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[1] Scarcely had a few days passed since these affairs were settled according to the desire of the emperor and the soldiers,¹ when Mamertinus, the praetorian prefect,² on his return from Rome, to which he had gone to correct certain abuses, was charged with peculation³ by Avitianus, a former deputy governor.⁴

[2] Therefore he was displaced by Vulcatius Rufinus, a man excellent in all respects, who seemed to be displaying the crown of an honoured old age,⁵ except that he never let slip a favourable opportunity for gain, if there was hope of concealment.

[3] As soon as he gained the imperial ear, he brought it about that Orfitus, a former prefect of Rome, was freed from banishment,⁶ and, after restoration of his lost patrimony, was restored to his home.

[4] Valentinian was known to be a cruel man, and although in the early part of his reign, in order to lessen his reputation for harshness, he sometimes strove to keep his savage impulses under his mind’s control, yet the fault, as yet lurking and postponed, little by little broke forth without restraint and caused the destruction of many men; and was increased by fierce outbreaks of hot anger. For the philosophers define anger as a long-continued, sometimes permanent, ulcer of the mind, usually caused by weakness of the intellect; and they give for their opinion the plausible ground that the sickly are more inclined to anger than the sound, women than men, the old than the young, and the wretched than the fortunate.⁷

[5] Most conspicuous, however, at that time was the death (among the executions of other persons of low rank⁸ ) of Diodes, former head of the state treasury in Illyricum, whom the emperor ordered to be burned to death because of some small offences; and also that of Diodorus, former state agent, and of three attendants of the deputy-governor of Italy; all these suffered cruel execution because the commanding general complained to the emperor that Diodorus had implored the aid of the law against him, as was his right,⁹ and that the officials,¹⁰ by order of the judge, had ventured to summon him as he was going on a journey, to answer to the action according to law. The memory of these victims is still honoured by the Christians in Milan,¹¹ who call the place where they are buried The Place of the Innocents.

[6] Later, in the affair of a certain Maxentius of Pannonia, when the judge had rightly commanded a speedy execution, the emperor ordered the death of the decurions of three towns; but Eupraxius, who was then quaestor, intervened, saying: Act more mercifully, most dutiful emperor, for these men whom you order to be put to death as criminals the Christian religion will honour as martyrs (that is to say, as beloved of God).¹²

[7] Eupraxius’ helpful self-confidence was imitated by the prefect Florentius¹³ when he heard that, because of some pardonable offence, the emperor had flown into a passion and ordered the execution likewise of three decurions in each of a number of cities; for he said: What is to be done, then, if any town does not have so many decurions?¹⁴ To the rest this also should be added,¹⁵ that they shall be killed, when the town has them.

[8] To this ruthlessness was added another thing, dreadful to do or even to tell of, namely, that if anyone came before him to avoid being tried before some powerful enemy, and asked that another judge be assigned him, the request was denied and the man was sent back to the person whom he feared, however many just reasons for the change he might present. Still another horrible thing was talked about; for when he learned that any debtor¹⁶ could pay nothing because of the pressure of want, the emperor ruled that he ought to be put to death.¹⁷

[9] That some princes commit these and similar arbitrary acts with lofty arrogance is because they do not allow their friends the opportunity of dissuading them from unjust designs or deeds, and that because of their great power they make their enemies afraid to speak. No correction is possible of the perverse actions of those who believe that what they desire to do must be the highest virtue.¹⁸

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

Sponsored by Perseus Project, Tufts University.

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).) — 27.7 focus

Valentiniani A. iracundia, feritas, et saevitia.

[1] His ex sententia rectoris et militum ordinatis, vix dies intercessere pauci cum Mamertinum, praefectum praetorio, ab urbe regressum, quo quaedam perrexerat correcturus, Avitianus ex vicario peculatus detulerat reum.

[2] Cui ideo Vulcatius successit Rufinus, omni ex parte perfectus, et velut apicem senectutis honoratae praetendens, sed lucrandi opportunas occasiones occultationis spe numquam praetermittens.

[3] Qui nanctus copiam principis, Orfitum ex praefecto urbis solutum exsilio, patrimonii redintegrata iactura, remitti fecit in lares.

