Res Gestae

When this was known, Constantius, though overwhelmed with sorrow, was sustained by the one comforting thought, that in civil strife he had always come off victor; but while the present situation made it most difficult to decide upon a plan, he resolved, as the best course, gradually to send his soldiers on in advance in the

This plan met with general approval and the troops set out lightly equipped, as was ordered. But as he was carrying out this arrangement, word came next morning that the king with the entire force under his command had returned home, since the auspices put an end to his enterprise; relieved therefore of fear, Constantius recalled all the troops, except those that formed the usual defence of Mesopotamia, and quickly returned to the city of Nicopolis.

There, being still uncertain as to the outcome of his main enterprise, as soon as the army had come together he summoned all the centuries, maniples, and cohorts to an assembly; and when the trumpets sounded and the plain was filled with the multitude, in order to make them the more inclined to carry out his orders, he took his place upon a high tribunal with a larger retinue than common, and assuming an expression of calm confidence, addressed them as follows:

Being always careful by no act or word, however slight, to allow myself to do anything inconsistent with faultless honour, and like a cautious steersman putting my helm up or down according to the movements of the waves, I am now constrained, dearly beloved soldiers, to confess to you my mistake, or rather (if I may be allowed to use the right word) my kindheartedness, which I believed would be profitable to the interests of all. Therefore, that you may the more readily know the ground for convoking this assembly, hear me, I pray you, with unprejudiced and favourable ears.

At the time when Magnentius, whom your valorous deeds overthrew, was obstinately bent upon making general confusion in the state, I raised my cousin Gallus to the high rank of Caesar and sent him to defend the Orient. When he by many deeds abominable to witness and to rehearse had forsaken the path of justice, he was punished by the laws’ decree.