---
title: "Seven Books of History against the Pagans"
author: "Paulus Orosius"
translator: "S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026)"
title_ru: "История против язычников"
title_fr: "Histoires contre les païens"
title_de: "Sieben Bücher Geschichte gegen die Heiden"
languages: [la, en]
shelf: "Church Fathers"
url: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/
cite: "Paulus Orosius, tr. S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026), Seven Books of History against the Pagans. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/"
---

# Seven Books of History against the Pagans

*Paulus Orosius, tr. S. Alexander Laurent (AI-assisted, 2026)*

Russian: История против язычников · French: Histoires contre les païens · German: Sieben Bücher Geschichte gegen die Heiden

Augustine's pupil tells the whole of world history to prove that the Christian times are not the worst.

## Contents

1. [Prologue](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/1.md)
2. [Book 1 · Chapter 1](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/2.md)
3. [Book 1 · Chapter 2 · 1 of 3](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/3.md)
4. [Book 1 · Chapter 2 · 2 of 3](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/4.md)
5. [Book 1 · Chapter 2 · 3 of 3](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/5.md)
6. [Book 1 · Chapter 3](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/6.md)
7. [Book 1 · Chapter 4](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/7.md)
8. [Book 1 · Chapter 5](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/8.md)
9. [Book 1 · Chapter 6](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/9.md)
10. [Book 1 · Chapter 7](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/10.md)
11. [Book 1 · Chapter 8](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/11.md)
12. [Book 1 · Chapter 9](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/12.md)
13. [Book 1 · Chapter 10](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/13.md)
14. [Book 1 · Chapter 11](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/14.md)
15. [Book 1 · Chapter 12](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/15.md)
16. [Book 1 · Chapters 13–14](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/16.md)
17. [Book 1 · Chapter 15](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/17.md)
18. [Book 1 · Chapters 16–18](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/18.md)
19. [Book 1 · Chapter 19](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/19.md)
20. [Book 1 · Chapter 20](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/20.md)
21. [Book 1 · Chapter 21](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/21.md)
22. [Book 2 · Chapter 1](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/22.md)
23. [Book 2 · Chapter 2](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/23.md)
24. [Book 2 · Chapter 3](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/24.md)
25. [Book 2 · Chapter 4](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/25.md)
26. [Book 2 · Chapter 5](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/26.md)
27. [Book 2 · Chapter 6](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/27.md)
28. [Book 2 · Chapter 7](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/28.md)
29. [Book 2 · Chapter 8](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/29.md)
30. [Book 2 · Chapter 9](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/30.md)
31. [Book 2 · Chapter 10](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/31.md)
32. [Book 2 · Chapter 11](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/32.md)
33. [Book 2 · Chapter 12](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/33.md)
34. [Book 2 · Chapter 13](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/34.md)
35. [Book 2 · Chapter 14](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/35.md)
36. [Book 2 · Chapter 15](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/36.md)
37. [Book 2 · Chapter 16](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/37.md)
38. [Book 2 · Chapter 17](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/38.md)
39. [Book 2 · Chapter 18](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/39.md)
40. [Book 2 · Chapter 19](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/40.md)
41. [Book 3 · Preface](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/41.md)
42. [Book 3 · Chapter 1](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/42.md)
43. [Book 3 · Chapter 2](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/43.md)
44. [Book 3 · Chapter 3](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/44.md)
45. [Book 3 · Chapter 4](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/45.md)
46. [Book 3 · Chapter 5](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/46.md)
47. [Book 3 · Chapter 6](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/47.md)
48. [Book 3 · Chapter 7](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/48.md)
49. [Book 3 · Chapter 8](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/49.md)
50. [Book 3 · Chapter 9](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/50.md)
51. [Book 3 · Chapters 10–11](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/51.md)
52. [Book 3 · Chapter 12](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/52.md)
53. [Book 3 · Chapter 13](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/53.md)
54. [Book 3 · Chapter 14](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/54.md)
55. [Book 3 · Chapter 15](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/55.md)
56. [Book 3 · Chapter 16](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/56.md)
57. [Book 3 · Chapter 17](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/57.md)
58. [Book 3 · Chapter 18](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/58.md)
59. [Book 3 · Chapter 19](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/59.md)
60. [Book 3 · Chapter 20](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/60.md)
61. [Book 3 · Chapter 21](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/61.md)
62. [Book 3 · Chapter 22](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/62.md)
63. [Book 3 · Chapter 23 · 1 of 2](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/63.md)
64. [Book 3 · Chapter 23 · 2 of 2](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/64.md)
65. [Book 4 · Preface](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/65.md)
66. [Book 4 · Chapter 1](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/66.md)
67. [Book 4 · Chapter 2](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/67.md)
68. [Book 4 · Chapter 3](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/68.md)
69. [Book 4 · Chapter 4](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/69.md)
70. [Book 4 · Chapter 5](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/70.md)
71. [Book 4 · Chapter 6](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/71.md)
72. [Book 4 · Chapter 7](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/72.md)
73. [Book 4 · Chapter 8](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/73.md)
74. [Book 4 · Chapter 9](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/74.md)
75. [Book 4 · Chapter 10](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/75.md)
76. [Book 4 · Chapter 11](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/76.md)
77. [Book 4 · Chapter 12](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/77.md)
78. [Book 4 · Chapter 13](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/78.md)
79. [Book 4 · Chapter 14](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/79.md)
80. [Book 4 · Chapter 15](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/80.md)
81. [Book 4 · Chapter 16](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/81.md)
82. [Book 4 · Chapter 17](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/82.md)
83. [Book 4 · Chapter 18](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/83.md)
84. [Book 4 · Chapter 19](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/84.md)
85. [Book 4 · Chapter 20](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/85.md)
86. [Book 4 · Chapter 21](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/86.md)
87. [Book 4 · Chapter 22](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/87.md)
88. [Book 4 · Chapter 23](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/88.md)
89. [Book 5 · Chapter 1](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/89.md)
90. [Book 5 · Chapter 2](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/90.md)
91. [Book 5 · Chapter 3](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/91.md)
92. [Book 5 · Chapter 4](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/92.md)
93. [Book 5 · Chapter 5](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/93.md)
94. [Book 5 · Chapter 6](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/94.md)
95. [Book 5 · Chapter 7](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/95.md)
96. [Book 5 · Chapter 8](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/96.md)
97. [Book 5 · Chapter 9](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/97.md)
98. [Book 5 · Chapter 10](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/98.md)
99. [Book 5 · Chapter 11](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/99.md)
100. [Book 5 · Chapter 12](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/100.md)
101. [Book 5 · Chapter 13](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/101.md)
102. [Book 5 · Chapter 14](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/102.md)
103. [Book 5 · Chapter 15](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/103.md)
104. [Book 5 · Chapter 16](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/104.md)
105. [Book 5 · Chapter 17](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/105.md)
106. [Book 5 · Chapter 18](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/106.md)
107. [Book 5 · Chapter 19](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/107.md)
108. [Book 5 · Chapter 20](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/108.md)
109. [Book 5 · Chapter 21](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/109.md)
110. [Book 5 · Chapter 22](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/110.md)
111. [Book 5 · Chapter 23](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/111.md)
112. [Book 5 · Chapter 24](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/112.md)
113. [Book 6 · Chapter 1](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/113.md)
114. [Book 6 · Chapter 2](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/114.md)
115. [Book 6 · Chapter 3](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/115.md)
116. [Book 6 · Chapter 4](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/116.md)
117. [Book 6 · Chapter 5](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/117.md)
118. [Book 6 · Chapter 6](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/118.md)
119. [Book 6 · Chapter 7](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/119.md)
120. [Book 6 · Chapter 8](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/120.md)
121. [Book 6 · Chapter 9](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/121.md)
122. [Book 6 · Chapter 10](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/122.md)
123. [Book 6 · Chapter 11](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/123.md)
124. [Book 6 · Chapter 12](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/124.md)
125. [Book 6 · Chapter 13](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/125.md)
126. [Book 6 · Chapter 14](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/126.md)
127. [Book 6 · Chapter 15](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/127.md)
128. [Book 6 · Chapter 16](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/128.md)
129. [Book 6 · Chapter 17](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/129.md)
130. [Book 6 · Chapter 18](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/130.md)
131. [Book 6 · Chapter 19](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/131.md)
132. [Book 6 · Chapter 20](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/132.md)
133. [Book 6 · Chapter 21](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/133.md)
134. [Book 6 · Chapter 22](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/134.md)
135. [Book 7 · Chapter 1](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/135.md)
136. [Book 7 · Chapter 2](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/136.md)
137. [Book 7 · Chapter 3](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/137.md)
138. [Book 7 · Chapter 4](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/138.md)
139. [Book 7 · Chapter 5](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/139.md)
140. [Book 7 · Chapter 6](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/140.md)
141. [Book 7 · Chapter 7](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/141.md)
142. [Book 7 · Chapter 8](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/142.md)
143. [Book 7 · Chapter 9](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/143.md)
144. [Book 7 · Chapter 10](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/144.md)
145. [Book 7 · Chapter 11](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/145.md)
146. [Book 7 · Chapter 12](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/146.md)
147. [Book 7 · Chapter 13](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/147.md)
148. [Book 7 · Chapter 14](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/148.md)
149. [Book 7 · Chapter 15](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/149.md)
150. [Book 7 · Chapter 16](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/150.md)
151. [Book 7 · Chapter 17](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/151.md)
152. [Book 7 · Chapter 18](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/152.md)
153. [Book 7 · Chapter 19](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/153.md)
154. [Book 7 · Chapter 20](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/154.md)
155. [Book 7 · Chapter 21](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/155.md)
156. [Book 7 · Chapter 22](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/156.md)
157. [Book 7 · Chapter 23](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/157.md)
158. [Book 7 · Chapter 24](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/158.md)
159. [Book 7 · Chapter 25](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/159.md)
160. [Book 7 · Chapter 26](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/160.md)
161. [Book 7 · Chapter 27](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/161.md)
162. [Book 7 · Chapter 28](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/162.md)
163. [Book 7 · Chapter 29](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/163.md)
164. [Book 7 · Chapter 30](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/164.md)
165. [Book 7 · Chapter 31](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/165.md)
166. [Book 7 · Chapter 32](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/166.md)
167. [Book 7 · Chapter 33](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/167.md)
168. [Book 7 · Chapter 34](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/168.md)
169. [Book 7 · Chapter 35](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/169.md)
170. [Book 7 · Chapter 36](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/170.md)
171. [Book 7 · Chapter 37](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/171.md)
172. [Book 7 · Chapter 38](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/172.md)
173. [Book 7 · Chapter 39](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/173.md)
174. [Book 7 · Chapter 40](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/174.md)
175. [Book 7 · Chapter 41](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/175.md)
176. [Book 7 · Chapter 42](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/176.md)
177. [Book 7 · Chapter 43](https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/177.md)

## 1. Prologue

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/1/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/1/#p-N

[¶0] I have obeyed your instructions, most blessed father Augustine — and would that I had done so as effectively as I have done it willingly. Yet I am little troubled, one way or the other, about the result, whether I have acted rightly or otherwise:

> Latin: 1 Praeceptis tuis parui, beatissime pater Augustine; atque utinam tam efficaciter quam libenter. quamquam ego in utramuis partem parum de explicito mouear, rectene an secus egerim:

[¶1] for you have already taken on the labour of that judgement, whether I was able to do what you instructed; I, for my part, am content with the witness of obedience alone, if indeed I have adorned it with good will and effort.

> Latin: 2 tu enim iam isto iudicio laborasti, utrumne hoc, quod praeciperes, possem; ego autem solius oboedientiae, si tamen eam uoluntate conatuque decoraui, testimonio contentus sum.

[¶2] For in the great house of a great householder, though there are many animals of different kinds that serve the needs of the household, the care of the dogs is by no means the last. To them alone nature has given the instinct to be driven willingly towards that for which they are trained, and, by a kind of inborn rule of obedience, to be held back solely by the expectation of a disciplined fear, until they are let loose to do their work by a nod or a sign.

> Latin: 3 nam et in magna magni patrisfamilias domo cum sint multa diuersi generis animalia adiumento rei familiaris commoda, non est tamen canum cura postrema; quibus solis natura insitum est, uoluntarie ad id quod praeparantur urgueri et per ingenitam quandam oboedientiae formulam sola disciplinati timoris exspectatione suspendi, donec ad peragendi licentiam nutu signoue mittantur.

[¶3] For they have appetites of their own, which raise them as far above the brutes as they bring them near to rational beings: that is, to discern, to love, and to serve.

> Latin: 4 habent enim proprios appetitus, quantum brutis excellentiores tantum rationabilibus propinquantes, hoc est discernere amare seruire.

[¶4] Discerning between masters and strangers, they do not hate those whom they chase, but are zealous for those whom they love; and loving their master and his house, they keep watch not as if from a body fitted for it by nature, but keep vigil out of the conscience of an anxious love.

> Latin: 5 nam discernentes inter dominos atque extraneos non eos quos insectantur oderunt sed iis quos amant zelant, et amantes dominum ac domum non quasi ex natura apti corporis uigilant sed ex conscientia solliciti amoris inuigilant.

[¶5] Hence, too, in a mystical sacrament in the Gospels, the Canaanite woman was not ashamed to say, and the Lord did not disdain to hear, that the little dogs eat the crumbs under their masters’ table.

> Latin: 6 unde etiam mystico sacramento in Euangeliis, quod edant micas catelli sub mensa dominorum, et Chananaea non erubuit dicere et Dominus non fastidiuit audire.

[¶6] Blessed Tobias too, following an angel as his guide, did not scorn to have a dog as his companion.

> Latin: 7 beatus etiam Tobias, ducem angelum sequens, canem comitem habere non spreuit.

[¶7] Bound to you, then, by a special love within your love for all, I have willingly obeyed your will. For since my submission owes the deed to the command of your fatherhood, and the whole work is yours, returning from you to you, I have repaid it with something of my own in this one thing only: that I did it gladly.

> Latin: 8 igitur generali amori tuo speciali amore conexus uoluntati tuae uolens parui. nam cum subiectio mea praecepto paternitatis tuae factum debeat totumque tuum sit, quod ex te ad te redit, opus meum, hoc solo meo cumulatius reddidi, quod libens feci.

[¶8] You had instructed me to answer the empty-worded perversity of those who, strangers to the City of God, are called pagans (pagani) from the crossroads and villages (pagi) of the countryside, or gentiles because they savour of earthly things; who, though they do not seek the future and either forget or do not know the past, nevertheless defame the present times as though they were beset beyond the ordinary by evils, for this reason alone: that Christ is believed and God worshipped, while idols are worshipped less —

> Latin: 9 Praeceperas mihi, uti aduersus uaniloquam prauitatem eorum, qui alieni a ciuitate Dei ex locorum agrestium conpitis et pagis pagani uocantur siue gentiles quia terrena sapiunt, qui cum futura non quaerant, praeterita autem aut obliuiscantur aut nesciant, praesentia tamen tempora ueluti malis extra solitum infestatissima ob hoc solum quod creditur Christus et colitur Deus, idola autem minus coluntur, infamant: -

*Note: Orosius derives pagani from pagi, the country districts, making the pagans “rustics”. The Christian use of paganus for a non-Christian was then fairly new, and its origin is still disputed.*

[¶9] you had instructed me, then, that from all the records of histories and annals that can be had at present, I should set out in a brief and orderly volume whatever I had found in ages past that was heavy with wars, corrupted by plagues, grim with famine, terrible with earthquakes, unheard-of in floods, fearful with eruptions of fire, savage with strokes of lightning and storms of hail, or wretched too with parricides and crimes.

> Latin: 10 praeceperas ergo, ut ex omnibus qui haberi ad praesens possunt historiarum atque annalium fastis, quaecumque aut bellis grauia aut corrupta morbis aut fame tristia aut terrarum motibus terribilia aut inundationibus aquarum insolita aut eruptionibus ignium metuenda aut ictibus fulminum plagisque grandinum saeua uel etiam parricidiis flagitiisque misera per transacta retro saecula repperissem, ordinato breuiter uoluminis textu explicarem.

[¶10] For it was not fitting that your Reverence, intent on completing the eleventh book against these same pagans — books whose first ten, like rays rising in the east, shone over the whole world as soon as they were raised from the watchtower of the Church’s brightness —

> Latin: 11 maxime cum reuerentiam tuam perficiendo aduersum hos ipsos paganos undecimo libro insistentem - quorum iam decem orientes radii mox ut de specula ecclesiasticae claritatis elati sunt toto orbe fulserunt -

*Note: Augustine’s City of God. Its first ten books, the polemic against paganism, were finished; Augustine was now at work on Book 11.*

[¶11] should be taken up with a slight little work; and your holy son Julian of Carthage, a servant of God, demanded that his request in this matter be satisfied with the same confidence with which he had made it.

> Latin: 12 leui opusculo occupari non oporteret et sanctus filius tuus, Iulianus Carthaginiensis, seruus Dei, satisfieri super hac re petitioni suae eadem fiducia qua poposcit exigeret:

[¶12] So I set to work, and first of all I put myself to shame; for as I reflected on it, the disasters of the present times had often seemed to me to have boiled over beyond all measure.

> Latin: 13 dedi operam et me ipsum in primis confusione pressi, cui plerumque reputanti super modum exaestuauisse praesentium clades temporum uidebantur.

[¶13] But I found the days gone by not only as grievous as these, but all the more terribly wretched the further they were from the remedy of the true religion. This inquiry has thus rightly made it clear that death, greedy for blood, reigned while the religion that would hold men back from blood was unknown; that as this religion dawned, death stood stunned; that death is being shut in now that religion prevails; and that it will be nothing at all when religion alone reigns —

> Latin: 14 nanctus sum enim praeteritos dies non solum aeque ut hos graues, uerum etiam tanto atrocius miseros quanto longius a remedio uerae religionis alienos: ut merito hac scrutatione claruerit regnasse mortem auidam sanguinis, dum ignoratur religio quae prohiberet a sanguine; ista inlucescente, illam constupuisse; illam concludi, cum ista iam praeualet; illam penitus nullam futuram, cum haec sola regnabit:

[¶14] excepting, of course, and setting apart those last days at the end of the age, at the appearing of Antichrist, or even at the conclusion of the Judgement, for which the Lord Christ, through the holy Scriptures and by his own testimony as well, foretold distresses such as there had never been before;

> Latin: 15 exceptis uidelicet semotisque illis diebus nouissimis sub fine saeculi et sub apparitione Antichristi uel etiam sub conclusione iudicii, quibus futuras angustias, quales ante non fuerint, dominus Christus per scripturas sanctas sua etiam contestatione praedixit,

[¶15] when, by the same measure that holds both now and always, but in a more open and more grievous trial, the unbearable tribulations of those times will bring testing to the saints and perdition to the ungodly.

> Latin: 16 cum secundum ipsum quidem qui et nunc et semper est modum, uerum apertiore ac grauiore discrimine, per intolerabiles tribulationes temporum illorum sanctos probatio, impios perditio consequetur.

## 2. Book 1 · Chapter 1

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/2/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/2/#p-N

[¶0] Now almost all the men devoted to writing, among the Greeks as well as the Latins, who have handed down in words the deeds of kings and peoples for long remembrance, have begun their writing with Ninus, son of Belus, king of the Assyrians —

> Latin: 1 Et quoniam omnes propemodum tam apud Graecos quam apud Latinos studiosi ad scribendum uiri, qui res gestas regum populorumque ob diuturnam memoriam uerbis propagauerunt, initium scribendi a Nino Beli filio, rege Assyriorum, fecere -

[¶1] for though in their blind opinion they would have it believed that the origin of the world and the creation of mankind had no beginning, they nonetheless define kingdoms and wars as having begun with him,

> Latin: 2 qui cum opinione caeca mundi originem creaturamque hominum sine initio credi uelint, coepisse tamen ab hoc regna bellaque definiunt,

[¶2] as if until then the human race had lived in the manner of cattle, and only then, shaken and roused as it were to a new foresight, had woken up —

> Latin: 3 quasi uero eatenus humanum genus ritu pecudum uixerit et tunc primum ueluti ad nouam prouidentiam concussum suscitatumque uigilarit -:

[¶3] I, however, have resolved to trace the beginning of man’s misery from the beginning of man’s sin, touching only on a few points and those briefly.

> Latin: 4 ego initium miseriae hominum ab initio peccati hominis ducere institui, paucis dumtaxat isdemque breuiter delibatis.

[¶4] Now from Adam, the first man, to Ninus, the ‘great’ king as they call him, in whose time Abraham was born, there are 3,184 years, which all the historians have either passed over or not known.

> Latin: 5 sunt autem ab Adam primo homine usque ad Ninum 'magnum' ut dicunt regem, quando natus est Abraham, anni I̅I̅I̅CLXXXIIII, qui ab omnibus historiographis uel omissi uel ignorati sunt.

*Note: Orosius takes his figures of 3,184 and 2,015 years from Jerome’s Latin version of the Chronicle of Eusebius, which also makes Abraham a contemporary of Ninus.*

[¶5] From Ninus, or Abraham, to Caesar Augustus — that is, to the birth of Christ, which fell in the forty-second year of Caesar’s rule, when peace had been made with the Parthians, the gates of Janus were shut, and wars ceased throughout the world — 2,015 years are reckoned, over which the leisure and the labours of all have been spent between those who did the deeds and those who wrote them.

> Latin: 6 a Nino autem uel Abraham usque ad Caesarem Augustum id est usque ad natiuitatem Christi, quae fuit anno imperii Caesaris quadragesimo secundo, cum facta pace cum Parthis Iani portae clausae sunt et bella toto orbe cessarunt, colliguntur anni I̅I̅XV, in quibus se inter actores scriptoresque omnium otia negotiaque triuerunt.

[¶6] The matter itself therefore demands that we touch, as briefly as may be, on at least a few things from those books which, in speaking of the origin of the world, won belief for things past by foretelling things to come and by the proof that followed:

> Latin: 7 quapropter res ipsa exigit ex his libris quam breuissime uel pauca contingere, qui originem mundi loquentes praeteritorum fidem adnuntiatione futurorum et post subsequa probatione fecerunt:

[¶7] not that we would seem to press their authority on anyone, but because it is worth the trouble to recall an opinion widely held, which we share with everyone:

> Latin: 8 non quo auctoritatem eorum cuiquam uideamur ingerere, sed quo operae pretium sit de opinione uulgata quae nobis cum omnibus communis est commonere:

[¶8] first, that if the world and man are governed by divine providence, which is just as it is good; and if man — who through the changeableness of his nature and the freedom of his will is both weak and stubborn — must be governed with kindness when he needs help, just as he must be justly chastised when he is unrestrained in his freedom,

> Latin: 9 primum quia, si diuina prouidentia, quae sicut bona ita et iusta est, agitur mundus et homo, hominem autem, qui conuertibilitate naturae et libertate licentiae et infirmus et contumax est, sicut pie gubernari egenum opis oportet ita iuste corripi inmoderatum libertatis necesse est,

[¶9] then anyone who looks at the human race through himself and in himself perceives that this world has rightly been exercised, from the beginning of man, by goods and evils in turn;

> Latin: 10 iure ab initio hominis per bona malaque alternantia, exerceri hunc mundum sentit quisquis per se atque in se humanum genus uidet;

[¶10] next, since we are taught that sin and the punishment of sin began with the first man himself; and further, since even these writers, starting from the middle of time and nowhere mentioning the ages before, have described nothing but wars and disasters —

> Latin: 11 deinde cum ab ipso primo homine peccatum punitionemque peccati coepisse doceamur; porro autem cum etiam isti de mediis temporibus inchoantes, quamuis superiorum nusquam meminerint, nihil nisi bella cladesque descripserint -

[¶11] and what else are wars to be called but evils falling now on one side, now on the other? and evils of this kind, as they were then and as they are now, so far as they are, are without doubt either open sins or hidden punishments of sins —

> Latin: 12 quae bella quid aliud dicenda sunt, nisi uergentia in alterutrum mala; mala autem huiusmodi quae tunc erant, sicut et nunc sunt in quantum sunt, sine dubio aut manifesta peccata sunt aut occultae punitiones peccatorum -:

[¶12] what is there to prevent us from unfolding the head of the matter whose body they have depicted, and from bearing witness, even by the slenderest account, that those earlier ages, which we show to have been far more numerous, endured similar miseries?

> Latin: 13 quid impedimenti est nos eius rei caput pandere, cuius illi corpus expresserint, et priora illa saecula, quae multo numerosiora monstramus, uel tenuissimo testari relatu similes miserias pertulisse?

[¶13] Since, then, I am to speak from the founding of the world to the founding of the City, and from there to the principate of Caesar and the birth of Christ, from which time the empire of the world has remained under the power of the City, or even down to our own days, so far as I am able to bring them to knowledge;

> Latin: 14 Dicturus igitur ab orbe condito usque ad urbem conditam, dehinc usque ad Caesaris principatum natiuitatemque Christi ex quo sub potestate urbis orbis mansit imperium, uel etiam usque ad dies nostros, in quantum ad cognitionem uocare suffecero,

[¶14] and since I am to display, as from a watchtower, the conflicts of the human race and the world kindled by the torch of greed and burning with evils in its various parts, I think it necessary

> Latin: 15 conflictationes generis humani et ueluti per diuersas partes ardentem malis mundum face cupiditatis incensum e specula ostentaturus necessarium reor,

[¶15] first to set out the very globe of lands that the human race inhabits, as it was divided by our ancestors into three parts and then marked out into regions and provinces;

> Latin: 16 ut primum ipsum terrarum orbem quem inhabitat humanum genus, sicut est a maioribus trifariam distributus deinde regionibus prouinciisque determinatus, expediam;

[¶16] so that, when the local disasters of wars and plagues are displayed, those who are interested may the more easily gain a knowledge not only of events and times but also of places.

> Latin: 17 quo facilius, cum locales bellorum morborumque clades ostentabuntur, studiosi quique non solum rerum ac temporum sed etiam locorum scientiam consequantur.

## 3. Book 1 · Chapter 2 · 1 of 3

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/3/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/3/#p-N

[¶0] Our ancestors held that the whole circle of the earth, fenced about by the border of the Ocean, was three-cornered, and they called its three parts Asia, Europe and Africa; though some have thought there are two, that is, Asia, and then Africa, which should be counted as part of Europe.

> Latin: 1 Maiores nostri orbem totius terrae, oceani limbo circumsaeptum, triquadrum statuere eiusque tres partes Asiam Europam et Africam uocauerunt, quamuis aliqui duas hoc est Asiam ac deinde Africam in Europam accipiendam putarint.

[¶1] Asia, girt by the Ocean on three sides, stretches across the whole breadth of the east.

> Latin: 2 Asia tribus partibus oceano circumcincta per totam transuersi plagam orientis extenditur.

[¶2] Towards the west, on its right, it touches Europe, which begins under the northern pole; on its left it lets Africa go; and below Egypt and Syria it has Our Sea, which we generally call the Great Sea.

> Latin: 3 haec occasum uersus a dextra sui sub axe septentrionis incipientem contingit Europam, a sinistra autem Africam dimittit, sub Aegypto uero et Syria mare nostrum quod Magnum generaliter dicimus habet.

*Note: Our Sea (mare Nostrum) and the Great Sea (mare Magnum) are both the Mediterranean.*

[¶3] Europe begins, as I said, in the region of the north, at the river Tanais, where the Riphaean mountains, turned away from the Sarmatian Ocean, pour out the river Tanais;

> Latin: 4 Europa incipit ut dixi sub plaga septentrionis, a flumine Tanai, qua Riphaei montes Sarmatico auersi oceano Tanaim fluuium fundunt,

[¶4] this river, passing the altars and boundary-marks of Alexander the Great that stand in the territory of the Rhobasci, swells the Maeotic marshes, whose vast overflow enters the Euxine Sea far and wide near the city of Theodosia.

> Latin: 5 qui praeteriens aras ac terminos Alexandri Magni in Rhobascorum finibus sitos Maeotidas auget paludes, quarum inmensa exundatio iuxta Theodosiam urbem Euxinum Pontum late ingreditur.

*Note: The Tanais is the Don, the Maeotic marshes are the Sea of Azov, and the Euxine is the Black Sea.*

[¶5] From there a long strait runs out by Constantinople, until this sea which we call Our Sea receives it.

> Latin: 6 inde iuxta Constantinopolim longae mittuntur angustiae, donec eas mare hoc quod dicimus Nostrum accipiat.

[¶6] In Spain the western Ocean is the boundary of Europe, particularly where the Pillars of Hercules are seen by the islands of Cadiz, and where the tide of the Ocean pours into the mouth of the Tyrrhenian Sea.

> Latin: 7 Europae in Hispania occidentalis oceanus termino est, maxime ubi apud Gades insulas Herculis columnae uisuntur et Tyrrheni maris faucibus oceani aestus inmittitur.

*Note: Gades is Cadiz, which stood on islands off the Spanish coast; the strait of Cadiz (fretum Gaditanum) is the Strait of Gibraltar.*

[¶7] Africa begins at the borders of Egypt and the city of Alexandria, where the city of Paraetonium lies, above this Great Sea which washes between all the regions and the lands in the middle.

> Latin: 8 Africae principium est a finibus Aegypti urbisque Alexandriae, ubi Parethonio ciuitas sita est, super mare hoc Magnum, quod omnes plagas terrasque medias interluit.

[¶8] From there, running through the places which the inhabitants call Catabathmos, not far from the camp of Alexander the Great and above Lake Chalearzus, and then along the borders of the Upper Avasitae, its boundary cuts across the Ethiopian deserts and reaches the southern Ocean.

> Latin: 9 unde per loca quae accolae Catabathmon uocant haud procul a castris Alexandri Magni et super lacum Chalearzum, deinde iuxta superiorum fines Auasitarum missa in transuersum per Aethiopica deserta meridianum contingit oceanum.

[¶9] The boundaries of Africa to the west are the same as those of Europe, namely the mouth of the strait of Cadiz.

> Latin: 10 termini Africae ad occidentem idem sunt qui et Europae, id est fauces Gaditani freti.

[¶10] Its farthest limit is Mount Atlas and the islands they call the Fortunate Isles.

> Latin: 11 ultimus autem finis eius est mons Athlans et insulae quas Fortunatas uocant.

[¶11] And since I have briefly given the general divisions of the threefold world, I shall take care, as I promised, to indicate the regions of the parts themselves.

> Latin: 12 Et quia breuiter generales tripertiti orbis diuisiones dedi, ipsarum quoque partium regiones, sicut pollicitus sum, significare curabo.

[¶12] Asia, at the middle of its eastern front, has on the Eastern Ocean the mouths of the river Ganges; on the left, the promontory of Caligardamana, below which, to the south-east, lies the island of Taprobane, from which point the Ocean begins to be called the Indian Ocean;

> Latin: 13 Asia ad mediam frontem orientis habet in oceano Eoo ostia fluminis Gangis, a sinistra promunturium Caligardamana, cui subiacet ad Eurum insula Taprobane, ex qua oceanus Indicus uocari incipit;

[¶13] on the right it has the promontory of Samara on Mount Imavus — where the Caucasus ends — below which, to the north-east, lie the mouths of the river Ottorogorra, from which the Ocean is called the Serican.

> Latin: 14 a dextra habet Imaui montis - ubi Caucasus deficit - promunturium Samarae, cui ad aquilonem subiacent ostia fluminis Ottorogorrae, ex quo oceanus Sericus appellatur.

[¶14] Within these bounds is India, which has on the west the river Indus, which is received by the Red Sea, and on the north the Caucasus range; the rest, as I said, is bounded by the Eastern and the Indian Ocean.

> Latin: 15 In his finibus India est, quae habet ab occidente flumen Indum, quod Rubro mari accipitur, a septentrione montem Caucasum; reliqua ut dixi Eoo et Indico oceano terminatur.

*Note: The Red Sea (mare Rubrum) in ancient usage takes in the whole Indian Ocean with its gulfs, not only the modern Red Sea.*

[¶15] It has forty-four peoples, not counting the island of Taprobane, which has ten cities, nor the very many other inhabited islands.

> Latin: 16 haec habet gentes XLIIII, absque insula Taprobane, quae habet decem ciuitates, et absque reliquis insulis habitabilibus plurimis.

[¶16] From the river Indus, on the east, to the river Tigris, on the west, lie these regions: Arachosia, Parthia, Assyria, Persis and Media, mountainous and rugged in terrain.

> Latin: 17 A flumine Indo, quod est ab oriente, usque ad flumen Tigrim, quod est ad occasum, regiones sunt istae: Arachosia Parthia Assyria Persida et Media, situ terrarum montuoso et aspero.

[¶17] They have the Caucasus range on the north, the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf on the south, and in their midst the chief rivers Hydaspes and Arbis. In these regions there are thirty-two peoples.

> Latin: 18 hae a septentrione habent montem Caucasum, a meridie mare Rubrum et sinum Persicum, in medio autem sui flumina praecipua Hydaspem et Arbim. in his sunt gentes XXXII.

[¶18] But the whole is generally called Parthia, though the Holy Scriptures often call all of it Media.

> Latin: 19 sed generaliter Parthia dicitur, quamuis Scripturae Sanctae uniuersam saepe Mediam uocent.

[¶19] From the river Tigris to the river Euphrates is Mesopotamia, beginning in the north between Mount Taurus and the Caucasus.

> Latin: 20 A flumine Tigri usque ad flumen Euphraten Mesopotamia est, incipiens a septentrione inter montem Taurum et Caucasum.

[¶20] South of it comes Babylonia, then Chaldaea, and lastly Arabia Eudaemon, which stretches eastward in a narrow tract of land between the Persian and the Arabian Gulf.

> Latin: 21 cui ad meridiem succedit Babylonia, deinde Chaldaea, nouissime Arabia Eudaemon, quae inter sinum Persicum et Arabicum angusto terrae tractu orientem uersus extenditur.

[¶21] In these there are twenty-eight peoples.

> Latin: 22 in his sunt gentes XXVIII.

[¶22] From the river Euphrates, on the east, to Our Sea, on the west; and from the north, that is, from the city of Dagusa, which lies on the border of Cappadocia and Armenia not far from the place where the Euphrates rises, to Egypt and the far end of the Arabian Gulf —

> Latin: 23 A flumine Euphrate, quod est ab oriente, usque ad mare Nostrum, quod est ab occasu, deinde a septentrione id est a ciuitate Dagusa, quae in confinio Cappadociae et Armeniae sita est haud procul a loco ubi Euphrates nascitur, usque ad Aegyptum et extremum sinum Arabicum,

[¶23] which, to the south, stretches westward from the Red Sea, that is, from the Ocean, in a long, narrow channel crowded with rocks and islands — the land is generally called Syria. It has the very large provinces of Commagene, Phoenicia and Palestine, besides the Saracens and Nabataeans, whose peoples number twelve.

> Latin: 24 qui ad meridiem longo angustoque sulco saxis insulisque creberrimo a Rubro mari id est ab oceano occasum uersus extenditur, Syria generaliter nominatur, habens maximas prouincias Commagenam Phoeniciam et Palaestinam, absque Saracenis et Nabathaeis quorum gentes sunt XII.

[¶24] At the head of Syria is Cappadocia, which has Armenia on the east, Asia on the west, the Themiscyrian plains and the Cimmerian Sea on the north-east, and on the south Mount Taurus, below which lie Cilicia and Isauria as far as the Cilician Gulf, which faces the island of Cyprus.

> Latin: 25 In capite Syriae Cappadocia est, quae habet ab oriente Armeniam, ab occasu Asiam, ab aquilone Themiscyrios campos et mare Cimmericum, a meridie Taurum montem, cui subiacet Cilicia et Isauria usque ad Cilicium sinum, qui spectat contra insulam Cyprum.

[¶25] The region of Asia — or, to speak properly, Asia Minor — except for its eastern part, where it runs on towards Cappadocia and Syria, is surrounded on every side by sea: on the north by the Euxine, on the west by the Propontis and the Hellespont, on the south by Our Sea. There is Mount Olympus.

> Latin: 26 Asia Regio uel, ut proprie dicam, Asia minor absque orientali parte qua ad Cappadociam Syriamque progreditur undique circumdata est mari: a septentrione Ponto Euxino, ab occasu Propontide atque Hellesponto, ad meridiem mari Nostro. ibi est mons Olympus.

[¶26] Lower Egypt has on the east Syria Palaestina, on the west Libya, on the north Our Sea, and on the south the mountain called Climax, and Upper Egypt and the river Nile,

> Latin: 27 Aegyptus Inferior ab oriente habet Syriam Palaestinam, ab occasu Libyam, a septentrione mare Nostrum, a meridie montem, qui appellatur Climax, et Aegyptum superiorem fluuiumque Nilum,

[¶27] which seems to rise from the shore where the Red Sea begins, at the place called the trading-post of Mossylon; then, flowing a long way westward and forming in its midst an island named Meroë, it at last bends northward and, swollen by its seasonal floods, waters the plains of Egypt.

> Latin: 28 qui de litore incipientis maris Rubri uidetur emergere in loco, qui dicitur Mossylon emporium, deinde diu ad occasum profluens, faciens insulam nomine Meroen in medio sui, nouissime ad septentrionem inflexus, tempestiuis auctus incrementis plana Aegypti rigat.

[¶28] Some authors say that it has its source not far from Atlas and at once sinks into the sands;

> Latin: 29 hunc aliqui auctores ferunt haud procul ab Athlante habere fontem et continuo harenis mergi,

*Note: This is the theory of King Juba II of Mauretania, reported by Pliny the Elder (Natural History 5.51), that the Nile rises in western Mauretania and runs for part of its course underground.*

[¶29] then, after a short interval, it overflows into a vast lake, and from there glides eastward through the Ethiopian deserts as far as the Ocean, and, turning again to the left, comes down into Egypt.

> Latin: 30 inde interiecto breui spatio uastissimo lacu exundare atque hinc oceano tenus orientem uersus per Aethiopica deserta prolabi rursusque inflexum ad sinistram ad Aegyptum descendere.

[¶30] It is indeed true that there is a great river of this kind, which has such a source and such a course, and which truly breeds all the monsters of the Nile; the barbarians near its source call it Dara, while the other inhabitants call it Nuhul;

> Latin: 31 quod quidem uerum est esse huiusmodi fluuium magnum, qui tali ortu talique cursu sit et re uera omnia Nili monstra gignat; quem utique prope fontem barbari Dara nominant; ceteri uero accolae Nuhul uocant;

[¶31] but in the region of the peoples called Libyo-Egyptians, not far from that river which we said bursts forth from the shore of the Red Sea, it is received into an immense lake and swallowed up —

> Latin: 32 sed hic in regione gentium, quae Libyoaegyptiae uocantur, haud procul ab illo fluuio, quem a litore maris Rubri prorumpere diximus, inmenso lacu acceptus absumitur;

[¶32] unless perhaps it discharges by a hidden channel into the bed of the river that comes down from the east.

> Latin: 33 nisi forte occulto meatu in alueum eius, qui ab oriente descendit, eructat.

[¶33] Upper Egypt extends a long way towards the east. On its north is the Arabian Gulf, on its south the Ocean; on the west it begins from Lower Egypt, and on the east it is bounded by the Red Sea. There are twenty-four peoples there.

> Latin: 34 Aegyptus Superior in orientem per longum extenditur. cui est a septentrione sinus Arabicus, a meridie oceanus. nam ab occasu ex inferiore Aegypto incipit, ad orientem Rubro mari terminatur. ibi sunt gentes XXIIII.

[¶34] And since we have described the southern part of all Asia, it remains to set out the part that is left, from the east to the north.

> Latin: 35 Et quoniam meridianam partem uniuersae Asiae descripsimus, superest ut ab oriente ad septentrionem pars quae restat expediatur.

[¶35] The Caucasus range first rises between the Colchians, who live above the Cimmerian Sea, and the Albanians, who live by the Caspian Sea. All the way to the farthest east it appears to be a single ridge, but it has many names;

> Latin: 36 Mons Caucasus inter Colchos, qui sunt super Cimmericum mare, et inter Albanos, qui sunt ad mare Caspium, primum attollitur. cuius quidem usque in ultimum orientem unum uidetur iugum, sed multa sunt nomina;

*Note: The Albanians of the Caucasus, between the mountains and the Caspian (roughly modern Azerbaijan), not the Albanians of the Balkans.*

[¶36] and many would have this same ridge believed to be the Taurus range, because Mount Parcohatras in Armenia, lying between the Taurus and the Caucasus, is thought in fact to join the Taurus to the Caucasus;

> Latin: 37 et multi hoc ipsum iugum Tauri montis credi uolunt, quia re uera Parcohatras mons Armeniae inter Taurum et Caucasum medius continuare Taurum cum Caucaso putatur;

[¶37] but the river Euphrates shows that this is not so: pouring out from the foot of Mount Parcohatras and heading south, it leaves that mountain on its left and shuts off the Taurus on its right.

> Latin: 38 sed hoc ita non esse discernit fluuius Euphrates, qui, radice Parcohatrae montis effusus, tendens in meridiem, ipsum ad sinistram, Taurum excludit ad dextram.

[¶38] So the Caucasus proper, between the Colchians and the Albanians, where it also has its gates, is called Mount Caucasus;

> Latin: 39 itaque ipse Caucasus inter Colchos et Albanos, ubi et portas habet, mons Caucasus dicitur;

[¶39] from the Caspian Gates to the Armenian Gates, or to the source of the river Tigris, between Armenia and Hiberia, the mountains are called the Acroceraunians;

> Latin: 40 a portis Caspiis usque ad Armenias pylas uel usque ad fontem Tigridis fluminis inter Armeniam et Hiberiam montes Acrocerauni dicuntur;

[¶40] from the source of the Tigris to the city of Carrhae, between the Massagetae and the Parthians, it is Mount Ariobarzanes;

> Latin: 41 a fonte Tigridis usque ad Carras ciuitatem inter Massagetas et Parthos mons Ariobarzanes;

[¶41] from the city of Carrhae to the town of Cathippus, between the Hyrcanians and the Bactrians, it is Mount Memarmali, where amomum grows; the ridge next to it is called Mount Parthau;

> Latin: 42 a Carris ciuitate usque ad oppidum Cathippi inter Hyrcanos et Bactrianos mons Memarmali, ubi amomum nascitur; a quo proximum iugum mons Parthau dicitur;

[¶42] from the town of Cathippus to the village of Safris, between the Dahae, the Sacaraucae and the Parthyenae, it is Mount Oscobares, where the river Ganges rises and silphium grows;

> Latin: 43 ab oppido Cathippi usque ad uicum Safrim inter Dahas Sacaraucas et Parthyenas mons Oscobares, ubi Ganges fluuius oritur et laser nascitur;

[¶43] from the source of the river Ganges to the sources of the river Ottorogorra, which lie to the north, where the mountain-dwelling Paropanisadae live, it is Mount Taurus;

> Latin: 44 a fonte fluminis Gangis usque ad fontes fluminis Ottorogorrae qui sunt a septentrione, ubi sunt montani Paropanisadae, mons Taurus;

[¶44] from the sources of the Ottorogorra to the city of Ottorogorra, between the Hunnic Scythians and the Gandaridae, it is Mount Caucasus.

> Latin: 45 a fontibus Ottorogorrae usque ad ciuitatem Ottorogorram inter Chunos Scythas et Gandaridas mons Caucasus.

## 4. Book 1 · Chapter 2 · 2 of 3

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/4/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/4/#p-N

[¶0] Last of all, between the Eoae and the Passyadrae, is Mount Imavus, where the river Chrysorhoas and the promontory of Samara are received by the Eastern Ocean.

> Latin: 46 ultimus autem inter Eoas et Passyadras mons Imauus, ubi flumen Chrysorhoas et promunturium Samara orientali excipiuntur oceano.

[¶1] Thus from Mount Imavus — that is, from the foot of the Caucasus and the right-hand part of the east, where the Serican Ocean stretches — to the Boreum promontory and the river Boreum, and from there as far as the Scythian Sea in the north, to the Caspian Sea in the west, and to the long ridge of the Caucasus in the south, there are forty-two peoples of Hyrcanians and Scythians, wandering far and wide because of the barren expanse of the land.

> Latin: 47 igitur a monte Imauo, hoc est ab imo Caucaso et dextra orientis parte qua oceanus Sericus tenditur, usque ad promunturium Boreum et flumen Boreum, inde tenus Scythico mari quod est a septentrione, usque ad mare Caspium quod est ab occasu, et usque ad extentum Caucasi iugum quod est ad meridiem, Hyrcanorum et Scytharum gentes sunt XLII, propter terrarum infecundam diffusionem late oberrantes.

[¶2] The Caspian Sea rises from the Ocean in the north-east; both its shores near the Ocean are held to be deserted and uncultivated land. From there it stretches southward through long narrows until, widening out over great spaces, it ends at the foot of the Caucasus range.

> Latin: 48 Mare Caspium sub Aquilonis plaga ab oceano oritur, cuius utraque circa oceanum litora et loca deserta incultaque habentur. inde meridiem uersus per longas angustias tenditur, donec per magna spatia dilatatum Caucasi montis radicibus terminetur.

*Note: Like most geographers after Alexander, Orosius takes the Caspian for a gulf of the northern Ocean; Herodotus had already known that it is an enclosed sea.*

[¶3] So from the Caspian Sea, on the east, along the shore of the northern Ocean to the river Tanais and the Maeotic marshes, on the west, and along the coast of the Cimmerian Sea, on the south-west, to the head and gates of the Caucasus, on the south, there are thirty-four peoples.

> Latin: 49 itaque a mari Caspio quod est ad orientem, per oram oceani septentrionalis usque ad Tanaim fluuium et Maeotidas paludes quae sunt ad occasum, per litus Cimmerici maris quod est ab Africo, usque ad caput et portas Caucasi quae sunt ad meridiem, gentes sunt XXXIIII.

[¶4] But in general the nearer region is called Albania, and the farther, below the Caspian Sea and mountain, the land of the Amazons.

> Latin: 50 sed generaliter regio proxima Albania, ulterior sub mari et monte Caspio Amazonum nominatur.

[¶5] The boundaries of Asia have been set out as briefly as possible. Now I shall range with my pen over Europe, so far as is granted to human knowledge.

> Latin: 51 Expliciti sunt quam breuissime fines Asiae. nunc Europam in quantum cognitioni hominis conceditur stilo peruagabor.

[¶6] It begins from the Riphaean mountains, the river Tanais and the Maeotic marshes, which lie to the east, and runs along the shore of the northern Ocean to Gallia Belgica and the river Rhine, which lies to the west, and then, coming down, to the Danube, which they also call the Hister, which lies to the south and, flowing eastward, is received by the Pontus.

> Latin: 52 Incipit a montibus Riphaeis ac flumine Tanai Maeotidisque paludibus quae sunt ad orientem, per litus septentrionalis oceani usque ad Galliam Belgicam et flumen Rhenum quod est ab occasu descendens, deinde usque ad Danuuium quem et Histrum uocant, qui est a meridie et ad orientem directus Ponto accipitur.

[¶7] On the east is Alania, in the middle Dacia, where Gothia also lies, then Germany, the greatest part of which the Suebi hold. In all of these there are fifty-four peoples.

> Latin: 53 ab oriente Alania est, in medio Dacia ubi et Gothia, deinde Germania est ubi plurimam partem Suebi tenent. quorum omnium sunt gentes LIIII.

[¶8] Now I shall set out everything that the Danube shuts off from the barbarian lands, down to Our Sea.

> Latin: 54 Nunc quidquid Danuuius a barbarico ad mare Nostrum secludit expediam.

[¶9] Moesia has on the east the mouths of the river Danube, on the south-east Thrace, on the south Macedonia, on the south-west Dalmatia, on the west Histria, on the north-west Pannonia, and on the north the Danube.

> Latin: 55 Moesia ab oriente habet ostia fluminis Danuuii, ab euro Thraciam, a meridie Macedoniam, ab Africo Dalmatiam, ab occasu Histriam, a circio Pannoniam, a septentrione Danuuium.

[¶10] Thrace has on the east the gulf of the Propontis and the city of Constantinople, formerly called Byzantium; on the north part of Dalmatia and a gulf of the Euxine Sea; on the west and south-west Macedonia; on the south the Aegean Sea.

> Latin: 56 Thracia habet ab oriente Propontidis sinum et ciuitatem Constantinopolim quae Byzantium prius dicta est, a septentrione partem Dalmatiae et sinum Euxini ponti, ab occasu et Africo Macedoniam, a meridie Aegaeum mare.

[¶11] Macedonia has on the east the Aegean Sea, on the north-east Thrace, on the south-east Euboea and the Macedonian Gulf, on the south Achaea, towards the west wind the Acroceraunian mountains at the narrows of the Adriatic Gulf — mountains which face Apulia and Brundisium — on the west Dalmatia, on the north-west Dardania, and on the north Moesia.

> Latin: 57 Macedonia habet ab oriente Aegaeum mare, a borea Thraciam, ab euro Euboeam et Macedonicum sinum, a meridie Achaiam, a fauonio montes Acrocerauniae in angustiis Hadriatici sinus, qui montes sunt contra Apuliam atque Brundisium, ab occasu Dalmatiam, a circio Dardaniam, a septentrione Moesiam.

[¶12] Achaea is almost entirely surrounded by sea: on the east it has the Myrtoan Sea, on the south-east the Cretan Sea, on the south the Ionian Sea, on the south-west and west the islands of Cephallenia and Cassiope, on the north the Corinthian Gulf, and on the north-east a narrow ridge of land by which it is joined to Macedonia, or rather to Attica. This place is called the Isthmus; there stands Corinth, which has not far off in Attica, to the north-east, the city of Athens.

> Latin: 58 Achaia undique propemodum cincta est mari; nam ab oriente habet Myrtoum mare, ab euro mare Creticum, a meridie Ionium mare, ab Africo et occasu Cephaleniam et Cassiopam insulas, a septentrione sinum Corinthium, ab aquilone angustum terrae dorsum, quo Macedoniae coniungitur uel potius Atticae; qui locus Isthmos uocatur, ubi est Corinthus, habens in Attica ad boream non longe Athenas ciuitatem.

[¶13] Dalmatia has on the east Macedonia, on the north-east Dardania, on the north Moesia, on the west Histria, the Liburnian Gulf and the Liburnian islands, and on the south the Adriatic Gulf.

> Latin: 59 Dalmatia habet ab oriente Macedoniam, ab aquilone Dardaniam, a septentrione Moesiam, ab occasu Histriam et sinum Liburnicum et insulas Liburnicas, a meridie Hadriaticum sinum.

[¶14] Pannonia, Noricum and Raetia have on the east Moesia, on the south Histria, on the south-west the Pennine Alps, on the west Gallia Belgica, on the north-west the source of the Danube and the frontier which separates Germany from Gaul between the Danube and Gaul, and on the north the Danube and Germany.

> Latin: 60 Pannonia Noricus et Raetia habent ab oriente Moesiam, a meridie Histriam, ab Africo Alpes Poeninas, ab occasu Galliam Belgicam, a circio Danuuii fontem et limitem qui Germaniam a Gallia inter Danuuium Galliamque secernit, a septentrione Danuuium et Germaniam.

[¶15] Italy lies stretched from north-west to south-east, having the Tyrrhenian Sea on the south-west and the Adriatic Gulf on the north-east. The part of it which it shares with the mainland and which adjoins it is barred by the ramparts of the Alps,

> Latin: 61 Italiae situs a circio in eurum tenditur, habens ab Africo Tyrrhenum mare, a borea Hadriaticum sinum; cuius ea pars, qua continenti terrae communis et contigua est, Alpium obicibus obstruitur.

[¶16] which, rising from the Gallic Sea above the Ligurian Gulf, shut off first the territory of the Narbonenses, then Gaul and Raetia, until they come to rest at the Liburnian Gulf.

> Latin: 62 quae a Gallico mari super Ligusticum sinum exsurgentes, primum Narbonensium fines, deinde Galliam Raetiamque secludunt, donec in sinu Liburnico defigantur.

[¶17] Gallia Belgica has on the east the frontier of the river Rhine and Germany, on the south-east the Pennine Alps, on the south the province of Narbonensis, on the west the province of Lugdunensis, on the north-west the British Ocean, and on the north the island of Britain.

> Latin: 63 Gallia Belgica habet ab oriente limitem fluminis Rheni et Germaniam, ab euro Alpes Poeninas, a meridie prouinciam Narbonensem, ab occasu prouinciam Lugdunensem, a circio oceanum Britannicum, a septentrione Britanniam insulam.

[¶18] Gallia Lugdunensis, drawn out lengthwise and bending round in a narrow strip, half-encircles the province of Aquitania.

> Latin: 64 Gallia Lugdunensis, ducta per longum et per angustum inflexa, Aquitanicam prouinciam semicingit.

[¶19] It has on the east Belgica, and on the south part of the province of Narbonensis, where the city of Arles lies and the river Rhône is received by the Gallic Sea.

> Latin: 65 haec ab oriente habet Belgicam, a meridie partem prouinciae Narbonensis, qua Arelas ciuitas sita est et mari Gallico Rhodani flumen accipitur.

[¶20] The province of Narbonensis, a part of the Gallic provinces, has on the east the Cottian Alps, on the west Spain, on the north-west Aquitania, on the north Lugdunensis, on the north-east Gallia Belgica, and on the south the Gallic Sea, which lies between Sardinia and the Balearic Islands; and before it, where the river Rhône flows out into the sea, it has the Stoechades islands.

> Latin: 66 Narbonensis Provincia, pars Galliarum, habet ab oriente Alpes Cottias, ab occidente Hispaniam, a circio Aquitanicam, a septentrione Lugdunensem, ab aquilone Belgicam Galliam, meridie mare Gallicum quod est inter Sardiniam et insulas Baleares, habens in fronte, qua Rhodanus fluuius in mare exit, insulas Stoechadas.

[¶21] The province of Aquitania is bent into a circle by the slanting course of the river Loire, which for the most part is its boundary.

> Latin: 67 Aquitanica Provincia obliquo cursu Ligeris fluminis, qui ex plurima parte terminus eius est, in orbem agitur.

[¶22] On the north-west it touches the Ocean which is called the Aquitanian Gulf, on the west the Spanish provinces, on the north and east Lugdunensis, and on the south-east and south the province of Narbonensis.

> Latin: 68 haec a circio oceanum qui Aquitanicus sinus dicitur, ab occasu Hispanias habet, a septentrione et oriente Lugdunensem, ab euro et meridie Narbonensem prouinciam contingit.

[¶23] Spain as a whole is triangular in shape, and the Ocean and the Tyrrhenian Sea flowing round it make it almost an island.

> Latin: 69 Hispania uniuersa terrarum situ trigona est et circumfusione oceani Tyrrhenique pelagi paene insula efficitur.

[¶24] Its first angle, facing east, hemmed in on the right by the province of Aquitania and on the left by the Balearic Sea, fits into the territory of the Narbonenses.

> Latin: 70 huius angulus prior, spectans ad orientem, a dextris Aquitanica prouincia, a sinistris Balearico mari coartatus, Narbonensium finibus inseritur.

[¶25] The second angle points north-west, where Brigantia, a city of Gallaecia, raises a very tall lighthouse, one of the few works worth recording, as a watchtower looking towards Britain.

> Latin: 71 secundus angulus circium intendit; ubi Brigantia Gallaeciae ciuitas sita altissimam pharum et inter pauca memorandi operis ad speculam Britanniae erigit.

*Note: Brigantia is A Coruña in Galicia; its Roman lighthouse, the Tower of Hercules, still stands.*

[¶26] Its third angle is where the islands of Cadiz, facing south-west, look out across an inlet of the Ocean towards Mount Atlas.

> Latin: 72 tertius angulus eius est, qua Gades insulae, intentae in Africum, Athlantem montem interiecto sinu oceani prospiciunt.

[¶27] Hither Spain, beginning in the east, is drawn out by the Pyrenees along its northern side as far as the Cantabrians and Asturians, and from there through the Vaccaei and Oretani, whom it has on the west, it is bounded by Cartagena, which lies on the shore of Our Sea.

> Latin: 73 Hispaniam citeriorem ab oriente incipientem Pyrenaei saltus a parte septentrionis usque ad Cantabros Asturesque deducit atque inde per Vaccaeos et Oretanos, quos ab occasu habet, posita in Nostri maris litore Carthago determinat.

*Note: Latin Carthago: here New Carthage, modern Cartagena, not Carthage in Africa.*

[¶28] Further Spain has on the east the Vaccaei, Celtiberians and Oretani, on the north the Ocean, on the west the Ocean, and on the south the strait of the Ocean at Cadiz, through which Our Sea, called the Tyrrhenian, flows in.

> Latin: 74 Hispania ulterior habet ab oriente Vaccaeos, Celtiberos et Oretanos, a septentrione oceanum, ab occasu oceanum, a meridie Gaditanum oceani fretum; unde mare Nostrum, quod Tyrrhenum uocatur, inmittitur.

[¶29] And since the Ocean has islands, called Britain and Hibernia, which lie on the far side of Gaul, facing towards Spain, they will be briefly described.

> Latin: 75 Et quoniam oceanus habet insulas, quas Britanniam et Hiberniam uocant, quae in auersa Galliarum parte ad prospectum Hispaniae sitae sunt, breuiter explicabuntur.

[¶30] Britain, an island of the Ocean, stretches lengthwise to the north; on the south it has Gaul. For those crossing over, its nearest shore is opened by a city called Rutupiae Harbour; from there it looks across to the Menapii and Batavi, who lie not far from the Morini to the south.

> Latin: 76 Britannia oceani insula per longum in boream extenditur; a meridie Gallias habet. cuius proximum litus transmeantibus ciuitas aperit, quae dicitur Rutupi portus; unde haud procul a Morinis in austro positos Menapos Batauosque prospectat.

*Note: Rutupiae is Richborough in Kent, the usual Roman port for the crossing from Gaul.*

[¶31] This island is eight hundred miles long and two hundred miles wide.

> Latin: 77 haec insula habet in longo milia passuum DCCC, in lato milia CC.

[¶32] Behind it, where it lies open to the boundless Ocean, it has the Orkney Islands, of which twenty are deserted and thirteen inhabited.

> Latin: 78 A tergo autem, unde oceano infinito patet, Orcadas insulas habet, quarum XX desertae sunt, XIII coluntur.

[¶33] Then there is the island of Thule, which, separated from the rest by a boundless distance and lying north-west in the middle of the Ocean, is known to scarcely a few.

> Latin: 79 Deinde insula Thyle, quae per infinitum a ceteris separata, circium uersus medio sita oceani, uix paucis nota habetur.

[¶34] The island of Hibernia, lying between Britain and Spain, stretches over a longer distance from south-west to north-east.

> Latin: 80 Hibernia insula inter Britanniam et Hispaniam sita longiore ab Africo in boream spatio porrigitur.

[¶35] Its nearer parts, facing the Cantabrian Ocean, look across a wide interval far off to Brigantia, the city of Gallaecia, which faces it from the south-west towards the north-west — especially from that promontory where the mouth of the river Scena is, and where the Velabri and Luceni dwell. This island is nearer to Britain and narrower in extent of land, but more profitable for the mildness of its climate and soil; it is inhabited by the peoples of the Scots.

> Latin: 81 huius partes priores intentae Cantabrico oceano Brigantiam Gallaeciae ciuitatem ab Africo sibi in circium occurrentem spatioso interuallo procul spectant, ab eo praecipue promunturio, ubi Scenae fluminis ostium est et Velabri Lucenique consistunt. haec propior Britanniae, spatio terrarum angustior, sed caeli solique temperie magis utilis, a Scottorum gentibus colitur.

*Note: The Scots (Scotti) of Orosius’s day are the Irish; the name passed to Scotland only after Irish settlers crossed to Argyll.*

[¶36] Next to it, too, is the island of Mevania, itself of no small extent and with good soil; it is likewise inhabited by the peoples of the Scots. These are the boundaries of all Europe.

> Latin: 82 Huic etiam Mevania insula proxima est et ipsa spatio non parua, solo commoda. aeque a Scottorum gentibus habitatur. Hi sunt fines totius Europae.

*Note: Mevania is probably the Isle of Man.*

[¶37] When our ancestors described Africa, as I said, as to be counted the third part of the world, they followed not the measurements of extent but the principles of division.

> Latin: 83 Africam ut dixi cum tertiam orbis partem maiores nostri accipiendam descripserint, non spatiorum mensuras sed diuisionum rationes secuti sunt.

[¶38] For this Great Sea, which rises from the Ocean in the west and inclines more towards the south, has made the territory of Africa, squeezed between itself and the Ocean, narrower.

> Latin: 84 mare hoc siquidem Magnum, quod ab occasu ex oceano oritur, in meridiem magis uergens angustiorem inter se et oceanum coartatae Africae limitem fecit.

[¶39] Hence some too, recognising that though it is equal in length it is much narrower, thought it shameless to call it a third part, and preferred instead to assign Africa to Europe and call it a portion of the second.

> Latin: 85 unde etiam aliqui quamuis eam longitudine parem tamen multo angustiorem intellegentes, inuerecundum arbitrati tertiam uocare partem sed potius in Europam Africam deputantes, hoc est secundae portionem appellare maluerunt.

[¶40] Moreover, far more land in Africa lies uncultivated and unknown because of the heat of the sun than in Europe because of the severity of the cold — for almost all things that live or grow approach the extreme of cold with more patience and endurance than the extreme of heat. This, surely, is the reason why Africa seems smaller in every respect, in extent and in peoples: by its nature it has less space, and through the harshness of its climate more desert. Its description by provinces and peoples is as follows:

> Latin: 86 praeterea cum multo amplius terrae in Africa ardore solis quam in Europa rigore frigoris incultum atque incognitum sit - quippe cum omnia paene animantia uel germinantia patientius et tolerabilius ad summum frigoris quam ad summum caloris accedant - ea scilicet causa est, Africam per omnia situ et populis minorem uideri: quia et natura sui minus habeat spatii et caeli inclementia plus deserti. cuius descriptio per prouincias et gentes haec est:

[¶41] Libya Cyrenaica and the Pentapolis comes first in the part of Africa after Egypt.

> Latin: 87 Libya Cyrenaica et Pentapolis post Aegyptum in parte Africae prima est.

[¶42] It begins at the city of Paraetonium and the Catabathmos mountains, and from there extends along the sea as far as the Altars of the Philaeni. Behind it, as far as the southern Ocean, it has the peoples of the Libyo-Ethiopians and the Garamantes.

> Latin: 88 haec incipit a ciuitate Parethonio et montibus Catabathmon, inde secundo mari usque ad aras Philaenorum extenditur. post se habet usque ad oceanum meridianum gentes Libyoaethiopum et Garamantum.

[¶43] It has on the east Egypt, on the north the Libyan Sea, on the west the Greater Syrtis and the Troglodytes — opposite whom lies the island of Calypso — and on the south the Ethiopian Ocean.

> Latin: 89 huic est ab oriente Aegyptus, a septentrione mare Libycum, ab occasu Syrtes maiores et Trogodytae - contra quos insula Calypso est -, a meridie Aethiopicus oceanus.

[¶44] The province of Tripolitania, which is also called Subventana or the region of the Arzuges, where the city of Leptis Magna is — although the Arzuges are generally so called along the whole long frontier of Africa — has on the east the Altars of the Philaeni between the Greater Syrtis and the Troglodytes, on the north the Sicilian, or rather the Adriatic, Sea and the Lesser Syrtis, on the west Byzacium as far as the Salt Lake, and on the south the barbarian Gaetulians, Nathabres and Garamantes, reaching as far as the Ethiopian Ocean.

> Latin: 90 Tripolitana prouincia, quae et Subuentana uel regio Arzugum dicitur, ubi Leptis Magna ciuitas est, quamuis Arzuges per longum Africae limitem generaliter uocentur, habet ab oriente aras Philaenorum inter Syrtes maiores et Trogodytas, a septentrione mare Siculum uel potius Hadriaticum et Syrtes minores, ab occasu Byzacium usque ad lacum Salinarum, a meridie barbaros Gaetulos Nathabres et Garamantas usque ad oceanum Aethiopicum pertingentes.

*Note: In late antique usage the “Adriatic” extended south to the sea between Sicily, Greece, Crete and Africa; hence Orosius’s Adriatic off Libya and Sicily (1.2.97, 1.2.100).*

## 5. Book 1 · Chapter 2 · 3 of 3

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/5/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/5/#p-N

[¶0] Byzacium, Zeugis and Numidia. Zeugis, however, we find was formerly the general name not of a single judicial district but of the whole province.

> Latin: 91 Byzacium Zeugis et Numidia. Zeugis autem prius non unius conuentus, sed totius prouinciae generale nomen fuisse inuenimus.

[¶1] Byzacium, then, where the city of Hadrumetum is; Zeugis, where Great Carthage is; and Numidia, where the cities of Hippo Regius and Rusicade are, have on the east the Lesser Syrtis and the Salt Lake, on the north Our Sea, which faces the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, on the west Mauretania Sitifensis, and on the south the Uzara mountains and behind them the peoples of the Ethiopians, who roam as far as the Ethiopian Ocean.

> Latin: 92 Byzacium ergo ubi Hadrumetus ciuitas, Zeugis ubi Carthago Magna, Numidia ubi Hippos regius et Rusiccada ciuitates sunt, habent ab oriente Syrtes minores et lacum Salinarum, a septentrione mare Nostrum quod spectat ad Siciliam et Sardiniam insulas, ab occasu Mauretaniam Sitifensem, a meridie montes Uzarae et post eos Aethiopum gentes peruagantes usque ad oceanum Aethiopicum.

[¶2] Mauretania Sitifensis and Caesariensis has on the east Numidia, on the north Our Sea, on the west the river Malva, and on the south Mount Astrixis, which divides the living earth from the sands that stretch as far as the Ocean, over which the Gangine Ethiopians wander.

> Latin: 93 Sitifensis et Caesariensis Mauretania habet ab oriente Numidiam, a septentrione mare Nostrum, ab occasu flumen Maluam, a meridie montem Astrixim, qui diuidit inter uiuam terram et harenas iacentes usque oceanum, in quibus oberrant Gangines Aethiopes.

[¶3] Mauretania Tingitana is the last of Africa. It has on the east the river Malva; on the north Our Sea as far as the strait of Cadiz, which is narrowed between the two facing promontories of Abenna and Calpe; on the west Mount Atlas and the Atlantic Ocean; towards the south-west Mount Hesperus; and on the south the peoples of the Autololes, whom they now call Galaules, reaching to the Hesperian Ocean.

> Latin: 94 Tingitana Mauretania ultima est Africae. haec habet ab oriente flumen Maluam, a septentrione mare Nostrum usque ad fretum Gaditanum quod inter Abennae et Calpes duo contraria sibi promunturia coartatur, ab occidente Athlantem montem et oceanum Athlanticum, sub Africo Hesperium montem, a meridie gentes Autololum, quas nunc Galaules uocant, usque ad oceanum Hesperium contingentes.

[¶4] This is the boundary of all Africa. Now I shall measure out the positions, names and extents of the islands that lie in Our Sea.

> Latin: 95 Hic est uniuersae terminus Africae. nunc insularum, quae in Nostro mari sunt, loca nomina et spatia dimetiar.

[¶5] The island of Cyprus is bounded on the east by the Syrian Sea, which they call the Gulf of Issus, on the west by the Pamphylian Sea, on the north by the Cilician Strait, and on the south by the sea of Syria and Phoenicia. It is 175 miles long and 125 miles wide.

> Latin: 96 Insula Cypros ab oriente mari Syrio, quem Issicum sinum uocant, ab occidente mari Pamphylico, a septentrione Aulone Cilicio, a meridie Syriae et Phoenices pelago cingitur. cuius spatium in longo tenet milia passuum CLXXV, in lato milia passuum CXXV.

[¶6] The island of Crete is bounded on the east by the Carpathian Sea, on the west and north by the Cretan Sea, and on the south by the Libyan Sea, which they also call the Adriatic. It is 172 miles long and 50 wide.

> Latin: 97 Insula Creta finitur ab oriente Carpathio mari, ab occasu et septentrione mari Cretico, a meridie mari Libyco, quod et Hadriaticum uocant. habet in longo milia passuum CLXXII, in lato L.

[¶7] The Cyclades islands — of which the first on the east is Rhodes, on the north Tenedos, on the south Carpathos, on the west Cythera — are bounded on the east by the shores of Asia, on the west by the Icarian Sea, on the north by the Aegean Sea, and on the south by the Carpathian Sea. The Cyclades number fifty-four in all. They extend five hundred miles from north to south and two hundred from east to west.

> Latin: 98 Insulae Cyclades - quarum est ab oriente prima Rhodos, a septentrione Tenedos, a meridie Carpathos, ab occasu Cythera - ab oriente finiuntur litoribus Asiae, ab occidente mari Icario, a septentrione mari Aegaeo, a meridie mari Carpathio. sunt autem omnes Cyclades numero LIIII. hae tenent a septentrione in meridiem milia passuum D, ab oriente in occasum milia CC.

*Note: Orosius uses “Cyclades” loosely for the islands of the Aegean as a whole; Rhodes, Tenedos, Carpathos and Cythera are not Cyclades in the usual sense.*

[¶8] The island of Sicily has three promontories: the first, called Pelorus, looks to the north-east, and the city of Messana is nearest to it; the second, called Pachynus, below which lies the city of Syracuse, faces south-south-east; the third, called Lilybaeum, where a city of the same name also lies, points west.

> Latin: 99 Sicilia insula tria habet promunturia, unum quod dicitur Pelorum et aspicit ad aquilonem, cui Messana ciuitas proxima est; secundum quod dicitur Pachynum, sub quo ciuitas Syracusana, respicit ad euronotum; tertium quod appellatur Lilybaeum, ubi et ciuitas eiusdem nominis sita est, dirigitur in occasum.

[¶9] From Pelorus to Pachynus it is 159 miles, from Pachynus to Lilybaeum 187. It is bounded on the east by the Adriatic Sea and on the south by the African Sea, which lies opposite the Subventani and the Lesser Syrtis; on the west and north it has the Tyrrhenian Sea, and from the north-east round to the east the Adriatic strait, which divides the Tauromenitani of Sicily from the Bruttii of Italy.

> Latin: 100 haec habet a Peloro in Pachynum milia passuum CLVIIII, a Pachyno in Lilybaeum CLXXXVII. haec ab oriente cingitur mari Hadriatico, a meridie mari Africo quod; est contra Subuentanos et Syrtes minores, ab occidente et septentrione habet mare Tyrrhenum, a borea usque subsolanum fretum Hadriaticum quod diuidit Tauromenitanos Siciliae et Bruttios Italiae.

[¶10] The islands of Sardinia and Corsica are divided by a small strait, that is, of twenty miles. Of these, Sardinia has the Caralitani on the south, facing Numidia, and facing the island of Corsica, that is, towards the north, it has the Ulbienses.

> Latin: 101 Sardinia et Corsica insulae paruo fretu hoc est milium XX diuiduntur. ex quibus Sardinia habet a meridie contra Numidiam Caralitanos, contra Corsicam insulam hoc est septentrionem uersus habet Ulbienses.

[¶11] It is 230 miles long and 80 wide. It has on the east and north-east the Tyrrhenian Sea, which faces the harbour of the city of Rome, on the west the Sardinian Sea, on the south-west the Balearic Islands, lying far off, on the south the Numidian Gulf, and on the north, as I said, Corsica.

> Latin: 102 cuius in longo spatium tenet milia passuum CCXXX, in lato milia LXXX. haec habet ab oriente et borea Tyrrhenicum mare quod spectat ad portum urbis Romae, ab occasu mare Sardum, ab Africo insulas Baleares longe positas, a meridie Numidicum sinum, a septentrione ut dixi Corsicam.

[¶12] The island of Corsica is jagged with many promontories. It has on the east the Tyrrhenian Sea and the harbour of the City, on the south Sardinia, on the west the Balearic Islands, and on the north-west and north the Ligurian Gulf. It is 160 miles long and 26 wide.

> Latin: 103 Corsica Insula multis promunturiis angulosa est. haec habet ab oriente Tyrrhenicum mare et portum Urbis, a meridie Sardiniam, ab occasu insulas Baleares, a circio et septentrione Ligusticum sinum. tenet autem in longo milia passuum CLX, in lato milia XXVI.

[¶13] The Balearic Islands are two, the greater and the lesser, each with two towns. The greater faces Tarragona, a city of Spain, the lesser Barcelona, towards the north. Below the greater lies the island of Ebusus. Beyond this, they look out on the east to Sardinia, on the north-east to the Gallic Sea, on the south and south-west to the Mauretanian Sea, and on the west to the Iberian Sea.

> Latin: 104 Insulae Baleares duae sunt, maior et minor, quibus insunt bina oppida, maior Tarraconam Hispaniae ciuitatem, minor Barcilonam septentrionem uersus contra se habent. maiori subiacet insula Ebusos. deinde ab oriente Sardiniam, ab aquilone mare Gallicum, a meridie et Africo Mauretanicum pelagus, ab occasu Hibericum pelagus spectant.

[¶14] These are the islands set throughout the whole Great Sea from the Hellespont to the Ocean, which are held the more famous for their cultivation and renown.

> Latin: 105 Hae sunt insulae ab Hellesponto usque ad oceanum per totum Magnum pelagus constitutae, quae et cultu et memoria magis celebres habentur.

[¶15] I have surveyed briefly, as best I could, the provinces and islands of the whole world. Now, so far as I am able, I shall set forth the local miseries of the individual peoples: how they have arisen unceasingly from the beginning, and in what way they arose for each.

> Latin: 106 Percensui breuiter ut potui prouincias et insulas orbis uniuersi. nunc locales gentium singularum miserias, sicut ab initio incessabiliter exstiterunt et qualiter quibusque exortae sunt, in quantum suffecero proferam.

## 6. Book 1 · Chapter 3

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/6/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/6/#p-N

[¶0] After the making and adorning of this world, when man, whom God had made upright and unstained, and in consequence the human race, corrupted by lusts, had grown foul with sins, just punishment at once followed unjust licence.

> Latin: 1 Cum post fabricam ornatumque mundi huius homo, quem rectum atque inmaculatum fecerat Deus, ac perinde humanum genus libidinibus deprauatum peccatis obsorduisset, continuo iniustam licentiam iusta punitio consecuta est.

[¶1] The sentence of God, the creator and judge, pronounced upon man for his sin and upon the earth on man’s account, and destined to last as long as men inhabit the earth, we all, however unwillingly, either prove by denying it or endure by confessing it; and on obstinate minds, which Scripture has not persuaded to faith, their own weakness, a witness against themselves, brands it.

> Latin: 2 sententiam creatoris Dei et iudicis peccanti homini ac terrae propter hominem destinatam semperque dum homines terram habitauerint duraturam omnes inuiti licet aut probamus negando aut confitendo toleramus, obstinatisque mentibus testis sibi infirmitas sua inurit, quibus fideliter scriptura non suaserit.

[¶2] Then, when the sea was poured back over all the earth and the flood let loose, so that with the whole world covered there was but one expanse of sky and sea, the whole human race was destroyed, a few being kept in the ark for the merit of their faith to renew its stock: so the most truthful writers most clearly teach.

> Latin: 3 deinde refuso in omnem terram mari inmissoque diluuio, cum toto orbe contecto unum spatium caeli esset ac pelagi, deletum fuisse uniuersum humanum genus, paucis in arca fidei suae merito ad substituendam originem reseruatis, euidentissime ueracissimi scriptores docent.

[¶3] Yet even those have testified that it happened who, though ignorant of past times and of the very Author of time, have nevertheless learnt it by conjecture from the evidence of the stones which we often see on remote mountains, rough with shells and oysters, and often hollowed out by water.

> Latin: 4 fuisse tamen etiam illi contestati sunt, qui praeterita quidem tempora ipsumque auctorem temporum nescientes, tamen ex indicio et coniectura lapidum, quos in remotis montibus conchis et ostreis scabros, saepe etiam cauatos aquis uisere solemus, coniciendo didicerunt.

[¶4] And though more of this kind, both worth relating and of sure credit, could still be brought forward by us, let these two principal matters suffice: the transgression of the first man and the condemnation of his offspring and his life, and then the destruction of the whole human race;

> Latin: 5 et quamuis huiusmodi adhuc et relatu digna et fide certa proferri a nobis queant, tamen haec ueluti principalia duo de praeuaricatione primi hominis et condemnatione generationis uitaeque eius ac deinde de perditione totius generis humani dicta sufficiant,

[¶5] only so that, if the pagan historians have touched in any order on matters of ours, these may be set out more fully, along with the rest, in the very order in which they occur.

> Latin: 6 tantum ut, si qua gentiles historici de nostris aliquo ordine contigerunt, haec plenius cum ceteris ipso quo incurrerint ordine proferantur.

## 7. Book 1 · Chapter 4

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/7/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/7/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1300 before the founding of the City, Ninus, king of the Assyrians — ‘the first’, as they themselves would have it — carried arms abroad out of lust for spreading his dominion, and for fifty years led a bloody life of wars throughout all Asia.

> Latin: 1 Ante annos urbis conditae MCCC Ninus rex Assyriorum 'primus' ut ipsi uolunt propagandae dominationis libidine arma foras extulit cruentamque uitam quinquaginta annis per totam Asiam bellis egit;

[¶1] Rising from the south and the Red Sea, he laid waste and subdued the Euxine Sea under the farthest north, and taught the barbarism of Scythia, until then unwarlike and innocent, to rouse its sleeping savagery, to know its own strength, to drink no longer the milk of cattle but the blood of men, and at last to conquer while being conquered.

> Latin: 2 a meridie atque a Rubro mari surgens, sub ultimo septentrione Euxinum pontum uastando perdomuit, Scythicamque barbariem, adhuc tunc inbellem et innocentem, torpentem excitare saeuitiam, uires suas nosse, et non lacte iam pecudum sed sanguinem hominum bibere, ad postremum uincere dum uincitur edocuit.

[¶2] Finally he overcame in battle and killed Zoroaster, king of the Bactrians and, as they say, the inventor of the art of magic. Afterwards he himself, while attacking a city that had revolted from him, was struck by an arrow and died.

> Latin: 3 nouissime Zoroastrem Bactrianorum regem eundemque magicae ut ferunt artis repertorem pugna oppressum interfecit. post ipse, dum deficientem a se oppugnat urbem, sagitta ictus interiit.

*Note: The story of Ninus’s war with Zoroaster, “king of the Bactrians”, comes from Justin’s epitome of Pompeius Trogus (1.1); it has no historical basis.*

[¶3] On his death his wife Semiramis succeeded him, a man in spirit, dressed in the guise of her son; and for forty-two years she kept the peoples, already greedy for blood through habit, busy in the slaughter of nations.

> Latin: 4 huic mortuo Samiramis uxor successit, uirum animo, habitu filium gerens, auidosque iam usu sanguinis populos per duos et quadraginta annos caedibus gentium exercuit.

[¶4] Not content, woman as she was, with the boundaries which she had received from her husband — then the only warrior in the world — won over fifty years, she added to the empire Ethiopia, crushed in war and smeared with blood. She also made war on the Indians, whose land no one but she and Alexander the Great ever entered.

> Latin: 5 non contenta terminis mulier, quos a uiro suo tunc solo bellatore in quinquaginta annis adquisitos susceperat, Aethiopiam bello pressam, sanguine interlitam, imperio adiecit. Indis quoque bellum intulit, quo praeter illam et Alexandrum Magnum nullus intrauit.

[¶5] To hunt down and slaughter peoples living in peace was in that age all the more cruel and grievous than it is now, because among them then there were neither the fires of war abroad nor such great exercise of greed at home.

> Latin: 6 quod eo tempore ideo crudelius grauiusque erat quam nunc est, persequi et trucidare populos in pace uiuentes, quia tunc apud illos nec foris erant ulla incendia bellorum, nec domi tanta exercitia cupiditatum.

[¶6] This woman, burning with lust and thirsting for blood, amid unceasing debauchery and murders — for she would kill all whom she had summoned in royal fashion and kept in harlot’s fashion, once she had enjoyed them in her bed — at last conceived a son shamefully, exposed him impiously, knew him incestuously, and covered her private disgrace with a public crime.

> Latin: 7 haec, libidine ardens, sanguinem sitiens, inter incessabilia et stupra et homicidia, cum omnes quos regie arcessitos, meretricie habitos concubitu oblectasset occideret, tandem filio flagitiose concepto, impie exposito, inceste cognito priuatam ignominiam publico scelere obtexit.

[¶7] For she decreed that between parents and children no reverence for nature should be observed in seeking marriages, but that each should be free to do as he pleased.

> Latin: 8 praecepit enim, ut inter parentes ac filios nulla delata reuerentia naturae de coniugiis adpetendis ut cuique libitum esset liberum fieret.

*Note: Dante drew this charge from Orosius: Semiramis “made lust licit in her law” (Inferno 5.56).*

## 8. Book 1 · Chapter 5

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/8/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/8/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1160 before the founding of the City, the region bordering on Arabia which was then called the Pentapolis was utterly burnt up by fire from heaven, as Cornelius Tacitus among others relates, who speaks thus:

> Latin: 1 Ante annos urbis conditae MCLX confinem Arabiae regionem quae tunc Pentapolis uocabatur arsisse penitus igne caelesti inter alios etiam Cornelius Tacitus refert, qui sic ait:

*Note: Tacitus, Histories 5.7. The Pentapolis here is the five cities of the plain named in 1.5.6, not the Libyan Pentapolis of 1.2.87.*

[¶1] “Not far from there are plains which, they say, were once fertile and inhabited by great cities, but were burnt by strokes of lightning; traces remain, and the soil itself, solid in appearance, has lost its power to bear fruit.”

> Latin: 2 Haud procul inde campi, quos ferunt olim uberes magnisque urbibus habitatos fulminum iactu arsisse; sed manere uestigia, terramque ipsam, specie solidam, uim frugiferam perdidisse.

[¶2] And though in this passage he said nothing, as if he did not know of it, about cities burnt for the sins of men, a little later, as though he had forgotten his intention, he adds:

> Latin: 3 et cum hoc loco nihil de incensis propter peccata hominum ciuitatibus quasi ignarus expresserit, paulo post uelut oblitus consilii subicit et dicit:

[¶3] “For my part, while I would grant that once-famous cities were consumed by fire from heaven, I think the land is tainted and corrupted by the exhalation of the lake.”

> Latin: 4 Ego sicut inclitas quondam urbes igne caelesti flagrasse concesserim, ita halitu lacus infici terram et corrumpi reor.

[¶4] By saying this he confessed, however unwillingly, that he both knew and granted the burning of the cities, which without doubt were consumed for the guilt of their sins; and he openly betrayed that what he lacked was not assurance of the fact but the will to declare it. This will now be set out more fully by me.

> Latin: 5 quo dicto inuitus licet de exustis urbibus, quae procul dubio peccatorum noxa conflagrauerunt, et scisse se et concessisse confessus palam prodidit non sibi cognitionis fidem defuisse sed exprimendae fidei uoluntatem. quod nunc a me plenius proferetur.

[¶5] On the borders of Arabia and Palestine, where the mountains coming down on either side give way to the plains below, there were five cities: Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboiim and Zoar.

> Latin: 6 In confinio Arabiae et Palaestinae, qua dimissi altrinsecus montes subiectis campis excipiuntur, quinque ciuitates fuere Sodoma Gomorra Adama Seboim et Segor.

[¶6] Of these Zoar was small, the others large and great, for they had both a fertile soil beneath them and the river Jordan, which, spread across the plains and divided into convenient channels, was spent on increasing their abundance.

> Latin: 7 sed Segor ex his parua, illae amplae et magnae, quippe quibus et soli fecunditas suberat et Iordanes fluuius, per plana diffusus ac per opportuna diuisus, augmentis ubertatis inpendebatur.

[¶7] For this whole region, which used its good things badly, abundance of goods was the cause of evils. From abundance grew luxury, and from luxury foul lusts, so that men, committing shameful acts with men, rushed headlong into them without regard even for place, circumstance or age.

> Latin: 8 huic uniuersae regioni, bonis male utenti, abundantia rerum causa malorum fuit. ex abundantia enim luxuria, ex luxuria foedae libidines adoleuere, adeo ut masculi in masculos operantes turpitudinem ne consideratis quidem locis condicionibus aetatibusque proruerent.

[¶8] And so God in his anger rained fire and sulphur upon this land, and condemned the whole region, burnt up with its peoples and cities, to everlasting perdition, to stand as a witness of his judgement for the future;

> Latin: 9 itaque iratus Deus pluit super hanc terram ignem et sulphur totamque regionem cum populis atque urbibus exustam, testem iudicii sui futuram, aeterna perditione damnauit,

[¶9] so that even now the outline of the region does indeed appear, but it is found to be a region of ashes, and the valley in its midst, which the Jordan had watered, is now covered by a sea poured over it.

> Latin: 10 ut nunc quoque adpareat quidem forma regionis sed inueniatur regio cineris mediamque conuallem, quam Iordanes inrigauerat, nunc mare superfusum tegat.

[¶10] So great a wrath of God was kindled by things thought to be small, that because those men, using good things badly, had made the fruits of his mercies the nourishment of their lusts, the very land that had held these cities, first burnt by fire and then overwhelmed by water, perished from the common sight into everlasting condemnation.

> Latin: 11 tantumque de rebus ut putatur paruis diuinae indignationis accensum est, ut propter hoc, quod illi, male utentes bonis, fructus misericordiarum nutrimenta libidinum fecerant, terra quoque ipsa, quae has habuerat ciuitates, primum exusta ignibus, post oppressa aquis, in aeternam damnationem communi periret adspectui.

## 9. Book 1 · Chapter 6

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/9/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/9/#p-N

[¶0] So now, if they please, let these men who, as far as in them lies, spit at Christ — whom we have shown to be the judge of the ages — distinguish the causes of Sodom and of Rome and compare their punishments. I need not go over them again, chiefly because they are known to all.

> Latin: 1 Itaque nunc si placet hi, qui in Christum, quem nos iudicem saeculorum ostendimus, quantum in ipsis est sputa coniciunt, inter Sodomam et Romam discernant causas et conferant poenas; quae a me uel maxime ob hoc retractandae non sunt, quia omnibus notae sunt.

[¶1] And yet how gladly I would accept their judgements, if only they would confess faithfully what they really feel!

> Latin: 2 et tamen quam libenter sententias eorum acciperem, si illi fideliter ita ut sentiunt faterentur.

[¶2] Though since they are few who murmur about the Christian times, and that in corners, I should not think it a matter to take so very hard, when the feeling and the speech of the whole Roman people have been made known with one voice and with one judgement.

> Latin: 3 quamquam quia de temporibus Christianis rari et hoc in angulis murmurent, non usque adeo moleste accipiendum putem, cum totius populi Romani consona uoce parique iudicio sensus ac sermo sit cognitus.

[¶3] So small and slight, as it has testified beyond all doubt, was the disturbance by which its customary pleasures were briefly checked, that it cried out freely: “If I get the circus back, nothing has happened to me!” — that is, the swords of the Goths have done nothing at Rome, provided the Romans are allowed to watch the races.

> Latin: 4 adeo autem paruo quodam et leui motu haesitasse erga se parumper consuetudinem uoluptatum indubitatissime contestatus est, ut libere conclamaret, Si reciperet circum, nihil esse sibi factum, hoc est, nihil egisse Romae Gothorum enses, si concedatur Romanis spectare circenses.

[¶4] Unless perhaps — as is the case with very many, especially at this time, who after long repose think even a small anxiety that springs up an intolerable hardship — they rate these most merciful warnings, by which we are all touched at times, as heavier than the punishments of others that they have heard and read about.

> Latin: 5 nisi forte, ut se habet apud plerosque hoc praecipue tempore, qui ex longa requie uel paruam obortam sollicitudinem intolerabilem laborem putant, hasce clementissimas admonitiones quibus omnes aliquando perstringimur aliorum punitionibus auditis lectisque praeponunt.

[¶5] These, at least, I urge to look at this very end of the Sodomites and Gomorrhaeans, so that they may learn and understand how God has punished sinners, how he can punish them, and how he will punish them.

> Latin: 6 quos saltem de hoc ipso exitu Sodomorum et Gomorraeorum moneo, ut discere atque intellegere queant, qualiter Deus peccatores punierit, qualiter punire possit, qualiter puniturus sit.

## 10. Book 1 · Chapter 7

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/10/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/10/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1070 before the founding of the City, the Telchines and Caryatii fought a stubborn battle against Phoroneus, king of the Argives, and the Parrhasians, with wavering hope and no fruit of victory.

> Latin: 1 Ante annos urbis conditae MLXX Telchises et Caryatii peruicax proelium aduersus Foroneum, regem Argiuorum, et Parrhasios ancipiti spe sine fructu uictoriae gesserunt.

[¶1] Shortly afterwards these same Telchines, beaten in war, fled their homeland and, knowing nothing of the world, believing that they were withdrawing themselves entirely from all contact with human habitation, seized the island of Rhodes, formerly called Ophiussa, as if it were a safe possession.

> Latin: 2 idemque Telchises post paululum bello uicti, patria profugi ignarique rerum, credentes quia se penitus a congressu totius humanae habitationis abstraherent, Rhodum insulam quae Offiussa antea uocabatur quasi tuta possessione ceperunt.

[¶2] In the year 1040 before the founding of the City there was a savage flood in Achaea, which laid waste most of almost the whole province. Because it poured forth in the times of Ogyges, who was then founder and king of Eleusis, it gave his name to the place and to the period.

> Latin: 3 Ante annos urbis conditae MXL in Achaia saeuum diluuium uastatione plurima totius paene prouinciae fuit. quod quia Ogygii, qui tunc Eleusinae conditor et rex erat, temporibus effusum est, nomen loco ac tempori dedit.

## 11. Book 1 · Chapter 8

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/11/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/11/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1008 before the founding of the City there was in Egypt first an unusual, almost cloying abundance, and then a long and intolerable famine, which Joseph, a just and wise man, relieved by divine providence: so the historian Pompeius and his abridger Justin teach, who says among other things:

> Latin: 1 Anno ante urbem conditam MVIII fuisse apud Aegyptum primum insolitam fastidiendamque ubertatem deinde iugem atque intolerabilem famem, cui Ioseph uir iustus et sapiens diuina prouisione subuenerit, Pompeius historicus eiusque breuiator Iustinus docet, qui inter cetera sic ait:

*Note: Pompeius Trogus, whose Philippic Histories survive only in Justin’s epitome. The passage quoted is Justin 36.2.*

[¶1] “Joseph was the youngest of his brothers. Fearing his outstanding talent, his brothers seized him by stealth and sold him to foreign merchants.

> Latin: 2 Minimus aetate inter fratres Ioseph fuit; cuius excellens ingenium fratres ueriti, interceptum peregrinis mercatoribus uendiderunt.

[¶2] Carried off by them into Egypt, he there mastered the magic arts with his shrewd intelligence and soon became very dear to the king himself. For he was most skilled in reading prodigies and was the first to found the interpretation of dreams; nothing of divine or human law seemed unknown to him,

> Latin: 3 a quibus deportatus in Aegyptum, cum magicas ibi artes sollerti ingenio percepisset, breui ipsi regi percarus fuit. nam et prodigiorum sagacissimus erat et somniorum primus intellegentiam condidit, nihilque diuini iuris humanique ei incognitum uidebatur:

[¶3] so much so that, foreseeing many years ahead a coming barrenness of the fields, he had gathered in the crops; and so great were the proofs of his skill that his answers seemed to come not from a man but from a god.

> Latin: 4 adeo ut etiam agrorum sterilitatem futuram ante multos annos prospiciens fruges congregasset; tantaque experimenta eius fuerunt, ut non ab homine, sed a Deo responsa uiderentur.

[¶4] Joseph’s son was Moses, who, besides inheriting his father’s knowledge, was also commended by the beauty of his form. But when the Egyptians were suffering from scabies and leprosy, warned by an oracle, they drove him out of the borders of Egypt together with the sick, lest the plague spread to more.” So much for Justin.

> Latin: 5 filius Ioseph Moyses fuit, quem praeter paternae scientiae hereditatem etiam formae pulchritudo commendabat. Sed Aegyptii cum scabiem et uitiliginem paterentur, responso moniti eum cum aegris, ne pestis ad plures serperet, terminis Aegypti pellunt. haec Iustinus.

*Note: Justin makes Moses the son of Joseph. In Exodus Moses is a Levite, born generations after Joseph’s death; Orosius quotes the error without comment.*

[¶5] But since this same Moses, whom these men attest to have been wise and learned, wrote of these things more fully and more truly, as deeds done by himself and his people, first the ignorance of these writers must be made good by his credit and authority, which even they approve;

> Latin: 6 sed quoniam haec idem Moyses, quem isti sapientem scientemque fuisse adtestantur, plenius ueriusque tamquam per se suosque gesta conscripsit, primum fide eius atque auctoritate quam etiam isti probant horum ignorantia supplenda,

[¶6] and then the deceitful malice of the Egyptian priests must be refuted. Either by cunning — which is the more evident — they tried to withdraw from memory the manifest wrath and mercy of the true God, confusing their account piecemeal, lest, to the shame of their idols, they should show him to be rightly worshipped by whose counsel, as they would have had to teach, these evils were foretold and by whose help they were avoided; or perhaps, to take it more indulgently, they forgot.

> Latin: 7 dehinc sacerdotum Aegyptiorum fallax malitia confutanda est, qui uel astu, quod manifestius est, euidentem iram misericordiamque ueri Dei memoriae subtrahere conati sunt, particulatim expositione confusa, ne in contumeliam idolorum suorum eum colendum merito ostenderent, cuius consilio adnuntiata haec mala et auxilio euitata docuissent; uel forte, ut indulgentius accipiamus, obliti sunt.

[¶7] For by the provision of that Joseph of ours, who was a servant of the true God and devoutly and earnestly concerned for his Lord’s creation, they themselves, being priests, had plenty of grain; but because they were false priests, they did not grieve along with the others who were starving.

> Latin: 8 illius enim nostri Ioseph, qui fuit ueri Dei seruus et pro creatura domini sui pie intenteque sollicitus, prouisione ipsi abundabant frugibus quasi sacerdotes; sed, quia falsi sacerdotes erant, cum ceteris esurientibus non dolebant.

[¶8] For indeed, what pleases a man he forgets; what pains him he remembers. Yet though the histories and annals are silent, the land of Egypt itself pronounces itself a witness to what happened at that time: brought then under royal power and restored to its cultivators, it has paid down to the present an unceasing tax of a fifth part of all its produce.

> Latin: 9 enimuero cui placet, obliuiscitur: cui dolet, meminit. quamquam huius temporis argumentum historiis fastisque reticentibus ipsa sibi terra Aegypti testis pronuntiat: quae tunc redacta in potestatem regiam restitutaque cultoribus suis, ex omni fructu suo usque ad nunc quintae partis incessabile uectigal exsoluit.

[¶9] This great famine, then, took place under the Diospolitan king of the Egyptians, whose name was Amosis, at the time when Baleus ruled the Assyrians and Apis the Argives.

> Latin: 10 fuit itaque haec fames magna sub rege Aegyptiorum Diopolita, cui nomen erat Amosis, quo tempore Baleus Assyrios, Argiuos Apis regebat.

[¶10] Now the seven years of famine were preceded by another seven years of plenty. Their abundance, which would have perished all the more carelessly the more richly it had sprung up, our Joseph by his skill gathered and stored, and so preserved the whole of Egypt.

> Latin: 11 fuerunt autem ante annos famis septem praecedentes alii septem ubertatis anni. quorum affluentiam tanto neglegentius perituram quanto uberius natam Joseph noster sollertia sua collegit et condidit totamque Aegyptum conseruauit.

[¶11] He acquired all the money for Pharaoh and the glory for God, rendering with most just stewardship tax to whom tax was due and honour to whom honour; he gathered in the cattle, lands and property of all; and those who had sold themselves with their lands at the rate fixed for receiving rations he released on the agreed terms of a fifth part.

> Latin: 12 adquisiuit uniuersam Pharaoni pecuniam et Deo gloriam, reddens dispensatione iustissima cui uectigal, uectigal, cui honorem, honorem, omniumque pecora terras censusque collegit; ipsos autem, qui semet cum terris suis accipiendae stipis taxatione uendiderant, statuta quintae partis pactione laxauit.

[¶12] Who would believe that this Joseph, whom God appointed as the author of the Egyptians’ preservation, fell so quickly from their memory that shortly afterwards they consigned his sons and his whole kindred to slavery, afflicted them with labours, and crushed them with slaughter?

> Latin: 13 hunc Ioseph, quem constituit Deus Aegyptiis conseruatae salutis auctorem, quis credat ita in breui eorum excidisse memoriae, ut filios eius atque uniuersam cognationem paulo post seruitio addixerint, laboribus adfecerint, internecionibus profligarint?

[¶13] It is no wonder, then, if even now some are found who, having turned aside from their necks the sword that hung over them by holding up the Christian name before them, either pass over or defame the very name of Christ, by which alone they are saved, and claim to be burdened by the times of those through whose merits they are set free.

> Latin: 14 quamobrem non est mirandum, si nunc quoque aliqui reperiuntur, qui cum a ceruicibus suis inpendentem gladium praetento Christiano nomine auerterint, ipsum nomen Christi, quo solo salui sunt, aut dissimulent aut infament grauarique se eorum temporibus adserant, quorum meritis liberantur.

## 12. Book 1 · Chapter 9

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/12/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/12/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 810 before the founding of the City, Amphictyon reigned at Athens, the third from Cecrops. In his times a deluge of waters swept away the greater part of the peoples of Thessaly, a few being saved by taking refuge in the mountains, especially on Mount Parnassus, around which Deucalion then held the kingship.

> Latin: 1 Anno DCCCX ante urbem conditam Amphictyon Athenis tertius a Cecrope regnauit. cuius temporibus aquarum inluuies maiorem partem populorum Thessaliae absumpsit paucis per refugia montium liberatis, maxime in monte Parnaso, in cuius circuitu Deucalion tunc regno potiebatur,

[¶1] He took in those who then fled to him on rafts, and sheltered and fed them on the twin peaks of Parnassus; and for this reason, they say, the human race was restored by him.

> Latin: 2 qui tunc ad se ratibus confugientes susceptos per gemina Parnasi iuga fouit aluitque; a quo propterea genus hominum reparatum ferunt.

[¶2] At that time too, as Plato bears witness, very many pestilences and dreadful diseases raged in Ethiopia almost to the point of desolation.

> Latin: 3 tunc etiam in Aethiopia pestes plurimas dirosque morbos paene usque ad desolationem exaestuauisse Plato testis est.

[¶3] And lest anyone should believe that the times of God’s anger and the times of the fury of war are separate, in that same period Father Liber subdued India, drenched it with blood, filled it with slaughter and polluted it with lusts — a people, at any rate, which had never been subject to any man and was content only with its native quiet.

> Latin: 4 et ne forte diuisa tempora esse credantur irae Dei furorisque bellici, ea tempestate subactam Indiam Liber pater sanguine madefecit, caedibus oppleuit, libidinibus polluit, gentem utique nulli umquam hominum obnoxiam, uernacula tantum quiete contentam.

*Note: Liber is Bacchus (Dionysus), whose conquest of India was a legend popularised after Alexander’s campaigns.*

## 13. Book 1 · Chapter 10

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/13/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/13/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 805 before the founding of the City, unspeakable evils and intolerable plagues fell upon the Egyptians, as Pompeius and Cornelius testify; and since both of them set out to relate these things in connection with the Jews, they have somewhat troubled me by their disagreement.

> Latin: 1 Anno autem ante urbem conditam DCCCV infanda Aegyptiis mala atque intolerabiles plagas incubuisse Pompeius Corneliusque testantur: qui quidem, cum haec ambo de Iudaeis referenda proponant, aliquantulum me pro sui diuersitate mouerunt.

[¶1] For Pompeius, or Justin, speaks in this way: “When the Egyptians were suffering from scabies and leprosy, warned by an oracle, they drove Moses out of the borders of Egypt together with the sick, lest the plague spread to more. Having become the leader of the exiles, he stole the sacred objects of the Egyptians; and when the Egyptians tried to recover them by arms, they were forced by storms to return home.”

> Latin: 2 ait enim Pompeius siue Iustinus hoc modo: Aegyptii cum scabiem ac uitiliginem paterentur, responso moniti Moysen cum aegris, ne pestis ad plures serperet, terminis Aegypti pellunt. dux igitur exulum factus sacra Aegyptiorum furto abstulit; quae armis repetentes Aegyptii domum redire tempestatibus conpulsi sunt.

[¶2] Cornelius, however, speaks of the same matter thus: “Most authors agree that when a wasting disease that disfigured the body broke out throughout Egypt, King Bocchoris went to the oracle of Ammon seeking a remedy, and was ordered to purge his kingdom and to carry off that race of men to other lands as hateful to the gods.

> Latin: 3 at uero Cornelius de eadem re sic ait: Plurimi auctores consentiunt orta per Aegyptum tabe, quae corpora foedaret, regem Bocchorim adito Hammonis oraculo remedium petentem purgare regnum et id genus hominum ut inuisum deis alias in terras auehere iussum.

*Note: Tacitus, Histories 5.3. Bocchoris was an Egyptian king of the late eighth century BC, far too late for Moses.*

[¶3] So the mob was sought out and gathered together, and after it had been abandoned in desolate places, while the rest lay numb with weeping, Moses, one of the exiles, warned them to expect no help from gods or men, but to trust themselves to a heavenly leader, the first by whose help they might drive off their present miseries.”

> Latin: 4 sic conquisitum collectumque uulgus postquam uastis locis relictum sit, ceteris per lacrimas torpentibus Moysen, unum exulum, monuisse, ne quam deorum hominumue opem exspectarent sed sibimet duci caelesti crederent, primo cuius auxilio praesentes miserias pepulissent.

[¶4] Thus Cornelius says that the Jews were driven out into the deserts under compulsion from the Egyptians themselves, and afterwards he incautiously adds that with the help of Moses as their leader they had driven off their miseries in Egypt. This shows that certain things vigorously accomplished through Moses have been concealed.

> Latin: 5 itaque Cornelius dicit, quod ipsis Aegyptiis cogentibus Iudaei in deserta propulsi sint, et postea subiungit incaute, quia ope Moysi ducis in Aegypto miserias propulissent. quare ostenditur quaedam quae per Moysen strenue acta sunt fuisse celata.

[¶5] Likewise Justin asserts that Moses, driven out together with his people, stole the sacred objects of the Egyptians, and that the Egyptians, attempting to recover them by arms, were forced back by storms and returned home. Here too he has disclosed something more — though not the whole — of what the other concealed.

> Latin: 6 item Iustinus adserit pulsum aeque cum populo Moysen sacra Aegyptiorum fuisse furatum, quae Aegyptios armis recipere molientes, coactos tempestatibus ac repulsos, domum redisse. et hic aliquid amplius etsi non totum prodidit quod ille celauit.

[¶6] Therefore, since both have borne witness to Moses, that great leader, let these things be set forth from Moses himself, as they were both done and told through him.

> Latin: 7 quapropter, quia Moysi magno illi duci testimonium ambo dixerunt, ab ipso sicut per eum et gesta et dicta sunt proferantur.

[¶7] The Egyptians were oppressing the people of God — that is, the race of Joseph, by whose help they had been saved — crushing them with slavery and tormenting them with labour, and were moreover forcing them by a cruel command to kill their own offspring; and God, through Moses as his messenger, commanded that his people be let go free to serve him.

> Latin: 8 Cum populum Dei hoc est genus Joseph Aegyptii, cuius ope salui erant, seruitio oppressum labore cruciarent, insuper etiam ad necandam subolem suam crudeli imperio cogerent, dimitti Deus populum suum liberum ad seruiendum sibi per Moysen nuntium iubet;

[¶8] When he was scorned, he drove the stubborn with the harshest punishments; and they, loaded and ground down by ten plagues, at last compelled those whom they had refused to release even to make haste.

> Latin: 9 contemptusque durissimis contumaces suppliciis agit, qui decem plagis onerati ac protriti, tandem quos dimittere noluerant, etiam festinare coegerunt.

[¶9] After the waters were turned into blood, bringing to those burning with thirst remedies more grievous than the punishments; after the loathsome filth of frogs crawling over all things clean and unclean; after the fiery gnats, which, while the whole air quivered with them, could nowhere be avoided;

> Latin: 10 post aquas in sanguinem uersas ardentibus siti grauiora adferentes poenarum remedia quam poenas, post horridos ranarum squalores per omnia munda inmundaque reptantes, post ignitas sciniphes et nusquam, toto aere uibrante, uitabiles,

[¶10] after the dog-flies running about with horrid motions even through the inner parts of the limbs and bitterly inflicting torments as grievous as they were shameful; after the sudden ruin and general slaughter of all their flocks and beasts of burden; after the seething blisters and running sores, and — as they themselves preferred to call it — the “scabies and leprosy” breaking out over their whole bodies;

> Latin: 11 post muscas caninas etiam per interiora membrorum horridis motibus cursitantes acerbeque inferentes tam grauia tormenta quam turpia, post omnium pecorum et iumentorum repentinam ruinam stragemque generalem, post uesicas efferuescentes ulceraque manantia et, ut ipsi dicere maluerunt, 'scabiem ac uitiliginem' totis corporibus erumpentem,

[¶11] after the hail mixed with fire, crushing men, herds and trees everywhere; after the clouds of locusts which, when everything else was devoured, went after even the very roots of the seeds; after the darkness, dreadful with apparitions, palpable in its thickness, deadly in its long duration;

> Latin: 12 post grandinem cum igne permixtam, passim homines armenta atque arbores proterentem, post lucustarum nubes, exhaustis omnibus ipsas quoque radices seminum persequentes, post tenebras imaginibus diras, crassitudine palpabiles, diuturnitate ferales,

[¶12] and finally, after one and the same death of the first-born throughout all Egypt and a like storm of bereavement over all — those who had not yielded to God when he commanded yielded to him when he punished. But soon, in a most wicked change of heart, they dared to pursue the people they had released, and paid the final penalty for their abominable obstinacy.

> Latin: 13 postremo post uniformem in tota Aegypto primitiuae subolis necem paremque per uniuersos orbitatum tempestatem - qui iubenti Deo non cesserant cessere punienti, sed mox pessima paenitentia dimissos persequi ausi, ultima nefandae peruicaciae expendere supplicia.

[¶13] For their king led the whole army of Egypt, equipped with chariots and horsemen, against the wanderers. Its size we can gauge above all from this one argument: that six hundred thousand men feared it and fled.

> Latin: 14 nam rex eorum uniuersum Aegypti exercitum curribus atque equitibus instructum in circumerrantes egit, cuius numerum hoc solo uel maxime argumento conicere possumus, quod eum sescenta milia uirorum timuerunt atque fugerunt.

[¶14] But God, the protector of the oppressed and the avenger of the stubborn, suddenly divided the Red Sea, and, drawing back its edges on either side, held up the sides of the stiffened waves like the face of a mountain, so that, drawn on by the hope of an unobstructed path, the godly might enter a way of salvation they had despaired of, and the ungodly a pit of death they had not looked for.

> Latin: 15 sed protector depressorum et ultor contumacium Deus diuisit subito Rubrum mare ac dilatatis utrimque marginibus rigentium undarum in montis faciem latera erecta suspendit, ut inoffensi spe limitis prouocati, pii uiam desperatae salutis, impii foueam insperatae mortis intrarent.

[¶15] So, while the Hebrews walked safely over the dry ground, the masses of the standing waters were poured back behind them, and the whole multitude of Egypt with its king was overwhelmed and killed; and the entire province, already tormented by the plagues, was emptied by this last slaughter.

> Latin: 16 itaque Hebraeis tuto per sicca gradientibus, refusis a tergo aquarum adstantium molibus, obruta est et interfecta cum rege suo uniuersa Aegypti multitudo, totaque prouincia plagis ante cruciata hac postrema interfectione uacuata est.

[¶16] There still exist even now the surest memorials of these deeds. For the tracks of the chariots and the ruts of the wheels can be clearly seen not only on the shore but also in the deep, as far as sight can reach; and if by chance they are disturbed for a time, whether by accident or by curiosity, they are at once restored by divine power to their former appearance by the winds and the waves:

> Latin: 17 exstant etiam nunc certissima horum monumenta gestorum. nam tractus curruum rotarumque orbitae non solum in litore sed etiam in profundo, quousque uisus admittitur, peruidentur et, si forte ad tempus uel casu uel curiositate turbantur, continuo diuinitus in pristinam faciem uentis fluctibusque reparantur:

[¶17] so that whoever is not taught the fear of God by zeal for the religion made manifest may be terrified by the example of his wrath in the vengeance once taken.

> Latin: 18 ut, quisque non docetur timorem Dei propalatae religionis studio, ira eius transactae ultionis terreatur exemplo.

[¶18] In these times, too, so constant and heavy a heat blazed up that the sun, carried along out of its course, is said not to have warmed the whole world but to have scorched it with fire; and neither the Ethiopian, beyond what he was used to, nor the Scythian, who was not used to it, could bear the burning heat laid upon them. From this some, unwilling to grant God his ineffable power and searching out empty little reasonings, wove together the ridiculous fable of Phaethon.

> Latin: 19 His etiam temporibus adeo iugis et grauis aestus incanduit, ut sol per deuia transuectus uniuersum orbem non calore affecisse sed igne torruisse dicatur, inpressumque feruorem et Aethiops plus solitum et insolitum Scytha non tulerit; ex quo etiam quidam dum non concedunt Deo ineffabilem potentiam suam, inanes ratiunculas conquirentes ridiculam Phaethontis fabulam texuerunt.

## 14. Book 1 · Chapter 11

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/14/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/14/#p-N

[¶0] Again, in the year 775 before the founding of the City, fifty parricides were committed in a single night among the sons of the brothers Danaus and Aegyptus. Then Danaus himself, the contriver of such great crimes, driven from the kingdom that he had gained by so many outrages, withdrew to Argos; and there, having shamefully persuaded the Argives to wrongdoing, he drove from the kingdom Sthenelas, who had taken him in as a needy fugitive, and reigned himself.

> Latin: 1 Item anno ante urbem conditam DCCLXXV inter Danai atque Aegypti fratrum filios quinquaginta parricidia una nocte commissa sunt. ipse deinde tantorum scelerum fabricator Danaus regno, quod tot flagitiis adquisiuerat, pulsus Argos concessit ibique indigne persuasis in facinus Argiuis Sthenelan qui eum profugum egentemque exceperat regno expulit atque ipse regnauit.

*Note: In Pausanias the Argive king displaced by Danaus is Gelanor, son of Sthenelas.*

[¶1] At that time there was in Egypt the cruel hospitality, and the crueller religion, of Busiris, a most bloody tyrant, who used to offer the blood of innocent guests to the gods who were partners in his crimes — a thing without doubt abhorrent to men; whether it seemed abhorrent to the gods themselves as well, I leave open.

> Latin: 2 Busiridis in Aegypto cruentissimi tyranni crudelis hospitalitas et crudelior religio tunc fuit; qui innocentum hospitum sanguinem diis scelerum suorum participibus propinabat: quod exsecrabile sine dubio hominibus uiderim an ipsis etiam diis exsecrabile uideretur.

[¶2] At that time, too, parricide was added to incest among Tereus, Procne and Philomela, and a banquet of unspeakable food more abhorrent than both, when, because her sister’s chastity had been ravished and her tongue cut out, the mother killed her little son and the father ate him.

> Latin: 3 tunc etiam Terei Procnae et Philomelae incesto parricidium adiunctum atque exsecrabilius utroque conuiuium per infandos cibos additum, cum propter sororis pudicitiam ereptam praecisamque linguam filium paruulum mater occidit, pater comedit.

[¶3] In these same times Perseus crossed from Greece into Asia; there he subdued barbarian peoples in a heavy and long war, and at last, as victor, gave his name to the conquered nation: for from Perseus they came to be called Persians.

> Latin: 4 isdem temporibus Perseus a Graecia in Asiam transuectus est, ibi barbaras gentes graui diuturnoque bello domuit et nouissime uictor nomen subiectae genti dedit: namque a Perseo Persae sunt uocitati.

## 15. Book 1 · Chapter 12

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/15/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/15/#p-N

[¶0] But I am now forced to confess that, for the sake of keeping the end in view, I am passing over a great many of the evils that surrounded the world on every side, and abridging them all. For I could never get past so dense a forest unless I sometimes flew over it in frequent leaps.

> Latin: 1 At ego nunc cogor fateri, me prospiciendi finis commodo de tanta malorum saeculi circumstantia praeterire plurima, cuncta breuiare. nequaquam enim tam densam aliquando siluam praetergredi possem, nisi etiam crebris interdum saltibus subuolarem.

[¶1] For since the kingdom of the Assyrians lasted 1,160 years, down to Sardanapalus, under almost fifty kings, and until that time almost never rested from waging wars or suffering them, what end will be found if we try to recount these things merely by listing them, not to say by describing them?

> Latin: 2 nam cum regnum Assyriorum per MCLX annos usque ad Sardanapallum per quinquaginta propemodum reges actum sit et numquam paene uel inferendis uel excipiendis usque ad id tempus quieuerit, quis finis reperietur, si ea commemorare numerando, ut non dicam describendo, conemur?

[¶2] Especially since the affairs of the Greeks must not be passed over, and those of the Romans must above all be reviewed. Nor need I now list the shameful deeds of Tantalus and Pelops and the more shameful fables about them. Of these, Tantalus, king of the Phrygians, having most outrageously carried off Ganymede,

> Latin: 3 praesertim cum et Graecorum praetereunda non sunt et Romanorum uel maxime recensenda sint. nec mihi nunc enumerare opus est Tantali et Pelopis facta turpia, fabulas turpiores. quorum Tantalus rex Frygiorum Ganymedem,

[¶3] son of Tros, king of the Dardanians, kept hold of him with the still greater foulness of the struggle that ensued, as the poet Phanocles affirms, who records that a very great war was stirred up on this account;

> Latin: 4 Troi Dardaniorum regis filium, cum flagitiosissime rapuisset, maiore conserti certaminis foeditate detinuit, sicut Fanocles poeta confirmat, qui maximum bellum excitatum ob hoc fuisse commemorat;

[¶4] or else he would have it seem that this same Tantalus, as a hanger-on of the gods, had procured the stolen boy for Jupiter’s lust as a pander among friends — a man who did not hesitate to serve up even his own son Pelops at Jupiter’s feasts.

> Latin: 5 siue quia hunc ipsum Tantalum utpote adseculam deorum uideri uult raptum puerum ad libidinem Iouis familiari lenocinio praeparasse, qui ipsum quoque filium Pelopem epulis eius non dubitaret inpendere.

[¶5] It is wearisome, too, to relate the struggles of Pelops himself against Dardanus and the Trojans, however great, which, because they are commonly celebrated in fables, are listened to with little attention.

> Latin: 6 taedet etiam ipsius Pelopis contra Dardanum atque Troianos quamlibet magna referre certamina, quae quia in fabulis celebrari solita sunt, neglegentius audiuntur.

[¶6] I pass over, too, the tales told, as Palaephatus writes, of Perseus, Cadmus, the Thebans and the Spartans, through inextricable recurrences of evils following one upon another.

> Latin: 7 illa quoque praetereo, quae de Perseo Cadmo Thebanis Spartanisque per inextricabiles alternantium malorum recursus Palefato scribente referuntur.

[¶7] I say nothing of the crimes of the Lemnian women; I pass over the lamentable flight of Pandion, king of the Athenians; I leave untold the hatreds, debaucheries and parricides of Atreus and Thyestes, hateful even to heaven.

> Latin: 8 taceo flagitia Lemniadum, praetermitto Pandionis Atheniensium regis flebilem fugam, Atrei et Thyestis odia stupra et parricidia caelo quoque inuisa dissimulo.

[¶8] I omit Oedipus, killer of his father, husband of his mother, brother of his sons, his own stepfather. I prefer to keep silent about how Eteocles and Polynices strove in mutual assaults so that neither of them should fail to be a parricide.

> Latin: 9 omitto Oedipum interfectorem patris, matris maritum, filiorum fratrem, vitricum suum. sileri malo Eteoclen atque Polynicen mutuis laborasse concursibus, ne quis eorum parricida non esset.

[¶9] I do not wish to remember Medea, “wounded by savage love” and rejoicing in the slaughter of her little children, nor whatever else was perpetrated in those times. One may guess how men endured things from which even the stars are said to have fled.

> Latin: 10 nolo meminisse Medeae, 'amore saeuo sauciae' et pignorum paruulorum caede gaudentis, et quidquid illis temporibus perpetratum. conici datur, qualiter homines sustinuerint, quod etiam astra fugisse dicuntur.

*Note: A phrase from Ennius’s tragedy Medea.*

## 16. Book 1 · Chapters 13–14

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/16/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/16/#p-N

### Chapter 13

[¶1] In the year 560 before the founding of the City there was a most savage conflict between the Cretans and the Athenians, in which, when the peoples on both sides had been wretchedly crushed, the Cretans exercised a victory bloodier still:

> Latin: 1 Anno ante urbem conditam DLX atrocissimum inter Cretenses atque Athenienses certamen fuit, ubi populis utrimque infeliciter profligatis cruentiorem uictoriam Cretenses exercuerunt;

[¶2] for they cruelly consigned the sons of noble Athenians to be devoured by the Minotaur — whether I should more fitly call him a wild man or a human beast I do not know — and fattened that misshapen monster on the torn-out eyes of Greece.

> Latin: 2 qui nobilium Atheniensium filios Minotauro, utrum fero homini an humanae bestiae aptius dicam nescio, deuorandos crudeliter addicebant atque informe prodigium effossis Graeciae luminibus saginabant.

[¶3] In those same days the Lapiths and the Thessalians fought in conflicts all too famous.

> Latin: 3 isdem diebus Lapithae et Thessali famosis nimium certauere conflictibus.

[¶4] But Palaephatus, in the first book of his Incredible Tales, discloses that the Thessalians themselves were believed by the Lapiths to be Centaurs, and were so called, because as horsemen dashing about in war they seemed to be a single body of horses and men.

> Latin: 4 sed Thessalos Palefatus in libro primo Incredibilium prodit ipsos a Lapithis creditos dictosque fuisse Centauros eo, quod discurrentes in bello equites ueluti unum corpus equorum et hominum uiderentur.

### Chapter 14

[¶6] In the year 480 before the founding of the City, Vesozes, king of Egypt, eager either to embroil in war or to join under his rule the south and the north — regions separated by almost the whole of the sky and the sea — was the first to declare war on the Scythians, having first sent envoys to dictate to the enemy the terms of their submission.

> Latin: 1 Anno ante urbem conditam CCCCLXXX Vesozes rex Aegypti meridiem et septentrionem, diuisas paene toto caelo ac pelago plagas, aut miscere bello aut regno iungere studens, Scythis bellum primus indixit missis prius legatis, qui hostibus parendi leges dicerent.

*Note: The Egyptian king of Justin’s account (2.3); he is usually connected with Herodotus’s legendary Sesostris, who also campaigned against the Scythians.*

[¶7] To this the Scythians replied to the envoys that a very wealthy king had foolishly taken up war against poor men — a war which he himself, on the contrary, had more reason to fear, since the outcome of war was uncertain, its rewards nothing and its losses manifest. Moreover, they would not wait for him to come to them, but would go out of their own accord to meet their plunder.

> Latin: 2 ad quae Scythae legatis respondent, stolide opulentissimum regem aduersus inopes sumpsisse bellum, quod timendum ipsi magis uersa uice fuerit propter incertos belli euentus nulla praemia et damna manifesta. porro sibi non exspectandum, dum ad se ueniatur, sed ultro praedae obuiam ituros.

[¶8] There was no delay, for deeds followed words. First they forced Vesozes himself, terrified, to flee back into his kingdom; then they fell upon his abandoned army and seized all its equipment of war; and they would have plundered all Egypt as well, had they not been hindered by the marshes and driven back.

> Latin: 3 nec mora, nam dicta factis insequuntur. primum ipsum Vesozen territum refugere in regnum cogunt, destitutum uero exercitum inuadunt omnemque belli apparatum capessunt, uniuersam quoque Aegyptum populauissent, ni paludibus inpediti repellerentur.

[¶9] Then, turning back at once, they subdued Asia with endless slaughter and made it tributary; and after lingering there for fifteen years without peace, they were at last called home by the insistence of their wives, who declared that unless they returned they would seek offspring from their neighbours.

> Latin: 4 inde continuo reuersi perdomitam infinitis caedibus Asiam uectigalem fecere; ubi per XV annos sine pace inmorati tandem uxorum flagitatione reuocantur denuntiantibus, ni redeant subolem se a finitimis quaesituras.

## 17. Book 1 · Chapter 15

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/17/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/17/#p-N

[¶0] In the meantime, among the Scythians, two young men of royal blood, Plynos and Scolopetius, driven from home by a faction of the nobles, drew a great body of young men after them and settled on the coast of Pontic Cappadocia near the river Thermodon, taking the Themiscyrian plains for themselves. There, after long plundering everything around them, they were slaughtered in an ambush through a conspiracy of their neighbours.

> Latin: 1 Medio autem tempore apud Scythas duo regii iuuenes Plynos et Scolopetius, per factionem optimatium domo pulsi, ingentem iuuentutem secum traxere et in Cappadociae Ponticae ora iuxta amnem Thermodontem consederunt campis Themiscyriis sibi subiectis; ubi diu proxima quaeque populati conspiratione finitimorum per insidias trucidantur.

[¶1] Their wives, stirred by exile and widowhood, took up arms, and, so that all might be of one mind through a like condition, killed the men who had survived; then, fired against the enemy by the shedding of their own blood, they won vengeance for their slain husbands by destroying their neighbours.

> Latin: 2 horum uxores exilio ac uiduitate permotae arma sumunt et, ut omnibus par ex simili condicione animus fieret, uiros qui superfuerant interficiunt atque accensae in hostem sanguine suo ultionem caesorum coniugum finitimorum excidio consequuntur.

[¶2] Then, having won peace by arms, they entered into unions with foreigners. The male children born to them they soon killed; the females they reared with care, burning off the right breasts of the infants so that their shooting of arrows might not be hindered; hence they were called Amazons.

> Latin: 3 tunc pace armis quaesita externos concubitus ineunt, editos mares mox enecant, feminas studiose nutriunt inustis infantium dexterioribus mammillis, ne sagittarum iactus impedirentur; unde Amazones dictae.

[¶3] They had two queens, Marpesia and Lampeto, who divided their host into two parts and took it in turns by lot to conduct the war and to guard the home.

> Latin: 4 harum duae fuere reginae, Marpesia et Lampeto, quae agmine diuiso in duas partes uicissim curam belli et domus custodiam sortiebantur.

[¶4] So when they had subdued the greater part of Europe and taken a number of cities in Asia, and had themselves founded Ephesus and other cities, they called home the chief part of their army, laden with very rich booty; the rest, left behind to guard their empire in Asia, were slaughtered together with Queen Marpesia in an onslaught of the enemy.

> Latin: 5 igitur cum Europam maxima e parte domuissent, Asiae uero aliquantis ciuitatibus captis, ipsae autem Ephesum aliasque urbes condidissent, praecipuam exercitus sui partem onustam opulentissima praeda domum reuocant, reliquae ad tuendum Asiae imperium relictae cum Marpesia regina concursu hostium trucidantur.

[¶5] Her place was taken by her daughter Sinope, who crowned her singular glory in valour with perpetual virginity.

> Latin: 6 huius locum Sinope filia capessit, quae singularem uirtutis gloriam perpetua uirginitate cumulauit.

[¶6] Such wonder and dread had seized the peoples stirred by this fame that Hercules too, when his master had ordered him to bring back the queen’s arms — as though he were being sent into inescapable danger — gathered together all the chosen and noble youth of Greece and made ready nine long ships; and even so, not content with this muster of strength, he preferred to attack without warning and to surround them off their guard.

> Latin: 7 hac fama excitas gentes tanta admiratio et formido inuaserat, ut Hercules quoque cum iussus fuisset a domino suo exhibere arma reginae quasi ad ineuitabile periculum destinatus, uniuersam Graeciae lectam ac nobilem iuuentutem contraxerit, nouem longas naues praepararit, nec tamen contentus examine uirium ex inprouiso adgredi et insperatas circumuenire maluerit.

[¶7] Two sisters then ruled the kingdom, Antiope and Orithyia. Hercules, carried over by sea, overwhelmed them unprepared and unarmed, grown idle through the carelessness of peace. Among the very many slain and captured, two sisters of Antiope were held back, Melanippe by Hercules and Hippolyta by Theseus.

> Latin: 8 duae tunc sorores regno praeerant, Antiope et Orithyia. Hercules mari aduectus incautas inermesque et pacis incuria desides oppressit. inter caesas captasque complurimas duae sorores Antiopae, Melanippe ab Hercule, Hippolyte a Theseo retentae.

[¶8] But Theseus took Hippolyta in marriage, while Hercules returned Melanippe to her sister and received the queen’s arms as the price of her ransom.

> Latin: 9 sed Theseus Hippolyten matrimonio adsciuit, Hercules Melanippen sorori reddidit et arma reginae pretio redemptionis accepit.

[¶9] After Orithyia, Penthesilea held the throne; of her valour among men in the Trojan War we have received the most famous proofs.

> Latin: 10 post Orithyiam Penthesilea regno potita est, cuius Troiano bello clarissima inter uiros documenta uirtutis accepimus.

## 18. Book 1 · Chapters 16–18

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/18/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/18/#p-N

### Chapter 16

[¶1] Oh, the pain of it — the shame of human error! Women, fugitives from their homeland, entered, overran and devastated Europe and Asia, that is, the largest and strongest parts of the world, and held them for almost a hundred years, overthrowing very many cities and founding others; and yet the misery of men was not then put down to the oppressiveness of the times.

> Latin: 1 Pro dolor, pudet erroris humani. mulieres patria profugae Europam atque Asiam, id est plurimas fortissimasque mundi partes, intrauerunt peruagatae sunt deleuerunt, centum paene annis euertendo urbes plurimas atque alias constituendo tenuerunt: nec tamen miseriae hominum pressura temporum deputata est.

[¶2] But now those Getae who are now also called Goths — whom Alexander declared were to be avoided, whom Pyrrhus dreaded, whom even Caesar shunned — having left and emptied their own homes and entered the Roman provinces with their whole strength, all of them together, and having long been displayed before us as a terror, hope by prayers for a share in a Roman treaty which they could have claimed by arms.

> Latin: 2 modo autem Getae illi qui et nunc Gothi, quos Alexander euitandos pronuntiauit, Pyrrhus exhorruit, Caesar etiam declinauit, relictis uacuefactisque sedibus suis ac totis uiribus toti Romanas ingressi prouincias simulque ad terrorem diu ostentati societatem Romani foederis precibus sperant, quam armis uindicare potuissent;

*Note: Orosius follows the common late antique identification of the Goths with the Getae, a Thracian people of the lower Danube; the two were unrelated.*

[¶3] They ask for a place of modest habitation, not by their own choice but at our judgement — they to whom the whole earth lay subject and open, so that they were free to take as much as they pleased; they offer themselves for the defence of the Roman realm — they whom alone unconquered kingdoms feared.

> Latin: 3 exiguae habitationis sedem non ex sua electione sed ex nostro iudicio rogant, quibus subiecta et patente uniuersa terra praesumere, quam esset libitum, liberum fuit; semet ipsos ad tuitionem Romani regni offerunt, quos solos inuicta regna timuerunt.

[¶4] And yet blind paganism, since it does not see that these things were achieved by Roman valour, does not believe that they were obtained by the faith of the Romans; nor, though it understands, will it consent to confess that by the benefit of the Christian religion — which binds all peoples together in a kindred faith — those men have been made subject to it without a battle whose women destroyed the greater part of the earth with immense slaughter.

> Latin: 4 et tamen caeca gentilitas cum haec Romana uirtute gesta non uideat, fide Romanorum inpetrata non credit nec adquiescit, cum intellegat, confiteri, beneficio Christianae religionis - quae cognatam per omnes populos fidem iungit - eos uiros sine proelio sibi esse subiectos, quorum feminae maiorem terrarum partem inmensis caedibus deleuerunt.

### Chapter 17

[¶6] Then, in the year 430 before the founding of the City, there came, as the story is told, the abduction of Helen, the confederacy of the Greeks and the gathering of a thousand ships, then the ten-year siege, and finally the famous destruction of Troy.

> Latin: 1 At uero ante urbem conditam CCCCXXX anno raptus Helenae, coniuratio Graecorum et concursus mille nauium, dehinc decennis obsidio ac postremo famosum Troiae excidium praedicatur.

[¶7] In that war, waged most bloodily for ten years, what nations and how many peoples the same whirlwind engulfed and afflicted Homer, a poet of the first renown, has made plain in his most brilliant poem; nor is it for us now to tell it over in order, since it seems both too long for this work and known to all.

> Latin: 2 in quo bello per decem annos cruentissime gesto quas nationes quantosque populos idem turbo inuoluerit atque adflixerit, Homerus poeta in primis clarus luculentissimo carmine palam fecit, nec per ordinem nunc retexere nostrum est, quia et operi longum et omnibus notum uidetur.

[¶8] Nevertheless, let those who have learnt of the length of that siege, the horror of its overthrow, the slaughter and the captivity, consider whether they are right to be offended by this present state of things, such as it is — when enemies who, by the hidden mercy of God, could pursue them with war across every land with their forces drawn up, instead follow them across every sea for the sake of peace, holding out hostages; and, lest they be thought to do this from love of quiet, offer themselves and their own dangers against other peoples for the peace of the Romans.

> Latin: 3 uerumtamen qui diuturnitatem illius obsidionis, euersionis atrocitatem caedem captiuitatemque didicerunt, uideant, si recte isto qualiscumque est praesentis temporis statu offenduntur quos hostes occulta misericordia Dei cum per omnes terras instructis copiis bello persequi possint, pacis gratia praetentis obsidibus per omnia maria sequuntur; et, ne forte haec quietis amore facere credantur, se ipsos ac pericula sua pro Romanorum pace aduersum alias gentes offerunt.

### Chapter 18

[¶10] A few years later, what arms the arrival in Italy of Aeneas, a fugitive from Troy, set in motion, what wars it stirred up over three years, how many peoples it entangled in hatred and afflicted with destruction, has been branded into our memory too by the lessons of the grammar school.

> Latin: 1 Paucis praeterea annis interuenientibus, Aeneae Troia profugi aduentus in Italiam quae arma commouerit, qualia per triennium bella exciuerit, quantos populos inplicuerit odio excidioque adflixerit, ludi litterarii disciplina nostrae quoque memoriae inustum est.

[¶11] In the midst of these times, moreover, lie the exiles and shipwrecks of the Greeks, the disasters of the Peloponnesians, broken at the death of Codrus, the Thracians, unknown till then, rising up for new wars, and a general upheaval at that time throughout all Asia and Greece.

> Latin: 2 horum praeterea temporum medio interiacent exilia naufragiaque Graecorum, Peloponnensium clades Codro moriente fractorum, ignoti Thraces noua in bella surgentes et generalis tunc per totam Asiam Graeciamque commotio.

## 19. Book 1 · Chapter 19

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/19/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/19/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 64 before the founding of the City, Sardanapalus reigned as the last of the Assyrian kings, a man more corrupt than a woman. Seen by his prefect Arbaces, who then governed the Medes, among herds of harlots, dressed as a woman and spinning purple wool on a distaff, he was held in execration; soon, when the peoples of the Medes had been roused, he was challenged to war, defeated, and threw himself onto a burning pyre. From then on the kingdom of the Assyrians passed to the Medes.

> Latin: 1 Anno ante urbem conditam LXIIII nouissimus apud Assyrios regnauit Sardanapallus, uir muliere corruptior: qui inter scortorum greges feminae habitu purpuram colo tractans a praefecto suo Arbato, qui tunc Medis praeerat, visus atque exsecrationi habitus, mox etiam excitis Medorum populis ad bellum provocatus et victus ardenti pyrae se iniecit. exin regnum Assyriorum in Medos concessit.

*Note: Orosius has Arbatus; Diodorus, following Ctesias, calls him Arbaces.*

[¶1] Then, amid many battles swarming up on every side, which it hardly seems fitting to discuss in order, it passed through various fortunes to the Scythians and Chaldaeans, and by a like path returned again to the Medes.

> Latin: 2 deinde multis proeliis undique scatescentibus, quae per ordinem disserere nequaquam aptum uidetur, per uarios prouentus ad Scythas Chaldaeosque et rursus ad Medos parili uia rediit.

[¶2] In this brief account one must weigh how great were the ruins and disasters of nations, how many wars flowed forth, when so many and such great kingdoms changed hands so often.

> Latin: 3 in qua breuitate pensandum est: quantae ruinae cladesque gentium fuere, quanta bella fluxerunt ubi totiens tot et talia regna mutata sunt.

[¶3] After this Phraortes ruled the Medes, who spent the twenty-two years of his reign in very frequent wars with the Assyrians and the Persians.

> Latin: 4 post haec Medis Fraortes imperitauit, qui creberrimis Assyriorum Persarumque bellis XXII regni sui annos consumpsit.

[¶4] After him reigned Diocles, a man most experienced in arms and always occupied in wars, who at his death handed on the empire, widely enlarged, to Astyages.

> Latin: 5 post hunc Diocles regnauit, uir armis experientissimus semperque bellis immoratus: qui auctum late imperium moriens Astyagi dedit.

*Note: Herodotus’s line of Median kings is Deioces, Phraortes, Cyaxares, Astyages. Orosius’s Diocles, though the name recalls Deioces, stands where Cyaxares should.*

[¶5] Astyages, lacking male offspring, had a grandson, Cyrus, born among the Persians. But as soon as Cyrus grew up, he gathered a band of Persians and declared war on his grandfather.

> Latin: 6 Astyages, uirili prole uacuus, Cyrum nepotem apud Persas genitum habuit. sed Cyrus mox ut adoleuit congregata Persarum manu auo certamen indixit.

[¶6] Now Astyages had forgotten the crime he had once committed against Harpagus — when he killed Harpagus’s only son, a little boy, and set him before his father to be eaten, and, lest a happy ignorance should take anything away from that most unhappy bereavement, taunted the father with the infamous feast by showing him the head and hands —

> Latin: 7 porro Astyages oblitus sceleris sui quod in Harpalum dudum admiserat, cum filium eius unicum et paruulum interfecit epulandumque patri adposuit ac, ne quid infelicissimae orbitati felix ignorantia subtraheret, infames epulas ostensis patri cum capite manibus inproperauit, -

*Note: Harpagus in Herodotus and Justin; Orosius has Harpalus.*

[¶7] forgetting this deed, then, he entrusted the supreme command of the war to Harpagus himself, who at once betrayed the army he had received and handed it over to Cyrus. On learning this, Astyages himself set out against the Persians with such forces as he could snatch up, and renewed the conflict more fiercely, having made it known to his men that anyone who tried to retreat from the battle would be met with the sword.

> Latin: 8 huius ergo facti immemor, ipsi Harpalo summam belli committit, qui acceptum exercitum statim Cyro per proditionem tradit. quo conperto Astyages raptis secum copiis in Persas ipse proficiscitur acriusque certamen instaurat, proposito suis, metu si quis e proelio cedere moliretur, ferro exciperetur.

[¶8] Under this compulsion the Medes fought hard, and the line of the Persians, driven back once more, was gradually giving way, when their mothers and wives ran out to meet them and begged them to return to the battle; and when they hesitated, the women lifted their garments, exposed their bodies, and asked whether they wished to flee back into the wombs of their mothers or their wives.

> Latin: 9 qua necessitate instanter Medis pugnantibus pulsa iterum Persarum acies cum paulatim cederet, matres et uxores eorum obuiam occurrunt, orant in proelium reuertantur; cunctantibus sublata ueste obscena corporis ostendunt quaerentes, num in uteros matrum uel uxorum uellent refugere.

[¶9] At this, blushing with shame, they returned to the battle and, charging, forced those from whom they had been fleeing to flee. There and then Astyages was captured; Cyrus took nothing from him but his kingdom, and set him over the very great nation of the Hyrcanians, for Astyages himself did not wish to return to the Medes. This was the end of the empire of the Medes.

> Latin: 10 quo facto erubescentes in proelium redeunt et facta inpressione quos fugiebant fugere conpellunt. ibi tunc Astyages capitur, cui Cyrus nihil aliud quam regnum abstulit, eumque maximae Hyrcanorum genti praeposuit. in Medos uero reuerti ipse noluit. is finis imperii Medorum fuit.

[¶10] But the cities which had been tributary to the Medes revolted from Cyrus, and this became for Cyrus the cause and origin of many wars.

> Latin: 11 sed ciuitates, quae tributariae Medorum erant, a Cyro defecerunt: quae res Cyro multorum bellorum causa et origo exstitit.

## 20. Book 1 · Chapter 20

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/20/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/20/#p-N

[¶0] At that time Phalaris of Sicily, having seized the tyranny, was ravaging the people of Agrigentum.

> Latin: 1 Ea tempestate Phalaris Siculus Agrigentinos arrepta tyrannide populabatur.

[¶1] Cruel in mind and crueller still in his devices, doing everything wickedly against the innocent, he once found — unjust as he was — a man whom he could justly punish.

> Latin: 2 qui crudelis mente, commentis crudelior, omnia nefarie in innocentes agens, inuenit aliquando quem iuste puniret iniustus.

[¶2] For a certain Perillus, a worker in bronze, seeking the tyrant’s friendship and thinking it a gift well suited to his cruelty, made a bronze bull, in whose side he skilfully fitted a door to serve for thrusting in the condemned: so that when a man shut inside was roasted by fires set beneath it, the hollow capacity of the bronze would magnify the sound of the cries wrung from him and, with a deathly throb, send out a bellow befitting the image; and in that abominable spectacle it would seem the lowing of a beast and not the groaning of a man.

> Latin: 3 nam Perillus quidam aeris opifex adfectans tyranni amicitiam, aptum munus crudelitati illius ratus, taurum aeneum fecit, cui fabre ianuam e latere conposuit, quae ad contrudendos damnatos receptui foret: ut cum inclusus ibidem subiectis ignibus torreretur, sonum uocis extortae capacitas concaui aeris augeret pulsuque ferali conpetens imagini murmur emitteret, nefarioque spectaculo mugitus pecudis, non hominis gemitus uideretur.

[¶3] But Phalaris, welcoming the work and abhorring the workman, furnished matter both for vengeance and for cruelty: for he punished the craftsman himself with his own invention.

> Latin: 4 sed Phalaris, factum amplexus factorem exsecratus, et ultioni materiam praebuit et crudelitati: nam ipsum opificem sua inuentione puniuit.

[¶4] A little earlier there had also been a king among the Latins, Aremulus, who, growing for eighteen years in crimes and impieties, was at last cut off by a thunderbolt through divine judgement, and so paid at an unripe age the punishment that was long since ripe.

> Latin: 5 Fuerat etiam paulo superiore tempore apud Latinos rex Aremulus, qui per annos XVIII flagitiis inpietatibusque crescens, ad postremum diuino iudicio fulmine interceptus matura supplicia inmatura aetate dissoluit.

*Note: Aremulus is the Alban king whom Livy (1.3) calls Romulus Silvius, killed by lightning.*

[¶5] Let the Latins and the Sicilians now choose, if they will, whether they would rather have lived in the days of Aremulus and Phalaris, who wrung out the lives of the innocent by tortures, or in these Christian times, when the Roman emperors, ordered above all by religion itself, having crushed tyrannies for the good of the commonwealth, do not exact punishment even for the wrongs done to themselves by the tyrants.

> Latin: 6 Eligant nunc, si uidetur, Latini et Siculi, utrum in diebus Aremuli et Phalaridis esse maluissent innocentum uitas poenis extorquentium, an his temporibus Christianis, cum imperatores Romani, ipsa in primis religione conpositi, post comminutas reipublicae bono tyrannides ne ipsorum quidem iniurias exigunt tyrannorum.

## 21. Book 1 · Chapter 21

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/21/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/21/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 30 before the founding of the City, a very great war between the Peloponnesians and the Athenians was joined with all their strength and spirit; in it they were driven by mutual slaughter to the point where, as if both defeated, they drew back from one another and abandoned the war.

> Latin: 1 Anno ante urbem conditam XXX Peloponnensium Atheniensiumque maximum bellum totis uiribus animisque commissum est: in quo mutuis caedibus ad hoc coacti sunt, ut uelut uicti se ab alterutro subtraherent bellumque desererent.

[¶1] At that time, too, a sudden invasion of Asia by the nation of the Amazons and the Cimmerians wrought very great devastation and slaughter far and wide for a long time.

> Latin: 2 tunc etiam Amazonum gentis et Cimmeriorum in Asiam repentinus incursus plurimam diu late uastationem stragemque edidit.

[¶2] In the year 20 before the founding of the City, the Lacedaemonians, waging war against the Messenians for twenty years with untiring fury because their maidens had been outraged at a solemn sacrifice of the Messenians, entangled the entire strength of Greece in their own ruin.

> Latin: 3 Anno XX ante urbem conditam Lacedaemonii contra Messenios propter spretas uirgines suas in sollemni Messeniorum sacrificio, per annos uiginti indefesso furore bellantes, ruinae suae totas Graeciae uires inplicuerunt.

[¶3] They had bound themselves by great imprecations and sworn oaths never to return home unless Messene had been taken; and when, worn out by a long siege of ten years and yet having won no fruit of victory, they were further moved by the complaints of their wives, who protested at their long widowhood and the danger of childlessness, and were being called back,

> Latin: 4 qui cum se magnis exsecrationibus deuouissent sacramentisque obstrinxissent domum nisi Messena expugnata numquam esse redituros, ac per decem annos longa fatigati obsidione nec tamen aliquem uincendi fructum adepti, porro autem et querellis uxorum super longa uiduitate et periculo sterilitatis contestantium permoti reuocarentur,

[¶4] they held a council and, fearing lest, with the hope of offspring cut off, their persistence should breed destruction for themselves rather than for the Messenians, they sent back to Sparta men picked from the army who had come as reinforcements after the oath had been sworn; and to these they permitted indiscriminate union with all the women — a licence infamous enough, and yet of no use.

> Latin: 5 consultatione habita ueriti, ne intercepta spe subolis sibi magis hac perseuerantia quam Messeniis perditio nutriretur, selectos in exercitu eos qui post iusiurandum in supplementum militiae uenerant Spartam remittunt, quibus promiscuos omnium feminarum concubitus permisere, infami satis nec tamen utili licentia.

*Note: The children born of these unions were the Partheniae, who later founded Tarentum (Justin 3.4).*

[¶5] They themselves, persisting in their purpose, took the Messenians by treachery and crushed the vanquished with slavery. But the Messenians, after long enduring a bloody domination amid scourges and chains, shook off the yoke, took up arms and renewed the war.

