Dio's Rome, Volume 5: An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek During The Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English FormCassius Dio Cocceianus
History
Dio's Rome, Volume 5: An Historical Narrative Originally Composed in Greek During The Reigns of Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, Macrinus, Elagabalus and Alexander Severus: and Now Presented in English Form
Cassius Dio Cocceianus
Rome -- History
should surely perish, one person brought in the slab, which was of silver,
then another something else, and another one of the dishes set before them
at the dinner, which proved to be made of some costly material. Finally
came [Footnote: Verb supplied by Xylander.] that particular boy who had
been each one's familiar spirit, now washed and decked out. Thus, while in
terror all night long, they received their gifts.
Such was the triumph or, as the crowd said, such was the expiatory service
that Domitian celebrated for those who had died in Dacia and in Rome. Even
at this time, too, he killed off some of the foremost men. And he took
away the property of whoever buried the body of any one of them, because
the victim had died on ground belonging to the sovereign.
[Sidenote:--10--] Here are some more events worth recording, that took
place in the Dacian War. Julianus, assigned by the emperor to take charge
of the war, made many excellent regulations, one being his command that
the soldiers should inscribe their own names and those of the centurions
upon their shields, in order that those of them who committed any
particular good or bad action might be more readily observed by him.
Encountering the enemy at Tapai, [Footnote: Pape thinks that the proper
Latin form of this word be _Tabae_.] he killed a very great number of
them. Among them Vezinas, who ranked next to Decebalus, since he could not
get away alive, fell down purposely as if dead. In this way he escaped
notice and fled during the night. Decebalus, fearing that the Romans now
they had conquered would proceed against his residence, cut down the trees
that were on the site and attached weapons to the trunks, to the end that
his foes might think them soldiers, and so be frightened and withdraw.
This actually took place.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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