Res Gestae

Observing, therefore, a true distinction between his good qualities and his defects, it will be fitting to set forth his good points first.[*](With this chapter, cf. xiv. 5, 1-4.) He always

Under him no leader of an army was advanced to the rank of clarissimus. For they were (according to my personal recollection) all perfectissimi.[*](See Introd., p. xxviii. clarissimi were members of the senatorial order who, as the sons of senators, inherited their rank; but the title included also those who were made senators by adlectio. ) The governor of a province never officially met a commander[*](On his arrival in the province.) of the cavalry, nor was the latter official allowed to take part in civil affairs. But all the military and civil officials always looked up to the praetorian prefects with the old-time respect, as the peak of all authority.

In the maintenance of the soldiers he was exceedingly careful; somewhat critical at times in evaluating services, he bestowed appointments at court by the plumb-line,[*](The metaphorical use of this expression does not seem to be common; it occurs also in Ausonius, Parentalia, v. 8, ad perpendiculum se suosque habuit. ) as it were. Under him no one who was to hold a high position was appointed to a post in the palace suddenly or untried, but a man who after ten years was to be marshal of the court, or head treasurer, or to fill any similar post, was thoroughly known. It very rarely happened that any military officer passed to a civil magistracy, and on the other hand, none were put in command of soldiers who had not grown hardy in the dust of

He made great pretensions to learning,[*](Cf. Eusebius, Vita Constantini, iv. 51, Constantinus M. filios omnino probe erudiendos magistris tradiderat peritissimis. Wagner adds e quorum disciplina si quid haesisset, iactare quavis data occasione solebat Constantius; cf. Julian, Orat. i, pp. 28 ff. L.C.L.) but after failing in rhetoric because of dullness of mind, he turned to making verses, but accomplished nothing worth while.

By a prudent and temperate manner of life and by moderation in eating and drinking he maintained such sound health that he rarely suffered from illnesses, but such as he had were of a dangerous character. For that abstinence from dissipation and luxury have this effect on the body is shown by repeated experience, as well as by the statements of physicians.

He was content with little sleep when time and circumstances so required. Throughout the entire span of his life he was so extraordinarily chaste, that not even a suspicion could be raised against him even by an ill-disposed attendant on his private life, a charge which malice, even if it fails to discover it, still trumps up, having regard to the unrestrained liberty of supreme power.

In riding, in hurling the javelin, and especially in the skilful use of the bow, and in all the exercises of the foot-soldiers, he was an adept. That no one ever saw him wipe his mouth or nose in public, or spit, or turn his face in either direction,[*](Cf. xvi. 10, 10.) or that so long as he lived he never tasted fruit, I leave unmentioned, since it has often been related.

Having given a succinct account of his merits, so far as I could know them, let us now come to an enumeration of his defects. While in administrative affairs he was comparable to other emperors of

To add to the sufferings of the wretches who were reported to him for impairment of, or insult to, his majesty, his bitterness and angry suspicions were stretched to the uttermost in all such cases. If anything of the kind was bruited abroad, he gave himself up to inquisitions with more eagerness than humanity, and appointed for such trials merciless judges; and in the punishment of some he tried to make their death lingering, if nature allowed, in some particulars being even more ruthless than Gallienus in such inquisitions.

As a matter of fact, he was the object of many genuine plots of traitors, such as Aureolus, Postumus, Ingenuus, Valens[*](In Illyricum, Gaul, Pannonia and Achaia respectively.) surnamed Thessalonicus, and several others, yet he often showed leniency in punishing crimes which would bring death to the victim; but he also tried to make false or doubtful cases appear well-founded by excessively violent tortures.

And in such affairs he showed deadly enmity to justice, although he made a special effort to be considered just and merciful. And as sparks flying from a dry forest even with a light breeze of wind come with irresistible course and bring danger to rural villages, so he also from trivial causes roused

And, as some right- thinking men believed, it would have been a striking indication of true worth in Constantius, if he had renounced his power without bloodshed, rather than defended it so mercilessly.

And this Tully also shows in a letter to Nepos, in which he taxes Caesar with cruelty, saying: For happiness is nothing else than success in noble actions. Or, to express it differently, happiness is the good fortune that aids worthy designs, and one who does not aim at these can in no wise be happy. Therefore, in lawless and impious plans, such as Caesar followed, there could be no happiness. Happier, in my judgement, was Camillus in exile than was Manlius[*](M. Manlius saved the Roman citadel when the Gauls took the city in 387 B.C. Later, because he defended the commons, he was accused of aspiring to regal power and hurled from the Tarpeian Rock.) at that same time, even if (as he had desired) he had succeeded in making himself king.[*](A fragment preserved by Ammianus alone, not found in Cicero’s extant works.)

Heraclitus the Ephesian[*](The weeping philosopher, as Democritus was the laughing philosopher; cf. Juvenal, x. 33 ff. He flourished about 535-475 B.C.) also agrees with this, when he reminds us that the weak and cowardly have sometimes, through the mutability of fortune, been victorious over eminent men; but that the most conspicuous praise is won,

Now, although this emperor in foreign wars met with loss and disaster, yet he was elated by his success in civil conflicts and drenched with awful gore from the internal wounds of the state. It was on this unworthy rather than just or usual ground[*](It was usual to celebrate a triumph only over foreign enemies, and the same rule applied to triumphal arches.) that in Gaul and Pannonia he erected triumphal arches[*](Although this term is so common in English, this is the first and only occurrence in Latin literature, and it is found besides only in four late inscriptions from northern Africa.) at great expense commemorating the ruin of the provinces,[*](That is, his victories over his rivals, and the bloodshed and ruin attending them.) and added records of his deeds, that men might read of him so long as those monuments could last.

He was to an excessive degree under the influence of his wives, and the shrill-voiced eunuchs, and certain of the court officials, who applauded his every word, and listened for his yes or no, in order to be able to agree with him.

The bitterness of the times was increased by the insatiate extortion of the tax-collectors, who brought him more hatred than money; and to many this seemed the more intolerable, for the reason that he never investigated a dispute, nor had regard for the welfare of the provinces, although they were oppressed by a multiplicity of taxes and tributes. And besides this, he found it easy to take away exemptions which he had once given.

The plain[*](Cf. absolutio, xiv. 10, 13; responsum absolutum, xxx. 1, 4; planis absolutisque decretis, xxii. 5, 2.) and simple religion of the Christians he obscured by a dotard’s superstition, and by subtle

His bodily appearance and form were as follows: he was rather dark, with bulging eyes and sharp-sighted; his hair was soft and his regularly shaven cheeks were neat and shining; from the meeting of neck and shoulders to the groin he was unusually long, and his legs were very short and bowed, for which reason he was good at running and leaping.

When the corpse of the deceased emperor had been washed and placed in a coffin, Jovianus, who was at that time still an officer in the bodyguard, was ordered to escort it with regal pomp to Constantinople, to be interred beside his kinsfolk.