> Latin: 6 ipsi autem proposito insistentes expugnant fraude Messenios, uictos seruitio premunt. at illi, diu cruentam dominationem inter uerbera et uincla perpessi, iugum excutiunt, arma sumunt, bellum instaurant.

[¶6] The Lacedaemonians chose Tyrtaeus, an Athenian poet, as their leader in battle. Routed in three engagements, they made good the army they had lost by calling a band of slaves to freedom.

> Latin: 7 Lacedaemonii Tyrreum, Atheniensem poetam, ducem proelio legunt. qui tribus conflictibus fusi, amissum exercitum uocata in libertatem seruorum manu suppleuerunt.

*Note: Tyrtaeus was the poet of the Second Messenian War in the seventh century BC; the tradition that he was an Athenian, found from Plato onwards, is probably false.*

[¶7] But when even so they judged that they must give up the struggle for fear of the danger, they were fired again by a poem composed by Tyrtaeus, their poet and leader, and recited before the assembly, and soon rushed into the fight. The clash came with such force of spirit that rarely has a bloodier battle ever blazed up; in the end, however, the victory was the Lacedaemonians’.

> Latin: 8 sed cum sic quoque desistendum certamine propter metum periculi arbitrarentur, Tyrrei poetae et ducis conposito carmine et pro contione recitato rursus accensi mox in certamen ruunt; tanta autem ui animorum concursum est, ut raro umquam cruentius proelium exarserit; ad postremum tamen uictoria Lacedaemoniorum fuit.

[¶8] A third time the Messenians renewed the conflict. Nor did the Lacedaemonians delay. Both sides brought many forces to their aid. The Athenians, meanwhile, prepared to attack the Lacedaemonians from the other side while they were intent on matters elsewhere.

> Latin: 9 tertio Messenii reparauere certamen. nec Lacedaemoniis mora. multas in auxilium copias utrimque duxerunt. Athenienses uero Lacedaemonios alibi intentos e diuerso adgredi parant.

[¶9] Nor did the Lacedaemonians rest: being themselves occupied against the Messenians, they sent the Peloponnesians to meet the Athenians in battle. The Athenians, having sent a small fleet to Egypt, were unequal in strength and were easily beaten in a naval engagement. Then, when their fleet had come back and they had been reinforced by strong bodies of soldiers, they challenged the victors to battle.

> Latin: 10 nec Lacedaemonii quieuere: nam ipsi in Messenios occupati Peloponnenses inmiserunt, qui Athenienses proelio exciperent. Athenienses autem, missa in Aegyptum parua classe inpares uiribus, nauali congressu facile uincuntur. dehinc recepta classe, aucti etiam militum robore, uictores in proelium uocant.

*Note: Following Justin (3.6), Orosius runs the Messenian Wars straight on into fifth-century history: the Athenian expedition to Egypt (459–454 BC), the Theban alliance and Pericles’ generalship belong some three centuries after the dates given in this chapter.*

[¶10] The Lacedaemonians too, leaving the Messenians aside, turned their arms against the Athenians. For a long time the fighting was varied and heavy and the balance of victory doubtful, and at last both sides withdrew with the outcome still undecided.

> Latin: 11 Lacedaemonii quoque omissis Messeniis in Athenienses arma conuertunt. diu uariae et graues pugnae et anceps uictoriae status ac postremum pendente euentu utrimque discessum est.

[¶11] It should be particularly understood, however, that Sparta is the same city as Lacedaemon, and that this is why the Lacedaemonians are called Spartans.

> Latin: 12 sciendum tamen est maxime, ipsam esse Spartam quam et Lacedaemonam ciuitatem, atque inde Lacedaemonios Spartanos dici.

[¶12] So the Lacedaemonians, called back from there to the war with the Messenians, in order not to leave the Athenians the time between at leisure, made a pact with the Thebans to restore to them the leadership of the Boeotians, which they had lost at the time of the Persian War, if they would take on the war with the Athenians.

> Latin: 13 igitur inde reuocati Lacedaemonii ad Messeniorum bellum, ne medium tempus otiosum Atheniensibus relinquerent, cum Thebanis paciscuntur, ut Boeotiorum imperium eis restituerent, quod temporibus belli Persici amiserant, si illi Atheniensium bella susciperent.

[¶13] So great was the fury of the Spartans that, though entangled in two wars, they did not refuse to take on a third, provided they could win enemies for their enemies.

> Latin: 14 tantus furor Spartanorum erat, ut duobus bellis inpliciti suscipere tertium non recusarent, dummodo inimicis suis hostes adquirerent.

[¶14] The Athenians, alarmed by so great a storm of wars, chose two generals, Pericles, a man of proven valour, and Sophocles, the writer of tragedies; dividing the army between them, they ravaged the territory of the Spartans far and wide and added many cities of Asia to the empire of the Athenians.

> Latin: 15 Athenienses tanta bellorum tempestate permoti duo duces deligunt Periclen spectatae uirtutis uirum et Sophoclen scribtorem tragoediarum: qui diuiso exercitu et Spartanorum fines late populati sunt et multas Asiae ciuitates Atheniensium imperio adiecerunt.

[¶15] From then on, for fifty years, they fought on land and sea with victory ever uncertain, until the Spartans, their wealth diminished and their good faith ruined, became a disgrace even to their allies.

> Latin: 16 hinc porro per annos quinquaginta incerta semper uictoria terra marique pugnatum est, donec Spartani, et opibus inminutis et fide profligata, sociis quoque probro fuere.

[¶16] But that these things weighed upon Greece through so many volumes of ages is counted of little account. Now, however, that pleasures should sometimes be interrupted and lusts hindered for a little while is not to be borne.

> Latin: 17 Sed haec per tot aetatum uolumina incubuisse Graeciae parui penditur. nunc autem interpellari interdum uoluptates et impediri parumper libidines non sustinetur.

[¶17] Yet there is this difference between the men of that time and those of this: the former bore these unbearable things with equanimity, because they had been born or brought up among them and knew nothing better; while the latter, accustomed all their lives to an unbroken clear sky of tranquillity and delights, are disturbed by every cloud of anxiety that gathers over them, however slight.

> Latin: 18 quamquam inter illius temporis homines atque istius hoc interest, quod illi aequo animo haec intoleranda tolerabant, quia in his nati uel enutriti erant et meliora non nouerant: isti autem, perpetuo in uita sua tranquillitatum et deliciarum sereno adsuefacti, ad omne uel modicum obductae sollicitudinis nubilum commouentur.

[¶18] And would that they prayed to him who drives away even this slight unrest, by whose gift they have had this continuous peace unknown to other times!

> Latin: 19 atque utinam ipsum depulsorem huius uel modicae inquietudinis precarentur, cuius munere hanc ignoratam aliis temporibus iugitatem pacis habuerunt.

[¶19] And since I remember having promised, when I marked out the order of my account in certain divisions, as it were, that I would speak from the founding of the world to the founding of the City,

> Latin: 20 et quoniam spopondisse memini, cum ueluti articulis quibusdam dicendi ordinem definirem, dicturum me esse ab orbe condito usque ad urbem conditam,

[¶20] let this be the end of this volume, which we have unfolded from the founding of the world, so that the next book may begin from the founding of the City. It will contain the more closely woven evils of those times, when men were, of course, more practised and more learned in wickedness.

> Latin: 21 huic uolumini quod ab orbe condito explicuimus finis hic sit, ut ab urbe condita sequens libellus incipiat, qui contextiora illorum temporum mala, exercitatioribus quippe ad nequitiam atque eruditioribus hominibus, continebit.

## 22. Book 2 · Chapter 1

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/22/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/22/#p-N

[¶0] I think there is no one now from whom it can be hidden that God made man in this world. Hence, too, when man sins the world is reproached, and, to restrain our intemperance, this earth on which we live is chastised by the failing of the other animals and the barrenness of its own fruits.

> Latin: 1 Neminem iam esse hominum arbitror, quem latere possit, quia hominem in hoc mundo Deus fecerit. unde etiam peccante homine mundus arguitur ac propter nostram intemperantiam conprimendam terra haec, in qua uiuimus, defectu ceterorum animalium et sterilitate suorum fructuum castigatur.

[¶1] Therefore, if we are the creation of God, we are rightly also the stewardship of God; for who loves more than he who made? And who rules in better order than he who both made and loves? And who can order and rule what has been made more wisely and more mightily than he who both foresaw what was to be made and brought to completion what he had foreseen?

> Latin: 2 itaque si creatura Dei, merito et dispensatio Dei sumus; quis enim magis diligit, quam ille qui fecit? quis autem ordinatius regit, quam is qui et fecit et diligit? quis uero sapientius et fortius ordinare et regere facta potest, quam qui et facienda prouidit et prouisa perfecit?

[¶2] Wherefore, that all power and every ordinance is from God, those who have not read it perceive and those who have read it recognize. And if powers are from God, how much more so kingdoms, from which the remaining powers proceed;

> Latin: 3 quapropter omnem potestatem a Deo esse omnemque ordinationem, et qui non legerunt sentiunt et qui legerunt recognoscunt. quod si potestates a Deo sunt, quanto magis regna, a quibus reliquae potestates progrediuntur;

[¶3] and if kingdoms are diverse, how much more fittingly some one greatest kingdom, to which the whole power of the other kingdoms is subjected: such as was, from the beginning, the Babylonian, and then the Macedonian, afterwards also the African, and in the end the Roman, which remains to this day;

> Latin: 4 si autem regna diuersa, quanto aequius regnum aliquod maximum, cui reliquorum regnorum potestas uniuersa subicitur, quale a principio Babylonium et deinde Macedonicum fuit, post etiam Africanum atque in fine Romanum quod usque ad nunc manet,

[¶4] and by the same ineffable ordinance the principates of four kingdoms stand out, at distinct stages, across the four cardinal points of the world: the Babylonian kingdom in the east, the Carthaginian in the south, the Macedonian in the north, the Roman in the west.

> Latin: 5 eademque ineffabili ordinatione per quattuor mundi cardines quattuor regnorum principatus distinctis gradibus eminentes, ut Babylonium regnum ab oriente, a meridie Carthaginiense, a septentrione Macedonicum, ab occidente Romanum:

*Note: Orosius adapts the four kingdoms of Daniel (Daniel 2 and 7) into a scheme of four empires set at the four cardinal points: Babylon in the east, Carthage in the south, Macedonia in the north and Rome in the west. He returns to it at 7.2.*

[¶5] Between the first and the last of these, that is, between the Babylonian and the Roman — as between an aged father and a little son — the African and the Macedonian came in, brief and intermediate, like a guardian and a trustee, admitted by the power of the times and not by right of inheritance. Whether this is so, I shall take care to set out most plainly.

> Latin: 6 quorum inter primum ac nouissimum, id est inter Babylonium et Romanum, quasi inter patrem senem ac filium paruum, Africanum ac Macedonicum breuia et media, quasi tutor curatorque uenerunt potestate temporis non iure hereditatis admissi. quod utrum ita sit, apertissime expedire curabo.

## 23. Book 2 · Chapter 2

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/23/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/23/#p-N

[¶0] The first king among the Assyrians who was able to rise above the rest was Ninus. When Ninus had been killed, his wife Semiramis, queen of all Asia, restored the city of Babylon and established it as the capital of the kingdom for the Assyrians.

> Latin: 1 Rex primus apud Assyrios, qui eminere ceteris potuit, Ninus fuit. occiso Nino Samiramis uxor eius, totius Asiae regina, Babylonam urbem instaurauit caputque regni Assyriis ut esset instituit.

[¶1] The kingdom of the Assyrians stood for a long time with its power unshaken; but when Arbatus, whom others call Arbaces, prefect of the Medes and himself a Mede by nation, had killed his king Sardanapalus at Babylon, he transferred the name and the sovereignty of the kingdom to the Medes.

> Latin: 2 regnum Assyriorum diu inconcussa potentia stetit; sed cum Arbatus, quem alii Arbacen uocant, praefectus Medorum idemque natione Medus, Sardanapallum regem suum apud Babylonam interfecisset, regni nomen et summam ad Medos transtulit.

*Note: Arbaces, the Median general who in the tradition going back to Ctesias (preserved by Diodorus) overthrew Sardanapalus. Orosius’s text calls him Arbatus; this translation keeps that form here, where Orosius sets the two names side by side, and uses Arbaces elsewhere.*

[¶2] Thus the kingdom of Ninus and of Babylon was diverted to the Medes in the same year in which, among the Latins, Procas began to reign — the father of Amulius and Numitor, and grandfather of Rhea Silvia, who was the mother of Romulus.

> Latin: 3 ita Nini et Babylonis regnum eo anno in Medos deriuatum est, quo anno apud Latinos Procas, Amuli et Numitoris pater, auus autem Rheae Siluiae, quae mater Romuli fuit, regnare coepit.

[¶3] And so that I may show fully that all these things were arranged by ineffable mysteries and by the most profound judgements of God, and did not happen either by human strength or by uncertain chance: all ancient histories begin from Ninus, and all Roman histories spring from Procas.

> Latin: 4 ut autem omnia haec ineffabilibus mysteriis et profundissimis Dei iudiciis disposita, non aut humanis uiribus aut incertis casibus accidisse perdoceam, omnes historiae antiquae a Nino incipiunt, omnes historiae Romanae a Proca exoriuntur.

[¶4] Further, from the first year of the reign of Ninus to the time when Babylon began to be restored by Semiramis, sixty-four years intervene; and from the first year of Procas, when he began to reign, to the founding of the City by Romulus, there are likewise sixty-four years. Thus in the reign of Procas the seed of the future Rome was sown, though no shoot yet appeared; and in the same year of the reign of that same Procas the kingdom of Babylon came to an end, though Babylon itself still stood.

> Latin: 5 deinde a primo anno imperii Nini usque quo Babylon a Samiramide instaurari coepta est, interueniunt anni LXIIII, et a primo anno Procae, cum regnare coepit, usque ad conditionem urbis factam a Romulo intersunt aeque anni LXIIII. ita regnante Proca futurae Romae sementis iacta est, etsi nondum germen apparet. eodem anno regni ipsius Procae Babylonis regnum defecit, etsi adhuc Babylon ipsa consistit.

*Note: Orosius’s Babylon–Rome parallel: 64 years from the accession of Ninus to the founding of Babylon, and 64 from the accession of Procas to the founding of Rome; Babylon falls to the Medes in Procas’s first year, and is finally taken by Cyrus just as Rome expels its kings. The scheme is taken up again at 7.2.*

[¶5] When Arbaces departed for Media, however, the Chaldaeans kept part of the kingdom in their own hands, and claimed Babylon for themselves against the Medes.

> Latin: 6 discedente autem Arbato in Medos, partem regni penes se retinuere Chaldaei, qui Babylonam sibi aduersum Medos uindicauerunt.

[¶6] Thus the power of Babylonia lay with the Medes, its ownership with the Chaldaeans; but the Chaldaeans, on account of the ancient dignity of the royal city, preferred not to call it theirs but themselves its own.

> Latin: 7 ita Babyloniae potestas apud Medos, proprietas apud Chaldaeos fuit: Chaldaei autem propter antiquam regiae urbis dignitatem non illam suam, sed se illius uocare maluerunt.

[¶7] Hence it came about that Nebuchadnezzar and the other kings after him down to Cyrus, although we read that they were powerful with the strength of the Chaldaeans and illustrious with the name of Babylonia, are nevertheless not reckoned in the number and succession of the illustrious kings.

> Latin: 8 unde factum est, ut Nabuchodonossor ceterique post eum usque ad Cyrum reges, quamuis Chaldaeorum uiribus potentes et Babyloniae nomine clari legantur, in numero tamen et cardine regum non habentur inlustrium.

[¶8] Babylon, then, was dishonoured under the prefect Arbaces in the same year in which Rome — to speak properly — was sown under King Procas. Babylon was finally overthrown by King Cyrus at the very time when Rome was first freed from the domination of the Tarquin kings.

> Latin: 9 Babylon itaque eo anno sub Arbato praefecto dehonorata, quo Roma sub Proca rege, ut proprie dixerim, seminata est. Babylon nouissime eo tempore a Cyro rege subuersa, quo primum Roma a Tarquiniorum regum dominatione liberata est.

[¶9] For at one and the same coincidence of times the one fell and the other rose; the one then first endured the domination of foreigners, the other then first spurned the arrogance even of its own; the one, as though dying, then gave up its inheritance, while the other, coming of age, then recognized itself as heir; then the empire of the east fell and the empire of the west arose.

> Latin: 10 siquidem sub una eademque conuenientia temporum illa cecidit, ista surrexit; illa tunc primum alienorum perpessa dominatum, haec tunc primum etiam suorum aspernata fastidium, illa tunc quasi moriens dimisit hereditatem, haec uero pubescens tunc se agnouit heredem; tunc orientis occidit et ortum est occidentis imperium.

[¶10] And not to linger longer over words, I commit myself to the teeth of the raving, but to be set free by the protection of the truth.

> Latin: 11 Et ne diutius uerbis morer, committo me dentibus insanientium, sed ueritatis praesidio liberandum.

## 24. Book 2 · Chapter 3

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/24/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/24/#p-N

[¶0] Ninus reigned fifty-two years. He was succeeded, as I have said, by his wife Semiramis; and she, having herself reigned forty-two years, founded Babylon as the capital of the kingdom in the middle period of her rule.

> Latin: 1 Regnauit Ninus annis LII. cui successit, ut dixi, uxor sua. Samiramis: quae cum et ipsa XLII annis regnauerit, medio imperii sui tempore Babylonam caput regni condidit.

*Note: Orosius’s figures do not quite agree with 2.2.5: fifty-two years of Ninus and half of Semiramis’s forty-two give about seventy-three years from Ninus’s accession to the founding of Babylon, not sixty-four.*

[¶1] Thus Babylon, 1,160 and nearly four years after it had been founded, was despoiled of its wealth and its kingdom and deprived of its very king by the Medes and by Arbaces, their king but its own prefect; yet it afterwards remained unharmed for some time.

> Latin: 2 ita Babylon post annos MCLX et propemodum quattuor, quam condita erat, a Medis et [ab] Arbato, rege eorum, praefecto autem suo, spoliata opibus et regno atque ipso rege priuata est: ipsa tamen postea aliquamdiu mansit incolumis.

*Note: The Latin gives 1,160 years ‘and nearly four’. Orosius matches this with Rome: Alaric broke into the City in AD 410, which Orosius dates to the year 1164 from its founding (7.40.1).*

[¶2] In like manner Rome too, after the same number of years, that is, 1,160 and nearly four, was broken into and despoiled of its wealth — not of its kingdom — by the Goths and Alaric their king, but its own count; and it still remains and reigns unharmed,

> Latin: 3 similiter et Roma post annos totidem, hoc est MCLX et [fere] quattuor, a Gothis et Alaricho rege eorum, comite autem suo, inrupta et opibus spoliata non regno, manet adhuc et regnat incolumis,

*Note: Alaric had held Roman command (as magister militum in Illyricum), so Orosius can call him Rome’s ‘count’, as Arbaces had been the Assyrian king’s prefect.*

[¶3] although by secret decrees the order of the whole correspondence between the two cities has been preserved to such a degree that there its prefect Arbaces seized the kingdom, and here this city’s prefect Attalus attempted to reign; though in the case of this city alone, through the merit of a Christian emperor, the profane attempt was made void.

> Latin: 4 quamuis in tantum arcanis statutis inter utramque urbem conuenientiae totius ordo seruatus sit, ut et ibi praefectus eius Arbatus regnum inuaserit et hic praefectus huius Attalus regnare temptarit; tametsi apud hanc solam merito Christiani imperatoris adtemptatio profana uacuata sit.

*Note: Priscus Attalus, prefect of the City, was proclaimed emperor by Alaric in 409 and deposed by him in 410; the Christian emperor is Honorius.*

[¶4] I have therefore thought these things worth recalling above all for this reason: that, with so much of the ineffable judgements of God laid open in part, those who murmur so foolishly about the Christian times may understand that the one God disposed the times, both for the Babylonians at the beginning and for the Romans at the end; that it is of his clemency that we live, but of our own intemperance that we live wretchedly.

> Latin: 5 Itaque haec ob hoc praecipue commemoranda credidi, ut tanto ineffabilium iudiciorum Dei ex parte patefacto intellegant hi, qui insipienter utique de temporibus Christianis murmurant, unum Deum disposuisse tempora et in principio Babyloniis et in fine Romanis, illius clementiae esse, quod uiuimus, quod autem misere uiuimus, intemperantiae nostrae.

[¶5] See: alike was the rise of Babylon and of Rome, alike their power, alike their greatness, alike their times, alike their goods, alike their evils; yet not alike their end, nor alike their decline. For the one lost its kingdom, the other keeps it; the one was bereaved by the killing of its king, the other is secure with its emperor unharmed.

> Latin: 6 ecce similis Babyloniae ortus et Romae, similis potentia, similis magnitudo, similia tempora, similia bona, similia mala; tamen non similis exitus similisue defectus. illa enim regnum amisit, haec retinet; illa interfectione regis orbata, haec incolumi imperatore secura est.

[¶6] And why is this? Because there, in the king, the foulness of lust was punished, while here, in the king, the most continent equity of the Christian religion was preserved; there, without reverence for religion, the licence of fury glutted the greed for pleasure, while here there were Christians who spared, and Christians who were spared, and Christians for whose memory’s sake and in whose memorial places the sparing was done.

> Latin: 7 et hoc quare? quoniam ibi in rege libidinum turpitudo punita, hic Christianae religionis continentissima aequitas in rege seruata est; ibi absque religionis reuerentia auiditatem uoluptatis licentia furoris impleuit, hic et Christiani fuere, qui parcerent, et Christiani, quibus parcerent, et Christiani, propter quorum memoriam et in quorum memoria parceretur.

[¶7] Let them therefore cease to tear at religion and to provoke the patience of God, by which they enjoy such forbearance that even this too may go unpunished, if only they desist at some point.

> Latin: 8 quapropter desinant religionem lacerare et lacessere patientiam Dei propter quam habent, uti et hoc quoque inpunitum habeant, si aliquando desistant.

[¶8] Let them indeed recall with me the times of their ancestors: most turbulent with wars, execrable with crimes, foul with dissensions, most unbroken in their miseries — times at which they may rightly shudder, because they were, and for which they must of necessity pray that they may not come again;

> Latin: 9 recolant sane mecum maiorum suorum tempora, bellis inquietissima, sceleribus exsecrabilia, dissensionibus foeda, miseriis continuatissima, quae et merito possunt horrere, quia fuerunt, et necessario debent rogare, ne sint:

[¶9] and pray, indeed, to the one God alone, who then by hidden justice permitted them to happen and now by open mercy grants that they should not be. These things will now be set out by me more fully from the very beginning of the City, unrolling the histories in their order.

> Latin: 10 eum sane rogare solum Deum, qui et tunc occulta iustitia permisit, ut fierent, et nunc aperta misericordia praestat, ut non sint. quae modo a me plenius ab ipso Urbis exordio, reuolutis per ordinem historiis, proferentur.

## 25. Book 2 · Chapter 4

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/25/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/25/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 414 after the overthrow of Troy, and in the sixth Olympiad — which is customarily held with a contest and games at Elis, a city of Greece, only in every fifth year, after four full years have passed in between — the city of Rome was founded in Italy by the twins Romulus and Remus as its authors.

> Latin: 1 Anno post euersionem Troiae CCCCXIIII, olympiade autem sexta, quae quinto demum anno quattuor in medio expletis apud Elidem Graeciae ciuitatem agone et ludis exerceri solet, urbs Roma in Italia a Romulo et Remo geminis auctoribus condita est.

[¶1] Romulus at once stained its kingdom with parricide, and with a like success in cruelty he dowered the Sabine women — carried off against all custom and bound by unholy marriages — with the blood of their husbands and parents.

> Latin: 2 cuius regnum continuo Romulus parricidio imbuit, parique successu crudelitatis sine more raptas Sabinas, inprobis nuptiis confoederatas maritorum et parentum cruore dotauit.

[¶2] So Romulus, having killed first his grandfather Numitor and then his brother Remus, seized the rule and established the City; he dedicated the kingdom with the blood of his grandfather, the walls with that of his brother, the temple with that of his father-in-law; and he gathered a band of criminals by a promise of impunity.

> Latin: 3 itaque Romulus, interfecto primum auo Numitore dehinc Remo fratre, arripuit imperium urbemque constituit; regnum aui, muros fratris, templum soceri sanguine dedicauit; sceleratorum manum promissa inpunitate collegit.

*Note: In Livy and the usual tradition Romulus killed the usurper Amulius and restored his grandfather Numitor to the throne of Alba; the murder of Numitor is Orosius’s error.*

[¶3] His first field for war was the forum of the City, signifying that foreign and civil wars, mingled together, would never be lacking.

> Latin: 4 primus illi campus ad bellum forum urbis fuit, mixta simul externa ciuiliaque bella numquam defutura significans.

[¶4] The women of the Sabines, whom he had lured by a treaty and by games, he took as dishonourably as he defended his act wickedly.

> Latin: 5 Sabinorum, quos foedere ludisque pellexerat, feminas tam inhoneste praesumpsit quam nefarie defendit.

[¶5] Their leader Titus Tatius, an old man who pressed for redress on honourable grounds of family duty, he long drove off by arms, and soon, once he had taken him into partnership in the kingdom, killed him.

> Latin: 6 ducem eorum Titum Tatium, senem honestis pietatis causis insistentem, diu armis propulsatum, mox, ut in societatem regni adsumpsit, occidit.

*Note: Livy (1.14) has Tatius killed in a riot at Lavinium, with Romulus only blamed for taking it calmly; Orosius makes it murder.*

[¶6] A battle was fought with the Veientes, a people then still of small name but already of great strength. The town of the Caeninenses was taken and destroyed.

> Latin: 7 cum Veientibus proelium adhuc paruo nomine, iam magnis uiribus, agitatum. Caeninensium captum ac dirutum oppidum.

[¶7] Once arms had been taken up there was never any rest, for they feared shameful want and foul hunger at home if ever they settled into peace. From here on I shall touch as briefly as possible on the ceaseless struggles, always grievous in proportion to the strength involved:

> Latin: 8 adsumptis semel armis numquam quies, quippe quibus egestas turpis atque obscena fames domi timerentur, si umquam paci adquieuissent. iam hinc incessabilia certamina et iuxta quantitatem uirium semper grauia quam breuissime strinxerim:

[¶8] how Tullus Hostilius, the founder of military discipline, trusting in a well-trained youth, made war on the Albans, and after a long time of uncertain hope and certain slaughter on both sides at length ended the worst of outcomes and doubtful results by the short-cut of the combat of the triplets;

> Latin: 9 Tullum Hostilium militaris rei institutorem fiducia bene exercitae iuuentutis Albanis intulisse bellum et diu altrinsecus spe incerta, certa clade, tandem pessimos exitus et dubios euentus conpendiosa tergeminorum congressione finisse;

[¶9] how, when the peace was broken again, Mettius Fufetius, who had held back in suspense in the war with Fidenae and was even meditating treachery, paid for the guilt of a divided mind with the penalty of a divided body, chariots tearing him in opposite directions;

> Latin: 10 rursus pace disrupta Mettum Fufetium Fidenate bello, meditata etiam proditione suspensum, curribus in diuersa raptantibus duplicis animi noxam poena diuisi corporis expendisse;

[¶10] how the Latins, under the leadership of Ancus Marcius, often fought and were sometimes overcome; how Tarquinius Priscus cut down all his neighbours and the twelve peoples of Etruria, then powerful, in countless conflicts; how the Veientes, under the pressure of Servius Tullius, were defeated but not subdued;

> Latin: 11 Latinos Anco Marcio duce saepe congressos, aliquando superatos; Tarquinium Priscum omnes finitimos et potentes tunc Tusciae duodecim populos innumeris concidisse conflictibus; Veientes Seruio Tullio insistente uictos fuisse nec domitos;

[¶11] how the kingdom of Tarquinius Superbus was taken up through the crime of his father-in-law’s murder, held through cruelty practised on the citizens, and lost through the outrage of the violation of Lucretia; and, amid the vices at home and the virtues shining abroad, that is, the strong towns in Latium captured by him — Ardea, Oricolum, Suessa and Pometia — and whatever he achieved against Gabii, whether by his own treachery, or by his son’s punishment, or by Roman strength.

> Latin: 12 Tarquinii Superbi regnum occisi soceri scelere adsumptum, habita in ciues crudelitate detentum, flagitio adulteratae Lucretiae amissum, et inter domestica uitia uirtutesque forinsecus emicantes, id est oppida ualida in Latio per eum capta Ardeam Oricolum Suessam Pometiamque et quidquid in Gabios uel fraude propria uel poena filii uel Romanis uiribus perpetrauit.

*Note: Suessa Pometia was a single Volscian town, which Orosius splits in two; and Ardea was still under siege, not taken, when Tarquin was expelled (Livy 1.57–60).*

[¶12] But how great were the evils the Romans endured through 243 years of that unbroken domination of the kings is shown not only by the expulsion of one king, but also by their abjuring of the royal name and power.

> Latin: 13 sed Romani quanta mala per CCXLIII annos continua illa regum dominatione pertulerint, non solum unius regis expulsio uerum etiam eiuratio regii nominis et potestatis ostendit.

[¶13] For if the pride of one man alone had been at fault, it would have been fitting to expel him alone, preserving the royal dignity for better men.

> Latin: 14 nam si unius tantum superbia fuisset in culpa, ipsum solum oportuisset expelli seruata regia dignitate melioribus.

[¶14] So, when the kings had been driven from the City, the Romans, judging that it was better to consult for themselves than to have someone lord it over their liberty, created consuls; under whom the commonwealth, as though in the grown-up age of its growth, was exercised in bolder ventures.

> Latin: 15 igitur regibus urbe propulsis Romani, consulendum sibi quam cuiquam suae libertati dominandum rati, consules creauerunt: quibus ueluti adulta reipublicae crescentis aetas robustioribus ausis exercebatur.

## 26. Book 2 · Chapter 5

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/26/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/26/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 244 from the founding of the City, Brutus, the first consul among the Romans, strove not only to equal but even to surpass the first founder and king of Rome in parricide: for he dragged before the assembly his own two young sons and as many brothers of his wife, the young Vitellii, who had been accused of a plot to recall the kings to the City, beat them with rods and struck them with the axe.

> Latin: 1 Anno post urbem conditam CCXLIIII Brutus primus apud Romanos consul primum conditorem regemque Romae non solum exaequare parricidio sed et uincere studuit; quippe duos filios suos adulescentes totidemque uxoris suae fratres, Vitellios iuuenes, reuocandorum in Urbem regum placito insimulatos, in contionem protraxit, uirgis cecidit securique percussit.

[¶1] He himself then fell in the war with the Veientes and the Tarquinienses, fighting with Arruns, the son of Superbus, who fought him and died along with him.

> Latin: 2 ipse deinde Veientum Tarquiniensiumque bello cum Arrunte, Superbi filio, congresso sibi commortuoque procubuit.

[¶2] Porsenna, king of the Etruscans, a most formidable champion of the royal name, forcing Tarquinius upon them with an armed hand, terrified, shut in and besieged the trembling City for three years on end; and had not the enemy been moved either by Mucius, with his steadfast endurance in letting his hand be burned, or by the maiden Cloelia, with her admirable daring in crossing the river, the Romans would surely have been compelled to suffer either captivity, overcome by the pressing enemy, or slavery, subjected to the restored king.

> Latin: 3 Porsenna rex Etruscorum, grauissimus regii nominis suffragator, Tarquinium manu ingerens, tribus continuis annis trepidam urbem terruit conclusit obsedit; et nisi hostem uel Mucius constanti urendae manus patientia uel uirgo Cloelia admirabili transmeati fluminis audacia permouissent, profecto Romani conpulsi forent perpeti aut captiuitatem hoste insistente superati, aut seruitutem recepto rege subiecti.

[¶3] After this the Sabines, having scraped together forces from every side, marched on Rome with great preparation for war. Dismayed by this fear, the Romans created a dictator, whose authority and power should take precedence over the consul’s; and in that war this measure brought the greatest advantage.

> Latin: 4 post haec Sabini conrasis undique copiis magno apparatu belli Romam contendunt. quo metu consternati Romani dictatorem creant, cuius auctoritas et potentia consulem praeiret; quae res in illo tunc bello plurimum emolumenti tulit.

[¶4] There followed the secession of the plebs from the Fathers, when, while the dictator Marcus Valerius was conducting a levy of soldiers, the people, goaded by various injuries, occupied the Sacred Mount under arms. What could be more dreadful than this ruin, when the body, cut off from the head, was plotting the destruction of that through which it drew breath? And it would have been all over with the Roman name through this internal ruin, had not a speedy reconciliation crept in before the secession itself had come to know what it was.

> Latin: 5 sequitur discessio plebis a patribus, cum, M. Valerio dictatore dilectum militum agente, uariis populus stimulatus iniuriis Sacrum Montem insedit armatus. qua pernicie quid atrocius, cum corpus a capite desectum perditionem eius, per quod inspirabat, meditaretur? actumque de Romano nomine intestina pernicie foret, nisi maturata reconciliatio subrepsisset prius quam se discessio ipsa cognosceret.

[¶5] Beyond those open disasters of wars, a hidden ruin pressed upon itself and loomed over itself in wretched succession: for in the consulship of Titus Geganius and Publius Minucius the two greatest abominations of all evils, famine and pestilence, seized the weary City. There was a pause for a little while from battles; but from deaths there was no pause.

> Latin: 6 urguet se atque inminet sibi extra illas apertas bellorum clades successu misero clandestina pernicies: quippe T. Gesonio et P. Minucio consulibus duo uel maxima omnium malorum abominamenta, fames et pestilentia fessam urbem corripuere. cessatum est paulisper a proelis, cessatum tamen a mortibus non est.

*Note: Titus Geganius Macerinus, consul in 492 BC with Publius Minucius; the Latin text has Gesonius.*

[¶6] The Veientes, Etruscans and grievous enemies, rising to war with the forces of their neighbours joined to them, were met by the consuls Marcus Fabius and Gnaeus Manlius. There, after the solemn oath by which the Romans had bound themselves not to return to camp except after victory, the struggle was so savage, and the plight of vanquished and victors so alike, that, with the greater part of the army lost and the consul Manlius and the former consul Fabius killed in the battle, the consul Marcus Fabius refused the triumph offered him by the senate, because mourning rather was owed for such great losses to the commonwealth.

> Latin: 7 Veientes Etrusci graues hostes adiunctis sibi finitimorum copiis in bella surgentes obuiis M. Fabio et Cn. Manlio consulibus excipiuntur: ubi post sacramentum iurationis, quo se Romani deuouerant non nisi post uictoriam ad castra redituros, adeo atrox certamen fuit et uictis uictoribusque par forma, ut, amisso plurimo exercitu occisisque in pugna Manlio consule et Fabio consulari, M. Fabius consul oblatum sibi a senatu triumphum suscipere recusarit, quia tantis reipublicae detrimentis luctus potius debebatur.

[¶7] How great a bereavement that family of the Fabii, most glorious in numbers and strength, brought upon the commonwealth by its fall when it took the war against Veii as its lot is witnessed to this day by names of ill repute: the river that destroyed them and the gate that sent them out.

> Latin: 8 gloriosissima illa numero et uiribus Fabiorum familia Veientanum sortita certamen quantam reipublicae orbitatem occasu suo intulerit, infamibus usque ad nunc uocabulis testes sunt fluuius qui perdidit et porta quae misit.

*Note: The river Cremera, where the Fabii fell in 477 BC, and the Porta Carmentalis, through which they had marched out, afterwards called the Porta Scelerata (‘Accursed Gate’).*

[¶8] For when 306 Fabii, truly the brightest lights of the Roman state, had requested that a war against the Veientes be decreed to them as their special charge, they strengthened the hope of an expedition rashly undertaken by their first successes; then, drawn into an ambush and surrounded by the enemy, they were all slaughtered on the spot, only one being spared to announce the disaster, so that their country might hear of their loss more wretchedly than it had suffered it.

> Latin: 9 nam cum sex et trecenti Fabii, uere clarissima Romani status lumina, speciale sibi aduersum Veientes decerni bellum expetiuissent, spem temere sumptae expeditionis primis successibus firmauerunt: dehinc inducti in insidias circumuentique ab hostibus, omnes ibidem trucidati sunt, uno tantum ad enuntiandam cladem reseruato, ut miserius audiret patria perditos, quam perdidisset.

[¶9] Besides this, such things were being done not only at Rome, but every province was seething with its own fires; and what the foremost poet described of one city, I may say of the whole world: “Everywhere cruel grief, everywhere fear, and many a form of death.”

> Latin: 10 ad haec non Romae tantum talia gerebantur, sed quaeque prouincia suis ignibus aestuabat et, quod poeta praecipuus in una urbe descripsit, ego de toto orbe dixerim: crudelis ubique Luctus, ubique pauor et plurima mortis imago.

## 27. Book 2 · Chapter 6

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/27/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/27/#p-N

[¶0] At that same time, then, Cyrus, king of the Persians — whom I mentioned above for the sake of setting out the history, and who was then ranging under arms through Asia, Scythia and the whole East, while Tarquinius Superbus, as king or as enemy, was pressing the City either with servitude or with war —

> Latin: 1 Igitur eodem tempore Cyrus, rex Persarum - quem superius explicandae historiae causa commemoraveram, qui tunc Asiam Scythiam totumque orientem armis peruagabatur, cum Tarquinius Superbus urbem uel rex uel hostis aut seruitio premebat aut bello -

[¶1] Cyrus, as I have said, having subdued all those against whom he had gone, made for the Assyrians and Babylon, a nation and a city then wealthier than all others; but his advance was cut short by the river Gyndes, second in size only to the Euphrates.

> Latin: 2 Cyrus, ut dixi, cunctis aduersum quos ierat perdomitis, Assyrios et Babylonam petit, gentem urbemque tunc cunctis opulentiorem; sed impetum eius Gyndes fluuius, secundae post Euphraten magnitudinis, intercepit.

[¶2] For one of the royal horses, outstanding in whiteness and beauty, emboldened to attempt the crossing, was seized, swept away and drowned by the eddies which rose where the current was checked by the shallows of its rushing bed.

> Latin: 3 nam unum regiorum equorum candore formaque excellentem, transmeandi fiducia persuasum, qua per rapacem alueum offensi uado uertices attollebantur, abreptum praecipitatumque merserunt.

[¶3] The king in his anger resolved to take vengeance on the river, swearing that this river, which had now swallowed a splendid horse, should be left fordable by women scarcely wetting their knees. Nor was he slow to carry it out: with all his forces, through a whole year, he cut up the river Gyndes, drew it off through great trenches, and broke it into 460 channels.

> Latin: 4 rex iratus ulcisci in amnem statuit, contestans eum, qui nunc praeclarum equum uorauisset, feminis uix genua tinguentibus permeabilem reliquendum. nec peragendo segnior totis copiis perpeti anno Gynden fluuium per magnas concisum deductumque fossas in quadringentos sexaginta alueos comminuit.

*Note: Herodotus (1.189–190), the source of the story, gives 360 channels.*

[¶4] With his diggers well trained by this work, he also diverted the Euphrates, by far the strongest of rivers, which flows through the middle of Babylon.

> Latin: 5 eo opere praedoctis fossoribus, etiam Euphraten longe ualidissimum et mediam Babyloniam interfluentem deriuauit.

[¶5] And so, with the shallows now passable and parts of the riverbed lying open, he made a dry path, and took the city which mortals had thought almost incredible on both counts: that it could have been built by human labour, or could be destroyed by human valour.

> Latin: 6 ac sic meabilibus uadis siccum etiam patentibus aluei partibus iter fecit, cepitque urbem, quam uel humano opere exstrui potuisse uel humana uirtute destrui posse utrumque paene incredibile apud mortales erat.

[¶6] For many have recorded that Babylon was founded by the giant Nimrod and restored by Ninus or Semiramis.

> Latin: 7 namque Babylonam a Nebrot gigante fundatam, a Nino uel Samiramide reparatam multi prodidere.

*Note: Nimrod; Orosius’s form Nebrot follows the Greek Bible (Nebrōd), which calls him a giant. Genesis 10:8–10 makes Babel the beginning of his kingdom.*

[¶7] It lay on a level plain, visible from every side, in a most fertile natural setting, laid out in a square like a camp, with equal walls. The strength and size of its walls are scarcely credible in the telling: they were fifty cubits wide and four times as high.

> Latin: 8 haec campi planitie undique conspicua, natura loci laetissima, castrorum facie moenibus paribus per quadrum disposita. murorum eius uix credibilis relatu firmitas et magnitudo, id est latitudine cubitorum quinquaginta, altitudine quater tanta.

[¶8] Its circuit, moreover, ran to 480 stades. The wall was built of baked brick with bitumen poured between, and a moat, broad and wide, flowed round it on the outside in place of a river.

> Latin: 9 ceterum ambitus eius quadringentis octoginta stadiis circumuenitur. murus coctili latere atque interfuso bitumine conpactus, fossa extrinsecus late patens uice amnis circumfluit.

[¶9] In the face of the walls were a hundred gates of bronze. The breadth of the wall itself, along the battlements at the top, with dwellings for the defenders set out evenly on either side, could take swift four-horse chariots in the space between. Inside, the houses were marvellous, four storeys high, with a menacing loftiness.

> Latin: 10 a fronte murorum centum portae aereae. ipsa autem latitudo in consummatione pinnarum utroque latere habitaculis defensorum aeque dispositis, media intercapedine sui citas quadrigas capit. domus intrinsecus quatergeminae habitationis minaci proceritate mirabiles.

[¶10] And yet that great Babylon, the first city founded after the restoration of the human race, was now conquered, taken and overthrown with almost the slightest delay.

> Latin: 11 et tamen magna illa Babylon, illa prima post reparationem humani generis condita, nunc paene etiam minima mora uicta capta subuersa est.

[¶11] Then Croesus, king of the Lydians, famous for his wealth, who had come to the aid of the Babylonians, was defeated and fled anxiously back to his kingdom. Cyrus, after he had invaded Babylon as an enemy, overthrown it as a victor and set it in order as a king, carried the war into Lydia; there, without any trouble, he overcame an army already terrified by the earlier battle. He even captured Croesus himself, and having captured him granted him both his life and his patrimony.

> Latin: 12 ibi tunc Croesus rex Lydorum famosus opibus cum ad auxiliandum Babyloniis uenisset, uictus sollicite in regnum refugit. Cyrus autem posteaquam Babylonam ut hostis inuasit ut uictor euertit ut rex disposuit, bellum transtulit in Lydiam; ubi conterritum superiore iam proelio exercitum nullo negotio superauit. ipsum etiam Croesum cepit captumque et uita et patrimonio donauit.

*Note: Orosius reverses the order of events: Cyrus defeated Croesus and took Sardis about 546 BC, some years before he captured Babylon in 539.*

[¶12] There is no need at this point to dwell on the unstable conditions of mutable things: for the capture of Babylon confirms that whatever is made by work and by hand slips away and is consumed by age. As its empire was the first to arise and the most powerful, so too it was the first to give way, so that, as if by a kind of right of the succeeding age, the inheritance owed to posterity might be handed down — posterity, in its turn, being bound to keep the same formula for handing it on.

> Latin: 13 Exaggerare hoc loco mutabilium rerum instabiles status non opus est: quidquid enim est opere et manu factum, labi et consumi uetustate, Babylon capta confirmat: cuius ut primum imperium ac potentissimum exstitit ita et primum cessit, ut ueluti quodam iure succedentis aetatis debita posteris traderetur hereditas, ipsis quoque eandem tradendi formulam seruaturis.

[¶13] Thus great Babylon and vast Lydia succumbed to the first assaults of the approaching Cyrus; the mightiest arms of the East, together with their head, fell in the campaign of a single battle. And our people complain with unconsidered anxiety if the vast structure of the once most powerful Roman commonwealth now trembles, shaken more by the weakness of its own old age than by the strength of others.

> Latin: 14 ita ad proxima aduentantis Cyri temptamenta succubuit magna Babylon et ingens Lydia, amplissima orientis cum capite suo bracchia unius proelii expeditione ceciderunt: et nostri incircumspecta anxietate causantur, si potentissimae illae quondam Romanae reipublicae moles nunc magis inbecillitate propriae senectutis quam alienis concussae uiribus contremescunt.

## 28. Book 2 · Chapter 7

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/28/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/28/#p-N

[¶0] This same Cyrus, then, in the course of the following period, made war on the Scythians. Tomyris, the queen who then ruled that nation, though she could have prevented him from crossing the river Araxes, allowed him to cross: first out of confidence in herself, and then for the advantage of having the enemy shut in by the barrier of the river.

> Latin: 1 Igitur idem Cyrus proximi temporis successu Scythis bellum intulit. quem Thamyris regina quae tunc genti praeerat cum prohibere transitu Araxis fluminis posset, transire permisit, primum propter fiduciam sui, dehinc propter opportunitatem ex obiectu fluminis hostis inclusi.

*Note: Tomyris, queen of the Massagetae in Herodotus (1.205–214); Orosius calls her Thamyris and, like Justin, makes her people Scythians.*

[¶1] Cyrus, therefore, having entered Scythia, pitched his camp far from the river he had crossed, and then, by a stratagem, abandoned it, stocked with wine and banquets, as if he had fled in terror. Learning of this, the queen sent a third of her forces and her young son to pursue Cyrus.

> Latin: 2 Cyrus itaque Scythiam ingressus, procul a transmisso flumine castra metatus, insuper astu eadem instructa uino epulisque deseruit, quasi territus refugisset. hoc conperto regina tertiam partem copiarum et filium adulescentulum ad persequendum Cyrum mittit.

[¶2] The barbarians, as though invited to a feast, were first overcome by drunkenness; then, when Cyrus returned, they were all cut down together with the youth.

> Latin: 3 barbari ueluti ad epulas inuitati primum ebrietate uincuntur, mox reuertente Cyro uniuersi cum adulescente obtruncantur.

[¶3] Tomyris, having lost her army and her son, prepared to wash away her grief, whether as mother or as queen, with the blood of the enemy rather than with her own tears. She feigned want of confidence, as if in despair after the disaster she had suffered, and, giving way little by little, lured the proud enemy into an ambush.

> Latin: 4 Thamyris exercitu ac filio amisso uel matris uel reginae dolorem sanguine hostium diluere potius quam suis lacrimis parat. simulat diffidentiam desperatione cladis inlatae paulatimque cedendo superbum hostem in insidias uocat.

[¶4] There, with an ambush laid among the mountains, she destroyed two hundred thousand Persians together with the king himself; and, to crown it all, there was this marvel besides: that not even a messenger of so great a disaster survived.

> Latin: 5 ibi quippe conpositis inter montes insidiis ducenta milia Persarum cum ipso rege deleuit, adiecta super omnia illius rei admiratione, quod ne nuntius quidem tantae cladis superfuit.

[¶5] The queen ordered the head of Cyrus to be cut off and thrown into a wineskin filled with human blood, taunting him in no womanly fashion: “Glut yourself,” she said, “with the blood you have thirsted for, and of which for thirty years you have been insatiable.”

> Latin: 6 regina caput Cyri amputari atque in utrem humano sanguine oppletum coici iubet non muliebriter increpitans: Satia te, inquit, sanguine quem sitisti, cuius per annos triginta insatiabilis perseuerasti.

## 29. Book 2 · Chapter 8

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/29/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/29/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 245 from the founding of the City, Darius, some while after Cyrus had been killed among the Scythians, obtained the kingdom by lot. For between them reigned Cambyses, the son of Cyrus;

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita CCXLV Darius Cyro apud Scythas interfecto post aliquantum interuallum sorte regnum adeptus est. regnauit enim medius eorum Cambyses Cyri filius;

[¶1] who, having conquered Egypt, abominated the whole religion of Egypt and abolished its ceremonies and its temples.

> Latin: 2 qui deuicta Aegypto cunctam Aegypti religionem abominatus caerimonias eius et templa deposuit.

[¶2] After him the Magi too dared to steal into the kingdom under the name of the king whom they had killed; but they were soon detected and crushed.

> Latin: 3 post hunc etiam magi sub nomine quem occiderant regis regno obrepere ausi; qui quidem mox deprehensi et oppressi sunt.

[¶3] Darius, then, one of those who had checked the audacity of the Magi with the sword, was made king by the consent of all. After he had recovered by war the Assyrians and Babylon, which were falling away from the kingdom of the Persians, he made war on Idanthyrsus, king of the Scythians, chiefly for this reason: that he had not obtained the marriage he had sought with his daughter.

> Latin: 4 Darius itaque, unus ex his qui magorum audaciam ferro coercuerant, consensu omnium rex creatus est. qui postquam Assyrios ac Babylonam a Persarum regno deficientem bello recuperauit, Antyro, regi Scytharum, hac uel maxime causa bellum intulit, quod filiae eius petitas sibi nuptias non obtinuisset.

*Note: Idanthyrsus, the Scythian king of Herodotus’s account of Darius’s campaign (4.126–127); Orosius’s text calls him Antyrus.*

[¶4] A great necessity, no doubt, that seven hundred thousand men should be exposed to the danger of death for the lust of one man! For when, with incredible preparation, he had entered Scythia with seven hundred thousand armed men, and the enemy would give him no opportunity for a regular battle, but on top of that kept tearing at the rear of his forces with sudden raids,

> Latin: 5 magna scilicet necessitas, pro unius libidine hominis septingenta milia uirorum periculo mortis exponi. incredibili quippe apparatu cum septingentis milibus armatorum Scythiam ingressus, non facientibus hostibus iustae pugnae potestatem, insuper repentinis incursibus extrema copiarum dilacerantibus,

[¶5] fearing that his return might be cut off by the breaking of the bridge over the river Danube, he fled back in alarm, having lost eighty thousand fighting men — though he did not count this number of the lost among his losses; and a host that scarcely anyone else would have dared aspire to possess, he did not even feel the loss of.

> Latin: 6 metuens ne sibi reditus interrupto ponte Histri fluminis negaretur, amissis octoginta milibus bellatorum trepidus refugit, quamuis hunc amissorum numerum inter damna non duxerit, et, quem habendum uix quisquam ambire ausus esset, perditum ille non sensit.

[¶6] Then he attacked and subdued Asia and Macedonia. He also overcame the Ionians in a naval engagement. Next he launched an assault and directed his arms against the Athenians, because they had given help to the Ionians against him.

> Latin: 7 inde Asiam Macedoniamque adgressus perdomuit. Ionas quoque nauali congressione superauit. deinde in Athenienses, cur Ionas aduersum se auxilio iuuissent, impetum fecit atque arma direxit.

[¶7] The Athenians, however, when they learned that Darius was approaching, although they had asked the Lacedaemonians for help, yet, having learned that the Persians were held up by the rest of a four-day religious observance, seized their hope from the opportunity, and with only ten thousand citizens drawn up and a thousand Plataean auxiliaries burst out onto the plains of Marathon against six hundred thousand of the enemy.

> Latin: 8 porro autem Athenienses ubi aduentare Darium conpererunt, quamuis auxilium a Lacedaemoniis poposcissent, tamen, cum detineri Persas quadriduanae religionis otio conpertum haberent, spem occasione sumentes instructis tantum decem milibus ciuium et Plataeensibus auxiliaribus mille aduersum sescenta milia hostium campis Marathoniis proruperunt.

*Note: In Herodotus (6.106) it is the Spartans who are held back by a religious observance, which delayed their help until after the battle; Orosius transfers the delay to the Persians.*

[¶8] Miltiades commanded in that war; relying more on speed than on strength, with a swift enough advance he closed with the enemy hand to hand before he could be driven back by an unhindered discharge of arrows.

> Latin: 9 Miltiades ei tunc bello praefuit, qui celeritate magis quam uirtute fretus alacri satis expeditione prius hosti comminus inhaesit quam posset expedito sagittarum iactu propulsari.

[¶9] So great was the difference in the manner of fighting in that war that on the one side there seemed to be men ready to kill, on the other cattle prepared for slaughter.

> Latin: 10 tanta in eo bello diuersitas certandi fuit, ut ex alia parte uiri ad occidendum parati, ex alia pecudes ad moriendum praeparatae putarentur.

[¶10] Two hundred thousand Persians fell on that occasion on the plains of Marathon.

> Latin: 11 ducenta milia Persarum apud campos Marathonios ea tempestate ceciderunt.

*Note: Herodotus (6.117) gives 6,400 Persian dead and 192 Athenian; Orosius’s figures, like his 600,000 Persians in the field, are those of the later, inflated tradition.*

[¶11] Darius felt this loss: for, defeated and put to flight, he took to his ships and fled back to Persia.

> Latin: 12 sensit Darius hoc damnum: nam uictus fugatusque arreptis nauibus refugit in Persas.

*Note: Darius did not lead the expedition of 490 BC in person; his generals Datis and Artaphernes commanded at Marathon.*

[¶12] But as he was renewing the war and preparing to take vengeance on the victors, he died in the very midst of his preparations, in the seventy-fourth Olympiad, that is, in the year 275 from the founding of the City, at which time at Rome the virgin Popilia was buried alive for the crime of unchastity.

> Latin: 13 cum autem instauraret bellum et ulcisci in uictores moliretur, in ipso apparatu concidit olympiade LXXIIII, hoc est post urbem conditam anno CCLXXV, quo tempore Romae Popilia uirgo ob crimen stupri uiua defossa est.

*Note: Darius died in 486 BC, in the seventy-third Olympiad.*

## 30. Book 2 · Chapter 9

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/30/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/30/#p-N

[¶0] Xerxes, succeeding his father Darius on the throne, spent five years preparing the war against Greece that his father had undertaken; this was betrayed to his countrymen by Demaratus the Lacedaemonian, who happened then to be living in exile with Xerxes, by means of tablets written on first and then covered over with wax.

> Latin: 1 Xerxes Dario patri in regnum succedens bellum aduersus Graeciam a patre susceptum per quinquennium instruxit; quod Demaratus Lacedaemonius, qui tunc forte apud Xerxen exulabat, per tabellas primum scriptas deinde ceratas suis prodidit.

[¶1] Xerxes, then, is said to have had 700,000 armed men from his kingdom and 300,000 from his auxiliaries, as well as 1,200 beaked warships and 3,000 transports; so that it has rightly been recorded that, for so unheard-of an army and so immense a fleet, the rivers scarcely sufficed for drinking, the lands scarcely for marching, the seas scarcely for sailing.

> Latin: 2 igitur Xerxes septingenta milia armatorum de regno et trecenta de auxiliis, rostratas etiam naues mille ducentas, onerarias autem tria milia numero habuisse narratur; ut merito inopinato exercitu inmensaeque classi uix ad potum flumina, uix terras ad ingressum, uix maria ad cursum suffecisse memoratum sit.

[¶2] This column — so incredible in our times, whose number is now harder to establish than it was then to defeat — Leonidas, king of the Spartans, withstood with four thousand men in the narrow pass of Thermopylae.

> Latin: 3 huic tam incredibili temporibus nostris agmini, cuius numerum nunc difficilius est adstrui quam tunc fuit uinci, Leonida rex Spartanorum cum quattuor milibus hominum in angustiis Thermopylarum obstitit.

[¶3] Xerxes, in contempt of the small number set against him, ordered battle to be joined and hands to be engaged. Those whose kinsmen and comrades had fallen on the plains of Marathon were the beginning both of the fighting and of the slaughter.

> Latin: 4 Xerxes autem contemptu paucitatis obiectae iniri pugnam, conseri manum imperat. porro illi, quorum cognati et commanipulares in campis Marathoniis occubuerant, et certaminis simul et cladis exstitere principium.

[¶4] Then a larger and more sluggish crowd took their place, and since it was neither free to charge, nor unencumbered for fighting, nor ready for flight, and was propped up only by its dead, for three days on end it was not a battle of two peoples but the slaughter of one.

> Latin: 5 deinde succedens sibi turba maior ac segnior, cum iam neque ad procurrendum libera neque ad pugnandum expedita neque ad fugiendum prompta solis mortibus subrigeretur, triduo continuo non duorum pugna, sed caedes unius populi fuit.

[¶5] On the fourth day, when Leonidas saw the enemy pouring round on every side, he urged the allied auxiliaries to withdraw from the fight, escape to the summit of the mountain and save themselves for better times; but for himself and his Spartans, he said, another lot must be faced: he owed more to his country than to his life.

> Latin: 6 quarto autem die cum uideret Leonida undique hostem circumfundi hortatur auxiliares socios, ut subtrahentes se pugnae in cacumen montis euadant ac se ad meliora tempora reseruent; sibi uero cum Spartanis suis aliam sortem esse subeundam: plus se patriae debere quam uitae.

[¶6] Having dismissed the allies, he admonished the Spartans that they must hope for much in the way of glory and nothing in the way of life; that they must wait neither for the enemy nor for the day, but must use the cover of night to break into the camp, entangle their arms with the enemy’s, and throw the columns into confusion; that nowhere could victors die more honourably than in the camp of the enemy.

> Latin: 7 dimissis sociis Spartanos admonet, de gloria plurimum, de uita nihil sperandum; neque exspectandum uel hostem uel diem, sed occasione noctis perrumpenda castra, conmiscenda arma, conturbanda agmina fore; nusquam uictores honestius quam in castris hostium esse perituros.

[¶7] Persuaded, therefore, to prefer death, they armed themselves to avenge their coming death, as though they themselves were both exacting and avenging their own destruction. Wonderful to tell, six hundred men burst into the camp of six hundred thousand.

> Latin: 8 persuasi igitur mori malle, in ultionem futurae mortis armantur tam quam ipsi interitum suum et exigerent et uindicarent. mirum dictu sescenti uiri castra sescentorum milium inrumpunt.

*Note: Herodotus has three hundred Spartans who died holding the pass. The night attack on Xerxes’s camp comes from the later tradition found in Diodorus and in Justin, whose figure of six hundred Orosius follows.*

[¶8] An uproar arose through the whole camp; the Persians themselves even helped the Spartans by slaughtering one another; the Spartans, seeking the king and not finding him, cut down and laid low everything, ranged through the entire camp, and among the dense heaps of bodies could barely pursue the few men left: victors without doubt, had they not chosen to die.

> Latin: 9 tumultus totis castris oritur; Persae quoque ipsi Spartanos adiuuant mutuis caedibus suis; Spartani quaerentes regem nec inuenientes caedunt sternuntque omnia, castra peruagantur uniuersa et inter densas strues corporum raros homines uix sequuntur: uictores sine dubio, nisi mori elegissent.

[¶9] The battle was drawn out from the beginning of the night through the greater part of the day. At the last, wearied with conquering, each of them, as soon as with failing limbs he felt he had sated himself with the avenging of his own death, there, amid the encumbrance of corpses and on a field quivering with thick and half-congealed blood, wearily fell and died.

> Latin: 10 proelium a principio noctis in maiorem diei partem tractum: ad postremum uincendo fatigati, ubi quisque eorum deficientibus membris uisus est sibi mortis suae ultione satiatus, ibi inter impedimenta cadauerum campumque crasso et semigelato sanguine palpitantem lassus lapsus et mortuus est.

## 31. Book 2 · Chapter 10

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/31/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/31/#p-N

[¶0] Xerxes, twice defeated on land, prepared a naval battle. But Themistocles, the leader of the Athenians, having learned that the Ionians — for whose sake, in giving them help in the earlier war, Athens had turned the onslaught of the Persians upon itself — were bringing a fleet fitted out to the aid of Xerxes, resolved to tempt them over to his side and to draw them away from the enemy.

> Latin: 1 Xerxes bis uictus in terra nauale proelium parat. sed Themistocles dux Atheniensium cum intellexisset Ionas - quibus dum auxilium superiore bello praebet, in se Persarum impetum uerterat - in auxilium Xerxis instructam classem deducere, sollicitare eos parti suae hostique subtrahere statuit.

[¶1] And since the opportunity of speaking with them was denied him, he ordered signs to be set up and fixed to the rocks in the places where the Ionians seemed likely to put in with their ships. In these he rebuked them with fitting reproach, as men who had once been allies and sharers in danger but were now unjustly idle, urged them with solemn exhortation to return to the rights of their ancient treaties, and above all advised them, once battle was joined, to back water as though giving way and to take themselves out of the war.

> Latin: 2 et quia conloquendi facultas negabatur, locis quibus Iones accessuri nauibus uidebantur proponi symbolos saxisque adfigi iubet, socios quondam et participes periculorum, nunc autem iniuste desides apta increpatione corripiens atque ad antiquorum iura foederum religiosa adhortatione persuadens praecipueque admonens, uti commisso proelio cedentium uice inhibeant remos seseque bello auferant.

[¶2] The king, then, keeping part of the ships with him, remained on the shore as a spectator of the battle. Artemisia, on the other hand, queen of Halicarnassus, who had come to the aid of Xerxes, plunged into the fight most fiercely among the foremost leaders, so that, by a reversal of roles, womanly caution was to be seen in the man and manly daring in the woman.

> Latin: 3 igitur rex, partem nauium sibi detinens, spectator pugnae in litore manet. contra autem Artemidora, regina Halycarnasi, quae in auxilium Xerxi uenerat, inter primos duces acerrime bello inmiscetur, ita ut uersa uice in uiro feminea cautela, in femina uirilis audacia spectaretur.

*Note: Artemisia, queen of Halicarnassus (Herodotus 8.87–88); Orosius calls her Artemidora.*

[¶3] When the battle hung in the balance, the Ionians, in accordance with the instructions of Themistocles, began little by little to withdraw from the struggle; and their defection persuaded the Persians, who were already looking about for flight, to flee openly.

> Latin: 4 cum autem anceps pugna esset, Iones iuxta praeceptum Themistoclis paulatim se certamini subtrahere coeperunt: quorum defectio Persas iam fugam circumspicientes aperte fugere persuasit.

[¶4] In this panic many ships were sunk and captured; yet more, fearing the savagery of the king as much as the ferocity of the enemy, slipped away to their homes.

> Latin: 5 in qua trepidatione multae naues mersae captaeque sunt, plures tamen saeuitiam regis uelut immanitatem hostis timentes domos dilabuntur.

[¶5] Mardonius approached the king, anxious amid so many evils, urging that the king ought to return to his kingdom before adverse rumour should stir up revolution at home;

> Latin: 6 anxium tot malis regem Mardonius adgreditur suadens, regem in regnum redire oportere prius quam aduersa fama nouas res domi moliretur;

[¶6] while he himself, if the remaining forces were handed over to him, would both exact vengeance from the enemy and ward off disgrace at home, or, if the adversities of war persisted, would indeed give way to the enemy, yet without dishonour to the king.

> Latin: 7 se autem, si residuae sibi copiae traderentur, et ultionem ab hoste exacturum et ignominiam domesticam propulsaturum, aut, si aduersa belli perseuerassent, cessurum se quidem hosti, sed tamen sine regis infamia.

[¶7] The plan was approved and the army handed over to Mardonius. The king set out with a few men for Abydos, where he had joined his bridge as though conqueror of the sea. But finding the bridge broken up by the winter storms, he crossed in alarm in a fisherman’s skiff.

> Latin: 8 probato consilio exercitus Mardonio traditur. rex Abydum, ubi pontem ueluti uictor maris conseruerat, cum paucis proficiscitur. sed cum pontem hibernis tempestatibus dissolutum offendisset, piscatoria scapha trepidus transiit.

[¶8] Here truly was something for the human race to behold and lament, measuring the changes of fortune by this contrast above all: that he should be content to hide in a tiny boat, under whom the very sea had before lain hidden and had borne the yoke of its captivity when the bridge was joined;

> Latin: 9 erat sane quod spectare humanum genus et dolere debuerit mutationes rerum hac vel maxime uarietate permetiens: exiguo contentum latere nauigio, sub quo ipsum pelagus ante latuisset et iugum captiuitatis suae iuncto ponte portasset;

[¶9] that he should need the meanest service of a single slave, he to whose power — while mountains were cut through, valleys filled up and rivers drained dry — nature itself had given way.

> Latin: 10 uilissimo unius seruuli egere ministerio, cuius potentiae, dum montes exciduntur, ualles replentur, amnes exhauriuntur, ipsa etiam rerum natura cessisset.

[¶10] The land forces, too, which had been entrusted to the generals, wasted away so badly through toil, hunger and fear, and, as disease grew more savage, so great a plague and so great a foulness of the dying arose, that the roads were filled with corpses, and even dread birds of prey and shameless beasts, enticed by the lure of food, followed the dying army.

> Latin: 11 pedestres quoque copiae, quae ducibus commissae fuerant, labore fame ac metu ita distabuerunt et crudescente morbo tanta pestis tantaque foeditas morientium exorta est, ut uiae cadaueribus replerentur, dirae etiam alites atque improbae bestiae escarum inlecebris sollicitatae moribundum sequerentur exercitum.

## 32. Book 2 · Chapter 11

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/32/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/32/#p-N

[¶0] Mardonius, however, to whom Xerxes had entrusted what remained of the war, was first puffed up by a brief success and soon cast down into the depths. For he stormed Olynthus, a town of Greece.

> Latin: 1 At uero Mardonius, cui reliqua belli Xerxes commiserat, adflatus primum successu breui mox in extrema deiectus est. Olynthum siquidem Graeciae oppidum expugnauit.

*Note: Herodotus (8.127) credits the capture of Olynthus to Artabazus, not Mardonius.*

[¶1] Having set about drawing the Athenians into hope of peace by various solicitations, when he saw that their liberty could not be overcome, he burned part of the city and led his whole apparatus of war down into Boeotia.

> Latin: 2 Athenienses uaria sollicitatione adducere in spem pacis adgressus, ubi inexpugnabilem eorum libertatem uidet, incensa urbis parte in Boeotiam omnem belli apparatum deducit.

[¶2] There too a hundred thousand Greeks followed him, and, joining battle without delay, they destroyed his forces and compelled Mardonius to flee with a few men, stripped bare as though from a shipwreck; they took his camp, crammed with royal wealth — to the no small loss, indeed, of their ancient diligence: for after the division of this booty Persian gold was the first corruption of Greek virtue.

> Latin: 3 illuc quoque eum centum milia Graecorum insecuta sunt et commisso sine mora proelio Mardonium deletis copiis ipsius uelut e naufragio nudum cum paucis fugere conpulerunt; castra regiis opibus referta ceperunt, non paruo quidem antiquae industriae damno: nam post huius praedae diuisionem aurum Persicum prima Graeciae uirtutis corruptio fuit.

[¶3] Utter ruin, once begun, pressed hard upon the wretched. For as it happened, on the same day on which the forces of Mardonius were destroyed in Boeotia, part of the Persian army was fighting a naval battle in Asia beneath Mount Mycale.

> Latin: 4 urguet igitur inceptus miseros extrema perditio. nam forte eodem die, quo in Boeotia Mardonii copiae deletae sunt, pars Persici exercitus in Asia sub monte Mycale nauali proelio dimicabat.

[¶4] There a new rumour suddenly filled the ears of both fleets and peoples: that the forces of Mardonius had been wiped out and the Greeks had emerged victorious. Wonderful ordering of the divine judgement — that a battle joined in Boeotia at sunrise should be announced in Asia at midday on the same day, across such great stretches of sea and land lying between!

> Latin: 5 ibi nouus repente rumor utriusque classis et populi inpleuit aures, Mardonii exstinctas copias, Graecos exstitisse uictores. mira diuini iudicii ordinatio, in Boeotia oriente sole bellum fuisse commissum, in Asia meridianis horis sub eadem die tantis spatiis maris terraeque interiacentibus nuntiatum!

[¶5] This rumour contributed above all to the outcome, in that it rendered the Persians, seized at the news of their allies’ disaster first by grief and then by despair, neither ready for battle nor fit for flight. And so the enemy, made steadier by the success of his good fortune, fell upon them in their dismay and routed them.

> Latin: 6 qui rumor ei uel maxime rei adstipulatus est, quod Persas, audita clade sociorum primum dolore dehinc desperatione correptos, nec bello expeditos nec fugae habiles reddidit. atque ita consternatos profligatosque constantior factus hostis successu felicitatis inuasit.

[¶6] Xerxes, having become contemptible to his own people through the war unsuccessfully waged in Greece, was trapped in his palace and killed by his prefect Artabanus.

> Latin: 7 Xerxes, bello in Graecia infeliciter gesto contemptibilis suis factus, per Artabanum praefectum suum in regia circumuentus occiditur.

[¶7] O times most worthy of longing and remembrance! O those days of unbroken serenity, which are held up to us to be looked back on as if out of darkness! In which, within the briefest space, three wars carried off from the bowels of one kingdom 1,900,000 men under three successive kings — to say nothing of most unhappy Greece at that time, which surpassed in its dead the whole of this number at which we now grow numb.

> Latin: 8 O tempora desiderio et recordatione dignissima! o dies illos inoffensae serenitatis, qui nobis ueluti e tenebris respiciendi proponuntur! quibus breuissimo interuallo de uisceribus unius regni decies nouies centena milia uirorum tribus proximis regibus tria bella rapuerunt; ut taceam de infelicissima tunc Graecia, quae totum hunc, de quo nunc hebescimus, numerum moriendo superauit.

[¶8] That most famous Leonidas of the Lacedaemonians, in this war against Xerxes which was the last both for himself and for the enemy, when he had spoken to his six hundred those most celebrated words of encouragement — “Breakfast as men who are to dine in the underworld” — nevertheless mercifully urged the auxiliaries, whom he was ordering to leave the war, to save themselves for better times.

> Latin: 9 Leonida ille clarissimus Lacedaemoniorum in bello isto aduersus Xerxen, quod supremum ipsi atque hostibus fuit, cum sescentis suis famosissima illa incitamenta dixisset: "Prandete tamquam apud inferos cenaturi", auxiliaribus tamen, quos excedere bello iubebat, misericorditer suasit, ut se ad meliora tempora reseruarent.

[¶9] See: when he promised that better times were to come, while these men maintain that the past was better, what else can be concluded, since each in his own day detests the present, except that times are either always good but unwelcome, or never better at all?

> Latin: 10 ecce cum ille promisit futura meliora, isti adserunt meliora praeterita, quid aliud colligi datur utroque in suis detestante praesentia, nisi aut semper bona esse sed ingrata aut numquam omnino meliora?

## 33. Book 2 · Chapter 12

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/33/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/33/#p-N

[¶0] But at Rome — to return to the point in time from which I digressed: for it is not by any interval in the miseries that I am compelled to pass over to other peoples; rather, just as the evils that once boiled over everywhere bound themselves together in the very events, so too they are related intermingled; for my purpose is to compare the times of the world with one another, not to mock the sufferings of any one part of it —

> Latin: 1 At Romae - ut ad id tempus redeam unde digressus sum: neque enim interuallo miseriarum ad alios transire conpellor, sed, sicuti se quondam efferuescentia ubique mala. ipsis actibus conligarunt, ita etiam permixta referuntur: nobis quippe conferre inter se tempora orbis, non cuiusquam partis eius laboribus insultare propositum est -

[¶1] at Rome, then, in the year 290 from the founding of the City, when war had been suspended for a little, a grievous pestilence — which there has always either cut short the rare truces once made or forced them to be made — blazed up violently through the whole city, so that it was fitting that a prodigy had gone before in which the sky was seen to be on fire, since the head of the nations burned with so great a fire of diseases.

> Latin: 2 Romae ergo post urbem conditam anno CCLXL suspenso ad modicum bello grauis pestilentia, quae semper ibi raras indutias aut factas intercepit aut ut fierent coegit, per uniuersam ciuitatem uiolenter incanduit, ut merito praecedente prodigio caelum ardere uisum sit, quando caput gentium tanto morborum igne flagrauit.

*Note: The transmitted numeral is CCLXL, an irregular form; read as 290.*

[¶2] For in that year the pestilence carried off both consuls, Aebutius and Servilius, destroyed the military forces for the most part, and wiped out many nobles and above all the plebs with a foul wasting;

> Latin: 3 nam eo anno Aebutium et Seruilium ambo consules pestilentia consumpsit, militares copias plurima ex parte confecit, multos nobiles praecipueque plebem foeda tabe deleuit;

[¶3] although already in the fourth year before, a plague had broken out and depopulated the same people.

> Latin: 4 quamuis iam etiam superiore quarto anno oborta lues eundem populum depopulata sit.

[¶4] In the following year exiled citizens and runaway slaves, led by Herdonius, a Sabine, seized and burned the Capitol.

> Latin: 5 Proximo dehinc anno ciues exules seruique fugitiui duce Herbonio, uiro Sabino, inuaserunt incenderuntque Capitolium.

*Note: Appius Herdonius, the Sabine who seized the Capitol in 460 BC (Livy 3.15–18); the Latin text has Herbonius.*

[¶5] There the younger men, under the consul and commander Valerius, resisted most bravely; but the hazard of the battle was so savage and grievous that the consul Valerius himself was killed there, and, on top of an unworthy victory over slaves, disgraced it further by his own death.

> Latin: 6 ubi fortissime quidem Valerio consule et imperatore obstitere iuniores; sed adeo atrox et graue discrimen proelii fuit, ut ipse quoque consul Valerius ibi fuerit occisus et indignam de seruis uictoriam insuper etiam sua morte foedarit.

[¶6] There followed a year in which a consul was besieged together with his defeated army. For the Aequi and Volsci overcame the consul Minucius when he engaged them in battle, and as he fled they surrounded him on Mount Algidus with famine and the sword; and it would have ended in disaster had not Quinctius Cincinnatus, that outstanding dictator, crushed the enemy and broken the tight siege.

> Latin: 7 Sequitur annus, in quo cum uicto exercitu consul obsessus est. nam Minucium consulem congressum proelio Aequi Vulscique superarunt et fugientem in Algido fame ferroque cinxerunt, actumque infeliciter foret, ni Quintius Cincinnatus, praecipuus ille dictator, artatam obsidionem oppresso hoste soluisset.

[¶7] He was found in the country and summoned from the plough to the fasces; taking up the office and drawing up an army, he soon emerged victor, set a yoke of oxen upon the Aequi, and, holding victory as though it were the plough-handle, was the first to drive the subjugated enemy before him.

> Latin: 8 qui repertus in rure, ab aratro arcessitus ad fasces, sumpto honore instructoque exercitu mox uictor effectus iugum boum Aequis inposuit uictoriamque quasi stiuam tenens subiugatos hostes prae se primus egit.

## 34. Book 2 · Chapter 13

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/34/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/34/#p-N

[¶0] In the year just before the year 300 from the founding of the City, while envoys sent to the Athenians to bring back the laws of Solon were awaited, famine and pestilence held Roman arms in check.

> Latin: 1 Anno qui proximus trecentesimo ab urbe condita fuit, dum legati ad Athenienses propter Solonis leges transferendas missi exspectantur, arma Romana fames pestilentiaque compescuit.

[¶1] In the year 300 itself, that is, in the ninety-fifth Olympiad, the power of the consuls was handed over to decemvirs for the purpose of establishing the Attic laws, and this brought great ruin upon the commonwealth.

> Latin: 2 Ipso autem trecentesimo anno, hoc est olympiade nonagensima quinta, potestas consulum decemuiris tradita constituendarum legum Atticarum gratia magnam perniciem reipublicae inuexit.

*Note: The decemvirate of 451 BC fell in the eighty-second Olympiad. The ninety-fifth Olympiad (400–397 BC) is far too late.*

[¶2] For first of the decemvirs, Appius Claudius alone, the others standing down, prolonged his command for himself; and at once a conspiracy of the rest followed, so that, scorning the custom by which the insignia of command lay with one man while the power was shared, all of them drove everything along according to their own lusts.

> Latin: 3 nam primus ex decemuiris cedentibus ceteris solus Appius Claudius sibi continuauit imperium, statimque aliorum coniuratio subsecuta est, ut more contempto, quo insigne imperii penes unum potestas autem communis erat, omnes omnia propriis libidinibus agitarent.

[¶3] So, among the other things that they all most insolently presumed to do, suddenly each of them went out in public with twelve fasces and the other insignia of command;

> Latin: 4 itaque inter cetera, quae insolentissime cuncti praesumebant, repente singuli cum duodenis fascibus ceterisque imperatoriis insignibus processerunt:

[¶4] and by this new beginning of a wicked order, with the scruple of the consulship cast aside, a column of tyrants shone forth. Having added two tables of laws to the ten earlier ones, and doing a great many things with the most insolent arrogance, on the day on which it was customary to lay down their magistracies they went out with the same insignia.

> Latin: 5 et nouo improbae ordinationis incepto, ablegata religione consulum emicuit agmen tyrannorum, duabus tabulis legum ad decem priores additis, agentes insolentissimo fastu plurima, die, quo deponere magistratus mos erat, cum isdem insignibus processerunt.

[¶5] The lust of Appius Claudius greatly increased the hatred against them: in order to violate the maiden Verginia, he first brought a suit claiming her as a slave; driven by this, her father Verginius, out of grief for her liberty and shame at the disgrace, struck down his daughter, who was being dragged off into slavery, in the sight of the people — a dutiful parricide.

> Latin: 6 maximam etiam Appii Claudii libido auxit inuidiam, qui ut Verginiae uirgini stuprum inferret, prius seruitutis causam intulit; quamobrem adactus Verginius pater dolore libertatis et pudore dedecoris protractam ad seruitutem filiam in conspectu populi pius parricida prostrauit.

[¶6] The people, moved by the horror of this necessity and warned of the danger to their liberty, occupied the Aventine Hill under arms; nor did they cease to defend their liberty with arms until the conspiracy of the confederates had abdicated from their very offices.

> Latin: 7 qua populus necessitatis atrocitate permotus et periculo libertatis admonitus montem Auentinum occupauit armatus. nec tueri libertatem armis destitit, nisi postquam se coniuratorum conspiratio ipsis quoque honoribus abdicauit.

[¶7] In the one hundred and third and in the one hundred and fifth Olympiad, throughout almost the whole year, there were such frequent and such severe earthquakes in Italy that Rome was wearied by constant reports of countless shocks and of the collapse of country houses and towns;

> Latin: 8 Tertia et quinta post centesimam olympiade per totum fere annum tam crebri tamque etiam graues in Italia terrae motus fuerunt, ut de innumeris quassationibus ac ruinis uillarum oppidorumque adsiduis Roma nuntiis fatigaretur,

*Note: These Olympiad dates do not fit the events: Mamercus Aemilius, dictator for the third time, took Fidenae in 426 BC, in the eighty-eighth Olympiad.*

[¶8] then there was so unbroken and parching a drought that it denied any hope of the earth bringing forth its fruits, both for the present year and for the next;

> Latin: 9 deinde ita iugis et torrida siccitas fuit, ut praesentis tunc futurique anni spem gignendis terrae fructibus abnegarit,

[¶9] and in the same times, when the people of Fidenae, enemies made terrible by a host of very large auxiliaries crowding round them, were threatening the Roman citadel, Aemilius, dictator for the third time, with difficulty took Fidenae itself and so drove off and healed a great mass of evil.

> Latin: 10 isdemque temporibus cum Fidenates hostes maximorum auxiliorum manu stipante terribiles Romanis arcibus imminerent, Aemilius tertium dictator magnam mali molem ipsis Fidenis uix captis depulit et sanauit.

[¶10] So great among them was the contention of evils and of passions that either wars pouring in from outside blotted out the disasters at home, or, after the losses of the wars, when truces had brought relief, various pestilences, blazing up from sky and earth, corrupted everything with unceasing assault.

> Latin: 11 tanta in ipsis erat malorum animorumque contentio, ut uel domesticas clades superfusa forinsecus bella oblitterarent uel post damna bellorum indutias relaxatas diuersae pestes caelo terraque excandescentes incessabili infestatione corruperunt.

## 35. Book 2 · Chapter 14

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/35/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/35/#p-N

[¶0] Sicily from the beginning was the homeland of the Cyclopes, and after them always the nurse of tyrants, often even the captive of slaves; of whom the first fed on the flesh of men, the middle ones on their torments, the last on their deaths — except that in foreign wars it was held either as booty or as prize.

> Latin: 1 Sicilia ab initio patria Cyclopum et post eos semper nutrix tyrannorum fuit, saepe etiam captiua servorum, quorum primi carnibus hominum, medii cruciatibus, postremi mortibus pascebantur, excepto eo, quod externis bellis aut praeda habebatur aut praemium.

[¶1] This island, to finish as briefly as possible, has never known rest from evils except now; nay rather, so that the differences of the times may be declared more clearly, just as before it alone among all others always endured disturbances either internal or external, so now it alone of them all never does.

> Latin: 2 haec, ut quam breuissime absoluam, requiem malorum nisi nunc nescit, immo, ut euidentius diuersitates temporum declarentur, sicut antea uel intestinos vel externos tumultus perpessa est inter omnes sola semper, ita nunc ex omnibus sola numquam.

[¶2] For — to say nothing of the long duration either of that calamity by which it was oppressed or, on the contrary, of this peace which it enjoys — Etna itself, which then seethed with frequent eruptions to the destruction of cities and fields, now merely smokes, harmless in appearance, as a witness to the truth of the past.

> Latin: 3 nam etiam - ut sileam de diuturnitate uel illius calamitatis, qua pressa est, uel istius e contrario, qua fruitur, pacis - Aethna ipsa, quae tunc cum excidio urbium atque agrorum crebris eruptionibus aestuabat, nunc tantum innoxia specie ad praeteritorum fidem fumat.

[¶3] So then — to pass over for the moment the tyrants, of whom each who was an avenger soon became a successor — in the intervening period, that is, in the year 335 from the founding of the City, when the people of Rhegium near Sicily were labouring under discord and the citizenry was split into two parties by dissension, one party called in veterans from Himera, a city of Sicily, to help them.

> Latin: 4 igitur - ut praetermittam interim de tyrannis, quorum mox qui fuit ultor successor effectus est - medio tempore, hoc est anno ab urbe condita CCCXXXV, cum Regini apud Siciliam discordia laborarent ciuitasque per dissensionem diuisa in duas partes esset, pars una ueteranos ab Himera urbe Siciliae in auxilium uocauit.

[¶4] These men, having first driven out of the city those against whom their aid had been implored, and then soon slaughtered also those whom they had come to help, seized the city together with the wives and children of their allies, daring a crime comparable to that of no tyrant:

> Latin: 5 porro illi, pulsis ciuitate primum his contra quos inplorabantur, deinde mox caesis etiam illis quibus ad auxiliandum conuenerant, urbem cum coniugibus ac liberis sociorum occupauere, ausi facinus nulli tyranno comparandum:

[¶5] for it would have been better for the people of Rhegium to suffer anything at all rather than of their own accord to invite in those to whom, driven out themselves, they would leave their homeland, wives, children and household gods as plunder.

> Latin: 6 quippe cum Reginis quiduis perpeti satius fuerit, quam ut ultro inuitarent, quibus patriam coniuges liberos ac penates ipsi extorres ad praedam relinquerent.

[¶6] The people of Catana, too, when they found the Syracusans oppressive and hostile, asked the Athenians for help. But the Athenians sent a fleet fitted out to Sicily more in their own interest than in that of their allies, since they were both striving to extend their own empire and feared that the Syracusan fleet, lately fitted out, might be of service to the Lacedaemonians.

> Latin: 7 At etiam Catinenses cum Syracusanos graues infestosque paterentur, ab Atheniensibus auxilia poposcerunt. Sed Athenienses suo magis quam sociorum studio instructam classem in Siciliam misere, cum et sibi propagare molirentur imperium et Syracusanam classem nuper instructam Lacedaemoniis proficere uererentur.

[¶7] And since the Athenians who had been sent had made a prosperous beginning by slaughtering the enemy, they brought larger forces and a stronger army back to Sicily under the generals Laches and Charoeades.

> Latin: 8 et quoniam Athenienses qui missi erant caesis hostibus prospera initia sumpserant, maiores copias robustioremque exercitum cum Lachete et Chariade ducibus in Siciliam reduxerunt.

*Note: Laches and Charoeades (Thucydides 3.86) commanded the first Athenian expedition to Sicily in 427 BC, not a later reinforcement. The Latin text has Chariades.*

[¶8] But the people of Catana, moved by weariness of the war, made a treaty with the Syracusans and spurned the help of the Athenians;

> Latin: 9 sed Catinenses, belli taedio permoti, cum Syracusanis foedus ineunt, auxilia Atheniensium spernunt;

[¶9] afterwards, however, when the Syracusans, intent on domination, were transgressing the terms of the peace, they again sent envoys to Athens, who, unkempt in hair and beard and clad in mourning, entreated pity and help both by their speech and by their appearance.

> Latin: 10 post autem, Syracusanis condiciones pacis meditatione dominationis transgredientibus, denuo legatos Athenas mittunt, qui capillo barbaque squalidi et lugubribus induti misericordiam atque auxilium et sermone et habitu precarentur.

[¶10] So a great fleet was fitted out under the generals Nicias and Lamachus, and Sicily was sought again with such great forces that even those who had obtained the aid feared the support they had won.

> Latin: 11 igitur magna classis instruitur ducibus Nicia et Lamacho, tantisque uiribus Sicilia repetitur, ut suffragia sua et hi timerent, qui impetrauissent.

[¶11] The Athenians at once fought two land battles with favourable success, and, having worn down the enemy within the city and surrounded them with a fleet set against them, shut them in by land and sea.

> Latin: 12 Athenienses duas ilico pedestres pugnas secundis successibus faciunt, confectos in urbe hostes et obiecta classe circumdatos terra marique concludunt.

[¶12] The Syracusans, their affairs broken and exhausted, sought help from the Lacedaemonians. By them Gylippus was soon sent — alone indeed, but in him was displayed the equivalent of all reinforcements. On arriving, when he heard that the state of the war was already tilting, he gathered auxiliaries partly in Greece and partly in Sicily and occupied positions favourable for the war.

> Latin: 13 at Syracusani fractis fessisque rebus auxilium a Lacedaemoniis petunt. a quibus mox mittitur Gylippus, solus quidem sed in quo omnium praesidiorum instar praeferebatur. qui ueniens ut audiuit inclinatum iam belli statum, auxiliis partim in Graecia partim in Sicilia contractis opportuna bello loca occupauit.

[¶13] Then, defeated in two battles but not dismayed, in the third engagement he killed Lamachus, put the enemy to flight and freed his allies from the siege.

> Latin: 14 deinde duobus proeliis uictus nec territus, tertio congressu Lamachum occidit, hostes in fugam uertit, socios obsidione liberauit.

*Note: Lamachus fell in fighting before Syracuse in 414 BC, before Gylippus arrived (Thucydides 6.101–104).*

[¶14] After this the Athenians, defeated in the land battle, turned to trying their fortune at sea and prepared to engage in a naval contest; learning this, Gylippus summoned a fleet fitted out by the Lacedaemonians.

> Latin: 15 hinc Athenienses terrestri proelio uicti, experimenta maris ineunt et nauali certamine congredi parant; quo cognito Gylippus classem instructam a Lacedaemoniis arcessit;

[¶15] The Athenians likewise sent Demosthenes and Eurymedon, with reinforcements of troops, in place of the general they had lost; the Peloponnesians, too, by the agreement and decree of many cities, sent huge auxiliaries to the Syracusans.

> Latin: 16 aeque Athenienses in locum amissi ducis Demosthenen et Eurymedonta cum supplemento copiarum mittunt; Peloponnesii quoque cum multarum urbium consensu et decreto ingentia Syracusanis auxilia misere.

[¶16] Thus under the guise of a war on behalf of allies they pursued their own domestic quarrels, and, as though the contest had been transferred from Greece to Sicily by agreement, so on both sides they fought with all their might.

> Latin: 17 ita sub specie socialis belli domesticos motus exsequuntur, et, quasi placito de Graecia translatum certamen in Siciliam fuerit, sic ex utraque parte summis uiribus dimicatur.

[¶17] The Athenians, then, were defeated in the first engagement, and lost their camp as well, with all their money, both public and private, and with the whole equipment for a long campaign.

> Latin: 18 igitur Athenienses prima congressione uincuntur, castra quoque cum omni pecunia uel publica uel priuata et cum uniuerso instructu diuturnae expeditionis amittunt;

[¶18] Their resources broken and reduced to straits, Demosthenes urged that, while their affairs were not yet altogether lost, however afflicted they might seem, they should return home and withdraw from Sicily;

> Latin: 19 fractis opibus et in angustum redactis, suadet Demosthenes, dum nondum omnino res perditae sint quamlibet uideantur adflictae domum redeant Siciliaque decedant;

[¶19] but Nicias, made more desperate by shame at the affairs mismanaged from the beginning, insisted on remaining.

> Latin: 20 Nicias autem, pudore male gestarum rerum ab initio, desperatior redditus, remanere contendit.

[¶20] They renewed the naval contest and, soon led through inexperience into the narrows of the Syracusan sea, were surrounded by the ambushes of the enemy: the general Eurylochus was the first to be killed, and eleven ships were burned. Demosthenes and Nicias abandoned the fleet, as if they would flee more safely by an expedition overland.

> Latin: 21 reparant nauale certamen et mox per inscitiam in angustias Syracusani maris deducti insidiis hostium circumueniuntur: Eurylochus dux primus occiditur, undecim naues incenduntur. Demosthenes et Nicias classem dimittunt quasi tutius terrena expeditione fugituri.

*Note: The Athenian general killed in this battle was Eurymedon (Thucydides 7.52), whom Orosius has just named; ‘Eurylochus’ is a slip.*

[¶21] Gylippus, however, first seized their 130 abandoned ships, then set about pursuing the fugitives themselves, and captured and slaughtered as many as possible. Demosthenes escaped the disgrace of slavery by a voluntary death, while Nicias heaped upon an unworthy and shameful life the disgrace of captivity.

> Latin: 22 Gylippus autem primum naues eorum relictas centum triginta inuadit, dehinc ipsos fugientes persequi adgressus capit caeditque quam plurimos. Demosthenes dedecus seruitutis uoluntaria morte declinat, Nicias uero indignam turpemque uitam dedecore captiuitatis accumulat.

## 36. Book 2 · Chapter 15

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/36/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/36/#p-N

[¶0] The Athenians, then, having struggled for two years in Sicily, not without loss to the Lacedaemonians, were beset by other evils at home. For Alcibiades, who had earlier been proclaimed general against Syracuse, and was soon held for trial on a certain charge,

> Latin: 1 Igitur Athenienses, biennio apud Siciliam non sine Lacedaemoniorum damno conflictati, aliis domi malis circumueniuntur. Alcibiades enim, dux pridem aduersus Syracusas pronuntiatus, mox ad iudicium pro quadam insimulatione detentus,

[¶1] betook himself in voluntary exile to Lacedaemon and drove the Spartans to press upon the Athenians, in their disarray, with a new war once more, and not to allow them any breathing-space in which they might escape being crushed.

> Latin: 2 uoluntario exilio Lacedaemonem se contulit inpulitque Spartanos, ut turbatis Atheniensibus nouo rursus bello insisterent, neque eis respirandi spatium, quin opprimerentur, relaxarent.

[¶2] All Greece lent its support to this undertaking, as though, by forces gathered together for the public good, provision were being made to put out a common conflagration.

> Latin: 3 cui incepto ita Graecia omnis adstipulata est, quasi ad commune incendium restinguendum bono publico congestis uiribus consuleretur.

[¶3] Darius too, king of the Persians, mindful of his father’s and grandfather’s hatred of this city, concluded a treaty with the Lacedaemonians through Tissaphernes, the prefect of Lydia, and promised them the costs of the war and troops.

> Latin: 4 Darius etiam rex Persarum, memor paterni auitique in hanc urbem odii, per Tissafernen praefectum Lydiae cum Lacedaemoniis foedus paciscitur eisque sumptus belli et copias pollicetur.

[¶4] Wonderful to tell, so great was the might of the Athenians at that time that, though they — that is, a single city — were assailed by the forces of Greece, of Asia and of the whole East, by fighting often and never yielding they seem to have been worn out rather than conquered.

> Latin: 5 mirum dictu, Atheniensium tantas ea tempestate opes fuisse, ut, cum aduersus eos, hoc est aduersus unam urbem, Graeciae Asiae totiusque orientis uiribus incursum sit, pugnando saepe nec umquam cedendo consumpti magis uideantur fuisse quam uicti.

[¶5] For at the outset Alcibiades compelled all their allies to desert them for the Lacedaemonians; but he, too, attacked by the Lacedaemonians in plots born of envy, fled from them as well and withdrew to Tissaphernes.

> Latin: 6 principio enim Alcibiades omnes socios deficere ab his ad Lacedaemonios coegit, sed et ab his quoque per inuidiam insidiis adpetitus aufugit et ad Tissafernen [in Mediam] concessit.

[¶6] Becoming at once more intimate with him through the charm of an accommodating wit and apt eloquence, he persuaded him not to help the Lacedaemonians with such lavish wealth; he ought rather, he said, to become the umpire and spectator of this contest, and the strength of Lydia should be kept intact against the victor.

> Latin: 7 cui statim accommodato ingenio et apti eloquii gratia familiarior factus persuadet, ne Lacedaemonios tam profusis opibus iuuet; eum potius istius certaminis arbitrum spectatoremque fieri debere, integrasque Lydiae uires aduersum uictorem reseruandas.

[¶7] Tissaphernes therefore ordered part of his fleet, with a considerable force, to be led to Lacedaemon, so that the Lacedaemonians should neither fight in safety at another’s risk through an abundance of support, nor, wholly abandoned, give up the contest they had undertaken.

> Latin: 8 quamobrem Tissafernes partem classis cum aliquanta manu deduci Lacedaemonam iubet, ne uel abundantes suffragiis alieno tuti periculo dimicarent uel in totum destituti susceptum certamen omitterent.

## 37. Book 2 · Chapter 16

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/37/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/37/#p-N

[¶0] Among the Athenians, meanwhile, since they had long been troubled by domestic discord, the supreme power of government was transferred to the senate by the will of the people in the face of the threatening danger: for discords are nourished by leisure, but when necessity presses, private causes and hatreds are set aside and counsel is taken for the common good.

> Latin: 1 Apud Athenienses uero cum diu domestica discordia agitaretur, imminente periculo summa imperii ad senatum populi uoluntate transfertur: quippe otio discordiae nutriuntur, at ubi necessitas incubuit, postpositis priuatis causis atque odiis in commune consulitur.

[¶1] But since this very arrangement proved ruinous because of the pride ingrained in that people and their tyrannical lusts, at length the exile Alcibiades was recalled by the army and appointed commander of the fleet.

> Latin: 2 sed hoc ipsum cum propter insitam genti superbiam et tyrannicas libidines perniciosum foret, tandem Alcibiades exul ab exercitu reuocatur et dux classis constituitur.

[¶2] Learning of this, the leading men at first tried to betray the city to the Spartans; then, having planned it in vain, they went into exile of their own accord. So Alcibiades, having freed his country, directed the fleet against the enemy.

> Latin: 3 quo conperto principes primo Spartanis urbem prodere moliti sunt; deinde, cum id frustra cogitassent, in exilium sponte cesserunt. igitur Alcibiades patria liberata classem in hostes dirigit.

[¶3] Battle was joined and the Athenians seized the victory. Moreover, the greater part of the Spartan army was slaughtered, almost all their generals too were killed, and eighty ships were captured, besides those which perished in the conflict, burned and sunk.

> Latin: 4 commisso proelio uictoriam Athenienses capessunt. porro autem maior pars Spartani exercitus caesa, duces quoque paene omnes interfecti et octoginta naues captae absque his, quae in conflictu incensae demersaeque perierunt.

[¶4] When the war was transferred back to land, it went just as unhappily for the Spartans. Broken by these events, the Lacedaemonians sought peace, but could not obtain it.

> Latin: 5 rursus bellum in terram translatum Spartanis aeque infeliciter cessit. quibus rebus fracti Lacedaemonii petiere pacem, nec tamen impetrare potuerunt.

[¶5] Moreover, the Syracusan garrisons were recalled to Sicily on hearing of the threat of a Carthaginian war. So Alcibiades, with his victorious fleet, ranged through all Asia, plundering and laying everything low with wars, fires and slaughter; and of the cities that had some time before defected from the alliance he captured and recovered a great many.

> Latin: 6 praeterea Syracusana praesidia in Siciliam audita Carthaginiensis belli infestatione reuocata sunt. quamobrem Alcibiades classe uictrici totam Asiam peruagatur, bellis incendiis caedibus rapit sternitque omnia; urbes, quae dudum a societate defecerant, capit recipitque quamplurimas.

[¶6] Having thus won a great name, Alcibiades entered Athens as victor amid the admiration and joy of all.

> Latin: 7 Sic Alcibiades magni nominis factus Athenas cum admiratione et gaudio omnium uictor ingreditur.

[¶7] After a short interval he increased his strength, enlarged the numbers of his army and fleet, and made again for Asia. The Lacedaemonians, for their part, put Lysander in command of the fleet and of the war.

> Latin: 8 paruo post interuallo auget uires, exercitum classemque numero prouehit rursusque Asiam petit. Lacedaemonii uero Lysandrum ducem classi belloque praeficiunt.

[¶8] Cyrus too, the brother of Darius, who had been put in charge of Ionia and Lydia in place of Tissaphernes, strengthened them with great resources and auxiliaries. Lysander therefore, with a sudden attack, overwhelmed the army of Alcibiades, which was intent on plunder and therefore scattered and straggling everywhere, conquered it without any real engagement, and cut it down as it fled.

> Latin: 9 Cyrus etiam frater Darii, in locum Tissafernis Ioniae Lydiaeque praepositus, magnis eos opibus auxiliisque confirmat. Lysander itaque Alcibiadis exercitum praedae intentum ac per hoc ubique dispersum ac uagum repentino incursu opprimit, sine aliquo conflictu uincit caeditque fugientem.

*Note: Cyrus the Younger was the son of Darius II, not his brother.*

[¶9] This was a great disaster for the Athenians, and the wound they received was far more savage than the one they had lately inflicted. Learning of it, the Athenians supposed that Alcibiades had taken care to avenge his old grievance over his exile by this crime of treachery,

> Latin: 10 magna haec clades Atheniensibus, et multo hoc atrocius uulnus, quam dudum inflixerant, susceperunt. quo conperto Athenienses opinati sunt Alcibiaden antiquum exilii sui dolorem isto scelere proditionis uindicare curasse,

[¶10] and therefore they appointed Conon in his place, entrusting to him the remaining force and the conduct of the war.

> Latin: 11 ideoque in locum eius Cononem constituunt, cui residuam manum et summam belli committunt.

[¶11] Wishing at least to make up his depleted forces in number, he chose old men and boys and enrolled an army. But a force of this kind brought no delay to the war, which is usually decided by strength, not by numbers.

> Latin: 12 qui supplere saltem numero exhaustas copias uolens, senes ac pueros legit exercitumque conscripsit. sed huiusmodi manus moram bello non attulit: quippe quod robore, non numero confici solet.

[¶12] So this unwarlike force was at once either captured or slaughtered, and so great a carnage of the slain was made in that battle that not only the dominion but even the very name of the Athenians seemed to have been destroyed.

> Latin: 13 itaque statim inbellis manus uel capta uel caesa est, tantaque strages occisorum illo proelio facta est, ut deletum non solum regnum, sed etiam nomen Atheniensium uideretur.

[¶13] But they, their affairs desperate, resolved to grant foreigners the freedom of the city — so that those who a little before had held dominion throughout all Asia might now, from this rabble, at least defend their walls and their liberty — and though, even by their own judgement, they were not equal to defending these things even with walls set before them, they nevertheless prepared to try a naval battle once again.

> Latin: 14 at illi desperatis rebus statuunt urbem peregrinis dare - ut, qui per totam Asiam paulo ante dominati sunt, nunc ex hac conluuie muros saltem libertatemque tueantur - et, quamuis uel suo iudicio ad haec tuenda etiam obiectis muris non sufficiant, iterum tamen experiri nauale proelium parant.

[¶14] Fury bereft of counsel takes grief for valour, and as much as anger plots, so much does daring promise.

> Latin: 15 expers consilii furor dolorem uirtutem putat, quantumque meditatur ira, tantum promittit audacia.

[¶15] And so, with all of them partly captured and partly killed, of the very remnants too nothing remained. Only the general Conon, outliving both the war and the people, fearing the cruelty of his fellow citizens, withdrew to King Cyrus.

> Latin: 16 itaque omnibus partim captis partim interfectis de ipsis quoque reliquiis nihil reliqui factum est. solus dux Conon superstes bello et populo, timens ciuium crudelitatem, ad Cyrum regem concessit.

*Note: After Aegospotami (405 BC) Conon fled to Evagoras, king of Salamis in Cyprus (Xenophon, Hellenica 2.1.29), not to Cyrus.*

[¶16] Evagoras, the general of the Lacedaemonians, having taken all their cities from them, left the Athenians nothing but an empty city; nor this for long, for afterwards he surrounded the city itself with a siege. Within, famine, desolation and disease harried the besieged;

> Latin: 17 Euacoras autem dux Lacedaemoniorum ademptis omnibus ciuitatibus nihil Atheniensibus praeter inanem urbem reliquit; nec hoc diu, nam et ipsam urbem postea obsidione circumdedit. agebat intrinsecus fames desolatio et morbus obsessos,

*Note: The Spartan commander who stripped Athens of its allies and besieged it was Lysander. Orosius has turned Evagoras, Conon’s Cypriot protector, into a Spartan general; the Latin has Euacoras.*

[¶17] and when, after all the abominations of miseries which it is a horror even to speak of, no hope presented itself but death, they sued for peace.

> Latin: 18 et cum post omnia miseriarum abominamenta, quae etiam dicere horror est, nihil spei praeter mortem occurreret, pacem petiuere.

## 38. Book 2 · Chapter 17

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/38/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/38/#p-N

[¶0] Upon this there was a great deliberation between the Spartans and their allies: when very many declared that this most turbulent city should be razed to the ground and this most hostile people abolished along with its very name,

> Latin: 1 magna hinc inter Spartanos et socios deliberatio fuit: cum plurimi inquietissimam ciuitatem sternendam solo populumque infestissimum cum ipso nomine abolendum pronuntiarent,

[¶1] the Spartans said that they would not allow one of the two eyes of Greece to be torn out; and they even promised peace, on condition that the fortifications running from the harbour of the Piraeus to the city were demolished, that the Athenians voluntarily surrendered their remaining ships, and that they then accepted thirty chosen rulers over them.

> Latin: 2 Spartani negauerunt se permissuros uti e duobus Graeciae oculis unus erueretur; insuper etiam pacem promiserunt, si Piraei portus ducentia in urbem munimina uerterentur nauesque reliquas ultro traderent, deinde rectores sibi triginta lectos susciperent.

[¶2] When they had submitted and given in to this condition, the Lacedaemonians appointed Lysander to draw up laws of obedience in the city.

> Latin: 3 huic condicioni addictis et succumbentibus Lacedaemonii Lysandrum ad conponendas in urbe parendi leges constituerunt.

[¶3] This year was notable for the capture of Athens, the death of Darius king of the Persians, and the exile of Dionysius tyrant of Sicily.

> Latin: 4 insignis hic annus et expugnatione Athenarum et morte Darii Persarum regis et exilio Dionysii Siciliae tyranni fuit.

[¶4] So the thirty rulers appointed for the Athenians emerged as thirty tyrants. First they surrounded themselves with three thousand attendants, and soon they also set seven hundred soldiers of the victorious army about their persons.

> Latin: 5 Igitur triginta rectores Atheniensibus ordinati triginta tyranni exoriuntur: qui primo se tribus milibus satellitum stipant, mox etiam septingentos milites uictoris exercitus lateribus suis circumponunt.

[¶5] They inaugurated the slaughter that was to fall on all, far and wide, by killing Alcibiades, who, as he fled, was shut in a bedchamber on his journey and burned alive.

> Latin: 6 caedem omnium passim futuram occiso Alcibiade auspicantur, qui fugiens, in itinere clausus cubiculo, uiuus incensus est.

[¶6] With him killed, as though the avenger had been removed, they drained the wretched remnants of the city in security with murders and plunder. Theramenes, too, one of their own number, whom they perceived to be displeased with these things, they put to death as an example and a terror to the rest.

> Latin: 7 quo interfecto quasi sublato ultore securi miseras urbis reliquias caedibus rapinisque exhauriunt. Theramenen quoque, unum e numero suo, cui haec displicere senserunt, in exemplum timoremque reliquorum trucidant.

[¶7] So everyone fled the city in all directions; but since by an interdict of the Lacedaemonians hospitality was denied to the exiles throughout all Greece, they all betook themselves to Argos and Thebes. There they were so cherished by the kindness of hospitality that they not only eased their grief for their lost homeland, but even began to ponder hope of recovering it.

> Latin: 8 itaque omnes passim ex urbe diffugiunt, sed interdicto Lacedaemoniorum cum per totam Graeciam exulibus negaretur hospitium, omnes se Argos ac Thebas contulerunt: ubi ita hospitalitatis obsequio foti sunt, ut non solum dolorem amissae patriae lenirent, uerum etiam spem recuperandae meditarentur.

[¶8] Among the exiles was Thrasybulus, an energetic man, distinguished among his own people for the nobility of his birth; he was the author of the bold venture on behalf of their homeland. So the exiles gathered and captured Phyle, a fortress on the borders of Attica, and, aided by the resources of many cities, they gathered strength. To them Lysias too, the Syracusan orator, sent five hundred soldiers with their pay, as though to the aid of the city that was the common homeland of eloquence.

> Latin: 9 erat inter exules Thrasybulus, uir strenuus et generis nobilitate inter suos clarus: qui auctor audendi pro patria fuit. itaque castellum Fylen Atticorum finium collecti exules capiunt multarumque ciuitatum opibus adiuti uires capessunt: quibus Lysias quoque Syracusanus orator quasi in auxilium urbis, quae esset patria communis eloquentiae, quingentos milites cum stipendiis suis misit.

[¶9] That battle was savage; but since the one side was fighting for the liberty of its homeland and the other for dominion over a land not its own, the battle itself also passed judgement on their spirits and their causes. For the defeated tyrants fled back into the city, and all those Athenians whom they had earlier chosen as attendants for themselves they now, suspecting them of treachery, removed from guarding the city.

> Latin: 10 atrox id proelium fuit, sed his pro patria libertate, illis pro aliena dominatione certantibus animorum atque causarum ipsa quoque tulit pugna iudicium: nam uicti tyranni in urbem refugerunt omnesque, quos ex Atheniensibus prius sibi satellites legerant, tunc suspectos proditionis, urbis custodia remouerunt.

[¶10] They even dared to try to corrupt Thrasybulus himself; when that hope proved vain, they summoned auxiliaries from Lacedaemon and rushed again into war. There the two most savage of all the tyrants by far were slaughtered.

> Latin: 11 Thrasybulum quoque ipsum temptare corruptione ausi sunt: quod ubi frustra speratum est, arcessitis a Lacedaemona auxiliis rursus in bellum ruunt. ubi duo saeuissimi omnium longe tyrannorum trucidantur.

[¶11] When Thrasybulus perceived that the rest, defeated and put to flight, were for the most part Athenians, he went after them with shouts, held them back by his speech and bound them with his entreaties, setting before their eyes whom they wished to flee from and to whom they wished to flee back: he had undertaken war against thirty masters, not against his wretched fellow citizens; rather, all who remembered that they were Athenians ought to follow the avengers of Athenian liberty.

> Latin: 12 ceteros uictos et in fugam uersos Thrasybulus ubi uel maxime Athenienses esse intellegit, clamore consequitur, oratione retinet, precibus ligat, proponens ante oculos eorum, quos fugere uel ad quos refugere uellent; sibi aduersum triginta dominos, non aduersum ciues miseros bellum esse susceptum. quin potius omnes, qui se meminerint esse Athenienses, sequi oportere Atheniensium libertatis ultores.

[¶12] This exhortation had such force with them that they soon returned to the city and compelled the tyrants to quit the citadel and withdraw to Eleusis. After they had received back into the fellowship of the city their fellow citizens, until then exiles, they roused to war, out of jealousy, the tyrants, to whom the liberty of others seemed like their own servitude.

> Latin: 13 itaque haec adhortatio tantum apud illos ualuit, ut mox reuersi in ciuitatem tyrannos arce decedere atque Eleusinam emigrare conpulerint. qui postquam in societatem urbis ciues suos, eatenus exules, receperunt, tyrannos in bellum aemulatione suscitant, quibus libertas aliorum quasi ipsorum seruitus uidebatur.

[¶13] Then, when battle had been declared, and they had first come together as if for a parley, the tyrants were caught in an ambush and slaughtered like victims offered for peace. So, called back into one body, after insatiable tears of great joy, the citizens laid down these first foundations of their recovered liberty, binding themselves by a solemn oath that the discords and animosities of the past should be consigned to perpetual oblivion and undying silence.

> Latin: 14 tunc indicta pugna cum prius quasi ad conloquium conuenirent, circumuenti insidiis ueluti pacis uictimae trucidantur: ita reuocati in unum, post inexplebiles magnorum lacrimas gaudiorum haec prima fundamina recuperatae libertatis instaurant proposita iuris iurandi contestatione, uti discordiae animositatesque praeteritae in obliuionem perpetuam atque immortale silentium deducantur.

[¶14] This kind of compact, as shaping a new institution of life and a new felicity for their state, they called an amnesty, that is, an abolition of evils. A most wise provision of the Athenians, especially after such great lessons of misery — if only human affairs could in some way hold firm, with the consent of men abiding, just as they are ordained;

> Latin: 15 quod pactionis genus quasi nouam uitae institutionem nouamque felicitatem status sui informantes amnestiam uocauerunt, id est abolitionem malorum. Sapientissima Atheniensium, praesertim post tanta miseriarum documenta, prouisio: si quo pacto res humanae manente consensu hominum ita ut ordinantur valerent;

[¶15] but this same resolution was corrupted almost amid the very words of the resolution, so much so that scarcely two years later Socrates, that most famous of philosophers, driven by evils, wrung his life from himself by poison among them; and then, scarcely forty years having passed — to say nothing of other things — these same Athenians, wholly deprived of their liberty, were enslaved under Philip, king of the Macedonians.

> Latin: 16 sed adeo hoc idem placitum inter ipsa paene placiti uerba corruptum est, ut uix intercedente biennio Socrates ille clarissimus philosophorum adactus malis ueneno sibi apud eos uitam extorserit, deinde uix quadraginta annis interuenientibus, ut alia sileam, idem Athenienses adempta sibi penitus libertate sub Philippo Macedonum rege seruierint.

*Note: Philip’s victory at Chaeronea, which ended Athenian independence, came in 338 BC, some sixty-five years after the amnesty of 403.*

[¶16] Nevertheless the Athenians, wisest of all, taught well enough by their own evils that by concord the smallest things grow and by discord the greatest slip away, and that all things done abroad, whether good or even evil, are rooted in and sent forth from internal beginnings, wiped away hatreds at home and suppressed wars abroad, and left to their posterity an example from their ruin and a counsel from their restoration — if only, because of the most infirm mutability of the human mind, what is resolved in adversity were kept in prosperity.

> Latin: 17 uerumtamen sapientissimi omnium Athenienses etiam suis malis satis docti concordia minimas res crescere, discordia maximas labi, cunctaque uel bona uel etiam mala quae foris geruntur internis esse radicata et emissa principiis, domi abstersere odia et foris bella presserunt reliqueruntque posteris suis de ruina sui exemplum, de reparatione consilium: si tamen ob infirmissimam humanae mentis mutabilitatem, quod in adflictis rebus consulitur, in prosperis seruaretur.

## 39. Book 2 · Chapter 18

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/39/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/39/#p-N

[¶0] At almost the same time a civil war — nay, more than civil — was being waged among the Persians, and was scarcely ended by parricide. For after the death of King Darius, when his sons Artaxerxes and Cyrus were disputing over the kingdom, they at length fought it out with great preparations and with the ruin of provinces and peoples on both sides.

> Latin: 1 Isdem fere diebus bellum ciuile, immo etiam plus quam ciuile, uix parricidio terminatum, apud Persas gerebatur. mortuo enim rege Dario cum Artaxerxes et Cyrus filii eius de regno ambigerent, tandem apparatibus magnis, prouinciarum ac populorum ruinis utrimque certatum:

[¶1] In this conflict, when chance had thrown the two brothers against each other as they charged from opposite sides, Artaxerxes was the first to be wounded by his brother, but was snatched from death by the speed of his horse and escaped; Cyrus, however, was soon overwhelmed by the royal cohort and so put an end to the struggle. Artaxerxes, therefore, having gained possession both of the spoils of his brother’s expedition and of his army, secured the power of the kingdom by parricide.

> Latin: 2 in quo conflictu cum e diuerso concurrentes sibi ambo fratres mutuo casus obiectauisset, prior Artaxerxes uulneratus a fratre equi uelocitate morti exemptus euasit. Cyrus autem mox a cohorte regia oppressus finem certamini dedit. Artaxerxes ergo et praeda fraternae expeditionis et exercitu potitus potestatem regni parricidio firmauit.

[¶2] Thus the whole of Asia and Europe were thrown into confusion with deaths and crimes, partly each within itself, partly against one another.

> Latin: 3 sic uniuersa Asia atque Europa, partim in se singulae, partim inter se inuicem funeribus et flagitiis permiscebantur.

[¶3] See how, in the smallest page and in the fewest words, I have not so much unfolded the doings of so many provinces, peoples and cities as wound up whole tangles of miseries. For who “could unfold in speech the disaster of that time, its deaths, or match its sorrows with tears”?

> Latin: 4 Ecce paruissima pagina uerbisque paucissimis quantos de tot prouinciis populis atque urbibus non magis explicui actus operum, quam inplicui globos miseriarum. quis enim cladem illius temporis, quis fando funera explicet aut aequare lacrimis possit dolores?

[¶4] And yet these very things, because they have faded through a long lapse of ages, have become for us exercises for the wit and the delights of storytelling. Yet if anyone were to apply his mind more attentively, and with the whole affection of his mind immerse himself almost in those very causes and wars, and then again, as though set on the height of a theatre, were to measure out both times each in its own qualities, I would readily say that he will judge that those times could not have been so unhappily disordered and confounded except when God was angered and turned away, nor these be so composed except when he is favourable and merciful.

> Latin: 5 uerumtamen haec ipsa, quia multo interiectu saeculorum exoleuerunt, facta sunt nobis exercitia ingeniorum et oblectamenta fabularum. quamquam si quis intentius adhibeat animum seseque toto mentis adfectu ipsis paene causis bellisque permisceat ac rursus uelut in arce spectaculi constitutus utrumque in suis qualitatibus tempus permetiatur, facile dixerim eum iudicaturum, neque illa nisi irato atque auersato Deo posse tam infeliciter perturbari ac permisceri neque ista sic nisi propitio et miserante conponi.

[¶5] In these times, then, Sicily was shaken by a very severe earthquake, and was moreover laid waste by the fires and hot ashes boiling out of Mount Etna, with very great damage to fields and country houses.

> Latin: 6 His deinde temporibus grauissimo motu terrae concussa Sicilia, insuper exaestuantibus Aethnae montis ignibus fauillisque calidis cum detrimento plurimo agrorum uillarumque uastata est.

[¶6] At that time, too, the city of Atalante, which adjoined Locris and was joined to the land, was cut off by a sudden onslaught of the sea and left desolate as an island. A pestilence also attacked the pitiable remnants of the Athenians and ravaged them for a long time.

> Latin: 7 Tunc etiam Atalante ciuitas, Locris adhaerens terrae contigua, repentino maris impetu abscissa atque in insulam desolata est. Atheniensium quoque miserabiles reliquias pestis inuasit diuque populata est.

*Note: Both events belong to the 420s BC: Thucydides (3.89) records the flooding at Atalante in the earthquakes of 426, and the great plague of Athens began in 430.*

## 40. Book 2 · Chapter 19

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/40/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/40/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 355 from the founding of the City, the siege of Veii, lasting ten years on end, wore down the besiegers more than the besieged. For the Romans, worn down by frequent sudden sorties of the enemy, were moreover compelled to wage war in winter quarters, to pass the winter under hides, and finally to endure hunger and cold in sight of the enemy;

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita CCCLV obsidio Veiorum decem continuis annis magis obsessores quam obsessos detriuit. nam Romani repentinis saepe hostium eruptionibus comminuti, praeterea in hibernis bella sortiri, hiemare sub pellibus, postremo famem ac frigus in conspectu hostium perpeti coacti sunt;

[¶1] at last they took the city, without any testimony worthy of Roman valour, by tunnels and stealthy creeping-in.

> Latin: 2 urbem nouissime sine ullo digno Romanae uirtutis testimonio cuniculis et clandestina obreptione ceperunt.

[¶2] This victory, more useful than noble, was followed first by the exile of the dictator Camillus, who won it over the Veientes, and then by the irruption of the Gauls and the burning of the City.

> Latin: 3 hanc utilem magis quam nobilem uictoriam primo dictatoris Camilli, qui eam de Veientibus patrauit, exilium, dehinc inruptio Gallorum et incendium urbis insequitur.

[¶3] Let anyone dare, if he can, to compare any of the disturbances of this present time with that disaster — although the injury of the present does not weigh the same as the story of a past evil.

> Latin: 4 cui cladi audeat quisquam, si potest, aliquos motus huius temporis conparare: quamuis non aeque pendat praeteriti mali fabulam praesentis iniuria.

[¶4] The Senonian Gauls, then, under their leader Brennus, with an army numerous and exceedingly strong, while they were besieging the city of Clusium in what is now called Tuscia, saw the envoys of the Romans, who had come at that time for the purpose of making peace between them, fighting against them in the battle line. Moved by indignation at this, they abandoned the siege of the town of Clusium and marched on Rome with all their strength.

> Latin: 5 igitur Galli Senones duce Brenno exercitu copioso et robusto nimis cum urbem Clusini, quae nunc Tuscia dicitur, obsiderent, legatos Romanorum, qui tunc conponendae inter eos pacis gratia uenerant, in acie aduersum se uidere pugnantes: qua indignatione permoti, Clusini oppidi obsidione dimissa, totis uiribus Romam contendunt.

[¶5] As they rushed on, the consul Fabius met them with an army; yet he did not withstand them — rather, that hostile onslaught cut him down like a dry crop, laid him low and passed on. The river Allia bears witness to this disaster of Fabius, as the Cremera does to that of the Fabii. Indeed, no one could easily recall a similar ruin of the Roman soldiery, even if Rome had not been burned on top of it.

> Latin: 6 hos ita ruentes Fabius cum exercitu consul excepit; nec tamen obstitit, immo potius hostilis ille impetus quasi aridam segetem succidit strauit et transiit. testatur hanc Fabii cladem fluuius Halia, sicut Cremera Fabiorum. non enim facile aliquis similem ruinam Romanae militiae recenseret, etiam si Roma insuper incensa non esset.

*Note: Rome had no consuls in 390 BC: the army at the Allia was led by military tribunes with consular power, among them the three Fabii who had fought at Clusium (Livy 5.36).*

[¶6] The Gauls entered the open City; they slaughtered the senators sitting rigid like statues in their seats, and, burning them in the fire of their houses, buried them under the fall of their own roofs.

> Latin: 7 patentem Galli urbem penetrant, trucidant rigentes simulacrorum modo in suis sedibus senatores eosque incendio domorum crematos lapsu culminum suorum sepeliunt.

[¶7] All the remaining youth, which is agreed to have numbered barely a thousand men at the time, hiding in the citadel of the Capitoline Hill, they shut in by siege, and there they wore down, subdued and sold that unhappy remnant through famine, pestilence, despair and terror:

> Latin: 8 uniuersam reliquam iuuentutem, quam constat uix mille hominum tunc fuisse, in arce Capitolini montis latentem obsidione concludunt ibique infelices reliquias fame peste desperatione formidine terunt subigunt uendunt:

[¶8] for they bargained for a thousand pounds of gold as the price of their departure — not because Rome was of small repute among the Gauls, but because they had already so worn it down that it could then avail no more.

> Latin: 9 nam mille libris auri discessionis pretium paciscuntur, non quo apud Gallos Roma parui nominis fuerit, sed quo illam sic iam ante detriuerint, ut amplius tunc ualere non posset.

[¶9] When the Gauls departed, there remained within what had once been the circuit of the City a foul heap of shapeless ruins; and on every side, as people wandered through the obstructed ways, strangers amid their own, the echo of a stumbling voice answering back held their trembling hearing in suspense.

> Latin: 10 exeuntibus Gallis remanserat in illo quondam urbis ambitu informium ruinarum obscena congeries, et undique per impedita errantium et inter sua ignotorum offensae uocis imago respondens trepidos suspendebat auditus.

[¶10] Horror shook their minds, the very silences terrified them: for sparseness in wide spaces is matter for fear. Hence the idea of changing their home, of living in another town, and even of being registered under another name was conceived, approved and attempted.

> Latin: 11 horror quatiebat animos, silentia ipsa terrebant: siquidem materia pauoris est raritas in spatiosis. hinc illis mutare sedes, aliud incolere oppidum, altero etiam censeri nomine cogitatum placitum atque temptatum est.

[¶11] Behold the times in comparison with which the present are weighed; behold the times for which memory sighs; behold the times that strike repentance for the religion chosen — or rather, for the religion neglected!

> Latin: 12 En tempora, quorum conparatione praesentia ponderantur; en, de quibus recordatio suspirat; en, quae incutiunt de electa uel potius de neglecta religione paenitentiam.

[¶12] Truly these two captivities are equal and may be compared with each other: the one raging for six months, the other passing through in three days; the Gauls, having wiped out the people and destroyed the City, pursuing even the very name of Rome into its last ashes, and the Goths, abandoning their intent to plunder, driving ignorant throngs to the refuges of safety, that is, to the holy places; there, scarcely a single senator was found who had escaped even by being absent; here, scarcely one is sought who perished by chance in hiding.

> Latin: 13 reuera pares sunt et conferuntur inter se hae duae captiuitates: illa sex mensibus desaeuiens et tribus diebus ista transcurrens; Galli exstincto populo urbe deleta ipsum quoque Romae nomen in extremis cineribus persequentes et Gothi relicta intentione praedandi ad confugia salutis, hoc est sanctorum locorum, agmina ignara cogentes; ibi uix quemquam inuentum senatorem, qui uel absens euaserit, hic uix quemquam requiri, qui forte ut latens perierit.

[¶13] I might rightly compare them thus: that the number of those saved there was the number of those lost here. Plainly, what the facts betray must also be confessed: in this present disaster God raged more and men less, since, by carrying out himself what they had not fulfilled, he showed why he had sent them.

> Latin: 14 recte sane conpararim, hunc fuisse ibi seruatorum numerum, qui hic fuerit perditorum. plane, quod re proditur, et fatendum est: in hac clade praesenti plus Deum saeuisse, homines minus, cum, peragendo ipse quod illi non inpleuissent, cur eos miserit demonstrauit.

[¶14] For since it was beyond human strength to set fire to bronze beams and to undermine the masses of great structures, the forum, with its vain images which by a pitiable superstition counterfeit either god or man, was struck down by the stroke of lightning; and of all these abominations, whatever the flame let loose by the enemy did not reach, fire sent from heaven overthrew.

> Latin: 15 quippe cum supra humanas uires esset, incendere aeneas trabes et subruere magnarum moles structurarum, ictu fulminum forum cum imaginibus uanis, quae superstitione miserabili uel deum uel hominem mentiuntur, abiectum est, horumque omnium abominamentorum, quod inmissa per hostem flamma non adiit, missus e caelo ignis euertit.

[¶15] And since the matter for speaking is abundant, and can by no means be contained in this book, let this be the end of the present volume, so that we may pursue the rest in those that follow.

> Latin: 16 Et quoniam uber dicendi materia est, quae nequaquam hoc concludi libro potest, hic praesentis uoluminis finis sit, ut in subsequentibus cetera persequamur.

## 41. Book 3 · Preface

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/41/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/41/#p-N

[¶0] I have already declared in the previous book, and now of necessity repeat, in accordance with your instruction concerning the past conflicts of the world: that neither everything nor everything in full that was done, and as it was done, can be set out, since great and innumerable matters have been written most copiously and by very many authors; and those writers, though they did not have the same purposes, nevertheless had the same events before them — for they unfold wars, while we unfold the miseries of wars.

> Latin: 1 Et superiore iam libro contestatus sum et nunc necessarie repeto secundum praeceptum tuum de anteactis conflictationibus saeculi: nec omnia nec per omnia posse quae gesta et sicut gesta sunt explicari, quoniam magna atque innumera copiosissime et a plurimis scripta sunt, scriptores autem etsi non easdem causas, easdem tamen res habuere propositas, quippe cum illi bella, nos bellorum miserias euoluamus.

[¶1] Moreover, from this very abundance of which I complain a strait arises for me, and a more knotted anxiety hems me in. For if, in my zeal for brevity, I omit some things, they will be thought either to have been unknown to me now or not to have happened at that time; but if, striving to indicate everything without spelling it out, I gird it up in compendious brevity, I shall make it obscure, and for most readers it will be so told that it will not seem to have been told at all:

> Latin: 2 praeterea ex hac ipsa de qua queror abundantia angustia oritur mihi et concludit me sollicitudo nodosior. si enim aliqua studio breuitatis omitto, putabuntur aut mihi nunc defuisse aut in illo tunc tempore non fuisse; si uero significare cuncta nec exprimere studens conpendiosa breuitate succingo, obscura faciam et ita apud plerosque erunt dicta, ut nec dicta uideantur:

[¶2] especially since, on the contrary, we are concerned to convey the force of events, not their mere image; and brevity and obscurity — or rather brevity, which is always obscure — though it holds out the image of knowing, nevertheless takes away the vigour of understanding. But I, knowing that both must be avoided, shall do both, so that in one way or another each may be tempered by the other, if neither much seems to have been passed over nor much to have been compressed.

> Latin: 3 maxime cum e contrario nos uim rerum, non imaginem commendare curemus; breuitas autem atque obscuritas, immo ut est semper obscura breuitas, etsi cognoscendi imaginem praefert, aufert tamen intellegendi uigorem. sed ego cum utrumque uitandum sciam, utrumque faciam ut quocumque modo alterutra temperentur, si nec multa praetermissa nec multum constricta uideantur.

## 42. Book 3 · Chapter 1

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/42/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/42/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 364 from the founding of the City — a year which Rome felt to be most grievous because of a captivity unknown to her before, while Greece held it to be magnificent because of an unaccustomed peace — at the very time, that is, when the Gauls held Rome captured and burned, and sold it back, Artaxerxes, king of the Persians, ordered all Greece through envoys to withdraw from arms and rest in peace, announcing that whoever opposed the peace would be attacked in war.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita CCCLXIIII, quem annum sicut grauissimum propter ignotam sibi captiuitatem Roma persensit ita magnificum propter insolitam pacem Graecia habuit, eo siquidem tempore, quo Galli Romam captam incensamque tenuerunt ac uendiderunt, Artaxerxes rex Persarum discedere ab armis et quiescere in pace uniuersam Graeciam per legatos praecepit, denuntians contradictorem pacis bello inpetendum.

[¶1] The Greeks could certainly have scorned him when he gave such orders as steadfastly as they had often bravely defeated him, had they not so gladly seized the opportunity held out to them from whatever quarter, which they had so eagerly desired —

> Latin: 2 quem ita iubentem potuissent utique Graeci tam constanter contemnere, quam fortiter saepe uicerunt, nisi porrectam undecumque occasionem, quam auide desiderauerant, tam libenter hausissent -

[¶2] for they showed how reluctantly and wretchedly they had carried on those wars until then, since they laid them down so easily, even on shameful terms. For what is so unworthy of free and brave men as to lay down their arms at the command of an enemy far removed, often defeated, and still threatening, and to become slaves to peace? — had not their sickly intent for war wasted away in the hearts of all at the mere sound of the peace announced, and had not an unlooked-for rest relaxed them, yawning and stupefied after long vigils of toil, before their will could settle the terms of that very rest.

> Latin: 3 ostenderunt enim, quam aegre et misere illa eatenus gesserint, quae tam facile indigna etiam condicione posuerunt: nam quid tam indignum liberis et fortibus uiris, quam longe remoti, saepe uicti, adhuc hostis et deinde minitantis imperio arma deponere pacique seruire? - si non in ipso tantum adnuntiatae pacis sono per corda cunctorum aegra belli tabuisset intentio et post diuturnas laborum uigilias oscitantes ac stupefactos quies inopina laxasset, priusquam ipsam quietem uoluntas pacta conponeret.

[¶3] But from what source so great an exhaustion came to weigh down the hearts and bodies of all the peoples throughout Greece, persuading their savage spirits so easily to acquiesce in an unaccustomed leisure, I shall show as briefly as I can.

> Latin: 4 unde autem tanta fatigatio omnium per totam Graeciam populorum corda corporaque oppresserit, quae efferos animos ignoto adquiescere otio tam facile persuasit, quam breuissime ostendam.

[¶4] The Lacedaemonians, being men, and Greek men at that, desired the more the more they had; after they had made themselves masters of the Athenians, they swallowed up all Asia in their hope of domination.

> Latin: 5 Lacedaemonii, utpote homines et Graeci homines, quo plura habebant, eo ampliora cupientes, postquam Atheniensium potiti sunt, uniuersam Asiam spe dominationis hauserunt.

[¶5] And so, stirring up war against the whole East, they chose Dercylidas as general for this campaign. When he saw that he would have to fight against the two most powerful governors of Artaxerxes, king of the Persians, Pharnabazus and Tissaphernes, he adopted a plan suited to the moment so as to evade the weight of a double engagement: he attacked the one after declaring war, and held the other in suspense by concluding a peace.

> Latin: 6 itaque toto orienti bellum mouentes Hircyliden ducem in hanc militiam legunt. qui cum sibi aduersus duos potentissimos Artaxerxis Persarum regis praefectos Farnabazum et Tissafernen pugnandum uideret, prouiso ad tempus consilio, ut pondus geminae congressionis eluderet, unum denuntiato bello adpetit, alterum pacta pace suspendit.

*Note: Dercylidas, the Spartan commander in Asia from 399 BC; Orosius calls him Hircylides.*

[¶6] Pharnabazus denounced Tissaphernes as a traitor to Artaxerxes, then king of them both, chiefly for having negotiated the terms of a treaty with the enemy in time of war; and he urged the king to appoint in his place, as commander in the naval war, Conon the Athenian, who was then by chance living in exile in Cyprus. So, after five hundred talents of silver had been received, Conon was summoned through Pharnabazus and put in command of the fleet.

> Latin: 7 Farnabazus Tissafernen apud Artaxerxen, communem tunc regem, defert ut proditorem, praesertim qui cum hoste belli tempore de foederis condicione pepigisset; hortaturque regem, ut in locum eius Cononem Atheniensem uirum, qui tunc forte apud Cyprum exulabat, ducem nauali bello constituat. acceptis igitur quingentis argenti talentis Conon per Farnabazum euocatur classique praeficitur.

[¶7] When they learned of this, the Lacedaemonians in their turn sought help for the naval war through envoys from Hercynion, king of Egypt, from whom they received a hundred equipped triremes and six hundred thousand measures of grain; from their allies, too, they gathered great reinforcements on every side.

> Latin: 8 quibus conpertis Lacedaemonii et ipsi auxilia naualis belli a rege Aegypti Hercynione per legatos petunt, a quo centum instructas triremes et sescenta milia modium frumenti acceperunt; a sociis etiam undique magna contraxere subsidia.

*Note: The Egyptian king of the time was Nepherites I; Hercynion is the name Orosius found in his source, Justin.*

[¶8] For this campaign they appointed Agesilaus as general by common consent, a man lame in one foot; but in a most difficult state of affairs they preferred that their king should limp rather than their kingdom. Rarely have generals so evenly matched in every kind of energy come together in a single war; worn out by the bitterest battles against one another and smeared with much blood, they withdrew from each other as if both were unconquered.

> Latin: 9 cui militiae consensu omnium Agesilaum ducem decreuerunt, uirum pede claudum, sed qui in difficillimo rerum statu mallent sibi regem claudicare quam regnum. raro umquam ita pares omni industria duces in unum coiere bellum, qui acerbissimis inuicem proeliis fatigati et multo sanguine obliti uelut inuicti ab alterutro recesserunt.

[¶9] Conon, then, having again received pay from the Great King, this time in person, returned to the fleet, invaded the enemy’s lands, stormed towers, forts and other strongholds, and like a storm let loose laid everything low wherever it fell.

> Latin: 10 igitur Conon accepto iterum per se ipsum a Rege Magno stipendio reuersus ad classem inuadit hostiles agros, turres castella ceteraque praesidia expugnat et ueluti effusa tempestas quacumque incubuit cuncta prosternit.

[¶10] The Lacedaemonians, beset by evils at home, ceased to gape after those abroad and cast away their hope of domination in the imminent danger of slavery; they recalled Agesilaus, whom they had sent with an army into Asia, to the aid of their fatherland.

> Latin: 11 Lacedaemonii uero domesticis malis circumuenti externis inhiare desistunt abiciuntque spem dominationis inminente periculo seruitutis; Agesilaum, quem cum exercitu in Asiam miserant, ad subsidium patriae reuocant.

[¶11] Meanwhile Pisander, the commander left at Sparta by King Agesilaus, had fitted out a very large and very strongly equipped fleet, moved by rivalry with the valour of Agesilaus, so that, while the latter was conducting an expedition by land, he too might range along the coast with his ships.

> Latin: 12 interea Pisander, dux apud Spartam per Agesilaum regem relictus, maximam munitissimamque tunc classem instruxerat, motus aemulatione uirtutis Agesilai, ut, illo pedestrem expeditionem agitante, ipse quoque nauali discursu oram maritimam peruagaretur.

[¶12] Conon, having taken on the task, devoted a twofold care to it, owing diligence to his allies and loyalty to his fatherland, so as to show his nature to his fatherland and give his energy to his allies; yet he leaned the more towards his fellow citizens in this, that he spent the hazard of others’ blood on their quiet and freedom, and fought against the most insolent of enemies at the king’s risk and for his fatherland’s reward.

> Latin: 13 Conon uero suscepto negotio duplicem curam inpendebat debens sociis sollicitudinem, patriae fidem, ut huic exhiberet naturam, illis praeberet industriam: in hoc propensior ciuibus, quod quieti libertatique eorum alieni sanguinis discrimen inpenderet et pugnaret aduersus insolentissimos hostes periculo regis, praemio patriae.

[¶13] So they joined battle at sea, the Persians under Conon, the Spartans under Pisander; soldiers, oarsmen and the commanders themselves were swept with one and the same ardour into mutual slaughter.

> Latin: 14 conserunt itaque nauale certamen Persae Conone, Spartani Pisandro duce; milites remiges ipsique ductores uno pariter in mutuam caedem ardore rapiuntur.

[¶14] The magnitude and savagery of this war is betrayed by the state of the Lacedaemonians, which from then on was ever in decline: for from that point the hopes of the Spartans seemed to ebb and, slipping, to be borne backwards, until, painfully rising and wretchedly falling back again, they were worn out and lost both their power and their name.

> Latin: 15 magnitudinem atque atrocitatem belli istius inclinatus ex hoc semper in posterum Lacedaemoniorum status prodit: namque ex illo fluere ac sublapsa retro referri Spartanorum spes uisa, donec adsurgendo aegre ac misere recidendo confecta et potestate careret et nomine.

[¶15] For the Athenians, however, this same battle was the beginning of the recovery of their power, as it was for the Lacedaemonians the beginning of its loss. So the Thebans first, supported by the help of the Athenians, attacked them while they were wounded and fearful from their earlier disaster, greatly encouraged by their confidence in the valour and energy of their general Epaminondas, with whom they believed they could easily win the rule of all Greece.

> Latin: 16 Atheniensibus uero haec eadem pugna initium recuperandae potentiae sicut Lacedaemoniis amittendae fuit. primi igitur Thebani, auxilio Atheniensium fulti, superiore clade saucios ac trepidos adgrediuntur, multa animati fiducia propter uirtutem atque industriam Epaminondae ducis sui, cum quo sibi facile obtinere posse imperium totius Graeciae uidebantur.

[¶16] A land battle was therefore fought, and the Thebans won with very little trouble. For in this engagement too Lysander was defeated and killed; Pausanias as well, the other general of the Lacedaemonians, was accused of treason and driven into exile;

> Latin: 17 fit itaque terrestre proelium, Thebanis minimo negotio uincentibus. uincitur enim etiam hoc conflictu Lysander et occiditur; Pausanias quoque dux alter Lacedaemoniorum insimulatus proditionis in exilium truditur;

*Note: Orosius, following Justin, runs together events that lie decades apart: Lysander fell at Haliartus in 395 BC, the year before the battle of Cnidus, and was never king (3.1.18), while Epaminondas did not lead the Thebans until the 370s.*

[¶17] and the Thebans, having gained the victory, gathered the force of their whole army and made for Sparta, thinking that they would enter without any trouble a city empty of defenders, since they had already destroyed almost all its forces together with the king himself, and saw it abandoned by all its allies.

> Latin: 18 Thebani autem uictoria potiti, collecta uniuersi exercitus manu, Spartam contendunt, putantes se uacuam praesidio ciuitatem nullo intraturos negotio, cuius iam omnes paene copias cum ipso rege delessent atque ab omnibus sociis destitutos uiderent.

[¶18] The Lacedaemonians, driven by the danger to their city, held a levy, such as it was, of untrained soldiers and went out to meet the enemy. But men once defeated had neither the valour nor the spirit to stand against their conquerors.

> Latin: 19 Lacedaemonii periculo ciuitatis inpulsi habito inexercitati militis qualicumque dilectu obuiam hosti procedunt. sed uictis semel aduersum uictores obsistendi nec uirtus nec animus erat.

[¶19] When, therefore, the slaughter was being dealt out almost on one side only, suddenly King Agesilaus, summoned from Asia, came upon the war unexpectedly; he attacked the Thebans, who were already more elated and more slack from the success of a double victory, and overcame them without difficulty, especially since his forces were still almost intact. Agesilaus himself, however, was seriously wounded.

> Latin: 20 cum igitur caedes tantum unius paene partis ageretur, repente rex Agesilaus arcessitus ex Asia inprouisus bello superuenit; Thebanos iam successu duplicis uictoriae laetiores segnioresque adgreditur nec difficile superat, maxime cum adhuc apud ipsum paene integrae uires haberentur. ipse tamen Agesilaus grauiter uulneratur.

[¶20] But the Athenians, when they learned that the Lacedaemonians had been raised up by an unhoped-for victory, trembling with fear of their former slavery, from which they had then scarcely begun to breathe again, gathered an army and joined it to the Boeotians as an auxiliary force, entrusting it to the general Iphicrates, who, though very young — scarcely twenty years of age — fortified the weakness of his years with maturity of mind.

> Latin: 21 at uero Athenienses cum conperissent insperata Lacedaemonios uictoria subleuatos, pristinae seruitutis, de qua tunc respirare uix coeperant, trepidi metu exercitum contrahunt eumque Boeotiis in auxilium adiungunt, commissum Iphicrati duci, qui adulescens admodum, uixdum annos uiginti natus, infirmitatem aetatis maturitate animi muniebat.

[¶21] Conon too, an Athenian by birth but commander of the Persian army, on hearing of Agesilaus’s return, came back to ravage the lands of the Lacedaemonians. Thus the Spartans, shut in and terrified by the din of enemies resounding on every side, wasted away in almost utter despair.

> Latin: 22 Conon quoque, uir quidem Atheniensis, dux autem Persici exercitus, audito Agesilai reditu ad populandos Lacedaemoniorum agros reuertitur. ita Spartani, strepitu circumsonantium undique hostium clausi atque exterriti, ultima propemodum desperatione tabuerunt.

[¶22] But Conon, when he had sated himself with the wide devastation of the enemy’s soil, went on to Athens, himself sorrowful amid the greatest joy of the citizens, since he saw the city, once most splendidly adorned with people and refinement, now wasted by the wretched squalor of ruins and desolation.

> Latin: 23 sed Conon postquam uasta hostilis soli populatione satiatus est, Athenas pergit, in maximo gaudio ciuium ipse tristis, quippe cum uideret urbem populo quondam cultuque ornatissimam, nunc miserabili ruinarum ac desolationis squalore confectam.

[¶23] And so he wrought a great monument of piety and compassion in its restoration. For the city that the Lacedaemonians had emptied he refilled with the spoils of the Lacedaemonians, and the city burned by the Persians he rebuilt with the Persians as its builders.

> Latin: 24 itaque magnum pietatis miserationisque monumentum in reparatione eius operatus est. namque eam a Lacedaemoniis exinanitam Lacedaemoniorum praedis repleuit, Persis incendentibus concrematam Persis aedificantibus reformauit.

[¶24] Meanwhile Artaxerxes, king of the Persians, as was said at the beginning, commanded all the peoples of Greece through envoys to withdraw from arms and to acquiesce in peace: not because he was compassionately looking after their weariness, but so that, while he was occupied with wars in Egypt, no incursion might be attempted against his kingdom.

> Latin: 25 interea Artaxerxes rex Persarum, sicut principio dictum est, uniuersis Graeciae populis per legatos, ut ab armis discederent et paci adquiescerent, imperauit: non quia misericorditer fessis consuleret, sed ne se in Aegypto bellis occupato aliqua in regnum suum temptaretur inruptio.

## 43. Book 3 · Chapter 2

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/43/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/43/#p-N

[¶0] So, when all the Greeks had relaxed into the quiet they had so greatly longed for and were growing sluggish in leisure at home, the Lacedaemonians — restless rather than vigorous, and unbearable through fury rather than through valour — having laid their wars aside, attempted thefts of war.

> Latin: 1 Cunctis igitur Graecis optatissima quiete resolutis domesticoque otio torpentibus Lacedaemonii, inquieti magis quam strenui et furore potius quam uirtute intolerabiles, post bella deposita temptant furta bellorum.

[¶1] For, having watched for the absence of the Arcadians, they broke into a fortress of theirs in a sudden raid. The Arcadians, roused by the injury and joined by the help of the Thebans, sought back by war what they had lost by theft.

> Latin: 2 nam speculati absentiam Arcadum castellum eorum repentina inruptione perfringunt. Arcades uero exciti iniuria, iuncto sibi Thebanorum auxilio amissa furto bello repetunt.

[¶2] In that battle Archidamus, the general of the Lacedaemonians, was wounded, and when he saw his men being slaughtered as though already defeated, he asked through a herald for the bodies of the slain for burial: among the Greeks this is customarily held to be a sign that the victory has been surrendered.

> Latin: 3 in eo proelio Archidamus dux Lacedaemoniorum uulneratus cum iam caedi suos ut uictos uideret, occisorum corpora per praeconem ad sepulturam poposcit: quod signum uictoriae traditae inter Graecos haberi solet.

[¶3] The Thebans, content with this admission, gave the signal to spare them and put an end to the battle.

