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Silvanus Francus, magister peditum per Gallias, Coloniae Augustus adpellatur, et xxviii. Imperi die per insidias opprimitur.

[1] Exoritur iam hinc rebus afflictis, haut dispari provinciarum malo calamitatum turbo novarum, exstincturus omnia simul, ni Fortuna moderatrix humanorum casuum motum eventu celeri consummavit, impendio formidatum.

[2] Cum diuturna incuria Galliae caedes acerbas rapinasque et incendia, barbaris licenter grassantibus, nullo iuvante perferrent, Silvanus pedestris militiae rector, ut efficax ad haec corrigenda, principis iussu perrexit,¹ Arbetione id maturari modis quibus poterat adigente, ut absenti aemulo quem superesse adhuc gravabatur periculosae molis onus impingeret.²

[3] Dynamius quidam³ actuarius sarcinalium principis iumentorum, commendaticias ab eo petierat litteras ad amicos, ut quasi familiaris eiusdem esset notissimus. Hoc impetrato, cum ille nihil suspicans simpliciter praestitisset, servabat epistulas, ut perniciosum aliquid in tempore moliretur.

[4] Memorato itaque duce Gallias ex re publica public discursante, barbarosque propellente, iam sibi diffidentes et trepidantes, idem Dynamius inquietius agens, ut versutus et in fallendo exercitatus, fraudem comminiscitur impiam, subornatore et conscio, ut iactavere rumores incerti, Lampadio praefecto praetorio, et Eusebio ex comite rei privatae, cui cognomentum erat inditum Mattyocopae Mattyocopi, atque Aedesio ex magistro memoriae, quos ad consulatum ut amicos iunctissimos idem curarat rogari praefectus; et peniculo serie litterarum abstersa, solaque⁴ incolumi relicta subscriptione, alter multum a vero illo dissonans superscribitur textus: velut Silvano rogante verbis obliquis, hortanteque amicos agentes intra palatium, vel privatos, inter quos et Tuscus erat Albinus, aliique plures, ut se altiora coeptantem, et prope diem loci principalis aditum petiturum iuvarent.⁵

[5] Hunc fascem ad arbitrium figmenti compositum,⁶ vitam pulsaturum insontis, a Dynamio susceptum praefectus imperatori, avide scrutari haec et similia consueto, secrete obtulit⁷ soli, ingressus intimum conclave in tempore,⁸ deinde sperans accepturum se a principe praemium,⁹ ut pervigilem salutis eius custodem et cautum,¹⁰ lectaque consistorio astu callido consarcinata materia, tribuni iussi sunt custodiri, et de provinciis duci privati, quorum epistulae nomina designabant.

[6] Confestimque iniquitate rei percitus Malarichus, gentilium rector, collegis adhibitis strepebat immaniter, circumveniri homines dicatos imperio per factiones et dolos minime debere proclamans, petebatque ut ipse relictis obsidum loco necessitudinibus suis, Mallobaude armaturarum tribuno spondente quod remeabit, velocius iuberetur ire ducturus Silvanum, aggredi nihil tale conatum, quale insidiatores acerrimi concitarunt; vel contra se paria promittente, Mallobaudem orabat properare permitti, haec quae ipse pollicitus est impleturum.

[7] Testabatur enim id se procul dubio scire, quod siqui mitteretur externus, suopte ingenio Silvanus etiam nulla re perterrente timidior, composita forte turbabit.

[8] Et quamquam utilia moneret et necessaria, ventis tamen loquebatur incassum. Namque Arbetione auctore, Apodemius ad eum vocandum cum litteris mittitur, inimicus bonorum omnium diuturnus et gravis. Qui incidentia parvi ducens¹¹ cum venisset in Gallias, dissidens a mandatis, quae proficiscenti sunt data, nec viso Silvano nec oblatis scriptis ut veniret admonito,¹² remansit adscitoque rationali, quasi proscripti iamque necandi magistri peditum clientes et servos hostili tumore vexabat.

[9] Inter haec tamen dum praesentia Silvani speratur, et Apodemius quieta perturbat, Dynamius ut argumento validiore impie structorum adsereret fidem, compositas litteras his concinentes quas obtulerat principi per praefectum, ad tribunum miserat fabricae Cremonensis, nomine Silvani et Malarichi, a quibus ut arcanorum conscius monebatur parare propere cuncta.

