ΙΟΥΛΙΑΝΟΥ ΑΥΤΟΚΡΑΤΟΡΟΣ

(Julian, Emperor)

ΑΘΗΝΑΙΩΝ ΤΗΙ ΒΟΥΛΗΙ ΚΑΙ ΤΩΙ ΔΗΜΩΙ

(To the Senate and People of Athens.)

Πολλῶν εἰργασμένων τοῖς προγόνοις ὑμῶν, ἐφ᾽ οἷς οὐκ ἐκείνοις μόνον τότε ἐξῆν, ἀλλὰ καὶ ὑμῖν νῦν ἔξεστι φιλοτιμεῖσθαι, καὶ πολλῶν ἐγηγερμένων τροπαίων ὑπέρ τε ἁπάσης τῆς Ἑλλάδος κοινῇ καὶ κατ᾽ ἰδίαν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς τῆς πόλεως, ἐν οἷς ἠγωνίσατο μόνη πρός τε τοὺς ἄλλους Ἕλληνας καὶ πρὸς τὸν βάρβαρον, οὐδέν ἐστι τηλικοῦτον ἔργον οὐδὲ ἀνδραγαθία τοσαύτη, [B] πρὸς ἣν οὐκ ἔνεστι καὶ ταῖς ἄλλαις ἁμιλληθῆναι πόλεσι. τὰ μὲν γὰρ μεθ᾽ ὑμῶν καὶ αὗται, τὰ δὲ κατ᾽ ἰδίαν εἰργάσαντο. καὶ ἵνα μὴ μεμνημένος ἔπειτα ἀντιπαραβάλλων ἢ προτιμᾶν ἑτέρας ἑτέραν ἐν οἷς διαμφισβητοῦσι νομισθείην ἢ πρὸς τὸ λυσιτελοῦν, ὥσπερ οἱ ῥήτορες, ἐνδεέστερον ἐπαινεῖν τὰς ἐλαττουμένας, τοῦτο ἐθέλω [C] φράσαι μόνον ὑπὲρ ὑμῶν, ᾧ μηδὲν ἀντίπαλον ἔχομεν ἐξευρεῖν παρὰ τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησιν, ἐκ τῆς παλαιᾶς φήμης εἰς ἡμᾶς παραδεδομένον. ἀρχόντων μὲν Λακεδαιμονίων οὐ βίᾳ τὴν ἀρχήν, ἀλλὰ δόξῃ δικαιοσύνης παρείλεσθε, [pg 244] καὶ τὸν Ἀριστείδην τὸν δίκαιον οἱ παρ᾽ ὑμῖν ἐθρέψαντο νόμοι. καίτοι γε ταῦτα οὕτως ὄντα λαμπρὰ τεκμήρια [269] διὰ λαμπροτέρων οἶμαι τῶν ἔργων ὅμως ἐπιστώσασθε. τὸ μὲν γὰρ δόξαι δίκαιον ἴσως ἂν τῷ καὶ ψευδῶς συμβαίη, καὶ τυχὸν οὐ παράδοξον ἐν πολλοῖς φαύλοις ἕνα γενέσθαι σπουδαῖον. ἢ γὰρ οὐχὶ καὶ παρὰ Μήδοις ὑμνεῖταί τις Δηιόκης Ἄβαρίς τε ἐν Ὑπερβορέοις καὶ Ἀνάχαρσις ἐν Σκύθαις; ὑπὲρ ὧν τοῦτο ἦν θαυμαστόν, ὅτι παρὰ τοῖς ἀδικωτάτοις γεγονότες ἔθνεσι τὴν δίκην ὅμως ἐτίμησαν, τὼ μὲν ἀληθῶς, [B] ὁ δὲ τῆς χρείας χάριν πλαττόμενος. δῆμον δὲ ὅλον καὶ πόλιν ἐραστὰς ἔργων καὶ λόγων δικαίων ἔξω τῆς παρ᾽ ὑμῖν οὐ ῥᾴδιον εὑρεῖν. βούλομαι δὲ ὑμᾶς ἑνὸς τῶν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν πολλῶν γε ὄντων ἔργων ὑπομνῆσαι. Θεμιστοκλέους γὰρ μετὰ τὰ Μηδικὰ γνώμην εἰσηγεῖσθαι διανοουμένου λάθρᾳ καταφλέξαι τὰ νεώρια τῶν Ἑλλήνων, [C] εἶτα μὴ τολμῶντος εἰς τὸν δῆμον λέγειν, ἑνὶ δὲ ὁμολογοῦντος πιστεύσειν τὸ ἀπόρρητον, ὅνπερ ἂν ὁ δῆμος χειροτονήσας προέληται, προυβάλετο μὲν ὁ δῆμος τὸν Ἀριστείδην· ὁ δὲ ἀκούσας τῆς γνώμης ἔκρυψε μὲν τὸ ῥηθέν, ἐξήνεγκε δὲ εἰς τὸν δῆμον, ὡς οὔτε λυσιτελέστερον οὔτε ἀδικώτερον εἴη τι τοῦ βουλεύματος· καὶ [pg 246] ἡ πόλις ἀπεψηφίσατο παραχρῆμα καὶ παρῃτήσατο, πάνυ γε νὴ Δία μεγαλοψύχως καὶ ὃν ἐχρῆν τρόπον ἄνδρας [D] ὑπὸ μάρτυρι τῇ φρονιμωτάτῃ θεῷ τρεφομένους.

(Many were the achievements of your forefathers of which you are still justly proud, even as they were of old; many were the trophies for victories raised by them, now for all Greece in common, now separately for Athens herself, in those days when she contended single-handed against all the rest of Greece as well as against the barbarian: but there was no achievement and no display of courage on your part so prodigious that other cities cannot in their turn rival it. For they too wrought some such deeds in alliance with you, and some on their own account. And that I may not by recalling these and then balancing them be thought either to pay more honour to one state than to another in the matters in which they are your rivals, or to praise less than they deserve those who proved inferior, in order to gain an advantage, after the manner of rhetoricians, I desire to bring forward on your behalf only this fact to which I can discover nothing that can be set against it on the part of the other Greek states, and which has been assigned to you by ancient tradition. When the Lacedaemonians were in power you took that power away from them not by violence but by your reputation for justice; and it was your laws that nurtured Aristides the Just. Moreover, brilliant as were these proofs of your virtue, you confirmed them by still more brilliant actions. For to be reputed just might perhaps happen to any individual even though it were not true; perhaps it would not be surprising that among many worthless citizens there should be found one virtuous man. For even among the Medes is not a certain Deioces426 celebrated, and Abaris427 too among the Hyperboreans, and Anacharsis428 among the Scythians? And in their case the surprising thing was that, born as they were among nations who knew nothing of justice, they nevertheless prized justice, two of them sincerely, though the third only pretended to do so out of self-interest. But it would be hard to find a whole people and city enamoured of just deeds and just words except your own. And I wish to remind you of one out of very many such deeds done in your city. After the Persian war Themistocles429 was planning to introduce a resolution to set fire secretly to the naval arsenals of the Greeks, and then did not dare to propose it to the assembly; but he agreed to confide the secret to any one man whom the people should elect by vote; and the people chose Aristides to represent them. But he when he heard the scheme did not reveal what he had been told, but reported to the people that there could be nothing more profitable or more dishonest than that advice. Whereupon the city at once voted against it and rejected it, very nobly, by Zeus, and as it behoved men to do who are nurtured under the eyes of the most wise goddess.430)

