Res Gestae

And to the end that he might elude the sentinels, he bought at no great price a farm in Iaspis, a place washed by the waters of the Tigris. And since because of this device no one ventured to ask one who was now a landholder with many attendants his reason for coming to the utmost frontier of the Roman empire, through friends who were loyal and skilled in swimming he held many secret conferences with Tamsapor, then acting as governor of all the lands across the river, whom he already knew; and when active men had been sent to his aid from the Persian camp, he embarked in fishing boats and ferried over all his beloved household in the dead of night, like Zopyrus, that famous betrayer of Babylon, but with the opposite intention.[*](Zopyrus pretended to desert to Babylon, in order to betray the city to his king, Darius. Antoninus actually deserted, to betray his native country.)

After affairs in Mesopotamia had been brought to this pass, the Palace gang, chanting the old refrain with a view to our destruction, at last found an opportunity for injuring the most valiant of men, aided and abetted by the corps of eunuchs, who

So it was decided that Sabinianus, a cultivated man, it is true, and well to-do,[*](For bene nummatus, cf. Hor., Epist. i. 6, 38.) but unfit for war, inefficient, and because of his obscurity still far removed from obtaining magisterial rank, should be sent to govern the eastern regions; but that Ursicinus should return to court to command the infantry and succeed Barbatio: to the end that by his presence there that eager inciter to revolution (as they persisted in calling him) might be open to the attacks of his bitter and formidable enemies.

While this was being done in the camp of Constantius, after the manner of brothels and the stage, and the distributors[*](The diribitores were originally those who sorted and counted the ballots at elections; in 7 B.C. Agrippa built the diribitorium in the Campus Martius for their use; see Suet., Claud. 18. Diribitores seems to have acquired the meaning of distributors of bribes; see Suet., Aug. 40, 2, where however the word itself does not occur.) were scattering the price of suddenly purchased power through the homes of the powerful, Antoninus was conducted to the king’s winter quarters and received with open arms, being graced with the distinction of the turban, an honour shared by those who sit at the royal table and allowing men of merit among the Persians to speak words of advice and to vote in the assemblies. Thus, not with poles or tow-rope (as the saying is), that is, not by ambiguous or obscure subterfuges, but under full sail he attacked his country, urging on the aforesaid king, as long ago Maharbal chided the slowness of Hannibal, and kept insisting that he could win victories, but not take advantage of them.[*](Livy, xxii. 51; Florus, i. 22, 19.)

For having been brought up in their

With these and similar speeches from time to time at banquets, where after the old Greek custom they used to consult about preparations for war and other serious affairs, the deserter kept sober and fired the already eager king, so soon as winter was over, at once to take the field, trusting to his good fortune, and Antoninus himself confidently promised to aid him in many important ways.

At about that same time Sabinianus, puffed up by his suddenly acquired power, entered the confines of Cilicia and handed his predecessor the emperor’s letter, which directed him to make all haste to the court, to be invested with a higher rank; and that too at a crisis when, even if Ursicinus were living in Thule,[*](Looked on by the Romans as a land north of Britain, perhaps Norway confused with Iceland, but of which they had no definite conception. It is a proverbial expression for the ends of the earth. ) the weight of affairs with good reason demanded that he be sent for,[*](That is, to go to the seat of war against Sapor, instead of to the emperor’s court.) well acquainted as he was with the old-time discipline and with the Persian methods of warfare from long experience.

The rumour of this action greatly disquieted the provinces, and the senates and peoples of the various cities, while decrees and acclamations came thick and fast, laid hands on him and all but held fast their public defender, recalling that though he had been left to protect them with weak and ease loving soldiers, he had for ten years suffered no loss; and at the same time they feared for their safety on learning that at a critical time he had been deposed and a most inefficient man had come to take his place.

We believe (and in fact there is no doubt of it) that Rumour flies swiftly through the paths of air, since it was through her circulation of the news of these events that the Persians held council as to their course of action. And after long