[10] Qui cum haec legisset, haerens et ambigens diu quidnam id esset—nec enim meminerat secum aliquando super negotio ullo interiore hos quorum litteras acceperat collocutos—epistulas ipsas per baiulum qui portarat, iuncto milite ad Malarichum remisit,¹³ obsecrans ut doceret aperte quae vellet, non ita perplexe; nec enim intellexisse firmabat, ut subagrestem et simplicem, quid significatum esset obscurius.

[11] Haec Malarichus subito nanctus, etiam tunc tune squalens et maestus, suamque et popularis Silvani vicem graviter ingemiscens, adhibitis Francis, quorum ea tempestate in palatio multitudo multitude florebat, erectius iam loquebatur; tumultuando patefactis¹⁴ insidiis reserataque¹⁵ iam fallacia, per quam ex confesso salus eorum appetebatur.

[12] Hisque cognitis statuit imperator, dispicientibus consistorianis et militaribus universis, in negotium perspicaciter inquiri.¹⁶ Cumque iudices resedissent,¹⁷ Florentius Nigriniani filius agens tune pro magistro officiorum, contemplans diligentius scripta, apicumque pristinorum quasi quandam umbram¹⁸ repperiens animadvertit (ut factum est) priore textu interpolato longe alia quam dictarat Silvanus, ex libidine consarcinatae falsitatis adscripta.

[13] Proinde fallaciarum nube discussa, imperator doctus gesta relatione fideli, abrogata potestate praefectum statui sub quaestione praecepit, sed absolutus est enixa conspiratione multorum. Suspensus autem Eusebius ex comite privatarum, se conscio haec dixerat concitata.

[14] Aedesius omnino nescisse¹⁹ quid actum sit pertinaci infitiatione contendens, abiit innoxius, et ita finito negotio, omnes sunt absoluti quos exhiberi delatio compulit criminosa. Dynamius vero ut praeclaris artibus illustratus, cum correctoris dignitate regere iussus est Tuscos et Umbros.²⁰

[15] Agens inter haec apud Agrippinam Silvanus, assiduisque suorum comperiens²¹ nuntiis, quae Apodemius in labem suarum ageret fortunarum, et sciens animum tenerum versabilis principis, timensque ne trucidaretur²² absens et inauditus,²³ in difficultate positus maxima, barbaricae se fidei committere cogitabat.

[16] Sed Laniogaiso vetante (tunc tribuno) quem dum militaret candidatus solum adfuisse morituro Constanti supra rettulimus, docenteque Francos, unde oriebatur, interfecturos eum aut accepto praemio prodituros, nihil tutum ex praesentibus ratus, in consilia agitabatur²⁴ extrema et sensim cum principiorum verticibus erectius²⁵ collocutus, eisdemque magnitudine promissae mercedis accensis, cultu purpureo a draconum et vexillorum insignibus ad tempus abstracto, ad culmen imperiale surrexit.

[17] Dumque haec aguntur in Galliis, ad occasum inclinato iam die, perfertur Mediolanum insperabilis nuntius, aperte Silvanum demonstrans, dum ex magisterio peditum altius nititur, sollicitato exercitu ad augustum culmen evectum.

[18] Hac mole casus inopini Constantio icto, quasi fulmine Fati, primates, consilio secunda vigilia convocato, properarunt omnes in regiam. Cumque nulli ad eligendum quid agi deberet, mens suppetere posset aut lingua, submissis verbis perstringebatur Ursicini²⁶ mentio, ut consiliis rei bellicae praestantissimi, frustraque gravi iniuria lacessiti, et per admissionum magistrum—qui mos est honoratior—accito eodem, ingresso consistorium offertur purpura multo quam antea placidius. Diocletianus enim Augustus²⁷ omnium primus, externo et regio more²⁸ instituit adorari, cum semper antea ad similitudinem iudicum salutatos principes legerimus.

