The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus: During the Reigns of the Emperors Constantius, Julian, Jovianus, Valentinian, and Valens — John Shaqi
The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus: During the Reigns of the Emperors Constantius, Julian, Jovianus, Valentinian, and ValensAmmianus Marcellinus
History
The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus: During the Reigns of the Emperors Constantius, Julian, Jovianus, Valentinian, and Valens
Ammianus Marcellinus
Rome -- History -- Empire, 284-476
I. The death of the Cæsar Gallus is announced to the emperor.--II.
Ursicinus, the commander of the cavalry in the East; Julian, the
brother of the Cæsar Gallus; and Gorgonius, the high chamberlain,
are accused of treason.--III. The adherents and servants of the
Cæsar Gallus are punished.--IV. The Allemanni of the district of
Lintz are defeated by the Emperor Constantius with great loss.--V.
Silvanus, a Frank, the commander of the infantry in Gaul, is
saluted as emperor at Cologne; and on the twenty-eighth day of his
reign is destroyed by stratagem.--VI. The friends and adherents of
Silvanus are put to death.--VII. Seditions of the Roman people are
repressed by Leontius, the prefect of the city; Liberius, the
bishop, is driven from his see.--VIII. Julian, the brother of
Gallus, is created Cæsar by the Emperor Constantius, his uncle; and
is appointed to command.--IX. On the origin of the Gauls, and from
whence they derive the names of Celts and Gauls; and of their
treaties.--X. Of the Gallic Alps, and of the various passes over
them.--XI. A brief description of Gaul, and of the course of the
River Rhone.--XII. Of the manners of the Gauls.--XIII. Of
Musonianus, prefect of the Prætorium in the East.
I.
A.D. 354.
§ 1. Having investigated the truth to the best of our power we have
hitherto related all the transactions which either our age permitted us
to witness, or which we could learn from careful examination of those
who were concerned in them, in the order in which the several events
took place. The remaining facts, which the succeeding books will set
forth, we will, as far as our talent permits, explain with the greatest
accuracy, without fearing those who may be inclined to cavil at our work
as too long; for brevity is only to be praised when, while it puts an
end to unseasonable delays, it suppresses nothing which is well
authenticated.
2. Gallus had hardly breathed his last in Noricum, when Apodemius, who
as long as he lived had been a fiery instigator of disturbances, caught
up his shoes and carried them off, journeying, with frequent relays of
horses, so rapidly as even to kill some of them by excess of speed, and
so brought the first news of what had occurred to Milan. And having made
his way into the palace, he threw down the shoes before the feet of
Constantius, as if he were bringing the spoils of a king of the
Parthians who had been slain. And when this sudden news arrived that an
affair so unexpected and difficult had been executed with entire
facility in complete accordance with the wish of the emperor, the
principal courtiers, according to their custom, exerting all their zeal
in the path of flattery, extolled to the skies the virtue and good
fortune of the emperor, at whose nod, as if they had been mere common
soldiers, two princes had thus been deprived of their power, namely,
Veteranio and Gallus.
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