Res Gestae

He executed a philosopher called Coeranius, a man of no slight merit, after he had resisted tortures of savage cruelty, because in a letter to his wife of a personal nature he had added in Greek: But do you take note and crown the house door, which is a common proverbial expression, used in order that the hearer may know that something of greater importance than usual is to be done.

There was a simple-minded old woman who was in the habit of curing intermittent fevers with a harmless charm. He caused her to be put to death as a criminal, after

Among the papers of a distinguished townsman, of which an examination had been ordered for some business reason, the horoscope of a certain Valens was found; when the person concerned was asked why he had cast the nativity of the emperor, he defended himself against the false charge by saying that he had had a brother named Valens, and that he had died long ago. He promised to show this by proofs of full credibility, but they did not wait for the truth to be discovered, and he was tortured and butchered.

In the bath a young man was seen to touch alternately with the fingers of either hand first the marble[*](Of the wall or perhaps the floor of the bath.) and then his breast, and to count the seven vowels,[*](Of the Greek alphabet.) thinking it a helpful remedy for a stomach trouble. He was haled into court, tortured and beheaded.

At this point, as I turn my pen to Gaul, the order and series of events is a turmoil, since we find Maximus, who is now prefect, in the midst of many cruel deeds; for being in possession of extensive power, he was added as an ill-omened incentive to the emperor,[*](Valentinian.) who united with the majesty of his position unendurable tyranny. Therefore, whoever ponders what I have told, should also carefully weigh the rest which are passed over in silence; and, like a reasonable person, he will pardon me for not

For Valentinian, who was naturally savage, as bitterness (which is a foe to righteous conduct) increased in him after the coming of the aforesaid Maximinus, having no one to give better advice or to restrain him, was carried as if by surging waves and tempests from one cruel act to another; to such a degree that, when he was in a passion, often his voice and expression, his gait and his colour, were changed. For his cruelty we have the testimony of various sure pieces of evidence, of which it will suffice to set down a few.

A well-grown youth of the class called pages[*](Belonging to the paedagogium; see xxvi. 6, 15, note.) was posted, holding in leash a Spartan hound, to watch for game at a hunt; but he let the dog loose before the designated time, because the animal in an effort to escape leaped at him in a rush and bit him; for that he was beaten to death with cudgels and buried the same day.

A man in charge of a smithy brought to the emperor a breastplate artistically embellished, and expected a reward for it; but Valentinian ordered him to be put to death with equal cruelty because the piece[*](For species, cf. xiv. 9, 7.) of iron armour had a little less weight than he had stipulated. An elder of the Christian faith from Epirus, who was a favourite of Octavianus,[*](Cf. xxiii. 1, 4.) the former proconsul, . . . and the author of the charges was sent back, although somewhat tardily, to his home.[*](The sentence is corrupt. The earlier editors inserted words from the Chronicle of Hieronymus of 372, meaning was executed because he had concealed Octavianus . . . who had taken refuge at his house. )

Constantianus, an

Africanus, a busy pleader of cases at law in the city, after governing a province, aspired to the rule of another; but when Theodosius, general of the cavalry, supported him in his request, the kind emperor gave this somewhat boorish reply: Go, general, and change his head for him, since he wants a change in his province. And by this pronouncement[*](I.e., use magic arts.) an eloquent man lost his life merely for hastening, like many, for advancement.

Claudius and Sallustius, of the Jovian legion, who had advanced as far as the rank of tribune, were accused by a fellow whose low origin in itself made him an object of contempt, on the ground that when Procopius had aspired to the imperial power they had spoken some good words for him; but although constant inquisitions revealed nothing, the emperor ordered the generals of the cavalry, who were hearing the case, to drive Claudius into exile and condemn Sallustius to death, promising to pardon the latter on his way to execution. But when this had

Accordingly, although inquisitions followed thick and fast, and some died in consequence of excessive torture, not even a trace of the alleged crimes was found. In this business even the bodyguards who had been sent to arrest persons . . .[*](Since de fustibus caesi seems to be an impossible construction, there was probably a lacuna between de and fustibus; see crit. note 2.) were beaten to death with cudgels, contrary to all precedent.

