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De Hunnorum et Alanorum, aliarumque Scythiae Asiaticae gentium sedibus et moribus.

[1] Totius autem sementem exitii et cladum originem diversarum, quas Martius furor incendio insolito¹ miscendo cuncta concivit, hanc comperimus causam. Hunorum gens monumentis veteribus leviter nota, ultra paludes Maeoticas glacialem oceanum accolens, omnem modum feritatis excedit.

[2] Ubi quoniam ab ipsis nascendi primitiis infantum ferro sulcantur altius genae, ut pilorum vigor tempestivus emergens, corrugatis cicatricibus hebetetur, senescunt imberbes absque ulla venustate, spadonibus similes, compactis omnes firmisque membris et opimis cervicibus, prodigiose² deformes³ et pandi, ut bipedes existimes bestias, vel quales in commarginandis pontibus effigiati stipites dolantur incompte.

[3] In hominum autem figura, licet insuavi, ita victu⁴ sunt asperi, ut neque igni neque saporatis indigeant cibis, sed radicibus herbarum agrestium, et semicruda cuiusvis pecoris carne vescantur, quam inter femora sua equorumque⁵ terga subsertam, fotu calefaciunt brevi.

[4] Aedificiis nullis umquam tecti, sed haec velut ab usu communi discreta sepulcra declinant. Nec enim apud eos vel arundine fastigatum reperiri tugurium potest. Sed vagi montes peragrantes et silvas, pruinas famem sitimque perferre ab incunabulis adsuescunt. Peregre tecta (nisi adigente maxima necessitate) non subeunt: nec enim⁶ se tutos⁷ existimant esse sub tectis morantes.⁸

[5] Indumentis operiuntur linteis vel ex pellibus silvestrium murum consarcinatis; nec alia illis domestica vestis est, alia forensis. Sed semel obsoleti coloris tunica collo inserta, non ante deponitur aut mutatur, quam diuturna carie in pannulos diffluxerit⁹ defrustata.

[6] Galeris incurvis capita tegunt, hirsuta crura coriis munientes haedinis, eorumque calcei formulis nullis aptati, vetant incedere gressibus liberis. Qua¹⁰ causa ad pedestres parum adcommodati sunt pugnas, verum equis prope affixi, duris quidem sed deformibus, et muliebriter eisdem non numquam insidentes, funguntur muneribus consuetis. Ex ipsis quivis in hac natione pernox et perdius emit et vendit, cibumque sumit et potum, et inclinatus cervici angustae iumenti, in altum soporem ad usque varietatem effunditur somniorum.

[7] Et deliberatione super rebus proposita seriis, hoc habitu omnes in commune consultant. Aguntur autem nulla severitate regali, sed tumultuario primatum ductu contenti, perrumpunt quicquid incident.

[8] Et pugnant non¹¹ numquam lacessiti, ineuntes¹² proelia cuneatim, variis vocibus sonantibus torvum. Utque ad pernicitatem sunt leves et repentini, ita subito de industria dispersi incessunt,¹³ et¹⁴ incomposita acie, cum caede vasta discurrunt, nec invadentes vallum, nec castra inimica pilantes, prae nimia rapiditate cernuntur.

[9] Eoque omnium acerrimos facile dixeris bellatores, quod procul missilibus telis, acutis ossibus pro spiculorum acumine, arte mira coagmentatis, et distantiis decursis¹⁵ comminus ferro sine sui respectu confligunt, hostisque dum mucronum noxias observant, contortis laciniis illigant, ut laqueatis resistentium membris, equitandi vel gradiendi adimant facultatem.

[10] Nemo apud eos arat nec stivam aliquando contingit. Omnes enim sine sedibus fixis, absque lare vel lege aut victu stabili dispalantur, semper fugientium similes, cum carpentis in quibus habitant: ubi coniuges taetra illis vestimenta contexunt, et coeunt cum maritis, et pariunt, et ad usque pubertatem nutriunt pueros. Nullusque apud eos interrogatus respondere unde oritur potest, alibi conceptus natusque procul, et longius educatus.