[19] Et qui paulo antea cum insectatione malivola, orientis vorago, invadendaeque²⁹ summae rei per filios affectator compellabatur, tune dux prudentissimus, et Constantini³⁰ magnus erat commilito, solusque ad extinguendum, probis quidem sed insidiosis rationibus petebatur. Diligens enim opera navabatur, exstingui Silvanum, ut fortissimum perduellem, aut (si secus accidisset) Ursicinum exulceratum iam penitus aboleri, ne superesset scopulus³¹ impendio formidandus.

[20] Igitur cum de profectione celeranda disponeretur, propulsationem obiectorum criminum eundem ducem parantem praegressus, oratione leni prohibet imperator, non id esse memorans tempus, ut controversa defensio causae susciperetur, cum vicissim restitui in pristinam concordiam partes necessitas subigeret urgentium rerum, antequam cresceret mollienda.

[21] Habita igitur deliberatione multiplici, id³² potissimum tractabatur, quo commento Silvanus gesta etiam tum imperatorem ignorare existimaret. Et³³ probabili argumento ad³⁴ firmandam fidem reperto monetur honorificis scriptis, ut accepto Ursicino successore cum potestate rediret intacta.

[22] Post haec ita digesta protinus iubetur exire, tribunis et protectoribus domesticis decem, ut postularat, ad iuvandas necessitates publicas ei coniunctis, inter quos ego quoque eram cum Veriniano collega, residui omnes propinqui et familiares.³⁵

[23] Iamque eum egressum solum de se metuens quisque per longa spatia deducebat. Et quamquam ut bestiarii obiceremur intractabilibus feris, perpendentes tamen hoc bonum habere tristia accidentia,³⁶ quod in locum suum³⁷ secunda substituunt,³⁸ mirabamur illam sententiam Tullianam, ex internis veritatis ipsius promulgatam, quae est talis: Et quamquam optatissimum est perpetuo fortunam quam florentissimam permanere, illa tamen aequalitas vitae non tantum habet sensum, quantum cum ex miseris³⁹ et perditis rebus ad meliorem statum fortuna revocatur.

[24] Festinamus itaque itineribus magnis, ut ambitiosus magister armorum, ante allapsum per Italicos de tyrannide ullum Rumorem, in suspectis finibus appareret, verum cursim nos properantes aeria quadam via⁴⁰ antevolans prodiderat Fama, et Agrippinam ingressi, invenimus cuncta nostris conatibus altiora.

[25] Namque convena undique multitudine trepide coepta fundante, coactisque copiis multis, pro statu rei praesentis id aptius videbatur, ut ad imperatoris novelli, per ludibriosa auspicia virium accessu firmandi sensum ac voluntatem dux flexibilis⁴¹ verteretur; quo variis assentandi figmentis in mollius vergente securitate, nihil metuens hostile deciperetur.

[26] Cuius rei finis arduus videbatur; erat enim cautius observandum, ut appetitus opportunitati obtemperarent, nec praecurrentes eam nec deserentes. Qui si eluxissent intempestive, constabat nos omnes sub elogio uno morte multandos.

[27] Susceptus tamen idem dux leniter adactusque, inclinante negotio ipso cervices, adorare sollemniter anhelantem celsius purpuratum, ut spectabilis colebatur et intimus: facilitate aditus honoreque mensae regalis adeo antepositus aliis, ut iam secretius de rerum summa consultaretur.

[28] Aegre ferebat Silvanus ad⁴² consulatum potestatesque sublimes elatis indignis, se et⁴³ Ursicinum solos post exsudatos magnos pro re publica labores et crebros, ita fuisse despectos, ut ipse quidem per quaestiones familiarium sub disceptatione ignobili crudeliter agitatus, commisisse in maiestatem arcesseretur, alter vero ab oriente raptus odiis inimicorum addiceretur; et haec assidue clam querebatur et palam.

[29] Terrebant nos tamen, cum dicerentur haec et similia, circumfrementia undique murmura causantis inopiam militis, et rapida celeritate ardentis angustias Alpium perrumpere Cottiarum.

[30] In hoc aestu mentis ancipiti, ad effectum tendens consilium occulta scrutabamur scrutabamus indagine, sederatque tandem mutatis prae timore saepe sententiis, ut quaesitis magna industria cautis rei ministris, obstricto religionum consecratione colloquio, Bracchiati sollicitarentur atque Cornuti, fluxioris fidei et⁴⁴ ubertate mercedis ad momentum omne versabiles.

