Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, John C. Rolfe (Translator), 21.2.2

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[2] And when all who were present were terrified by what seemed a direful omen, he said: Let no man be afraid; I hold firmly what I was holding.¹ Again at Vienne at a later time, when he went to sleep with a clear head, at night’s dread mid a gleaming form appeared and recited to him plainly, as he lay almost awake, the following heroic verses, repeating them several times; and trusting to these, be believed that no difficulty remained to trouble him:

When Zeus the noble Aquarius’ bound shall reach, And Saturn come to Virgo’s twenty-fifth degree, Then shall Constantius, king of Asia, of this life So sweet the end attain with heaviness and grief.²

Res Gestae. Ammianus Marcellinus. John C. Rolfe (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1935-1940.

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Funding provided by Tufts University.

Current edition Perseus

History (English) (Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, with an English translation, Vols. I-III. Rolfe, John C., translator. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; W. Heinemann, 1935-1940 (printing).)

Editions (1)

Res Gestae Perseus (Ammianus Marcellinus. Ammianus Marcellinus, with an English translation, Vols. I-III. Rolfe, John C., editor. Cambridge, MA; London: Harvard University Press; W. Heinemann, 1935-1940 (printing).) — 21.2.2 focus

[2] Territisque ut omine diro praesentibus cunctis, Nemo inquit vereatur: habeo firmiter quod tenebam. Item cum apud Viennam postea quiesceret sobrius, horrore medio noctis, imago quaedam visa splendidior, hos ei versus heroes modo non vigilanti aperte edixit,¹ eadem saepius replicando, quibus fretus nihil asperum sibi superesse existimabat

Ζεὺς ὅταν εἰς πλατὺ τέρμα μόλῃ κλυτοῦ ὑδροχόοιο,

Παρθενικῆς δὲ Κρόνος μοίρῃ βαίνῃ ἐπὶ πέμπτῃ

εἰκοστῇ, βασιλεὺς Κωνστάντιος Ἀσίδος αἴης

τέρμα φίλου βιοτοῦ στυγερὸν καὶ ἐπώδυνον ἕξει.

Notes on the current edition

History

1. Cf. Suet., Jul. 59,

teneo te, Africa.

2. The author of the verses is not known; they are quoted, with slight differences in the wording, by Zonaras, xiii. 11 c, and Zosimus, iii. 9.

Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae 21.2.2

John C. Rolfe (Translator)

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