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).

No temple or sacred

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place is to be seen in their country, not even a hut thatched with straw can be discerned anywhere, but after the manner of barbarians a naked sword is fixed in the ground and they reverently worship it as their god of war, the presiding deity of those lands over which they range.[*](Since the leader of the dance of the Salian priests of Mars was called praesul, the term is appropriate here. On this custom see Mela, ii. 1, 15; cf. Justinus, xliii. 3, ab origine rerum pro dis immortalibus hastas coluere, Herodotus, iv. 62; and xvii. 12, 21 above (of the Quadi).)

They have a remarkable way of divining the future; for they gather very straight twigs of osier and sort them out at an appointed time with certain secret incantations, and thus clearly learn what impends.[*](Ammianus is too brief to be clear. The twigs were marked with certain signs (notae) from which the predicttions were made; see Hdt. iv. 67; Caesar, B.G. i. 50, 4–5; Tac., Germ. 10.)

They do not know the meaning of slavery, since all are born of noble blood, and moreover they choose as chiefs[*](Cf. iudex in § 4, below, and Introd., p. xxvi, note 2.) those men who are conspicuous for long experience as warriors. But let us return to what remains of our chosen subject.

The Huns, then, having overrun the territories of those Halani (bordering on the Greuthungi) to whom usage has given the surname Tanaites, killed and plundered many of them, and joined the survivors to themselves in a treaty of alliance; then in company with these they made the more boldly a sudden inroad into the extensive and rich cantons of Ermenrichus,[*](Called Ermanarich in Jordanes’ Gothic History.)

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a most warlike monarch, dreaded by the neighbouring nations because of his many and varied deeds of valour.

He was struck with consternation at the violence of this sudden storm; for a long time he did his best to maintain a firm and continued stand, but since rumour gave wide currency to[*](For vulgatius, cf. xv. 3, 6; xvii. 4, 9.) and exaggerated the horror of the impending dangers, he put an end to his fear of these great perils by a voluntary death.