Οὐκοῦν εἰ ταῦτα παρ᾽ ὑμῖν μὲν ἦν πάλαι, σώζεται δὲ ἐξ ἐκείνου καὶ εἰς ὑμᾶς ἔτι τῆς τῶν προγόνων ἀρετῆς ὥσπερ ἐμπύρευμά τι σμικρόν, εἰκός ἐστιν ὑμᾶς οὐκ εἰς τὸ μέγεθος τῶν πραττομένων ἀφορᾶν οὐδὲ εἴ τις ὥσπερ δι᾽ ἀέρος ἱπτάμενος διὰ τῆς γῆς ἐβάδισεν ἀμηχάνῳ τάχει καὶ ἀτρύτῳ ῥώμῃ, σκοπεῖν δὲ ὅτῳ ταῦτα μετὰ τοῦ δικαίου κατείργασται, [270] κᾆτα ἂν μὲν φαίνηται ξὺν δίκῃ πράττων, ἰδίᾳ τε αὐτὸν ἴσως καὶ δημοσίᾳ πάντες ἐπαινεῖτε, τῆς δίκης δὲ ὀλιγωρήσας ἀτιμάζοιτο ἂν παρ᾽ ὑμῶν εἰκότως. οὐδὲν γὰρ οὕτως ἐστὶν ὡς τὸ δίκαιον ἀδελφὸν φρονήσει. τοὺς οὖν ἀτιμάζοντας τοῦτο δικαίως ἂν καὶ ὡς εἰς τὴν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν θεὸν ἀσεβοῦντας ἐξελαύνοιτε. βούλομαι οὖν ὑμῖν τὰ κατ᾽ ἐμαυτὸν οὐκ ἀγνοοῦσι μὲν ἀπαγγεῖλαι δὲ ὅμως, [B] ὅπως, εἴ τι λέληθεν· εἰκὸς δὲ ἔνια καὶ ὅσα μάλιστα τοῖς πᾶσι γνωσθῆναι προσήκει· ὑμῖν τε καὶ δι᾽ ὑμῶν τοῖς ἄλλοις Ἕλλησι γένοιτο γνώριμα. μηδεὶς οὖν ὑπολάβῃ με ληρεῖν ἢ φλυαρεῖν, εἰ περὶ τῶν πᾶσιν ὥσπερ ἐν ὀφθαλμοῖς γεγονότων οὐ πάλαι μόνον, ἀλλὰ καὶ μικρῷ πρότερον, ποιεῖσθαί τινας ἐπιχειρήσαιμι λόγους· οὐδένα γὰρ οὐδὲν ἀγνοεῖν βούλομαι τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ, λανθάνειν δὲ ἄλλον ἄλλα εἰκός· [pg 248] [C] ἄρξομαι δὲ ἀπὸ τῶν προγόνων πρῶτον τῶν ἐμαυτοῦ.

(Then if this was your conduct of old, and from that day to this there is kept alive some small spark as it were of the virtue of your ancestors, it is natural that you should pay attention not to the magnitude merely of any performance, nor whether a man has travelled over the earth with incredible speed and unwearied energy as though he had flown through the air; but that you should rather consider whether one has accomplished this feat by just means, and then if he seems to act with justice, you will perhaps all praise him both in public and private; but if he have slighted justice he will naturally be scorned by you. For there is nothing so closely akin to wisdom as justice. Therefore those who slight her you will justly expel as showing impiety towards the goddess who dwells among you. For this reason I wish to report my conduct to you, though indeed you know it well, in order that if there is anything you do not know—and it is likely that some things you do not, and those in fact which it is most important for all men to be aware of—it may become known to you and through you to the rest of the Greeks. Therefore let no one think that I am trifling and wasting words if I try to give some account of things that have happened as it were before the eyes of all men, not only long ago but also just lately. For I wish none to be ignorant of anything that concerns me, and naturally everyone cannot know every circumstance. First I will begin with my ancestors.)

Καὶ ὅτι μὲν τὰ πρὸς πατρὸς ἡμῖν ἐντεῦθεν ὅθενπερ καὶ Κωνσταντίῳ τὰ πρὸς πατρὸς ὥρμηται, φανερόν. τὼ γὰρ ἡμετέρω πατέρε γεγόνατον ἀδελφὼ πατρόθεν. οὕτω δὲ πλησίον ἡμᾶς ὄντας συγγενεῖς ὁ φιλανθρωπότατος οὗτος βασιλεὺς οἷα εἰργάσατο, ἓξ μὲν ἀνεψιοὺς ἐμοῦ τε καὶ ἑαυτοῦ, πατέρα δὲ τὸν ἐμόν,431 ἑαυτοῦ δὲ θεῖον, [D] καὶ προσέτι κοινὸν ἕτερον τὸν πρὸς πατρὸς θεῖον ἀδελφόν τε ἐμὸν τὸν πρεσβύτατον ἀκρίτους κτεῖνας, ἐμὲ δὲ καὶ ἕτερον ἀδελφὸν ἐμὸν ἐθελήσας μὲν κτεῖναι, τέλος δὲ ἐπιβαλὼν φυγήν, ἀφ᾽ ἧς ἐμὲ μὲν ἀφῆκεν, ἐκεῖνον δὲ ὀλίγῳ πρότερον τῆς σφαγῆς ἐξέδυσε432 τὸ τοῦ Καίσαρος ὄνομα, τί με δεῖ νῦν ὥσπερ ἐκ τραγῳδίας τὰ ἄρρητα ἀναμετρεῖσθαι; μετεμέλησε γὰρ αὐτῷ, φασί, καὶ ἐδήχθη δεινῶς, [271] ἀπαιδίαν τε ἐντεῦθεν νομίζει δυστυχεῖν, τά τε ἐς τοὺς πολεμίους τοὺς Πέρσας οὐκ εὐτυχῶς πράττειν ἐκ τούτων ὑπολαμβάνει. ταῦτα ἐθρύλουν οἱ περὶ τὴν αὐλὴν τότε καὶ τὸν μακαρίτην ἀδελφὸν ἐμὸν Γάλλον, τοῦτο νῦν πρῶτον ἀκούοντα τὸ ὄνομα· κτείνας γὰρ αὐτὸν παρὰ τοὺς νόμους οὐδὲ τῶν πατρῴων μεταλαχεῖν εἴασε τάφων οὐδὲ τῆς εὐαγοῦς ἠξίωσε μνήμης.

(That on the father's side I am descended from the same stock as Constantius on his father's side is well known. Our fathers were brothers, sons of the same father. And close kinsmen as we were, how this most humane Emperor treated us! Six of my cousins and his, and my father who was his own uncle and also another uncle of both of us on the father's side, and my eldest brother, he put to death without a trial; and as for me and my other brother,433 he intended to put us to death but finally inflicted exile upon us; and from that exile he released me, but him he stripped of the title of Caesar just before he murdered him. But why should I “recount,” as though from some tragedy, “all these unspeakable horrors?”434 For he has repented, I am told, and is stung by remorse; and he thinks that his unhappy state of childlessness is due to those deeds, and his ill success in the Persian war he also ascribes to that cause. This at least was the gossip of the court at the time and of those who were about the person of my brother Gallus of blessed memory, who is now for the first time so styled. For after putting him to death in defiance of the laws he neither suffered him to share the tombs of his ancestors nor granted him a pious memory.)