> Latin: 4 Thebani autem hac confessione contenti, dato parcendi signo, finem dedere certamini.

[¶4] Then, after a few days of truce had intervened and the Lacedaemonians had turned to other wars, the Thebans under their general Epaminondas grew confident of invading Lacedaemon, supposing it to be unguarded and abandoned. They came silently to Lacedaemon in the dead of night; but they did not find it as unwary or as undefended as they had supposed:

> Latin: 5 paucis deinde interuenientibus indutiarum diebus, Lacedaemoniis ad alia bella conuersis, Thebani cum Epaminonda duce de inuadenda Lacedaemona quasi secura et destituta cepere fiduciam. taciti intempesta nocte Lacedaemonam ueniunt; sed non ita incautam uel indefensam, sicut rebantur, offendunt:

[¶5] for the old men, armed, together with the rest of the crowd too old or too young for war, having learned in advance of the enemy’s approach, threw themselves into the very narrows of the gates, and scarcely a hundred men worn out with age burst out against fifteen thousand soldiers. While these were withstanding so great a mass of war, the young men arrived and resolved without hesitation to engage the Thebans in open battle.

> Latin: 6 armati enim senes cum reliqua turba inbellis aetatis, praecognito aduentu hostium, in ipsis se portarum angustiis obiecerunt et aduersus quindecim milia militum uix centum confecti aeuo homines proruperunt. his itaque tantam belli molem sustinentibus iuuentus superueniens congredi aduersus Thebanos aperto certamine incunctanter decreuit.

[¶6] Battle was joined, and as the Lacedaemonians were being defeated, suddenly Epaminondas, the general of the Thebans, fighting too incautiously, was wounded. Thereupon, while fear was born in the one side from grief and stupefaction in the other from joy, both sides withdrew as if by silent agreement.

> Latin: 7 commisso proelio cum Lacedaemonii uincerentur, repente Epaminondas dux Thebanorum incautius dimicans uulneratur. quare dum his ex dolore metus, illis ex gaudio stupor nascitur, veluti ex consensu tacito utrimque discessum est.

[¶7] Epaminondas, gravely wounded, when he had learned of his men’s victory and had kissed his shield, removed the hand with which he had closed the wound, and so opened a way out for his blood and a way in for death: and his death was followed by such a ruin of the Thebans that they seemed not to have lost their general but to have perished with him then themselves.

> Latin: 8 Epaminondas autem grauiter saucius cum de uictoria suorum conperisset scutumque exosculatus esset, remota manu, qua uulnus occluserat, egressum sanguinis ac mortis patefecit introitum: cuius mortem sic Thebanorum perditio subsecuta est, ut non perdidisse ducem sed ipsi cum eo tunc perisse uiderentur.

[¶8] I have woven an inextricable hurdle of tangled history, and, following hard on the heels of events in my words, I have entangled the uncertain cycles of wars waged this way and that in frenzied fury; for, as I see, I have written the more disorderly the more closely I have kept to the order.

> Latin: 9 Contexui indigestae historiae inextricabilem cratem atque incertos bellorum orbes huc et illuc lymphatico furore gestorum uerbis e uestigio secutus inplicui, quoniam tanto, ut uideo, inordinatius scripsi, quanto magis ordinem custodiui.

[¶9] The shameless greed of the Lacedaemonians for domination — among how many peoples, in what cities, in which provinces it stirred up what manner of hatreds, how many causes of conflict — who could set out by number, order or reckoning? For they themselves, too, are reported to have been afflicted no more by the wars than by the confusion of the wars:

> Latin: 10 improba dominandi Lacedaemoniorum cupiditas quantis populis, qualibus urbibus, quibus prouinciis cuiusmodi odiorum motus, quantas causas certaminum suscitarit, quis uel numero uel ordine uel ratione disponat? cum ipsi quoque non plus adflicti bellis quam bellorum confusione referantur:

[¶10] since this continuous war was drawn out through several generations, as Athenians, Lacedaemonians, Arcadians, Boeotians, Thebans, and finally Greece, Asia, Persia, and Egypt with Libya and the greatest islands waged conflicts by sea and land at once in indiscriminate forays. I could not relate the thousands of men slain, even if I were to count the wars.

> Latin: 11 siquidem tracto per aliquot aetates hoc continuo bello Athenienses Lacedaemonii Arcades Boeotii Thebani, postremo Graecia Asia Persis atque Aegyptos cum Libya insulisque maximis nauales simul pedestresque conflictus indiscretis egere discursibus. referre caesa hominum milia non possem, etiam si bella numerarem.

[¶11] But now let him decry these times and praise those, whoever does not know that all these peoples of those cities and provinces now grow old in nothing but games and theatres, just as then they wasted away above all in camps and battles.

> Latin: 12 At nunc increpet haec tempora atque illa conlaudet quicumque nescit hosce omnes istarum urbium prouinciarumque populos ita nunc in solis ludis ac theatris consenescere, sicuti tunc in castris maxime proeliisque tabuisse.

[¶12] That most flourishing city of the Lacedaemonians, which then aspired to the empire of the whole East, could scarcely muster a hundred old men; so beset was it by unceasing evils that it wretchedly spent its generations before their time:

> Latin: 13 florentissima illa et totius tunc imperium orientis adfectans Lacedaemoniorum ciuitas uix centum habere potuit senes; ita incessabilibus circumuenta malis inmaturas misere expendebat aetates:

[¶13] and men complain now, whose cities, filled with boys and old men, are enriched by the untroubled travels of their young men abroad and gain by peaceful pursuits the means of pleasure at home — unless perhaps, since all things present are wont to seem worthless to human fickleness, life itself is a weariness to those who itch for novelties in deed and in hearing.

> Latin: 14 et queruntur nunc homines, quorum refertae pueris et senibus ciuitates secura iuuenum peregrinatione ditantur pacificisque exercitiis stipendia domesticae uoluptatis adquirunt nisi forte - ut adsolent humanae mutabilitati omnia sordere praesentia - nouitates rerum actu audituque prurientibus ipsa etiam uita fastidio est.

## 44. Book 3 · Chapter 3

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/44/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/44/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 376 from the founding of the City all Achaea was shaken by a most violent earthquake, and two cities, namely Bura and Helice, were then swallowed up when the ground split open into chasms.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita CCCLXXVI saeuissimo terrae motu Achaia uniuersa concussa est et duae tunc ciuitates, id est Ebora et Helice, abruptis locorum hiatibus deuoratae.

*Note: Bura and Helice, on the Gulf of Corinth, destroyed by earthquake and tidal wave in 373 BC; Orosius writes Ebora for Bura.*

[¶1] But I, on the other hand, could now tell of similar things in our own days at Constantinople, now likewise the head of the nations — things foretold and done, but not brought to completion — when, after a terrible warning and a conscience that foreknew its own evil, the earth trembled, shaken from its very foundations below, and a flame poured out from heaven hung above, until God, entreated by the prayers of the emperor Arcadius and of the Christian people, averted the destruction that was at hand,

> Latin: 2 At ego nunc e contrario poteram similia in diebus nostris apud Constantinopolim, aeque modo principem gentium, praedicta et facta sed non perfecta narrare, cum post terribilem denuntiationem conscientiamque mali sui praesciam subter commota funditus terra tremeret et desuper fusa caelitus flamma penderet, donec orationibus Arcadii principis et populi Christiani praesentem perditionem Deus exoratus auerteret,

*Note: Augustine tells the same story of the fiery cloud that hung over Constantinople under Arcadius in his sermon On the Destruction of the City (De excidio urbis Romae).*

[¶2] proving that he alone is both the preserver of the humble and the punisher of the wicked. But let me grant it to modesty that these things be mentioned rather than set out at length, so that he who knows may recall them and he who does not may inquire.

> Latin: 3 probans se solum esse et conseruatorem humilium et punitorem malorum. sed haec ut commemorata sint magis quam explicita uerecundiae concesserim ut et qui scit recolat et qui nescit inquirat.

[¶3] Meanwhile the Romans, who for seventy years had been worn down, subdued and exhausted by continual wars with the city of the Volsci, and also with the Faliscans, the Aequi and the people of Sutrium, at last, in the days mentioned above, under the leadership of Camillus, captured these same cities and put an end to a conflict that kept reviving.

> Latin: 4 Interea Romani, qui per septuaginta annos ab urbe Vulscorum, praeterea Faliscorum Aequorum et Sutrinorum subacti et adtriti adsiduis bellis conficiebantur, tandem in supra scriptis diebus Camillo duce easdem cepere ciuitates et rediuiuo finem dedere certamini.

[¶4] At the same time, too, they defeated the Praenestines, who had advanced, fighting and slaughtering, right up to the gate of Rome, in a battle fought by Titus Quinctius at the river Allia.

> Latin: 5 Praenestinos etiam eodem tempore, qui usque ad portam Romae bellando et caedendo peruenerant, ad flumen Haliam T. Quintio pugnante uicerunt.

## 45. Book 3 · Chapter 4

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/45/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/45/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 384 from the founding of the City, in the consulship of Lucius Genucius and Quintus Servilius, a great pestilence seized all Rome:

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita CCCLXXXIIII L. Genucio et Q. Seruilio consulibus ingens uniuersam Romam pestilentia corripuit:

[¶1] not one of the kind in which, as usually happens, the tempering of the seasons, disturbed more or less than usual — that is, an untimely drought in winter, or a sudden heat in spring, or unseasonable moisture in summer, or the undigested allurement of a rich autumn, with, besides, a corrupting breath exhaled from the Calabrian forests — brings sudden passing attacks of acute illnesses;

> Latin: 2 non ut adsolet plus minusue solito temporum turbata temperies, hoc est aut intempestiua siccitas hiemis aut repentinus calor ueris aut incongruus umor aestatis uel autumni diuitis indigesta inlecebra, insuper etiam exspirata de Calabris saltibus aura corrumpens, repentinos acutarum infirmitatum adferre transcursus;

[¶2] but a grievous and long-lasting one, sparing neither sex and making no difference of age, which wore down everyone continuously for two years with a general wasting, so that even those whom it did not drive to death it left emptied and afflicted by a shameful emaciation.

> Latin: 3 sed grauis diuturnaque in nullo dispar sexu, in nulla aetate dissimilis generali cunctos per biennium iugiter tabe confecit, ut etiam quos non egit in mortem, turpi macie exinanitos adflictosque dimiserit.

[¶3] At this point, I suppose, the detractors of the Christian times would complain if I were perhaps to pass over in silence the ceremonies by which the Romans then appeased the gods and allayed the diseases.

> Latin: 4 conquererentur hoc, ut arbitror, loco obtrectatores temporis Christiani, si forte silentio praeterierim, quibus tunc caerimoniis Romani placauerint deos et sedauerint morbos.

[¶4] When the pestilence grew fiercer day by day, the pontiffs took the lead in urging that stage plays be put on, as the gods demanded. Thus, to drive off a temporal plague of the body, a perpetual disease of the soul was summoned.

> Latin: 5 cum pestilentia in dies crudesceret, auctores suasere pontifices, ut ludi scaenici diis expetentibus ederentur. ita pro depellenda temporali peste corporum arcessitus est perpetuus morbus animorum.

[¶5] This is indeed a rich occasion now for my grief and reproach; but in this matter, in which your Reverence has already exercised your zeal for wisdom and truth, it is not right for me to venture anything. Let it be enough for me to have given a reminder, and to have referred the reader, whatever his purpose, to the fullness of that work.

> Latin: 6 uber nunc quidem mihi iste doloris atque increpationis locus est, sed, in quo iam reuerentia tua studium sapientiae et ueritatis exercuit, mihi super eo audere fas non est. commonuisse me satis sit et ex qualibet intentione lectorem ad illius lectionis plenitudinem remisisse.

*Note: The addressee is Augustine, who discusses the stage plays introduced to end this plague in the City of God (1.32).*

## 46. Book 3 · Chapter 5

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/46/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/46/#p-N

[¶0] This wretched plague and its more wretched expiation were followed in the next year by a portent grim enough. For suddenly the earth burst apart in the middle of the City, and through a vast chasm the gaping underworld was all at once laid open.

> Latin: 1 Sequitur hanc miseram luem miserioremque eius expiationem proximo anno satis triste prodigium. repente siquidem medio urbis terra dissiluit, uastoque praeruptu hiantia subito inferna patuerunt.

[¶1] The shameless cavern remained for a long time, its abyss lying open, to the gaze and terror of all, and, as the gods’ interpreters declared, it demanded the unspeakable burial of a living man.

> Latin: 2 manebat diu ad spectaculum terroremque cunctorum patenti uoragine inpudens specus nefariamque uiui hominis sepulturam diis interpretibus expetebat.

[¶2] Marcus Curtius, a knight, in arms, satisfied those wicked jaws by hurling himself in, and cast to the cruel earth a meagre surfeit — an earth for which it was too little to receive through tombs the dead of so great a pestilence, unless, split open, it also swallowed the living.

> Latin: 3 satisfecit inprobis faucibus praecipitio sui M. Curtius, uir eques armatus, iniecitque crudeli terrae inopimam satietatem, cui parum esset, quod ex tanta pestilentia mortuos per sepulchra susciperet, nisi etiam uiuos scissa sorberet.

## 47. Book 3 · Chapter 6

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/47/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/47/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 388 from the founding of the City a terrible flood of Gauls once again settled by the river Anio, at the fourth milestone from the City, and would without doubt have easily seized the panic-stricken city through the weight of its numbers and the eagerness of its courage, had it not grown sluggish through idleness and slowness.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita CCCLXXXVIII iterum terribilis Gallorum inundatio iuxta Anienem fluuium ad quartum ab urbe lapidem consedit, facile sine dubio pondere multitudinis et alacritate uirtutis perturbatam occupatura ciuitatem, nisi otio et lentitudine torpuisset.

[¶1] There Manlius Torquatus began a most savage fight in single combat, and the dictator Titus Quinctius finished it in a most bloody engagement. Very many of the Gauls, put to flight in this battle, rushed into war again with their forces renewed and were overcome by the dictator Gaius Sulpicius.

> Latin: 2 ubi atrocissimam pugnam Manlius Torquatus singulariter inchoauit, T. Quintius dictator cruentissima congressione confecit. fugati ex hoc proelio plurimi Galli, instauratis iterum copiis in bellum ruentes a C. Sulpicio dictatore superati sunt.

[¶2] A little afterwards, too, there followed a battle with the Etruscans under Gaius Marcius: how many men were slain in it may be guessed from the fact that eight thousand Etruscans were taken prisoner.

> Latin: 3 post paululum quoque Tuscorum pugna sub C. Marcio consecuta est: ubi conici datur quantum hominum caesum sit, quando octo milia sunt capta Tuscorum.

[¶3] In these same days, for a third time, the Gauls spread out for plunder from the Alban hills through the coastal districts and the plains below; against them, after a new levy of soldiers had been held and ten legions enrolled, sixty thousand Romans went out, the Latins having refused them their help.

> Latin: 4 Tertio autem in isdem diebus Galli se in praedam per maritima loca subiectosque campos ab Albanis montibus diffuderunt; aduersum quos, nouo militum dilectu habito conscriptisque legionibus decem, LX milia Romanorum, negatis sibi Latinorum auxiliis, processerunt.

[¶4] Marcus Valerius finished this battle with the help of a raven, from which he was afterwards called Corvinus. For when the Gaul who had issued the challenge was killed, the enemy, terrified and fleeing in all directions, were cut down with heavy slaughter.

> Latin: 5 confecit hanc pugnam M. Valerius, auxiliante coruo alite, unde postea Coruinus est dictus. occiso enim prouocatore Gallo, hostes territi sparsimque fugientes grauiter trucidati sunt.

## 48. Book 3 · Chapter 7

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/48/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/48/#p-N

[¶0] I think that I should also count among the evils that first treaty struck with the Carthaginians, which belongs to these same times; especially since from it arose evils so grievous that they seem to have begun from that moment.

> Latin: 1 Numerandum etiam inter mala censeo primum illud ictum cum Carthaginiensibus foedus, quod isdem temporibus fuit; praesertim ex quo tam grauia orta sunt mala, ut exim coepisse uideantur.

*Note: In fact the second treaty between Rome and Carthage (348 BC); Polybius (3.22) records an earlier one dated to the first year of the Republic.*

[¶1] For in the year 402 from the founding of the City envoys were sent from Carthage to Rome and concluded a treaty.

> Latin: 2 anno siquidem ab urbe condita CCCCII legati a Carthagine Romam missi sunt foedusque pepigerunt.

[¶2] That this entry of the Carthaginians into Italy would be followed by a hailstorm of evils and an unbroken darkness of continual miseries is attested by the faithful record of the histories, by the ill fame of places, and by the abhorrence of the days on which these things were done.

> Latin: 3 quem ingressum Carthaginiensium in Italiam malorum grandinem secuturam continuarumque miseriarum tenebras iuges historiarum fides locorumque infamia et abominatio dierum, quibus ea gesta sunt, protestantur.

[¶3] At that time, too, night was seen to stretch over the greater part of the day, and a stony hail falling from the clouds pelted the earth with real stones.

> Latin: 4 Tunc etiam nox usque ad plurimam diei partem tendi uisa est et saxea de nubibus grando descendens ueris terram lapidibus uerberauit.

[¶4] In these days, too, was born Alexander the Great, truly a whirlpool of miseries and the most savage whirlwind of the whole East.

> Latin: 5 Quibus diebus etiam Alexander Magnus, uere ille gurges miseriarum atque atrocissimus turbo totius orientis, est natus.

[¶5] At that time, too, Ochus, also called Artaxerxes, after carrying through a very great and long war in Egypt, deported a great many of the Jews and ordered them to live in Hyrcania by the Caspian Sea:

> Latin: 6 Tunc etiam Ochus, qui et Artaxerxes, post transactum in Aegypto maximum diuturnumque bellum plurimos Iudaeorum in transmigrationem egit atque in Hyrcania ad Caspium mare habitare praecepit:

[¶6] and it is believed that they remain there to this very day, their race greatly increased, and that they will one day break out from there.

> Latin: 7 quos ibi usque in hodiernum diem amplissimis generis sui incrementis consistere atque exim quandoque erupturos opinio est.

[¶7] In the storm of this same war, as he passed through, he also destroyed Sidon, the wealthiest city of the province of Phoenicia; and Egypt — though he had previously been defeated there — he then subdued, crushed it with the sword, and subjected it to the rule of the Persians.

> Latin: 8 cuius etiam belli tempestate transcurrens et Sidonam opulentissimam Phoenicis prouinciae urbem deleuit et Aegyptum, quamuis prius uictus, tunc tamen subactam comminutamque ferro Persarum subiecit imperio.

## 49. Book 3 · Chapter 8

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/49/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/49/#p-N

[¶0] From this point onward the Romans at once undertook wars against the Samnites, a people strong in wealth and arms, on behalf of the Campanians and the Sidicini. The Samnite war, waged with doubtful fortune, was taken up in turn by Pyrrhus, perhaps the greatest enemy of the Roman name; the war with Pyrrhus was soon followed by the Punic war:

> Latin: 1 Iam hinc statim a Romanis aduersum Samnitas, gentem opibus armisque ualidam, pro Campanis et Sedicinis bella suscepta sunt. Samniticum bellum ancipiti statu gestum Pyrrhus uel maximus Romani nominis hostis excepit; Pyrrhi bellum mox Punicum consecutum est:

[¶1] and although the gates of Janus, always standing open, show that there was never any respite from the disasters of wars after the death of Numa, yet from then on, as if at midday, the heat of evils, pressing down over the whole sky, glowed white-hot.

> Latin: 2 et quamuis numquam post mortem Numae a bellorum cladibus fuisse cessatum patentes semper Iani portae indicent, ex eo tamen ueluti per meridiem toto inpressus caelo malorum feruor incanduit.

[¶2] Further, once the Punic war had begun, whether wars, slaughters, ruins and every kind of unspeakable death ever ceased before the reign of Caesar Augustus — let whoever thinks the Christian times deserve to be defamed inquire, find out, and declare.

> Latin: 3 porro autem, inchoato semel bello Punico utrum aliquando bella caedes ruinae atque omnia infandarum mortium genera nisi Caesare Augusto imperante cessauerint, inquirat inueniat prodat quisquis infamanda Christiana tempora putat.

[¶3] Except, however, that between the Punic wars, in the passing of a single year, like a bird flying by, the Romans — because the gates of Janus were closed — were so enticed, amid the fevers and diseases of the commonwealth, by this briefest sign of peace, as by a very slight draught of cold water, that, growing hot again for the worse, they were afflicted much more grievously and violently.

> Latin: 4 absque illo tamen inter bella Punica unius anni ueluti auis praeteruolantis excursu Romani propter clausas Iani portas inter febres morbosque reipublicae ad hoc breuissimo pacis signo uelut tenuissimo aquae gelidae haustu inlecti sunt, ut in peius recalescentes multo grauius uehementiusque adflictarentur.

[¶4] But if it is established beyond all doubt that it was under Augustus Caesar first, after the peace with Parthia, that the whole world laid down its arms, abolished its discords, was settled in a general peace and a new quiet, and obeyed Roman laws; that it preferred Roman jurisdiction to its own arms and, spurning its own leaders, chose Roman judges;

> Latin: 5 At uero, si indubitatissime constat sub Augusto primum Caesare post Parthicam pacem uniuersum terrarum orbem positis armis abolitisque discordiis generali pace et noua quiete conpositum Romanis paruisse legibus, Romana iura quam propria arma maluisse spretisque ducibus suis iudices elegisse Romanos,

[¶5] and finally that all nations, all provinces, innumerable cities, countless peoples, and all lands had a single will — to serve peace with free and honourable zeal and to take counsel for the common good — something that previously not even a single city, or a single people of citizens, or, what is more, a single household of brothers had been able to maintain without interruption;

> Latin: 6 postremo omnibus gentibus, cunctis prouinciis, innumeris ciuitatibus, infinitis populis, totis terris unam fuisse uoluntatem libero honestoque studio inseruire paci atque in commune consulere - quod prius ne una quidem ciuitas unusue populus ciuium uel, quod maius est, una domus fratrum iugiter habere potuisset -;

[¶6] and if, moreover, since these things came about while Caesar held power, it is made manifest by the clearest proof that it was in the very reign of Caesar that the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ shone forth in this world:

> Latin: 7 quodsi etiam, cum imperante Caesare ista prouenerint, in ipso imperio Caesaris inluxisse ortum in hoc mundo Domini nostri Iesu Christi liquidissima probatione manifestum est:

[¶7] then those whom envy drove to blasphemy will be compelled, however unwillingly, to recognize and confess that this peace of the whole world and its most tranquil serenity came about not through the greatness of Caesar but through the power of the Son of God, who appeared in the days of Caesar; and that the world itself, in a general recognition, obeyed not the emperor of a single city but the creator of the whole world, who, as the rising sun floods the day with light, so at his coming mercifully clothed the world in an outspread peace. This will be set out more fully when, the Lord himself bringing it to pass, we have come to that point.

> Latin: 8 inuiti licet illi, quos in blasphemiam urguebat inuidia, cognoscere faterique cogentur, pacem istam totius mundi et tranquillissimam serenitatem non magnitudine Caesaris sed potestate filii Dei, qui in diebus Caesaris apparuit, exstitisse nec unius urbis imperatori sed creatori orbis uniuersi orbem ipsum generali cognitione paruisse, qui, sicut sol oriens diem luce perfundit, ita adueniens misericorditer extenta mundum pace uestierit. quod plenius, cum ad id ipso perficiente Domino uentum fuerit, proferetur.

## 50. Book 3 · Chapter 9

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/50/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/50/#p-N

[¶0] So, in the year 409 from the founding of the City, in the consulship of Manlius Torquatus and Decius Mus, the Romans made war on the Latins, who had rebelled. In this war one consul was killed, and the other became a parricide.

> Latin: 1 Igitur anno ab urbe condita CCCCVIIII Romani bellum Latinis rebellantibus intulerunt Manlio Torquato et Decio Mure consulibus. in quo bello unus consul interfectus est, alter exstitit parricida.

[¶1] For Manlius Torquatus put to death his own son, a young man, a victor, the slayer of Maecius of Tusculum, a noble horseman and at that time an enemy who was especially provoking and taunting them.

> Latin: 2 Manlius enim Torquatus filium suum, iuuenem, uictorem, interfectoremque Maecii Tusculani, nobilis equitis et tum praecipue prouocantis atque insultantis hostis, occidit.

[¶2] The other consul, when in a renewed engagement he saw the wing he commanded being slaughtered and crushed, rushed of his own accord into the thickest of the enemy and fell.

> Latin: 3 alius uero consul cum iterato conflictu illud cornu, cui praeerat, caedi atque adfligi uideret, in confertissimos hostes sponte prolapsus occubuit.

[¶3] Manlius, though the victor, did not earn — a parricide in triumph — the procession of the noble Roman youths coming out to meet him, which is customarily offered.

> Latin: 4 Manlius quamuis uictor occursum tamen nobilium iuuenum Romanorum, qui legitime exhiberi solet, triumphans parricida non meruit.

[¶4] In the year following this, Minucia, a Vestal Virgin, was condemned for having committed unchastity and was buried alive in the field that is now called the Accursed Field.

> Latin: 5 Anno autem post hunc subsequente Minucia uirgo Vestalis ob admissum incestum damnata est uiuaque obruta in campo, qui nunc sceleratus uocatur.

## 51. Book 3 · Chapters 10–11

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/51/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/51/#p-N

### Chapter 10

[¶1] But after only a short interval — I shudder to relate what was done. For in the consulship of Claudius Marcellus and Valerius Flaccus the matrons of Rome blazed up with an incredible frenzy and love of crime.

> Latin: 1 At uero paruo exim tempore interiecto horresco referre quod gestum est. nam Claudio Marcello et Valerio Flacco consulibus incredibili rabie et amore scelerum Romanae matronae exarserunt.

[¶2] It was, to be sure, a foul and pestilential year, and the dead, struck down on every side, were being carried out in droves; and still everyone held the simple belief that the air was corrupted, when, on the information and proof of a certain slave-girl, first many matrons were compelled to drink the poisons they had brewed, and then, as soon as they had drunk them, perished.

> Latin: 2 erat utique foedus ille ac pestilens annus inflictaeque iam undique cateruatim strages egerebantur et adhuc tamen penes omnes de corrupto aere simplex credulitas erat, cum, exsistente quadam ancilla indice et conuincente, primum multae matronae ut biberent quae coxerant uenena compulsae, deinde, simul atque hausere, consumptae sunt.

[¶3] So great was the number of matrons party to these crimes that 370 of them are reported to have been condemned at one time.

> Latin: 3 tanta autem multitudo fuit matronarum in his facinoribus consciarum, ut trecentae septuaginta damnatae ex illis simul fuisse referantur.

*Note: Livy (8.18) gives 170 matrons condemned; Orosius’s figure is 370.*

### Chapter 11

[¶5] In the year 422 from the founding of the City, Alexander, king of the Epirotes, uncle of the famous Alexander the Great, brought his forces over into Italy; and while he was preparing war against the Romans and, eager to strengthen the forces of his army around the cities neighbouring Rome and either to win allies for himself or draw them away from his enemies, was busy with wars, he was defeated and killed in a very great battle in Lucania by the Samnites, who were supporting the Lucanian people.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita CCCCXXII Alexander rex Epirotarum, Alexandri illius Magni auunculus, traiectis in Italiam copiis cum bellum aduersus Romanos pararet et circa finitimas Romae urbes firmare uires exercitus sui auxiliaque uel sibi adquirere uel hostibus subtrahere studens bellis exerceretur, a Samnitibus, qui Lucanae genti suffragabantur, maximo bello in Lucania uictus atque occisus est.

*Note: Alexander the Molossian was killed near Pandosia in Bruttium about 331 BC by the Lucanians and Bruttians (Livy 8.24), as Orosius himself says at 3.18.3; the Samnites here, and the Sabines at 3.14.4, are mistakes.*

[¶6] But since I have advanced somewhat in reviewing the disasters of the Romans, I shall — reminded, too, by the mention of this Alexander — go back a very few years and, so far as I can, gather great matters into small compass concerning Philip, king of the Macedonians, who had as his wife Olympias, sister of this Alexander of Epirus, by whom he fathered Alexander the Great.

> Latin: 2 Sed, quoniam aliquantum Romanas clades recensendo progressus sum, uel Alexandri istius mentione commonitus, de Philippo Macedonum rege, qui Olympiadem huius Alexandri Epirotae sororem uxorem habuit, ex qua Alexandrum Magnum genuit, paucissimis annis retro repetitis magna paruis in quantum potero colligam.

## 52. Book 3 · Chapter 12

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/52/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/52/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 400 from the founding of the City, Philip, son of Amyntas and father of Alexander, obtained the kingdom of the Macedonians and held it for twenty-five years, during which he piled up all these heaps of bitterness and all these masses of evils.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita CCCC Philippus Amyntae filius, Alexandri pater, regnum Macedonum adeptus XXV annis tenuit, quibus hos omnes acerbitatum aceruos cunctasque malorum moles struxit.

[¶1] He was first given as a hostage to the Thebans by his brother Alexander, and for three years was educated in the house of Epaminondas, a most vigorous commander and a supreme philosopher.

> Latin: 2 hic primum ab Alexandro fratre obses Thebanis datus, per triennium apud Epaminondam strenuissimum imperatorem et summum philosophum eruditus est.

[¶2] When Alexander himself had been killed through the crime of their mother Eurydice — though she had already committed adultery, had first killed another of her sons, and, robbing her daughter of a husband, had contracted marriage with her son-in-law at the price of her own husband’s death — Philip, compelled by the people, took up the kingdom, which he had been guarding for the little son of his murdered brother.

> Latin: 3 ipso autem Alexandro scelere Eurydices matris occiso, quamuis ea iam commisso adulterio et altero primum filio interfecto filiaque uiduata generi nuptias mariti morte pepigisset, conpulsus a populo regnum, quod paruo occisi fratris filio tuebatur, suscepit.

[¶3] Harassed abroad by the onset of enemies rising up on every side, and at home by fear of plots often detected, he waged his first war against the Athenians.

> Latin: 4 qui cum foris concursu exsurgentium undique hostium, domi autem deprehensarum saepe insidiarum metu fatigaretur, primum bellum cum Atheniensibus gessit.

[¶4] When they had been defeated, he turned his arms against the Illyrians, and, having slaughtered many thousands of the enemy, captured the most famous city of Larissa.

> Latin: 5 quibus uictis arma ad Illyrios transtulit multisque milibus hostium trucidatis Larissam urbem nobilissimam cepit.

*Note: Larissa is in Thessaly, not Illyria; Orosius compresses Justin’s account of Philip’s early campaigns.*

[¶5] From there he invaded Thessaly, not so much from love of victory as from ambition to possess the Thessalian cavalry, so that he might mix their strength into his own army.

> Latin: 6 inde Thessaliam non magis amore uictoriae quam ambitione habendorum equitum Thessalorum, quorum robur ut exercitui suo admisceret, inuasit.

[¶6] Thus, having taken the Thessalians unawares and brought them under his power, by joining together the bravest squadrons of horse and forces of foot he made his army invincible.

> Latin: 7 ita Thessalis ex inprouiso praeoccupatis atque in potestatem redactis, iungendo equitum peditumque fortissimas turmas et copias inuictissimum fecit exercitum.

[¶7] So, after defeating the Athenians and subjugating the Thessalians, he married Olympias, sister of Arybbas, king of the Molossians. Arybbas, thinking that he would enlarge his own dominion by allying himself with the Macedonians through kinship with their king, was deceived by this very thing and lost it, and grew old as a private man in exile.

> Latin: 8 igitur uictis Atheniensibus subiectisque Thessalis Olympiadem Arubae regis Molossorum sororem duxit uxorem. qui Aruba cum per hoc, quod societatem Macedonum adfinitate regis paciscebatur, imperium suum se dilataturum putaret, per hoc deceptus amisit priuatusque in exilio consenuit.

*Note: Olympias was the daughter of Neoptolemus of Epirus; Arybbas was her uncle and guardian, not her brother.*

[¶8] Then Philip, while besieging the city of Methone, lost an eye to the blow of an arrow. The city itself, however, he soon stormed and took.

> Latin: 9 deinde Philippus, cum Mothonam urbem oppugnaret, ictu sagittae oculum perdidit. ipsam uero urbem mox expugnauit et cepit.

[¶9] Next, having outwitted almost all Greece by his schemes, he subdued it by force. For while the cities of Greece each desired to rule, they all lost their rule; and while they rushed without measure to one another’s destruction, only when at last overwhelmed and enslaved did they realize that what each lost singly was lost to all.

> Latin: 10 Exim Graeciam prope totam consiliis praeuentam uiribus domuit. quippe Graeciae ciuitates dum imperare singulae cupiunt, imperium omnes perdiderunt et dum in mutuum exitium sine modo ruunt, omnibus perire quod singulae amitterent oppressae demum seruientesque senserunt.

[¶10] While Philip watched their mad dealings as from a watchtower and, a cunning craftsman of deceit, fomented their contentions — the kindling of wars — by always offering help to the weaker side, he subjected conquered and conquerors alike to himself.

> Latin: 11 quarum dum insanas conuersationes Philippus ueluti e specula obseruat auxiliumque semper inferioribus suggerendo contentiones, bellorum fomites, callidus doli artifex fouet, uictos sibi pariter uictoresque subiecit.

[¶11] The opportunity of obtaining domination over all Greece was given him by the immoderate domination of the Thebans, who, having defeated the Lacedaemonians and the Phocians and worn them out with slaughter and plunder, and having moreover burdened them in the common council of Greece with a fine so great that they could in no way pay it, forced them to take refuge in arms.

> Latin: 12 huic autem ad obtinendam totius Graeciae dominationem immoderata Thebanorum dominatio facultatem dedit, qui uictos Lacedaemonios ac Phocenses, caedibus etiam rapinisque confectos, cum insuper in communi Graeciae concilio tanta pecuniae multa onerauissent, quantam illi soluere nullo modo possent, ad arma confugere coegerunt.

[¶12] And so the Phocians, under the leadership of Philomelus and supported by the auxiliaries of the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians, joined battle, routed the enemy, and took the camp of the Thebans. In the following battle, amid immense slaughter on both sides, Philomelus was killed; in his place the Phocians made Onomarchus their general.

> Latin: 13 itaque Phocenses Philomelo duce et auxiliis Lacedaemoniorum Atheniensiumque fulti commissa pugna fugatisque hostibus Thebanorum castra ceperunt. sequenti proelio inter inmensas utriusque populi strages Philomelus occisus est; in cuius locum Phocenses Oenomaum ducem creauerunt.

*Note: Onomarchus, Philomelus’s successor as Phocian general; Orosius (with Justin) writes Oenomaus.*

[¶13] Next, the Thebans and Thessalians, passing over a levy of their own citizens, of their own accord sought as their general Philip, king of Macedonia, whom earlier they had laboured to repel as an enemy. Battle was joined, the Phocians were cut down almost to extermination, and the victory went to Philip.

> Latin: 14 Porro autem Thebani et Thessali omisso dilectu ciuium Philippum Macedoniae regem, quem hostem prius repellere laborabant, ultro sibi ducem expetiuerunt. commisso proelio et Phocensibus paene ad internecionem caesis uictoria ad Philippum concessit.

[¶14] But the Athenians, on hearing the outcome of the war, occupied the pass of Thermopylae, so that Philip should not cross into Greece, on the same principle as they had once done against the approaching Persians.

> Latin: 15 sed Athenienses audito belli euentu, ne Philippus transiret in Graeciam, angustias Thermopylarum pari ratione sicut aduentantibus antea Persis occupauere.

[¶15] So when Philip saw that he was shut out from entry into Greece by the blocking of Thermopylae, he turned the war he had prepared against his enemies upon his allies: for the cities whose general he had been shortly before, and which lay open to congratulate and receive him, he invaded like an enemy and cruelly plundered;

> Latin: 16 Igitur Philippus ubi exclusum se ab ingressu Graeciae praestructis Thermopylis uidet, paratum in hostes bellum uertit in socios: nam ciuitates, quarum paulo ante dux fuerat, ad gratulandum ac suscipiendum patentes hostiliter inuadit, crudeliter diripit,

[¶16] and, utterly abolishing all sense of alliance, he sold the wives and children of all of them into slavery, and overturned and despoiled all the temples as well; and yet never in twenty-five years was he defeated, as though by angry gods.

> Latin: 17 omnique societatis conscientia penitus abolita coniuges liberosque omnium sub corona uendidit, templa quoque uniuersa subuertit spoliauitque, nec tamen umquam per XXV annos quasi iratis dis uictus est.

[¶17] After this he crossed into Cappadocia and there waged war with equal treachery; he killed the neighbouring kings, whom he had captured by guile, and subjected all Cappadocia to the rule of Macedonia.

> Latin: 18 post haec in Cappadociam transiit ibique bellum pari perfidia gessit, captos per dolum finitimos reges interfecit totamque Cappadociam imperio Macedoniae subdidit.

*Note: Philip never campaigned in Cappadocia; Orosius takes the name from Justin, whose text is mistaken here.*

[¶18] Then, after the slaughter, burnings and plunderings carried out in allied cities, he turned to parricide against his brothers: fearing them, born to his father of his stepmother, as co-heirs of the kingdom, he set about killing them.

> Latin: 19 inde post caedes incendia depraedationesque in sociis urbibus gestas parricidia in fratres conuertit, quos patri ex nouerca genitos cum coheredes regni uereretur, interficere adgressus est.

[¶19] When he had killed one of them, the other two fled to Olynthus: Philip soon attacked this most ancient and flourishing city as an enemy, filled it with slaughter and blood, emptied it of wealth and men, and also dragged out his brothers and gave them over to punishment and death.

> Latin: 20 cum autem unum ex his occidisset, duo in Olynthum confugerunt: quam mox Philippus hostiliter adgressus urbem antiquissimam et florentissimam, caedibus ac sanguine repletam opibus hominibusque uacuauit, abstractos etiam fratres supplicio et neci dedit.

[¶20] Then, elated by the destruction of his allies and the murder of his brothers, and thinking that everything he had conceived was permitted him, he seized the gold-bearing districts in Thessaly and the silver mines in Thrace, and, so as to leave no law human or divine unviolated, having taken possession of the sea and dispersed his fleet, he also took up the practice of piracy.

> Latin: 21 dein cum, excidio sociorum et parricidio fratrum elatus, licere sibi omnia quae cogitauisset putaret, auraria loca in Thessalia et argenti metalla in Thracia inuasit ac, ne quod ius uel fas inuiolatum praetermitteret, praeoccupato mari et classe dispersa piraticam quoque exercere instituit.

[¶21] Moreover, when two brothers, kings of Thrace, quarrelling about the boundaries of their kingdom, had by common consent chosen him as their judge, Philip, true to his character, came to the judgement as if to a war, with an army drawn up, and deprived the unsuspecting young men of life and kingdom.

> Latin: 22 praeterea, cum eum fratres duo Thraciae reges de regni terminis ambigentes iudicem ex consensu praeoptauissent, Philippus more ingenii sui ad iudicium tamquam ad bellum cum instructo exercitu ingressus inscios iuuenes uita regnoque priuauit.

[¶22] The Athenians, who had earlier repelled Philip’s entry by fortifying Thermopylae, now of their own accord sought peace with him, and so alerted that most deceitful enemy to the neglect of the guard on the pass.

> Latin: 23 Athenienses uero, qui prius Philippi ingressum Thermopylarum munitione reppulerant, ultro pacem eius expetentes fraudulentissimum hostem de neglecta introitus custodia commonuerunt.

[¶23] The other cities of Greece too, so that they might devote themselves more intently to civil wars, under the guise of peace and treaty voluntarily subjected themselves to foreign domination,

> Latin: 24 ceterae etiam Graeciae ciuitates ut intentius ciuilibus bellis uacarent, sub specie pacis et foederis sponte se externae dominationi subiecerunt,

[¶24] especially since the Thessalians and Boeotians were demanding that Philip show himself the general he had professed to be against the Phocians and carry on the war he had undertaken, while the Phocians, with the Athenians and Lacedaemonians on their side, were striving by bribes and entreaties to have the war either postponed or called off.

> Latin: 25 maxime cum Thessali Boeotiique poscerent Philippum, ut professum se aduersum Phocenses ducem exhiberet susceptumque bellum gereret, contra Phocenses adhibitis secum Atheniensibus et Lacedaemoniis uel differri bellum uel auferri et pretio et precibus laborarent.

[¶25] Philip secretly promised opposite things to both: to the Phocians he confirmed by oath that he would grant peace and pardon, while to the Thessalians he pledged that he would soon be there with an army; yet he forbade both sides to prepare for war.

> Latin: 26 Philippus tacite utrisque diuersa promisit, Phocensibus pacem et ueniam se daturum sacramento confirmans, Thessalis uero adfuturum se mox cum exercitu spondet, bellum tamen ab utrisque parari uetat.

[¶26] So Philip, with his forces drawn up, entered the pass of Thermopylae without hindrance, occupied it, posted garrisons and fortified it.

> Latin: 27 igitur Philippus instructis copiis angustias Thermopylarum securus ingreditur easque occupatas dispositis praesidiis emunit.

[¶27] Then for the first time not the Phocians alone but all Greece realized that it had been captured: for Philip, breaking faith and trampling on his oath, gave the Phocians over first to unspeakable butchery, and then, ravaging the cities and territories of all, by his bloody presence brought it about that he was feared even when absent.

> Latin: 28 tunc primum se non Phocenses soli, sed omnis Graecia captam esse persensit: siquidem primos Phocenses Philippus rupta fide calcatoque sacramento infandae dilacerationi dedit, inde omnium urbes finesque populatus cruenta praesentia effecit, ut etiam absens timeretur.

[¶28] When he returned to his kingdom, after the manner of shepherds who drive their flocks now through summer and now through winter pastures, he moved peoples and cities about at his pleasure, as it seemed to him that each place should be filled or abandoned.

> Latin: 29 ubi uero in regnum redit, more pastorum, qui pecora sua nunc per aestiuos nunc per hibernos saltus circumducunt, populos et urbes, ut illi replenda uel relinquenda quaeque loca uidebantur, ad libidinem suam transfert.

[¶29] Everywhere a pitiable sight met the eye, and the most savage kind of misery: to suffer destruction without invasion, captivity without war, exile without crime, subjection without a conqueror.

> Latin: 30 miseranda ubique facies et atrocissimum miseriarum genus obuersabatur, perpeti excidium sine inruptione, sine bello captiuitatem, sine crimine exilium, sine uictore dominatum.

[¶30] Amid the goads of these injuries a dread poured over them weighed the wretched down, and their grief grew through its very concealment, sinking the deeper the less those who were afraid were allowed to declare it, lest even their tears be taken for defiance.

> Latin: 31 premit miseros inter iniuriarum stimulos superfusus pauor ipsaque dissimulatione dolor crescit hoc altius demissus quo minus profiteri licet timentium, ne ipsae quoque lacrimae pro contumacia accipiantur.

[¶31] Some peoples, torn from their homes, he set against the territories of his enemies; others he settled on the farthest borders of his kingdom; some, out of jealousy of their strength, lest they be able to do what they were believed able to do, he split up to make up the numbers of depleted cities.

> Latin: 32 alios populos, auulsos a sedibus suis, finibus hostium opponit; alios in extremis regni terminis statuit; quosdam aemulatione uirium, ne possint quod posse creduntur, in supplemento exhaustarum urbium diuidit.

[¶32] Thus that once most glorious body of flourishing Greece, its liberty first extinguished, fell apart into many torn fragments.

> Latin: 33 ita gloriosissimum illud quondam florentis Graeciae corpus in multas laceratasque particulas exstincta primum libertate concidit.

## 53. Book 3 · Chapter 13

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/53/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/53/#p-N

[¶0] But when he had practised these things on a number of the cities of Greece and yet held all of them down by fear, judging the wealth of all from the plunder of a few, and reckoning that a maritime city was necessary, as a useful source of gain, for completing an equal devastation over all, he judged Byzantium, a famous city, most suitable to become his base by land and sea; and when it resisted, he at once surrounded it with a siege.

> Latin: 1 Sed haec cum per aliquantas Graeciae ciuitates exercuisset et tamen omnes metu premeret, coniciens ex praeda paucorum opes omnium, ad perficiendam aequalem in uniuersis uastationem utili emolumento necessariam maritimam urbem ratus, Byzantium, nobilem ciuitatem, aptissimam iudicauit, ut receptaculum sibi terra marique fieret, eamque obsistentem ilico obsidione cinxit.

[¶1] This Byzantium, founded long ago by Pausanias, king of the Spartans, and afterwards enlarged by Constantine, the Christian emperor, and called Constantinople, is now the seat of a most glorious empire and the head of the whole East.

> Latin: 2 haec autem Byzantium quondam a Pausania rege Spartanorum condita, post autem a Constantino Christiano principe in maius aucta et Constantinopolis dicta, gloriosissimi nunc imperii sedes et totius caput orientis est.

*Note: Byzantium was a Megarian colony of the seventh century BC. Pausanias, the Spartan regent (not king), only captured it from the Persians in 478 BC; Orosius follows Justin.*

[¶2] Philip, after a long and fruitless siege, took to piracy, so as to recover by plunder the money he had exhausted in besieging. And so he captured and sold off 170 ships laden with merchandise, and relieved his gasping want with a little refreshment.

> Latin: 3 Philippus uero post longam et inritam obsidionem, ut pecuniam quam obsidendo exhauserat praedando repararet, piraticam adgressus est. captas itaque CLXX naues mercibus confertas distraxit et anhelanti inopiae parua recreatione subuenit.

[¶3] Then he divided his army, to carry off plunder and to keep up the siege. He himself set out with the bravest troops, took many cities of the Chersonese, overthrew their peoples and carried off their wealth. He also crossed over into Scythia with his son Alexander, intent on plunder.

> Latin: 4 inde propter agendam praedam et curandam obsidionem diuisit exercitum. ipse autem cum fortissimis profectus multas Cherronesi urbes cepit profligatisque populis opes abstulit. ad Scythiam quoque cum Alexandro filio praedandi intentione pertransit.

[¶4] At that time Atheas ruled the Scythians: when he was hard pressed by war with the Histrians, he sought help from Philip through the people of Apollonia; but when the king of the Histrians died soon afterwards, freed both from fear of war and from the need of help, he dissolved the treaty agreement made with Philip.

> Latin: 5 Scythis tunc Atheas regnabat: qui cum Histrianorum bello premeretur, auxilium a Philippo per Apollonienses petiit, sed continuo Histrianorum rege mortuo et belli metu et auxiliorum necessitate liberatus pactionem foederis cum Philippo habitam dissoluit.

[¶5] Philip abandoned the siege of Byzantium and attacked the Scythians with all his strength; and when battle was joined, though the Scythians were superior both in number and in valour, they were defeated by Philip’s trickery.

> Latin: 6 Philippus dimissa obsidione Byzantii Scythicum bellum totis uiribus adgreditur, commissoque proelio cum Scythae et numero et uirtute praestarent, Philippi fraude uincuntur.

[¶6] In that battle twenty thousand boys and women of the Scythian race were captured and a great quantity of cattle was driven off, but no gold or silver was found: indeed this was the first thing that gave credence to the poverty of the Scythians. Twenty thousand noble mares were sent into Macedonia to replenish the breed.

> Latin: 7 in ea pugna XX milia puerorum ac feminarum Scythicae gentis capta, pecorum magna copia abducta, auri atque argenti nihil repertum: nam et ea res primo fidem inopiae Scythicae dedit. uiginti milia nobilium equarum sufficiendo generi in Macedoniam missa.

[¶7] But as Philip was returning, the Triballi met him in war: in this Philip was wounded in the thigh in such a way that his horse was killed through his body. When all thought him dead, his men turned to flight and lost the plunder. Then for a short while, as he recovered from the wound, he rested in peace;

> Latin: 8 Sed reuertenti Philippo Triballi bello obuiant: in quo ita Philippus in femore uulneratus est, ut per corpus eius equus interficeretur. cum omnes occisum putarent, in fugam uersi praedam amiserunt. aliquantula deinde mora dum conualescit a uulnere in pace conquieuit;

[¶8] but as soon as he had recovered he made war on the Athenians: placed in so great a danger, they took the Lacedaemonians, once their enemies, as their allies, and wearied the cities of all Greece with embassies, urging that they attack the common enemy with common forces. And so some cities joined themselves to the Athenians, while fear of war drew others to Philip.

> Latin: 9 statim uero ut conualuit Atheniensibus bellum intulit: qui in tanto discrimine positi Lacedaemonios quondam hostes tunc socios adsciscunt totiusque Graeciae ciuitates legationibus fatigant, ut communem hostem communibus uiribus petant. itaque aliquantae urbes Atheniensibus sese coniunxere, quasdam uero ad Philippum belli metus traxit.

*Note: Sparta stayed out of the war that ended at Chaeronea (338 BC); Athens’ chief ally there was Thebes.*

[¶9] When battle was joined, though the Athenians were far superior in the number of their soldiers, they were nevertheless defeated by the valour of the Macedonians, hardened by continual wars.

> Latin: 10 proelio commisso cum Athenienses longe maiore numero militum praestarent, adsiduis tamen bellis indurata Macedonum uirtute uincuntur.

[¶10] That this battle was far more savage than all earlier wars, the very outcome of events has shown: for this day put an end, throughout all Greece, to the glory of the domination it had won and to the standing of its most ancient liberty.

> Latin: 11 quam pugnam longe omnibus bellis anterioribus atrociorem fuisse ipse rerum exitus docuit: nam hic dies apud uniuersam Graeciam adquisitae dominationis gloriam et uetustissimae libertatis statum finiuit.

## 54. Book 3 · Chapter 14

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/54/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/54/#p-N

[¶0] Afterwards Philip used his victory most bloodily against the Thebans and Lacedaemonians: for of the leading men of the cities he beheaded some with the axe, drove others into exile, and deprived all of their property.

> Latin: 1 Postea Philippus cruentissimam uictoriam in Thebanos et Lacedaemonios exercuit: siquidem principes ciuitatum alios securi percussit, alios in exilium egit, omnes bonis priuauit.

[¶1] Those who had long ago been driven out by their fellow citizens he restored to their fatherland: of these exiles he set three hundred over them as judges and governors, so that, nursing their old grievance with their new power, they would not allow the unhappily oppressed peoples to breathe again in hope of liberty.

> Latin: 2 pulsos dudum a ciuibus in patriam restituit: ex quibus trecentos exules iudices rectoresque praefecit, qui ut antiquum dolorem noua potestate curarent, pressos infeliciter populos in spem libertatis respirare non sinerent.

[¶2] Besides this, having held a great levy of soldiers from all Greece in support of his royal arrangements, he equipped two hundred thousand foot and fifteen thousand horse, apart from the army of the Macedonians and a countless barbarian host of peoples, to send on a Persian expedition into Asia.

> Latin: 3 praeterea magno dilectu militum in subsidium regiae dispositionis ex tota Graecia habito, ducenta milia peditum et quindecim milia equitum absque exercitu Macedonum et infinita gentium barbaria Persicae expeditioni in Asiam missurus instruxit.

[¶3] He chose three generals, namely Parmenion, Amyntas and Attalus, to be sent ahead against the Persians. And while the forces mentioned above were being gathered from Greece, he decided to celebrate the wedding of Alexander — who was the brother of his wife Olympias and was afterwards struck down by the Sabines in Lucania, and whom he had made king of Epirus as the price of the debauchery he had practised upon him — by joining his daughter Cleopatra to him in marriage.

> Latin: 4 tres duces, hoc est Parmenionem Amyntam et Attalum, praemittendos in Persas legit. et dum suprascriptae copiae de Graecia congregantur, Alexandri - qui erat Olympiadis uxoris suae frater et post a Sabinis in Lucania prostratus est -, quem Epiri regem ob mercedem stupri in eum perpetrati constituerat, nuptias in copulando ei filiam suam Cleopatram celebrare decreuit.

*Note: Sabines: at 3.11.1 Orosius names the Samnites; Alexander of Epirus in fact fell fighting the Lucanians and Bruttians (3.18.3).*

[¶4] On the day before he was killed, being asked what end was most to be wished for by a man, he is said to have replied that the best was the one that could befall a brave man, reigning in peace after the glories of his deeds of valour, suddenly and swiftly by an unexpected blade, without struggle of the body or disgrace of the mind: and this soon befell him.

> Latin: 5 qui cum pridie quam occideretur interrogatus fuisset, quis finis homini magis esset optandus, respondisse fertur, eum esse optimum, qui uiro forti post uirtutum suarum glorias in pace regnanti sine conflictatione corporis et dedecore animi subitus et celer inopinato ferro potuisset accidere: quod ipsi mox obtigit.

[¶5] Nor could the angry gods, whom he had always held of little account and whose altars, temples and images he had overturned, prevent him from obtaining what seemed to him the choicest of deaths.

> Latin: 6 nec ab iratis dis, quos parui semper penderat quorumque aras templa et simulacra subuerterat, quin electissimam ut ipsi uidebatur mortem adipisceretur, potuit inpediri.

[¶6] For on the day of the wedding, as he was making his way to the magnificently prepared games between the two Alexanders, his son and his son-in-law, he was trapped in a narrow passage without his guards by Pausanias, a noble Macedonian youth, and killed.

> Latin: 7 nam die nuptiarum cum ad ludos magnifice apparatos inter duos Alexandros filium generumque contenderet, a Pausania nobili Macedonum adulescente in angustiis sine custodibus circumuentus occisus est.

[¶7] Let them now assert these things and extol them with many words, as if they were the praises of brave men and fortunate deeds — men for whom the bitterest calamities of others turn into sweet tales — provided, however, that they themselves never bewail in a sadder telling the injuries by which they are at times afflicted.

> Latin: 8 Adserant nunc multisque haec uocibus efferant quasi uirorum fortium laudes et facta felicia, quibus amarissimae aliorum calamitates in dulces fabulas cedunt, si tamen numquam ipsi iniurias, quibus aliquando uexantur, relatu tristiore deplorant.

[¶8] But if they wish others, on hearing their own complaints, to be as much affected as they themselves felt in suffering, let them first compare, not past with present, but deeds with deeds, and judge both from hearsay, as arbiters of other people’s affairs.

> Latin: 9 si uero de propriis querimoniis tantum alios audientes adfici uolunt, quantum ipsi perpetiendo senserunt, prius ipsi non praesentibus praeterita sed gestis gesta conparent et utraque ex auditu uelut alienorum arbitri iudicent.

[¶9] For twenty-five years the treachery, ferocity and domination of a single king drove on the burning of cities, the destruction of wars, the subjugation of provinces, the slaughter of men, the plundering of wealth, the seizure of cattle, the sale of the dead and the captivity of the living.

> Latin: 10 per uiginti et quinque annos incendia ciuitatum, excidia bellorum, subiectiones prouinciarum, caedes hominum, opum rapinas, praedas pecorum, mortuorum uenditiones captiuitatesque uiuorum unius regis fraus ferocia et dominatus agitauit.

## 55. Book 3 · Chapter 15

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/55/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/55/#p-N

[¶0] These deeds of Philip, brought to our memory, would suffice as an example of miseries even if Alexander had not succeeded him in the kingdom. His wars — or rather the evils of the world that followed in order beneath his wars — I postpone for a little, so that I may insert the affairs of Rome at this point, as the correspondence of the times requires.

> Latin: 1 sufficerent ista ad exemplum miseriarum insinuata memoriae nostrae gesta per Philippum, etiamsi Alexander ei non successisset in regnum. cuius bella immo sub cuius bellis mundi mala ordine sequentia suspendo paulisper, ut in hoc loco pro conuenientia temporum Romana subiciam.

[¶1] In the year 426 from the founding of the City, a notable disgrace of the Romans made the Caudine Forks famous and notorious enough. For when, in the previous war, twenty thousand Samnites had fallen in a battle fought by Fabius, the master of the horse, the Samnites, with more circumspect care and better prepared equipment, encamped at the Caudine Forks;

> Latin: 2 Anno ab urbe condita CCCCXXVI Caudinas furculas satis celebres et famosas insignis Romanorum fecit infamia. nam cum superiore bello uiginti milia Samnitum Fabio magistro equitum pugnam conserente cecidissent, circumspectiore cura Samnites ac magis instructo apparatu apud Caudinas furculas consederunt;

*Note: The disaster at the Caudine Forks is dated to 321 BC.*

[¶2] there, when they had shut in the consuls Veturius and Postumius and all the forces of the Romans by the narrowness of the place and by arms, their general Pontius was so carried away by the security of his victory that he thought he should consult his father Herennius whether to kill those shut in or to spare them once subjugated: he chose, however, to keep them alive for disgrace.

> Latin: 3 ubi cum Veturium et Postumium consules omnesque copias Romanorum angustiis locorum armisque clausissent, Pontius dux eorum in tantum abusus est uictoriae securitate, ut Herennium patrem consulendum putaret, utrum occideret clausos an parceret subiugatis: ut uiuos tamen dedecori reseruaret, elegit.

[¶3] For it was well known that the Romans had very often before been defeated and killed, but had never been captured or forced to surrender.

> Latin: 4 Romanos enim antea saepissime uinci et occidi, numquam autem capi aut ad deditionem cogi potuisse constabat.

[¶4] And so the Samnites, having gained the victory, ordered the whole Roman army — shamefully captured and stripped even of its arms and clothing, only a single meaner covering being allowed to each man to hide the private parts of the body — to be sent under the yoke and, subjected to servitude, to march in a long line of procession.

> Latin: 5 itaque Samnites uictoria potiti uniuersum exercitum Romanum turpiter captum armis etiam uestimentisque nudatum, tantum singulis uilioribus operimentis ob uerecunda corporum tegenda concessis, sub iugum missum seruitioque subiectum, longum agere pompae ordinem praeceperunt.

[¶5] They took six hundred Roman knights as hostages and sent the consuls back laden with ignominy and empty of everything else.

> Latin: 6 sescentis autem equitibus Romanis in obsidatum receptis oneratos ignominia, ceteris rebus uacuos consules remiserunt.

[¶6] Why should I labour with words to magnify the stain of this most shameful treaty, when I would rather have kept silent? For today the Romans either would not exist at all or would be slaves under Samnite rule, had they, when subject to the Samnites, themselves kept the faith of the treaty which they wish their own subjects to keep towards them.

> Latin: 7 Quid de exaggeranda huius foedissimi foederis macula uerbis laborem, qui tacere maluissem? hodie enim Romani aut omnino non essent aut Samnio dominante seruirent, si fidem foederis, quam sibi seruari a subiectis uolunt, ipsi subiecti Samnitibus seruauissent.

[¶7] In the following year the Romans broke the agreement concluded with the Samnites and forced them into war, which, fought under the pressure of the consul Papirius, brought great slaughter to both peoples.

> Latin: 8 Posteriore anno infringunt Romani firmatam cum Samnitibus pactionem eosque in bellum cogunt, quod Papirio consule insistente commissum magnas strages utriusque populi dedit.

[¶8] While on one side anger at their recent disgrace, and on the other the glory of their late victory, spurred on the combatants, at last the Romans won by dying stubbornly; and they did not cease alike from being slain and from slaying until, having defeated the Samnites and captured their general, they had put the yoke upon them in their turn.

> Latin: 9 cum hinc ira recentis infamiae, inde gloria proximae uictoriae pugnantes instimularet, tandem Romani pertinaciter moriendo uicerunt; nec caedi pariter uel caedere destiterunt, nisi postquam uictis Samnitibus et capto duci eorum iugum reposuerunt.

[¶9] Then the same Papirius drove the Samnite garrison out of Satricum, and stormed and took the town. This Papirius was at that time considered so very warlike and vigorous among the Romans that, when Alexander the Great was said to be planning to come down from the East, conquer Africa by force, and cross from there into Italy, the Romans reckoned that, among the other generals who were then the best in their commonwealth, he would be the foremost who could withstand the onset of Alexander.

> Latin: 10 idem deinde Papirius Satricum expulso inde Samnitico praesidio expugnauit et cepit. hic autem Papirius adeo tunc apud Romanos bellicosissimus ac strenuissimus habebatur, ut cum Alexander Magnus disponere diceretur ab oriente descendens obtinere uiribus Africam atque inde in Italiam transuehi, Romani inter ceteros duces tunc in republica sua optimos hunc praecipuum fore qui Alexandri impetum sustinere posset meditarentur.

## 56. Book 3 · Chapter 16

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/56/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/56/#p-N

[¶0] So in the year 426 from the founding of the City, Alexander succeeded his father Philip in the kingdom: he gave the first proof of his spirit and valour by swiftly crushing the risings of the Greeks, whom the orator Demosthenes, bribed with Persian gold, had urged to revolt from the rule of the Macedonians.

> Latin: 1 Igitur Alexander anno ab urbe condita CCCCXXVI patri Philippo successit in regnum: qui primam experientiam animi et uirtutis suae conpressis celeriter Graecorum motibus dedit, quibus auctor, ut ab imperio Macedonum deficerent, Demosthenes orator auro Persarum corruptus exstiterat.

[¶1] And so, when the Athenians begged to be spared the war, he remitted it, and moreover even released them from fear of a fine; the Thebans he wiped out together with their demolished city, and sold the survivors into slavery; the other cities of Achaea and Thessaly he made tributary; the Illyrians and Thracians too, soon shifting the war from there, he subdued.

> Latin: 2 itaque Atheniensibus bellum deprecantibus remisit, quos insuper etiam multae metu soluit; Thebanos cum diruta ciuitate deleuit, reliquos sub corona uendidit; ceteras urbes Achaiae et Thessaliae uectigales fecit; Illyrios quoque et Thracas translato mox abhinc bello domuit.

[¶2] Then, as he was about to set out for the Persian war, he killed all his kinsmen and nearest relatives. In his army there were 32,000 foot, 4,500 horse and 180 ships. With so small a band, it is uncertain which is the more to be wondered at: that he conquered the whole world, or that he dared to attack it.

> Latin: 3 inde profecturus ad Persicum bellum omnes cognatos ac proximos suos interfecit. in exercitu eius fuere peditum XXXII milia, equitum IIII milia quingenti, naues CLXXX. hac tam parua manu uniuersum terrarum orbem utrum admirabilius sit quia uicerit an quia adgredi ausus fuerit incertum est.

[¶3] At his first encounter with King Darius six hundred thousand Persians were in the battle line, and they turned their backs, overcome no less by Alexander’s skill than by the valour of the Macedonians. Great, therefore, was the slaughter of the Persians. Alexander’s army lost only 120 horsemen and 9 foot soldiers.

> Latin: 4 primo eius cum Dario rege congressu sescenta milia Persarum in acie fuere, quae non minus arte Alexandri superata quam uirtute Macedonum terga uerterunt. magna igitur caedes Persarum fuit. in exercitu Alexandri CXX equites et nouem tantum pedites defuere.

*Note: The battle of the Granicus (334 BC). Darius was not present; the Persian army was commanded by his satraps.*

[¶4] Next he besieged, stormed and took Gordium, a city of Phrygia, which is now called Sardis, and gave it over to plunder. Then, when the approach of Darius with great forces was reported to him, fearing the narrow passes in which he found himself, he crossed the Taurus range with marvellous speed and, covering five hundred stades in a single day’s march, came to Tarsus; and there, when he had gone down sweating into the ice-cold river Cydnus, he grew stiff, and with the contraction of his sinews came very near to death.

> Latin: 5 deinde Gordien Phrygiae ciuitatem, quae nunc Sardis uocitatur, obsessam oppugnatamque cepit ac direptioni dedit. inde nuntiato sibi Darii cum magnis copiis aduentu, timens angustias quibus inerat locorum, Taurum montem mira celeritate transcendit et quingentis stadiis sub una die cursu transmissis, Tarsum uenit, ibique cum sudans in Cydnum praefrigidum amnem descendisset, obriguit contractuque neruorum proximus morti fuit.

*Note: Gordium and Sardis were different cities: Gordium was the old Phrygian capital, Sardis the capital of Lydia.*

[¶5] Meanwhile Darius advanced into battle with three hundred thousand foot and a hundred thousand horse. This multitude of enemies alarmed even Alexander, chiefly in view of his own small numbers, although, having long since overcome six hundred thousand enemies with the same small numbers, he had learned not only not to fear battle but even to hope for victory.

> Latin: 6 interea Darius cum CCC milibus peditum et C milibus equitum in aciem procedit. mouebat haec multitudo hostium etiam Alexandrum maxime respectu paucitatis suae, quamuis iam pridem DC milibus hostium eadem paucitate superatis non solum non timere pugnam sed etiam uictoriam sperare didicisset.

[¶6] So when both armies had taken their stand within a spear’s throw of each other, and the leaders, riding to and fro, were whetting with various incitements the peoples intent on the signal for battle, the fight was joined with mighty spirit on both sides:

> Latin: 7 itaque cum intra iactum teli uterque constitisset exercitus et intentos ad signum belli populos discurrentes principes uariis incitamentis acuerent, ingentibus utrimque animis pugna committitur:

[¶7] in it both kings, Alexander and Darius, were wounded, and the contest remained doubtful until Darius fled; thereafter a slaughter of the Persians followed.

> Latin: 8 in qua ambo reges et Alexander et Darius uulnerantur, ac tam diu certamen anceps fuit, quoad fugeret Darius; exinde caedes Persarum secuta est.

[¶8] There eighty thousand foot and ten thousand horse were slain, and forty thousand were captured. Of the Macedonians there fell 130 foot and 150 horse. In the Persian camp much gold and other wealth was found. Among the captives of the camp were Darius’s mother, his wife, who was also his sister, and his two daughters;

> Latin: 9 ibi tum peditum LXXX milia, equitum X milia caesa, capta autem XL milia fuere. ex Macedonibus uero cecidere pedites CXXX, equites CL. in castris Persarum multum auri ceterarumque opum repertum. inter captiuos castrorum mater et uxor eademque soror et filiae duae Darii fuere;

[¶9] and when Darius failed to obtain their ransom, even after offering half of his kingdom, he gathered for a third time all the forces of the Persians and the auxiliaries of his allies and renewed the war.

> Latin: 10 quarum redemptionem Darius cum etiam oblata regni dimidia parte non inpetrauisset, tertio cunctis Persarum uiribus sociorumque auxiliis contractis, bellum instaurat.

[¶10] But while Darius was doing this, Alexander sent Parmenion with forces to attack the Persian fleet, and himself set out for Syria; there, of the many kings who came of their own accord to meet him wearing fillets, some he chose as allies, some he replaced, some he destroyed; and Tyre, a most ancient and flourishing city, which resisted him trusting in the Carthaginians, its kinsmen, he overwhelmed and took.

> Latin: 11 sed dum haec Darius agit, Alexander Parmenionem ad inuadendam Persicam classem cum copiis mittit, ipse in Syriam proficiscitur, ibi ex multis sibi regibus cum infulis ultro occurrentibus alios allegit, alios mutauit, alios perdidit, Tyrum urbem antiquissimam et florentissimam, fiducia Carthaginiensium sibi cognatorum obsistentem, oppressit et cepit.

[¶11] From there he overran Cilicia, Rhodes and Egypt with persistent fury. Then he went on to the temple of Jupiter Ammon, so that by a lie contrived for the occasion he might wipe out the shame of an uncertain father and the infamy of an adulterous mother.

> Latin: 12 exim Ciliciam Rhodum atque Aegyptum pertinaci furore peruadit. inde ad templum Iouis Hammonis pergit, ut mendacio ad tempus conposito ignominiam sibi patris incerti et infamiam adulterae matris aboleret.

[¶12] For he summoned to him the priest of the shrine itself and secretly instructed him what answer he wished to be given when he consulted it, as their own historians say. Thus Alexander was certain, and has disclosed to us, that since the gods themselves are dumb and deaf, it lies either in the power of the priest to invent what he wishes or in the will of the one consulting to hear what he prefers.

> Latin: 13 nam arcessitum ad se fani ipsius antistitem ex occulto monuit, quid sibi tamquam consulenti responderi uelit, sicut historici eorum dicunt. ita certus Alexander fuit nobisque prodidit, dis ipsis mutis et surdis uel in potestate esse antistitis quid uelit fingere uel in uoluntate consulentis quid malit audire.

[¶13] Returning from Ammon to the third Persian war, he founded Alexandria in Egypt.

> Latin: 14 reuertens ab Hammone ad tertium Persicum bellum Alexandriam in Aegypto condidit.

## 57. Book 3 · Chapter 17

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/57/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/57/#p-N

[¶0] Darius, having lost all hope of peace, set four hundred thousand foot and a hundred thousand horse against Alexander in battle near Tarsus as he returned from Egypt.

> Latin: 1 Darius uero spe pacis amissa CCCC milia peditum et C milia equitum Alexandro ab Aegypto reuertenti apud Tarsum bello opponit.

*Note: The third battle was fought at Gaugamela, near Arbela, in 331 BC, not near Tarsus.*

[¶1] Nor was there any delay in fighting; all rushed upon the sword in blind fury: the Macedonians emboldened by enemies so often defeated by them, the Persians preferring death unless they won.

> Latin: 2 nec pugnae mora; omnes caeca rabie in ferrum ruunt: Macedones totiens a se uictis hostibus animosi, Persae nisi uincant mori praeoptantes.

[¶2] Rarely has so much blood been shed in any battle. But Darius, seeing his men being defeated, though ready to die in the fight, was compelled by the persuasion of his followers to flee.

> Latin: 3 raro in ullo proelio tantum sanguinis fusum est. sed Darius cum uinci suos uideret mori in bello paratus persuasu suorum fugere conpulsus est.

[¶3] In this battle the strength and the kingdoms of Asia fell, and the whole East passed into the power of the Macedonian empire; and all the confidence of the Persians was so worn down in this war that after it no one dared to rebel, and the Persians, after an empire of so many years, patiently accepted the yoke of slavery.

> Latin: 4 hoc proelio Asiae uires et regna ceciderunt totusque oriens in potestatem Macedonici cessit imperii atque ita attrita est in hoc bello Persarum omnis fiducia ut post hoc nullus rebellare ausus sit patienterque Persae post imperium tot annorum iugum seruitutis acceperint.

[¶4] For thirty-four days on end Alexander reviewed the plunder of the camp; he attacked Persepolis, the capital of the Persian kingdom, most famous and crammed with the wealth of the whole world;

> Latin: 5 Alexander XXXIIII continuis diebus castrorum praedam percensuit; Persepolim caput Persici regni famosissimam confertissimamque opibus totius orbis inuasit;

[¶5] and when he learned that Darius was being held by his own kinsmen, bound in golden fetters, he resolved to pursue him. And so, ordering the army to follow, he himself set out with six thousand horsemen and found him on the road, left alone, pierced with many wounds and breathing out the last of his life through them.

> Latin: 6 Darium uero cum a propinquis suis uinctum conpedibus aureis teneri conperisset persequi statuit. itaque iusso ut subsequeretur exercitu ipse cum sex milibus equitum profectus inuenit in itinere solum relictum multis confossum uulneribus et extrema uitae per uulnera efflantem.

[¶6] When he was dead, with an empty compassion, Alexander ordered him to be carried back to the tombs of his ancestors and buried — the man whose, I will not say mother or wife, but even little daughters he was holding in cruel captivity.

> Latin: 7 hunc mortuum inani misericordia referri in sepulchra maiorum sepelirique praecepit; cuius non dicam matrem uel uxorem sed etiam paruulas filias crudeli captiuitate retinebat.

[¶7] Amid so great a multitude of evils it is most difficult to win belief for what is told: in three battles and as many years 1,500,000 foot and horse were destroyed. And this from that very kingdom and those peoples from whom, not many years before, 1,900,000 are reported to have been destroyed:

> Latin: 8 In tanta malorum multitudine difficillima dictis fides: tribus proeliis totidemque annis quinquiens deciens centena milia peditum equitumque consumpta. et haec quidem ex eo regno illisque populis unde iam ante per annos non multo plures deciens nouiens centena milia profligata referuntur:

[¶8] although, besides these disasters, in those same three years very many cities of Asia were overwhelmed, all Syria laid waste, Tyre razed, Cilicia emptied, Cappadocia subdued, and Egypt made over into bondage; the island of Rhodes too, trembling, submitted to slavery of its own accord; and very many provinces lying beneath the Taurus, and the Taurus mountain itself, tamed and conquered, accepted the yoke it had long refused.

> Latin: 9 quamquam extra has clades per eosdem tres annos et Asiae ciuitates plurimae oppressae sint et Syria tota uastata, Tyrus excisa, Cilicia exinanita, Cappadocia subacta, Aegyptus addicta sit, Rhodus quoque insula ultro ad seruitutem tremefacta successerit plurimaeque subiectae Tauro prouinciae atque ipse mons Taurus diu detrectatum iugum domitus et uictus acceperit.

## 58. Book 3 · Chapter 18

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/58/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/58/#p-N

[¶0] And lest anyone should perhaps suppose that at that time either the East alone was subdued by Alexander’s forces or Italy alone was wearied by Roman restlessness: at that very time war was also being waged by Agis, king of the Spartans, in Greece, by Alexander, king of Epirus, in Lucania, and by the governor Zopyrion in Scythia.

> Latin: 1 Et ne forte tunc quisquam opinetur uel Orientem solum Alexandri uiribus subactum uel Italiam tantummodo Romana inquietudine fatigatam: tunc etiam bellum Hagidis Spartanorum regis in Graecia, Alexandri regis Epiri in Lucania, Zopyrionis praefecti in Scythia gerebatur.

[¶1] Of these, Agis the Lacedaemonian, having roused all Greece and brought it into rebellion with him, engaged the very strong forces of Antipater, and amid great slaughter on both sides fell himself.

> Latin: 2 quorum Hagidis Lacedaemonius excitata et rebellante secum uniuersa Graecia cum Antipatri fortissimis copiis congressus inter magnas utrorumque strages et ipse procubuit.

[¶2] Alexander, for his part, aiming in Italy at the empire of the West in rivalry with Alexander the Great, after numerous and grievous wars waged there, was overcome by the Bruttii and the Lucanians, and his body was sold for burial.

> Latin: 3 Alexander autem in Italia adfectans occidentis imperium aemulans Alexandrum Magnum, post numerosa et grauia bella ibidem gesta a Bruttiis Lucanisque superatus est corpusque eius ad sepulturam uenditum.

[¶3] Zopyrion, governor of Pontus, having assembled an army of thirty thousand, dared to make war on the Scythians, and was cut down to the point of extermination and wiped out utterly with all his forces.

> Latin: 4 Zopyrion uero praefectus Ponti adunato triginta milium exercitu Scythis bellum inferre ausus et usque ad internecionem caesus funditus cum omnibus copiis suis abrasus est.

[¶4] So Alexander the Great, after the death of Darius, subdued the Hyrcanians and the Mardi: there too, while he was still intent on war, Thalestris, also called Minothea, a brazen Amazon, came to find him with three hundred women, roused by the desire to conceive offspring by him.

> Latin: 5 Igitur Alexander Magnus post Darii mortem Hyrcanos et Mandos subegit: ubi etiam illum adhuc bello intentum Halestris siue Minothea, excita suscipiendae ab eo subolis gratia cum trecentis mulieribus procax Amazon inuenit.

*Note: Thalestris, the Amazon queen of the Alexander legend; Orosius writes Halestris.*

[¶5] After this he attacked the Parthians in battle, who resisted long, and whom he all but destroyed before he conquered them;

> Latin: 6 post haec Parthorum pugnam adgressus, quos diu obnitentes deleuit propemodum antequam uicit,

[¶6] then he subdued the Drangae, the Euergetae, the Parimae, the Paropamisadae, the Adaspii and the other peoples who dwelt at the foot of the Caucasus, founding there a city, Alexandria, on the river Tanais.

> Latin: 7 inde Drangas Euergetas Parimas Parapamenos Adaspios ceterosque populos qui in radice Caucasi morabantur subegit, urbe ibi Alexandria super amnem Tanaim constituta.

*Note: The Caucasus here is the Hindu Kush, and the river is the Jaxartes (Syr Darya), which ancient writers confused with the Tanais (Don); the city is Alexandria Eschate.*

[¶7] But his cruelty towards his own people was no less than his fury against the enemy. This is shown by his cousin Amyntas, killed; by his stepmother and his brothers, put to death; by Parmenion and Philotas, butchered; by Attalus, Eurylochus, Pausanias and many leading men of Macedonia, done away with; and by Clitus too, heavy with years and an old friend, wickedly murdered:

> Latin: 8 sed nec minor eius in suos crudelitas quam in hostem rabies fuit. docent hoc Amyntas consobrinus occisus, nouerca fratresque eius necati, Parmenio et Philotas trucidati, Attalus Eurylochus Pausanias multique Macedoniae principes exstincti, Clitus quoque annis grauis, amicitia uetus nefarie interfectus:

[¶8] for when at a banquet, trusting in the king’s friendship, he defended the memory of Philip against the king, who was setting his own achievements above his father’s, the king, taking offence for no just cause, ran him through with a hunting spear, and in dying he stained the common banquet with blood.

> Latin: 9 qui cum in conuiuio fiducia amicitiae regiae aduersus regem, sua opera patri Philippo praeponentem, memoriam patris tueretur, ab offenso frustra rege uenabulo transfossus, commune conuiuium moriens cruentauit.

[¶9] But Alexander, insatiable of human blood, whether of enemies or even of allies, nevertheless always thirsted for fresh gore.

> Latin: 10 sed Alexander, humani sanguinis inexsaturabilis siue hostium siue etiam sociorum, recentem tamen semper sitiebat cruorem.

[¶10] And so, rushing into wars with persistent impetus, he received the surrender of the Chorasmi and the Dahae, an untamed people; and he killed Callisthenes the philosopher, his fellow pupil under Aristotle, together with very many other leading men, because, abandoning the customary form of salutation, he would not worship him as a god.

> Latin: 11 itaque pertinaci impetu in bella procurrens Chorasmos et Dahas indomitam gentem in deditionem accepit; Callisthenen philosophum sibique apud Aristotelen condiscipulum cum plurimis aliis principibus, cur eum deposita salutandi more ut deum non adoraret, occidit.

## 59. Book 3 · Chapter 19

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/59/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/59/#p-N

[¶0] After this he made for India, so as to bound his empire by the Ocean and the farthest East; he came to the city of Nysa; he stormed the Daedalian mountains and the kingdom of Queen Cleophis, who, when she had surrendered, redeemed her kingdom by lying with him.

> Latin: 1 Post haec Indiam petit, ut Oceano ultimoque oriente finiret imperium; Nysam urbem adiit; Daedalos montes regnaque Cleophylis reginae expugnauit: quae cum se dedisset, concubitu regnum redemit.

[¶1] When Alexander, having traversed and thoroughly subdued India, came to a rock of marvellous ruggedness and height, to which many peoples had fled, he learned that Hercules had been prevented by an earthquake from storming that same rock. Moved by rivalry to surpass the deeds of Hercules, he made himself master of the rock with the utmost toil and danger and received the surrender of all the peoples of that place.

> Latin: 2 peragrata perdomitaque Alexander India cum ad saxum mirae asperitatis et altitudinis, in quod multi populi confugerant, peruenisset, cognoscit Herculem ab expugnatione eiusdem saxi terrae motu prohibitum. aemulatione permotus, ut Herculis acta superaret, cum summo labore ac periculo saxo potitus omnes loci eius gentes in deditionem accepit.

[¶2] He waged a most bloody war with Porus, the bravest king of the Indians: in it Alexander met Porus himself in single combat and, thrown down when his horse was killed, escaped the death that was upon him by the rush of his bodyguards; Porus, pierced with many wounds, was captured.

> Latin: 3 cum Poro fortissimo Indorum rege cruentissimum bellum gessit: in quo Alexander cum ipso Poro singulariter congressus occisoque deiectus equo concursu satellitum praesentiam mortis euasit; Porus multis uulneribus confossus et captus est.

[¶3] Having restored him to his kingdom in testimony to his valour, Alexander founded two cities there, Nicaea and Bucephala, which he ordered to be so called after the name of his horse. Then the Macedonians stormed the Adrestae, the Cathaei, the Praesidae and the Gangaridae, slaughtering their armies.

> Latin: 4 quo ob testimonium uirtutis in regnum restituto duas ibi condidit ciuitates Nicaeam et Bucefalen, quam de nomine equi sui ita uocari praecepit. inde Adrestas Catthenos Praesidas et Gangaridas caesis eorum exercitibus Macedones expugnauere.

*Note: Alexander never reached the peoples of the Ganges (the Prasii and Gangaridae): his army refused to go beyond the Hyphasis (Beas) in 326 BC. Orosius follows Justin.*

[¶4] When they had come to the Cophides, they joined battle there against two hundred thousand enemy horsemen; and though, already worn out with age, sick at heart and weary in strength, they won with difficulty, they built a camp more magnificent than usual as a memorial.

> Latin: 5 cum ad Cofides uentum esset, ibi contra CC milia equitum hostium pugnam conseruerunt; et cum iam aetate detriti, animo aegri, uiribus lassi difficile uicissent; castra ob memoriam plus solito magnifica condiderunt.

[¶5] From there Alexander went on to the river Acesines and was carried down it into the Ocean: there he overwhelmed the Gesonae and the Sibi, whom Hercules founded. From here he sailed to the Mandri and the Subagrae, peoples who received him with eighty thousand armed foot and sixty thousand horse.

> Latin: 6 exim Alexander ad amnem Agesinem pergit; per hunc in Oceanum deuehitur: ibi Gesonas Sibosque, quos Hercules condidit, oppressit. hinc in Mandros et Subagras nauigat: quae gentes eum armatis LXXX milibus peditum et LX milibus equitum excipiunt.

*Note: The Malli and the Oxydracae of the Greek historians; Alexander was gravely wounded in storming a Mallian town (325 BC).*

[¶6] When battle was joined, a long doubtful and bloody fight at last gave the Macedonians an almost mournful victory. For when the enemy’s forces had been routed, Alexander led his army to the city; and when he had been the first to climb the wall, thinking the city empty, he leapt down inside alone:

> Latin: 7 commisso proelio, diu anceps et cruenta pugna tandem tristem paene uictoriam Macedonibus dedit. nam fusis hostium copiis Alexander exercitum ad urbem duxit; et cum murum primus escendisset, uacuam ciuitatem ratus solus introrsum desiluit:

[¶7] and when the hostile enemy had surrounded him on every side, it is incredible to tell how neither the multitude of enemies, nor the great force of missiles, nor the great clamour of his assailants terrified him, and how alone he cut down and put to flight so many thousands.

> Latin: 8 quem cum undique infesti hostes circumdedissent, incredibile dictu est ut eum non multitudo hostium, non uis magna telorum, non tantus lacessentium clamor terruerit, solus tot milia ceciderit ac fugarit.

[¶8] But when he realized that he was being overwhelmed by the multitude pouring round him, he protected his back with the barrier of the wall and held off those in front the more easily until, at his danger and the clamour of the enemy, the walls were broken through and the whole army burst in.

> Latin: 9 at ubi se obrui a circumfusa multitudine persensit, muri obice posteriora tutatus, contrarios facilius eo usque sustinuit, donec ad periculum eius clamoremque hostium perfractis muris exercitus omnis inrumperet.

[¶9] In that battle he was pierced by an arrow beneath the breast, and, resting on one knee, he fought on until he had killed the man by whom he had been wounded.

> Latin: 10 in eo proelio sagitta sub mamma traiectus, fixo genu eatenus pugnauit, donec eum a quo uulneratus esset occideret.

[¶10] Then, having embarked on his ships, as he was sailing along the shores of the Ocean he came to a certain city ruled by King Ambira. But in storming the city he lost a great part of his army to the enemy’s poisoned arrows; and afterwards, when the rest had been saved by a herb shown to him in a dream and given to the wounded to drink, he stormed and took the city.

> Latin: 11 inde conscensis nauibus cum Oceani litora peragraret, ad urbem quandam cui Ambira rex praeerat peruenit. sed in expugnatione ciuitatis magnam partem exercitus sagittis hostium ueneno inlitis amisit, ac post herba per somnium sibi ostensa et in potum sauciis data cum reliquis subueniretur, urbem expugnauit et cepit.

## 60. Book 3 · Chapter 20

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/60/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/60/#p-N

[¶0] Afterwards, having as it were rounded the turning-post, he entered the river Indus from the Ocean and returned swiftly to Babylon.

> Latin: 1 Post quasi circumacta meta de Oceano Indum flumen ingressus, Babylonam celeriter rediit.

[¶1] There envoys of the terrified provinces of the whole world were awaiting him: that is, of the Carthaginians and of the cities of all Africa, but also of the Spaniards, the Gauls, Sicily and Sardinia, and besides of the greater part of Italy.

> Latin: 2 ubi eum exterritarum totius orbis prouinciarum legati opperiebantur, hoc est Carthaginiensium totiusque Africae ciuitatum, sed et Hispanorum Gallorum Siciliae Sardiniaeque, plurimae praeterea partis Italiae.

[¶2] So great a fear of a general stationed in the farthest East had seized the peoples of the farthest West that you could see there an embassy come from abroad out of the whole world, to a place which you would scarcely believe rumour had reached.

> Latin: 3 tantus timor in summo oriente constituti ducis populos ultimi occidentis inuaserat, ut inde peregrinam toto mundo cerneres legationem, quo uix crederes peruenisse rumorem.

[¶3] But Alexander, at Babylon, while still thirsting for blood, his greed ill restrained, drank poison through the plot of a servant and died.

> Latin: 4 Alexander uero apud Babylonam, cum adhuc sanguinem sitiens male castigata auiditate ministri insidiis uenenum potasset, interiit.

[¶4] O hard mind of men and heart ever inhuman! I myself, who review these things to establish the alternating calamity of all times — in relating so great an evil, at which the whole world trembled, receiving from it either death itself or the dread of death, have I shed a tear from my eyes? Have I grieved in my heart? In unrolling these things, have I made the miseries of those before us my own, for the sake of the common condition of living?

> Latin: 5 O dura mens hominum et cor semper inhumanum! ego ipse, qui haec pro adserenda omnium temporum alternanti calamitate percenseo, in relatu tanti mali, quo uel morte ipsa uel formidine mortis accepta totus mundus intremuit, numquid inlacrimaui oculis? numquid corde condolui? numquid reuoluens haec propter communem uiuendi statum maiorum miserias meas feci?

[¶5] And yet, whenever I tell of myself — how I first saw barbarians unknown to me, how I avoided those who were hostile, how I flattered those who held the mastery, how I guarded against the faithless, how I slipped away from those who lay in wait,

> Latin: 6 cum tamen, si quando de me ipso refero, ut ignotos primum barbaros uiderim, ut infestos declinauerim, ut dominantibus blanditus sim, ut infideles praecauerim, ut insidiantes subterfugerim,

[¶6] and finally how, when men pursued me on the sea and assailed me with stones and javelins, and were almost laying hands on me, I escaped, wrapped in a sudden mist — I would have all who hear me moved to tears, and I grieve in silence over those who do not grieve, setting it down to the hardness of those who do not believe what they have not endured.

> Latin: 7 postremo ut persequentes in mari ac saxis spiculisque adpetentes, manibus etiam paene iam adprehendentes repentina nebula circumfusus euaserim, cunctos audientes me in lacrimas commoueri uelim et tacitus de non dolentibus doleam, reputans duritiae eorum, qui quod non sustinuere non credunt.

*Note: Orosius’s own escape from Spain by sea, which brought him to Augustine in Africa about 414; he tells us nothing more of it.*

[¶7] The Spaniard and the Morinian came to Babylon to make supplication to Alexander, and, so as not to receive him as an enemy, of their own accord sought out a bloody master through Assyria and India, traversing the boundaries of the lands and unhappily known to both Oceans: and yet the memory of so violent a constraint has either faded through forgetfulness or grown cheap with age.

> Latin: 8 Hispanus et Morinus ad supplicandum Alexandro Babylonam adiit cruentumque ultro dominum, ne hostem exciperet, per Assyriam Indiamque quaesiuit, terrarum metas lustrans et utrique infeliciter notus Oceano: et tamen tam uiolentae necessitatis memoria uel obliuione defecit uel uiluit uetustate.

[¶8] And do we think it will cling to everlasting remembrance that, while the greater part of the world was secure, a fugitive brigand violated a single corner? As if — I will not say the Indian or the Assyrian, with the roles reversed — but even the Spaniard himself, who suffers the enemy, had begged the Goths and Suebi for peace!

> Latin: 9 et nos perpetuae recordationi haesurum putamus, quod plurima orbis parte secura unum angulum fugax latro uiolauit? quasi uero Gotthorum et Sueborum pacem ut non dicam uersa uice Indus uel Assyrius, sed etiam uel ipse, qui hostem patitur, Hispanus orauerit.

[¶9] But if those times of Alexander are judged worthy of praise for the valour by which the whole world was won, rather than of detestation for the ruin by which the whole world was overthrown, there will be found now too very many who think these present deeds worthy of praise because their authors have conquered much, and who reckon the miseries of others their own happiness.

> Latin: 10 at uero si illa Alexandri tempora laudanda potius propter uirtutem qua totus orbis obtentus, quam detestanda propter ruinam qua totus orbis euersus est iudicantur: inuenientur et modo plurimi, qui haec laudanda censeant, quia multa uicerunt et miserias aliorum felicitatem suam reputent.

[¶10] But someone may say: these are enemies of Romania. The answer will be: so too did Alexander seem then to the whole East, and such too did the Romans seem to others, while they attacked with wars peoples unknown to them and at peace. But the former strove to acquire kingdoms, these strive to overthrow them. The devastations of an enemy are one thing, the judgements of a conqueror another.

> Latin: 11 sed dicat quisquam: isti hostes Romaniae sunt. respondebitur: hoc et tunc toto orienti de Alexandro uidebatur, talesque et Romani aliis uisi sunt, dum bellis ignotos quietosque petiuerunt. sed illi adquirere regna, isti euertere student. separata sunt hostis excidia et iudicia uictoris.

*Note: Romania: the Roman world as a single whole, a word of late antiquity; Orosius uses it again in Athaulf’s saying at 7.43.5.*

[¶11] For those, too, first afflicted with wars the peoples whom they afterwards ordered by their own laws; and these now trouble as enemies what — may God not permit it! — if they held it subdued, they would strive to settle after their own fashion, to be called great kings by posterity, though now they are adjudged by us the most savage of enemies.

> Latin: 12 siquidem et illi prius eos bellis adflixerunt, quos postea suis legibus ordinarunt: et hi nunc hostiliter turbant quae - in quo non permiserit Deus - si edomita obtinerent, ritu suo conponere molirentur, dicendi posteris magni reges, qui nunc nobis saeuissimi hostes adiudicantur.

[¶12] By whatever name such deeds are reckoned — that is, whether they be called miseries or valour — both, compared with those of earlier times, are lesser in this time, and so both tell in our favour in the comparison with Alexander and the Persians: if it is now to be called valour, the enemy’s is less; if misery, that of the Romans is less.

> Latin: 13 quolibet haec gesta talia nomine censeantur, hoc est siue dicantur miseriae siue uirtutes, utraque prioribus conparata in hoc tempore minora sunt, atque ita utraque pro nobis faciunt in conparatione Alexandri atque Persarum: si uirtus nunc uocanda est, minor est hostium; si miseria, minor est Romanorum.

## 61. Book 3 · Chapter 21

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/61/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/61/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 450 from the founding of the City, in the fifth consulship of Fabius Maximus and the fourth of Decius Mus, four of the bravest and most flourishing peoples of Italy came together in a single army and alliance. For the Etruscans, the Umbrians, the Samnites and the Gauls, conspiring in one army, attempted to destroy the Romans.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita CCCCL Fabio Maximo V Decio Mure IIII consulibus quattuor fortissimi florentissimique Italiae populi in unum agmen foedusque coierunt. namque Etrusci Umbri Samnites et Galli uno agmine conspirantes Romanos delere conati sunt.

[¶1] The spirits of the Romans were shaken by this war and their confidence undermined, nor did they dare to hope for everything from their strength: by a stratagem they divided their enemies, thinking it safer to involve themselves in several wars than in heavy ones.

> Latin: 2 tremefacti hoc bello Romanorum animi et labefactata fiducia est, nec ausi sunt totum sperare de uiribus: dolo diuisere hostes, tutius rati pluribus se bellis inplicare quam grauibus.

[¶2] And so, having sent some of their men ahead into Umbria and Etruria to ravage the enemy’s lands, and having thereby forced the army of the Umbrians and Etruscans to return to defend their own, they hastened to enter upon war with the Samnites and the Gauls.

> Latin: 3 itaque cum, quibusdam suis ad populandos hostiles agros in Umbriam Etruriamque praemissis, Umbrorum Etruscorumque exercitum redire ad tuitionem suorum coegissent, cum Samnitibus et Gallis bellum inire properarunt.

[¶3] In this war, when the Romans were being hard pressed by the onset of the Gauls, the consul Decius was killed. Fabius, however, after great slaughter in Decius’s part of the army, at last won.

> Latin: 4 in quo bello cum Gallorum impetu Romani premerentur Decius consul occisus est. Fabius tamen post magnam Decianae partis stragem tandem uicit.

[¶4] In that battle forty thousand Samnites and Gauls were slain, while of the Romans seven thousand are reported to have perished from the part of Decius, who was killed, alone.

> Latin: 5 eo proelio quadraginta milia Samnitium siue Gallorum caesa, Romanorum uero septem milia ex Decii tantummodo parte qui occisus est exstincta referuntur.

[¶5] Livy reports, moreover, that, apart from the Etruscans and Umbrians, whom the Romans by cunning drew away from the war, there were 140,330 foot of the Gauls and Samnites and 47,000 horse, and that 1,000 chariot-fighters stood in arms against the Roman battle line.

> Latin: 6 fuisse autem absque Etruscis et Umbris, quos astu Romani bello auocauerunt, Gallorum et Samnitium peditum CXL milia CCCXXX, equitum uero XLVII milia Liuius refert, et carpentarios mille in armis contra aciem stetisse Romanam.

*Note: Livy (10.30) reports such inflated figures only as the claim of certain writers, whom he accuses of exaggeration.*

[¶6] But — as has often been said, the domestic quiet of the Romans was always interrupted by foreign wars, or their successes abroad were weighed down by diseases within, so that their mighty spirits were in every way pressed from every side —

> Latin: 7 Sed - ut saepe dictum est semper Romanorum aut domesticam quietem extraneis bellis interpellatam aut externos prouentus morbis interioribus adgrauatos, tantum ut omnimodis ingentes animi undecumque premerentur -

[¶7] this bloody and grim victory was burdened by a pestilence in the city, and the funeral processions of the dead coming to meet them polluted the triumphal pomp. Nor was there anyone who could be persuaded to rejoice over a triumph, when the whole city was sighing either for the sick or for the dead.

> Latin: 8 hanc cruentam tristemque uictoriam pestilentia ciuitatis onerauit et triumphales pompas obuiae mortuorum exsequiae polluerunt. nec erat cui de triumpho gaudium suaderetur, cum tota ciuitas aut aegris suspiraret aut mortuis.

## 62. Book 3 · Chapter 22

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/62/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/62/#p-N

[¶0] There follows the year in which, when the war had been renewed by the Samnites, the Romans were defeated and fled into their camp.

> Latin: 1 Sequitur annus, quo Romani instaurato a Samnitibus bello uicti sunt atque in castra fugerunt.

[¶1] Afterwards, however, the Samnites, assuming a new dress and spirit — that is, with silvered arms and garments, and minds prepared to die if they did not win — offered themselves to battle.

> Latin: 2 postea uero Samnites nouum habitum animumque sumentes, hoc est deargentatis armis ac uestibus, paratoque animo ni uincant mori, bello sese offerunt.

[¶2] The consul Papirius was sent against them with an army, and when he was forbidden to engage by the augurs of the sacred chickens, who made empty conjectures, he laughed at them and finished the war as successfully as he had resolutely taken it up.

> Latin: 3 aduersum quos Papirius consul cum exercitu missus cum a pullariis auguribus uana coniectantibus congredi prohiberetur, inridens eos tam feliciter confecit bellum quam constanter arripuit.

[¶3] For in this battle twelve thousand of the enemy are reported to have been slain and three thousand captured. But this victory too, truly praiseworthy, which empty auspices could not hinder, was spoiled by diseases that suddenly arose.

> Latin: 4 nam in hoc proelio XII milia hostium caesa, III milia capta referuntur. sed hanc quoque istius uere laudandam uictoriam, quam uani auspices impedire non potuerunt, oborti subito corrupere morbi.

[¶4] For so great and so intolerable a pestilence then seized the city that, to allay it by any means whatever, they thought the Sibylline books should be consulted, and brought over that horrid Epidaurian serpent together with the very stone of Aesculapius: as if indeed pestilence had not been allayed before, or had not arisen again afterwards.

> Latin: 5 nam tanta ac tam intolerabilis pestilentia tunc corripuit ciuitatem, ut propter eam quacumque ratione sedandam libros Sibyllinos consulendos putarint horrendumque illum Epidaurium colubrum cum ipso Aesculapi lapide aduexerint: quasi uero pestilentia aut ante sedata non sit aut post orta non fuerit.

[¶5] Moreover, in the second year after this the consul Fabius Gurges fought badly against the Samnites. For he lost his army and, defeated, fled back into the City.

> Latin: 6 Praeterea altero abhinc anno Fabius Gurges consul male aduersum Samnitas pugnauit. namque amisso exercitu uictus in urbem refugit.

[¶6] So when the senate was deliberating on removing him, his father Fabius Maximus, pleading against his son’s disgrace, voluntarily offered to go as a legate to his son, if his son were granted the opportunity of wiping out the disgrace and waging war again.

> Latin: 7 itaque cum senatus de summouendo eo deliberaret, pater eius Fabius Maximus ignominiam filii deprecatus legatum se filio iturum ultro obtulit, si illi depellendae ignominiae et gerendi iterum belli facultas daretur.

[¶7] This was granted; and when battle was joined and he saw his son the consul, while fighting, suddenly hemmed in by the pressure of Pontius, general of the Samnites, and by the hostile weapons of the enemy, the dutiful old man rode on horseback into the midst of the column.

> Latin: 8 qua impetrata proelioque conserto cum subito pugnantem filium consulem insistente Pontio Samnitarum duce et infestis hostium telis conclusum uideret, in medium se agmen pius senex equo uectus ingessit.

[¶8] Moved by this deed, the Romans pressed in there with their whole line, until, having destroyed the enemy army, they captured the general Pontius himself, defeated and overwhelmed.

> Latin: 9 quo facto commoti Romani tota ibi incubuere acie, donec ipsum Pontium ducem deleto hostili exercitu uictum oppressumque ceperunt.

[¶9] In that battle twenty thousand Samnites were slain, and four thousand captured together with their king; and at last the Samnite war, which had dragged on for forty-nine years with great loss to the Romans, was ended by the loss of their captured general.

> Latin: 10 caesa sunt in eo proelio Samnitium XX milia, capta autem IIII milia cum rege suo; tandemque Samniticum bellum, quod per quadraginta et nouem annos multa Romanorum clade trahebatur, capti ducis destitutione finitum est.

[¶10] In the following year war was waged with the Sabines under the consul Curius, and how many thousands of men were killed in it and how many captured the consul himself made plain: for when he wished to report in the senate the extent of the Sabine land acquired and the multitude of the people captured, he could not set out the number.

> Latin: 11 Anno subsequente cum Sabinis Curio consule bellum gestum est, ubi quot milia hominum interfecta, quot capta sint, ipse consul ostendit. qui cum in senatu magnitudinem adquisiti agri Sabini et multitudinem capti populi referre uellet, numerum explicare non potuit.

[¶11] In the year 463 from the founding of the City, in the consulship of Dolabella and Domitius, when the Lucanians, the Bruttii, and also the Samnites, having made an alliance with the Etruscans and the Senonian Gauls, were stirring up a revived war against the Romans, the Romans sent envoys to win over the Gauls by entreaty.

> Latin: 12 Anno ab urbe condita CCCCLXIII Dolabella et Domitio consulibus Lucani Bruttii, Samnites quoque cum Etruscis et Senonibus Gallis facta societate, cum rediuiuum contra Romanos bellum molirentur, Romani ad exorandos Gallos misere legatos.

[¶12] When the Gauls had killed them, the praetor Caecilius, sent with an army to avenge the murder of the envoys and to crush the uprising of the enemy, was overwhelmed by the Etruscans and Gauls and perished.

> Latin: 13 quos cum Galli interfecissent, Caecilius praetor ob ulciscendam legatorum necem et conprimendum tumultum hostium cum exercitu missus, ab Etruscis Gallisque oppressus interiit.

[¶13] Besides, seven military tribunes were killed in that battle, many nobles were butchered, and thirteen thousand Roman soldiers too were laid low in that war.

> Latin: 14 septem praeterea tribuni militum in ea pugna occisi, multi nobiles trucidati, tredecim milia etiam militum Romanorum illo bello prostrata sunt.

[¶14] And whenever the Gauls flared up, Rome was so worn down in all her resources that under the present assaults of the Goths she ought rather to remember the Gauls.

> Latin: 15 Ita autem quotienscumque Galli exarserunt, totis opibus suis Roma detrita est, ut sub praesenti nunc concursatione Gotthorum magis debeat meminisse Gallorum.

## 63. Book 3 · Chapter 23 · 1 of 2

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/63/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/63/#p-N

[¶0] But I am now called back, so that I may unroll what wars were waged among themselves, during these same times in which the Romans suffered these things, by the generals of the Macedonians, who after Alexander’s death obtained various provinces by lot and consumed one another in mutual wars.

> Latin: 1 At ego nunc reuocor, ut per haec eadem tempora, quibus Romani ista perpessi sunt, quae inter se bella gesserint Macedonum duces reuoluam, qui mortuo Alexandro diuersas sortiti prouincias mutuis se bellis consumpserunt.

[¶1] As I look upon their most tumultuous time, I seem to myself like one who, gazing by night from a mountain watchtower on some vast camp, sees nothing in the great expanse of the plain but countless fires.

> Latin: 2 quorum ego tumultuosissimum tempus ita mihi spectare uideor, quasi aliqua inmensa castra per noctem de specula montis aspectans nihil in magno campi spatio praeter innumeros focos cernam.

[¶2] So throughout the whole kingdom of Macedonia — that is, throughout all Asia, the greater part of Europe, and the very largest part of Libya — dreadful masses of wars suddenly blazed up together:

> Latin: 3 ita per totum Macedoniae regnum, hoc est per uniuersam Asiam et plurimam Europae partem Libyaeque uel maximam, horrendi subito bellorum globi conluxerunt:

[¶3] and while they laid waste above all the places in which they had flared up, they troubled all the rest with the terror of rumour, as with the murk of smoke.

> Latin: 4 qui cum ea praecipue loca, in quibus exarsere, populati sunt, reliqua omnia terrore rumoris quasi fumi caligine turbauerunt.

[¶4] But I shall by no means set out the wars and destructions of such great kings and kingdoms unless I first make known the kingdoms themselves together with their kings.

> Latin: 5 sed nequaquam tantorum regum ac regnorum bella excidiaque explicabo, nisi prius ipsa cum regibus regna prodidero.

[¶5] Alexander, then, for twelve years held down with the sword a world trembling beneath him, while his chief men tore it apart for fourteen years, and, like greedy cubs rending a rich prey brought down by a great lion, provoked into strife with one another by rivalry over the prey, they broke one another to pieces.

> Latin: 6 Igitur Alexander per duodecim annos trementem sub se orbem ferro pressit, principes uero eius quattuordecim annis dilaniauerunt et ueluti opimam praedam a magno leone prostratam auidi discerpsere catuli, seque ipsos inuicem in rixam inritatos praedae aemulatione fregerunt.

[¶6] So first, by lot, Egypt and part of Africa and Arabia fell to Ptolemy. Syria, bordering on this province, was received by Laomedon of Mytilene, Cilicia by Philotas, the Illyrians by Philo.

> Latin: 7 itaque prima Ptolemaeo Aegyptus et Africae Arabiaeque pars sorte prouenit. confinem huic prouinciae Syriam Laomedon Mytilenaeus, Ciliciam Philotas, Philo Illyrios accipiunt.

[¶7] Atropates was set over Greater Media, the father-in-law of Perdiccas over Lesser Media. The Susian people was assigned to Scynus, Greater Phrygia to Antigonus, son of Philip.

> Latin: 8 Mediae maiori Atropatus, minori socer Perdiccae praeponitur. Susiana gens Scyno, Phrygia maior Antigono Philippi filio adsignatur.

*Note: Atropates was himself Perdiccas’s father-in-law and received Lesser Media (Atropatene); Greater Media went to Peithon. Orosius follows Justin’s garbled list.*

[¶8] Nearchus obtained Lycia and Pamphylia by lot, Cassander Caria, Menander Lydia. Leonnatus received Lesser Phrygia.

> Latin: 9 Lyciam et Pamphyliam Nearchus, Cariam Cassander, Lydiam Menander sortiuntur. Leonnatus minorem Phrygiam accipit.

*Note: Caria went to Asander, not Cassander.*

[¶9] Thrace and the regions of the Pontic Sea were given to Lysimachus, Cappadocia with Paphlagonia to Eumenes. The supreme command of the camp fell to Seleucus, son of Antiochus; Cassander, son of Antipater, was put in charge of the king’s guards and attendants.

> Latin: 10 Thracia et regiones Pontici maris Lysimacho, Cappadocia cum Paphlagonia Eumeni data. summa castrorum Seleuco Antiochi filio cessit; stipatoribus regis satellitibusque Cassander filius Antipatri praeficitur.

[¶10] In further Bactria and in the regions of India the former governors, who had begun to hold office under Alexander, remained. Taxiles held the Seres, who dwell between the two rivers Hydaspes and Indus.

> Latin: 11 In Bactriana ulteriore et Indiae regionibus praefecti priores, qui se sub Alexandro esse coeperant, permanserunt. Seres inter duos amnes Hydaspen et Indum constitutos Taxiles habuit.

*Note: The Seres were the Chinese and have no place here; Taxiles held the land between the Indus and the Hydaspes, around Taxila.*

[¶11] Python, son of Agenor, was sent to the colonies founded among the Indians. Oxyartes received the Paropamisadae at the edge of the Caucasus mountains. The Arachosians and Gedrosians were assigned to Sibyrtius.

> Latin: 12 in colonias in Indis conditas Python Agenoris filius mittitur. Parapamenos fine Caucasi montis Oxyarches accepit. Arachossi Cedrosique Sibyrti decernuntur.

[¶12] Stasanor obtained the Drangians and Arians by lot, Amyntas the Bactrians; Scythaeus received the Sogdians, Stacanor the Parthians, Philip the Hyrcanians, Phrataphernes the Armenians, Tlepolemus the Persians, Peucestes the Babylonians, Archon the Pelassi, Archelaus Mesopotamia.

> Latin: 13 Drancheos et Areos Statanor, Bactrianos Amyntas sortitur, Sogdianos Scythaeus, Stacanor Parthos, Philippus Hyrcanios, Fratafernes Armenios, Tleptolemus Persas, Peucestes Babylonios, Archo Pelassos, Archelaus Mesopotamiam adepti sunt.

[¶13] The cause and origin of the wars, then, was a letter of King Alexander, in which he ordered all exiles to be restored to their fatherland and freedom. For the powerful men of the cities of Greece, fearing that the exiles, once they had recovered their freedom, would contemplate revenge, revolted from the kingdom of the Macedonians.

> Latin: 14 Igitur causa et origo bellorum epistula Alexandri fuit regis, qua iussit omnes exules patriae libertatique restitui. potentes enim ciuitatum Graeciae timentes, ne exules recepta libertate ultionem meditarentur, a regno Macedonum defecerunt.

[¶14] The Athenians first, having gathered an army of thirty thousand men and two hundred ships, waged war with Antipater, to whom Greece had fallen by lot; through the orator Demosthenes, too, they joined to themselves as allies Sicyon, Argos, Corinth and the other cities, and surrounded Antipater with a siege.

> Latin: 15 primi Athenienses, contracto triginta milium exercitu et ducentis nauibus, bellum cum Antipatro, cui Graecia sorte uenerat, gerunt, per Demosthenen quoque oratorem Sicyonam Argos et Corinthum ceterasque ciuitates sibi socias adiungunt, Antipatrum obsidione cingunt.

[¶15] There their general Leosthenes was pierced by a missile thrown from the walls and killed. The Athenians went to meet Leonnatus, who was bringing help to Antipater, and, crushing his forces, killed him.

> Latin: 16 ibi dux eorum Leosthenes telo e muris iacto perfossus occiditur. Athenienses Leonnato, qui Antipatro auxilium ferebat, occurrunt eiusque copiis conminutis ipsum interficiunt.

[¶16] Perdiccas made war on Ariarathes, king of the Cappadocians, and defeated him. From this victory he gained nothing but wounds and dangers, for before the storming of their city all its people set fire to their houses and burned themselves and all their possessions.

> Latin: 17 Perdicca uero bellum Ariarato Cappadocum regi intulit eumque uicit. in qua uictoria nihil praeter uulnera et pericula conquisiuit, nam omnes ante inruptionem urbis suae succensis domibus suis se suaque omnia concremauerunt.

[¶17] After this war arose between Antigonus and Perdiccas, and many provinces and islands were most grievously torn apart over help either refused or given.

> Latin: 18 Post haec bellum inter Antigonum et Perdiccam oritur, grauissime multis prouinciis et insulis ob auxilia uel negata uel praestita dilaceratis.

[¶18] It was long debated whether the war should be carried into Macedonia or waged in Asia: at last Perdiccas himself made for Egypt with a huge army. Thus Macedonia, its generals running off in two directions, was armed against its own vitals.

> Latin: 19 diu deliberatum, utrum in Macedoniam bellum transferretur an in Asia gereretur: nouissime ipse Perdicca Aegyptum cum ingenti exercitu petit. sic Macedonia, in duas partes discurrentibus ducibus, in sua uiscera armatur.

[¶19] Ptolemy, equipped with the strength of Egypt and the forces of Cyrene, prepared to meet Perdiccas in war. Meanwhile Neoptolemus and Eumenes fought it out with one another in a most bloody battle.

> Latin: 20 Ptolemaeus Aegypti uiribus et Cyrenensibus copiis instructus occurrere bello Perdiccae parat. inter haec Neoptolemus et Eumenes cruentissimo inter se proelio digladiati sunt.

[¶20] Neoptolemus, defeated, fled to Antipater and pressed him to fall on Eumenes unexpectedly; Eumenes, foreseeing that this would happen, caught the plotters in their own plot.

> Latin: 21 uictus Neoptolemus ad Antipatrum fugit: quem ut Eumenen de insperato opprimat perurguet: quod Eumenes futurum ratus, insidiantes insidiis capit.

[¶21] In that war Polyperchon was killed; Neoptolemus and Eumenes were pierced with wounds dealt by each other, but Neoptolemus perished, while Eumenes escaped as victor.

> Latin: 22 in eo bello Polypercon occiditur, Neoptolemus et Eumenes mutuis uulneribus confossi, sed Neoptolemus interiit, Eumenes uictor euasit.

*Note: It was Craterus, not Polyperchon, who fell in this battle (321 BC); Polyperchon lived for many years more and reappears at 3.23.30.*

[¶22] Perdiccas, having engaged Ptolemy in a most bitter war, lost his forces and was himself killed as well. Eumenes, Python, Illyrius, and Alcetas, the brother of Perdiccas, were proclaimed enemies by the Macedonians, and the war against them was entrusted to Antigonus.

> Latin: 23 Perdicca cum Ptolemaeo acerbissimo bello congressus, amissis copiis ipse quoque interfectus est. Eumenes Python et Illyrius et Alceta frater Perdiccae a Macedonibus hostes pronuntiantur, bellumque aduersus eos Antigono decernitur.

[¶23] So Eumenes and Antigonus brought together very great forces against each other and clashed. Eumenes, defeated, fled to a certain very strongly fortified stronghold, from which he demanded through envoys the help of Antipater, then most powerful: alarmed by this news, Antigonus withdrew from the siege.

> Latin: 24 Itaque Eumenes et Antigonus conlatis aduersum se maximis copiis conflixerunt. Eumenes uictus in quoddam castellum munitissimum fugit, unde auxilia Antipatri tunc potentissimi per legatos poposcit: quo nuntio territus Antigonus ab obsidione discessit.

[¶24] But not even so did Eumenes have firm hope or sure safety. Therefore, as a last resort, he asked for the help of the Argyraspides — so called from their silvered arms — that is, the soldiers who had served under Alexander:

> Latin: 25 sed nec sic Eumeni spes firma aut salus certa. quare ultimo consilio argyraspidas ob arma deargentata sic dictos, hoc est milites, qui sub Alexandro militauerant, in auxilium rogat:

[¶25] and they, listening disdainfully to their general in the ordering of the war, were defeated by Antigonus and stripped of their camp, and lost their wives and children and, with them, everything they had acquired under Alexander.

> Latin: 26 qui fastidiose ducem in disponendo bello audientes ab Antigono uicti castrisque priuati, et uxores et liberos simulque omnia, quae sub Alexandro adquisierant, perdiderunt.

[¶26] Afterwards they shamefully asked the victor through envoys to restore to them what they had lost. Antigonus promised to restore it if they would drag Eumenes to him in chains.

> Latin: 27 qui postea turpiter per legatos reddi sibi quae perdiderant, uictorem rogant. Antigonus autem redditurum pollicetur, si sibi uinctum Eumenen pertraherent.

[¶27] So, lured by the hope of recovery, by a most disgraceful betrayal they — captives themselves — led their own general, whose standards they had followed shortly before, captured and in chains; and soon afterwards, with the foulest ignominy, they were dispersed through the army of Antigonus.

> Latin: 28 ita illi spe recuperationis inlecti, dedecorissima proditione ducem suum, cuius signa paulo ante secuti fuerant, captiui ipsi captum catenatumque duxerunt et mox cum foedissima ignominia in exercitu Antigoni dispersi sunt.

[¶28] Meanwhile Eurydice, wife of Arrhidaeus, king of the Macedonians, committed many wicked deeds in her husband’s name through Cassander, whom she had shamefully taken as her lover and had advanced through all the grades of honours to the highest eminence: and he, at the woman’s whim, afflicted many cities of Greece.

> Latin: 29 interea Eurydice, Arridaei regis Macedonum uxor, multa sub nomine uiri nefaria gerit per Cassandrum, quem flagitiose cognitum ad summum fastigium per omnes honorum gradus prouexerat: qui ex libidine mulieris multas Graeciae ciuitates adflixit.

[¶29] Then Olympias, mother of King Alexander, at the urging of Polyperchon, came from Epirus into Macedonia, escorted by Aeacides, king of the Molossians; and when she was barred from its territory by Eurydice, with the support of the Macedonians she ordered King Arrhidaeus and Eurydice to be killed.

> Latin: 30 tunc Olympias, mater Alexandri regis, hortante Polyperconta, cum ab Epiro in Macedoniam prosequente Aeacida rege Molossorum ueniret et ab Eurydice finibus prohiberetur, adnitentibus Macedonibus Arridaeum regem et Eurydicen iussit occidi.

[¶30] Yet Olympias herself soon paid the penalty her cruelty deserved: for when, with a woman’s daring, she was carrying out many slaughters of leading men, on hearing of Cassander’s approach, distrusting the Macedonians, she withdrew with her daughter-in-law Roxane and her grandson Hercules into the city of Pydna:

> Latin: 31 quamquam et ipsa Olympias continuo meritas crudelitatis poenas luit: nam cum muliebri audacia multas principum caedes ageret, audito aduentu Cassandri diffisa Macedonibus cum Roxa nuru sua et nepote Hercule in urbem Pydnam concedit:

*Note: The boy with Roxane at Pydna was Alexander IV, her son by Alexander; Heracles was Alexander’s son by Barsine. The Hercules of 3.23.34 and 3.23.38, killed with his mother by Cassander about 310 BC, is likewise Alexander IV.*

[¶31] there she was soon captured and killed by Cassander. The son of Alexander the Great was sent with his mother to the citadel of Amphipolis to be kept under guard.

> Latin: 32 ubi continuo per Cassandrum capta et interfecta est. filius Alexandri Magni cum matre in arcem Amphipolitanam custodiendus est missus.

[¶32] With Perdiccas, Alcetas, Polyperchon and the other generals of the opposing party — whom it would take long to recount — now killed, the wars among Alexander’s successors seemed to be at an end,

> Latin: 33 Perdicca Alceta et Polyperconte ceterisque ducibus, quos commemorare longum est, diuersae partis occisis finita bella inter successores Alexandri uidebantur,

[¶33] when Antigonus, burning with the desire for domination, pretended that Hercules, the king’s son, must be freed by war from his confinement.

> Latin: 34 cum Antigonus ardens cupiditate dominandi liberandum bello Herculem regis filium ab obsidione simulat.

[¶34] When they learned of this, Ptolemy and Cassander, entering into alliance with Lysimachus and Seleucus, energetically prepared war by land and sea. In that war Antigonus was defeated together with his son Demetrius.

> Latin: 35 his cognitis Ptolemaeus et Cassander, inita cum Lysimacho et Seleuco societate bellum terra marique enixe instruunt. Antigonus in eo bello cum filio Demetrio uincitur.

[¶35] Cassander, having become Ptolemy’s partner in the victory, was returning to Apollonia when he came upon the Autariatae: they, having left their native soil and ancient dwellings because of an intolerable multitude of frogs and mice, were migrating and seeking new homes, holding out a pretence of peace for the time being.

> Latin: 36 Cassander Ptolemaeo in uictoria particeps factus cum Apolloniam rediret, incidit in Auieniatas: qui propter intolerandae multitudinis ranas et mures relicto patrio solo et antiquis habitaculis emigrantes, nouas sedes praetenta interim pace requirebant.

*Note: The Autariatae, an Illyrian people; Orosius writes Avieniatae.*

[¶36] But Cassander, recognizing both the valour and the numbers of the people, lest, driven by necessity, they should shake and invade Macedonia with war, received them into alliance and settled them in the farthest borders of Macedonia.

> Latin: 37 sed Cassander et uirtutem et multitudinem gentis adgnoscens, ne adacti necessitate Macedoniam bello quaterent atque inuaderent, receptos in societatem in ultimis Macedoniae finibus conlocat.

[¶37] Then, when Hercules, son of Alexander, was now fourteen years old, fearing that all would prefer him as the lawful king, he secretly had him killed together with his mother.

> Latin: 38 inde cum iam Hercules Alexandri filius quattuordecim esset annorum, timens ne eum omnes quasi legitimum regem praeoptarent, occidendum tacite cum matre curauit.

[¶38] Ptolemy again clashed with Demetrius in a naval battle, and, having lost almost his whole fleet and army, fled back defeated to Egypt.

> Latin: 39 Ptolemaeus iterum cum Demetrio nauali proelio conflixit et cum omnem paene classem atque exercitum perdidisset, uictus in Aegyptum refugit.

[¶39] Elated by this victory, Antigonus ordered himself to be called king, together with his son Demetrius: following this example, all assumed for themselves the royal name and dignity.

> Latin: 40 hac uictoria elatus Antigonus, regem cum Demetrio filio appellari iubet: quod exemplum omnes secuti regium sibi nomen dignitatemque sumpserunt.

[¶40] So Ptolemy and Cassander and the other generals of the opposing faction, seeing that they were being deceived one by one by Antigonus, encouraged one another by letters, agreed on a time and place for coming together, and prepared war against Antigonus with common forces.

> Latin: 41 igitur Ptolemaeus et Cassander ceterique alterius factionis duces cum decipi se ab Antigono singillatim uiderent, per epistulas se inuicem confirmantes coeundi in unum tempus locumque condicunt et bellum aduersus Antigonum communibus uiribus instruunt.

[¶41] Cassander, entangled in wars with his neighbours, sent Lysimachus, the most illustrious general of all, with a huge force to help the allies in his place.

> Latin: 42 Cassander finitimorum bellis inplicitus Lysimachum, clarissimum inter omnes ducem, cum ingenti manu pro se sociis in auxilium misit.

[¶42] Seleucus too, coming down from Greater Asia, joined them as a new enemy of Antigonus. For this Seleucus waged a great many wars throughout the East among the partners in the Macedonian kingdom.

> Latin: 43 Seleucus quoque ex Asia maiore descendens nouus Antigono hostis accessit. hic siquidem Seleucus plurima per orientem inter socios regni Macedonici bella gessit.

[¶43] At the beginning he stormed and took Babylon by war. He thoroughly subdued the Bactrians, who were rising in new revolts.

> Latin: 44 principio Babylonam bello expugnauit et cepit. Bactrianos nouis motibus adsurgentes perdomuit.

[¶44] Then he crossed into India, which after the death of Alexander had, as if dragging and shaking the yoke from its neck, killed his governors under the leadership of a certain Androcottus, to vindicate its freedom. Afterwards Androcottus, acting cruelly towards his fellow citizens, himself oppressed with slavery those whom he had defended from foreign domination.

> Latin: 45 transitum deinde in Indiam fecit: quae post mortem Alexandri ueluti detracto excussoque a ceruicibus iugo praefectos eius occiderat Androcotto quodam ad uindicandam libertatem duce. qui postea crudeliter in ciues agens, quos de externa dominatione defenderat ipse seruitio premebat.

*Note: Chandragupta Maurya, founder of the Mauryan empire; Justin calls him Sandracottus, the Greek writers Sandrokottos.*

## 64. Book 3 · Chapter 23 · 2 of 2

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/64/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/64/#p-N

[¶0] Although Seleucus waged many grievous wars with this Androcottus, at last, having settled the terms of the kingdom and concluded peace, he departed.

> Latin: 46 cum hoc ergo Androcotto Seleucus quamuis multa et grauia bella gessisset, nouissime firmatis regni condicionibus et pacta pace discessit.

[¶1] So, when the forces of Ptolemy and his allies had been united, battle was joined: and the more powerful its equipment, the heavier its ruin; for in it the strength of almost the whole Macedonian kingdom then fell.

> Latin: 47 Adunatis itaque copiis Ptolemaei sociorumque eius, pugna committitur: cuius quanto potentior apparatus tanto ruina grauior fuit, nam in ea tunc totius paene Macedonici regni uires conciderunt.

[¶2] In this very war Antigonus was killed; but the end of this war was the beginning of another: for since the victors could not agree about the plunder, they were again divided into two factions: Seleucus joined Demetrius, Ptolemy joined Lysimachus;

> Latin: 48 in ipso bello Antigonus occisus est; sed finis belli huius initium alterius fuit: nam cum uictoribus de praeda non conueniret, iterum in duas factiones diducuntur: Seleucus Demetrio, Ptolemaeus Lysimacho iungitur;

[¶3] on Cassander’s death his son Philip succeeded him. Thus new wars of Macedonia arose as if afresh.

> Latin: 49 Cassandro defuncto filius Philippus succedit. sic quasi ex integro noua Macedoniae bella nascuntur.

[¶4] Antipater with his own hand ran through his mother Thessalonice, Cassander’s wife, though she pitifully begged for her life.

> Latin: 50 Antipater Thessalonicen matrem suam, Cassandri uxorem, quamuis miserabiliter pro uita precantem, manu sua transuerberauit.

[¶5] His brother Alexander, while preparing war against his brother to avenge their mother, was entrapped and killed by Demetrius, whose help he had sought.

> Latin: 51 Alexander frater eius dum bellum aduersus fratrem ob ultionem matris instruit, a Demetrio, cuius auxilium petierat, circumuentus occiditur.

[¶6] Lysimachus, being hard pressed by a most hostile war with Dorus, king of the Thracians, could not fight against Demetrius.

> Latin: 52 Lysimachus cum Dori regis Thracum infestissimo bello urgueretur, aduersus Demetrium pugnare non potuit.

*Note: Dorus is evidently a corruption of Dromichaetes, king of the Getae, who defeated and captured Lysimachus about 292 BC.*

[¶7] Demetrius, elated by the addition of Greece and all Macedonia, planned to cross into Asia.

> Latin: 53 Demetrius augmento Graeciae et totius Macedoniae elatus, in Asiam transire disponit.

[¶8] But Ptolemy, Seleucus and Lysimachus, having learned in the earlier conflict how great is the strength of concord, again made an alliance, united their armies, and carried the war into Europe against Demetrius.

> Latin: 54 Ptolemaeus autem et Seleucus et Lysimachus experti priore certamine, quantae uires essent concordiae, iterum societate pacta adunatisque exercitibus, bellum in Europam transferunt aduersus Demetrium.

[¶9] Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, joined them as companion and ally in the war, hoping that Demetrius could be driven out of Macedonia. Nor was the hope in vain: for when Demetrius’s army had been corrupted and he himself put to flight, Pyrrhus seized the kingdom of Macedonia.

> Latin: 55 his se comitem et belli socium Pyrrhus rex Epiri iungit, sperans Demetrium Macedonia posse depelli. nec spes frustra fuit: quippe exercitu eius corrupto ipsoque in fugam acto, regnum Macedoniae Pyrrhus inuasit.

[¶10] Then Lysimachus killed his son-in-law Antipater, who was plotting against him, and, hating his own son Agathocles beyond all human measure, killed him too.

> Latin: 56 deinde Lysimachus generum suum Antipatrum insidiantem sibi interfecit filiumque suum Agathoclem ultra humanum morem perosus occidit.

[¶11] In these very days the city of Lysimachia was overthrown by a most fearful earthquake and, crushing its people, became their cruel tomb.

> Latin: 57 Quibus quidem diebus Lysimachia ciuitas formidolosissimo terrae motu euersa, oppressoque populo suo crudele sepulchrum fuit.

[¶12] But all his allies deserted Lysimachus as he stained himself with continual parricides, and, going over to Seleucus, urged him — a king already inclined to it by rivalry for the kingdom — to make war on Lysimachus.

> Latin: 58 Lysimachum autem adsiduis se parricidiis cruentantem omnes socii deseruerunt et ad Seleucum deficientes, pronum iam regem aemulatione regni, ut bellum Lysimacho inferret, hortati sunt.

[¶13] It was a most shameful spectacle: two kings, of whom Lysimachus was seventy-four years old and Seleucus seventy-seven, clashing to snatch each other’s kingdoms, standing in the battle line, bearing arms.

> Latin: 59 res foedissimi spectaculi erat, duo reges, quorum Lysimachus annos natus LXXIIII, Seleucus autem LXXVII, de eripiendis alterutrum regnis concurrere, in acie stare, arma gerere.

[¶14] This was indeed the last war of Alexander’s fellow soldiers, but one that seems to have been reserved as an example of human misery:

> Latin: 60 ultimum hoc quidem bellum Alexandri commilitonum fuit, sed quod ad exemplum humanae miseriae fuerit reseruatum:

[¶15] for when, thirty-four of Alexander’s generals being now dead, they alone possessed the world, they did not regard the very narrow limits of their old age and of their life, but thought the limits of the whole world too narrow for their empire.

> Latin: 61 quippe cum orbem terrarum exstinctis iam XXXIIII Alexandri ducibus soli possiderent et angustissimos senectutis ac uitae suae terminos non aspicientes, angustos esse imperio suo totius mundi terminos arbitrabantur.

[¶16] In that war Lysimachus, having lost or killed fifteen children before this battle, was himself killed last of all. Thus Lysimachus was the closing of the Macedonian struggle.

> Latin: 62 in eo bello Lysimachus, uel amissis uel interfectis prius ante hanc pugnam quindecim liberis, postremus occisus est. sic Lysimachus solutio pugnae Macedonicae fuit.

[¶17] But not even Seleucus rejoiced in so great a victory with impunity: for neither did he, after seventy-seven years, find the rest of a natural death, but ended a life wretchedly wrested from him by what was, as it were, an untimely death:

> Latin: 63 sed ne Seleucus quidem tanta uictoria inpune laetatus est: nam neque ipse post LXXVII annos quietem naturalis mortis inuenit, sed extortam sibi infeliciter uitam uelut immatura morte finiuit:

[¶18] for he was trapped by a plot and killed at the instigation of Ptolemy, whose sister Lysimachus had had as his wife.

> Latin: 64 quippe insistente Ptolemaeo, cuius sororem Lysimachus in matrimonio habuerat, insidiis circumuentus occisus est.

*Note: Ptolemy Ceraunus, eldest son of Ptolemy I, not the Ptolemy of the preceding chapters; his half-sister Arsinoe had been Lysimachus’s wife.*

[¶19] Such are the dealings of kinship and alliance among parents, children, brothers and allies. So much was religion, divine and human, valued among them.

> Latin: 65 Haec sunt inter parentes filios fratres ac socios consanguinitatis societatisque commercia. tanti apud illos diuina atque humana religio pendebatur.

[¶20] Let those indeed blush at the remembrance of the past who now know that, through the intervention of the Christian faith alone and with only the sacred bond of an oath between them, they live with their enemies and do not suffer hostility;

> Latin: 66 erubescant sane de recordatione praeteritorum, qui nunc interuentu solius fidei Christianae ac medio tantum iurationis sacramento uiuere se cum hostibus nec pati hostilia sciunt;

[¶21] for by this it is proved to them beyond all doubt that it is not because, as those men did before, “they joined their treaties over a slaughtered sow”, but because now, between barbarians and Romans who call their Creator and Lord to witness, the Gospels brought in for the oath keep such faith as nature could not then keep even between parents and children.

> Latin: 67 quibus indubitatissime probatur, quia non, sicut illi antea, caesa iungebant foedera porca, sed quia nunc inter barbaros ac Romanos creatorem et dominum suum contestantes tantam fidem adhibita in sacramentum seruant euangelia, quantam tunc nec inter parentes ac filios potuit seruare natura.

*Note: Virgil, Aeneid 8.641.*

[¶22] But now let the end of the Macedonian war be the end of the book as well, especially since from here the wars of Pyrrhus begin, and the Punic wars soon follow.

> Latin: 68 Nunc autem finis Macedonici belli finis etiam libri fiat, praesertim cum iam abhinc Pyrrhi bella incipiant et mox Punica consequantur.

## 65. Book 4 · Preface

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/65/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/65/#p-N

[¶0] Virgil relates that Aeneas, when after his own perils and the shipwrecks of his people he was consoling the comrades who had barely survived, said: “Perhaps one day it will be a pleasure to remember even these things.”

> Latin: 1 Dixisse Aenean Virgilius refert, cum post pericula sua suorumque naufragia residuos aegre socios solaretur, Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuuabit.

[¶1] This saying, once aptly coined, always carries a threefold force with very different effects: for things past are held to be all the more pleasant in the telling the heavier they were in the doing; and things to come, while they become desirable through weariness with the present, are always believed to be better;

> Latin: 2 haec sententia, semel apte ficta, semper uim sui triplicem diuersissimis effectibus refert, cum et praeterita tanto gratiora habentur in uerbis quanto grauiora referuntur in gestis et futura dum desiderabilia fastidio praesentium fiunt semper meliora creduntur,

[¶2] but to the present things themselves no fair comparison of miseries can in any way be applied, for this reason: that the things which are, however slight they may be, afflict us with far greater annoyance than those which, whether past or still to come, though they are called great, meanwhile do not exist at all at that moment.

> Latin: 3 ipsis autem praesentibus ob hoc nulla in parte miseriarum iusta conparatio adhiberi potest, quia multo maiore molestia adficiunt quantulacumque sint ista quae sunt quam illa quae siue transacta siue uentura, etsi magna dicuntur, interim omnino tunc non sunt.

[¶3] It is as if someone tormented by fleas at night, and made restless and sleepless by them, should happen to recall other sleepless nights which he once long endured from the most burning fevers: without doubt he will bear the disquiet of the present nights more impatiently than the memory of the former.

> Latin: 4 ueluti si quis nocturnis pulicibus titillatus atque ex eo uigiliis anxius alias forte, quas aliquando ex ardentissimis febribus diu sustinuit, uigilias recordetur, procul dubio inpatientius feret istarum inquietudinem quam illarum recordationem.

[¶4] But although it may seem so to everyone’s senses, according to what each time can bear, will anyone nevertheless be found who, even in the midst of that very anxiety, would declare that fleas are worse than fevers? Or who would take it more bitterly to lie awake in good health than to have been unable to sleep when at the point of death?

> Latin: 5 sed quamuis apud omnium sensus pro captu temporum ita uideri queat, numquid tamen aliquis exsistet, qui uel in ipsa anxietate pronuntiet grauiores pulices esse quam febres? aut acerbius accipiat se uigilare sanum quam dormire non potuisse moriturum?

[¶5] This being so, I grant to these delicate complainers of ours, after a fashion, that they may think heavy, as they feel them, the things by which we are now from time to time admonished, because it is expedient so; I do not, however, wink at their asserting that these things are also heavier by comparison.

> Latin: 6 quae cum ita sint, delicatis istis et querulis nostris utcumque concedo, ut haec, quibus nunc, quia sic expedit, interdum admonemur, sentiendo grauia putent, non tamen coniueo, ut etiam adserant conparando grauiora.

[¶6] Just as if someone, coming out in the morning from the softest bedding and a most comfortable chamber, were to see that the surfaces of the pools had stiffened with the night’s frost and the grass had turned white, and, prompted by the unexpected sight, were to say, ‘It is cold today’: such a man would by no means seem to me deserving of reproof, for he would have spoken either according to common usage or from his own sensation.

> Latin: 7 quemadmodum si quis e mollissimis stratis cubiculoque percommodo matutinus egrediens nocturno gelu lacunarum dorsa obriguisse herbasque incanuisse prospiceret et inopinato uisu admonitus diceret 'frigus est hodie': hic mihi nequaquam reprehendendus uideretur, quia uel communi usu uel proprio sensu locutus esset.

[¶7] But if, running back in alarm into his chamber and covering himself with his bedding, or rather burying himself in it, he were to cry out that the cold was altogether as great as it had never been even in the Apennines, when Hannibal, shut in and overwhelmed by the snows, lost his elephants, his horses and the greater part of his army:

> Latin: 8 at si trepidus in cubiculum recurrens stratisque sese adoperiens uel magis abdens clamaret, tantum omnino frigus esse quantum nec in Appennino aliquando fuerit, cum Hannibal elephantos equos plurimamque exercitus sui partem niuibus clausus atque oppressus amisit:

[¶8] this man, sickening with childish self-indulgence, I would not only refuse to tolerate as he said such things, but I would even drag him from that very bedding, the witness of his idleness, out among the people and into public; and, having brought him out of doors, I would show him little children playing in that frost and with it, delighting in it and sweating,

> Latin: 9 hunc ego puerilibus licentiis nausiantem non modo dicentem ista non ferrem, sed etiam ab ipsis stratis, otii sui testibus, in populum publicumque protraherem, eique foras producto infantes in eo atque ex eo gelu ludentes iucundantes sudantesque monstrarem,

[¶9] so that his wordy triviality, spoiled by pampered nurture, might be taught that the violence lay not in the weather, but the sluggishness in himself; and that, when things are weighed by comparison, it might be proved, not that our forebears had endured only small things, but that he himself was not equal to enduring even small ones.

> Latin: 10 ut uerbosa nugacitas delicatis uitiata nutrimentis non in tempore uiolentiam sed in se esse segnitiam doceretur et in conparatione rerum diiudicanda non maiores parua tolerasse sed se nec parua tolerare sufficere probaretur.

[¶10] This I shall demonstrate more clearly by recalling to their memory the disasters of the past, setting forth first of all, as the order requires, the war with Pyrrhus. Its cause and origin were these.

> Latin: 11 Quod euidentius ipsis in memoriam reuolutis praeteritorum cladibus adprobabo Pyrrhi bello in primis, sicut ordo est, prodito. cuius causa et origo haec fuit.

## 66. Book 4 · Chapter 1

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/66/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/66/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 464 from the founding of the City, the Tarentines, catching sight from their theatre, where they were watching a show, of a Roman fleet that happened to be sailing past, attacked it as enemies. Only five ships barely escaped by flight; the rest of the fleet was dragged into the harbour and destroyed; the captains of the ships were slaughtered, all who were fit for war were put to death, and the rest were sold for a price.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita CCCCLXIIII Tarentini Romanam classem forte praetereuntem, spectaculo theatri prospectam hostiliter inuaserunt, quinque tantum nauibus uix per fugam elapsis; cetera retracta in portum classis et profligata est; praefecti nauium trucidati, omnes bello utiles caesi, reliqui pretio uenditi sunt.

[¶1] Envoys were at once sent to Tarentum by the Romans to complain of the wrongs inflicted; they were beaten by those same people and brought back wrongs increased still further. From these causes a great war arose.

> Latin: 2 continuo missi Tarentum a Romanis legati, ut de inlatis quererentur iniuriis, pulsati ab isdem auctas insuper iniurias rettulerunt. his causis bellum ingens exortum est.

[¶2] The Romans, measuring who and how great were the enemies clamouring around them, were driven by the utmost necessity to force even the proletarii into arms — that is, to enrol for military service those who were always left free in the City for the sake of supplying offspring: for indeed concern for offspring is vain unless present circumstances are provided for.

> Latin: 3 Romanos, qui quantique hostes circumstreperent permetientes, ultima adegit necessitas proletarios quoque in arma cogere, hoc est eos qui in urbe semper sufficiendae prolis causa uacabant, militiae adscribere: quippe cum frustra de prole cura est, nisi rebus praesentibus consulatur.

[¶3] And so the Roman army, with the consul Aemilius, burst into the whole territory of the Tarentines, laid waste everything with fire and sword, stormed a great many towns, and cruelly avenged the injury it had insolently received.

> Latin: 4 itaque inruit in uniuersos Tarentinorum fines cum Aemilio consule Romanus exercitus, igni ferroque uastat omnia, plurima expugnat oppida, iniuriam insolenter acceptam crudeliter uindicat.

[¶4] Straightway the Tarentines, already propped up by many forces from their neighbours, were strengthened above all by Pyrrhus, who, on account of the greatness of his strength and of his counsels, even drew to himself the supreme command and the name of the war.

> Latin: 5 continuo Tarentinos, plurimis finitimorum praesidiis fultos, maxime Pyrrhus auxit, qui etiam in se ob magnitudinem uirium consiliorumque summam belli nomenque transduxit.

[¶5] For, intending to defend Tarentum as a city founded by the Lacedaemonians and kin to Greece, he brought over the entire forces of Epirus, Thessaly and Macedonia, and was the first to bring into Italy elephants, twenty in number, which until that time the Romans had never seen: terrible by land and sea, with men and horses, with arms and beasts, and finally with his own strength and wiles —

> Latin: 6 nam Tarentum, utpote ex Lacedaemoniis conditam cognatamque Graeciae ciuitatem, uindicaturus totas uires Epiri Thessaliae et Macedoniae, elephantos etiam usque in id tempus inuisos Romanis numero XX in Italiam primus inuexit: terra mari, uiris equis, armis beluis, ad postremum uiribus suis dolisque terribilis,

[¶6] except that, deceived by the ambiguous response of that most vain Delphic spirit and most lying scoundrel, whom they themselves call a great prophet, he came to the same end as one who had never consulted him.

> Latin: 7 nisi quod Delphici illius uanissimi spiritus et mendacissimi nebulonis, quem magnum ipsi uatem ferunt, responso circumuentus ambiguo exitum fecit eius, qui non consuluisset.

[¶7] And so at Heraclea, a city of Campania, and by the river Liris, the first battle was joined between King Pyrrhus and the consul Laevinus. The day was spent in a most grievous struggle, all on both sides being intent on dying and ignorant of flight.

> Latin: 8 itaque apud Heracleam, Campaniae urbem, fluuiumque Lirim prima inter Pyrrhum regem et Laeuinum consulem pugna commissa est. consumpta est grauissimo certamine dies, utrimque omnibus mori intentis, fugere nesciis.

*Note: Heraclea lay in Lucania on the Gulf of Tarentum, and the battle of 280 BC was fought by the river Siris; Orosius puts it in Campania, by the Liris.*

[¶8] But when the Romans saw the elephants brought in between the clashing lines — fierce in form, heavy in smell, terrible in bulk — they were surrounded and terrified by a new kind of fighting, and, the horses especially panicking, they scattered in flight.

> Latin: 9 introductos autem inter concurrentia agmina elephantos forma truces, odore graues, mole terribiles ut uidere Romani, nouo pugnandi genere circumuenti et territi, equis maxime pauitantibus, diffugerunt.

[¶9] But after Minucius, first hastatus of the fourth legion, cut off with his sword the trunk that one of the beasts had stretched out against him, and forced it, maddened by the pain of the wound, to turn away from the battle and rage against its own side, and they began to be thrown into confusion and disorder by its unbridled rushing about, an end was put to the fighting, with the help of night as well.

> Latin: 10 sed postquam Minucius quartae legionis primus hastatus protentam in se manum beluae gladio desecuit et conturbatam dolore uulneris auerti bello atque in suos saeuire conpulit eiusque inmoderato discursu perturbari ac permisceri coepere, finis pugnae etiam beneficio noctis inpositus est.

[¶10] That the Romans had been beaten was revealed by their shameful flight: of them 14,880 foot soldiers are said to have fallen on that occasion, and 1,310 to have been captured; of the cavalry, 246 were slain and 802 captured; and 22 standards were lost.

> Latin: 11 uictos fuisse Romanos turpis fuga prodidit: quorum tunc cecidisse referuntur peditum X̅I̅I̅I̅I̅ DCCCLXXX, capti I̅ CCCX, equites autem caesi CCXLVI, capti DCCCII, signa amissa XXII.

[¶11] How great a number of Pyrrhus’s allies was destroyed on the other side has not been handed down to memory, chiefly because it is the custom of the ancient writers not to record the number of the slain on the side that conquered, lest the losses of the victor tarnish the glory of the victory —

> Latin: 12 nam quantus e diuerso numerus sociorum Pyrrhi fuerit extinctus, memoriae traditum non est, maxime quia scriptorum ueterum mos est ex ea parte quae uicerit occisorum non commendare numerum, ne uictoriae gloriam maculent damna uictoris,

[¶12] unless perhaps so few fall that the very fewness of the lost increases the wonder and terror of their valour, as happened in the first encounter of the Persian war under Alexander the Great: of whose army, among nearly four hundred thousand of the enemy slain, only nine foot soldiers are said to have been missing.

> Latin: 13 nisi forte cum adeo pauci cadunt, ut admirationem terroremque uirtutis augeat paucitas perditorum, sicut in prima Persici belli congressione apud Alexandrum Magnum fuit: cui inter CCCC fere milia hostium interfecta nouem tantummodo in exercitu eius pedites defuisse referuntur.

[¶13] But Pyrrhus bore witness before his gods and before men to the dreadfulness of the slaughter he had suffered in this war, fixing an inscription in the temple of Tarentine Jupiter, in which he wrote this: “Men who before were unconquered, best father of Olympus, these I conquered in battle, and by them was I conquered.”