[31] Firmato itaque negotio per sequestres quosdam gregarios, obscuritate ipsa ad id patrandum idoneos, praemiorum exspectatione accensus solis ortu iam rutilo, subitus armatorum globus erupit, atque ut solet in dubiis rebus, audentior caesis custodibus, regia penetrata, Silvanum⁴⁵ extractum aedicula, quo exanimatus confugerat, ad conventiculum ritus Christiani tendentem, densis gladiorum ictibus trucidarunt.

[32] Ita dux haut exsilium meritorum hoc genere oppetit mortis, metu calumniarum, quibus factione iniquorum irretitus est absens, ut tueri possit salutem, ad praesidia progressus extrema.

[33] Licet enim ob tempestivam illam cum armaturis proditionem ante Mursense proelium obligatum gratia retineret Constantium, ut dubium tamen et mutabilem verebatur, licet patris quoque Boniti praetenderet fortia facta, Franci quidem sed pro Constantini partibus in bello civili acriter contra Licinianos saepe versati.

[34] Evenerat autem ut,⁴⁶ antequam huius modi aliquid agitaretur in Galliis, Romae in Circo maximo populus, incertum relatione⁴⁷ quadam percitus an praesagio, Silvanus devictus est magnis vocibus exclamaret.

[35] Igitur Silvano Agrippinae (ut relatum est) interfecto, inaestimabili gaudio re cognita princeps, insolentia coalitus et tumore, hoc quoque felicitatis suae prosperis cursibus assignabat, eo more quo semper oderat fortiter facientes, ut quondam Domitianus, superare tamen quacumque arte contraria cupiebat.

[36] Tantumque afuit laudare industrie gesta, ut etiam quaedam scriberet de Gallicanis intercepta thesauris, quos nemo attigerat. Idque scrutari iusserat artius interrogate Remigio, etiam tum rationario apparitionis armorum magistri, cui multo postea Valentiniani temporibus laques vitam in causa Tripolitanae legationis, eripuit.

[37] Post quae ita completa, Constantius ut iam caelo contiguus, casibusque imperaturus humanis, magniloquentia sufflabatur adulatorum, quos augebat ipse spernendo proiciendoque id genus parum callentes, ut Croesum legimus ideo regno suo Solonem expulisse praecipitem, quia blandiri nesciebat; et Dionysium intentasse poetae Philoxeno Phiioxeno mortem, cum eum recitantem proprios versus absurdos et inconcinnos, laudantibus cunctis, solus audiret immobilis.

[38] Quae res perniciosa vitiorum est altrix. Ea demum enim laus grata esse potestati debet excelsae, cum interdum et vituperationi secus gestorum pateat locus.

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

Res Gestae (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).)

Translations (1)

History Perseus (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).) — 15.5 focus

[1] Now there arises in this afflicted state of affairs a storm of new calamities, with no less mischief to the provinces; and it would have destroyed everything at once, had not Fortune, arbitress of human chances, brought to an end with speedy issue a most formidable uprising.

[2] Since through long neglect Gaul was enduring bitter massacres, pillage, and the ravages of fire, as the savages plundered at will and no one helped, Silvanus, an infantry commander thought capable of redressing these outrages, came there at the emperor’s order; and Arbetio urged by whatever means he could that this should be hastened, in order that the burden of a perilous undertaking might be imposed upon an absent rival, whose survival even to this time he looked upon as an affliction.

[3] A certain Dynamius, superintendent of the emperor’s pack-animals,¹ had asked Silvanus for letters of recommendation to his friends, in order to make himself very conspicuous, as if he were one of his intimates. On obtaining this request, for Silvanus, suspecting nothing, had innocently granted it, he kept the letters, intending to work some mischief at the proper time.

[4] So when the abovementioned commander was traversing Gaul in the service of the government and driving forth the savages, who had now lost their confidence and courage, this same Dynamius, being restless in action, like the crafty man he was and practised in deceit, devised a wicked plot. He had as abettors and fellow conspirators, as uncertain rumours declared, Lampadius,² the praetorian prefect, and Eusebius, former keeper of the privy purse,³ who had been nicknamed Mattyocopus,⁴ and Aedesius, late master of the rolls,⁵ all of whom the said prefect had arranged to have called to the consulship as his nearest friends. With a sponge he effaced the lines of writing, leaving only the signature intact, and wrote above it another text far different from the original, indicating that Silvanus in obscure terms was asking and urging his assistants within the palace or without official position, including both Tuscus Albinus and many more, to help him, aiming as he was at a loftier position and soon to mount to the imperial throne.