My mind shrinks from enumerating all the cases, and at the same time I dread seeming to give the impression of purposely having sought out merely the defects of a prince who was a very proper man in other ways. Yet one thing it is just neither to pass over nor to leave unmentioned, namely this, that having two savage, man-eating she-bears, one called Goldflake and the other Innocence, he looked after them with such extreme care that he placed their cages near his own bedroom, and appointed trustworthy keepers, who were to take particular care that the beasts’ lamentable savageness should not by any chance be destroyed. Finally, after he had seen the burial of many corpses of those whom Innocence had torn to pieces, he allowed her to return to the forest unhurt, as a good and faithful servant, in the hope that she would have cubs like herself . . .

These, then, are undeniable indications of Valentinian’s character and his blood-thirsty tendency. But, on the other hand, no one, not even one of his persistent detractors, will reproach him with lack of ingenuity in behalf of the state, especially if one bears in mind that it was a more valuable service to check the barbarians by frontier defences than to defeat them in battle. And when he had given[*](There is a lacuna of five lines, doubtless containing a description of a line of fortifications with watch-towers.) . . . if any of the enemy made a move, he was seen from above from the watchtowers, and overcome.

But among many other cares, his first and principal aim was to capture alive by violence or by craft King Macrianus,[*](King of the Alamanni, xviii. 2, 15; xxviii. 5, 8.) just as, long before, Julian took Vadomarius; for Macrianus, amid the frequent changes in the policy followed towards him, had increased in power, and now was rising against our countrymen with full-grown strength. Accordingly, having first provided what the circumstances and the time demanded, and having learned from the reports of deserters where the said king, who expected no hostile move, could be seized, Valentinian threw a pontoon across the Rhine as quietly as his means allowed, lest anyone should interfere with the bridge while it was being put together.

And

There he chanced to find some of the traders[*](scurrae is used also of Germans serving in the Roman army. Cf. Lampr., Alex. Sev. 61, 3, unus ex Germanis, qui scurrarum officium sustinebat. Here perhaps campfollowers.) leading slaves intended for sale, and because he suspected that they would quickly run off and report what they had seen, he took their wares[*](I.e., the slaves.) from them and killed them all.

Then the generals,[*](Here iudices is used of military officials.) encouraged by the arrival of additional troops, encamped, with a view to a very short stay, since no one had a pack-animal or a tent, except the emperor, for whom a rug and a rough blanket[*](Cf. xvi. 5, 5.) sufficed for such a shelter. Then, after delaying for a time on account of the darkness of night, as soon as the morning-star uprose, since the campaign called for haste, they advanced farther, led by guides who knew the roads; and a large force of cavalry was ordered to precede them under command of Theodosius, that nothing might be unobserved[*](Here there is a lacuna of 3 1/2 lines. The general sense probably is, that the emperor went on to meet the king.) . . . was lying at the time; but he was prevented by the continuous noise made by his men; for although he constantly commanded them to abstain

Valentinian was robbed of this glory,[*](Of taking the king prisoner.) not by his own fault or that of his generals, but by the indiscipline of the soldiers, which has often caused the Roman state heavy losses; so, after reducing the enemy’s territory to ashes for fifty miles,[*](Some MSS. say five hundred.) he returned sadly to Treves.

There, as a lion, because he has lost a deer or a goat, gnashes his empty jaws, just when the forces of the enemy were broken and scattered by fear, in place of Macrianus he made Fraomarius king of the Bucinobantes, a tribe of the Alamanni dwelling opposite Mainz. And soon afterwards, since a recent invasion had utterly devastated that, canton, he transferred him to Britain with the rank of tribune, and gave him command of a troop[*](For this meaning of numeri, applied both to cohorts and legions, cf., for example, militares numeros, xiv. 7, 19; numeris Moesiacorum duobus, xx. 1, 3; Suet., Aug. 17. 3.) of the Alamanni which at that time was distinguished for its numbers and its strength. Bitheridus, indeed, and Hortarius (chiefs of the same nation) he appointed to commands in the army; but of these Hortarius was betrayed by a report of Florentius, commander in Germany, of having written certain things to the detriment of the state to Macrianus and the chiefs of the barbarians, and after the truth was wrung from him by torture he suffered the penalty of death by burning.