Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, John C. Rolfe (Translator), 28.4.18

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[18] Some of them, if they make a longish journey to visit their estates, or to hunt by the labours of others,¹ think that they have equalled the marches of Alexander the Great or of Caesar; or if they have sailed in their gaily-painted boats from the Lake of Avernus to Puteoli, it is the adventure of the golden fleece, especially if they should dare it in the hot season. And if amid the gilded fans flies have lighted on the silken fringes, or through a rent in the hanging curtain a little ray of sun has broken in, they lament that they were not born in the land of the Cimmerians.²

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

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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).) — 28.4.18 focus

[18] Pars eorum si agros visuri processerunt longius, aut alienis laboribus venaturi, Alexandri Magni itinera se putant aequiperasse, vel Caesaris: aut si a lacu Averni lembis invecti sunt pictis Puteolos, velleri¹ certamen scertamen, maxime cum id vaporato audeant tempore. Ubi si inter aurata flabella laciniis sericis insederint muscae, vel per foramen umbraculi pensilis radiolus irruperit solis, queruntur quod non sunt apud Cimmerios nati.

Notes on the current edition

History

1. I.e., their slaves do the hunting; cf. Pliny, N.H. xxix. 19; Pliny the Younger, Epist. i. 6.

2. In the extreme north, on the Dnieper; also a fabled people of Italy, near Baiae, who hid by day in dark caves: hence the land of perpetual darkness, the home of Somnus, Odyss. xi. 114 ff.; cf. xxix. 2, 4, below

Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae 28.4.18

John C. Rolfe (Translator)

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