HumanitiesWeb.org - Roman History Roman History - Book XXI. (X. Julian receives the allegiance of Sirmium, the capital of Western Illyricum, and of its garrison-Occupies the country of the Sacci, and writes to the senate letters of complaint against Constantius.) by Ammianus Marcellinus
Roman History Roman History - Book XXI. X. Julian receives the allegiance of Sirmium, the capital of Western Illyricum, and of its garrison-Occupies the country of the Sacci, and writes to the senate letters of complaint against Constantius.
by Ammianus Marcellinus
So after he had got rid of Lucillianus, thinking no further
delay or hesitation admissible, being bold and confident in all
emergencies, and on the way, as he presumed, to a city inclined to
surrender, he marched on with great speed. When he came near the
suburbs, which are very large and much extended, a vast crowd of
soldiers and of every class of the population came forth to meet him
with lights and flowers and auspicious prayers, and after saluting him
as emperor and lord, conducted him to the palace.
He, pleased at these favourable omens, and conceiving
therefrom a sanguine hope of future success, concluded that the example
of so populous and illustrious a metropolis would be followed as a
guiding-star by other cities also, and therefore on the very next day
exhibited a chariot race, to the great joy of the people. On the third
day,
unable to brook any delay, he proceeded by the public roads, and
without any resistance seized upon Succi, and appointed Nevitta
governor of the place, as one whom he could trust. It is fitting that I
should now explain the situation of this place Succi.
The summits of the mountain chains of Haemus and
Rhodope, the first of which rises up from the very banks of the Danube,
and the other from the southern bank of the river Axius, ending with
swelling ridges at one narrow point, separate the Illyrians and the
Thracians, being on the one side near the inland Dacians and Serdica,
on the other looking towards Thrace and the rich and noble city of
Philippopolis. And, as if Nature had provided for bringing the
surrounding nations under the dominion of the Romans, they are of such
a form as to lead to this end. Affording at first only a single exit
through narrow defiles, but at a later period they
were opened out with roads of such size and beauty as to be passable
even for waggons. Though still, when the passes have been blocked up,
they have often repelled the attacks of great generals and mighty armies.
The part which looks to Illyricum is of a more gentle
ascent, so as to be climbed almost imperceptibly; but the side opposite
to Thrace is very steep and precipitous, in some places absolutely
impassable, and in others hard to climb even where no one seeks to
prevent it. Beneath this lofty chain a spacious level plain extends in
every direction, the upper portion of it reaching even to the Julian
Alps, while the lower portion of it is so open and level as to present
no obstacles all the way to the straits and sea of Marmora.
Having arranged these matters as well as the occasion
permitted, and having left there the commander of the cavalry, the
emperor returned to Nissa, a considerable town, in order, without any
hindrance, to settle everything in the way most suited to his interests.
While there he appointed Victor, an historical writer, whom
he had seen at Sirmium, and whom he ordered to follow him from that
city, to be consular governor of the second Pannonia; and he erected in
his honour a brazen statue, as a man to be imitated for his temperance;
and some time after he was appointed prefect of
Rome.
And now, giving the rein to loftier ideas, and believing it
to be impossible to bring Constantius to terms, he wrote a speech full
of bitter invectives to the senate, setting forth many charges of
disgrace and vice against him. And when this harangue, Tertullus still
being prefect of the city, was read in the senate, the gratitude of the
nobles, as well as their splendid boldness, was very conspicuous; for
they all cried out with one unanimous feeling, "We expect that you
should show reverence to the author of your own greatness."
Then he assailed the memory of Constantine also as an
innovator and a disturber of established laws and of customs received
from ancient times, accusing him of having been the first to promote
barbarians to the fasces and robe of the consul. But in this respect he
spoke with folly and levity, since, in the face of what he so bitterly
reproved, he a very short time afterwards added to Mamertinus, as his
colleague in the consulship, Nevitta, a man neither in rank,
experience, or reputation at all equal to those on whom
Constantine had conferred that illustrous magistracy, but who, on the
contrary, was destitute of accomplishments and somewhat rude; and what
was less easy to be endured, made a cruel use of his high power.