Res Gestae

Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, with an English translation, Vols. I-III. Rolfe, John C., translator. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; W. Heinemann, 1935-1940 (printing).

True, some sought to excuse this recent extraordinary and shameful deed by the example of the assassination of Sertorius,[*](Slain by his lieutenant-general Perperna at a banquet; Plut., Sert. 26; Flor. ii. 10, 9; Vell. ii. 30, 1.) but those flatterers perhaps did not know that no act which is proved to be contrary to law is justified because another crime was similar or went unpunished, as Demosthenes, eternal glory of Greece, declares.[*](In Androt. 7, quoted by Quint. v. 14, 4; cf. Gell. x. 19.)

These are the noteworthy events that took place in Armenia. But Sapor, after the former disaster to his men, on learning of the murder of

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Papa, whom he was making great efforts to enlist on his side, overwhelmed with heavy grief and with his fear increased by the activity of our army, sowed the seeds of greater troubles for himself.