius, king of the Alamanni, of his own initiative met the Romans unexpectedly with his troops, and although he had previously been haughty and cruelly bent upon harming the Romans, at that time on the

And he obtained it, with pardon for all that was past, on these terms: that he should deliver up his Roman captives and supply the soldiers with food as often as it should be needed, receiving security[*](That is, he was to receive receipts from those in charge of the supplies, and show them to Julian.) for what he brought in just like any ordinary contractor. And if he did not present it on time, he was to know that the same amount would again be demanded of him.

When this, which was properly arranged, had been carried out without a hitch, since the territory of a second king, Hortarius by name, was to be attacked and nothing seemed to be lacking but guides, Caesar had given orders to Nestica, a tribune of the targeteers, and Charietto, a man of extraordinary bravery, to take great pains to seek out and catch one and bring him in captive. Quickly a young Alamann was seized and led in, and on condition of having his life spared he promised to show the way.

He led and the army followed, but it was prevented from going forward by a barricade of tall felled trees. But when they finally, by long and circuitous detours, reached the spot, every man in the army,[*](For this use of armorum, cf. xxxi. 10, 5, cum quadraginta armorum milibus; etc.) wild with anger, joined in setting the fields on fire and raiding flocks and men; and if

The king was overwhelmed by these calamities, and when he saw the numerous legions and the ruins of his villages which they had burned down, now fully convinced that the final wreck of his fortunes was at hand, he too begged for pardon and under the solemn sanction of an oath promised that he would do what might be ordered. Being bidden to restore all prisoners—for that was insisted on with special earnestness—he did not keep faith but held back a large number and gave up only a few.

On learning this, Julian was roused to righteous indignation, and when the king came to receive presents, as was usual, he would not release his four attendants, on whose aid and loyalty he chiefly relied, until all the captives returned.

Finally the king was summoned by Caesar to an interview and reverenced him with trembling eyes; and overcome at the sight of the conqueror, he was forced to accept these hard terms, namely, that inasmuch as it was fitting that after so many successes the cities also should be rebuilt which the violence of the savages had destroyed, the king should furnish carts and timber from his own supplies and those of his subjects. And when he had promised this and taken oath that if he did any disloyal act, he should expiate it with his heart’s blood, he was allowed to return to his own domains. For as to supplying grain, as Suomarius did, he could not be coerced, for the reason that his country had been ravaged to the point of ruin, and nothing to give to us could be found.

So those kings, who in times past were inordinately puffed up with pride, and accustomed to

Presently, when all this became known at Constantius’ court—for it was necessary that Caesar, like any subordinate, should render an account to Augustus of all his acts—all those who had the chief influence in the palace and were now past masters in flattery turned Julian’s well-devised and successful achievements into mere mockery by endless silly jests of this sort: This fellow, a nanny-goat and no man, is getting insufferable with his victories, jibing at him for being hairy, and calling him a chattering mole and an ape in purple, and a Greekish pedant, and other names like these; and by ringing bells, so to speak, in the ears of an emperor eager to hear these and similar things, they tried to bury his merits with shameless speeches, railing at him as a lazy, timid, unpractical person, and one who embellished his ill success with fine words; all of which did not take place then for the first time.

For as the greatest glory is always habitually subject to envy,

As, for example, Cimon, the son of Miltiades, was accused of incest, although often before and particularly near the river Eurymedon in Pamphylia he annihilated a countless host of the Persians, and compelled a nation always swollen with pride to sue humbly for peace. Likewise Scipio Aemilianus was accused of inactivity by the malice of his rivals, although by his effective vigilance two most powerful cities, bent on the destruction of Rome, were razed to the ground.

And also even in the case of Pompey, some malevolent critics, who after much search found nothing for which he could be blamed, noted these two laughable and silly facts: that in a certain characteristic way he used to scratch his head with one finger, and that for some time, to cover up an ugly ulcer, he wore a white bandage tied around his leg; the one of these things he did, they affirmed, because he was dissipated, the other because he planned a revolution, snarling at him with the somewhat pointless reason, that it mattered not what part of his body he bound with the emblem of kingly majesty[*](The white fillet, to which the bandage was likened, was emblematic of royalty; see Suet., Jul. 79, 1.) —and this to a man than whom, as the clearest of proofs show; none was more valiant or circumspect with regard to his country.

While these things were thus happening, at Rome Artemius, who held the office of vice-prefect,

As Augustus meanwhile was taking his winter rest at Sirmium, frequent serious reports showed that the Sarmatians and the Quadi, who were in agreement because they were neighbours and had like customs and armour, had united and were raiding the Pannonias[*](That is, First and Second (Lower) Pannonia; the province was divided by Galerius.) and Second Moesia in detached bands.