[4] Et quamquam Valentinianus, homo propalam ferus, inter imperitandi exordia, ut asperitatis opinionem molliret, impetus truces retinere non numquam in potestate animi nitebatur, serpens tamen vitium et dilatum,¹ paulatim² licentius erupit ad perniciem plurimorum, quod auxit ira acerbius effervescens. Hanc enim ulcus esse animi diuturnum, interdumque perpetuum, prudentes definiunt, nasci ex mentis mollitia consuetum, id asserentes argumento probabili, quod iracundiores sunt incolumibus languidi, et feminae maribus, et iuvenibus senes, et felicibus aerumnosi.

[5] Eminuit tamen per id tempus inter alias humilium neces, mors Dioclis ex comite largitionum Illyrici, quem ob delicta brevia³ flammis iussit exuri; et Diodori ex agente in rebus, triumque apparitorum potestatis vicariae per Italiam, ob id necatorum⁴ atrociter, quod apud eum questus est comes, Diodorum quidem adversus se civiliter⁵ implorasse iuris auxilium, officiales vero iussu iudicis ausos monere proficiscentem, ut responderet ex lege. Quorum memoriam apud Mediolanum colentes nunc usque Christiani, locum ubi sepulti sunt Ad Innocentis appellant.

[6] Dein cum in negotio Maxentii cuiusdam Pannonii, ob exsecutionem a iudice recte maturari praeceptam, trium oppidorum ordines mactari iussisset, interpellavit Eupraxius, tunc quaestor, et Parcius inquit agito, piissime principum: hos enim, quos interfici tamquam noxios iubes, ut martyras (id est divinitati acceptos) colet religio Christiana.

[7] Cuius salutarem fiduciam praefectus imitatus Florentius, cum in re quadam venia digna audisset, eum percitum ira, iussisse itidem ternos per ordines urbium interfici plurimarum, Et quid⁶ agetur⁷ ait si oppidum aliquod curialis non habuerit⁸ tantos? Inter reliqua id quoque suspendi debet, ut cum habuerit, occidantur.

[8] Ad hanc inclementiam illud quoque accedebat, dictu dirum et factu, quod siquis eum adisset, iudicium potentis inimici declinans, aliumque sibi postulans dari, hoc non impetrato, ad eundem quem metuebat, licet multa praetenderet iusta, remittebatur. Itemque aliud audiebatur horrendum, quod ubi debitorum aliquem egestate obstrictum nihil reddere posse discebat,⁹ interfici debere pronuntiabat.

[9] Haec autem et similia licenter ideo altiore fastu quidam principes agunt, quod amicis emendandi secus cogitata vel gesta copiam negant, inimicos loqui terrent amplitudine potestatis. Nil autem valet correctio¹⁰ pravitatum apud eos qui quod effici¹¹ velint maximae putant esse virtutis.

Notes on the current edition

History

1. At Amiens, Aug. 24, 367.

2. In Illyricum, Africa, and Italy; cf. xxvi. 5, 5.

3. In 365.

4. In Africa.

5. Cf. Cic., DeSen. 17, 61,

apexest autemsenectutis auctoritas.

6. Cf. 3, 2.

7. Cf. Sen., De Ira, i. 13, 5; ii. 19, 4.

8. Diocles was not a person of low rank; for this use of alius, which is fairly frequent in Ammianus, see xxiii. 3, 9, crit. note 5. The same is perhaps true of Diodorus.

9. I.e., as was the right of a citizen; cf. Apul., Metam. x. 6. civiliter, if it is the correct reading, gives the opinion of Ammianus, not of the accuser; see crit. note.

10. The attendants of the deputy-governor.

11. The seat of the deputy-governor of Italy.

12. An incorrect definition of martyres, which is correctly defined by Ammianus in xxii. 11, 10; id est . . . acceptos is probably a gloss, as Valesius and Wagner thought.

13. Praetorian prefect in Gaul.

14. For the reluctance of citizens to serve as decurions see xxii. 9, 8, note 5.

15. I.e., this provision should be added to the law; suspendi seems to mean posted ( hung up), cf. legem figere.

16. To the fiscus.

17. This was in accordance with a law of the XII Tables, which was nominally rescinded by the Lex Poetelia of 326 B.C. or later.

18. For other examples of Valentinian’s cruelty see xxix. 8, 2 ff.

Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae 27.7

John C. Rolfe (Translator)

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Valentiniani A. iracundia, feritas, et saevitia.

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