Zosimus

“ Indeed when both the care of military discipline, and the distribution of the public money are committed to the same individual, it is probable that he will take some opportunity of acquiring the empire to himself, having every thing in his power which can influence the soldiers with the hope of reward and dread of punishment. ”

“ After this joining his army, which was encamped at no great distance, he brought his forces to the place which he knew to be the residence of the Barbarians. He attacked and slew them without distinction of age, dragging some out of the fens in which they were concealed, and killing others in the water, thus causing a great slaughter of the Barbarians. Timasius, the commander, who admired the valour of the emperor, now desired him to permit the soldiers, who by this time were exhausted with hunger and unable to continue to toil in the marshes, to refresh themselves. ”

“ So great a change in affairs was the death of one man then capable of producing.
Jovian marched through all the towns in great speed, because they were so filled with grief, that the inhabitants could not look patiently on him; such being the custom of those countries. Taking with him the imperial guard, he proceeded to Antioch; whilst the main army attended on Julian’s body, which was carried into Cilicia, and interred in a royal sepulchre in the suburbs of Tarsus. ”

“ Aurelianus, upon hearing of the flight of Zenobia, entered Emisa, where he was cordially welcomed by the citizens, and found a treasure which Zenobia could not carry along with her. He then marched immediately to Palmyra, which he invested on every side, while his troops were supplied with provisions of every kind by the neighbouring country. Meantime the Palmyrenes only derided the Romans, as if they thought it impossible for them to take the city; and one man in particular spoke in very indecent terms of the emperor’s own person. ”

“ From this period the animosity between Eutropius and Stilico was evident, and the subject of general discourse. Yet though they were at variance with each other, they agreed in insulting with security the miseries of the people, the one having given his daughter Maria in marriage to the emperor Honorius, and the other governing Arcadius as if he were a sheep, or any other tame animal. For if any of the subjects had a villa remarkable for elegance, one of them would become its master. ”

“ Finding Honorius in great perplexity, he told him that it was convenient to him to make some concessions, since he was so much embarrassed with the affairs of Italy, and that if he would suffer him to go back to Constantine to inform him of the circumstances in which Italy then stood, he would shortly return with all the forces in Celtica, Spain, and Britain, to the relief of Italy and Rome. ”

“ Notwithstanding the Romans suffered all these disasters they did not lose even one of those provinces. When the republic was changed into a monarchy, and Augustus constituted the Tigris and Euphrates the boundary of the Roman empire, even that circumstance did not deprive them of this country. On the contrary, a considerable time afterwards, when the emperor Gordianus fought against the Persians, and lost his life in the midst of the enemy’s country, the Persians, even after that disaster, were not able to acquire any part of the Roman dominion. ”

“ He threw himself into the sea, preferring rather to trust to the waves than to men who were his greatest enemies.
Theodosius then delivered to Valentinian as much of the empire as his father had possessed; in which he only acted as he was enjoined by his duty to those who so merited his kindness. Having afterwards embodied the choicest soldiers of Maximus with his own, he sent Valentinian into Italy, Celtica, and other countries, to arrange the affairs of his share of the empire. His mother accompanied him, to supply, as much as was possible in a woman, the prudence which his youth required. ”

“ At the same time, Heliocrates, the treasurer, produced in Rome the emperor’s letter, commanding the confiscation of the property of all who had borne any office in the time of Stilico. But as if all these circumstances were not sufficient to satisfy the evil genius that held mankind in bonds of wickedness, and confounded all things through the neglect of sacred observances, the former disasters were heightened by an additional one, which thus happened. ”

“ The Romans and the Albans being at war, and both prepared for battle, a monstrous figure appeared, clothed in a black skin, find crying out, that Pluto and Proserpine commanded sacrifices to be made to them before they fought, it disappeared. On which, the Romans, who were terrified at the sight, made an altar underground, and when they had sacrificed on it, buried it at a depth of twenty feet, in order that it might not be found by any but themselves. ”

“ The soldiers of Aemilianus, who saw that his conduct was more like that of a private sentinel than of an emperor, now put him to death unfit for so weighty a charge.
By these means Valerianus became emperor with universal consent, and employed himself in the regulation of affairs. But the excursions of the Scythians, and of the Marcomanni, who made an inroad into all the countries adjacent to the empire, reduced Thessalonica to extreme danger; and though they were with much difficulty compelled to raise the siege by the brave defence of those within, yet all Greece was in alarm. ”

“ Thus happened this revolt or defection of Britain and the Celtic nations, when Constantine usurped the empire, by whose negligent government the barbarians were emboldened to commit such devastations. In the meantime, Alaric, finding that he could not procure a peace on the conditions which he proposed, nor had received any hostages, once more attacked Rome, and threatened to storm it if the citizens refused to join with him against the emperor Honorius. ”

“ Constantine, advancing with his army to Rome, encamped in a field before the city, which was broad and therefore convenient for cavalry. Maxentius in the mean time shut himself up within the walls, and sacrificed to the gods, and, moreover, consulted the Sibylline oracles concerning the event of the war. Finding a prediction, that whoever designed any harm to the Romans should die a miserable death, he applied it to himself, because he withstood those that came against Rome, and wished to take it. ”

“ By these means, the Roman empire, having been devastated by degrees, is become the habitation of the Barbarians, or rather having lost all its inhabitants, is reduced to such a form, that no person can distinguish where its cities formerly stood. That affairs were thus brought into so melancholy a state will be evident from a particular narrative of them. The emperor Theodosius, having consigned Italy, Spain, Celtica, and Libya to his son Honorius, died of a disease on his journey towards Constantinople. ”

