Res Gestae

Simplicius gave the emperor a spiteful account of what had been done, and Maximinus, who was at court, and, for the reason which I have given above,[*](See §§ 31 ff.) was hostile to Aginatius, while his hatred was set ablaze with his rise in power, strongly urged the emperor to give him a warrant for putting Aginatius to death; and this the mad and powerful instigator easily brought to pass.

But Maximinus, fearing the weight of greater hatred, if a man of patrician stock should die by the sentence of Simplicius, who was his adviser and his friend, kept back the emperor’s order for some time, in perplexity and doubt as to whom he would find most trustworthy and efficient in carrying out

At last, since like and like readily flock together,[*](Cf. Homer, Od. xvii. 218; Plato, Sym. 195 b, which Cicero, De Sen. 3, 7, renders by pares vetere proverbio cum paribus facillime congregantur.) a Gaul called Doryphorianus was found, reckless to the point of insanity, on whom, since he promised to accomplish the business in a short time, he arranged to have the post of deputy conferred. Accordingly, he gave him with the epistle of Augustus[*](I.e., the warrant conferring the office. According to Wagner commonitorium is the warrant, but the meaning given in the text seems more natural.) a letter of advice instructing the savage but inexperienced man how he might quickly and without any hindrance destroy Aginatius, who, if he gained any possible respite, would perhaps make his escape.

Doryphorianus, as had been ordered, hastened to Rome by long days’ journeys, and at the beginning of his administration[*](As vicarius. ) cast about with great energy, to see by what act of violence he could without anyone’s help destroy a senator of conspicuous lineage. And on learning that Aginatius had long since been found, and was under guard in his own villa, he arranged personally to examine him, and Anepsia as well, as the chief of the guilty persons, in the midst of the horrors of night, when men’s minds are commonly dulled in the bonds of terrors: as among countless other instances is shown by Homer’s Ajax,[*](Iliad, xvii. 645 ff.) who wished rather to die by daylight than endure the additional suffering of dread by night.

And since the judge, nay, rather the godless brigand, intent only on keeping his promise, carried everything to excess, having ordered Aginatius to be put to the question, he caused

Finally, when tortures already almost mortal had extorted from a maid-servant a few ambiguous words, without fully examining the trustworthiness of the testimony, he ordered Aginatius to be led off to execution, hastily and without a hearing, although with loud cries he called upon the emperors’ names. Accordingly he was hoisted up[*](Cf. xv. 3, 9.) and put to death; and Anepsia was executed on a like sentence. While Maximinus was thus busied in person when he was in Rome and through his emissaries when he acted from a distance, the Eternal City wept bitterly for its dead.

But the final curses of his victims did not sleep. For, under Gratian, as shall be told later at the proper time,[*](Ammianus does not say more about him, except for a casual reference in xxix. 3, 1. His death was in 376.) not only did this same Maximinus, because of his intolerable arrogance, fall victim to the executioner’s sword, but Simplicius also was beheaded in Illyricum. Doryphorianus, too, was charged with a capital crime and thrown into the prison called Tullianum,[*](The dungeon at Rome; cf. Sail., Cat. 55, 3 ff.) but Gratian, at the suggestion of his mother, had him taken from there, and on his return home put him to death with tremendous tortures. But let us return to the point from which we made this digression. This, if I may say so, was the state of affairs in Rome.[*](Cf. Florus, ii. 6, 8 (i. 22, 8, L.C.L.).)

But Valentinian, meditating important and[*](369 A.D.) useful plans, fortified the entire Rhine from the beginnings of Raetia as far as the strait of the Ocean[*](The Belgic Channel, a part of the North Sea at the mouth of the Rhine.) with great earthworks, erecting lofty fortresses and castles, and towers at frequent intervals, in suitable and convenient places as far as the whole length of Gaul extends; in some places also works were constructed even on the farther bank of the river,[*](The Rhine.) which flows by the lands of the savages.

Finally, when he considered that a lofty and secure fortification (which he himself had built from its very foundations) since a river called the Nicer[*](The Neckar.) flowed at its foot could gradually be undermined by the immense force of the waters, he even thought of turning the course of the stream in a different direction; and after he had hunted up men skilled in hydraulic work, the difficult task was begun with a great force of soldiers.

