Ammianus Marcellinus, Res Gestae, John C. Rolfe (Translator), val2.14

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[79] Igitur rex Theodericus illiteratus erat et sic obtuso¹ sensu, ut in decem annos regni sui quattuor litteras subscriptionis edicti sui discere nullatenus potuisset. De qua re laminam auream iussit interrasilem² fieri, quattuor litteras legi³ habentem; unde si subscribere voluisset, posita lamina super chartam, per eam pennam ducebat,⁴ ut subscriptio eius tantum⁵ videretur.

[80] Ergo Theodericus, dato consulatu Eutharico, Roma et Ravenna triumphavit qui Eutharicus nimis asper fuit et contra fidem catholicam inimicus.

[81] Post haec Theoderico Verona consistente propter metum gentium facta est lis inter Christianos et Iudaeos Ravennates. Quare Iudaei baptizatos nolentes, dum ludunt⁶ frequenter oblatam aquam⁷ in aquam fluminis iactaverunt. Dehinc accensus est popualus non observantes⁸ neque regi neque Eutharico aut Petro, qui tune episcopus erat, consurgentes ad synagogas, mox eas incenderunt. Quod et in Roma in re⁹ eadem similiter contigit.

[82] Mox Iudaei currentes Veronam, ubi rex erat, agente Triwane praeposito cubiculi, et ipse haereticus favens Iudaeis, insinuans regi factum adversus Christianos. Qui mox iussit propter praesumptionem incendii, ut omnis populus Romanus¹⁰ Ravennates synagogas, quas incendio concremaverunt, data pecunia restaurarent; qui vero non habuissent unde dare fustati per publicum sub voce praeconia ducerentur. Data praecepta ad Eutharicum, Cilligam, et Petrum episcopum secundum hunc tenorem et¹¹ ita adimpletum.

[83] Ex eo enim invenit diabolus locum, quem ad modum hominem bene rem publicam sine querella gubernantem subriperet. Nam mox iussit ad fonticulos in proastio civitatis Veronensis oratorium Santi Stephani, id est¹² altarium, subverti. Item ut nullus Romanus arma usque ad cultellum uteretur vetuit.

[84] Item mulier pauper de gente Gothica, iacens sub porticu non longe a palatio Ravennati, quattuor generavit dracones; duo de occidente in orientem ferri in nubibus a populo visi sunt et in mari praecipitari,¹³ duo portati sunt unum caput habentes. Stella cum facula apparuit, quae dicitur cometes, splendens¹⁴ per dies quindecim. Terrae mota frequenter fuerunt.

[85] Post haec coepit adversus Romanos rex subinde fremere inventa occasione. Cyprianus, qui tune referendarius erat, postea comes sacrarum et magister, actus cupiditate insinuans de Albino patricio, eo quod litteras adversus regnum eius imperatori Iustino misisset; quod factum dum evocatus¹⁵ negaret, tune Beothius patricius, qui magister officiorum erat, in conspectu regis dixit: Falsa est insinuatio Cypriani; sed si Albinus fecit, et ego et cunctus senatus uno consilio fecimus; falsum est, domne rex.

[86] Tunc Cyprianus haesitans, non solum adversus Albinum, sed et adversus Boethium, eius defensorem, deducit falsos testes. Sed rex dolum Romanis tendebat¹⁶ et quaerebat quem ad modum eos interficeret; plus credidit falsis testibus quam senatoribus.

[87] Tunc Albinus et Boetius ducti in custodiam ad baptisterium ecclesiae. Rex vero vocavit Eusebium, praefectum urbis, Ticinum¹⁷ et inaudito Boethio protulit in eum sententiam. Quem mox in agro Calventiano, ubi in custodia habebatur, misere fecit occidi.¹⁸ Qui accepta chorda in fronte diutissime tortus, ita ut oculi eius creparent, sic sub tormenta ad ultimum cum fuste occiditur.

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).) — val2.14 focus

[79] Now King Theodoric was without training in letters, and of such dull comprehension that for ten years of his reign he had been wholly unable to learn the four letters necessary for endorsing his edicts. For that reason he had a golden plate with slits made, containing the four letters legi;¹ then, if he wished to endorse anything, he placed the plate over the paper and drew his pen through the slits, so that only this subscription of his was seen.²

[80] Then Theodoric made Eutharicus³ consul and celebrated triumphs at Rome and at Ravenna. This Eutharicus was an excessively rough man, and an enemy to the Catholic faith.