> Latin: 14 sed Pyrrhus atrocitatem cladis, quam hoc bello exceperat, dis suis hominibusque testatus est, adfigens titulum in templo Tarentini Iouis, in quo haec scripsit: Qui antehac inuicti fuere uiri, pater optime Olympi, Hos ego in pugna vici uictusque sum ab isdem.

[¶14] And when he was reproached by his allies for calling himself conquered when he had conquered, he is said to have answered: “Indeed, if I conquer again in the same way, I shall return to Epirus without a single soldier.”

> Latin: 15 et cum a sociis increpitaretur, cur se uictum diceret qui uicisset, respondisse fertur: Ne ego si iterum eodem modo uicero, sine ullo milite Epirum reuertar.

[¶15] Meanwhile the Roman army, after it had been beaten and had fled secretly from its camp, found the wretched disaster of the war increased and heaped up by graver portents.

> Latin: 16 interea Romanus exercitus, postquam uictus clam fugit e castris, miserabilem belli cladem grauioribus monstris auctam accumulatamque persensit.

[¶16] For a storm, rising up like some enemy, with a horrible crash of the sky seized the foragers, who happened to have gone out, and burnt them up with dreadful thunderbolts.

> Latin: 17 nam pabulatores forte progressos uelut hostilis quaedam oborta tempestas cum horribili fragore caeli correptos diris fulminibus exussit.

[¶17] Indeed, the same whirlwind laid low thirty-four of them; twenty-two were left half-dead; and a great many beasts of burden were killed or carried off: so that it may rightly be said to have happened not as a sign of devastation to come, but as the devastation itself.

> Latin: 18 quippe XXX et IIII eorum idem turbo prostrauit; duo et uiginti semineces relicti, iumenta exanimata et capta conplurima: ut merito contigisse non in signum uastationis futurae sed uastatio ipsa referatur.

[¶18] The second battle between Pyrrhus and the Roman consuls was fought within the borders of Apulia. There the slaughter of war fell to both sides, but chiefly to Pyrrhus, and the victory went to the Romans.

> Latin: 19 Secunda inter Pyrrhum et Romanos consules pugna in Apuliae finibus fuit. ubi clades belli ad utrosque sed maxime ad Pyrrhum, uictoria ad Romanos concessit.

*Note: This is the battle of Asculum in Apulia (279 BC). Greek accounts, notably Plutarch’s, give it to Pyrrhus at a heavy cost; Orosius follows the Roman tradition, also found in Eutropius, that makes it a Roman victory.*

[¶19] For when for a long time all had been rushing stubbornly into mutual slaughter, and the outcome of the war hung in the balance, Pyrrhus, wounded, with his arm pierced through, was the first to withdraw from the battle. But the legate Fabricius was also wounded on that occasion.

> Latin: 20 nam cum diu obnixe cunctis in mutuam caedem ruentibus, anceps belli penderet euentus, Pyrrhus, transfixo bracchio saucius, prior cessit e proelio. sed et Fabricius legatus tunc uulneratus est.

[¶20] The elephants, which had been found in the first battle to be capable of being wounded and put to flight, were then driven wild by fires thrust beneath their hinder and softer parts, and, carrying the blazing towers about with them besides in their frightened frenzy, they became the destruction of their own side.

> Latin: 21 elephanti prima pugna uulnerari atque in fugam cogi posse deprehensi, deinde subiectis inter posteriora ac mollia ignibus exagitati, ardentes insuper machinas furore trepido circumferentes exitio suis fuere.

[¶21] In that battle five thousand Romans were slain, while of the army of Pyrrhus twenty thousand were laid low. Fifty-three of the king’s standards were captured; eleven of the Romans’ were lost.

> Latin: 22 caesa sunt in ea pugna V milia Romanorum, de exercitu uero Pyrrhi XX milia prostrata sunt. regis signa ablata LIII, Romanorum undecim amissa sunt.

[¶22] Pyrrhus, broken by the war, and summoned to the rule of Sicily on the death of Agathocles, king of Syracuse, withdrew to Syracuse.

> Latin: 23 Pyrrhus bello fractus, Agathocle mortuo rege Syracusano ad Siciliae arcessitus imperium Syracusas concessit.

*Note: Agathocles had died in 289 BC. Pyrrhus crossed to Sicily in 278 BC, called in by the Sicilian Greeks against Carthage.*

## 67. Book 4 · Chapter 2

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/67/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/67/#p-N

[¶0] But the misery of the Romans ceases with no truce: the interval between wars is taken up with the evils of diseases, and when there is rest from battle abroad, the wrath of heaven is at work within.

> Latin: 1 Sed Romanorum miseria nullis cessat indutiis; consumitur morborum malis intercapedo bellorum et, cum foris cessatur a proelio, agitur introrsum ira de caelo.

[¶1] For in the consulship of Fabius Gurges, for the second time, and Gaius Genucius Clepsina, a grievous pestilence invaded the City and its territory. Seizing upon all, but especially upon women and cattle, it emptied them of their future offspring by killing the young in the womb; and, in untimely births, miscarriages were forced out and cast away at peril to the mothers, so that it was believed that succession would fail and the race of living creatures would come to an end, since the lawful order of life-giving birth had been taken away.

> Latin: 2 nam Fabio Gurgite iterum C. Genucio Clepsina consulibus pestilentia grauis urbem ac fines eius inuasit; quae cum omnes tum praecipue mulieres pecudesque corripiens necatis in utero fetibus futura prole uacuabat, et immaturis partubus cum periculo matrum extorti abortus proiciebantur, adeo ut defectura successio et defuturum animantum genus adempto uitalis partus legitimo ordine crederetur.

[¶2] Meanwhile the consul Curius met Pyrrhus on his return from Sicily, and this third war against the Epirotes was fought in Lucania, on the Arusinian plains.

> Latin: 3 Interea reuersum ex Sicilia Pyrrhum Curius consul excepit, tertiumque id bellum contra Epirotas apud Lucaniam in Arusinis campis gestum est.

*Note: This is the battle fought near Beneventum in Samnium in 275 BC; Orosius places it in Lucania.*

[¶3] And so, at the first encounter, when Pyrrhus’s soldiers were wavering under the onset of the Romans and, looking about for a way of flight, were preparing to give ground in the battle, Pyrrhus ordered the elephants to be brought in from the reserves.

> Latin: 4 itaque primo concursu cum Pyrrhi milites Romanorum inpressione trepidarent et circumspectantes fugam bello cedere molirentur, Pyrrhus elephantos ex subsidiis iussit induci.

[¶4] The Romans, now accustomed to fighting with the beasts, had prepared fire-darts wrapped in tow and smeared with pitch, and made to cling fast with hooked barbs besides; and, hurling these, set alight, at the backs of the beasts and at the towers, they turned the raging and burning beasts back without difficulty to the destruction of those whose support they had been.

> Latin: 5 Romani, adsueti iam pugnare cum beluis, cum malleolos stuppa inuolutos ac pice oblitos uncis insuper aculeis tenaces praeparauissent eosque flammatos in terga beluarum turresque uibrarent, non difficile furentes ardentesque beluas in eorum excidia, quorum subsidia fuerant, retorserunt.

[¶5] They say that the king had eighty thousand foot soldiers in that battle, and six thousand horse. Of these, 33,000 are reported to have been slain, and 1,300 were captured.

> Latin: 6 LXXX milia peditum in illo proelio habuisse regem dicunt, equitum uero VI milia. ex his caesa referuntur XXXIII milia, capti autem sunt mille trecenti.

[¶6] Pyrrhus at last, in the fifth year after his coming, fled from Italy defeated. After the many and most grievous wars that he waged, he was lured on by greed for the kingdom of Sparta, and fell in Greece at Argos, a most flourishing city of Achaea, struck by a stone.

> Latin: 7 Pyrrhus quinto demum anno, quam uenerat, ab Italia uictus aufugit. qui post multa grauissimaque bella, quae gessit, in Graecia apud Argos Achaiae florentissimam urbem, Spartani regni auiditate seductus, saxo ictus occubuit.

[¶7] At that time also, among the Romans, Sextilia, a Vestal virgin, convicted and condemned of unchastity, was buried alive at the Colline Gate.

> Latin: 8 Tunc quoque apud Romanos Sextilia uirgo Vestalis conuicta damnataque incesti ad portam Collinam uiua defossa est.

## 68. Book 4 · Chapter 3

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/68/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/68/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 475 from the founding of the City, the Tarentines, on learning of the death of Pyrrhus, again stirred up new arms against the Romans; they asked for help from the Carthaginians through envoys, and received it.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita CCCCLXXV Tarentini Pyrrhi morte conperta iterum noua aduersum Romanos arma sollicitant, Carthaginiensium auxilia per legatos poscunt atque accipiunt.

[¶1] Battle was joined and the Romans conquered: and even then the Carthaginians, though not yet adjudged enemies, perceived that they could be conquered by the Romans.

> Latin: 2 conserto proelio uicere Romani: ubi iam tunc Carthaginienses, quamuis nondum hostes adiudicati, uinci tamen a Romanis se posse senserunt.

[¶2] In the following year Roman severity cut down a great part of its own vitals.

> Latin: 3 Sequenti anno magnam uiscerum suorum partem seueritas Romana concidit.

[¶3] For some time before, when Pyrrhus was approaching, the eighth legion, distrusting the hopes of Rome, dared a new crime: it killed all the people of Rhegium, whom it had been stationed there to protect, and claimed for itself all the plunder and the town itself.

> Latin: 4 nam aduentante dudum Pyrrho octaua legio diffidens Romanae spei, nouum scelus ausa Reginenses omnes, quibus subsidio praeerat, interfecit, praedam sibi omnem atque ipsum oppidum uindicauit.

[¶4] The punishment of this outrage upon such wicked deserters was entrusted to the consul Genucius. He besieged the city of Rhegium and captured them all; upon the rest, the deserters and brigands, he himself inflicted fitting punishments, but the Roman soldiers of the whole legion he sent to Rome, where by order of the people they were beaten with rods in the middle of the Forum and struck down with the axe.

> Latin: 5 hoc facinus in tam sceleratos defectores puniendum Genucio consuli iussum est. qui obsessa Reginorum urbe captisque omnibus ipse quidem in reliquos perfugas et latrones exercuit digna supplicia, Romanos uero milites integrae legionis Romam misit: qui populi iussu medio in foro uirgis caesi sunt securique percussi.

[¶5] Rome seemed to herself to be victorious at that time, when she slew an entire legion of her own — she who would without doubt have been conquered had she lost it in battle against an enemy.

> Latin: 6 Visa sibi est tunc Roma uincere, cum legionem suam integram occidit, quae sine dubio uicta fuisset, si eam hostili proelio perdidisset.

## 69. Book 4 · Chapter 4

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/69/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/69/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 478 from the founding of the City, foul and dreadful portents were either seen at Rome or reported there. The temple of Salus was shattered by a stroke of lightning, and part of the wall below the same place was, as they say, struck from heaven.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita CCCCLXXVIII obscena et dira prodigia uel uisa Romae uel nuntiata sunt. aedes Salutis ictu fulminis dissoluta, pars muri sub eodem loco de caelo, ut dicunt, tacta est.

[¶1] Three wolves entered the City before dawn and brought in a half-eaten corpse; and, frightened by the noise of men, they left it in the Forum, scattered limb by limb.

> Latin: 2 lupi tres ante lucem ingressi urbem, semesum cadauer intulerunt sparsumque membratim in foro ipsi strepitu hominum exterriti reliquerunt.

[¶2] At Formiae the walls were scorched and shattered on every side by many strokes of lightning.

> Latin: 3 apud Formias multis ictibus fulminum moenia undique ambusta et dissoluta sunt.

[¶3] In the territory of Cales a flame suddenly burst forth from a gaping cleft in the earth, and, seething terribly for three days and three nights, it burnt five iugera of land to ashes, the sap of their fertility drained to the very depths, so that it is reported to have consumed not only the crops but the trees as well, down to their lowest roots.

> Latin: 4 apud agrum Calenum repente flamma scisso hiatu terrae eructata tribus diebus tribusque noctibus terribiliter exaestuans, quinque agri iugera exhausto penitus suco ubertatis in cinerem exterruit, ita ut non fruges solum sed et arbores cum imis stirpibus absumpsisse referatur.

[¶4] In the year following, the consul Sempronius led an army against the Picentes. And when the two lines had been drawn up and had halted within a spear’s throw of each other, suddenly the earth shook with so horrifying a crash that both armies, terror-struck, were stupefied with amazement at the wonder.

> Latin: 5 Sequenti abhinc anno Sempronius consul aduersum Picentes duxit exercitum. et cum directae intra iactum teli utraque acies constitissent, repente ita cum horrendo fragore terra tremuit, ut stupore miraculi utrumque pauefactum agmen hebesceret.

[¶5] For a long time the peoples on both sides stood hesitating, astounded, conscious that their undertaking had been prejudged; at last, rushing forward, they joined battle.

> Latin: 6 diu attoniti utrimque populi haesitauere praeiudicata incepti conscientia; tandem procursu concito iniere certamen.

[¶6] So grim was that war that it may rightly be said that the earth trembled then with a horrible groan because it was about to receive so much human blood. The Romans, very few of whom escaped from that battle, were victorious.

> Latin: 7 triste adeo id bellum fuit, ut merito dicatur tantum humanum sanguinem susceptura etiam cum gemitu horrisono tunc terra tremuisse. Romani pauci admodum eo proelio qui euasere uicerunt.

## 70. Book 4 · Chapter 5

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/70/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/70/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 480 from the founding of the City, among many portents, blood was seen to flow from the earth and from the sky. For in very many places gore welled up and flowed from springs, and from the clouds, as milk came down drop by drop in the likeness of rain, showers — dreadful, as it seemed to them — watered the earth.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita CCCCLXXX inter multa prodigia sanguis e terra, ac uisum est manare de caelo. nam et plurimis locis scaturiens e fontibus cruor fluxit et de nubibus guttatim in speciem pluuiae lacte demisso, diri, ut ipsis uisum est, terram imbres inrigauerunt.

[¶1] At that time the Carthaginians, who had given help to the Tarentines against the Romans, when they were charged with it by the senate through envoys, heaped a brazen perjury upon the most shameful stain of a broken treaty.

> Latin: 2 eo tempore Carthaginienses dato aduersum Romanos auxilio Tarentinis, cum a senatu per legatos arguerentur, turpissimam rupti foederis labem praesumpto accumulauere peiurio.

[¶2] At that time too the Volsinians, the most flourishing of the Etruscans, nearly perished through luxury. For when, their licence having been prolonged into custom, they were freeing their slaves indiscriminately, inviting them to their banquets, and honouring them with marriages,

> Latin: 3 Tunc etiam Vulsinienses, Etruscorum florentissimi, luxurie paene perierunt. nam cum, licentia in consuetudinem prorogata, seruos suos passim liberos facerent, conuiuiis allegarent, coniugiis honestarent:

[¶3] the freedmen, admitted to a share of power, planned to usurp the whole of it by crime; freed from the yoke of slavery, they burned with ambition for domination; and those whom as subjects they had loved contentedly as their masters, they now, as free men, cursed, because they remembered that these had been their masters.

> Latin: 4 libertini in partem potestatis recepti plenitudinem per scelus usurpare meditati sunt et liberati seruitutis iugo, ambitu dominationis arserunt et quos dominos subditi aequanimiter dilexerunt, eos iam liberi, quod dominos fuisse meminerant, exsecrati sunt.

[¶4] And so the freedmen, conspiring in crime — and so large was their band that they gained what they dared without a struggle — seized the city and claimed it for their own class alone; by crime they usurped the patrimonies and the wives of their masters, and drove their masters far off into exile. These, wretched, exiled and destitute, betook themselves to Rome, where, having displayed their misery and lamented their grievance, they were both avenged and restored through the severity of the Romans.

> Latin: 5 itaque conspirantes in facinus libertini - quorum tanta manus fuit, ut sine controuersia auso potirentur - correptam urbem suo tantum generi uindicant, patrimonia coniugiaque dominorum sibi per scelus usurpant, extorres dominos procul abigunt, qui miseri, exules egentesque Romam deferuntur: ubi ostentata miseria querellaque defleta, per Romanorum seueritatem et uindicati sunt et restituti.

[¶5] In the year 481 from the founding of the City, a huge pestilence blazed up at Rome. Its dreadfulness I am content to indicate, since I cannot render it in full with words.

> Latin: 6 Anno ab urbe condita CCCCLXXXI pestilentia ingens apud Romam conflagrauit, cuius atrocitatem significare contentus sum, quia uerbis inplere non possum.

[¶6] For if one asks the length of time that it lasted, it stretched on, laying waste, beyond two years; if the depopulation that it wrought, a census was proclaimed which inquired, not how many people had perished, but how many had survived; if the violence with which it struck, the Sibylline books are witnesses, which answered that it had been imposed by the wrath of heaven.

> Latin: 7 si enim spatium temporis quo mansit inquiritur, ultra biennium uastando porrecta est; si depopulatio quam egerit, census indictus est, qui non quantum hominum deperisset, sed quantum superfuisset, inquireret; si uiolentia qua adfecerit, Sibyllini libri testes sunt, qui eam caelesti ira inpositam responderunt.

[¶7] But lest anyone take offence, as though at the temptation of a quibble, because, whereas the Sibyl said that the gods were angry, we may seem to have spoken of the wrath of heaven, let him hear and understand that these things, even though they are mostly brought about through the powers of the air, nevertheless do not happen at all without the judgement of almighty God.

> Latin: 8 sed, ne quemquam quasi temptatio cauillationis offendat, quod, cum Sibylla iratos deos dixerit, nos iram caelestem dixisse uideamur, audiat et intellegat, quia haec, etsi plerumque per aerias potestates fiunt, tamen sine arbitrio omnipotentis Dei omnino non fiunt.

[¶8] At the same time Caparronia, a Vestal virgin, accused of unchastity, perished by hanging; her seducer and the slaves who were privy to it were put to death.

> Latin: 9 Eodem tempore Caparronia uirgo Vestalis incesti rea suspendio periit: corruptor eius consciique serui supplicio adfecti sunt.

[¶9] Behold what things, and how great, we recount as having befallen one after another, very many in each single year — among which years there was surely seldom, or almost never, one in which nothing grievous took place; and this although those same writers, having set themselves rather the task of praise, were wary of enumerating miseries,

> Latin: 10 Ecce continuatim quae et quanta numeramus accidisse annis singulis plurima, inter quos certe raro aut paene nullo nihil triste gestum, et hoc, cum idem scriptores proposito sibi magis laudandi negotio cauerent numerositates miseriarum,

[¶10] lest they should offend the very people for whom and about whom these things were being written, and seem to frighten their hearers with examples of the past rather than to instruct them.

> Latin: 11 ne eosdem quibus haec et de quibus scribebantur offenderent auditoresque suos exemplis praeteritorum terrere potius quam instituere uiderentur.

[¶11] Moreover, we who are placed at the end of the times cannot know the evils of the Romans except through those who praised the Romans.

> Latin: 12 porro autem nos in ultimo temporum positi mala Romanorum scire non possumus nisi per eos, qui laudauere Romanos.

[¶12] From this we are given to understand how great those things must have been which were deliberately suppressed because of their horror, when such great things are found as were able to trickle out faintly amid the praises.

> Latin: 13 ex quo intellegi datur, quanta illa fuerint quae studio propter horrorem repressa sunt, cum tanta inueniuntur quae tenuiter inter laudes emanare potuerunt.

## 71. Book 4 · Chapter 6

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/71/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/71/#p-N

[¶0] And since from this point the Punic Wars now follow, the matter itself requires that at least a few things be related about Carthage — which is found to have been founded by Elissa seventy-two years before the city of Rome — and about its disasters and domestic evils, as Pompeius Trogus and Justin set them out.

> Latin: 1 Et quoniam ex hoc iam Punica bella succedunt, res ipsa exigit, ut de Carthagine, quae ante urbem Romam duo et septuaginta annos ab Helissa condita inuenitur, eiusque cladibus ac domesticis malis, sicut Pompeius Trogus et Iustinus exprimunt, uel pauca referantur.

[¶1] The Carthaginians always had among themselves a homegrown and internal evil, discord; and under its unhappy agitation they never passed any season either prosperous abroad or quiet at home.

> Latin: 2 Carthaginienses uernaculum atque intestinum semper inter se malum habuere discordiam, qua infeliciter exagitante nulla umquam tempora uel foris prospera uel domi quieta duxerunt.

[¶2] But when, among their other evils, they were also suffering from a pestilence, they used murders as remedies: for they sacrificed human beings as victims, and brought to the altars children not yet grown, an age that would move the pity even of enemies.

> Latin: 3 sed cum inter cetera mala etiam pestilentia laborarent, homicidiis pro remediis usi sunt: quippe homines ut uictimas inmolabant aetatemque inpuberem, quae etiam hostium misericordiam prouocaret, aris admouebant.

[¶3] Concerning this kind of sacred rite — or rather of sacrilege — I cannot find what most deserves discussion. For if certain demons dared to prescribe rites of this sort, so that the deaths of men should be atoned for by the slaughter of men, it ought to have been understood that they themselves were being hired as workmen and helpers of the pestilence, to kill those whom it had not seized:

> Latin: 4 De quo sacrorum immo sacrilegiorum genere quid potissime discutiendum sit non inuenio. si enim huiusmodi ritus aliqui daemones praecipere ausi sunt, ut mortibus hominum occisione hominum satisfieret, intellegendum fuit se operarios atque adiutores pestilentiae conduci, ut ipsi quos illa non corripuisset occiderent:

[¶4] for it is the custom to offer victims that are sound and unblemished, so that these men were not allaying the diseases but anticipating them.

> Latin: 5 sanas enim atque incorruptas offerri hostias mos est, ita ut illi non sedarent morbos sed praeuenirent.

[¶5] And so the Carthaginians, the gods having turned away from them because of rites of this kind — as Pompeius Trogus and Justin acknowledge; but, as is settled among us, because God was angered by their presumption and impiety —

> Latin: 6 Itaque Carthaginienses auersis dis propter istius modi sacra - sicut Pompeius Trogus et Iustinus fatentur, sicut autem apud nos constat, propter praesumptionem impietatemque ipsorum irato Deo -

[¶6] after they had long fought unsuccessfully in Sicily, transferred the war to Sardinia and were again, still more unsuccessfully, defeated. For this reason they ordered their general Mazeus and the few soldiers who had survived to go into exile. The exiles sought pardon through envoys and, being rebuffed, encircled their fatherland with war and siege.

> Latin: 7 cum in Sicilia diu infeliciter dimicassent, translato in Sardiniam bello iterum infelicius uicti sunt. propter quod ducem suum Mazeum et paucos qui superfuerant milites exulare iusserunt. exules ueniam per legatos petentes repulsi patriam bello et obsidione cinxerunt.

*Note: Justin, Orosius’s source for this Carthaginian history, calls the general Malchus.*

[¶7] There and then Mazeus, the leader of the exiles, hung his son Carthalo, a priest of Hercules, on a cross before the eyes of his fatherland, just as he was, in his purple and his sacred fillets, because he had come out to meet him clad in purple, as though to insult him.

> Latin: 8 ibi tunc Mazeus dux exulum Carthalonem filium suum, sacerdotem Herculis, cur sibi uelut insultans purpuratus occurreret, in crucem sub oculis patriae ita ut erat cum purpuris infulisque suspendit.

[¶8] A few days later he captured the city itself; and when, after killing very many of the senators, he was ruling with bloodshed, he was killed. These things took place in the times of Cyrus, king of the Persians.

> Latin: 9 post paucos dies urbem ipsam cepit; qui cum, interfectis plurimis senatorum, cruente dominaretur, occisus est. haec temporibus Cyri Persarum regis gesta sunt.

[¶9] After this Himilco, king of the Carthaginians, while he was waging war in Sicily, suddenly lost his army to a horrible plague.

> Latin: 10 Post haec uero Himelcho rex Carthaginiensium cum in Sicilia bellum gereret, repente horribili peste exercitum amisit.

[¶10] Nor was there any delay: as the people fell in droves from the disease, each was quickly seized, soon dead, and no longer even buried. When the news of this calamity had filled Carthage, stunned with sudden grief, the city was thrown into turmoil no differently than if it had been captured.

> Latin: 11 nec mora: morbis, populo cateruatim cadente, cito quisque correptus, mox mortuus, iam nec sepeliebatur: cuius mali nuntius cum attonitam repentino luctu Carthaginem repleuisset, non secus ac si capta esset turbata ciuitas fuit.

[¶11] Everything resounded with wailing; doors were shut everywhere; all public and private business was abandoned; all ran down to the harbour, and as the few who had survived the disaster came off the ships, they questioned them about their own kin.

> Latin: 12 omnia ululatibus personabant, clausae ubique ianuae, cuncta publica priuataque officia damnata, uniuersi ad portum decurrunt egredientesque de nauibus paucos, qui cladi superfuerant, de suis percontantur.

[¶12] After the wretched people learned of the destruction of their kin, as those men stayed silent or groaned, then along the whole shore were heard the cries of mourners beating their breasts, then the wailing of unhappy mothers and their tearful laments.

> Latin: 13 postquam de clade suorum, tacentibus illis uel gementibus, miseri intellegunt, tunc toto litore plangentium voces, tunc infelicium matrum ululatus et flebiles querellae audiebantur.

[¶13] Amid all this the commander himself came forth from his ship, ungirt, in a soiled and slavish tunic; at the sight of him the mourning crowds joined together; and he too, stretching his hands to heaven, accused and bewailed now his own misfortune, now the public one.

> Latin: 14 inter haec procedit et ipse de naui sua imperator sordida seruilique tunica discinctus; ad cuius conspectum plangentia iunguntur agmina; ipse quoque manus ad caelum tendens nunc suam nunc publicam infelicitatem accusat et deflet;

[¶14] At last, crying aloud through the city, he finally entered his house, dismissed with a last address all who had followed him weeping, and then, with the doors barred and even his sons shut out, he ended his grief and his life with the sword. These things took place in the times of Darius.

> Latin: 15 ad postremum uociferans per urbem, tandem ingressus domum, cunctos, qui lacrimantes prosequebantur, ultimo dimisit adloquio ac deinde obseratis ianuis exclusisque etiam filiis gladio dolorem uitamque finiuit. haec Darii temporibus gesta sunt.

*Note: The plague destroyed Himilco’s army before Syracuse in 396 BC, in the reign of the Persian king Artaxerxes II, not of any Darius. Himilco was a general, though Orosius calls him king (4.6.10).*

[¶15] After this Hanno, a certain Carthaginian who surpassed the strength of the commonwealth with his private wealth, drank in the desire of seizing domination. For this purpose he thought it a useful plan, under pretence of the marriage of his only daughter, to kill with poison over the cups all the senators whose rank he judged would stand in the way of his undertakings.

> Latin: 16 Post haec Hanno, uir quidam Carthaginiensis priuatis opibus reipublicae uires superans, inuadendae dominationis hausit cupiditatem. cui rei consilium utile ratus est, ut simulatis unicae filiae nuptiis omnes senatores, quorum dignitatem obstaturam inceptis suis arbitrabatur, inter pocula ueneno necaret.

[¶16] The affair was betrayed by the servants and averted without vengeance, lest, in the case of a powerful man, the thing’s being known should cause more trouble than its having been plotted. Foiled in this plan, Hanno prepared to attempt the crime by another contrivance: he stirred up the slaves, with whom he might suddenly overwhelm the unsuspecting city.

> Latin: 17 quae res per ministros prodita sine ultione uitata est, ne in uiro potenti plus negotii faceret res cognita quam cogitata. hoc consilio elusus Hanno alio machinamento facinus adgredi parat: seruitia concitat, quibus repente incautam urbem opprimeret.

[¶17] But when, before the day appointed for the slaughter, he understood that he had been betrayed and forestalled, he seized a certain fortress with twenty thousand armed slaves.

> Latin: 18 sed cum ante statutam caedibus diem proditum se praeuentumque intellexisset, castellum quoddam cum uiginti milibus seruorum armatis occupauit.

[¶18] There, while he was stirring up the Africans and the king of the Moors, he was captured; and he was first beaten with rods, then, with his eyes gouged out and his hands and legs broken, as though punishment were being exacted from each limb in turn, he was put to death in the sight of the people.

> Latin: 19 ibi dum Afros regemque Maurorum concitat, captus est ac primo uirgis caesus, deinde effossis oculis et manibus cruribusque fractis, uelut a singulis membris poena exigeretur, in conspectu populi necatus est.

[¶19] His body, torn by the scourges, was fixed to a cross; his sons and all his kinsmen were handed over to execution, lest anyone of the same family should ever think either to imitate or to avenge him. These things took place in the times of Philip.

> Latin: 20 corpus uerberibus lacerum cruci suffixum, filii cognatique omnes supplicio traditi, ne quis eum eiusdem familiae umquam aut imitari aut ulcisci meditaretur. haec temporibus Philippi gesta sunt.

[¶20] After this, when the Carthaginians learned that the city of Tyre, the source of their origin, had been captured and overthrown by Alexander the Great, fearing that he would cross into Africa, they sent a certain Hamilcar, surnamed Rhodanus, a man outstanding in eloquence and shrewdness, to search out Alexander’s doings.

> Latin: 21 Post haec Carthaginienses cum Tyrum urbem, auctorem originis suae, ab Alexandro Magno captam euersamque didicissent, timentes transitum eius in Africam futurum, Hamilcarem quendam cognomento Rhodanum, uirum facundia sollertiaque praecipuum, ad perscrutandos Alexandri actus direxerunt.

[¶21] He was received through Parmenion as though he were a deserter, and was then admitted into the king’s service; and he reported everything to his fellow citizens on tablets which he wrote and afterwards overlaid with wax. When he returned to Carthage after Alexander’s death, they put him to death, as though he had sold the city to the king, not merely with an ungrateful spirit but with cruel envy.

> Latin: 22 qui per Parmenionem quasi transfuga exceptus, dehinc in militiam regis admissus omnia ciuibus suis per tabellas scriptas et post cera superlitas enuntiabat. hunc mortuo Alexandro Carthaginem reuersum, quasi urbem regi uenditasset, non ingrato tantum animo uerum etiam crudeli inuidia necauerunt.

[¶22] Then, when they were waging constant wars, never sufficiently successful, against the Sicilians, and had encircled with a siege Syracuse, then the most flourishing city of Sicily, they were outwitted by the remarkable ingenuity of Agathocles, king of Sicily, and brought to the very extremes of despair.

> Latin: 23 deinde cum adsidua nec umquam satis prospera aduersus Siculos bella gererent et Syracusas urbem Siciliae tunc florentissimam obsidione cinxissent, per Agathoclen Siciliae regem miro circumuenti ingenio usque ad extrema desperationis adducti sunt.

[¶23] For Agathocles, when he was besieged at Syracuse by the Carthaginians and saw that he was neither a match for them in war in the equipment of his forces nor able to endure a siege for want of sufficient pay, crossed into Africa with his army by a plan well foreseen and still better concealed. There he disclosed to his men what he was undertaking, and then taught them what needed to be done.

> Latin: 24 namque Agathocles cum apud Syracusas a Carthaginiensibus obsideretur ac se neque bello parem instructu copiarum neque obsidionis patientem stipendiorum sufficientia uideret, bene prouiso ac melius dissimulato consilio in Africam cum exercitu transiit. ibi suis quid moliatur aperit, deinde quid facto opus sit docet.

[¶24] At once, with one mind, they first burned the ships in which they had come, so that there should be no hope of retreat; then, as he was laying low everything towards which he turned and burning country houses and fortresses, he met a certain Hanno with thirty thousand Carthaginians. He killed him along with two thousand of his men, while he himself lost only two in that battle.

> Latin: 25 ilico unanimiter naues primum in quibus uenere succendunt, ne qua spes refugiendi foret; dein cum omnia in quae direxisset prosterneret, uillas castellaque incenderet, Hannonem quendam cum triginta milibus Poenorum obuiam habuit. quem cum duobus milibus suorum interfecit; ipse autem duos tantum in eo bello perdidit.

[¶25] Through this battle, the spirits of the Africans being incredibly broken and those of his own men immeasurably increased, he stormed cities and fortresses, drove off enormous plunder, and slaughtered many thousands of the enemy.

> Latin: 26 qua pugna et Afrorum animis incredibiliter fractis et suorum in inmensum auctis urbes castellaque expugnat, praedas ingentes agit, hostium multa milia trucidat.

[¶26] Then he pitched camp at the fifth milestone from Carthage, so that they might watch from the walls of the city itself the loss of their most opulent possessions, the devastation of their fields, and the burning of their country houses.

> Latin: 27 castra deinde ad quintum lapidem a Carthagine statuit, ut damna rerum opulentissimarum uastationemque agrorum et incendia uillarum de muris ipsius urbis specularentur.

[¶27] To the present evils a sadder report was added. For it was announced that in Sicily too the army of the Africans had been destroyed together with its commander — an army which Andro, the brother of Agathocles, had in fact crushed while it was off its guard and almost idle.

> Latin: 28 adicitur praesentibus malis tristior fama. nam et apud Siciliam deletus cum imperatore Afrorum exercitus nuntiatur, quem reuera incautum ac paene otiosum Andro Agathoclis frater oppresserat.

*Note: Agathocles’ brother was Antander; Orosius writes Andro.*

[¶28] When this rumour had spread through all Africa, not only the tributary cities but even the allied kings began to fall away from them. Among these, Ophellas too, king of Cyrene, made a pact with Agathocles for partnership in the war, since he ardently coveted the kingdom of Africa.

> Latin: 29 hoc per totam Africam rumore disperso non tributariae tantum urbes ab his, uerum etiam socii reges deficiebant. inter quos rex quoque Cyrenarum Afellas pactus est cum Agathocle communionem belli, dum regnum Africae ardenter adfectat.

[¶29] But after they had joined their armies and camps into one, he was ensnared by Agathocles with flatteries and treachery, and killed.

> Latin: 30 sed postquam in unum exercitus et castra iunxerunt, per Agathoclen blandimentis et insidiis circumuentus occisus est.

[¶30] The Carthaginians, having gathered forces from every side, blazed up into war. Agathocles, having with him the forces of Ophellas, engaged them, and overcame them in a severe battle, with great bloodshed in both armies.

> Latin: 31 Carthaginienses contractis undique copiis in bellum exarsere. quibus Agathocles habens secum Afellae copias congreditur, eosque magno utriusque exercitus sanguine et graui proelio superat.

[¶31] By the crisis of this contest such despair was brought upon the Carthaginians that, had not a mutiny arisen in the army of Agathocles, Hamilcar, the general of the Carthaginians, would have deserted to him with his army. For this offence he was fastened to a gibbet in the middle of the forum by order of the Carthaginians, and furnished a cruel spectacle to his countrymen.

> Latin: 32 hoc certaminis discrimine tanta desperatio inlata Poenis est, ut, nisi in exercitu Agathoclis orta seditio fuisset, transfugiturus ad eum Hamilcar dux Poenorum cum exercitu fuerit. ob quam noxam in medio foro iussu Carthaginiensium patibulo suffixus crudele spectaculum suis praebuit.

[¶32] Then, when after the death of Agathocles the Carthaginians were ravaging Sicily with a fleet they had equipped, they were often defeated in battles by land and sea by Pyrrhus, king of Epirus, who had been summoned from Italy; and finally they turned to the wars with Rome.

> Latin: 33 deinde cum post mortem Agathoclis Carthaginienses Siciliam instructa classe uastarent, a Pyrrho rege Epiri ab Italia arcessito terrestri naualique certamine saepe superati, nouissime ad Romana bella conuersi sunt.

[¶33] Alas! Do those who complain about recent things read these things about the ancients? Indeed they read them, and construe them not with fairness but in a spirit of rivalry.

> Latin: 34 Pro dolor, leguntne ista de ueteribus, qui de recentibus conqueruntur? immo legunt et ea non aequitate sed aemulatione coniciunt.

[¶34] For they are pricked by that greatest and unspeakable goad, which they themselves do not discern, not on account of bad times but on account of the Christian times; and it is the discharge of an envious sore, that whatever is done under what they detest should seem more dreadful:

> Latin: 35 maximo enim illo et ineffabili quem nec ipsi discernunt stimulo conpunguntur non propter tempora mala sed propter tempora Christiana, et deriuatio est inuidi ulceris, ut, quidquid sub exsecrabili agitur, atrocius esse uideatur:

[¶35] just as among ourselves too it commonly seems to the eyes of enemies that those whom they detest do nothing, in word or deed, that is not crooked, nothing that is not underhand, nothing that is not aimed at wounding them — and this, nonetheless, in all sincerity; for envy so twists the heart it has captured that it does not see what is straight by nature.

> Latin: 36 sicut etiam inter nos saepe inimicorum oculis uideri solet, eos, quos exsecrantur, nihil non prauum, nihil non subsiciuum, nihil non in uulnus suum dicto factoue agere, et hoc tamen plane simpliciter, in tantum enim captum cor obliquat inuidia, ut rectum natura non uideat.

[¶36] Of this number are these men, but much more wretched, since they are enemies of God and therefore enemies of the truth — men of whom we say these things weeping, and whom we reprove in compassion, if they will bear it, so that we may heal them —

> Latin: 37 de quorum numero sunt isti, sed multo miseriores quia inimici Dei ac perinde inimici ueritatis - de quibus flentes haec dicimus et quos misericorditer, si patiantur, arguimus, ut sanemus, -

[¶37] who see these things with a diseased eye, and therefore what they see appears double to them; and, confounded by the darkness of their wickedness, they fall into this: that by seeing less they see more, while yet they cannot see what is as it is;

> Latin: 38 qui uitioso oculo haec uident atque ideo duplicia illis uidentur quae uident et confusi caligine nequitiae in id cadunt, ut minus uidendo plus uideant, cum tamen id quod est ita ut est uidere non possint;

[¶38] who judge the scourges of a father heavier than the burnings of an enemy; who call God, when he coaxes, admonishes and redeems, harsher than the devil when he persecutes, lords it over them and slaughters them;

> Latin: 39 qui grauiora arbitrantur flagella patris, quam hostis incendia; qui acerbiorem uocant blandientem admonentem et redimentem Deum quam persequentem dominantem trucidantemque diabolum;

[¶39] although, if they understood that it came from a father, they would rejoice in the chastisement; and if the fruit of the instruction were foreseen, the discipline would be bearable; and because of the hope which has now been given to the nations, but had not existed before, they would reckon their sufferings lighter, even if they suffered heavier ones.

> Latin: 40 quamquam, si de patre intellegerent, de castigatione gauderent et, si praeuideretur fructus eruditionis, esset disciplina tolerabilis ac propter spem, quae nunc gentibus data est, antea uero non fuerat, leuiora ducerent, etsi grauiora paterentur.

[¶40] And yet they can learn contempt of miseries even from their own people, among whom the greatest evils were esteemed the greatest goods, if only they might attain a renowned and illustrious glory of fame:

> Latin: 41 quamquam contemptus miseriarum possunt etiam a suis discere, apud quos summa mala pro summis bonis aestimata sunt, tantum ut gloriam famae celebrem atque inlustrem consequerentur:

[¶41] from whom we may gather how much we, to whom a blessed eternity is promised, ought to endure for the sake of life, when they were able to endure so much for the sake of fame.

> Latin: 42 per quos colligi datur, quanta nobis, quibus aeternitas beata promittitur, sint toleranda pro uita, cum illi tanta potuerint tolerare pro fama.

## 72. Book 4 · Chapter 7

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/72/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/72/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 483 from the founding of the City, that is, in the consulship of Appius Claudius and Quintus Fabius, the Romans sent aid to the Mamertines, to whom Messana, a famous city of Sicily, belonged, against Hiero, king of Syracuse, and the forces of the Carthaginians joined with Hiero; and they sent the consul Appius Claudius with an army.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita CCCCLXXXIII id est Appio Claudio Q. Fabio consulibus Mamertinis, quorum Messana nobilis Siciliae ciuitas erat, auxilia contra Hieronem Syracusanum regem et Poenorum copias Hieroni iunctas et Appium Claudium consulem cum exercitu misere Romani.

*Note: The consuls of 264 BC were Appius Claudius Caudex and Marcus Fulvius Flaccus; Orosius’s Quintus Fabius is an error.*

[¶1] He overcame the Syracusans and the Carthaginians so swiftly that the king himself, terrified by the greatness of events, confessed that he had been conquered before he had even engaged;

> Latin: 2 qui tam celeriter Syracusanos Poenosque superauit, ut ipse quoque rex rerum magnitudine perterritus ante se uictum quam congressum fuisse prodiderit;

[¶2] and thereafter, his strength broken and his confidence lost, when he begged as a suppliant for peace, he received it, being fined two hundred talents of silver by order of the consuls.

> Latin: 3 qui exim fractis uiribus amissaque fiducia cum pacem supplex rogaret, ducentis argenti talentis iussu consulum multatus accepit.

[¶3] The consuls encircled with siegeworks and a rampart Agrigentum, a city of Sicily, and the garrisons of the Carthaginians there.

> Latin: 4 consules Agrigentum Siciliae ciuitatem ibique praesidia Poenorum operibus ualloque cinxerunt.

[¶4] And when Hannibal the elder, general of the Carthaginians, shut in by that siege, had been reduced to extreme want, Hanno, the new general of the Carthaginians, intervened unexpectedly with 1,500 horsemen, 30,000 foot soldiers and 30 elephants as well, and for a little while delayed the storming of the city.

> Latin: 5 cumque inclusus ea obsidione senior Hannibal imperator Poenorum ad summam egestatem redactus esset, Hanno imperator nouus Carthaginiensium cum equitibus mille quingentis et triginta milibus peditum, triginta etiam elephantis ex inprouiso intercessit expugnationemque ciuitatis paulisper distulit.

[¶5] But the city was soon taken: the Carthaginians were defeated and routed in a very great battle, eleven elephants were brought into the Romans’ power, and the Agrigentines were all sold into slavery; Hannibal the elder made a sortie with a few men and escaped.

> Latin: 6 sed continuo ciuitas capta est: Poeni maximo bello uicti et profligati, undecim elephanti in potestatem redacti, Agrigentini sub corona omnes uenditi sunt; Hannibal senior facta cum paucis eruptione diffugit.

[¶6] In the consulship of Gnaeus Cornelius Asina and Gaius Duilius, when Hannibal the elder was ravaging the sea-coast of Italy with a fleet of seventy ships which he had equipped, the Romans too gave orders for a fleet to be built and equipped.

> Latin: 7 Cn. Cornelio Asina C. Duilio consulibus cum Hannibal senior oram Italiae maritimam instructa septuaginta nauium classe uastaret, Romani et ipsi classem fabricari atque instrui praeceperunt.

[¶7] The consul Duilius quickly accomplished this; for within 60 days from the felling of the trees a fleet of 130 ships had been launched and lay at anchor.

> Latin: 8 quod Duilius consul celeriter inpleuit; nam intra sexaginta dies quam arbores caesae erant centum triginta nauium classis deducta in anchoris stetit.

[¶8] Cornelius Asina, the other consul, made for the island of Lipara with sixteen ships; there, summoned by Hannibal as though to a parley about peace, he was captured by Punic treachery and put to death in chains.

> Latin: 9 Cornelius Asina consul alter cum sedecim nauibus Liparam insulam petiit; ubi ab Hannibale quasi ad conloquium pacis euocatus Punica fraude captus atque in uinculis necatus est.

*Note: Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio Asina was not put to death: he was later released and was consul again in 254 BC.*

[¶9] When Duilius, the other consul, heard this, he set out against Hannibal with thirty ships. When the naval battle was joined, Hannibal, having lost the ship in which he sailed, slipped away in a skiff and fled; thirty-one of his ships are reported to have been captured, thirteen sunk, three thousand men killed and seven thousand taken prisoner.

> Latin: 10 quod ubi Duilius alter consul audiit, cum triginta nauibus aduersus Hannibalem profectus est. commisso nauali proelio Hannibal, amissa naui qua uehebatur, scapha subductus aufugit; triginta et una naues eius captae, tredecim mersae, tria milia hominum occisa, septem milia capta referuntur.

[¶10] Afterwards, in the consulship of Gaius Aquilius Florus and Lucius Cornelius Scipio, the Carthaginians put Hanno, who had been appointed in place of Hannibal, in command of a naval battle for the defence of the Sardinians and Corsicans. Defeated by the consul Scipio and having lost his army, he threw himself among the thickest of the enemy and was killed there.

> Latin: 11 Postea Carthaginienses C. Aquilio Floro L. Cornelio Scipione consulibus Hannonem in locum Hannibalis subrogatum pro Sardis et Corsis defensandis nauali proelio praefecerunt, qui a Scipione consule uictus, amisso exercitu ipse confertissimis hostibus se inmiscuit ibique interfectus est.

[¶11] In the same year three thousand slaves and four thousand naval allies conspired to destroy the city of Rome; and, had not a timely betrayal forestalled the plot, the city, bereft of defenders, would have perished at the hands of slaves.

> Latin: 12 eodem anno tria milia seruorum et quattuor milia naualium sociorum in urbis Romae excidium coniurarunt et, nisi maturata proditio consilium praeuenisset, destituta praesidio ciuitas seruili manu perisset.

## 73. Book 4 · Chapter 8

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/73/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/73/#p-N

[¶0] In the very next year after this, the consul Calatinus, making for Camerina, a city of Sicily, rashly led his army into a defile which the forces of the Carthaginians had long since blocked.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab hoc proximo Calatinus consul Camerinam Siciliae urbem petens temere in angustias deduxit exercitum, quas Poenorum copiae iam dudum praestruxerant.

[¶1] When he had no means whatever either of resisting or of escaping, he was delivered by the valour and efforts of Calpurnius Flamma, who, with a picked band of three hundred men, seized a hillock held by the enemy and, by fighting, turned all the Carthaginians upon himself, until the Roman army could pass through the beset defile with no enemy pressing upon it.

> Latin: 2 cui cum omnino nulla uel obsistendi uel euadendi facultas esset, Calpurni Flammae uirtute et opera liberatus est, qui lecta trecentorum uirorum manu insessum ab hostibus tumulum occupauit et in se Poenos omnes pugnando conuertit, donec Romanus exercitus obsessas angustias hoste non urguente transiret.

[¶2] All three hundred were slain in that fight; Calpurnius alone, though pierced with many wounds and covered with corpses, escaped.

> Latin: 3 caesi sunt in eo bello omnes trecenti, solus Calpurnius quamuis multis confossus uulneribus et cadaueribus obtectus euasit.

[¶3] Hannibal the elder, again placed in command of the fleet by the Carthaginians, engaged the Romans unsuccessfully in a naval battle and was defeated; and when a mutiny arose in his army, he was overwhelmed with stones and perished.

> Latin: 4 Hannibal senior a Carthaginiensibus iterum classi praepositus, infeliciter cum Romanis nauali proelio congressus et uictus, ab exercitu suo seditione orta lapidibus coopertus interiit.

[¶4] The consul Atilius ranged over Lipara and Melita, famous islands off Sicily, and laid them waste.

> Latin: 5 Atilius consul Liparam Melitamque insulas Siciliae nobiles peruagatus euertit.

[¶5] The consuls, ordered to carry the war over into Africa, made for Sicily with 330 ships. Hamilcar, the general of the Carthaginians, and Hanno, the commander of the fleet, came to meet them. When the naval battle was joined, the Carthaginians were put to flight and lost sixty-four ships.

> Latin: 6 consules, in Africam iussi transferre bellum, cum trecentis triginta nauibus Siciliam petiuerunt: quibus Hamilcar Poenorum imperator et Hanno classi praefectus occurrit. conserto nauali proelio Carthaginienses in fugam uersi sexaginta et quattuor naues perdiderunt.

[¶6] The victorious consuls crossed over into Africa, and received first of all the city of Clupea in surrender.

> Latin: 7 uictores consules in Africam transuecti sunt primamque omnium Clipeam urbem in deditionem receperunt.

[¶7] Thence, making for Carthage, they plundered three hundred fortresses or more, and carried their hostile standards all around Carthage.

> Latin: 8 inde Carthaginem petentes trecenta aut eo amplius castella populati sunt, infesta Carthagini signa circumtulerunt.

[¶8] The consul Manlius, departing from Africa with the victorious fleet, brought back to Rome twenty-seven thousand captives together with enormous spoils.

> Latin: 9 Manlius consul Africa cum uictrici classe decedens septem et uiginti milia captiuorum cum ingentibus spoliis Romam reuexit.

[¶9] Regulus, to whom the Carthaginian war had fallen by lot, while marching with his army pitched camp not far from the river Bagradas. There, when a serpent of amazing size was devouring very many of the soldiers as they went down to the river from the need to draw water, Regulus set out with his army to overcome the beast.

> Latin: 10 Regulus, bellum Carthaginiense sortitus, iter cum exercitu faciens haud procul a flumine Bagrada castra constituit: ubi cum plurimos militum aquandi necessitate ad flumen descendentes serpens mirae magnitudinis deuoraret, Regulus ad expugnandam bestiam cum exercitu profectus est.

[¶10] But the javelins achieved nothing against its back, and every blow of the missiles was in vain, for they slid off the horrible lattice of its scales as off the sloping testudo of shields, and in marvellous fashion were repelled by the body itself so that they did not harm the body; and when, moreover, he saw a great multitude crushed by its bite, trampled by its onset, and even killed by its pestilential breath, he ordered ballistae to be brought up, by which a stone such as is used against walls was hurled against its spine and loosened the framework of its whole body.

> Latin: 11 sed nihil in tergo eius proficientibus iaculis atque omni telorum ictu inrito, quae per horrendam squamarum cratem quasi per obliquam scutorum testudinem labebantur mirumque in modum, ne corpus laederent, ipso corpore pellebantur, cum insuper magnam multitudinem morsu conminui, impetu proteri, halitu etiam pestifero exanimari uideret, ballistas deferri imperauit, per quas murale saxum spinae eius incussum conpagem totius corporis soluit.

[¶11] For the nature of the serpent is such that, though it seems to lack feet, it is nevertheless so equipped with ribs and scales, which it has arranged in even order from the top of the throat to the bottom of the belly, that it supports itself on its scales as on claws and on its ribs as on legs.

> Latin: 12 talis siquidem est natura serpentis, ut, cum pedibus carere uideatur, costis tamen et squamis, quas a summo gutture usque ad imam aluum parili modo dispositas habet, ita instruitur, ut squamis quasi unguibus, costis quasi cruribus innitatur.

[¶12] For it does not, like the worm, which has no rigid spine, accomplish its motion straight ahead by stretching out step by step the parts of its little body once they are contracted, and contracting them once they are stretched; rather, straining in alternate efforts, it carries its winding sides round, so that along the outer curve of the spine it extends the rigid line of its ribs, and, where the ribs are by nature most upright, it fixes the claws of its scales; and doing this by turns and swiftly, it not only glides over level ground but also climbs slopes, equipped with as many footholds as it has ribs.

> Latin: 13 non enim ut uermis, cui spinae rigor non est, et in directum corpusculi sui partes gradatim porrigendo contractas, contrahendo porrectas motum explicat, sed alternis intenta conatibus latera sinuosa circumfert, ut per exteriorem spinae curuaturam rigentem costarum aciem tendat, costis autem natura ad summum rectis squamarum ungulas figat; quod uicissim et celeriter agendo non solum plana perlabitur, sed etiam conuexa conscendit, tot uestigiis instructa quot costis.

[¶13] The consequence of this is that if it is struck by any blow in any part of the body from the belly up to the head, it is rendered disabled and cannot move along; because wherever that blow falls it breaks the spine, by which the feet of the ribs and the movements of the body were worked. Hence this serpent too, which had so long withstood so many javelins unwounded, gave way, disabled, at the blow of a single stone, and soon, surrounded with missiles, was easily overpowered.

> Latin: 14 huius itaque rei causa est, ut, si in qualibet corporis parte ab aluo usque ad caput ictu aliquo conlidatur, debilis reddita cursum habere non possit; quia ubicumque ille ictus inciderit spinam soluit, per quam costarum pedes et motus corporis agebantur. unde etiam haec serpens, quae tamdiu tot iaculis inuulnerabilis obstitit, ad unius saxi ictum debilis cessit ac mox circumuenta telis facile oppressa est.

[¶14] Its skin was carried to Rome — they say that it was 120 feet in length — and for some time it was a wonder to all.

> Latin: 15 corium autem eius Romam deuectum - quod fuisse centum uiginti pedum spatio ferunt - aliquamdiu cunctis miraculo fuit.

[¶15] Regulus waged a most savage war against three generals, namely the two Hasdrubals and Hamilcar, who had been summoned from Sicily; in it seventeen thousand Carthaginians were slain and five thousand captured, eighteen elephants were led away, and eighty-two towns surrendered to the Romans.

> Latin: 16 Regulus aduersum tres imperatores, id est Hasdrubales duos et accitum ex Sicilia Hamilcarem, atrocissimum bellum gessit, in quo caesa sunt Carthaginiensium decem et septem milia, capta autem quinque milia, decem et octo elephanti abducti, oppida octoginta et duo in deditionem cessere Romanis.

## 74. Book 4 · Chapter 9

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/74/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/74/#p-N

[¶0] The Carthaginians, broken by wars and drained by disasters, asked Regulus for peace. But when they heard the intolerable and harsh terms of peace, thinking it safer to die armed than to live in misery, they resolved to purchase for a price the help not only of Spaniards and Gauls, of whom they had long had very many, but also of Greeks.

> Latin: 1 Carthaginienses fracti bellis et cladibus exinaniti pacem a Regulo poposcerunt. sed cum intolerabiles et duras condiciones pacis audissent, tutius rati sese armatos mori quam miseros uiuere, pretio non solum Hispanorum uel Gallorum auxilia, quae iam dudum plurima habebant, sed etiam Graecorum conparanda duxerunt.

[¶1] And so they summoned Xanthippus, king of the Lacedaemonians, with auxiliaries, and put him in command of the war as general. Xanthippus inspected the forces of the Carthaginians, led them out onto the plain, changed their equipment far for the better, and joined battle with the Romans.

> Latin: 2 itaque Xanthippum Lacedaemoniorum regem cum auxiliis accitum, ducem bello praefecerunt. Xanthippus, inspectis Poenorum copiis atque in campum deductis, longe in melius mutato apparatu pugnam cum Romanis conseruit.

*Note: Xanthippus was a Spartan mercenary commander, not a king of Sparta.*

[¶2] There was a huge collapse of Roman strength there: for thirty thousand Roman soldiers were laid low in that encounter. Regulus, that famous general, was captured with five hundred men and, thrown into chains, at last, in the tenth year of the Punic War, afforded the Carthaginians a famous triumph.

> Latin: 3 ingens ibi ruina Romanorum uirium fuit: nam triginta milia militum Romanorum in illa tunc congressione prostrata sunt. Regulus ille dux nobilis cum quingentis uiris captus est et in catenas coniectus decimo demum anno Punici belli nobilem triumphum Carthaginiensibus praebuit.

[¶3] Xanthippus, conscious of so bold a deed and fearing a change in unstable affairs, at once departed from Africa for Greece.

> Latin: 4 Xanthippus tam audacis facti conscius rerum instabilium mutationem timens ilico ex Africa migrauit in Graeciam.

[¶4] Then the consuls Aemilius Paulus and Fulvius Nobilior, on hearing of the captivity of Regulus and the disaster of the Roman army, were ordered to cross into Africa with a fleet of three hundred ships, and made for Clupea. The Carthaginians came there at once with an equal fleet, nor could the naval battle be put off.

> Latin: 5 Igitur Aemilius Paulus et Fuluius Nobilior consules audita captiuitate Reguli et clade exercitus Romani transire in Africam cum classe trecentarum nauium iussi Clipeam petunt. eo confestim Carthaginienses cum pari classe uenerunt; nec differri potuit nauale certamen.

[¶5] Of the ships of the Carthaginians 104 were sunk and 30 captured with their fighting men, and besides 35,000 of their soldiers were slain; of the Romans, 9 ships were sunk and 1,100 soldiers perished.

> Latin: 6 centum et quattuor naues Carthaginiensium demersae, triginta cum pugnatoribus captae, praeterea triginta et quinque milia militum ex ipsis caesa sunt; Romanorum autem nouem nauibus depressis mille centum periere milites.

[¶6] The consuls pitched camp at Clupea. Two Hannos, generals of the Carthaginians, again assembled there with a great army, and, when battle was joined, lost nine thousand soldiers.

> Latin: 7 consules apud Clipeam castra posuerunt. duo Hannones imperatores Poenorum eo rursus cum magno exercitu conuenerunt proelioque commisso nouem milia militum perdiderunt.

[¶7] But — since in those days the Romans never had lasting good fortune, and whatever successes they had were at once buried under great masses of evils — when the Roman fleet, laden with plunder, was returning to Italy, it was overturned in an unspeakable shipwreck: for of 300 ships, 220 perished, and 80 were barely saved by throwing their cargo overboard.

> Latin: 8 sed - ut tunc apud Romanos numquam diuturna felicitas erat et qualescumque successus magnis continuo malorum molibus obruebantur - cum Romana classis ad Italiam praedis onusta remearet, infando naufragio euersa est: nam de trecentis nauibus ducentae uiginti perierunt, octoginta uix abiectis oneribus liberatae sunt.

[¶8] Hamilcar, the general of the Carthaginians, was sent with an army into Numidia and Mauretania; and after he had dealt hostilely and bloodily with them all, because they were said to have welcomed Regulus gladly, he fined those who remained a thousand talents of silver and twenty thousand oxen, and the chief men of all the peoples he fastened to the gibbet.

> Latin: 9 Hamilcar dux Poenorum cum exercitu in Numidiam Mauretaniamque missus postquam hostiliter cruenteque in uniuersos egit, cur Regulum libenter suscepisse dicerentur, mille argenti talentis et uiginti milibus boum reliquos condemnauit; principes autem omnium populorum patibulo suffixit.

[¶9] In the third year — as unbridled madness always quickly forgets its dangers — the consuls Servilius Caepio and Sempronius Blaesus crossed to Africa with 260 ships and ravaged the whole sea-coast which lies around the Syrtes; and, advancing inland and capturing and overthrowing very many cities, they carried huge plunder down to the fleet.

> Latin: 10 Tertio anno - sicut semper indomitus furor cito periculorum obliuiscitur - Seruilius Caepio et Sempronius Blaesus consules ducentis sexaginta nauibus Africam transgressi uniuersam oram maritimam, quae circa Syrtes iacet, depopulati sunt atque in superiora progressi captis euersisque ciuitatibus plurimis ingentem praedam ad classem deuexerunt.

[¶10] Then, as they were returning to Italy, near the promontory of Palinurus, which runs out into the deep from the Lucanian mountains, they were dashed upon the rocks and unhappily lost 150 transport ships and the famous plunder they had so cruelly acquired.

> Latin: 11 inde cum ad Italiam redirent, circa Palinuri promuntorium, quod a Lucanis montibus in altum excurrit, inlisi scopulis centum quinquaginta naues onerarias nobilemque praedam crudeliter adquisitam infeliciter perdiderunt.

[¶11] At last, among the Romans, the enormity of their miseries overcame their most shameless greed: for the senators, now thoroughly weary of seafaring, decreed that no fleet larger than sixty ships should be kept for the defence of Italy — a decree which, driven by unbridled greed, they promptly broke.

> Latin: 12 uicit aliquando apud Romanos improbissimam cupiditatem enormitas miseriarum: nam patres, quibus iam nauticae rei pertaesum esset, decreuere ne amplius quam sexaginta nauium classis ad subsidium haberetur Italiae; quod quidem decretum continuo adacti indomita cupiditate ruperunt.

[¶12] Moreover, the consul Cotta crossed into Sicily, fought very many battles by land and sea against the Carthaginians and Sicilians, and throughout all Sicily left heaps of unburied slain, partly of enemies and partly of allies as well.

> Latin: 13 praeterea Cotta consul in Siciliam transgressus plurimis proeliis aduersum Poenos et Siculos terra marique pugnauit et per totam Siciliam partim hostium partim etiam sociorum inhumatas strages reliquit.

[¶13] In the consulship of Lucius Caecilius Metellus and Gaius Furius Placidus, Hasdrubal, the new general of the Carthaginians, came from Africa to Lilybaeum with 130 elephants and more than 30,000 horse and foot, and immediately joined battle with the consul Metellus at Panormus.

> Latin: 14 L. Caecilio Metello C. Furio Placido consulibus Hasdrubal nouus Carthaginiensium imperator cum elephantis centum triginta et equitum peditumque amplius triginta milibus Lilybaeum uenit ex Africa et continuo cum Metello consule apud Panormum pugnam conseruit.

*Note: The consul of 251 BC was Gaius Furius Pacilus; Orosius writes Placidus.*

[¶14] But Metellus, fearing the great force of the beasts, by a great stroke of strategy first drove them either to flight or to death, and so easily overcame the force of the enemy, great as it was. In that battle 20,000 Carthaginians were slain; 26 elephants too were killed and 104 captured, and these, led through Italy, furnished a very great spectacle to the Italian peoples. Hasdrubal fled with a few men to Lilybaeum and was condemned to death in his absence by the Carthaginians.

> Latin: 15 sed Metellus uim magnam beluarum timens prius eas magno usus consilio uel in fugam uel in mortem egit et sic facile quamuis magnam uim hostium superauit: XX milia Carthaginiensium in eo proelio caesa sunt, elephanti quoque sex et uiginti interfecti centum et quattuor capti et per Italiam ducti maximum Italicis gentibus spectaculum praebuerunt. Hasdrubal cum paucis Lilybaeum profugit atque absens a Poenis capitis damnatus est.

## 75. Book 4 · Chapter 10

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/75/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/75/#p-N

[¶0] After this the Carthaginians, wearied by so many evils, decided that peace must be sought from the Romans. For this purpose they thought that Atilius Regulus, formerly a Roman general, whom they had now been holding captive for five years, should above all be sent among the other envoys; and when he returned from Italy without obtaining peace, they cut off his eyelids, bound him in a machine, and killed him by keeping him awake.

> Latin: 1 Post haec fessi tot malis Carthaginienses petendam esse pacem a Romanis decreuerunt. ad quam rem Atilium Regulum antea ducem Romanum, quem iam per quinque annos captiuum detinebant, inter ceteros legatos praecipue mittendum putauerunt: quem non impetrata pace ab Italia reuersum resectis palpebris inligatum in machina uigilando necauerunt.

[¶1] Then another Atilius Regulus and Manlius Vulso, both consuls for the second time, set out for Lilybaeum with a fleet of two hundred ships and four legions. The Romans tried to besiege that town, which is situated on a promontory, but were defeated when Hannibal, the son of Hamilcar, came upon them; and having lost the greater part of their army, the consuls themselves barely escaped.

> Latin: 2 alter deinde Atilius Regulus et Manlius Vulsco, ambo bis consules, cum classe ducentarum nauium et quattuor legionibus Lilybaeum profecti: quod oppidum in promuntorio situm Romani obsidere conati, superueniente Hannibale qui Hamilcaris filius fuit uicti, maiore exercitus sui parte perdita ipsi aegre euaserunt.

[¶2] After them the consul Claudius set out against the enemy with a fleet of 120 ships to the harbour of Drepanum; there he was soon met by the fleet of the Carthaginians and defeated. He himself fled with thirty ships to the camp at Lilybaeum; all the rest, that is ninety, were either captured or sunk; eight thousand soldiers are reported to have been slain and twenty thousand captured. Gaius Junius too, the colleague of Claudius, lost his entire fleet by shipwreck.

> Latin: 3 post hos Claudius consul cum classe centum uiginti nauium ad Drepani portum contra hostem profectus: ubi mox exceptus classe Poenorum superatusque est. et ipse quidem cum triginta nauibus Lilybaeum in castra confugit, reliquae omnes, id est nonaginta, aut captae aut demersae fuerunt; octo milia militum caesa, uiginti milia capta referuntur. Gaius quoque Iunius collega Claudi uniuersam classem naufragio amisit.

*Note: The consul of 249 BC was Lucius Junius Pullus; Orosius gives the praenomen Gaius.*

[¶3] In the following year as well, the Punic fleet crossed into Italy and laid waste very many parts of it far and wide.

> Latin: 4 Anno etiam consequenti classis Punica in Italiam transiit eiusque plurimas partes longe lateque uastauit.

[¶4] Meanwhile Lutatius crossed into Sicily with a fleet of three hundred ships; and while he was stirring up the fight among the foremost at the city of Drepanum, he was pierced through the thigh, and was rescued with the greatest difficulty when he was already being overwhelmed.

> Latin: 5 interea Lutatius cum classe trecentarum nauium in Siciliam transuectus dum apud Drepanam ciuitatem pugnam inter primores ciet, transfixo femore aegerrime, cum iam obrueretur, ereptus est.

[¶5] Next the Carthaginians hastened to Sicily with four hundred ships and great forces under the command of Hanno. Nor was Lutatius any slower; rather, he forestalled the plans of the Carthaginians with wonderful speed. After the fleets of both sides had lain all night very close to each other near the Aegates islands, with their anchors almost interlaced, at daybreak Lutatius was the first to give the signal for battle.

> Latin: 6 porro autem Poeni cum quadringentis nauibus magnisque copiis ad Siciliam duce Hannone concurrunt. nec Lutatius segnior, immo consilia Poenorum mira celeritate praeuenit. postquam proxime sibi utrorumque classes apud Aegades insulas per totam noctem intertextis propemodum anchoris constiterunt, orta luce prior Lutatius signum bello dedit.

[¶6] As the battle grew fiercer, Hanno, defeated, turned his ship about and was the first to lead the flight. A considerable part of his army made for Africa with him; others fled to Lilybaeum. Of the Punic ships, 63 were captured and 125 sunk; 32,000 men were captured and 14,000 slain; of the Romans, however, 12 ships were sunk.

> Latin: 7 crudescente pugna uictus Hanno nauem auertit et dux fugae primus fuit. aliquanta cum eo pars exercitus sui Africam petiit, alii confugere Lilybaeum; sexaginta et tres Punicae naues captae sunt, centum uiginti quinque demersae, triginta duo milia hominum capta, caesa quattuordecim milia fuere; Romanorum autem duodecim naues demersae sunt.

[¶7] Lutatius then came to the city of Eryx, which the Carthaginians held, and there, joining battle, he killed two thousand Carthaginians.

> Latin: 8 Lutatius deinde ad Erycinam ciuitatem quam Poeni tenebant, uenit ibique duo milia Carthaginiensium conserta pugna interfecit.

## 76. Book 4 · Chapter 11

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/76/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/76/#p-N

[¶0] Then the Carthaginians sent in headlong haste to the consul Lutatius and then to Rome: they begged for peace, which they at once obtained on the terms previously proposed.

> Latin: 1 Tunc Carthaginienses praecipiti festinatione ad Lutatium consulem ac deinde Romam mittunt: orant pacem, quam condicionibus ante propositis ilico consequuntur.

[¶1] The terms were that they should withdraw from Sicily and Sardinia, and, for the costs of the war, pay three thousand Euboic talents of pure silver in equal instalments over twenty years.

> Latin: 2 condiciones autem erant, ut Sicilia Sardiniaque decederent proque inpensis bellicis puri argenti tria milia talentum Euboicorum aequis pensionibus per annos uiginti penderent.

[¶2] This peace was concluded in the twenty-third year after the First Punic War had begun.

> Latin: 3 huius pacis condicio habita est post annum tertium et uicensimum, ex quo bellum Punicum primum fuerat inchoatum.

[¶3] Who, I ask, could set forth in words one war between two cities waged for twenty-three years — how many kings of the Carthaginians, how many consuls of the Romans, how many columns of armies, what a number of ships it gathered, routed and destroyed? And only then, when those things are seen to have been weighed in full, let judgement be passed upon the present.

> Latin: 4 Quis, rogo, duarum ciuitatum unum bellum per annos tres et uiginti gestum fando explicet, quot reges Carthaginiensium, quot consules Romanorum, quot agmina exercituum, quantum numerum nauium contraxerit profligarit oppresserit? et tunc demum, si illa ad plenum perpensa uideantur, de praesentibus iudicetur.

[¶4] In the year 507 from the founding of the City, a sudden overthrow of Rome itself forestalled the triumph of the Romans; for I could not readily say when it was that the most grievous mourning did not suddenly come upon even a moderate joy at Rome and crush it.

> Latin: 5 Anno ab urbe condita DVII repentina subuersio ipsius Romae praeuenit triumphum Romanorum; neque enim temere dixerim, quando non uel modicam laetitiam Romae superueniens repente quam grauissimus luctus oppresserit.

[¶5] For in the consulship of Quintus Lutatius Catulus and Aulus Manlius, diverse disasters of fire and water almost consumed the City. The Tiber, swollen by unusual rains and overflowing beyond belief in both duration and magnitude, destroyed all the buildings of Rome that stood on level ground.

> Latin: 6 siquidem Q. Lutatio Catulo A. Manlio consulibus diuersae ignium aquarumque clades paene absumpsere urbem. nam Tiberis insolitis auctus imbribus et ultra opinionem uel diuturnitate uel magnitudine redundans omnia Romae aedificia in plano posita deleuit.

[¶6] The different characters of the places came together in a single ruin: for what the more sluggish flooding held fast it soaked and dissolved, and what the course of the torrent met it struck and threw down.

> Latin: 7 diuersae qualitates locorum ad unam conuenere perniciem, quoniam et, quae segnior redundatio tenuit, madefacta dissoluit et, quae cursus torrentis inuenit, inpulsa deiecit.

[¶7] The most grievous disaster of the waters was followed by a still more grievous devastation by fire. This fire — it is uncertain whence it arose — ranged over very many parts of the city, and not only wrought a pitiable destruction of men and houses, but also consumed in a single blaze as much wealth as very many foreign victories could not have brought in.

> Latin: 8 aquarum grauissimam cladem grauior ignis secuta uastatio est; qui ignis, incertum unde surrexerit, plurimas ciuitatis partes peruagatus cum hominum domorumque miserabilem stragem fecit tum etiam tantum opum uno consumpsit incendio quantum plurimae et peregrinae uictoriae conferre non possent.

[¶8] Then, as it ravaged everything around the Forum, it seized the temple of Vesta; and, since the gods did not come even to their own aid, that fire which was thought to be eternal was overwhelmed by a temporary fire. And so Metellus too, while snatching away the gods who were about to burn, barely escaped with his arm half-burnt.

> Latin: 9 dehinc cum omnia in circuitu fori popularetur, aedem Vestae corripuit et ne sibi quidem dis subuenientibus ignem illum, qui aeternus putabatur, temporarius ignis oppressit; unde etiam Metellus, dum arsuros deos eripit, uix bracchio semiustilatus aufugit.

[¶9] In the consulship of Titus Sempronius Gracchus and Gaius Valerius Falco, the Romans made war on the Faliscans, and in that battle fifteen thousand Faliscans were killed.

> Latin: 10 T. Sempronio Graccho C. Valerio Falcone consulibus cum Faliscis bellauere Romani, eoque proelio quindecim milia Faliscorum interfecta sunt.

## 77. Book 4 · Chapter 12

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/77/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/77/#p-N

[¶0] In the same year the Cisalpine Gauls arose as new enemies. Against them the war was waged with varying fortune: for in the first clash, under the consul Valerius, 3,500 Romans fell; in the second, 14,000 Gauls were slain and 2,000 captured; but because of the earlier disaster a triumph was refused to the consul.

> Latin: 1 eodem anno Galli Cisalpini noui exstitere hostes. aduersum quos uaria sorte bellatum est; nam in primo conflictu Valerio consule tria milia quingenti cecidere Romani, secundo quattuordecim milia Gallorum caesa, duo milia capta sunt, sed ob priorem cladem triumphus consuli denegatus est.

[¶1] In the consulship of Titus Manlius Torquatus and Gaius Atilius Bubulcus, the island of Sardinia rebelled at the instigation of the Carthaginians. The Sardinians were therefore soon subdued and crushed; and it was decreed that war be made on the Carthaginians, as violators of the peace which they themselves had asked for.

> Latin: 2 T. Manlio Torquato C. Atilio Bubulco consulibus Sardinia insula rebellauit auctoribus Poenis. unde mox Sardi subacti et oppressi sunt; Carthaginiensibus autem uiolatoribus pacis, quam ipsi poposcissent, inferri bellum decretum est.

*Note: The consul of 235 BC was Gaius Atilius Bulbus; Orosius writes Bubulcus.*

[¶2] The Carthaginians, for their part, begged for peace as suppliants; and when they had achieved nothing by twice sending envoys, and afterwards did not obtain it even when ten of their chief men had twice made supplication in the same way, at last they won it through the speech of Hanno, the least regarded of the men among the envoys.

> Latin: 3 contra Carthaginienses pacem suppliciter poposcerunt et cum bis missis legatis nihil profecissent, post etiam decem principibus bis aeque supplicantibus nec impetrarent, nouissime Hannonis, minimi hominis inter legatos, oratione meruerunt.

[¶3] In this year the gate of Janus Geminus was closed, because in that year there was war nowhere — something which had happened only under King Numa Pompilius.

> Latin: 4 hoc anno porta Iani Gemini clausa est, quia nusquam eodem anno bellum erat; quod sub Numa solum Pompilio rege prouenerat.

[¶4] Here at last we must keep silence, and it is expedient to pass over in silence times with which ours can in no way be compared, lest by this clamour we should rather rouse those who disparage the days of their own lives to taunt us.

> Latin: 5 Hic demum nobis tacendum est et tempora, quibus conferri nostra nullo modo possunt, silentio transmitti expedit, ne obtrectatores dierum uitae suae ad insultandum potius sibi hoc strepitu suscitemus.

[¶5] Behold, the gates of Janus were closed; there was no war of the Romans abroad; Rome, holding all her offspring at rest in her bosom, did not sigh.

> Latin: 6 ecce portae Iani clausae fuerunt, foris bellum Romanorum non fuit, omnem subolem suam in gremio suo conquiescentem Roma continens non suspirauit.

[¶6] And when was this? After the First Punic War. After how long a time? After 440 years. For how long? For one year. And what followed in the next? To say nothing of the rest: the Gallic war, and Hannibal with the Second Punic War.

> Latin: 7 et hoc quando? post primum Punicum bellum; post quantum temporis? post annos CCCCXL; quamdiu? anno uno; et quid altero subsecutum est? ut de ceteris taceam, bellum Gallicum et Hannibal cum bello Punico secundo.

[¶7] Ah me, how ashamed I am even to have learned these things and laid them bare! Was that peace of a single year, or rather that shadow of peace, a soothing of miseries or an incitement to evils? Did that drop of oil falling into the midst of a great flame extinguish the fuel of so great a fire, or feed it? Did a little cold water, drunk in the most burning fevers, heal the sick man, or rather inflame him?

> Latin: 8 ei mihi, cognouisse haec et denudasse quam etiam me pudet! pax ista unius anni uel magis umbra pacis lenimentum miseriarum an incentiuum malorum fuit? stilicidium istud olei in medium magnae flammae cadens extinxit fomitem tanti ignis an aluit? parum aquae frigidae ardentissimis haustum in febribus sanauit aegrotum an potius incendit?

[¶8] For nearly seven hundred years, that is, from Tullus Hostilius to Caesar Augustus, only for a single summer did the Roman vitals not sweat blood; and among the very many ages of great centuries, the wretched city, truly a wretched mother, scarcely once found rest from the fear of mourning, not to say from mourning itself.

> Latin: 9 per annos prope septingentos, id est ab Hostilio Tullo usque ad Caesarem Augustum, una tantummodo aestate Romana sanguinem uiscera non sudarunt, et inter plurimas magnorum saeculorum aetates misera ciuitas, uere misera mater, uix uno tempore a timore luctuum, ut non dicam ab ipsis luctibus, conquieuit.

[¶9] If any man had had so little quiet in his life, would he even be said to have lived? Or if someone were driven through a whole year by pains and torments, but in the middle of that same year passed a single day in tranquillity and free from struggles, would he take relief from his evils on that account, and not count the whole year as given over to miseries?

> Latin: 10 hoc, si quisquam hominum tam parum in uita sua quietis habuisset, numquid uel uixisse diceretur? aut, si quisquam per totum annum doloribus et cruciatibus agatur, medio autem anni ipsius spatio unum tantum diem tranquillum et sine conflictationibus transigat, numquid ex eo leuamentum malorum accipiet ac non totum annum miseriis deputabit?

[¶10] “But they,” someone says, “set this year as a glorious sign of untiring valour.” And would that they had passed it over, so that the unbroken calamity might be forgotten!

> Latin: 11 sed illi, inquit, hunc annum pro glorioso signo infatigabilis uirtutis conlocauerunt. atque utinam pro obliuione calamitatis continuae praeterissent.

[¶11] For just as in the human body leprosy is recognized only when a different colour appears here and there among the healthy parts of the skin, whereas if it spreads itself everywhere so as to make everything of one colour, however false, that distinction perishes: so, if unbroken toil had flowed on with equal endurance, without any longing for a breathing space, it would be called a purpose of the will and a choice of custom.

> Latin: 12 nam sicut in corpore hominis ita demum lepra dinoscitur, si uariatim inter sanas cutis partes color diuersus appareat, at si ita se ubique diffundat, ut omnia unius coloris quamuis adulteri faciat, perit illa discretio: ita si continuus labor aequali tolerantia sine respirandi appetitu perfluxisset, intentio uoluntatis et electio consuetudinis diceretur.

[¶12] But when the joys of the elders and the enthusiasms of the young lean so heavily upon this tiny bit of leisure, it is surely made plain both what sweetness this brevity held and what bitterness that long duration held — that is, both how welcome that quiet would have been, had it remained lasting, and how much this incessant misery would have deserved to be avoided, had it been possible to avoid it in any way.

> Latin: 13 cum autem in hoc pausillulum otii tantopere uel maiorum gaudia uel minorum studia reclinantur, profecto discernitur, et quam iucunditatem habuerit haec breuitas et quam amaritudinem illa prolixitas, hoc est, et quies illa quam grata fuisset, si diuturna mansisset, et haec incessabilis miseria quam etiam uitanda fuerit, si uitari quacumque potuisset.

## 78. Book 4 · Chapter 13

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/78/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/78/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 517 from the founding of the City, Hamilcar, the general of the Carthaginians, was killed in war by the Spaniards, while he was secretly preparing another war against the Romans.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DXVII Hamilcar dux Carthaginiensium ab Hispanis in bello, cum aliud bellum aduersus Romanos clam pararet, occisus est.

[¶1] In the following year Roman envoys were killed by the Illyrians. Afterwards a most savage war was waged against these same Illyrians, in which, after many towns and peoples had been destroyed, the rest surrendered to the consuls Fulvius and Postumius.

> Latin: 2 Sequenti anno legati Romanorum ab Illyriis interfecti sunt. post cum ipsis Illyriis atrocissimum bellum gestum est: in quo multis oppidis populisque deletis reliqui se Fuluio Postumioque consulibus dediderunt.

[¶2] Then, in the third year, the pontiffs, powerful for ill, defiled the wretched city with sacrilegious sacrifices; for the decemvirs, going beyond the custom of the ancient superstition, buried alive in the Cattle Market a Gallic man and a Gallic woman, together with a Greek woman.

> Latin: 3 Tertio deinceps anno miseram ciuitatem sacrilegis sacrificiis male potentes funestauere pontifices; namque decemuiri consuetudinem priscae superstitionis egressi Gallum uirum et Gallam feminam cum muliere simul Graeca in foro boario uiuos defoderunt.

[¶3] But this magical binding was at once turned to the opposite effect; for the dreadful deaths of foreigners which they had inflicted they expiated by the foulest slaughter of their own people.

> Latin: 4 sed obligamentum hoc magicum in contrarium continuo uersum est; namque diras illas quas fecerant externorum mortes foedissimis suorum caedibus expiauerunt.

[¶4] For in the consulship of Lucius Aemilius Catulus and Gaius Atilius Regulus, the senate was struck with great terror by the revolt of Cisalpine Gaul, when it was also reported that a huge army was approaching from Further Gaul, chiefly of the Gaesatae — a name not of a nation but of mercenary Gauls.

> Latin: 5 siquidem L. Aemilio Catulo C. Atilio Regulo consulibus magna formidine consternatus est senatus defectione Cisalpinae Galliae, cum etiam ex ulteriore Gallia ingens aduentare exercitus nuntiaretur, maxime Gaesatorum, quod nomen non gentis sed mercennariorum Gallorum est.

*Note: The consuls of 225 BC were Lucius Aemilius Papus and Gaius Atilius Regulus; Orosius calls Aemilius Catulus.*

[¶5] And so the consuls, deeply alarmed, drew together the forces of all Italy to defend the empire. When this was done, there are said to have been eight hundred thousand armed men in the armies of the two consuls, as Fabius the historian, who took part in that same war, wrote.

> Latin: 6 itaque permoti consules totius Italiae ad praesidium imperii contraxere uires. quo facto in utriusque consulis exercitu octingenta milia armatorum fuisse referuntur, sicut Fabius historicus, qui eidem bello interfuit, scripsit.

*Note: Fabius Pictor’s figure, also reported by Polybius (more than 700,000 foot and some 70,000 horse), is the total manpower of Rome and her Italian allies in 225 BC, not an army in the field. Orosius treats it as the consuls’ army that fled (4.13.8–9).*

[¶6] Of these, the Romans and Campanians made up 249,200 foot soldiers and 26,600 horsemen; the rest of the multitude were allies.

> Latin: 7 ex quibus Romanorum et Campanorum fuerunt peditum CCLXLVIIII milia ducenti, equitum uero XXVI milia sescenti; cetera multitudo sociorum fuit.

*Note: The Latin numeral CCLXLVIIII is irregular. We read CCXLVIIII milia ducenti, 249,200, taking the L as intrusive; this agrees with Polybius’s figure of about 250,000 Roman and Campanian foot, which a reading of 299,200 would not.*

[¶7] When battle was joined at Arretium, the consul Atilius was killed; and eight hundred thousand Romans, after a part of them had been slain — and not even so great a part as ought to have frightened them — fled: for the historians relate that three thousand of them were killed on that occasion.

> Latin: 8 commisso proelio apud Arretium Atilius consul occisus est: octingenta milia Romanorum, nec saltem tanta quanta eos terrere debuit, caesa sui parte fugerunt: nam tria milia eorum tunc interfecta historici tradunt.

*Note: Orosius garbles the campaign of 225 BC. The Roman defeat was near Faesulae, not Arretium, and the consul Atilius Regulus fell at Telamon, in the Roman victory that Orosius counts as the second battle (4.13.10).*

[¶8] This is all the more ignominious and shameful — that such great columns should have scattered when so few were lost — because they betrayed that in their other victories they had prevailed not by strength of spirit but by the chances of war. For who, I ask, would believe that such a number had so much as existed in the army of the Romans, let alone that it had fled?

> Latin: 9 quod ideo ignominiosius turpiusque est, tam paucis amissis tanta agmina diffugisse, quia se in aliis uictoriis non uiribus animorum praeualuisse sed bellorum prouentibus prodiderunt. quis enim rogo in exercitu Romanorum crederet numerum istum fuisse saltem, non dico fugisse?

[¶9] After this a second battle was fought with the Gauls, in which fully forty thousand Gauls were slaughtered.

> Latin: 10 post haec secundum cum Gallis proelium gestum est, in quo plane quadraginta milia Gallorum trucidata sunt.

[¶10] In the following year the consuls Manlius Torquatus and Fulvius Flaccus were the first to lead Roman legions across the Po. There they fought with the Insubrian Gauls, of whom twenty-three thousand were killed and five thousand captured.

> Latin: 11 Sequenti anno Manlius Torquatus et Fuluius Flaccus consules primi trans Padum Romanas duxere legiones. pugnatum est ibi cum Insubribus Gallis, quorum interfecta sunt uiginti tria milia, quinque milia capta sunt.

[¶11] Then, in the year which came next after this, dreadful portents terrified the wretched city — wretched indeed, since it was terrified on the one side by the roaring of enemies and on the other by the wickedness of demons: for in Picenum a river flowed with blood; among the Etruscans the sky was seen to burn; and at Ariminum, late at night, a clear light shone out and three moons appeared, rising in distant regions of the sky.

> Latin: 12 Eo deinde anno, qui huic proximus fuit, dira miseram urbem terruere prodigia: miseram utique, quae hinc fremitu hostium, inde nequitia daemonum terrebatur; namque in Piceno flumen sanguine effluxit et apud Tuscos caelum ardere uisum est et Arimini nocte multa lucem claram obfulsisse ac tres lunas distantibus caeli regionibus exortas apparuisse.

[¶12] At that time too the islands of Caria and Rhodes were so shaken by a great earthquake that, as houses everywhere collapsed, even that huge Colossus fell.

> Latin: 13 tunc quoque magno terrae motu Caria et Rhodus insulae adeo concussae sunt, ut labentibus uulgo tectis ingens quoque ille colossus rueret.

*Note: Caria is a region on the mainland of Asia Minor opposite Rhodes, not an island.*

[¶13] In the same year the consul Flaminius, despising the auspices by which he was forbidden to fight, engaged the Gauls and conquered. In this war nine thousand Gauls were slain and seventeen thousand captured.

> Latin: 14 eodem anno Flaminius consul contemptis auspiciis, quibus pugnare prohibebatur, aduersum Gallos conflixit et uicit. in quo bello nouem milia Gallorum caesa, decem et septem milia capta sunt.

[¶14] After this the consul Claudius destroyed thirty thousand of the Gaesatae; there he himself, advancing into the front line, also killed their king Virdomarus; and among the many towns of the Insubrians which he had forced to surrender he took Milan too, a most flourishing city.

> Latin: 15 Post hoc Claudius consul Gaesatorum triginta milia deleuit, ubi etiam ipse Virdomarum regem in primam aciem progressus occidit: et inter multa Insubrium, quos ad deditionem coegerat, oppida Mediolanium quoque urbem florentissimam cepit.

[¶15] Then the Histrians were roused up as new enemies; the consuls Cornelius and Minucius subdued them, though indeed at the cost of much Roman blood.

> Latin: 16 Deinde Histri noui hostes excitati sunt: quos Cornelius Minuciusque consules multo quidem Romanorum sanguine subegerunt.

[¶16] Here there emerges for a moment that ancient appetite of the Romans for shameless praise, won even from parricides.

> Latin: 17 emergit hic paululum antiquus ille Romanorum improbae laudis etiam de parricidiis appetitus.

[¶17] For Fabius Censorius killed his son Fabius Buteo, who had been accused of theft: a crime worthy, no doubt, that a father should think it must be punished even by parricide — a crime for which not even the laws prescribed anything against any man beyond a money fine or, at the most, exile.

> Latin: 18 nam Fabius Censorius Fabium Buteonem filium suum furti insimulatum interfecit: dignum scilicet facinus, quod pater uel parricidio plectendum duceret, quod ne leges quidem nisi multa pecuniae aut summum exilii circa quemlibet hominum censuerunt.

## 79. Book 4 · Chapter 14

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/79/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/79/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 534 from the founding of the City, Hannibal, the general of the Carthaginians, at last, in the eighth month, destroyed Saguntum, a most flourishing city of Spain and a friend of the Roman people — having first attacked it in war, then encircled it with a siege and tormented it with famine, while it bravely endured everything, fitting and unfitting, out of regard for the faith which it had pledged to the Romans.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DXXXIIII Hannibal Poenorum imperator Saguntum florentissimam Hispaniae ciuitatem, amicam populi Romani, primum bello inpetitam, deinde obsidione cinctam et fame excruciatam omniaque fortiter contemplatione fidei, quam Romanis deuouerant, digna indignaque tolerantem octauo demum mense deleuit.

[¶1] The envoys of the Romans who were sent to him he most insultingly kept even from his presence.

> Latin: 2 legatos Romanorum ad se missos iniuriosissime etiam a conspectu suo abstinuit.

[¶2] Thereafter, out of hatred of the Roman name — a hatred which, though most faithless in other things, he had most faithfully sworn before the altars to his father Hamilcar when he was nine years old — in the consulship of Publius Cornelius Scipio and Publius Sempronius Longus he crossed the Pyrenees, opened a way with the sword among the fiercest nations of the Gauls, and on the ninth day at last came from the Pyrenees to the Alps;

> Latin: 3 exinde odio Romani nominis, quod patri Hamilcari, cum esset nouem annos natus, fidelissime alias infidelissimus ante aras iurauerat, P. Cornelio Scipione et P. Sempronio Longo consulibus Pyrenaeos montes transgressus inter ferocissimas Gallorum gentes ferro uiam aperuit et nono demum die a Pyrenaeo ad Alpes peruenit;

*Note: The consul of 218 BC was Tiberius Sempronius Longus; Orosius gives the praenomen Publius.*

[¶3] there, while he overcame in battle the mountain Gauls who strove to drive him back from the ascent, and cut through the pathless crags with fire and iron, he was delayed four days, and on the fifth day at last reached the plains with the greatest toil.

> Latin: 4 ubi dum montanos Gallos, repellere ab ascensu obnitentes, bello superat atque inuias rupes igni ferroque rescindit, quadriduum commoratus quinto demum die cum maximo labore ad plana peruenit.

[¶4] They reckon that his army at that time numbered a hundred thousand foot and twenty thousand horse.

> Latin: 5 fuisse tunc exercitum eius in centum milibus peditum et uiginti milibus equitum definiunt.

[¶5] The consul Scipio was the first to meet Hannibal; and when battle was joined at the Ticinus, he himself was gravely wounded, and escaped, delivered from death itself by his son Scipio, still only a boy in the toga praetexta, who was afterwards surnamed Africanus. Almost the whole Roman army was slain there.

> Latin: 6 Scipio consul Hannibali primus occurrit commissoque proelio apud Ticinum ipse grauiter uulneratus per Scipionem filium admodum praetextatum, qui post Africanus cognominatus est, ab ipsa morte liberatus euasit. caesus est ibi omnis paene Romanus exercitus.

[¶6] Then battle was fought, under the same consul, at the river Trebia, and again the Romans were overcome with equal disaster. The consul Sempronius, on learning of his colleague’s misfortune, returned from Sicily with his army; he likewise engaged at the same river and, having lost his army, escaped almost alone. In that war, however, Hannibal too was wounded.

> Latin: 7 pugnatum deinde eodem consule ad flumen Treuiam iterumque Romani pari clade superati sunt. Sempronius consul cognito collegae casu a Sicilia cum exercitu rediit; qui similiter apud eundem fluuium congressus, amisso exercitu paene solus evasit. in eo tamen bello etiam Hannibal sauciatus est.

*Note: There was only one battle at the Trebia (218 BC), fought by Sempronius after he had joined the wounded Scipio; Orosius makes two of it.*

[¶7] Afterwards, when he was crossing into Etruria at the beginning of spring, he was caught by a storm on the heights of the Apennines, and for two days on end, shut in and weighed down by the snows with his army, he stood frozen and unable to move. There a great number of men, very many beasts of burden and almost all the elephants perished from the bitterness of the cold.

> Latin: 8 qui postea, cum in Etruriam primo uere transiret, in summo Appennino tempestate correptus, biduo continuo inmobiliter cum exercitu niuibus conclusus et onustus obriguit. ubi magnus hominum numerus, iumenta conplurima, elephanti paene omnes frigoris acerbitate perierunt.

[¶8] Meanwhile the other Scipio, the brother of the consul Scipio, waged very many wars in Spain, and also defeated and captured Mago, a general of the Carthaginians.

> Latin: 9 at uero alter tunc Scipio, frater consulis Scipionis, in Hispania plurima bella gessit, Magonem quoque Poenorum ducem bello uicit et cepit.

*Note: The Carthaginian general whom Gnaeus Scipio defeated and captured at Cissa in 218 BC was Hanno, not Mago.*

## 80. Book 4 · Chapter 15

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/80/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/80/#p-N

[¶0] At that time too the Romans were terrified by dreadful portents. For the disc of the sun was seen to diminish; at Arpi shields were seen in the sky, and the sun was seen to fight with the moon; at Capena two moons rose by day; in Sardinia two shields sweated blood; among the Faliscans the sky was seen to split open as though with a great chasm; and at Antium bloody ears of grain fell into the baskets of the reapers.

> Latin: 1 Diris tunc etiam Romani prodigiis territi sunt. nam et solis orbis minui uisus est et apud Arpos parmae in caelo uisae, sol quoque pugnasse cum luna, apud Capenas interdiu duas lunas ortas, in Sardinia sanguine duo scuta sudasse, Faliscis caelum scindi uelut magno hiatu uisum, apud Antium metentibus cruentas spicas in corbem decidisse.

[¶1] Hannibal therefore, knowing that the consul Flaminius was alone in the camp, so that he might overwhelm him the more quickly while unprepared, set out at the beginning of spring and took the nearer but marshy road; and the Sarnus, as it happened, overflowing far and wide, had left the plains sodden and loosened — those of which it is said: “and the plains which the Sarnus waters.”

> Latin: 2 igitur Hannibal sciens Flaminium consulem solum in castris esse, quo celerius imparatum obrueret primo uere progressus arripuit propiorem sed palustrem uiam et cum forte Sarnus late redundans pendulos et dissolutos campos reliquerat, de quibus dictum est: et quae rigat aequora Sarnus.

*Note: Hannibal’s march was through the floods of the Arno (Arnus) in Etruria. Orosius confuses it with the Sarnus in Campania, the river of the line he quotes from Virgil’s Aeneid (book 7).*

[¶2] Advancing into these with his army, Hannibal, as the mists especially, rising from the marsh, took away his view, lost a great part of his allies and beasts of burden. He himself, riding upon one elephant, the only one that had survived, barely escaped the difficulties of the route; but through the violence of the cold, the sleeplessness and the toil he lost an eye, with which he had long been ailing.

> Latin: 3 in quos cum exercitu progressus Hannibal nebulis maxime, quae de palude exhalabantur, prospectum auferentibus magnam partem sociorum iumentorumque perdidit. ipse autem uni elephanto, qui solus superfuerat, supersedens, uix difficultatem itineris euasit; sed oculum, quo iamdudum aeger erat, uiolentia frigoris uigiliarum ac laboris amisit.

[¶3] But when he was close to the camp of the consul Flaminius, he provoked Flaminius into battle by laying waste the surrounding country.

> Latin: 4 ubi uero proximus castris Flaminii consulis fuit, uastatione circumiacentium locorum Flaminium in bellum excitauit.

[¶4] This battle was fought at Lake Trasimene. There the Roman army, most unhappily encircled by the craft of Hannibal, was utterly slaughtered; the consul himself too was killed; twenty-five thousand Romans are reported to have been slain in that battle and six thousand captured. Of the army of Hannibal, two thousand fell.

> Latin: 5 haec pugna ad Trasumennum lacum facta est. ubi exercitus Romanus infelicissime arte circumuentus Hannibalis funditus trucidatus est; ipse quoque consul occisus; XXV milia Romanorum in eo proelio caesa, sex milia capta referuntur. de exercitu Hannibalis duo milia ceciderunt.

[¶5] This battle at Lake Trasimene became famous for so great a Roman disaster, especially since the ardour of the combatants was so intent that they did not feel at all the most violent earthquake, which happened to occur at that time and was so violent that it is said to have destroyed cities, moved mountains, split rocks and forced rivers to flow backwards.

> Latin: 6 famosum hoc apud Trasumennum lacum certamen fuit tanta clade Romana, maxime cum ita intentus pugnantum ardor extiterit, ut grauissimum terrae motum, qui tunc forte tam uehemens factus est, ut urbes diruisse, montes transtulisse, discidisse rupes et flumina retrorsum coegisse referatur, pugnantes omnino non senserint.

[¶6] The ruin suffered at Trasimene was followed by the battle of Cannae, although the time of the dictator Fabius Maximus came in between, who slowed the onset of Hannibal by delaying.

> Latin: 7 factam ad Trasumennum ruinam sequitur pugna Cannensis, quamuis Fabii Maximi dictatoris tempus medium fuerit, qui impetum Hannibalis cunctando tardauit.

## 81. Book 4 · Chapter 16

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/81/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/81/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 540 from the founding of the City, the consuls Lucius Aemilius Paulus and Publius Terentius Varro, sent against Hannibal, through the impatience of the consul Varro most unhappily lost, at Cannae, a village of Apulia, almost all the strength on which Rome’s hope rested.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DXL L. Aemilius Paulus et P. Terentius Varro consules contra Hannibalem missi inpatientia Varronis consulis infelicissime apud Cannas Apuliae uicum omnes paene Romanae spei uires perdiderunt.

*Note: The colleague of Aemilius Paulus at Cannae was Gaius Terentius Varro; Orosius gives the praenomen Publius.*

[¶1] For in that battle forty-four thousand Romans were killed, although a great part of Hannibal’s army was slain as well. Yet in no Punic war were the Romans brought so near to the utmost extremity of annihilation.

> Latin: 2 nam in ea pugna XLIIII milia Romanorum interfecta sunt, quamquam et de exercitu Hannibalis magna pars caesa est. nullo tamen Punico bello Romani adeo ad extrema internecionis adducti sunt.

[¶2] For in it the consul Aemilius Paulus perished; 20 men of consular or praetorian rank were killed; 30 senators were either captured or slain, along with 300 men of noble birth, 40,000 foot soldiers and 3,500 horsemen. The consul Varro fled with fifty horsemen to Venusia.

> Latin: 3 periit enim in eo consul Aemilius Paulus, consulares aut praetorii uiri uiginti interfecti sunt, senatores uel capti uel occisi sunt triginta, nobiles uiri trecenti, pedestrium militum XL milia, equitum tria milia quingenti. Varro consul cum quinquaginta equitibus Venusium fugit.

[¶3] Nor is there any doubt that that would have been the last day of the Roman state, had Hannibal pressed on immediately after the victory to invade the City.

> Latin: 4 nec dubium est ultimum illum diem Romani status futurum fuisse, si Hannibal mox post uictoriam ad peruadendam urbem contendisset.

[¶4] Hannibal, in testimony of his victory, sent to Carthage three modii of gold rings, which he had drawn from the hands of the slain Roman knights and senators.

> Latin: 5 Hannibal in testimonium uictoriae suae tres modios anulorum aureorum Carthaginem misit, quos ex manibus interfectorum equitum Romanorum senatorumque detraxerat.

[¶5] So utter was the despair for the commonwealth among the surviving Romans that the senators thought counsel must be taken about abandoning Italy and seeking new homes. And this would have been ratified, on the motion of Caecilius Metellus, had not Cornelius Scipio, then a military tribune — the same who was afterwards Africanus — deterred them with drawn sword, and compelled them instead to swear after his words to defend the fatherland.

> Latin: 6 usque adeo autem ultima desperatio reipublicae apud residuos Romanos fuit, ut senatores de relinquenda Italia sedibusque quaerendis consilium ineundum putarint. quod auctore Caecilio Metello confirmatum fuisset, nisi Cornelius Scipio tribunus tunc militum, idem qui post Africanus, destricto gladio deterruisset ac potius pro patriae defensione in sua uerba iurare coegisset.

[¶6] The Romans, daring to breathe again towards the hope of life as though from the underworld, appointed Decimus Junius dictator; holding a levy from the age of seventeen, he gathered from every quarter four legions of immature and undisciplined soldiery.

> Latin: 7 Romani ad spem uitae quasi ab inferis respirare ausi dictatorem Decimum Iunium creant: qui dilectu habito ab annis decem et septem immaturae inordinataeque militiae quattuor legiones undecumque contraxit.

*Note: The dictator appointed after Cannae was Marcus Junius Pera; Orosius gives the praenomen Decimus.*

[¶7] Then also he bound by the military oath slaves of proven strength and willingness, either offered by their masters or, where it was necessary, bought at public expense, under the title of freedom. The arms that were lacking they took down from the temples; private wealth was poured back into the needy treasury. So the equestrian order, so the frightened plebs, forgetting their partisan interests, took counsel for the common good.

> Latin: 8 tunc etiam seruos spectati roboris ac uoluntatis uel oblatos uel, si ita opus fuit, publico pretio emptos sub titulo libertatis sacramento militiae adegit. arma, quae deerant, templis detraxerunt, egenti aerario priuatae opes refusae sunt. ita equester ordo, ita plebs trepida oblita studiorum in commune consuluit.

[¶8] Junius the dictator, too, recalling an ancient deed of Roman misery, threw open, as it were, an asylum by edict to make up the army, and, promising impunity, enlisted in the army whatever men were liable for crimes and debts; their number came to some six thousand men.

> Latin: 9 Iunius quoque dictator antiquum Romanae miseriae factum recolens, pro supplemento exercitus edicto uelut asylo patefacto homines quicumque sceleribus ac debitis obnoxii essent impunitate promissa militiae mancipauit; quorum numerus ad sex milia uirorum fuit.

[¶9] But Campania, or rather all Italy, despairing utterly of the recovery of the Roman state, went over to Hannibal.

> Latin: 10 Campania uero uel potius omnis Italia ad Hannibalem desperata penitus Romani status reparatione defecit.

[¶10] After this the praetor Lucius Postumius, sent to fight against the Gauls, was slaughtered with his army.

> Latin: 11 post hoc L. Postumius praetor aduersus Gallos pugnare missus cum exercitu caesus est.

[¶11] Then, in the consulship of Sempronius Gracchus and Quintus Fabius Maximus, Claudius Marcellus, appointed proconsul after his praetorship, routed the army of Hannibal in battle, and was the first, after such great ruins of the commonwealth, to give hope that Hannibal could be overcome.

> Latin: 12 Deinde Sempronio Graccho Q. Fabio Maximo consulibus Claudius Marcellus ex praetore proconsule designatus Hannibalis exercitum proelio fudit primusque post tantas reipublicae ruinas spem fecit Hannibalem posse superari.

[¶12] The Scipios, meanwhile, in Spain crushed in a most grievous war Hasdrubal, the general of the Carthaginians, who was assembling an army for Italy; for they reduced his army by thirty-five thousand soldiers, either slain or captured.

> Latin: 13 Scipiones autem in Hispania Hasdrubalem Poenorum imperatorem ad Italiam exercitum conparantem grauissimo bello oppresserunt; nam XXXV milia militum de exercitu eius uel caede uel captione minuerunt.

[¶13] Celtiberian soldiers — the first foreign band that the Romans began to have in their camps — they enticed with pay away from alliance with the enemy and brought into their own camp.

> Latin: 14 Celtiberos milites, quam primam externam manum Romani in castris habere coeperunt, pretio sollicitatos ab hostium societate in sua castra duxerunt.

[¶14] The proconsul Sempronius Gracchus was led into an ambush by a certain Lucanian, his host, and killed.

> Latin: 15 Sempronius Gracchus proconsule ab hospite suo Lucano quodam in insidias inductus occisus est.

[¶15] The centurion Centenius Paenula of his own accord asked that the war against Hannibal be assigned to him; he was slain by Hannibal together with the eight thousand soldiers whom he had led out into battle.

> Latin: 16 Centenius Paenula centurio decerni sibi ultro bellum aduersum Hannibalem petiit: a quo cum octo milibus militum, quos in aciem eduxerat, caesus est.

[¶16] After him the praetor Gnaeus Fulvius was defeated by Hannibal and, having lost his army, barely escaped.

> Latin: 17 post hunc Cn. Fuluius praetor ab Hannibale uictus amisso exercitu uix euasit.

[¶17] It is shameful to recall. For what shall I call it — the wickedness of the Romans, rather, or their misery? Nay, more truly, either a wicked misery or a miserable wickedness.

> Latin: 18 Pudet recordationis. quid enim dicam improbitatem magis an miseriam Romanorum? immo uerius uel improbam miseriam uel miseram improbitatem.

[¶18] Who would believe that at that time — when the treasury of the Roman people was begging a needy dole by private contribution; when the soldier in the camp was none other than a boy, a slave, a criminal or a debtor, and not even so sufficient in number; when the senate in the Curia seemed almost entirely new; when, finally, with everything so diminished and broken, there was such despair that a proposal to abandon Italy was entertained —

> Latin: 19 quis credat eo tempore, quo aerarium populi Romani egenam stipem priuata conlatione poscebat, miles in castris non nisi aut puer aut seruus aut sceleratus aut debitor et ne sic quidem numero idoneus erat, senatus in curia omnis paene nouicius uidebatur, postremo cum ita inminutis fractisque omnibus desperabatur, ut consilium de relinquenda Italia subiretur: -

[¶19] that at that time, when, as we have said, a single war at home could in no way be borne, three wars overseas were undertaken besides? One in Macedonia against Philip, the most powerful king of Macedonia; another in Spain against Hasdrubal, Hannibal’s brother; a third in Sardinia against the Sardinians and the other Hasdrubal, a general of the Carthaginians; and besides these a fourth, that of Hannibal, by which they were hard pressed in Italy.

> Latin: 20 eo tempore, cum unum domesticum, ut diximus, bellum ferri nullo modo posset, tria insuper transmarina bella fuisse suscepta? unum in Macedonia contra Philippum potentissimum Macedoniae regem, alterum in Hispania contra Hasdrubalem Hannibalis fratrem, tertium in Sardinia contra Sardos et alterum Hasdrubalem Carthaginiensium ducem; extra hoc quartum Hannibalis, quo in Italia premebantur.

[¶20] And yet a despair resolute for either outcome advanced to better things: for in all these wars they fought in despair, and by fighting they conquered. From this it is clearly shown that the times then were not more tranquil with leisure, but that the men were braver amid miseries.

> Latin: 21 et tamen fortis in alterutrum desperatio in meliora profecit, nam in his omnibus desperando pugnarunt, pugnando uicerunt. ex quo euidenter ostenditur non tempora tunc fuisse tranquilliora otiis, sed homines miseriis fortiores.

## 82. Book 4 · Chapter 17

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/82/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/82/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 543 from the founding of the City, Claudius Marcellus, at the second assault, barely captured Syracuse, the most opulent city of Sicily; when he had besieged it long before, he had been unable to take it by storm, being repulsed by the engines of Archimedes, a citizen of Syracuse endowed with admirable genius.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DXLIII Claudius Marcellus Syracusas opulentissimam urbem Siciliae secunda oppugnatione uix cepit, quam cum iam pridem obsedisset, Archimedis Syracusani ciuis admirabili ingenio praediti machinis repulsus expugnare non potuit.

[¶1] In the tenth year after Hannibal had come into Italy, in the consulship of Gnaeus Fulvius and Publius Sulpicius, Hannibal moved his army from Campania and, setting out by the Latin Way through the territory of the Sidicini and of Suessa with great destruction to all, encamped at the river Anio, three miles from the City, to the incredible terror of the whole citizenry;

> Latin: 2 decimo anno post quam Hannibal in Italiam uenerat, Cn. Fuluio P. Sulpicio consulibus Hannibal de Campania mouit exercitum et cum ingenti clade omnium per Sedicinum Suessanumque agrum uia Latina profectus ad Anienem fluuium tribus milibus ab urbe consedit incredibili totius ciuitatis metu,

[¶2] while the senate and the people were in alarm with their various cares, the matrons too, frantic with fear, ran along the battlements and were eager to carry stones up onto the walls and to be the first to fight in defence of the walls.

> Latin: 3 cum senatu populoque diuersis curis trepido matronae quoque amentes pauore per propugnacula currerent et conuehere in muros saxa primaeque pro muris pugnare gestirent.

[¶3] He himself, with light-armed horsemen, came menacingly right up to the Colline Gate, and then drew up all his forces in line of battle; but the consuls, and Fulvius the proconsul, did not decline the fight either.

> Latin: 4 ipse autem cum expeditis equitibus usque ad portam Collinam infestus accessit, deinde omnes copias in aciem direxit, sed et consules Fuluiusque proconsule non detrectauere pugnam.

[¶4] But when the lines had been drawn up on both sides and stood ready, in sight of Rome, the prize of whoever should conquer, so great a rainstorm mixed with hail suddenly poured from the clouds that the columns, thrown into disorder and barely keeping hold of their arms, withdrew to their own camps.

> Latin: 5 at ubi expositae utrimque acies constiterunt, in conspectu Romae praemium uictoris futurae tantus se subito imber e nubibus grandine mixtus effudit, ut turbata agmina uix armis retentis in sua se castra colligerent.

[¶5] Then, when fair weather had returned and the forces had come back to the field and into line, a still more violent storm poured down again, restrained the boldness of mortals with greater fear, and compelled the terrified armies to flee back into their tents.

> Latin: 6 deinde cum serenitate reddita in campum copiae atque in aciem redissent, rursum uiolentior fusa tempestas maiore metu mortalium audaciam cohercuit territosque exercitus refugere in tentoria coegit.

[¶6] Then Hannibal, turning to religion, is said to have declared that at one time the will to take Rome was not granted him, at another the power.

> Latin: 7 tunc conuersus in religionem Hannibal dixisse fertur, potiundae sibi Romae modo uoluntatem non dari, modo potestatem.

[¶7] Let the detractors of the true God answer me now on this point: was it Roman fortitude or divine compassion that kept Hannibal from seizing and overthrowing Rome? Or perhaps these men, who were preserved, disdain to confess what Hannibal both feared as victor and proved by giving way? And —

> Latin: 8 Respondeant nunc mihi obtrectatores ueri Dei hoc loco: Hannibalem a capessenda subruendaque Roma utrum Romana abstinuit fortitudo an diuina miseratio? aut forsitan conseruati isti dedignantur fateri, quod Hannibal et uictor extimuit et cedens probauit ac -

[¶8] if it is manifest that this divine protection came from heaven through the rain, and that rain itself is not supplied at fitting and needful seasons except through Christ, who is the true God — which I think even men of this sort know with sufficient certainty and cannot deny,

> Latin: 9 si istam diuinam tutelam per pluuiam de caelo uenisse manifestum est, ipsam autem pluuiam opportunis et necessariis temporibus non nisi per Christum, qui est uerus Deus, ministrari - etiam ab huiusmodi satis certo sciri nec negari posse existimo:

[¶9] especially now, when, as proof of his power, whenever drought distresses us and it happens that rain must be prayed for continually, now the pagans and now the Christians make petition by turns, and never yet, even by their own testimony, has it come to pass that the longed-for showers arrived except on the day on which Christ was entreated and Christians were permitted to entreat —

> Latin: 10 maxime nunc - quando ad documentum potentiae eius, cum siccitate turbante pluuiam poscere adsidue contingit, et alternis uicibus nunc gentiles nunc Christiani rogant nec umquam etiam ipsis testibus factum est, ut optati imbres superueniant nisi in die, quo rogari Christum et Christianis rogare permittitur -

[¶10] it is beyond all doubt established that the city of Rome, through this same true God, who is Christ Jesus, ordering all things according to the good pleasure of his unspeakable judgement, was both preserved then for belief in the faith that was to come, and is chastised now in that part of it which is unbelieving.

> Latin: 11 procul dubio constat, urbem Romam per hunc eundem uerum Deum, qui est Christus Iesus, ordinantem secundum placitum ineffabilis iudicii sui, et tunc ad futurae fidei credulitatem seruatam fuisse et nunc pro parte sui incredula castigatam.

[¶11] But in Spain both Scipios were killed by the brother of Hasdrubal. In Campania, Capua was taken by Quintus Fulvius, the proconsul; the leading men of the Campanians took their own lives with poison; and Fulvius put the whole senate of Capua to death by execution, even though the Roman senate forbade it.

> Latin: 12 At uero in Hispania ambo Scipiones a fratre Hasdrubalis interfecti sunt. in Campania Capua capta est a Q. Fuluio proconsule; principes Campanorum ueneno mortem sibi consciuerunt; senatum omnem Capuae etiam prohibente senatu Romano Fuluius suppliciis necauit.

*Note: The two Scipios fell separately in 211 BC, against the combined armies of Hannibal’s brothers Hasdrubal and Mago and of Hasdrubal son of Gisgo.*

[¶12] When the Scipios had been killed in Spain, and everyone, struck with fear, held back, Scipio, still a very young man, offered himself of his own accord; and since there was a shameful want in the treasury,

> Latin: 13 interfectis in Hispania Scipionibus cum, omnibus incusso pauore cunctantibus, Scipio se admodum adulescens ultro obtulisset et pudenda penuria esset aerarii,

[¶13] on the proposal of Claudius Marcellus and Valerius Laevinus, who were then consuls, all the senators openly brought their gold and silver, coined, to the quaestors for the public use, so that they kept nothing for themselves and their sons except a single ring apiece and the bullae, and for their daughters and wives only one ounce of gold apiece and no more than one pound of silver each.

> Latin: 14 Claudio Marcello et Valerio Laeuino auctoribus qui tunc consules erant aurum argentumque signatum ad quaestores palam omnes senatores in publicum contulerunt, ita ut nihil praeter anulos singulos bullasque sibi ac filiis et deinde per filias uxoresque suas singulas tantum auri uncias et argenti non amplius quam singulas libras relinquerent.

## 83. Book 4 · Chapter 18

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/83/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/83/#p-N

[¶0] Scipio, at twenty-four years of age, having received by lot the proconsular command in Spain, and bending his mind above all on avenging his father and his uncle, crossed the Pyrenees and at the first onset captured Cartagena, where the Carthaginians kept very great stores of pay, strong garrisons and great quantities of gold and silver; there too he captured Mago, the brother of Hannibal, and sent him with the others to Rome.

> Latin: 1 Scipio annos natus uiginti et quattuor imperium in Hispaniam proconsulare sortitus, ultionem praecipue patris et patrui animo intendens, Pyrenaeum transgressus primo impetu Carthaginem Nouam cepit, ubi stipendia maxima, praesidia ualida, copiae auri argentique magnae Poenorum habebantur; ibi etiam Magonem fratrem Hannibalis captum cum ceteris Romam misit.

*Note: The Mago captured at Cartagena (New Carthage) in 209 BC was the commander of its garrison, not Hannibal’s brother Mago, who fought on in Spain and Italy.*

[¶1] The consul Laevinus, returning from Macedonia, stormed Agrigentum, a city of Sicily, and there captured Hanno, the general of the Africans; he received forty cities in surrender and stormed twenty-six.

> Latin: 2 Laeuinus consul ex Macedonia rediens Agrigentum urbem Siciliae expugnauit ibique Hannonem Afrorum ducem cepit, quadraginta ciuitates in deditionem accepit, uiginti et sex expugnauit.

[¶2] Hannibal in Italy killed the proconsul Gnaeus Fulvius, together with eleven tribunes and seventeen thousand soldiers.

> Latin: 3 Hannibal in Italia Cn. Fuluium proconsulem, XI praeterea tribunos et XVII milia militum interfecit.

[¶3] The consul Marcellus fought with Hannibal for three days on end. On the first day they parted on equal terms; on the next the consul was defeated; on the third, victorious, he killed eight thousand of the enemy and compelled Hannibal himself to flee with the rest into his camp.

> Latin: 4 Marcellus consul, cum Hannibale triduum continuum dimicauit. primo die pari pugna discessum est, sequenti uictus consul, tertio uictor VIII milia hostium interfecit, ipsum Hannibalem cum reliquis fugere in castra conpulit.

[¶4] The consul Fabius Maximus again stormed and took Tarentum, which had revolted from the Romans, and there destroyed great forces of Hannibal along with their general Carthalo himself; he sold thirty thousand captives and paid the proceeds into the treasury.

> Latin: 5 Fabius Maximus consul Tarentum, quae a Romanis desciuerat, iterum expugnauit et cepit ibique ingentes copias Hannibalis cum ipso duce eius Carthalone deleuit, XXX milia hominum captiuorum uendidit, pretia in fiscum rettulit.

[¶5] In the following year, in Italy, the consul Claudius Marcellus was killed by Hannibal together with his army.

> Latin: 6 Sequenti anno in Italia Claudius Marcellus consul ab Hannibale cum exercitu occisus est.

*Note: Marcellus died only once, in 208 BC, in the ambush near Venusia in which his colleague Crispinus was mortally wounded; Orosius reports the same event twice (4.18.8).*

[¶6] Scipio in Spain defeated Hasdrubal, the general of the Carthaginians, and stripped him of his camp; besides this, he brought eighty cities into his power, either by surrender or by war; the Africans he sold into slavery, the Spaniards he released without ransom.

> Latin: 7 Scipio in Hispania Poenorum ducem Hasdrubalem uicit et castris exuit; praeterea LXXX ciuitates aut deditione aut bello in potestatem redegit; Afris sub corona uenditis, sine pretio dimisit Hispanos.

[¶7] Hannibal entrapped both consuls, Marcellus and Crispinus, in an ambush and killed them.

> Latin: 8 Hannibal utrumque consulem Marcellum et Crispinum insidiis circumuentos interfecit.

[¶8] In the consulship of Claudius Nero and Marcus Livius Salinator, Hasdrubal, the brother of Hannibal, was coming from Spain through Gaul to Italy, and, having been ordered by the Carthaginians to join his brother with his forces, was bringing great auxiliary forces of Spaniards and Gauls with him; but his hastened coming was betrayed to the consuls, as he had already come down from the Alps, and he was forestalled by the Roman army, without Hannibal’s knowledge, and killed with his whole army.

> Latin: 9 Claudio Nerone et M. Liuio Salinatore consulibus cum Hasdrubal Hannibalis frater ab Hispaniis per Gallias ad Italiam ueniret iussusque a Carthaginiensibus, ut fratri cum copiis iungeretur, magna secum auxilia Hispanorum Gallorumque deduceret, cum maturato aduentu descendisse iam ex Alpibus consulibus proditus fuisset, ab exercitu Romano ignorante Hannibale praeuentus cum omni exercitu suo interfectus est.

[¶9] For a long time indeed the outcome of the battle was uncertain, the elephants above all harassing the Roman line. These were, by the Roman soldiers whom they call velites from their flitting about —

> Latin: 10 diu quidem incertus belli euentus fuit elephantis maxime Romanam infestantibus aciem: qui a militibus Romanis, quos a uolitando uelites uocant -

[¶10] a kind of soldiery which had been devised a little before: young men chosen for their agility sat with their arms behind the backs of the horsemen, and presently, when they came up to the enemy, they leapt down from the horses and at once, now on foot themselves, drove back the enemy, while on the other side the horsemen who had carried them fought —

> Latin: 11 quod genus militiae paulo ante repertum fuerat, ut lecti agilitate iuuenes cum armis suis post terga equitum sederent et mox, cum ad hostem uentum esset, equis desilirent et continuo pedites ipsi, ex alia parte equitibus per quos aduecti fuerant dimicantibus, hostem proturbarent -

[¶11] by these velites, then, the elephants were driven back; and when they could no longer be controlled by their own men, they were killed by a carpenter’s chisel driven in between the ears. This way of killing the beast, when there was need, the same general Hasdrubal had been the first to devise.

> Latin: 12 ab his ergo uelitibus elephanti retroacti cum regi iam a suis non possent, fabrili scalpro inter aures adacto necabantur. id genus occidendae cum opus esset beluae idem dux Hasdrubal primus inuenerat.

[¶12] In this battle the river Metaurus, where Hasdrubal was defeated, was for the Carthaginians a kind of Lake Trasimene, and Cesena, a city of Picenum, like that village of Cannae;

> Latin: 13 fuit hoc proelio Poenis Metaurum flumen, ubi Hasdrubal est uictus, quasi Trasumennus lacus et Cesena Piceni ciuitas ut uicus ille Cannensis;

*Note: The battle of the Metaurus (207 BC) was fought near Sena Gallica on the Adriatic coast; Cesena lies further north, in Aemilia, and is not a city of Picenum.*

[¶13] for 58,000 of Hasdrubal’s army were killed there and 5,400 captured; and 4,000 Roman citizens were found among them and recovered, which was a consolation to the victorious consuls. For of their own army eight thousand fell.

> Latin: 14 nam L et VIII milia de exercitu Hasdrubalis ibi occisa sunt, capta sunt V̅ CCCC; I̅I̅I̅I̅ autem ciuium Romanorum inter eos reperta atque reuocata sunt: quod uictoribus consulibus solacio fuit. nam et ab exercitu eorum V̅I̅I̅I̅ ceciderunt.

[¶14] The head of his brother Hasdrubal was thrown down before Hannibal’s camp. On seeing it, and at the same time learning of the disaster of the Carthaginians, in the thirteenth year after he had come into Italy he withdrew into the land of the Bruttii.

> Latin: 15 Hannibali caput fratris sui Hasdrubalis ante castra proiectum est. quo uiso et simul clade Poenorum cognita, anno tertio decimo quam in Italiam uenerat refugit in Bruttios.

[¶15] After this, for a whole year, a respite from the tumult of wars seemed to come between Hannibal and the Romans, because there was the disquiet of disease in the camps, and both armies were afflicted by a most grievous pestilence.

> Latin: 16 post haec anno continuo inter Hannibalem et Romanos quies a tumultu bellorum intercessisse uisa est, quia inquietudo morborum in castris erat et grauissima pestilentia utrique exercitus agebantur.

[¶16] Meanwhile Scipio, having reduced the whole of Spain, from the Pyrenees to the Ocean, to a province, came to Rome; elected consul with Licinius Crassus, he crossed into Africa, killed Hanno, the son of Hamilcar, a general of the Carthaginians, and destroyed his army, partly by slaughter and partly by captivity: for he killed eleven thousand Carthaginians in that battle.

> Latin: 17 interea Scipio uniuersa Hispania a Pyrenaeo usque ad Oceanum in prouinciam redacta Romam uenit, consul cum Licinio Crasso creatus in Africam transiit, Hannonem Hamilcaris filium, ducem Poenorum, interfecit, exercitum eius partim caede partim captiuitate disperdidit: nam undecim milia Poenorum eo proelio occidit.

[¶17] The consul Sempronius engaged Hannibal and, defeated, fled back to Rome. Scipio in Africa attacked the winter quarters of the Carthaginians and another camp of the Numidians, both of which were not far from Utica, and in the dead of night had them set on fire.

> Latin: 18 Sempronius consul cum Hannibale congressus et uictus Romam refugit. Scipio in Africa adgressus hiberna Poenorum atque alia Numidarum, quae utraque haud procul ab Utica erant, nocte concubia fecit incendi.

[¶18] The Carthaginians, in alarm, thinking that the fire had broken out by chance, ran together unarmed to put it out; and so they were easily overwhelmed by armed men. In the two camps forty thousand men were consumed by fire and sword and five thousand captured, and the generals themselves, pitiably burnt, barely escaped.

> Latin: 19 Poeni trepidi cum casu accidisse ignem putarent, inermes ad extinguendum concurrerunt: quare facile ab armatis oppressi sunt. in utrisque castris quadraginta milia hominum igni ferroque consumpta sunt, capta quinque milia, duces ipsi miserabiliter ambusti aegre effugerunt.

[¶19] Hasdrubal, the commander, came to Carthage as a fugitive; and so Syphax and Hasdrubal soon restored a very large army and engaged Scipio again, and, being defeated, they fled.

> Latin: 20 Hasdrubal imperator Carthaginem profugus uenit; itaque Syphax et Hasdrubal mox plurimum reparauere exercitum atque iterum cum Scipione congressi sunt, uictique fugerunt.

[¶20] Laelius and Masinissa captured Syphax as he fled; the rest of the multitude fled to Cirta, which Masinissa besieged and received in surrender. He brought Syphax, bound in chains, to Scipio, and Scipio handed him over to Laelius to be led away along with enormous spoils and very many captives.

> Latin: 21 Syphacem fugientem Laelius et Masinissa ceperunt, cetera multitudo Cirtam confugit, quam Masinissa oppugnatam in deditionem recepit, Syphacem ad Scipionem catenis uinctum deduxit; quem Scipio cum ingentibus spoliis plurimisque captiuis perducendum Laelio tradidit.

## 84. Book 4 · Chapter 19

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/84/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/84/#p-N

[¶0] Hannibal, ordered to return to Africa to help the exhausted Carthaginians, left Italy weeping, having killed all the soldiers of Italian stock who were unwilling to follow him. As he drew near the African shore, one of the sailors was ordered to climb the mast of the ship and look out for himself to see what region they were making for; he answered that he had caught sight of a ruined tomb. Hannibal, abhorring the omen of the word, changed course and landed his forces at the town of Leptis.

> Latin: 1 Hannibal redire in Africam iussus, ut fessis Carthaginiensibus subueniret, flens reliquit Italiam omnibus Italici generis militibus qui sequi nollent interfectis. cui ad Africanum litus propinquanti iussus quidam e nauticis ascendere in arborem nauis atque ipse speculari, quam regionem teneret, sepulchrum dirutum se prospexisse respondit; abominatus dictum Hannibal deflexo cursu ad Leptim oppidum copias exposuit.

[¶1] Having at once refreshed his host, he came to Carthage, and then sought a conference with Scipio. There, when the two most famous generals had long gazed upon each other, astounded with mutual admiration, and the business of peace had come to nothing, battle was joined:

> Latin: 2 qui continuo refecta multitudine Carthaginem uenit, deinde conloquium Scipionis petiit. ubi cum se diu attoniti admiratione mutua duo clarissimi duces suspexissent, infecto pacis negotio proelium consertum est:

[¶2] a battle long arrayed with the great skill of the generals, fought with great masses of troops and brought to its end by the great strength of the soldiers, which gave the victory to the Romans. There 80 elephants were either captured or killed, and 20,500 Carthaginians were killed. Hannibal, having tried everything both before the battle and in it, slipped away amid the tumult with a few men — that is, barely four horsemen — and fled to Hadrumetum.

> Latin: 3 quod diu magnis ducum artibus dispositum, magnis copiarum molibus gestum, magnis militum uiribus consummatum Romanis uictoriam contulit. octoginta ibi elephanti uel capti uel occisi sunt, Carthaginiensium interfecta sunt XX milia quingenti. Hannibal omnia et ante proelium et in proelio expertus, cum paucis, hoc est uix quattuor equitibus, inter tumultum elapsus Hadrumetum confugit.

[¶3] Afterwards he came to Carthage, thirty-six years after he had left it as a little boy with his father, and persuaded the senate, which was deliberating, that no hope remained except in seeking peace.

> Latin: 4 postea Carthaginem post sex et triginta annos, quam inde paruus cum patre exierat, uenit consultantique senatui nullam esse residuam spem nisi in petenda pace persuasit.

[¶4] In the consulship of Gaius Cornelius Lentulus and Publius Aelius Paetus, peace was granted to the Carthaginians through Scipio by the will of the senate and people. Nevertheless more than five hundred ships were brought out into the deep and burned in sight of the city.

> Latin: 5 C. Cornelio Lentulo P. Aelio Paeto consulibus Carthaginiensibus pax per Scipionem uoluntate senatus populique concessa est. naues tamen plus quam quingentae in altum productae in conspectu ciuitatis incensae sunt.

*Note: The consul of 201 BC was Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus; Orosius gives the praenomen Gaius.*

[¶5] Scipio, already then surnamed Africanus, entered the City in triumph; and Terence, who was afterwards the comic poet, one of the noble Carthaginian captives, wearing the cap of liberty — which was the sign of the freedom granted to him — followed him as he triumphed, behind the chariot.

> Latin: 6 Scipio, iam tum cognomento Africanus, triumphans urbem ingressus est; quem Terentius, qui postea comicus, ex nobilibus Carthaginiensium captiuis pilleatus - quod insigne indultae sibi libertatis fuit - triumphantem post currum secutus est.

*Note: Orosius confuses two men. The freed captive who followed Scipio’s chariot wearing the cap of liberty was the senator Quintus Terentius Culleo, not the comic poet Terence.*

## 85. Book 4 · Chapter 20

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/85/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/85/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 546 from the founding of the City, the Second Punic War, which had been waged for seventeen years, came to an end. It was at once followed by the Macedonian war; the consul Quinctius Flamininus, to whom it fell by lot, after many and most grievous battles in which the Macedonians were defeated, granted peace to Philip.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DXLVI bellum Punicum secundum finitum est, quod gestum est annis decem et septem. cui Macedonicum continuo successit, quod Quintius Flamininus consul sortitus post multa et grauissima proelia, quibus Macedones uicti sunt, pacem Philippo dedit.

[¶1] Then he fought with the Lacedaemonians; and, having defeated their leader Nabis, he led before his chariot the most noble hostages, Demetrius, the son of Philip, and Armenes, the son of Nabis.

> Latin: 2 deinde cum Lacedaemoniis pugnauit, uicto Nauide duce ipsorum nobilissimos obsides Demetrium Philippi filium et Armenen Nauidis filium ante currum duxit.

[¶2] The Roman captives who had been sold throughout Greece under Hannibal were all recovered and, with their heads shaved as a sign that slavery had been wiped away, followed the chariot of the triumphing general.

> Latin: 3 Romani captiui, qui sub Hannibale per Graeciam uenditi fuerant, uniuersi recepti, capitibus rasis ob detersam seruitutem currum triumphantis secuti sunt.

[¶3] At the same time the Insubres, the Boii and the Cenomani, having gathered their forces into one under the leadership of Hamilcar the Carthaginian, who had remained in Italy, were laying waste Cremona and Placentia, and were overcome in a most difficult war by the praetor Lucius Fulvius.

> Latin: 4 eodem tempore Insubres Boi atque Cenomanni contractis in unum uiribus Hamilcare Poeno duce, qui in Italia remanserat, Cremonam Placentiamque uastantes, difficillimo bello a L. Fuluio praetore superati sunt.

*Note: The praetor who defeated the Gauls at Cremona in 200 BC was Lucius Furius Purpurio; Orosius writes Fulvius.*

[¶4] Afterwards Flamininus, as proconsul, subdued in war King Philip and with him the Thracians, the Macedonians, the Illyrians and many other nations besides, which had come to his aid.

> Latin: 5 postea Flamininus proconsule Philippum regem et cum eo Thracas Macedonas Illyrios multasque praeterea gentes, quae in auxilium ei uenerant, bello subegit.

[¶5] The Macedonians were defeated and lost their camp. Polybius writes that eight thousand of the enemy were slain that day and five thousand captured; Valerius says that forty thousand were slaughtered; Claudius, however, records that thirty-two thousand were killed.

> Latin: 6 uicti Macedones castra amiserunt, VIII milia hostium eo die caesa, V milia capta Polybius scribit; Valerius dicit XL milia trucidata; Claudius uero XXXII milia interfecta commemorat.

*Note: Valerius Antias and Claudius Quadrigarius, Roman annalists of the first century BC. Orosius takes the three conflicting figures from Livy.*

[¶6] But this disagreement among the writers is certainly deceit; and the cause of the deceit is surely flattery, as they strive to heap up the praises of the victor and to extol the valour of their fatherland, whether for their contemporaries or for posterity: otherwise, if the number had not been searched out, no figure of any kind would have been stated.

> Latin: 7 Sed haec uarietas scriptorum utique fallacia est; fallaciae autem causa profecto adulatio est, dum uictoris laudes accumulare uirtutemque patriae extollere uel praesentibus uel posteris student: alioquin, si inquisitus non fuisset numerus, nec qualiscumque fuisset expressus.

[¶7] But if it is glorious for a general and his fatherland to have destroyed very many of the enemy, how much more joyful for the fatherland and blessed for the general may it seem to have lost none of their own, or very few!

> Latin: 8 quodsi gloriosum est duci et patriae plurimos hostium peremisse, quanto magis laetum patriae et duci beatum potest uideri suorum uel nullos uel paucissimos perdidisse.

[¶8] Thus it is most clearly evident that, with the same shamelessness in lying by which additions are made to the number of enemies slain, the losses of their own allies too are diminished, or even passed over in silence altogether.

> Latin: 9 ita lucidissime patet, quia simili impudentia mentiendi, qua occisorum hostium numero adiicitur, sociorum quoque amissorum damna minuuntur uel etiam omnino reticentur.

[¶9] Thus Sempronius Tuditanus, crushed in war in Hither Spain, was killed with the whole Roman army;

> Latin: 10 Igitur Sempronius Tuditanus in Hispania citeriore bello oppressus cum omni exercitu Romano interfectus est;

[¶10] the consul Marcellus, crushed by the Boii in Etruria, lost a great part of his army; afterwards Furius, the other consul, came to his aid; and so, laying waste the whole nation of the Boii with fire and sword, they destroyed it almost to nothing.

> Latin: 11 consul Marcellus in Etruria a Bois oppressus magnam partem exercitus perdidit; cui postea Furius alter consul auxilio accessit: atque ita uniuersam Boiorum gentem igni ferroque uastantes propemodum usque ad nihilum deleuerunt.

[¶11] In the consulship of Lucius Valerius Flaccus and Marcus Porcius Cato, Antiochus, king of Syria, preparing war against the Roman people, crossed from Asia into Europe.

> Latin: 12 L. Valerio Flacco M. Porcio Catone consulibus Antiochus rex Syriae bellum contra populum Romanum struens in Europam transiit ex Asia.

[¶12] At that time too Hannibal, because of the rumours spread about him among the Romans that he was stirring up war, was ordered by the senate to be produced at Rome; he set out secretly from Africa and went over to Antiochus, and, finding him hesitating at Ephesus, he soon drove him into war.

> Latin: 13 tunc etiam Hannibal propter excitandi belli rumores, qui de eo apud Romanos serebantur, exhiberi Romam a senatu iussus, clam ex Africa profectus ad Antiochum migrauit: quem cum apud Ephesum inuenisset cunctantem, mox in bellum inpulit.

[¶13] At that time also the law which had been carried by Oppius, tribune of the plebs — that no woman should possess more than half an ounce of gold, nor wear a garment of varied colours, nor use a carriage in the City — was repealed after twenty years.

> Latin: 14 tunc etiam lex, quae ab Oppio tribuno plebi lata fuerat, ne qua mulier plus quam semunciam auri haberet neue uersicolori uestimento nec uehiculo per urbem uteretur, post uiginti annos abrogata est.

[¶14] In the consulship of Publius Scipio Africanus, for the second time, and Titus Sempronius Longus, ten thousand Gauls were slain at Milan; and in a following battle eleven thousand Gauls, but also five thousand Romans, were killed.

> Latin: 15 P. Scipione Africano iterum T. Sempronio Longo consulibus apud Mediolanium decem milia Gallorum caesa, sequenti autem proelio undecim milia Gallorum, Romanorum uero quinque milia occisa sunt.

[¶15] The praetor Publius Digitius lost almost his whole army in Hither Spain. The praetor Marcus Fulvius defeated the Celtiberians together with the neighbouring nations and captured their king.

> Latin: 16 Publius Digitius praetor in Hispania citeriore paene omnem amisit exercitum. M. Fuluius praetor Celtiberos cum proximis gentibus uicit regemque eorum cepit.

[¶16] Minucius, brought by the Ligurians into the utmost danger and surrounded by an ambush of the enemy, was barely rescued through the efforts of the Numidian cavalry.

> Latin: 17 Minucius a Liguribus in extremum periculi adductus et insidiis hostium circumuentus uix Numidarum equitum industria liberatus est.

[¶17] Scipio Africanus, sent among the other envoys to Antiochus, also had a friendly conversation with Hannibal.

> Latin: 18 Scipio Africanus inter ceteros legatos ad Antiochum missus, etiam cum Hannibale conloquium familiare habuit.

[¶18] But, the business of peace being left unaccomplished, he departed from Antiochus. In both Spains wars most horrible and bloody for both peoples were waged by the praetors Flaminius and Fulvius.

> Latin: 19 sed infecto pacis negotio ab Antiocho discessit. in utraque Hispania per Flaminium Fuluiumque praetores bella multum horrida cruentaque utrisque populis gesta sunt.

[¶19] In the consulship of Publius Cornelius Scipio and Manius Acilius Glabrio, Antiochus, although he had occupied Thermopylae, so as to be safer behind its fortification against the uncertain outcomes of war, was nevertheless, when battle was joined, overcome by the consul Glabrio, and barely fled from the battle with a few men and reached Ephesus.

> Latin: 20 P. Cornelio Scipione M. Acilio Glabrione consulibus Antiochus quamuis Thermopylas occupasset, quarum munimine tutior propter dubios belli euentus fieret, tamen commisso bello a consule Glabrione superatus uix cum paucis fugit e proelio Ephesumque peruenit.

*Note: The Latin has M., but the consul’s praenomen was Manius (usually abbreviated M’).*

[¶20] He is said to have had sixty thousand armed men, of whom forty thousand are reported to have been slain and more than five thousand captured. The other consul, Scipio, clashed with the nation of the Boii, and in that battle killed twenty thousand of the enemy.

> Latin: 21 is habuisse fertur armatorum LX milia, ex quibus XL milia caesa, capta plus quam V milia fuisse referuntur. alter consul Scipio cum Boiorum gente conflixit, in quo proelio XX milia hostium interfecit.

[¶21] In the following year Scipio Africanus, having Eumenes, the son of Attalus, as his ally, waged a naval war against Hannibal, who then commanded the fleet of Antiochus. Antiochus, now that Hannibal had been defeated and put to flight and he himself had at the same time lost his whole army, asked for peace, and of his own accord sent back the son of Africanus, whom he had captured — whether while reconnoitring or in battle is uncertain.

> Latin: 22 Sequenti anno Scipio Africanus, habens in auxilio Eumenem Attali filium, aduersus Hannibalem, qui tunc Antiochi classi praeerat, bellum nauale gessit; Antiochus uicto Hannibale atque in fugam acto simulque omni exercitu amisso pacem rogauit filiumque Africani, quem utrum explorantem an in proelio cepisset incertum est, ultro remisit.

*Note: Orosius compresses the campaign of 190 BC. Hannibal’s fleet was beaten by the Rhodians off Side, and Antiochus’s army was destroyed at Magnesia by Lucius Scipio, with Africanus serving as his brother’s legate.*

[¶22] In Further Spain the proconsul Lucius Aemilius was cut down by the Lusitanians with his entire army, and perished.

> Latin: 23 in Hispania ulteriore L. Aemilius proconsule a Lusitanis cum uniuerso exercitu caesus interiit.

*Note: Lucius Aemilius Paulus survived his defeat by the Lusitanians in 190 BC; he is the later victor of Pydna (4.20.39).*

[¶23] Lucius Baebius, setting out for Spain, was surrounded by the Ligurians and killed with his entire army; so completely, indeed, that it is agreed that not even a messenger survived, and the people of Marseille took it upon themselves to announce the massacre itself at Rome.

> Latin: 24 L. Baebius in Hispaniam proficiscens, a Liguribus circumuentus cum uniuerso exercitu occisus est; unde adeo ne nuntium quidem superfuisse constat, ut internecionem ipsam Romae Massilienses nuntiare curauerint.

[¶24] The consul Fulvius, crossing from Greece into Gallograecia, which is now Galatia, came to Mount Olympus, to which all the Gallograeci had fled with their wives and children, and there waged a most bitter war; for the Romans, grievously battered from the higher ground by arrows, sling-bullets, stones and other missiles, at last broke through to close quarters with the enemy. Forty thousand Gallograeci are reported to have been killed in that battle.

> Latin: 25 Fuluius consul de Graecia in Gallograeciam, quae nunc est Galatia, transuectus, ad Olympum montem peruenit, ad quem uniuersi Gallograeci cum coniugibus et liberis confugerant, ibique acerbissimum bellum gessit; namque de superioribus locis sagittis glandibus saxis ceterisque telis Romani grauiter contriti, tandem usque ad congressum hostium perruperunt: quadraginta milia Gallograecorum eo proelio interfecta referuntur.

*Note: The Galatian campaign of 189 BC, with the battle on Mount Olympus, was fought by the consul Gnaeus Manlius Vulso; his colleague Marcus Fulvius Nobilior was campaigning against the Aetolians.*

[¶25] The consul Marcius, setting out against the Ligurians, was defeated and lost four thousand soldiers; and had he not, once beaten, quickly fled back to his camp, he would have suffered the same disaster of annihilation which Baebius had received some time before from the same enemies.

> Latin: 26 Marcius consul aduersus Ligures profectus superatusque IIII milia militum amisit et, nisi uictus celeriter refugisset in castra, eandem internecionis cladem, quam Baebius dudum ab isdem hostibus acceperat, pertulisset.

[¶26] In the consulship of Marcus Claudius Marcellus and Quintus Fabius Labeo, King Philip, who had killed envoys of the Roman people, obtained pardon on account of the most modest entreaties of his son Demetrius, whom he had sent as an envoy;

> Latin: 27 M. Claudio Marcello Q. Fabio Labeone consulibus Philippus rex, qui legatos populi Romani interfecerat, propter Demetrii filii sui, quem legatum miserat, uerecundissimas preces ueniam meruit,

[¶27] and straightway he killed that same son with poison, as a friend of the Romans and a traitor to himself, with Demetrius’s own brother serving as agent of the parricide for their father, while the wretched youth suspected no evil from either of them.

> Latin: 28 eundemque continuo uelut Romanis amicum suique proditorem, fratre quoque ipsius ad parricidium patris ministro, nihil de utroque miserum mali suspicantem ueneno necauit.

[¶28] In the same year Scipio Africanus, who had long lived in exile from a city ungrateful to him, died of disease at the town of Amiternum. In those same days too Hannibal, at the court of Prusias, king of Bithynia, when his surrender was demanded by the Romans, killed himself with poison; and Philopoemen, the general of the Achaeans, was captured by the Messenians and killed.

> Latin: 29 eodem anno Scipio Africanus ab ingrata sibi urbe diu exulans apud Amiternum oppidum morbo periit. isdem etiam diebus Hannibal apud Prusiam Bithyniae regem, cum a Romanis reposceretur, ueneno se necauit, Philopoemenes, dux Achiuorum a Messanis captus occisusque est.

*Note: Scipio retired to his estate at Liternum on the Campanian coast and died there; Orosius writes Amiternum.*

[¶29] In Sicily at that time the island of Vulcan, which had not existed before, suddenly rose out of the sea, to the amazement of all, and remains to this day.

> Latin: 30 in Sicilia tunc Vulcani insula, quae ante non fuerat, repente mari edita cum miraculo omnium usque ad nunc manet.

[¶30] The praetor Quintus Fulvius Flaccus in Hither Spain routed twenty-three thousand men in a very great battle and captured four thousand.

> Latin: 31 Q. Fuluius Flaccus praetor in citeriore Hispania maximo proelio XXIII milia hominum fudit, IIII milia cepit.

[¶31] Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus in Further Spain forced to surrender 105 towns, emptied and shattered by wars.

> Latin: 32 Ti. Sempronius Gracchus in Hispania ulteriore centum quinque oppida uacuata quassataque bellis ad deditionem coegit.

[¶32] In the same summer Lucius Postumius in Hither Spain also killed forty thousand of the enemy in war. Gracchus the praetor, in the same region, again stormed and took two hundred towns.

> Latin: 33 eadem aestate etiam L. Postumius in citeriore Hispania quadraginta milia hostium bello interfecit. Gracchus praetor ibidem iterum ducenta oppida expugnauit et cepit.

[¶33] In the consulship of Lepidus and Mucius, the most ferocious nation of the Bastarnae, incited by Perseus, the son of Philip, with the hope of plunder and the opportunity of crossing the river Hister, was destroyed without a single battle or any enemy. For at that time, as it happened, the Danube, which is also the Hister, was covered with thick ice and easily allowed a crossing on foot.