Ὅπερ οὖν ἔφην, [B] ἔλεγον τοσαῦτα καὶ δὴ καὶ ἔπειθον ἡμᾶς,435 ὅτι τὰ μὲν ἀπατηθεὶς εἰργάσατο, τὰ δὲ βίᾳ καὶ ταραχαῖς εἴξας ἀτάκτου καὶ [pg 250] ταραχώδους στρατεύματος. τοσαῦτα ἡμῖν ἐπῇδον ἐν ἀγρῷ τινι τῶν ἐν Καππαδοκίᾳ κατακεκλεισμένοις, οὐδένα ἐῶντες προσελθεῖν, τὸν μὲν ἀπὸ τῆς ἐν Τράλλεσι436 φυγῆς ἀνακαλεσάμενοι, ἐμὲ δὲ κομιδῇ μειράκιον ἔτι τῶν διδασκαλείων ἀπαγαγόντες. πῶς [C] ἂν ἐνταῦθα φράσαιμι περὶ τῶν ἓξ ἐνιαυτῶν, οὓς ἐν ἀλλοτρίῳ κτήματι διάγοντες,437 ὥσπερ οἱ παρὰ τοῖς Πέρσαις ἐν τοῖς φρουρίοις τηρούμενοι, μηδενὸς ἡμῖν προσιόντος ξένου μηδὲ τῶν πάλαι γνωρίμων ἐπιτρεπομένου τινὸς ὡς ἡμᾶς φοιτᾶν, διεζῶμεν ἀποκεκλεισμένοι παντὸς μὲν μαθήματος σπουδαίου, πάσης δὲ ἐλευθέρας ἐντεύξεως, ἐν ταῖς λαμπραῖς οἰκετείαις τρεφόμενοι [D] καὶ τοῖς ἡμῶν αὐτῶν δούλοις ὥσπερ ἑταίροις συγγυμναζόμενοι; προσῄει γὰρ οὐδεὶς οὐδὲ ἐπετρέπετο τῶν ἡλικιωτῶν.

(As I said, they kept telling us and tried to convince us that Constantius had acted thus, partly because he was deceived, and partly because he yielded to the violence and tumult of an undisciplined and mutinous army. This was the strain they kept up to soothe us when we had been imprisoned in a certain farm438 in Cappadocia; and they allowed no one to come near us after they had summoned him from exile in Tralles and had dragged me from the schools, though I was still a mere boy. How shall I describe the six years we spent there? For we lived as though on the estate of a stranger, and were watched as though we were in some Persian garrison, since no stranger came to see us and not one of our old friends was allowed to visit us; so that we lived shut off from every liberal study and from all free intercourse, in a glittering servitude, and sharing the exercises of our own slaves though they were comrades. For no companion of our own age ever came near us or was allowed to do so.)

Ἐντεῦθεν ἐγὼ μὲν μόγις ἀφείθην διὰ τοὺς θεοὺς εὐτυχῶς, ὁ δὲ ἀδελφὸς ὁ ἐμὸς εἰς τὴν αὐλὴν καθείρχθη δυστυχῶς, εἴπερ τις ἄλλος τῶν πώποτε. καὶ γὰρ εἴ τι περὶ τὸν τρόπον ἄγριον καὶ τραχὺ τὸν ἐκείνου κατεφάνη, τοῦτο ἐκ τῆς ὀρείου τροφῆς συνηυξήθη. δίκαιος οὖν οἶμαι καὶ ταύτην ἔχειν τὴν αἰτίαν ὁ ταύτης ἡμῖν πρὸς βίαν μεταδοὺς τῆς τροφῆς, ἧς ἐμὲ μὲν οἱ θεοὶ διὰ [272] τῆς φιλοσοφίας καθαρὸν ἀπέφηναν καὶ ἐξάντη, τῷ δὲ οὐδεὶς ἐνέδωκεν. εὐθὺς γὰρ ἀπὸ τῶν ἀγρῶν ἐς τὰ βασίλεια παρελθόντι [pg 252] ἐπειδὴ πρῶτον αὐτῷ περιέθηκεν ἁλουργὲς ἱμάτιον, αὐτίκα φθονεῖν ἀρξάμενος οὐ πρότερον ἐπαύσατο πρὶν καθελεῖν αὐτόν, οὐδὲ τῷ περιελεῖν τὸ πορφυροῦν ἱμάτιον ἀρκεσθείς. καίτοι τοῦ ζῆν γοῦν ἄξιος, εἰ μὴ βασιλεύειν ἐφαίνετο ἐπιτήδειος. ἀλλ᾽ ἐχρῆν αὐτὸν καὶ τούτου στέρεσθαι. ξυγχωρῶ, [B] λόγον γε πάντως ὑποσχόντα πρότερον, ὥσπερ τοὺς κακούργους. οὐ γὰρ δὴ τοὺς μὲν λῃστὰς ὁ νόμος ἀπαγορεύει τῷ δήσαντι κτείνειν, τοὺς ἁφαιρεθέντας δὲ τιμάς, ἃς εἶχον, καὶ γενομένους ἐξ ἀρχόντων ἰδιώτας ἀκρίτους φησὶ δεῖν ἀναιρεῖσθαι. τί γάρ, εἰ τῶν ἁμαρτημάτων εἶχεν ἀποφῆναι [C] τοῦς αἰτίους; ἐδέδοντο γὰρ αὐτῷ τινων ἐπιστολαί, Ἡράκλεις, ὅσας ἔχουσαι κατ᾽ αὐτοῦ κατηγορίας, ἐφ᾽ αἷς ἐκεῖνος ἀγανακτῆσας ἀκρατέστερον μὲν καὶ ἥκιστα βασιλικῶς ἐφῆκε τῷ θυμῷ, τοῦ μέντοι μηδὲ ζῆν ἄξιον οὐδὲν ἐπεπράχει. πῶς γάρ; οὐχ οὗτός ἐστιν ἀνθρώποις ἅπασι κοινὸς Ἕλλησιν ἅμα καὶ βαρβάροις ὁ νόμος, ἀμύνεσθαι τοὺς ἀδικίας ὑπάρχοντας; ἀλλ᾽ ἴσως μὲν ἠμύνατο πικρότερον. οὐ μὴν ἔξω πάντη τοῦ εἰκότος· τὸν γὰρ ἐχθρὸν ὑπ᾽ ὀργῆς εἰκός τι καὶ ποιεῖν, [D] εἴρηται καὶ πρόσθεν. ἀλλ᾽ εἰς χάριν ἑνὸς ἀνδρογύνου, τοῦ κατακοιμιστοῦ, καὶ προσέτι τοῦ τῶν μαγείρων ἐπιτρόπου τὸν ἀνεψιόν, τὸν καίσαρα, τὸν τῆς ἀδελφῆς ἄνδρα γενόμενον, [pg 254] τὸν τῆς ἀδελφιδῆς πατέρα, οὗ καὶ αὐτὸς πρότερον ἦν ἀγαγόμενος τὴν ἀδελφήν, πρὸς ὃν αὐτῷ τοσαῦτα θεῶν ὁμογνίων ὑπῆρχε δίκαια, κτεῖναι παρέδωκε τοῖς ἐχθίστοις· ἐμὲ δὲ ἀφῆκε μόγις ἑπτὰ μηνῶν ὅλων ἑλκύσας τῇδε κἀκεῖσε καὶ ποιησάμενος ἔμφρουρον, [273] ὥστε, εἰ μὴ θεῶν τις ἐθελήσας με σωθῆναι τὴν καλὴν καὶ ἀγαθὴν τὸ τηνικαῦτά μοι παρέσχεν εὐμενῆ Εὐσεβίαν, οὐδ᾽ ἂν ἐγὼ τὰς χεῖρας αὐτοῦ τότε διέφυγον. καίτοι μὰ τοὺς θεοὺς οὐδ᾽ ὄναρ μοι φανεὶς ἀδελφὸς ἐπεπράχει· καὶ γὰρ οὐδὲ συνῆν αὐτῷ οὐδὲ ἐφοίτων οὐδὲ ἐβάδιζον παρ᾽ αὐτὸν, ὀλιγάκις δὲ ἔγραφον καὶ ὑπὲρ ὀλίγων. [B] ὡς οὖν ἀποφυγὼν ἐκεῖθεν ἄσμενος ἐπορευόμην ἐπὶ τὴν τῆς μητρὸς ἑστίαν· πατρῷον γὰρ οὐδὲν ὑπῆρχέ μοι οὐδὲ ἐκεκτήμην ἐκ τοσούτων, ὅσων εἰκὸς ἦν πατέρα κεκτῆσθαι τὸν ἐμόν, οὐκ ἐλαχίστην βῶλον, οὐκ ἀνδράποδον, οὐκ οἰκίαν· ὁ γάρ τοι καλὸς Κωνστάντιος ἐκληρονόμησεν ἀντ᾽ ἐμοῦ τὴν πατρῴαν οὐσίαν ἅπασαν, ἐμοί τε, ὅπερ ἔφην, οὐδὲ γρὺ μετέδωκεν αὐτῆς· ἀλλὰ καὶ τῷ ἀδελφῷ τομῷ τῶν πατρῴων ἔδωκεν ὀλίγα, πάντων αὐτὸν ἀφελόμενος τῶν μητρῴων.

