Ἦλθε τὰ τάγματα, ὑπήντησα κατὰ τὸ νενομισμένον αὐτοῖς, [B] ἔχεσθαι τῆς ὁδοῦ προύτρεψα· μίαν ἡμέραν ἐπέμεινεν, ἄχρις ἧς οὐδὲν ᾔδειν ἐγὼ τῶν βεβουλευμένων αὐτοῖς· ἴστω Ζεύς, Ἥλιος, Ἄρης, Ἀθηνᾶ καὶ πάντες θεοί, ὡς οὐδὲ ἐγγὺς ἀφίκετό μού τις τοιαύτη ὑπόνοια ἄχρι δείλης αὐτῆς· ὀψίας δὲ ἤδη περὶ ἡλίου δυσμὰς ἐμηνύθη μοι, καὶ αὐτίκα τὰ βασίλεια περιείληπτο, καὶ ἐβόων πάντες, ἔτι φροντίζοντός μου τί χρὴ ποιεῖν καὶ οὔπω σφόδρα πιστεύοντος· [C] ὔτυχον γὰρ ἔτι τῆς γαμετῆς ζώσης μοι ἀναπαυσόμενος ἰδίᾳ πρὸς τὸ πλησίον ὑπερῷον ἀνελθών. εἶτα ἐκεῖθεν· ἀνεπέπτατο γὰρ ὁ τοῖχος· προσεκύνησα τὸν Δία. γενομένης δὲ ἔτι μείζονος τῆς βοῆς καὶ θορυβουμένων πάντων ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις, ᾐτέομεν τὸν θεὸν δοῦναι τέρας. αὐτὰρ ὅ γ᾽ ἡμῖν δεῖξε καὶ ἠνώγει πεισθῆναι καὶ μὴ προσεναντιοῦσθαι τοῦ στρατοπέδου τῇ προθυμίᾳ. γενομένων ὅμως [D] ἐμοὶ καὶ τούτων τῶν σημείων, οὐκ εἶξα ἑτοίμως, ἀλλ᾽ ἀντέσχον εἰς ὅσον ἠδυνάμην, καὶ οὔτε τὴν πρόσρησιν οὔτε τὸν στέφανον προσιέμην. ἐπεὶ δὲ οὔτε εἷς ὢν(482) πολλῶν ἠδυνάμην κρατεῖν οἵ τε τοῦτο βουλόμενοι γενέσθαι θεοὶ τοὺς μὲν παρώξυνον, ἐμοὶ δὲ ἔθελγον τὴν γνώμην, ὥρᾳ που τρίτῃ σχεδὸν οὐκ οἶδα οὗτινός μοι στρατιώτου δόντος μανιάκην περιεθέμην καὶ ἦλθον εἰς τὰ βασίλεια, ἔνδοθεν ἀπ᾽ αὐτῆς, ὡς ἴσασιν οἱ θεοί, στένων τῆς καρδίας. [285] καίτοι χρῆν δήπουθεν πιστεύοντα τῷ φήναντι θεῷ τὸ τέρας θαρρεῖν· ἀλλ᾽ ᾐσχυνόμην δεινῶς καὶ κατεδυόμην, εἰ δόξαιμι μὴ πιστῶς ἄχρι τέλους ὑπακοῦσαι Κωνσταντίῳ. (The legions arrived, and I, as was customary, went to meet them and exhorted them to continue their march. For one day they halted, and till that time I knew nothing whatever of what they had determined; I call to witness Zeus, Helios, Ares, Athene, and all the other gods that no such suspicion even entered my mind until that very evening. It was already late, when about sunset the news was brought to me, and suddenly the palace was surrounded and they all began to shout aloud, while I was still considering what I ought to do and feeling by no means confident. My wife was still alive and it happened, that in order to rest alone, I had gone to the upper room near hers. Then from there through an opening in the wall I prayed to Zeus. And when the shouting grew still louder and all was in a tumult in the palace I entreated the god to give me a sign; and thereupon he showed me a sign(483) and bade me yield and not oppose myself to the will of the army. Nevertheless even after these tokens had been vouchsafed to me I did not yield without reluctance, but resisted as long as I could, and would not accept either the salutation(484) or the diadem. But since I could not singlehanded control so many, and moreover the gods, who willed that this should happen, spurred on the soldiers and gradually softened my resolution, somewhere about the third hour some soldier or other gave me the collar and I put it on my head and returned to the palace, as the gods know groaning in my heart. And yet surely it was my