[11] Per indutias infidi et inconstantes,¹⁶ ad omnem auram incidentis spei novae perquam mobiles, totum furori incitatissimo tribuentes. Inconsultorum animalium ritu, quid honestum inhonestumve sit, penitus ignorantes, flexiloqui et obscuri, nullius religionis vel superstitionis reverentia aliquando districti, auri cupidine immensa flagrantes, adeo permutabiles et irasci faciles ut eodem aliquotiens die a sociis nullo irritante saepe desciscant, itidemque propitientur, nemine leniente.

[12] Hoc expeditum indomitumque hominum genus, externa praedandi aviditate flagrans immani, per rapinas finitimorum grassatum et caedes, ad usque Halanos pervenit, veteres Massagetas, qui unde sint vel quas incolant terras (quoniam huc hue res prolapsa est), consentaneum est demonstrare, geographica perplexitate monstrata, quae diu multimoda tractans¹⁷ et varia, tandem repperit veritatis interna.¹⁸

[13] Abundans aquarum¹⁹ Hister advenarum magnitudine fluenti Sauromatas praetermeat, ad usque amnem Tanaim pertinentes, qui Asiam terminat ab Europa. Hoc transito in immensum extentas Scythiae solitudines Halani inhabitant, ex montium appellatione cognominati, paulatimque nationes conterminas crebritate victoriarum attritas ad gentilitatem sui vocabuli traxerunt (ut Persae).

[14] Inter hos Nervi mediterranea incolunt loca, vicini verticibus celsis, quos praeruptos geluque torpentes, aquilones adstringunt. Post quos Vidini sunt et Geloni, perquam feri, qui detractis peremptorum hostium cutibus, indumenta sibi equisque tegmina conficiunt bellatoria. Gelonis Agathyrsi collimitant, interstincti²⁰ colore caeruleo corpora simul et crines, et humiles quidem minutis atque raris, nobiles vero latius²¹ fucatis et densioribus notis.

[15] Post hos Melanchlaenas et Anthropophagos palari accepimus per diversa, humanis corporibus victitantes, quibus ob haec alimenta nefanda desertis, finitimi omnes longa petiere terrarum. Ideoque plaga omnis orienti aestivo obiecta, usque dum venitur ad Seras, inhabitabilis mansit.

[16] Parte alia prope Amazonum sedes, Halani sunt orienti acclines,²² diffusi per populosas gentes et amplas, Asiaticos vergentes in tractus, quas dilatari ad usque Gangen accepi, fluvium intersecantem terras Indorum, mareque inundantem australe.

[17] Hi bipertiti²³ per utramque mundi plagam Halani, quorum gentes varias nunc recensere non refert, licet dirempti spatiis longis, per pagos (ut Nomades) vagantur immensos, aevi tamen progressu, ad unum concessere vocabulum, et summatim omnes Halani cognominantur, ob²⁴ mores et modum efferatum vivendi,²⁵ eandemque armaturam.²⁶

[18] Nec enim ulla sunt illis vel²⁷ tuguria, aut versandi vomeris cura, sed carne et copia victitant lactis, plaustris supersidentes, quae operimentis curvatis corticum per solitudines conferunt sine fine distentas. Cumque ad graminea venerint, in orbiculatam figuram locatis sarracis,²⁸ ferino ritu vescuntur, absumptisque pabulis velut carpentis civitates impositas vehunt, maresque supra cum feminis coeunt, et nascuntur in his et educantur infantes, et habitacula sunt haec illis perpetua, et quocumque ierint, illic genuinum existimant larem.

[19] Armenta prae se agentes, cum gregibus pascunt, maximeque equini pecoris est eis sollicitior cura. Ibi campi semper herbescunt, intersitis pomiferis locis: atque ideo transeuntes quolibet, nec alimentis nec pabulis indigent, quod efficit umectum solum et crebri fluminum praetermeantium cursus.

[20] Omnis igitur aetas et sexus imbellis, circa vehicula ipsa versatur,²⁹ muniisque distringitur mollibus: iuventus vero equitandi usu a prima pueritia coalescens, incedere pedibus existimat vile, et omnes multiplici disciplina prudentes sunt bellatores. Unde etiam Persae, qui sunt originitus Scythae, pugnandi sunt peritissimi.

[21] Proceri autem Halani paene sunt omnes et pulchri, crinibus mediocriter flavis, oculorum temperata torvitate terribiles, et armorum levitate veloces, Hunisque per omnia suppares, verum victu mitiores et cultu, latrocinando et venando ad usque Maeotica stagna, et Cimmerium Bosporum, itidemque Armenios discurrentes, et Mediam.

