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).

Through this land, consisting of a plain of wide extent,[*](For situ, structure, form, cf. Horace, Odes, iii. 30, 2, regalique situ pyramidum altius. As this meaning seems not to occur elsewhere, this may be a reminiscence; cf. bene numrnatum, xiv. 6, 12, note.) surrounded on all sides by precipitous cliffs, two rivers of famous name, the Oechartis and the Bautis,[*](The Selenga and the Hoang Ho.) flow in a somewhat slow course. The nature of the various tracts is unlike, being now open and flat and now descending in gentle slopes; and therefore the land overflows in grain, flocks, and orchards.

On this very fruitful soil dwell various peoples, of which the Anthropophagi, Anibi, Sizyges and Chardi lie towards the north and the snows. Towards the rising sun are the Rabannae, Asmirae, and the Essedones, the most famed of all; close to them, on the west, are the Athagorae, and the Aspacarae. In the south are the Baetae, dwelling on the slopes of high mountains. They are famed for cities which, though not numerous, are large and prosperous; the greatest of these, Asmira, Essedon, Asparata,

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and Sera, are beautiful and well known.

The Seres themselves live a peaceful life, for ever unacquainted with arms and warfare; and since to gentle and quiet folk ease is pleasurable, they are troublesome to none of their neighbours. Their climate is agreeable and healthful, the sky is clear, the winds gentle and very pleasant. There is an abundance of well-lighted woods, the trees of which produce a substance which they work with frequent sprinkling, like a kind of fleece; then from the wool-like material, mixed with water, they draw out very fine threads, spin the yarn, and make sericum,[*](Silk.) formerly for the use of the nobility, but nowadays available even to the lowest without any distinction.

The Seres themselves are frugal beyond all others, live a quiet life, and avoid intercourse with the rest of mortals. And when strangers, in order to buy threads or anything else, cross the river, their wares are laid out and with no exchange of words their value is estimated by the eye alone;[*](Cf. Hdt. iv. 196.) and they are so abstemious, that they hand over their own products without themselves getting any foreign ware in return.

Beyond the Seres live the Ariani, exposed to the blasts of the north wind; through their lands flows a river called the Arias, large enough to carry ships, which forms a great lake called by the same name. Moreover, this same Aria has many cities, among which the following are renowned: Vitaxa Sarmatina, Sotira, Nisibis, and Alexandria, from which the voyage to the Caspian Sea is reckoned as fifteen hundred stadia.

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Neighbours to these places are the Paro- panisadae,[*](Or, Paropamisadae, named from Mt. Paropamisus (Hindu Kush confused with Caucasus). Their country formed the route from Persia to India.) facing the Indi on the east, and the Caucasus on the west; they themselves also dwell on the slopes of the mountains and through their country (besides some smaller rivers) flows the Gordomaris, rising in Bactria. And they also have some cities, of which the better-known are Agazaca, Naulibus, and Ortospana, from which the distance along the bank of the river to the frontiers of Media next to the Caspian Gates is 2200 stadia.

Joining the aforesaid are the Drangiani, connected with them by hills. Their land is washed by the river Arabius, so-called from the place of its rise.[*](In the country of the Arabi or Arabites, a people of Indian origin.) Among other towns they are proud of two, Prophthasia and Ariaspe, because of their wealth and fame.

Then, opposite to these, we see Arachosia, on the right facing the Indi. From a much smaller river,[*](The Arachotos, which is also the name of their capital city.) flowing out from the mighty Indus, from which the whole region takes its name, Arachosia receives an abundance of water; this river forms a lake, called Arachotoscrene.[*](ʼἀράχωτος κρήνη.) Here also among insignificant cities, are Alexandria,[*](Cf. Pliny, N.H. vi. 92.) Arbaca, and Choaspa.

Now far within Persia lies Gedrosia, on the right reaching the frontiers of the Indi; it is made fertile by the Artabius, in addition to smaller streams. Here the Arbitani mountains come to an

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end, and from their bases flow other rivers, which mingle with the Indus, losing their names through the size of the greater stream. But here, too, there are famous cities, in addition to islands; but Ratira and Gynaecon limen[*](γυναικῶν λιμήν,the Women’s Port; the origin of the name is unknown.) are more highly esteemed than the rest.

But we would not give a detailed account of the seacoast at the extremities of Persia, and wander too far from our subject. So it will be enough to say that the sea extending from the Caspian mountains along the northern side to the above-mentioned strait is 9000 stadia;[*](See Strabo, xi. 7 ff., who, however, does not give the distance.) but the southern frontier, from the mouths of the river Nile to where Carmania begins, is reckoned at 14,000 stadia.

