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).

Gomoarius,

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on learning of this, might have eluded the enemy and returned safely whence he had come; but since the emperor’s camp was conveniently near, he went over to it under pretext of being a prisoner, pretending that he had been surrounded by a throng of the enemy who had suddenly appeared.

Fired with eagerness at this, Valens marched on to Phrygia, and the two sides had already joined battle near Nacolia, when Agilo at the critical point in the contest turned traitor by suddenly going over to the enemy; then many others followed him who were already brandishing their pikes and swords, and deserted to the emperor with their standards and with their shields reversed, which is the most evident sign of defection.

By this sight, unexpected by all, Procopius was bereft of every aid to safety; so he took to flight and sought a hiding-place in the surrounding woods and mountains, followed by Florentius and the tribune Barchalba, who from the time of Constantius had gained fame in the fiercest wars, and had been led to treason by necessity, not by inclination.

The greater part of the night had passed. The moon, brightly shining from its evening rise until dawn, increased the fear of Procopius; and since on all sides the opportunity for escape was cut off and he was completely at a loss, he began, as is usual in extreme necessity, to rail at Fortune as cruel and oppressive; and so, overwhelmed as he was by many anxieties, he was suddenly tightly bound by his companions and at daybreak was taken to the camp and handed over to the emperor, silent and terror- stricken. He was at once beheaded, and so put an

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end to the rising storm of civil strife and war. His fate was like that of Perpenna[*](Perperna is the better form; cf. Liv., Epit. 96; Vell. ii. 30, 1; Plutarch, Sert. 26, has Perpenna.) of old, who after killing Sertorius at table, for a short time was in possession of the rule, but was dragged from the thickets where he had hidden himself, brought before Pompey, and by his order put to death.

In the same heat of resentment Florentius and Barchalba, who had brought Procopius in, were at once put to death without consideration of reason. For if they had betrayed a legitimate prince, even Justice herself would declare that they were justly executed; but if he whom they betrayed was a rebel and a disturber of the public peace, as he was said to be, they ought to have been given great rewards for a noteworthy deed.

Procopius departed this life at the age of forty years and ten months. Personally he was a tall man and not bad looking; he was somewhat dark complexioned, and walked with his gaze always fixed on the ground. In his secretive and gloomy nature he was like that Crassus[*](M. Licinius Crassus; cf. Lucil. 1299, 1300, Marx; Remains of Old Latin (L.C.L.)) III, p. 422; Cic., De Fin. v. 30, 92.) who, as Lucilius and Cicero declare, laughed only once in his life; but the surprising thing is, that throughout all his life he was not stained with bloodshed.