[22] Utque hominibus quietis et placidis otium est voluptabile, ita illos pericula iuvant et bella. Iudicatur ibi beatus, qui in proelio profuderit animam, senescentes enim et fortuitis mortibus mundo digressos, ut degeneres et ignavos conviciis atrocibus insectantur, nec quicquam est quod elatius iactent, quam homine quolibet occiso, proque exuviis gloriosis interfectorum, avulsis capitibus, detractas pelles pro phaleris iumentis accommodant bellatoriis.

[23] Nec templum apud eos visitur aut delubrum, ne tugurium quidem culmo tectum cerni usquam potest, sed gladius barbarico ritu humi figitur nudus, eumque ut Martem, regionum quas circumcolunt³⁰ praesulem, verecundius colunt.

[24] Futura mire praesagiunt mode. Nam rectiores virgas vimineas colligentes, easque cum incantamentis quibusdam secretis, praestituto tempore discernentes, aperte quid portenditur³¹ norunt.

[25] Servitus quid sit ignorant,³² omnes generoso semine procreati, iudicesque etiam nunc nune eligunt diuturno bellandi usu spectatos. Sed ad reliqua textus propositi revertamur.

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).) — 31.2 focus

[1] However, the seed and origin of all the ruin and various disasters that the wrath of Mars aroused, putting in turmoil all places with unwonted fires, we have found to be this. The people of the Huns,¹ but little known from ancient records, dwelling beyond the Maeotic Sea near the ice-bound ocean, exceed every degree of savagery.

[2] Since there the cheeks of the children are deeply furrowed with the steel² from their very birth, in order that the growth of hair, when it appears at the proper time, may be checked by the wrinkled scars, they grow old without beards and without any beauty, like eunuchs. They all have compact, strong limbs and thick necks, and are so monstrously ugly and misshapen, that one might take them for two-legged beasts or for the stumps, rough-hewn into images, that are used in putting sides to bridges.³

[3] But although they have the form of men, however ugly, they are so hardy in their mode of life that they have no need of fire nor of savory food, but eat the roots of wild plants and the half-raw flesh of any kind of animal whatever, which they put between their thighs and the backs of their horses, and thus warm it a little.

[4] They are never protected by any buildings, but they avoid these like tombs, which are set apart from everyday use. For not even a hut thatched with reed can be found among them. But roaming at large amid the mountains and woods, they learn from the cradle to endure cold, hunger, and thirst. When away from their homes they never enter a house unless compelled by extreme necessity; for they think they are not safe when staying under a roof.

[5] They dress in linen cloth or in the skins of field-mice sewn together, and they wear the same clothing indoors and out. But when they have once put their necks into a faded tunic, it is not taken off or changed until by long wear and tear it has been reduced to rags and fallen from them bit by bit.

[6] They cover their heads with round caps and protect their hairy legs with goatskins; their shoes are formed upon no lasts, and so prevent their walking with free step. For this reason they are not at all adapted to battles on foot, but they are almost glued to their horses, which are hardy, it is true, but ugly, and sometimes they sit them woman-fashion and thus perform their ordinary tasks. From their horses by night or day every one of that nation buys and sells, eats and drinks, and bowed over the narrow neck of the animal relaxes into a sleep so deep as to be accompanied by many dreams.

[7] And when deliberation is called for about weighty matters, they all consult as a common body in that fashion.⁴ They are subject to no royal restraint, but they are content with the disorderly government of their important men, and led by them they force their way through every obstacle.

[8] They also sometimes fight when provoked, and then they enter the battle drawn up in wedge-shaped masses, while their medley of voices makes a savage noise. And as they are lightly equipped for swift motion, and unexpected in action, they purposely divide suddenly into scattered bands and attack, rushing about in disorder here and there, dealing terrific slaughter; and because of their extraordinary rapidity of movement they are never seen to attack a rampart or pillage an enemy’s camp.