[5] This packet of letters, thus forged at his pleasure to assail the life of an innocent man, the prefect received from Dynamius, and coming into the emperor’s private room at an opportune time and finding him alone, secretly handed it to him, accustomed as he was eagerly to investigate these and similar charges. Thereby the prefect hoped that he would be rewarded by the emperor, as a most watchful and careful guardian of his safety. And when these letters, patched together with cunning craft, were read to the consistory,⁶ orders were given that those tribunes whose names were mentioned in the letters should be imprisoned, and that the private individuals should be brought to the capital from the provinces.

[6] But Malarichus, commander of the gentiles,⁷ was at once struck with the unfairness of the procedure, and summoning his colleagues, vigorously protested, exclaiming that men devoted to the empire ought not to be made victims of cliques and wiles. And he asked that he himself—leaving as hostages his relatives and having Mallobaudes, tribune of the heavy-armed guard, as surety for his return—might be commissioned to go quickly and fetch Silvanus, who was not entering upon any such attempt as those most bitter plotters had trumped up. Or as an alternative, he asked that he might make a like promise and that Mallobaudes be allowed to hurry there and perform what he himself had promised to do.

[7] For he declared that he knew beyond question that, if any outsider should be sent, Silvanus, being by nature apprehensive, even when there was nothing alarming, would be likely to upset the peace.

[8] But although his advice was expedient and necessary, yet he was talking vainly to the winds. For by Arbetio’s advice Apodemius, an inveterate and bitter enemy of every patriot, was sent with a letter to recall Silvanus. He, caring little for what might happen, on arriving in Gaul, departed from the instructions given him on his setting out and remained there without either interviewing Silvanus or citing him to come to court by delivering the letter; and associating with himself the fiscal agent of the province, as if the said infantry commander were proscribed and now to be executed, he abused his dependents and slaves with the arrogance of an enemy.

[9] In the meantime, however, while Silvanus’ presence was awaited and Apodemius was disturbing the peace, Dynamius, in order to maintain the credibility of his wicked inventions with a stronger argument, had made up a letter tallying with the one which he had presented to the emperor through the prefect, and sent it to the tribune of the Cremona armory, in the name of Silvanus and Malarichus; in this letter the tribune, as one privy to their secret designs, was admonished to prepare everything with speed.

[10] When the tribune had read this, hesitating for a long time and puzzling as to what in the world it meant (for he did not remember that the men whose letter he had received had ever talked with him about any confidential business), he sent the identical letter back to Malarichus by the carrier who had brought it, and with him a soldier, begging Malarichus to explain openly what he wanted, and not so enigmatically. For he declared that, being a somewhat rude and plain man, he had not understood what had been obscurely intimated.

[11] Malarichus, on unexpectedly receiving this, being even then troubled and sad, and grievously lamenting his own lot and that of his fellow-countryman Silvanus, called together the Franks, who at that time were numerous and influential in the palace, and now spoke more boldly, raising an outcry over the disclosure of the plot and the unveiling of the deceit by which their lives were avowedly aimed at.

[12] And on learning this, the emperor decided that the matter should be investigated searchingly through the medium of his council and all his officers. And when the judges had taken their seats, Florentius, son of Nigrinianus, at the time deputy master of the offices,⁸ on scrutinizing the script with greater care, and finding a kind of shadow, as it were, of the former letters,⁹ perceived what had been done, namely, that the earlier text had been tampered with and other matter added quite different from what Silvanus had dictated, in accordance with the intention of this patched-up forgery.

[13] Accordingly, when this cloud of deceit had broken away, the emperor, learning of the events from a faithful report, deprived the prefect of his powers, and gave orders that he should be put under examination; but he was acquitted through an energetic conspiracy of many persons. Eusebius, however, former count of the privy purse,¹⁰ on being put upon the rack, admitted that this had been set on foot with his cognizance.

