Res Gestae

And after a brief silence, during which from his high position he surveyed the faces of those present, on finding them all eager and joyous, using simple words in order to be understood, he stirred them as by the blare of clarions, speaking as follows:

The difficulties of the situation, ye brave and faithful defenders of my person and of the state, who with me have often risked your lives for the welfare of the provinces, require and entreat, since by your firm resolve you have advanced your Caesar to the pinnacle of all human power, that I should touch briefly on a few matters, in order to devise just and wise remedies for those changed conditions.

Hardly had I come to my growth, when (as you know) I assumed the purple, so far as appearance goes, and was committed by Heaven’s will to your protection. Since then I have never been thwarted in my purpose of right living, and I have been closely observed with you in all your toils, when through the widespread arrogance of foreign nations, after the destruction of cities and the loss of countless thousands of our men, incalculable disaster

But this surely it is right neither to pass by nor consign to silence, that when that happiest of days dawned near Argentoratus, which in a sense brought lasting freedom to the Gauls, while I hastened about amid showers of weapons, you, upheld by your might and by long experience, overcame the enemy, rushing on like mountain torrents, either striking them down with the steel or plunging them in the river’s depths; and that too with but few of our number left upon the field, whose funerals we honoured with plentiful praise rather than with grief.

After such great and glorious exploits, posterity, I believe, will not be silent about your services to your country, which are now well known to all nations, if you defend with courage and resolution the man whom you have honoured with a higher title of majesty, in case any adverse fortune should assail him.

And to the end that a sound course of conduct may be maintained, that the rewards of brave men may remain free from corruption, and that secret intrigue may not usurp honours, this I declare in the presence of your honorable assembly: that no civil official, no military officer, shall reach a higher rank through anyone supporting him beyond his merits, and that none who tries to intrigue for another shall escape without dishonour.

Through confidence in this promise the soldiers of lower rank, who had long had no share in honours

And at once, lest even an instant should be allowed to interfere with so resolved a purpose, the Petulantes and Celts begged in behalf of certain commissaries[*](Officers of the army, who received the provisions from the contractors and delivered them to the soilders; and kept the accounts; see also xv. 5, 3, note.) that they might be sent as governors to whatever provinces they might choose; and when the request was denied, they withdrew neither offended nor ill-humoured.

But in the night before he was proclaimed Augustus, as the emperor told his nearer and more intimate friends, a vision appeared to him in his sleep, taking the form in which the guardian spirit of the state is usually portrayed, and in a tone of reproach spoke as follows: Long since, Julian, have I been secretly watching the vestibule of your house, desiring to increase your rank, and I have often gone away as though rebuffed. If I am not to be received even now, when the judgements of many men are in agreement, I shall depart downcast and forlorn. But keep this thought in the depths of your heart, that I shall no longer abide with you.

While these things were being vigorously carried out in Gaul, that savage king of the Persians, since the urgency of Antoninus was doubled by the coming

The defenders of the city, as soon as they saw the enemy a long way off, quickly closed the gates and full of courage ran to the various towers and battlements, and got together stones and engines of war; then, when everything was prepared, they all stood fast under arms, ready to repulse the horde, in case it should try to come near the walls.

Accordingly, the king on his arrival, through his grandees, who were allowed access, tried by peaceful mediation to bend the defenders to his will. Failing in this, he devoted the entire day to quiet, but at the coming of next morning’s light he gave the signal by raising the flame-coloured banner, and the city was assailed on every side; some brought ladders, others set up engines of war; the greater part, protected by the interposition of penthouses and mantlets, tried to approach the walls and undermine their foundations.

Against this onset the townsmen, standing upon their lofty battlements, from a distance with stones and all kinds of missile weapons tried to repel those who boldly strove to force an entrance.

The battle raged for several days with uncertain outcome, and on both sides many were killed and wounded. Finally, in the heat of the mighty

To this spot the people flocked and the battle went on in dense array; from all sides flew firebrands with blazing torches and fiery darts to set fire to the great menace,[*](I.e. the huge ram.) while the showers of arrows and slingshots from both sides never ceased. But the sharp head of the ram overcame every attempt at defence, penetrating the joints of the new-laid stones, which were still moist and therefore weak.

And while the combat still went on with fire and sword, the tower collapsed and a way was made into the city; the defenders, scattered by the great danger, abandoned the place; the Persian hordes, raising shouts and yells, rushed from all sides and without opposition filled every part of the city; and after a very few of the defenders had been slain here and there, all the rest were taken alive by Sapor’s order and transported to the remotest parts of Persia.

This city was defended by two legions, the First Flavian and the First Parthian, as well as by a considerable number of natives, with the help of some horsemen who had hastily taken refuge there because of the sudden danger. All these (as I have said) were led off with hands bound, and none of our men could aid them.

For the greater part of the army was in camp guarding Nisibis, which was a very long distance off; besides, even in former days no one had ever been able to aid Singara when