(From that place barely and by the help of the gods I was set free, and for a happier fate; but my brother was imprisoned at court and his fate was ill-starred above all men who have ever yet lived. And indeed whatever cruelty or harshness was revealed in his disposition was increased by his having been brought up among those mountains. It is therefore I think only just that the Emperor should bear the blame for this also, he who against our will allotted to us that sort of bringing-up. As for me, the gods by means of philosophy caused me to remain untouched by it and unharmed; but on my brother no one bestowed this boon. For when he had come straight from the country to the court, the moment that Constantius had invested him with the purple robe he at once began to be jealous of him, nor did he cease from that feeling until, not content with stripping him of the purple, he had destroyed him. Yet surely he deserved to live, even if he seemed unfit to govern. But someone may say that it was necessary to deprive him of life also. I admit it, only on condition that he had first been allowed to speak in his own defence as criminals are. For surely it is not the case that the law forbids one who has imprisoned bandits to put them to death, but says that it is right to destroy without a trial those who have been stripped of the honours that they possessed and have become mere individuals instead of rulers. For what if my brother had been able to expose those who were responsible for his errors? For there had been handed to him the letters of certain persons, and, by Heracles, what accusations against himself they contained! And in his resentment at these he gave way in most unkingly fashion to uncontrolled anger, but he had done nothing to deserve being deprived of life itself. What! Is not this a universal law among all Greeks and barbarians alike, that one should defend oneself against those who take the initiative in doing one a wrong? I admit that he did perhaps defend himself with too great cruelty; but on the whole not more cruelly than might have been expected. For we have heard it said before439 that an enemy may be expected to harm one in a fit of anger. But it was to gratify a eunuch,440 his chamberlain who was also his chief cook, that Constantius gave over to his most inveterate enemies his own cousin, the Caesar, his sister's husband, the father of his niece, the man whose own sister he had himself married in earlier days,441 and to whom he owed so many obligations connected with the gods of the family. As for me he reluctantly let me go, after dragging me hither and thither for seven whole months and keeping me under guard; so that had not some one of the gods desired that I should escape, and made the beautiful and virtuous Eusebia kindly disposed to me, I could not then have escaped from his hands myself. And yet I call the gods to witness that my brother had pursued his course of action without my having a sight of him even in a dream. For I was not with him, nor did I visit him or travel to his neighbourhood; and I used to write to him very seldom and on unimportant matters. Thinking therefore that I had escaped from that place, I set out for the house that had been my mother's. For of my father's estate nothing belonged to me, and I had acquired out of the great wealth that had naturally belonged to my father not the smallest clod of earth, not a slave, not a house. For the admirable Constantius had inherited in my place the whole of my father's property, and to me, as I was saying, he granted not the least trifle of it; moreover, though he gave my brother a few things that had been his father's, he robbed him of the whole of his mother's estate.)

[C] Ὅσα μὲν οὖν ἔπραξε πρός με πρὶν ὀνόματος μὲν μεταδοῦναί μοι τοῦ σεμνοτάτου, ἔργῳ δὲ εἰς πικροτάτην καὶ χαλεπωτάτην ἐμβαλεῖν δουλείαν, εἰ καὶ μὴ πάντα, τὰ πλεῖστα γοῦν ὅμως [pg 256] ἀκηκόατε442 πορευομένου δὴ443 λοιπὸν ἐπὶ τὴν ἑστίαν, ἀγαπητῶς τε καὶ μόγις ἀποσωζομένου, συκοφάντης τις ἀνεφάνη περὶ τὸ Σίρμιον, ὃς τοῖς ἐκεῖ πράγματα ἕρραψεν ὡς νεώτερα διανοουμένοις· [D] ἴστε δήπουθεν ἀκοῇ τὸν Ἀφρικανὸν καὶ τὸν Μαρῖνον· οὔκουν ὑμᾶς οὐδὲ ὁ Φῆλιξ ἔλαθεν οὐδὲ ὅσα ἐπράχθη περὶ τοὺς ἀνθρώπους. ἀλλ᾽ ὡς τοῦτο αὐτῷ κατεμηνύθη τὸ πρᾶγμα, καὶ Δυνάμιος ἐξαίφνης, ἄλλος συκοφάντης, ἐκ Κελτῶν ἤγγειλεν ὅσον οὔπω τὸν Σιλουανὸν αὐτῷ πολέμιον ἀναφανεῖσθαι, δείσας παντάπασι καὶ φοβηθεὶς αὐτίκα ἐπ᾽ ἐμὲ πέμπει, καὶ μικρὸν εἰς τὴν Ἑλλάδα κελεύσας ὑποχωρῆσαι [274] πάλιν ἐκεῖθεν ἀκάλει παρ᾽ ἑαυτόν, οὔπω πρότερον τεθεαμένος πλὴν ἅπαξ μὲν ἐν Καππαδοκίᾳ, ἅπαξ δὲ ἐν Ἰταλίᾳ, ἀγωνισαμένης Εὐσεβίας, ὡς ἂν ὑπὲρ τῆς σωτηρίας τῆς ἐμαυτοῦ θαρρήσαιμι. καίτοι τὴν αὐτὴν αὐτῷ πόλιν ἓξ ᾤκησα μηνῶν, καὶ μέντοι καὶ ὑπέσχετό με θεάσεσθαι πάλιν. ἀλλ᾽ ὁ θεοῖς ἐχθρὸς ἀνδρόγυνος, ὁ πιστὸς αὐτοῦ κατακοιμιστής, ἔλαθέ μου καὶ ἄκων εὐεργέτης γενόμενος· οὐ γὰρ εἴασεν ἐντυχεῖν με πολλάκις αὐτῷ, [B] τυχὸν μὲν οὐδὲ ἐθέλοντι, πλὴν ἀλλὰ τὸ κεφάλαιον ἐκεῖνος ἦν· ὤκνει γὰρ ὡς ἂν μή τινος συνηθείας ἐγγενομένης ἡμῖν πρὸς ἀλλήλους ἔπειτα ἀγαπηθείην καὶ πιστὸς ἀναφανεὶς ἐπιτραπείην τι.

(Now his whole behaviour to me before he granted me that august title444—though in fact what he did was to impose on me the most galling and irksome slavery—you have heard, if not every detail, still the greater part. As I was saying, I was on my way to my home and was barely getting away safely, beyond my hopes, when a certain sycophant445 turned up near Sirmium446 and fabricated the rumour against certain persons there that they were planning a revolt. You certainly know by hearsay Africanus447 and Marinus: nor can you fail to have heard of Felix and what was the fate of those men. And when Constantius was informed of the matter, and Dynamius another sycophant suddenly reported from Gaul that Silvanus448 was on the point of declaring himself his open enemy, in the utmost alarm and terror he forthwith sent to me, and first he bade me retire for a short time to Greece, then summoned me from there to the court449 again. He had never seen me before except once in Cappadocia and once in Italy,—an interview which Eusebia had secured by her exertions so that I might feel confidence about my personal safety. And yet I lived for six months in the same city450 as he did, and he had promised that he would see me again. But that execrable eunuch,451 his trusty chamberlain, unconsciously and involuntarily proved himself my benefactor. For he did not allow me to meet the Emperor often, nor perhaps did the latter desire it; still the eunuch was the chief reason. For what he dreaded was that if we had any intercourse with one another I might be taken into favour, and when my loyalty became evident I might be given some place of trust.)

