Res Gestae

This is a brief account of the emperor’s deeds. Now, in the belief that posterity, being bound neither by fear nor by base flattery, is usually an uncorrupted judge of the past, I shall give a summary of his defects, to be followed by an account of his excellent qualities.

He sometimes assumed an appearance of mildness, although his hot temper made him more inclined to severity; for he evidently forgot that a ruler should avoid all excess, as he would a precipice.

For he was never found to be content with a mild punishment, but he continually ordered blood-thirsty investigations one after the other; and in his cruel inquisitions some were tortured even to the danger of their lives; in fact, he was so prone to cruelty that he never rescued from

And yet he could have contemplated many examples of the men of old, and might have imitated native and foreign instances of humanity and righteous mercy, which philosophers call the kind sisters of the virtues Of these it will suffice to mention the following. Artaxerxes, that mighty king of the Persians, whom the length of one of his limbs made known as Macrochir,[*](μακρόχειρ, Longhand.) with inborn mildness corrected various punishments which that cruel nation had always practised, by sometimes cutting off the turbans of the guilty, in lieu of[*](For this meaning of ad vicem, cf. xv. 10, 2; xxvii. 3, 2.) their heads; and instead of cutting off men’s ears for various offences, as was the habit of the kings, he sheared off threads hanging from their head-coverings. This moderation of character so won for him the contentment and respect of his subjects, that through their unanimous support he accomplished many noteworthy deeds, which are celebrated by the Greek writers.

A general of Praeneste in one of the Samnite wars had been ordered to hasten to his post, but had been slow to obey, and was summoned to expiate that misdeed; Papirius Cursor, who was dictator at the time, ordered the lictor to make ready his axe, and in sight of the man, who was overcome with terror and had given up hope of excusing himself, he gave orders that a bush seen near should be cut down, by a jest of this kind[*](Cf. Livy, ix. 16, 17 ff; Pliny, N.H. xvii. 81; Pseud.- Aur. Vict., De Viris Illustr., 3, 14 ff.) at the same time punishing and acquitting the man; and thereby he suffered no loss of respect, and he

Valentinian, who perhaps knew nothing of these instances, and did not consider that slowness to anger in rulers is always a solace for unhappy circumstances, increased the number of punishments by fire and sword, which a righteous spirit regards as the last resort in times of stress, as the splendid writer Isocrates says;[*](Panath. 185, θαυμάζω δ᾽, εἴ τινες τὰς μάχας καὶ τὰς ϝίκας παρὰ τὸ δίκαιον γιγνομένας μὴ νομίζουσιν αἰσχίους εἶναι καὶ πλειόνων ὀνειδῶν μεστὰς ἢ τὰς ἥττας τὰς ἄνευ κακίας συμβαινούσας. ) there is an utterance of his for all time whereby he teaches that sometimes a ruler who has been overcome by arms ought to be pardoned, more than one who did not know what is just.

I think it was under the influence of this that Cicero made the glorious statement in his defence of Oppius:[*](This speech of Cicero has not survived.) and indeed, to have great power for the salvation of another has brought honour to many; to have had too little power to destroy him has never been a reproach to anyone.

The greed for greater possessions without distinguishing right from wrong, and of seeking advantages of various kinds through the shipwreck of others’ lives, grew ever greater and became excessive in this emperor. This fault some tried to excuse by offering the example of the emperor Aurelian, declaring that as, when the treasury was

Like instances of this same selfrestraint are found in abundance in Roman generals. Passing these by, since they are no indication of perfect virtue (for not to seize the property of others deserves no praise), I will give one certain indication (among many) of the integrity of the common people of early days. When Marius and Cinna[*](87 B.C.) had turned over to the Roman plebeians the rich dwellings of the proscribed to be plundered, the rough spiritof the commons, wont however to respect human misfortunes, so spared what had been gained by the toil of others that no one of the poor or of the lowest class was found who allowed himself, though permission was given him, to handle profits from the woes of his country.[*](Cf. Val. Max. iv. 3, 14. At the time of Sulla’s proscription (82–81 B.C.), the conduct of the commons was different.)

Besides this there was a fire of envy in the very marrow of this same emperor, and knowing that most vices are wont to assume the appearance of virtues,[*](Cf. Cicero, Part. orat., 81 cernenda autem sunt diligenter, nefallant ea nos vitia quae virtutem videntur imitari; Seneca, Epist. 45, 7; Juv. xiv. 109.) he had ever upon his lips the saying, that malice of severity is the inseparable associate of rightful power. And as men of the highest position always think that everything is allowed them, and they are strongly inclined to suspect those who oppose them and to overthrow better men than themselves, so he hated the well dressed, the learned, the rich, and the high-born; and he depreciated brave men, in order to give the appearance of surpassing all men in good qualities, a fault, as we read, by which the emperor Hadrian was inflamed.[*](See Spartianus, Hadrian, 15, summed up in 15, 13, non recte suadetis, familiares, qui non patimini me illum doctiorem omnibus credere, qui habet triginta legiones; so also Caligula; see Suet., Calig. 35.)

This same prince often denounced cowards, calling such men sullied, unclean, and deserving to be thrust down below the humblest estate; and yet he himself, in the presence of empty terrors, sometimes turned abjectly pale and dreaded in his inmost soul something that did not exist at all.

It was the knowledge of this that led Remigius, marshal of the court, when he perceived that the emperor was boiling with anger at something which had occurred, to hint among other things that some outbreaks of the barbarians threatened; and when Valentinian heard this, immediately he was so overcome with fear that he became as calm and mild as Antoninus the Good[*](I.e., Antoninus Pius; cf. xvi. 1, 4.) himself.

He never intentionally chose cruel judges, but if he had learned that Those whomhehad once advanced[*](To that rank.) were acting cruelly,

Those in trouble, whom a reverse of fortune had befallen, found no refuge in the kindness of their prince, which has always been a longed-for haven, as it were, for those tossed on a stormy sea. For the purpose of a just rule (as the philosophers teach) is supposed to be the advantage and safety of its subjects.