Res Gestae

But a few among them are so strict in punishing offences, that if a slave is slow in bringing the hot water, they condemn him to suffer three hundred lashes; if he has intentionally killed a man, although many people insist that he be condemned to death, his master will merely cry out: What should a worthless fellow do, notorious for wicked deeds? But if he dares to do anything else like that hereafter, he shall be punished.

But the height of refinement with these men at present is, that it is better for a stranger to kill any man’s brother than to decline his invitation to dinner. For a senator thinks that he is suffering the loss of a rich property, if the man whom he has, after considerable weighing of pros and cons, invited once, fails to appear at his table.

Some of them, if they make a longish journey to visit their estates, or to hunt by the labours of others,[*](I.e., their slaves do the hunting; cf. Pliny, N.H. xxix. 19; Pliny the Younger, Epist. i. 6.) think that they have equalled the marches of Alexander the Great or of Caesar; or if they have sailed in their gaily-painted boats from the Lake of Avernus to Puteoli, it is the

Then when they come from the bath of Silvanus or from the healing waters of Mamaea,[*](No such places are known in Rome. There was a pool of Mamaea at Baiae; see Lamprid., Alex. Sev. 26, 10, et in Baiano palatium cum stagno, quod Mamaeae nomine hodieque censetur (officially listed); hence the Silvani lavacrum also was probably in Campania.) as any one of them emerges he has himself dried with the finest linens, opens the presses and carefully searches amongst garments shimmering with shifting light, of which he brings enough with him to clothe eleven men. At length, some are chosen and he puts them on; then he takes back his rings, which, in order that the dampness may not injure them, he has handed to a servant, and after his fingers have been as good as measured to receive them, he departs.

And, indeed, if any veteran has recently retired because of his years from service with the emperor, such a company of admirers attend him that . . . is considered to be the leader of the old song; the others quietly listen to what he says. He alone, like the father of a family, tells irrelevant

Some of these, though few in number, shrink from the name of gamblers, and therefore desire to be called rather tesserarii,[*](Perhaps a word-play on the two meanings of tesserarii, players with dice and keepers of the watchword. According to Wagner, there was somewhat more skill called for with the tesserae, while with the aleae it was mainly luck.) persons who differ from each other only as much as thieves do from brigands. But this must be admitted, that while all friendships at Rome are lukewarm, those alone which are formed at the gambling table, as if they were gained by glorious toil, have a bond of union and are united by complete firmness of exceeding affection; whence some members of these companies are found to be so harmonious that you would take them for the brothers Quintilius.[*](Condianus and Maximus. They lived under the reign of Commodus, held office together, and were executed together by his order; cf. Dio, lxiii. 5, 3; Lamprid., Comm. 4, 9.) And so you may see a man of low station, who is skilled in the secrets of dice-playing, walking abroad like Porcius Cato[*](Cato Uticensis is meant.) after his unexpected and unlooked-for defeat for the praetorship, with a set expression of dignity and sorrow because at some great banquet or assemblage a former proconsul was given a higher place of honour.

Some lie in wait for men of wealth, old or young, childless or unmarried, or even for those who have wives or children—for no distinction is observed in this respect—enticing them by wonderful

Another, who attained some rank, moderate though it be, walking with neck puffed up, looks askance at his former acquaintances, so that you might think that a Marcellus was returning after the taking of Syracuse.

Many of them, who deny that there are higher powers in heaven, neither appear in public nor eat a meal nor think they can with due caution take a bath, until they have critically examined the calendar[*](I.e., an astronomical calendar; see Juvenal, vi, 573 ff., which Lindenbrog thought that Ammianus had in mind.) and learned where, for example, the planet Mercury is, or what degree of the constellation of the Crab the moon occupies in its course through the heavens.

Another, if he finds a creditor of his demanding his due with too great urgency, resorts to a charioteer[*](Charioteers were notorious for the use of magic arts against their rivals, and in general; see xxvi. 3, 3, note; xxviii. 1, 27.) who is all too ready to dare any enterprise, and causes the creditor to be charged with being a poisoner; and he is not let off until he has surrendered the bill of indebtedness and paid heavy costs. And besides, the accuser has the voluntary