Παραγενόμενον δή με τότε πρῶτον ἀπὸ τῆς Ἑλλάδος αὐτίκα διὰ τῶν περὶ τὴν θεραπείαν [pg 258] εὐνούχων ἡ μακαρῖτις Εὐσεβία καὶ λίαν ἐφιλοφρονεῖτο. μικρὸν δὲ ὕστερον ἐπελθόντος τούτου· [C] καὶ γάρ τοι καὶ τὰ περὶ Σιλουανὸν ἐπέπρακτο· λοιπὸν εἴσοδός τε εἰς τὴν αὐλὴν δίδοται, καὶ τὸ λεγόμενον ἡ Θετταλικὴ περιβάλλεται πειθανάγκη. ἀρνουμένου γάρ μου τὴν συνουσίαν στερεῶς ἐν τοῖς βασιλείοις, οἱ μὲν ὥσπερ ἐν κουρείῳ συνελθόντες ἀποκείρουσι τὸν πώγωνα, χλανίδα δὲ ἀμφιεννύουσι καὶ σχηματώζουσιν, ὡς τότε ὑπελάμβανον, πάνυ γελοῖον στρατιώτην· [D] οὐδὲν γάρ μοι τοῦ καλλωπισμοῦ τῶν καθαρμάτων ἥρμοζεν· ἐβάδιζον δὲ οὐχ ὥσπερ ἐκεῖνοι περιβλέπων καὶ σοβῶν452 ἀλλ᾽ εἰς γῆν βλέπων, ὥσπερ εἰθίσμην ὑπὸ τοῦ θρέψαντός με παιδαγωγοῦ. τότε μὲν οὖν αὐτοῖς παρέσχον γέλωτα, μικρὸν δὲ ὕστερον ὑποψίαν, εἶτα ἀνέλαμψεν ὁ τοσοῦτος φθόνος.

(Now from the first moment of my arrival from Greece, Eusebia of blessed memory kept showing me the utmost kindness through the eunuchs of her household. And a little later when the Emperor returned—for the affair of Silvanus had been concluded—at last I was given access to the court, and, in the words of the proverb, Thessalian persuasion453 was applied to me. For when I firmly declined all intercourse with the palace, some of them, as though they had come together in a barber's shop, cut off my beard and dressed me in a military cloak and transformed me into a highly ridiculous soldier, as they thought at the time. For none of the decorations of those villains suited me. And I walked not like them, staring about me and strutting along, but gazing on the ground as I had been trained to do by the preceptor454 who brought me up. At the time then, I inspired their ridicule, but a little later their suspicion, and then their jealousy was inflamed to the utmost.)

Ἀλλ᾽ ἐνταῦθα χρὴ μὴ παραλείπειν ἐκεῖνα, πῶς ἐγὼ συνεχώρησα, πῶς ἐδεχόμην455 ὁμωρόφιος456 ἐκείνοις γενέσθαι, οὓς ἠπιστάμην παντὶ μέν μου λυμηναμένους τῷ γένει, [275] ὑπώπτευον δὲ οὐκ εἰς μακρὰν ἐπιβουλεύσοντας καὶ ἐμοὶ. πηγὰς μὲν οὖν ὁπόσας ἀφῆκα δακρύων καὶ θρήνους οἵους, ἀνατείνων εἰς τὴν ἀκρόπολιν τὴν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν τὰς χεῖρας, ὅτε ἐκαλούμην, καὶ τὴν Ἀθηνᾶν ἱκετεύων σώζειν τὸν ἱκέτην καὶ μὴ ἐκδιδόναι, πολλοὶ τῶν παρ᾽ ὑμῖν ἑορακότες εἰσί μοι μάρτυρες, αὐτὴ δὲ ἡ θεὸς πρὸ τῶν ἄλλων, ὅτι καὶ θάνατον ᾐτησάμην παρ᾽ [B] αὐτῆς Ἀθήνησι πρὸ τῆς τότε [pg 260] ὁδοῦ. ὡς μὲν οὖν οὐ προύδωκεν ἡ θεὸς τὸν ἱκέτην οὐδὲ ἐξέδωκεν, ἔργοις ἔδείξεν·457 ἡγήσατο γὰρ ἁπανταχοῦ μοι καὶ παρέστησεν ἁπανταχόθεν τοὺς φύλακας, ἐξ Ἡλίου καὶ Σελήνης ἀγγέλους λαβοῦσα.

(But this I must not omit to tell here, how I submitted and how I consented to dwell under the same roof with those whom I knew to have ruined my whole family, and who, I suspected, would before long plot against myself also. But what floods of tears I shed and what laments I uttered when I was summoned, stretching out my hands to your Acropolis and imploring Athene to save her suppliant and not to abandon me, many of you who were eyewitnesses can attest, and the goddess herself, above all others, is my witness that I even begged for death at her hands there in Athens rather than my journey to the Emperor. That the goddess accordingly did not betray her suppliant or abandon him she proved by the event. For everywhere she was my guide, and on all sides she set a watch near me, bringing guardian angels from Helios and Selene.)