> Latin: 34 Lepido et Mucio consulibus Basternarum gens ferocissima auctore Perseo Philippi filio praedarum spe sollicitata et transeundi Histri fluminis facultate sine una pugna uel aliquo hoste deleta est. nam tunc forte Danuuius, qui et Hister, crassa glacie superstratus pedestrem facile transitum patiebatur.

[¶34] And so, when an incalculable multitude of men and horses was improvidently crossing all at once in one whole and very great column, the frozen surface, cracking under the enormity of the weight and the shaking of the marchers, burst apart; and the icy crust, overcome and shattered at last, abandoned in the midst of the eddies the whole column which it had long supported, and then, closing back over it, with its fragments hindering them, submerged it. A few out of the whole people barely escaped to either bank, their bodies cut to pieces.

> Latin: 35 itaque cum inprouide toto et maximo simul agmine inaestimabilis hominum uel equorum multitudo transiret, enormitate ponderis et concussione gradientum concrepans gelu et glacialis crusta dissiluit uniuersumque agmen, quod diu sustinuerat, mediis gurgitibus uicta tandem et conminuta destituit atque eadem rursus fragmentis inpedientibus superducta summersit. pauci ex omni populo per utramque ripam uix concisis uisceribus euaserunt.

[¶35] In the consulship of Publius Licinius Crassus and Gaius Cassius Longinus the Macedonian war was waged, which deserves to be reckoned among the greatest wars. For on the side of the Romans there were, first, the whole of Italy, and then Ptolemy, king of Egypt, Ariarathes of Cappadocia, Eumenes of Asia and Masinissa of Numidia. Perseus and the Macedonians were followed by the Thracians with their king Cotys, and by all the Illyrians with their king Gentius.

> Latin: 36 P. Licinio Crasso C. Cassio Longino consulibus Macedonicum bellum gestum est, merito inter maxima bella referendum. nam in auxilio Romanorum tota primum Italia, deinde Ptolemaeus rex Aegypti et Ariarathes Cappadociae, Eumenes Asiae, Masinissa Numidiae fuerunt. Perseum et Macedonas secuti sunt Thraces cum rege Cotye et uniuersi cum rege Gentio Illyrii.

[¶36] And so Perseus met the consul Crassus on his arrival, and when battle was joined the Romans were pitiably defeated and fled. In a following battle, with almost equal losses on both sides, they withdrew into winter quarters.

> Latin: 37 itaque aduenienti Crasso consuli Perseus occurrit, commissoque proelio miserabiliter uicti fugere Romani. sequenti pugna paene pari clade partis utriusque in hiberna discessum est.

[¶37] Then Perseus, having routed the Roman army in many battles, crossed into Illyricum and took by fighting the town of Sulcamum, which was defended by Roman garrisons; there he partly killed, partly sold into slavery, and partly led away with him into Macedonia a great multitude of the Roman garrison troops.

> Latin: 38 deinde Perseus profligato multis proeliis exercitu Romano in Illyricum transgressus Sulcamum oppidum defensum a praesidiis Romanis pugnando cepit: ubi magnam Romanorum praesidiorum multitudinem partim occidit partim sub corona uendidit partim secum in Macedoniam duxit.

[¶38] Afterwards the consul Lucius Aemilius Paulus fought with him and conquered: for he killed twenty thousand foot soldiers in that war. The king slipped away with his cavalry, but was soon captured and driven in the triumph with his sons before the chariot, and afterwards died in custody at Alba.

> Latin: 39 Postea cum eo L. Aemilius Paulus consul dimicauit et uicit: nam XX milia peditum in eo bello interfecit; rex cum equitatu subterfugit, sed continuo captus atque in triumpho cum filiis ante currum actus est et post apud Albam in custodia defecit.

[¶39] His younger son learned the craft of a coppersmith at Rome in order to bear his poverty, and there wasted away. Very many other wars besides, with quite diverse outcomes, were waged everywhere among many nations, which I have passed over for the sake of brevity.

> Latin: 40 filius eius iunior fabricam aerariam ob tolerandam inopiam Romae didicit ibique consumptus est. plurima praeterea et satis diuersis prouentibus bella multarum ubique gentium gesta sunt, quae breuitatis causa praetermisi.

## 86. Book 4 · Chapter 21

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/86/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/86/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 600 from the founding of the City, in the consulship of Lucius Licinius Lucullus and Aulus Postumius Albinus, when a huge fear of the Celtiberians had seized all the Romans and there was not one of them all who dared to go to Spain either as tribune or as legate, Publius Scipio, who will later be Africanus, offered of his own accord to serve in Spain, although he had already been assigned by lot to Macedonia.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DC L. Licinio Lucullo A. Postumio Albino consulibus cum omnes Romanos ingens Celtiberorum metus inuasisset et ex omnibus non esset, qui ire in Hispaniam uel tribunus uel legatus auderet, P. Scipio, qui postea Africanus erit, ultro sese militaturum in Hispaniam obtulit, cum tamen in Macedoniam sorte iam deputatus esset.

*Note: Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus, adopted grandson of the elder Africanus; he took the name Africanus after destroying Carthage in 146 BC.*

[¶1] And so, setting out for Spain, he wrought great slaughter among the nations, often performing the duty of a soldier rather than of a general; for he even met in single combat a barbarian who challenged him, and killed him.

> Latin: 2 itaque profectus in Hispaniam magnas strages gentium dedit, saepius etiam militis quam ducis usus officio; nam et barbarum prouocantem singulariter congressus occidit.

[¶2] Sergius Galba, the praetor, however, was defeated by the Lusitanians in a great battle and, having lost his entire army, himself barely slipped away and escaped with a few men.

> Latin: 3 Sergius autem Galba praetor a Lusitanis magno proelio uictus est uniuersoque exercitu amisso ipse cum paucis uix elapsus euasit.

*Note: Servius Sulpicius Galba, praetor in Further Spain in 151–150 BC; Orosius writes Sergius.*

[¶3] At the same time the censors resolved that a stone theatre should be built in the City. Scipio Nasica opposed its being done at that time with a most weighty speech, saying that this would be most hostile to a warlike people, a contrivance for nourishing idleness and wantonness; and he so moved the senate that it not only ordered everything procured for the theatre to be sold, but even forbade benches to be set out at the games.

> Latin: 4 eodem tempore censores theatrum lapideum in urbe construi censuerunt. quod ne tunc fieret, Scipio Nasica grauissima oratione obstitit dicens, inimicissimum hoc fore bellatori populo ad nutriendam desidiam lasciuiamque commentum, adeoque mouit senatum, ut non solum uendi omnia theatro conparata iusserit, sed etiam subsellia ludis poni prohibuerit.

[¶4] Let our people therefore understand — those to whom whatever comes their way apart from the gratification of lust is an offence — that for the fact that they themselves feel and confess that they are weaker than their enemies, it is the theatres that must be blamed, not the times;

> Latin: 5 Quamobrem intellegant nostri - quibus quidquid extra oblectamentum libidinis occurrit offensio est - propter hoc, quod se infirmiores esse hostibus suis ipsi sentiunt et fatentur, theatra incusanda non tempora,

[¶5] and that the true God, who forbids these things to this day, must not be blasphemed, but rather their gods, or demons, who demanded them, must be abhorred — giving, indeed, deep enough proof of their own greatness by requiring such a sacrifice, since they were fed no more by the shedding of the blood of cattle than by the ruin of the virtue of men.

> Latin: 6 nec blasphemandum Deum uerum, qui usque ad nunc ea prohibet, sed abominandos deos uel daemones suos, qui ista petierunt, profundo quidem satis magnitatis suae argumento tale sacrificium flagitantes, quoniam non magis fuso cruore pecudum quam profligata uirtute hominum pascerentur.

[¶6] For certainly at that time there was no lack of enemies, nor of famine, nor of diseases, nor of portents — indeed there were very many of them then; but there were no theatres, in which — a thing incredible to say — the virtues are slaughtered as victims on the altar of luxury.

> Latin: 7 nam utique tunc nec hostes nec fames nec morbi nec prodigia deerant, immo tunc plurima erant; sed theatra non erant, in quibus - quod incredibile dictu est - ad aram luxuriae uirtutum uictimae trucidantur.

[¶7] It once seemed good to the Carthaginians to sacrifice human beings, but that wrongly assumed conviction was soon abandoned; by the Romans, however, it has been demanded that they devote their very selves to perdition.

> Latin: 8 Carthaginiensibus aliquando uisum est homines immolare, sed male praesumpta persuasio breui praetermissa est; a Romanis uero exactum est, ut semet ipsos perditioni impenderent.

[¶8] It has been done, it is being done, it is loved, and men clamour for it to be done: those who might perhaps take offence at the slaughter of a beast of their flock rejoice at the killing of the virtue of their own heart. Rather let those who think this a reproach to be cast at the Christians blush before Nasica, and let them complain not to us about the enemies they have always had, but to him about the theatre which he had forbidden them to have.

> Latin: 9 factum est, fit, amatur et clamatur ut fiat: qui pro mactanda gregis sui pecude fortasse offenderentur, pro interficienda cordis sui uirtute laetantur. quin potius Nasicae erubescant, qui Christianis exprobrandum putant, et non nobis de hostibus, quos semper habuerunt, sed illi de theatro, quod haberi prohibuerat, conquerantur.

[¶9] So then in Spain the praetor Sergius Galba, having received in surrender the Lusitanians who lived on this side of the river Tagus and had come over of their own will, killed them by a crime; for, pretending that he would deal with their interests, he surrounded them with soldiers and cut them all down, unarmed and unsuspecting. Because of this perfidy of the Romans, the affair afterwards became the cause of the greatest upheaval throughout the whole of Spain.

> Latin: 10 Igitur in Hispania Sergius Galba praetor Lusitanos citra Tagum flumen habitantes cum uoluntarios in deditionem recepisset, per scelus interfecit; simulans enim de commodis eorum se acturum fore, circumpositis militibus cunctos inermes incautosque prostrauit. quae res postea uniuersae Hispaniae propter Romanorum perfidiam causa maximi tumultus fuit.

## 87. Book 4 · Chapter 22

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/87/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/87/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 602 from the founding of the City, in the consulship of Lucius Censorinus and Manius Manilius, the Third Punic War broke out. When, therefore, the senate had decreed that Carthage must be destroyed, the consuls set out for Africa, and they, with Scipio, then a military tribune, occupied the camp of the elder Africanus near Utica.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCII L. Censorino et M. Manilio consulibus tertium Punicum bellum exortum est. igitur cum senatus delendam Carthaginem censuisset, profecti in Africam consules et Scipio tunc tribunus militum prope Uticam maioris Africani castra tenuerunt.

*Note: The Latin has M., but the consul’s praenomen was Manius (usually abbreviated M’).*

[¶1] There the Carthaginians were summoned and ordered to hand over their arms and ships; and without delay so great a quantity of arms was suddenly handed over that the whole of Africa could easily have been armed from them.

> Latin: 2 ibi Carthaginiensibus euocatis iussisque ut arma et naues traderent nec moratis, tanta uis armorum repente tradita est, ut facile tota ex his Africa potuisset armari.

[¶2] But after the Carthaginians had handed over their arms and were ordered to abandon their city and withdraw ten miles from the sea, they turned their grief to desperation, resolved either to defend the city or to be buried together with it and beneath it; and they appointed two Hasdrubals as their generals.

> Latin: 3 sed Carthaginienses postquam arma tradiderunt et relicta urbe recedere procul a mari decem milibus passuum iussi sunt, dolorem ad desperationem contulerunt aut defensuri ciuitatem aut cum ipsa per ipsam sepeliendi, ducesque sibi duos Hasdrubales creauerunt.

[¶3] Setting first about making arms, they made up for the lack of bronze and iron with gold and silver. The consuls resolved to assault Carthage, whose site is said to have been of this kind:

> Latin: 4 arma primum facere adgressi aeris ferrique inopiam auri argentique metallis suppleuerunt. consules oppugnare Carthaginem statuunt, cuius situs fuisse huiusmodi dicitur:

[¶4] embraced by a wall twenty-two miles in length, it was girded almost entirely by the sea, except for the neck of land, which opened for three miles. This place had a wall thirty feet thick, of squared stone, forty cubits in height.

> Latin: 5 uiginti duo milia passuum muro amplexa, tota paene mari cingebatur absque faucibus, quae tribus milibus passuum aperiebantur. is locus murum triginta pedes latum habuit saxo quadrato in altitudinem cubitorum quadraginta.

[¶5] The citadel, which bore the name of Byrsa, took up a little more than two miles. On one side the wall was common to the city and the Byrsa, overhanging the sea, which they call the Pool, since it is made calm by the barrier of a projecting tongue of land.

> Latin: 6 arx, cui Byrsae nomen erat, paulo amplius quam duo milia passuum tenebat. ex una parte murus communis erat urbis et Byrsae imminens mari, quod mare Stagnum uocant, quoniam obiectu protentae linguae tranquillatur.

[¶6] The consuls, then, although they had battered and torn down a considerable part of the wall with their engines, were nevertheless defeated and repulsed by the Carthaginians; and as they fled, Scipio drove the enemy back within the walls and protected them. Censorinus returned to the City. Manilius, leaving Carthage aside, turned his arms against Hasdrubal.

> Latin: 7 consules igitur quamuis aliquantam muri partem quassatam machinis diruissent, tamen a Carthaginiensibus uicti ac repulsi sunt: quos fugientes Scipio repulso intra muros hoste defendit. Censorinus in urbem rediit. Manilius omissa Carthagine ad Hasdrubalem arma conuertit.

[¶7] Scipio, on the death of Masinissa, divided the kingdom of Numidia among the three sons of Masinissa. When he had returned to the neighbourhood of Carthage, Manilius stormed and plundered the city of Tezaga; twelve thousand Africans were slain there and six thousand captured. Hasdrubal, the general of the Carthaginians and grandson of Masinissa, was killed by his own people in the senate-house with the fragments of benches, on suspicion of treachery.

> Latin: 8 Scipio Masinissa mortuo inter Masinissae filios tres Numidiae regnum diuisit. quo circa Carthaginem reuerso Manilius Tezagam urbem expugnauit atque diripuit; duodecim milia ibi Afrorum caesa, sex milia capta sunt. Hasdrubal Poenorum imperator, Masinissae nepos, subselliorum fragmentis in curia a suis propter suspicionem proditionis occisus est.

[¶8] The praetor Juventius, engaging the Pseudo-Philip in Macedonia, was killed with very great slaughter of the whole Roman army.

> Latin: 9 Iuuentius praetor in Macedonia aduersus Pseudophilippum congressus cum maxima clade totius Romani exercitus interfectus est.

*Note: The Pseudo-Philip was Andriscus, who claimed to be a son of Perseus; he defeated and killed the praetor Publius Juventius Thalna in 149/148 BC.*

## 88. Book 4 · Chapter 23

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/88/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/88/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 606 from the founding of the City, that is, in the fiftieth year after the Second Punic War, in the consulship of Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus and Lucius Mummius, Publius Scipio, consul of the previous year, striving to destroy Carthage by a final stroke, entered the Cothon.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCVI id est anno quinquagensimo post bellum Punicum secundum Cn. Cornelio Lentulo L. Mummio consulibus P. Scipio, superioris anni consul, delere Carthaginem suprema sorte molitus Gothonem ingreditur.

[¶1] There, while the fighting went on for six days and nights without a break, utter despair drove the Carthaginians to surrender, begging that those whom the disasters of war had left might at least be allowed to live as slaves.

> Latin: 2 ubi dum sex continuis diebus noctibusque pugnatur, ultima Carthaginienses desperatio ad deditionem traxit petentes, ut quos belli clades reliquos fecit, saltem seruire liceat.

[¶2] First a column of women came down, pitiable enough, and after it a column of men, more wretched still. For it is recorded that there were twenty-five thousand women and thirty thousand men.

> Latin: 3 primum agmen mulierum satis miserabile, post uirorum magis deforme descendit. nam fuisse mulierum XXV milia, uirorum XXX milia memoriae traditum est.

[¶3] King Hasdrubal surrendered of his own accord. The deserters, who had occupied the temple of Aesculapius, threw themselves headlong of their own will and were consumed by fire. The wife of Hasdrubal, with a man’s grief and a woman’s frenzy, threw herself and her two sons with her into the midst of the blaze — the last queen of Carthage now meeting the same end in death as the first had once met.

> Latin: 4 rex Hasdrubal se ultro dedit. transfugae, qui Aesculapii templum occupauerant, uoluntario praecipitio dati igne consumpti sunt. uxor Hasdrubalis se duosque filios secum uirili dolore et furore femineo in medium iecit incendium, eundem nunc mortis exitum faciens nouissima regina Carthaginis, quem quondam prima fecisset.

[¶4] The city itself burned for seventeen days on end, and furnished its conquerors with a wretched spectacle of the changeableness of the human condition.

> Latin: 5 ipsa autem ciuitas decem et septem continuis diebus arsit miserumque spectaculum de uarietate condicionis humanae uictoribus suis praebuit.

[¶5] Carthage was destroyed, all the stone of its walls being ground to dust, in the seven hundredth year after it had been founded.

> Latin: 6 diruta est autem Carthago omni murali lapide in puluerem conminuto septingentensimo post anno quam condita erat.

[¶6] The whole multitude of captives, except for a few leading men, was sold. Thus the Third Punic War was ended in the fourth year after it had begun.

> Latin: 7 multitudo omnis captiuorum exceptis paucis principibus uenundata est. ita quarto quam coeptum fuit anno bellum Punicum tertium terminatum est.

[¶7] But to me, though I have searched with all diligence — yet as a man of slower wit — the cause of the Third Punic War, by which Carthage so far provoked the Romans that it was decreed she should justly be overthrown, has nowhere at all shone out; and this moves me most of all: that if, as in the earlier wars, an evident cause and grievance had been inflaming them against a foe rising up, there would have been no need of deliberation.

> Latin: 8 Sed mihi quamlibet studiose quaerenti uerumtamen homini tardioris ingenii nusquam omnino causa tertii belli Punici, quam in tantum Carthago accenderit, ut iuste euerti decerneretur, eluxit, illudque me uel maxime mouet, quod, si ita ut in superioribus bellis euidens in adsurgentem causa et dolor accendebat, consultatione non opus erat.

[¶8] But since some of the Romans judged that she must be destroyed for the perpetual security of Rome, while others judged that Carthage should be left unharmed in her own state, for the sake of a perpetual care for Roman valour, which they would always expend upon themselves out of suspicion of a rival city — lest Roman vigour, ever exercised in wars, should be loosened into languid sloth through security and leisure — I find that the cause arose not from any wrong done by provoking Carthaginians, but from the fickleness of Romans growing torpid.

> Latin: 9 at uero, cum alii Romanorum propter perpetuam Romae securitatem delendam esse decernerent, alii uero propter perpetuam Romanae uirtutis curam, quam sibi semper ex suspicione aemulae urbis inpenderent, ne uigor Romanus bellis semper exercitus in languidam segnitiem securitate atque otio solueretur, incolumem Carthaginem statui suo permittendam esse censerent: causam non ex iniuria lacessentum Carthaginiensium sed ex inconstantia torpescentium Romanorum ortam inuenio.

[¶9] This being so, why do they impute to the Christian times their own dullness and rust, by which they are crusted over outside and eaten away within? They who, nearly six hundred years before, as their own prudent and fearful men had foretold, destroyed Carthage, that great whetstone of their brightness and keenness.

> Latin: 10 quod cum ita sit, cur Christianis temporibus imputant hebetationem ac robiginem suam, qua foris crassi, intus exesi sunt? qui porro ante sescentos fere annos, sicut sui prudentes timentesque praedixerant, cotem illam magnam splendoris et acuminis sui Carthaginem perdiderunt.

[¶10] And so I shall bring this volume to an end, lest perhaps, by striking too hard, when I have knocked off the rust for a time but cannot draw out the needed keenness, I should find only a useless roughness. And yet I should by no means dread a roughness coming to meet me, if I found the hope of a keener edge within.

> Latin: 11 Itaque finem uolumini faciam, ne forsitan conlidendo uehementius discussa ad tempus robigine ubi necessarium acumen elicere non possum, superuacuam asperitatem inueniam. quamquam obuiantem asperitatem nequaquam expauescerem, si interioris spem acuminis inuenirem.

## 89. Book 5 · Chapter 1

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/89/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/89/#p-N

[¶0] I know that some may be disturbed by what follows from here on, because Roman victories grow ever more frequent through the slaughter of many nations and cities. And yet, if they weigh the matter carefully, they will find that more harm than advantage came of it. For so many wars are not to be lightly regarded — servile, social, civil, and against fugitives — which certainly bore no fruits, and yet great miseries.

> Latin: 1 Scio aliquantos post haec deinceps permoueri posse, quod uictoriae Romanae multarum gentium et ciuitatum strage crebrescunt. quamquam, si diligenter appendant, plus damni inuenient accidisse quam commodi. neque enim parui pendenda sunt tot bella seruilia, socialia, ciuilia, fugitiuorum, nullorum utique fructuum et magnarum tamen miseriarum.

[¶1] But I close my eyes to this, so that it may seem to have been just as they wish; and so I think they will say: what could be more blessed than those times, in which there were continual triumphs, celebrated victories, rich spoils, noble processions, and in which great kings were driven before the chariot, and conquered nations in long array?

> Latin: 2 sed coniueo, ut quemadmodum uolunt ita fuisse uideatur; unde arbitror esse dicturos: ecquid his temporibus beatius, quibus continui triumphi, celebres uictoriae, diuites praedae, nobiles pompae, magni ante currum reges et longo ordine uictae gentes agebantur?

[¶2] To them the brief answer will be that they themselves are accustomed to complain about the times, and that we have undertaken our discourse on behalf of those same times — times which, as is agreed, were not allotted to one city alone but are common to the whole world. See: as happily as Rome conquered, so unhappily was whatever lay outside Rome conquered.

> Latin: 3 quibus breuiter respondebitur et ipsos de temporibus solere causari et nos pro isdem temporibus instituisse sermonem, quae tempora non uni tantum urbi adtributa sed orbi uniuerso constat esse communia. ecce quam feliciter Roma uincit tam infeliciter quidquid extra Romam est uincitur.

[¶3] How much, then, is this drop of toilsome happiness to be valued, to which is ascribed the blessedness of a single city amid so great a mass of unhappiness, through which the overthrow of the whole world is brought about? Or if those times are thought happy because the wealth of one state was increased, why should they not rather be judged most unhappy, in which, through the wretched devastation of many well-ordered nations, the mightiest kingdoms fell?

> Latin: 4 quanti igitur pendenda est gutta haec laboriosae felicitatis, cui adscribitur unius urbis beatitudo in tanta mole infelicitatis, per quam agitur totius orbis euersio? aut si ideo felicia putantur, quia unius ciuitatis opes auctae sunt, cur non potius infelicissima iudicentur, quibus miserabili uastatione multarum ac bene institutarum gentium potentissima regna ceciderunt?

[¶4] Or did it perhaps seem otherwise to Carthage then, when, after 120 years in which — dreading now the disasters of war, now the terms of peace — she exchanged, now with rebellious intent, now in supplication, peace for wars and wars for peace, at the last, as her wretched citizens everywhere flung themselves into the fire in final despair, the whole city became a single pyre? For her, even now, small in extent and stripped of her walls, it is part of her miseries to hear what she once was.

> Latin: 5 An forte aliud tunc Carthagini uidebatur, cum post annos centum uiginti, quibus modo bellorum clades modo pacis condiciones perhorrescens, nunc rebelli intentione nunc supplici bellis pacem, pace bella mutabat, nouissime miseris ciuibus passim se in ignem ultima desperatione iacientibus unus rogus tota ciuitas fuit? cui etiam nunc, situ paruae, moenibus destitutae, pars miseriarum est audire quid fuerit.

[¶5] Let Spain give her verdict: when for two hundred years she watered her fields everywhere with her own blood, and could neither repel nor withstand a relentless enemy who harassed her unprovoked from door to door; when, in her various cities and places, broken by the slaughter of wars and drained by the famine of sieges, her people killed their wives and children and, as a remedy for their miseries, cut one another’s throats in wretched encounter and mutual slaughter — what did she then think of her own times?

> Latin: 6 edat Hispania sententiam suam: cum per annos ducentos ubique agros suos sanguine suo rigabat inportunumque hostem ultro ostiatim inquietantem nec repellere poterat nec sustinere, cum se suis diuersis urbibus ac locis, fracti caede bellorum, obsidionum fame exinaniti, interfectis coniugibus ac liberis suis ob remedia miseriarum concursu misero ac mutua caede iugulabant, - quid tunc de suis temporibus sentiebat?

[¶6] Finally, let Italy herself say: why for four hundred years did she contradict, withstand, and resist the Romans — her own Romans, at that — if their happiness was not her unhappiness, and if the Romans’ becoming masters of the world did not stand in the way of the common good?

> Latin: 7 ipsa postremo dicat Italia: cur per annos quadringentos Romanis utique suis contradixit obstitit repugnauit, si eorum felicitas sua infelicitas non erat Romanosque fieri rerum dominos bonis communibus non obstabat?

[¶7] I do not ask of the countless peoples of diverse nations — long free before, then conquered in war, carried away from their homeland, sold for a price, scattered in slavery — what they would then have preferred for themselves, what they thought of the Romans, what they judged of the times.

> Latin: 8 non requiro de innumeris diuersarum gentium populis diu ante liberis, tunc bello uictis, patria abductis, pretio uenditis, seruitute dispersis, quid tunc sibi maluerint, quid de Romanis opinati sint, quid de temporibus iudicarint.

[¶8] I pass over the kings of great wealth, great strength, and great glory, long most powerful, at length captured, chained like slaves, sent under the yoke, driven before the chariot, butchered in prison: to inquire into whose opinion is as foolish as it is hard-hearted not to grieve at their misery.

> Latin: 9 omitto de regibus magnarum opum, magnarum uirium, magnae gloriae, diu potentissimis, aliquando captis, seruiliter catenatis, sub iugum missis, ante currum actis, in carcere trucidatis: quorum tam stultum est exquirere sententiam, quam durum non dolere miseriam.

[¶9] Let us, let us, I say, consult ourselves and the choice of life in which we have acquiesced. Our ancestors waged wars; wearied by wars and seeking peace, they offered tributes: tribute is the price of peace.

> Latin: 10 Nos, nos inquam ipsos uitaeque nostrae electionem, cui adquieuimus, consulamus. maiores nostri bella gesserunt, bellis fatigati pacem petentes tributa obtulerunt: tributum pretium pacis est.

[¶10] We pay tributes so as not to suffer wars, and thereby we stand and remain in the harbour to which they at last fled to escape the storms of evils. Whether our times are happy, then, I leave open; certainly we consider them happier than theirs, since what they chose at the very last we possess continually.

> Latin: 11 nos tributa dependimus, ne bella patiamur, ac per hoc in portu, ad quem illi tandem pro euadendis malorum tempestatibus confugerunt, nos consistimus et manemus. igitur nostra tempora uiderim utrum felicia; certe feliciora illis ducimus, qui quod illi ultime delegerunt nos continue possidemus.

[¶11] For the turmoil of wars by which they were worn down is unknown to us. In the peace which they tasted only slightly after the rule of Caesar and the birth of Christ, we are born and grow old; what was for them the due payment of servitude is for us a free contribution towards defence;

> Latin: 12 inquietudo enim bellorum, qua illi attriti sunt, nobis ignota est. in otio autem, quod illi post imperium Caesaris natiuitatemque Christi tenuiter gustauerunt, nos nascimur et senescimus; quod illis erat debita pensio seruitutis nobis est libera conlatio defensionis,

[¶12] and so great is the difference between past and present times that what Rome used to wrest from our people by the sword for the use of her luxury, she now contributes together with us for the use of the commonwealth we share. Or if anyone says that the Romans were more tolerable enemies to our forefathers than the Goths are to us, let him listen and understand how very differently things would appear to him from the way they are now done around him.

> Latin: 13 tantumque interest inter praeterita praesentiaque tempora, ut quod Roma in usum luxuriae suae ferro extorquebat a nostris, nunc in usum communis reipublicae conferat ipsa nobiscum. aut si ab aliquo dicitur tolerabiliores parentibus nostris Romanos hostes fuisse, quam nobis Gothos esse, audiat et intellegat, quanto aliter quam circa se ipsum agitur sibi esse uideatur.

[¶13] Formerly, when wars blazed across the whole world, each province had its own kings, its own laws, and its own customs, and there was no fellowship of affections where a diversity of powers caused division; and finally, what could at last bring into fellowship loose and barbarous nations which, instituted in diverse rites of worship, religion too kept apart?

> Latin: 14 Olim cum bella toto orbe feruebant, quaeque prouincia suis regibus suis legibus suisque moribus utebatur, nec erat societas adfectionum, ubi dissidebat diuersitas potestatum; postremo solutas et barbaras gentes quid tandem ad societatem adduceret, quas diuersis sacrorum ritibus institutas etiam religio separabat?

[¶14] If anyone, then, overcome by the bitterness of evils, abandoned his homeland and the enemy with it, what unknown place did he, unknown, at last approach? What nation, hostile to all alike, did he, an enemy, entreat? To whom did he entrust himself at the first meeting — not invited by fellowship of name, not drawn by community of law, not secure in unity of religion?

> Latin: 15 si quis igitur tunc acerbitate malorum uictus patriam cum hoste deseruit, quem tandem ignotum locum ignotus adiit? quam gentem generaliter hostem hostis orauit? cui se congressu primo credidit, non societate nominis inuitatus, non communione iuris adductus, non religionis unitate securus?

[¶15] Or did they give too little example — Busiris in Egypt, the most impious sacrificer of strangers who had the misfortune to fall in his way; the shores of Taurian Diana, most cruel towards newcomers, but still more cruel in their rites; Thrace, with her Polymestor, criminal even towards guests who were kinsmen? And lest I seem to linger over antiquities, Rome is witness concerning the murdered Pompey, and Egypt witness concerning his murderer Ptolemy.

> Latin: 16 an parum exempli dederunt Busiris in Aegypto peregrinorum infeliciter incurrentium impiissimus immolator, crudelissima circa aduenas Dianae Tauricae litora sed magis sacra crudelia, Thracia cum Polymestore suo usque ad propinquos hospites scelerata? et ne antiquitatibus uidear immorari, testis est Roma de Pompeio interfecto, testis Aegyptus de interfectore Ptolemaeo.

## 90. Book 5 · Chapter 2

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/90/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/90/#p-N

[¶0] For my part, however, fleeing from the first disturbance of any upheaval whatever, since I am secure about a place of refuge, everywhere is my homeland, everywhere my law and my religion.

> Latin: 1 Mihi autem prima qualiscumque motus perturbatione fugienti, quia de confugiendi statione securo, ubique patria, ubique lex et religio mea est.

[¶1] Now Africa has received me as gladly as I approached her confidently; now, I say, this Africa has received me with simple peace, into her own bosom, under common law — this Africa of which it was once said, and truly said: “We are barred from the welcome of the sand; they stir up wars, and forbid us to set foot on the edge of the land.” Now of her own accord she opens wide a kindly lap to receive the partners of her religion and her peace, and of her own accord invites the weary, that she may cherish them.

> Latin: 2 nunc me Africa tam libenter excepit quam confidenter accessi; nunc me, inquam, ista Africa excepit pace simplici, sinu proprio, iure communi, de qua aliquando dictum et uere dictum est hospitio prohibemur harenae, Bella cient primaque uetant consistere terra; nunc ultro ad suscipiendos socios religionis et pacis suae beniuolum late gremium pandit atque ultro fessos, quos foueat, inuitat.

[¶2] The breadth of the East, the abundance of the North, the expanse of the South, the most spacious and secure dwelling-places of the great islands, are under my law and my name, because I come as a Roman and a Christian to Christians and Romans.

> Latin: 3 latitudo orientis, septentrionis copiositas, meridiana diffusio, magnarum insularum largissimae tutissimaeque sedes mei iuris et nominis sunt, quia ad Christianos et Romanos Romanus et Christianus accedo.

[¶3] I do not fear the gods of my host; I do not fear that his religion will be my death; I have no such place to dread, where the owner may do whatever he wishes and the stranger may not have recourse to what is fitting, where the law of my host is not my own;

> Latin: 4 non timeo deos hospitis mei, non timeo religionem eius necem meam, non habeo talem quem pertimescam locum, ubi et possessori liceat perpetrare quod uelit et peregrino non liceat adhibere quod conuenit, ubi sit ius hospitis quod meum non sit;

[¶4] the one God, who in the times in which he willed to make himself known established this unity of the realm, is both loved and feared by all; the same laws, which are subject to the one God, prevail everywhere; wherever I come as a stranger, I do not dread sudden violence as one left without protection.

> Latin: 5 unus Deus, qui temporibus, quibus ipse innotescere uoluit, hanc regni statuit unitatem, ab omnibus et diligitur et timetur; eaedem leges, quae uni Deo subiectae sunt, ubique dominantur; ubicumque ignotus accessero, repentinam uim tamquam destitutus non pertimesco.

[¶5] Among Romans, as I have said, a Roman; among Christians, a Christian; among men, a man: I appeal to the commonwealth through its laws, to conscience through religion, to nature through our common share in it. I make temporary use of every land as my homeland, because the homeland that is true, and that I love, is not on earth at all.

> Latin: 6 inter Romanos, ut dixi, Romanus, inter Christianos Christianus, inter homines homo legibus inploro rempublicam, religione conscientiam, communione naturam. utor temporarie omni terra quasi patria, quia quae uera est et illa quam amo patria in terra penitus non est.

[¶6] I have lost nothing where I loved nothing, and I have everything when he whom I love is with me — above all because he is the same among all, he who makes me not only known to all but a neighbour to them, and does not forsake me in need; for the earth is his, and its fullness, from which he commanded that all things should be common to all.

> Latin: 7 nihil perdidi, ubi nihil amaui, totumque habeo, quando quem diligo mecum est, maxime quia et apud omnes idem est, qui me non modo notum omnibus uerum et proximum facit, nec egentem deserit, quia ipsius est terra et plenitudo eius, ex qua omnibus omnia iussit esse communia.

[¶7] These are the goods of our times, which our ancestors did not have at all — neither in the tranquillity of the present, nor in hope of the future, nor in a common refuge; and for this reason they waged ceaseless wars, because, since they were not free to share in changing their dwelling-places, by holding on in their own homes they were either wretchedly slain or shamefully enslaved. This will be made clearer and more readily apparent once the deeds of the ancients themselves have been set out in order.

> Latin: 8 haec sunt nostrorum temporum bona: quae in totum uel in tranquillitate praesentium uel in spe futurorum uel in perfugio communi non habuere maiores, ac per hoc incessabilia bella gesserunt, quia, mutandarum sedium communione non libera, persistendo in sedibus suis aut infeliciter necati sunt aut turpiter seruierunt. quod clarius promptiusque ipsis ueterum gestis per ordinem explicitis aperietur.

## 91. Book 5 · Chapter 3

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/91/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/91/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 606 from the founding of the City — that is, in the same year in which Carthage too was destroyed — in the consulship of Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus and Lucius Mummius, the overthrow of Corinth followed upon the ruin of Carthage, and within the brief interval of a single season the wretched fires of two most powerful cities blazed together in different parts of the world.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCVI, hoc est eodem anno, quo et Carthago deleta est, Cn. Cornelio Lentulo L. Mummio consulibus ruinam Carthaginis euersio Corinthi subsecuta est, duarumque potentissimarum urbium paruo unius temporis interuallo per diuersas mundi partes miserabile conluxit incendium.

[¶1] For when the praetor Metellus had defeated the Achaeans and Boeotians, joined together, in two battles — that is, first at Thermopylae,

> Latin: 2 nam cum Metellus praetor Achaeos Boeotiosque coniunctos duobus bellis, hoc est primum apud Thermopylas,

[¶2] and again in Phocis; in the former war twenty thousand were killed and in the second seven thousand slain, as the historian Claudius reports; Valerius and Antias affirm that the battle was fought in Achaea and that twenty thousand Achaeans fell together with their leader Diaeus; Polybius the Achaean, although he was then in Africa with Scipio, nevertheless, since he could not be ignorant of a disaster at home, asserts that there was fighting in Achaea only once, under the leadership of Critolaus, and relates that Diaeus, while bringing up soldiers from Arcadia, was crushed together with his army by that same praetor Metellus;

> Latin: 3 iterum in Phocide uicisset - quorum priore bello occisa esse XX milia, secundo VII milia caesa Claudius historicus refert, Valerius et Antias in Achaia pugnatum et XX milia Achaeorum cum duce suo Diaeo cecidisse confirmant, Polybius Achiuus quamuis tunc in Africa cum Scipione fuerit, tamen, quia domesticam cladem ignorare non potuit, semel in Achaia pugnatum Critolao duce adserit Diaeum uero adducentem ex Arcadia militem ab eodem Metello praetore oppressum cum exercitu docet;

*Note: Valerius Antias was a single annalist; Orosius (or his source) makes two historians, “Valerius and Antias,” out of him.*

[¶3] but we have already said a good deal about the variance of disagreeing historians, and let this exposed and ill-famed mark of their falsehoods suffice, since those who differ even about the things they themselves saw clearly show that they are little to be trusted in the rest —

> Latin: 4 sed de uarietate discordantium historicorum aliquanta iam diximus, quorum sufficiat detecta haec et male nota mendaciorum nota, quia parum credendum esse in ceteris euidenter ostendunt qui in his quoque, quae ipsi uidere, diuersi sunt -

[¶4] so, after the defences of all Achaea had been extinguished, while the praetor Metellus was contemplating the overthrow of the forsaken cities, the consul Mummius came suddenly into the camp with a few men. He at once dismissed Metellus and without delay took Corinth by storm, a city then by far the most opulent of all in the whole world, since for many centuries past it had been, as it were, the workshop of all craftsmen and crafts and the common market of Asia and Europe.

> Latin: 5 igitur post extincta totius Achaiae praesidia destitutarum euersionem urbium Metello praetore meditante consul Mummius repentinus cum paucis uenit in castra. qui dimisso statim Metello Corinthum sine mora expugnauit, urbem toto tunc orbe longe omnium opulentissimam, quippe quae uelut officina omnium artificum atque artificiorum et emporium commune Asiae atque Europae per multa retro saecula fuit.

[¶5] Licence was cruelly given to plunder even the captives, and everything was so filled with slaughter and fire that from the circuit of the walls, as if from a furnace, the conflagration poured upward, narrowed to a single peak. Thus, the greater part of the people having been consumed by sword and flames, the rest were sold into slavery; the city was burned and the walls razed to their foundations; the stone of the walls was reduced to dust, and enormous booty was carried off.

> Latin: 6 permissa crudeliter etiam captiuis praedandi licentia sic omnia caedibus ignibusque conpleta sunt, ut de murorum ambitu quasi e camino in unum apicem coartatum exundaret incendium. itaque plurima parte populi ferro flammisque consumpta reliqua sub corona uendita est; urbe incensa muri funditus diruti sunt; muralis lapis in puluerem redactus, praeda ingens erepta est.

[¶6] Indeed, since, owing to the multitude and variety of statues and images, gold, silver, and bronze — all the metals together — had flowed mingled into one in that burning of the city, a new kind of metal was produced; and from this, down to the present day, whether from that metal itself or from imitation of it, there is what is called, as tradition records, Corinthian bronze, and Corinthian vessels.

> Latin: 7 sane cum propter multitudinem et uarietatem statuarum simulacrorumque in illo ciuitatis incendio permixta in unum auri argenti atque aeris omniaque simul metalla fluxissent, nouum genus metalli factum est, unde usque in hodiernum diem siue ex ipso siue ex imitatione eius aes Corinthium, sicut memoriae traditum est, et Corinthia uasa dicuntur.

## 92. Book 5 · Chapter 4

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/92/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/92/#p-N

[¶0] In the same consulship Viriathus, in Spain, a Lusitanian by race, a shepherd and a brigand — first by infesting the roads, then by laying waste the provinces, and finally by defeating, routing, and subduing the armies of Roman praetors and consuls — was the greatest terror to all the Romans.

> Latin: 1 Isdem consulibus Viriatus in Hispania genere Lusitanus, homo pastoralis et latro, primum infestando uias deinde uastando prouincias postremo exercitus praetorum et consulum Romanorum uincendo fugando subigendo maximo terrori Romanis omnibus fuit.

[¶1] For as he crossed and roamed far and wide over the Ebro and the Tagus, very great rivers of widely distant regions, the praetor Gaius Vetilius met him; and with his whole army almost immediately cut down to the point of annihilation, the praetor himself scarcely escaped, slipping away in flight with a few men.

> Latin: 2 siquidem Hiberum et Tagum, maxima et diuersissimorum locorum flumina, late transgredienti et peruaganti C. Vecilius praetor occurrit: qui continuo caeso usque ad internecionem paene omni exercitu suo uix ipse praetor cum paucis fuga lapsus euasit.

[¶2] Next, the same Viriathus broke the praetor Gaius Plautius in many battles and put him to flight. Afterwards Claudius Unimanus too, sent against Viriathus with great preparation for war, as if to wipe out the earlier stain, himself added a more shameful infamy.

> Latin: 3 deinde C. Plautium praetorem idem Viriatus multis proeliis fractum fugauit. post etiam Claudius Unimammus cum magno instructu belli contra Viriatum missus quasi pro abolenda superiore macula turpiorem ipse auxit infamiam.

*Note: The praetor was Claudius Unimanus; Orosius’s “Unimammus” is a corruption of the name.*

[¶3] For when he engaged with Viriathus, the Roman army lost all the forces he had brought with him and its greatest strength. Viriathus set up the robes of state, the fasces, and the other Roman insignia as trophies in his mountains.

> Latin: 4 nam congressus cum Viriato uniuersas quas secum deduxerat copias maximasque uires Romani amisit exercitus. Viriatus trabeas fasces ceteraque insignia Romana in montibus suis tropaea praefixit.

[¶4] At the same time 300 Lusitanians joined battle with 1,000 Romans in a certain pass, in which, as Claudius reports, 70 Lusitanians fell, but 320 Romans;

> Latin: 5 Eodem tempore CCC Lusitani cum mille Romanis in quodam saltu contraxere pugnam, in qua LXX Lusitanos, Romanos autem CCCXX cecidisse Claudius refert;

[¶5] and when the victorious Lusitanians were departing, scattered and unconcerned, one of them, separated far from the rest, was caught on foot by horsemen who surrounded him; he pierced the horse of one of them with his lance, and with a single stroke of his sword cut off that rider’s head, and so struck all of them with fear that, while they all looked on, he walked away contemptuously and at his ease.

> Latin: 6 et cum uictores Lusitani sparsi ac securi abirent, unus ex his longe a ceteris segregatus cum, circumfusis equitibus pedes ipse deprehensus unius eorum equo lancea perfosso ipsius equitis ad unum gladii ictum caput desecuisset, ita omnes metu perculit, ut prospectantibus cunctis ipse contemptim atque otiosus abscederet.

[¶6] In the consulship of Appius Claudius and Quintus Caecilius Metellus, Appius Claudius engaged the Salassi, a Gallic people, and was defeated, losing five thousand soldiers. When the battle was renewed, he killed five thousand of the enemy. But since, under the law which had laid down that anyone who had slain five thousand of the enemy should have the right to a triumph, he too had sought a triumph but, on account of his earlier losses, had not obtained it, he resorted to infamous impudence and ambition and celebrated a triumph at his own private expense.

> Latin: 7 Appio Claudio Q. Caecilio Metello consulibus Appius Claudius aduersus Salassos Gallos congressus et uictus quinque milia militum perdidit. reparata pugna, quinque milia hostium occidit. sed cum iuxta legem, qua constitutum erat, ut quisque quinque milia hostium peremisset triumphandi haberet potestatem, iste quoque triumphum expetisset, propter superiora uero damna non impetrauisset, infami impudentia atque ambitione usus priuatis sumptibus triumphauit.

[¶7] In the consulship of Lucius Caecilius Metellus and Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus, among other prodigies an androgyne was seen at Rome and, by order of the haruspices, was drowned in the sea. But the performance of this impious expiation availed nothing; for so great a pestilence suddenly broke out that those who served in conducting funerals were at first too few and then there were none at all; and now even great houses were left empty of the living and full of the dead: vast inheritances within, and no heirs whatever.

> Latin: 8 L. Caecilio Metello Q. Fabio Maximo Seruiliano consulibus inter cetera prodigia androgynus Romae uisus iussu haruspicum in mare mersus est. sed nihil impiae expiationis procuratio profecit; nam tanta subito pestilentia exorta est, ut ministri quoque faciendorum funerum primum non sufficerent deinde non essent; iamque etiam magnae domus uacuae uiuis plenae mortuis remanserunt: largissimae introrsum hereditates et nulli penitus heredes.

[¶8] At length the means was denied not only of living in the City but even of approaching the City, so foul was the stench breathed out through the whole City from corpses rotting under their roofs and in their own beds.

> Latin: 9 denique iam non solum in urbe uiuendi sed etiam adpropinquandi ad urbem negabatur facultas, tam saeui per totam urbem tabescentium sub tectis atque in stratis suis cadauerum putores exhalabantur.

[¶9] That cruel expiation, which paved the way for the deaths of men by the death of a man, at last made known to the Romans, now blushing amid their miseries, how wretched and vain it was. For it had been performed beforehand in aid of forestalling disaster, and the pestilence followed all the same; which nevertheless, without any satisfactions of sacrifices, was allayed only when the chastisement had been fulfilled according to the measure of a hidden judgement.

> Latin: 10 Expiatio illa crudelis et uiam mortibus hominum morte hominis struens tandem Romanis inter miserias suas erubescentibus, quam misera et uana esset, innotuit. ante enim in suffragium praeueniendae cladis est habita, et sic pestilentia consecuta est; quae tamen sine ullis sacrificiorum satisfactionibus tantummodo secundum mensuram arcani iudicii expleta correptione sedata est.

[¶10] If those artisans of deception, the haruspices, had happened to celebrate that rite just as the diseases were declining, as is their wont, they would without doubt have claimed for themselves, their gods, and their rites the glory of restored health. Thus the wretched city, perversely religious to the point of sacrilege, was mocked by lies from which it could not be freed.

> Latin: 11 quam si artifices illi circumuentionum haruspices sub ipsa ut adsolent declinatione morborum forte celebrassent, procul dubio sibi dis et ritibus suis reductae sanitatis gloriam uindicassent. ita misera et ad sacrilegia male religiosa ciuitas mendaciis, quibus liberari non poterat, ludebatur.

[¶11] Then the consul Fabius, fighting against the Lusitanians and Viriathus, drove off the enemy and freed the town of Buccia, which Viriathus was besieging, and received it in surrender together with very many other strongholds. He also committed a deed that would be execrable even to the remotest barbarians of Scythia, not to say to Roman good faith and moderation: for he cut off the hands of five hundred of their leaders, whom he had invited into alliance and received under the law of surrender.

> Latin: 12 Igitur Fabius consul contra Lusitanos et Viriatum dimicans Bucciam oppidum, quod Viriatus obsidebat, depulsis hostibus liberauit et in deditionem cum plurimis aliis castellis recepit. fecit facinus etiam ultimis barbaris Scythiae, non dicam Romanae fidei et moderationi, exsecrabile. quingentis enim principibus eorum, quos societate inuitatos deditionis iure susceperat, manus praecidit.

[¶12] Pompeius, consul of the following year, entered the territory of the Numantines and withdrew after suffering a very great disaster, not only with almost his whole army routed but also with very many of the nobles who were serving in that campaign slain.

> Latin: 13 Pompeius sequentis anni consul fines Numantinorum ingressus accepta maxima clade discessit, non solum exercitu paene omni profligato uerum etiam plurimis nobilium, qui ei militiae aderant, interemptis.

*Note: Quintus Pompeius, consul in 141 BC; not Pompey the Great.*

[¶13] Viriathus, however, after he had crushed Roman generals and armies for fourteen years, was killed through the treachery of his own men, the Romans behaving bravely towards him in this one thing alone: that they judged his assassins unworthy of a reward.

> Latin: 14 Viriatus autem cum per quattuordecim annos Romanos duces atque exercitus protriuisset, insidiis suorum interfectus est, in hoc solo Romanis circa eum fortiter agentibus, quod percussores eius indignos praemio iudicarunt.

[¶14] I could, indeed, not only now but often, have interwoven those inextricable wars of the East, which seldom ever either begin or end except in crimes; but the wars of the Romans, with whom our business lies, are so great that those of others are rightly disdained.

> Latin: 15 At ego non modo nunc, uerum etiam saepe intertexere orientis illa inextricabilia bella poteram, quae raro umquam nisi sceleribus aut incipiunt aut terminantur; sed Romanorum, cum quibus nobis actio est, tanta sunt, ut iure fastidiantur aliena.

[¶15] For at that time Mithridates, king of the Parthians, sixth from Arsaces, having defeated the prefect of Demetrius, invaded as victor the city of Babylon and all its territory. He subdued, moreover, all the nations that lie between the river Hydaspes and the Indus. He extended his bloody rule even to India.

> Latin: 16 Mithridates tunc siquidem, rex Parthorum sextus ab Arsace, uicto Demetrii praefecto Babylonam urbem finesque eius uniuersos uictor inuasit. omnes praeterea gentes, quae inter Hydaspen fluuium et Indum iacent, subegit. ad Indiam quoque cruentum extendit imperium.

*Note: This is Mithridates I of Parthia, not the king of Pontus who dominates the later chapters of this book.*

[¶16] Demetrius himself, who met him in a second war, he defeated and captured; and upon his capture a certain Diodotus, together with his son Alexander, usurped his kingdom and the royal name.

> Latin: 17 Demetrium ipsum secundo sibi bello occurrentem uicit et cepit: quo capto Diodotus quidam cum Alexandro filio regnum eius et regium nomen usurpauit.

*Note: This is Diodotus Tryphon. The boy was Antiochus VI, son of Alexander Balas, whom Tryphon set up as king and later murdered; Orosius turns him into Diodotus’s own son Alexander.*

[¶17] He afterwards killed this same Alexander, his son, whom he had had as partner in danger in seizing the kingdom, so as not to have him as a sharer in holding it.

> Latin: 18 qui postea ipsum Alexandrum filium, quem participem periculi in peruadendo regno habuerat, ne in obtinendo consortem haberet, occidit.

[¶18] In the consulship of Marcus Aemilius Lepidus and Gaius Hostilius Mancinus various prodigies appeared and, so far as lay in men’s power, were attended to according to custom. But favourable chances do not always support the haruspices, those fowlers of outcomes and builders of deceits.

> Latin: 19 M. Aemilio Lepido C. Hostilio Mancino consulibus prodigia apparuere diuersa et, quantum in ipsis fuit, ex more curata sunt. sed non semper aucupatoribus euentuum et structoribus fallaciarum haruspicibus opportuni casus suffragantur.

[¶19] For the consul Mancinus, after he had taken over the army from Popilius at Numantia, conducted all his battles so unsuccessfully, and was brought to such extreme despair, that he was compelled to make a most shameful treaty with the Numantines.

> Latin: 20 namque Mancinus consul postquam a Popilio apud Numantiam suscepit exercitum, adeo infeliciter proelia cuncta gessit atque in id suprema desperatione perductus est, ut turpissimum foedus cum Numantinis facere cogeretur.

[¶20] Although Pompeius too had a little earlier concluded another treaty with these same Numantines, equally infamous, the senate ordered the treaty dissolved and Mancinus surrendered to the Numantines. He was exposed before the gates of the Numantines, his body stripped and his hands bound behind his back, and remaining there until nightfall, deserted by his own and not received by the enemy, he presented a spectacle lamentable to both.

> Latin: 21 quamuis et Pompeius iam aliud aeque infame foedus cum isdem Numantinis paulo ante pepigisset, senatus dissolui foedus et Mancinum dedi Numantinis praecepit, qui nudato corpore manibusque post tergum reuinctis ante portas Numantinorum expositus ibique usque in noctem manens, a suis desertus, ab hostibus autem non susceptus lacrimabile utrisque spectaculum praebuit.

## 93. Book 5 · Chapter 5

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/93/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/93/#p-N

[¶0] Grief compels me to cry out at this point. Why, Romans, do you falsely claim for yourselves those great names of justice, good faith, courage, and mercy? Learn these more truly from the Numantines.

> Latin: 1 Exclamare hoc loco dolor exigit. cur falso uobis, Romani, magna illa nomina iustitiae fidei fortitudinis et misericordiae uindicatis? a Numantinis haec uerius discite.

[¶1] Was courage needed? They conquered by fighting. Was good faith required? Trusting others to be like themselves, they let go under a concluded treaty those whom they could have killed.

> Latin: 2 fortitudine opus fuit? pugnando uicerunt. fides exigebatur? credentes aliis secundum se, quos occidere potuerant, pacto foedere dimiserunt.

[¶2] Was justice to be proved? Even the senate proved it by its silence, when those same Numantines, through their envoys, demanded back either the peace alone, inviolate, or all those whom they had released alive on receiving the pledge of peace.

> Latin: 3 iustitia probanda erat? probauit eam uel tacitus senatus, cum idem Numantini per legatos suos aut inuiolatam pacem solam aut omnes, quos pignore pacis accepto uiuos dimiserant, reposcebant.

[¶3] Did mercy seem to need examining? They gave proof enough, both by sending an enemy army away to life and by not receiving Mancinus for punishment.

> Latin: 4 misericordia examinanda uidebatur? satis documenti dederunt uel emittendo ad uitam inimicum exercitum uel ad poenam non recipiendo Mancinum.

[¶4] Ought Mancinus, I ask, to have been surrendered — he who, holding out the shield of a concluded treaty, warded off the impending slaughter of a defeated army, and who preserved the endangered strength of his country for better times?

> Latin: 5 Mancinusne rogo dedendus fuit, qui uicti exercitus inpendentem trucidationem praetento umbone pacti foederis dispulit, qui periclitantes patriae uires in meliora tempora reseruauit?

[¶5] Or, if the treaty that was concluded displeased you, why was the soldier redeemed by this pledge either received when he returned, or not given back when he was demanded? Or, if the provision, such as it was, that saved the soldiers pleased you, why was Mancinus, who concluded it, alone surrendered?

> Latin: 6 aut, si displicuit foedus quod pactum est, cur miles hoc pignore redemptus aut, cum reuerteretur, receptus est aut, cum repeteretur, redditus non est? aut, si placuit seruati militis qualiscumque prouisio, cur Mancinus, qui hoc pepigit, solus deditus fuit?

[¶6] Not long before, Varro, so that a premature battle might be joined, overbore his colleague Paulus, who struggled against it, hurled the anxious army headlong, and at Cannae — infamous for Roman disasters — did not array his ill-starred forces for combat but set them out for death; there, through his impatience alone, on which Hannibal had long been counting for his victory, he lost more than forty thousand Roman soldiers.

> Latin: 7 Nuper Varro, ut praepropera pugna iniretur, collegam Paulum obluctantem impulit, trepidantem praecipitauit exercitum, infelices copias apud infames illas Romanis cladibus Cannas non disposuit certamini sed opposuit morti; plus quam XL milia ibi militum Romanorum sola inpatientia sua, de qua sibi uictoriam iam dudum Hannibal praesumebat, amisit.

[¶7] And having lost his colleague Paulus as well — and what a man he was! — he at last dared, most shamelessly, to return to the City almost alone, and he earned the reward of his shamelessness.

> Latin: 8 collega etiam Paulo - quo tandem uiro! - perdito, nouissime in urbem paene solus impudentissime redire ausus est meruitque impudentiae suae praemium.

[¶8] For thanks were publicly rendered to him in the senate because he had not despaired of the commonwealth — which he himself, however, had brought to despair.

> Latin: 9 nam gratiae ei, quod de republica non desperasset, quam tamen ipse fecerat desperatam, publice in senatu actae sunt.

[¶9] Mancinus, on the other hand, who laboured not to lose an army surrounded by the fortune of war, was condemned to surrender by that same senate.

> Latin: 10 Porro autem Mancinus, qui sorte bellica circumuentum exercitum ne perderet laborauit, ab eodem senatu deditione damnatus est.

[¶10] I know, Romans, that you were displeased with that conduct in Varro as well, but it was a concession to the times; and that you were pleased with this conduct in Mancinus, but took liberties as the times allowed. And so from the beginning you have brought it about that a citizen does not take fitting counsel for the ungrateful, nor an enemy faithfully trust the faithless.

> Latin: 11 scio, Romani, et illud in Varrone displicuit, sed tempori concessum est, et hoc in Mancino placuit, sed secundum tempus praesumptum est; atque ideo ab initio perfecistis, ut nec ciuis consulat conuenienter ingratis nec hostis fideliter credat infidis.

[¶11] Meanwhile in Further Spain Brutus, in a very harsh and difficult war, crushed sixty thousand Gallaeci who had come to the aid of the Lusitanians, though he had surrounded them while they were off their guard; of these, fifty thousand are reported to have been killed in that battle and six thousand captured, while a few escaped by flight.

> Latin: 12 Interea Brutus in ulteriore Hispania LX milia Gallaecorum, qui Lusitanis auxilio uenerant, asperrimo bello et difficili quamuis incautos circumuenisset, oppressit: quorum in eo proelio L milia occisa, sex milia capta referuntur, pauci fuga euaserunt.

[¶12] In Hither Spain Lepidus, as proconsul, stubbornly attempted to storm the Vaccaei, a harmless and suppliant people, even though the senate forbade it. But soon, suffering a most grievous disaster, he paid the penalty for his wicked obstinacy. For six thousand Romans were most justly cut down in this unjust war; the rest escaped, stripped of their camp and having lost even their arms.

> Latin: 13 in citeriore Hispania Lepidus proconsule Vaccaeos, innoxiam gentem et supplicem, etiam senatu prohibente pertinaciter expugnare temptauit. sed mox accepta clade grauissima improbae pertinaciae poenas luit. sex milia quippe Romanorum in hoc iniusto bello iustissime caesa sunt, reliqui exuti castris, armis etiam perditis, euaserunt.

[¶13] This disaster under Lepidus was no less shameful than the one under Mancinus. So let them now ascribe these times to themselves as times of happiness — I will not say the Spaniards, beaten and wearied by so many wars, but at least the Romans themselves, subdued by such continual disasters and so often overcome;

> Latin: 14 Nec minus turpis haec sub Lepido clades quam sub Mancino fuit. ita nunc sibi haec tempora loco felicitatis adscribant ut non dixerim Hispani tot pulsati fatigatique bellis, sed uel ipsi saltem Romani tam continuis subacti cladibus totiensque superati;

[¶14] so that, without reproaching them with how many of their praetors, how many legates, how many consuls, how many legions and how great armies were consumed, I recall this alone: into what madness of fear the Roman soldier had been dulled, so that he could no longer plant his foot and steady his mind even to make trial of war, but at the very sight of an enemy — a Spaniard especially — he would flee, believing himself conquered almost before he was seen.

> Latin: 15 ut non exprobrem, quot praetores eorum, quot legati, quot consules, quot legiones quantique exercitus consumpti sint, illud solum reuoluo, quanta fuerit timoris amentia miles Romanus hebetatus, ut iam ne ad experimentum quidem belli cohibere pedem atque offirmare animum posset, sed mox conspecto Hispano specialiter hoste diffugiens uinci se paene prius crederet quam uideri.

[¶15] By which proof it is plain that those times were judged wretched on both sides, since the Spaniards, even though they were able to conquer, nevertheless unwillingly abandoned their sweet leisure and endured foreign wars, while the Romans were defeated the more shamefully the more impudently they thrust themselves upon the peace of others.

> Latin: 16 quo argumento patet apud utrosque misera illa tempora iudicata, cum et Hispani etsi uincere poterant, inuiti tamen desererent dulcia otia sua et bella externa tolerarent, et Romani quanto inpudentius alienae quieti sese ingererent, tanto turpius uincerentur.

## 94. Book 5 · Chapter 6

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/94/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/94/#p-N

[¶0] In the consulship of Servius Fulvius Flaccus and Quintus Calpurnius Piso, a boy was born at Rome to a slave-woman with four feet and four hands, four eyes and as many ears, and doubled in his male nature.

> Latin: 1 Seruio Fuluio Flacco Q. Calpurnio Pisone consulibus Romae puer ex ancilla natus quadripes quadrimanus, oculis quattuor, auribus totidem, natura uirili duplex.

[¶1] In Sicily Mount Etna belched out and poured forth vast fires, which, rushing headlong like torrents down the slopes, burned up everything nearby with devouring flames, while they scorched more distant places with hot ashes flying far and wide amid heavy vapour: a kind of portent always native to Sicily, which is wont not to foretell evil but to bring it. In the territory of Bononia crops sprang up on trees.

> Latin: 2 in Sicilia mons Aetna uastos ignes eructauit ac fudit, qui torrentum modo per prona praecipites proxima quaeque corripientibus exussere flammis, longinquiora autem fauillis calidis cum uapore graui late uolitantibus torruerunt: quod Siciliae semper uernaculum genus monstri non portendere malum adsolet sed inferre. in Bononiensi agro fruges in arboribus enatae sunt.

[¶2] And so a servile war arose in Sicily, which was so grave and fierce in the multitude of its slaves, the equipment of its forces, and the greatness of its strength,

> Latin: 3 igitur in Sicilia bellum seruile ortum est, quod adeo graue et atrox multitudine seruorum, instructu copiarum, magnitudine uirium fuit,

[¶3] that it terrified — I will not say the Roman praetors, whom it utterly routed — but the consuls as well. For seventy thousand slaves are reported to have then conspired in arms, apart from the city of Messana, which kept its slaves, whom it had treated generously, at peace.

> Latin: 4 ut, non dicam praetores Romanos, quos penitus profligauit, sed consules quoque terruerit. nam LXX milia seruorum tunc in arma conspirantium fuisse referuntur, excepta urbe Messana, quae seruos liberaliter habitos in pace continuit.

[¶4] Sicily, moreover, was the more wretched in this respect too, because, being an island and never possessed of a sound legal condition, she was subject now to tyrants, now to slaves — the former exacting servitude through wicked domination, the latter exchanging it for liberty through perverse presumption — and above all because, shut in on every side by the sea, she cannot easily cast out an evil within.

> Latin: 5 ceterum Sicilia in hoc quoque miserior, quia insula et numquam erga statum suum iuris idonei nunc tyrannis subiecta nunc seruis, uel illis dominatu improbo exigentibus seruitutem uel istis praesumptione peruersa conmutantibus libertatem, maxime quia clausa undique mari egerere foras non facile potest intestinum malum.

[¶5] For she nourished to her own destruction a viperous brood, increased by her own lust and destined to live by her death. In this respect, moreover, the stirring up of a servile tumult is the more savage the rarer it is than others, because a free multitude is roused with the intent of enlarging its fatherland, a servile one with the intent of destroying it.

> Latin: 6 uiperinam quippe conceptionem perditioni suae aluit sua libidine auctam, sua morte uicturam. in hoc autem seruilis tumultus excitatio quanto rarior ceteris tanto truculentior est, quia intentione commouetur libera multitudo ut patriam augeat, seruilis ut perdat.

## 95. Book 5 · Chapter 7

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/95/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/95/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 620 from the founding of the City, since the treaty concluded at Numantia weighed upon the shame of the Roman brow with an infamy almost greater than that of the one made long ago at the Caudine Forks, Scipio Africanus was made consul by the consent of all the tribes and sent with an army to storm Numantia.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCXX cum maior paene infamia de foedere apud Numantiam pacto quam apud Caudinas quondam furculas pudorem Romanae frontis oneraret, Scipio Africanus consensu omnium tribuum consul creatus atque ad expugnandam Numantiam cum exercitu missus est.

[¶1] Numantia, a city of Hither Spain, situated not far from the Vaccaei and the Cantabri, at the head of Gallaecia, was the last outpost of the Celtiberians.

> Latin: 2 Numantia autem citerioris Hispaniae, haud procul a Vaccaeis et Cantabris in capite Gallaeciae sita, ultima Celtiberorum fuit.

*Note: Numantia stood on the upper Douro near modern Soria, in the land of the Celtiberians, well east of Gallaecia; Orosius’s geography is loose here.*

[¶2] For fourteen years, with only four thousand of its own men, it not only withstood forty thousand Romans but even defeated them and saddled them with shameful treaties.

> Latin: 3 haec per annos quattuordecim cum solis quattuor milibus suorum quadraginta milia Romanorum non solum sustinuit sed etiam uicit pudendisque foederibus adfecit.

[¶3] So Scipio Africanus, on entering Spain, did not at once throw himself upon the enemy in order to surround them, as it were, off their guard — knowing that this kind of men is never so relaxed into leisure in body and mind as not to surpass the preparations of others by the very quality of their condition — but for some time he exercised his soldiers in the camp as if in schools.

> Latin: 4 igitur Scipio Africanus Hispaniam ingressus non se ilico ingessit hostibus, ut quasi incautos circumueniret, sciens numquam hoc genus hominum adeo in otium corpore atque animo resolui, ut non ipsa qualitate habitudinis suae apparatus aliorum praecelleret, sed aliquamdiu militem suum in castris uelut in scholis exercuit.

[¶4] And though he had passed part of the summer and the whole winter without so much as attempting a battle, even so he gained almost too little by this diligence.

> Latin: 5 et cum partem aestatis totamque hiemem ne adtemptata quidem pugna transegisset, sic quoque parum propemodum hac profecit industria.

[¶5] For when an opportunity of fighting arose, the Roman army, overwhelmed by the onset of the Numantines, turned its back; but, through the reproaches and threats of the consul, who threw himself in their way and held them back with his own hand, it at last returned in indignation against the enemy and compelled the one from whom it had been fleeing to flee. A thing hard to credit in the telling, then: the Romans both routed the Numantines and saw them in flight.

> Latin: 6 namque ubi copia pugnandi facta est, exercitus Romanus oppressus impetu Numantinorum terga conuertit; sed increpatione et minis obiectantis sese consulis manuque retinentis tandem indignatus in hostem rediit et quem fugiebat fugere conpulit. difficilis tunc in relatu fides: Numantinos et fugauere et fugientes uidere Romani.

[¶6] Hence, although Scipio rejoiced and gloried in it because it had happened beyond hope, he nevertheless declared that nothing further must be ventured against them in battle.

> Latin: 7 unde quamuis Scipio, quia praeter spem acciderat, laetatus et gloriatus esset, tamen ultra bello aduersum eos audendum non esse professus est.

[¶7] And so Scipio judged that he must press home these unexpected successes: he shut in the city itself by siege and surrounded it with a ditch as well, ten feet in breadth and twenty in depth.

> Latin: 8 itaque Scipio insistendum inopinatis prouentibus censuit, urbem ipsam obsidione conclusit, fossa etiam circumdedit, cuius latitudo pedibus decem, altitudo uiginti fuit.

[¶8] Then he fortified the rampart itself, faced with stakes, with numerous towers, so that if any sally were attempted against it by the enemy breaking out, he would no longer fight as besieger against besieged, but, the roles reversed, as besieged against besieger.

> Latin: 9 ipsum deinde uallum sudibus praestructum crebris turribus conmuniuit, ut, si qua ab erumpente hoste in eum temptaretur inruptio, iam non quasi obsessor cum obsesso sed uersa uice obsessus cum obsessore pugnaret.

[¶9] Numantia, situated on a hill not far from the river Douro, embraced three miles in the circuit of its wall — although some assert that it was both small in extent and without a wall:

> Latin: 10 Numantia autem in tumulo sita haud procul a flumine Durio tria milia passuum ambitu muri amplexabatur; quamuis aliqui adserant eam et paruo situ et sine muro fuisse:

[¶10] whence it is credible that they enclosed this space for the sake of feeding and guarding their flocks, or even for the convenience of tilling the land when they were hard pressed by war, while they themselves held a small citadel fortified by nature; otherwise so wide a city area would have seemed not so much to protect so small a number of men as to betray them.

> Latin: 11 unde credibile est, quia hoc spatii cura alendorum custodiendorumque pecorum uel etiam exercendi ruris commodo cum bello premerentur incluserint, ipsi arcem paruam natura munitam obtinentes; alioquin tantam paucitatem hominum tam amplum urbis spatium non munire magis quam prodere uidebatur.

[¶11] So the Numantines, long shut in and slaughtered by famine, offered to surrender themselves if tolerable terms were imposed, often also begging for the chance of a fair battle, so that they might be allowed to die as men.

> Latin: 12 igitur conclusi diu Numantini et fame trucidati deditionem sui obtulerunt, si tolerabilia iuberentur, saepe etiam orantes iustae pugnae facultatem, ut tamquam uiris mori liceret.

[¶12] At the last they all suddenly burst out from two gates, having first drunk deeply — not of wine, in which that region is not fruitful, but of a juice of wheat skilfully prepared, which juice they call caelia, from its heating.

> Latin: 13 ultime omnes duabus subito portis eruperunt, larga prius potione usi non uini, cuius ferax is locus non est, sed suco tritici per artem confecto, quem sucum a calefaciendo caeliam uocant.

[¶13] For the vital force in the sprout of the moistened grain is roused by fire and then dried, and afterwards, reduced to flour, it is mixed with a mild liquid, and through this fermentation a tang of harshness and the heat of drunkenness are added to it. Warmed again by this drink after their long famine, then, they offered themselves to battle.

> Latin: 14 suscitatur enim igne illa uis germinis madefactae frugis ac deinde siccatur et post in farinam redacta molli suco admiscetur, quo fermento sapor austeritatis et calor ebrietatis adicitur. hac igitur potione post longam famem recalescentes bello sese obtulerunt.

[¶14] The struggle was long fierce and even dangerous to the Romans, and the Romans would again have proved by fleeing that they were fighting against Numantines, had they not been fighting under Scipio. The Numantines, after their bravest had been killed, gave way in battle, yet returned to the city in ordered ranks and not like fugitives; they refused to accept the bodies of the slain when these were offered for burial.

> Latin: 15 atrox diu certamen et usque ad periculum Romanorum fuit, iterumque Romani pugnare se aduersum Numantinos fugiendo probauissent, nisi sub Scipione pugnassent. Numantini interfectis suorum fortissimis bello cedunt, conpositis tamen ordinibus nec sicut fugientes in urbem reuertuntur, corpora interfectorum ad sepulturam oblata accipere noluerunt.

[¶15] All of them, resolved upon death in the last hope of despair, themselves set fire to the shut city from within, and all alike were consumed by sword, poison, and fire.

> Latin: 16 nouissima spe desperationis in mortem omnes destinati clausam urbem ipsi introrsum succenderunt cunctique pariter ferro ueneno atque igne consumpti sunt.

[¶16] The Romans gained absolutely nothing from these conquered men except their own security; for with Numantia overthrown they reckoned that they had not so much conquered the Numantines as escaped them.

> Latin: 17 Romani nihil ex his penitus habuere uictis praeter securitatem suam; neque enim euersa Numantia uicisse se magis Numantinos quam euasisse duxerunt.

[¶17] The victor’s chain held not a single Numantine; Rome saw nothing to justify the triumph she had granted; gold or silver that might have survived the fire there was none among a poor people; their arms and clothing the fire consumed.

> Latin: 18 unum Numantinum uictoris catena non tenuit; unde triumphum dederit, Roma non uidit; aurum uel argentum, quod igni superesse potuisset, apud pauperes non fuit; arma et uestem ignis absumpsit.

## 96. Book 5 · Chapter 8

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/96/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/96/#p-N

[¶0] At that time, then, while these things were being done at Numantia, the seditions of the Gracchi were being stirred up at Rome. Scipio, meanwhile, when after the destruction of Numantia he was settling the remaining nations of Spain in peace, asked a certain Thyresus, a Celtic chieftain, by what means the Numantine state had either earlier endured unconquered or later been overthrown. Thyresus answered: “Concord kept it unconquered; discord was its ruin.”

> Latin: 1 Igitur ea tempestate, cum haec apud Numantiam gesta sunt, apud Romam Gracchorum seditiones agitabantur. Scipio autem cum deleta Numantia ceteras Hispaniae gentes pace conponeret, Thyresum quendam, Celticum principem, consuluit, qua ope res Numantina aut prius inuicta durasset aut post fuisset euersa. Thyresus respondit: concordia inuicta, discordia exitio fuit.

[¶1] The Romans took this as an example, as though it had been said to them and about them, since news was already reaching them of the seditions of the whole City in discord. With Carthage and Numantia destroyed, useful deliberation about foresight died among the Romans, and infamous contention born of ambition arose.

> Latin: 2 quod Romani tamquam sibi ac de se dictum exempli loco acceperunt, quippe quibus iam de seditionibus discordantis totius urbis nuntiabatur. Carthagine Numantiaque deleta moritur apud Romanos utilis de prouisione conlatio et oritur infamis de ambitione contentio.

[¶2] Gracchus, tribune of the plebs, angry with the nobility because he had been marked out among the authors of the Numantine treaty, decreed that land hitherto held by private individuals should be divided among the people. When the tribune of the plebs Octavius opposed him, he stripped him of his power and gave him Minucius as a successor. For these reasons anger seized the senate, and arrogance the people.

> Latin: 3 Gracchus tribunus plebi iratus nobilitati, cur inter auctores Numantini foederis notatus esset, agrum a priuatis eatenus possessum populo diuidi statuit. Octauio tribuno plebi obsistenti ademit imperium et successorem Minucium dedit. his causis senatum ira, populum superbia inuasit.

*Note: Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, tribune of the plebs in 133 BC. As quaestor under Mancinus he had negotiated the Numantine treaty of 137 that the senate repudiated.*

[¶3] And just then, as it happened, Attalus, son of Eumenes, dying, had by his will ordered the Roman people to succeed as heir to the rule of Asia. Gracchus, seeking the favour of the people at a price, carried a law that the money which had been Attalus’s should be distributed to the people. As Nasica opposed this, Pompeius too pledged that he would prosecute Gracchus as soon as he had left office.

> Latin: 4 ac tunc forte Attalus, Eumenis filius, moriens testamento populum Romanum imperio Asiae succedere heredem iusserat. Gracchus gratiam populi pretio adpetens legem tulit, uti pecunia, quae fuisset Attali, populo distribueretur. obsistente Nasica etiam Pompeius spopondit se Gracchum, cum primum magistratu abisset, accusaturum.

## 97. Book 5 · Chapter 9

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/97/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/97/#p-N

[¶0] When Gracchus was striving to remain tribune of the plebs himself in the following year, and on the day of the elections was kindling seditions among the people, the nobility, inflamed at the instigation of Nasica, put the plebs to flight with fragments of the benches.

> Latin: 1 Gracchus cum eniteretur, ut ipse tribunus plebi subsequenti anno permaneret, cumque comitiorum die seditiones populi accenderet, auctore Nasica inflammata nobilitas fragmentis subselliorum plebem fugauit.

[¶1] Gracchus, fleeing down the steps that lie above the Calpurnian arch, having thrown off his cloak, was struck by a fragment of a bench and fell; and as he rose again he was struck dead by another blow, from a club dashed against his brain.

> Latin: 2 Gracchus per gradus, qui sunt super Calpurnium fornicem, detracto amiculo fugiens ictus fragmento subsellii conruit rursusque adsurgens alio ictu clauae cerebro inpactae exanimatus est.

[¶2] Two hundred others besides were killed in that sedition and their bodies thrown into the Tiber; the corpse of Gracchus himself also rotted unburied.

> Latin: 3 ducenti praeterea in ea seditione interfecti eorumque corpora in Tiberim proiecta sunt; ipsius quoque Gracchi inhumatum cadauer extabuit.

[¶3] Moreover, the contagion of the servile war that had arisen in Sicily infected many provinces far and wide. For at Minturnae 450 slaves were crucified, and at Sinuessa as many as 4,000 slaves were crushed by Quintus Metellus and Gnaeus Servilius Caepio;

> Latin: 4 orta praeterea in Sicilia belli seruilis contagio multas late infecit prouincias. nam et Minturnis CCCCL serui in crucem acti et Sinuessae ad quattuor milia seruorum a Q. Metello et Cn. Seruilio Caepione oppressa sunt;

[¶4] in the mines of the Athenians, too, the same servile tumult was broken up by the praetor Heraclitus; at Delos as well the slaves, swelling up in a new outbreak, were suppressed by the townspeople, who forestalled them — all this apart from that first kindling of the Sicilian evil, from which, like sparks flying out, these were sown as so many separate conflagrations.

> Latin: 5 in metallis quoque Atheniensium idem tumultus seruilis ab Heraclito praetore discussus est; apud Delon etiam serui nouo motu intumescentes oppidanis praeuenientibus pressi sunt, absque illo primo Siciliensis mali fomite, a quo istae uelut scintillae emicantes, diuersa haec incendia seminarunt.

[¶5] For in Sicily, after the consul Fulvius, the consul Piso stormed the town of Mamertium, where he killed eight thousand fugitives, and those he was able to capture he fastened to the gibbet.

> Latin: 6 in Sicilia enim post Fuluium consulem Piso consul Mamertium oppidum expugnauit, ubi octo milia fugitiuorum interfecit, quos autem capere potuit, patibulo suffixit.

[¶6] When the consul Rutilius had succeeded him, he too recovered by war Tauromenium and Henna, the strongest refuges of the fugitives: more than twenty thousand slaves are reported to have been slaughtered then.

> Latin: 7 cui cum Rutilius consul successisset, idem quoque Tauromenium et Hennam, firmissima fugitiuorum refugia, bello recepit: amplius quam XX milia tunc seruorum trucidata referuntur.

[¶7] Wretched indeed, and inextricable, was the cause of such a war. The masters would certainly have perished had the insolent slaves not been met with the sword. And yet, even in these most unhappy losses of battle and still more unhappy gains of victory, as many as perished among the vanquished, so many did the victors lose.

> Latin: 8 Misera profecto talis belli et inextricabilis causa. pereundum utique dominis erat, nisi insolescentibus seruis ferro obuiam iretur. sed tamen in ipsis quoque infelicissimis damnis pugnae et infelicioribus lucris uictoriae quanti periere uicti tantum perdidere uictores.

## 98. Book 5 · Chapter 10

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/98/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/98/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 622 from the founding of the City, Publius Licinius Crassus, consul and pontifex maximus, was sent with a most thoroughly equipped army against Aristonicus, the brother of Attalus, who had seized Asia, which had been handed over to the Romans by will;

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCXXII P. Licinius Crassus consul et pontifex maximus aduersus Aristonicum Attali fratrem, qui traditam per testamentum Romanis Asiam peruaserat, cum instructissimo missus exercitu,

[¶1] and though he was aided besides by great kings — namely Nicomedes of Bithynia, Mithridates of Pontus and Armenia, Ariarathes of Cappadocia, and Pylaemenes of Paphlagonia — and by their very great forces, yet when battle was joined he was defeated;

> Latin: 2 praeterea a magnis regibus hoc est Nicomede Bithyniae, Mithridate Ponti et Armeniae, Ariarathe Cappadociae, Pylaemene Paphlagoniae eorumque maximis copiis adiutus, conserto tamen bello uictus est;

[¶2] and when, after very great slaughter, his army had been put to flight and he himself was already surrounded by the enemy and almost captured, he drove the rod that he used on his horse into the eye of a Thracian; and the barbarian, blazing with anger and pain, ran Crassus through the side with his sword. Thus by a manner of death of his own devising he escaped both disgrace and slavery.

> Latin: 3 et cum, exercitu post plurimam caedem in fugam acto, ipse iam circumuentus ab hostibus et paene captus esset, uirgam, qua erat usus ad equum, in oculum Thraecis inpegit; barbarus autem cum ira et dolore exarsisset, latus Crassi gladio transuerberauit. ita ille excogitato genere mortis effugit et dedecus et seruitutem.

[¶3] The consul Perperna, who had succeeded Crassus, on hearing of the death of Crassus and the slaughter of the Roman army, flew in haste into Asia, attacked Aristonicus, who was taking his ease after his recent victory, in a war he did not expect, and, stripping him of all his forces, put him to flight;

> Latin: 4 Perpenna consul, qui Crasso successerat, audita morte Crassi et clade exercitus Romani raptim in Asiam peruolauit, Aristonicum recenti uictoria feriatum inprouiso bello adortus nudatumque omnibus copiis in fugam uertit;

[¶4] and having invested with a siege the city of Stratonicea, to which he had fled, he forced him, wasted by famine, to surrender. The consul Perperna was seized by illness at Pergamum and died; Aristonicus was strangled in prison at Rome by order of the senate.

> Latin: 5 cumque Stratonicen urbem, ad quam ille confugerat, obsidione cinxisset, trucidatum fame ad deditionem coegit. Perpenna consul apud Pergamum correptus morbo diem obiit; Aristonicus Romae iussu senatus in carcere strangulatus est.

[¶5] In the same year the wretched life of Ptolemy, king of the Alexandrians, brought forth an end more wretched than his life. For his own sister, whom he had first known in debauchery and then taken in marriage, he at last cast off more shamefully than he had married her.

> Latin: 6 Eodem anno Ptolemaei Alexandrinorum regis misera uita miseriorem uitae exitum dedit. is enim sororem suam stupro cognitam ac deinde in matrimonium receptam nouissime turpius quam duxit abiecit.

*Note: Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II (“Physcon”). The sister-wife was Cleopatra II, and the stepdaughter he married was her daughter Cleopatra III.*

[¶6] His stepdaughter — that is, the daughter of his sister and wife — he took as his wife, and he killed his own son, whom he had had by his sister, and his brother’s son as well. For this reason, execrable for such incests and parricides, he was driven from his kingdom by the Alexandrians.

> Latin: 7 priuignam uero suam, hoc est filiam sororis et coniugis, coniugem adsciuit, filium suum, quem ex sorore susceperat, nec non et filium fratris occidit. quamobrem tantis incestis parricidiisque exsecrabilis ab Alexandrinis regno pulsus est.

[¶7] At the same time Antiochus, not content with Babylon and Ecbatana and the whole empire of Media, engaged Phraates, king of the Parthians, and was defeated. Though he appeared to have a hundred thousand armed men in his army, he was dragging along more than two hundred thousand camp-servants and sutlers, mingled with harlots and actors. And so he easily perished with his whole army, crushed by the might of the Parthians.

> Latin: 8 Isdem temporibus Antiochus, non contentus Babylona atque Ecbatana totoque Mediae imperio, aduersus Phrahatem Parthorum regem congressus et uictus est. qui cum in exercitu suo centum milia armatorum habere uideretur, ducenta milia amplius calonum atque lixarum inmixta scortis et histrionibus trahebat. itaque facile cum uniuerso exercitu suo Parthorum uiribus oppressus interiit.

*Note: Antiochus VII Sidetes, who fell fighting Phraates II of Parthia in 129 BC.*

[¶8] In the consulship of Gaius Sempronius Tuditanus and Marcus Acilius, Publius Scipio Africanus, who the day before had solemnly declared before the assembly the danger to his life — for he had learned that threats were being made against him by wicked and ungrateful men as he laboured for his country — was found lifeless in his bedchamber the next morning; and I would not be rash in counting this among the greatest evils of the Romans, especially since the vigour and moderation of Africanus carried such weight in that city that it was readily believed that, while he lived, neither a social nor a civil war could arise.

> Latin: 9 C. Sempronio Tuditano et M. Acilio consulibus P. Scipionem Africanum pridie pro contione de periculo salutis suae contestatum, quod sibi pro patria laboranti ab improbis et ingratis denuntiari cognouisset, alio mane exanimem in cubiculo suo repertum non temere inter maxima Romanorum mala recensuerim, praesertim cum tantum in ea urbe Africani uigor et modestia ualeret, ut facile uiuo eo neque sociale neque ciuile bellum posse exsistere crederetur.

*Note: The consul of 129 BC was Manius Aquillius; Orosius gives “M. Acilius.”*

[¶9] Some say that he was killed by the guile of his wife Sempronia, the sister of the Gracchi, so that that criminal family — born, as I believe, for the ruin of its country — should not fail, amid the impious seditions of its men, to be all the more monstrous through the crimes of its women as well.

> Latin: 10 hunc quidam uxoris suae Semproniae, Gracchorum autem sororis, dolo necatum ferunt, ne scelerata ut credo familia ad perniciem patriae suae nata inter impias seditiones uirorum non etiam facinoribus mulierum esset immanior.

[¶10] In the consulship of Marcus Aemilius and Lucius Orestes, Etna, shaken by a vast tremor, overflowed with balls of fire; and again, on another day, the island of Lipara and the sea around it boiled so violently that it even dissolved scorched rocks, burned up the decks of ships by melting their wax, cooked the fish so that they floated up dead, and suffocated men too — all except those who were able to flee further off — their inner organs scorched by the hot air they breathed in and out.

> Latin: 11 M. Aemilio L. Oreste consulibus Aetna uasto tremore concussa exundauit igneis globis, rursusque alio die Lipara insula et uicinum circa eam mare in tantum efferbuit, ut adustas quoque rupes dissoluerit, tabulata nauium liquefactis ceris extorruerit, exanimatos pisces supernatantesque excoxerit, homines quoque, nisi qui longius potuere diffugere, reciprocato anhelitu calidi aeris adustis introrsum uitalibus suffocarit.

## 99. Book 5 · Chapter 11

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/99/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/99/#p-N

[¶0] In the consulship of Marcus Plautius Hypsaeus and Marcus Fulvius Flaccus, a horrible and unheard-of destruction fell upon Africa when she was scarcely at rest from the ravages of wars.

> Latin: 1 M. Plautio Hypsaeo M. Fuluio Flacco consulibus uixdum Africam a bellorum excidiis quiescentem horribilis et inusitata perditio consecuta est.

[¶1] For when immense multitudes of locusts had gathered throughout all Africa and had not only shaved away all hope of crops and consumed all the grasses together with part of their roots, and the leaves of the trees together with the tender shoots of the branches, but were even gnawing at the bitter bark and dry wood, they were suddenly caught up by a wind, driven together into masses, carried for a long time through the air, and plunged into the African sea.

> Latin: 2 namque cum per totam Africam inmensae lucustarum multitudines coaluissent et non modo iam cunctam spem frugum abrasissent herbasque omnes cum parte radicum, folia arborum cum teneritudine ramorum consumpsissent, uerum etiam amaras cortices atque arida ligna praeroderent, repentino abreptae uento atque in globos coactae portataeque diu per aerem, Africano pelago inmersae sunt.

[¶2] When the waves, with the waters pressing on, had driven immense heaps of them far along the widely stretching shores, the rotting and putrefied mass breathed out an exceedingly foul and pestilential stench beyond all belief; from this there followed so great a pestilence among all living creatures alike that the putrefied carcasses of birds, cattle, and wild beasts, destroyed by the corruption of the air and lying everywhere, increased the evil of the corruption.

> Latin: 3 harum cum inmensos aceruos longe undis urguentibus fluctus per extenta late litora propulissent, taetrum nimis atque ultra opinionem pestiferum odorem tabida et putrefacta congeries exhalauit, unde omnium pariter animantum tanta pestilentia consecuta est, ut auium pecudum ac bestiarum corruptione aeris dissolutarum putrefacta passim cadauera uitium corruptionis augerent.

[¶3] But how great the plague among men was, I myself shudder in my whole body as I relate it: for it is recorded that in Numidia, where Micipsa was then king, eight hundred thousand men perished, and along the sea-coast, which lies especially near the shore of Carthage and Utica, more than two hundred thousand; while at the city of Utica itself thirty thousand soldiers, who had been stationed for the defence of all Africa, were wiped out and swept away.

> Latin: 4 at uero quanta fuerit hominum lues, ego ipse, dum refero, toto corpore perhorresco: siquidem in Numidia, in qua tunc Micipsa rex erat, octingenta milia hominum, circa oram uero maritimam, quae maxime Carthaginiensi atque Uticensi litori adiacet, plus quam ducenta milia perisse traditum est, apud ipsam uero Uticam ciuitatem triginta milia militum, quae ad praesidium totius Africae ordinata fuerant, extincta atque abrasa sunt.

[¶4] This disaster pressed on so suddenly and so violently that at Utica, it is said, more than 1,500 of those young men were carried out dead through a single gate on a single day.

> Latin: 5 quae clades tam repentina ac tam uiolenta institit, ut tunc apud Uticam sub una die per unam portam ex illis iunioribus plus quam mille quingentos mortuos elatos fuisse narretur.

[¶5] Yet, with the leave and by the grace of almighty God — of whose mercy and in trust in whom I say these things — I would say this: although in our times too locusts sometimes arise, and that in various places, and often do harm, but tolerably, never yet in the Christian times has so great a force of inextricable evil befallen that the destruction wrought by locusts, which could in no way have been borne while they lived, did more harm when dead; so that, though everything was to perish while they lived, once they had perished it would have been more to be wished by all, as they perished, that they had not perished.

> Latin: 6 Verumtamen pace et gratia omnipotentis Dei dixerim, de cuius misericordia et in cuius fiducia haec loquor: quamuis et temporibus nostris exoriantur aliquando et hoc diuersis partibus lucustae et plerumque etiam sed tolerabiliter laedant, numquam tamen temporibus Christianis tanta uis inextricabilis mali accidit, ut pernicies lucustarum, quae nullo modo ferri uiua potuisset, mortua plus noceret et qua diu uiuente peritura erant omnia, ea perdita pereuntibus magis omnibus optandum fuerit, ne perisset.

## 100. Book 5 · Chapter 12

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/100/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/100/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 627 from the founding of the City, in the consulship of Lucius Caecilius Metellus and Quintus Titius Flamininus, Carthage in Africa, which had been ordered to be restored, was at last, in the twenty-second year after its overthrow, restored and repopulated, families of Roman citizens being led out to inhabit it; a great prodigy had gone before.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCXXVII L. Caecilio Metello et Q. Titio Flaminino coss. Carthago in Africa restitui iussa uicensimo secundo demum anno quam fuerat euersa deductis ciuium Romanorum familiis, quae eam incolerent, restituta et repleta est, magno ante prodigio praecedente.

*Note: The consuls of 123 BC were Quintus Caecilius Metellus (Balearicus) and Titus Quinctius Flamininus; Orosius garbles both names.*

[¶1] For when the surveyors sent to mark out the boundaries of the Carthaginian territory found that the stakes they had fixed as markers of the boundaries had been torn up in the night by wolves with their teeth and gnawed, there was for some time hesitation whether it was expedient for the Roman peace that Carthage be rebuilt.

> Latin: 2 nam cum mensores ad limitandum Carthaginiensem agrum missi stipites, terminorum indices, fixos nocte a lupis reuulsos mordicus conrososque reperissent, aliquamdiu haesitatum est, utrum Romanae paci expediret Carthaginem reformari.

[¶2] In the same year Gaius Gracchus, brother of that Gracchus who had already been killed in sedition, was made tribune of the plebs amid tumult and was a great bane to the commonwealth.

> Latin: 3 Eodem anno C. Gracchus, Gracchi illius qui iam occisus in seditione fuerat frater, tribunus plebi per tumultum creatus magna reipublicae pernicies fuit.

[¶3] For after he had often roused the Roman people to the bitterest seditions with largesses and excessive promises — above all on account of the agrarian law, for which his brother Gracchus too had been killed — he at last left the tribunate to his successor Minucius.

> Latin: 4 nam cum saepe populum Romanum largitionibus promissisque nimiis in acerbissimas seditiones excitauisset, maxime legis agrariae causa, pro qua etiam frater eius Gracchus fuerat occisus, tandem a tribunatu Minucio successore decessit.

[¶4] When the tribune of the plebs Minucius had overturned the greater part of the enactments of his predecessor Gracchus and abrogated his laws, Gaius Gracchus, together with Fulvius Flaccus, surrounded by a huge crowd, went up to the Capitol, where an assembly was being held; there, amid the very great tumult that arose, a certain herald was killed by the Gracchans, and this was, as it were, the signal for war.

> Latin: 5 Minucius tribunus plebi cum maxima ex parte decessoris sui Gracchi statuta conuulsisset legesque abrogasset, C. Gracchus cum Fuluio Flacco ingenti stipatus agmine Capitolium, ubi contio agitabatur, ascendit: ibi maximo tumultu excitato quidam praeco a Gracchanis interfectus uelut signum belli fuit.

[¶5] Flaccus, girt about by his two armed sons, and accompanied also by Gracchus, who wore his toga and hid a short sword under his left arm, seized the temple of Diana as though it were a citadel, although he had sent ahead a herald, in vain, to call the slaves to freedom.

> Latin: 6 Flaccus duobus filiis armatis cinctus, comitante etiam Graccho togato breuemque gladium sub sinistra occultante, quamuis et praeconem frustra praemisisset, qui seruos ad libertatem uocaret Dianium tamquam arcem occupauit.

[¶6] Against him Decimus Brutus, a man of consular rank, charged down from the Publician slope amid a mighty struggle. There Flaccus fought long and most obstinately; Gracchus, after he had withdrawn into the temple of Minerva and wished to fall upon his sword, was held back by the intervention of Laetorius. And so, while the battle was long waged with doubtful issue, at last archers sent by Opimius broke up the close-packed multitude.

> Latin: 7 contra D. Brutus uir consularis a cliuo Publicio cum ingenti certamine inruit. ibi Flaccus diu obstinatissime dimicauit; Gracchus, postquam in templum Mineruae secesserat, gladio incumbere uolens, interuentu Laetorii retentus est. itaque cum diu anceps bellum agitaretur, tandem sagittarii ab Opimio missi consertam multitudinem disturbauerunt.

[¶7] The two Flacci, father and son, having leapt down through the temple of Luna into a private house and barred the doors, were run through after the wattled wall had been cut away. Gracchus, while his friends long fought and fell for him, with difficulty reached the Sublician bridge, and there, so as not to be taken alive, offered his neck to his slave.

> Latin: 8 duo Flacci pater filiusque cum per aedem Lunae in priuatam domum desiluissent foresque obiecissent, rescisso craticio pariete confossi sunt. Gracchus diu pro se amicis pugnantibus ac pereuntibus aegre ad pontem sublicium peruenit ibique, ne uiuus caperetur, ceruicem seruo suo praebuit.

[¶8] The head of Gracchus was cut off and brought to the consul; his body was carried to his mother Cornelia at the town of Misenum. This Cornelia, the daughter of the elder Africanus, had withdrawn to Misenum, as I have said, on the death of her first son. The goods of Gracchus were confiscated; the young Flaccus was put to death in the dungeon; of the faction of Gracchus, 250 are reported to have been slain on the Aventine.

> Latin: 9 caput Gracchi excisum consuli adlatum est, corpus ad Corneliam matrem Misenum oppidum deuectum est. haec autem Cornelia, Africani maioris filia, Misenum, ut dixi, prioris filii morte secesserat. bona Gracchi publicata sunt; Flaccus adulescens in robore necatus est; ex factione Gracchi ducenti quinquaginta in Auentino caesi fuisse referuntur.

[¶9] The consul Opimius, as he had been brave in war, so was he cruel in the inquiry. For he put more than three thousand men to death by execution, of whom very many were killed innocent, without even being allowed to plead their cause.

> Latin: 10 Opimius consul sicut in bello fortis fuit ita in quaestione crudelis. nam amplius tria milia hominum suppliciis necauit, ex quibus plurimi ne dicta quidem causa innocentes interfecti sunt.

## 101. Book 5 · Chapter 13

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/101/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/101/#p-N

[¶0] At the same time Metellus ranged over the Balearic islands in war and subdued them, and crushed, with very great slaughter of the inhabitants, the harassment of piracy that was then springing up from those same islands.

> Latin: 1 Isdem temporibus Metellus Baleares insulas bello peruagatus edomuit et piraticam infestationem, quae ab isdem tunc exoriebatur, plurima incolarum caede conpressit.

[¶1] Gnaeus Domitius too, as proconsul, defeated the Allobroges, a Gallic people, near the town of Vindalium in a most grievous war, chiefly because the horses of the enemy and the enemy themselves, terrified by the strange shape of the elephants, scattered in flight: twenty thousand of the Allobroges are reported to have been slain there, and three thousand were captured.

> Latin: 2 Gnaeus quoque Domitius proconsule Allobrogas Gallos iuxta oppidum Vindalium grauissimo bello uicit, maxime cum elephantorum noua forma equi hostium hostesque conterriti diffugissent: XX milia ibi Allobrogum caesa referuntur, tria milia capta sunt.

[¶2] At the same time Mount Etna blazed up beyond its wont and, with fiery torrents pouring over and flowing round far and wide, overwhelmed the city of Catina and its territory, so that the roofs of the houses, burned through and weighed down by hot ashes, collapsed; to relieve this disaster the senate remitted ten years’ taxes to the people of Catina.

> Latin: 3 Eodem tempore Aetna mons ultra solitum exarsit et torrentibus igneis superfusis lateque circumfluentibus Cadinam urbem finesque eius oppressit ita ut tecta aedium calidis cineribus praeusta et praegrauata conruerent: cuius leuandae cladis causa senatus decem annorum uectigalia Catinensibus remisit.

*Note: Orosius writes “Cadina”; the city is Catina (modern Catania), as the next clause shows.*

## 102. Book 5 · Chapter 14

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/102/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/102/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 628 from the founding of the City, the consul Fabius went out to meet Bituitus, king of the Arverni, a Gallic state, who was preparing war with the greatest equipment, with so small an army that Bituitus boasted that the Romans’ small numbers would scarcely suffice as food for the dogs he had with his column.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCXXVIII Fabius consul Bituito regi Aruernorum Galliae ciuitatis bellum maximo instructu conparanti adeo cum paruo exercitu occurrit, ut Bituitus paucitatem Romanorum uix ad escam canibus, quos in agmine habebat, sufficere posse iactaret.

[¶1] And since he realized that one bridge over the river Rhône was too little for taking his forces across, he built another of boats fastened together and linked with chains, with planks laid over them and fixed in place.

> Latin: 2 qui cum sibi ad transferendas copias unum pontem Rhodani fluminis parum esse intellegeret, alium conpactis lintribus catenisque conexum superstratis confixisque tabulis instruxit.

[¶2] When battle was joined and long and fiercely waged, the Gauls were defeated and turned to flight; and while each man feared for himself, by crowding their columns together without thought and by their over-hasty crossing of the bridge, they broke its chains and were soon drowned together with the boats themselves.

> Latin: 3 conserta pugna et diu grauiter agitata, uicti Galli conuersique in fugam, dum quisque sibi timet, coaceruatis inconsulte agminibus et praepropero transitu pontis uincula ruperunt ac mox cum ipsis lintribus mersi sunt.

[¶3] The army of Bituitus is recorded to have numbered 180,000 armed men, of whom 150,000 were either slain or drowned.

> Latin: 4 centum octoginta milia armatorum in exercitu Bituiti fuisse traduntur, ex quibus centum quinquaginta milia uel caesa uel mersa sunt.

[¶4] The consul Quintus Marcius made war upon a nation of Gauls situated at the foot of the Alps. When they saw themselves hemmed in by the Roman forces and understood that they would be no match for them in war, they killed their wives and children and threw themselves into the flames.

> Latin: 5 Q. Marcius consul Gallorum gentem sub radice Alpium sitam bello adgressus est. qui cum se Romanis copiis circumsaeptos uiderent belloque inpares fore intellegerent, occisis coniugibus ac liberis in flammas sese proiecerunt.

[¶5] Those, however, who, because the Romans forestalled them, had not then had the opportunity of accomplishing their death and had been captured, destroyed themselves, some by the sword, some by hanging, some by refusing food; and not a single one, not even a little child, survived who would endure the condition of slavery out of love of life.

> Latin: 6 qui uero praeoccupantibus Romanis peragendae tunc mortis suae copiam non habuerant captique fuerant, alii ferro, alii suspendio, alii abnegato cibo sese consumpserunt, nullusque omnino uel paruulus superfuit, qui seruitutis condicionem uitae amore toleraret.

## 103. Book 5 · Chapter 15

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/103/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/103/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 635 from the founding of the City, in the consulship of Publius Scipio Nasica and Lucius Calpurnius Bestia, the senate, with the consent of the Roman people, declared war on Jugurtha, king of the Numidians.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCXXXV P. Scipione Nasica et L. Calpurnio Bestia consulibus Iugurthae Numidarum regi bellum consensu populi Romani senatus indixit.

[¶1] But I will touch on Jugurtha only briefly, for the sake of order and by way of mention, because, both concerning his changeable and intolerable nature and concerning his deeds, done as craftily as they were vigorously, there is knowledge enough and to spare among all, thanks to the rich brilliance of the writers.

> Latin: 2 Sed ego de Iugurtha ordinis tantum loco et causa commemorationis breuiter perstrinxerim, quia ut de natura eius uaria atque intolerabili ita et de rebus tam dolose quam strenue gestis propter opimam scriptorum luculentiam satis sufficiens apud omnes notitia est.

[¶2] So Jugurtha, the adopted son of Micipsa, king of the Numidians, and made his heir among his natural sons, first did away with his co-heirs: that is, he killed Hiempsal, and drove Adherbal, defeated in war, out of Africa.

> Latin: 3 Igitur Iugurtha, Micipsae Numidarum regis adoptiuus heresque inter naturales eius filios factus, primum coheredes suos, id est Hiempsalem occidit, Adherbalem bello uictum Africa expulit.

[¶3] Then he corrupted with money the consul Calpurnius, who had been sent against him, and brought him to most shameful terms of peace.

> Latin: 4 Calpurnium deinde consulem aduersum se missum pecunia corrupit atque ad turpissimas condiciones pacis adduxit.

[¶4] Moreover, when he had come to Rome himself, having either corrupted or tempted everyone with money, he stirred up seditions and dissensions; and as he left the City he branded it with a notorious enough epitaph, saying: “O city for sale, and soon to perish, if it finds a buyer!”

> Latin: 5 praeterea cum Romam ipse uenisset, omnibus pecunia aut corruptis aut adtemptatis seditiones dissensionesque permiscuit; quam cum egrederetur infami satis notauit elogio dicens: O urbem uenalem et mature perituram, si emptorem inuenerit!

[¶5] In the following year, at the city of Calama, he crushed in battle Aulus Postumius, brother of the consul Postumius, who had put him in command of an army of forty thousand armed men, as he gaped after the royal treasures stored there, and exacted from him in his defeat a most ignominious treaty. He joined to his kingdom almost the whole of Africa, as it fell away from the Romans.

> Latin: 6 Insequenti anno A. Postumium, Postumii consulis fratrem, quem is quadraginta milium armatorum exercitui praefecerat, apud Calamam urbem thesauris regiis conditis inhiantem bello oppressit adque uicto ignominiosissimum foedus exegit. uniuersam paene Africam a Romanis deficientem regno suo iunxit.

*Note: Sallust (Jugurtha 37–38) names the town where the royal treasure lay as Suthul.*

[¶6] Afterwards, however, held in check by the integrity and discipline of the consul Metellus, and defeated besides in two battles, he saw his Numidia both laid waste before his eyes and incapable of being defended: compelled by him to surrender, he gave three hundred hostages, pledged that he would deliver grain and other supplies, and handed back more than three thousand deserters.

> Latin: 7 postea tamen Metelli consulis integritate et disciplina coercitus, duobus etiam proeliis uictus uidit praesente se et uastari Numidiam suam et non posse defendi: a quo ad deditionem coactus trecentos obsides dedit, frumentum atque alios commeatus persoluturum sese spopondit, tria milia amplius perfugarum reddidit.

[¶7] Thereafter, since, unsteady in peace, he would not refrain from wicked raids, he was broken by the cunning of the consul Gaius Marius — almost no less than that with which he himself was endowed — and by Roman strength, above all after Marius had by a ruse surrounded and taken the city of Capsa, founded, as they say, by the Phoenician Hercules, and then crammed with royal treasures.

> Latin: 8 exim cum incertus in pace improbos non cohiberet excursus, C. Marii consulis non minore paene, quam ipse praeditus erat, astutia Romanisque uiribus fractus est, maxime postquam Marius urbem Capsam, ab Hercule Phoenice ut ferunt conditam, regiis tunc thesauris confertissimam dolo circumuenit et cepit.

[¶8] Then, distrusting his own resources and strength, Jugurtha made an alliance with Bocchus, king of the Moors, and, immensely strengthened by his cavalry, wore out the army of Marius with very frequent raids.

> Latin: 9 diffidens deinde propriis rebus et uiribus Iugurtha societatem cum Boccho Maurorum rege fecit, cuius equitatu in immensum auctus Marianum exercitum creberrimis incursionibus fatigauit.

[¶9] Finally, near Cirta, an ancient city and the royal seat of Masinissa, he went out against the Romans, who were preparing to storm it, equipped with sixty thousand horsemen.

> Latin: 10 postremo apud Cirtam, urbem antiquam, Masinissae regiam, aduersum Romanos expugnationem eius parantes sexaginta milibus equitum instructus occurrit.

[¶10] Never was any battle more tumultuous and more terrible for the Roman soldier, so much so that the dust raised by the charging and the din of the horsemen riding round and attacking veiled the sky, took away the day, and drew night over it; and so great a cloud of missiles fell upon them that no part of the body was safe from a blow, since they lacked both the sight to look out, because of the hindrance of the darkness, and the freedom of movement to take precautions, because of the press of the multitude.

> Latin: 11 numquam ulla Romano militi tumultuosior pugna et terribilior fuit, adeo ut discursu et fremitu circumcursantium et impetentium equitum suscitatus puluis caelum subtexuerit, diem ademerit noctemque obduxerit, tantus autem telorum nimbus ingruerit, ut nulla pars corporis ab ictu tuta esset, quippe quibus et uisus ad prospiciendum impedimento caliginis et expeditio ad cauendum compressione multitudinis deerat.

[¶11] Nor did the Moorish and Numidian horseman take pains to search out a well-placed enemy with a well-timed cast of his weapon; rather they hurled their javelins at random, certain that the wounds would not be uncertain. So the Roman foot-soldiers were forced together and packed close. The coming of night gave a respite from so great a danger.

> Latin: 12 nec laborabat eques Maurus ac Numida, ut bene conlocatum hostem opportuno teli impetu rimaretur, sed potius in incertum pila mittebant certi quod uulnera incerta non essent. ita coacti in unum Romani pedites densabantur. intercapedinem tanti periculi nox interueniens dedit.

[¶12] On the following day the face of both war and danger was the same: the soldier could not break out against the enemy, though his sword was drawn, for he was driven back by javelins from afar; they could not flee, for the horsemen, swifter in pursuit, had shut them in on every side.

> Latin: 13 eadem postera die et belli et periculi facies: erumpere in hostem quamuis stricto miles gladio non ualebat, eminus enim iaculis repellebatur; fugere non poterant, undique enim uelocior ad persequendum eques incluserat.

[¶13] Now it was the third day and there was no help from any quarter; the dread face of death confronted them everywhere: at last the consul Marius, out of brave despair, made a way for hope; he burst out from the rampart with his whole column at once, and gave himself at once to the open field and to battle.

> Latin: 14 iam tertia dies et nullum undecumque suffragium, dira undique mortis facies obiciebatur: tandem Marius consul forti desperatione spei uiam fecit, uniuerso simul agmine prorupit e uallo campoque sese simul et proelio dedit.

[¶14] And when the enemy, pouring round them again, were not only mangling the rear of the column but even cutting down its centre with missiles hurled from afar, and when the heat of the sun, unbearable thirst, and death standing all around were wearing out the bewildered Romans to the utmost point of despair, suddenly that well-known help of the Romans against the Africans — storms and rains sent from heaven — brought them unhoped-for deliverance.

> Latin: 15 et cum iterum circumfusi hostes non solum agminis extrema laniarent, uerum etiam media excussis procul telis caederent turbatosque Romanos insuper etiam aestus solis, intolerantia sitis, mortis circumstantia usque ad extremum desperationis defetigaret, subito notum illud Romanorum aduersus Afros tempestatum imbriumque suffragium caelo missum insperatae saluti fuit.

[¶15] For a sudden rain gave refreshment and drink to the thirsting and sweltering Romans, while for the Numidians it rendered slippery, and thus useless, the shafts of their javelins, which they are accustomed to hurl by hand without throwing-thongs;

> Latin: 16 siquidem repentina pluuia sitientibus Romanis et aestuantibus refrigerium potumque praebuit, porro autem Numidis hastilia telorum, quae manu intorquere sine ammentis solent, lubrica ac per hoc inutilia reddidit;

[¶16] their shields too, which they carried as handy and safe, made of elephant hide stretched and hardened — whose nature is such that it soaks up any rain it receives like a sponge, and so becomes unmanageable through the sudden weight — they could not use for defence, since they could not be wielded. Thus, the Moors and Numidians being unexpectedly thrown into confusion and left helpless, Bocchus and Jugurtha fled.

> Latin: 17 scuta etiam, quae elephanti corio extento atque durato habilia et tuta gestabant - cuius ea natura est, ut acceptum imbrem tamquam spongia ebibat ac per hoc intractabile repentino pondere fiat - quia circumferri non poterant, defendere nequiuerunt. ita ex insperato conturbatis destitutisque Mauris ac Numidis Bocchus ac Iugurtha fugerunt.

[¶17] After this ninety thousand armed men were thrown against them by those same kings in a final battle; these too are reported to have been cut down to the point of annihilation by the victorious Romans. Thereupon Bocchus, casting away hope of war, sought peace, and as the price of peace sent Jugurtha, taken by treachery and loaded with chains, to Marius through his legate Sulla.

> Latin: 18 post hoc nonaginta milia armatorum nouissimo bello ab isdem regibus obiecta; haec quoque usque ad internecionem Romanis uincentibus caesa referuntur. ex eo Bocchus spem belli abiciens, pacem petiuit atque in pretium pacis Iugurtham dolo captum catenisque obrutum per Syllam legatum misit ad Marium.

[¶18] Jugurtha was driven in the triumph before the chariot with his two sons, and soon afterwards strangled in prison.

> Latin: 19 qui in triumpho ante currum cum duobus filiis suis actus et mox in carcere strangulatus est.

[¶19] In those same days an unseemly and grim prodigy was seen. Lucius Helvius, a Roman knight, returning from Rome to Apulia with his wife and daughter, was caught by a storm; and seeing his daughter terrified, so that they might reach the nearest shelter more quickly, they left their carriages and took to horses, and he took his maiden daughter, mounted on a horse, into the middle of the company.

> Latin: 20 Isdem diebus obscenum prodigium ac triste uisum est. L. Heluius eques Romanus cum uxore et filia de Roma in Apuliam rediens, tempestate correptus cum filiam consternatam uideret, ut citius propioribus tectis succederent, relictis uehiculis arreptisque equis filiam uirginem equo insidentem in medium agmen accepit.

[¶20] The girl was immediately killed by a stroke of lightning, and yet all her clothes were stripped from her without any tear, the fastenings at her breast and feet loosed, her necklaces and rings too shaken off, while her body itself was unharmed, except that she lay naked in an unseemly manner, with her tongue thrust out a little; the horse too that she was riding lay lifeless some way off, its trappings, bridle, and girths loosed and scattered here and there.

> Latin: 21 puella continuo ictu fulminis exanimata est, sed omnibus sine scissura aliqua uestimentis ademptis ac pectoris pedumque uinculis dissolutis, monilibus etiam anulisque discussis, ipso quoque corpore inlaeso, nisi quod obscenum in modum nuda et lingua paululum exerta iacuit; equus quoque ipse, quo utebatur, straturis frenis et cingulis dissolutis passim ac dispersis exanimis procul iacuit.

[¶21] A short time after this, Lucius Veturius, a Roman knight, defiled the Vestal virgin Aemilia in a secret act of debauchery. That same Aemilia, moreover, enticed two other Vestal virgins to share in the unchastity, and exposed and handed them over to the companions of her seducer. When information was laid by a slave, punishment was exacted from them all.

> Latin: 22 Paruo post hoc intercessu temporis L. Veturius eques Romanus Aemiliam uirginem Vestalem furtiuo stupro polluit. duas praeterea uirgines Vestales eadem Aemilia ad participationem incesti sollicitatas contubernalibus sui corruptoris exposuit ac tradidit. indicio per seruum facto supplicium de omnibus sumptum est.

[¶22] Moreover, in the same times of the Jugurthine war, the consul Lucius Cassius pursued the Tigurini in Gaul as far as the Ocean, and in turn, caught in an ambush by them, was killed;

> Latin: 23 Isdem praeterea Iugurthini belli temporibus L. Cassius consul in Gallia Tigurinos usque Oceanum persecutus rursusque ab isdem insidiis circumuentus occisus est;

[¶23] Lucius Piso too, a man of consular rank, legate of the consul Cassius, was killed. Gaius Publius, the other legate, so that the remaining portion of the army, which had fled into the camp, might not be destroyed, gave hostages and half of all their possessions to the Tigurini in a most shameful treaty; on his return to Rome, when a day had been set for his trial by Caelius, tribune of the plebs, because he had given hostages to the Tigurini, he fled into exile.

> Latin: 24 Lucius quoque Piso uir consularis, legatus Cassii consulis, interfectus. C. Publius alter legatus, ne residua exercitus portio, quae in castra confugerat, deleretur, obsides et dimidiam partem rerum omnium Tigurinis turpissimo foedere dedit: qui Romam reuersus, a Caelio tribuno plebi die dicta eo quod Tigurinis obsides dederat, in exilium profugit.

*Note: The legate was Gaius Popillius Laenas; Orosius’s “C. Publius” is a corruption of his name.*

[¶24] The proconsul Caepio, having taken a city of the Gauls whose name is Toulouse, carried off from the temple of Apollo 100,000 pounds of gold and 110,000 of silver; and when he had sent this under guard to Marseille, a city friendly to the Roman people, he is said — as some attest — to have secretly killed those to whom he had entrusted its guarding and conveyance, and to have stolen the whole of it by crime. Hence too a great inquiry was afterwards held at Rome.

> Latin: 25 Caepio proconsule capta urbe Gallorum, cui nomen est Tolosae, centum milia pondo auri et argenti centum decem milia e templo Apollinis sustulit: quod cum ad Massiliam, amicam populo Romano urbem, cum praesidiis misisset, interfectis clam - sicut quidam contestantur - quibus ea custodienda et peruehenda commiserat, cuncta per scelus furatus fuisse narratur. unde etiam magna quaestio post Romae acta est.

## 104. Book 5 · Chapter 16

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/104/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/104/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 642 from the founding of the City, the consul Gaius Manlius and the proconsul Quintus Caepio, sent against the Cimbri, the Teutones, the Tigurini, and the Ambrones — nations of Gauls and Germans who had then conspired to extinguish the Roman empire — divided the provinces between themselves, with the river Rhône between them.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCXLII C. Manlius consul et Q. Caepio proconsule aduersus Cimbros et Teutonas et Tigurinos et Ambronas, Gallorum Germanorum gentes, quae tunc ut imperium Romanum extinguerent conspirauerant, missi prouincias sibi Rhodano flumine medio diuiserunt.

*Note: This is the battle of Arausio (Orange), 105 BC. The consul was Gnaeus Mallius Maximus; Orosius calls him Gaius Manlius.*

[¶1] There, while they wrangled with each other in the bitterest jealousy and contention, they were defeated, to the great disgrace and peril of the Roman name. For in that battle Marcus Aemilius, a man of consular rank, was captured and killed, and the consul’s two sons were slain;

> Latin: 2 ubi dum inter se grauissima inuidia et contentione disceptant, cum magna ignominia et periculo Romani nominis uicti sunt. siquidem in ea pugna M. Aemilius consularis captus atque interfectus est, duo filii consulis caesi;

*Note: The consular captured and killed by the Cimbri was Marcus Aurelius Scaurus, Mallius’s legate; Orosius has “M. Aemilius.”*

[¶2] eighty thousand Romans and allies were slaughtered on that occasion, and forty thousand camp-servants and sutlers killed, as Antias writes.

> Latin: 3 LXXX milia Romanorum sociorumque ea tempestate trucidata, XL milia calonum atque lixarum interfecta Antias scribit.

[¶3] Thus, of the whole army, only ten men are reported to have survived, to bring back the wretched news and add to the miseries.

> Latin: 4 ita ex omni penitus exercitu decem tantummodo homines, qui miserum nuntium ad augendas miserias reportarent, superfuisse referuntur.

[¶4] The enemy, having taken possession of both camps and enormous booty, by a new and unheard-of form of execration sent to destruction everything they had taken;

> Latin: 5 hostes binis castris atque ingenti praeda potiti noua quadam atque insolita exsecratione cuncta quae ceperant pessum dederunt;

[¶5] clothing was torn up and thrown away, gold and silver cast into the river, the men’s breastplates hacked to pieces, the horses’ trappings ruined, the horses themselves plunged into the eddies, and men hanged from trees with nooses put round their necks, so that the victor acknowledged no booty, and the vanquished no mercy.

> Latin: 6 uestis discissa et proiecta est, aurum argentumque in flumen abiectum, loricae uirorum concisae, phalerae equorum disperditae, equi ipsi gurgitibus inmersi, homines laqueis collo inditis ex arboribus suspensi sunt, ita ut nihil praedae uictor, nihil misericordiae uictus adgnosceret.

[¶6] At Rome there was then very great grief, and fear as well, lest the Cimbri should at once cross the Alps and destroy Italy.

> Latin: 7 maximus tunc Romae non solum luctus, uerum etiam metus fuit, ne confestim Cimbri Alpes transgrederentur Italiamque delerent.

[¶7] At the same time Quintus Fabius Maximus killed his young son, whom he had banished to the country, with two slaves as his accomplices in the parricide, and at once freed those very slaves as the price of the crime. A day was set for his trial, Gnaeus Pompeius prosecuting, and he was condemned.

> Latin: 8 Isdem temporibus Q. Fabius Maximus filium suum adulescentem, rus relegatum, cum duobus seruis parricidii ministris interfecit ipsosque continuo seruos in pretium sceleris manumisit. die dicta Cn. Pompeio accusante damnatus est.

[¶8] So when Marius, consul for the fourth time, had pitched his camp near the rivers Isère and Rhône, where they flow together, the Teutones, Cimbri, Tigurini, and Ambrones, after fighting around the Roman camp for three days on end, to see if by some means they could dislodge them from the rampart and draw them out onto the level ground, resolved to make for Italy in three columns.

> Latin: 9 Igitur Marius quarto consul cum iuxta Isarae Rhodanique flumina, ubi in sese confluunt, castra posuisset, Teutones Cimbri et Tigurini et Ambrones postquam continuo triduo circa Romanorum castra pugnarunt, si quo pacto eos excuterent uallo atque in aequor effunderent, tribus agminibus Italiam petere destinarunt.

[¶9] After the departure of the enemy Marius moved his camp and occupied a hill which overlooked the plain and the river where the enemy had spread themselves out. And when his army lacked water to drink and he was assailed with the complaints of all, he replied that there was indeed water in sight, but that it must be claimed with the sword. So, as the camp-servants first rushed into battle with a shout, the army followed, and soon the war was waged in a regular engagement with ranks drawn up, and the Romans conquered.

> Latin: 10 Marius, post digressum hostium castra mouit et collem occupauit, qui campo et fluuio, ubi hostes sese diffuderant, imminebat. cumque exercitui eius aqua ad potandum deesset, querellisque omnium coargueretur, aquam quidem in conspectu esse respondit, sed eam ferro uindicandam. primis itaque calonibus cum clamore in pugnam ruentibus subsecutus exercitus, mox iusto certamine conpositis ordinibus bellum gestum et uicere Romani.

[¶10] On the fourth day the battle lines were again led out on both sides into the plain and fought until almost midday with nearly equal fortune. Afterwards, when, as the sun grew hot, the slack bodies of the Gauls melted away like snow, it was slaughter rather than battle that was drawn out until nightfall.

> Latin: 11 quarto die rursus productae utrimque in campum acies usque ad meridiem paene pari pugnauere discrimine. post ubi incalescente sole fluxa Gallorum corpora in modum niuium distabuerunt, usque in noctem caedes potius quam pugna protracta est.

[¶11] Two hundred thousand armed men were killed in that war, eighty thousand captured, and scarcely three thousand are reported to have escaped by flight; their leader Teutobodus too was killed.

> Latin: 12 ducenta milia armatorum in eo bello interfecta sunt, octoginta milia capta, uix tria milia fugisse referuntur; dux quoque eorum Teutobodus occisus est.

[¶12] Their women, with more steadfast spirit than if they had conquered, petitioned the consul that, if they might serve the sacred virgins and the gods with their chastity unviolated, he would spare their lives. And so, when they did not obtain what they had asked, they dashed their little children against the rocks, and all destroyed themselves by the sword and by hanging. These were the deeds concerning the Tigurini and the Ambrones.

> Latin: 13 mulieres eorum constantiore animo quam si uicissent consuluere consulem, ut, si inuiolata castitate uirginibus sacris ac dis seruiendum esset, uitam sibi reseruarent. itaque cum petita non impetrauissent, paruulis suis ad saxa conlisis cunctae sese ferro ac suspendio peremerunt. haec de Tigurinis et Ambronibus gesta sunt.

*Note: This was the battle of Aquae Sextiae (102 BC), fought against the Teutones and Ambrones; Teutobod was king of the Teutones. Orosius has swapped the Teutones and the Tigurini: it was the Cimbri, with the Tigurini in support, who went on into Italy.*

[¶13] The Teutones and Cimbri, however, with their forces intact, having traversed the snows of the Alps, had overrun the plains of Italy; and there, while that hardy race was for a long time softened by the milder air, by drink, food, and baths, Marius, consul for the fifth time, and Catulus were sent against them; and when a day and a field had been granted for battle, they followed the stratagem of Hannibal: they drew up their battle line in the mist, and fought in the sun.

> Latin: 14 Teutones autem et Cimbri integris copiis Alpium niues emensi Italiae plana peruaserant, ibique cum rigidum genus diu blandioribus auris, poculis, cibis ac lauacris emolliretur, Marius V consul et Catulus aduersum eos missi, die ad pugnam et campo dato Hannibalis secuti ingenium in nebula disposuere pugnam, in sole pugnarunt.

*Note: The battle of the Raudine Plain near Vercellae (101 BC), in which the Cimbri were destroyed.*

[¶14] For the first confusion of the Gauls was that they came upon the Roman line already drawn up before they perceived that it was there. And when their horsemen, wounded on the spot, were driven back upon their own men and threw into confusion the whole multitude, which was still coming up in disorder, and the sun, which had risen together with the wind, flashed full in their faces, dust filled their eyes and the glare dulled their sight.

> Latin: 15 prima siquidem perturbatio Gallorum fuit, quod Romanam aciem prius offendere dispositam quam adesse senserunt. cumque ilico uulnerati equites retro in suos cogerentur totamque multitudinem indisposite adhuc aduentantem conturbarent et sol cum uento ortus ex aduerso emicuisset, uisus eorum puluis oppleuit et splendor hebetauit.

[¶15] Thus it came about that so great and so terrible a multitude was cut down with the slightest loss to the Romans but to its own utter annihilation. It is said that 140,000 of them were slain in battle then, and 60,000 captured.

> Latin: 16 ita factum est, ut tanta ac tam terribilis multitudo minima Romanorum clade, sua autem ultima internecione caederetur. centum quadraginta milia eorum tunc in bello caesa, sexaginta milia capta dicuntur.

[¶16] The women roused an almost fiercer battle: with their wagons drawn up around them like a camp, and fighting from on top of them, they long drove back the Romans. But when they were terrified by them with a new kind of slaughter — for the crowns of their heads were cut off together with the hair, and they were left disfigured by a wound shameful enough — they turned the steel which they had taken up against the enemy upon themselves and their own.

> Latin: 17 mulieres grauiorem paene excitauere pugnam, quae plaustris in modum castrorum circumstructis, ipsae autem desuper propugnantes, diu repulere Romanos. sed cum ab his nouo caedis genere terrerentur - abscisis enim cum crine uerticibus inhonesto satis uulnere turpes relinquebantur - ferrum, quod in hostes sumpserant, in se suosque uerterunt.

[¶17] For some cut one another’s throats in mutual encounter; some seized one another by the throat and were strangled; some tied ropes round the legs of horses and then at once spurred the horses on, after putting their own necks into the same ropes with which they had bound the horses’ legs, and were dragged away and killed; others hanged themselves with nooses from the upraised poles of the wagons.

> Latin: 18 namque aliae concursu mutuo iugulatae, aliae apprehensis inuicem faucibus strangulatae, aliae funibus per equorum crura consertis ipsisque continuo equis exstimulatis, postquam suas isdem funibus, quibus equorum crura nexuerant, indidere ceruices, protractae atque exanimatae sunt, aliae laqueo de subrectis plaustrorum temonibus pependerunt.

[¶18] One woman was even found who had passed nooses round the necks of her two sons and bound them to her feet, and when she had let herself drop to die by hanging, dragged them with her to their deaths.

> Latin: 19 inuenta est etiam quaedam, quae duos filios traiectis per colla eorum laqueis ad suos pedes uinxerit et, cum se ipsam suspendio morituram dimisisset, secum traxerit occidendos.

[¶19] Amid these many and pitiable kinds of death, two chieftains too are reported to have run at each other with drawn swords. The kings Lugius and Boiorix fell in battle; Claodicus and Caesorix were captured.

> Latin: 20 inter haec multa ac miserabilia mortis genera reguli quoque duo strictis in se gladiis concurrisse referuntur. Lugius et Boiorix reges in acie ceciderunt; Claodicus et Caesorix capti sunt.

[¶20] Thus in these two battles 340,000 Gauls were killed and 140,000 captured, not counting the countless multitude of women who killed themselves and their little ones with a woman’s frenzy but a man’s force.

> Latin: 21 ita in his duobus proeliis CCCXL milia Gallorum occisa et CXL milia capta sunt, absque innumera mulierum multitudine, quae se suosque paruulos femineo furore, ui autem uirili necauerunt.

[¶21] And so this triumph of Marius and the Roman victory were darkened by an incredible crime, never before known to the Romans, suddenly committed at Rome, and the whole City was turned to horror and grief.

> Latin: 22 igitur talem Marii triumphum Romanamque uictoriam incredibile facinus et numquam antea Romanis cognitum Romae subito perpetratum uersa in horrorem ac maerorem tota urbe fuscauit.

[¶22] For Publicius Malleolus, with the help of slaves, killed his own mother; condemned for parricide, he was sewn into a sack and thrown into the sea;

> Latin: 23 Publicius siquidem Malleolus seruis adnitentibus matrem suam interfecit; damnatus parricidii insutusque in culleum et in mare proiectus est;

[¶23] and so the Romans brought to fulfilment both the crime and the punishment concerning which even Solon of Athens had not dared to legislate, since he did not believe it could happen; whereas the Romans, knowing that they were sprung from Romulus, understood that even this could happen, and ordained a singular punishment for it.

> Latin: 24 inpleueruntque Romani et facinus et poenam, unde et Solon Atheniensis decernere non ausus fuerat, dum fieri posse non credit, et Romani, qui se ortos a Romulo scirent, etiam hoc fieri posse intellegentes supplicium singulare sanxerunt.

## 105. Book 5 · Chapter 17

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/105/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/105/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 645 from the founding of the City, after the Cimbric and Teutonic war and the fifth consulship of Marius, by which the condition of the Roman empire is judged to have been rightly preserved, in the sixth consulship of that same Gaius Marius it was so shaken that it almost collapsed utterly through disaster within.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCXLV post Cimbricum et Teutonicum bellum et quintum Marii consulatum, quo status imperii Romani iure conseruatus iudicatur, sexto consulatu eiusdem C. Marii ita labefactatus est, ut paene usque ad extremum intestina clade conciderit.

*Note: Marius’s sixth consulship and the rising of Saturninus belong to 100 BC (654 by the usual Varronian reckoning); Orosius’s dates in this part of the book run several years early.*

[¶1] To unroll and run through the windings of the discords and the inextricable causes of the seditions seems to me both unprofitable and long;

> Latin: 2 euoluere ac percurrere mihi discordiarum ambages et inextricabiles seditionum causas incommodum simul ac longum uidetur;

[¶2] let it suffice, indeed, to have touched briefly on this: that Lucius Apuleius Saturninus first emerged as the author of the tumult that was stirred up, a most bitter enemy of Quintus Metellus Numidicus, a truly foremost man; when Metellus had been made censor, Saturninus dragged him from his house and, as he fled to the Capitol, besieged him with an armed multitude, but was driven off from there by the indignation of the Roman knights, after very great slaughter had been done in front of the Capitol. Then Saturninus and Glaucia, through the treachery of the consul Gaius Marius, killed Aulus Nunnius, his rival for office.

> Latin: 3 sane breuiter strinxisse sufficiat, quia primus L. Apuleius Saturninus excitati tumultus auctor exstiterit, Q. Metello Numidico uiro sane primario acerrimus inimicus, qui eum censorem creatum protractum domo atque in Capitolium confugientem armata multitudine obsedit, unde equitum Romanorum indignatione deiectus est, plurima ante Capitolium caede facta. A. Nunium deinde, conpetitorem suum, Saturninus et Glaucia fraude C. Marii consulis occiderunt.

[¶3] In the following year Marius, consul for the sixth time, Glaucia as praetor, and Saturninus as tribune of the plebs conspired to drive Metellus Numidicus into exile by any violence whatever. A day was set for his trial, and by judges suborned from the same faction the innocent Metellus was criminally condemned, and went into exile to the grief of the whole City.

> Latin: 4 subsequente anno Marius sexto consul et Glaucia praetor et Saturninus tribunus plebi conspirauerunt Metellum Numidicum in exilium quacumque ui agere. die dicta a suppositis eiusdem factionis iudicibus per scelus innocens Metellus damnatus in exilium cum totius urbis dolore discessit.

[¶4] That same Saturninus, fearing that Memmius, a keen and upright man, would be made consul, had him killed when a sedition had suddenly arisen: as Memmius fled, he was beaten to pieces with a shapeless club by Saturninus’s henchman Publius Mettius.

> Latin: 5 idem Saturninus Memmium, uirum acrem et integrum, fieri consulem timens, orta subito seditione fugientem per P. Mettium satellitem informi stipite conminutum interfecit.

[¶5] As the senate and the Roman people raged at such great evils to the commonwealth, the consul Marius, with a disposition suited to the moment, joined himself to the consensus of the good and calmed the aroused plebs with a gentle speech. Saturninus, with infamous daring, held an assembly in his own house, and there was hailed by some as king, by others as imperator.

> Latin: 6 fremente pro tantis reipublicae malis senatu populoque Romano, Marius consul accommodato ad tempus ingenio consensui bonorum sese inmiscuit commotamque plebem leni oratione sedauit. Saturninus infamibus ausis contionem domi suae habuit ibique ab aliis rex, ab aliis imperator est appellatus.

[¶6] Marius, having enrolled the plebs by maniples, stationed the other consul with armed guards on the hill and himself fortified the gates. Battle was joined in the Forum; Saturninus, driven from the Forum by the Marians, fled to the Capitol; Marius cut the pipes by which water was brought to it.

> Latin: 7 Marius manipulatim plebe descripta alterum consulem cum praesidiis in colle disposuit, ipse portas communiuit. in foro proelium commissum est; Saturninus a Marianis foro pulsus in Capitolium confugit; Marius fistulas, quibus eo aqua deducebatur, incidit.

[¶7] Then a quite dreadful fight took place at the approach to the Capitol, and many were slain around Saufeius and Saturninus. Saturninus, crying out openly, protested that Marius was the author of all his schemes;

> Latin: 8 bellum deinde in aditu Capitolii horridum satis actum est, multi circa Saufeium et Saturninum caesi. Saturninus palam clamitans, Marium auctorem esse omnium molitionum suarum, contestatus est;

[¶8] but when Saturninus himself, Saufeius, and Labienus, under compulsion from Marius, had taken refuge in the senate-house, they were killed by the Roman knights after the doors had been broken down. Gaius Glaucia was dragged from the house of Claudius and slaughtered.

> Latin: 9 cum autem ipse Saturninus et Saufeius et Labienus cogente Mario in curiam confugissent, per equites Romanos effractis foribus occisi sunt. C. Glaucia extractus e domo Claudii trucidatus est.

[¶9] Furius, tribune of the plebs, decreed that the property of all of them should be confiscated. Gnaeus Dolabella, Saturninus’s brother, fleeing through the vegetable market, was killed together with Lucius Giganius. And so, with the authors of so great a sedition slain, there was quiet for the people.

> Latin: 10 Furius, tribunus plebi, bona omnium publicanda decreuit. Cn. Dolabella, Saturnini frater, per forum holitorium fugiens, cum L. Giganio interfectus est. itaque auctoribus tantae seditionis occisis quies populo fuit.

[¶10] Then Cato and Pompeius, to the joy of the whole City, brought forward a bill for the recall of Metellus Numidicus; that it might not be carried, the factions of the consul Marius and of Furius, tribune of the plebs, interposed their veto.

> Latin: 11 tunc Cato atque Pompeius rogationem de reditu Metelli Numidici totius urbis gaudio promulgarunt: quae ne perficeretur, Marii consulis et Furii tribuni plebi factionibus intercessum est.

[¶11] Rutilius too, a man of the utmost integrity, displayed such constancy of good faith and innocence that, when a day had been set for his trial by his accusers, until the hearing he neither let his hair or beard grow long, nor sought to win supporters with mourning clothes or humble dress, nor soothed his enemies, nor mollified his judges; even the speech allowed him by the praetor he made no more submissive than his spirit.

> Latin: 12 Rutilius quoque uir integerrimus adeo fidei atque innocentiae constantia usus est, ut die sibi ab accusatoribus dicta, usque ad cognitionem neque capillum barbamue promiserit neque sordida ueste humiliue habitu suffragatores conciliarit, inimicos permulserit, iudices temperarit, orationem quoque a praetore concessam nihilo summissiorem quam animum habuerit.

[¶12] Though he was assailed by manifest calumny, and in the opinion of all good men was thought rightly due to be acquitted, he was condemned through the perjury of the judges. He moved to Smyrna and grew old there, devoted to the study of letters.

> Latin: 13 cum euidenti oppugnaretur calumnia et opinione bonorum omnium iure absoluendus putaretur, peiurio iudicum condemnatus est. qui Zmyrnam conmigrans litterarum studiis intentus consenuit.

## 106. Book 5 · Chapter 18

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/106/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/106/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 659 from the founding of the City, in the consulship of Sextus Julius Caesar and Lucius Marcius Philippus, the Social War, arising from causes within, threw all Italy into commotion.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCLVIIII Sex. Julio Caesare et L. Marcio Philippo consulibus intestinis causis sociale bellum tota commouit Italia.

[¶1] For Livius Drusus, tribune of the plebs, when he could not fulfil what he had promised to all the Latins, whom he had enticed with the hope of liberty, roused them to arms.

> Latin: 2 siquidem Liuius Drusus, tribunus plebi, Latinos omnes spe libertatis inlectos cum placito explere non posset, in arma excitauit.

[¶2] To this was added that dire prodigies terrified the mournful City. For at sunrise a ball of fire flashed forth from the region of the north with a very great crash in the sky.

> Latin: 3 eo accessit, ut maestam urbem prodigia dira terrerent. nam sub ortu solis globus ignis a regione septentrionis cum maximo caeli fragore emicuit.

[¶3] Among the people of Arretium, when loaves were being broken at banquets, blood flowed from the middle of the loaves as if from wounds in bodies.

> Latin: 4 apud Arretinos cum panes per conuiuia frangerentur, cruor e mediis panibus quasi ex uulneribus corporum fluxit.

[¶4] Moreover, for seven days on end a hail of stones, mixed even with fragments of potsherds, lashed the earth far and wide. Among the Samnites flame burst out of a vast chasm in the earth and was seen to stretch up to the sky.

> Latin: 5 praeterea per septem continuos dies grando lapidum, inmixtis etiam testarum fragmentis, terram latissime uerberauit. in Samnitibus uastissimo terrae hiatu flamma prorupit et usque in caelum extendi uisa est.

[¶5] Several Romans besides, while on a journey, saw a ball of golden colour roll down from the sky to the earth and, grown larger, be borne up again from the earth on high towards the rising sun, and by its size hide the sun itself.

> Latin: 6 conplures praeterea in itinere uidere Romani globum coloris aurei caelo ad terram deuolui maioremque factum rursus a terra in sublime ad orientem solem ferri ac magnitudine sua ipsum solem obtexisse.

[¶6] Drusus, troubled by such great evils, was killed in his own house — by whose hand, indeed, remains uncertain.

> Latin: 7 Drusus tantis malis anxius domi suae incerto quidem auctore interfectus est.

[¶7] So the Picentes, Vestini, Marsi, Paeligni, Marrucini, Samnites, and Lucanians, while they were still plotting a secret revolt, killed at Asculum the praetor Gaius Servius, who had been sent to them as envoy, and at once, shutting the city gates, they proclaimed a massacre and butchered all the Roman citizens.

> Latin: 8 Igitur Picentes Vestini Marsi Paeligni Marrucini Samnites Lucani cum adhuc occultam defectionem meditarentur, C. Seruium praetorem, legatum ad se missum, apud Asculum occiderunt statimque clausa ciuitate omnes ciues Romanos indicta caede iugularunt.

*Note: The Roman magistrate murdered at Asculum was Quintus Servilius; Orosius gives “C. Servius.”*

[¶8] Most infamous prodigies at once went before a most atrocious destruction. For animals of every kind, which had been accustomed to submit gently to the hands of men and to live among men, left their stalls and pastures and fled with pitiable bleating, neighing, and lowing to the woods and mountains. Dogs too, whose nature it is to be unable to live apart from men, roved about with tearful howling in the manner of wolves.

> Latin: 9 continuo atrocissimam perniciem infamissima praecessere prodigia. namque omnium generum animalia, quae manus hominum blande perpeti atque inter homines uiuere solita erant, relictis stabulis pascuisque cum balatu hinnitu mugituque miserabili ad siluas montesque fugerunt. canes quoque, quorum naturae est extra homines esse non posse, lacrimosis ululatibus uagi luporum ritu oberrarunt.

[¶9] So the praetor Gnaeus Pompeius, by order of the senate, waged war with the Picentes and was defeated, after the Samnites had set Papius Mutilus over themselves as general, while the Marsi had preferred the arch-pirate Agamemnon.

> Latin: 10 igitur Cn. Pompeius praetor cum Picentibus iussu senatus bellum gessit et uictus est, postquam sibi Samnites Papium Mutilum imperatorem praefecerant, Marsi autem Agamemnonem archipiratam praeoptauerant.

*Note: Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, father of Pompey the Great; he is the Pompeius of the Social War chapters that follow.*

[¶10] Julius Caesar, defeated in battle by the Samnites, fled with his army cut to pieces. The consul Rutilius chose his kinsman Marius as his legate; and when Marius kept advising him that delay would be useful to the war, and that the raw soldiers ought to be trained in camp for a little while,

> Latin: 11 Iulius Caesar Samnitium pugna uictus caeso fugit exercitu. Rutilius consul Marium propinquum suum legatum sibi legit: quem adsidue summonentem moram bello utilem fore et paulisper in castris exerceri militem oportere tironem,

[¶11] Rutilius, thinking that he did this from guile, scorned him, and heedlessly threw himself and the whole column of his army into an ambush of the Marsi, where the consul himself was killed, many nobles were slain, and eight thousand Roman soldiers cut down.

> Latin: 12 dolo id eum agere ratus contempsit seseque in insidias Marsorum et uniuersum agmen exercitus sui incautus iniecit, ubi et ipse consul occisus et multi nobiles interfecti et octo milia Romanorum militum caesa sunt.

[¶12] The river Tolenus carried the arms and bodies of the slain into the sight of the legate Marius and bore them along as testimony of the disaster. Marius, at once seizing his forces, crushed the victors unexpectedly and himself killed eight thousand of the Marsi.

> Latin: 13 arma et corpora interfectorum in conspectum Marii legati Tolenus fluuius pertulit atque in testimonium cladis euexit. Marius raptis continuo copiis uictores insperatus oppressit, octo milia et ipse Marsorum interfecit.

[¶13] Caepio, however, was led into an ambush by the Vestini and Marsi and slaughtered with his army. But Lucius Julius Caesar, after he had fled defeated at Aesernia, gathered forces from every side, fought against the Samnites and Lucanians, and killed many thousands of the enemy.

> Latin: 14 Caepio autem a Vestinis et Marsis deductus in insidias, cum exercitu trucidatus est. L. uero Iulius Caesar postquam apud Aeserniam uictus aufugerat, contractis undique copiis aduersum Samnitas et Lucanos dimicans multa hostium milia interfecit.

[¶14] And when he had been hailed imperator by the army and had sent messengers to Rome with news of the victory, the senate, as this hope smiled upon it, laid aside the saga — that is, the garment of mourning — which it had put on at the outbreak of the Social War, and recovered the ancient dignity of the toga. Then Marius cut down six thousand of the Marsi and stripped seven thousand of their arms.

> Latin: 15 cumque ab exercitu imperator appellatus esset Romamque nuntios de uictoria misisset, senatus saga, hoc est uestem maeroris, quam exorto sociali bello sumpserat, hac spe adridente deposuit atque antiquum togae decorem recuperauit. Marius deinde sex milia Marsorum cecidit, septem milia armis exuit.

[¶15] Sulla, sent with twenty-four cohorts to Aesernia, where Roman citizens and soldiers were hard pressed by a very close siege, saved the city and the allies by a very great battle and immense slaughter of the enemy.

> Latin: 16 Sylla cum uiginti et quattuor cohortibus Aeserniam missus, ubi artissima obsidione Romani ciues et milites premebantur, maximo bello et plurima caede hostium urbem sociosque seruauit.

[¶16] Gnaeus Pompeius routed the Picentes in a heavy battle, and by this victory the senate resumed the broad stripe and the other insignia of rank, whereas at the victory of Caesar, when it first breathed again, it had put on only the toga. The praetor Porcius Cato conquered the Etruscans, and the legate Plotius the Umbrians, at the cost of much blood and with the greatest labour.

> Latin: 17 Cn. Pompeius Picentes graui proelio fudit, qua uictoria senatus laticlauia et cetera dignitatis insignia recepit, cum togas tantummodo uictoria Caesaris primum respirante sumpsisset. Porcius Cato praetor Etruscos, Plotius legatus Vmbros plurimo sanguine inpenso et difficillimo labore uicerunt.

[¶17] In the consulship of Gnaeus Pompeius and Lucius Porcius Cato, Pompeius long besieged the city of Asculum; nor would he have taken it had he not overcome its people with a very heavy defeat when they burst out onto the plain. Eighteen thousand of the Marsi were slain in that battle together with their general Fraucus, and three thousand captured.

> Latin: 18 Cn. Pompeio L. Porcio Catone consulibus Pompeius diu obsedit Asculum ciuitatem; nec tamen expugnauisset, nisi populum in campum prorumpentem grauissima oppressione uicisset. decem et octo milia Marsorum in ea pugna cum Frauco imperatore suo caesa sunt, capta tria milia.