[14] Aedesius, who maintained with stout denial that he had known nothing of what was done, got off scot-free. And so at the close of the business all those were acquitted whom the incriminating report had forced to be produced for trial; in fact Dynamius, as if given distinction by his illustrious conduct, was bidden to govern Etruria and Umbria with the rank of corrector.¹¹

[15] Meanwhile Silvanus, stationed at Cologne and learning from his friends’ constant messages what Apodemius was undertaking to the ruin of his fortunes, knowing the pliant mind of the fickle emperor, and fearing lest he should be condemned to death absent and unheard, was put in a most difficult position and thought of entrusting himself to the good faith of the savages.

[16] But he was prevented by Laniogaisus, at that time a tribune, whom I have earlier stated to have been the sole witness of Constans’ death, while he was serving as a subaltern.¹² He assured Silvanus that the Franks, whose fellow-countryman he was, would kill him or on receipt of a bribe betray him. So Silvanus, seeing no safety under present conditions, was driven to extreme measures, and having gradually spoken more boldly with the chief officers, he aroused them by the greatness of the reward he promised; then as a temporary expedient he tore the purple decorations from the standards of the cohorts and the companies, and so mounted to the imperial dignity.

[17] And while this was going on in Gaul, as the day was already drawing to its close, an unexpected messenger reached Milan, openly declaring that Silvanus, aiming higher than the command of the infantry, had won over his army and risen to imperial eminence.

[18] Constantius, struck down by the weight of this unexpected mischance as by a thunderbolt of Fate, called a council at about midnight, and all the chief officials hastened to the palace. And when no one’s mind or tongue was equal to showing what ought to be done, mention in subdued tones was made of Ursicinus, as a man conspicuous for his sagacity in the art of war, and one who had been without reason provoked by serious injustice. And when he had been summoned by the master of ceremonies¹³ (which is the more honourable way) and had entered the council chamber, he was offered the purple to kiss much more graciously than ever before. Now it was the emperor Diocletian who was the first to introduce this foreign and royal form of adoration, whereas we have read that always before our emperors were saluted like the higher officials.¹⁴

[19] So the man who shortly before with malicious slander was called the maelstrom of the East and a seeker after acquisition of imperial power through his sons, then became a most politic leader and mighty fellow-soldier of Constantine’s, and the only person to extinguish the fire; but he was really being attacked under motives honourable, to be sure, but yet insidious. For great care was being taken that Silvanus should be destroyed as a very brave rebel; or, if that should fail, that Ursicinus, already deeply gangrened, should be utterly annihilated, in order that a rock¹⁵ so greatly to be dreaded should not be left.

[20] Accordingly, when arrangements were being made for hastening his departure, and the general undertook the refutation of the charges brought against him, the emperor, forestalling him by a mild address, forbade it, declaring that it was not the time for taking up the defence of a disputed case, when the urgency of pressing affairs which should be mitigated before it grew worse, demanded that parties should mutually be restored to their old-time harmony.

[21] Accordingly, after a many-sided debate, this point was chiefly discussed, namely, by what device Silvanus might be led to think that the emperor even then had no knowledge of his action. And they invented a plausible means of strengthening his confidence, advising him in a complimentary letter to receive Ursicinus as his successor and return with his dignities unimpaired.

[22] After this had been thus settled, Ursicinus was ordered to set forth at once, accompanied (as he had requested) by some tribunes and ten of the body-guard, to assist the exigencies of the state. Among these I myself was one, with my colleague Verinianus; all the rest were relatives and friends.

[23] And when he left, each of us attended him for a long distance in fear only for our own safety. But although we were, like gladiators,¹⁶ cast before ravening wild beasts, yet reflecting that melancholy events after all have this good sequel, that they give way to good fortune, we admired that saying of Tully’s, delivered even from the inmost depths of truth itself, which runs as follows: And although it is most desirable that our fortune always remain wholly favourable, yet that evenness of life does not give so great a sense of satisfaction as when, after wretchedness and disaster, fortune is recalled to a better estate.¹⁷

[24] Accordingly, we hastened by forced marches, since the commander-in-chief of the army, in his zeal, wished to appear in the suspected districts before any report of the usurpation had made its way into Italy. But for all our running haste, Rumour had flown before us by some aerial path and revealed our coming; and on arriving at Cologne we found everything above our reach.