Συνέβη δέ τι καὶ τοιοῦτον. ἐλθὼν ἐς τὸ Μεδιόλανον ᾤκουν ἔν τινι προαστείῳ. ἐνταῦθα ἔπεμπεν Εὐσεβία πολλάκις πρός με φιλοφρονουμένη καὶ γράφειν κελεύουσα καὶ θαρρεῖν, ὑπὲρ ὅτου ἂν δέωμαι. [C] γράψας ἐγὼ πρὸς αὐτὴν ἐπιστολὴν, μᾶλλον δὲ ἱκετηρίαν ὅρκους ἔχουσαν τοιούτους· Οὕτω παισὶ χρήσαιο κληρονόμοις· οὕτω τὰ καὶ τὰ θεός σοι δοίη, πέμπε με οἴκαδε τὴν ταχίστην, ἐκεῖνο ὑπειδόμην ὡς οὐκ ἀσφαλὲς εἰς τὰ βασίλεια πρὸς αὐτοκράτορος γυναῖκα γράμματα εἰσπέμπειν. ἱκέτευσα δὴ τοὺς θεοὺς νύκτωρ δηλῶσαί μοι, εἰ χρὴ πέμπειν παρὰ τὴν βασιλίδα τὸ γραμματεῖον· οἱ δὲ ἐπηπείλησαν, εἰ πέμψαιμι, θάνατον αἴσχιστον. [D] ὡς δὲ ἀληθῆ ταῦτα γράφω, καλῶ τοὺς θεοὺς ἅπαντας μάρτυρας. τὰ μὲν δὴ γράμματα διὰ τοῦτο ἐπέσχον εἰσπέμψαι. ἐξ ἐκείνης δέ μοι τῆς νυκτὸς λογισμὸς εἰσῆλθεν, οὗ καὶ ὑμᾶς ἴσως ἄξιον ἀκοῦσαι. Νῦν, ἔφην, ἐγὼ τοῖς θεοῖς ἀντιτάττεσθαι διανοοῦμαι, καὶ ὑπὲρ ἐμαυτοῦ βουλεύεσθαι κρεῖττον νενόμικα τῶν πάντα εἰδότων. καίτοι φρόνησις ἀνθρωπίνη πρὸς τὸ παρὸν ἀφορῶσα μόνον [276] ἀγαπητῶς ἂν τύχοι καὶ μόγις τοῦ πρὸς ὀλίγου ἀναμαρτήτου. διόπερ οὐδεὶς οὔθ᾽ ὑπὲρ τῶν εἰς τριακοστὸν458 ἔτος βουλεύεται οὔτε ὑπὲρ τῶν ἤδη γεγονότων· τὸ μὲν γὰρ περιττόν, τὸ δὲ ἀδύνατον· [pg 262] ἀλλ᾽ ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐν χερσὶ καὶ ὧν ἀρχαί τινές εἰσιν ἤδη καὶ σπέρματα. φρόνησις δὲ ἡ παρὰ τοῖς θεοῖς ἐπὶ τὸ μήκιστον, μᾶλλον δὲ ἐπὶ πᾶν βλέπουσα μηνύει τε ὀρθῶς καὶ πράττει τὸ λῷον· αἴτοι γάρ εἰσιν αὐτοὶ καθάπερ τῶν ὄντων, οὕτω δὲ καὶ τῶν ἐσομένων. [B] οὐκοῦν εἰκὸς αὐτοὺς ὑπὲρ τῶν παρόντων ἐπίστασθαι. τέως μὲν οὖν ἐδόκει μοι κατὰ τοῦτο συνετωτέρα τῆς ἔμπροσθεν ἡ δευτέρα γνώμη. σκοπῶν δὲ εἰς τὸ δίκαιον εὐθέως ἔφην· Εἶτα σὺ μὲν ἀγανακτεῖς, εἴ τι τῶν σῶν κτημάτων ἀποστεροίη σε τῆς ἑαυτοῦ χρήσεως ἢ καὶ ἀποδιδράσκοι καλούμενον, [C] κἂν ἵππος τύχῃ κἂν πρόβατον κἂν βοίδιον, ἄνθρωπος δὲ εἶναι βουλόμενος οὐδὲ τῶν ἀγελαίων οὐδὲ τῶν συρφετωδῶν, ἀλλὰ τῶν ἐπιεικῶν καὶ μετρίων ἀποστερεῖς σεαυτοῦ τοὺς θεοὺς καὶ οὐκ ἐπιτρέπεις ἐφ᾽ ὅ, τι ἂν ἐθέλωσι χρήσασθαι σοι; ὅρα μὴ πρὸς τῷ λίαν ἀφρόνως καὶ τῶν δικαίων τῶν πρὸς τοὺς θεοὺς ὀλιγώρως πράττῃς. ἡ δὲ ἀνδρεία ποῦ καὶ τίς; γελοῖον. ἕτοιμος γοῦν εἶ καὶ θωπεῦσαι καὶ κολακεῦσαι δέει τοῦ θανάτου, [D] ἐξὸν ἅπαντα καταβαλεῖν καὶ τοῖς θεοῖς ἐπιτρέψαι πράττειν ὡς βούλαονται, διελόμενον πρὸς αὐτοὺς τὴν ἐπιμέλειαν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ, καθάπερ καὶ ὁ Σωκράτης ἠξίου, καὶ τὰ μὲν ἐπὶ σοὶ πράττειν ὡς ἂν ἐνδέχηται, τὸ δὲ ὅλον ἐπ᾽ ἐκείνοις ποιεῖσθαι, κεκτῆσθαι δὲ μηδὲν μηδὲ ἁρπάζειν, τὰ [pg 264] διδόμενα δὲ παρ᾽ αὐτῶν ἀφελῶς459 δέχεσθαι. ταύτην ἐγὼ [277] νομίσας οὐκ ἀσφαλῆ μόνον, ἀλλὰ πρέπουσαν ἀνδρὶ μετρίῳ γνώμην, ἐπεὶ καὶ τὰ τῶν θεῶν ἐσήμαινε ταύτῃ· τὸ γὰρ ἐπιβουλὰς εὐλαβούμενον τὰς μελλούσας εἰς αἰσχρὸν καὶ προὖπτον ἐμβαλεῖν ἑαυτὸν κίνδυνον δεινῶς ἐφαίνετό μοι θορυβῶδες· εἶξαι καὶ ὑπήκουσα. καὶ τὸ μὲν ὄνομά μοι ταχέως καὶ τὸ χλανίδιον περιεβλήθη τοῦ καίσαρος· ἡ δὲ ἐπὶ τούτῳ δουλεία καὶ τὸ καθ᾽ ἑκάστην ἡμέραν ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς τῆς ψυχῆς ἐπικρεμάμενον δέος Ἡράκλεις ὅσον καὶ οἷον· [B] κλεῖθρα θυρῶν, θυρωροί, τῶν οἰκετῶν αἱ χεῖρες ἐρευνώμεναι, μή τίς μοι παρὰ τῶν φίλων γραμματίδιον κομίζῃ, θεραπεία ξένη· μόλις ἠδυνήθην οἰκέτας ἐμαυτοῦ τέτταρας, παιδάρια μὲν δύο κομιδῇ μικρά, δύο δὲ μείζονας, εἰς τὴν αὐλήν οἰκειότερόν με θεραπεύσοντας εἰσαγαγεῖν, ὧν εἷς μοι μόνος καὶ τὰ πρὸς θεοὺς συνειδὼς καὶ ὡς ἐνεδέχετο λάθρᾳ συμπράττων· [C] ἐπεπίστευτο δὲ τῶν βιβλίων μου τὴν φυλακήν, ὢν μόνος τῶν ἐμοὶ πολλῶν ἑταίρων καὶ φίλων πιστῶν, εἷς ἰατρός, ὃς καί, ὅτι φίλος ὢν ἐλελήθει, συναπεδήμησεν. οὕτω δὲ ἐδεδίειν ἐγὼ ταῦτα καὶ ψοφοδεῶς εἲχον πρὸς αὐτά, ὥστε καὶ βουλομένους εἰσιέναι τῶν φίλων πολλοὺς παρ᾽ ἐμὲ καὶ μάλ᾽ ἄκων ἐκώλυον, ἰδεῖν μὲν αὐτοὺς ἐπιθυμῶν, ὀκνῶν δὲ ἐκείνοις τε καὶ ἐμαυτῷ γενέσθαι συμφορῶν αἴτιος. ἀλλὰ ταῦτα μὲν ἔξωθέν ἐστι, [D] τάδε δὲ ἐν αὐτοῖς τοῖς πράγμασι.

(What happened was somewhat as follows. When I came to Milan I resided in one of the suburbs. Thither Eusebia sent me on several occasions messages of good-will, and urged me to write to her without hesitation about anything that I desired. Accordingly I wrote her a letter, or rather a petition containing vows like these: “May you have children to succeed you; may God grant you this and that, if only you send me home as quickly as possible!” But I suspected that it was not safe to send to the palace letters addressed to the Emperor's wife. Therefore I besought the gods to inform me at night whether I ought to send the letter to the Empress. And they warned me that if I sent it I should meet the most ignominious death. I call all the gods to witness that what I write here is true. For this reason, therefore, I forbore to send the letter. But from that night there kept occurring to me an argument which it is perhaps worth your while also to hear. “Now,” I said to myself, “I am planning to oppose the gods, and I have imagined that I can devise wiser schemes for myself than those who know all things. And yet human wisdom, which looks only to the present moment, may be thankful if, with all its efforts, it succeed in avoiding mistakes even for a short space. That is why no man takes thought for things that are to happen thirty years hence, or for things that are already past, for the one is superfluous, the other impossible, but only for what lies near at hand and has already some beginnings and germs. But the wisdom of the gods sees very far, or rather, sees the whole, and therefore it directs aright and brings to pass what is best. For they are the causes of all that now is, and so likewise of all that is to be. Wherefore it is reasonable that they should have knowledge about the present.” So far, then, it seemed to me that on this reasoning my second determination was wiser than my first. And viewing the matter in the light of justice, I immediately reflected: “Would you not be provoked if one of your own beasts were to deprive you of its services,460 or were even to run away when you called it, a horse, or sheep, or calf, as the case might be? And will you, who pretended to be a man, and not even a man of the common herd or from the dregs of the people, but one belonging to the superior and reasonable class, deprive the gods of your service, and not trust yourself to them to dispose of you as they please? Beware lest you not only fall into great folly, but also neglect your proper duties towards the gods. Where is your courage, and of what sort is it? A sorry thing it seems. At any rate, you are ready to cringe and flatter from fear of death, and yet it is in your power to lay all that aside and leave it to the gods to work their will, dividing with them the care of yourself, as Socrates, for instance, chose to do: and you might, while doing such things as best you can, commit the whole to their charge; seek to possess nothing, seize nothing, but accept simply what is vouchsafed to you by them.” And this course I thought was not only safe but becoming to a reasonable man, since the response of the gods had suggested it. For to rush headlong into unseemly and foreseen danger while trying to avoid future plots seemed to me a topsy-turvy procedure. Accordingly I consented to yield. And immediately I was invested with the title and robe of Caesar.461 The slavery that ensued and the fear for my very life that hung over me every day, Heracles, how great it was, and how terrible! My doors locked, warders to guard them, the hands of my servants searched lest one of them should convey to me the most trifling letter from my friends, strange servants to wait on me! Only with difficulty was I able to bring with me to court four of my own domestics for my personal service, two of them mere boys and two older men, of whom only one knew of my attitude to the gods, and, as far as he was able, secretly joined me in their worship. I had entrusted with the care of my books, since he was the only one with me of many loyal comrades and friends, a certain physician462 who had been allowed to leave home with me because it was not known that he was my friend. And this state of things caused me such alarm and I was so apprehensive about it, that though many of my friends really wished to visit me, I very reluctantly refused them admittance; for though I was most anxious to see them, I shrank from bringing disaster upon them and myself at the same time. But this is somewhat foreign to my narrative. The following relates to the actual course of events.)

