Roman History Roman History - Book XVI. X. The triumphal entry of Constantius into Rome.
by Ammianus Marcellinus
While matters were
thus proceeding in the eastern regions and in the Gauls, Constantius, as if the
temple of Janus were now shut and hostilities everywhere at an end, became
desirous of visiting Rome, with the intention of celebrating his triumph over
Magnentius, to which he could give no name, since the blood that he had spilt
was that of Roman foes.
For indeed,
neither by his own exertions, nor by those of his generals did he ever conquer
any nation that made war upon him; nor did he make any additions to the empire;
nor at critical moments was he ever seen to be the foremost or even among the
foremost; but still he was eager to exhibit to the people, now in the enjoyment
of peace, a vast procession, and standards heavy with gold, and a splendid train
of guards and followers, though the citizens themselves neither expected nor
desired any such spectacle.
He was ignorant,
probably, that some of the ancient emperors were, in time of peace, contented
with their lictors, and that when the ardour of war forbade all inactivity, one,
in a violent storm, had trusted himself to a fisherman's boat; another,
following the example of the Decii, had sacrificed his life for the safety of
the republic; another had by himself, accompanied by only a few soldiers of the
lowest rank, gone as a spy into the camp of the enemy: in short, that many of
them had rendered themselves illustrious by splendid exploits, in order to hand
down to posterity a glorious memory of themselves, earned by their achievements.
Accordingly,
after long and sumptuous preparation, .
. . . in the second
prefecture of Orfitus, Constantius, elated with his great honours, and escorted
by a formidable array of troops, marching in order of battle, passed through
Ocricoli, attracting towards himself the astonished gaze of all the citizens.
And when he drew
near to the city, contemplating the salutations offered him by the senators, and
the whole body of fathers venerable from their likeness to their ancestors, he
thought, not like Cineas, the ambassador of Pyrrhus, that a multitude of kings
was here assembled together, but that the city was the asylum of the whole
world.
And when from
them he had turned his eyes upon the citizens, he marvelled to think with what
rapidity the whole race of mankind upon earth had come from all quarters to
Rome; and, as if he would have terrified the Euphrates or the Rhine with a show
of armed men, he himself came on, preceded by standards on both sides, sitting
alone in a golden chariot, shining with all kinds of brilliant precious stones,
which seemed to spread a flickering light all around.
Numbers also of
the chief officers who went before him were surrounded by dragons embroidered on
various kinds of tissue, fastened to the golden or jewelled points of spears,
the mouths of the dragons being open so as to catch the wind, which made them
hiss as though they were inflamed with anger; while the coils of their tails
were also contrived to be agitated by the breeze.
After these
marched a double row of heavy-armed soldiers, with shields and crested helmets,
glittering with brilliant light, and clad in radiant breast-plates; and among
these were scattered cavalry with cuirasses, whom the Persians call Clibanarii,
protected by coverings of iron breast-plates, and girdled with belts of iron, so
that you would fancy them statues polished by the hand of Praxiteles, rather
than men. And the light circular plates of iron which surrounded their bodies,
and covered all their limbs, were so well fitted to all their motions, that in
whatever direction they had occasion to move, the joints
of their iron clothing adapted themselves equally to any position.
The emperor as
he proceeded was saluted as Augustus by voices of good omen, the mountains and
shores re-echoing the shouts of the people, amid which he preserved the same
immovable countenance which he was accustomed todisplay in his
provinces.
For though he
was very short, yet he bowed down when entering high gates, and looking straight
before him, as though he had had his neck in a vice, he turned his eyes neither
to the right nor to the left, as if he had been a statue: nor when the carriage
shook him did he nod his head, or spit, or rub his face or his nose; nor was he
ever seen even to move a hand.
And although
this calmness was affectation, yet these and other portions of his inner life
were indicative of a most extraordinary patience, as it may be thought, granted
to him alone.
I pass over the
circumstance that during the whole of his reign he never either took up any one
to sit with him in his chariot, or admitted any private person to be his partner
in the consulship, as other emperors had done; also many other things which he,
being filled with elation and pride, prescribed to himself as the justest of all
rules of conduct, recollecting that I mentioned those facts before, as occasion
served.