“ Rufinus, on learning the calamities which Greece had sustained, was still more anxious to be emperor; for now that the commonwealth was in confusion, there appeared to him no obstacle to such an enterprise. Stilico, having caused a considerable number of troops to embark, hastened to assist the Achaians in their distress. Arriving in the Peloponnesus, he compelled the Barbarians to fly to Pholoe, where he might with ease have destroyed them all, through the want of provisions, had he not yielded himself up to luxury and licentiousness. ”

“ At the same time, while Constantius continued in the east, Julian preferred to frustrate his design. The summer being advanced, he had no sooner settled affairs among the Barbarians beyond the Rhine, having in part forced them to moderation by the sword, and partly persuaded them by experience of the past to prefer peace to war, than he put his army in a posture to take a long journey; and having appointed officers both civil and military to govern the towns and the borders, he marched his army towards the Alps. ”

“ But Constantine destroyed that security by removing the greater part of the soldiers from those barriers of the frontiers, and placing them in towns that had no need of defenders; thus depriving those who were exposed to the Barbarians of all defence, and oppressing the towns that were quiet with so great a multitude of soldiers, that many of them were totally forsaken by the inhabitants. He likewise rendered his soldiers effeminate by accustoming them to public spectacles and pleasures. ”

“ Gallus was so supine in the administration of the empire, that the Scythians in the first place terrified all the neighbouring nations, and then laid waste all the countries as far by degrees as the sea coast; not leaving one nation subject to the Romans unpillaged, and taking almost all the unfortified towns, and many that were fortified. Besides the war on every side, which was insupportably burdensome to them, the cities and villages were infested with a pestilence, which swept away the remainder of mankind in those regions ”

“ Sebastianus, observing the indolence and effeminacy both of the tribunes and soldiers, and that all they had been taught was only how to fly, and to have desires more suitable to women than to men, requested no more than two thousand men of his own choice. He well knew the difficulty of commanding a multitude of ill-disciplined dissolute men, and that a small number might more easily be reclaimed from their effeminacy; and, moreover, that it was better to risk a few than all. By these arguments having prevailed upon the emperor, he obtained his desire. ”

“ For this reason Rufinus professed on every occasion great kindness for the young man, and was continually speaking in his commendation to the emperor Arcadius, who made him count of the east, a dignity which authorizes every one on whom it is conferred to superintend the conduct of all the prefects of the provinces through the east, and to correct whatever is improperly done. ”

“ Magnentius, therefore being deprived of all hope, and apprehensive lest the remnant of his army should deliver him to Constantius, deemed it best to retire from Pannonia, and to enter Italy, in order to raise an army there for another attempt. But when he heard that the people of Rome were in favour of Constantius, either from hatred to himself, or because they had heard of the event of the battle, he resolved to cross the Alps, and seek for himself a refuge among the nations on that side. ”

“ The Saxons, who exceeded all the barbarians in those regions, in courage, strength and hardiness, sent out the Quadi, a part of their own body, against the Roman dominions. Being obstructed by the Franks who resided near them, and who were afraid of giving Caesar a just occasion of making another attack on them, they shortly built themselves a number of boats, in which they sailed along the Rhine beyond the territory of the Franks, and entered the Roman empire. ”

“ But hearing that the emperor was advancing with an army, they went into the interior, plundering all the neighbourhood of Doberus and Pelagonia. There they sustained a loss of three thousand men, who were met with by the Dalmatian cavalry, and with the rest of their force engaged the army of the emperor. Great numbers were slain in this battle on both sides, but the Romans, by a pretended flight, drew the Barbarians into an ambuscade and killed more than fifty thousand of them. ”

“ While such was the posture of affairs in that part of the empire which was attached to Valens, the emperor Valentinian, who resided beyond the Alps, was attacked by a great and unexpected danger. The Germans, recollecting their sufferings under the administration of Julian, as soon as they heard of his death, shook off all fear, and resuming their natural audacity, invaded the nations subject to the Roman empire. Being met by the emperor, a severe battle ensued, in which the Barbarians were victorious. The Roman army dishonourably fled. ”

“ When his effigy according to custom was exhibited at Rome, Maxentius, the son of Maximianus Herculius, could not endure the sight of Constantine’s good fortune, who was the son of a harlot, while himself, who was the son of so great an emperor, remained at home in indolence, and his father’s empire was enjoyed by others. He therefore associated with himself in the enterprise Marcellianus and Marcellus, two military tribunes, and Lucianus, who distributed the swine’s flesh, with which the people of Rome were provided by the treasury, and the court-guards called Praetoriani. ”

“ On the other hand, Procopius, who was father-in-law to the emperor Valens, was a morose inflexible man, and in many instances spoke the truth boldly. Upon this occasion, being appointed a judge in the case of Timasius, he stated to Saturnius these objections: that Bargus was not a proper person to accuse Timasius, that a person who had held so many important offices, and a man of so great honour, ought not to perish at the accusation of so mean and worthless an individual, and that it was most improper that a benefactor should suffer from him whom he had patronized. ”

“ Maximinus was of obscure birth, and therefore on his exaltation to the imperial dignity, his excessive insolence in his new authority eclipsed those good qualities with which nature had endowed him. He thus became intolerable to all men, not only doing injuries to those that were in honourable offices, but being guilty of the greatest cruelties in the exercise of his power, bestowing favours only upon sycophants who laid information against quiet persons, by charging them with being debtors to the imperial treasury. ”

“ They were as yet ignorant of any design against Caesar, when some tribunes, who began to suspect the contrivance against him, privately distributed a number of anonymous billets among the soldiers, in which they represented to them, that Caesar, by his judicious conduct had so managed affairs, that almost all of them had erected trophies over the Barbarians; that he had always fought like a private soldier, and was now in extreme danger from the emperor, who would shortly deprive him of his whole army, unless they prevented it. ”