Res Gestae

From there they hastened in rapid march to Constantinople, greedy for its vast heaps of treasure, marching in square formations for fear of ambuscades, and intending to make many mighty efforts to destroy the famous city. But while they were madly rushing on and almost knocking at the barriers of the gates, the celestial power checked them by the following event.

A troop of Saracens (of whose origin and customs I have spoken at length in various places,[*](Especially xiv. 4, 1 ff.; xxv. 6, 8–10.) ) who are more adapted to stealthy raiding expeditions than to pitched battles,[*](xxiii. 3, 8.) and had recently been summoned to the city, desiring to attack the horde of barbarians of which they had suddenly caught sight, rushed forth boldly from the city to attack them. The contest was long and obstinate, and both sides separated on equal terms.

But the oriental troop had the advantage from a strange event, never witnessed before. For one of their number, a man

Then, as they went on, their courage was further broken when they beheld the oblong circuit of the walls, the blocks of houses covering a vast space, the beauties of the city beyond their reach, the vast population inhabiting it, and the strait near by that separates the Pontus from the Aegean; so the Goths destroyed the manufactories of warlike materials which they were preparing, and after suffering greater losses than they had inflicted they then departed and spread everywhere over the northern provinces, which they traversed at will as far as the foot of the Julian, or, as they were formerly called, the Venetic Alps.

At that time[*](Shortly after the death of Valens, and before the accession of Theodosius; cf. Zos. iv. 26.) the salutary and swift efficiency of Julius, commander-in-chief of the troops beyond the Taurus, was conspicuous. For on learning of the ill-fated events in Thrace, by secret letters to their leaders, who were all Romans (a rare case in these times) he gave orders that the Goths who had been admitted before and were scattered through the various cities and camps, should be enticed to come without suspicion into the suburbs in the hope of receiving the pay that had been promised them, and there, as if on the raising of a banner, should all be slain on one and the same day. This

These events, from the principate of the emperor Nerva to the death of Valens, I, a former soldier and a Greek, have set forth to the measure of my ability, without ever (I believe) consciously venturing to debase through silence or through falsehood a work whose aim was the truth. The rest may be written by abler men, who are in the prime of life and learning. But if they chose to undertake such a task, I advise them to forge[*](For procudere, cf. xv. 2, 8 (ingenium); xxx. 4, 13 (ora); Horace, Odes, iv. 15, 19.) their tongues to the loftier style.

Diocletian ruled with Herculius[*](This name was conferred on Maximianus by Diocletian.) Maximianus for twenty years.

Constantius,[*](Constantius Chlorus, father of Constantine, emperor 305–306.) grandson of the brother of that best of emperors Claudius,[*](Claudius II.; his mother was Claudia, daughter of Crispus, brother of Claudius II; cf. Eutr. ix. 22; Hieron. a. Abr. 2307.) was first one of the emperor’s bodyguard, then a tribune, and later, governor of Dalmatia.[*](Under the emperor Carus, who wished to make him Caesar in place of his own brother Carinus.) With Galerius he was appointed Caesar by Diocletian[*](In 292.) ; for he put away his former wife Helena and married Theodora, daughter of Maximianus, by whom he afterwards had six children,[*](Three sons: Dalmatius, Julius Constantius, and Hannibalianus; and three daughters: Constantia, Anastasia, and Eutropia.) brothers of Constantine. But by his former wife Helena he already had a son Constantine, who was later the mightiest of emperors.

This Constantine, then, born of Helena, a mother of very common origin, and brought up in the town of Naissus,[*](In Moesia, on the river Margus; cf. xxi. 10, 5; modern Nis, in Yugoslavia.) which he afterwards splendidly adorned, had but slight training in letters.[*](minus = minus iusto, Tillemont iv, p. 132 (Wagner).) He was