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[1] While the above-mentioned events were taking place in Gaul and Italy, a new campaign was set on foot in Thrace. For Valens, in accordance with the desire of his brother, whom he consulted and by whose will he was guided, took up arms against the Goths, influenced by a just reason, namely, that they had sent aid to Procopius, when he began his civil war. It will be fitting, then, to sketch hastily in a brief digression the early history and the topography of those regions.
[2] A description of Thrace would be easy, if the pens of the earlier writers agreed; but since their obscurity and their differences lend no aid to a work whose aim is truth, it will suffice to set forth what I myself remember to have seen.
[3] That this land formerly consisted of a boundless expanse of gentle plains and lofty mountains, we know from the immortal testimony of Homer, who imagines that the north and west winds begin to blow from there;
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but this is either a fable, or else in former times the widely extended tracts marked out to be the home of barbarian tribes were all included under the name of Thrace.
[4] A part of these were inhabited by the Scordisci,
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who are now widely separated from those same provinces: a people formerly cruel and savage, and, as ancient history declares, accustomed to offer up their prisoners as victims to Bellona and Mars, and from their hollowed skulls greedily to drink human blood. By their savageness the Roman state was often sorely troubled and after many lamentable calamities finally lost a whole army with its commander.
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[5] But, as we now see them, those same places, formed in the shape of a crescent moon, present the appearance of a beautiful theatre. At its western summit are the steep mountains through which the narrow pass of Succi opens, separating Thrace from Dacia.
[7] On the right, which is the south side, extend the cliffs of Rhodope, and where the morning star rises it is bounded by the strait which flows with an abundance of water from the Euxine, and going on with alternating current to the Aegaean, opens a narrow cleft
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between the lands.
[8] But on the eastern corner the land is connected with the frontiers of Macedonia by a steep and narrow pass, which is called Acontisma.
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Next to this is the postingstation of Arethusa, in which is to be seen the tomb of Euripides,
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noted for his lofty tragedies, and Stagira, known as the birthplace of Aristotle, who, as Cicero says,
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poured forth a golden stream.
[9] These regions also were occupied in former times by barbarians, who differed from one another in customs and language. Of these the Odrysae are noted for their savage cruelty beyond all others, being so habituated to the shedding of human blood that when there were no enemies at hand, at their feasts, after a satiety of food and drink they plunged the sword into the bodies of their own countrymen, as if they were those of foreigners.
[10] But when our country increased in power, and the rule of consuls was in full sway, Marcus Didius, with great determination, checked these tribes that before had been always invincible and were roaming about without civilization or laws. Drusus confined them within their own bounds. Minucius utterly defeated them in a battle near the river Hebrus, which flows from the high mountains of the Odrysae, and after these the survivors were completely annihilated by the proconsul Appius Claudius in a hot fight.
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Indeed, the Roman fleets took possession of the towns situated on the Bosphorus and the Propontis.
[11] After these came General Lucullus,
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who was the first of all to encounter the savage tribe of the Bessi and in the same onslaught overcame the Haemimontani in spite of their stout resistance.
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While he threatened that region, all parts of Thrace passed under the sway of our forefathers, and in this way, after dangerous campaigns, six provinces were won for the republic.
[12] The first of these on the side bordering on Illyricum is called Thrace in the narrower sense, and is adorned by the splendid cities of Philippopolis, formerly Eumolpias,
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and Beroea. After this, Haemimontus
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has Hadrianopolis,
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also once called Uscudama, and Anchialos,
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both great and rich cities. Then comes Mysia,
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with Marcianopolis (so name from the sister of the emperor Trajan). Dorostorus, Nicopolis, and Odessus. Hard by is Scythia, in which the more famous towns are Dionysopolis, Tomi, and Callatia. Europa, the remotest province of all, in addition to various towns, is conspicuous for two cities, Apri and Perinthus, in later times called Heraclea.
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[14] Now it is well known, as constant reports have spread abroad, that almost all the country folk who dwell in the high mountains throughout the lands just described surpass us in health and strength, and in the prerogative (so to speak) of prolonging life; and it is thought that this is due to abstinence from a conglomeration of diet and from hot baths,
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and a lasting freshness knits their bodies through cold sprinklings with dew; and they enjoy the sweetness of a purer air; further they are first of all to feel the rays of the sun, which are by their own nature life-giving, before they are infected with any stains from human affairs. After having thus given an account of these matters, let us return to our task.
Res Gestae. Ammianus Marcellinus. John C. Rolfe (Translator). Cambridge, MA. 1935-1940.
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