Res Gestae

Finally, on a previously appointed festal day, he ascended Mount Casius,[*](In Seleucia, near Antioch.) a wooded hill rising on high with a rounded contour, from which at the second cock-crow[*](One of the divisions of the night; the latter part of the fourth watch; cf. Pliny, N.H. v. 80; Mart. Cap. vi., p. 235.) the sun is first seen to rise And as he was offering sacrifice to Jove, he suddenly caught sight of a man lying flat upon the ground, and in suppliant words begging for life and pardon. And when Julian asked who he was, the man answered that he was the ex-governor Theodotus of Hierapolis; that when in company with other dignitaries he was escorting Constantius as he set out from his city, he shamefully flattered him, in the belief that he would unquestionably be victorious, begging him with feigned tears and wailing to send them the head of Julian, that ungrateful rebel, just as he remembered that the head of Magnentius had been paraded about.

Upon hearing this, the emperor answered: I heard of this speech of yours long ago from the mouths of many; but go to your home carefree, relieved of all fear by the

When he left there after completing the sacred rites, a letter was presented to him from the governor of Egypt, reporting that after laborious search for a new Apis bull, they had finally, after a time, been able to find one, which (in the belief of the people of that region) is an indication of prosperity, fruitful crops, and various blessings.

About this matter it will be in place to give a brief explanation. Among the animals consecrated by ancient religious observance, the better known are Mnevis and Apis.[*](Cf. Diod. Sic. i. 21, 10; Hdt. iii. 27, 28; Strabo, xvii. 1, 31; Pliny, N.H. viii. 184 ff.) Mnevis[*](Older than Apis, but later neglected; his shrine was in Heliopolis.) is consecrated to the Sun, but about him there is nothing noteworthy to be said; Apis to the moon.[*](Later also to the Sun; Macrob. i. 21, 20.) Apis, then, is a bull distinguished by natural marks of various forms,[*](There were twenty-nine in all.) and most of all conspicuous for the image of a crescent moon on his right side. When this bull, after its destined span of life,[*](Twenty-five years.) is plunged in the sacred fount[*](Its location was a secret known only to the priests. ) and dies (for it is not lawful for him to prolong his life beyond the time prescribed by the secret authority of the mystic books), there is slain with the same ceremony a cow, which has been found with special marks and presented to him. After his death another Apis is sought amid public mourning;

And when he has been led into the city by a hundred priests and conducted to his chamber, he begins to be an object of worship; and it is said that by manifest signs he gives indications of coming events; and some of those who approach him he evidently rejects by unfavourable signs, as once (so we read)[*](In A.D. 49 in Egypt. Soon after, Plancina, Piso’s wife, was suspected of poisoning him. Cf. Pliny, N.H. viii. 185.) he turned away from Caesar Germanicus when he offered him food, and thus prophesied what soon after came to pass.

Accordingly, since the occasion seems to demand it, let us touch briefly on matters Egyptian, of which I discoursed at length in connection with the history of the emperors Hadrian and Severus,[*](In lost books.) telling for the most part what I myself had seen.

The Egyptian nation is the most ancient of all, except that in antiquity it vies with the Scythians.[*](Cf. Justinus, ii. 1, 5.) It is bounded on the south[*](The account of Ammianus is very confused and inexact.) by the Greater Syrtes, the promontories Phycus and Borion, by the Garamantes[*](A nomadic people of Libya.) and various other nations. Where it looks directly east it extends to Elephantine and Meroë, cities of the Aethiopians, to the Catadupi[*](At the cataracts of the Nile.) and the Red Sea, and to the Scenitic Arabs, whom we now call the

Now it will be in place to touch briefly on the most helpful of all rivers, the Nile, which Homer calls the Aegyptus,[*](Cf. Odyss. iv. 477. On the Nile and its floods, see Hdt. ii. 19, 20; Diod. Sic. i. 36; Strabo, xvii. 1, 5; Pliny, N.H. v. 51 ff.) and then to describe other remarkable things to be found in those lands.