[25] For since a great crowd assembled from all sides gave a firm foundation to the enterprise so timidly begun, and large forces had been mustered, it seemed, in view of the state of affairs, more fitting that our general¹⁸ should complaisantly favour the upstart¹⁹ emperor’s purpose and desire to be strengthened in the growth of his power by deceptive omens; to the end that by means of manifold devices of flattery his feeling of security might be made more complete, and he might be caught off his guard against anything hostile.

[26] But the issue of this project seemed difficult; for special care had to be observed that the onsets should take advantage of the right moment, neither anticipating it nor falling short of it. Since if they should break out prematurely, we were all sure to suffer death under a single sentence.

[27] However, our general, being kindly received and forcing himself-since our very commission bent our necks-formally to reverence the high-aiming wearer of the purple, was welcomed as a distinguished and intimate friend. In freedom of access and honourable place at the royal table he was so preferred to others that he came to be confidentially consulted about the most important affairs.

[28] Silvanus took it ill that while unworthy men were raised to the consulship and to high positions, he and Ursicinus alone, after having toiled through such heavy and repeated tasks for the government, had been so scorned that he himself had been cruelly harassed in an unworthy controversy through the examination of friends of his, and summoned to trial for treason, while Ursicinus, haled back from the East, was delivered over to the hatred of his enemies; and these continual complaints he made both covertly and openly.

[29] We however were alarmed, in spite of these and similar speeches, at the uproarious complaints of the soldiers on every hand, pleading their destitution and eager to burst through the passes of the Cottian Alps²⁰ with all speed.

[30] Amid this perplexing distress of spirit we kept casting about in secret investigation for some plan likely to have results; and in the end, after often changing our minds through fear, we resolved to search with the greatest pains for discreet representatives, to bind our communication with solemn oaths, and try to win over the Bracchiati and Cornuti, troops wavering in their allegiance and ready to be swayed by any influence for an ample bribe.

[31] Accordingly, the matter was arranged through some common soldiers as go-betweens, men who through their very inconspicuousness were suited to accomplish it; and just as sunrise was reddening the sky, a sudden group of armed men, fired by the expectation of rewards, burst forth; and as usually happens in critical moments, made bolder by slaying the sentinels, they forced their way into the palace, dragged Silvanus from a chapel where he had in breathless fear taken refuge, while on his way to the celebration of a Christian service, and butchered him with repeated sword-thrusts.

[32] So fell by this manner of death a general of no slight merits, who through fear due to the slanders in which he was ensnared during his absence by a clique of his enemies, in order to save his life had resorted to the uttermost measures of defence.

[33] For although he held Constantius under obligation through gratitude for that timely act of coming over to his side with his soldiers before the battle of Mursa,²¹ yet he feared him as variable and uncertain, although he could point also to the valiant deeds of his father Bonitus, a Frank it is true, but one who in the civil war often fought vigorously on the side of Constantine against the soldiers of Licinius.

[34] Now it had happened that before anything of the kind was set on foot in Gaul, the people at Rome in the Great Circus (whether excited by some story or by some presentiment is uncertain) cried out with a loud voice: Silvanus is vanquished.²²

[35] Accordingly, when Silvanus had been slain at Cologne, as has been related, the emperor learned of it with inconceivable joy, and swollen with vanity and pride, ascribed this also to the prosperous course of his own good fortune, in accordance with the way in which he always hated brave and energetic men, as Domitian did in times gone by, yet tried to overcome them by every possible scheme of opposition.

[36] And so far was he from praising conscientious service, that he actually wrote that Ursicinus had embezzled funds from the Gallic treasury, which no one had touched. And he had ordered the matter to be closely examined, questioning Remigius, who at that time was already auditor of the general’s office of infantry supplies, and whose fate it was, long afterwards, in the days of Valentinian, to take his life with the halter because of the affair of the embassy from Tripoli.²³

[37] After this turn of affairs, Constantius, as one that now touched the skies with his head and would control all human chances, was puffed up by the grandiloquence of his flatterers, whose number he himself increased by scorning and rejecting those who were not adepts in that line; as we read of Croesus,²⁴ that he drove Solon headlong out of his kingdom for the reason that he did not know how to flatter; and of Dionysius, that he threatened the poet Philoxenus²⁵ with death, because when the tyrant was reading aloud his own silly and unrythmical verses, and every one else applauded, the poet alone listened unmoved.