For during many days beams of oak were bound together[*](In the form of a chest or coffer-dam.) and placed in the bed of the river; but although they were fastened again and again by great piles driven close to them on both sides, they were forced from their place by the rising waters, and finally were swept away by the force of the current and lost.

Yet finally the day was won by the efficient superviion of the emperor

Being joyful and exultant because of these and similar successes, the emperor then, considering the time of year and the state of the season, as became a dutiful prince devoted himself to those matters which would be helpful to the commonwealth. And thinking it most suitable for accomplishing what he had in mind, he planned hastily to build a fortification on the farther side of the Rhine on Mount Pirus,[*](Cf. xxvii. 10, 9, note.) which is in the country of the savages. And in order that speed might make the accomplishment of the work secure, through Syagrius, at that time a secretary, afterwards prefect and consul,[*](In 381.) he ordered the general Arator to try to speed that work, while deep quiet reigned everywhere.

The general at once crossed the river with the secretary, as was ordered, and, with the soldiers under his command, had begun to dig the foundations, when Hermogenes was appointed as his successor. At the same moment[*](Cf. temporis brevi puncto, xxvii. 2, 1.) some chiefs of the Alamanni arrived, fathers of the hostages whom we were holding in accordance with the treaty as important pledges of the continued permanence of peace.

They on bended knees begged that the Romans, whose fortune consistent trustworthiness had raised to skies, should not, regardless of their security, be led astray by a perverse

But, since they said these and similar things to no purpose, as they were not listened to, and perceived that they would receive no peaceful nor mild reply, they withdrew, weeping at the fate of their sons. Scarcely had they left the place, when a band of barbarians who were awaiting the reply to be made (as they were given to understand) at that time to their chiefs, dashing forth from the hollow defile of a neighbouring hill, attacked our soldiers, who were half-nude and still carrying earth,[*](As they worked on the fortification on Mount Pirus (see § 5, above).) and quickly drawing their swords were cutting them down; and with them also both leaders were slain.

Not a single man survived to tell what had happened, except Syagrius. He, after all the others had been slain, returned to the court, but by sentence of the angry emperor he was cashiered and went to his home, being considered by a cruel judgment to have deserved this because he alone had escaped.

Meanwhile throughout Gaul there spread, to the ruin of many, a savage frenzy for brigandage, which kept watch of the frequented roads and fell indiscriminately upon everything profitable that fell in its way. Finally, in addition to many others who fell victim to such ambuscades, Constantianus,[*](Perhaps the one mentioned in xxiii. 3, 9.) chief of the imperial stables, a relative by marriage of Valentinian and own brother to Cerealis and Justina,[*](Wife of Valentinian, previously married to Magnentius; cf. xxx. 10, 4.) was surprised by an unexpected attack and presently slain.

But at a distance from there, as if the furies were stirring up similar troubles, the Maratocupreni, a fierce race of brigands, were ranging about on every side; they dwelt in a village of the same name situated near Apamia in Syria, were exceedingly numerous, skilled in crafty wiles, and dreaded because they roamed about quietly under the guise of honourable traders and soldiers, and fell upon rich houses, estates, and towns.

No one could guard against their unexpected coming, since they did not assail previously chosen places, but various quarters and those that were far removed, breaking out wherever the wind took them—the same reason that makes the Saxons feared before all other enemies for their sudden raids.[*](Cf. xxx. 7, 8.) But although these confederate bands destroyed the property of many, and, driven by the gadfly of the madness which they had conceived, caused lamentable slaughter, being no less greedy for blood than for booty, yet for fear that by giving a minute account of their deeds I may somewhat delay the direct course of my project, it will suffice to tell of this one destructive and welldevised stroke of theirs.

A united[*](For this meaning of quaesitus in unum, cf. xv. 7, 7; xxvi. 7, 9, note.) body of these godless men, disguised as the retinue of a state treasurer, and one of them as that official himself, in the darkness of evening, preceded by the mournful cry of a herald, entered a city and beset with swords the fine house of a distinguished citizen, as if he had been proscribed and condemned to death. They seized all his valuable furniture, and since the