[¶18] Four thousand Italian men, however, fleeing from that slaughter, had by chance climbed the ridge of a mountain, their column forced together into one, where, overwhelmed and killed by the snows, they froze in a pitiable death.

> Latin: 19 quattuor milia autem Italici uiri ex ea caede profugi iugum montis coacto in unum agmine forte conscenderant, ubi oppressi exanimatique niuibus miserabili morte riguerunt.

[¶19] For just as they had stood, stunned with fear of the enemy — some leaning against tree-stumps or rocks, others propped on their arms — all of them, with eyes open and teeth bared, looked like living men; nor was there any sign of death to those gazing from afar except their prolonged immobility, which the vigour of human life can in no way endure for long.

> Latin: 20 namque ita, ut attoniti timore hostium steterant, alii stirpibus uel saxis reclines, alii armis suis innitentes, patentibus cuncti oculis dentibusque nudatis uiuentium in modum uisebantur; nec ullum erat procul intuentibus mortis indicium nisi diuturna immobilitas, quam nullo modo humanae uitae uegetatio diu perpeti potest.

[¶20] On the same day the Picentes engaged and were defeated; their leader Vidacilius called together his chief men and, after a magnificent feast and generous cups, challenging them all to follow his example, drank poison and perished, all praising his deed but no one following it.

> Latin: 21 eadem die Picentes congressi et uicti sunt, quorum dux Vidacilius conuocatis principibus suis post magnificas epulas largaque pocula cunctos ad exemplum sui prouocans hausto ueneno absumptus est, cunctis factum eius laudantibus sed nemine subsequente.

[¶21] In the year 661 from the founding of the City, when the Roman army had gone to besiege Pompeii, Postumius Albinus, a man of consular rank and then legate of Lucius Sulla, who had roused against himself the hatred of all the soldiers by his intolerable arrogance, was stoned to death.

> Latin: 22 Anno ab urbe condita DCLXI cum ad obsidendos Pompeios Romanus isset exercitus et Postumius Albinus uir consularis, tunc L. Syllae legatus, intolerabili superbia omnium in se militum odia suscitasset, lapidibus occisus est.

[¶22] Sulla the consul declared that the blood of citizens could be expiated only by the blood of the enemy; and the army, stirred by its consciousness of this deed, entered battle in such a way that each man saw that he must perish unless he conquered. Eighteen thousand Samnites were slain in that battle; Sulla also pursued and killed Juventius, an Italian general, and a great host of his people.

> Latin: 23 Sylla consul ciuilem cruorem non nisi hostili sanguine expiari posse testatus est: cuius rei conscientia permotus exercitus ita pugnam adortus est, ut sibi unusquisque pereundum uideret nisi uicisset. decem et octo milia Samnitium illo proelio caesa sunt; Iuuentium quoque, Italicum ducem, et magnum ipsius populum persecutus occidit.

*Note: Sulla was serving as a legate in 89 BC; his first consulship came in 88. Appian (Civil Wars 1.50) names the Italian general Cluentius, not Juventius.*

[¶23] The consul Porcius Cato, who had command of the Marian forces, having accomplished a number of things vigorously, boasted that Gaius Marius had done no greater; and for this reason, when he was waging war against the Marsi at the Fucine Lake, he was struck down by the son of Gaius Marius in the tumult of battle, as if by an unknown hand.

> Latin: 24 Porcius Cato consul Marianas copias habens cum aliquanta strenue gessisset, gloriatus est, C. Marium non maiora fecisse, et ob hoc, cum ad lacum Fucinum contra Marsos bellum gereret, a filio C. Marii in tumultu belli quasi ab incerto auctore prostratus est.

[¶24] The legate Gaius Gabinius was killed while storming the enemy camp. The Marrucini and Vestini were laid waste by Sulpicius, legate of Pompeius, who pursued them. Popaedius and Obsidius, Italian generals, were crushed and killed by that same Sulpicius near the river Teanus in a dreadful battle.

> Latin: 25 C. Gabinius legatus in expugnatione hostilium castrorum interfectus est. Marrucini Vestinique Sulpicio legato Pompei persequente uastati sunt. Popaedius et Obsidius, Italici imperatores, ab eodem Sulpicio apud flumen Teanum horribili proelio oppressi et occisi sunt.

[¶25] Pompeius, on entering Asculum, had the prefects, the centurions, and all their leading men beaten with rods and beheaded with the axe; he sold the slaves and all the booty at auction, and ordered the rest to depart, free indeed, but naked and destitute; and although the senate hoped that some relief for the public pay would come from this booty, Pompeius nevertheless contributed nothing of it to the needy treasury.

> Latin: 26 Pompeius Asculum ingressus praefectos centuriones cunctosque principes eorum uirgis cecidit securique percussit, seruos praedamque omnem sub hasta uendidit, reliquos liberos quidem sed nudos et egentes abire praecepit; et cum de hac praeda opitulationem aliquam in usum stipendii publici senatus fore speraret, nihil tamen Pompeius ex ea egenti aerario contulit.

[¶26] For at that same time, since the treasury had been utterly drained and money was lacking for the grain allowance, the public lands around the Capitol which had been handed over into the possession of the pontiffs, augurs, decemvirs, and flamens were sold under the pressure of want, and a sufficient sum of money was received to serve as relief for the time of need.

> Latin: 27 namque eodem tempore cum penitus exhaustum esset aerarium et ad stipendium frumenti deesset expensa, loca publica quae in circuitu Capitolii pontificibus auguribus decemuiris et flaminibus in possessionem tradita erant, cogente inopia uendita sunt et sufficiens pecuniae modus, qui ad tempus inopiae subsidio esset, acceptus est.

[¶27] Indeed, at that very time the riches of all the overthrown cities and stripped lands, scraped together from every side, were being heaped into the bosom of that very City, while Rome herself, driven by shameful want, was auctioning off the chief parts of herself.

> Latin: 28 equidem tunc in sinus ipsius ciuitatis euersarum omnium urbium nudatarumque terrarum abrasae undique opes congerebantur, cum ipsa Roma turpi adigente inopia praecipuas sui partes auctionabatur.

[¶28] Let her consider, then, what her times were then, when, like an insatiable belly that consumes everything and is always hungry, she herself, more wretched than all the cities she made wretched, leaving nothing, had nothing, and was driven by the goad of famine at home to keep up the turmoil of war.

> Latin: 29 quamobrem consideret tunc tempora sua, cum quasi inexplebilis uenter cuncta consumens et semper esuriens cunctis urbibus, quas miseras faciebat, ipsa miserior nihil relinquens nihil habebat et stimulo domesticae famis ad continuationem bellicae inquietudinis trudebatur.

[¶29] At the same time King Sothimus, entering Greece with large Thracian auxiliaries, ravaged all the territory of Macedonia, and at length, overcome by the praetor Gaius Sentius, was forced to return to his kingdom.

> Latin: 30 Isdem temporibus rex Sothimus cum magnis Thracum auxiliis Graeciam ingressus cunctos Macedoniae fines depopulatus est tandemque a C. Sentio praetore superatus redire in regnum coactus est.

## 107. Book 5 · Chapter 19

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/107/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/107/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 662 from the founding of the City, before the Social War was yet finished, the first civil war was set in motion at Rome; and in the same year the Mithridatic War, though less infamous, yet no less grievous, was begun.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCLXII nondum finito sociali bello Romae primum bellum ciuile commotum est, eodemque anno Mithridaticum bellum etsi minus infame non tamen minus graue coeptum est.

[¶1] Concerning the duration of the Mithridatic War, indeed, the tradition varies, as to whether it first began from this point or only then chiefly blazed up, especially since some say it was waged for thirty years, others for forty. But although these things, done in the same times and heaped together, blazed up amid tangled evils, I shall nevertheless set them out one by one, separately, if briefly.

> Latin: 2 equidem de Mithridatici belli spatio uarie traditum est, utrum abhinc primum coeperit an tunc praecipue exarserit, maxime cum alii triginta alii quadraginta annos gestum ferant. sed quamuis isdem gesta temporibus perplexis coaceruata malis exarserint, a me tamen speciatim, etsi breuiter, singula proferentur.

[¶2] While Sulla, as consul, was about to set out with an army into Asia against Mithridates, but was still detained in Campania on account of the remnants of the Social War, Marius aspired to a seventh consulship and to taking on the Mithridatic War.

> Latin: 3 Marius, Sylla consule et contra Mithridatem in Asiam cum exercitu profecturo, in Campania tamen propter socialis belli reliquias consistente, adfectauit septimum consulatum et bellum suscipere Mithridaticum.

[¶3] When Sulla learned this — being, in truth, an impatient young man, and driven by untempered anger — he first encamped before the City with four legions, where he killed Gratidius, the legate of Marius, as the first victim, as it were, of the civil war; then he burst into the City with his army and called for torches to set the City on fire. With everyone hiding in fear, he came with a swift column along the Sacred Way into the Forum.

> Latin: 4 quo Sylla cognito inpatiens reuera iuuenis intemperataque ira percitus cum quattuor legionibus primum ante urbem consedit, ubi Gratidium Marii legatum quasi primam uictimam belli ciuilis occidit, mox urbem cum exercitu inrupit, faces ad inflammandam urbem poposcit. omnibus metu abditis, per Sacram uiam cito agmine in forum uenit.

*Note: Sulla, born about 138 BC, was around fifty when he marched on Rome in 88.*

[¶4] Marius, having tried in vain to rouse the nobility, inflame the plebs, and finally to arm the equestrian order against Sulla, at last summoned slaves to arms with the hope of liberty and booty; having dared to resist to no purpose, he finally withdrew to the Capitol. But when Sulla’s cohorts burst in there, he fled with great slaughter of his men.

> Latin: 5 Marius cum permouere nobilitatem, inflammare plebem, equestrem denique ordinem perarmare aduersus Syllam frustra adtemptasset, postremo seruis spe libertatis et praedae ad arma sollicitatis, nequiquam repugnare ausus, tandem in Capitolium concessit. sed cum eo Syllanae cohortes inruissent, magna suorum caede diffugit.

[¶5] There, then, Sulpicius, the colleague of Marius, was struck down, betrayed by his own slave; and the consuls decreed that the slave himself should be freed because he had informed against an enemy, but thrown from the Tarpeian rock because he had betrayed his master.

> Latin: 6 ibi tunc Sulpicius Marii collega seruo suo prodente prostratus est; seruum uero ipsum, quod hostem indicauerat, manumitti, quod uero dominum prodiderat, saxo Tarpeio deici consules decreuerunt.

*Note: Publius Sulpicius Rufus, tribune of the plebs in 88 BC, was Marius’s ally; “colleague” is Orosius’s word, not an office they shared.*

[¶6] Marius, in flight, being hemmed in by the pressure of his pursuers, hid himself in the marshes of Minturnae; from these he was unhappily dragged out, smeared with mud, in disgrace, and in a shameful spectacle brought to Minturnae and thrust into prison, where by his look alone he terrified the assassin sent to him.

> Latin: 7 Marius fugiens cum persequentum instantia circumsaeptus esset, in Minturnensium paludibus sese abdidit; e quibus infeliciter luto oblitus ignominioseque protractus, turpi autem spectaculo Minturnas deductus contrususque in carcerem percussorem ad se missum solo uultu exterruit.

[¶7] Then, slipping out of his chains, he crossed over into Africa, and having summoned his son from Utica, where he was being kept under guard, he at once returned to Rome and was joined to the consul Cinna in a fellowship of crimes.

> Latin: 8 deinde lapsus e uinculis in Africam transfugit sollicitatoque ex Utica filio, ubi in custodia obseruabatur, continuo Romam regressus Cinnae consuli societate scelerum coniunctus est.

[¶8] So, to ruin the whole commonwealth, they divided the army among themselves into four parts. For three legions were given to Marius; Gnaeus Carbo was put in command of one part of the forces; Sertorius received a part — that Sertorius, namely, who was already here an instigator of and partner in the civil war, and who, when this was over, afterwards stirred up another war in Spain, which he dragged out for many years with very great disasters for the Romans. The remaining portion of the army followed Cinna.

> Latin: 9 igitur ad profligandam uniuersam rempublicam exercitum sibi in quattuor partes diuiserunt. tres siquidem legiones Mario datae, parti copiarum Cn. Carbo praepositus est, partem Sertorius accepit, ille scilicet Sertorius, iam hic ciuilis belli incentor et particeps, qui etiam hoc finito aliud post in Hispania bellum excitauit, quod per multos annos maximis Romanorum cladibus traxit. cetera uero exercitus portio Cinnam secuta est.

[¶9] Gnaeus Pompeius, moreover, who had been summoned with his army by the senate to come to the aid of the commonwealth, and had long kept himself in suspense, on the watch for a change in affairs, being scorned by Marius and Cinna, betook himself to Octavius, the other consul, and soon clashed with Sertorius.

> Latin: 10 porro autem Cn. Pompeius, qui a senatu cum exercitu arcessitus, ut reipublicae opitularetur, et diu sese nouarum rerum aucupatione suspenderat, contemptus a Mario uel Cinna ad Octauium alterum consulem sese contulit et mox cum Sertorio conflixit.

[¶10] The coming of night broke off the ill-starred battle; six hundred soldiers were slaughtered on each side.

> Latin: 11 infelicem pugnam interuentus noctis diremit; sescenteni ex utraque parte milites trucidati sunt.

[¶11] On the following day, while the bodies, lying intermingled, were being sorted for burial, a soldier of Pompeius recognized the body of his brother, whom he himself had killed: for in the clash the helmet had taken from both the recognition of a face, and fury had taken away reflection; though ignorance lessens the guilt but little, when he may seem not to have known about his brother, whom beyond doubt he knew to be a fellow citizen.

> Latin: 12 postera die cum permixtim corpora ad sepulturam discernerentur, miles Pompeianus fratris sui, quem ipse interfecerat, corpus adgnouit: in concursu enim utrique cognitionem uultus galea, considerationem furor ademerat; quamuis parum sit culpae circa ignorantiam, ut uideatur nescisse de fratre quem non ambigitur scisse de ciue.

[¶12] And so the victor, more unhappy than the vanquished, when he recognized both his brother’s body and his own parricide, cursed the civil wars, and at once running his own breast through with his sword, pouring out tears and blood together, he threw himself upon his brother’s corpse.

> Latin: 13 itaque uictor uicto infelicior, ubi et fratris corpus agnouit et parricidium suum, exsecratus bella ciuilia ilico pectus suum gladio transuerberans simulque lacrimas et sanguinem fundens super fraternum sese cadauer abiecit.

[¶13] And what did it avail for the confounding of that cruel undertaking that, at the very first outset of the civil wars, the infamous report spread abroad that brothers had clashed — unaware, indeed, that they were brothers, but aware that they were citizens; that a brother, victor by crime, had sought the spoils of a slain brother, and soon, as one guilty of so great a savagery, had avenged with the same sword and the same hand, by his own death, the parricide he had committed?

> Latin: 14 Et quid hoc profuit ad confusionem crudelis incepti, quod in primo statim bellorum ciuilium exordio infamis fama percrebruit, concurrisse ignaros quidem fratres sed conscios ciues, petisse fratrem scelere uictorem spolia fratris occisi ac mox tantae immanitatis reum eodem gladio atque eadem manu per suam necem parricidium, quod admiserat, uindicasse?

[¶14] Did so sad an example move the animosities of factions bent on war? Did the terror of such an error drive anyone back from the danger of crime? Did this piety and reverence for nature, which we share even with the beasts, […]? Did anyone tremble at what one man committed by killing and dying, because it could be done to himself, and, overcome by conscience, draw back from any such undertaking?

> Latin: 15 numquid intentarum animositates partium tam triste mouit exemplum? numquid apud quemquam periculum sceleris reppulit terror erroris? numquid haec, quae communis est etiam cum beluis, pietas et reuerentia naturae? ** quod unus perimendo ac pereundo commisit, quia in se agi posset intremuit seseque ab huiusmodi incepto conscientia uictus remouit?

[¶15] On the contrary, for nearly forty years following, civil wars were so continuously waged that the greatness of glory was thought to be weighed by the greatness of crime. For after such a lesson all would have shunned the dangers of parricide in such warfare, had they not desired the parricides themselves.

> Latin: 16 quin potius annis fere quadraginta consequentibus in tantum continuata sunt bella ciuilia, ut magnitudo laudis adpendenda ex magnitudine sceleris putaretur. omnes enim post tale documentum in tali militia parricidiorum pericula refugissent, nisi parricidia ipsa uoluissent.

[¶16] So Marius, entering the colony of Ostia by force, practised every kind of lust, avarice, and cruelty there.

> Latin: 17 Igitur Marius coloniam Ostiensem ui ingressus omnia ibi genera libidinis auaritiae et crudelitatis exercuit.

[¶17] Pompeius died, struck by lightning; and his army, seized by a pestilence, was almost entirely carried off. For eleven thousand men died from the camp of Pompeius, and six thousand on the side of the consul Octavius were struck down by the plague.

> Latin: 18 Pompeius fulmine adflatus interiit; exercitus uero eius pestilentia correptus paene totus absumptus est. nam undecim milia uirorum de castris Pompei mortua, sex milia autem de parte Octauii consulis siderata sunt.

[¶18] Marius broke into the cities of Antium and Aricia as an enemy, killed everyone in them except the traitors, and gave their goods over to his men to plunder. Afterwards the consul Cinna with his legions and Marius with his fugitives entered the City and killed all the noblest men of the senate and very many men of consular rank.

> Latin: 19 Marius Antium et Ariciam ciuitates hostiliter inrupit cunctosque in his praeter proditores interfecit, bona suis diripienda permisit. post Cinna consul cum legionibus et Marius cum fugitiuis urbem ingressi nobilissimos quosque e senatu et plurimos consulares uiros interfecerunt.

[¶19] But how small a part is this of the misery displayed? […] to sum up in a single word the slaughter of good men, whose numbers were so great, its duration so long, its cruelty so extreme, and its variety so manifold?

> Latin: 20 Sed quota haec portio ostentatae miseriae est? ** uno uerbo definisse caedem bonorum, cuius fuit tanta numerositas, tanta diuturnitas, tanta crudelitas tantaque diuersitas?

[¶20] Nevertheless it is fairer that I should have withheld something useful from my case than have heaped so much horror upon what is known, whether these things are set before the informed or the uninformed.

> Latin: 21 uerumtamen aequius est me aliquid utilitatis subtraxisse causae quam tantum horroris ingessisse notitiae, siue peritis haec siue imperitis obiciantur.

[¶21] For we are speaking of our fatherland, of our fellow citizens, and of our ancestors, who, driven by these evils, did things so abominable that their descendants shudder even to hear of them; and they surely do not wish these things to be overly exaggerated — either out of the restraint that comes of sufficient knowledge, if they know them, or out of regard for compassionate reverence, if they do not.

> Latin: 22 de patria siquidem, de ciuibus et de maioribus nostris haec loquimur, qui his exagitati malis tam abominanda gesserunt, de quibus etiam auditis posteri perhorrescant, qui profecto nolunt ista nimis exaggerari aut sufficientis notitiae moderatione, si sciunt, aut misericordis reuerentiae contemplatione, si nesciunt.

[¶22] So Marius, when he had heaped up for spectacle and adornment the heads of slaughtered citizens — brought in to banquets, set before the Capitol, gathered at the Rostra — and had seized a seventh consulship, with Cinna consul for the third time, was snatched away at the very outset of his consular rule by a death that came at last, and late.

> Latin: 23 Igitur Marius cum interfectorum ciuium capita inlata conuiuiis, oblata Capitoliis, conlata Rostris ad spectaculum ornatumque congereret ac septimum consulatum cum Cinna tertium consule peruasisset, in exordio consularis imperii sera tandem morte praereptus est.

[¶23] Cinna supplemented the deaths of good men with the slaughter of bad ones. For since the band of fugitives brought in by Marius was insatiable in plundering and allotted no share to the consuls, the authors of the plunder, it was lured into the Forum as if to receive pay, surrounded by soldiers, and destroyed unarmed. Eight thousand fugitives were slain that day in the Forum of the City; and this same Cinna, consul for the fourth time, was killed by his own army.

> Latin: 24 Cinna bonorum neces malorum caede suppleuit. nam cum introducta per Marium fugitiuorum manus insatiabilis praedandi esset nullamque partem auctoribus praedae consulibus ministraret, in forum quasi stipendii causa sollicitata, militibusque circumdata, inermis extincta est. caesa sunt illa die in foro urbis octo milia fugitiuorum, idemque Cinna quarto consul ab exercitu suo interfectus est.

## 108. Book 5 · Chapter 20

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/108/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/108/#p-N

[¶0] Meanwhile the remnant of the senators, who had escaped by flight the power of Cinna, the cruelty of Marius, the madness of Fimbria, and the audacity of Sertorius, crossed over into Greece and with their entreaties compelled Sulla to bring aid to his country, which was in peril — nay, already almost lost.

> Latin: 1 Interea residui senatorum, qui potentiam Cinnae, Marii crudelitatem, insaniam Fimbriae Sertoriique audaciam fuga euaserant, transuecti in Graeciam coegere precibus Syllam, ut periclitanti immo iam paene perditae patriae opem ferret.

[¶1] So Sulla, as soon as he reached the Campanian shore, crushed the consul Norbanus in battle: 7,000 Romans were then killed by Romans, 6,000 of the same were captured by the same, and 124 fell on Sulla’s side.

> Latin: 2 igitur Sylla mox ut Campanum litus attigit, Norbanum consulem proelio oppressit: septem milia tunc Romanorum Romani interfecerunt, sex milia eorundem ab isdem capta sunt, centum uiginti et quattuor de Syllana parte ceciderunt.

[¶2] Fabius Hadrianus, however, who held command as propraetor, aspiring to the kingship of Africa with a band of slaves, was burned alive at Utica by their masters on heaped-up brushwood, together with his whole household.

> Latin: 3 Fabius uero Hadrianus, cui imperium pro praetore erat, regnum Africae seruorum manu adfectans, a dominis eorum apud Uticam congestis sarmentis cum omni familia uiuus incensus est.

[¶3] The praetor Damasippus, at the instigation of the consul Marius, most cruelly killed Quintus Scaevola, Gaius Carbo, Lucius Domitius, and Publius Antistius, who had been summoned to the senate-house as if for consultation. The bodies of the slain were dragged by the executioners with a hook and thrown into the Tiber.

> Latin: 4 Damasippus praetor incentore Mario consule Q. Scaeuolam C. Carbonem L. Domitium P. Antistium in curiam quasi ad consultandum uocatos crudelissime occidit. corpora interfectorum per carnifices unco tracta atque in Tiberim missa sunt.

[¶4] At the same time Sulla’s generals fought very many battles against the Marian party with a most unhappy good fortune. For Quintus Metellus both cut down the forces of Carrinas and overran his camp, and Pompey inflicted heavy slaughter on the cavalry of Carbo.

> Latin: 5 eodem tempore Syllae duces plurima proelia aduersum Marianas partes infelicissima felicitate gesserunt. nam et Q. Metellus Carrinatis copias cecidit et castra peruasit et Cn. Pompeius Carbonis equitatum grauiter trucidauit.

*Note: This is Pompey the Great (Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus), son of the Pompeius Strabo whose death is told at 5.19.18; he was then in his early twenties.*

[¶5] There was also at that time a very great battle between Sulla and the young Marius at Sacriportus, in which twenty-five thousand of the army of Marius were slain, as Claudius writes.

> Latin: 6 Syllae etiam et Marii adulescentis maximum tunc proelium apud Sacriportum fuit, in quo de exercitu Marii caesa sunt XXV milia, sicut Claudius scribit.

[¶6] Pompey also stripped Carbo of his camp and, pursuing him as he fled, deprived him of the greater part of his army, now by slaughter, now by forcing surrender. Metellus crushed the column of Norbanus, where nine thousand of the Marian party were killed.

> Latin: 7 Pompeius Carbonem etiam castris exuit fugientemque insecutus, nunc caedendo nunc ad deditionem cogendo plurima exercitus parte priuauit. Metellus Norbani agmen oppressit: ubi nouem milia Marianae partis occisa sunt.

[¶7] Lucullus, when he was besieged by Quintius, broke out and in a sudden battle destroyed the besieging army; for more than ten thousand are reported to have been slain there on that occasion.

> Latin: 8 Lucullus cum a Quintio obsideretur, erupit et repentina pugna obsessorem deleuit exercitum. nam plus quam decem milia ibi tunc caesa referuntur.

[¶8] Then Sulla joined battle with Camponius, leader of the Samnites, and the remaining forces of Carrinas before the very City and the Colline Gate at the ninth hour of the day, and in a most grievous battle at last conquered. Eighty thousand men are said to have been routed there: twelve thousand surrendered, and the rest of the multitude, turned to flight, was consumed by the insatiable anger of the victorious citizens.

> Latin: 9 Sylla deinde cum Camponio Samnitium duce et Carrinatis reliquis copiis ante ipsam urbem portamque Collinam ad horam diei nonam signa contulit grauissimoque proelio tandem uicit. octoginta milia hominum ibi fusa dicuntur: duodecim milia sese dediderunt, reliquam multitudinem in fugam uersam insatiabilis uictorum ciuium ira consumpsit.

*Note: The Samnite leader at the Colline Gate (82 BC) was Pontius Telesinus; Orosius’s “Camponius” is a corrupt form of his name.*

## 109. Book 5 · Chapter 21

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/109/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/109/#p-N

[¶0] As soon as Sulla entered the City as victor, he killed three thousand men who had surrendered through envoys, unarmed and unsuspecting, against what was right and against the pledge given. Very many were then killed besides — I will not say innocent men, but even men of Sulla’s own party — who are said to have numbered more than nine thousand. Thus unrestrained slaughters were carried on throughout the City, the assassins roaming everywhere as anger or plunder enticed each of them.

> Latin: 1 Sylla mox atque urbem uictor intrauit, tria milia hominum, qui se per legatos dediderant, contra fas contraque fidem datam inermes securosque interfecit. plurimi tunc quoque, ut non dicam innocentes, sed etiam ipsius Syllanae partis occisi sunt, quos fuisse plus quam nouem milia ferunt. ita liberae per urbem caedes, percussoribus passim uagantibus ut quemque uel ira uel praeda sollicitabat, agitabantur.

[¶1] So, when all were now openly murmuring at what each one feared, Quintus Catulus said to Sulla’s face: “With whom, then, are we to live, if we kill men armed in war and unarmed in peace?”

> Latin: 2 igitur cunctis iam quod singuli timebant aperte frementibus Q. Catulus palam Syllae dixit: cum quibus tandem uicturi sumus, si in bello armatos, in pace inermes occidimus?

[¶2] Then Sulla, at the suggestion of Lucius Fursidius, a chief centurion, was the first to introduce that infamous table of proscription. The first proscription was of eighty men, among whom were four of consular rank — Carbo, Marius, Norbanus, and Scipio — and among them Sertorius, then the most greatly to be feared.

> Latin: 3 tunc Sylla auctore L. Fursidio primipilari primus infamem illam tabulam proscriptionis induxit. prima proscriptio octoginta hominum fuit, in quibus quattuor consulares erant Carbo Marius Norbanus et Scipio et inter eos Sertorius tunc maxime pertimescendus.

[¶3] Likewise another was posted with five hundred names; and while Lollius was reading it — unconcerned, of course, and conscious of no guilt — he suddenly came upon his own name, and as he was slipping away from the Forum in alarm with his head covered, he was killed.

> Latin: 4 item alia cum quingentis nominibus proposita est, quam cum Lollius, quippe securus nihilque sibi conscius, legeret, ubi suum repente nomen offendit, dum se trepidus adoperto capite foro subtrahit, interfectus est.

[¶4] But not even in the tables themselves did there seem to be any good faith or any limit to the evils. For some whom they had proscribed they butchered, while others they proscribed after they had butchered them.

> Latin: 5 sed ne in ipsis quidem tabulis fides ac finis malorum uidebatur. namque alios quos proscripserant iugulabant, alios autem postquam iugulauerant proscribebant.

[¶5] Nor was the way of death itself simple, nor its condition single, so that in the killing of citizens at least the law of enemies might be kept, who exact nothing from the vanquished but their life.

> Latin: 6 nec ipsius mortis erat uia simplex aut una condicio, ut in nece ciuium saltem ius hostium seruaretur, qui nihil a uictis praeter uitam exigunt.

[¶6] For Sulla ordered Marcus Marius to be dragged out of a goat-shed and bound, led across the Tiber to the tomb of the Lutatii, and there butchered, his eyes gouged out and his limbs cut off piece by piece, or even broken.

> Latin: 7 M. Marium siquidem de caprili casa extractum uinciri Sylla iussit ductumque trans Tiberim ad Lutatiorum sepulchrum effossis oculis membrisque minutatim desectis uel etiam fractis trucidari.

*Note: Marcus Marius Gratidianus, nephew of Gaius Marius. He was killed at the tomb of the Lutatii in revenge for Quintus Lutatius Catulus, whom he had prosecuted and driven to suicide in 87 BC.*

[¶7] After him Publius Laetorius, a senator, and Venuleius, a triumvir, were killed. The head of Marcus Marius was sent to Praeneste; on seeing it, Gaius Marius, where he was being besieged by Lucretius, was seized by final despair, and so as not to fall into the hands of his enemies he ran at Telesinus so that each might die by the other.

> Latin: 8 post hunc P. Laetorius senator et Venuleius triumuir occisi. M. Marii caput Praeneste missum: quo uiso C. Marius ultima desperatione correptus, ubi a Lucretio obsidebatur, ne in manus incideret inimicorum, cum Telesino mutua morte concurrit.

[¶8] And while he himself drove his hand more violently against his opponent, he weakened the stroke of his assailant as it fell upon himself. So, when Telesinus had been killed, he himself, only lightly wounded, offered his neck to his slave.

> Latin: 9 dumque uiolentius ipse in concurrentem manus adigit, circa suum uulnus manum percutientis hebetauit. ita eo interfecto, ipse leuiter uulneratus ceruices seruo suo praebuit.

[¶9] Sulla had the praetor Carrinas butchered. Then, setting out for Praeneste, he ordered all the leading men of the Marian army — that is, the legates, quaestors, prefects, and tribunes — to be killed.

> Latin: 10 Carrinatem praetorem Sylla iugulauit. inde Praeneste profectus omnes Marianae militiae principes, hoc est legatos quaestores praefectos et tribunos iussit occidi.

[¶10] Pompey killed Carbo, who was trying to flee from the island of Cossura into Egypt, after having him brought back to himself in Sicily, and very many of his associates with him.

> Latin: 11 Pompeius Carbonem a Cossura insula in Aegyptum fugere conantem, in Siciliam ad se retractum conpluresque cum eo socios eius occidit.

[¶11] Sulla was made dictator, so that his lust for domination and cruelty might be both armed and veiled by the reverence due to an honourable and pre-eminent title.

> Latin: 12 Sylla dictator creatus est, ut dominationis et crudelitatis libido honesti praecipuique nominis reuerentia et armaretur et uelaretur.

[¶12] Pompey crossed into Africa and, after a sally had been made near Utica, killed eighteen thousand men. In this war Domitius, the Marian general, was killed while fighting among the foremost.

> Latin: 13 Pompeius in Africam transgressus eruptione circa Uticam facta decem et octo milia hominum interfecit. quo bello Domitius dux Marianus dum inter primores pugnat, occisus est.

[¶13] The same Pompey pursued Hiertas, king of Numidia, and caused him, as he fled, to be stripped of all his forces by Bogud, son of Bocchus, king of the Moors; and when Hiertas presently returned to Bulla, the town was handed over to Pompey, and he killed him.

> Latin: 14 idemque Pompeius Hiertam Numidiae regem persecutus, fugientemque a Bogude Bocchi Maurorum regis filio spoliari omnibus copiis fecit: quem continuo Bullam reuersum tradito sibi oppido interfecit.

## 110. Book 5 · Chapter 22

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/110/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/110/#p-N

[¶0] And so, when Publius Servilius and Appius Claudius had been made consuls, Sulla was at last seen as a private citizen.

> Latin: 1 Creatis itaque P. Seruilio et Appio Claudio consulibus uisus est tandem Sylla priuatus.

[¶1] With this end were concluded two most deadly wars, the Italian Social War and Sulla’s Civil War. Dragged out over ten years, they consumed more than 150,000 Romans;

> Latin: 2 hoc fine conclusa sunt duo bella funestissima, sociale Italicum et ciuile Syllanum. haec per annos decem tracta plus quam centum quinquaginta milia Romanorum consumpserunt;

[¶2] and Rome lost in this civil war as many of her choicest men and home-born soldiers as the census had found in her, across all the separate age-groups, in the earlier time when she was already looking about her in view of Alexander the Great;

> Latin: 3 tantumque lectissimorum uirorum uernaculorumque militum Roma hoc ciuili bello perdidit, quantum in ea superiore tempore, cum se iam aduersum Alexandrum Magnum circumspiceret, in discretis aetatibus census inuenit;

[¶3] besides, twenty-four men of consular rank, six of praetorian, sixty of aedilician, and nearly two hundred senators, not counting the countless peoples of all Italy who were destroyed everywhere without consideration — and who, if he is in his right mind, would deny that Rome conquered them at the same cost to herself as that at which Italy lost them?

> Latin: 4 praeterea uiros consulares uiginti et quattuor, praetorios sex, aedilicios sexaginta, senatores fere ducentos, absque innumeris totius Italiae populis, qui passim sine consideratione deleti sunt, quos neget quisquam, si ualet, quin eodem damno suo uicerit Roma quo amisit Italia.

[¶4] For shame! Do the times here too stand in need of some doubtful comparison? Yes, indeed, most of all, they say: for what can be more fittingly compared than civil wars with civil wars? Or will it perhaps be said that in these times too there have been no civil wars?

> Latin: 5 Pro pudor! num quidnam et hic conparatione ambigua egent tempora? immo uel maxime, inquiunt: nam quid tam apte quam bellis ciuilibus bella ciuilia conparantur? an forte dicetur, etiam in his temporibus bella ciuilia non fuisse?

[¶5] To them we shall answer that these would indeed more justly be called social wars, but that it is to our advantage if they are named civil. For when all things are shown to be equal in causes, names, and aims, then the reverence of the Christian religion claims all the more for itself in them, the less the angry power of the victor has presumed.

> Latin: 6 quibus a nobis respondebitur, iustius quidem socialia uocari oportere, sed nobis proficere, si ciuilia nominentur. cum enim causis uocabulis ac studiis paria docentur omnia tum sibi in his tanto plus uindicat reuerentia Christianae religionis quanto minus praesumpserit potestas irata uictoris.

[¶6] For since, for the most part, wicked tyrants, rashly invading the commonwealth and usurping royal status, have torn asunder the body of the Roman empire, and from it have either brought in wars unjust in themselves or stirred up against themselves wars that were just — tyrants both created and equipped by the peoples of the Britons and the Gauls:

> Latin: 7 nam cum plerumque improbi tyranni temere inuadentes rempublicam usurpatoque regio statu Romani imperii corpus abruperint atque ex eo bella uel per se iniusta inportarint uel in se iusta commouerint, Britannis Gallisque et creati populis et instructi:

[¶7] these wars, as close to foreign wars as they are remote from civil ones, what should they rightly be called but social wars, since the Romans themselves nowhere called even the wars of Sertorius or Perperna or Crixus or Spartacus civil wars?

> Latin: 8 haec bella, quantum externis proxima tantum longinqua ciuilibus, quid nisi socialia iure uocitentur, cum ipsi Romani ne Sertorii quidem aut Perpennae aut Crixi aut Spartaci bella ciuilia uspiam nominarint?

[¶8] In such a defection or rebellion of allies, then, our age would now at any rate labour under less odium, if perhaps there arose either a hard-fought battle or a bloody victory.

> Latin: 9 in tali ergo uel defectu uel perduellione sociorum minore nunc utique inuidia laboraret, si fortassis exsisteret uel grauis pugna uel cruenta uictoria.

[¶9] Nevertheless, since in these times everything — that is, cause, battle, victory — carries more of necessity and less of shame, whether for extinguishing the insolence of tyrants, or for checking the defection of allies, or for branding upon them an example of vengeance:

> Latin: 10 uerumtamen cum in hisce temporibus omnia plus necessitatis adferant et minus pudoris, hoc est causa pugna uictoria, uel pro extinguenda insolentia tyrannorum uel pro cohibendo sociorum defectu uel pro inurendo ultionis exemplo:

[¶10] who can doubt how much more mildly and how much more mercifully civil wars, stirred up, as they say, are now waged — or rather repressed than waged?

> Latin: 11 cui tandem dubium est, quanto nunc mitius quantoque clementius excitata, ut dicunt, bella ciuilia geruntur, immo reprimuntur potius quam geruntur?

[¶11] For who has heard of a single civil war carried on for ten years in these times? Who remembers 150,000 men slain in a single war, even enemies by enemies, not to say citizens by citizens?

> Latin: 12 quis enim unum ciuile bellum per decem annos his temporibus agitatum audierit? quis uno bello centum quinquaginta milia hominum, uel hostium ab hostibus, ut non dicam ciuium a ciuibus, caesa meminerit?

[¶12] Who has known of that multitude, which it would take long to unfold, of the best and most illustrious men butchered in peace? Finally, who has feared, read, or felt those infamous tables of men marked for killing?

> Latin: 13 quis illam, quam explicare longum est, optimorum atque inlustrium uirorum multitudinem trucidari in pace cognorit? postremo quis illas infames interficiendorum tabulas timuerit legerit senserit?

[¶13] And is it not rather known to all that all, settled together in one peace and secure in the same safety, vanquished and victors alike, have exulted in a common joy, and that even in so many provinces, cities, and peoples of the whole Roman empire there have scarcely ever been a few whom just vengeance condemned, and that even against the victor’s will?

> Latin: 14 ac non potius omnibus notum sit, una cunctos pace compositos atque eadem salute securos uictos uictoresque pariter communi exultasse laetitia, at etiam in tantis totius imperii Romani prouinciis urbibus ac populis uix paucos aliquando extitisse, quos iusta ultio inuito etiam uictore damnarit?

[¶14] And, not to burden words with words, I would not be rash in saying that only as large a band of common soldiers has lately been destroyed, even in war, as was then slaughtered of nobles in peace.

> Latin: 15 et, ut uerbis uerba non onerem, non temere dixerim, tantam uel in bello saltim extinctam modo fuisse gregariorum militum manum quanta tunc caesa est in pace nobilium.

[¶15] So, after Sulla’s death, Lepidus, champion of the Marian party, rising against Catulus, Sulla’s general, stirred up the reviving ashes of the civil wars. Twice then battle was fought in the field; very many Romans were slain — Romans already few in their very wretchedness, and still raging with that madness.

> Latin: 16 Igitur Sylla mortuo Lepidus, Marianae partis adsertor, aduersus Catulum Syllanum ducem surgens, rediuiuos bellorum ciuilium cineres suscitauit. bis tunc acie certatum est; plurimi Romanorum, iam ipsa paucitate miserorum et adhuc illo furore insanientium, caesi sunt.

[¶16] The city of the Albans, besieged and tormented by extreme famine, was saved by the surrender of its pitiable remnants; there Scipio, son of Lepidus, was then captured and killed. Brutus, fleeing into Cisalpine Gaul, was killed at Regium, with Pompey in pursuit.

> Latin: 17 Albanorum ciuitas, obsidione oppugnata atque excruciata fame ultima, miserabilium reliquiarum deditione seruata est; ubi tunc Scipio, Lepidi filius, captus atque occisus est. Brutus in Cisalpinam Galliam fugiens persequente Pompeio apud Regium interfectus est.

*Note: Regium Lepidi (Reggio Emilia) in Cisalpine Gaul, not Rhegium on the Strait of Messina. This Brutus was Marcus Junius Brutus, father of Caesar’s assassin.*

[¶17] Thus this civil war, not so much through the clemency of Catulus as through weariness of Sulla’s cruelty, vanished, like a fire in stubble, with the same speed with which it had blazed up.

> Latin: 18 ita hoc bellum ciuile non magis clementia Catuli quam taedio Syllanae crudelitatis, ut ignis in stipula, eadem celeritate qua exarsit euanuit.

## 111. Book 5 · Chapter 23

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/111/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/111/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 673 from the founding of the City, as the crash of wars resounded on every side — one of them in Spain, another in Pamphylia, a third in Macedonia, a fourth in Dalmatia — the Roman commonwealth, still bloodless and exhausted by destruction within, as if by fevers, was forced to repel with arms the strongest nations of the west and the north.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCLXXIII, sonantibus undique bellorum fragoribus, quorum unum in Hispania erat, aliud in Pamphylia, in Macedonia tertium, quartum in Delmatia, exsanguis adhuc atque exhausta intestina pernicie tamquam febribus Romana respublica propulsare armis occidentis septentrionisque fortissimas gentes cogebatur.

[¶1] For Sertorius, a man powerful in guile and daring, who had belonged to the Marian party, fleeing from Sulla, slipped away from Africa into Spain and roused the most warlike nations to arms.

> Latin: 2 Sertorius siquidem, uir dolo atque audacia potens, cum partium Marianarum fuisset, Syllam fugiens ex Africa dilapsus in Hispanias, bellicosissimas gentes in arma excitauit.

[¶2] Against him, to put it briefly, two generals were sent, Metellus and Domitius, of whom Domitius was crushed with his army by Hirtuleius, Sertorius’s general.

> Latin: 3 aduersus hunc, ut breuiter definiam, duo duces missi Metellus et Domitius: quorum Domitius ab Hirtuleio Sertorii duce cum exercitu oppressus est.

[¶3] Manlius, proconsul of Gaul, having crossed into Spain with three legions and 1,500 horsemen, joined an unequal battle with Hirtuleius; stripped by him of camp and forces, he fled almost alone to the town of Ilerda.

> Latin: 4 Manlius, proconsule Galliae in Hispaniam cum tribus legionibus et mille quingentis equitibus transgressus, iniquam cum Hirtuleio pugnam conseruit: a quo castris copiisque nudatus, in oppidum Ilerdam paene solus refugit.

[¶4] Metellus, worn out by many battles and roaming through pathless places, wore the enemy down by delay until he could unite with Pompey’s camp.

> Latin: 5 Metellus multis proeliis fatigatus, per deuia oberrans hostem mora fatigabat, donec Pompei castris consociaretur.

[¶5] Pompey, having gathered an army at Palencia, tried in vain to defend the city of Lauro, which Sertorius was then attacking, and fled defeated.

> Latin: 6 Pompeius contracto apud Palantiam exercitu Lauronem ciuitatem, quam tunc Sertorius oppugnabat, frustra conatus defendere uictus aufugit.

[¶6] Sertorius, having overcome and routed Pompey, took Lauro and ravaged it most bloodily; the rest of the people of Lauro, who had survived the slaughter, he carried off into Lusitania in pitiable captivity.

> Latin: 7 Sertorius superato fugatoque Pompeio Lauronem captam cruentissime depopulatus est; reliquum agmen Lauronensium, quod caedibus superfuerat, miserabili in Lusitaniam captiuitate traduxit.

[¶7] He boasted, moreover, that he had defeated Pompey — that is, that famous general of the Romans — whom, endowed with great confidence, Rome had sent to this war not in place of a consul but in place of the consuls.

> Latin: 8 Pompeium autem, hoc est illum Romanorum ducem, a se uictum fuisse gloriatus est, quem magna praeditum fiducia ad hoc bellum non pro consule sed pro consulibus Roma misisset.

[¶8] Galba writes that Pompey then had thirty thousand foot and a thousand horse, and records that Sertorius had sixty thousand foot and eight thousand horse.

> Latin: 9 fuisse tunc Pompeio triginta milia peditum, mille equites Galba scribit, Sertorium autem sexaginta milia peditum, octo milia equitum habuisse commemorat.

[¶9] Afterwards, however, Hirtuleius engaged Metellus near Italica, a city of Baetica, lost twenty thousand soldiers, and fled defeated into Lusitania with a few men.

> Latin: 10 postea uero Hirtuleius cum Metello congressus apud Italicam Baeticae urbem uiginti milia militum perdidit uictusque in Lusitaniam cum paucis refugit.

[¶10] Pompey took Belgida, a famous city of Celtiberia. Then Sertorius engaged Pompey and killed ten thousand of his soldiers; while Pompey was victorious on the other wing, Sertorius himself lost almost as many.

> Latin: 11 Pompeius Belgidam, nobilem Celtiberiae urbem, cepit. Sertorius deinde cum Pompeio congressus decem milia militum eius interfecit; ex alio cornu uincente Pompeio tantundem paene ipse perdidit.

[¶11] Many battles besides were fought between them. Memmius, Pompey’s quaestor and also his sister’s husband, was killed. The brothers of Hirtuleius were slain. Perperna, who had joined himself to Sertorius, was crushed.

> Latin: 12 multa inter eos praeterea proelia gesta sunt. Memmius, quaestor Pompei idemque uir sororis eius, occisus est. Hirtulei fratres interfecti. Perpenna, qui se Sertorio iunxerat, comminutus est.

[¶12] Finally Sertorius himself, at last in the tenth year from the war’s beginning, killed through the treachery of his own men, as Viriathus had been, made an end of the war and gave the Romans a victory without glory; although part of his army afterwards followed Perperna, who, defeated by Pompey, was killed together with his whole army.

> Latin: 13 postremo ipse Sertorius decimo demum anno belli inchoati isdem quibus et Viriatus suorum dolis interfectus finem bello fecit Romanisque uictoriam sine gloria dedit; quamuis Perpennam postea pars exercitus eius secuta sit: qui a Pompeio uictus cum uniuerso exercitu suo interfectus est.

[¶13] All the cities were received in surrender of their own accord and without delay, and only two held out, namely Uxama and Calagurris: of these Pompey overthrew Uxama, while Afranius, having worn down Calagurris by continuous siege and driven it by pitiable want to infamous food, destroyed it with final slaughter and fire.

> Latin: 14 ciuitatibus uero cunctis ultro ac sine mora per deditionem receptis, duae tantum restiterunt, hoc est Uxama et Calagurris: quarum Uxamam Pompeius euertit, Calagurrim Afranius iugi obsidione confectam atque ad infames escas miseranda inopia coactam ultima caede incendioque deleuit.

[¶14] The assassins of Sertorius did not think a reward should even be asked of the Romans, remembering, of course, that it had earlier been refused to the assassins of Viriathus.

> Latin: 15 percussores Sertorii praemium ne petendum quidem a Romanis esse duxerunt, quippe qui meminissent antea Viriati percussoribus denegatum.

[¶15] And although they had then secured Roman safety for no reward, nevertheless Spain, ever strong in loyalty and in strength, though she has given the commonwealth the best and most invincible rulers, has never from the beginning down to the present day either sent forth any tyrant born of herself, or let any who invaded her from outside depart alive or in power.

> Latin: 16 Et quamuis nullo tunc praemio patrauerint Romanam securitatem, tamen fortis fide ac uiribus semper Hispania cum optimos inuictissimos reges reipublicae dederit, nullum umquam tyrannorum ab initio usque in hodiernum diem uel de se editum misit uel in se extrinsecus incurrentem uiuum potentemue dimisit.

[¶16] Meanwhile Claudius, to whom the Macedonian war had fallen by lot, [turned against] the various nations that are spread about the Rhodope mountains and were then ravaging Macedonia most cruelly —

> Latin: 17 Interea Macedonicum bellum Claudius sortitus uarias gentes, quae Rhodopaeis montibus circumfusae sunt ac tunc Macedoniam crudelissime populabantur -

[¶17] for among other deeds dreadful to tell and to hear which they practised on their captives, when they needed a cup they would snatch up the bones of human heads, still bloody and hairy and smeared in their inner hollows with brain badly scooped out, and use them greedily and without horror as though they were real cups; and of these nations the most bloodthirsty and savage were the Scordisci —

> Latin: 18 nam inter cetera dictu audituque horrida quae in captiuos agebant, raptis, cum poculo opus esset, humanorum capitum ossibus cruentis capillatisque adhuc ac per interiores cauernas male effosso cerebro oblitis auide ac sine horrore tamquam ueris poculis utebantur: quarum cruentissimi atque immanissimi Scordisci erant -

[¶18] these nations, then, as I have said, Claudius attempted to drive by war from the borders of Macedonia, and threw himself against great masses of evils; whence, sick at heart and beset by cares, and seized by illness besides, he died.

> Latin: 19 has itaque, ut dixi, Claudius pellere Macedoniae finibus bello adtemptauit magnisque se malorum molibus obiecit: unde cum animo aeger et curis circumsaeptus, morbo insuper correptus esset, interiit.

[¶19] His successor Scribonius, avoiding the strength of the nations attacked in the earlier war, turned his arms against Dardania and overcame it.

> Latin: 20 huius successor Scribonius adtemptatarum superiore bello gentium uim declinans, in Dardaniam arma conuertit eamque superauit.

[¶20] Publius Servilius, the ex-consul, attacked Cilicia and Pamphylia most cruelly, and in striving to subdue them almost destroyed them.

> Latin: 21 Publius uero Seruilius exconsule Ciliciam et Pamphyliam crudelissime adortus dum subdere studet, paene deleuit.

[¶21] He besieged, overwhelmed, and took Lycia and its cities. Ranging over Mount Olympus besides, he overthrew Phaselis and destroyed Corycus; searching out, too, the slopes of Mount Taurus that face towards Cilicia, he broke the Isaurians in war and brought them under dominion. He was the first of the Romans to lead an army across the Taurus, and he made a road of his route. After three years had passed, during which the war was waged, he took the name Isauricus.

> Latin: 22 Lyciam et urbes eius obsessas oppressasque cepit. praeterea Olympum montem peruagatus Phasidem euertit, Corycum diruit, Tauri quoque montis latera in Ciliciam uergentia perscrutatus Isauros bello fractos in dicionem redegit; primus Romanorum per Taurum duxit exercitum ac limitem itineris fecit. triennio emenso, quo bellum gestum est, Isaurici nomen adsumpsit.

*Note: Orosius writes “Phasis”; the city is Phaselis in Lycia.*

[¶22] Cosconius, having received Illyricum by lot as proconsul, crushed and subdued Dalmatia and at last, after two years, stormed and took Salonae, a most flourishing city.

> Latin: 23 Cosconius proconsule sortitus Illyricum, protrita subactaque Delmatia Salonas, urbem florentissimam, post biennium tandem expugnauit et cepit.

## 112. Book 5 · Chapter 24

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/112/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/112/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 679 from the founding of the City, in the consulship of Lucullus and Cassius, seventy-four gladiators escaped at Capua from the training school of Gnaeus Lentulus; under the leadership of Crixus and Oenomaus, Gauls, and of Spartacus, a Thracian, they at once seized Mount Vesuvius; bursting out from there, they stormed the camp of the praetor Clodius, who had invested them by siege, and, having put him to flight, carried off everything as plunder.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCLXXVIIII Lucullo et Cassio consulibus gladiatores septuaginta et quattuor Capuae a ludo Cn. Lentuli diffugerunt: qui continuo ducibus Crixo et Oenomao Gallis et Spartaco Thrace Vesuuium montem occupauerunt; unde erumpentes Clodii praetoris, qui eos obsidione cinxerat, castra expugnarunt, ipsoque in fugam acto cuncta in praedam auerterunt.

[¶1] Then, making their way round through Consentia and Metapontum, they gathered enormous columns in a short time. For Crixus is reported to have had a multitude of ten thousand, and Spartacus three times that number; Oenomaus had already been killed in an earlier battle.

> Latin: 2 inde per Consentiam et Metapontum circumducti, ingentia breui agmina collegerunt. nam Crixo decem milium multitudo, Spartaco autem triplex tunc numerus fuisse refertur. Oenomaus enim iam in superiore bello fuerat occisus.

[¶2] So, while they were throwing everything into confusion with slaughter, burning, plunder, and rape, at the funeral of a captive matron who had killed herself in grief at her violated chastity, they put on a gladiatorial show with four hundred captives — those, namely, who would have been the spectators were now to be the spectacle — like trainers of gladiators rather than leaders of soldiers.

> Latin: 3 itaque cum caedibus incendiis rapinis stuprisque omnia miscerent, in exsequiis captiuae matronae, quae se dolore uiolati pudoris necauerat, munus gladiatorium ex quadringentis captiuis scilicet qui spectandi fuerant spectaturi, utpote lanistae gladiatorum potius quam militum principes, ediderunt.

[¶3] Then the consuls Gellius and Lentulus were sent against them with an army; of these Gellius crushed in battle Crixus, who fought most fiercely, while Lentulus, overcome by Spartacus, fled. Afterwards both consuls, having joined their forces in vain, suffered a heavy defeat and fled. Next the same Spartacus crushed the proconsul Gaius Cassius in battle and killed him.

> Latin: 4 deinde consules Gellius et Lentulus aduersum eos cum exercitu missi, quorum Gellius Crixum acerrime pugnantem proelio oppressit, Lentulus a Spartaco superatus aufugit. post etiam conlatis frustra ambo consules copiis, accepta graui clade, fugerunt. dehinc C. Cassium proconsulem idem Spartacus oppressum bello interfecit.

*Note: Gaius Cassius Longinus, governor of Cisalpine Gaul, was defeated by Spartacus near Mutina in 72 BC but escaped with his life; Orosius has him killed.*

[¶4] And so, with the City terrified by a fear almost no less than that with which it had trembled while Hannibal raged about its gates, the senate sent Crassus with the consuls’ legions and a fresh supplement of soldiers.

> Latin: 5 itaque exterrita ciuitate non minore propemodum metu, quam sub Hannibale circa portas fremente trepidauerat, senatus Crassum cum legionibus consulum nouoque supplemento militum misit.

[¶5] As soon as he engaged the fugitives in battle, he killed six thousand of them and captured nine hundred. Then, before attacking Spartacus himself, who was pitching camp at the source of the river Silarus, he overcame his Gallic and German auxiliaries, killing thirty thousand of them together with their leaders.

> Latin: 6 is mox ut fugitiuorum pugnam iniit, sex milia eorum interfecit, nongentos uero cepit. inde priusquam ipsum Spartacum ad caput Silari fluminis castra metantem bello adgrederetur, Gallos auxiliatores eius Germanosque superauit, e quibus XXX milia hominum cum ipsis ducibus occidit.

[¶6] Finally he engaged Spartacus himself in drawn-up battle and struck down both him and the very great forces of fugitives with him. For sixty thousand of them are reported to have been slain and six thousand captured, while three thousand Roman citizens were recovered.

> Latin: 7 nouissime ipsum Spartacum disposita acie congressum maximasque cum eo fugitiuorum copias perculit. nam sexaginta milia eorum caesa, sex milia capta referuntur, tria milia ciuium Romanorum recepta sunt.

[¶7] The rest, who had slipped away from this war and were wandering about, were worn down by a number of generals in repeated hunts.

> Latin: 8 ceteri, qui ex hoc bello lapsi oberrabant, per conplures duces frequenti indagine attriti sunt.

[¶8] But I repeat it again and yet again: do the times here too stand in need of any comparison? Who, I ask, would not shudder to hear — I will not say of such wars, but even of so many names of wars: foreign, servile, social, civil, and of fugitives?

> Latin: 9 At ego iterum ac saepius repeto: num quidnam et hic conparatione aliqua egent tempora? quis rogo audire non horreat non dicam bella talia, sed uel nomina tanta bellorum, externa, seruilia, socialia, ciuilia, fugitiuorum?

[¶9] These do not even follow one another as the waves of a stirred-up sea follow, however great their masses, but, roused and heaped together on every side by diverse causes, names, forms, and evils, they rush together.

> Latin: 10 quae ne sic saltem sese, ut commoti maris fluctus quamuis molibus magnis sequuntur, sed undique diuersis causis uocabulis formis malisque excitata coaceruataque concurrunt.

[¶10] To begin again from the nearest, and to pass over that infamous servile war: the Jugurthine war had not yet finished thundering from the south-west when the Cimbric was already flashing its lightning from the north-west.

> Latin: 11 ut e proximo repetam et infame illud seruile praeteream, Iugurthinum bellum nondum adhuc ab Africo perdetonuerat, iam Cimbricum a circio fulminabat.

[¶11] From those Cimbric clouds foul and vast torrents of shed blood were still being driven, when wretched Italy was already breathing out the mists of the Social War, which were soon to gather into great storm-clouds of evils.

> Latin: 12 de Cimbricis illis nubibus adhuc foedi uastique torrentes effusi sanguinis agebantur, iam socialis belli nebulas in magna continuo malorum nubila coituras misera exhalabat Italia.

[¶12] And still, after the endless and repeated storm of the Italian war, it was scarcely possible to travel safely through Italy, so did everything totter in a loose and slippery peace, quite apart from those most perilous whirlpools of hostile cities;

> Latin: 13 adhuc uero post infinitam crebramque Italici belli tempestatem discurri tuto per Italiam minime poterat, ita omnes absque illis periculosissimis inimicarum urbium uoraginibus dissoluta ac lubrica pace titubabant;

[¶13] already Rome was in labour with her destruction at the hands of Marius and Cinna, and another destruction, from the opposite quarter, the east and the north-east — namely the Mithridatic — was threatening; and this Mithridatic war, begun in the earlier times, stretches on further into later ones.

> Latin: 14 iam sibi Marianum atque Cinnanum Roma parturiebat excidium, aliudque e diuerso oriens atque aquilo, hoc est Mithridaticum, minabatur, quod quidem Mithridaticum a superioribus coeptum porro in ulteriora porrigitur.

[¶14] From the Marian torch the pyre of Sulla’s disaster was kindled; from that most deadly pyre of Sulla and of the civil war burning brands were scattered through very many parts of the world, and spread many conflagrations from a single tinder.

> Latin: 15 de Mariana face rogus Syllanae cladis accensus est, de isto rogo funestissimo Syllani et ciuilis belli per plurimas terrarum partes ardentes sudes sparsi sunt multaque incendia ex uno fomite diffuderunt.

[¶15] For Lepidus and Scipio in Italy, Brutus in Gaul, Domitius, Cinna’s son-in-law, in Africa, Carbo in Cossura and Sicily, Perperna in Liguria and afterwards with Sertorius in Spain, and, most atrocious of all, Sertorius in that same Spain, stirring up these wars — civil, or by whatever other name they should be called — made many out of one, and great ones out of a great one;

> Latin: 16 nam Lepidus et Scipio in Italia, Brutus in Gallia, Domitius Cinnae gener in Africa, Carbo in Cossura et Sicilia, Perpenna in Liguria et post cum Sertorio in Hispania, omniumque atrocissimus Sertorius in eadem Hispania haec tunc ciuilia, uel quo alio dicenda sunt nomine, bella excitantes, de uno multa, de magno magna fecerunt;

[¶16] not counting those three vast wars which were then called foreign — the Pamphylian, the Macedonian, and the Dalmatian — and passing over, too, that great Mithridatic war, by far the [longest,] most dangerous, and most dreadful of all;

> Latin: 17 absque illis tribus uastissimis bellis, quae tunc externa uocabantur, hoc est Pamphylico Macedonico atque Delmatico, dissimulato etiam magno illo Mithridatico longe omnium [diuturno] infestissimo ac formidulosissimo;

[¶17] then, while the Sertorian war in Spain was not yet finished — nay, while Sertorius himself was still alive — this war of fugitives, or, to speak more truly, of gladiators, rose bristling, no longer a thing to be watched by a few, but to be feared everywhere.

> Latin: 18 deinde, adhuc Hispaniensi Sertoriano nondum finito immo adhuc ipso uiuente Sertorio, hoc fugitiuorum et, ut uerius dicam, gladiatoricium bellum inhorruit, iam non spectandum paucis sed ubique metuendum.

[¶18] Because it is called a war of fugitives, let no one hold it cheap on account of its name: in it the consuls were often defeated singly, and once both together, their columns joined in vain, and very many nobles were slaughtered; while of the fugitives themselves more than a hundred thousand were slain.

> Latin: 19 quod quia fugitiuorum bellum dicitur, nemini uile habeatur ex nomine: saepe in eo singuli et aliquando simul cum agminibus frustra iunctis ambo consules uicti sunt plurimique nobiles trucidati; ipsi autem fugitiui plus quam centum milia fuere qui caesi sunt.

[¶19] From this we admonish Italy to console herself for her present harassment by foreign enemies by recalling those of her own in the past, who, sprung from her and turned against her, tore her very self apart incomparably more cruelly.

> Latin: 20 ex quo admonemus ut ipsa se consoletur Italia de uexatione externorum praesentium per recordationem praeteritorum ex se atque in se et ipsam se inconparabiliter crudelius dilacerantum suorum.

[¶20] For this reason I shall now bring this fifth volume to an end, so that the civil wars, everywhere intermingled with foreign ones — both those already told and those that follow — since they have clung together in the sequence of the times and in evils following one upon another, may at least be separated by the boundary of a book.

> Latin: 21 Quamobrem huic nunc quinto uolumini iam finem fecerim ut bella ciuilia externis ubique permixta, uel quae dicta sunt uel etiam quae sequuntur, quia sic sibi serie temporum et malis sequacibus cohaeserunt libri saltem termino separentur.

## 113. Book 6 · Chapter 1

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/113/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/113/#p-N

[¶0] All men, of whatever sect, way of life or country, are always so raised up by a natural good towards the outlook of prudence that, even if they do not in practice prefer the rational part of the mind to the delight of the body, they nevertheless know by judgement that it ought to be preferred. This mind, lit up under the guidance of reason, rising in the midst of the virtues — towards which it rises with an inborn favour, even though it is inclined to vices — looks out upon the knowledge of God as upon a citadel.

> Latin: 1 Omnes homines cuiuslibet uel sectae uel uitae uel patriae ita semper ad prospectum prudentiae naturali bono eriguntur, ut oblectamento corporis rationale mentis etsi non actu praeferant, iudicio tamen praeferendum sciant. quae mens, ratione duce inlustrata, in medio uirtutum, quibus genuino fauore, quamuis uitiis inclinetur, adsurgit, scientiam Dei quasi arcem prospicit.

[¶1] For any man may despise God for a time; he cannot be wholly ignorant of him. Hence some, believing God to be in many things, have fashioned many gods out of an undiscerning fear. But from this men have by now departed, above all through the working of the authority of truth and through the scrutiny of reason itself.

> Latin: 2 Deum enim quilibet hominum contemnere ad tempus potest, nescire in totum non potest. unde quidam dum in multis Deum credunt, multos deos indiscreto timore finxerunt. sed hinc iam uel maxime cum auctoritate ueritatis operante tum ipsa etiam ratione discutiente discessum est.

[¶2] For even their philosophers — to say nothing of our own saints — while they sought and searched into all things with intent study of mind, found one God, the author of all things, to whom alone all things should be referred; hence even now the pagans, whom the truth, now made plain, convicts of obstinacy rather than of ignorance, confess when they are questioned by us that they do not follow many gods, but venerate many ministers under one great god.

> Latin: 3 quippe cum et philosophi eorum, ut de nostris sanctis sileam, dum intento mentis studio quaerunt scrutanturque omnia, unum Deum auctorem omnium reppererunt, ad quem unum omnia referrentur; unde etiam nunc pagani, quos iam declarata ueritas de contumacia magis quam de ignorantia conuincit, cum a nobis discutiuntur, non se plures deos sequi sed sub uno deo magno plures ministros uenerari fatentur.

[¶3] There remains, then, a disagreement about the understanding of the true God, confused by many conjectures of the understanding, since about one God almost all hold one opinion. Thus far human inquiry, though with labour, has been able to go. But where reasoning fails, faith comes to its aid. For “unless we believe, we shall not understand”:

> Latin: 4 restat igitur de intellegentia ueri Dei per multas intellegendi suspiciones confusa dissensio, quia de uno deo omnium paene una opinio est. hucusque humana scrutatio, etsi cum labore, potuit. at ubi ratiocinatio deficit, fides subuenit. nisi enim crediderimus, non intellegemus:

[¶4] hear from God himself, and believe God himself, whatever you would know truly about God. Accordingly this same one and true God — upon whom, as we have said, every sect converges, though from differing opinions — he who changes kingdoms and orders the times, who also punishes sins, who has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the strong, founded the Roman Empire, taking up a shepherd of the poorest condition.

> Latin: 5 ab ipso audias ipsique Deo credas, quod uerum uelis scire de Deo. itaque idem unus et uerus Deus, in quem omnis, ut diximus, etsi ex diuersis opinionibus secta concurrit, mutans regna et disponens tempora, peccata quoque puniens, quae infirma sunt mundi elegit, ut confundat fortia, Romanumque imperium adsumpto pauperrimi status pastore fundauit.

[¶5] After this empire, long advanced through kings and consuls, had become master of Asia, Africa and Europe, he gathered the whole of it, by his own ordinance, under a single emperor, at once the most valiant and the most merciful.

> Latin: 6 hoc per reges et consules diu prouectum postquam Asiae Africae atque Europae potitum est, ad unum imperatorem eundemque fortissimum et clementissimum cuncta sui ordinatione congessit.

[¶6] Under this emperor, whom almost all nations justly honoured with love and fear mingled, the true God, who was worshipped with an anxious superstition by those who did not know him, opened that great fountain of the knowledge of himself; and, to teach men more readily through a man, he sent his Son, working mighty works that surpassed man and refuting the demons, whom some had thought gods, so that those who had not believed him as a man might believe his works as the works of God;

> Latin: 7 sub hoc imperatore, quem omnes fere gentes amore et timore permixto iuste honorarent, Deus uerus, qui superstitione sollicita ab ignorantibus colebatur, magnum illum intellegentiae suae fontem aperuit promptiusque per hominem docturus homines filium suum misit operantem uirtutes, quae praecellerent hominem, coarguentemque daemonas, quos aliqui deos putauissent, ut qui ipsi tamquam homini non credidissent, operibus tamquam Dei crederent;

[¶7] and further, so that in a great silence and a peace of the widest extent the glory of the new name and the swift report of the salvation proclaimed might run abroad quickly and without hindrance; or also so that his disciples, as they went through the various nations and freely offered the gifts of salvation to all, might have a safe liberty of going about and of speaking, as Roman citizens among Roman citizens.

> Latin: 8 deinde ut in magno silentio ac pace latissima inoffense et celeriter noui nominis gloria et adnuntiatae salutis uelox fama percurreret uel etiam ut discipulis eius per diuersas gentes euntibus ultroque per cunctos salutis dona offerentibus obeundi ac disserendi quippe Romanis ciuibus inter ciues Romanos esset tuta libertas.

[¶8] I have thought this worth recalling because this sixth little book extends as far as Caesar Augustus, of whom these things are said.

> Latin: 9 Quod ideo commemorandum putaui, quia hic sextus libellus usque ad Caesarem Augustum, de quo haec dicuntur, extenditur.

[¶9] But if some think this most lucid account void, and assign the matter rather to their own gods, whom, they say, they first chose by prudence and then invited with outstanding worship, so that through them this most ample and most beautiful empire might be founded for them —

> Latin: 10 quodsi aliqui hanc lucidissimam rationem inritam putant, suisque dis potius adsignant, quos primum prudentia elegerint deinde praecipuo cultu inuitarint, ut sibi per eos amplissimum hoc pulcherrimumque imperium conderetur -

[¶10] for so they boast: that by the best kind of rites they themselves earned the special favour of the gods, and that when these rites were taken away or neglected, “all the gods by whom this empire had stood departed, leaving their shrines and altars” —

> Latin: 11 sic enim iactitant, quia ipsi optimo genere sacrorum emeruerint praecipuum deorum fauorem, quibus ademptis uel praetermissis discesserint omnes adytis arisque relictis Di, quibus imperium hoc steterat -

*Note: Virgil, Aeneid 2.351–2, where the gods are said to have deserted Troy on the night of its fall.*

[¶11] then, although your reverend Holiness has discussed many things most forcefully and most truly, this place nevertheless requires of me too that I add a few words.

> Latin: 12 unde, quamuis reuerentia sanctitatis tuae multa fortissime uerissimeque disseruerit, tamen et mihi locus exigit, ut pauca subiciam.

*Note: Orosius addresses Augustine, at whose request he wrote; Augustine answered this pagan charge at length in the early books of the City of God.*

[¶12] If the Romans earned the favour of the gods by worshipping them and lost it by not worshipping them, then that Romulus himself, the parent of Rome, should have been kept safe amid so many evils pressing upon him from his very birth — who earned this by worship?

> Latin: 13 si Romani colendo deos emeruerunt fauorem deorum et non colendo amiserunt: ut ipse Romulus, parens Romae, inter tot mala ab ipso ortu suo ingruentia saluus esset, colendo quis meruit?

[¶13] Was it Amulius, his grandfather, who exposed him to death? His father, who was uncertain? Rhea his mother, guilty of unchastity? The Albans, his kin, who themselves too persecuted the very seeds of the Roman name from the beginning? Or the whole of Italy, which for four hundred years, as long as it dared, gaped for its destruction?

> Latin: 14 an Amulius auus, qui exposuit ad necem? an pater, qui incertus fuit? an Rhea mater stupri rea? an Albani parentes, ipsa quoque ab initio Romani nominis germina persequentes? an tota Italia quae per quadringentos annos, dum audere potuit, excidio eius inhiauit?

*Note: Amulius was in fact the great-uncle of Romulus, the brother of his grandfather Numitor; Orosius calls him auus, “grandfather”.*

[¶14] No, they say; but the gods themselves, because they knew that they would be worshipped, guarded their future worshippers. Then they have foreknowledge.

> Latin: 15 non, inquiunt, sed di ipsi, quia se colendos sciebant, futuros custodiere cultores. ergo praescii sunt.

[¶15] If they have foreknowledge, why, among the ages of so many years, did they bring this empire to the highest citadel of power at precisely that time when he willed to be born among men and to be acknowledged as a man — he after whose name they themselves were despised as nothing, and even those whom they had advanced ran to him together with the whole world?

> Latin: 16 si praescii sunt, cur hoc imperium inter tot annorum saecula eo potissimum tempore ad summam potentiae arcem perduxerunt, quo ille nasci inter homines atque adgnosci ut homo uoluit, post cuius nomen et ipsi pro nihilo contempti sunt et cum uniuerso mundo etiam illi, quos ipsi prouexerant, cucurrerunt?

[¶16] But, they say, he crept in humbly and entered in secret. If he was hidden and humble, whence so celebrated a fame, so undoubted a faith, so manifest a power? By certain signs and mighty works he seized and held the minds of men, anxious with superstition. But if a man could do these things, the gods ought to have been able to do more.

> Latin: 17 sed humiliter obrepsit, inquiunt, et latenter intrauit. latentis et humilis unde tam celebris fama, tam indubitata fides, tam manifesta potentia? signis quibusdam et uirtutibus mentes hominum superstitione sollicitas cepit et tenuit. at haec si homo potuit, di magis posse debuerunt.

[¶17] Or was it because he preached that this power had been handed to him by the Father that men at length came to the understanding of that known and unknown God, whom, as I have said, no one can grasp except through him? Nor can anyone, unless, having looked through his whole self and looked down upon it, he has turned to the wisdom of God and transferred all the reasoning of inquiry to the faith of believing.

> Latin: 18 an quia ille hanc potentiam a Patre sibi traditam praedicabat, peruentum est aliquando ad intellegentiam illius noti et ignoti Dei, quam adprehendere, ut dixi, nemo nisi per ipsum potest? nec quisquam potest, nisi qui toto se perspecto ac despecto conuersus ad sapientiam Dei omnem quaerendi ratiocinationem transtulerit ad credendi fidem.

[¶18] Nevertheless, let me discuss it briefly. These gods, whom they declare to be so great that they appear both to have advanced the Roman commonwealth when propitious and to have afflicted it when averse, were certainly being worshipped with the utmost devotion and attention at that very time — as is openly established — when Christ willed to be born and began to be proclaimed to the nations.

> Latin: 19 uerumtamen breuiter discutio: di isti, quos tantos ferunt, ut Romanam rempublicam et propitii prouexisse et auersi adflixisse uideantur, eo certe tempore, quod palam constat, quo nasci Christus uoluit et adnuntiari gentibus coepit deuotissime atque intentissime colebantur.

[¶19] Were they then, taking counsel both for themselves and for their worshippers, unable either to check or to repel his superstition, on account of which they saw that they would be spurned and their worshippers forsaken? And yet, if they were spurned by the unwilling, pardon should have been granted and these should not have been deserted; if by the willing, their foreknowledge should have been kept, and these should never have been helped in the first place.

> Latin: 20 ita illi consulentes et sibi et cultoribus suis non potuerunt uel reprimere uel repellere superstitionem eius, propter quam spernendos se cultoresque suos destituendos uiderent? quamquam si ab inuitis, danda uenia nec deserendi fuerunt; si a uoluntariis, seruanda praescientia nec prius fuerant adiuuandi.

[¶20] This was done, they say; for we stirred up nations, inflamed kings, established laws, appointed judges, prepared punishments with tortures and crosses, and searched the whole world, if by any means the Christian name and worship might be scraped off from the face of the whole world.

> Latin: 21 hoc factum est, inquiunt; nam excitauimus gentes, accendimus reges, instituimus leges, disposuimus iudices, praeparauimus poenas suppliciis et crucibus, orbem totum scrutati sumus, siquo modo Christianum nomen et cultus uniuerso mundo posset abradi.

[¶21] This was done only so long as that fruitful cruelty went on advancing, amid torments and through torments, until it took possession of the very summit of royal power, through which alone it could have been prevented.

> Latin: 22 hoc eatenus factum est, donec fecunda crudelitas eo usque inter tormenta ac per tormenta proficeret, quamdiu ipsum regium culmen, per quod solum prohiberi potuerat, occuparet.

[¶22] And what followed afterwards? The Christian emperors, they say, ordered the rites to cease and the temples to be closed, and therefore “all the gods by whom this empire had stood departed, leaving their shrines and altars.”

> Latin: 23 et quid postea consecutum est? imperatores, inquiunt, Christiani cessare sacra et claudi templa iusserunt atque ideo Excessere omnes adytis arisque relictis Di, quibus imperium hoc steterat.

[¶23] O how great and how unoffending is the light of truth, if only weak eyes were not unhappily shut against it as it freely offers itself! If the Christian faith, through many past ages, could in no way be suppressed, though nations, kings, laws, slaughters, crosses and deaths raged against it on every side — nay rather, as I have said, it grew amid these things and through them — while the worship of idols, already in a manner failing of itself and blushing for itself, ceased at a single most merciful command without any terror of punishment:

> Latin: 24 O quanta et quam inoffensa lux ueritatis est, si non aduersus eam ultro sese offerentem inbecilli infeliciter oculi clauderentur! si Christiana fides per multa retro tempora saeuientibus undique aduersum se gentibus regibus legibus caedibus crucibus ac mortibus reprimi nullo modo potuit, immo, ut dixi, inter haec et per haec creuit, cultus autem idolorum iam quodammodo ex se deficiens ac sibi erubescens ad unam clementissimam iussionem sine ullo poenali terrore cessauit:

[¶24] who can doubt that through the demonstration of this understanding the creature has at last come to know, concerning its Creator, what it had hitherto sought through the various reasonings of the mind, however intent, while darkened by other things, and that through this it at once clung to the love of him whom, even in ignorance, it had loved?

> Latin: 25 cui dubium est hoc per istius intellegentiae demonstrationem de creatore suo tandem innotuisse creaturae, quod illa eatenus per uarias ratiocinationes mentis, intentae quamlibet, aliis offuscata quaesierit ac per hoc statim amori eius, quem etiam ignorans dilexerat, inhaesisse?

[¶25] It is no wonder, then, if in a great household some slaves are found who, made accustomed by the habits and wantonness of seducers, abuse their master’s patience to the point of despising him; and so God justly rebukes the ungrateful, the unbelieving, or even the obstinate with various chastisements.

> Latin: 26 nec igitur mirum est, si in magna familia inueniuntur aliqui serui, qui consuetudine lasciuiaque seductorum adsuefacti patientia domini sui ad contemptum ipsius abutantur: unde et merito Deus uel ingratos uel incredulos uel etiam contumaces uariis correptionibus arguit;

[¶26] This must indeed always be confessed, but above all for that time when as yet there was no church throughout the whole world to temper, by the intervention of faithful prayers, the deserved punishments of the world and the just judgement of God, once his clemency had been entreated. Hence also these things which seem evils to men, of whatever kind they are, were all without doubt more grievous then, as will be proved by the very order in which they have been begun.

> Latin: 27 quod semper utique confitendum est, tunc tamen praecipue, quando adhuc per uniuersum mundum nulla erat ecclesia, quae interuentu fidelium precum meritas mundi poenas iustumque iudicium Dei exorata ipsius clementia temeraret: unde etiam haec, quae mala hominibus uidentur, qualiacumque sunt, grauiora sine dubio omnia fuerunt, sicut ipso, quo coepta sunt, ordine probabuntur.

[¶27] The Mithridatic War — or, to speak more truly, the disaster of the Mithridatic War, involving many provinces at once — was drawn out and protracted for forty years.

> Latin: 28 Bellum Mithridaticum uel, ut uerius dicam, belli Mithridatici clades multas simul inuoluens prouincias tracta et protenta per quadraginta annos fuit.

[¶28] For it broke out, as I have said, in the year 662 from the founding of the City, the year in which the first civil war too had begun; and in the consulship of Cicero and Antonius, to use the words of the finest poet, it was “scarcely brought to an end by barbarian poison.”

> Latin: 29 nam DCLXII, ut dixi, anno ab urbe condita, quo etiam primum ciuile bellum coeperat, inardescens, consulatu uero Ciceronis et Antonii, ut uerbis poetae optimi loquar, barbarico uix consummata ueneno est.

*Note: The war broke out in 88 BC, which is 666 on the usual (Varronian) reckoning from the founding of the City. The poet quoted is Lucan (Pharsalia 1), alluding to Mithridates’ death by poison in 63 BC, the year of Cicero’s consulship.*

[¶29] But within these times only thirty years of waging war are found. How it came to be called forty by most writers is not easily determined.

> Latin: 30 sed in his temporibus triginta gerendi belli inueniuntur anni. qualiter autem quadraginta a plerisque dicti sint non facile discernitur.

## 114. Book 6 · Chapter 2

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/114/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/114/#p-N

[¶0] So Mithridates, king of Pontus and Armenia, after he had attempted to deprive Nicomedes, king of Bithynia and a friend of the Roman people, of his kingdom, and had been warned by the senate that if he tried it the Roman people would make war upon him, in anger at once overran Cappadocia, drove out King Ariobarzanes, and laid waste the whole province with fire and sword.

> Latin: 1 Igitur Mithridates rex Ponti atque Armeniae postquam Nicomedem Bithyniae regem amicum populi Romani regno priuare molitus est atque a senatu monitus, si facere temptaret, bellum sibi a populo Romano inferendum fore, iratus Cappadociam continuo peruasit atque expulso ab ea Ariobarzane rege cunctam prouinciam igni ferroque uastauit.

*Note: Mithridates VI ruled Pontus and Lesser Armenia; Greater Armenia was the kingdom of his son-in-law Tigranes.*

[¶1] Next he seized Bithynia with like slaughter. He afflicted Paphlagonia with a similar fate, driving out its kings Pylaemenes and Nicomedes. Afterwards, when he had come to Ephesus, he ordered by a cruel edict that whatever Roman citizens were found throughout all Asia should all be killed on a single day.

> Latin: 2 Bithyniam deinde pari clade corripuit. Paphlagoniam simili exitu adflixit pulsis ex ea Pylaemene et Nicomede regibus. post cum uenisset Ephesum, crudeli praecepit edicto, ut per totam Asiam quicumque inuenti essent ciues Romani sub una die omnes necarentur.

[¶2] And it was done; nor can it in any way be set out or grasped in words how great a multitude of Roman citizens was then slain, what grief there was in very many provinces, what groaning both of those who were to be killed and of those who killed, when each and every man was compelled either to betray innocent guests and friends or to be himself endangered by the penalty due to his guests.

> Latin: 3 et factum est; nec explicari aut conprehendi ullo modo uerbis potest, quae tunc multitudo Romanorum ciuium caesa sit, quis maeror plurimarum prouinciarum, quis gemitus occidendorum pariter atque occidentium fuerit, cum singuli quique aut prodere innocentes hospites et amicos, aut ipsi periclitari poena hospitum cogerentur.

[¶3] Archelaus too, Mithridates’ general, sent ahead into Achaea with 120,000 foot and horse, took Athens and all Greece, partly by force and partly by surrender.

> Latin: 4 Archelaus quoque dux Mithridatis cum CXX milibus peditum atque equitum in Achaiam praemissus Athenas cunctamque Graeciam partim ui partim deditione obtinuit.

[¶4] Sulla, to whom the Mithridatic War had fallen after his consulship, long besieged Archelaus at the Piraeus, the port of the Athenians, fortified with a sevenfold wall, and took the city of Athens itself by force. Afterwards he engaged Archelaus in a pitched battle: 110,000 of Archelaus’s army are reported to have been killed, and scarcely 10,000 to have survived.

> Latin: 5 Sylla, cui post consulatum Mithridaticum bellum obuenerat, Archelaum apud Piraeum, Atheniensium portum septemplici muro conmunitum, diu obsedit, ipsam Atheniensium urbem ui cepit. postea iusto proelio cum Archelao conflixit: centum decem milia de exercitu Archelai interfecta, uix decem milia superfuisse referuntur.

[¶5] On learning of the disaster, Mithridates sent seventy thousand of his choicest soldiers from Asia to reinforce Archelaus. In a second battle fifty thousand of these were killed, and there Diogenes, the son of Archelaus, was slaughtered.

> Latin: 6 conperta clade Mithridates lectissima septuaginta milia militum Archelao in subsidium misit ex Asia. secundo proelio quinquaginta milia ex his interfecta sunt ibique Diogenes Archelai filius trucidatus est.

[¶6] In a third battle all the forces Archelaus had were wiped out. For twenty thousand of his soldiers, driven into a marsh, were killed by the insatiable wrath of the victor when they implored Sulla’s protection, and as many again were forced into a river and drowned; the rest of the wretches were butchered here and there.

> Latin: 7 tertio bello omnes copiae, quas Archelaus habebat, extinctae sunt. nam uiginti milia militum eius in paludem pulsa cum Syllae fidem inplorarent, insatiabili uictoris ira interfecta sunt totidemque alia in flumen coacta ac necata, reliqui miserorum passim trucidati sunt.

[¶7] Moreover Mithridates had set his mind on killing the leading men of the noblest cities in Asia and confiscating their goods. And when he had already killed 1,600 in this way, the Ephesians, fearing the example, shut out his garrison and barred their gates; the people of Smyrna, Sardis, Colophon and Tralles did likewise.

> Latin: 8 porro autem Mithridates in Asia nobilissimarum urbium principes occidere bonaque eorum publicare animo intenderat. cumque iam mille sescentos ita interfecisset, Ephesii exemplum uerentes excluso praesidio eius portas obiecerunt; similiter Smyrnaei Sardi Colophonii Trallianique fecerunt.

[¶8] Mithridates, thrown into confusion, made terms of peace with Sulla through his general Archelaus. Meanwhile Fimbria, the henchman of the Marian crimes and the most reckless of all men, killed the consul Flaccus, under whom he had gone out as legate, at Nicomedia;

> Latin: 9 perturbatus Mithridates per Archelaum ducem suum cum Sylla de pace pepigit. interea Fimbria Marianorum scelerum satelles, homo omnium audacissimus, Flaccum consulem, cui legatus ierat, apud Nicomediam occidit;

[¶9] and soon, seizing the army, he put Mithridates’ son to flight from Asia to Miletopolis, attacked the king’s quarters, drove the king himself out of Pergamum, and, pursuing him in his flight, besieged him at Pitane; and he would surely have taken him, had Lucius Lucullus put the care of the commonwealth before civil discords and been willing to hem him in by sea by setting his fleet in the way.

> Latin: 10 ac mox arrepto exercitu Mithridatis filium ex Asia ad Miletopolin fugat, stationem regis inuadit ipsumque Pergamo pellit fugientemque insecutus apud Pitanam obsedit, et profecto cepisset, si L. Lucullus ciuilibus discordiis curam reipublicae praetulisset eumque mari coartare obiecta classe uoluisset.

[¶10] Then Fimbria, angered with the people of Ilium, by whom he believed himself repulsed when they shut their gates on him out of zeal for Sulla’s party, utterly destroyed with slaughter and fire the city of Ilium itself, that ancient parent of Rome. But Sulla at once restored it. The same Fimbria, when he was besieged by Sulla’s army at Thyatira, was driven by despair to kill himself with his own hand in the temple of Aesculapius.

> Latin: 11 inde Fimbria Iliensibus iratus, a quibus pro Syllanae partis studio obiectu portarum repulsus uidebatur, ipsam urbem Ilium, antiquam illam Romae parentem, funditus caede incendioque deleuit. sed eam Sylla continuo reformauit. idem Fimbria apud Thyatiram cum ab exercitu Syllae obsideretur, desperatione adactus in templo Aesculapii manu sua interfectus est.

[¶11] Fannius and Magius, deserters from Fimbria’s army, joined Mithridates; at their urging Mithridates made a treaty with Sertorius through envoys sent to Spain. Sertorius sent Marcus Marius to him to confirm the treaty; the king kept him at his court and soon made him general in place of Archelaus, who had gone over to Sulla with his wife and children.

> Latin: 12 Fannius et Magius de exercitu Fimbriae profugi Mithridati sese adiunxerunt: quorum hortatu Mithridates cum Sertorio per legatos in Hispaniam missos foedus pepigit. Sertorius ad eum M. Marium firmandi foederis causa misit: quem rex apud se retentum breui ducem fecit in locum Archelai, qui se ad Syllam cum uxore liberisque contulerat.

[¶12] Marius and Eumachus, the generals sent by Mithridates against Lucullus, having quickly gathered a great army, engaged Publius Rutilius near Chalcedon and cut him down together with the greater part of his army.

> Latin: 13 Marius et Eumachus duces a Mithridate aduersus Lucullum missi, magno exercitu breui congregato cum P. Rutilio apud Chalcedonam congressi sunt eumque cum plurima exercitus ipsius parte ceciderunt.

[¶13] Lucullus encircled Mithridates with a ditch while he was besieging the Cyzicenes, and compelled him to suffer what he was inflicting; and he sent to the Cyzicenes themselves, to bid them be of good heart, a messenger, one of his soldiers skilled in swimming, who, buoyed up on two skins, holding the crossbar between them and paddling with his feet, crossed seven miles of water.

> Latin: 14 Lucullus Mithridatem Cyzicenos obsidentem fossa cinxit eumque quod faciebat pati conpulit atque ad ipsos Cyzicenos, ut bono animo essent, nuntium misit unum ex militibus nandi peritum: qui duobus utribus suspensus mediam ipse regulam tenens plantisque subremigans septem milia passuum transmeauit.

[¶14] Mithridates, suffering from want, ordered part of his forces, drawn up under arms, to go home; Lucullus intercepted it and destroyed it entirely, for he is said to have killed more than fifteen thousand men on that occasion.

> Latin: 15 Mithridates inopia laborans partem copiarum instructam armis domum abire praecepit: quam Lucullus excipiens uniuersam disperdidit, nam amplius quam quindecim milia hominum tunc interfecisse narratur.

[¶15] At that time too Fannius, who had joined Mithridates, and Metrophanes, the king’s praetor, defeated by Mamercus, fled with two thousand horsemen into Mysia, and turning aside from there into Maeonia, they came upon the Inarime hills and plains.

> Latin: 16 tunc etiam Fannius, qui se Mithridati iunxerat, et Metrophanes regius praetor a Mamerco uicti, cum duobus milibus equitum in Moesiam profugerunt atque inde in Maeoniam digressi in colles camposque Inarimos inciderunt.

*Note: Orosius writes Moesia, but the region meant is Mysia in north-western Asia Minor, next to Maeonia (Lydia), not the Danubian province of Moesia.*

[¶16] There not only are mountains seen scorched and rocks darkened as if with a kind of soot, but the plains too lie squalid with burnt soil for fifty miles, crumbling, without a single trace of fire or furnace, with ash hanging down into the depths; in three places, moreover, scorching chasms are shown, which the Greeks call physae.

> Latin: 17 ubi non solum montes usti uel saxa quasi quadam fuligine obfuscata cernuntur, uerum etiam campi ambusto solo squalidi per quinquaginta milia passuum sine uno ignis uel fornacis indicio et pendulo in profundum cinere putres iacent; tribus etiam locis torridae uoragines ostenduntur, quas Graeci physas uocant.

*Note: This is the volcanic district on the borders of Lydia and Mysia that the Greeks called Katakekaumene, “the Burnt Land”.*

[¶17] Wandering among these for a long time, they were at last delivered from unexpected dangers and came secretly to the king’s camp. Deiotarus, king of Gallograecia, slaughtered the king’s prefects in war.

> Latin: 18 in quibus diu oberrantes inopinatis tandem periculis exempti sunt et clam in regis castra uenerunt. Deiotarus rex Gallograeciae praefectos regis bello trucidauit.

[¶18] Meanwhile Mithridates, besieged at Cyzicus by the very delay with which he was besieging it, reduced his army to great want and pestilence. For he is said to have lost more than three hundred thousand men by hunger and disease in that same siege; he himself seized a ship and fled secretly from the camp with a few.

> Latin: 19 Interea Mithridates apud Cyzicum eadem mora, qua obsidebat, obsessus in magnam penuriam pestilentiamque exercitum suum coartauit. nam plus quam trecenta milia hominum fame et morbo in eadem obsidione amisisse fertur; ipse cum paucis arrepta naui clam fugit e castris.

[¶19] Lucullus, a spectator of another’s disaster without the shedding of his soldiers’ blood, won a new kind of victory; soon he attacked Marius, defeated him and put him to flight: in this battle more than eleven thousand of Marius’s soldiers are reported to have been killed.

> Latin: 20 Lucullus, incruento milite spectator cladis alienae, nouum genus uictoriae adeptus est; mox Marium adortus uicit fugauitque: in quo proelio plus quam undecim milia Marianorum militum interfecta referuntur.

[¶20] Afterwards Lucullus, engaging the same Marius in a naval battle, sank or captured thirty-two royal ships and a good many transports. Many of those whom Sulla had proscribed were slain there.

> Latin: 21 Lucullus postea cum eodem Mario nauali proelio congressus triginta et duas naues regias et conplures onerarias aut demersit aut cepit. multi ibi ex his quos Sulla proscripserat, interempti sunt.

[¶21] Marius, dragged out the next day from the cave where he was hiding, paid the deserved penalty for his hostile spirit.

> Latin: 22 Marius postera die de spelunca, ubi latebat, extractus meritas hostilis animi poenas luit.

[¶22] With the same onset Lucullus laid waste Apamea and, beneath Mount Olympus, captured, stormed and plundered Prusa, a most strongly fortified city.

> Latin: 23 eodem uero Lucullus impetu Apamiam uastauit et sub monte Olympo Prusam munitissimam ciuitatem captam expugnatamque diripuit.

[¶23] Mithridates, sailing against Byzantium with a fleet made ready, was caught by a storm and lost eighty beaked ships; he himself, when his ship, already shattered, was sinking, leapt across into the light galley of Seleucus the pirate, with the pirate himself helping him. From there he reached Sinope, and afterwards Amisus, with great difficulty.

> Latin: 24 Mithridates aduersus Byzantium instructa classe nauigans tempestate correptus octoginta rostratas naues perdidit; ipse cum quassa iam naui mergeretur, in myoparonem Seleuci piratae ipso pirata iuuante transiluit. inde Sinopem ac post Amisum cum magna difficultate peruenit.

## 115. Book 6 · Chapter 3

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/115/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/115/#p-N

[¶0] In the same year at Rome Catiline, accused of unchastity on the charge of having committed it with Fabia, a Vestal virgin, escaped, upheld by the influence of Catulus.

> Latin: 1 Eodem anno apud Romam Catilina incesti accusatus, quod cum Fabia uirgine Vestali commisisse arguebatur, Catuli gratia fultus euasit.

[¶1] Lucullus had laid siege to Sinope in order to storm it; Seleucus the arch-pirate and Cleochares the eunuch, who were in command of its garrison, plundered it, set it on fire and left it.

> Latin: 2 Lucullus Sinopem expugnaturus obsederat; hanc Seleucus archipirata et Cleochares spado, qui praesidii causa praeerant, expilatam atque incensam reliquerunt.

[¶2] Lucullus, moved by the inward disaster of his wretched enemies, came up swiftly and put out the fire that had been set. Thus the wretched city, with the parts of enemy and ally reversed, was destroyed by those who should have defended it and saved by those who should have destroyed it.

> Latin: 3 Lucullus miserorum hostium intestina clade permotus celeri occursu inmissum restinxit incendium. ita misera ciuitas uersa uice hostium sociorumque unde defendenda disperdita et unde disperdenda seruata est.

[¶3] Marcus Lucullus, moreover, who had succeeded Curio in Macedonia, attacked the whole nation of the Bessi in war and received it in surrender.

> Latin: 4 at uero M. Lucullus, qui Curioni in Macedonia successerat, totam Bessorum gentem bello adpetitam in deditionem recepit.

[¶4] At the same time Metellus, praetor of Sicily, found Sicily afflicted by that most foul praetorship of Gaius Verres, and above all being torn apart with wicked plundering and slaughter by Pyrganio the arch-pirate, who had driven off the Roman fleet and seized the harbour of Syracuse; Metellus soon crushed him in battles by sea and land and compelled him to leave Sicily.

> Latin: 5 Eodem tempore Metellus Siciliae praetor cum foedissima illa C. Verris praetura Siciliam adflictam inuenisset, maxime Pyrganione archipirata nefariis praedis et caedibus dilacerante, qui pulsa classe Romana Syracusanum portum obtinuerat - quem mox nauali terrestrique proelio comminutum Sicilia decedere conpulit.

[¶5] Besides this, Lucullus crossed the Euphrates and the Tigris and engaged Mithridates and Tigranes at the city of Tigranocerta, and with a very small band of his own killed a great number of the enemy; for thirty thousand men are reported to have been slain in that war.

> Latin: 6 praeterea Lucullus transgressus Euphraten et Tigrim, apud Tigranocertam urbem cum Mithridate et Tigrane congressus paruissima suorum manu magnum hostium numerum occidit; nam triginta milia hominum in eo bello caesa referuntur.

[¶6] Tigranes fled, attended by scarcely 150 horsemen, having thrown away his diadem and tiara lest he be recognised. Then envoys from almost the whole East came to Lucullus as suppliants. As winter was coming on, he went back through Armenia into Mesopotamia, and stormed and took the city of Nisibis, at that time renowned in those parts.

> Latin: 7 Tigranes uix centum quinquaginta equitibus comitatus aufugit diademate et tiara ne agnosceretur abiectis. tunc ad Lucullum totius paene orientis supplices uenere legati; imminente hieme per Armeniam in Mesopotamiam regressus Nisibin urbem illis tunc locis inclitam expugnauit et cepit.

## 116. Book 6 · Chapter 4

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/116/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/116/#p-N

[¶0] In those same days the pirates, scattered over every sea, and now not merely intercepting the supplies carried by ships but also laying waste islands and provinces, were growing beyond all measure, as men flocked to join them everywhere through the impunity of crime and greed for plunder. Pompey crushed them — after much devastation, indeed, which they had long wrought by land and sea, but nevertheless with wonderful speed.

> Latin: 1 Isdem diebus piratae per omnia sparsi maria et iam non tantum intercipientes nauium commeatus sed etiam insulas prouinciasque uastantes, inpunitate sceleris et auiditate praedae uulgo sese adsociantibus in inmensum augebantur: quos Cn. Pompeius post multam quidem uastationem, quam terra marique diu egerant, mira tamen celeritate conpressit.

[¶1] At the same time Metellus overthrew the island of Crete over a period of two years, brought it under Roman power, tamed by a long war, and exchanged the laws of Minos for Roman laws.

> Latin: 2 Eodem tempore Cretam insulam per biennium Metellus euertit diuturnoque bello domitam in potestatem redegit legesque Minois Romanis legibus permutauit.

[¶2] Afterwards Pompey, the successor of Lucullus, shut the king’s camp in by siege in Lesser Armenia near Mount Dastracus. The king made a sally by night with all his forces and resolved, moreover, to beat off his pursuer in battle. Pompey set himself to pursue the fugitives. And so battle was joined by night.

> Latin: 3 Pompeius postea, successor Luculli, in minore Armenia iuxta montem Dastracum castra regis obsidione conclusit. rex cum omnibus copiis eruptione per noctem facta, insuper etiam persequentem bello repellere statuit. Pompeius fugientes persequi intendit. itaque bellum nocte commissum est.

[¶3] The moon had then risen behind the Romans. The king’s men, taking the length of the shadows for the nearness of the enemy, poured out all their missiles to no effect. The Romans, attacking afterwards men who were as good as unarmed, conquered without effort.

> Latin: 4 luna tunc orta a tergo Romanis erat. regii longitudinem umbrarum proximitatem hostium rati cuncta in inritum tela fuderunt. Romani ueluti inermes postea adgressi sine labore uicerunt.

[¶4] For of the royal army forty thousand were slain or captured; of the Romans a thousand were wounded, but scarcely forty killed.

> Latin: 5 namque de exercitu regio XL milia caesa uel capta sunt, Romani uulnerati mille, uix autem quadraginta interfecti.

[¶5] The king slipped away in flight amid the tumult of battle and, aided too by the favour of a dimly lit night, escaped; deserted by all his friends — philosophers, writers of histories and of poems, and physicians — alone, leading his horse by hand through trackless country and trembling at every sound of the night, he turned aside into a certain fort, and from there went on into Armenia.

> Latin: 6 rex inter tumultus belli fuga lapsus, adiutus etiam beneficio sublustris noctis euasit, relictusque ab omnibus amicis philosophis scriptoribus rerum uel carminum ac medicis solus per deuia equum manu trahens atque ad omnes nocturnos strepitus trepidans, in quoddam castellum deuertit atque inde in Armeniam perrexit.

[¶6] Pompey, intending to pursue the king, founded the city of Nicopolis, with old men, camp-followers and the sick who were willing, between two rivers which rise from one mountain in different caverns, that is, the Euphrates and the Araxes.

> Latin: 7 Pompeius regem insecuturus inter duo flumina, quae ab uno monte diuersis specubus exoriuntur, hoc est Euphraten et Araxen, urbem Nicopolim senibus, lixis et aegris uolentibus condidit.

[¶7] He granted pardon to Tigranes at his entreaty; he defeated the army of Oroeses, king of the Albanians, and his prefects three times in battle; afterwards he gladly accepted letters and gifts from Oroeses for restoring peace with the Albanians; he routed Artaces, king of Hiberia, in war and received all Hiberia in surrender.

> Latin: 8 oranti Tigrani ueniam dedit; exercitum Horodis Albanorum regis praefectosque eius ter proelio uicit; postea epistulas Horodis et munera pro pace cum Albanis instauranda libenter accepit; Artacem regem Hiberiae bello fudit totamque Hiberiam in deditionem accepit.

*Note: Oroeses, king of the Albanians of the eastern Caucasus; Orosius calls him Horodes, the name of the Parthian king Orodes (6.13). Hiberia is Caucasian Iberia (eastern Georgia), not Spain.*

[¶8] Then, having settled Armenia, the Colchians, Cappadocia and Syria by setting their affairs in order, he advanced from Pontus into Parthia, and on the fiftieth day came to Ecbatana, the capital of the Parthian kingdom.

> Latin: 9 inde, cum Armeniam Colchos Cappadociam et Syriam ordinatis rebus conposuisset, promouens de Ponto in Parthiam ad Ecbatanam urbem caput Parthici regni quinquagensimo die uenit.

*Note: Pompey never invaded Parthia or reached Ecbatana; after the Caucasus he turned south into Syria and Judaea.*

## 117. Book 6 · Chapter 5

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/117/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/117/#p-N

[¶0] In the Bosporus, while Mithridates was celebrating the rites of Ceres, so severe an earthquake suddenly arose that a great destruction of cities and fields is said to have followed from it.

> Latin: 1 In Bosforo Mithridate Cerealia sacra celebrante terrae motus adeo grauis repente exortus est, ut magna clades ex ea urbium atque agrorum secuta narretur.

[¶1] At the same time Castor, Mithridates’ prefect, who was in command at Phanagorium, killed the king’s friends, seized the citadel, and sent four of Mithridates’ sons over to the Roman garrisons.

> Latin: 2 eodem tempore Castor Mithridatis praefectus, qui Phanagorio praeerat, interfectis amicis regiis arcem occupauit et quattuor Mithridatis filios ad praesidia Romana transmisit.

[¶2] Mithridates, kindled with anger, blazed out into crimes. For he then killed a good many of his friends and his son Exipodras, having already before this butchered Machares in another parricide.

> Latin: 3 Mithridates accensus ira in scelera exarsit. nam conplures tunc amicos suos et Exipodram filium suum interfecit, cum antea iam alio Macharem parricidio trucidasset;

[¶3] Pharnaces, another of his sons, terrified by the example of his brothers, won over to himself the army sent to pursue him, and soon led it against his father.

> Latin: 4 Pharnaces alter filius eius exemplo fratrum territus exercitum ad persequendum sese missum sibi conciliauit et mox aduersus patrem duxit.

[¶4] Mithridates, having long and vainly entreated his son from the top of a very high wall, when he saw that he was inexorable, is said to have cried out as he was about to die: “Since Pharnaces orders me to die, I pray you, gods of my fathers, if you exist, that some day he too may hear this cry from his own children.” And at once, going down to his wives, his concubines and his daughters, he gave poison to them all.

> Latin: 5 Mithridates diu ex altissimo muro filium frustra precatus ubi inexorabilem uidit, moriturus exclamasse fertur: 'Quoniam Pharnaces', inquit, 'mori iubet, uos, si estis, di patrii, precor, ut quandocumque et ipse hanc uocem a liberis suis audiat'. statimque descendens ad uxores, pelices ac filias suas uenenum omnibus dedit.

[¶5] When he himself had drunk it last of all, and yet could not be finished off by the poison because of the antidotes with which he had often fortified his vitals against noxious juices, and was walking about in vain, in case the poison he had taken might by any means at last be driven through his veins by the motion of his body and spread, he called over a certain Gallic soldier who was running about, the wall now being broken through, and offered him his throat.

> Latin: 6 quod cum ipse nouissimus hausisset nec tamen propter remedia, quibus uitalia sua aduersus noxios sucos saepe obstruxerat, ueneno confici posset frustraque spatiaretur, siquo tandem modo infusa pestis per uenas uegetatione corporis acta discurreret, Gallum quendam militem iam fracto muro discurrentem inuitauit eique iugulum praebuit.

[¶6] Such was the end of life that Mithridates had; and he left us a most powerful argument for our view — he who was, as they say, the most superstitious of all men, seventy-two years old, and kept always about him philosophers and men most skilled in all the arts.

> Latin: 7 hunc exitum uitae Mithridates habuit nobisque sententiae suae fortissimum argumentum reliquit homo omnium, ut ferunt, superstitiosissimus, annos natus septuaginta et duo, habens secum semper philosophos omniumque artium peritissimos.

[¶7] “If you exist,” he said, “gods of my fathers.” Thus, by long worship and long inquiry, he had come to perceive that these who were thought to be gods were not certainly gods. A king of much experience and weighty with age, he did not understand the true God, to the knowledge of whom one comes only by hearing, through faith; but he had seen through these, by the light of reason itself, as false, assigning one thing to custom and another to his own mind.

> Latin: 8 Si estis, inquit, di patrii. ita ille diu colendo ac diu quaerendo persenserat hos non esse certos deos, qui esse putabantur. rex multae experientiae atque aeuo grauis uerum Deum, ad cuius notitiam non nisi auditu per fidem uenitur, non intellegebat. hos autem falsos esse rationis ipsius luce peruiderat, aliud consuetudini aliud menti suae tribuens.

[¶8] “If you exist, gods,” he said — that is to say: “I, perceiving that there is above man a power mightier than man himself, moved by the necessity of praying, commend my diligence and excuse my ignorance; I invoke him who is, while I address those who are not.”

> Latin: 9 si estis, inquit, di, hoc est dicere: ego sentiens esse super hominem potentiorem ipso homine potestatem, precandi necessitate motus commendo diligentiam et excuso ignorantiam meam; inuoco qui est, dum conuenio qui non est.

[¶9] Wherefore it must be considered with grief and fear: of what punishment or what judgement will they be worthy who, against the prohibition of a truth now made manifest and public, follow and worship those gods about whom even those men could already have doubts at that time, who as yet could know nothing besides them?

> Latin: 10 quapropter cum dolore et timore considerandum est: qua poena quoue iudicio digni erunt, qui contra interdictum iam propalatae et publicae ueritatis eos sectantur et colunt deos, de quibus etiam illi iam tunc dubitare poterant, qui adhuc praeter eosdem scire nil poterant.

[¶10] But let me ask briefly: what kind of times did those seem then to the whole East, when for forty years wretched nations were worn down by the alternate devastations of such great generals; when every city, set in the midst of such great clashes, was inevitably endangered, bound to inflame the one by the very means by which it had appeased the other, and soon to find a punishment in what for a time it had had as a remedy;

> Latin: 11 uerumtamen breuiter consulo: qualia tunc toto orienti tempora uidebantur, cum per quadraginta annos miserae nationes alternis tantorum ducum uastationibus terebantur; cum quaeque ciuitas tantis concursibus media ineuitabiliter periclitabatur, inde accensura alterum unde alterum temperasset, hoc mox habitura supplicii quod remedii ad tempus habuisset;

[¶11] when the anxious embassies of the various provinces were passed back and forth between the successive Roman generals and Mithridates — the more savage for being known — now to one and now to the other, as the fortune of war raised up each, with uncertain acts of submission, increasing the very dangers they were trying to heal?

> Latin: 12 cum trepidae diuersarum prouinciarum legationes inter succedentes Romanorum duces et truculentiorem notitia Mithridaten, alternis ad utrumque, prout quemque sors belli attollebat, et incertis satisfactionibus transferebantur augendo pericula quae sanabant?

[¶12] For what Pompey — and that Pompey, the most moderate of the Romans — did forthwith throughout very many parts of the East once the Mithridatic War was finished, I shall set forth in a few words.

> Latin: 13 nam quid continuo Pompeius et quidem Pompeius homo Romanorum moderatissimus per plurimas partes orientis finito Mithridatico bello egerit, paucis proferam.

## 118. Book 6 · Chapter 6

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/118/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/118/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 689 from the founding of the City, in the consulship of Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gaius Antonius, Pompey, on receiving the news that Mithridates had been killed, attacked Coele Syria and Phoenicia in war; he first subdued the Ituraeans and the Arabs, and took their city, which they call Petra.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCLXXXVIIII M. Tullio Cicerone et C. Antonio consulibus Pompeius occisi Mithridatis nuntio accepto Syriam Coelen et Phoenicen bello adgressus, Ituraeos primum Arabasque perdomuit urbemque eorum, quam Petram nominant, cepit;

*Note: Cicero and Antonius were consuls in 63 BC, which is 691 on the usual reckoning; Orosius’s year-numbers for these decades run two years low.*

[¶1] From there he sent Gabinius with an army against the Jews, over whom Aristobulus, having driven out his brother Hyrcanus, was ruling as the first king to come from the priesthood, and against Jerusalem, their city. He himself followed at once; and, received into the city by the elders but repulsed by the common people from the wall of the temple, he set himself to storm it.

> Latin: 2 hinc ad Iudaeos, quibus Aristobulus expulso fratre Hyrcano primus ex sacerdote rex praeerat, atque ad Hierosolymam urbem eorum Gabinium cum exercitu mittit. ipse continuo subsecutus et a patribus urbe susceptus sed a plebe muro templi repulsus expugnationem eius intendit.

*Note: The first Hasmonean ruler to take the title of king was Aristobulus I (104–103 BC); Orosius transfers the distinction to his namesake Aristobulus II.*

[¶2] This place, fortified not only by the nature of the ground but also by an enormous wall and a very great ditch, he stormed with difficulty in the third month, compelling the legions to relieve one another day and night without rest. Thirteen thousand Jews are said to have been slain there; the rest of the multitude gave themselves up to his protection.

> Latin: 3 id non solum natura loci, uerum etiam ingenti muro fossaque maxima munitum, cum alias aliis legiones dies noctesque succedere sine requie cogeret, uix tertio mense expugnauit. tredecim milia ibi Iudaeorum caesa narrantur, cetera multitudo in fidem uenit.

[¶3] Pompey ordered the walls of the city to be overthrown and levelled with the ground; and having beheaded a number of the chief men of the Jews, he restored Hyrcanus to the priesthood and led Aristobulus captive to Rome. Pompey himself related before an assembly that he had waged this war in the East against twenty-two kings.

> Latin: 4 Pompeius muros ciuitatis euerti aequarique solo imperauit et, cum aliquantos principes Iudaeorum securi percussisset, Hyrcanum sacerdotio restituit, Aristobulum captiuum Romam duxit. hoc bellum orientis cum uiginti et duobus regibus sese gessisse ipse Pompeius pro contione narrauit.

[¶4] Meanwhile, in those same days, the conspiracy of Catiline against his country was formed and betrayed in the City, and was extinguished by civil war in Etruria; at Rome the accomplices of the conspiracy were put to death.

> Latin: 5 Interea coniuratio Catilinae aduersus patriam per eosdem dies in urbe habita et prodita, in Etruria uero ciuili bello extincta est; Romae conscii coniurationis occisi sunt.

[¶5] But since this history is well enough known to all, through Cicero’s conduct of the affair and Sallust’s description of it, it is enough that it has now been briefly touched on by us.

> Latin: 6 sed hanc historiam agente Cicerone et describente Sallustio satis omnibus notam nunc a nobis breuiter fuisse perstrictam sat est.

[¶6] A rising also, begun among the Paeligni by the Marcelli, father and son, was betrayed by Lucius Vettius and, once Catiline’s conspiracy had been laid bare, was put down as if its root had been cut away; and punishment was exacted for both, by Bibulus among the Paeligni and by Cicero among the Bruttii.

> Latin: 7 motus etiam in Paelignis ortus a Marcellis patre et filio per L. Vettium proditus patefacta Catilinae coniuratione quasi succisa radice compressus est, et de utroque per Bibulum in Paelignis, per Ciceronem in Bruttiis uindicatum est.

## 119. Book 6 · Chapter 7

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/119/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/119/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 693 from the founding of the City, in the consulship of Gaius Caesar and Lucius Bibulus, three provinces with seven legions were given to Caesar for five years by the Vatinian law: Transalpine Gaul, Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum; the senate afterwards added Long-haired Gaul.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCXCIII C. Caesare et L. Bibulo consulibus lege Vatinia Caesari tres prouinciae cum legionibus septem in quinquennium datae Gallia Transalpina et Cisalpina et Illyricus; Galliam Comatam postea senatus adiecit.

*Note: Caesar and Bibulus were consuls in 59 BC (695 on the usual reckoning). By the Vatinian law Caesar received only Cisalpine Gaul and Illyricum, with three legions; the senate then added Transalpine Gaul (Suetonius’s Gallia Comata) with a fourth.*

[¶1] This history Suetonius Tranquillus has set out most fully; from him we have plucked such small portions as were fitting.

> Latin: 2 Hanc historiam Suetonius Tranquillus plenissime explicuit, cuius nos conpetentes portiunculas decerpsimus.

*Note: Orosius’s account of the Gallic War is in fact drawn from Caesar’s own Commentaries, which he seems to have known under the name of Suetonius.*

[¶2] A certain Orgetorix, a chief of the nation, in the hope of invading the whole of Gaul, had kindled to arms the spirits of the Helvetii, the bravest nation of all the Gauls — chiefly for this reason, that they were engaged in almost perpetual war with the Germans, from whom they are separated only by the river Rhine.

> Latin: 3 Heluetiorum animos, fortissimae Gallorum omnium gentis ea uel maxime causa quod perpetuo paene cum Germanis bello altercabantur a quibus Rheno tantum flumine dirimuntur, Orgetorix quidam princeps gentis spe totas inuadendi Gallias in arma accenderat.

[¶3] Though the other nobles seized him and drove him to his death, they could not, for all that, restrain the common people, once they had been roused to plunder. These formed a conspiracy, fixed a day, and, having burned their villages and houses so that no longing might arise from the hope of returning, set out.

> Latin: 4 quo ceteri optimates correpto et ad mortem coacto cohibere tamen semel animatas in praedam plebes nequiuerunt. qui coniuratione facta ac die dicta, exustis uicis ac domibus suis, ne quod desiderium ex spe reuertendi foret, profecti sunt.

[¶4] When Caesar had met them at the river Rhône, he twice defeated them in a great and difficult war and compelled the vanquished to surrender. The whole multitude of these, when it first set out — Helvetii, Tulingi, Latobrigi, Rauraci and Boii, of both sexes — came to about 157,000 persons. Of these forty-seven thousand fell in the war; the rest were sent back to their own lands.

> Latin: 5 quos cum apud Rhodanum flumen obuios Caesar habuisset, magno difficilique bello bis uicit uictosque ad deditionem coegit. horum fuit, cum primum progressa est, omnis multitudo Heluetiorum Tulingorum Latobogiorum Rauracorum et Boiorum utriusque sexus ad centum quinquaginta et septem milia hominum. ex his quadraginta et septem milia in bello ceciderunt, cetera in terras proprias remissa sunt.

*Note: Caesar (Gallic War 1.29) gives 368,000 for the whole migration, of whom 110,000 returned home; Orosius’s figures do not match his.*

[¶5] Afterwards, among the Sequani, Caesar defeated King Ariovistus, who was rousing and bringing with him incredible forces of Germans, with which he boasted that he had lately subdued all the peoples of Gaul — though Caesar’s army, thoroughly terrified by the multitude and valour of the Germans, had long refused battle.

> Latin: 6 Postea Caesar contra Ariouistum regem excitantem inuehentemque secum incredibiles Germanorum copias, quibus nuper uniuersos Galliarum populos se subegisse iactabat, apud Sequanos uicit, cum diu exercitus Caesaris Germanorum multitudine et uirtute perterritus pugnam detrectasset.

[¶6] At once Ariovistus seized a small boat, crossed the Rhine and fled into Germany; his two wives and as many daughters were captured. There were in the army of Ariovistus the Harudes, Marcomanni, Triboci, Vangiones, Nemetes, Sedusii and Suebi.

> Latin: 7 statim Ariouistus in Germaniam, arrepta nauicula Rhenum transuectus, effugit, uxores eius duae totidemque filiae captae sunt. fuerunt autem in exercitu Ariouisti Arudes Marcomanes Triboci Vangiones Nemetes Eduses et Suebi.

[¶7] The fighting was most severe against the phalanx of the Germans, which they had formed, safe on every side, by massing into a single column and interlocking their shields above their heads, in order to break through the Roman line.

> Latin: 8 pugna maxime grauis ex phalange Germanorum fuit, quam coacto in unum agmine scutisque supra capita contextis ad inrumpendam Romanorum aciem tuti undique praestruxerant.

[¶8] But after some of the Roman soldiers, distinguished for agility and daring, leapt up onto the tortoise spread over them and, tearing away the shields one by one like scales, stabbed from above the bare shoulders of the men thus caught and uncovered, the enemy, terrified by this new danger of death, broke up their fearsome formation.

> Latin: 9 sed postquam aliqui Romanorum militum agilitate audaciaque insignes supra obductam saliere testudinem scutisque singillatim uelut squamis reuulsis desuper nudos deprehensorum detectorumque humeros perfoderunt, territi hostes nouo mortis periculo terribilem dissoluere conpagem.

[¶9] Thereupon, turned to flight, they were slaughtered without respite for fifty miles; nor could the number of the Germans be estimated, either how great a host was present at the battle or how great was the number of the slain.

> Latin: 10 exinde in fugam uersi per quinquaginta milia passuum insatiabiliter caesi sunt neque conici numerus potuit Germanorum uel quantus pugnae adfuerit uel quantus fuerit occisorum.

[¶10] After this the nation of the Belgae, which is a third part of Gaul, blazed up against Caesar;

> Latin: 11 Post haec Belgarum gens, quae tertia pars Galliarum est, aduersus Caesarem exarsit:

[¶11] and their forces, people by people, were these. The Bellovaci, who were seen to surpass the rest in numbers and valour, had sixty thousand picked armed men; the Suessiones, from twelve towns, fifty thousand;

> Latin: 12 quorum distributim copia haec fuit. Bellouagui, qui ceteris numero et uirtute praestare uiderentur, habuere lectissima sexaginta milia armatorum; Suessones ex duodecim oppidis quinquaginta milia;

[¶12] the Nervii, whose ferocity was proclaimed to be so untamed that up to that time they had never admitted merchants to bring them wine and other wares, lest the pleasure thus brought in should bring a torpor upon their valour, likewise had fifty thousand;

> Latin: 13 Neruii, quorum adeo indomita feritas praedicabatur, ut numquam in id temporis mercatores ad se admiserint uina ceteraque uenalia deferre, quibus inducta iucunditas torporem uirtutis adferret, habuerunt similiter quinquaginta milia;

[¶13] the Atrebates and the Ambiani, moreover, ten thousand; the Morini twenty-five thousand; the Menapii nine thousand; the Caleti ten thousand; the Veliocasses and the Viromandui likewise ten thousand; the Atuatuci eighteen thousand; the Condrusi, Eburones, Caeroesi and Paemani, who are called by the one name of Germans, forty thousand.

> Latin: 14 Atrebates etiam et Ambiani decem milia, Morini uiginti quinque milia, Menapii nouem milia, Caleti decem milia, Veliocasses et Veromandi aeque decem milia, Atuatuci decem et octo milia; Condurses Eborones Caerosi Caemani, qui uno nomine Germani uocantur, quadraginta milia.

[¶14] Thus there are reported to have been 272,000 picked armed men.

> Latin: 15 ita fuisse referuntur CCLXXII milia armatorum lectissima.

*Note: The contingents listed in 6.7.12–14 add up to 282,000, not 272,000.*

[¶15] When these suddenly burst out of a wood, Caesar’s army was thrown into confusion and driven to flight; but after losing very many of its men, it at last stood firm at the urging of its general, and, attacking the victors, destroyed them almost to extermination.

> Latin: 16 his repente silua erumpentibus exercitus Caesaris perturbatus atque in fugam actus, plurimis suorum amissis, tandem hortatu ducis restitit uictoresque adgressus usque ad internecionem paene deleuit.

## 120. Book 6 · Chapter 8

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/120/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/120/#p-N

[¶0] So Caesar, having accomplished great things in Gaul and having decided to set out for Italy, sent Galba with the twelfth legion to the Veragri and the Seduni.

> Latin: 1 Igitur Caesar magnis in Gallia rebus gestis cum in Italiam proficisci decreuisset, Galbam cum legione duodecima ad Veragros Sedunosque misit.

[¶1] Galba had settled in a village of the Veragri named Octodurus to winter, and had granted to the inhabitants the half of the town that was divided off by a torrent; but one day he saw that they had left during the night and occupied the nearest hill.

> Latin: 2 qui cum hiemandi causa in uico Veragrorum, cui nomen erat Octodurus, consedisset mediamque oppidi partem, quae torrente distinguebatur, accolis concessisset, quadam die eosdem discessisse per noctem ac proximo insedisse colli uidet.

[¶2] For they, despising the small number of barely half a legion, reckoned it a prize that had offered itself and would fall to them with no trouble, and had called their neighbours into this partnership of slaughter and plunder.

> Latin: 3 quippe illi paucitatem uix mediae legionis despectui habentes ultroneam sibi praedam nullo cessuram negotio arbitrabantur finitimosque suos in hanc caedis ac praedae societatem uocauerant.

[¶3] So while Galba was hemmed in by such immediate dangers and alarmed, and, amid various consultations, uncertain of any firm plan, the Gauls suddenly poured down the mountainside, surrounded the unfinished camp, and overwhelmed the few defenders along the rampart with stones and missiles.

> Latin: 4 igitur Galba tam praesentibus periculis circumsaepto ac trepido atque inter uarias consultationes certi consilii incerto, repente Galli descensu montis effusi castra inperfecta circumdant, raros per uallum propugnatores saxis telisque onerant.

[¶4] And when the camp was already being broken into, on the advice of Pacuvius, the chief centurion, and Volusenus, the tribune, all the Romans burst out of the gates, and, suddenly attacking the unwary enemy, first threw them into confusion, then turned them to flight and routed them with pitiable slaughter. For more than thirty thousand barbarians are reported to have been slain on that occasion.

> Latin: 5 cumque iam castra inrumperentur, Pacuuii primipilaris et Voluseni tribuni consilio cuncti Romani portis eruperunt incautosque subito adgressi hostes primum perturbauerunt, deinde in fugam uersos miserabili strage fuderunt. nam amplius triginta milia barbarorum tunc caesa referuntur.

*Note: Caesar names the chief centurion as Publius Sextius Baculus; Orosius’s Pacuvius appears to be a corruption of Baculus. Caesar also says that of more than 30,000 attackers over a third were killed, not that 30,000 fell.*

[¶5] So Caesar, when he thought that all the nations of Gaul were now pacified, was drawn back into a new and very great war.

> Latin: 6 Igitur Caesar cum iam pacatas uniuersas Galliarum gentes putaret, ad nouum et maximum bellum retractus est.

[¶6] For while the young Publius Crassus was wintering with the seventh legion among the Andicavi, on the shore of the Ocean, the Veneti and their neighbours suddenly conspired to take up arms, put the Roman envoys in chains, and informed the Romans that they would return them only if they received back their own hostages.

> Latin: 7 namque dum P. Crassus adulescens cum legione septima Oceano tenus apud Andicauos hiemat, Veneti ceterique confines repente in arma coniurant, legatos Romanorum uinciunt eosque ita demum se reddituros, si obsides suos recipiant, Romanis indicant.

[¶7] As allies for this war they took to themselves the Osismi, Lexovii, Namnetes, Ambivariti, Morini, Diablintes and Menapii; they also summoned auxiliaries from Britain.

> Latin: 8 socios sibi ad id bellum Osismos Lexouios Namnetes Ambiuaritos Morinos Diablintes et Menapios adsciscunt; auxilia quoque a Britannia arcessunt.

[¶8] Caesar, informed by Crassus of the rebellion of nations that had surrendered, though he understood how great a difficulty there was in entering upon the war, nevertheless judged that a matter of such consequence was not to be neglected, lest by such an example the licence for like daring should be loosened for the rest;

> Latin: 9 Caesar per Crassum de rebellione dediticiarum gentium certior factus, quamuis intellegeret quanta ineundi belli difficultas esset, tamen rem tanti negotii non neglegendam ratus, ne ceteris exemplo eiusmodi audendi licentia laxaretur,

[¶9] and so, having vainly attempted to pursue the enemy by fighting on land — since the enemy were protected by the estuaries flowing in from the Ocean and by inaccessible retreats in safe recesses of the land — he ordered long ships to be built on the river Loire.

> Latin: 10 itaque terrestri proelio persequi hostes frustra adgressus - quippe cum hostes per interfusa ex Oceano aestuaria atque inaccessos recessus tutis terrarum sinibus munirentur - naues longas aedificari in Ligeri fluuio iubet:

[¶10] As soon as these, brought down it into the Ocean, were seen by the enemy, at once 220 of their ships, made ready and most fully equipped with every kind of arms, came out of harbour and took up position opposite.

> Latin: 11 per quem in Oceanum deductae mox ut hostibus uisae sunt, continuo ducentae uiginti naues eorum paratae atque omni genere armorum instructissimae progressae portu ex aduerso constiterunt.

[¶11] Brutus perceived that the contest of ships was far from equal, because the ships of the barbarians, built of solid oak and hardened with very strong frames, blunted like rocks the blows of the beaked ships driven against them;

> Latin: 12 Bruto circumspicienti imparem longe nauium esse conflictum, quia barbarorum naues solido robore intextae cauernisque praeualidis obduratae saxorum modo adactos rostratarum ictus retundebant,

[¶12] the first help in this was that he had prepared very sharp sickles, not fixed firmly to poles but fastened to ropes, with which, when need arose, they could catch hold of the rigging from a distance and then, drawing back the shafts, cut it through by pulling the sickle back on its rope.

> Latin: 13 hoc primum auxilio fuit quod falces acutissimas non pertinaciter contis praefixas funibus autem subnexas parauerat, quibus cum opus esset adprehensos eminus rudentes subductis hastilibus per funem falcem retrahendo succiderent.

[¶13] When these had been quickly made ready, he ordered the tackle of the enemy’s yards to be torn away; thus, as the yards came crashing down, he at once rendered a good many ships motionless, as though captured.

> Latin: 14 his celeriter expeditis disrumpi hostilium antemnarum armamenta praecepit: ita antemnis ruentibus conplures ilico naues uelut captas immobiles reddidit.

[¶14] Others, terrified by this danger, hoisted their sails and tried to flee wherever the wind might drive them; but soon, when the wind dropped, they were left stranded as a sport for the Romans;

> Latin: 15 alii hoc periculo territi, suspensis uelis qua uentus intenderet fugere conati, cessante mox uento destituti ludibrio fuere Romanis;

[¶15] and so, when all the ships had been burned and those of the Gauls who had fought had been killed, all the rest surrendered.

> Latin: 16 itaque incensis omnibus nauibus interfectisque his qui pugnauerant Gallis, reliqui sese omnes dediderunt.

[¶16] But Caesar, chiefly because of the outrage done to the envoys, and to brand a nation fickle in all its counsels with the mark of a terrible example, put all the chief men to death by torture and sold the rest into slavery.

> Latin: 17 sed Caesar maxime ob iniuriam legatorum et ut genti ad omnia consilia mobili terribilis exempli notam inureret, cunctis principibus per tormenta interfectis reliquos sub corona uendidit.

[¶17] In those same days Titurius Sabinus, by making a sally, destroyed with incredible slaughter the Aulerci Eburovices and the Lexovii, who had killed their own leading men because these were unwilling to be the authors of renewing the war.

> Latin: 18 isdem diebus Titurius Sabinus Aulercos Eburouices Lixouiosque, qui primates suos, cur auctores belli resuscitandi esse nollent, interfecerant, eruptione facta incredibili caede deleuit.

[¶18] Publius Crassus, however, when he had reached Aquitania, was met with war. For the Sontiates, attacking the Romans with a great body of cavalry and very strong infantry forces, long and gravely threw them into disorder;

> Latin: 19 Publius uero Crassus cum in Aquitaniam peruenisset, bello exceptus est. namque Sontiates magno equitatu pedestribusque copiis praeualidis Romanos adorti diu grauiter turbauerunt;

[¶19] afterwards, defeated, driven into the town of the Sontiates and besieged, when they saw that they were being stormed, they handed over their arms and were received in surrender.

> Latin: 20 post uicti atque in oppidum Sontiatum coacti obsessique, cum se expugnari uiderent, armis traditis in deditionem recepti sunt.

[¶20] The Aquitanians, deeply moved by the disaster, gathered an army from every side; they also summoned auxiliaries from Hither Spain; and they put in command of the war above all those who had served with Sertorius.

> Latin: 21 Aquitani clade permoti undique exercitum contrahunt; de citeriore quoque Hispania auxilia accersunt; duces bello maxime eos praeficiunt, qui cum Sertorio militauerant.

[¶21] All of these, while they were preparing to besiege Crassus, were destroyed in their own camp, Crassus overwhelming them. For of the Aquitanians and Cantabrians, fifty thousand of whom had then come as auxiliaries, thirty-eight thousand are reported to have been slain.

> Latin: 22 ii omnes dum obsidionem Crasso parant, in castris suis Crasso obruente deleti sunt. nam ex Aquitanis et Cantabris, quorum quinquaginta milia tunc in auxilium uenerant, triginta et octo milia caesa referuntur.

[¶22] Caesar attacked in war the Germans who had crossed the Rhine with immense forces and were at the same time preparing to subdue the whole of Gaul, and cut them down to the point of extermination. Their number is said to have been 440,000.

> Latin: 23 Caesar Germanos, qui Rhenum cum immensis copiis transmiserant, simul et totas Gallias subicere sibi parabant, bello adortus usque ad internecionem cecidit. quorum fuisse numerum ad quadringenta quadraginta milia ferunt.

*Note: These were the Usipetes and Tencteri; Caesar (Gallic War 4.15) gives their number as 430,000.*

## 121. Book 6 · Chapter 9

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/121/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/121/#p-N

[¶0] Then Caesar built a bridge and crossed into Germany; he freed the Sugambri and the Ubii from siege, and by his coming he terrified the Suebi — a very great and most ferocious nation, made up, as many have recorded, of a hundred cantons and peoples — and the whole of Germany; soon, having broken down the bridge, he withdrew into Gaul.

> Latin: 1 Tunc Caesar in Germaniam facto ponte transgreditur, Sugambros et Ubios obsidione liberat; Suebos maximam et ferocissimam gentem, quorum esse centum pagos et populos multi prodidere, totamque Germaniam aduentu suo terret; mox in Galliam rescisso ponte concedit.

*Note: Caesar relieved only the Ubii; the Sugambri, who had sheltered the defeated Usipetes and Tencteri, were the people whose lands he ravaged.*

[¶1] From there he came to the Morini, from whose land lies the nearest and shortest crossing to Britain. Having prepared about eighty transports and swift vessels, he crossed over into Britain. There, worn down first by a bitter battle and then caught by a contrary storm, he lost the greater part of his fleet and no small number of soldiers, and almost all his cavalry.

> Latin: 2 inde ad Morinos uenit, unde in Britanniam proximus et breuissimus transitus est. nauibus circiter onerariis atque actuariis octoginta praeparatis in Britanniam transuehitur. ubi acerba primum pugna fatigatus, deinde aduersa tempestate correptus plurimam classis partem et non paruum numerum militum, equitum uero paene omnem disperdidit.

[¶2] Returning to Gaul, he dismissed the legions to winter quarters and ordered six hundred ships to be built, serviceable for both purposes.

> Latin: 3 regressus in Galliam legiones in hiberna dimisit ac sescentas naues utriusque commodi fieri imperauit.

[¶3] When he had crossed into Britain again with these at the beginning of spring, while he himself was advancing against the enemy with the army, the ships riding at anchor were caught by a storm and were either dashed against one another or driven onto the sands and broken up: of these forty were lost, and the rest were repaired with great difficulty.

> Latin: 4 quibus iterum in Britanniam primo uere transuectus dum ipse in hostem cum exercitu pergit, naues in anchoris stantes tempestate correptae uel conlisae inter se uel harenis inlisae ac dissolutae sunt: ex quibus quadraginta perierunt, ceterae cum magna difficultate reparatae sunt.

[¶4] Caesar’s cavalry was defeated by the Britons in the first encounter, and there the tribune Labienus was killed. In a second battle, at great risk to his own men, he defeated the Britons and put them to flight.

> Latin: 5 Caesaris equitatus primo congressu a Britannis uictus ibique Labienus tribunus occisus est. secundo proelio cum magno suorum discrimine uictos Britannos in fugam uertit.

*Note: The tribune killed was Quintus Laberius Durus; Orosius confuses him with Caesar’s legate Titus Labienus, who survived to fight in the civil war (6.16.8).*

[¶5] From there he set out for the river Thames, which they say can be forded at only one place. On its farther bank an immense multitude of the enemy had taken up position under the leadership of Cassivellaunus, and had fenced the bank of the river and almost the whole ford beneath the water with very sharp stakes.

> Latin: 6 inde ad flumen Tamesim profectus, quem uno tantum loco uadis transmeabilem ferunt. in huius ulteriore ripa Cassouellauno duce immensa hostium multitudo consederat ripamque fluminis ac paene totum sub aqua uadum acutissimis sudibus praestruxerat.

[¶6] When this was detected and avoided by the Romans, the barbarians, unable to withstand the onset of the legions, hid themselves in the woods, from which, with frequent sallies, they harassed the Romans severely and often.

> Latin: 7 quod ubi a Romanis deprehensum ac uitatum est, barbari legionum impetum non ferentes siluis sese abdidere, unde crebris eruptionibus Romanos grauiter ac saepe lacerabant.

[¶7] Meanwhile the very strong state of the Trinovantes, with its leader Mandubracius, gave forty hostages and surrendered to Caesar.

> Latin: 8 interea Trinobantum firmissima ciuitas cum Mandubragio duce datis quadraginta obsidibus Caesari sese dedidit.

[¶8] Following this example, several other cities entered into treaty with the Romans; and with them pointing the way, Caesar at last, after a severe fight, took the town of Cassivellaunus, which lay between two marshes, was fortified besides by the cover of woods, and was very well stocked with everything.

> Latin: 9 quod exemplum secutae urbes aliae conplures in foedus Romanorum uenerunt isdemque demonstrantibus Caesar oppidum Cassouellauni inter duas paludes situm, obtentu insuper siluarum munitum omnibusque rebus confertissimum tandem graui pugna cepit.

## 122. Book 6 · Chapter 10

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/122/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/122/#p-N

[¶0] Thereupon Caesar, having returned from the Britons into Gaul, after he had sent the legions into winter quarters, was surrounded and harried on every side by sudden tumults of war. For Ambiorix, conspiring with the Eburones and the Atuatuci, and encouraged by the counsel of the Treveri, trapped the legates Cotta and Sabinus in an ambush among the Eburones and killed them, together with their whole legion.

> Latin: 1 Exim Caesar a Britannis reuersus in Galliam postquam legiones in hiberna misit, repentinis bellorum tumultibus undique circumuentus et conflictatus est. namque Ambiorix cum Eburonibus et Atuatucis conspirans, animatus Treuerorum consilio Cottam et Sabinum legatos apud Eburonas cum tota funditus legione insidiis circumuentos interfecit.

[¶1] Ambiorix, elated by this victory, hastily drew the Atuatuci, the Nervii and very many others to arms, and made for the legate Cicero, who was then likewise in command of a legion in winter quarters.

> Latin: 2 Ambiorix hac uictoria elatus Atuatucos et Neruios plurimosque alios raptim ad arma contrahit atque ad Ciceronem legatum, qui similiter tunc legioni in hibernis praeerat, contendit.

[¶2] The size of the enemy’s multitude could be gathered from this: when, in besieging the camp, they were taught by Roman captives that a rampart had to be thrown around it, and they had no farming tools, they cut the earth with their swords and carried it away in their cloaks, and in scarcely three hours completed a rampart of ten feet and a ditch of fifteen feet, fifteen miles in circuit. Besides this they built 120 towers of remarkable height.

> Latin: 3 multitudo hostium ex hoc colligi potuit, quia cum in obsidione castrorum uallum circumdandum esse a captiuis Romanis docerentur et instrumenta ruralia non haberent, gladiis concidendo terram et sagulis exportando uix tribus horis uallum pedum decem et fossam pedum quindecim per milia passuum quindecim in circuitu perfecerunt. praeterea centum uiginti turres mirae altitudinis extruxerunt.

*Note: In Caesar (Gallic War 5.40) the 120 towers were raised in a single night by Cicero’s men inside the camp; Orosius gives them to the besiegers.*

[¶3] And when the enemy’s wedges, relieving one another, had already been fighting for seven days and nights, and a very strong wind had suddenly arisen, they hurled red-hot potsherds from slings and threw into the camp missiles set alight in their fires, which soon glowed red as they caught flame.

> Latin: 4 et cum iam septem dies noctesque succidui hostium cunei pugnarent ac uentus subito plurimus exortus esset, testas feruentes intorsere fundis flammataque focis tela ac mox concepto igne rutilantia intra castra iecerunt.

[¶4] When this was done, the wind, bearing swiftly down upon the thatched roofs, fanned the scattered fire into life. But not even so did the Romans, though overwhelmed on every side, give way to wounds, toils, watches, fasting or fires.

> Latin: 5 quo facto per culmea culmina raptim uentus insistens, sparsum animauit incendium. sed ne sic quidem Romani, cum undique obruerentur, uulneribus laboribus uigiliis ieiuniis incendiisue cesserunt.

[¶5] At length it was reported to Caesar that one legion had been destroyed and another was now almost finished.

> Latin: 6 tandem Caesari nuntiatum est unam deletam esse legionem, alteram iam paene confectam.

[¶6] As Caesar approached with two legions, the enemy abandoned the siege, and all, snatching up their forces, rushed upon him. Caesar deliberately hid himself in a very small camp and sent the cavalry ahead with orders to feign flight, so that, through the contempt he inspired, he might lure the enemy to cross the valley that lay between, which seemed dangerous for himself.

> Latin: 7 aduentante cum duabus legionibus Caesare, deserunt hostes obsidionem atque in eum cuncti raptis copiis ruunt. Caesar paruissimis se castris consulto condidit equitibusque praemissis, ut fugam fingerent, imperauit, ut ad transitum uallis, quae media erat sibique periculosa uidebatur, hostes contemptu sui inuitaret.

[¶7] As they approached, he ordered the gates to be blocked up besides. Seeing this, the Gauls, as if they had already won, turned to throwing a rampart round the camp from outside. Caesar suddenly poured out his army, ready for battle, from all the gates, and, turning the Gauls to flight, destroyed them with enormous slaughter.

> Latin: 8 quibus aduentantibus insuper obstrui portas praecepit. quo uiso Galli, quasi iam uicissent, ad obducendum extrinsecus uallum conuersi sunt. Caesar totis repente portis paratum effudit exercitum uersosque in fugam Gallos uastissima caede confecit.

[¶8] For there are said to have been sixty thousand of them then, of whom few escaped through trackless marshes.

> Latin: 9 nam sexaginta milia tunc fuisse referuntur, e quibus pauci per paludes inuias euaserunt.

[¶9] Indutiomarus, chief of the Treveri, who had great forces of armed men, after he had been informed of the agreement of all Gaul, resolved to destroy the camp of Labienus and the legion he commanded — a thing he thought easy to do — and then, joined with the Eburones and the Nervii, to go on to crush Caesar.

> Latin: 10 Indutiomarus Treuerorum princeps, magnas armatorum copias habens, postquam de consensu totius Galliae certior redditus est, Labieni castra legionemque cui is praeerat, quod facile factu arbitrabatur, delere statuit ac deinde Eburonibus Neruiisque coniunctus ad opprimendum Caesarem pergere.

[¶10] Labienus, by whatever arts he could, feigned fear; and so, as Indutiomarus, grown the more careless, was roving before the rampart with his jeering forces, he struck him down by a sudden sally.

> Latin: 11 Labienus quibus potest artibus simulat timorem atque ita Indutiomarum neglegentiorem cum insultantibus copiis pro uallo oberrantem repentina eruptione prostrauit.

[¶11] By this victory of Labienus the remaining attempts of the Gauls were checked, and Caesar was somewhat quieter for the rest of the winter.

> Latin: 12 hac uictoria Labieni reliqui Gallorum conatus repressi sunt et Caesar paulo quietior reliqua parte hiemis fuit.

[¶12] But understanding that greater tasks of war still remained for him — above all because, with the greater part of his army lost and others grievously wounded, he seemed fit not even to withstand, let alone to crush, the onset of the Gauls — he asked the proconsul Pompey to enrol legions and send them to his aid; and so, before the winter was over, three legions came to him in camp.

> Latin: 13 sed intellegens sibi maiora belli superesse negotia, maxime quia plurima parte exercitus amissa aliisque grauiter sauciis ne ad sustinendum quidem sibi idoneus, non dicam ad conprimendum Gallorum impetum uideretur, a Cn. Pompeio proconsule conscribi legiones sibique mitti in auxilium petit: itaque ante exactam hiemem tres ad eum legiones in castra uenerunt.

[¶13] So Caesar, before the enemy’s forces could come together, prepared at the beginning of spring to attack them while they were alarmed and to crush them while they were scattered in their own territories. First, then, he plundered the territory of the Nervii, and gave over the booty, which was most abundant, to his army.

> Latin: 14 igitur Caesar, priusquam in unum hostium copiae coirent, ineunte uere adgredi trepidos et opprimere sparsos in suis finibus parat. primum itaque Neruiorum fines diripit, praedam uero, quae copiosissima erat, exercitui permittit.

[¶14] Then he invaded in three columns the Menapii, who thought themselves very well protected by immense marshes and most impenetrable woods, and, after a slaughter carried far and wide beyond measure, received the survivors in surrender as suppliants.

> Latin: 15 deinde Menapios, qui sibi propter inmensas paludes atque inpeditissimas siluas munitissimi uidebantur, tribus agminibus inuadit nimiaque caede uulgo agitata residuos supplices in deditionem recepit.

[¶15] Labienus, in the following battle, killed all the forces of the Treveri, having lured them into battle by a stratagem before they could join the Germans who were approaching, and at once took their state itself.

> Latin: 16 Labienus sequenti proelio omnes Treuerorum copias interfecit arte in bellum prouocatas, priusquam Germanis aduentantibus iungerentur, et continuo ipsam ciuitatem capit.

[¶16] Caesar, wishing to avenge the death of the legates Sabinus and Cotta, after he learned that Ambiorix and the Eburones, the authors of the destruction of the legion, had taken refuge in the forest of the Ardennes —

> Latin: 17 Caesar ulcisci mortem Sabini et Cottae legatorum uolens, Ambiorigem et Eburones deletae legionis auctores postquam in Arduennam siluam refugisse conperit -

[¶17] which forest is the largest in all Gaul, and stretches from the banks of the Rhine and the borders of the Treveri as far as the Nervii, and extends in length more than fifty miles —

> Latin: 18 quae silua totius Galliae maxima est atque a ripis Rheni finibusque Treuerorum ad Neruios usque pertingit et in longitudine plus quam quinquaginta milibus passuum patet -

*Note: Caesar (Gallic War 6.29) says the forest extends for more than 500 miles.*

[¶18] weighing that it would be a matter of the greatest danger for his men if, strangers to the ground, they were divided up through obstructed and extensive forests to seek an enemy who knew the places thoroughly, invited all Gaul through messengers to seek out and plunder, each as he pleased, the booty hidden away in the forest of the Ardennes.

> Latin: 19 permetiens rem suis maximi periculi fore, si per obstructas spatiosasque siluas ignoti diuiderentur hostemque locis notissimum quaererent, omnem Galliam per nuntios inuitat, ut quique secundum placitum suum reconditas in Arduenna silua praedas quaerant diripiantque.

[¶19] When this was done, with Gauls dying on both sides, he avenged the very great wrongs done to the Romans without danger to any Roman.

> Latin: 20 quo facto Gallis utrimque morientibus maximas Romanorum iniurias sine cuiusquam Romani discrimine uindicauit.

[¶20] Thus, secure in this safest kind of conquest, he returned to Italy.

> Latin: 21 ita hoc tutissimo uincendi genere securus in Italiam rediit.

## 123. Book 6 · Chapter 11

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/123/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/123/#p-N

[¶0] So, when Caesar had returned to Italy, Gaul again conspired to take up arms, and many peoples combined at once. Their leader was Vercingetorix, on whose advice all the Gauls at once, of their own accord, set fire to their own cities; the first to be burned by its own people was Biturigo.