[9] And on this account you would not hesitate to call them the most terrible of all warriors, because they fight from a distance with missiles having sharp bone, instead of their usual points,⁵ joined to the shafts with wonderful skill; then they gallop over the intervening spaces and fight hand to hand with swords, regardless of their own lives; and while the enemy are guarding against wounds from the sabre-thrusts, they throw strips of cloth plaited into nooses over their opponents and so entangle them that they fetter their limbs and take from them the power of riding or walking.⁶

[10] No one in their country ever plows a field or touches a plow-handle. They are all without fixed abode, without hearth, or law, or settled mode of life, and keep roaming from place to place, like fugitives, accompanied by the wagons in which they live; in wagons their wives weave for them their hideous garments, in wagons they cohabit with their husbands, bear children, and rear them to the age of puberty. None of their offspring, when asked, can tell you where he comes from, since he was conceived in one place, born far from there, and brought up still farther away.

[11] In truces they are faithless and unreliable, strongly inclined to sway to the motion of every breeze of new hope that presents itself, and sacrificing every feeling to the mad impulse of the moment. Like unreasoning beasts, they are utterly ignorant of the difference between right and wrong; they are deceitful and ambiguous in speech, never bound by any reverence for religion or for superstition. They burn with an infinite thirst for gold, and they are so fickle and prone to anger, that they often quarrel with their allies without provocation, more than once on the same day, and make friends with them again without a mediator.

[12] This race of untamed men, without encumbrances, aflame with an inhuman desire for plundering others’ property, made their violent way amid the rapine and slaughter of the neighbouring peoples as far as the Halani, once known as the Massagetae. And since we have come to this point, it is in place to tell of the origin and dwelling-place of this people also, and to point out the confused opinions of geographers, who after many different attempts to deal with the subject have at last come upon the core of the truth.⁷

[13] The Hister,⁸ filled to overflowing by a great number of tributaries, flows past the Sauromatians, and these extend as far as the river Tanais,⁹ which separates Asia from Europe. On the other side of this river¹⁰ the Halani, so called from the mountain range of the same name,¹¹ inhabit the measureless wastes of Scythia; and by repeated victories they gradually wore down the peoples whom they met and like the Persians incorporated them under their own national name.

[14] Among these the Nervii¹² inhabit the interior of the country near the lofty, precipitous peaks nipped by the north winds and benumbed with ice and snow. Behind these are the Vidini¹³ and the Geloni, exceedingly savage races, who strip the skins from their slain enemies to make clothing for themselves and coverings for their horses in war.¹⁴ On the frontier of the Geloni are the Agathyrsi, who checker their bodies and dye their hair with a blue colour¹⁵ —the common people with a few small marks, but the nobles with more and broader spots of dye.¹⁶

[15] Beyond these are the Melanchlaenae¹⁷ and the Anthropophagi, who according to report lead a nomadic life and feed upon human flesh; and because of this abominable food they are left to themselves and all their former neighbours have moved to distant parts of the earth. And so the entire north-eastern¹⁸ tract, until one comes to the Seres,¹⁹ has remained uninhabitable.

[16] In another part of the country, near the abodes of the Amazons, the Halani mount to the eastward, divided into populous and extensive nations; these reach as far as Asia, and, as I have heard, stretch all the way to the river Ganges, which flows through the territories of India and empties into the southern ocean.

[17] Thus the Halani (whose various peoples it is unnecessary now to enumerate) are divided between the two²⁰ parts of the earth, but although widely separated from each other and roaming over vast tracts, as Nomads do, yet in the course of time they have united under one name, and are, for short, all called Halani because of the similarity in their customs, their savage mode of life, and their weapons.

[18] For they have no huts and care nothing for using the plowshare, but they live upon flesh and an abundance of milk, and dwell in wagons, which they cover with rounded canopies of bark and drive over the boundless wastes. And when they come to a place rich in grass, they place their carts in a circle and feed like wild beasts. As soon as the fodder is used up, they place their cities, as we might call them, on the wagons and so convey them: in the wagons the males have intercourse with the women, and in the wagons their babes are born and reared; wagons form their permanent dwellings, and wherever they come, that place they look upon as their natural home.

[19] Driving their plow-cattle before them, they pasture them with their flocks, and they give particular attention to breeding horses. In that land the fields are always green, and here and there are places set thick with fruit trees. Hence, wherever they go, they lack neither food for themselves nor fodder for their cattle, because of the moist soil and the numerous courses of rivers that flow hard by them.

[20] Therefore, all those who through age or sex are unfit for war remain close by the wagons and are occupied in light tasks; but the young men grow up in the habit of riding from their earliest boyhood and regard it as contemptible to go on foot; and by various forms of training they are all skilled warriors. From the same causes the Persians²¹ also, who are Scythians by origin, are highly expert in fighting.

