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).

When these matters had been arranged as planned, he was alarmed by an omen which, as the result showed, was most trustworthy. For when Felix, head of the public treasury, had suddenly died of a haemorrhage, and Count Julian had followed him to the grave, the people as they looked at the public inscriptions, uttered the names as Felix, Julianus and Augustus.[*](A grim jest of the people of Antioch. The official inscriptions read: D(ominus) N(oster) Claudius Iulianus P(ius) F (elix) Augustus. The people omitted some words and read: Felix, Iulianus, Augustus, implying that Augustus (i.e. Julian) would follow Felix and Count Julianus to the grave.)

Another unlucky thing had happened before this; for just on the Kalends of January, as the emperor was mounting the steps of the temple of the Genius,[*](That is, the Genius of the Roman people; of. xxii. 11, 8 for another at Alexandria.) one of the college of priests who was older than the rest suddenly, without being pushed, fell and died of the unlooked-for accident. The bystanders—whether through ignorance or desire to flatter is uncertain— said that this surely pointed to Sallustius, the elder of the two consuls; but (as was evident) it showed that death was approaching, not the man of greater age, but the higher in rank.

Besides these, other lesser signs also indicated from time to time what came to pass. For amid the very beginning of the

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preparations for the Parthian campaign word came that Constantinople had been shaken by an earthquake, which those skilled in such matters said was not a favourable omen for a ruler who was planning to invade another’s territory. And so they tried to dissuade Julian from the untimely enterprise, declaring that these and similar signs ought to be disregarded only in the case of attack by an enemy, when the one fixed rule is, to defend the safety of the State by every possible means and with unremitting effort. Just at that time it was reported to him by letter, that at Rome the Sibylline books had been consulted about this war, as he had ordered, and had given the definite reply that the emperor must not that year leave his frontiers.

Meanwhile, however, embassies from many nations which promised aid were cordially received and sent back; for the emperor with laudable confidence replied, that it was by no means fitting for the Roman State to defend itself by means of foreign aid, since its duty was rather by its power to protect its friends and allies, if necessity forced them to apply for help.