> Latin: 1 Igitur Caesare in Italiam reuerso Gallia rursus in arma coniurat multique simul populi coeunt. dux his Vercingetorix fuit, cuius consilio statim omnes Galli ciuitates suas ultro incenderunt: prima a suis incensa Biturigo.

[¶1] Then they made an attack upon Caesar, who had hurried back secretly to his army by forced marches through the province of Narbonensis.

> Latin: 2 inde ad Caesarem, qui magnis itineribus per Narbonensem prouinciam clam ad exercitum recucurrerat, impetum faciunt.

[¶2] Caesar had then shut in by siege a town named Cenabum. After it had long been assaulted, at last, after many disasters to the Romans, on a rainy day, when the thongs and sinews of the enemy’s engines had gone slack, towers were brought up to it, and it was taken and destroyed.

> Latin: 3 Caesar tunc oppidum nomine Caenapum obsidione concluserat: quod diu oppugnatum, tandem post multas Romanorum clades pluuio die, cum hostilium machinarum agmenta neruique elanguerant, adplicitis turribus captum atque deletum est.

*Note: The siege described here, with the rainy day, the towers and the 40,000 of whom barely 800 escaped, is that of Avaricum (Bourges) in Caesar (Gallic War 7.27–28), not of Cenabum (Orléans). Orosius has eighty for Caesar’s 800.*

[¶3] Forty thousand people are reported to have been there, of whom scarcely eighty slipped away in flight and reached the nearest camp of the Gauls.

> Latin: 4 quadraginta milia ibi hominum fuisse referuntur: ex quibus uix octoginta per fugam lapsi ad proxima Gallorum castra uenerunt.

[¶4] Moreover the Arverni and the other neighbouring peoples, having also won the Aedui over to their side, made war against Caesar in many battles.

> Latin: 5 praeterea Aruerni ceterique confines, sollicitatis etiam ad se Aeduis, multis aduersum Caesarem proeliis bellauerunt.

[¶5] When, worn out with fighting, they had withdrawn into a certain fort, the soldiers, gaping for plunder, set their minds on storming the town, while Caesar protested in vain at the unfavourable ground. And so there Caesar, pressed hard by the enemy bursting out upon them from above, lost a great part of his army and fled defeated.

> Latin: 6 qui cum se pugnando fatigati in quoddam castellum recepissent, milites praedae inhiantes ad expugnationem oppidi animum intendunt, frustra Caesare de loci iniquitate causante. itaque ibi Caesar erumpentibus de super hostibus pressus, multa exercitus sui parte perdita, uictus aufugit.

*Note: This is Caesar’s repulse at Gergovia in 52 BC, which Orosius does not name; the siege of Alesia followed.*

[¶6] While these things were being done at Alesia, Vercingetorix, whom all with equal consent had chosen as their king, urged that all from the whole of Gaul who could bear arms should present themselves for this war. For this, he said, was the one war from which there would follow either perpetual liberty, or eternal slavery, or the death of all.

> Latin: 7 dum haec ad Alesiam geruntur, Vercingetorix, quem omnes consensu pari regem praeoptauerant, suadet, uti ex tota Gallia omnes, qui arma ferre possint, huic bello praesto sint. hoc enim esse unum bellum, quo aut perpetua libertas aut aeterna seruitus aut mors omnium consequatur.

[¶7] And so, besides the number, beyond counting, which he had gathered before, about 8,000 horse and 250,000 foot were brought together.

> Latin: 8 itaque absque eo numero, quem infinitum ante contraxerat, equitum circiter octo milia, peditum ducenta et quinquaginta milia contracta sunt.

[¶8] Next the Romans and the Gauls occupied two hills facing one another. Fighting from these with frequent sallies and varying outcomes, the Romans at last won through the outstanding valour of the German horsemen, whom, long since their friends, they had now called in as auxiliaries.

> Latin: 9 dehinc duo colles sibi inuicem obuersos Romani Gallique ceperunt. unde multis saepe eruptionibus et uariis prouentibus proeliantes, tandem Romani praecipua Germanorum equitum, quos sibi iamdudum amicos nunc in auxilium acciuerant, uirtute uicerunt.

[¶9] On another day Vercingetorix, gathering together all who had escaped by flight, said that he had in good faith been the author of the defence of their liberty and of the breaking of the treaty, and that now, whether they all offered themselves to the Romans for death or surrendered him alone on behalf of all, he would be ready in spirit.

> Latin: 10 Vercingetorix alia die congregatis omnibus, qui fuga euaserant, dixit se auctorem bona fide defendendae libertatis atque inrumpendi foederis fuisse et nunc, siue Romanis sese ad mortem omnes offerant siue se solum pro omnibus dedant, paratum animo fore.

[¶10] And so the Gauls, as though taking up on the king’s own advice a wish which for some time they had concealed out of shame, at once begged pardon for themselves and surrendered him alone, as the author of a great crime.

> Latin: 11 itaque Galli uoluntatem, quam pudore aliquamdiu texerant, quasi ex consilio regis adsumerent, ilico sibi ueniam precantes, eum solum uelut auctorem magni sceleris dediderunt.

[¶11] The Bellovaci were held, in their own opinion, to be braver than all the nations of the Gauls. These, under the leadership of Correus, renewed the war, and joined to themselves in the alliance of the war they had undertaken the Ambiani, Aulerci, Caleti, Veliocasses and Atrebates; they seized a certain place surrounded and obstructed on every side by marshes, and, joining battle, slaughtered a great band of the Remi who were serving as auxiliaries to the Romans.

> Latin: 12 Bellouagui omnibus Gallorum gentibus ipsorum opinione fortiores habebantur. hi Correo duce bellum instaurant sibique in hanc suscepti belli societatem Ambianos Aulercos Saletos Veliocasses Atrebatasque coniungunt et locum quendam cinctum atque impeditum undique paludibus capiunt, commissoque proelio magnam Remorum manum, quae auxilio Romanis erat, trucidant.

[¶12] Then, when they had occupied a place they had picked out as suitable for an ambush, and the Romans, having discovered this, had come to the place of the ambush drawn up and in order, battle was joined, and the Romans shut the fleeing Gauls in by the very defences of the place within which they had been enclosed, and cut them all down to the point of extermination.

> Latin: 13 deinde cum opportunum ipsi locum insidiis prouisum occupauissent atque hoc conperto Romani ad insidiarum locum instructi ordinatique uenissent, commisso proelio Romani Gallos fugientes isdem locorum munitionibus, quibus clausi fuerant, incluserunt cunctosque ad internecionem ceciderunt.

[¶13] There Correus, refusing either flight or surrender, by killing the Romans who pressed upon him to take him alive, forced them to kill him.

> Latin: 14 ibi Correus uel fugam uel deditionem detractans Romanos, ut uiuus caperetur, instantes occidendo, ut occideretur, coegit.

[¶14] So, when Caesar thought that all Gaul was pacified and would not dare to aspire to any further risings, he dismissed the legions to winter quarters; he himself, however, laid waste with a horrible slaughter of men the territory of Ambiorix, who had stirred up so many wars.

> Latin: 15 Igitur cum pacatam esse uniuersam Galliam Caesar neque ausuram fore ad aliquos adspirare motus arbitraretur, legiones in hiberna dimisit, ipse tamen Ambiorigis fines, qui tot bella excitauerat, horrenda hominum strage uastauit.

[¶15] But the legate Gaius Caninius found war among the Pictones: there a great multitude of the enemy surrounded a legion hampered on its march and brought it into extreme danger.

> Latin: 16 at uero C. Caninius legatus bellum apud Pictonas inuenit: ubi magna hostium multitudo impeditam itinere legionem circumdedit atque ad extremum discrimen adduxit.

[¶16] Moreover the legate Fabius, on receiving Caninius’s letter, set out for the Pictones; and there, informed by prisoners of the advantages of the ground, he crushed the enemy unawares, and, after great slaughter, drove off a great deal of plunder.

> Latin: 17 porro autem Fabius legatus acceptis Caninii litteris in Pictonas proficiscitur ibique a captiuis de opportunitate locorum certior factus inopinantes hostes opprimit magnisque stragibus factis plurimas praedas agit.

[¶17] Then, when he had given Caninius a signal of his arrival, Caninius suddenly sprang out with his whole camp and threw himself upon the enemy. Thus, with Fabius pressing on one side and Caninius on the other, in a very great and long-drawn battle countless forces of the Gauls were slaughtered.

> Latin: 18 deinde cum Caninio signum aduentus sui dedisset, Caninius totis castris subito exsiluit seseque iniecit hosti. ita Fabio ex alia parte et Caninio ex altera insistente, maximo et diuturno bello innumerae Gallorum copiae trucidatae sunt.

[¶18] From there Fabius set out against the Carnutes; for he knew that Dumnacus, a leader and the earliest instigator of the whole rebellion, who had slipped away from this war, would again stir up the greatest tumults in Gaul if he were joined to the Armorican nations. But these, still trembling at the very novelty of things, he subdued with wonderful valour and speed.

> Latin: 19 inde Fabius in Carnutes profectus est; sciebat enim Domnacum ducem antiquissimum rebellionis totius incentorem ab hoc bello elapsum, si Aremoricis gentibus adiunctus esset, maximos iterum in Gallia tumultus esse moturum. sed eas adhuc ipsa nouitate trepidantes mira uirtute et celeritate perdomuit.

[¶19] Meanwhile Drappes, and Lucterius with him, when they saw that Caninius and the legions were in their territory, gathered forces from every side and occupied the town of Uxellodunum.

> Latin: 20 interea Draptes unaque Lycterius cum adesse Caninium et legiones in finibus suis uiderent, undique collectis copiis oppidum Uxellodunum occupant.

[¶20] This town hung on the loftiest summit of a mountain; on two sides it was girt, along sheer slopes, by a river of no small size; then, halfway down the descent, secure in a most abundant spring, and safe with a very great supply of grain within, it looked down from afar on the vain manoeuvres of the enemy.

> Latin: 21 hoc oppidum in editissima montis arce pendebat, duabus partibus per abrupta latera non paruo flumine cingebatur, medio deinde descensu largissimo fonte securum plurimaque introrsum copia frumenti tutum inritos procul discursus hostium despiciebat.

[¶21] Caninius, doing the one thing that Roman foresight could do, lured both leaders out onto the plain with the greater part of their forces and overcame them in a very great battle. For one of the leaders was killed and the other fled with very few; none returned to the town. But to storm it, Caesar was needed.

> Latin: 22 Caninius, quod solum Romana prouisione potuit, ambos duces cum parte copiarum plurima in campum euocatos maximo proelio superauit. nam uno e ducibus interfecto alter cum paucissimis fugit, nullus in oppidum rediit. sed ad id oppugnandum Caesare opus fuit.

[¶22] And so Caesar, informed by messengers, hastened up, and, having surveyed everything, saw that if he attempted to storm it by force, his army would be destroyed as a game and a spectacle for the enemy; and that there was only one resource: if by some means the enemy could be cut off from water.

> Latin: 23 itaque certior per nuntios factus Caesar accurrit circumspectisque omnibus uidet, si expugnare ui moliatur, ludo et spectaculo hostium delendum esse exercitum suum; unum solum esse praesidii, si quoquo modo hostes aqua arceantur.

[¶23] But even this none but Caesar could have achieved, since the spring which they used for drinking poured out halfway down the sloping side of the mountain. Caesar ordered mantlets to be moved up close to the spring and a tower to be built. At once there was a great rush out of the town. As these fought without danger to themselves, a good many Romans were slain, though they resisted stubbornly and came up again and again to relieve one another.

> Latin: 24 sed et hoc quoque nisi Caesar non potuisset, siquidem fons, quo ad potum utebantur, medio deuexi montis latere fundebatur. Caesar ad proximum fontis admoueri uineas turrimque exstrui iubet. fit magnus ilico concursus ex oppido. quibus sine periculo proeliantibus Romani quamuis pertinaciter obsisterent crebriusque succederent, conplures tamen trucidantur.

[¶24] So a mound was raised, and a tower of sixty feet, whose top could be level with the site of the spring, so that missiles could be hurled from equal height, and rolling rocks hurled down from above need not be feared.

> Latin: 25 igitur exstruitur agger et turris pedum sexaginta, cuius uertex aequare ad fontis locum possit, ut uel ex aequo tela conici queant uel praecipitata desuper saxorum uolumina non timeri.

[¶25] But the townspeople, when they saw not only their cattle but also the weaker ages of men dying of thirst, filled barrels with pitch, tallow and shingles, set fire to them and sent them rolling down the slope, and they themselves, pouring out of the whole town, followed after them.

> Latin: 26 oppidani autem, ubi exanimari siti non solum pecora sua uerum etiam infirmiores hominum aetates uident, cupas pice sebo et scindulis repletas ac deinde inmisso igne in prona praecipitant easque ipsi toto oppido effusi subsequuntur.

[¶26] As the engines burned, Caesar, seeing that the battle was grievous and dangerous for his men, ordered cohorts to go swiftly and secretly round the town and suddenly raise a vast shout on every side. When this was done, the townspeople, in consternation, wishing to run back to defend the town, withdrew from attacking the tower and demolishing the mound.

> Latin: 27 ardentibus machinis cum graue proelium suis Caesar ac periculosum uideret, cohortes in circuitum oppidi ire uelociter per occultum imperat atque undique subito uastum clamorem attollere. quo facto consternati oppidani dum recurrere ad muniendum oppidum uolunt, ab oppugnatione turris uel demolitione aggeris recesserunt.

[¶27] Those, however, who under the cover of the mound were safely digging tunnels to cut the veins of the spring, found the hidden channels of the waters, and by dividing them into many parts made them thin out and spend themselves. The townspeople, their spring dried up, were seized by final despair and surrendered.

> Latin: 28 illi tamen, qui ad incidendas fontis uenas sub obtentu aggeris tuti cuniculos perfodiebant, repertos in abstruso aquarum meatus per multa diuidendo tenuari in semet ipsis consumique fecerunt. oppidani fonte siccato ultima desperatione correpti deditionem sui faciunt.

[¶28] Caesar, however, cut off the hands of all who had borne arms and left them their lives, so that the punishment of the wicked might bear the more evident witness even to posterity.

> Latin: 29 Caesar autem omnibus, qui arma tulerant, manus sustulit et uitam reliquit, quo testatior esset etiam posteris poena improborum.

[¶29] For an example of punishment set before men’s eyes has great power to restrain audacity, since the very sight of the wretch, present and living, both stirs the memory of those who know and compels those who do not know to inquire.

> Latin: 30 multum enim ad cohercendam audaciam ualet propositum punitionis exemplum, cum ipsa miseri praesens forma uiuentis et ad recordationem admonet conscios et ad sciscitationem cogit ignaros.

## 124. Book 6 · Chapter 12

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/124/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/124/#p-N

[¶0] With the Gauls exhausted and thoroughly subdued, Caesar returned with his legions to Italy free of care, fearing no risings of the Gauls behind him, and knowing for certain that he had left behind hardly any who would either dare to rise or, if they rose, were to be feared.

> Latin: 1 Exhaustis atque edomitis Gallis securus Caesar cum legionibus in Italiam rediit, nullos post se Gallorum motus pertimescens, certo se sciens minime aliquos, qui uel moueri audeant uel si moueantur timendi sint, reliquisse.

[¶1] I should like now to set before our eyes Gaul, bloodless and exhausted: how she fares after those most burning fevers and the inward heats that scorched the better part of her vitals; with what wasting and what pallor she is marked; how dejected and enfeebled she lies; how she dreads even the movements of necessary duty, lest they bring back the same onset of evils.

> Latin: 2 constitui nunc ante oculos uelim exsanguem defectamque Galliam, post illas ardentissimas febres internosque aestus uitalium meliora torrentes ut sese habeat, quanta macie quantoque pallore sit, quam demissa ac resoluta iaceat, quam ipsos quoque necessarii officii motus, ne eundem incursum malorum reuocent, pertimescat.

[¶2] For the Roman army fell upon her with a sudden onset, like a stronger plague upon a very strong body, which burns the more fiercely the more impatiently it is borne.

> Latin: 3 inruit enim in eam repentino impetu Romanus exercitus ueluti fortissimo corpori fortior lues, quae tanto grauius accenditur, quanto inpatientius toleratur.

[¶3] The wretched land thirsted, when, with the sword at her throat, she was compelled to profess a pledge of eternal slavery, her hostages torn from her besides; she thirsted, as I have said, for that well-known sweetness of liberty, the sweetest of all things to all, like the sweetness of cold water; and the more she understood it to be withdrawn from her, the more greedily she longed for it.

> Latin: 4 sitiebat misera, cum instante gladio profiteri sponsionem seruitutis aeternae auulsis insuper obsidibus cogeretur; sitiebat, ut dixi, notam illam omnibusque suauissimam uelut aquae gelidae dulcedinem libertatis, quantoque eam magis subtrahi intellegebat; tanto auidius desiderabat.

[¶4] Hence that so frequent presumption against what was forbidden: an untimely liberty was grasped at for the sake of defending liberty; and because this seemed to stamp out a destruction ill conceived, it only increased the licence, already seized, of possessing her insatiably.

> Latin: 5 hinc illa tam frequens contra uetita praesumptio: inuadebatur pro defendenda libertate inportuna libertas praereptamque insatiabiliter potiundi licentiam, quod male conceptam perniciem restinguere uidebatur, augebat.

[¶5] Hence the Roman was a craftier plotter before battle, hence a fiercer enemy in battle, hence a more merciless victor after battle; hence everything grew more cruel in order to tame her impatience; hence no trust was placed any longer even in remedies.

> Latin: 6 hinc Romanus ante pugnam insidiator argutior, hinc in pugna hostis infestior, hinc post pugnam uictor immitior, hinc omnia ad domandam inpatientiam crudescentia, hinc iam nec remediis credebatur.

[¶6] And so, if I could ask this nation of which we speak what it judged of those times then, when it was suffering these very things, it would answer, I think, saying: “That fever left me so bloodless then, and made me so cold, that not even this one, which has grazed almost all, could heat me or stir me; and the Romans so bowed me down that I shall not rise up even against the Goths.”

> Latin: 7 itaque si interrogare possem hanc de qua loquimur nationem, quid tunc, cum haec ipsa sustinebat, de illis temporibus iudicarit, responderet ut arbitror dicens: 'sic me illa tunc febris exsanguem reddidit ac frigidam fecit, ut etiam haec, quae omnes paene perstrinxit, feruefacere uel commouere nequiuerit, atque ita me Romani inclinauerunt, ut nec ad Gothos surgam'.

[¶7] But not even Rome herself escaped the disasters she inflicted. Long exercised and increased throughout all the quarters of the world were the powers of the generals and the strength of the legions, which, clashing with one another, would conquer to her loss and be conquered at her peril. For civil wars attended Caesar on his return victorious from Gaul; and other most grievous evils — the killing of Crassus among the Parthians and the slaughter of his army — had gone before.

> Latin: 8 sed ne ipsa quidem Roma clades, quas intulit, euitauit. exercitae diu auctaeque sunt per totos mundi cardines potentiae ducum uiresque legionum, quae in sese concurrentes eius damno uincerent, cuius periculo uincerentur. nam uictorem Caesarem de Gallia reuersum ciuilia bella comitata sunt aliaque grauissima mala, interfecti apud Parthos Crassi et trucidati exercitus, praecesserunt.

## 125. Book 6 · Chapter 13

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/125/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/125/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 697 from the founding of the City, Crassus, Pompey’s colleague in the consulship, having received by lot the province against the Parthians — a man of insatiable greed — on hearing of the wealth of the temple in Jerusalem, which Pompey had left untouched, turned aside into Palestine, went to Jerusalem, broke into the temple and plundered its riches.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCXCVII Crassus in consulatu collega Pompei prouinciam sortitus in Parthos, homo inexplebilis cupiditatis, audita in Hierosolymis templi opulentia, quam Pompeius intactam reliquerat, in Palaestinam deuertit, Hierosolymam adit, templum peruadit, opes diripit.

[¶1] From there, making for Parthia through Mesopotamia, wherever his road lay he levied auxiliaries on the allied states and exacted payments; and as soon as he crossed the Euphrates, he at once met Vagises, an envoy sent to him by Orodes, king of the Parthians, who vehemently rebuked him for having crossed the Euphrates, led on by avarice, contrary to the treaty of Lucullus and Pompey; for this reason, he said, it would come about without delay that instead of Parthian gold he would be loaded with Seric iron.

> Latin: 2 inde per Mesopotamiam tendens in Parthiam, quacumque iter habuit sociis ciuitatibus auxilia indixit, pretia exegit moxque ut Euphraten transiit, ilico Vagesen, legatum ab Horode rege Parthorum ad se missum, obuium habuit, a quo uehementer increpitus est, cur contra foedus Luculli et Pompei auaritia inductus Euphraten transierit. quamobrem sine mora futurum, ut pro auro Parthico Serico ferro oneraretur.

[¶2] And so, when they had come near Carrhae, the Parthians, suddenly falling upon them with their prefects Surena and Silaces, overwhelmed the Romans with arrows. Very many senators fell there, and some men of consular and praetorian rank as well; Crassus, the son of Crassus, a most excellent young man, was also killed in the battle line. Besides this, four cohorts with the legate Vargunteius were caught in the middle of the plains and killed.

> Latin: 3 itaque cum prope Carras uentum esset, Parthi subito ingruentes cum Surena et Silacea praefectis sagittis oppressere Romanos. cecidere ibi plurimi senatores, aliquot etiam consulares et praetorii uiri; Crassus quoque filius Crassi, lectissimus iuuenis, in acie occisus est. praeterea quattuor cohortes cum Vargunteio legato mediis deprehensae campis et interfectae sunt.

[¶3] Surena, gathering his cavalry in haste, set himself to pursue Crassus, and, having surrounded him as he vainly sought a parley, killed him, although he would have preferred to carry him off alive. A few, delivered by the favour of night, fled to Carrhae.

> Latin: 4 Surenas rapto equitatu Crassum persequi intendit eumque circumuentum ac frustra conloquium eius petentem interfecit, quamuis uiuum auferre maluisset. pauci noctis beneficio liberati Carras confugerunt.

[¶4] When the disaster of the Romans became known, many provinces of the East would have fallen away from the alliance and loyalty of the Roman people, had not Cassius, gathering a few soldiers from the rout, held down a swelling Syria with outstanding courage and moderation of spirit. He also defeated and killed Antiochus with his huge forces in battle, and drove out in war the Parthians, who had been sent into Syria by Orodes and had already entered Antioch, and killed their general Osaces.

> Latin: 5 cognita clade Romanorum multae orientis prouinciae a societate uel fide populi Romani defecissent, ni Cassius collectis ex fuga militibus paucis intumescentem Syriam egregia animi uirtute ac moderatione pressisset; qui et Antiochum copiasque eius ingentes proelio uicit et interfecit, Parthos quoque ab Horode in Syriam missos iamque ingressos Antiochiam bello expulit ducemque eorum Osagen interfecit.

## 126. Book 6 · Chapter 14

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/126/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/126/#p-N

[¶0] So the condition of Rome is ever driven by alternating change, like the form of the Ocean, which, unequal every day, now rises for seven days with successive increases, now for as many following days is drawn back by a natural loss and an inward ebbing.

> Latin: 1 Igitur Romani status agitur semper alterna mutatio et uelut forma Oceani maris, quae omni die dispar nunc succiduis per VII dies attollitur incrementis nunc insequentibus totidem diebus naturali damno et defectu interiore subducitur.

[¶1] For, to begin with the most recent events: when the Roman army perished at the river Rhône, with the Cimbri and the Tigurini victorious, Rome felt the narrowest of straits; but when the disaster was soon turned back upon the Cimbri, she was elated by great advances and forgot her former failures.

> Latin: 2 ut enim de proximis ordiar, Cimbris Tigurinisque uincentibus cum apud Rhodanum flumen Romanus exercitus periit, artissimas Roma sensit angustias; refusa continuo clade Cimbrorum, magnis elata prouectibus priorum oblita defectuum est.

[¶2] Then the Italian War and Sulla’s tearing apart of the state chastised this boasting in a most recent prosperity. Again, after this domestic and intestine ruin, by which she was all but disembowelled and eaten away to the marrow, in nearly equal spaces of time she was not only restored but also extended, when Lucullus subdued Asia, Pompey Spain, and Caesar Gaul, and the Roman Empire was carried almost to the furthest bounds of the earth.

> Latin: 3 hanc deinde recentissimae prosperitatis iactantiam Italicum bellum et dilaceratio Syllana castigat. rursus post hanc domesticam intestinamque perniciem, qua usque ad medullas paene euiscerata et exesa est, paribus propemodum spatiis temporum non solum reparata, uerum etiam extenta est, cum Lucullus Asiam, Pompeius Hispaniam, Caesar Galliam perdomuit Romanumque imperium usque ad extremos propemodum terrae terminos propagatum est.

[¶3] This most ample enlargement was now followed by a most vast ruin. For among the Parthians a Roman consul was killed and his army destroyed; that most atrocious civil war of Pompey and Caesar was joined; and amid all this Rome herself, seized by a sudden fire, was burned.

> Latin: 4 hanc nunc amplissimam dilatationem uastissima ruina consequitur. apud Parthos enim consul Romanus occiditur exercitusque deletur, atrocissimum illud Pompei atque Caesaris bellum ciuile conseritur et inter haec Roma ipsa repentino correpta incendio concrematur.

[¶4] For in the year 700 from the founding of the City, a fire, from what source is uncertain, invaded the greater part of the City; and they say that never before was the city seized and laid waste by so great a fire. For it is recorded that fourteen quarters were consumed, together with the Vicus Iugarius. From this point the civil war was begun, which had long been in preparation through great dissensions and schemes.

> Latin: 5 Anno siquidem ab urbe condita DCC incertum unde concretus plurimam urbis partem ignis inuasit, neque umquam antea tanto incendio correptam ac uastatam ciuitatem ferunt. nam quattuordecim uicos cum uico Iugario consumptos fuisse memoriae proditum est. hinc iam bellum ciuile committitur, quod magnis iamdudum dissensionibus ac molitionibus parabatur.

## 127. Book 6 · Chapter 15

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/127/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/127/#p-N

[¶0] For Caesar, returning victorious from Gaul, demanded that a second consulship be decreed to him in his absence. This was opposed by the consul Marcellus, with Pompey’s support; then the senate decreed that Caesar should not come to the City unless he had disbanded his army; and on the authority of the consul Marcellus, Pompey was sent with military command to the legions that were at Luceria.

> Latin: 1 Nam rediens Caesar uictor ex Gallia decerni sibi absenti alterum consulatum poposcit. contradictum est a Marcello consule adnitente Pompeio, deinde decretum est a senatu, ut in urbem Caesar non nisi dimisso exercitu ueniret, et ex Marcelli consulis auctoritate ad legiones, quae apud Luceriam erant, Pompeius cum imperio missus est.

[¶1] Caesar betook himself to Ravenna. Mark Antony and Publius Cassius, tribunes of the plebs, interceding on Caesar’s behalf, were barred from the senate house and the forum at the order of the consul Lentulus, and set out for Caesar, with Curio and Caelius accompanying them.

> Latin: 2 Caesar Rauennam sese contulit. M. Antonius et P. Cassius tribuni plebis pro Caesare intercedentes, interdicente Lentulo consule curia foroque prohibiti, ad Caesarem profecti sunt Curione simul Caelioque comitantibus.

*Note: The tribune was Quintus Cassius Longinus; Orosius gives him the praenomen Publius.*

[¶2] Caesar crossed the river Rubicon, and as soon as he came to Ariminum, he instructed the five cohorts which were all he then had — with which, as Livy says, he attacked the whole world — in what needed to be done. Lamenting the wrongs done to him, he declared that the cause of the civil war was the restoration of the tribunes to their country.

> Latin: 3 Caesar Rubicone flumine transmeato, mox ut Ariminum uenit, quinque cohortes, quas tunc solas habebat, cum quibus, ut ait Liuius, orbem terrarum adortus est, quid facto opus esset, edocuit. deplorans iniurias suas, causam belli ciuilis, pro restituendis in patriam tribunis, esse testatus est.

[¶3] Then through Antony he took over from Lucretius seven cohorts that were stationed at Sulmo, and brought over to his side three legions that were stationed with Domitius at Corfinium. Pompey and the whole senate, alarmed at Caesar’s growing strength, crossed into Greece as though driven out of Italy, and chose Dyrrachium as the seat for waging the war.

> Latin: 4 inde per Antonium septem cohortes, quae apud Sulmonem morabantur, a Lucretio recepit, tres legiones, quae cum Domitio apud Corfinium morabantur, ad suas partes traduxit. Pompeius atque omnis senatus, crescentibus Caesaris uiribus trepidi, tamquam Italia pulsi in Graeciam transuecti, Dyrrachium gerendi belli sedem delegerunt.

[¶4] Caesar came to Rome, and when money from the treasury was refused him, he broke down the doors and seized it, and brought out of it 4,135 pounds of gold and nearly 900,000 pounds of silver.

> Latin: 5 Caesar Romam uenit negatamque sibi ex aerario pecuniam fractis foribus inuasit protulitque ex eo auri pondo quattuor milia centum triginta et quinque, argenti pondo prope nongenta millia.

[¶5] Departing from there to the legions at Ariminum, he soon crossed the Alps and came to Marseille; leaving Trebonius with three legions to besiege it, because it had not received him, he hastened to the Spanish provinces, which Lucius Afranius, Marcus Petreius and Marcus Varro, Pompey’s generals, held with their legions. There he overcame Petreius and Afranius in many battles, made an agreement with them and let them go.

> Latin: 6 inde digressus Ariminum ad legiones, mox Alpes transuectus Massiliam uenit, ad quam oppugnandam, cur receptus non esset, Trebonium cum tribus legionibus relinquens, ad Hispanias contendit, quas L. Afranius et M. Petreius et M. Varro Pompeiani duces cum legionibus obtinebant. ibi multis proeliis Petreium Afraniumque superatos conposita pactione dimisit.

[¶6] In Further Spain he took over two legions from Marcus Varro. His generals likewise prevailed: Curio drove Cato out of Sicily, Valerius drove Cotta out of Sardinia, and Varus drove Tubero out of Africa. Caesar, returning to Marseille, which had been subdued by siege, granted it only life and liberty and stripped it of everything else.

> Latin: 7 in ulteriore uero Hispania duas legiones a M. Varrone suscepit. similiter et duces eius, hoc est Curio Catonem Sicilia expulit, Valerius Cottam Sardinia, Tuberonem Africa Varus eiecit. Caesar Massiliam rediens, obsidione domitam uita tantum et libertate concessa ceteris rebus abrasit.

[¶7] But Dolabella, of Caesar’s party, was defeated in Illyricum by Octavius and Libo, stripped of his forces, and fled to Antonius. Basilus and Sallust, each with the single legion he commanded, and likewise Antonius, and Hortensius too, hastening from the Lower Sea with a fleet, all set out together against Octavius and Libo, and were defeated.

> Latin: 8 At uero Dolabella partium Caesaris in Illyrico per Octauium et Libonem uictus copiisque exutus ad Antonium fugit. Basilus et Sallustius cum singulis legionibus, quibus praeerant, similiter et Antonius, Hortensius quoque ab infimo mari cum classe concurrens, omnesque pariter aduersus Octauium et Libonem profecti et uicti sunt.

*Note: This Antonius is Gaius Antonius, Mark Antony’s brother.*

[¶8] When Antonius had surrendered to Octavius with fifteen cohorts, all were led away by Libo to Pompey. Curio crossed with his army from Sicily into Africa; King Juba at once caught him and slaughtered him with all his forces. Octavius, attempting to storm Salonae, lost almost all the forces he led.

> Latin: 9 Antonius cum se Octauio cum quindecim cohortibus dedisset, omnes ad Pompeium a Libone deducti sunt. Curio ex Sicilia in Africam cum exercitu transgressus est: quem Iuba rex continuo exceptum cum omnibus copiis trucidauit. Octauius Salonas oppugnare conatus, omnes paene copias quas duxit amisit.

[¶9] Caelius revolted from Caesar and joined Milo the exile; and when both attempted to storm Capua with a band of slaves, they were killed. Bibulus, at Corcyra, overcome by shame because the enemy had made a mockery of the watch which he was keeping over the sea and the town, wore himself out with fasting and sleeplessness.

> Latin: 10 Caelius desciuit a Caesare ac se Miloni exuli iunxit; cumque ambo seruorum manu Capuam oppugnare molirentur, occisi sunt. Bibulus apud Corcyram pudore uictus, quod custodiae eius, quam pelago et oppido praetendebat, hostis inluserat, inedia sese uigiliisque confecit.

[¶10] Appius Claudius Censorinus, who was guarding Greece at Pompey’s command, wished to put to the test the credibility of the Pythian oracle, which had by then been abolished. For the prophetess, compelled by him to go down into the cave, is said to have answered him when he consulted her about the war: “This war does not concern you, Roman; you will possess the Hollows of Euboea.” Now they call the Euboean Gulf “the Hollows.” And so Appius went away uncertain, at a loss over the perplexing oracle.

> Latin: 11 Appius Claudius Censorinus, qui iussu Pompei Graeciam tuebatur, iam abolitam Pythici oraculi fidem uoluit experiri: quippe ab eo adacta uates descendere in specum respondisse fertur de bello consulenti: Nihil ad te hoc, Romane, bellum pertinet, Euboeae coela obtinebis. coela autem uocant Euboicum sinum. ita Appius perplexa incertus sorte discessit.

*Note: This is Appius Claudius Pulcher, consul in 54 BC; the cognomen Censorinus is Orosius’s error. The oracle was held to be fulfilled when he died in Euboea before the battle of Pharsalus.*

[¶11] This consulter prompts us to consult our detractors on a certain point. They complain, of course, that by the faith of the Christians their rites have been forbidden and their ceremonies done away with, and for this reason above all: that with entrails and prophecies ceasing, future disasters are not avoided, because they cannot be known.

> Latin: 12 Admonet nos aliquid ab obtrectatoribus nostris consultor iste consulere. queruntur utique fide Christianorum sibi sacra interdicta caerimoniasque sublatas et ob hoc ideo maxime, quod extis uaticiniisque cessantibus futurae clades, quia sciri nequeunt, non uitantur.

[¶12] Why then, long before the rule of Caesar and the birth of Christ, as their own authors attest, had the credibility of the Pythian oracle been abolished? Abolished, moreover, because it was despised. And why despised, if not because it was false, or empty, or doubtful? Whence the poet prudently gave warning: “Unanswered they depart, and hate the Sibyl’s seat.”

> Latin: 13 cur ergo longe ante imperium Caesaris natiuitatemque Christi, sicut ipsorum auctores adtestantur, abolita fuerat Pythici oraculi fides? abolita autem ideo, quia contempta. porro autem quare contempta, nisi quia uel falsa uel uana uel dubia? unde prudenter poeta praemonuit: Inconsulti abeunt sedemque odere Sibyllae.

[¶13] And lest they should perhaps think of little weight what was abolished and made obsolete through contempt — whether the divinity or its seat: this was that Pythian Apollo who, they say, having killed the great serpent Python, author and prince of all prophecy, became heir to its seat, its divination and its name, and chose to give his responses in the very place where divination itself seemed to have arisen together with its author;

> Latin: 14 Et ne forte parui id pendant, quod contemptu abolitum atque antiquatum fuit, hoc est aut numen aut sedem: Apollo ille Pythius erat, quem ferunt magno illo Pythone serpente interfecto, totius uaticinationis auctore et principe, heredem et sedis et diuinationis et nominis exstitisse ibique eum reddere elegisse responsa, ubi orta cum auctore ipsa diuinatio uidebatur,

[¶14] he, moreover, whom in other parts of the earth too the whole madness of the frenzied belches forth with foaming mouths and raving rushing to and fro; to whom very many kings of the earth ran, as to the living voice of a deity consulted; to whom the Romans themselves very often sent the richest gifts.

> Latin: 15 praeterea quem per alias quoque terrarum partes spumantibus buccis rabidoque discursu omnis furiatorum ructat insania, ad quem plurimi terrarum reges quasi ad uiuam uocem consulti numinis cucurrerunt, cui saepissime ipsi quoque Romani opulentissima dona miserunt.

[¶15] But if this Pythian Apollo was by degrees despised, abandoned and abolished as experience came to discern the truth, what living word can be hoped for from a dead beast, what truth from a crazed little woman? What, finally, will “the fat Tyrrhenian, when he has blown the ivory horn at the altars,” not invent when he is hungry, once the entrails of a fattened beast are laid out, if, as they themselves confess, Apollo himself leads men astray by speaking either obscurely or falsely?

> Latin: 16 at si Apollo iste Pythius paulatim discernente experientia contemptus relictus atque abolitus est, quid uiuum de mortua pecude, quid uerum de amente muliercula sperari potest? quid postremo, Inflauit cum pinguis ebur Tyrrhenus ad aras, expositis opimae pecudis intestinis, non finget esuriens, si, ut ipsi fatentur, uel obscura uel falsa dicendo ipse Apollo seducit?

[¶16] Let them therefore bear it with equanimity, even if for the present they are unwilling to imitate it, that we, by the judgement of truth, should also forbid what their ancestors were able to despise even from experience.

> Latin: 17 quamobrem aequo animo ferant, etsi imitari interim nolunt, nos id ueritatis iudicio etiam prohibere, quod potuerunt maiores eorum uel experiendo contemnere.

[¶17] Meanwhile many kings of the East came together to Pompey at Dyrrachium with auxiliaries. When Caesar had come there, he encircled Pompey with a siege, in vain, fencing off fifteen miles of land with a ditch, while the seas lay open to the other side.

> Latin: 18 Interea apud Dyrrachium multi orientis reges ad Pompeium cum auxiliis conuenerunt. quo cum Caesar uenisset, Pompeium obsidione frustra cinxit, ipse terram quindecim m. p. fossa praestruens, cum illi maria paterent.

[¶18] Pompey overthrew a certain fort near the sea, which Marcellinus was guarding, and killed Caesar’s garrisons stationed there. Caesar attacked Torquatus and a single legion in order to storm their position.

> Latin: 19 Pompeius castellum quoddam propinquum mari, quod Marcellinus tuebatur, euertit praesidiaque Caesaris, quae ibidem morabantur, occidit. Caesar Torquatum legionemque unam, ut expugnaret, adgressus est.

[¶19] Pompey, learning of this danger to his allies, drew all his forces there; and Caesar at once abandoned the siege and turned against him. Torquatus, however, bursting out on the instant, pursued him from behind.

> Latin: 20 hoc periculo sociorum Pompeius cognito omnes eo copias contraxit: in quem se ilico Caesar omissa obsidione conuertit. Torquatus autem e uestigio prorumpens auersum insecutus est.

[¶20] Thus Caesar’s soldiers, terrified by danger on both sides, fled, though Caesar himself tried in vain to stop them. But Pompey, the victor even by Caesar’s own testimony, called back his army from the pursuit. Four thousand of Caesar’s soldiers, twenty-two centurions and a good many Roman knights were slain in that battle.

> Latin: 21 ita Caesaris milites ancipiti periculo territi ipso Caesare frustra obsistente fugerunt. Pompeius uero Caesaris quoque testimonio uictor persequentem reuocauit exercitum. quattuor milia militum Caesaris, centuriones uiginti et duo, equites Romani conplures in eo proelio caesi sunt.

[¶21] From there Caesar went on with a rapid march through Epirus into Thessaly; Pompey followed with very great forces, and battle was joined.

> Latin: 22 Caesar inde citato agmine per Epirum in Thessaliam perrexit; Pompeius cum maximis copiis secutus bellumque commissum est.

[¶22] And so the battle lines were drawn up on both sides. Pompey placed eighty-eight cohorts in triple order: there were forty thousand infantry, six hundred cavalry on the left wing and five hundred on the right, besides many kings and very many senators and Roman knights, not counting a great force of light-armed troops.

> Latin: 23 itaque instruitur utrimque acies. Pompeius octoginta et octo cohortes triplici ordine locauit: fuerunt autem peditum quadraginta milia, equites in sinistro cornu sescenti, in dextro quingenti, praeterea reges multi, senatores equitesque Romani plurimi, absque leuium armaturarum magna copia.

*Note: Pompey’s cavalry in fact numbered about 7,000 (Caesar, Civil War 3.84); the figures of 600 and 500 cannot be right.*

[¶23] Caesar likewise arranged eighty cohorts in triple order; he had fewer than thirty thousand infantry, and a thousand cavalry.

> Latin: 24 Caesar similiter octoginta cohortes triplici ordine disposuit, cui fuerunt minus quam triginta milia peditum, equites mille.

[¶24] There one might see, and groan to see, the gathered strength of the Romans standing on the plains of Pharsalus for mutual slaughter — strength which, had concord ruled it, no peoples and no kings could have withstood.

> Latin: 25 uidere ibi et gemere erat contractas Romanorum uires in campis Pharsalicis ad occisionem mutuam constitisse, quas si concordia rexisset, nulli populi, nulli reges ferre potuissent.

[¶25] At the first encounter Pompey’s cavalry was driven back and left his left flank bare. Then, when men had long been slaughtered on both sides with doubtful fortune, and on the one side Pompey, as he exhorted his men, kept saying, “Spare the citizens!” and yet did not do so, while on the other Caesar did what he urged, saying, “Soldier, strike the face!”, at length the whole army of Pompey fled, and its camp was plundered.

> Latin: 26 prima congressione equitatus Pompei pulsus sinistra latera nudauit. deinde cum diu utrimque dubia sorte caederentur atque ex alia parte Pompeius inter hortandum diceret parce ciuibus nec tamen faceret, ex alia uero Caesar hoc faceret, quod urgeret dicens miles, faciem feri, tandem uniuersus Pompei fugit exercitus, castraque direpta sunt.

[¶26] In that battle fifteen thousand of the Pompeians were slain, and thirty-three centurions. Such was the issue of the battle at Old Pharsalus. Pompey, fleeing, found a merchant ship at the mouth of the river Peneus and crossed into Asia.

> Latin: 27 caesa sunt in eo proelio Pompeianorum quindecim milia, centuriones triginta et tres. hic exitus pugnae ad Palaeopharsalum fuit. Pompeius fugiens in ostio Penei amnis onerariam nauem nanctus in Asiam transiit.

[¶27] From there he came by way of Cyprus to Egypt, and there, as soon as he touched the shore, he was killed by order of the young Ptolemy, to win the favour of the victorious Caesar. Pompey’s wife and sons fled; the rest of Pompey’s fleet was plundered and all who were on it most cruelly slaughtered, and there Pompeius Bithynicus too was killed. Lentulus, a man of consular rank, was put to death at Pelusium.

> Latin: 28 inde per Cyprum in Aegyptum uenit ibique mox ut litus attigit, iussu Ptolemaei adulescentis in gratiam Caesaris uictoris occisus est. Pompei uxor filiique fugerunt; cetera Pompeiana classis direpta est omnibus qui in ea erant crudelissime trucidatis, ibique et Pompeius Bithynicus occisus est. Lentulus uero uir consularis apud Pelusium interfectus est.

[¶28] Caesar, having settled matters in Thessaly, came to Alexandria; and when Pompey’s head and ring were brought to him and he saw them, he wept. And when he had taken up residence in the palace, he was tricked by the king’s guardians so that he should not receive money: they cunningly stripped their own temples, both to show that the royal treasuries were empty and to stir up the people to hatred of Caesar.

> Latin: 29 Caesar conpositis apud Thessaliam rebus Alexandriam uenit perlatoque ad se ac uiso Pompei capite anuloque fleuit; cumque se in regiam recepisset, eludebatur a tutoribus, quo minus pecuniam acciperet, templa sua astu spoliantibus, ut et regios thesauros uacuos esse ostenderent et in inuidiam Caesaris populum concitarent.

[¶29] Moreover Achillas, the king’s general, once steeped in the blood of Pompey, was plotting the death of Caesar too. For when ordered to disband the army of twenty thousand armed men which he commanded, he not only spurned the command but even drew up his battle line.

> Latin: 30 praeterea Achillas dux regius, imbutus semel Pompei sanguine, Caesaris quoque necem meditabatur. nam iussus exercitum dimittere, cui praeerat, uiginti milium armatorum, non modo spreuit imperium, uerum et aciem direxit.

[¶30] In the battle itself the royal fleet, which happened to be drawn up on shore, was ordered to be burned. When that flame had spread to part of the city too, it burned up four hundred thousand books stored in buildings that happened to be nearby — a singular monument indeed of the zeal and care of the men of old, who had gathered together so many and such great works of illustrious minds.

> Latin: 31 in ipso proelio regia classis forte subducta iubetur incendi. ea flamma cum partem quoque urbis inuasisset, quadringenta milia librorum proximis forte aedibus condita exussit, singulare profecto monumentum studii curaeque maiorum, qui tot tantaque inlustrium ingeniorum opera congesserant.

[¶31] Hence, although even today there exist in the temples book-chests, which we ourselves have seen, and which, men recall, were emptied when they were plundered by our own people in our own times — and this is indeed true — yet it is more honourable to believe that other books had been acquired to rival the zeal for learning of former days, than that there was at that time some other library which could be believed to have existed apart from the four hundred thousand books, and so to have escaped.

> Latin: 32 unde quamlibet hodieque in templis extent, quae et nos uidimus, armaria librorum, quibus direptis exinanita ea a nostris hominibus nostris temporibus memorent - quod quidem uerum est -, tamen honestius creditur alios libros fuisse quaesitos, qui pristinas studiorum curas aemularentur, quam aliam ullam tunc fuisse bibliothecam, quae extra quadringenta milia librorum fuisse ac per hoc euasisse credatur.

[¶32] Afterwards Caesar took the island on which the Pharos stands. Achillas came there with the Gabinian soldiers. A huge battle was fought: a great multitude of Caesar’s soldiers fell there, and all the murderers of Pompey were killed as well.

> Latin: 33 Caesar postea insulam, ubi Pharos est, cepit. eo Achillas cum Gabinianis militibus uenit. ingens pugna commissa est: magna ibi Caesarianorum militum multitudo cecidit, omnes etiam interfectores Pompei interfecti sunt.

[¶33] Caesar, pressed by the force of the enemy bearing down on him, boarded a skiff; and when this was soon weighed down and sunk by the weight of those who followed him, he reached a ship two hundred paces away by swimming, holding up the one hand in which he held his papers. Soon, attacked in a naval battle, he with great good fortune either sank or captured the royal fleet.

> Latin: 34 Caesar ui insistentium hostium pressus scapham escendit: qua mox pondere subsequentium grauata ac mersa, per ducentos passus ad nauem una manu eleuata, qua chartas tenebat, nando peruenit, mox nauali certamine pulsatus, magna felicitate classem regiam aut depressit aut cepit.

## 128. Book 6 · Chapter 16

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/128/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/128/#p-N

[¶0] At the request of the Alexandrians he gave them back their king, warning him to strive to make trial of Roman friendship rather than Roman arms; yet as soon as he was free he made war, but straightway he himself was destroyed together with his whole army. For twenty thousand men are reported to have been slain in that war and twelve thousand surrendered with seventy warships; five hundred of the victors are said to have fallen.

> Latin: 1 Alexandrinis petentibus regem reddidit monitum, ut magis amicitiam Romanam quam arma experiri studeret; qui tamen ilico ut liber fuit bellum intulit, sed continuo cum toto exercitu suo et ipse deletus est. nam uiginti milia hominum in eo bello caesa referuntur, duodecim milia cum septuaginta longis nauibus dedita, quingenti ex uictoribus cecidisse dicuntur.

[¶1] The young king himself, taken into a skiff to flee, was sunk and drowned when many leapt in after him; his body, washed up on the shore, was recognised by the evidence of his golden breastplate. Caesar sent this ahead to Alexandria and so compelled all the Alexandrians, in despair, to surrender; and he gave the kingdom of Egypt to Cleopatra.

> Latin: 2 rex ipse adulescens scapha exceptus ut fugeret, multis insilientibus mersus necatusque est; corpus eius ad litus deuolutum indicio loricae aureae cognitum fuit: qua Caesar Alexandriam praemissa Alexandrinos omnes ad deditionem desperatione conpulit regnumque Aegypti Cleopatrae dedit.

[¶2] From there he travelled through Syria and defeated Pharnaces in Pontus. Afterwards, when he came to Rome, he was made dictator and consul, crossed into Africa, and fought with Juba and Scipio at Thapsus, and there killed a very great multitude of men. The camps of both were plundered and sixty elephants captured.

> Latin: 3 inde Syriam peruagatus Pharnacem in Ponto uicit. postea uero quam Romam uenit, dictator et consul creatus in Africam transiit et apud Thapsum cum Iuba et Scipione pugnauit maximamque ibi hominum multitudinem interfecit. castra utriusque direpta sunt, sexaginta elephanti capti.

[¶3] Cato killed himself at Utica; Juba paid an assassin and offered him his throat; Petreius ran himself through with the same sword; Scipio, on the ship in which, while trying to flee to Spain, he had been forced back to Africa by the wind, cut his own throat.

> Latin: 4 Cato sese apud Vticam occidit; Iuba percussori iugulum pretio dato praebuit, Petreius eodem se gladio perfodit; Scipio in naui, qua ad Hispaniam fugere contendens uento coactus in Africam redierat, semet ipse iugulauit.

[¶4] On the same ship Titus Torquatus too was killed. Caesar ordered the grandsons of Pompey the Great and his daughter Pompeia to be killed, and together with them Faustus Sulla, Afranius, and the son of Petreius.

> Latin: 5 in eadem naui etiam T. Torquatus occisus est. Caesar Pompei Magni nepotes filiamque Pompeiam simulque cum his Faustum Syllam et Afranium et Petreium filium iussit occidi.

*Note: According to the Bellum Africum, Caesar spared Pompeia and her children by Faustus Sulla; Faustus and Afranius were killed in a soldiers’ riot.*

[¶5] Then, having entered the City with four triumphs and set in order the condition of the recovered commonwealth, he at once set out for the Spanish provinces against the Pompeys, the sons of Pompey; he reached Saguntum on the seventeenth day after leaving the City, and immediately waged many wars, with varying fortune, against the two Pompeys, Labienus and Attius Varus.

> Latin: 6 inde quattuor triumphis urbem ingressus, disposito recuperatae reipublicae statu continuo in Hispanias contra Pompeios Pompei filios profectus, septimo decimo quam egressus ab urbe fuerat die Saguntum peruenit statimque aduersus Pompeios duos et Labienum atque Attium Varum multa bella et uaria sorte gessit.

[¶6] The last battle was fought at the river Munda, where the struggle was waged with such strength and so great a slaughter was done that Caesar too — since even his veterans were not ashamed to give ground — when he saw his line being cut down and forced back, thought of forestalling by death the disgrace of defeat to come, when suddenly the army of the Pompeys turned to flight and gave way.

> Latin: 7 ultimum bellum apud Mundam flumen gestum est, ubi tantis uiribus dimicatum tantaque caedes acta, ut Caesar quoque, ueteranis etiam suis cedere non erubescentibus, cum caedi cogique aciem suam cerneret, praeuenire morte futurum uicti dedecus cogitarit, cum subito uersus in fugam Pompeiorum cessit exercitus.

*Note: Munda was a town in Further Spain, as Orosius himself says at 6.16.9; there was no river of that name.*

[¶7] Indeed this battle was fought on the same day on which Pompey the father had fled from the City to wage war; and for four years this civil war thundered unceasingly throughout the whole world. Titus Labienus and Attius Varus were slain in the battle line; Gnaeus Pompey fled with a hundred horsemen.

> Latin: 8 equidem eo die hoc bellum actum est, quo Pompeius pater ab urbe bellum gesturus aufugerat, quattuorque annis hoc bellum ciuile indesinenter toto orbe tonuit. T. Labienus et Attius Varus in acie caesi sunt, Gnaeus Pompeius cum centesimo equite aufugit.

[¶8] His brother Sextus Pompey, having quickly gathered no small band of Lusitanians, engaged Caesonius, was defeated, and was killed in flight. The city of Munda was taken by Caesar’s assault with difficulty and with an immense slaughter of men.

> Latin: 9 frater eius Sextus Pompeius, contracta celeriter non parua Lusitanorum manu, cum Caesonio congressus et uictus fugiensque interfectus est. Munda ciuitas cum immensa hominum caede Caesare oppugnante uix capta est.

*Note: It was Gnaeus Pompey who was caught and killed in flight after Munda, by Caesennius Lento; Sextus survived to fight Octavian (6.18–19).*

## 129. Book 6 · Chapter 17

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/129/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/129/#p-N

[¶0] Caesar returned to Rome. There, while he was restoring the condition of the commonwealth with a clemency contrary to the precedents of former generations, he was stabbed with twenty-three wounds in the senate house and perished, at the instigation of Brutus and Cassius, with a very great part of the senate privy to the deed as well.

> Latin: 1 Caesar Romam rediit. ubi dum reipublicae statum contra exempla maiorum clementer instaurat, auctoribus Bruto et Cassio, conscio etiam plurimo senatu, in curia uiginti et tribus uulneribus confossus interiit.

[¶1] They say that there were more than sixty accomplices in that conspiracy. The two Bruti and Gaius Cassius and their other associates withdrew to the Capitol with drawn daggers. There was long deliberation as to whether the Capitol ought to be set on fire together with the authors of the murder.

> Latin: 2 in qua coniuratione fuisse amplius sexaginta conscios ferunt. duo Bruti et C. Cassius aliique socii strictis pugionibus in Capitolium secesserunt. diu deliberatum est, utrum Capitolium cum auctoribus caedis oporteret incendi.

[¶2] The people, goaded by grief, seized his body and burned it in the forum on fragments of the tribunals and benches.

> Latin: 3 corpus eius raptum populus dolore instimulatus in foro fragmentis tribunalium ac subselliorum cremauit.

[¶3] Rome surveyed the breadth of her realm by her own disasters, and, turned to her own slaughter, took vengeance for each and every nation in the very place where she had subdued it. In Asia, Europe and Africa — I do not say in three parts of the world, but in every corner of the three parts — she put forth her own gladiators, and thrust upon her enemies, now at their ease, the spectacle of a wretched vengeance.

> Latin: 4 Percensuit latitudinem regni sui Roma cladibus suis atque in suam conuersa caedem singulas quasque gentes ibidem, ubi domuit, uindicauit. Asiae Europae atque Africae, non dico tribus mundi partibus sed totis trium partium angulis edidit gladiatores suos feriatisque inimicis spectaculum miserae ultionis ingessit.

[¶4] Nor yet was it enough that the very causes too had been consumed together with their authors; the seeds sprang up again and germinated in the same field, soon to yield to those who reaped them, with great sweat, great increases of evils. Caesar, the victor in the civil war, was killed by citizens; into the murder of one man whole columns of accomplices were drawn.

> Latin: 5 nec tamen sufficit ipsas quoque cum auctoribus causas fuisse consumptas; recidiua semina in eodem agro germinant, magna continuo metentibus malorum incrementa cum magno sudore factura: uictor ciuilis belli a ciuibus Caesar occiditur, in caedem unius trahuntur agmina consciorum.

[¶5] For it was certain that Caesar, unworthily slain, could have many avengers; and a very great part of the nobility was bound together at once in a single chain of crime, lest perhaps so great a store of fuel for evils should not be fed by the magnitude of a war but thinned out by the brevity of a vengeance.

> Latin: 6 certum enim erat, quia Caesar indigne peremptus plures habere posset ultores; plurimaque nobilitas una simul catena sceleris copulatur, ne forte tanta malorum materia non belli magnitudine suppleatur sed uindictae breuitate tenuetur.

[¶6] The fables tell that Medea once sowed the teeth of a slain serpent, from which, as a crop befitting the seed, armed men sprang from the earth and soon laid one another low in fighting.

> Latin: 7 Medeam illam fabulae ferunt dentes quondam occisi seuisse serpentis, e quibus quasi conpetens semini seges armati homines terra emerserint seseque mox inuicem pugnando prostrauerint.

[¶7] That, to be sure, is the invention of the poets; but our Rome, when Caesar was killed — what armed columns she brought forth from his ashes! What wars she stirred up, in witness of her wretched fecundity — wars not to be read by schoolboys, but to be watched by whole peoples!

> Latin: 8 equidem hoc poetarum commenta finxerunt; nostra autem Roma Caesare occiso quanta de cineribus eius agmina armata parturiit! quanta bella in testimonium miserae fecunditatis non legenda pueris sed spectanda populis excitauit!

[¶8] And yet the beginning of all these evils is pride: from it the civil wars blazed up, from it they sprouted again. Not unjust, therefore, is the slaughter of those who unjustly pursue it, if the rivalry of ambition is both carried on and punished through them and in them, until those who refused a partnership learn to bear a master, and, the sum of the whole empire being brought down to one man, all men submit to a far different way of life, so that all strive humbly to please rather than insolently to offend.

> Latin: 9 et tamen horum omnium malorum initium superbia est: inde exarserunt bella ciuilia, inde iterum pullularunt. non ergo iniusta caedes est eorum, qui eam iniuste consectantur, si ambitionis aemulatio per ipsos atque in ipsis et agitur et punitur, donec qui detrectauere collegium, discant ferre dominatum, summaque imperii totius ad unum redacta longe aliud omnes homines uiuendi genus subeant, ut omnes humiliter placere studeant, non insolenter offendere.

[¶9] But for so wholesome a teaching of humility a teacher was needed. And so, when the affairs of Augustus Caesar had been fittingly set in order, the Lord Christ was born, who, though he was in the form of God, humbly took upon himself the form of a servant, so that the instruction in humility might at last be the more fitting at a time when the punishment of pride had now become an example to all throughout the whole world.

> Latin: 10 sed ad tam salubrem humilitatis doctrinam magistro opus est. itaque opportune conpositis rebus Augusti Caesaris natus est Dominus Christus, qui cum in forma Dei esset, formam serui humiliter adsumpsit, ut tunc demum aptior fieret humilitatis institutio, quando iam per totum mundum poena superbiae omnibus esset exemplo.

## 130. Book 6 · Chapter 18

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/130/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/130/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 710 from the founding of the City, after Julius Caesar had been killed, Octavian — who by the will of Julius Caesar, his uncle, had taken both his inheritance and his name, and who afterwards, when he had gained supreme power, was called Augustus — as soon as he came to Rome, still quite a young man, devoted his talents to civil wars.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCX interfecto Iulio Caesare Octauianus, qui testamento Iuli Caesaris auunculi et hereditatem et nomen adsumpserat idemque, qui postea rerum potitus Augustus est dictus, simul ut Romam adulescens admodum uenit, indolem suam bellis ciuilibus uouit.

*Note: Julius Caesar was in fact Octavian’s great-uncle, the brother of his grandmother Julia; Orosius calls him auunculus, “uncle”.*

[¶1] For, to set out this heaping-up of evils briefly, he waged five civil wars: those of Mutina, Philippi, Perusia, Sicily and Actium. Of these, two — that is, the first and the last — he fought out against Mark Antony, the second against Brutus and Cassius, the third against Lucius Antonius, and the fourth against Sextus Pompey, the son of Pompey.

> Latin: 2 nam, ut breuiter coaceruationem malorum explicem, bella ciuilia quinque gessit: Mutinense Philippense Perusinum Siculum Actiacum. e quibus duo, hoc est primum ac nouissimum, aduersus M. Antonium, secundum aduersus Brutum et Cassium, tertium aduersus L. Antonium, quartum aduersus Sex. Pompeium, Cn. Pompei filium, confecit.

[¶2] Antony, declared a public enemy by the senate, had shut Decimus Brutus in by siege at Mutina. The consuls Hirtius and Pansa, and with them Caesar, were sent to free Brutus and to defeat Antony.

> Latin: 3 Antonius a senatu hostis pronuntiatus D. Brutum apud Mutinam obsidione concluserat. consules Hirtius et Pansa et cum his Caesar ad liberandum Brutum expugnandumque Antonium missi.

[¶3] Pansa, arriving first, was caught in an ambush, and amid the slaughter of his men he too was gravely wounded by a javelin, and died of that same wound some days later. Hirtius, bringing aid to his colleague, destroyed great forces of Antony with vast slaughter. Caesar, up to that point, kept guard over the camp.

> Latin: 4 Pansa primo ueniens exceptus insidiis, inter suorum clades ipse quoque pilo grauiter uulneratus ab eodem uulnere interpositis diebus est mortuus. Hirtius auxilium collegae ferens magnas Antonii copias uasta strage deleuit. Caesar eatenus castra custodiit.

[¶4] In a second battle against Antony great slaughter was done on both sides. For it was then and there that the consul Hirtius was killed; Antony was defeated and fled; and Caesar won the victory. To him Decimus Brutus, confessing his part in the conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar, poured out prayers of repentance.

> Latin: 5 secunda aduersus Antonium pugna magnae utrimque strages actae sunt. namque tunc ibi Hirtius consul occisus est, uictus fugit Antonius, Caesar uictoria potitus est, cui D. Brutus de coniuratione occisi Iuli Caesaris confessus preces paenitentiae fudit.

[¶5] Dolabella killed Trebonius, one of the murderers of Caesar, at Smyrna. The senate declared Dolabella a public enemy. The armies of both the slain consuls obeyed Caesar.

> Latin: 6 Dolabella Trebonium, unum ex interfectoribus Caesaris, Zmyrnae interfecit. Dolabellam senatus hostem pronuntiauit. consulum occisorum uterque exercitus Caesari paruit.

[¶6] Afterwards Decimus Brutus was captured and killed in Gaul by the Sequani. Basilus, likewise one of the assassins, was put to death by a band of his own slaves.

> Latin: 7 postea D. Brutus in Gallia a Sequanis captus et occisus est. Basilus autem, aeque unus de percussoribus, manu seruorum suorum necatus est.

[¶7] Through Lepidus’s busy efforts Caesar received Antony back into favour, and as a pledge of the reconciliation he took Antony’s daughter in marriage.

> Latin: 8 Lepido satisagente Caesar Antonium recepit in gratiam atque ob fidem reconciliatae gratiae filiam eius matrimonio sortitus est.

*Note: Octavian married Clodia, daughter of Fulvia by her first husband Clodius, and so Antony’s stepdaughter, not his daughter.*

[¶8] Then, when they had approached the City and a rumour of a coming proscription had arisen, Gaius Thoranius, a man of praetorian rank, fearing nothing of the sort, was killed in his own house by an onrush of soldiers, and a good many others were butchered.

> Latin: 9 inde cum ad urbem accessissent ac rumor de futura proscriptione ortus esset, C. Thoranius uir praetorius nihil tale metuens incursu militum domi suae interfectus est aliique conplures trucidati sunt.

[¶9] And so, lest an unbounded slaughter should be carried on more widely and more unbridledly, the names of 132 senators were posted on a tablet: first by the command and in the name of Lepidus, then of Antony, and third of Caesar.

> Latin: 10 itaque, ne latius atque effrenatius incircumscripta caedes ageretur, centum triginta et duum senatorum nomina in tabula proposita sunt, primum Lepidi praecepto et nomine, deinde Antonii, tertio Caesaris.

[¶10] There Antony had proscribed Tullius Cicero, his enemy; there Lucius Caesar, his uncle — and, what was added to heighten the crime, while his mother was still living; there Lepidus had thrown Lucius Paulus, his brother, into the same herd of the proscribed.

> Latin: 11 ibi Antonius Tullium Ciceronem inimicum suum, ibi L. Caesarem auunculum suum et - quod exaggerando sceleri accessit - uiua matre proscripserat; ibi Lepidus L. Paulum fratrem suum in eundem proscriptorum gregem coniecerat.

[¶11] Afterwards thirty Roman knights were added to the number of the proscribed. Many and various slaughters were carried on for a long time; the houses of the proscribed were plundered of everything and torn down.

> Latin: 12 adiecti sunt postea ad numerum proscriptorum triginta equites Romani. multae diu et uariae caedes actae, domus proscriptorum direptis omnibus dirutae sunt.

[¶12] Dolabella, for his part, waged many wars in Syria with Cassius, and, defeated by him, killed himself. Brutus and Cassius, having raised great armies, met at Athens and laid waste the whole of Greece. Cassius attacked the Rhodians by land and sea and compelled them to surrender, leaving them nothing but their lives.

> Latin: 13 at Dolabella in Syria multa cum Cassio bella gessit, a quo uictus ipse se interfecit. Brutus et Cassius magnis exercitibus conparatis apud Athenas conuenerunt totamque Graeciam depopulati sunt. Rhodios Cassius terra marique oppugnatos ad deditionem coegit, quibus praeter uitam nihil reliquit.

[¶13] So Caesar and Antony pursued them into Macedonia with great preparations for war and drove them to their deaths; although that battle was then quite manifestly decided not by the valour of Antony’s side but by the good fortune of Caesar.

> Latin: 14 igitur Caesar et Antonius eosdem in Macedoniam magnis bellorum apparatibus persecuti, ad mortem conpulerunt; quamuis manifestissime illa tunc pugna non uirtute partis Antoni, sed Caesaris felicitate confecta sit.

[¶14] For Caesar was then ill; and though he had determined to keep to his camp in order to rest, at the urging and entreaties of his physician — who declared that he had been warned in a dream to lead Caesar out of the camp that day for the sake of his very life — he went out with difficulty onto the field among his troops, and soon afterwards his camp was taken by the enemy. But Caesar’s soldiers in turn took the camp of Cassius.

> Latin: 15 Caesar enim tunc aeger, cum se in castris capiendae quietis causa tenere statuisset, hortatu et precibus medici sui, qui per somnium admonitum sese fatebatur, ut ea die castris Caesarem salutis ipsius causa educeret, in campum aegre inter copias egressus est ac mox castra eius ab hostibus capta sunt. sed rursus Caesariani milites Cassi castra ceperunt.

[¶15] Wherefore Brutus and Cassius, driven to despair, inflicted an untimely death on themselves before the end of the war. For they called on men to strike them: Cassius offered his head, Brutus his side.

> Latin: 16 quare ad desperationem adacti Brutus et Cassius immaturam sibi mortem ante belli terminum consciuerunt. nam inuitatis percussoribus Cassius caput, Brutus latus praebuit.

[¶16] At Rome, meanwhile, Fulvia, the wife of Antony and mother-in-law of Caesar, woman though she was, was wielding a lordly power — whether, in this changeover from consular to royal eminence, she is to be counted the last of a failing power or the first of a beginning one is uncertain — insolent, certainly, even towards those through whom she was enabled to be insolent.

> Latin: 17 at Romae Fuluia, uxor Antoni, socrus Caesaris, dominatum ut mulier agitabat, incertum in hac mutatione consularis regiique fastigii utrum deficientis potentiae ultima an incipientis prima numeranda, certe etiam in eos insolens, per quos ut insolesceret agebatur.

[¶17] For she also assailed Caesar on his return at Brundisium with insults, factions and plots. Repulsed by him, she withdrew to Antony in Greece.

> Latin: 18 nam et Caesarem reuersum apud Brundisium contumeliis factionibus insidiisque petiit. a quo propulsata ad Antonium concessit in Graeciam.

[¶18] Sextus Pompey, after he learned that he had been entered among the number of the proscribed, turned to brigandage and laid waste the whole coast of Italy with slaughter and plunder. Having seized Sicily beforehand and blocked the supplies, he afflicted Rome with famine.

> Latin: 19 Sex. Pompeius postquam se in proscriptorum numerum relatum conperit, conuersus in latrocinia omnem oram Italiae caedibus rapinisque uastauit. Sicilia praerepta commeatibusque inpeditis Romam fame adfecit.

[¶19] Soon the triumvirs — not to call them tyrants — that is, Lepidus, Caesar and Antony, made peace with him. But at once, when Sextus, contrary to the agreement, began enrolling runaway slaves, he was held to be an enemy.

> Latin: 20 mox cum eo pacem triumuiri, ut non dicam tyranni, id est Lepidus Caesar Antoniusque fecerunt. sed continuo cum contra pactum Pompeius fugitiuos allegeret, ut hostis habitus est.

[¶20] Mena, Pompey’s freedman, deserted to Caesar with a fleet of sixty ships, and by Caesar’s order took command of that same fleet himself. He too, straightway, together with Statilius Taurus, waged a naval war against Menecrates, the Pompeian admiral.

> Latin: 21 Mena libertus Pompei cum sexaginta nauium classe ad Caesarem defecit eidemque classi ipse iussu Caesaris praefuit. idemque continuo cum Statilio Tauro aduersus Menecraten Pompeianum ducem nauale bellum gessit.

[¶21] Then Caesar himself fought out a most bloody naval war against these same Pompeians; but straightway he lost almost the whole of his victorious fleet by shipwreck off Scylaceum.

> Latin: 22 deinde ipse Caesar aduersus eosdem Pompeianos cruentissimum bellum nauale confecit; sed continuo uictricem classem paene uniuersam apud Scylaceum naufragio amisit.

[¶22] Ventidius routed the Persians and Parthians, who were bursting into Syria, in three very great battles, and killed their king Pacorus in battle — on the very day, indeed, on which Crassus had been killed by the Parthians. Antony, having stormed scarcely a single fort, made peace with Antiochus, so that he himself might appear to have brought so great an affair to its conclusion.

> Latin: 23 Ventidius Persas et Parthos in Syriam inrumpentes tribus bellis maximis fudit regemque eorum Pacorum in acie interfecit, ea scilicet die, qua Crassus a Parthis fuerat occisus. Antonius, uix uno castello expugnato, pacem cum Antiocho fecit, ut ipse tantam rem consummasse uideretur.

[¶23] He put Ventidius in charge of Syria and ordered him to make war on Antigonus, who had then, as it happened, subdued the Jews, captured Jerusalem, despoiled the temple and given the kingdom to Herod; Ventidius at once defeated him and received him in surrender.

> Latin: 24 Ventidium Syriae praefecit iussitque ut Antigono bellum inferret, qui Iudaeos tum forte debellauerat captisque Hierosolymis templum spoliauerat regnumque Herodi dederat: quem continuo uictum in deditionem recepit.

*Note: Antigonus, the last Hasmonean king, was set up in Jerusalem by the Parthians in 40 BC. It was Gaius Sosius, not Ventidius, who with Herod took Jerusalem in 37 BC; Herod, already named king by the Romans, then received the kingdom.*

[¶24] Mena the freedman went back to Sextus Pompey with six ships, and, received by him with clemency, set fire to Caesar’s fleet, although Caesar had lately lost another fleet by a second shipwreck. The same Mena afterwards, surrounded by Agrippa in a naval battle, went over to Caesar with six triremes. But Caesar, granting this man, now a deserter for the third time, only his life, left him without employment.

> Latin: 25 Mena libertus cum sex nauibus ad Pompeium rediit, a quo clementer receptus Caesaris classem incendit, quamuis nuper Caesar alteram secundo naufragio perdidisset. idemque Mena postea ab Agrippa nauali proelio circumuentus cum sex triremibus ad Caesarem transiit. sed hunc Caesar tertio transfugam, indulta tantum uita, segnem reliquit.

[¶25] Then Agrippa fought a naval battle between Mylae and Lipara against Demochares and Sextus Pompey, and won, sinking or capturing thirty ships there and shattering the rest. Sextus fled to Messana.

> Latin: 26 deinde Agrippa inter Mylas et Liparas aduersus Democham et Pompeium nauale proelium gessit ac uicit ibique tunc naues triginta aut demersit aut cepit reliquis laceratis. Pompeius Messanam confugit.

[¶26] Caesar meanwhile had crossed over to Tauromenium; Sextus struck him with a sudden attack, and so, with many of his ships sunk and a great multitude of his soldiers lost, Caesar fled to Italy; and without any delay he returned to Sicily,

> Latin: 27 Caesar interea Tauromenium traiecerat: quem repentino impetu Pompeius adflixit: unde multis demersis nauibus suis ac magna multitudine suorum militum perdita, in Italiam Caesar aufugit; nec interueniente mora in Siciliam rediit;

[¶27] and there he met Lepidus arriving from Africa, claiming the chief share of power for himself with terror, threats and arrogance.

> Latin: 28 ibique Lepidum ex Africa aduentantem obuium habuit, summas sibi partes terrore minis ac superbia uindicantem.

[¶28] A few days later Agrippa, by Caesar’s command — Caesar watching from the shore with his army drawn up — engaged Sextus Pompey in a most savage naval battle, and won. For he sank or captured 163 ships. Sextus, with seventeen ships, barely slipped away and escaped.

> Latin: 29 post dies paucos Agrippa iussu Caesaris a litore cum acie instructa prospectantis atrocissimo nauali proelio aduersus Pompeium conflixit et uicit. nam centum sexaginta et tres naues aut demersit aut cepit. Pompeius cum decem et septem nauibus uix elapsus euasit.

[¶29] Lepidus, swelling with the great insolence that his twenty legions gave him, when he had plundered Messana, which he had handed over to his soldiers, spurned Caesar himself once and again when he came to him, and ordered him rather to be assailed with missiles.

> Latin: 30 Lepidus magna uiginti legionum insolentia tumens cum Messanam militibus permissam diripuisset, ipsum Caesarem ad se uenientem semel atque iterum spreuit ac potius telis adpeti iussit.

[¶30] Caesar avoided these by warding them off with his cloak gathered over his left arm; soon, spurring his horse, he went back to his men, and, coming against Lepidus with his army drawn up, he compelled very many of Lepidus’s legions to cross over to his side, with only a few killed.

> Latin: 31 quae ille collecta in laeuum bracchium lacerna repellendo uitauit; mox inmisso equo ad suos reuersus, instructo exercitu aduersus Lepidum ueniens; plurimas legiones Lepidi paucis interfectis transire in suam partem conpulit.

[¶31] Lepidus, at last understanding where his vanity was leading, laid aside his general’s cloak, put on mourning, and, becoming a suppliant to Caesar, obtained his life and his property, though he was banished into perpetual exile. Taurus, Caesar’s prefect, received into allegiance almost the whole of Sicily, which had been tested by the sword and thoroughly terrified.

> Latin: 32 Lepidus tandem intellegens, quo uanitas sua tenderet, deposito paludamento assumptaque ueste pulla, supplex Caesari factus uitam et bona impetrauit, perpetuo quidem amendatus exilio. Taurus, Caesaris praefectus, totam paene Siciliam ferro pertemptatam conterritamque in fidem recepit.

[¶32] Forty-four legions were then under the command of Caesar alone; the soldiers, grown fiercer through their numbers, stirred up certain tumults to obtain land; but Caesar, great of spirit, discharged twenty thousand soldiers, restored thirty thousand slaves to their masters, and crucified six thousand whose masters were not to be found.

> Latin: 33 quadraginta et quattuor legiones sub unius tunc imperio Caesaris erant; milites, multitudine ferociores, quosdam pro accipiendis agris tumultus excitauerunt; sed Caesar, animo ingens, uiginti milia militum exauctorauit, triginta milia seruorum dominis restituit, sex milia, quorum domini non exstabant, in crucem egit.

[¶33] When he had entered the City in an ovation, it was decreed by the senate that he should hold the tribunician power in perpetuity. In these days, across the Tiber, a spring of oil welled up from the earth out of a public lodging-house, and flowed for a whole day in a most abundant stream.

> Latin: 34 ouans urbem ingressus ut in perpetuum tribuniciae potestatis esset, a senatu decretum est. his diebus trans Tiberim e taberna meritoria fons olei terra exundauit ac per totum diem largissimo riuo fluxit.

## 131. Book 6 · Chapter 19

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/131/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/131/#p-N

[¶0] Antony, however, after he had crossed the Araxes, beset on every side by every kind of evil, at last got back to Antioch with a few men, and that with difficulty. For not only did he always escape defeated from all the battles, many as they were, that he attempted against the multitude of horsemen and arrows, but besides, hampered in uncertain and unknown places of the region, he was driven by a most grievous famine to unspeakable foods; and very many of his soldiers surrendered to the enemy.

> Latin: 1 Antonius uero postquam Araxim transmisit, omnibus undique malis circumuentus, uix tandem Antiochiam cum paucis rediit. nam cum multitudine equitum et sagittarum ab omnibus proeliis, quae plura temptauit, uictus semper effugerit tum praeterea incertis et ignotis regionis locis impeditus grauissima fame ad nefandos cibos coactus est; plurimi militum sese hostibus dediderunt.

[¶1] From there he crossed into Greece and ordered Sextus Pompey, who, defeated by Caesar, was raising an army and a war anew, to come to him with a few men. Sextus fled, was often defeated in war by land and sea by Titius and Furnius, Antony’s generals, and was captured and shortly afterwards killed.

> Latin: 2 inde in Graeciam transiit iussitque Pompeium, qui uictus a Caesare exercitum bellumque reparabat, cum paucis ad se uenire. Pompeius fugiens a Titio et Furnio Antonianis ducibus saepe terrestri naualique bello uictus et captus ac post paululum interfectus est.

[¶2] Caesar subdued and tamed in war Illyricum, Pannonia and part of Italy. Antony captured Artabanes, king of Armenia, by treachery and guile; he bound him with a silver chain and compelled him to reveal the royal treasures, and, having stormed the town in which he had disclosed that they were hidden, he carried off a great quantity of gold and silver.

> Latin: 3 Caesar Illyricum Pannoniam partemque Italiae bellis subegit ac domuit; Antonius Artabanen Armeniae regem proditione et dolo cepit: quem argentea catena uinctum ad confessionem thesaurorum regiorum coegit, expugnatoque oppido, in quo conditos esse prodiderat, magnam uim auri argentique abstulit.

*Note: Artavasdes II of Armenia; Orosius calls him Artabanes.*

[¶3] Elated by this money, he ordered war to be declared on Caesar and a divorce to be announced to Octavia, Caesar’s sister, his own wife, and commanded Cleopatra to come from Alexandria to meet him.

> Latin: 4 qua elatus pecunia denuntiari bellum Caesari atque Octauiae, sorori Caesaris, uxori suae, repudium indici iussit et Cleopatram sibi ex Alexandria occurrere imperauit.

[¶4] He himself set out for Actium, where he had stationed his fleet, and when he found that nearly a third of the rowers had been carried off by famine, quite unmoved, he said: “Only let the oars be safe; for there will be no lack of rowers as long as Greece has men.”

> Latin: 5 ipse Actium ubi classem constituerat profectus, cum prope tertiam partem remigum fame absumptam offendisset, nihil motus remi, inquit, modo salui sint; nam remiges non deerunt, quoad Graecia homines habuerit.

[¶5] Caesar set out from Brundisium for Epirus with 230 beaked ships. Agrippa, sent ahead by Caesar, captured many transports heavy with grain and arms coming from Egypt, Syria and Asia to the aid of Antony, and, sailing round the gulf of the Peloponnese, stormed the city of Methone, which was fortified with a very strong garrison of Antony’s.

> Latin: 6 Caesar ducentis triginta rostratis nauibus a Brundisio in Epirum profectus est. Agrippa uero praemissus a Caesare, multas onerarias naues frumento atque armis graues ab Aegypto Syria Asiaque ad subsidium Antonio uenientes cepit peragratoque Peloponnensium sinu Mothonam urbem ualidissimo Antoniano praesidio munitam expugnauit.

[¶6] Then he took Corcyra; pursuing those who fled, he crushed them in a naval battle, and after many most bloody deeds he came to Caesar. Antony, shaken by desertion and the hunger of his soldiers, resolved to hasten the war, and suddenly, with his forces drawn up, advanced to Caesar’s camp, and was defeated.

> Latin: 7 inde Corcyram cepit; fugientes nauali proelio persecutus profligauit multisque rebus cruentissime gestis ad Caesarem uenit. Antonius defectu et fame militum suorum permotus bellum maturare instituit ac repente instructis copiis ad Caesaris castra processit et uictus est.

[¶7] On the third day after the battle Antony moved his camp to Actium, ready to decide the issue in a naval battle. Caesar’s ships were 230 with beaks and 30 without, triremes equal in speed to Liburnians; and eight legions were placed on board the fleet, not counting five praetorian cohorts.

> Latin: 8 tertio post pugnam die Antonius castra ad Actium transtulit, nauali proelio decernere paratus. ducentae triginta rostratae fuere Caesaris naues et triginta sine rostris, triremes uelocitate Liburnicis pares et octo legiones classi superpositae, absque cohortibus quinque praetoriis.

[¶8] Antony’s fleet was of 170 ships, surpassing in size as much as it fell short in number; for they stood ten feet high above the sea.

> Latin: 9 classis Antonii centum septuaginta nauium fuit, quantum numero cedens tantum magnitudine praecellens, nam decem pedum altitudine a mari aberant.

[¶9] Famous and great was this battle at Actium. From the fifth hour to the seventh, with the hope of victory uncertain, very heavy slaughter was done on both sides; the rest of the day, with the night that followed, inclined towards Caesar’s victory.

> Latin: 10 famosum et magnum hoc bellum apud Actium fuit. ab hora quinta usque in horam septimam incerta uincendi spe grauissimae utrimque caedes actae; reliquum diei cum subsequente nocte in uictoriam Caesaris declinauit.

[¶10] Queen Cleopatra was the first to flee, with sixty very swift ships; Antony too, pulling down the ensign of his flagship, followed his fleeing wife. As day was now dawning, Caesar completed the victory.

> Latin: 11 prior regina Cleopatra cum LX uelocissimis nauibus fugit; Antonius quoque detracto insigni praetoriae nauis fugientem secutus uxorem est. inlucescente iam die uictoriam Caesar consummauit.

[¶11] Of the vanquished, twelve thousand are reported to have fallen, and six thousand were wounded, of whom a thousand died while being treated.

> Latin: 12 ex uictis duodecim milia cecidisse referuntur, sex milia uulnerata sunt, e quibus mille inter curandum defecerunt.

[¶12] Antony and Cleopatra resolved to send their common children ahead to the Red Sea with part of the royal treasure; they themselves, having posted garrisons about the two horns of Egypt, Pelusium and Paraetonium, made ready a fleet and forces to renew the war.

> Latin: 13 Antonius et Cleopatra communes liberos cum parte regiae gazae ad Rubrum mare praemittendos censuerunt; ipsi praesidiis circa duo Aegypti cornua, Pelusium Parethoniumque, dispositis classem et copias instaurando bello parauerunt.

[¶13] Caesar, hailed imperator for the sixth time, and himself consul for the fourth time with Marcus Licinius Crassus, came to Brundisium; there he settled the garrisons of the world by distributing the legions; then, setting out for Syria, he soon reached Pelusium, where he was received of their own accord by Antony’s garrisons.

> Latin: 14 Caesar sexto imperator appellatus et quartum ipse cum M. Licinio Crasso consul Brundisium uenit; ibi orbis terrarum praesidia diuisis legionibus conposuit; inde in Syriam profectus, mox Pelusium adiit, ubi ab Antonianis praesidiis ultro susceptus est.

[¶14] Meanwhile Cornelius Gallus, sent ahead by Caesar, received into allegiance four legions which Antony had stationed at Cyrene as a garrison, and from there, having defeated Antony, he took Paraetonium, the first city of Egypt on the side of Libya, and straightway defeated Antony himself at Pharos.

> Latin: 15 interea Cornelius Gallus praemissus a Caesare quattuor legiones, quas Antonius apud Cyrenas praesidii loco constituerat, suscepit in fidem atque inde Parethonium, primam Aegypti a Libyae parte ciuitatem, uicto cepit Antonio ipsumque continuo apud Pharum uicit.

[¶15] Antony engaged Caesar in a cavalry battle; in this too he was wretchedly defeated and fled. On the Kalends of Sextilis, at first light, when Antony went down to the harbour to draw up his fleet, suddenly all the ships went over to Caesar; and, stripped of his only defence, he withdrew in alarm with a few men into the palace.

> Latin: 16 Antonius equestre aduersus Caesarem bellum iniit; in eo quoque miserabiliter uictus aufugit. kalendis Sextilibus prima luce Antonius cum ad instruendam classem in portum descenderet, subito uniuersae naues ad Caesarem transierunt; cumque unico praesidio spoliatus esset, trepidus se cum paucis recepit in regiam.

[¶16] Then, with Caesar close at hand and the city in turmoil, this same Antony ran himself through with a sword, and, half-dead, was carried to Cleopatra in the tomb in which she had shut herself up, resolved to die.

> Latin: 17 deinde inminente Caesare turbataque ciuitate idem Antonius sese ferro transuerberauit ac semianimis ad Cleopatram in monumentum, in quod se illa mori certa condiderat, perlatus est.

[¶17] Cleopatra, after she understood that she was being kept for a triumph, sought a voluntary death, and was found lifeless, touched on her left arm, as is thought, by the bite of a serpent — though Caesar, in vain, even brought in the Psylli, who are accustomed to draw out and suck the venom of serpents from men’s wounds.

> Latin: 18 Cleopatra postquam se ad triumphum seruari intellexit, uoluntariam mortem petens, serpentis, ut putatur, morsu in sinistro tacta bracchio exanimis inuenta est, frustra Caesare etiam Psyllos admouente, qui uenena serpentum e uulneribus hominum haustu reuocare atque exsugere solent.

[¶18] Caesar, as victor, gained possession of Alexandria, by far the richest and greatest city of all. For Rome too was so enlarged by its wealth that, through the abundance of money, the prices of estates and of other things for sale were fixed at double what they had been until then.

> Latin: 19 Caesar Alexandria, urbe omnium longe opulentissima et maxima, uictor potitus est. nam et Roma in tantum opibus eius aucta est, ut propter abundantiam pecuniarum duplicia quam usque ad id fuerant possessionum aliarumque rerum uenalium pretia statuerentur.

[¶19] By Caesar’s order there were put to death the elder son of Antony; Publius Canidius, always most hostile to Caesar but faithless to Antony as well; Cassius of Parma, the last victim of the outrage done to Caesar’s father; and Quintus Ovinius, chiefly for this mark of disgrace, that he, a senator of the Roman people, had not blushed to preside most obscenely over the queen’s wool-working and weaving.

> Latin: 20 occisi sunt iussu Caesaris maior Antonii filius et P. Canidius, infestissimus quidem semper Caesari sed et Antonio infidus, et Cassius Palmensis, ultima uiolati patris Caesaris uictima, et Q. Ouinius ob eam maxime notam, quod obscenissime lanificio textrinoque reginae senator populi Romani praeesse non erubuerat.

[¶20] Then Caesar came with his infantry forces into Syria, next withdrew into Asia for winter quarters, and afterwards travelled through Greece to Brundisium.

> Latin: 21 dehinc Caesar pedestribus copiis in Syriam uenit, deinde in Asiam ad hiberna concessit ac post per Graeciam Brundisium peruectus est.

## 132. Book 6 · Chapter 20

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/132/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/132/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 725 from the founding of the City, in the consulship of the emperor Caesar Augustus himself, for the fifth time, and Lucius Apuleius, Caesar, returning victorious from the East, entered the City with a triple triumph on the eighth day before the Ides of January; and then for the first time he himself closed the gates of Janus, all the civil wars having been laid to rest and brought to an end.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCXXV ipso imperatore Caesare Augusto quinquies et L. Apuleio consulibus Caesar uictor ab oriente rediens, VIII idus Ianuarias urbem triplici triumpho ingressus est ac tunc primum ipse Iani portas sopitis finitisque omnibus bellis ciuilibus clausit.

*Note: Augustus’s fifth consulship was in 29 BC, and his colleague was Sextus, not Lucius, Appuleius. The triple triumph was in fact held on 13–15 August 29 BC and the name Augustus was conferred on 16 January 27 BC; Orosius sets both on 6 January, the feast of the Epiphany.*

[¶1] On this day he was first saluted as Augustus — a name which, left inviolate by all before him and never yet dared by other rulers down to the present, declares that the summit of rule over so vast a world had been lawfully assumed; and from that same day the sum of affairs and of powers began to rest, and remained, in the hands of one man — what the Greeks call monarchy.

> Latin: 2 hoc die primum Augustus consalutatus est; quod nomen, cunctis antea [ inuiolatum ] et usque ad nunc ceteris inausum dominis, tantum orbis licite usurpatum apicem declarat imperii, atque ex eodem die summa rerum ac potestatum penes unum esse coepit et mansit, quod Graeci monarchiam uocant.

[¶2] Moreover, that this was the very same day — that is, the eighth day before the Ides of January — on which we observe the Epiphany, that is, the appearing or manifestation of the Lord’s sacrament, no one among believers, nor even among those who speak against the faith, is unaware.

> Latin: 3 Porro autem hunc esse eundem diem, hoc est VIII idus Ianuarias, quo nos Epiphania, hoc est apparitionem siue manifestationem Dominici sacramenti, obseruamus, nemo credentium siue etiam fidei contradicentium nescit.

[¶3] Of the sacrament of this most faithful observance of ours neither reason nor place now requires me to speak more fully, so that we may seem both to have reserved it for those who inquire and not to have thrust it upon those who are indifferent. But it was right to record this faithfully, so that the empire of Caesar may be proved in every respect to have been prepared for the grace of the Christ who was to come.

> Latin: 4 de quo nostrae istius fidelissimae obseruationis sacramento uberius nunc dicere nec ratio nec locus flagitat, ut et quaerentibus reseruasse et neglegentibus non ingessisse uideamur. hoc autem fideliter commemorasse ideo par fuit, ut per omnia uenturi Christi gratia praeparatum Caesaris imperium conprobetur.

[¶4] For when first, after his uncle Gaius Caesar had been killed, he was entering the City on his return from Apollonia, at about the third hour, suddenly, in a clear, pure and cloudless sky, a circle in the likeness of a rainbow surrounded the disc of the sun, as though pointing him out as the one and mightiest man in this world, and alone most glorious on earth, in whose time he would come who alone had made, and ruled, the sun itself and the whole world.

> Latin: 5 Nam cum primum, C. Caesare auunculo suo interfecto, ex Apollonia rediens urbem ingrederetur, hora circiter tertia repente liquido ac puro sereno circulus ad speciem caelestis arcus orbem solis ambiit, quasi eum unum ac potissimum in hoc mundo solumque clarissimum in orbe monstraret, cuius tempore uenturus esset, qui ipsum solem solus mundumque totum et fecisset et regeret.

[¶5] Then, the second time, when in Sicily he had taken over the legions from Sextus Pompey and Lepidus, had restored thirty thousand slaves to their masters, had distributed forty-four legions under his sole command for the protection of the world, and, entering the City in an ovation, had decreed that all former debts owed to the Roman people be remitted, their written records too being destroyed: in those very days, as I have related above, a most abundant spring of oil flowed for a whole day from a public lodging-house. By what sign could it be more plainly declared than by this that in the days of Caesar, reigning over the whole world, the birth of Christ was to come? For “Christ,” in the language of the nation in which and from which he was born, means “anointed.”

> Latin: 6 Deinde cum secundo, in Sicilia receptis a Pompeio et Lepido legionibus, XXX milia seruorum dominis restituisset et quadraginta et quattuor legiones solus imperio suo ad tutamen orbis terrarum distribuisset ouansque urbem ingressus omnia superiora populi Romani debita donanda, litterarum etiam monumentis abolitis, censuisset: in diebus ipsis fons olei largissimus, sicut superius expressi, de taberna meritoria per totum diem fluxit. quo signo quid euidentius quam in diebus Caesaris toto orbe regnantis futura Christi natiuitas declarata est? Christus enim lingua gentis eius, in qua et ex qua natus est, unctus interpretatur.

*Note: Christus is the Greek Christos, “anointed”, rendering the Hebrew Messiah; Orosius’s sign rests on the link between oil (oleum) and anointing.*

[¶6] And so, when at the very time at which perpetual tribunician power was decreed to Caesar a spring of oil flowed at Rome for a whole day, these most evident signs in heaven and wonders on earth proclaimed, to those who did not hear the voices of the prophets: that under the principate of Caesar and the Roman Empire, for a whole day — that is, for the whole time of the Roman Empire — Christ, and from him Christians, that is, the Anointed and from him the anointed, would come forth abundantly and unceasingly from the lodging-house, that is, from the hospitable and bountiful Church; that all slaves who yet acknowledged their master would be restored by Caesar, while the rest, who were found without a master, would be handed over to death and punishment; and that under Caesar the debts of sins would be remitted in that city in which the oil had flowed of its own accord.

> Latin: 7 itaque cum eo tempore, quo Caesari perpetua tribunicia potestas decreta est, Romae fons olei per totum diem fluxit: sub principatu Caesaris Romanoque imperio per totum diem, hoc est per omne Romani tempus imperii, Christum et ex eo Christianos, id est unctum atque ex eo unctos, de meritoria taberna, hoc est de hospita largaque Ecclesia, affluenter atque incessabiliter processuros restituendosque per Caesarem omnes seruos, qui tamen cognoscerent dominum suum, ceterosque, qui sine domino inuenirentur, morti supplicioque dedendos, remittendaque sub Caesare debita peccatorum in ea urbe, in qua spontaneum fluxisset oleum, euidentissima his, qui prophetarum uoces non audiebant, signa in caelo et in terra prodigia prodiderunt.

[¶7] And the third time, when he entered the City in triumph as consul for the fifth time — on that very day, namely, which we have named above — when he himself both closed Janus for the first time after two hundred years and took up that most glorious name of Augustus: what can be more faithfully and truly believed or known — peace, name and day all concurring in so great a manifestation — than that this man, by a hidden order of events, had been predestined to the service of preparing the way for Christ; this man who, on the very day on which Christ was a little later to be made manifest to the world, both held forth the sign of peace and took up the name of power?

> Latin: 8 Tertio autem, cum urbem triumphans quintum consul ingressus est, eo scilicet die, quem supra nominauimus, cum et Ianum post ducentos annos primum ipse clausit et clarissimum illud Augusti nomen adsumpsit, quid fidelius ac uerius credi aut cognosci potest, concurrentibus ad tantam manifestationem pace nomine die, quam hunc occulto quidem gestorum ordine ad obsequium praeparationis eius praedestinatum fuisse, qui eo die, quo ille manifestandus mundo post paululum erat, et pacis signum praetulit et potestatis nomen adsumpsit?

[¶8] But what was done at his fourth return — when, the Cantabrian war ended and all nations pacified, Caesar sought the City again — in witness of the faith we are setting forth, will be better related in its proper order.

> Latin: 9 Quid autem in quarto reditu, cum finito Cantabrico bello pacatisque omnibus gentibus Caesar urbem repetiit, ad contestationem fidei, quam expromimus, actum sit, ipso melius ordine proferetur.

## 133. Book 6 · Chapter 21

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/133/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/133/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 726 from the founding of the City, in the consulship of the emperor Augustus Caesar for the sixth time and Marcus Agrippa for the second, Caesar, understanding that little would have been accomplished in Spain in two hundred years if he allowed the Cantabrians and the Astures, the two bravest nations of Spain, to live by their own laws, opened the gates of Janus and himself set out with an army for the Spanish provinces.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCXXVI imperatore Augusto Caesare sexies et bis M. Agrippa consulibus Caesar parum in Hispania per ducentos annos actum intellegens, si Cantabros atque Astures, duas fortissimas Hispaniae gentes, suis uti legibus sineret, aperuit Iani portas atque in Hispanias ipse cum exercitu profectus est.

*Note: Augustus’s sixth consulship, with Agrippa, was in 28 BC; he campaigned in person against the Cantabrians in 26–25 BC.*

[¶1] The Cantabrians and the Astures are part of the province of Gallaecia, where the outstretched ridge of the Pyrenees runs down towards the north, not far from the Ocean and along its course.

> Latin: 2 Cantabri et Astures Gallaeciae prouinciae portio sunt, qua extentum Pyrenaei iugum haud procul secundo Oceano sub septentrione deducitur.

[¶2] These, not only ready to defend their own liberty but daring also to snatch away that of their neighbours, ravaged the Vaccaei, the Turmogi and the Autrigones with constant raids. So Caesar pitched camp at Segisama, and with three columns embraced almost the whole of Cantabria.

> Latin: 3 hi non solum propriam libertatem tueri parati uerum etiam finitimorum praeripere ausi, Vaccaeos et Turmogos et Autrigonas adsiduis eruptionibus populabantur. igitur Caesar apud Segisamam castra posuit, tribus agminibus totam paene amplexus Cantabriam.

[¶3] After his army had long been worn out in vain and often brought into danger, he at last ordered a fleet to be brought up from the Aquitanian gulf across the Ocean upon the unwary enemy, and forces to be landed.

> Latin: 4 diu fatigato frustra atque in periculum saepe deducto exercitu, tandem ab Aquitanico sinu per Oceanum incautis hostibus admoueri classem atque exponi copias iubet.

[¶4] Then at last the Cantabrians, engaging in a very great battle beneath the walls of Attica and being defeated, fled to Mount Vinnius, most safe by nature, where they were almost utterly consumed by the famine of the siege. Then the town of Racilium, which resisted with great force and for a long time, was at last taken and destroyed.

> Latin: 5 tunc demum Cantabri sub moenibus Atticae maximo congressi bello et uicti in Vinnium montem natura tutissimum confugerunt, ubi obsidionis fame ad extremum paene consumpti sunt. Racilium deinde oppidum magna ui ac diu repugnans, postremo captum ac dirutum est.

[¶5] Moreover the legates Antistius and Firmius subdued, in great and grievous wars, the farther parts of Gallaecia, which, thick with mountains and forests, are bounded by the Ocean.

> Latin: 6 praeterea ulteriores Gallaeciae partes, quae montibus siluisque consitae Oceano terminantur, Antistius et Firmius legati magnis grauibusque bellis perdomuerunt.

[¶6] For they encircled with a siege Mount Medullius, which overhangs the river Minius and on which a great multitude of men was defending itself, hemming it in with a ditch fifteen miles long.

> Latin: 7 nam et Medullium montem Minio flumini inminentem, in quo se magna multitudo hominum tuebatur, per quindecim milia passuum fossa circumsaeptum obsidione cinxerunt.

[¶7] So when this race of men, savage and ferocious by nature, understood that it was neither able to endure a siege nor equal to undertaking a war, it rushed to a voluntary death from fear of slavery. For almost all of them, vying with one another, killed themselves by fire, sword and poison.

> Latin: 8 itaque ubi se gens hominum trux natura et ferox neque tolerandae obsidioni sufficientem neque suscipiendo bello parem intellegit, ad uoluntariam mortem seruitutis timore concurrit. nam se paene omnes certatim igne ferro ac ueneno necauerunt.

[¶8] The Astures, however, having pitched camp by the river Astura, would have overwhelmed the Romans with great plans and strength, had they not been betrayed and forestalled. Attempting suddenly to overwhelm, with three columns likewise, three legates with their legions, divided among three camps, they were discovered through the betrayal of their own people.

> Latin: 9 Astures uero positis castris apud Asturam flumen Romanos, nisi proditi praeuentique essent, magnis consiliis uiribusque oppressissent. tres legatos cum legionibus suis in tria castra diuisos tribus aeque agminibus obruere repente moliti, suorum proditione detecti sunt.

[¶9] Afterwards Carisius caught them in war and overcame them, though with no small loss to the Romans as well. Part of them, slipping away from the battle, fled to Lancia. And when the soldiers were preparing to attack the surrounded city with fire, the general Carisius both obtained from his own men a halt to the burning and exacted from the barbarians a willingness to surrender. For he was earnestly striving to leave the city whole and unharmed as a witness to his victory.

> Latin: 10 hos postea Carisius bello exceptos non parua etiam Romanorum clade superauit. pars eorum proelio elapsa Lancham confugit. cumque milites circumdatam urbem incendio adoriri pararent, dux Carisius et a suis cessationem impetrauit incendii et a barbaris uoluntatem deditionis exegit. studiose enim nitebatur integram atque incolumem ciuitatem uictoriae suae testem relinquere.

[¶10] Caesar bestowed this honour on the Cantabrian victory: he ordered the gates of war to be held shut with a bolt at that time also. Thus Janus was then closed for the second time by Caesar, and for the fourth time since the founding of the City.

> Latin: 11 Cantabricae uictoriae hunc honorem Caesar detulit, ut tunc quoque belli portas claustro cohiberi iuberet. ita tunc secundo per Caesarem, quarto post urbem conditam clausus est Ianus.

[¶11] After this Claudius Drusus, Caesar’s stepson, having received Gaul and Raetia by lot, subdued in arms the greatest and bravest nations of Germany.

> Latin: 12 Post hoc Claudius Drusus, priuignus Caesaris, Galliam Raetiamque sortitus maximas fortissimasque gentes Germaniae armis subegit.

[¶12] For at that time, as if they were hastening towards a day appointed for peace, all the nations were stirred in waves either to make trial of war or to settle a treaty, ready either to accept terms of peace if they were defeated, or to enjoy a quiet liberty if they won.

> Latin: 13 nam tunc, ueluti ad constitutum pacis diem festinarent, ita omnes ad experientiam belli decisionemue foederis undatim gentes commouebantur aut suscepturae condiciones pacis, si uincerentur, aut usurae quieta libertate, si uincerent.

[¶13] The Norici, the Illyrians, the Pannonians, the Dalmatians, the Moesians, the Thracians and the Dacians, the Sarmatians, and very many and very great peoples of Germany were, by various generals, either overcome or held back, or else shut out by the barrier of the greatest rivers, the Rhine and the Danube.

> Latin: 14 Norici Illyrii Pannonii Dalmatae Moesi Thraces et Daci Sarmatae plurimique et maximi Germaniae populi per diuersos duces uel superati uel repressi uel etiam obiectu maximorum fluminum, Rheni Danuuiique, seclusi sunt.

[¶14] In Germany Drusus first subdued the Usipetes, then the Tencteri and the Chatti. The Marcomanni he cut down almost to extermination.

> Latin: 15 Drusus in Germania primum Usipetes, deinde Tencteros et Chattos perdomuit. Marcomannos paene ad internecionem cecidit.

[¶15] Afterwards he overcame the bravest nations — to whom nature gave strength, and habit the experience of their strength — the Cherusci, the Suebi and the Sugambri, all together in a single war, but one that was harsh for his own men as well.

> Latin: 16 postea fortissimas nationes et quibus natura uires, consuetudo experientiam uirium dabat, Cheruscos Suebos et Sygambros pariter uno bello sed etiam suis aspero superauit.

[¶16] Their valour and ferocity can be judged from this: that their women too, whenever they were shut in among their wagons by the Romans forestalling them, when missiles failed them, or anything at all that fury could use as a missile, dashed their little sons on the ground and hurled them in the faces of the enemy — twice parricides in each killing of a son.

> Latin: 17 quorum ex eo considerari uirtus ac feritas potest, quod mulieres quoque eorum, siquando praeuentu Romanorum inter plaustra sua concludebantur, deficientibus telis uel qualibet re, qua uelut telo uti furor possit, paruos filios conlisos humi in hostium ora iaciebant, in singulis filiorum necibus bis parricidae.

[¶17] At that time too, in Africa, Cossus, Caesar’s general, restrained the Musulamii and the Gaetuli, who were roaming too widely, by narrowing their borders, and compelled them by fear to keep away from the Roman frontiers.

> Latin: 18 Tunc etiam in Africa Musolanos et Gaetulos latius uagantes Cossus dux Caesaris artatis finibus cohercuit atque a Romanis limitibus abstinere metu conpulit.

[¶18] Meanwhile envoys of the Indians and the Scythians, having crossed the whole world, at last found Caesar at Tarragona, a city of Hither Spain — beyond which they could seek him no further — and poured back upon Caesar the glory of Alexander the Great:

> Latin: 19 Interea Caesarem apud Tarraconem citerioris Hispaniae urbem legati Indorum et Scytharum toto orbe transmisso tandem ibi inuenerunt, ultra quod iam quaerere non possent, refuderuntque in Caesarem Alexandri Magni gloriam:

[¶19] for just as an embassy of Spaniards and Gauls had come to Alexander in the midst of the East, at Babylon, out of regard for peace, so the Indian of the dawn and the Scythian of the north, bearing the gifts of their nations, besought Caesar as suppliants in Spain, at the farthest end of the West.

> Latin: 20 quem sicut Hispanorum Gallorumque legatio in medio oriente apud Babylonam contemplatione pacis adiit, ita hunc apud Hispaniam in occidentis ultimo supplex cum gentilicio munere eous Indus et Scytha boreus orauit.

[¶20] When the Cantabrian war had been waged for five years, and all Spain had been laid down and set at rest in an everlasting peace, with a certain breathing-space from weariness, Caesar returned to Rome.

> Latin: 21 Cantabrico bello per quinque annos acto totaque Hispania in aeternam pacem cum quadam respiratione lassitudinis reclinata ac reposita, Caesar Romam rediit.

[¶21] In those days too he waged many wars himself and many through his generals and legates. For among others Piso too was sent against the Vindelici; having subdued them, he came victorious to Caesar at Lyon.

> Latin: 22 Quibus etiam diebus multa per se multaque per duces et legatos bella gessit. nam inter ceteros et Piso aduersum Vindelicos missus est; quibus subactis uictor ad Caesarem Lugdunum uenit.

[¶22] Tiberius, Caesar’s stepson, destroyed with most bloody slaughter the Pannonians, who were swelling with a new rising.

> Latin: 23 Pannonios nouo motu intumescentes Tiberius priuignus Caesaris cruentissima caede deleuit.

[¶23] And the same man straightway took the Germans in hand in war, of whom he led away forty thousand captives as victor.

> Latin: 24 idemque continuo Germanos bello arripuit, e quibus quadraginta milia captiuorum uictor abduxit.

[¶24] This war, truly a very great and most fearsome one, was waged with fifteen legions for three years; and there was hardly any greater war, as Suetonius attests, after the Punic War.

> Latin: 25 quod reuera bellum maximum et formidulosissimum quindecim legionibus per triennium gestum est, nec fere ullum maius bellum, sicut Suetonius adtestatur, post Punicum fuit.

*Note: Suetonius (Tiberius 16) says this of the great Pannonian and Illyrian revolt of AD 6–9, not of a German war.*

[¶25] At about the same time Quintilius Varus, who behaved with astonishing arrogance and avarice towards the subject peoples, was utterly destroyed with three legions by the rebelling Germans.

> Latin: 26 Sub eodem uero tempore Quintilius Varus cum tribus legionibus a Germanis rebellantibus, mira superbia atque auaritia in subiectos agens, funditus deletus est.

[¶26] Caesar Augustus took this disaster to the commonwealth so grievously that often, through the violence of his grief, he would dash his head against the wall and cry out: “Quintilius Varus, give back the legions!”

> Latin: 27 quam reipublicae cladem Caesar Augustus adeo grauiter tulit, ut saepe per uim doloris caput parieti conlidens clamaret Quintili Vare, redde legiones.

[¶27] Agrippa overcame the people of the Bosporus, and, having recovered in war the Roman standards which they had once carried off under Mithridates, compelled the vanquished to surrender.

> Latin: 28 Bosforanos uero Agrippa superauit et signis Romanis, quae illi quondam sub Mithridate sustulerant, bello recuperatis uictos ad deditionem coegit.

[¶28] The Parthians — as though, with the whole world either subdued or pacified, they were marked out before the eyes of all, and the whole vigour of the Roman Empire was to be turned against them alone, gnawed as they were by the old consciousness of the slaughter of Crassus that awaited vengeance — of their own accord sent back to Caesar the standards they had taken when Crassus was killed, and, handing over royal hostages, earned a firm treaty by a faithful supplication.

> Latin: 29 Parthi, quasi toto terrarum orbe uel domito uel pacato omnium oculis signarentur atque in se solos omnis uigor Romani imperii uertendus esset, quippe quos pristina ulciscendae Crassianae caedis conscientia mordebat, ultro signa, quae Crasso interfecto abstulerant, ad Caesarem remiserunt regiisque obsidibus traditis firmum foedus fideli supplicatione meruerunt.

## 134. Book 6 · Chapter 22

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/134/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/134/#p-N

[¶0] And so, in the year 752 from the founding of the City, Caesar Augustus, having settled all nations in a single peace, from east to west, from north to south, and through the whole circle of the Ocean, then himself closed the gates of Janus for the third time.

> Latin: 1 Itaque anno ab urbe condita DCCLII Caesar Augustus ab oriente in occidentem, a septentrione in meridiem ac per totum Oceani circulum cunctis gentibus una pace conpositis, Iani portas tertio ipse tunc clausit.

*Note: Augustus records that Janus was closed three times in his principate (Res Gestae 13), but the date of the third closing is unknown. Orosius places it in 752, the year to which he assigns the birth of Christ (2 BC on the usual reckoning).*

[¶1] From that time, for nearly twelve years, they stayed barred in the most tranquil peace, so that rust itself set its seal upon them; nor did they ever open until, in the extreme old age of Augustus, they were struck by the sedition of the Athenians and the commotion of the Dacians.

> Latin: 2 quas ex eo per duodecim fere annos quietissimo semper obseratas otio ipsa etiam robigo signauit, nec prius umquam nisi sub extrema senectute Augusti pulsatae Atheniensium seditione et Dacorum commotione patuerunt.

[¶2] With the gates of Janus closed, therefore, striving to nourish and enlarge by peace the commonwealth he had won by war, he established very many laws, through which the human race might conduct itself with a free reverence for discipline.

> Latin: 3 clausis igitur Iani portis rempublicam, quam bello quaesiuerat, pace enutrire atque amplificare studens leges plurimas statuit, per quas humanum genus libera reuerentia disciplinae morem gereret.

[¶3] Being a man, he declined the title of lord. For when, as he was watching the games, the words “O just and good lord!” had been spoken in a mime, and all, as if it had been said of him, had applauded exultantly, he at once checked the unseemly flattery with his hand and his look, and on the following day rebuked it with a most severe edict; and thereafter he did not allow himself to be called lord even by his children or grandchildren, whether in earnest or in jest.

> Latin: 4 domini appellationem ut homo declinauit. nam cum eodem spectante ludos pronuntiatum esset in mimo dominum aequum et bonum uniuersique, quasi de ipso dictum esset, exultantes adprobauissent, et statim quidem manu uultuque indecoras adulationes repressit et insequenti die grauissimo corripuit edicto dominumque se posthac appellari ne a liberis quidem aut nepotibus suis uel serio uel ioco passus est.

[¶4] So it was at that time — that is, in that year in which Caesar, by the ordinance of God, established the firmest and truest peace — that Christ was born, whose coming that peace served; at whose birth, as men listened, angels sang exultantly: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men of good will.” And at that same time this man, to whom the sum of all things had passed, did not allow himself to be called lord of men — nay, did not dare it — at the very time when the true Lord of the whole human race was born among men.

> Latin: 5 Igitur eo tempore, id est eo anno quo firmissimam uerissimamque pacem ordinatione Dei Caesar conposuit, natus est Christus, cuius aduentui pax ista famulata est, in cuius ortu audientibus hominibus exultantes angeli cecinerunt Gloria in excelsis Deo, et in terra pax hominibus bonae uoluntatis. eodemque tempore hic, ad quem rerum omnium summa concesserat, dominum se hominum appellari non passus est, immo non ausus, quo uerus dominus totius generis humani inter homines natus est.

[¶5] In that same year too, this same Caesar, whom God had predestined for these great mysteries, then for the first time ordered a census to be taken of each province everywhere and all men to be enrolled, at the time when God, too, deigned to be seen as man and to be man. Then, therefore, Christ was born, and was entered in the Roman census as soon as he was born.

> Latin: 6 eodem quoque anno tunc primum idem Caesar, quem his tantis mysteriis praedestinauerat Deus, censum agi singularum ubique prouinciarum et censeri omnes homines iussit, quando et Deus homo uideri et esse dignatus est. tunc igitur natus est Christus, Romano censui statim adscriptus ut natus est.

*Note: Orosius follows Luke 2:1–2. No census of the whole empire under Augustus is attested elsewhere; the census of Judaea under Quirinius took place in AD 6.*

[¶6] This is that first and most glorious registration, which, by the enrolment of all men one by one, marked out Caesar as prince of all and the Romans as lords of the world; a registration in which he who made all men willed himself also to be found a man and to be enrolled among men: a thing never at all granted in this manner, since the founding of the world and the beginning of the human race, not even to the Babylonian or the Macedonian kingdom, to say nothing of any lesser one.

> Latin: 7 haec est prima illa clarissimaque professio, quae Caesarem omnium principem Romanosque rerum dominos singillatim cunctorum hominum edita adscriptione signauit, in qua se et ipse, qui cunctos homines fecit, inueniri hominem adscribique inter homines uoluit: quod penitus numquam ab orbe condito atque ab exordio generis humani in hunc modum ne Babylonio quidem uel Macedonico, ut non dicam minori cuiquam regno concessum fuit.

[¶7] Nor is there any doubt — it lies open to the knowledge, faith and scrutiny of all — that our Lord Jesus Christ, by his own will, brought to this summit of affairs this city, increased and defended by him, to which above all he willed to belong when he came, so that he must surely be called a Roman citizen by the declaration of the Roman census.

> Latin: 8 nec dubium, quin omnium cognitioni fidei inspectionique pateat, quia Dominus noster Iesus Christus hanc urbem nutu suo auctam defensamque in hunc rerum apicem prouexerit, cuius potissime uoluit esse cum uenit, dicendus utique ciuis Romanus census professione Romani.

[¶8] Wherefore, since we have reached that point in time at which the Lord Christ first illumined this world by his coming and gave to Caesar a most tranquil reign, let me also close this sixth little book at this point,

> Latin: 9 Quamobrem quia ad id temporis peruentum est, quo et Dominus Christus hunc mundum primum aduentu suo inlustrauit regnumque Caesari tranquillissimum dedit, hunc quoque sextum libellum hoc fine concluserim:

[¶9] so that I may embrace in a seventh book — if, with the Lord’s help, I prove equal to it — the Christian times as they bud forth, growing all the more amid the hands of those who would hold them back, and, still in the course of their advance, gnawed by the persecution of the very people to whom we are compelled to make this reply;

> Latin: 10 ut germinantia tempora Christiana magisque inter reprimentum manus crescentia et quae adhuc in prouectu posita horum ipsorum, quibus haec respondere cogimur, insectatione mordentur, septimo libello, si tamen adiuuante Domino suffecero, conprehendam,

[¶10] so that, since from the beginning I have not been silent that men both sin and are punished for their sins, I may now also set forth what persecutions of the Christians have been carried out and what vengeances have followed — apart from the fact that all men are generally prone to sin and are therefore chastised one by one.

> Latin: 11 ut, quoniam ab initio et peccare homines et puniri propter peccata non tacui, nunc quoque, quae persecutiones Christianorum actae sint et quae ultiones secutae sint, absque eo quod omnes ad peccandum generaliter proni sunt atque ideo singillatim corripiuntur, expediam.

## 135. Book 7 · Chapter 1

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/135/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/135/#p-N

[¶0] Enough evidence has now been gathered, I think, by which it can be proved openly, without any of that hidden mystery which belongs to the few faithful, that the one true God whom the Christian faith proclaims both created the world and its creatures when he willed, and ordered it through many means while he was unknown through many, and established it in unity when he was declared through his only Son; and at the same time that his power and his patience have shone out in proofs of many kinds.

> Latin: 1 Sufficientia ut arbitror documenta collecta sunt, quibus absque ullo arcano, quod paucorum fidelium est, probari de medio queat, unum illum et uerum Deum, quem Christiana fides praedicat, et condidisse mundum creaturamque eius, cum uoluit, et disposuisse per multa, cum per multa ignoraretur, et confirmasse ad unum, cum per unicum declaratus est, simulque potentiam patientiamque eius multimodis argumentis eluxisse.

[¶1] In this, I understand, narrow and downcast minds take some offence, because so great a patience is mingled with so great a power. “For if he was powerful enough,” they say, “to create the world, to establish the peace of the world, and to make the worship and knowledge of himself known to the world, what need was there of so great — or, as they themselves feel, so ruinous — a patience, that what came about at the last through the errors, disasters and toils of men might rather have begun so from the beginning by the power of the God whom you proclaim?”

> Latin: 2 in quo quidem angustas deiectasque mentes offendi paulisper intellego, quod tantae potentiae patientia tanta miscetur. si enim potens erat, inquiunt, creare mundum, componere pacem mundi, insinuare mundo cultum ac notitiam sui, quid opus fuit tanta uel, ut ipsi sentiunt, tam perniciosa patientia, ut in ultimo erroribus cladibus laboribusque hominum fieret, quod a principio uirtute eius, quem praedicas, Dei sic potius coepisse potuisset?

[¶2] To them I could answer truthfully that the human race was created and established from the beginning for this purpose: that, living under religion, in peace and without toil, it should merit eternity as the fruit of its obedience; but that, abusing the goodness of the Creator who granted it freedom, it turned licence into defiance and slid from contempt into forgetfulness;

> Latin: 3 quibus quidem ueraciter respondere possem, ad hoc ab initio creatum et institutum humanum genus, ut sub religione cum pace sine labore uiuens fructu oboedientiae aeternitatem promereretur, sed abusum bonitate creatoris libertatem indulgentis in contumaciam uertisse licentiam atque ex contemptu in obliuionem defluxisse,

[¶3] and that the patience of God is now just, and just in both directions: so that, though scorned, he does not utterly destroy the one on whom he wills to have mercy, and, though scorned yet powerful, he allows him to be afflicted with toils for as long as he wills; and further, that it follows that he should always justly exercise his governance even over one who does not know it, to whom one day, in his mercy, he will restore upon repentance the possibility of the ancient grace.

> Latin: 4 iustamque nunc esse patientiam Dei et iustam in utramque partem, ut nec contemptus disperdat in totum cui misereri uelit et affici laboribus dum uelit sinat contemptus potens; deinde subsequens esse, iuste semper adhibere quamuis ignoranti gubernationem, cui aliquando pie restituturus sit paenitenti antiquae gratiae facultatem.

[¶4] But since these things, although they are said most truly and most forcefully, nevertheless require a hearer who is faithful and obedient, and my dispute — whether with people who will one day believe, I shall see — is certainly now with unbelievers, I shall rather bring forward those arguments which, even if they refuse to approve them, they cannot disprove.

> Latin: 5 sed haec quoniam, etsi uerissime fortissimeque dicuntur, fidelem tamen atque oboedientem requirunt, mihi autem, uidero an aliquando credituris, certe nunc cum incredulis actio est, promptius ea proferam, quae ipsi etsi probare noluerint, inprobare non possint.

[¶5] Accordingly, so far as the conscience of human minds is concerned, both of us live in reverence for religion and in the acknowledgement and worship of a higher power, differing only in faith: for ours it is to confess that all things exist from one God and through one God; theirs, to think there are as many gods as there are things.

> Latin: 6 Itaque, quantum ad conscientiam humanarum mentium pertinet, utrique sub reuerentia religionis et confessione cultuque supernae potentiae uiuimus, distante dumtaxat fide; quia nostrum est, fateri ex uno et per unum Deum constare omnia, illorum, tam multos deos putare quam multa sunt.

[¶6] “If it lay in the power of the God whom you proclaim,” they say, “that the Roman Empire should become so vast and so exalted, why then did his patience stand in the way of its happening earlier?” They will be answered in the very same words: if it lay in the power of the gods whom you proclaim that the Roman Empire should become so vast and so exalted, why then did their patience stand in the way of its happening earlier?

> Latin: 7 si potentiae Dei, inquiunt, quem praedicatis, fuit, ut Romanum imperium tam amplum ac tam sublime fieret, cur igitur patientia eiusdem obfuit, ut ante non fieret? quibus sub eodem uerbo respondebitur: si potentiae deorum, quos praedicatis, fuit, ut Romanum imperium tam amplum ac tam sublime fieret, cur igitur patientia eorundem obfuit, ut ante non fieret?

[¶7] Did the gods themselves not yet exist? Did Rome itself not yet exist? Were the gods not worshipped? Did Rome not yet seem fit for empire? If the gods did not yet exist, the argument falls away; for why should I discuss their delay there, where I do not even find their nature? But if the gods did exist, then either their power, as they themselves judge, or their patience is at fault: their patience if it was present, their power if it was lacking.

> Latin: 8 an ipsi dii nondum erant? an adhuc Roma ipsa non erat? an illi non colebantur? an haec necdum idonea imperio uidebatur? si non dum erant dii, cessat intentio; in quid enim iam ibi eorum discutio moram, ubi ne ipsam quidem inuenio naturam? si autem erant dii, aut potentia eorum, ut ipsi iudicant, aut patientia in culpa est: uel patientia, si fuit, uel potentia, si defuit.

[¶8] Or, if it seems more persuasive that the gods existed at that time, able to advance the Romans, but that the Romans who might rightly be advanced did not yet exist, then we are looking for a power that is the author of things, not for a craftsman’s skill. For the question concerns gods — great ones, as they suppose — not the meanest of artisans, whose art ceases unless material is supplied.

> Latin: 9 aut, si magis suadibile uidetur fuisse tunc quidem deos, qui prouehere potuissent, sed nondum exstitisse Romanos, qui prouehi iure possent, nos auctorem rerum potentiam, non artificem scientiam quaerimus. de diis quippe, ut putant, magnis, non de fabris uilissimis quaestio est, quibus nisi materia accedat, ars cessat.

[¶9] For if to foreknow and to will were always at their disposal — or rather, with foreknowledge subordinate to will, since for omnipotence, at least with regard to its own works, to foreknow is the same as to will — then whatever was foreknown and had the will’s assent ought not to have been waited for, but created; especially since they relate that that Jupiter of theirs was accustomed in sport to turn heaps of ants into peoples of men.

> Latin: 10 si enim praescisse illis ac uoluisse praesto semper fuit, immo etiam subiacente praescientia, quia apud omnipotentiam de operibus dumtaxat suis hoc est praescire quod uelle quodcumque illud praesciebatur, cui uoluntas adstipularetur, non exspectari oportuit sed creari; maxime cum et Iouem illum suum aceruos formicarum in populos hominum ludo uertere solitum ferant.

[¶10] Further, as to the care of ceremonies, I think it need not even be reviewed, since amid continual sacred rites there was no end and no rest from ceaseless disasters until Christ, the Saviour of the world, shone forth. That the peace of the Roman Empire was predestined for his coming, although I think I have already shown it sufficiently, I shall nevertheless try to supplement in a few words.

> Latin: 11 porro autem de cura caerimoniarum nec recensendum arbitror, quoniam inter sacra continua incessabilibus cladibus nullus finis ac nulla requies fuit, nisi cum saluator mundi Christus inluxit: cuius aduentui praedestinatam fuisse imperii Romani pacem, etsi iam sufficienter ostendisse me arbitror, tamen paucis adhuc supplere conabor.

## 136. Book 7 · Chapter 2

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/136/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/136/#p-N

[¶0] At the beginning of my second book, when in the course of my pen I touched briefly upon the times of the founding of Rome, I set down many correspondences between Babylon, the city of the Assyrians, then the chief of the nations, and Rome, which now in like manner rules over the nations:

> Latin: 1 Principio secundi libelli cum tempora Romanae conditionis stili tenore perstringerem, multa conuenienter inter Babylonam urbem Assyriorum tunc principem gentium et Romam aeque nunc gentibus dominantem conpacta conscripsi:

[¶1] that the one was the first empire, the other the last; that the one gradually gave way, while the other slowly grew strong; that the one lost its last king at the very time when the other had its first; that the one, taken when Cyrus then invaded, fell as if into death, while the other, rising confidently after the expulsion of the kings, began to enjoy free counsels;

> Latin: 2 fuisse illud primum, hoc ultimum imperium; illud paulatim cedens, at istud sensim conualescens; defluxisse illi sub uno tempore nouissimum regem, cum isti primum fuisse; illam deinde tunc inuadente Cyro captam uelut in mortem concidisse, cum istam fiducialiter adsurgentem post expulsos reges liberis uti coepisse consiliis;

[¶2] especially since, at the time when Rome was claiming its freedom, the people of the Jews too, who had been in servitude under the kings at Babylon, recovered their freedom, returned to holy Jerusalem, and rebuilt the temple of the Lord, as had been foretold by the prophets.

> Latin: 3 praecipue cum, uindicante libertatem suam Roma, tunc quoque Iudaeorum populus, qui apud Babylonam sub regibus seruiebat, in sanctam Hierusalem recepta libertate redierit templumque Domini, sicut a prophetis praedictum fuerat, reformarit.

[¶3] I had said, moreover, that between the Babylonian kingdom, which had been in the east, and the Roman, which, rising in the west, was being nurtured on the inheritance of the east, there came in the Macedonian and African kingdoms — that is, from the south and the north, as it were — which for brief turns held the parts of guardian and trustee.

> Latin: 4 praeterea intercessisse dixeram inter Babylonium regnum, quod ab oriente fuerat, et Romanum, quod ab occidente consurgens hereditati orientis enutriebatur, Macedonicum Africanumque regnum, hoc est quasi a meridie ac septentrione breuibus uicibus partes tutoris curatorisque tenuisse.

[¶4] That the Babylonian and Roman kingdoms are rightly called the kingdoms of the east and of the west, I know that no one has ever doubted; that the Macedonian kingdom lay under the north is shown both by the very quarter of the sky and by the altars of Alexander the Great, set up beneath the Riphaean Mountains, which stand to this day;

> Latin: 5 orientis et occidentis regnum Babylonium et Romanum iure uocitari, neminem umquam dubitasse scio; Macedonicum regnum sub septentrione cum ipsa caeli plaga tum Alexandri Magni arae positae usque ad nunc sub Riphaeis montibus docent;

[¶5] while that Carthage excelled over all Africa, and stretched the bounds of its kingdom not only to Sicily, Sardinia and the other neighbouring islands but also into Spain, the records of histories and of cities alike declare.

> Latin: 6 Carthaginem uero uniuersae praecelluisse Africae et non solum in Siciliam Sardiniam ceterasque adiacentes insulas sed etiam in Hispaniam regni terminos tetendisse, historiarum simul monumenta urbiumque declarant.

[¶6] It was said also that very nearly equal numbers of years ran their course to the laying waste of Babylon by the Medes and to the breaking into Rome by the Goths.

> Latin: 7 dictum est etiam, uastatae per Medos Babyloniae et inruptae per Gothos Romae pares admodum annorum numeros cucurrisse.

[¶7] Now, however, I add this to those points, so that it may be all the clearer that God is the one arbiter of all ages, kingdoms and places.

> Latin: 8 Nunc autem his illud adicio, quo magis clareat unum esse arbitrum saeculorum regnorum locorumque omnium Deum.

[¶8] The Carthaginian kingdom, from its founding to its overthrow, stood a little more than seven hundred years; likewise the Macedonian kingdom, from Caranus to Perseus, a little less than seven hundred; yet each was brought to its end by that number seven by which all things are judged.

> Latin: 9 regnum Carthaginiense a conditione usque ad euersionem eius, paulo amplius quam septingentis annis stetit, aeque regnum Macedonicum a Carano usque ad Persen paulo minus quam septingentis; utrumque tamen septenarius ille numerus, quo iudicantur omnia, terminauit.

[¶9] Rome itself too, although it was being carried forward to a perfected empire against the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, nevertheless itself stumbled a little on meeting this number.

> Latin: 10 Roma ipsa etiam, quamuis ad aduentum Domini Iesu Christi perfecto proueheretur imperio, tamen paululum et ipsa in occursu numeri huius offendit.

[¶10] For in the year 700 from its founding a fire, rising no one knows from where, consumed fourteen of its districts, and never, as Livy says, was it laid waste by a greater conflagration; so much so that some years afterwards Caesar Augustus granted a great sum of money from the public treasury for the restoration of what had then been burned.

> Latin: 11 nam septingentesimo conditionis suae anno quattuordecim uicos eius incertum unde consurgens flamma consumpsit, nec umquam, ut ait Liuius, maiore incendio uastata est; adeo, ut post aliquot annos Caesar Augustus ad reparationem eorum, quae tunc exusta erant, magnam uim pecuniae ex aerario publico largitus sit.

[¶11] I could also show that the same number, doubled, remained for Babylon, which was finally taken by King Cyrus after one thousand four hundred years and somewhat more, were I not called back by the contemplation of the present.

> Latin: 12 poteram quoque ostendere eundem duplicatum numerum mansisse Babyloniae, quae post mille quadringentos et quod excurrit annos ultime a Cyro rege capta est, nisi praesentium contemplatione reuocarer.

[¶12] This at least I gladly add: that in the forty-third year after he began to reign of Ninus, the first of all kings — although his father Belus too is obscurely reported to have reigned first — in the forty-third year, then, of that Ninus was born that holy Abraham to whom the promises were spoken, and from whose seed Christ was promised;

> Latin: 13 illud sane libenter adicio, quia primi illius regum omnium Nini - quamuis et pater eius Belus obscure primus regnasse referatur - illius ergo Nini anno, postquam regnare coeperat, quadragensimo tertio natus est sanctus ille Abraham, cui dictae sunt repromissiones, ex cuius semine promissus est Christus;

[¶13] and that now, of Augustus Caesar, the first of all emperors — although his father Caesar too stood forth as the surveyor of the empire rather than its emperor — of this Caesar, then, when nearly the forty-second year after he began to rule had run its course, Christ was born, who had been promised to Abraham under Ninus, the first king.

> Latin: 14 deinde nunc primi istius imperatorum omnium Augusti Caesaris - quamuis et pater eius Caesar metator imperii potius quam imperator exstiterit - istius ergo Caesaris, posteaquam imperare coepit, emenso propemodum anno quadragensimo secundo natus est Christus, qui Abrahae sub Nino primo rege fuerat repromissus.

[¶14] He was born, moreover, on the eighth day before the Kalends of January, when all the increase of the coming year first begins. Thus it came about that, whereas Abraham was born in the forty-third year, the nativity of Christ fell at the end of the forty-second, so that he did not now arise in part of the third year, but rather the third year arose in him.

> Latin: 15 natus est autem VIII kalendas Ianuarias, cum primum incrementa omnia anni uenientis incipiunt. ita factum est, ut, cum Abraham quadragensimo tertio anno natus sit, sub fine quadragensimi secundi natiuitas Christi conueniret, ut iam non ipse in parte tertii anni sed in ipso potius tertius annus oreretur.

[¶15] How rich that year was in blessings — how great, how new and how unaccustomed — I think is well enough known even without my setting it forth: throughout the whole world a single peace for all, through not the suspension but the abolition of wars; the gates of twin Janus closed, with the roots of wars torn out, not merely held down; that first and greatest census, when the whole created order of great nations swore by this one name of Caesar and at the same time, through sharing in the census, was made into one fellowship.

> Latin: 16 qui annus quantis, quam nouis quamque inusitatis bonis abundauerit, satis etiam me non proferente compertum haberi arbitror: toto terrarum orbe una pax omnium non cessatione sed abolitione bellorum, clausae Iani gemini portae extirpatis bellorum radicibus non repressis census ille primus et maximus, cum in hoc unum Caesaris nomen uniuersa magnarum gentium creatura iurauit simulque per communionem census unius societatis effecta est.

## 137. Book 7 · Chapter 3

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/137/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/137/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 752 from the founding of the City, then, Christ was born, bringing to the world the faith of salvation: truly a rock set in the midst of things, where whoever stumbled against it would be broken and whoever believed would be saved; truly a burning fire, by which whoever follows is enlightened and whoever tempts it is burned up;

> Latin: 1 Igitur anno ab urbe condita DCCLII natus est Christus salutarem mundo adferens fidem, uere petra medio rerum posita, ubi comminueretur qui offenderet, qui crederet saluaretur; uere ignis ardens, quem qui sequitur inluminatur, qui temptat exuritur;

[¶1] he is Christ, the head of Christians, the saviour of the good, the punisher of the wicked, the judge of all; who, setting a pattern in word and deed for those who would follow, in order the better to teach them that they must be patient in the persecutions they would undergo for the sake of eternal life, began with his own sufferings as soon as he appeared to the world, brought forth by the childbearing of a virgin. For as soon as Herod, king of Judaea, learned that he was born, he resolved to kill him, and in pursuing one he slew a great many little children.

> Latin: 2 ipse est Christus, Christianorum caput, saluator bonorum, malorum punitor, iudex omnium, qui formam subsecuturis uerbo et opere statuens, quo magis doceret patientes in persecutionibus, quas pro uita aeterna exciperent, esse oportere, mox ut uirginis partu editus mundo apparuit, de passionibus suis coepit. namque eum rex Iudaeae Herodes simul ut natum conperit, necare decreuit plurimosque tunc paruulos, dum unum insectatur, occidit.

[¶2] From this point on, fitting punishment befalls the malicious who wickedly assail him; from this point on, in so far as the world goes on in tranquillity, it is for the sake of believers, and in so far as it is ruinously disturbed, it is the punishment of blasphemers — while faithful Christians are secure in every case, for whom either the rest of eternal life is safe, or even the rest of this life is gain. This I shall show the more readily by the facts themselves as I relate them in order.

> Latin: 3 hinc malignis inprobe incurrentibus digna punitio est; hinc, in quantum tranquille agitur mundus, credentium gratia, in quantum perniciose inquietatur, blasphemantium poena est, securis per omnia fidelibus Christianis, quibus aut aeternae uitae requies in tuto aut etiam huius in lucro est. quod promptius cum per ordinem referam, ipsis rebus ostendam.

[¶3] After the Redeemer of the world, the Lord Jesus Christ, came upon the earth and was enrolled as a Roman citizen in Caesar’s census, while for twelve years, as I have said, the gates of war were kept closed in the most blessed tranquillity of peace, Caesar Augustus sent his grandson Gaius to set in order the provinces of Egypt and Syria.

> Latin: 4 postquam redemptor mundi, Dominus Iesus Christus, uenit in terras et Caesaris censu ciuis Romanus adscriptus est, dum per duodecim, ut dixi, annos clausae belli portae beatissima pacis tranquillitate cohibentur, Gaium nepotem suum Caesar Augustus ad ordinandas Aegypti Syriaeque prouincias misit.

[¶4] Passing from Egypt along the borders of Palestine, he disdained to worship at Jerusalem in the temple of God, then holy and much frequented, as Suetonius Tranquillus relates. When Augustus learned of this from him, he made a perverse judgement and praised him for having acted wisely.

> Latin: 5 qui praeteriens ab Aegypto fines Palaestinae, apud Hierosolymam in templo Dei tunc sancto et celebri adorare contempsit, sicut Suetonius Tranquillus refert. quod Augustus ubi per eum conperit, prauo usus iudicio prudenter fecisse laudauit.

[¶5] Accordingly, in the forty-eighth year of Caesar’s rule, so dreadful a famine fell upon the Romans that Caesar ordered the households of the gladiator-trainers, all foreigners, and also very great numbers of slaves, with the exception of physicians and teachers, to be thrust out of the City. Thus, when the prince sinned against the holy place of God and the people were chastised by famine, the nature of the vengeance showed the magnitude of the offence.

> Latin: 6 itaque anno imperii Caesaris quadragesimo octauo adeo dira Romanos fames consecuta est, ut Caesar lanistarum familias omnesque peregrinos, seruorum quoque maximas copias, exceptis medicis et praeceptoribus, trudi urbe praeceperit. ita peccante principe in sanctum Dei et correpto per famem populo quantitatem offensionis qualitas ultionis ostendit.

[¶6] Then, to use the words of Cornelius Tacitus: “Janus was opened when Augustus was old, and, while new peoples were sought at the furthest bounds of the earth, often with profit and sometimes with loss, it remained so until the reign of Vespasian.” Thus far Cornelius.

> Latin: 7 deinde, ut uerbis Corneli Taciti loquar, sene Augusto Ianus patefactus, dum apud extremos terrarum terminos nouae gentes saepe ex usu et aliquando cum damno quaeruntur, usque ad Vespasiani durauit imperium. hucusque Cornelius.

[¶7] But then, when the city of Jerusalem had been taken and overthrown, as the prophets had foretold, and the Jews destroyed, Titus — who by the judgement of God had been appointed to avenge the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ — triumphing as victor with his father Vespasian, closed Janus.

> Latin: 8 ceterum et tunc capta euersaque urbe Hierosolymorum, sicut prophetae praenuntiauerunt, extinctisque Iudaeis Titus, qui ad uindicandum Domini Iesu Christi sanguinem iudicio Dei fuerat ordinatus, uictor triumphans cum Vespasiano patre Ianum clausit.

[¶8] So, although Janus was opened in the last times of Caesar, yet for a long time after that no wars resounded, even though the army stood under arms.

> Latin: 9 igitur etsi sub extremis Caesaris temporibus apertus est Ianus, tamen per multa ex eo tempora, quamuis in procinctu esset exercitus, nulla bella sonuerunt.

[¶9] Hence the Lord Jesus Christ himself too, in the Gospels, when the whole world was then living in the utmost tranquillity and a single peace covered all nations, being asked by his disciples about the end of the times to come, said among other things:

> Latin: 10 unde etiam Dominus ipse Iesus Christus in Euangeliis, cum temporibus illis in summa tranquillitate uniuersus mundus ageret cunctasque gentes pax una uelaret et a discipulis suis interrogatus esset de conclusione temporum subsequentium, inter cetera sic ait:

[¶10] “You will hear of battles and rumours of battles. See that you are not troubled; for these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom; and there will be pestilences and famines and earthquakes in various places. But all these are the beginnings of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.”

> Latin: 11 audituri autem estis proelia et opiniones proeliorum. uidete ne turbemini; oportet enim haec fieri, sed nondum est finis. consurget enim gens in gentem et regnum in regnum et erunt pestilentiae et fames et terrae motus per loca. haec autem omnia initia sunt dolorum. tunc tradent uos in tribulationem et occident uos, et eritis odio omnibus gentibus propter nomen meum.

[¶11] In teaching this by divine providence, he both strengthened believers by forewarning them and confounded unbelievers by foretelling it.

> Latin: 12 hoc autem diuina prouidentia docens et credentes praemonendo firmauit et incredulos praedicendo confudit.

## 138. Book 7 · Chapter 4

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/138/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/138/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 767 from the founding of the City, after the death of Augustus Caesar, Tiberius Caesar obtained the empire and held it for twenty-three years.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCLXVII post mortem Augusti Caesaris Tiberius Caesar imperium adeptus est mansitque in eo annis uiginti et tribus.

[¶1] He waged no wars in person, nor even any serious ones through his legates, except that in a few places the swellings of peoples, detected in advance, were quickly suppressed.

> Latin: 2 hic per semet ipsum nulla bella gessit, sed ne per legatos quidem aliqua grauia, nisi quod tantum aliquantis in locis praecogniti cito gentium tumores conprimebantur.

[¶2] In the fourth year of his rule, indeed, Germanicus, the son of Drusus and father of Caligula, triumphed over the Germans, against whom he had been sent by Augustus in his old age.

> Latin: 3 sane quarto imperii eius anno Germanicus Drusi filius Caligulae pater de Germanis, ad quos ab Augusto sene missus fuerat, triumphavit.

[¶3] Tiberius himself, for the greater part of his rule, presided over the commonwealth with great and grave moderation, so much so that when certain governors urged him to increase the tributes of the provinces, he wrote back that it was the part of a good shepherd to shear his flock, not to flay it.

> Latin: 4 ipse autem Tiberius plurima imperii sui parte cum magna et graui modestia reipublicae praefuit, adeo ut quibusdam praesidibus augenda prouinciis tributa suadentibus scripserit boni pastoris esse tondere pecus, non deglubere.

[¶4] But after the Lord Christ had suffered and risen from the dead and sent out his disciples to preach, Pilate, governor of the province of Palestine, reported to the emperor Tiberius and to the senate concerning the passion and resurrection of Christ and the mighty works that followed, which had either been done openly by him or were being done by his disciples in his name, and concerning the fact that, as the faith of very many grew in eager rivalry, he was believed to be a god.

> Latin: 5 at postquam passus est Dominus Christus atque a mortuis resurrexit et discipulos suos ad praedicandum dimisit, Pilatus, praeses Palaestinae prouinciae, ad Tiberium imperatorem atque ad senatum rettulit de passione et resurrectione Christi consequentibusque uirtutibus, quae uel per ipsum palam factae fuerant uel per discipulos ipsius in nomine eius fiebant, et de eo, quod certatim crescente plurimorum fide deus crederetur.

[¶5] Tiberius, with the support of great favour, proposed to the senate that Christ be held a god. The senate, moved by indignation that the matter had not first been laid before it according to custom, so that it might itself be the first to decide on adopting a cult, refused the consecration of Christ and decreed by edict that the Christians were to be banished from the City; especially since Sejanus, Tiberius’s prefect, opposed the adoption of the religion most obstinately.

> Latin: 6 Tiberius cum suffragio magni fauoris rettulit ad senatum, ut Christus deus haberetur. senatus indignatione motus, cur non sibi prius secundum morem delatum esset, ut de suscipiendo cultu prius ipse decerneret, consecrationem Christi recusavit edictoque constituit, exterminandos esse urbe Christianos; praecipue cum et Seianus praefectus Tiberii suscipiendae religioni obstinatissime contradiceret.

*Note: The story that Tiberius proposed Christ’s deification to the senate comes from Tertullian (Apology 5) by way of Eusebius; no Roman source records it.*

[¶6] Tiberius, however, threatened the accusers of the Christians with death by edict. And so, little by little, that much-praised moderation of Tiberius Caesar was changed into the punishment of the senate that had opposed him; for to a king whatever he did by his own will was a pleasure, and out of a most gentle prince there blazed up a most savage beast.

> Latin: 7 Tiberius tamen edicto accusatoribus Christianorum mortem comminatus est. itaque paulatim immutata est illa Tiberii Caesaris laudatissima modestia in poenam contradictoris senatus; nam regi, quaecumque uoluntate faciebat, uoluptas erat, atque ex mansuetissimo principe saeuissima bestia exarsit.

[¶7] For he proscribed very many of the senators and drove them to their deaths; he had chosen twenty patricians to be his council, and of these he left scarcely two unharmed, killing the rest on various pretexts; he put to death his prefect Sejanus, who was plotting revolution;

> Latin: 8 nam plurimos senatorum proscripsit et ad mortem coegit; uiginti sibi patricios uiros consilii causa legerat: horum uix duos incolumes reliquit, ceteros diuersis causis necavit; Seianum praefectum suum res nouas molientem interfecit;

[¶8] he destroyed his sons Drusus and Germanicus — of whom Drusus was his son by nature, Germanicus by adoption — with clear signs of poison; and he killed the sons of his son Germanicus.

> Latin: 9 filios suos Drusum et Germanicum, quorum Drusus naturalis, Germanicus adoptiuus erat, manifestis ueneni signis perdidit; filios Germanici filii sui interfecit.

*Note: Tacitus (Annals 4.8) says the younger Drusus was poisoned in AD 23 by Sejanus and Livilla, Drusus’s wife; Germanicus died in Syria in AD 19, and suspicion fell on the governor Piso. Orosius lays both deaths at Tiberius’s door.*

[¶9] To relate his deeds one by one is a thing of horror and shame; he grew so wild with such a frenzy of lust and cruelty that those who had scorned to be saved under Christ as king were punished under Caesar as king.