[21] Moreover, almost all the Halani are tall and handsome, their hair inclines to blond, by the ferocity of their glance they inspire dread, subdued though it is. They are light and active in the use of arms. In all respects they are somewhat like the Huns, but in their manner of life and their habits they are less savage. In their plundering and hunting expeditions they roam here and there as far as the Maeotic Sea and the Cimmerian Bosporus, and also to Armenia and Media.

[22] Just as quiet and peaceful men find pleasure in rest, so the Halani delight in danger and warfare. There the man is judged happy who has sacrificed his life in battle, while those who grow old and depart from the world by a natural death they assail with bitter reproaches, as degenerate and cowardly; and there is nothing in which they take more pride than in killing any man whatever: as glorious spoils of the slain they tear off their heads, then strip off their skins²² and hang them upon their war-horses as trappings.

[23] No temple or sacred place is to be seen in their country, not even a hut thatched with straw can be discerned anywhere, but after the manner of barbarians a naked sword is fixed in the ground and they reverently worship it as their god of war, the presiding deity of those lands over which they range.²³

[24] They have a remarkable way of divining the future; for they gather very straight twigs of osier and sort them out at an appointed time with certain secret incantations, and thus clearly learn what impends.²⁴

[25] They do not know the meaning of slavery, since all are born of noble blood, and moreover they choose as chiefs²⁵ those men who are conspicuous for long experience as warriors. But let us return to what remains of our chosen subject.

Notes on the current edition

Res Gestae

1. insolito, Pet.; incensio et solito, V.

2. prodigiose, V, Kell., Corn.

3. deformes, A, Kell., Corn.; formae, E; formes, V.

4. ita uictu, Her.; ita uisi, Val.; ta nisi, V.

5. equorumque, E, Gardt.; uectorumque, Pet. (cf. Apuleius); uaporumque, V.

6. enim apud eos, V; apud eos del. C. F. W. M. (cf. § 4, line 3).

7. se tutos, C. F. W. M.; secures, EA; ecutos, V.

8. morantes, added by Novák; lac. 10 letters, V.

9. diffluxerit, Ernesti in Index; defluxerit, EA; deffluxerit, V.

10. qua, EA; qua ex, Clark; quas, V

11. non, deleted by Bent.

12. sed ineuntes, V; sed, deleted by Her. as correction of sed in § 7

13. incessunt, Kellerbauer; uigescunt, W. Soisell; iugescunt, V.

14. et, V; ut, Her.

15. distantiis decursis, Brackman; sed distinct (lac. 13 letters), V.

16. et inconstantes, Clark; inconstantes, N 2A; infidi (at end of line) constantes, V.

17. multimoda tractans, Pet.; indagans acute, Pighius (cf. Cic., Verr. 2, 2, 135); lac. Of 9 letters, V.

18. interna (lac. 14 letters) ad hister, V.

19. abundans, Gardt.; aquarum, added by Her.; ad Ister, A; interna, amnium adauctus Hister, Pighius (cf. xv. 4, 4; Mela, ii. 8, etc.).

20. interstincti, Lind.; interstincto, V.

21. latius, Bent.; latis, V.

22. acclines, Lind.; adcliues, EA; declines, V.

23. hi bipertiti, Her.; bipertiti, Gardt.; ibi pertiti, V.

24. ob, added by Val.; V omits.

25. modum efferatum uiuendi, Gardt.; media et efferatam uiuendis, V.

26. eandemque armaturam, Gardt.; similem et armaturam, Val.; lac. indic. by Wagner, Eyssen.; etiam inmatarum, V.

27. illis uel, Her. (cf. 2, 4); illisce, WA; illis celtu gurria, V.

28. sarracis, Lind.; sarraclis, V.

29. uersatur, V; uersatus, Her.

30. circumcolunt, Her.; circumcircant, Voss; circumcircunt, V.

31. portenditur, Val.; portendatur, Hadr. Val.; portetur, V.

32. ignorant, Pet.; ignorabant, V.

Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae 31.2

John C. Rolfe (Translator)

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De Hunnorum et Alanorum, aliarumque Scythiae Asiaticae gentium sedibus et moribus.

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