Res Gestae

During these days also Vithericus,[*](He was a young boy; cf. xxxi. 3, 3, where the name is given as Viderichus.) king of the Greuthungi, accompanied by Alatheus and Saphrax, by whose will he was ruled, and also by Farnobius, coming near to the banks of the Danube, hastily sent envoys and besought the emperor that

When these envoys were rejected, as the interests of the state seemed to demand, and were in doubt what course to take, Athanarichus, fearing a like fate, departed, remembering that he had some time before treated Valens with contempt when they were making a treaty of friendship, declaring that he was prevented by conscientious scruples from ever setting foot on Roman soil; and by this excuse he had forced the emperor to conclude peace in the middle of the river.[*](Cf. xxvii. 5, 6.) Fearing that the grudge caused by this still endured, Athanaricus withdrew with all his followers to Caucalanda, a place inaccessible because of high mountains and deep forests, from which he first drove out the Sarmatians.

But now the Theruingi, who had long since been permitted to cross, were still roaming about near the banks of the river, detained by a twofold obstacle, both because, through the ruinous negligence[*](For this meaning of dissimulatio, cf. xxviii. 4, 5.) of the generals, they were not supplied with the necessaries of life, and also because they were purposely held back by an abominable kind of traffic.[*](See 4, 11. The meaning is, in order that the Roman generals might carry the practice on longer.)

When this became clear to them, they muttered that they were being forced to disloyalty as a remedy for the evils that threatened them, and Lupicinus, fearing that they might soon revolt, sent soldiers and compelled them to move out[*](That is, into the interior of the country) more quickly.