Res Gestae

After long lasting and serious dispersion from[*](368 ff. A.D.) affairs in Rome, constrained by the great mass of foreign events, I shall return to a brief account of these, beginning with the prefecture of Olybrius,[*](368—370.) which was exceedingly peaceful and mild; for he never allowed himself to be turned from humane conduct, but was careful and anxious that no word or act of his should ever be found harsh. He severely punished calumny, cut down the profits of the privy-purse wherever it was possible, fully and impartially distinguished justice from injustice, and showed himself most lenient towards those wbom he

But a cloud was thrown over all these merits by a fault which indeed was not harmful to the community, but yet was a stain on a high official; for almost his whole private life, since he was inclined to luxury, he spent in playhouses and love affairs, though the latter were neither unlawful nor incestuous.

After him Ampelius[*](371–372.) governed the city, a man who himself also lusted after pleasures. Born at Antioch, he had been formerly marshal of the court, was twice raised to the rank of proconsul,[*](In Achaia and in Africa.) and then, long afterwards, to the high honour of the prefecture. Although admirable in other respects and well suited to gaining the favour of the people, he was nevertheless sometimes hard, and I wish he had been steadfast of purpose; for he could have corrected in part, even though to a small extent, the incitements of appetite and gross gluttony, if he had not let himself be turned to laxity and thus lost enduring fame.

For he gave orders that no wine-shop should be opened before the fourth hour,[*](About nine o’clock in the morning.) that no one of the common people should heat water,[*](For mixing with wine.) that up to a fixed hour of the day no victualler should offer cooked meat for sale,[*](Such laws were passed first by Tiberius; cf. Suet., Tib. 34. They were renewed by Claudius (Dio, lx. 6, 7) and Nero (Suet., Nero, 16, 2).) and that no respectable man should be seen chewing anything in public.

These shameful acts, and others worse than these, had, by being constantly overlooked, blazed up to such unbridled heights that not even that celebrated Cretan Epimenides,[*](He lived in the sixth century B.C., and according to the myth, lived in a cave for a time variously given as 40, 50 or 78 years. Later, called to the help of the Athenians when they were in trouble, he carried out many reforms. He actually came to Athens in 596 B.C., to purify the city from the pestilence caused by the crimes of Cylon, a generation before.) if,

And first, as often, according to the quantity of topics,[*](Or possibly, so far as space allowed. ) I shall give an account of the delinquencies of the nobles and then of the common people, condensing the events in a rapid disgression.

Some men, distinguished (as they think) by famous fore-names, pride themselves beyond measure in being called Reburri, Flavonii, Pagonii, Gereones, and Dalii, along with Tarracii and Pherrasii, and many other equally fine-sounding indications of eminent ancestry.

Others, resplendent in silken garments, as though they were to be led to death,[*](Cf. xvi. 5, 5, where Lind. cites reflabilis tori plumeo sepulcro superba from Zeno Veronensis, Orat. de Spiritu et Corp., p. 367.) or as if (to speak without any evil omen) they were bringing up the rear[*](As commanders of the army; see xxv. 1, 5.) preceded by an army, are followed by a throng of slaves drawn up in troops, amid noise and confusion.

When such men, each attended by fifty servants, have entered the vaulted rooms of a bath, they shout in threatening tones: Where on earth are our attendants? If they have learned that an unknown courtesan has suddenly appeared, some woman who has been a common prostitute of the crowd of our city, some old strumpet, they all strive to be the first to reach her, and caressing the new-comer, extol her with such disgraceful flattery as the Parthians do Samiramis, the Egyptians their Cleopatras, the Carians Artemisia, or the people of