[38] But this fault is a pernicious nurse of vices. For praise ought to be acceptable in high places only when opportunity is also sometimes given for reproach of things ill done.

Notes on the current edition

Res Gestae

1. principis iussu perrexit, Val.; primum ipsius superrexit, V.

2. gravabatur . impingeret, BG in lac. of about 3 lines in V.

3. Dynamius quidam, Val. added; G has lac. of 3 letters.

4. solaque, Traube; sola, V.

5. aditum petiturum iuuarent, Petschenig; aditurum, without lac., V.

6. compositum, Val.; co (lac. of 7 letters) sit, V.

7. consueto, secrete obtulit, Haupt; censue terreret (second r added by V 2) e (lac. 8 letters) id V.

8. conclave in tempore, Novák; caperem tempore, V.

9. accepturu praemium, added by Novák.

10. et cautum, added by Novak in lac. of about 9 letters.

11. incidentia parvi ducens, Val.; incidentis, lac. of 27 letters, V; lac. of 6 letters, G.

12. admonito, AG; admonuit, EB; admonit, V. Clark indicates lac.

13. remisit, Her.; misit, V.

14. tumultuando patefactis, Val.; tumultua (lac. of 10 letters) factis, V.

15. reserataque, Kiessling; refe (lac. of 3 letters) que, V.

16. perspicaciter inquiri, Her.; praeter morem inquiri, Traube, Novák; praeterinquiri, V.

17. resedissent, Novák; festidissent, V.

18. umbram, added by Her.; V omits.

19. omnino nescisse, Traube; enim minus scisse, V.

20. et Umbros, Seeck added in lac. of 15 letters.

21. conperiens, Clark; conperiis, V.

22. timensque ne trucidaretur (trucidaretur for perageretur reus, Gronov; -que added by Clark), BG; (lac. of 15 letters) aretur, V.

23. inauditus, Val.; indamnatus, V.

24. agitabatur, E, Eyssen.; cogitabatur, V.

25. erectius, Traube; erectus, V.

26. Ursicini, Val.; sic inimentio, V.

27. Diocletianus Augustus added by Val. ( enim by Gardt.) in lac. of 16 letters.

28. extero (externo, Traube, Novák, Her., cf. Livy, xxix. 19, 4) ritu et regio more, G; extortio ei regio re, V.

29. vorago inuadendaeque, G; uoragi (lac. of 8 letters) uadendaeque, V.

30. Constantii, suggested by Clark, Her.; Con - stantini, V.

31. scopulus, Her., cf. Florus, iv. 9, 1; scrupulus, EBG; scropulus, V.

32. id, added by Gardt.; V omits.

33. et, added by Val.; V omits.

34. ad, E 2G; V omits.

35. omnes propinqui et familiares. iamque, BG; omni (lac. of 21 letters) Iamque, V.

36. tristia, EAG; accidentia, Clark; haberet tristitia recidentia, V.

37. locum suum, Her.; locos (from locis) sunt.

38. V has lac. of 10 letters at end of page; no lac., BG.

39. miseris, Kiessling; seris, V.

40. aeria quadam uia, Novák; aeria uia quadam, Clark, cf. xviii. 6, 3; aeraria quadam, V.

41. flexibilis, Bentley; flexilis, Pet.; fiebilis, V.

42. ad, W 2BG; V omits.

43. et, W 2BG; V omits.

44. fidei et, G in lac. of 22 letters; two letters are erased at the end.

45. Siluanum, W 2G; signorum, Mommsen ( signiorium, B); signarum, V.

46. ut antequam, Traube, Clark ( ut before Siluanus, BG; before Romae, Val.); tantae quam, V.

47. relation , Bentley; ratione, V.

Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae 15.5

John C. Rolfe (Translator)

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Silvanus Francus, magister peditum per Gallias, Coloniae Augustus adpellatur, et xxviii. Imperi die per insidias opprimitur.

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