HumanitiesWeb.org - Roman History Roman History - Book XIX. (XI. The Limigantes of Sarmatia, under pretence of suing for peace, attack Constantius, who is deceived by their trick; but are driven back with heavy loss.) by Ammianus Marcellinus
Roman History Roman History - Book XIX. XI. The Limigantes of Sarmatia, under pretence of suing for peace, attack Constantius, who is deceived by their trick; but are driven back with heavy loss.
by Ammianus Marcellinus
While these perplexing transactions were taking place,
intelligence full of importance and danger reached Constantius who was
reposing in winter quarters at Sirmium, informing him (as he had
already greatly feared) that the Sarmatian Limigantes, who, as we have
before related, had expelled their masters
from their hereditary homes, had learnt to despise the lands which had
been generously allotted to them in the preceding year, in order to
prevent so fickle a class from undertaking any mischievous enterprise,
and had seized on the districts over the border; that they were
straggling, according to their national custom, with great licence over
the whole country, and would throw everything into disorder if they
were not put down.
The emperor, judging that any delay would increase
their insolence, collected from all quarters a strong force of veteran
soldiers, and before the spring was much advanced, set forth on an
expedition against them, being urged to greater activity by two
considerations; first, because the army, having acquired great booty
during the last summer, was likely to be encouraged to successful
exertion in the hope of similar reward; and secondly, because, as
Anatolius was at that time prefect of Illyricum, everything necessary
for such an expedition could be readily provided without recourse to
any stringent measures.
For under no other prefect's government (as is agreed by
all), up to the present time, had the northern provinces ever been so
nourishing in every point of view; all abuses being corrected with a
kind and prudent hand, while the people were relieved from the burden
of transporting the public stores (which often caused such losses as to
ruin many families), and also from the heavy income tax. So that the
natives of those districts would have been free from all damage and
cause of complaint, if at a later period some detestable collectors had
not come among them, extorting money, and exaggerating accusations, in
order to build up wealth and influence for themselves, and to procure
their own safety and prosperity by draining the natives; carrying their
severities to the proscription and even execution of many of them.
To apply a remedy to this insurrection, the emperor set
out, as I have said, with a splendid staff, and reached Valeria, which
was formerly a part of Pannonia, but which had been established as a
separate province, and received its new name in honour of Valeria, the
daughter of Diocletian. And having encamped his army on the banks of
the Danube, he watched the movements of the barbarians, who, before his
arrival, had been proposing, under friendly pretences, to enter
Pannonia, meaning to lay it waste during the severity of the winter
season, before the snow had been melted by the warmth of spring and the
river had become passable, and while our people were unable from the
cold to bear bivouacking in the open air.
He at once therefore sent two tribunes, each
accompanied by an interpreter, to the Limigantes, to inquire mildly why
they had quitted the homes which at their own request had been assigned
to them after the conclusion of the treaty of peace, and why they were
now straggling in various directions, and passing their boundaries in
contempt of his prohibitions.
They made vain and frivolous excuses, fear compelling them
to have recourse to lies, and implored the emperor's pardon, beseeching
him to discard his displeasure, and to allow them to cross the river
and come to him to explain the hardships under which they were
labouring; alleging their willingness, if required, to retire to
remoter lands, only within the Roman frontier, where, enjoying lasting
peace and worshipping tranquillity as their tutelary deity, they would
submit to the name and discharge the duties of tributary subjects.
When the tribunes returned and related this, the
emperor, exulting that an affair which appeared full of inextricable
difficulties was likely to be brought to a conclusion without any
trouble, and being eager to add to his acquisitions, admitted them all
to his presence. His eagerness for acquiring territory was fanned by a
swarm of flatterers, who were incessantly saying that when all distant
districts were at peace, and when tranquillity was established
everywhere, he would gain many subjects, and would be able to enlist
powerful bodies of recruits, thereby relieving the provinces, which
would often rather give money than personal service (though this
expectation has more than once proved very mischievous to the state).
Presently he pitched his camp near Acimincum, where a lofty
mound was raised to serve for a tribune; and some boats, loaded with
soldiers of the legions, without their baggage, under command of
Innocentius, an engineer who had suggested the measure, were sent to
watch the channel of the river,
keeping close under the bank; so that, if they perceived the barbarians
in disorder, they might come upon them and surprise their rear, while
their attention was directed elsewhere.
The Limigantes became aware of the measures thus promptly
taken, but still employed no other means of defence than humility and
entreaty; though secretly they cherished designs very different from
those indicated by their words and gestures.
But when they saw the emperor on his high mound preparing
a mild harangue, and about to address them as men who would prove
obedient in future, one of them, seized with a sudden fury, hurled his
shoe at the tribune, and cried out, "Marha, Marha!" which in their
language is a signal of war; and a disorderly mob following him,
suddenly raised their barbaric standard, and with fierce howls rushed
upon the emperor himself.
And when he, looking down from his high position, saw the
whole place filled with thousands of men running to and fro, and their
drawn swords and rapiers threatening him with immediate destruction, he
descended, and mingling both with the barbarians and his own men,
without any one perceiving him or knowing whether he was an officer or
a common soldier; and since there was no time for delay or inaction, he
mounted a speedy horse, and galloped away, and so escaped.
But his few guards, while endeavouring to keep back the
mutineers, who rushed on with the fierceness of fire, were all killed,
either by wounds, or by being crushed beneath the weight of others who
fell upon them; and the royal throne, with its golden cushion, was torn
to pieces without any one making an effort to save it.
But presently, when it became known that the emperor,
after having been in the most imminent danger of his life, was still in
peril, the army, feeling it to be the most important of all objects to
assist him, for they did not yet think him safe, and confiding in their
prowess, though from the suddenness of the attack they were only half
formed, threw themselves, with loud and warlike cries upon the bands of
the barbarians, fearlessly braving death.
And because in their fiery valour our men were resolved to wipe out disgrace by glory, and were full of anger at the treachery
of the foe, they slew
every one whom they met without mercy, trampling all under foot,
living, wounded, and dead alike; so that heaps of dead were piled up
before their hands were weary of the slaughter. For the rebels were
completely overwhelmed, some being slain, and others fleeing in fear,
many of whom implored their lives with various entreaties, but were
slaughtered with repeated wounds. And when, after
they were all destroyed, the trumpets sounded a retreat, it was found
that only a very few of our men were killed, and these had either been
trampled down at first, or had perished from the insufficiency of their
armour to resist the violence of the enemy.
But the most glorious death was that of Cella, the tribune
of the Scutarii, who at the beginning of the uproar set the example of
plunging first into the middle of the Sarmatian host.
After these blood-stained transactions, Constantius took
what precautions prudence suggested for the security of his frontiers,
and then returned to Sirmium, having avenged himself on the perfidity
of his enemies. And having there settled everything which the occasion
required, he quitted Sirmium and went to Constantinople, that by being
nearer to the East, he might remedy the disasters which had been
sustained at Amida, and having reinforced his army with new levies, he
might check the attempts of the king of Persia with equal vigour; as it
was clear that Sapor, if Providence and some more pressing occupation
did not prevent him, would leave Mesopotamia and bring the war over the
plains on this side of that country.