[pg 266]

Τριακοσίους ἑξήκοντά μοι δοὺς στρατιώτας εἰς τὸ τῶν Κελτῶν ἔθνος ἀνατετραμμένον ἔστειλε, μεσοῦντος ἤδη τοῦ χειμῶνος, οὐκ ἄρχοντα μᾶλλον τῶν ἐκεῖσε στρατοπέδων ἢ τοῖς ἐκεῖσε στρατηγοῖς ὑπακούοντα.463 ἐγέγραπτο γὰρ αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐνετέταλτο διαρρήδην οὐ τοὺς πολεμίους μᾶλλον ἢ ἐμὲ παραφυλάττειν, ὡς ἂν μὴ νεώτερόν τι πράξαιμι. τούτων δὲ ὃν ἔφην τρόπον γενομένων, περὶ τὰς τροπὰς τὰς θερινὰς [278] ἐπιτρέπει μοι βαδίζειν εἰς τὰ στρατόπεδα τὸ σχῆμα καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα περιοίσοντι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ· καὶ γάρ τοι καὶ τοῦτο εἴρητο καὶ ἐγέγραπτο, ὅτι τοῖς Γάλλοις οὐ βασιλέα δίδωσιν, ἀλλὰ τὸν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς ἐκείνους εἰκόνα κομιοῦντα.

(Constantius gave me three hundred and sixty soldiers, and in the middle of the winter464 despatched me into Gaul, which was then in a state of great disorder; and I was sent not as commander of the garrisons there but rather as a subordinate of the generals there stationed. For letters had been sent them and express orders given that they were to watch me as vigilantly as they did the enemy, for far I should attempt to cause a revolt. And when all this had happened in the manner I have described, about the summer solstice he allowed me to join the army and to carry about with me his dress and image. And indeed he had both said and written that he was not giving the Gauls a king but one who should convey to them his image.)

Οὐ κακῶς δέ, ὡς ἀκηκόατε, τοῦ πρώτου στρατηγηθέντος ἐνιαυτοῦ καὶ πραχθέντος σπουδαίου, πρὸς τὰ χειμάδια [B] πάλιν ἐπανελθὼν εἰς τὸν ἔσχατον κατέστην κίνδυνον. οὔτε γὰρ ἀθροίζειν ἐξῆν μοι στρατόπεδον· ἕτερος γὰρ ἦν ὁ τούτου κύριος· αὐτός τε ξὺν ὀλίγοις ἀποκεκλεισμένος, εἶτα παρὰ τῶν πλησίον πόλεων αἰτηθεὶς ἐπικουρίαν, ὧν εἶχον τὸ πλεῖστον ἐκείνοις δούς, αὐτὸς465 ἀπελείφθην μόνος. ἐκεῖνα μὲν οὖν οὕτως ἐπράχθη τότε. ὡς δὲ καὶ ὁ τῶν στρατοπέδων ἄρχων ἐν ὑποψίᾳ γενόμενος αὐτῷ παρῃρέθη καὶ ἀπηλλάγη τῆς ἀρχῆς, [C] οὐ σφόδρα ἐπιτήδειος δόξας, ἔγωγε ἐνομίσθην ἥκιστα σπουδαῖος καὶ δεινὸς στρατηγός, ἅτε πρᾷον ἐμαυτὸν παρασχὼν καὶ μέτριον. οὐ [pg 268] γὰρ ᾤμην δεῖν ζυγομαχεῖν οὐδὲ παραστρατηγεῖν, εἰ μή πού τι τῶν λίαν ἐπικινδένων ἑώρων ἢ δέον γενέσθαι παρορώμενον ἢ καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν μὴ δέον γενέσθαι γιγνόμενον. ἅπαξ δὲ καὶ δεύτερον οὐ καθηκόντως μοί τινων χρησαμένων, [D] ἐμαυτὸν ᾠήθην χρῆναι τιμᾶν τῇ σιωπῇ, καὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ τὴν χλανίδα περιέφερον καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα· τούτων γὰρ τὸ τηνικαῦτα διενοούμην ἀποπεφάνθαι κύριος.

(Now when, as you have heard, the first campaign was ended that year and great advantage gained, I returned to winter quarters,466 and there I was exposed to the utmost danger. For I was not even allowed to assemble the troops; this power was entrusted to another, while I was quartered apart with only a few soldiers, and then, since the neighbouring towns begged for my assistance, I assigned to them the greater part of the force that I had, and so I myself was left isolated. This then was the condition of affairs at that time. And when the commander-in-chief467 of the forces fell under the suspicions of Constantius and was deprived by him of his command and superseded, I in my turn was thought to be by no means capable or talented as a general, merely because I had shown myself mild and moderate. For I thought I ought not to fight against my yoke or interfere with the general in command except when in some very dangerous undertaking I saw either that something was being overlooked, or that something was being attempted that ought never to have been attempted at all. But after certain persons had treated me with disrespect on one or two occasions, I decided that for the future I ought to show my own self-respect by keeping silence, and henceforth I contented myself with parading the imperial robe and the image. For I thought that to these at any rate I had been given a right.)

