The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus
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is Dux. It is about this period that the title Duke and Count, which we have already had, arose, indicating however at first not territorial possessions, but military commands; and it is worth noticing that the rank of Count was the higher of the two.
[12] Constantine, on his conversion to Christianity, had issued an edict forbidding the consultation of oracles; but the practice was not wholly abandoned till the time of Theodosius.
[13] Schools was the name given at Rome to buildings where men were wont to meet for any purpose, whether of study, of traffic, or of the practice of any art. The schools of the Palatine were the station of the cohorts of the guard. The "Protectors or Guards" were a body of soldiers of higher rank, receiving also higher pay; called also "Domestici or household troops," as especially set apart for the protection of the imperial palace and person. The "Scutarii" (shield-bearers) belonged to the Palatine schools; and the Gentiles were troops enlisted from among those nations which were still accounted barbarous.
[14] Gibbon here proposes for lenitatem to read levitatem, fickleness; himself describing Montius as "a statesman whose art and experience were frequently betrayed by the levity of his disposition."—Cap. xix., p. 298, vol. iii., Bohn's edition.
[15] Châlons sur Saône.
[16] Near Basle.
[17] It will be observed that Ammianus here speaks of himself as in attendance upon Ursicinus.
[18] Maximianus Herculius.
[19] Diocletian.
[20] As we say, Out of the frying-pan into the fire.
[21] The town of Pettau, on the Drave.
[22] A paleness such as overspread the countenance of Adrastus when he saw his two sons-in-law, Pydeus and Polynices, slain at Thebes. Virgil speaks of Adrasti pallentis imago, Æn. vi. 480.
[23] Ammianus here confounds Nemesis with Fortuna. Compare Horace's description of the latter goddess, Lib. i. Od. 34:—
" … Valet ima summis
Mutare, et insignia attenuat deus
Obscura promens: hinc apicem rapax
Fortuna cum stridore acuto
Sustulit; hic posuisse gaudet."
Or, as it is translated by Dr. Francis:—
"The hand of Jove can crush the proud
Down to the meanness of the crowd:
And raise the lowest in his stead:
But rapid Fortune pulls him down,
And snatches his imperial crown,
To place, not fix it, on another's head."
[24] Near the modern city of Sienna.
[25] See Plutarch's Life of Æmilius, c. 37. The name of the young prince was Alexander.
[26] Called also Hostilius; cf. Vell. Paterc. ii. 1.
[27] Cf. Liv. ix. c. x.; Cicero de Officiis, iii. 30.
[28] Cf. Val. Max. vi. 3.
[29] Cf. Horace, Od. iv. ult.; Florus, ii. 1. The story of the cruelties inflicted on Regulus is now, however, generally disbelieved.
[30] The fate of Pompey served also as an instance to Juvenal in his satire on the vanity of human wishes.
Provida Pompeio diderat Campania febres
Optandas, sed multæ urbes et publica vota
Vicerunt; igitur Fortuna ipsius et urbis
Servatum victo caput abstulit.
Sat. X. 283, &c.
[31] Spartacus was the celebrated leader of the slaves in the Servile War.
BOOK XV.
ARGUMENT.
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