Among these many men of differing tongues there are varieties of persons, as well as of places. But, to describe their bodily characteristics and their customs in general, they are almost all slender, somewhat dark, or of a leaden pallor, with eyes grim as goats’, eyebrows joined and curved in the form of a half-circle, not uncomely beards, and long, shaggy hair. All of them without exception, even at banquets and on festal days, appear girt with swords; an old Greek custom which, according to the trustworthy testimony of Thucydides,[*](i. 6, 1-3.) the Athenians were the first to abandon.

Most of them are extravagantly given to venery, and are hardly contented with a multitude of concubines;[*](Cf. Hdt. i. 135.) they are

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free from immoral relations with boys.[*](So also Curt. x. 1, 26, but according to Hdt. (l.c.), they acquired this vice from the Greeks.) Each man according to his means contracts many or few marriages, whence their affection, divided as it is among various objects, grows cold.[*](Cf. Sallust, Jug. 80, 6-7, on the Numidians.) They avoid as they would the plague splendid and luxurious banquets, and especially, excessive drinking.[*](Xenophon and Athenaeus do not agree with this.)

Except for the kings’ tables, they have no fixed hours for meal-times, but every man’s belly is, as it were, his sundial;[*](Cf. the parasite in the comedy Boeotia; Gell. iii. 3, 6.) when this gives the call, they eat whatever is at hand, and no one, after he is satisfied, loads himself with superfluous food.[*](Cf. Hdt. i. 133.)

They are immensely moderate and cautious, so much so that they sometimes march through an enemy’s gardens and vineyards without coveting or touching anything, through fear of poison or magic arts.

Besides this, one seldom sees a Persian stop to pass water or step aside in response to a call of nature;[*](Cf. Hdt. i. 133; Xenophon, Cyrop. viii. 8, 11.) so scrupulously do they avoid these and other unseemly actions.

On the other hand, they are so free and easy, and stroll about with such a loose and unsteady gait, that one might think them effeminate; but, in fact, they are most gallant warriors, though rather crafty than courageous, and to be feared only at long range. They are given to empty words, and talk madly and extravagantly. They are boastful, harsh and offensive, threatening in adversity and prosperity alike, crafty, haughty, cruel, claiming the power of life and death over slaves and commons. They flay men alive, either bit by bit or all at once, and no servant who waits upon them, or stands at table, is allowed to open his mouth, either to speak or to spit; to such a degree,

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after the skins are spread,[*](Over the couches at the table, at the beginning of a meal; these skins were handsomely adorned and highly prized. For the Parthian leather, see xxii. 4, 8, note.) are the mouths of all fettered.

They stand in special fear of the laws, among which those dealing with ingrates and deserters are particularly severe; and some laws are detestable, namely, those which provide that because of the guilt of a single person all his relatives are put to death.[*](For example, when a king is assassinated.)

For the office of judge, upright men of proved experience are chosen, who have little need of advice from others; therefore they ridicule our custom, which at times places eloquent men, highly skilled in public law, behind the backs of judges without learning.[*](To prompt them.) But that one judge was forced to take his seat on the skin of another who had been condemned to death for injustice[*](See Hdt. v. 25; Val. Max. vi. 3, ext. 3; Diod. Sic. xv. 10.) is either a fiction of antiquity, or, if once customary, has long since been given up.

Through military training and discipline, through constant exercise in warfare and military manoeuvres, which we have often described, they cause dread even to great armies; they rely especially on the valour of their cavalry, in which all the nobles and men of rank undergo hard service; for the infantry are armed like the murmillones,[*](A kind of gladiator, see xvi. 12, 49, note. They were armed in the Gallic manner with a small oblong buckler, but without greaves or arm-guard.) and they obey orders like so many horse-boys. The whole throng of them always follows in the rear, as if doomed to perpetual slavery, without ever being supported by pay or gifts. And this nation, so bold and so well trained for the dust of Mars, would have brought many other peoples under the yoke in addition to those whom they fully subdued, were they not

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constantly plagued by domestic and foreign wars.

Most of them are so covered with clothes gleaming with many shimmering colours, that although they leave their robes open in front and on the sides, and let them flutter in the wind, yet from their head to their shoes no part of the body is seen uncovered. To the use of golden armlets and neckchains, gems, and especially pearls, of which they possess a great number, they first became accustomed after their victory over Lydia and Croesus.[*](546 B.C.)