Roman History Roman History - Book XXI. XVI. His virtues and vices.
by Ammianus Marcellinus
In accurately distinguishing the virtues and vices of
Constantius, it will be well to take the virtues first. Always
preserving the dignity of the imperial authority, he proudly and
magnanimously disdained popularity. In conferring the higher dignities
he was very sparing, and allowed very few changes to be made in the
administration of the finances. Nor did he ever encourage the arrogance
of the soldiers.
Nor under him was any general promoted to the title
of most illustrious. For there was also, as we have already mentioned,
the title of most perfect. Nor had the governor of a province occasion
to court a commander of cavalry; as Constantius never allowed those
officers to meddle with civil affairs. But all officers, both military
and civil, were according to the respectful usages of old, inferior to
that of the prefect of the praetorium, which was the most honourable of
all.
In taking care of the soldiers he was very cautious: an
examiner into their merits, sometimes over-scrupulous, giving dignities
about the palace as if with scales. Under him no one who was not well
known to him, or who was favoured merely by some sudden impulse, ever
received any high appointment in the palace. But only such as
had served ten years in some capacity or other could look for such
appointments as master of the ceremonies or treasurer. The successful
candidates could always be known beforehand; and it very seldom
happened that any military officer was transferred to a civil office;
while on the other hand none but veteran soldiers were appointed to
command troops.
He was a diligent cultivator of learning, but, as his
blunted talent was not suited to rhetoric, he devoted himself to
versification; in which, however, he did nothing worth speaking of.
In his way of life he was economical and temperate, and by
moderation in eating and drinking he preserved such robust health that
he was rarely ill, though when ill dangerously so. For repeated
experience and proof has shown that this is the case with persons who
avoid licentiousness and luxury.
He was contented with very little sleep, which he took when
time and season allowed; and throughout his long life he was so
extremely chaste that no suspicion was ever cast on him in this
respect, though it is a charge which, even when it can find no ground,
malignity is apt to fasten on princes.
In riding and throwing the javelin, in shooting with the
bow, and in all the accomplishments of military exercises, he was
admirably skilful. That he never blew his nose in public, never spat,
never was seen to change countenance, and that he never in all his life
ate any fruit I pass over, as what has been often related before.
Having now briefly enumerated his good qualities with which
we have been able to become acquainted, let us now proceed to speak of
his vices. In other respects he was equal to average princes, but if he
had the slightest reason (even if founded on wholly false information)
for suspecting any one of aiming at supreme power, he would at once
institute the most rigorous inquiry, trampling down right and wrong
alike, and outdo the cruelty of Caligula, Domitian, or Commodus, whose
barbarity he rivalled at the very beginning of his reign, when he
shamefully put to death his own connections and relations.
And his cruelty and morose suspicions, which were directed
against everything of the kind, were a cruel addition to the sufferings
of the unhappy persons who were accused of sedition or treason.
And if anything of the kind got wind, he instituted
investigations of a more terrible nature than the law sanctioned,
appointing men of known cruelty as judges in such cases; and in
punishing offenders he endeavoured to protract their deaths as long as
nature would allow, being in such cases more savage
than even Gallienus. For he, though assailed by incessant and real
plots of rebels, such as Aureolus, Posthumus, Ingenuus, and Valens who
was surnamed the Thessalonian, and many others, often mitigated the
penalty of crimes liable to sentence of death; while Constantius caused
facts which were really unquestionable to be looked upon as doubtful by
the excessive inhumanity of his tortures.
In such cases he had a mortal hatred of justice, even
though his great object was to be accounted just and merciful: and as
sparks flying from a dry wood, by a mere breath of wind are sometimes
carried on with unrestrained course to the danger of the country
villages around, so he also from the most trivial causes kindled heaps
of evils, being very unlike that wise emperor Marcus Aurelius, who,
when Cassius in Syria aspired to the supreme power, and when a bundle
of letters which he had written to his accomplices, was taken with
their bearer, and brought to him, ordered them at once to be burned,
while he was still in Illyricum, in order that he might not know who
had plotted against him, and so against his will be obliged to consider
some persons as his enemies.
And, as some right-thinking people are of opinion, it was rather an indication of great virtue
in Constantius to have quelled the empire without shedding more blood, than to have revenged himself with such cruelty.
As Cicero also teaches us, when in one of his letters to
Nepos he accuses Caesar of cruelty, "For," says he, "felicity is
nothing else but success in what is honourable;" or to define it in
another way, "Felicity is fortune assisting good counsels, and he who
is not guided by such cannot be happy. Therefore in wicked and impious
designs such as those of Caesar there could be no felicity; and in my
judgment Camillus when in exile was happier than Manlius at the same
time, even if Manlius had been able to make himself king, as he
wished."'
The same is the language of Heraclitus of Ephesus, when he
remarks that men of eminent capacity and virtue, through the caprice of
fortune, have often been overcome by men destitute of either talent or
energy. But that that glory is the best when power, existing with high
rank, forces, as it were, its inclinations to be angry and cruel,
and oppressive under the yoke, and so erects a glorious trophy in
the citadel of its victorious mind.
But as in his foreign wars this emperor was
unsuccessful and unfortunate, on the other hand in his civil contests
he was successful; and in all those domestic calamities he covered
himself with the horrid blood of the enemies of the republic and of
himself; and yielding to his elation at these triumphs in a way neither
right nor usual, he erected at a vast expense triumphal arches in Gaul
and the two Pannonias, to record his triumphs over his own provinces;
engraving on them the titles of his exploits ... as long as they should
last, to those who read the inscriptions.
He was preposterously addicted to listening to his wives,
and to the thin voices of his eunuchs, and some of his courtiers, who
applauded all his words, and watched everything he said, whether in
approval or disapproval, in order to agree with it.
The misery of these times was further increased by the
insatiable covetousness of his tax-collectors, who brought him more
odium than money; and to many persons this seemed the more intolerable,
because he never listened to any excuse, never took any measures for
relief of the provinces when oppressed by the multiplicity of taxes and
imposts; and in addition to all this he was very apt to take back any
exemptions which he had granted.
He confused the Christian religion, which is plain and
simple, with old women's superstitions; in investigating which he
preferred perplexing himself to settling its questions with dignity, so
that he excited much dissension; which he further encouraged by diffuse
wordy explanations: he ruined the establishment of public conveyances
by devoting them to the service of crowds of priests, who went to and
fro to different synods, as they call the meetings at which they
endeavour to settle everything according to their own fancy.
As to his personal appearance and stature, he was of a
dark complexion with prominent eyes; of keen sight, soft hair, with his
cheeks carefully shaved, and bright looking. From his waist to his neck
he was rather long, his legs were very short and crooked, which made
him a good leaper and runner.
When the body of the deceased emperor had been laid out,
and placed in a coffin, Jovianus, at that time the chief officer of the
guard, was ordered to attend it with royal pomp to Constantinople, to
be buried among his relations.
While he was proceeding on the vehicle which bore the
remains, samples of the military provisions were brought to him as an
offering, as is usual in the case of princes; and the public animals
were paraded before him; and a concourse of people came out to meet him
as was usual; which, with other similar demonstrations, seemed to
portend to Jovianus, as the superintendent of his funeral, the
attainment of the empire, but an authority only curtailed and shadowy.