Res Gestae

Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, with an English translation, Vols. I-III. Rolfe, John C., translator. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; W. Heinemann, 1935-1940 (printing).

Now she is thought to be born,[*](I.e. it is new moon. ) when she has the sun above her with a slight deviation from the plumbline, so to speak. But her rising, which is still very slender, first appears to mortals when she has left the sun and advanced to the second sign. Then having progressed farther and now having abundant light, she appears with horns and is called μηνοειδής.[*](The crescent moon; μηνοειδής means in the form of a crescent; cf. Hdt. viii. 15.) But when she begins to be separated from the sun by a long distance and has arrived at the fourth sign and the sun’s rays are turned towards her, she gains greater brilliance, and is called in the Greek tongue διχόμηνις,[*](The half-moon; διχόμηνις means dividing the month cf. Lat. Idus, to which some give that derivation, wrongly.) a form which shows a half-circle

Then, proceeding to the greatest distance and attaining the fifth sign, she shows the figure called

v2.p.15

amphicyrtos,[*](The gibbous moon; ἀμφίκυρτος means curved on each side, gibbous. ) and has humps on both sides. But when she has taken a place directly opposite the sun she will gleam with full light, making her home in the seventh sign; and still keeping her place in that same sign, but advancing a little she grows smaller, the process which we call ἀπόκρουσις[*](Waning.) ; and she repeats the same forms as she grows old,[*](But in inverse order.) and it is maintained by the unanimous learning of many men that the moon is never seen in eclipse except at the time of her mid-course.[*](That is, at the full moon.)

But when we said that the sun had its course now in the ether and now in the world below,[*](That is, below our horizon and on the other side of the world.) it must be understood that the heavenly bodies (so far as the universe is concerned) neither set nor rise, but that they seem to do so to an eyesight whose fixed situation is on the earth; this is kept hanging in space by some inner force and in its relation to the universe is like a tiny point; and that now we seem to see the stars, whose order is eternal, fixed in the sky, and often through the imperfection of human vision we think that they leave their places. But let us now return to our subject.

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When Constantius was hastening to lend aid to the Orient, which was likely soon to be disturbed by the inroads of the Persians, as deserters reported in agreement with our scouts, he was tormented[*](Cf. Hor., Epist. ii. 1, 13, urit enim fulgore suo qui praegravat artes infra se positas.) by the valorous deeds of Julian, which increasingly frequent report was spreading abroad through the mouths of divers nations, carrying the great glory[*](Adorea originally meant grain distributed to the soldiers as a reward for a victory; then victory, glory; cf. Hor., Odes, iv. 4, 41, dies . . .qui primus alma risit adorea.) of his mighty toils and achievements after the overthrow of several kingdoms of the Alamanni, and the recovery of the Gallic towns, which before had been destroyed and plundered by the savages whom he himself had made tributaries and subjects.