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).

It is fitting after this to pass to those acts of his which were praiseworthy and to be imitated by right-thinking men; and if he had regulated the rest of his conduct in accordance with these, his career would have been that of a Trajan or a Marcus.[*](Marcus Aurelius.) He was very indulgent towards the provincials and everywhere lightened the burden of their tributes; he was always timely in founding towns and establishing frontier defences. He was an excellent critic of military discipline, failing only in this, that while he punished even slight offences of the common soldiers, he suffered the serious offences of his higher commanders to go to excess, often turning a deaf ear to the complaints made against them.[*](Cf. 5, 3, and Zos. iv. 16.) The result of this was turmoil in Britain, disaster in Africa, and the devastation of Illyricum.

In every observance of chastity he was pure at home and abroad; he was stained by the foul touch of no obscene feelings or lewdness; and for

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that reason he controlled the wantonness of the imperial court as if by a curb; and this course he could easily keep; he showed no indulgence to his own kindred, whom he either restrained in retirement or honoured with unimportant posts, with the exception of his brother, whom, compelled by press of circumstances, he admitted to a share in his own eminence.

He was most cautious in bestowing high official positions: under his rule no money-changer[*](Nummularius is used in a broad sense, including bankers; for a dishonest money-changer, see Suet., Galba, 9. ) governed a province, no office was ever sold, except at the beginning of his reign, a time when it is usual for some crimes to be committed with impunity through reliance on the distractions of a new ruler.[*](Text and exact meaning are uncertain; the sense apparently is that some persons commit crimes, hoping that amid the press of business by which the new emperor is overwhelmed he will be forced to overlook them.)

In war, whether offensive or defensive, he was most skilful and careful, a veteran in the heat and dust of the battlefield. In council he was a foresighted persuader of what was right and a dissuader of wrong, most strict in examining all ranks of the military service. He wrote a neat hand, was an elegant painter and modeller, and an inventor of new kinds of arms.[*](Cf. Pseud.-Aurel. Vict., Epit. 45, 6: pingere venustissime . . . fingere cero seu limo simulacra, nova arma meditari.) His memory was lively; so was his speech (although he spoke seldom), and he was vigorous therein, almost to the point of eloquence. He loved neatness, and enjoyed banquets that were choice but not extravagant.

Finally, his reign was distinguished by toleration, in that he remained neutral in religious differences neither troubling anyone on that ground nor ordering him to reverence this or that. He did

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not bend the necks of his subjects to his own belief by threatening edicts, but left such matters undisturbed as he found them.

His strong and muscular body, the gleam of his hair, his brilliant complexion, his grey eyes, with a gaze that was always sidelong and stern, his fine stature, and his regular features[*](Cf. membrorum recta compage, xiv. 11, 28.) completed a figure of regal charm and majesty.