Ἐξ ὧν ὁ Κωνστάντιος νομίσας ὀλίγον468 μὲν ἐπιδώσειν, οὐκ εἰς τοσοῦτον δὲ μεταβολῆς ἥξειν τὰ τῶν Κελτῶν πράγματα, δίδωσί μοι τῶν στρατοπέδων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἦρος ἀρχῇ. καὶ στρατεύω μὲν ἀκμάζοντος τοῦ σίτου, πολλῶν πάνυ Γερμανῶν [279] περὶ τὰς πεπορθημένας ἐν Κελτοῖς πόλεις ἀδεῶς κατοικούντων. τὸ μὲν οὖν πλῆθος τῶν πόλεων πέντε που καὶ τεσσαράκοντά ἐστι, τείχη τὰ διηρπασμένα δίχα τῶν πύργων καὶ τῶν ἐλασσόνων φρουρίων. ἧς δ᾽ ἐνέμοντο γῆς ἐπὶ τάδε τοῦ Ῥήνου πάσης οἱ βάρβαροι τὸ μέγεθος ὁπόσον ἀπὸ τῶν πηγῶν αὐτῶν ἀρχόμενος ἄχρι τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ περιλαμβάνει· τριακόσια δὲ ἀπεῖχον τῆς ᾐόνος τοῦ Ῥήνου στάδια οἱ πρὸς ἡμᾶς οἰκοῦντες ἔσχατοι, τριπλάσιον δὲ ἦν ἔτι τούτου πλάτος τὸ καταλειφθὲν ἔρημον [B] ὑπὸ τῆς λεηλασίας, ἔνθα οὐδὲ νέμειν ἐξῆν τοῖς Κελτοῖς τὰ βοσκήματα, καὶ πόλεις τινὲς ἔρημοι τῶν ἐνοικούντων, αἷς οὔπω παρῴκουν οἱ βάρβαροι. ἐν τούτοις οὖσαν καταλαβὼν ἐγὼ τὴν Γαλατίαν πόλιν τε ἀνέλαβον τὴν [pg 270] Ἀγριππίναν ἐπὶ τῇ Ῥήνῳ, πρὸ μηνῶν ἑαλωκυῖάν που δέκα, καὶ τεῖχος Ἀργέντορα πλησίον πρὸς ταῖς ὑπωρείαις αὐτοῦ τοῦ Βοσέγου, καὶ ἐμαχεσάμην οὐκ ἀκλεῶς. [C] ἴσως καὶ εἰς ὑμᾶς ἀφίκετο ἡ τοιαύτη μάχη. ἔνθα τῶν θεῶν δόντων μοι τὸν βασιλέα τῶν πολεμίων αἰχμάλωτον, οὐκ ἐφθόνησα τοῦ κατορθώματος Κωνσταντίῳ. καίτοι εἰ μὴ θριαμβεύειν ἐξῆν, ἀποσφάττειν τὸν πολέμιον κύριος ἦν, καὶ μέντοι διὰ πάσης αὐτὸν ἄγων τῆς Κελτίδος ταῖς πόλεσιν ἐπιδεικνύειν καὶ ὥσπερ ἐντρυφᾶν τοῦ Χνοδομαρίου [D] ταῖς συμφοραῖς. τούτων οὐδὲν ᾠήθην δεῖν πράττειν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸν Κωνστάντιον αὐτὸν εὐθέως ἀπέπεμψα, τότε ἀπὸ τῶν Κουάδων καὶ Σαυροματῶν ἐπανιόντα, συνέβη τοίνυν, ἐμοῦ μὲν ἀγωνισαμένου, ἐκείνου δὲ ὁδεύσαντος μόνον καὶ φιλίως ἐντυχόντος τοῖς παροικοῦσι τὸν Ἴστρον ἔθνεσιν, οὐχ ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκεῖνον θριαμβεῦσαι.

(After that, Constantius, thinking that there would be some improvement, but not that so great a transformation would take place in the affairs of Gaul, handed over to me in the beginning of spring469 the command of all the forces. And when the grain was ripe I took the field; for a great number of Germans had settled themselves with impunity near the towns they had sacked in Gaul. Now the number of the towns whose walls had been dismantled was about forty-five, without counting citadels and smaller forts. And the barbarians then controlled on our side of the Rhine the whole country that extends from its sources to the Ocean. Moreover those who were settled nearest to us were as much as three hundred stades from the banks of the Rhine, and a district three times as wide as that had been left a desert by their raids; so that the Gauls could not even pasture their cattle there. Then too there were certain cities deserted by their inhabitants, near which the barbarians were not yet encamped. This then was the condition of Gaul when I took it over. I recovered the city of Agrippina470 on the Rhine which had been taken about ten months earlier, and also the neighbouring fort of Argentoratum,471 near the foot-hills of the Vosges mountains, and there I engaged the enemy not ingloriously. It may be that the fame of that battle has reached even your ears. There though the gods gave into my hands as prisoner of war the king472 of the enemy, I did not begrudge Constantius the glory of that success. And yet though I was not allowed to triumph for it, I had it in my power to slay my enemy, and moreover I could have led him through the whole of Gaul and exhibited him to the cities, and thus have luxuriated as it were in the misfortunes of Chnodomar. I thought it my duty to do none of these things, but sent him at once to Constantius who was returning from the country of the Quadi and the Sarmatians. So it came about that, though I had done all the fighting and he had only travelled in those parts and held friendly intercourse with the tribes who dwell on the borders of the Danube, it was not I but he who triumphed.)

Τὸ δὴ μετὰ τοῦτο δεύτερος ἐνιαυτὸς καὶ πρίτος, καὶ πάντες μὲν ἀπελήλαντο τῆς Γαλατίας οἱ βάρβαροι, πλεῖσται δὲ ἀνελήφθησαν τῶν πόλεων, παμπληθεῖς δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς Βρεττανίδος ναῦς ἀνήχθησαν. ἑξακοσίων νηῶν ἀνήγαγον στόλον, [280] ὧν τὰς τετρακοσίας ἐν οὐδὲ ὅλοις μησὶ δέκα ναυπηγησάμενος πάσας εἰσήγαγον εἰς τὸν Ῥῆνον, ἔργον οὐ μικρὸν διὰ τοὺς ἐπικειμένους καὶ παροικοῦντας πλησίον βαρβάρους. ὁ γοῦν Φλωρέντιος οὕτως ᾤετο τοῦτο ἀδύνατον, ὥστε ἀργύρου δισχιλίας [pg 272] λίτρας ὑπέσχετο μισθὸν ἀποτίσειν τοῖς βαρβάροις ὑπὲρ τῆς παρόδου, καὶ ὁ Κωνστάντιος ὑπὲρ τούτου μαθών· ἐκοινώσατο γὰρ αὐτῷ περὶ τῆς δόσεως· [B] ἐπέστειλε πρός με τὸ αὐτὸ πράττειν473 κελεύσας, εἰ μὴ παντάπασιν αἰσχρόν μοι φανείη. πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἦν αἰσχρόν, ὅπου Κωνσταντίῳ τοιοῦτον ἐφάνη, λίαν εἰωθότι θεραπεύειν τοὺς βαρβάρους; ἐδόθη μὴν αὐτοῖς οὐδέν· ἀλλ᾽ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς στρατεύσας, ἀμυνόντων μοι καὶ παρεστώτων τῶν θεῶν, ὑπεδεξάμην μὲν μοῖραν τοῦ Σαλίων ἔθνους, Χαμάβους δὲ ἐξήλασα, πολλὰς βοῦς καὶ γύναια μετὰ παιδαρίων συλλαβών. οὕτω δὲ πάντας ἐφόβησα καὶ παρεσκεύασα καταπτῆξαι τὴν ἐμὴν ἔφοδον, [C] ὥστε παραχρῆμα λαβεῖν ὁμήρους καὶ τῇ σιτοπομπίᾳ παρασχεῖν ἀσφαλῆ κομιδήν.

(Then followed the second and third years of that campaign, and by that time all the barbarians had been driven out of Gaul, most of the towns had been recovered, and a whole fleet of many ships had arrived from Britain. I had collected a fleet of six hundred ships, four hundred of which I had had built in less than ten months, and I brought them all into the Rhine, no slight achievement, on account of the neighbouring barbarians who kept attacking me. At least it seemed so impossible to Florentius that he had promised to pay the barbarians a fee of two thousand pounds weight of silver in return for a passage. Constantius when he learned this—for Florentius had informed him about the proposed payment—wrote to me to carry out the agreement, unless I thought it absolutely disgraceful. But how could it fail to be disgraceful when it seemed so even to Constantius, who was only too much in the habit of trying to conciliate the barbarians? However, no payment was made to them. Instead I marched against them, and since the gods protected me and were present to aid, I received the submission of part of the Salian tribe, and drove out the Chamavi and took many cattle and women and children. And I so terrified them all, and made them tremble at my approach that I immediately received hostages from them and secured a safe passage for my food supplies.)