Res Gestae

However, long before this happened, Apronianus was succeeded by Symmachus,[*](City-prefect in 364 and 365, father of the Symmachus from whom we have a collection of letters.) a man worthy to be classed among the conspicuous examples of learning and moderation, through whose efforts the sacred city enjoyed an unusual period of quiet and prosperity, and prides itself on a handsome bridge,[*](The Pons Aurelius, later called Pons Antoninus, now the Ponte Sisto (see Top. Diet. Anc. Rome, s.v. Pons Aurelius). It was restored by Valentinian in 365–6 and bore his name for a time. It was not built (condidit) by Symmachus (see crit. note), but he dedicated it by the emperors’ orders after his prefecture. See Dessau, Inscr. 769; C.I.L., vi. 31402.) which Symmachus himself, by the decision of our mighty emperors, dedicated, and to the great joy of the citizens, who proved ungrateful, as the result most clearly showed.

For after some years had passed, they set fire to Symmachus’ beautiful house in the Transtiberine district, spurred on by the fact that a common fellow among the plebeians had alleged, without any informant or witness, that the prefect had said that he would rather use his own wine for quenching lime-kilns[*](Cf. Pliny, N.H. xxxvi. 181.) than sell it at the price which the people hoped for.

Symmachus was succeeded as prefect of the city by Lampadius,[*](In 365.) a former praetorian prefect, a man who took it very ill if even his manner of spitting was not praised, on the ground that he did that also with greater skill than anyone else; but yet he was sometimes strict and honest.

When this man, in his praetorship, gave magnificent games and made very rich largesses, being unable to endure

But of his vanity, not to digress too far, it will suffice to give this single instance, insignificant indeed, but something to be shunned by high officials. For through all quarters of the city which had been adorned at the expenses of various emperors, he had his own name inscribed, not as the restorer of old buildings, but as their founder. From this fault the emperor Trajan also is said to have suffered, and for that reason he was jestingly called wall-wort.[*](Pseud.-Aurel. Victor, Epit. 41, 13, says that Constantine gave this name to Trajan, because he had his name put on many buildings (ob titulos multis aedibus inscriptos).)

As prefect, Lampadius was disturbed by frequent outbreaks, the greatest of all being when a mob, composed of the dregs of the populace, by throwing fire-brands and fire-darts upon his house near the Baths of Constantine would have burned it, had not his friends and neighbours quickly rushed to the spot and driven them off by pelting them with stones and tiles from the house-tops.

He himself, terrified by such violence in the first stages of a growing tumult, fled to the Mulvian bridge[*](See Livy, xxvii. 51, 2, for the first reference to this bridge (207 B. C.).) — which the elder Scaurus[*](So also Pseud.-Aur. Vict., De Viris III. 72, 8. This is M. Aemilius Scaurus, censor in 110 B.C., but the Pons Mulvius (Ponte Molle) must have been built as early as 220 B.C., to carry the Via Flaminia across the Tiber, and Scaurus restored it. Mulvius is unknown.) is said to have built—as though to wait there for the cessation of the tumult,

For when preparing to erect new buildings or restoring old ones, he did not order materials to be obtained from the usual taxes,[*](I.e., a fund set aside for such purposes; see Exc. 67. For tituli see xxx. 5, 6.) but if there was need of iron, lead, bronze, or anything of the kind, attendants were set on, in order that they might, under pretence of buying the various articles, seize them without paying anything. In consequence, he was barely able by swift flight to avoid the anger of the incensed poor, who had repeated losses to lament.

As his successor came Viventius, a former[*](366–7 A.D.) court-chancellor, a just and prudent man of Pannonia, whose administration was quiet and mild, and rich in an abundance of everything. But he, too, was alarmed by sanguinary outbreaks of the factions of the people, which were caused by the following affair.

Damasus and Ursinus, burning with a superhuman desire of seizing the bishopric, engaged in bitter strife because of their opposing interests; and the supporters of both parties went even so far as conflicts ending in bloodshed and death. Since Viventius was able neither to end nor to diminish this strife, he was compelled to yield to its great violence, and retired to the suburbs.

And in the struggle Damasus was victorious through the efforts of the party which favoured him. It is a well-known fact that in the basilica of Sicininus,[*](In the Fifth Region, also called Basilica Liberii (see Val. in Wagner-Erfurdt); now Santa Maria Maggiore.) where the assembly of the Christian sect is held, in a single day a hundred and thirty-seven corpses of the slain were found, and that it was only with difficulty that the

Bearing in mind the ostentation in city life, I do not deny that those who are desirous of such a thing ought to struggle with the exercise of all their strength to gain what they seek; for when they attain it, they will be so free from care that they are enriched from the offerings of matrons, ride seated in carriages, wearing clothing chosen with care, and serve banquets so lavish that their entertainments outdo the tables of kings.

These men might be truly happy, if they would disregard the greatness of the city behind which they hide their faults, and live after the manner of some provincial bishops, whose moderation in food and drink, plain apparel also, and gaze fixed upon the earth, commend them to the Eternal Deity and to his true servants as pure and reverent men. But this will be a sufficient digression; let me now return to the course of events.

While the above-mentioned events were taking place in Gaul and Italy, a new campaign was set on foot in Thrace. For Valens, in accordance with the desire of his brother, whom he consulted and by whose will he was guided, took up arms against the Goths, influenced by a just reason, namely, that they had sent aid to Procopius, when he began his civil war. It will be fitting, then, to sketch hastily in a brief digression the early history and the topography of those regions.

A description of Thrace would be easy, if the pens of the earlier writers agreed; but since their obscurity and their differences lend no aid to a work whose aim is truth, it will suffice to set forth what I myself remember to have seen.

That this land formerly consisted of a boundless expanse of gentle plains and lofty mountains, we know from the immortal testimony of Homer, who imagines that the north and west winds begin to blow from there;[*](Iliad, ix. 5.) but this is either a fable, or else in former times the widely extended tracts marked out to be the home of barbarian tribes were all included under the name of Thrace.

A part of these were inhabited by the Scordisci,[*](In the time of Ammianus included in Pannonia.) who are now widely separated from those same provinces: a people formerly cruel and savage, and, as ancient history declares, accustomed to offer up their prisoners as victims to Bellona and Mars, and from their hollowed skulls greedily to drink human blood. By their savageness the Roman state was often sorely troubled and after many lamentable calamities finally lost a whole army with its commander.[*](The consul of 114 B.C., M. Porcius Cato; Dio, xxvi. 88 (vol. ii. L.C.L.); Florus i. 39, 3 f.; Eutr. iv. 24. Nothing is said of Cato’s death by these writers.)

But, as we now see them, those same places, formed in the shape of a crescent moon, present the appearance of a beautiful theatre. At its western summit are the steep mountains through which the narrow pass of Succi opens, separating Thrace from Dacia.

The left side,[*](This reverses the directions usual on our maps; but it is correct, since he begins at the west.) towards the northern stars, is shut in by the lofty heights of Mount Haemus and the Hister,[*](The Danube.) which, where it washes Roman soil,