[81] After this, while Theodoric was remaining at Verona through fear of the neighbouring peoples, strife arose between the Christians and the Jews of the city of Ravenna; accordingly the Jews, being unwilling to be baptised, often in sport threw the holy water that was offered to them into the water of the river. Because of this the people were fired with anger, and without respect for the king, for Eutharicus, or for Peter, who was bishop at the time, they rose against the synagogues and presently set them on fire. And this same thing happened in a similar affair at Rome.

[82] Presently the Jews hastened to Verona, where the king was, and there the head-chamberlain Triwane acted on their behalf; he, too, as a heretic favoured the Jews, and cajoled the king into taking action against the Christians. Accordingly Theodoric, on the presumption that they had resorted to arson, presently gave orders that the whole Roman⁴ population should furnish money for the rebuilding of the synagogues of Ravenna which had been burned; and that those who did not have anything from which they could give should be whipped⁵ through the streets of the city while a herald made proclamation of their offence. This was in substance the order given to Eutharicus, Cilliga, and the Bishop Peter, and thus it was carried out.

[83] Shortly after that the devil found an opportunity to steal for his own a man who was ruling the state well and without complaint. For presently Theodoric gave orders that an oratory of St. Stephen, that is, a high altar, beside the springs in a suburb of the city of Verona, should be destroyed. He also forbade any Roman to carry arms, except a small pen-knife.

[84] Also a poor woman of the Gothic race, lying in a colonnade not far from the palace at Ravenna, gave birth to four snakes; two of these in the sight of the people were carried up on clouds from west to east and then fell into the sea; the two others, which had but a single head, were taken away. A star with a train of fire appeared, of the kind called a comet,⁶ and shone for fifteen days. There were frequent earthquakes.

[85] After this the king began from time to time, when he found an opportunity, to vent his rage upon the Romans. Cyprianus, who was then a referee,⁷ afterwards count of the privy purse and a master,⁸ was led by avarice to make a charge against the patrician Albinus, to the effect that he had sent to the emperor Justinus a letter hostile to Theodoric’s rule. When Albinus was summoned and denied this, the patrician Boethius, who was master of ceremonies, said in the king’s presence: The charge of Cyprianus is false, but if Albinus did that, so also have I and the whole senate with one accord done it; it is false, my Lord King.

[86] Then Cyprianus, after some hesitation, produced false witnesses, not only against Albinus, but against his defender Boethius. Moreover, the king was plotting evil against the Romans and seeking an opportunity for killing them; hence he trusted the false witnesses rather than the senators.

[87] Then Albinus and Boethius were imprisoned in the baptistery of a church. And the king summoned Eusebius, prefect of the city, to Ticinum, and pronounced sentence on Boethius without giving him a hearing. Presently at the Calventian estate,⁹ where Boethius was confined,¹⁰ he had him put to a wretched death. He was tortured for a long time with a cord bound about his forehead so tightly that his eyes cracked in their sockets, and finally, while under torture, he was beaten to death with a cudgel.

Notes on the current edition

Res Gestae

1. obtuso, Zangermeister; obruto] BP; bruto, Henr. Val.

2. interrasilem] B 3 (emended) P 1; interra* silem, B 3; interasilem, p 2.

3. legi] B 1 (ut coni. Reiske); regis, B 1 (emend.) P.

4. ducebat]; duce**t, B 1; duceret, B 2P.

5. tantum]; tamen, Hirschfeld.

6. ludunt] P (coni. parum certe, Momm.); laudent, B 3; ludent, B 3 (emend.); lauant, Hirschfeld; ludibundi, coni. Warmington.

7. aquam, add. Warmington.

8. obseruantes, Momm.; reseruantes, BP.

9. re, Momm.; cena, BP.

10. et (after Romanus), sugg. by Momm.; BP omit.

11. et, Momm.; praecepit et, BP.

12. id est]; idem situm, B; ibidem s., P; Momm. suggests that id est altarium is an interpolation, which seems probable.

13. praecipitari] p 2 (conj.); praecipitati, B; praecipitati sunt, P 1.

14. cometes splendens, Henr. Val.; comes pendens]; comis pendens BP.

15. reuocitus] B; reuocatus, P; euocatus, pref. by Momm.

16. tendebat, Henr. Val.]; tenebat, BP.

17. Ticini] B; Ticinum, pref. by Momm.

18. quem occidi, Momm.; qui ( quem, pl) mox misit rex etfacit occidi, BP.

Ammianus Marcellinus Res Gestae val2.14

John C. Rolfe (Translator)

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