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).

Seeing the great vigour and eagerness that animate you, my valiant soldiers, I have resolved to address you, in order to explain in full detail that this is not the first time—as some evil-minded men mutter—that the Romans have invaded the Persian kingdom. For not to mention Lucullus and Pompey, who, passing through the Albani and the Massagetae, whom we now call the Alani, broke into this nation also and came to the Caspian Sea, we know that Ventidius,[*](See Plut., Ant. 33, 4; 34, 1; Val. Max. vi. 9, 9.) the lieutenant-general of Antony, inflicted innumerable sanguinary defeats in this region.

But to leave ancient times, I will disclose what recent history has transmitted to us. Trajan, Verus, and Severus returned from here victorious and adorned with trophies,[*](Tropaeati seems to be a word coined by Ammianus.) and the

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younger Gordianus,[*](Emperor from 238-244; see Index I., vol. i., s.v. Gordiani. In 242 he made a campaign against the Per- sians, at first with success; but his troops, incited by Philippus, mutinied and put him to death.) whose monument we just now looked upon with reverence, would have come back with equal glory, after vanquishing the Persian king and putting him to flight at Resaina,[*](A town of Osdroëne.) had he not been struck down by an impious wound inflicted by the faction of Philippus, the praetorian prefect, and a few wicked accomplices, in the very place where he now lies buried. But his shade did not long wander unavenged, for as if their deeds were weighed in the scales of Justice, all who had conspired against him perished by agonising deaths.[*](Cf. Capit., Gordian. 33, and Suet., Jul. 89, of the as- sassins of Julius Caesar.)

Those emperors, indeed, their own desire, inclined as they were to lofty enterprises, drove to undertake noteworthy exploits, but we are urged on to our present purpose by the pitiful fate of recently captured cities, by the unavenged shades of armies destroyed, by the great disasters that have been suffered, and by the loss of many a camp. For everybody’s desires are one with ours to make good the past and give strength to our country by making this side of her domain safe, and thus leave to future generations material for singing our praises.

Everywhere shall I, with the help of the eternal deity, be by your side, as emperor, as leader, and as fellow horseman,[*](antesignanus et conturmalis seems to imply playing the part now of a leader of the infantry and now of the cavalry.) and (as I think) under favourable auspices. But if fickle fortune should overthrow me in any battle, I shall be content with having sacrificed myself for the Roman world, after the

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example of the Curtii[*](Cf. Livy, vii. 6, 1 ff.) and Mucii[*](Cf. Livy, ii. 12.) of old and the noble family of the Decii.[*](See xvi. 10, 3.) We must wipe out a most mischievous nation, on whose sword-blades the blood of our kinsmen is not yet dry.

Our forefathers spent many ages in eradicating whatever caused them trouble. Carthage was conquered in a long and difficult war, but our distinguished leader[*](Scipio Aemilianus; cf. Seneca, Dial. xi. 14, 5, quid referam Aemilianum Scipionem . . . vir in hoc natus, ne urbi Romanae aut Scipio deesset aut Carthago superesset. ) feared that she might survive the victory. Scipio utterly destroyed Numantia,[*](Cf. Florus, i. 24, 18. The siege lasted, with interruptions, for thirteen years.) after undergoing many vicissitudes in its siege. Rome laid Fidenae[*](Cf. Livy, iv. 17 ff.) low, in order that no rivals of her power might grow up, and for that same reason crushed Falerii and Veil;[*](Cf. Livy, v. 25-27.) and even trustworthy ancient histories would have difficulty in convincing us that those cities were ever powerful.[*](Cf. Flor. i. 6, 11, laborat annalium fides, ut Veios fuisse credamus, Our trust in our annals has a difficult task to make us believe that Veii ever existed. Florus, L.C.L., p. 41.)