As he went on,
having entered Rome, that home of sovereignty and of all virtues, when he
arrived at the rostra, he gazed with amazed awe on the Forum, the most renowned
monument of ancient power; and, being bewildered with the number of wonders on
every side to which he turned his eyes, having addressed the nobles in the
senate-house, and harangued the populace from the tribune, he retired, with the
good-will of all, into his palace, where he enjoyed the luxury he had wished
for. And often, when celebrating the equestrian games, was he delighted with the
talkativeness of the common people, who were neither proud, nor, on the other
hand, inclined to become rebellious from too much liberty, while he himself also
reverently observed a proper moderation.
For he did
not, as was usually done in other cities, allow the length of the gladiatorial
contests to depend on his caprice;
but left it to be decided by various occurrences. Then, traversing the summits
of the seven hills, and the different quarters of the city, whether placed on
the slopes of the hills or on the level ground, and visiting, too, the suburban
divisions, he was so delighted that whatever he saw first he thought the most
excellent of all. Admiring the temple of the Tarpeian Jupiter, which is as much
superior to other temples as divine things are superior to those of men; and the
baths of the size of provinces; and the vast mass of the amphitheatre, so
solidly erected of Tibertine stone, to the top of which human vision can
scarcely reach; and the Pantheon with its vast extent, its imposing height, and
the solid magnificence of its arches, and the lofty niches rising one above
another like stairs, adorned with the images of former emperors; and the temple
of the city, and the forum of peace, and the theatre of Pompey, and the odeum,
and the racecourse, and the other ornaments of the Eternal City.
But when he
came to the forum of Trajan, the most exquisite structure, in my opinion, under
the canopy of heaven, and admired even by the deities themselves, he stood
transfixed with wonder, casting his mind over the gigantic proportions of the
place, beyond the power of mortal to describe, and beyond the reasonable desire
of mortals to rival. Therefore giving up all hopes of attempting anything of
this kind, he contented himself with saying that he should wish to imitate, and
could imitate the horse of Trajan, which stands by itself in the middle of the
hall, bearing the emperor himself on his back.
And the royal
prince Hormisda, whose departure from Persia we have already mentioned, standing
by answered, with the refinement of his nature, "But first, O emperor,
command such a stable to be built for him, if you can, that the horse which you
purpose to make may have as fair a domain as this which we see." And when
he was asked what he thought of Rome, he said that "he was particularly
delighted with it because he had learnt that men died also there."
Now after he
had beheld all these various objects with awful admiration, the emperor
complained of fame, as either deficient in power, or else spiteful, because,
though it usually exaggerates everything, it fell very
short in its praises of the things which are at Rome; and having deliberated for
some time what he should do, he determined to add to the ornaments of the city
by erecting an obelisk in the Circus Maximus, the origin and form of which I
will describe when I come to the proper place.
At this time
Eusebia, the queen, who herself was barren all her life, began to plot against
Helena, the sister of Constantius, and wife of the Caesar Julian, whom she had
induced to come to Rome under a pretence of affection, and by wicked
machinations she induced her to drink a poison which she had procured, which
should have the effect, whenever Helena conceived, of producing abortion.
For already,
when in Gaul, she had borne a male child, but that also had been dishonestly
destroyed because the midwife, having been bribed, killed it as soon as it was
born, by cutting through the navel-string too deeply; such exceeding care was
taken that this most gallant man should have no offspring.
But the
emperor, while wishing to remain longer in this most august spot of the whole
world, in order to enjoy a purer tranquillity and higher degree of pleasure, was
alarmed by repeated intelligence on which he could rely, which informed him that
the Suevi were invading the Tyrol, that the Quadi were ravaging Valeria, and
that the Sarmatians, a tribe most skilful in plunder, were laying waste the
upper Moesia, and the second Pannonia. And roused by these news, on the
thirtieth day after he had entered Rome, he again quitted it, leaving it on the
29th of May, and passing through Trent he proceeded with all haste towards
Illyricum.
And from that
city he sent Severus to succeed Marcellus, a man of great experience and ripe
skill in war, and summoned Ursicinus to himself. He, having gladly received the
letter of summons, came to Sirmium, with a large retinue, and after a long
deliberation on the peace which Musonianus had reported as possible to be made
with the Persians, he was sent back to the East with the authority of
commander-in-chief, and the older officers of our company having been promoted
to commands over the soldiers, we
younger men were ordered to follow him to perform whatever he commanded us for
the service of the republic.