Part 62 (2/2)

??pte??, ?a? pet??? ????e, ?at' ????t??.”

Which may be thus translated:--

”Want crushes a brave man far worse than age, O Cyrnus! or than fever's fiery rage; Flee, should thy flight beneath the greedy wave, Or from steep rocks but ope a milder grave.”

[178] For the purposes of divination.

[179] This sentence is so mutilated as to be unintelligible, but is filled up by conjecture, founded on a knowledge of the facts, thus: ”who was executed because he had not given up Octavian, who had been formerly proconsul of Africa, and who had taken refuge in his house when accused of some crime.”

[180] The end of this chapter also is lost, as are one or two pa.s.sages in the beginning of Chapter IV.

[181] Ma.n.u.script imperfect.

[182] The Dardanians were a Thracian tribe.

BOOK x.x.x.

ARGUMENT.

I. Para, king of Armenia, being summoned by Valens to Tarsus, and being detained there under pretence of doing him honour, escapes with three hundred of his countrymen; and having baffled the sentinels on the roads, he regains his kingdom on horseback; but not long afterwards he is slain by Duke Trajan at an entertainment.--II. The emba.s.sies of the Emperor Valens and Sapor, king of Persia, who are at variance about the kingdoms of Armenia and Hiberia.--III. Valentinian, after having ravaged several districts of the Allemanni, has a conference with their king Macria.n.u.s, and makes peace with him.--IV. Modestus, the prefect of the praetorium, diverts Valens from his purpose of sitting as a judge--A statement of the condition of the bar, of counsel learned in the law, and the different cla.s.ses of advocates.--V.

Valentinian, intending to wage war against the Sarmatians and the Quadi, who had been devastating Pannonia, marches into Illyric.u.m, and having crossed the Danube, he ravages the territories of the Quadi, burns their villages, and slaughters the inhabitants, without regard to age.--VI. Valentinian, while giving answer, in a great pa.s.sion, to the amba.s.sadors of the Quadi, who are trying to excuse their countrymen, bursts a blood-vessel, and dies.--VII. Who his father was, and what was his conduct as emperor.--VIII. His cruelty, avarice, envy, and cowardice.--IX. His virtues.--X.

Valentinian the younger, the son of Valentinian, is saluted as emperor in the camp at Bregetio.

I.

A.D. 374.

-- 1. While all these difficulties and disturbances had been caused by the perfidy of the Duke Marcellia.n.u.s, in treacherously murdering the king of the Quadi, a terrible crime was committed in the East, where Para, king of Armenia was also murdered by secret treachery; the original cause of which wicked action we have ascertained to be this:--

2. Some men of perverse temperament, who delighted in public misfortune, had concocted a number of accusations against this prince for acts which they imputed to him even when scarcely grown up, and had exaggerated them to Valens. Among these men was the Duke Terentius, a man who always walked about with a downcast melancholy look, and throughout his life was an unwearied sower of discord.

3. He, having formed a combination with a few people of Para's nation, whom a consciousness of their own crimes had filled with fear, was continually harping in his letters to the court on the deaths of Cylax and Artabannes; adding also that this same young king was full of haughtiness in all his conduct, and that he behaved with excessive cruelty to his subjects.

4. In consequence of these letters, Para, as if it were intended that he should become a partaker in a treaty of which existing circ.u.mstances required ratification, was invited to court with all the ceremony to which he was ent.i.tled as a king, and then was detained at Tarsus in Cilicia, with a show of honour, without being able to procure permission to approach the emperor's camp, or to learn why his arrival had been so eagerly pressed; since on this point all around him preserved a rigid silence. At last, however, by means of private information, he learnt that Terentius was endeavouring by letter to persuade the Roman sovereign to send without delay another king to Armenia; lest, out of hatred to Para, and a knowledge of what they had to expect if he returned among them, his nation, which at present was friendly to us, should revolt to the Persians, who had long been eager to reduce them under their power either by violence, fear, or flattery.

5. Para, reflecting on this warning, foreboded grievous mischief for himself; and being a man of forethought and contrivance, as he could not perceive any means of safety, except by a speedy departure, by the advice of his most trusty friends he collected a body of 300 persons who had accompanied him from his own country, and with horses selected for especial speed, acting as men are wont to do under the pressure of great terror and perplexity, that is to say, with more boldness than prudence; late one afternoon he started boldly forth at the head of his escort, formed in one solid body.

6. And when the governor of the province, having received information from the officer who kept the gate, came with prompt energy and found him in the suburb, he earnestly entreated him to remain; but finding that he could not prevail upon him, he quitted him, for fear of his own life.

7. And not long afterwards Para, with his escort, turned back upon the legion which was pursuing him and on the point of overtaking him, and pouring arrows upon them as thick as sparks of fire, though designedly missing them, he put them to flight, filling them, tribune and all, with complete consternation, so that they returned to the city with greater speed than they left it.

8. After this, Para being released from all fear, continued his laborious and rapid journey for two days and two nights, till he reached the Euphrates; where, for want of boats, he was unable to pa.s.s the river, which at that place is full of strong currents and too deep to be forded. His men, not being skilful swimmers, were afraid to trust themselves to the stream, and he himself showed more hesitation than any of them; indeed he would have halted there altogether, if while every one was suggesting one plan or another, he had not at last hit upon the following expedient, which seemed the safest in this emergency.

9. They took a number of little beds which they found in the neighbouring houses, and supported them each on two bladders, of which there were plenty at hand in the vineyards. And then he and his n.o.bles placed themselves each on a bed, leading their horses after them, and so floated down and across the stream; by which contrivance, after extreme danger, they at last reached the opposite bank.

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