Res Gestae

And he took the prudent step of appointing Malarichus, who also was even then living in Italy in a private capacity, as successor to Jovinus, commander of the cavalry in Gaul, sending him the insignia of that rank. Thereby he aimed at a double advantage: first, in getting rid of a general of distinguished service and therefore an object of suspicion; and, second, the hope that a man of slight expectations, when raised to a high rank, might show great zeal in supporting the position of his benefactor, which was still uncertain.

Also the men who were commissioned to carry out these plans were ordered to set the course of events in a favourable light, and wherever they went, to agree with each other in spreading the report that the Parthian campaign had been brought to a successful end. They were to hasten their journey by adding night to day, to put into the hands of the governors and the military commanders of the provinces the messages of the new emperor, to secretly sound the sentiments of all of them, and to return speedily with their replies, in order that as soon as it was learned how matters stood in the distant provinces, timely and careful plans might be made for safeguarding the imperial power.

Meanwhile rumour, the swiftest messenger of sad events, outstripping these messengers, flew through provinces and nations, and most of all struck the people of Nisibis with bitter grief; when they learned that their city had been surrendered to

For it was clear that the entire Orient might have passed into the control of Persia, had not this city with its advantageous situation and mighty walls resisted him. Nevertheless, however much the unhappy people were tormented with great fear of the future, yet they could sustain themselves with one slight hope, namely, that the emperor would, of his own accord or prevailed upon by their entreaties, keep the city in its present condition, as the strongest bulwark of the Orient.

While varied rumours were spreading the news of the course of events everywhere, in the army, since the few provisions which (as I have said) we had brought with us were used up, we should have been forced to resort to human bodies, had not the flesh of the slain pack-animals held out for a time; but the result was, that many arms and packs were thrown away; for we were so wasted by fearful hunger, that if anywhere a modius[*](Not more than twenty-five pounds.) of flour was found (which seldom happened) it was sold for ten gold-pieces,[*](About ten pounds or fifty dollars.) and that was considered a cheap price.

Setting out from there, we came to Thilsaphata, where Sebastianus and Procopius, with the tribunes and officers of the soldiers which had been entrusted to them for the defence of Mesopotamia, came out to meet us as formal usage required. And after having been courteously received, they joined our march.

After this we went on more speedily, and looking eagerly at Nisibis, the emperor made a permanent camp outside of the city; but in spite of

There, as the darkness of evening was then approaching, Jovianus, chief among all the secretaries, who (as I have already said[*](Cf. 7, 13, above.) ) at the siege of the city of Maiozamalcha had with others been first to come out through the mine, was taken from the dining-table, led to a secluded spot, thrown headlong into a dry well, and crushed by a great number of stones that were thrown upon him. The reason for this undoubtedly was that, after Julian’s death, he too was named by a few as worthy of the throne, and that after the election of Jovian he had not acted with moderation, but was overheard whispering this and that about some business, and from time to time had even invited military officers to his table.

On the following day Bineses, one of the Persians, who (as I have said) was eminent beyond all others,[*](Cf. 7, 13 above.) hastening to fulfil the orders of his king,

And when all were commanded to leave their homes at once, with tears and outstretched hands they begged that they might not be compelled to depart, declaring that they alone, without aid from the empire in provisions and men, were able to defend their hearths, trusting that Justice herself would, as they had often found, aid them in fighting for their ancestral dwelling-place. But suppliantly as the council and people entreated, all was spoken vainly to the winds, since the emperor (as he pretended, while moved by other fears) did not wish to incur the guilt of perjury.

Thereupon Sabinus, distinguished among his fellow-citizens for his wealth and high birth, declared in impassioned language that Constantius once, when the flames of a cruel war were raging, had been defeated by the Persians and finally had been driven in flight with a few followers to the unprotected post of Hibita, where he was obliged to live on a bit of bread which he begged from an old peasant woman; yet up to his last day he had lost nothing, whereas Jovian at the beginning of his principate, had abandoned the defences of provinces whose bulwarks had remained unshaken from the earliest times.

But when nothing came of this, since the emperor the more stoutly maintained the sanctity of his oath; and when for a time he had refused the crown[*](See note on coronarium, 4, 15, above.) that was offered him but was finally forced to accept it, one Silvanus, a pleader

Accordingly, men were appointed to drive them out, and threatened with death all who hesitated to leave. Lamentation and grief filled the city, and in all its parts no sound save universal wailing was to be heard; the matrons tore their hair, since they were to be sent into exile from the homes in which they were born and reared; mothers who had lost their children, and widows bereft of their husbands, mourned that they were driven far from the ashes of their loved ones; and the weeping throng embraced the doors or the thresholds of their homes.

Then the various roads were filled with people going wherever each could find refuge. In their haste many secretly carried off such of their own property as they thought they could take with them, disregarding the rest of their possessions, which, though many and valuable, they were obliged to leave behind for lack of pack-animals.[*](Cf. Virg., Aen. ii. 490; Val. Flacc. iv. 373. The whole passage suggests Livy’s account of the destruction of Alba Longa (i. 29).)

You are here justly censured, O Fortune of the Roman world! that, when storms shattered our country, you did snatch the helm from the hands of an experienced steersman and entrust it to an untried[*](consummando = inconsummato unfinished. ) youth, who, since he was known during his previous life for no brilliant deeds in that field, cannot be justly either blamed or praised.