> Latin: 10 referre singillatim facta eius horret pudetque; tanta libidinis et crudelitatis rabie efferavit, ut, qui spreuerant Christo rege saluari, rege Caesare punirentur.

[¶10] In the twelfth year of his rule, however, a new and incredible disaster occurred at the city of Fidenae: the seating of the amphitheatre collapsed while the people were watching a gladiatorial show, and killed more than twenty thousand people.

> Latin: 11 huius tamen imperii anno duodecimo noua et incredibilis clades apud Fidenatium urbem accidit: amphitheatri cauea populo gladiatorium munus spectante conlapsa est et plus quam uiginti milia hominum occidit.

[¶11] It is indeed an example of so great a chastisement worthy to be handed down to posterity, that men eager to watch the deaths of men had then come together at the very time when God had willed to become man in order to provide for the salvation of men.

> Latin: 12 dignum sane posteris tantae correptionis exemplum, tunc ad spectandas hominum mortes auidos homines conuenisse, quando pro salute hominum prouidenda Deus homo esse uoluisset.

[¶12] Then, in the seventeenth year of the same reign, when the Lord Jesus Christ gave himself up of his own will to his passion, but was wickedly seized by the Jews and fastened to the cross, a very great earthquake took place throughout the world; rocks were split in the mountains, and very many parts of the greatest cities fell under a shock more violent than usual.

> Latin: 13 deinde anno eiusdem septimo decimo cum Dominus Iesus Christus uoluntarie quidem se tradidit passioni, sed impie a Iudaeis apprehensus et patibulo suffixus est, maximo terrae motu per orbem facto saxa in montibus scissa, maximarumque urbium plurimae partes plus solita concussione ceciderunt.

[¶13] On the same day also, at the sixth hour of the day, the sun was wholly darkened, and a foul night suddenly covered the earth, and, as has been said, “an impious age feared eternal night.”

> Latin: 14 eadem quoque die ad horam diei sextam sol in totum obscuratus tetraque nox subito obducta terris est et, sicut dictum est, Impiaque aeternam timuerunt saecula noctem.

[¶14] It is plain, moreover, that neither the moon nor clouds stood in the way of the sun’s light, so much so that it is reported that the moon, being on that day in its fourteenth day, was at its farthest from the sight of the sun, with the whole region of the sky lying between them, and that the stars shone then in the daytime hours, or rather in that dreadful night, throughout the whole sky. To this not only the faith of the holy Gospels but also a number of books of the Greeks bear witness.

> Latin: 15 usque adeo autem neque lunam lumini solis neque nubes obstitisse manifestum est, ut quartam decimam ea die lunam, tota caeli regione interiecta, longissime a conspectu solis afuisse et stellas tunc diurnis horis uel potius in illa horrenda nocte toto caelo fulsisse referatur. quod non solum sanctorum Euangeliorum fides, sed etiam aliquanti Graecorum libri adtestantur.

[¶15] From this point on, after the passion of the Lord, whom the Jews persecuted as far as lay in them, the disasters of the Jews resound without ceasing, one after another, until, emptied and scattered, they come to their end.

> Latin: 16 iam hinc post passionem Domini, quem Iudaei quantum in ipsis fuit persecuti sunt, continuae clades Iudaeorum, donec exinaniti dispersique deficiant, incessabiliter strepunt.

[¶16] Tiberius, indeed, under the pretext of military oath sent their young men away to provinces of more unhealthy climate, and removed from the City the rest of that nation, or those who followed similar practices, under penalty of perpetual slavery if they did not obey.

> Latin: 17 Tiberius siquidem iuuentutem eorum per speciem sacramenti in prouincias grauioris caeli relegavit, reliquos gentis eiusdem uel similia sectantes urbe submovit sub poena perpetuae servitutis, nisi obtemperassent.

*Note: The Jews were expelled from Rome, and four thousand of their freedmen sent to Sardinia, in AD 19 (Tacitus, Annals 2.85; Suetonius, Tiberius 36), more than ten years before the crucifixion.*

[¶17] The cities of Asia that had been destroyed by that earthquake he relieved of their tribute and also endowed from his own generosity. He died with doubtful signs of poison.

> Latin: 18 sane Asiae ciuitates illo terrae motu dirutas tributo dimisso propria etiam liberalitate donauit. hic ambiguis signis ueneni obiit.

*Note: The earthquake that destroyed twelve cities of Asia, Sardis among them, struck in AD 17 (Tacitus, Annals 2.47); Orosius links it with the earthquake at the crucifixion.*

## 139. Book 7 · Chapter 5

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/139/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/139/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 790 from the founding of the City, Gaius Caligula, the third from Augustus, began to reign and remained in power for not quite four years — of all men before him the most outrageous, and one who might truly seem to have been brought in as a fitting punisher of the blaspheming Romans and the persecuting Jews.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCXC tertius ab Augusto Gaius Caligula regnare coepit mansitque in imperio annis non plenis quattuor, homo omnium ante se flagitiosissimus et qui uere dignus Romanis blasphemantibus et Iudaeis persecutoribus punitor adhibitus uideretur.

[¶1] To set out the magnitude of his cruelty briefly: he is said to have exclaimed, “Would that the Roman people had a single neck!” He often complained, too, about the condition of his times, that they were marked by no public calamities.

> Latin: 2 hic, ut breuiter magnitudinem crudelitatis eius expromam, exclamasse fertur: utinam populus Romanus unam ceruicem haberet. saepe etiam de condicione temporum suorum conquestus est, quod nullis calamitatibus publicis insignirentur.

[¶2] O blessed seedlings of the Christian times, how mightily you have prevailed in human affairs, that even a man’s cruelty could rather long for disasters than find them! See, hungry savagery complains of the general tranquillity; within, impious Fury, “seated on savage arms and bound behind his back with a hundred brazen knots, roars, hideous with bloody mouth.”

> Latin: 3 O beata germina temporis Christiani, quantum praeualuistis in rebus humanis, ut etiam crudelitas hominis magis potuerit clades desiderare quam inuenire! ecce de tranquillitate generali feritas ieiuna conqueritur; furor impius intus Saeua sedens super arma et centum uinctus aenis Post tergum nodis fremit horridus ore cruento.

[¶3] Rebellious slaves and runaway gladiators once terrified Rome, overturned Italy and destroyed Sicily, so that they were already to be feared by almost the whole human race throughout the world; but in the days of salvation, that is, in the Christian times, not even a hostile Caesar can shatter the peace.

> Latin: 4 serui rebelles et fugitiui gladiatores perterruere Romam, euertere Italiam, Siciliam deleuerunt, iam paene uniuerso humano generi toto orbe metuendi; in diebus autem salutis, hoc est temporibus Christianis, conuellere quietem non potest uel Caesar infestus.

[¶4] He, indeed, setting out with great and incredible preparations to look for an enemy for his idle forces, ran through Germany and Gaul and halted on the shore of the Ocean within sight of Britain. And when there he had received the surrender of Minocynobelinus, son of the king of the Britons, who, driven out by his father, was wandering about with a few followers, for lack of material for war he returned to Rome.

> Latin: 5 hic siquidem magno et incredibili apparatu profectus quaerere hostem uiribus otiosis, Germaniam Galliamque percurrens, in ora Oceani circa prospectum Britanniae restitit. cumque ibi Minocynobelinum Britannorum regis filium, qui a patre pulsus cum paucis oberrabat, in deditionem recepisset, deficiente belli materia Romam rediit.

*Note: Suetonius (Caligula 44) names Adminius, son of Cunobelinus, king of the Britons; Orosius’s Minocynobelinus fuses the two names.*

[¶5] In those same days the Jews, who even then were being harried everywhere by deserved disasters on account of the passion of Christ, having stirred up a sedition at Alexandria, were crushed with slaughter and driven from the city, and had sent a certain Philo, a man certainly among the most learned, as an envoy to Caesar to set forth their complaints.

> Latin: 6 isdem autem diebus Iudaei, qui iam tunc ob passionem Christi meritis ubique cladibus exagitabantur, apud Alexandriam seditione excitata, profligati caede atque urbe propulsi, expromendarum querellarum causa Philonem quendam, uirum sane in primis eruditum, legatum ad Caesarem miserant.

[¶6] But Caligula, most hostile to all men and above all to the Jews, scorned the embassy of Philo and commanded that all the sacred seats of the Jews, and above all that ancient sanctuary at Jerusalem, be profaned with the sacrifices of the gentiles and filled with statues and images, and ordered that he himself be worshipped there as a god.

> Latin: 7 sed Caligula cum omnibus hominibus tum praecipue Iudaeis infestissimus, spreta legatione Philonis omnes Iudaeorum sacras sedes atque in primis antiquum illud in Hierosolymis sacrarium profanari sacrificiis gentilium ac repleri statuis simulacrisque imperauit seque ibi ut deum coli praecepit.

[¶7] Pilate the governor, moreover, who had pronounced the sentence of condemnation upon Christ, after he had met with and caused a great many seditions in Jerusalem, was pressed by such torments inflicted by Gaius that he ran himself through with his own hand and sought by the swiftness of death a short way out of his evils.

> Latin: 8 Pilatus autem praeses, qui sententiam damnationis in Christum dixerat, postquam plurimas seditiones in Hierosolymis excepit ac fecit, tantis inrogante Gaio angoribus coartatus est, ut sua se transuerberans manu malorum conpendium mortis celeritate quaesierit.

[¶8] Gaius Caligula added to his lusts this crime as well, that he first defiled his sisters with incest and then condemned them to exile; and afterwards he ordered all the exiles together to be killed. He himself, however, was killed by his own guards.

> Latin: 9 Gaius Caligula libidinibus suis etiam illud sceleris adiecit, ut sorores suas primum stupro pollueret, deinde exilio damnaret. qui post omnes simul exules iussit occidi. ipse autem a suis protectoribus occisus est.

[¶9] Two little books were found among his secret papers, one inscribed “Dagger” and the other “Sword” by way of title: both contained the names and marks of the most distinguished men of both orders, senatorial and equestrian, marked out for death. There was also found a huge chest of various poisons; when soon afterwards these were sunk at the command of Claudius Caesar, the seas are reported to have been infected by them, not without great destruction of fish, which the tide cast up dead along the neighbouring shores far and wide.

> Latin: 10 duo libelli in secretis eius reperti sunt, quorum alteri pugio, alteri gladius pro signo nominis adscriptum erat: ambo lectissimorum uirorum utriusque ordinis, senatorii et equestris, nomina et notas continebant morti destinatorum. inuenta est et arca ingens uariorum uenenorum, quibus mox Claudio Caesare iubente demersis infecta maria traduntur non sine magno piscium exitio, quos enecatos per proxima litora passim aestus eiecit.

[¶10] A great sign indeed of a merciful God — both on account of the favour of grace towards a people that would soon in part believe, and on account of the tempering of wrath towards a people then faithlessly obstinate — that from the multitude of fish killed it might be learned how great a multitude of men had escaped the death prepared for them, and it might become known to all what so great a mass of poison, increased by art, could have done in a wretched city, when, poured out carelessly, it corrupted even the seas.

> Latin: 11 Magnum reuera indicium miserentis Dei propter suffragium gratiae in populum continuo ex parte crediturum et propter irae temperamentum in populum tunc infideliter obstinatum, ut quanta multitudo hominum praeparatam mortem euaserit, ex multitudine interfectorum piscium disceretur omnibusque notesceret, quid tanta ueneni moles arte aucta agere in misera ciuitate potuisset, quae neglegenter effusa etiam maria corrupit.

## 140. Book 7 · Chapter 6

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/140/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/140/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 795 from the founding of the City, Tiberius Claudius, the fourth from Augustus, obtained the rule and held it for fourteen years.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCXCV Tiberius Claudius ab Augusto quartus regnum adeptus est mansitque in eo annis quattuordecim.

[¶1] At the beginning of his reign Peter, the apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, came to Rome and taught with faithful word the faith of salvation to all who believed, and confirmed it with mighty works of power; and from then on there began to be Christians at Rome.

> Latin: 2 exordio regni eius Petrus, apostolus Domini Iesu Christi, Romam uenit et salutarem cunctis credentibus fidem fideli uerbo docuit potentissimisque uirtutibus approbauit; atque exim Christiani Romae esse coeperunt.

[¶2] Rome felt this benefit conferred upon its faith. For when, after Caligula had been killed, the senate and consuls had passed many decrees for abolishing the empire, restoring the commonwealth to its ancient order, and utterly sweeping away the whole family of the Caesars,

> Latin: 3 sensit hoc conlatum fidei suae Roma beneficium. nam cum interfecto Caligula multa de abrogando imperio ac republica in antiquum ordinem restituenda euerrendaque penitus Caesarum uniuersa familia senatus et consules decreuissent,

[¶3] Claudius, as soon as he had made his rule secure, used a great clemency hitherto unknown at Rome: lest vengeance, once begun, should rage against so great a multitude of nobles, he removed from memory those two days in which the state of the commonwealth had been unhappily debated and acted upon, and ordained pardon and perpetual forgetfulness for everything done or said in them.

> Latin: 4 Claudius mox ut confirmauit imperium, magna atque adhuc Romae incognita usus clementia, ne in tantam nobilium multitudinem ultio, si esset coepta, saeuiret, biduum illud, quo de reipublicae statu infeliciter consultatum actumque fuerat, memoriae exemit omniumque factorum dictorumue in eo ueniam et obliuionem in perpetuum sanxit.

[¶4] Thus that renowned and celebrated amnesty of the Athenians — which the senate, on Cicero’s advice, had indeed tried to introduce at Rome after the killing of Julius Caesar, but which had come to nothing when Mark Antony and Octavian burst in to avenge the slain Caesar — this Claudius, although he was spurred to the slaughter of the conspirators by a far more savage cause, confirmed of his own clemency with no one asking it of him.

> Latin: 5 ita illam praeclaram et famosam Atheniensium amnestiam, quam quidem Romae inducere Iulio Caesare interfecto senatus Cicerone suadente temptauerat, sed Antonio et Octauiano propter ultionem extincti Caesaris inrumpentibus in inritum cesserat: hanc Claudius, quamuis multo truculentiore causa in caedem conspiratorum stimularetur, ultronea clementia nullo expetente firmauit.

[¶5] At the same time there occurred also a great miracle of the present grace of God: for Furius Camillus Scribonianus, legate of Dalmatia, plotting civil war, had enticed many very strong legions to change their oath of allegiance.

> Latin: 6 accidit etiam eodem tempore praesentis gratiae Dei grande miraculum: siquidem Furius Camillus Scribonianus, Dalmatiae legatus, bellum ciuile molitus legiones multas fortissimasque ad sacramenti mutationem pellexerat.

[¶6] Accordingly, on the day appointed for gathering together from every side to the new emperor, neither could the eagles be decked nor the standards be pulled up or moved in any way. The army, moved by so great and so unaccustomed a proof of miracle and turned to repentance, at once, on the fifth day, deserted Scribonianus and killed him, and held itself to the oath of its former service.

> Latin: 7 itaque die dato, ut in unum undique ad nouum imperatorem conueniretur, neque aquilae ornari neque conuelli quoquo modo signa moueriue potuerunt. exercitus tanta et tam inusitata miraculi fide motus et conuersus in paenitentiam Scribonianum quinta statim die destitutum interfecit seseque sacramento prioris militiae continuit.

[¶7] That nothing was ever more grievous and more ruinous to the city of Rome than civil wars is well enough known. Let anyone deny, then, that this tyranny as it arose and this civil war as it rose up were suppressed by divine power on account of the coming of the apostle Peter and the tender seedlings of the Christians, still scarcely few, breaking forth into the profession of the holy faith — anyone, that is, who can produce from past times a similar example of civil wars being suppressed.

> Latin: 8 tristius ac perniciosius urbi Romae nihil umquam fuisse quam bella ciuilia satis notum est. itaque propter aduentum apostoli Petri et tenera Christianorum germina uixdum adhuc pauca ad sanctae fidei professionem erumpentia hanc exorientem tyrannidem et consurgens istud ciuile bellum neget quisquam diuinitus esse conpressum. qui praeteritis temporibus de conpressione bellorum ciuilium simile probarit exemplum.

[¶8] In the fourth year of his rule Claudius, wishing to show himself a prince useful to the commonwealth, sought war everywhere and victory from any quarter. So he launched an expedition into Britain, which appeared to have been stirred into tumult over deserters who had not been returned: he crossed to the island, which no one either before Julius Caesar or after him had dared to approach,

> Latin: 9 Claudius quarto imperii sui anno, cupiens utilem reipublicae ostentare se principem, bellum ubique et uictoriam undecumque quaesiuit. itaque expeditionem in Britanniam mouit, quae excitata in tumultum propter non redhibitos transfugas uidebatur: transuectus in insulam est, quam neque ante Iulium Caesarem neque post eum quisquam adire ausus fuerat,

[¶9] and there — to use the words of Suetonius Tranquillus — “without any battle or bloodshed, within a very few days, he received the surrender of the greater part of the island.” He also added to the Roman Empire the Orkney Islands, which lie in the Ocean beyond Britain, and returned to Rome in the sixth month after he had set out.

> Latin: 10 ibique - ut uerbis Suetoni Tranquilli loquar - sine ullo proelio ac sanguine intra paucissimos dies plurimam insulae partem in deditionem recepit. Orcadas etiam insulas ultra Britanniam in Oceano positas Romano adiecit imperio ac sexto quam profectus erat mense Romam rediit.

[¶10] Let anyone who pleases now compare, with regard to one island, time with time, war with war, Caesar with Caesar — for of the outcome I make no comparison, since this was a most fortunate victory, that a most bitter disaster — and so at last let Rome recognize that through the hidden providence of him by whose acknowledgement, once received, it enjoys the fullest felicity, it had before had a share of felicity in the conduct of its affairs — in so far, however, as it is not perverted by the stumbling blocks of blasphemies.

> Latin: 11 Conferatur nunc, si cuiquam placet, sub una insula tempus et tempus, bellum et bellum, Caesar et Caesar - nam de fine nil confero, quoniam hoc felicissima uictoria, illud acerbissima clades fuit - et sic demum Roma cognoscat, per eius latentem prouidentiam in agendis rebus antea se partem felicitatis habuisse, cuius agnitione suscepta plenissima felicitate perfruitur, in quantum non tamen blasphemiarum offendiculis deprauatur.

[¶11] In the same year of his rule a most grievous famine occurred throughout Syria, which the prophets too had foretold; but Helena, queen of the Adiabeni, who had been converted to the faith of Christ, ministered most generously to the needs of the Christians at Jerusalem with grain brought in from Egypt.

> Latin: 12 Eodem anno imperii eius fames grauissima per Syriam facta est, quam etiam prophetae praenuntiauerant; sed Christianorum necessitatibus apud Hierosolymam conuectis ab Aegypto frumentis Helena Adiabenorum regina conuersa ad fidem Christi largissime ministrauit.

*Note: Helena, queen of Adiabene, converted to Judaism, not to Christianity; Josephus (Antiquities 20.2) tells how she bought grain in Egypt for Jerusalem during this famine.*

[¶12] In the fifth year of his rule an island thirty stades in extent sprang up from the deep between Thera and Therasia.

> Latin: 13 Anno imperii eius quinto inter Theram et Therasiam insula de profundo emicuit triginta stadiorum spatio extenta.

[¶13] In his seventh year, under Cumanus, procurator of Judaea, so great a sedition broke out in Jerusalem during the days of unleavened bread that, as the people were crushed together at the exit of the gates, thirty thousand Jews are reported to have been struck down by slaughter or suffocated in the crush.

> Latin: 14 Anno eius septimo sub procuratore Iudaeae Cumano in Hierosolymis tanta seditio in diebus azymorum exorta est, ut in portarum exitu populo coartato triginta milia Iudaeorum caede prostrata et conpressione suffocata referantur.

[¶14] In the ninth year of the same reign, Josephus reports that the Jews were expelled from the City by Claudius. But Suetonius moves me more, who speaks in this way: “Claudius expelled from Rome the Jews, who were constantly rioting at the instigation of Christ”;

> Latin: 15 Anno eiusdem nono expulsos per Claudium urbe Iudaeos Iosephus refert. sed me magis Suetonius mouet, qui ait hoc modo: Claudius Iudaeos inpulsore Christo adsidue tumultuantes Roma expulit;

*Note: No such passage is found in Josephus; the expulsion is known from Suetonius (Claudius 25.4) and Acts 18:2. Suetonius’s text has Chresto, which Orosius gives as Christo.*

[¶15] but whether he ordered that the Jews rioting against Christ be restrained and suppressed, or whether he wished the Christians too to be expelled at the same time as men of a kindred religion, can by no means be determined.

> Latin: 16 quod, utrum contra Christum tumultuantes Iudaeos coherceri et conprimi iusserit, an etiam Christianos simul uelut cognatae religionis homines uoluerit expelli, nequaquam discernitur.

[¶16] Be that as it may, in the following year there was so great a famine at Rome that the emperor, seized by the people in the middle of the Forum and most shamefully assailed with abuse and pieces of bread, with difficulty escaped the fury of the aroused populace by fleeing through a back door into the Palace.

> Latin: 17 Verumtamen sequenti anno tanta fames Romae fuit, ut medio foro imperator correptus a populo conuiciis et fragminibus panis turpissime infestatus, aegre per pseudothyrum in Palatium refugiens furorem excitatae plebis euaserit.

[¶17] After a short interval, however, he killed thirty-five senators and three hundred Roman knights at once for the most trifling reasons; he himself died with clear signs of poison.

> Latin: 18 Paruo autem intercedente tempore triginta et quinque senatores et trecentos simul equites Romanos minimis causis interfecit; ipse autem manifestis ueneni signis est mortuus.

## 141. Book 7 · Chapter 7

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/141/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/141/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 808 from the founding of the City, Nero Caesar, the fifth from Augustus, obtained the principate and held it for not quite fourteen years. A follower — or rather an outstripper — of his uncle Gaius Caligula in every vice and crime, he practised wantonness, lust, luxury, avarice and cruelty with every kind of crime. Driven by wantonness, indeed, he travelled through almost all the theatres of Italy and Greece, and, assuming even the disgrace of varied costumes, he often believed he had outdone heralds, lyre-players, tragic actors and charioteers.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCVIII Nero Caesar ab Augusto quintus principatum adeptus est mansitque in eo annis non plenis quattuordecim. Gai Caligulae auunculi sui erga omnia uitia ac scelera sectator immo transgressor, petulantiam libidinem luxuriam auaritiam crudelitatem nullo non scelere exercuit; siquidem petulantia percitus omnia paene Italiae ac Graeciae theatra perlustrans, adsumpto etiam uarii uestitus dedecore cerycas citharistas tragoedos et aurigas saepe sibi superasse uisus est.

[¶1] He was so tormented, moreover, by his lusts that he is reported to have kept his hands off neither his mother nor his sister nor any reverence for kinship; he took a man as his wife, and was himself received by a man as a wife.

> Latin: 2 libidinibus porro tantis exagitatus est, ut ne a matre quidem uel sorore ullaue consanguinitatis reuerentia abstinuisse referatur, uirum in uxorem duxerit, ipse a uiro ut uxor acceptus sit.

[¶2] His luxury was so unbridled that he fished with golden nets drawn out with purple cords, and bathed in cold and hot perfumes. He is reported, too, never to have made a journey with fewer than a thousand carriages.

> Latin: 3 luxuriae uero tam effrenatae fuit, ut retibus aureis piscaretur, quae purpureis funibus extrahebantur, frigidis et calidis lauaret unguentis. qui etiam numquam minus mille carrucis confecisse iter traditur.

[¶3] Finally, he made the burning of the city of Rome a spectacle for his pleasure; for six days and seven nights the burning city fed the eyes of the king;

> Latin: 4 denique urbis Romae incendium uoluptatis suae spectaculum fecit; per sex dies septemque noctes ardens ciuitas regios pauit aspectus;

[¶4] granaries built of squared stone, and those great tenement blocks of old which the spreading flame could not reach, were shaken down and set alight by great engines once prepared for foreign wars, while the unhappy populace was driven to take shelter among tombs and monuments.

> Latin: 5 horrea quadro structa lapide magnaeque illae ueterum insulae, quas discurrens adire flamma non poterat, magnis machinis quondam ad externa bella praeparatis labefactatae atque inflammatae sunt, ad monumentorum bustorumque deuersoria infelici plebe conpulsa.

[¶5] He himself watched this from that lofty tower of Maecenas, and, delighted, as he said, by the beauty of the flame, he sang the Iliad in tragic costume.

> Latin: 6 quod ipse ex altissima illa Maecenatiana turre prospectans laetusque flammae ut aiebat pulchritudine tragico habitu Iliadam decantabat.

*Note: Suetonius (Nero 38) says he sang the “Capture of Troy” (Halosis Ilii); Orosius writes Iliadam, “the Iliad”.*

[¶6] His avarice was so headlong that after this burning of the City — which Augustus had boasted of having turned from brick into marble — he allowed no one to approach the remains of his property; everything that had survived the flames in any way he carried off himself;

> Latin: 7 auaritiae autem tam praeruptae exstitit, ut post hoc incendium urbis, quam se Augustus ex latericia marmoream reddidisse iactauerat, neminem ad reliquias rerum suarum adire permiserit; cuncta, quae flammae quoquo modo superfuerant, ipse abstulit;

[¶7] he ordered that ten million sesterces a year be contributed to him by the senate for his expenses; he deprived very many senators of their property without any cause at all; and in a single day, applying torture as well, he wiped out the entire wealth of all the merchants.

> Latin: 8 centies centena milia sestertium annua ad expensas a senatu conferri sibi imperauit; plurimos senatorum nulla exstante causa bonis priuauit; negotiatorum omnium sub una die, tormentis quoque adhibitis, omnem penitus censum abstersit.

[¶8] He grew so wild with the frenzy of cruelty that he killed the greater part of the senate and almost emptied the equestrian order. Nor did he refrain even from parricide: his mother, his brother, his sister, his wife, and all his other kinsmen and relatives he struck down without hesitation.

> Latin: 9 crudelitatis autem rabie ita efferatus est, ut plurimam senatus partem interfecerit, equestrem ordinem paene destituerit. sed ne parricidiis quidem abstinuit, matrem fratrem sororem uxorem ceterosque omnes cognatos et propinquos sine haesitatione prostrauit.

[¶9] He increased this mass of crimes with the rashness of his impiety towards God. For he was the first at Rome to visit the Christians with tortures and deaths, and he ordered them to be tormented by a like persecution throughout all the provinces; and attempting to root out the very name, he killed the most blessed apostles of Christ, Peter by the cross and Paul by the sword.

> Latin: 10 auxit hanc molem facinorum eius temeritas impietatis in Deum. nam primus Romae Christianos suppliciis et mortibus affecit ac per omnes prouincias pari persecutione excruciari imperauit ipsumque nomen exstirpare conatus beatissimos Christi apostolos Petrum cruce, Paulum gladio occidit.

[¶10] Soon disasters rising on every side fell in heaps upon the wretched city. For in the following autumn so great a pestilence lay upon the City that thirty thousand funerals were entered in the register of Libitina. Then a disaster in Britain followed hard upon it, in which two principal towns were sacked with great loss and slaughter of citizens and allies.

> Latin: 11 mox aceruatim miseram ciuitatem obortae undique oppressere clades. nam subsequente autumno tanta urbi pestilentia incubuit, ut triginta milia funerum in rationem Libitinae uenirent. Britannica deinde clades e uestigio accidit, qua duo praecipua oppida magna ciuium sociorumque clade et caede direpta sunt.

*Note: The British disaster is Boudicca’s revolt of AD 60–61, when Camulodunum (Colchester) and Londinium were sacked; it and the Armenian defeat of 62 came before the fire of 64. Orosius takes the list from Suetonius (Nero 39) and makes it follow the persecution.*

[¶11] In the east, moreover, great provinces of Armenia were lost, Roman legions were sent under the Parthian yoke, and Syria was retained only with difficulty. In Asia three cities — Laodicea, Hierapolis and Colossae — collapsed in an earthquake.

> Latin: 12 praeterea in oriente magnis Armeniae prouinciis amissis Romanae legiones sub iugum Parthicum missae, aegreque Syria retenta est. in Asia tres urbes, hoc est Laodicia Hierapolis Colossae, terrae motu conciderunt.

[¶12] But when Nero learned that Galba had been created emperor by the army in Spain, he collapsed entirely in spirit and in hope. And while he was plotting incredible evils for throwing the commonwealth into confusion, or rather for overthrowing it, he was declared a public enemy by the senate and, fleeing most ignominiously, killed himself at the fourth milestone from the City; and in him the whole family of the Caesars came to an end.

> Latin: 13 at uero Nero postquam Galbam in Hispania imperatorem creatum ab exercitu cognouit, totus animo ac spe concidit. cumque incredibilia perturbandae, immo subruendae reipublicae mala moliretur, hostis a senatu pronuntiatus et ignominiosissime fugiens, ad quartum ab urbe lapidem sese ipse interfecit, atque in eo omnis Caesarum familia consumpta est.

## 142. Book 7 · Chapter 8

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/142/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/142/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 824 from the founding of the City, Galba usurped the empire in the Spanish provinces. As soon as he learned of Nero’s death he came to Rome; and since he offended everyone by his avarice, savagery and sloth, he adopted Piso, a noble and energetic young man, as his son and as heir to his rule; and together with him, in the seventh month of his rule, he was murdered by Otho.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCXXIIII Galba apud Hispanias usurpauit imperium. qui mox, ut Neronis mortem conperit, Romam uenit; cumque omnes auaritia saeuitia segnitiaque offenderet, Pisonem sibi nobilem industriumque adulescentem in filium atque in regnum adoptauit: cum quo septimo mense imperii sui ab Othone iugulatus est.

*Note: Galba was proclaimed in April AD 68, the year 821 from the founding of the City by the usual reckoning. Orosius’s dates for the emperors in this book often run a few years off.*

[¶1] Rome atoned, through the slaughter of its princes and the civil wars stirred up, for the recent wrongs done to the Christian religion; and those standards of the legions which, restrained by divine power at the time of the apostle Peter’s coming to the City, could in no way be pulled up to stir the civil war that was being prepared through Scribonianus — now that Peter had been killed in the City and the Christians torn by punishments of every kind — let themselves loose throughout the whole world.

> Latin: 2 Luit Roma caedibus principum excitatisque ciuilibus bellis recentes Christianae religionis iniurias, et signa illa legionum, quae sub aduentu in urbem Petri apostoli diuinitus cohercita conuelli nullo modo ad excitandum ciuile bellum ualuerant, quod per Scribonianum parabatur, Petro in urbe interfecto et Christianis poenarum diuersitate laniatis toto se orbe soluerunt.

[¶2] For Galba had at once risen up from Spain; and when he was soon crushed, Otho at Rome, Vitellius in Germany and Vespasian in Syria seized empire and arms at the same time.

> Latin: 3 de Hispania siquidem ilico Galba surrexerat; quo mox oppresso Otho Romae, Vitellius in Germania, Vespasianus in Syria imperia simul atque arma rapuerunt.

[¶3] Let those who take offence at the Christian times acknowledge, even against their will, the power and at the same time the clemency of God: with what speed the fires of such great wars were both kindled and put down, when before, from the slightest causes, great and long-lasting disasters were stirred up, while now the mightiest crashes of great evils, resounding on every side, were lulled to sleep with the least trouble.

> Latin: 4 probent sane etiam inuiti potentiam simul et clementiam Dei, qui Christianis temporibus offenduntur: quanta celeritate tantorum incendia bellorum et excitata sunt et repressa, cum et antea minimis causis magnae ac diuturnae clades agitarentur et nunc maximi undique concrepantes magnorum malorum fragores minimo negotio sopirentur.

[¶4] For there was now at Rome a Church, though harassed by persecution, which would make supplication to Christ, the judge of all, even for its enemies and persecutors.

> Latin: 5 iam enim erat Romae quamuis persecutione uexata Ecclesia, quae iudici omnium Christo etiam pro inimicis et persecutoribus supplicaret.

[¶5] So Otho, when Galba and Piso had been killed at Rome and he had seized the empire amid tumults and slaughter, soon learned that Vitellius had been created emperor in Gaul by the German legions. Undertaking civil war, he first engaged the generals of Vitellius in three minor battles — one at the Alps, another near Placentia, and the third near the place they call Castores — and came out victor; but in the fourth battle, at Bedriacum, when he saw that his men were being beaten, he killed himself in the third month after he had begun to rule.

> Latin: 6 igitur Otho cum, Galba et Pisone Romae interfectis, inter tumultus caedesque inuasisset imperium ac mox creatum imperatorem in Gallia per Germanicas legiones Vitellium conperisset, bellum ciuile molitus tribus primum leuibus proeliis, hoc est uno apud Alpes, alio circa Placentiam, tertio circa locum, quem Castores uocant, contra Vitellianos duces congressus uictor exstitisset, quarto apud Bedriacum proelio cum animaduertisset suos uinci, mense tertio quam imperare coeperat sese interfecit.

[¶6] Vitellius came to Rome as victor; and there, after committing many cruel and wicked acts and burdening human life with disgraces through an incredible appetite for gluttony, when he learned of Vespasian he first attempted to lay down the empire; afterwards, encouraged by certain persons, he drove Sabinus, Vespasian’s brother, who then suspected no harm, into the Capitol together with the other Flavians, and, setting fire to the temple, gave them all alike, amid flames and collapse mingled together, to one death and one tomb.

> Latin: 7 Vitellius uictor Romam uenit: ubi cum multa crudeliter ac nequiter ageret, incredibili etiam uoracitatis appetitu humanam uitam probris adgrauaret, postquam de Vespasiano comperit, primum deponere molitus imperium, post a quibusdam animatus Sabinum Vespasiani fratrem, nihil tum mali suspicantem, cum ceteris Flauianis in Capitolium compulit succensoque templo et mixta simul flamma ruinaque omnes in unum pariter interitum ac tumulum dedit.

[¶7] Afterwards, deserted by his army, which went over to the name of Vespasian, and terrified as the enemy drew near, he thrust himself into a little closet near the Palace. Dragged out from there most shamefully, he was led naked along the Sacred Way and brought into the Forum while people everywhere hurled filth into his face; and in the eighth month after he had seized the rule, at the Gemonian Steps, he was put to death by the frequent piercing of the smallest wounds; then he was dragged off by a hook and sunk in the Tiber, and was deprived even of common burial.

> Latin: 8 post deficiente in Vespasiani nomen exercitu suo destitutus adpropinquantibusque iam hostibus trepidus cum se in quandam proximam Palatio cellulam contrusisset, turpissime inde protractus cum per uiam Sacram nudus duceretur, passim fimum in os eius coniectantibus in forum deductus, octauo quam regnum praesumpserat mense apud Gemonias scalas minutissimorum ictuum crebris conpunctionibus excarnificatus atque inde unco tractus et in Tiberim mersus etiam communi caruit sepultura.

[¶8] For many days, moreover, the soldiers of Vespasian raged against the senate and people of Rome in many abominable ways with indiscriminate slaughter.

> Latin: 9 multis autem et nefariis modis per complures dies a Vespasiani militibus aduersum senatum populumque Romanum indiscreta caede saeuitum est.

## 143. Book 7 · Chapter 9

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/143/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/143/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 825 from the founding of the City, when that storm of tyrants — brief indeed, but turbulent — had been dispersed, a tranquil calm returned under the leadership of Vespasian.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCXXV, breui illa quidem sed turbida tyrannorum tempestate discussa, tranquilla sub Vespasiano duce serenitas rediit.

[¶1] For, to go back a little further: the Jews, wholly forsaken by the grace of God after the passion of Christ and beset on every side by every kind of evil, were led astray by certain oracles on Mount Carmel which foretold that leaders arising from Judaea would gain the mastery of the world; and, applying the prediction to themselves, they blazed up into rebellion, wiped out the Roman garrisons, and put to flight the legate of Syria too as he brought help, seizing his eagle and cutting down his forces.

> Latin: 2 namque, ut paulo altius repetam, Iudaei post passionem Christi destituti in totum gratia Dei cum omnibus undique malis circumuenirentur, quibusdam in Carmelo monte seducti sortibus, quae portenderent exortos a Iudaea duces rerum potituros fore, praedictumque ad se trahentes in rebellionem exarserunt extinctisque Romanis praesidiis legatum quoque Syriae suppetias ferentem rapta aquila et caesis copiis fugauerunt.

[¶2] Vespasian, sent against them by Nero, had his elder son Titus among his legates; for he took many strong legions across with him into Syria. And so, when he had captured many of their towns and had shut up the Jews under siege in the city of Jerusalem, where they had gathered chiefly on account of a festival, on learning of Nero’s death he obtained the empire at the urging of very many kings and generals — above all on the word of Josephus, a leader of the Jews, who, when he was captured and being thrown into chains, had declared most steadfastly, as Suetonius relates, that he would soon be released by the same man, but as emperor. Leaving his son Titus in the camp to conduct the siege of Jerusalem, he set out for Rome by way of Alexandria; but on learning that Vitellius had been killed, he stayed for a little while at Alexandria.

> Latin: 3 ad hos Vespasianus a Nerone missus Titum filium suum maiorem inter legatos habuit; nam multas et ualidas legiones secum in Syriam traiecit. itaque cum Iudaeos multis eorum oppidis captis in urbem Hierosolymorum praecipue ob diem festum congregatos obsidione clausisset, cognita Neronis morte hortatu plurimorum regum et ducum - maxime Iosephi Iudaeorum ducis sententia, qui captus cum in uincla coiceretur, constantissime dixerat, sicut Suetonius refert, continuo se ab eodem sed imperatore soluendum - imperium adeptus est, relictoque in castris ad procurationem obsidionis Hierosolymorum filio Tito, per Alexandriam profectus est Romam; sed cognita interfectione Vitelli paulisper Alexandriae substitit.

[¶3] Titus, pressing the Jews with a great and long siege, at last broke through the walls of the city with engines and every kind of military work, not without much bloodshed among his own men. But to storm the inner fortification of the temple, which a multitude of priests and leading men, shut up within, was defending, greater force and longer delay were needed.

> Latin: 4 Titus uero magna ac diuturna obsidione Iudaeos premens, machinis cunctisque bellicis molibus non sine multo suorum sanguine tandem muros ciuitatis inrupit. sed ad expugnandam interiorem templi munitionem, quam reclusa multitudo sacerdotum ac principum tuebatur, maiore ui et mora opus fuit.

[¶4] When, however, it had been brought into his power, and he gazed upon it in wonder at its workmanship and antiquity, he deliberated for a long time whether he should burn it, as an incitement to the enemy, or preserve it as a witness to his victory. But since the Church of God was already springing up most abundantly throughout the whole world, this temple, as something worn out and empty and fit for no good use, was to be taken away by the judgement of God.

> Latin: 5 quod tamen postquam in potestatem redactum opere atque antiquitate suspexit, diu deliberauit utrum tamquam incitamentum hostium incenderet an in testimonium uictoriae reseruaret. sed Ecclesia Dei iam per totum orbem uberrime germinante, hoc tam quam effetum ac uacuum nullique usui bono commodum arbitrio Dei auferendum fuit.

[¶5] And so Titus, proclaimed emperor by the army, burned and demolished the temple in Jerusalem, which had stood for 1,102 years from the day of its first founding to the day of its final overthrow. All the walls of the city he levelled with the ground.

> Latin: 6 itaque Titus, imperator ab exercitu pronuntiatus, templum in Hierosolymis incendit ac diruit, quod a die conditionis primae usque ad diem euersionis ultimae manserat annis mille centum et duobus. muros urbis uniuersos solo adaequauit.

[¶6] Cornelius and Suetonius report that 600,000 Jews were killed in that war; but Josephus, a Jew, who was then in command in that war and had earned pardon and favour with Vespasian for having foretold his empire, writes that 1,100,000 perished by the sword and by famine, and that the remnants of the Jews, driven off under various conditions, were scattered over the whole world: their number is said to have come to 90,000 people.

> Latin: 7 sexcenta milia Iudaeorum eo bello interfecta Cornelius et Suetonius referunt; Iosephus uero Iudaeus, qui ei tunc bello praefuit et apud Vespasianum propter praedictum imperium ueniam gratiamque meruerat, scribit undecies centena milia gladio et fame perisse, reliquias uero Iudaeorum diuersis actas condicionibus toto orbe dispersas: quarum numerus ad nonaginta milia hominum fuisse narratur.

*Note: Tacitus (Histories 5.13) gives 600,000 as the number of people besieged in Jerusalem, not of the dead; Josephus (Jewish War 6.420) gives 1,100,000 dead and 97,000 prisoners.*

[¶7] The emperors Vespasian and Titus entered the City celebrating a magnificent triumph over the Jews. Among the 320 triumphs that had been celebrated from the founding of the City up to that time, this was a spectacle beautiful and hitherto unknown to all mortals: father and son, borne in one triumphal chariot, carrying off a most glorious victory over those who had offended the Father and the Son.

> Latin: 8 Vespasianus et Titus imperatores magnificum agentes de Iudaeis triumphum urbem ingressi sunt. pulchrum et ignotum antea cunctis mortalibus inter trecentos uiginti triumphos, qui a conditione urbis usque in id tempus acti erant, hoc spectaculum fuit, patrem et filium uno triumphali curru uectos gloriosissimam ab his, qui Patrem et Filium offenderant, uictoriam reportasse.

[¶8] Immediately, having suppressed all wars and tumults at home and abroad, they proclaimed the peace of the whole world, and decreed that twin Janus be shut up behind bolted doors — only the sixth time since the founding of the City. For rightly was the same honour bestowed on the avenging of the Lord’s passion as had been granted to his nativity.

> Latin: 9 qui continuo omnibus bellis ac tumultibus domi forisque conpressis pacem totius orbis pronuntiauerunt et Ianum geminum obseratis cohiberi claustris sexto demum ipsi post urbem conditam censuerunt. iure enim idem honos ultioni passionis Domini inpensus est, qui etiam natiuitati fuerat adtributus.

[¶9] Then, after that, without any tumults of wars, the Roman commonwealth was carried forward to an immense extent: for Achaea, Lycia, Rhodes, Byzantium, Samos, Thrace, Cilicia and Commagene were then for the first time reduced to provinces and obeyed Roman judges and laws.

> Latin: 10 tunc deinde sine ullis bellorum tumultibus in inmensum respublica Romana prouehitur: siquidem Achaia Lycia Rhodus Byzantium Samus Thracia Cilicia Commagene tunc primum redactae in prouincias Romanis iudicibus legibusque paruerunt.

[¶10] In the ninth year of his rule, however, three cities of Cyprus collapsed in an earthquake, and there was a great pestilence at Rome.

> Latin: 11 Nono autem imperii eius anno tres ciuitates Cypri terrae motu corruerunt et Romae magna pestilentia fuit.

[¶11] Vespasian died of a flux of the bowels at his own villa in the Sabine country, in the ninth year of his principate.

> Latin: 12 Vespasianus autem in uilla propria circa Sabinos nono anno principatus sui profluuio uentris est mortuus.

[¶12] In the year 828 from the founding of the City, Titus — the eighth from Augustus, if Otho and Vitellius are set apart from the number of the princes — reigned for two years after Vespasian. Such was the tranquillity of his rule that he is reported to have shed no one’s blood at all in governing the commonwealth.

> Latin: 13 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCXXVIII Titus, segregatis a numero principum Othone et Vitellio ab Augusto octauus, biennio post Vespasianum regnauit. cuius tanta tranquillitas in imperio fuit, ut nullius omnino sanguinem in republica administranda fudisse referatur.

[¶13] And yet at that time a fire suddenly broke out at Rome and very many public buildings were burned down. They say too that the summit of Mount Vesuvius then burst open and poured forth great fires, and with torrents of flame destroyed the neighbouring parts of the region together with their cities and people.

> Latin: 14 et tamen tunc Romae orto repente incendio plurimae aedes publicae concrematae sunt. abruptum tunc etiam Bebii montis uerticem magna profudisse incendia ferunt torrentibusque flammarum uicina regionis cum urbibus hominibusque delesse.

*Note: Orosius writes Bebius mons. The eruption of AD 79 buried Pompeii and Herculaneum; the fire at Rome followed in 80.*

[¶14] Titus was carried off by disease, amid the vast grief of all, in the same villa as his father.

> Latin: 15 Titus cum ingenti omnium luctu in eadem uilla, qua pater eius, morbo absumptus est.

## 144. Book 7 · Chapter 10

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/144/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/144/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 830 from the founding of the City, Domitian, the brother of Titus and the ninth from Augustus, succeeded his brother in the rule. Over fifteen years he grew, little by little, through every step of crime, until he dared to try to tear up the Church of Christ, by now most firmly established throughout the world, issuing edicts everywhere for a most cruel persecution.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCXXX Domitianus Titi frater, ab Augusto nonus, fratri successit in regnum. qui per annos XV ad hoc paulatim per omnes scelerum gradus creuit, ut confirmatissimam toto orbe Christi Ecclesiam datis ubique crudelissimae persecutionis edictis conuellere auderet.

[¶1] He sank into such pride that he ordered himself to be called, written of and worshipped as lord and god. Of the noblest members of the senate, out of envy and for plunder alike, he killed some openly and thrust others into exile, where he ordered them to be slaughtered. In the intemperance of his lust he did whatever can be imagined. He erected a great many buildings in the City after ruining the fortunes of the Roman people.

> Latin: 2 is in tantam superbiam prolapsus fuit, ut dominum sese ac deum uocari scribi colique iusserit. nobilissimos e senatu inuidiae simul ac praedae causa alios palam interfecit, alios in exilium trusit ibique trucidari imperauit. libidinis intemperantia quidquid cogitari potest, fecit. plurimas urbis aedes destructis populi Romani rebus extruxit.

[¶2] He waged war against the Germans and the Dacians through his legates, with equal ruin to the commonwealth, since in the City he himself was tearing apart the senate and people, while abroad the enemy wore down the badly led army with continual slaughter.

> Latin: 3 bellum aduersum Germanos et Dacos per legatos gessit pari reipublicae pernicie, cum et in urbe ipse senatum populumque laniaret et foris male circumactum exercitum adsidua hostes caede conficerent.

[¶3] For how great were the battles of Diurpaneus, king of the Dacians, with the general Fuscus, and how great the disasters of the Romans, I would unfold in a long narrative, had not Cornelius Tacitus, who wove this history together most carefully, said that Sallustius Crispus and very many other authors had laid it down that the number of the slain should be passed over in silence, and that he himself had chosen above all to do the same. Domitian, however, puffed up with the most perverse boastfulness, celebrated a triumph over the legions that had been destroyed, under the name of enemies overcome.

> Latin: 4 nam quanta fuerint Diurpanei Dacorum regis cum Fusco duce proelia quantaeque Romanorum clades, longo textu euoluerem, nisi Cornelius Tacitus, qui hanc historiam diligentissime contexuit, de reticendo interfectorum numero et Sallustium Crispum et alios auctores quamplurimos sanxisse et se ipsum idem potissimum elegisse dixisset. Domitianus tamen prauissima elatus iactantia, sub nomine superatorum hostium de extinctis legionibus triumphauit.

*Note: Diurpaneus (Dorpaneus in Jordanes) is probably the Dacian king whom Cassius Dio calls Duras, who gave up the throne to Decebalus. Cornelius Fuscus, Domitian’s praetorian prefect, fell in Dacia in AD 86.*

[¶4] And he, grown savage with the pride by which he wished to be worshipped as a god, ordered a persecution to be carried out against the Christians — the second from Nero. At this time the most blessed apostle John too was banished to the island of Patmos.

> Latin: 5 idemque efferatus superbia, qua se deum coli uellet, persecutionem in Christianos agi secundus a Nerone imperauit. quo tempore etiam beatissimus Iohannes apostolus in Patmum insulam relegatus fuit.

*Note: Orosius numbers the persecutions counting Nero’s as the first, so “the second from Nero” is the second in all; his tenth is Diocletian’s (7.25.13).*

[¶5] Among the Jews as well, it was commanded that the race of David be sought out by bitter tortures and the most bloody inquisition and put to death, since the holy prophets were both envied and believed, as though there were still to come from the seed of David one who could obtain the kingdom.

> Latin: 6 inter Iudaeos quoque acerbitate tormentorum et cruentissimae quaestionis exquiri genus Dauid atque interfici praeceptum est, dum prophetis sanctis et inuidetur et creditur, quasi adhuc futurus esset ex semine Dauid, qui regnum possit adipisci.

[¶6] Soon afterwards, however, Domitian was cruelly killed in the Palace by his own men: his corpse was carried out by the common bearers on a pauper’s bier and buried most ignominiously.

> Latin: 7 continuo tamen Domitianus crudeliter in Palatio a suis interfectus est: cuius cadauer populari sandapila per uespillones exportatum atque ignominiosissime sepultum est.

## 145. Book 7 · Chapter 11

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/145/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/145/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 846 from the founding of the City — although Eutropius wrote that this was the year 850 — Nerva, by then a very old man, was created emperor, the tenth from Augustus, by Petronius, the praetorian prefect, and Parthenius the eunuch, the slayer of Domitian; and he adopted Trajan as heir to his rule, through whom, by divine provision, he truly took thought for the afflicted commonwealth.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCXLVI - quamuis Eutropius quinquagesimum hunc esse annum scripserit - Nerua admodum senex a Petronio praefecto praetorio et Parthenio spadone, interfectore Domitiani, imperator decimus ab Augusto creatus Traianum in regnum adoptauit, per quem reuera adflictae reipublicae diuina prouisione consuluit.

*Note: Nerva became emperor on 18 September AD 96, the year 849 by the usual reckoning; Eutropius (8.1) gives 850. Parthenius was Domitian’s chamberlain; Eutropius does not call him a eunuch.*

[¶1] By his first edict he recalled all the exiles — whereupon the apostle John too, freed by this general indulgence, returned to Ephesus — and when a year of his rule had run its course, Nerva, worn out by disease, departed this life.

> Latin: 2 hic primo edicto suo cunctos exules reuocauit - unde et Iohannes apostolus hac generali indulgentia liberatus Ephesum rediit - emensoque anno imperii sui Nerua confectus morbo diem obiit.

## 146. Book 7 · Chapter 12

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/146/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/146/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 847 from the founding of the City, Trajan, a Spaniard by birth, the eleventh from Augustus, took up the helm of the commonwealth, which Nerva handed over to him, and held it for nineteen years.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCXLVII Traianus, genere Hispanus, undecimus ab Augusto reipublicae gubernacula Nerua tradente suscepit ac per annos decem et nouem tenuit.

[¶1] He assumed the insignia of empire at Cologne, a city of Gaul; soon he restored Germany beyond the Rhine to its former condition; he subdued many nations beyond the Danube; he made provinces of the regions lying beyond the Euphrates and the Tigris; and he seized Seleucia, Ctesiphon and Babylon.

> Latin: 2 apud Agrippinam Galliae urbem insignia sumpsit imperii; mox Germaniam trans Rhenum in pristinum statum reduxit; trans Danuuium multas gentes subegit; regiones autem trans Euphraten et Tigrin sitas prouincias fecit; Seleuciam et Ctesiphontem et Babylonem occupauit.

[¶2] In persecuting the Christians, indeed, he was deceived by error — the third from Nero. He had ordered that those found anywhere should be forced to sacrifice to idols and those who refused should be killed, and very many were being killed; but, warned by a report from Plinius Secundus, who among other judges had been appointed a persecutor, that these men did nothing contrary to Roman laws apart from confessing Christ and holding honourable gatherings, and that, in their confidence in an innocent confession, death seemed grievous or fearful to none of them, he at once tempered the edict with milder rescripts.

> Latin: 3 in persequendis sane Christianis errore deceptus tertius a Nerone, cum passim repertos cogi ad sacrificandum idolis ac detrectantes interfici praecepisset plurimique interficerentur, Plinii Secundi, qui inter ceteros iudices persecutor datus fuerat, relatu admonitus, eos homines praeter confessionem Christi honestaque conuenticula nihil contrarium Romanis legibus facere, fiducia sane innocentis confessionis nemini mortem grauem ac formidulosam uideri, rescriptis ilico lenioribus temperauit edictum.

[¶3] Nevertheless, soon afterwards the Golden House at Rome, built by Nero at the cost of all private and public resources, was consumed by a sudden fire, so that it might be understood that a persecution, even when sent by another, was punished above all in the monuments of the very man from whom it had first arisen, and in its author himself.

> Latin: 4 uerumtamen continuo Romae aurea domus, a Nerone totis priuatis publicisque rebus inpensis condita, repentino conflagrauit incendio, ut intellegeretur missa etiam ab alio persecutio in ipsius potissime monumentis, a quo primum exorta esset, atque in ipso auctore puniri.

[¶4] Four cities of Asia were overthrown by an earthquake — Elaea, Myrina, Pitane and Cyme — and two cities of Greece, those of the Opuntians and the Oritae; three cities of Galatia were destroyed by the same earthquake; the Pantheon at Rome was burned down by lightning; and an earthquake at Antioch brought down almost the whole city.

> Latin: 5 terrae motu quattuor urbes Asiae subuersae, Elaea Myrina Pitane Cyme, et Graeciae ciuitates duae, Opuntiorum et Oritorum; tres Galatiae ciuitates eodem terrae motu dirutae; Pantheum Romae fulmine concrematum; terrae motus in Antiochia paene totam subruit ciuitatem.

[¶5] Then, in an incredible upheaval, at one and the same time the Jews, as if maddened by frenzy, blazed up in different parts of the world. For throughout all Libya they waged most atrocious wars against the inhabitants; and the land was then so desolated by the killing of its cultivators that, had not the emperor Hadrian afterwards brought colonies gathered from elsewhere and settled them there, it would have remained utterly empty, scraped bare of inhabitants.

> Latin: 6 incredibili deinde motu sub uno tempore Iudaei quasi rabie efferati per diuersas terrarum partes exarserunt. nam et per totam Libyam aduersus incolas atrocissima bella gesserunt: quae adeo tunc interfectis cultoribus desolata est, ut, nisi postea Hadrianus imperator collectas illuc aliunde colonias deduxisset, uacua penitus terra abraso habitatore mansisset.

[¶6] All Egypt, moreover, and Cyrene and the Thebaid they threw into turmoil with bloody seditions. At Alexandria, however, battle was joined, and they were defeated and crushed. In Mesopotamia too war was made on them by the emperor’s command when they rebelled; and so many thousands of them were wiped out in vast slaughter.

> Latin: 7 Aegyptum uero totam et Cyrenen et Thebaidam cruentis seditionibus turbauerunt. in Alexandria autem commisso proelio uicti et adtriti sunt. in Mesopotamia quoque rebellantibus iussu imperatoris bellum inlatum est. itaque multa milia eorum uasta caede deleta sunt.

[¶7] Indeed, they destroyed Salamis, a city of Cyprus, killing all its inhabitants. Trajan, as some report, died of a flux of the bowels at Seleucia, a city of Isauria.

> Latin: 8 sane Salaminam urbem Cypri interfectis omnibus accolis deleuerunt. Traianus, ut quidam ferunt, apud Seleuciam Isauriae urbem profluuio uentris extinctus est.

*Note: Trajan died at Selinus in Cilicia in AD 117 (Cassius Dio 68.33); Orosius follows Eutropius (8.5), who names Seleucia in Isauria.*

## 147. Book 7 · Chapter 13

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/147/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/147/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 867 from the founding of the City, Hadrian, the son of Trajan’s cousin, obtained the principate, the twelfth from Augustus, and ruled for twenty-one years.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCLXVII Hadrianus, consobrinae Traiani filius, duodecimus ab Augusto principatum adeptus, uno et uiginti annis imperauit.

[¶1] Instructed and taught by books composed on the Christian religion by Quadratus, a disciple of the apostles, by Aristides of Athens, a man full of faith and wisdom, and by the legate Serenus Granius, he ordered by a letter sent to Minucius Fundanus, proconsul of Asia, that no one should be permitted to condemn Christians without a charge being brought or proved;

> Latin: 2 hic per Quadratum discipulum apostolorum et Aristidem Atheniensem, uirum fide sapientiaque plenum, et per Serenum Granium legatum libris de Christiana religione conpositis instructus atque eruditus, praecepit per epistulam ad Minucium Fundanum proconsule Asiae datam, ut nemini liceret Christianos sine obiectu criminis aut probatione damnare;

*Note: Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History 4.8–9) calls him Serennius Granianus, proconsul of Asia before Minucius Fundanus; it was his letter, not a book, that prompted Hadrian’s rescript.*

[¶2] and soon he was hailed in the senate, beyond the custom of the ancestors, as Father of the Fatherland, and his wife as Augusta. Hadrian set the commonwealth in order with most just laws; he waged war against the Sarmatians and conquered them.

> Latin: 3 idemque continuo pater patriae in senatu ultra morem maiorum appellatur et uxor eius Augusta. Hadrianus rempublicam iustissimis legibus ordinauit; bellum contra Sauromatas gessit et uicit.

[¶3] The Jews, indeed, who were stirred up by the turmoil of their own crimes and were laying waste the province of Palestine, once their own, he subdued with a final slaughter, and he avenged the Christians, whom the Jews, under their leader Cocheba, were torturing because they would not side with them against the Romans;

> Latin: 4 Iudaeos sane, perturbatione scelerum suorum exagitatos et Palaestinam prouinciam quondam suam depopulantes, ultima caede perdomuit, ultusque est Christianos, quos illi Cocheba duce, cur sibi aduersum Romanos non adsentarentur, excruciabant;

*Note: Simon bar Kosiba, called Bar Kokhba (“son of the star”), leader of the Jewish revolt of AD 132–135.*

[¶4] and he ordered that no Jew should have leave to enter Jerusalem, the city being permitted to Christians alone: he himself restored it to an excellent condition by building walls, and ordered it to be called Aelia after his own first name.

> Latin: 5 praecepitque, ne cui Iudaeo introeundi Hierosolymam esset licentia, Christianis tantum ciuitate permissa: quam ipse in optimum statum murorum exstructione reparauit et Aeliam uocari de praenomine suo praecepit.

*Note: Aelius was Hadrian’s family name (nomen), not his praenomen, which was Publius; the new colony was called Aelia Capitolina.*

## 148. Book 7 · Chapter 14

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/148/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/148/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 888 from the founding of the City, Antoninus, surnamed Pius, was created emperor, the thirteenth from Augustus, and together with his sons Aurelius and Lucius governed the commonwealth for not quite twenty-three years, so peacefully and so righteously that he was deservedly named Pius and Father of the Fatherland.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCLXXXVIII Antoninus cognomento Pius tertius decimus ab Augusto imperator creatus cum liberis suis Aurelio et Lucio uiginti et non plenis tribus annis rempublicam gubernauit adeo tranquille et sancte, ut merito Pius et pater patriae nominatus sit.

[¶1] In his times, however, Valentinus the heresiarch and Cerdo, the teacher of Marcion, came to Rome. But Justin the philosopher handed to Antoninus a book composed in defence of the Christian religion and made him kindly disposed towards the Christians. Antoninus was seized by disease at the twelfth milestone from the City and died.

> Latin: 2 huius tamen temporibus Valentinus haeresiarches et Cerdo magister Marcionis Romam uenerunt. uerum Iustinus philosophus librum pro Christiana religione compositum Antonino tradidit benignumque eum erga Christianos homines fecit. Antoninus ad duodecimum ab urbe lapidem morbo correptus interiit.

## 149. Book 7 · Chapter 15

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/149/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/149/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 911 from the founding of the City, Marcus Antoninus Verus, the fourteenth from Augustus, took up the rule together with his brother Aurelius Commodus, and held it for nineteen years. These were the first to protect the commonwealth with equal right.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCCXI Marcus Antoninus Verus quartus decimus ab Augusto regnum cum Aurelio Commodo fratre suscepit mansitque in eo annis decem et nouem. hi primi rempublicam aequo iure tutati sunt.

*Note: Orosius tangles the joint emperors. “Marcus Antoninus Verus” is Marcus Aurelius; his adoptive brother and colleague, born Lucius Ceionius Commodus, reigned as Lucius Verus, whom Orosius calls Aurelius Commodus here (after Jerome) and Annius Antoninus Verus in the next section (after Eutropius). Marcus’s son Commodus first appears at 7.15.12.*

[¶1] Then they waged war against the Parthians with admirable valour and success. Annius Antoninus Verus set out for that war; for Vologaeses, king of the Parthians, was laying waste Armenia, Cappadocia and Syria in a heavy invasion.

> Latin: 2 bellum deinde contra Parthos admirabili uirtute et felicitate gesserunt. Annius Antoninus Verus ad id bellum profectus est. Vologesus enim, rex Parthorum, graui eruptione Armeniam Cappadociam Syriamque uastabat.

[¶2] But Antoninus, after great deeds had been done through most energetic generals, took Seleucia, a city of Assyria situated on the river Hydaspes, with four hundred thousand people, and celebrated a triumph with his brother for the Parthian victory; and not long afterwards, while he was sitting in a carriage with his brother, he was choked by a stroke of the illness which the Greeks call apoplexy, and died.

> Latin: 3 sed Antoninus, per strenuissimos duces magnis rebus gestis, Seleuciam Assyriae urbem super Hydaspen fluuium sitam cum quadringentis milibus hominum cepit et cum fratre de uictoria Parthica triumphauit; ac non multo post, dum cum fratre in uehiculo sedet, casu morbi, quem apoplexian Graeci uocant, suffocatus interiit.

*Note: The emperor who died of apoplexy in a carriage beside his brother, in 169, was Lucius Verus, not Marcus. Seleucia stood on the Tigris; the Hydaspes is a river of the Punjab.*

[¶3] After his death Marcus Antoninus presided over the commonwealth alone. But in the days of the Parthian war, grievous persecutions of the Christians — now for the fourth time, counting from Nero — arose by his command in Asia and in Gaul, and many of the saints were crowned with martyrdom.

> Latin: 4 Eo defuncto Marcus Antoninus solus reipublicae praefuit. sed in diebus Parthici belli persecutiones Christianorum quarta iam post Neronem uice in Asia et in Gallia graues praecepto eius exstiterunt multique sanctorum martyrio coronati sunt.

*Note: The martyrdoms at Lyon and Vienne, described by Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History 5.1), took place in 177, about a decade after the Parthian war.*

[¶4] There followed a plague poured out over very many provinces, and so great a pestilence laid waste all Italy that everywhere estates, fields and towns, abandoned without cultivator or inhabitant, gave way to ruins and to forests.

> Latin: 5 secuta est lues plurimis infusa prouinciis, totamque Italiam pestilentia tanta uastauit, ut passim uillae, agri atque oppida sine cultore atque habitatore deserta in ruinas siluasque concesserint.

[¶5] The Roman army, moreover, and all the legions stationed far and wide in distant winter quarters were, they say, so consumed that the Marcomannic war, which arose immediately afterwards, is reported to have been waged only through a new levy of soldiers, which Marcus Antoninus held continuously for three years at Carnuntum.

> Latin: 6 exercitum uero Romanum cunctasque legiones per longinqua late hiberna dispositas ita consumptas ferunt, ut Marcomannicum bellum, quod continuo exortum est, non nisi nouo dilectu militum, quem triennio iugiter apud Carnuntium Marcus Antoninus habuit, gestum fuisse referatur.

[¶6] That this war was conducted by the providence of God has been most plainly declared by many proofs, but above all by the letter of that most grave and most moderate emperor.

> Latin: 7 hoc quidem bellum prouidentia Dei administratum esse cum plurimis argumentis tum praecipue epistula grauissimi ac modestissimi imperatoris apertissime declaratum est.

[¶7] For when nations had risen up, barbarous in their savagery and countless in their multitude — that is, the Marcomanni, Quadi, Vandals, Sarmatians, Suebi and almost all Germany — and the army, having advanced as far as the territory of the Quadi and been surrounded by the enemy, was facing, through lack of water, a danger from thirst more imminent than that from the enemy:

> Latin: 8 nam cum insurrexissent gentes inmanitate barbarae, multitudine innumerabiles, hoc est Marcomanni Quadi Vandali Sarmatae Suebi atque omnis paene Germania, et in Quadorum usque fines progressus exercitus circumuentusque ab hostibus propter aquarum penuriam praesentius sitis quam hostis periculum sustineret:

[¶8] at the invocation of the name of Christ, which certain soldiers suddenly made openly, pouring themselves out in prayer with great constancy of faith, so great a force of rain poured down that it refreshed the Romans most abundantly and without harm, while it drove the barbarians, terrified by repeated strokes of lightning — especially since very many of them were being killed — to flight.

> Latin: 9 ad inuocationem nominis Christi, quam subito magna fidei constantia quidam milites effusi in preces palam fecerunt, tanta uis pluuiae effusa est, ut Romanos quidem largissime ac sine iniuria refecerit, barbaros autem crebris fulminum ictibus perterritos, praesertim cum plurimi eorum occiderentur, in fugam coegerit.

[¶9] Cutting down their backs even to annihilation, the Romans carried off a most glorious victory, one to be preferred to almost all the titles of the ancients, with an untrained and small number of soldiers but with the most powerful help of Christ.

> Latin: 10 quorum terga Romani usque ad internecionem caedentes gloriosissimam uictoriam et omnibus paene antiquorum titulis praeferendam rudi paruoque militum numero sed potentissimo Christi auxilio reportarunt.

[¶10] There are said to be extant even now, in the hands of many, letters of the emperor Antoninus in which he acknowledges that through the invocation of the name of Christ by Christian soldiers both that thirst was driven off and the victory was granted.

> Latin: 11 exstare etiam nunc apud plerosque dicuntur litterae imperatoris Antonini, ubi inuocatione nominis Christi per milites Christianos et sitim illam depulsam et conlatam fatetur fuisse uictoriam.

*Note: The “rain miracle” in the land of the Quadi (c. 172) is shown on the Column of Marcus Aurelius as the work of a rain god; the Christian version and the emperor’s letter go back to Tertullian (Apology 5). The letter now attached to Justin’s First Apology is a forgery.*

[¶11] This same Antoninus took his son Commodus as partner in the rule; he also remitted the tributes of past time throughout all the provinces, ordered all the vexatious records of the treasury’s business to be piled together in the Forum and burned at once, and tempered the harsher laws with new constitutions. Finally, while stationed in Pannonia, he died of a sudden illness.

> Latin: 12 idemque Antoninus Commodum filium suum adsumpsit in regnum; praeteriti etiam temporis per omnes prouincias tributa donauit omniaque simul fiscalium negotiorum calumniosa monumenta congesta in foro iussit incendi seuerioresque leges nouis constitutionibus temperauit. postremo in Pannonia constitutus repentino morbo diem obiit.

## 150. Book 7 · Chapter 16

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/150/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/150/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 930 from the founding of the City, Lucius Antoninus Commodus, the fifteenth from Augustus, succeeded his father in the rule and held it for thirteen years.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCCXXX Lucius Antoninus Commodus quintus decimus ab Augusto patri successit in regnum mansitque in eo annis XIII.

[¶1] He waged war successfully against the Germans. But in all other respects he was depraved by the disgrace of luxury and obscenity: he very often fought with gladiatorial arms in the training school, and he frequently exposed himself to wild beasts in the amphitheatre; he also killed a great many senators, above all those he saw to excel in nobility and energy.

> Latin: 2 aduersus Germanos bellum feliciter gessit. ceterum per omnia luxuriae et obscenitatis dedecore deprauatus, gladiatoriis quoque armis saepissime in ludo depugnauit et in amphitheatro feris sese frequenter obiecit; interfecit etiam quamplurimos senatores, maxime quos animaduertit nobilitate industriaque excellere.

[¶2] The punishment of the City followed upon the outrages of its king. For the Capitol was struck by lightning, and the conflagration that arose from it burned up, in a ravening whirlwind of fire, that famous library assembled by the care and zeal of the ancestors, together with other buildings situated nearby. Then another fire, which broke out at Rome afterwards, levelled to the ground the temple of Vesta, the Palace and the greater part of the City.

> Latin: 3 flagitia regis poena urbis insequitur. nam fulmine Capitolium ictum, ex quo facta inflammatio bybliothecam illam, maiorum cura studioque compositam, aedesque alias iuxta sitas rapaci turbine concremauit. deinde aliud incendium postea Romae exortum aedem Vestae et Palatium plurimamque urbis partem solo coaequauit.

[¶3] Commodus, incommodious to all, is said to have died by strangling in the house of Vestilianus, having been judged an enemy of the human race even while he lived.

> Latin: 4 Commodus cunctis incommodus in domo Vestiliani strangulatus interisse fertur, hostis generis humani etiam uiuus iudicatus.

*Note: A pun: commodus means “convenient”, incommodus “troublesome”. The Historia Augusta (Commodus 16) names the Vectilian house on the Caelian; Orosius makes it the house of a Vestilianus. Eutropius has Commodus declared an enemy of the human race after his death, not while he lived.*

[¶4] After him the aged Helvius Pertinax was created emperor by the senate, the sixteenth from Augustus. In the sixth month after he had begun to reign he was killed in the Palace through the crime of Julianus, the jurist.

> Latin: 5 Post hunc a senatu creatus est senex Heluius Pertinax sextus decimus ab Augusto. qui sexto mense quam regnare coeperat Iuliani iuris periti scelere in Palatio occisus est.

*Note: Didius Julianus, who bid for the throne after the praetorian guard had murdered Pertinax in March 193. Orosius, following Eutropius, calls him a jurist and makes him the author of the murder.*

[¶5] After Pertinax had been killed, Julianus seized the empire, but was soon defeated in civil war by Severus at the Mulvian Bridge and killed, in the seventh month after he had begun to rule. Thus one year was used up between Pertinax and Julianus.

> Latin: 6 Iulianus interfecto Pertinace inuasit imperium sed mox a Seuero apud pontem Muluium bello ciuili uictus et interfectus est mense septimo postquam coeperat imperare. ita inter Pertinacem et Iulianum unus annus absumptus est.

## 151. Book 7 · Chapter 17

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/151/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/151/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 944 from the founding of the City, Severus — an African by birth, from Tripolitania, of the town of Leptis — who wished to be called Pertinax after the name of the emperor whose murder he had avenged, the seventeenth from Augustus, obtained the empire, now left without a ruler, and held it for eighteen years.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCCXLIIII Seuerus, genere Afer Tripolitanus ab oppido Lepti, qui se ex nomine imperatoris, quem occisum ultus fuerat, Pertinacem appellari voluit, septimus decimus ab Augusto destitutum adeptus imperium XVIII annis tenuit.

[¶1] Savage by nature and constantly provoked by many wars, he ruled the commonwealth most bravely indeed, but with the greatest toil. Pescennius Niger, who had aspired to tyranny in Egypt and Syria, he defeated at Cyzicus and killed.

> Latin: 2 hic natura saeuus, multis semper bellis lacessitus, fortissime quidem rempublicam sed laboriosissime rexit. Pescennium Nigrum, qui in Aegypto et Syria ad tyrannidem adspirauerat, apud Cyzicum uicit et interfecit.

*Note: Niger’s forces were beaten near Cyzicus in 193, but Niger himself was defeated at Issus in 194 and killed near Antioch.*

[¶2] The Jews and Samaritans, who were attempting to rebel, he restrained with the sword. He overcame the Parthians, the Arabs and the Adiabeni.

> Latin: 3 Iudaeos et Samaritas rebellare conantes ferro cohercuit. Parthos Arabas Adiabenosque superauit.

[¶3] He tormented the Christians in the fifth persecution from Nero, and very many of the saints were crowned with martyrdom in various provinces.

> Latin: 4 quinta post Neronem persecutione Christianos excruciauit, plurimique sanctorum per diuersas prouincias martyrio coronati sunt.

[¶4] This profane presumption of Severus against the Christians and the Church of God was followed at once by heavenly vengeance carried out hard on its heels. For immediately Severus was snatched away — or rather dragged back — from Syria into Gaul to a third civil war;

> Latin: 5 hanc profanam in Christianos et Ecclesiam Dei praesumptionem Seueri caelestis ultio e uestigio acta subsequitur. nam continuo rapitur uel potius retrahitur in Galliam Seuerus e Syria ad tertium ciuile bellum;

[¶5] for he had already waged one at Rome against Julianus and another in Syria against Pescennius, and a third was being stirred up by Clodius Albinus, the accomplice of Julianus in the killing of Pertinax, who had made himself Caesar in Gaul; in this war much Roman blood was shed on both sides. Albinus, however, was crushed and killed at Lyon.

> Latin: 6 unum iam enim Romae aduersus Iulianum, aliud in Syria contra Pescennium gesserat, tertium Clodius Albinus, Iuliani in occidendo Pertinace socius, qui se in Gallia Caesarem fecerat, suscitabat; cuius bello multum utrimque Romani sanguinis fusum est. Albinus tamen apud Lugdunum oppressus et interfectus est.

[¶6] Severus, the victor, was drawn into the British provinces by the revolt of almost all the allies; there, after many great and heavy battles had been fought, he decided that the part of the island he had recovered should be separated from the other, unconquered peoples by a rampart. So he drew a great ditch and a very strong rampart, fortified besides with numerous towers, for 132 miles from sea to sea.

> Latin: 7 Seuerus uictor in Britannias defectu paene omnium sociorum trahitur, ubi magnis grauibusque proeliis saepe gestis receptam partem insulae a ceteris indomitis gentibus uallo distinguendam putauit. itaque magnam fossam firmissimumque uallum, crebris insuper turribus communitum, per centum triginta et duo milia passuum a mari ad mare duxit.

*Note: Severus campaigned in Scotland in 208–211 and rebuilt Hadrian’s Wall, which runs about eighty Roman miles; the 132 miles come from Eutropius (8.19).*

[¶7] And there, at the town of York, he died of disease. He left two sons, Bassianus and Geta: of these Geta was judged a public enemy and perished, while Bassianus, taking the surname Antoninus, gained possession of the rule.

> Latin: 8 ibique apud Eboracum oppidum morbo obiit. reliquit duos filios, Bassianum et Getam: quorum Geta hostis publicus iudicatus interiit, Bassianus Antonini cognomine adsumpto regno potitus est.

*Note: Geta was murdered on his brother’s orders in December 211 and his memory then condemned; Orosius, like Eutropius, passes over the murder.*

## 152. Book 7 · Chapter 18

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/152/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/152/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 962 from the founding of the City, Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus, also called Caracalla, the eighteenth from Augustus, obtained the principate and held it for not quite seven years.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCCLXII Aurelius Antoninus Bassianus idemque Caracalla octauus decimus ab Augusto principatum adeptus est mansitque in eo annis non plenis septem.

[¶1] He lived more harshly than his father, and more intemperate in lust than all other men, for he even took his stepmother Julia as his wife. While preparing a war against the Parthians, he was surrounded by the enemy between Edessa and Carrhae and killed.

> Latin: 2 uixit patre asperior, omnibus autem hominibus libidine intemperantior, qui etiam nouercam suam Iuliam uxorem duxerit. hic contra Parthos bellum moliens, inter Edessam et Carras ab hostibus circumuentus occisus est.

*Note: Julia Domna was Caracalla’s mother, not his stepmother, and the marriage is a hostile fiction found in Eutropius (8.20) and the Historia Augusta.*

[¶2] After him Macrinus, the nineteenth from Augustus, who was praetorian prefect, seized the empire together with his son Diadumenian; but when a year had run its course he was at once killed at Archelais in a military uprising.

> Latin: 3 Post hunc nonus decimus ab Augusto Ophilus Macrinus, qui praefectus praetorio erat, cum filio Diadumeno inuasit imperium sed emenso anno continuo apud Archelaidem militari tumultu occisus est.

*Note: Marcus Opellius Macrinus; Orosius’s manuscripts call him Ophilus Macrinus, a corruption of Opellius, and his son Diadumenian Diadumenus.*

[¶3] In the year 970 from the founding of the City, Elagabalus, the twentieth from Augustus, obtained the empire and held it for four years.

> Latin: 4 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCCLXX Marcus Aurelius Antoninus uicensimus ab Augusto imperium adeptus tenuit annis quattuor.

*Note: Orosius calls him Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the official name of the emperor Elagabalus (218–222). The name Elagabalus comes from the sun god of Emesa (Heliogabalus in 7.18.5), whose priest he was.*

[¶4] This man, a priest of the temple of Heliogabalus, left behind no memory of himself except one sufficiently infamous for debaucheries, outrages and every kind of obscenity. When a military uprising broke out, he was killed at Rome together with his mother.

> Latin: 5 hic sacerdos Heliogabali templi nullam sui nisi stuprorum flagitiorum totiusque obscenitatis infamem satis memoriam reliquit. tumultu autem militari exorto, Romae cum matre interfectus est.

[¶5] In the year 974 from the founding of the City, Severus Alexander, the twenty-first from Augustus, was created emperor by the will of the senate and the soldiers, and for thirteen years was worthy of the praise of justice;

> Latin: 6 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCCLXXIIII Aurelius Alexander uicensimus primus ab Augusto senatus ac militum uoluntate imperator creatus tredecim annis digno aequitatis praeconio fuit;

*Note: Orosius calls him Aurelius Alexander; he reigned as Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (222–235).*

[¶6] his mother Mamaea, a Christian, took care to hear the presbyter Origen. For at once, having made an expedition against the Persians, he crushed their king Xerxes, victorious in a very great war.

> Latin: 7 cuius mater Mamea Christiana Origenem presbyterum audire curauit: nam statim expeditione in Persas facta Xerxen regem eorum maximo bello uictor oppressit.

*Note: Julia Mamaea summoned Origen to Antioch (Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History 6.21), but she was not a Christian; Rufinus calls her only a religious woman. The Persian king was Ardashir I, founder of the Sasanian dynasty, known to Greek and Latin writers as Artaxerxes; Orosius follows Eutropius’s Xerxes.*

[¶7] Using Ulpian as his assessor, he displayed the utmost moderation towards the commonwealth; but he was killed in a military uprising at Mainz.

> Latin: 8 Ulpiano usus adsessore summam sui moderationem reipublicae exhibuit; sed militari tumultu apud Mogontiacum interfectus est.

## 153. Book 7 · Chapter 19

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/153/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/153/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 987 from the founding of the City, Maximinus, the twenty-second from Augustus, was created emperor by the army without any consent of the senate, after he had waged war successfully in Germany, and he carried out a persecution against the Christians — the sixth from Nero.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCCLXXXVII Maximinus uicensimus secundus ab Augusto nulla senatus uoluntate imperator ab exercitu, postquam bellum in Germania prospere gesserat, creatus persecutionem in Christianos sextus a Nerone exercuit.

[¶1] But soon, that is, in the third year of his reign, he was killed by Pupienus at Aquileia and made an end both of the persecution and of his life. He had launched the persecution against priests and clerics, that is, teachers, chiefly on account of the Christian household of Alexander, whom he had succeeded, and of his mother Mamaea, and above all on account of the presbyter Origen.

> Latin: 2 sed continuo, hoc est tertio quam regnabat anno, a Pupieno Aquileiae interfectus et persecutionis et uitae finem fecit. qui maxime propter Christianam Alexandri, cui successerat, et Mameae matris eius familiam persecutionem in sacerdotes et clericos, id est doctores, uel praecipue propter Origenem presbyterum miserat.

*Note: Maximinus was killed by his own troops while besieging Aquileia in 238; Pupienus, whom the senate had made emperor against him, was then at Ravenna. Orosius follows Eutropius (9.1).*

[¶2] In the year 991 from the founding of the City, Gordian, the twenty-third from Augustus, was created emperor and held the office for six years. For Pupienus, the slayer of Maximinus, and his brother Balbinus, who had usurped the empire, were soon killed in the Palace.

> Latin: 3 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCCLXLI Gordianus uicensimus tertius ab Augusto imperator creatus est mansitque in eo annis sex. nam Pupienus, interfector Maximini, et frater eius Balbinus, qui usurpauerant imperium, in Palatio mox interfecti sunt.

*Note: The manuscripts read DCCCCLXLI, an impossible numeral; one manuscript spells out 991, the reading taken here (AD 238). This is Gordian III. Pupienus and Balbinus were colleagues chosen by the senate, not brothers; Orosius adds “his brother” on his own.*

[¶3] Gordian, still quite a boy, when about to set out for the east to the Parthian war, opened the gates of Janus, as Eutropius writes; whether anyone closed them after Vespasian and Titus, I do not remember anyone having written, although Cornelius Tacitus records that they were opened by Vespasian himself a year later.

> Latin: 4 Gordianus admodum puer in orientem ad bellum Parthicum profecturus, sicut Eutropius scribit, Iani portas aperuit: quas utrum post Vespasianum et Titum aliquis clauserit, neminem scripsisse memini, cum tamen eas ab ipso Vespasiano post annum apertas Cornelius Tacitus prodat.

[¶4] So Gordian, after waging great battles successfully against the Parthians, was killed by the treachery of his own men not far from Circesium, on the Euphrates.

> Latin: 5 igitur Gordianus ingentibus proeliis aduersum Parthos prospere gestis suorum fraude haud longe a Circesso super Euphraten interfectus est.

## 154. Book 7 · Chapter 20

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/154/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/154/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 997 from the founding of the City, Philip, the twenty-fourth from Augustus, was created emperor; he made his son Philip partner in the rule and held it for seven years.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita DCCCCLXLVII Philippus uicensimus quartus ab Augusto imperator creatus Philippum filium suum consortem regni fecit mansitque in eo annis septem.

*Note: The manuscripts read DCCCCLXLVII, an impossible numeral; one manuscript spells out 997, the reading taken here (AD 244).*

[¶1] He was the first of all the emperors to be a Christian, and after the third year of his rule the year 1000 from the founding of Rome was completed. Thus this birthday year, the most august of all that had gone before, was celebrated with magnificent games by a Christian emperor.

> Latin: 2 hic primus imperatorum omnium Christianus fuit ac post tertium imperii eius annum millesimus a conditione Romae annus impletus est. ita magnificis ludis augustissimus omnium praeteritorum hic natalis annus a Christiano imperatore celebratus est.

*Note: That Philip was a Christian is a tradition reported by Eusebius (Ecclesiastical History 6.34); no pagan source knows of it.*

[¶2] Nor is there any doubt that Philip referred the thanks and honour for so great a devotion to Christ and to the Church, since no author shows that there was any procession up to the Capitol, or that victims were sacrificed according to custom.

> Latin: 3 nec dubium est, quin Philippus huius tantae deuotionis gratiam et honorem ad Christum et Ecclesiam reportarit, quando uel ascensum fuisse in Capitolium immolatasque ex more hostias nullus auctor ostendit.

[¶3] Both of them, however, though in different places, were killed through a military uprising and the treachery of Decius.

> Latin: 4 ambo tamen quamuis diuersis locis tumultu militari et Decii fraude interfecti sunt.

## 155. Book 7 · Chapter 21

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/155/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/155/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1004 from the founding of the City, Decius, both the instigator and the suppressor of a civil war, after the Philips had been killed, seized the empire, the twenty-fifth from Augustus, and held it for three years.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita millesimo quarto Decius, ciuilis belli incentor et repressor, occisis Philippis uicensimus quintus ab Augusto inuasit imperium tenuitque annis tribus.

[¶1] At once, in a way that showed he had killed the Philips for this reason as well, he — the seventh from Nero — sent out deadly edicts for persecuting and killing the Christians, and sent very many of the saints from their crosses to the crowns of Christ.

> Latin: 2 idem continuo, in quo se etiam ob hoc Philippos interfecisse docuit, ad persequendos interficiendosque Christianos septimus post Neronem feralia dispersit edicta plurimosque sanctorum ad coronas Christi de suis crucibus misit.

*Note: Our source reads Philippum (“Philip”); Zangemeister’s text has Philippos, both Philips, father and son, as at 7.21.1, and that reading is followed here.*

[¶2] He also chose his son as Caesar; and together with him he was soon killed in the very heart of the barbarians’ territory.

> Latin: 3 idemque filium suum Caesarem legit: cum quo simul continuo in medio barbarorum sinu interfectus est.

[¶3] In the year 1007 from the founding of the City, Gallus Hostilianus, the twenty-sixth from Augustus, obtained the rule and held it, with his son Volusianus, for scarcely two years.

> Latin: 4 Anno ab urbe condita millesimo septimo Gallus Hostilianus uicensimus sextus ab Augusto regnum adeptus uix duobus annis cum Volusiano filio obtinuit.

*Note: Orosius runs together Trebonianus Gallus and Hostilian, the surviving son of Decius, whom Gallus took as colleague in 251 and who soon died of the plague. Gallus’s son was Volusianus.*

[¶4] The vengeance for the violated Christian name was unsheathed, and as far as the edicts of Decius had run for the ruin of the churches, so far the plague of incredible diseases spread: there was scarcely any Roman province, any city, any house that was not seized and emptied by that general pestilence.

> Latin: 5 exeritur ultio uiolati nominis Christiani et usquequo ad profligandas ecclesias edicta Decii cucurrerunt, eatenus incredibilium morborum pestis extenditur: nulla fere prouincia Romana, nulla ciuitas, nulla domus fuit, quae non illa generali pestilentia correpta atque uacuata sit.

[¶5] Gallus and Volusianus, distinguished by this ruin alone, were killed while they were undertaking a civil war against Aemilianus, who was aiming at revolution. Aemilianus, however, perished in the third month of the tyranny he had seized.

> Latin: 6 hac sola pernicie insignes Gallus et Volusianus dum contra Aemilianum nouis rebus studentem bellum ciuile moliuntur, occisi sunt. Aemilianus tamen tertio mense inuasae tyrannidis extinctus est.

## 156. Book 7 · Chapter 22

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/156/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/156/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1010 from the founding of the City, two emperors were created in the twenty-seventh place from Augustus: Valerian was hailed Augustus by the army in Raetia, while at Rome Gallienus was created Caesar by the senate; and Gallienus remained unhappily in the rule for fifteen years, while the human race breathed again for a little from that pestilence, more lasting and grievous than usual. Forgetful malice calls forth its own punishment. For impiety, when tormented, does indeed feel the scourges, but in its hardness it does not perceive by whom it is scourged.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita millesimo decimo duo imperatores uicensimo septimo post Augustum loco creati sunt: Valerianus in Raetia ab exercitu Augustus appellatus, Romae autem a senatu Gallienus Caesar creatus; mansitque Gallienus in regno infeliciter annis XV, respirante paulisper ab illa supra solitum iugi et graui pestilentia genere humano. prouocat poenam suam obliuiosa malitia. impietas enim flagella quidem excruciata sentit, sed a quo flagellatur, obdurata non sentit.

[¶1] To say nothing of earlier events: after the persecution of the Christians carried out by Decius, a great pestilence afflicted the whole Roman Empire. Iniquity lied to itself, ensnared to its own ruin by a perverse judgement, saying that the pestilence was a common misfortune, and that death arising from disease was the end set by nature and not a punishment.

> Latin: 2 ut de superioribus taceam, facta a Decio Christianorum persecutione totum Romanum imperium pestilentia magna uexauit. mentita est iniquitas sibi, prauo in perniciem suam circumuenta iudicio, pestilentiam communis casus esse accidentemque ex morbis mortem naturae finem esse non poenam.

[¶2] So once again, and within a short time, it provoked the wrath of God by wicked deeds, only to receive a blow that it would be forced to remember for some while. For Valerian, the eighth from Nero, as soon as he had seized the empire, ordered Christians to be driven to idolatry by tortures and those who refused to be killed, and the blood of the saints was poured out over the whole breadth of the Roman realm.

> Latin: 3 rursus igitur atque in breui iram Dei sceleratis actionibus prouocat exceptura plagam, cuius aliquandiu meminisse cogatur. Valerianus siquidem mox ut arripuit imperium octauus a Nerone, adigi per tormenta Christianos ad idololatriam abnegantesque interfici iussit, fuso per omnem Romani regni latitudinem sanctorum sanguine.

[¶3] At once Valerian, the author of the abominable edict, was captured by Shapur, king of the Persians, and, emperor of the Roman people though he was, grew old among the Persians in the most ignominious servitude, condemned for as long as he lived to the continual sentence of this infamous duty: that, stooping to the ground, he should always lift up the king when about to mount his horse, not with his hand but with his back.

> Latin: 4 Valerianus ilico, nefarii auctor edicti, a Sapore Persarum rege captus, imperator populi Romani ignominiosissima apud Persas seruitute consenuit, hoc infamis officii continua, donec uixit, damnatione sortitus, ut ipse adclinis humi regem semper, ascensurum in equum, non manu sua sed dorso attolleret.

[¶4] And Gallienus, terrified by so clear a judgement of God and moved by the so wretched example of his colleague, restored peace to the churches with anxious amends. But the captivity of one impious man, however lasting and beyond measure abominable, did not make up the measure of injury and vengeance against so many thousands of tortured saints; and the blood of the righteous, crying out to God, asks to be avenged in the same land where it was shed.

> Latin: 5 et Gallienus quidem tam claro Dei iudicio territus tamque misero collegae permotus exemplo pacem ecclesiis trepida satisfactione restituit. sed non conpensat iniuriae ultionisque mensuram unius impii quamuis perpetua et super modum abominanda captiuitas contra tot milia excruciata sanctorum, iustorumque sanguis ad Deum clamans in eadem sese terra, ubi fusus est, uindicari rogat.

[¶5] For punishment was being demanded, by just judgement, not of the author of the decree alone; it was also just that its executors, informers, accusers, spectators and judges — and lastly all who assented to that most unjust cruelty even by silent consent (for God is the knower of secrets), among whom the greatest part of humankind throughout all the provinces was to be found — should be seized by the same blow of vengeance. Suddenly, by God’s permission, the nations placed round about and left for this very purpose were let loose on every side, and with reins slackened they swept into all the territories of the Romans.

> Latin: 6 non enim de solo constitutore praecepti iusto supplicium iudicio flagitabatur sed etiam exsecutores delatores accusatores spectatores ac iudices, postremo omnes qui iniustissimae crudelitati uel tacita uoluntate adsentabantur - quia Deus secretorum cognitor est - quorum maxima per omnes prouincias pars hominum uersabatur, eadem ultionis plaga corripi iustum erat. soluuntur repente undique permissu Dei ad hoc circumpositae relictaeque gentes laxatisque habenis in omnes Romanorum fines inuehuntur.

[¶6] The Germans, having passed through the Alps, Raetia and all Italy, reached as far as Ravenna; the Alamanni, roaming through the Gallic provinces, crossed into Italy as well; Greece, Macedonia, Pontus and Asia were wiped out by a flood of Goths; for Dacia beyond the Danube was taken away for ever; the Quadi and Sarmatians laid waste the Pannonias; the farther Germans scraped Spain bare and took possession of it; the Parthians carried off Mesopotamia and scoured Syria.

> Latin: 7 Germani Alpibus Raetia totaque Italia penetrata Rauennam usque perueniunt; Alamanni Gallias peruagantes etiam in Italiam transeunt; Graecia Macedonia Pontus Asia Gothorum inundatione deletur; nam Dacia trans Danuuium in perpetuum aufertur; Quadi et Sarmatae Pannonias depopulantur; Germani ulteriores abrasa potiuntur Hispania; Parthi Mesopotamiam auferunt Syriamque conradunt.

[¶7] There still remain, in various provinces, amid the ruins of great cities, small and poor dwellings that preserve the signs of their miseries and the evidence of their names; among these we too in Spain can point to our own Tarragona, for consolation in our recent misery.

> Latin: 8 exstant adhuc per diuersas prouincias in magnarum urbium ruinis paruae et pauperes sedes, signa miseriarum et nominum indicia seruantes, ex quibus nos quoque in Hispania Tarraconem nostram ad consolationem miseriae recentis ostendimus.

[¶8] And lest any part of the Roman body should by chance be spared this rending, tyrants conspired within, civil wars rose up, and everywhere a great deal of Roman blood was shed, as Romans and barbarians raged alike; but the wrath of God was quickly turned to mercy, and the vengeance begun was reckoned rather as a token than as punishment in the measure of its fullness.

> Latin: 9 et ne quid forte Romani corporis ab hac dilaceratione cessaret, conspirant intrinsecus tyranni, consurgunt bella ciuilia, funditur ubique plurimus sanguis Romanorum Romanis barbarisque saeuientibus; sed cito ira Dei in misericordiam uertitur et coeptae ultionis maior forma quam poena in mensuram plenitudinis reputatur.

[¶9] So first Ingenuus, who had assumed the purple of empire, was killed at Mursa. Postumus seized the tyranny in Gaul — to the great advantage of the commonwealth, indeed, since for ten years, exercising great valour and moderation, he both drove out the enemies who were lording it there and restored the lost provinces to their former appearance; he was, however, killed in a mutiny of the soldiers.

> Latin: 10 igitur primus Genuus, qui purpuram imperii sumpserat, apud Myrsam occiditur. Postumus in Gallia inuasit tyrannidem, multo quidem reipublicae commodo, nam per decem annos ingenti uirtute ac moderatione usus et dominantes hostes expulit et perditas prouincias in pristinam faciem reformauit; seditione tamen militum interfectus est.

*Note: Ingenuus, governor of Pannonia, proclaimed emperor in 260; Orosius calls him Genuus.*

[¶10] Aemilianus was crushed at Mainz while plotting revolution. After the death of Postumus, Marius seized the empire there, but was at once killed. Then Victorinus was created by the Gauls of their own accord, and after a short while was killed.

> Latin: 11 Aemilianus apud Mogontiacum cum res nouas moliretur oppressus est. post mortem Postumi Marius ibidem inuasit imperium sed continuo interfectus est. deinde Victorinus a Gallis ultro creatus et post paululum occisus est.

*Note: The usurper at Mainz in 269 was Laelianus; Orosius calls him Aemilianus.*

[¶11] He was succeeded by Tetricus, who was then discharging the office of governor of Aquitania. He endured many mutinies of the soldiers. But in the east, through a certain Odenathus, who had gathered a band of country folk, the Persians were defeated and driven back, Syria was defended and Mesopotamia recovered; and the countrymen of Syria, with their Odenathus, came conquering as far as Ctesiphon.

> Latin: 12 huic successit Tetricus, qui tunc Aquitanicae praesidatus administrabat officium. multas seditiones militum pertulit. at uero in oriente per Odenatum quendam collecta agresti manu uicti repulsique Persae, defensa Syria, recepta Mesopotamia est, et usque ad Ctesiphontem rusticani Syriae cum Odenato suo uincendo uenerunt.

[¶12] Gallienus, however, having abandoned the commonwealth and giving himself up to his lusts at Milan, was killed.

> Latin: 13 Gallienus autem cum rempublicam deseruisset ac Mediolani libidinibus inseruiret, occisus est.

## 157. Book 7 · Chapter 23

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/157/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/157/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1025 from the founding of the City, Claudius, the twenty-eighth emperor, assumed the imperial power by the will of the senate, and at once attacked in war the Goths, who had by then been laying waste Illyricum and Macedonia for fifteen years, and destroyed them with incredible slaughter. The senate decreed him a golden shield in the senate house and, on the Capitol, a statue likewise of gold; but soon afterwards, at Sirmium, before he had completed two years in power, he was seized by disease and died.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MXXV Claudius uicesimus octauus uoluntate senatus sumpsit imperium statimque Gothos iam per annos quindecim Illyricum Macedoniamque uastantes bello adortus incredibili strage deleuit. cui a senatu clipeus aureus in curia et in Capitolio statua aeque aurea decreta est; sed continuo apud Sirmium, priusquam biennium in imperio expleret, morbo correptus interiit.

[¶1] On the death of Claudius, his brother Quintillus was chosen emperor by the army — a man of singular moderation, and the only one fit to be preferred even to his brother — and was killed on the seventeenth day of his reign.

> Latin: 2 Claudio mortuo Quintillus frater eius ab exercitu imperator electus, uir quidem unicae moderationis et solus fratri praeferendus, septimo decimo die imperii interfectus est.

[¶2] In the year 1027 from the founding of the City, Aurelian, the twenty-ninth, obtained the imperial power and held it for five years and six months, a man most outstanding in military energy.

> Latin: 3 Anno ab urbe condita MXXVII Aurelianus uicesimus nonus imperium adeptus quinque annis ac sex mensibus tenuit, uir industria militari excellentissimus.

[¶3] Undertaking an expedition to the Danube, he routed the Goths in great battles and restored Roman dominion to its ancient boundaries. Then, turning to the east, he brought under his power Zenobia, who after the murder of her husband Odenathus was claiming for herself Syria, which he had won back — and he did so more by the terror of battle than by battle itself.

> Latin: 4 expeditione in Danuuium suscepta Gothos magnis proeliis profligauit dicionemque Romanam antiquis terminis statuit. inde in orientem conuersus Zenobiam, quae occiso Odenato marito suo Syriam receptam sibi uindicabat, magis proelii terrore quam proelio in potestatem redegit.

[¶4] Tetricus, who in Gaul was quite unequal to withstanding the mutinies of his own soldiers, and who even wrote to him, “Rescue me, unconquered one, from these evils” — and was thereby the betrayer of his own army — he overcame without effort. So, as the recoverer of the east and the north, he celebrated a triumph with great glory. He girded the city of Rome with stronger walls.

> Latin: 5 Tetricum, in Gallia minime sufficientem sustinere seditiones militum suorum scribentemque etiam: Eripe me his, inuicte, malis ac per hoc proditorem exercitus sui, sine labore superauit. sic orientis et aquilonis receptor magna gloria triumphauit. urbem Romam muris firmioribus cinxit.

[¶5] At last, when he decreed that a persecution be carried out against the Christians, the ninth from Nero, a thunderbolt fell in front of him, to the great terror of those standing around, and not long afterwards he was killed on a journey.

> Latin: 6 nouissime cum persecutionem aduersus Christianos agi nonus a Nerone decerneret, fulmen ante eum magno pauore circumstantium ruit ac non multo post in itinere occisus est.

## 158. Book 7 · Chapter 24

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/158/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/158/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1032 from the founding of the City, Tacitus, the thirtieth, obtained the imperial power and was killed in Pontus in the sixth month. After him Florianus, sharing a like lot in his reign, was killed at Tarsus in only the third month.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MXXXII Tacitus tricesimus adeptus imperium sexto mense occisus in Ponto est. post quem Florianus parem regni sortem ferens, tertio demum mense apud Tarsum interfectus est.

[¶1] In the year 1033 from the founding of the City, Probus, the thirty-first, obtained the throne and held it for six years and four months. The Gallic provinces, long since occupied by the barbarians, he at last set entirely free through many heavy battles, the enemy having been destroyed.

> Latin: 2 Anno ab urbe condita MXXXIII Probus tricesimus primus regnum sortitus obtinuit annis sex et mensibus quattuor. Gallias iam dudum a barbaris occupatas per multa et grauia proelia deletis tandem hostibus ad perfectum liberauit.

[¶2] He then waged two civil wars, with a great deal of bloodshed: one in the east, in which he crushed and captured Saturninus, who had set himself up in tyranny; the other, in which he defeated Proculus and Bonosus in great battles at Cologne and put them to death. He himself, however, was killed at Sirmium, in an iron-clad tower, in a mutiny of the soldiers.

> Latin: 3 bella deinde ciuilia equidem plurimo sanguine duo gessit: unum in oriente, quo Saturninum tyrannide subnixum oppressit et cepit, aliud, quo Proculum et Bonosum apud Agrippinam magnis proeliis superatos interfecit. ipse autem apud Sirmium in turre ferrata militari tumultu interfectus est.

[¶3] In the year 1039 from the founding of the City, Carus of Narbonne, the thirty-second, took up the imperial power and held it for two years. He had made his sons Carinus and Numerian partners in his rule; and in the Parthian war, after he had taken the two most famous cities of the Parthians, Coche and Ctesiphon, he was struck by lightning in his camp above the Tigris and died. Numerian, who had been with his father, was killed on his way back through the treachery of Aper, his father-in-law.

> Latin: 4 Anno ab urbe condita MXXXVIIII Carus Narbonensis tricesimus secundus suscepit imperium ac biennio tenuit. qui cum filios suos Carinum et Numerianum consortes regni effecisset, bello Parthico postquam duas nobilissimas Parthorum urbes Cochem et Ctesiphontem cepit, super Tigridem in castris fulmine ictus interiit. Numerianus, qui cum patre fuerat, rediens fraude Apri soceri sui interfectus est.

## 159. Book 7 · Chapter 25

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/159/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/159/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1041 from the founding of the City, Diocletian, the thirty-third, was chosen emperor by the army and reigned for twenty years. As soon as he had the means of power, he killed with his own hand Aper, the murderer of Numerian. Next, in a most difficult war and with the greatest effort, he overcame Carinus, who was living shamefully, and whom Carus had left as Caesar in Dalmatia.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MXLI Diocletianus tricesimus tertius ab exercitu imperator electus annis uiginti fuit; statimque ut potestatis copiam habuit, Aprum interfectorem Numeriani manu sua interfecit. Carinum deinde, quem Carus Caesarem in Dalmatia reliquerat, flagitiose uiuentem difficillimo bello et maximo labore superauit.

[¶1] Then, when in Gaul Amandus and Aelianus had gathered a band of country folk, whom they called Bacaudae, and had stirred up ruinous disturbances, he made Maximian, surnamed Herculius, Caesar and sent him into the Gallic provinces; and Maximian, by his military prowess, easily brought to order that unskilled and disorderly band of rustics.

> Latin: 2 dehinc cum in Gallia Amandus et Aelianus collecta rusticanorum manu, quos Bacaudas uocabant, perniciosos tumultus excitauissent, Maximianum cognomento Herculium Caesarem fecit misitque in Gallias: qui facile agrestium hominum imperitam et confusam manum militari uirtute conposuit.

[¶2] Next a certain Carausius, a man of the lowest birth but quick in counsel and in action, was posted to guard the shores of the Ocean, which the Franks and Saxons were then infesting; but he acted more to the ruin than to the advancement of the commonwealth. For by restoring no part of the plunder recovered from the pirates to its owners, but claiming it for himself alone, he aroused the suspicion that he was also, by a calculated negligence, allowing the enemy themselves to raid the frontiers. On this account Maximian ordered him to be killed; whereupon he assumed the purple and seized the British provinces.

> Latin: 3 deinde Carausius quidam, genere quidem infimus sed consilio et manu promptus, cum ad obseruanda Oceani litora, quae tunc Franci et Saxones infestabant, positus plus in perniciem quam in prouectum reipublicae ageret, ereptam praedonibus praedam nulla ex parte restituendo dominis sed sibi soli uindicando accendens suspicionem, quia ipsos quoque hostes ad incursandos fines artifici neglegentia permitteret, quamobrem a Maximiano iussus occidi purpuram sumpsit ac Britannias occupauit.

[¶3] So throughout all the frontiers of the Roman Empire the crash of sudden upheavals resounded: Carausius was in rebellion in the British provinces, Achilleus in Egypt, while the Quinquegentiani were harrying Africa, and Narses, king of the Persians, was also pressing the east with war.

> Latin: 4 igitur per omnes Romani imperii fines subitarum turbationum fragores concrepuerunt, Carausio in Britanniis rebellante, Achilleo in Aegypto, cum et Africam Quinquegentiani infestarent, Narseus etiam rex Persarum orientem bello premeret.

[¶4] Alarmed by this danger, Diocletian raised Maximian Herculius from Caesar to Augustus, and chose Constantius and Galerius Maximian as Caesars. Constantius took as his wife Theodora, the stepdaughter of Maximian Herculius, by whom he had six children, half-brothers and half-sisters of Constantine.

> Latin: 5 hoc periculo Diocletianus permotus Maximianum Herculium ex Caesare fecit Augustum, Constantium uero et Maximianum Galerium Caesares legit. Constantius Herculii Maximiani priuignam Theodoram accepit uxorem, ex qua sex filios fratres Constantini sustulit.

[¶5] Carausius, after he had most valiantly claimed and held Britain for himself for seven years, was at last killed through the treachery of his associate Allectus. Allectus afterwards held for three years the island he had wrested from Carausius; he was crushed by Asclepiodotus, the praetorian prefect, who recovered Britain after ten years.

> Latin: 6 Carausius, Britannia sibi per septem annos fortissime uindicata ac retenta, tandem fraude Allecti socii sui interfectus est. Allectus postea ereptam Carausio insulam per triennium tenuit: quem Asclepiodotus praefectus praetorio oppressit Britanniamque post decem annos recepit.

[¶6] Constantius Caesar, however, when his army was routed by the Alamanni in Gaul in the first battle, barely escaped himself; but in the second a decidedly favourable victory followed, for sixty thousand Alamanni are reported to have been slain in a few hours.

> Latin: 7 Constantius uero Caesar in Gallia primo proelio ab Alamannis profligato exercitu suo, uix ipse subreptus est; secundo autem secuta est satis secunda uictoria: nam paucis horis sexaginta milia Alamannorum caesa referuntur.

[¶7] Maximian Augustus, for his part, subdued the Quinquegentiani in Africa. Diocletian, moreover, besieged Achilleus at Alexandria for eight months, captured him and put him to death. But, using his victory without restraint, he gave Alexandria over to plunder and defiled the whole of Egypt with proscriptions and massacres.

> Latin: 8 at Maximianus Augustus Quinquegentianos in Africa domuit. porro autem Diocletianus Achilleum obsessum per octo menses apud Alexandriam cepit et interfecit. sed inmoderata uictoria usus Alexandriam direptioni dedit, Aegyptum totam proscriptionibus caedibusque foedauit.

[¶8] Galerius Maximian, besides, having already fought two battles against Narses, engaged him a third time between Callinicum and Carrhae, was defeated, and, having lost his forces, fled back to Diocletian. He was received by him with the greatest arrogance, so much so that he is reported to have run for several miles, clad in his purple, in front of Diocletian’s carriage;

> Latin: 9 praeterea Galerius Maximianus cum duobus iam proeliis aduersus Narseum conflixisset, tertio inter Gallinicum et Carras congressus et uictus, amissis copiis ad Diocletianum refugit: a quo arrogantissime exceptus, ita ut per aliquot milia passuum purpuratus ante uehiculum eius cucurrisse referatur,

[¶9] yet he used this insult as a whetstone for courage, and, the rust of royal pride being rubbed away by it, he sharpened the edge of his mind. And so he soon drew together forces from every quarter through Illyricum and Moesia, swiftly returned against the enemy, and overcame Narses by great strategy and strength.

> Latin: 10 uerumtamen hac contumelia quasi cote ad uirtutem usus est, per quam detrita regii fastus robigine aciem mentis expediit. itaque mox per Illyricum et Moesiam undique copias contraxit raptimque in hostem reuersus, Narseum magnis consiliis uiribusque superauit.

[¶10] Having destroyed the forces of the Persians and put Narses himself to flight, he burst into his camp, captured his wives, sisters and children, carried off an immense quantity of Persian treasure, and led away a great many captives from among the Persian nobles. On returning to Mesopotamia he was received by Diocletian with the highest honour.

> Latin: 11 extinctis Persarum copiis ipsoque Narseo in fugam acto, castra eius inuasit, uxores sorores liberosque cepit, immensam uim gazae Persicae diripuit, captiuos quamplurimos Persarum nobilium abduxit. reuersus in Mesopotamiam a Diocletiano plurimo honore susceptus est.

[¶11] Afterwards, under the same commanders, war was vigorously waged against the Carpi and the Bastarnae. Next they conquered the Sarmatians, a very great multitude of whose captives they distributed among the garrisons along the Roman frontiers.

> Latin: 12 postea per eosdem duces strenue aduersus Carpos Basternasque pugnatum est. Sarmatas deinde uicerunt: quorum copiosissimam captiuam multitudinem per Romanorum finium dispersere praesidia.

[¶12] Meanwhile Diocletian in the east and Maximian Herculius in the west ordered that the churches be laid waste and the Christians afflicted and killed — the tenth persecution from Nero. This persecution was longer and more savage than almost all those that had gone before; for it was carried on without ceasing for ten years, with the burning of churches, the proscription of the innocent, and the slaughter of martyrs.

> Latin: 13 Interea Diocletianus in oriente, Maximianus Herculius in occidente uastari ecclesias, adfligi interficique Christianos decimo post Neronem loco praeceperunt: quae persecutio omnibus fere ante actis diuturnior atque immanior fuit, nam per decem annos incendiis ecclesiarum, proscriptionibus innocentum, caedibus martyrum incessabiliter acta est.

[¶13] There followed an earthquake in Syria, in which, at Tyre and Sidon, as houses collapsed on every side, many thousands of people were crushed. In the second year of the persecution Diocletian required of the unwilling Maximian that they should lay down the purple and the imperial power together, and, with younger men put in their place over the commonwealth, should themselves grow old in private leisure. And so on one and the same day Diocletian at Nicomedia and Maximian at Milan laid down together both the power of empire and its insignia.

> Latin: 14 sequitur terrae motus in Syria, ex quo apud Tyrum et Sidonem passim labentibus tectis multa hominum milia prostrata sunt. secundo persecutionis anno Diocletianus ab inuito exegit Maximiano, ut simul purpuram imperiumque deponerent ac iunioribus in rempublicam substitutis ipsi in priuato otio consenescerent. itaque sub una die Diocletianus apud Nicomediam, Maximianus apud Mediolanium potestatem imperii simul cultumque deposuerunt.

[¶14] Galerius and Constantius, as Augusti, were the first to divide the Roman Empire into two parts: Galerius Maximian held Illyricum, Asia and the east; Constantius, Italy, Africa and the Gallic provinces. But Constantius, a man of the most peaceable temper, content with Gaul alone [and Spain], yielded the remaining parts to Galerius.

> Latin: 15 Galerius et Constantius Augusti primi Romanum imperium in duas partes diuiserunt: Galerius Maximianus Illyricum Asiam et orientem, Constantius Italiam Africam et Gallias obtinuit; sed Constantius uir tranquillissimus, Gallia tantum [Hispaniaque] contentus, Galerio ceteris partibus cessit.

[¶15] Galerius chose two Caesars: Maximinus, whom he placed in the east, and Severus, to whom he entrusted Italy, while he himself was stationed in Illyricum. Constantius Augustus, a man of the greatest gentleness and courtesy, died in Britain. He left as emperor of the Gallic provinces Constantine, his son born of the concubine Helena.

> Latin: 16 Galerius duos Caesares legit: Maximinum, quem in oriente constituit, et Seuerum, cui permisit Italiam, ipse in Illyrico constitutus. Constantius uero Augustus summae mansuetudinis et ciuilitatis in Britannia mortem obiit. qui Constantinum filium ex concubina Helena creatum imperatorem Galliarum reliquit.

## 160. Book 7 · Chapter 26

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/160/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/160/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1061 from the founding of the City, Constantine, the thirty-fourth, took over the helm of empire from his father Constantius, and held it most prosperously for thirty-one years.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MLXI Constantinus tricensimus quartus gubernacula imperii a Constantio patre suscepit, quae uno et triginta annis felicissime tenuit.

[¶1] Suddenly I am confronted and mocked with a kind of triumphal dancing. “Ha!” they say. “At last, long awaited, you have come into our pits. Here we were waiting for you to run down; here we overwhelm you as you slip; here we hold you confounded. We have borne with you thus far, as you fitted, in a way artfully and cunningly, the chance changes of the times to vengeances for the Christians.

> Latin: 2 Occuritur mihi subito et tripudiis quibusdam insultatur: Eia, inquiunt, tandem in foueas nostras, diu expectate, uenisti. hic te decursurum opperiebamur, hic delapsum opprimimus, hic confusum tenemus. sustinuimus te hactenus, artificiose quodammodo et callide fortuitas temporum mutationes Christianorum ultionibus coaptantem.

[¶2] And at times indeed, moved by the appearance of probability, being men ignorant of divine secrets, we grew pale with fear; but now our Maximian has emptied the whole stage-play of your fable, and the antiquity of our religion has shone forth as an impregnable pillar.

> Latin: 3 et interdum quidem uerisimilium specie permoti, utpote homines ignari diuinorum secretorum, timore palluimus, sed nunc euacuauit Maximianus noster omnem scaenam fabulae tuae nostraeque religionis antiquitatem columna inexpugnabilis fulsit.

[¶3] For ten years your churches were overthrown, as even you admit; throughout the whole world Christians were torn apart by tortures and wiped out by deaths. We hold your own plain testimony that no earlier persecution was either so heavy or so long.

> Latin: 4 per annos decem euersae sunt ecclesiae uestrae ut etiam tu fateris; dilacerati cruciatibus, exinaniti mortibus toto orbe Christiani. tenemus euidens testimonium tuum, nullam superiorem persecutionem adeo uel grauem uel diuturnam fuisse.

[¶4] And yet, look: amid the most peaceful blessings of the times there was also the unheard-of good fortune of the very emperors who did these things — no famine at home, no pestilence, no war abroad except by choice, in which their strength might be exercised but not endangered;

> Latin: 5 et tamen ecce inter tranquillissima temporum bona ipsorum quoque imperatorum, qui ista fecerunt, inusitata felicitas: nulla domi fames, nulla pestilentia, nullum foris bellum nisi uoluntarium, quo exerceri uires non periclitari queant;

[¶5] there was, moreover, a thing hitherto unknown to the human race: a forbearing partnership of many rulers at once, with great concord, and a common power which at no other time, but now, looked to the common good.

> Latin: 6 res praeterea humano generi hucusque incognita: multorum simul regum patiens consortium et magna concordia potestasque communis, alias numquam, nunc in commune prospiciens.

[¶6] Then, too — a thing until then beyond all mortal knowledge — those emperors, the greatest of all and the persecutors besides, laid down their high office and took up repose as private men, which men judge the most blessed state and the highest good of a good life; and this the authors of the persecution obtained, as though by way of reward, at the very time when the persecution they had kindled was raging at its height throughout the world.

> Latin: 7 deinde etiam, quod absque ulla hactenus mortalium notitia est, imperatores illi maximi quippe et persecutores, honore deposito et adsumpta quiete, priuati, quod beatissimum homines et summum bonum uitae bonae iudicant, et hoc tunc uelut praemii loco auctores persecutionis adepti sunt, quando accensa persecutio medio sui tempore toto orbe saeuiebat.

[¶7] Or do you assert that even this blessedness befell them in those times by way of punishment, and are you trying to frighten us with this too?”

> Latin: 8 an etiam hanc beatitudinem illis temporibus poenaliter accidisse adseris et nos hinc quoque terrere moliris?

[¶8] To them I would humbly reply that, girded with the greatest care for godliness, I am warning them of what is true, not frightening them with what is false. The Church of Christ suffered ten persecutions from Nero to Maximian. Nine vengeances, as I have called them — calamities, as they themselves do not deny — followed hard on their heels. Nor do I press the point about the word, whether they seem to have been deserved vengeances or chance changes; by their testimony and mine alike they were disasters.

> Latin: 9 Quibus humiliter responderim, me plurima cura pietatis accinctum commonere de ueris, non terrere de falsis. decem persecutiones a Nerone usque ad Maximianum Ecclesia Christi passa est: nouem, ut ego dixi, ultiones, ut ipsi non negant, calamitates e uestigiis consecutae sunt. nec in uerbo premo, utrum debitae ultiones an fortuitae permutationes fuisse uideantur, quae tamen meo suoque testimonio clades fuerunt.

[¶9] In the tenth, the wretched and blind suppose that there was a hitch, not seeing that it was all the heavier for them the less it was understood; for the ungodly man is scourged and does not feel it. [And] when this has been set out, they will confess, however unwillingly, because of the very truth of the facts, that from that greatest punishment for the Maximian persecution come these wounds from which even now they suffer — and suffer so much that they even cry out and provoke us to cry back, so that we are made anxious how they may be brought to silence.

> Latin: 10 in decima haesitatum putant miseri et caeci, non uidentes tanto eam ipsis fuisse grauiorem quanto minus intellecta est. impius enim flagellatur et non sentit. [et] quod cum expositum fuerit, inuiti licet propter ipsam rerum fidem fatebuntur, quia ex illa Maximianae persecutionis maxima punitione ista sunt uulnera, quibus etiam nunc isti dolent et in tantum dolent, ut etiam clament nosque ad reclamandum lacessant: sollicitos fieri, qualiter conticescant.

## 161. Book 7 · Chapter 27

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/161/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/161/#p-N

[¶0] In my first book I set out that Pompeius Trogus and Cornelius Tacitus had recorded, though not fully, while our own Moses — faithful even by their testimony — told faithfully and sufficiently, that the Egyptians and their king, when, out of an impulse to hinder their devotion, they were calling back to clay and straw the people of God, intent and ready to serve their God, were afflicted with ten most bitter plagues;

> Latin: 1 In primo libello expositum a nobis est, Pompeium Trogum et Cornelium Tacitum commemorasse non plene quidem, nostrum uero Moysen, etiam ipsorum testimonio fidelem, fideliter sufficienterque dixisse, Aegyptios et regem eorum, cum populum Dei seruire intentum et paratum Deo suo, impediendae deuotionis instinctu ad lutum paleasque reuocarent, decem acerbissimis plagis fuisse uexatos.

*Note: Orosius 1.10. The Exodus is told by Pompeius Trogus (in Justin’s epitome, 36.2) and by Tacitus, Histories 5.3.*

[¶1] that then, tamed by the violence of their evils, they not only forced them to hasten away but even loaded them with their own vessels of silver and gold; and that afterwards, forgetting their plague and greedy for plunder not owed them, envious too of another’s religion, while they eagerly pursued the innocent, they were at last swallowed up by the Red Sea and all utterly perished. This I now relate and announce — even if perhaps it is not accepted on faith, it is nevertheless to be proved by the outcome — because these things were done as a figure of us.

> Latin: 2 deinde uiolentia malorum edomitos non solum coegisse festinantem sed etiam propriis suis argenteis et aureis uasis accumulauisse. post, oblitos plagae suae et cupidos praedae indebitae, inuidos etiam religionis alienae, dum innocentes auide persequuntur, mari Rubro ultime receptos omnes funditus interisse. quod ego nunc refero ac renuntio, etsi forte fide non acceptatum, exitu tamen probandum, quia haec in figura nostri facta sunt.

[¶2] Both peoples belong to the one God; the cause of both peoples is one. The synagogue of the Israelites was subject to the Egyptians; the Church of the Christians is subject to the Romans. The Egyptians persecuted; the Romans persecuted too. There, ten refusals against Moses; here, ten edicts against Christ. There, diverse plagues of the Egyptians; here, diverse calamities of the Romans.

> Latin: 3 uterque populus unius Dei est, una populi utriusque causa. subdita fuit Israhelitarum synagoga Aegyptiis, subdita est Christianorum ecclesia Romanis. persecuti sunt Aegyptii, persecuti sunt et Romani. decem ibi contradictiones aduersus Moysen, decem hic edicta aduersus Christum; diuersae ibi plagae Aegyptiorum, diuersae hic calamitates Romanorum.

[¶3] For — to compare the plagues themselves with one another, so far as a figure can be compared with its form — there, the first chastisement made blood ooze everywhere from the wells or run in the rivers; here, the first plague, under Nero, brought it about that everywhere there was the blood of the dying, either corrupted by diseases in the City or poured out by wars throughout the world.

> Latin: 4 nam, ut etiam ipsas inter se plagas, in quantum tamen figura formae conparari potest, conferam, ibi prima correptio habuit sanguinem uulgo uel manasse de puteis uel in fluminibus cucurrisse: hic prima sub Nerone exegit plaga, ut ubique morientium sanguis esset uel morbis in urbe corruptus uel bellis in orbe profusus.

[¶4] There, the following plague brought forth frogs, croaking and leaping about in the innermost chambers, to be a cause of near-starvation and of exile for the inhabitants; here, the following punishment, under Domitian, likewise showed nearly all the citizens of Rome driven to want and scattered in exile by the wicked and unbridled raids of his henchmen and soldiers as they carried out the orders of that most bloodthirsty prince.

> Latin: 5 ibi sequens plaga prodidit perstrepentes persultantesque in penetralibus ranas inediae propemodum causam habitatoribus atque exilii fuisse: hic sequens sub Domitiano poena similiter ostendit satellitum militumque eius improbis effrenatisque discursibus cruentissimi iussa principis exsequentum ad inopiam paene omnes ciues Romanos adactos exilioque dispersos.

[¶5] There, the third affliction brought the gnats — tiny and most savage little flies, that is, which often in the midst of the summer heat, massed together in quivering swarms over squalid places, usually glide in with a whining flight and bury themselves, with a burning bite, in the hair of men and the bristles of cattle; here, likewise, the third plague, under Trajan, roused the Jews, who, though previously scattered everywhere and keeping as quiet as if they no longer existed, were all stirred by a sudden heat and raged throughout the world against the very peoples among whom they lived — besides the great ruin of many cities which frequent earthquakes overthrew at the same time.

> Latin: 6 ibi tertia uexatio habuit sciniphes, musculas scilicet paruissimas ac saeuissimas, quae mediis saepe aestibus per loca squalida coadunatim uibrando densatae tinnulo uolatu adlabi solent capillisque hominum ac pecudum saetis cum urente morsu interseri: hic itidem tertia sub Traiano plaga Iudaeos excitauit, qui cum antea ubique dispersi ita iam quasi non essent quiescerent, repentino omnes calore permoti, in ipsos, inter quos erant, toto orbe saeuierunt, absque magnis multarum urbium ruinis, quas crebri terrae motus isdem temporibus subruerunt.

[¶6] There, in the fourth plague, there were dog-flies, truly the nurslings of rottenness and the mothers of worms; here, likewise, the fourth plague, under Marcus Aurelius — a pestilence poured over very many provinces — gave over to rottenness and worms alike the whole of Italy too, with the city of Rome, and the Roman army scattered along distant frontiers and in various winter quarters, dissolved in death.

> Latin: 7 ibi in quarta plaga muscae caninae fuerunt, reuera alumnae putredinis uermiumque matres: hic itidem quarta sub Marco Antonino plaga, lues plurimis infusa prouinciis Italiam quoque cum urbe Roma uniuersam exercitumque Romanum, per longinquos limites et diuersa hiberna dispersum, in mortem dissolutum putredini simul ac uermibus dedit.

*Note: Orosius writes Marcus Antoninus. The Antonine Plague broke out in 165–166, carried west by the army returning from Lucius Verus’s Parthian war.*

[¶7] There, the fifth chastisement was fulfilled in the sudden death of flocks and beasts of burden; here, similarly, by the fifth vengeance, under Severus the persecutor, through very frequent civil wars, the commonwealth’s own vitals and supports — that is, the common people of the provinces and the legions of soldiers — were broken to pieces.

> Latin: 8 ibi quinta correptio pecorum ac iumentorum repentino interitu expleta est: hic similiter quinta ultione sub Seuero persecutore creberrimis ciuilibus bellis propria uiscera et adiumenta reipublicae, hoc est plebes prouinciarum et legiones militum, comminutae sunt.

[¶8] There, the sixth affliction brought seething blisters and running sores; here, equally, the sixth punishment, which came after the persecution of Maximinus — who had ordered that the bishops and clergy in particular, that is, the leaders of the churches, be slaughtered, the common crowd being passed over — swelling up repeatedly with anger and envy, was vented not through a slaughter of the common people but through the wounds and deaths of princes and men of power.

> Latin: 9 ibi sexta uexatio intulit uesicas efferuescentes ulceraque manantia: hic aeque sexta punitio, quae post Maximini persecutionem fuit, qui specialiter episcopos et clericos omissa turba populari, hoc est ecclesiarum primates, trucidari imperauerat, intumescens crebro ira atque inuidia non per uulgi caedem sed per uulnera mortesque principum ac potentium exhalata est.

*Note: Maximinus Thrax (235–238), not the Maximinus (Daia) of 7.28.*

[¶9] There, the seventh plague is counted as the hail poured out from the condensed air, which was the ruin of men, beasts of burden and crops; here, similarly, the seventh plague arose under Gallus and Volusianus, who had succeeded Decius the persecutor when he was killed soon afterwards: a pestilence poured out from the corrupted air, which throughout all the expanses of the Roman realm, from east to west, not only gave over to death nearly every kind of man and beast but also “corrupted the lakes and tainted the pastures with its poison.”

> Latin: 10 ibi septima plaga numeratur coacto aere grando profusa, quae hominibus iumentis satisque exitio fuit: hic similiter septima sub Gallo et Volusiano, qui persecutori Decio mox interfecto successerant, plaga extitit corrupto aere pestis infusa, quae per omnia Romani regni ab oriente in occidentem spatia cum omne propemodum genus hominum et pecudum neci dedit tum etiam Corrupitque lacus, infecit pabula tabo.

*Note: Virgil, Georgics 3.481, from the description of the cattle plague in Noricum.*

[¶10] There, the eighth crushing of Egypt was brought about by locusts roused from every side, holding, wearing down and covering everything; here, likewise, the eighth was brought on, to the overthrow of the Roman world, by nations roused from every side, which devastated all the provinces with slaughter and fire.

> Latin: 11 ibi octauam Aegypti contritionem fecere excitatae undique lucustae, tenentes terentes tegentesque omnia: hic octauam aeque in subuersionem Romani orbis excitatae undique intulere gentes, quae caedibus atque incendiis cunctas prouincias deleuerunt.

[¶11] There, the ninth confusion brought a long-lasting, thick and almost palpable darkness, which threatened altogether more danger than it caused; here, likewise, the ninth chastisement came when, as Aurelian was decreeing a persecution, a terrible and grim thunderbolt fell amid dreadful whirlwinds at his very feet, showing what so great an avenger could do, when such vengeance was required, were he not both merciful and patient — although within six months from then three emperors in succession, that is, Aurelian, Tacitus and Florianus, were killed for various reasons.

> Latin: 12 ibi nona turbatio diuturnas crassas ac paene tractabiles tenebras habuit, plus omnino periculi comminata quam fecit: hic itidem nona correptio fuit, cum Aureliano persecutionem decernenti diris turbinibus terribile ac triste fulmen sub ipsis pedibus ruit ostendens, quid, cum ultio talis exigeret, tantus possit ultor, nisi et clemens esset et patiens; quamquam intra sex abhinc menses tres succidui imperatores, hoc est Aurelianus Tacitus et Florianus, diuersis causis interfecti sunt.

*Note: Aurelian was murdered in 275 and Florianus in 276; the three deaths took nearer a year than six months.*

[¶12] There, finally, the tenth plague, which was also the last of all, was the killing of the sons whom each had begotten first; here, no less, the tenth — that is, the last — punishment is the destruction of all the idols, which they had made from the first and loved above all.

> Latin: 13 ibi postremo decima plaga, quae et nouissima omnium fuit, interfectio filiorum, quos primos quique genuerant: hic nihilo minus decima id est nouissima poena est omnium perditio idolorum, quae primitus facta in primis amabant.

[¶13] There, the king felt, proved and feared the power of God, and therefore allowed the people of God to depart free; here, the king felt, proved and believed the power of God, and therefore allowed the people of God to be free. There, the people of God was never afterwards dragged back into slavery; here, the people of God was never afterwards forced into idolatry. There, the precious vessels of the Egyptians were handed over to the Hebrews; here, the chief temples of the pagans passed to the churches of the Christians.

> Latin: 14 Ibi rex potentiam Dei sensit probauit et timuit ac per hoc populum Dei liberum abire permisit: hic rex potentiam Dei sensit probauit et credidit ac per hoc populum Dei liberum esse permisit. ibi numquam postea populus Dei ad seruitutem retractus: hic numquam postea populus Dei ad idololatriam coactus est. ibi Aegyptiorum uasa pretiosa Hebraeis tradita sunt: hic in ecclesias Christianorum praecipua paganorum templa cesserunt.

[¶14] Yet this, as I said, I think must be proclaimed: just as, after these ten plagues, eternal destruction fell upon the Egyptians through the sea drawn over them as they strove to pursue the Hebrews who had been set free, so for us too, as we journey freely as pilgrims, a persecution by the pagans is in store, which will come upon us at some time, until we cross the Red Sea — that is, the fire of judgement — with our Lord Jesus Christ himself as our leader and judge.

> Latin: 15 sane illud, ut dixi, denuntiandum puto, quia, sicut Aegyptiis post has decem plagas dimissos Hebraeos persequi molientibus inruit per superductum mare aeterna perditio, ita et nos quidem libere peregrinantes superuentura quandoque persecutio gentilium manet, donec mare Rubrum, hoc est ignem iudicii, ipso domino nostro Iesu Christo duce et iudice transeamus.

[¶15] But those into whom the figure of the Egyptians has been passed on, raging with a power granted them for a time, will indeed, by God’s permission, persecute the Christians with the heaviest tortures; yet all these same enemies of Christ, together with their king Antichrist, taken into the lake of eternal fire — which, because a great darkness hinders the sight, is entered before it is seen — will receive as their lot perpetual perdition, to burn in undying torments.

> Latin: 16 hi uero, in quos Aegyptiorum forma transfunditur, permissa ad tempus potestate saeuientes grauissimis quidem permissu Dei Christianos cruciatibus persequentur; uerumtamen idem omnes inimici Christi cum rege suo Antichristo accepti stagno ignis aeterni, quod magna impediente caligine dum non uidetur intratur, perpetuam perditionem immortalibus arsuri suppliciis sortientur.

## 162. Book 7 · Chapter 28

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/162/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/162/#p-N

[¶0] So, when Constantius had died in Britain, as I said, Constantine was made emperor, the first of the emperors to be a Christian — with the exception of Philip, who, a Christian for only a very few years, seems to me to have been appointed solely for this purpose: that the thousandth year of Rome should be dedicated to Christ rather than to idols.

> Latin: 1 Igitur mortuo, ut dixi, Constantio in Britanniis Constantinus imperator creatus, primus imperatorum Christianus excepto Philippo, qui Christianus annis admodum paucissimis ad hoc tantum constitutus fuisse mihi uisus est, ut millesimus Romae annus Christo potius quam idolis dicaretur.

[¶1] From Constantine onward, however, all the emperors made down to the present day have been Christians, except Julian, whose deadly life, as they say, deserted him while he was plotting impious things.

> Latin: 2 a Constantino autem omnes semper Christiani imperatores usque in hodiernum diem creati sunt excepto Iuliano, quem impia, ut aiunt, machinantem exitiabilis uita deseruit.

[¶2] This is that slow but sure punishment of the pagans: from this the sane go mad; from this the unwounded are pierced; from this those who laugh groan; from this the living waste away; from this those whom no one persecutes are tortured in secret; from this very few of them now remain, though they were never punished by any persecutor.

> Latin: 3 haec est lenta illa paganorum poena sed certa; hinc sani insaniunt, hinc non uulnerati conpunguntur, hinc ridentes gemunt, hinc uiuentes deficiunt, hinc secreto excruciantur, quos nemo persequitur, hinc iam paucissimi remanserunt, qui numquam aliquo persequente puniti sunt.

[¶3] Nevertheless I shall set out what kind of end then awaited those persecutors, about whose freedom from punishment they try not only to boast but even to taunt us.

> Latin: 4 uerumtamen qualis tunc persecutores illos, de quorum impunitate non solum gloriari sed etiam insultare conantur, finis mansit, expediam.

[¶4] While Constantine was administering the commonwealth most vigorously in the Gallic provinces, the praetorian soldiers at Rome proclaimed as Augustus Maxentius, the son of Herculius, who was living as a private man in Lucania.

> Latin: 5 Constantino in Galliis strenuissime rempublicam procurante praetoriani milites Romae Maxentium filium Herculii, qui priuatus in Lucania morabatur, Augustum nuncupauerunt.

[¶5] Maximian Herculius, now a private man after being Augustus, and still a public persecutor, was tempted by the opportunity his son offered; and he who had cast aside the imperial power seized a tyranny.

> Latin: 6 Maximianus Herculius, iam ex Augusto priuatus et adhuc publicus persecutor, occasione filii sollicitatus, qui imperium abiecerat, arripuit tyrannidem.

[¶6] Galerius Augustus sent Severus Caesar with an army to Rome against Maxentius.

> Latin: 7 Galerius Augustus Seuerum Caesarem aduersus Maxentium Romam cum exercitu misit.

*Note: Severus had been raised from Caesar to Augustus on Constantius’s death in 306; Orosius, following Eutropius, still calls him Caesar.*

[¶7] While Severus was besieging the City, he was deserted and betrayed through the crime of his own soldiers, and, fleeing on that account, was killed at Ravenna.

> Latin: 8 Seuerus cum urbem obsideret, militum suorum scelere desertus et proditus atque ex eo fugiens Rauennae interfectus est.

*Note: Severus in fact surrendered at Ravenna (307) and was put to death some time later near Rome.*

[¶8] Herculius Maximian, persecutor, and from Augustus become a tyrant, tried to strip his son, now confirmed in power, of the royal robe and authority; but, openly terrified by the abuse and uproar of the soldiers, he set out for Gaul, so that, attaching himself by guile to his son-in-law Constantine, he might take the imperial power from him in the same way.

> Latin: 9 Herculius Maximianus, persecutor et ex Augusto tyrannus, confirmatum iam in imperio filium ueste ac potestate regia spoliare conatus, conuiciis autem ac tumultibus militum palam conterritus in Galliam profectus est, ut Constantino genero aeque dolis iunctus auferret imperium.

[¶9] But, detected and betrayed by his daughter, and then put to flight, he was caught and killed at Marseille.

> Latin: 10 sed per filiam deprehensus et proditus, deinde in fugam uersus Massiliae oppressus et interfectus est.

[¶10] Galerius, moreover, after Severus had been killed, made Licinius emperor.

> Latin: 11 porro Galerius occiso Seuero Licinium imperatorem creauit.

[¶11] And when he himself had heaped up the persecution set in motion by Diocletian and Maximian with yet more savage edicts, and had drained the provinces of every kind of person for ten years, his chest rotted inwardly and his vital organs dissolved, so that, beyond the very horror of human misery, he even vomited up worms, and his physicians, no longer able to bear the stench, were repeatedly put to death at his command;

> Latin: 12 cumque persecutionem a Diocletiano et Maximiano missam ipse atrocioribus edictis adcumulauisset ac postquam per annos decem omni genere hominum exhausit prouincias, putrefacto introrsum pectore et uitalibus dissolutis, cum ultra horrorem humanae miseriae etiam uermes eructaret neque medici ultra iam foetorem ferentes crebro iussu eius occiderentur:

[¶12] and when he was rebuked by one physician, who took courage from despair, and told that his punishment was the wrath of God and therefore could not be cured by physicians, he recalled the Christians from exile by edicts sent far and wide. He himself, however, unable to bear his torments, laid violent hands on his own life.

> Latin: 13 a quodam medico constantiam ex desperatione sumente increpitus, iram Dei esse poenam suam atque ideo a medicis non posse curari, edictis late missis Christianos de exiliis reuocauit. ipse autem cruciatus non sustinens uim uitae suae adtulit.

*Note: Galerius died of his disease in 311, a few days after issuing his edict of toleration; neither Lactantius nor Eusebius, who describe his end in detail, speaks of suicide.*

[¶13] Thus the commonwealth was then under four new princes: Constantine and Maxentius, sons of Augusti, and Licinius and Maximinus, new men.

> Latin: 14 ita respublica tunc sub nouis quattuor principibus fuit Constantino et Maxentio, filiis Augustorum, Licinio autem et Maximino, hominibus nouis.

[¶14] Constantine granted peace to the churches ten years after they had begun to be harried by the persecutors.

> Latin: 15 Constantinus pacem ecclesiis post decem annos quam a persecutoribus uexabantur indulsit.

[¶15] Then a civil war arose between Constantine and Maxentius. Maxentius, worn down by many battles, was finally defeated and killed at the Milvian Bridge.

> Latin: 16 deinde inter Constantinum et Maxentium bellum ciuile exortum est. Maxentius, saepe multis proeliis fatigatus, ultime ad pontem Muluium uictus et interfectus est.

[¶16] Maximinus, the instigator and most hostile executor of the persecution of the Christians, died at Tarsus while preparing a civil war against Licinius.

> Latin: 17 Maximinus, persecutionis Christianorum incentor exsecutorque infestissimus, apud Tharsum, dum ciuile bellum contra Licinium disponit, interiit.

*Note: Maximinus Daia had already been defeated by Licinius near Adrianople in 313; he died at Tarsus a few months later while trying to renew the war.*

[¶17] Licinius, stirred by a sudden frenzy, ordered all Christians to be expelled from his palace. Soon war boiled up between Licinius himself and Constantine.

> Latin: 18 Licinius, repentina rabie suscitatus, omnes Christianos e palatio suo iussit expelli. mox bellum inter ipsum Licinium et Constantinum efferbuit.

[¶18] But Constantine first defeated Licinius, his sister’s husband, in Pannonia, then crushed him at Cibalae, and, having made himself master of all Greece, at last forced Licinius, who kept rising up again in frequent wars by land and sea and kept being beaten back, to surrender;

> Latin: 19 sed Constantinus Licinium, sororis suae uirum, in Pannonia primum uicit, deinde apud Cibalas oppressit uniuersaque Graecia potitus Licinium crebris bellis terra marique adsurgentem et repressum tandem ad deditionem coegit;

*Note: Cibalae (modern Vinkovci) itself lies in Pannonia. The first war between the two was decided at Cibalae and then at Mardia in Thrace; the last (324) at Adrianople and Chrysopolis.*

[¶19] but, moved by the example of his father-in-law Maximian Herculius, lest Licinius should once more take up the purple he had laid down, to the ruin of the commonwealth, he ordered him to be killed as a private man —

> Latin: 20 sed Herculii Maximiani soceri sui motus exemplo, ne iterum depositam purpuram in perniciem reipublicae sumeret, priuatum iussit occidi;

[¶20] although, now that all the agents of the wicked persecution had been destroyed, a fitting punishment was demanding this man too, in so far as he had been able to show himself a persecutor.

> Latin: 21 quamuis omnibus iam ministris nefariae persecutionis extinctis hunc quoque in quantum exerere potuit persecutorem digna punitio flagitaret.

[¶21] Constantine’s sons Crispus and Constantine, and the young Licinius, son of Licinius Augustus and Constantine’s nephew by his sister, were made Caesars.

> Latin: 22 Constantini filii, Crispus et Constantinus et Licinius adulescens, Licini Augusti filius, Constantini autem ex sorore nepos, Caesares sunt creati.

[¶22] In these days Arius, a presbyter of the city of Alexandria, straying from the truth of the catholic faith, established a doctrine that proved deadly to very many.

> Latin: 23 His diebus Arrius, Alexandrinae urbis presbyter, a ueritate fidei catholicae deuians, exitiabile plurimis dogma constituit.

[¶23] As soon as he had first become, at Alexandria, known — or rather notorious — amid the confused throng of his followers and his assailants, he was driven out of the church by Alexander, then bishop of that city.

> Latin: 24 qui simul ut primum Alexandriae uel notus uel notatus inter confusos uulgo sectatores insectatoresque factus est, ab Alexandro, eiusdem tunc urbis episcopo, pulsus ecclesia est.

[¶24] And when he went on to stir up to sedition the men whom he had led astray into error, a council of 318 bishops was held at Nicaea, a city of Bithynia, by whom the Arian doctrine was most clearly found to be deadly and wretched, and was publicly exposed and condemned.

> Latin: 25 cumque homines, quos in errorem seduxerat, etiam in seditionem excitaret, apud Nicaeam urbem Bithyniae conuentus trecentorum decem et octo episcoporum factus est, per quos Arrianum dogma exitiabile et miserum esse euidentissime deprehensum, palam proditum ac reprobatum est.

*Note: The figure of 318, which became traditional and recalls the 318 servants of Abraham (Genesis 14:14), is a later round number; Eusebius, who attended, speaks of more than 250 bishops.*

[¶25] But amid these things the reasons lie hidden why the emperor Constantine turned the avenging sword and the punishment destined for the ungodly even against his own kin; for he killed his son Crispus and his sister’s son Licinius. Besides this, he subdued many nations in various battles.

> Latin: 26 sed inter haec latent causae, cur uindicem gladium et destinatam in impios punitionem Constantinus imperator etiam in proprios egit affectus. nam Crispum filium suum et Licinium sororis filium interfecit. praeterea multas gentes diuersis proeliis subegit.

[¶26] He was the first, or rather the only one, of the Roman kings to found a city bearing his own name. This city, alone free of idols, was raised by a Christian emperor, in the very short time since its founding, to such a height that it alone can rightly be equalled in beauty and power to Rome, raised up through so many centuries and so many miseries.

> Latin: 27 urbem nominis sui Romanorum regum uel primus uel solus instituit. quae sola expers idolorum ad hoc breuissimo tempore condita a Christiano imperatore prouecta est, ut sola Romae, tot saeculis miseriisque prouectae, forma et potentia merito possit aequari.

[¶27] Then Constantine was the first to turn the tables, in a just and holy order: for he decreed by edict that the temples of the pagans be closed, without any killing of men.

> Latin: 28 tum deinde primus Constantinus iusto ordine et pio uicem uertit: edicto siquidem statuit citra ullam hominum caedem paganorum templa claudi.

*Note: Constantine despoiled and destroyed some temples but issued no general order closing them; laws ordering the temples shut came under his sons.*

[¶28] Soon afterwards he destroyed the most valiant and populous nations of the Goths in the very heart of barbarian soil, that is, in the region of the Sarmatians.

> Latin: 29 mox Gothorum fortissimas et copiosissimas gentes in ipso barbarici soli sinu, hoc est in Sarmatarum regione, deleuit.

[¶29] He crushed a certain Calocaerus in Cyprus, who was aspiring to revolution. At the celebration of his thirtieth year he chose Dalmatius as Caesar.

> Latin: 30 Calocaerum quendam in Cypro adspirantem nouis rebus oppressit. tricennalibus suis Dalmatium Caesarem legit.

[¶30] And while he was preparing war against the Persians, he died at a public villa near Nicomedia, handing over to his sons a commonwealth well set in order.

> Latin: 31 cumque bellum in Persas moliretur, in uilla publica iuxta Nicomediam, dispositam bene rempublicam filiis tradens, diem obiit.

## 163. Book 7 · Chapter 29

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/163/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/163/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1092 from the founding of the City, Constantius, the thirty-fifth, obtained the imperial power together with his brothers Constantine and Constans, and held it for twenty-four years. Among the successors of Constantine there was also Dalmatius Caesar, his brother’s son; but he was soon cut off by a faction of the soldiers.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MXCII Constantius tricensimus quintus cum Constantino et Constante fratribus suis adeptus imperium uiginti et quattuor annis tenuit. fuit inter successores Constantini et Dalmatius Caesar fratris filius, sed continuo militari factione deceptus est.

[¶1] Meanwhile the devil’s ever-malignant assault upon the true God — which from the beginning of the world until now, spreading clouds of error, throws the unsteady hearts of men into confusion, away from the pure path of faith and religion — once it had ceased to persecute the Church of Christ through zeal for idolatry, now that Christian emperors were turning the supreme royal power to better ends, devised another contrivance by which to harass the Church of Christ through those very Christian emperors.

> Latin: 2 interea maligna semper aduersus Deum uerum diaboli insectatio, quae ab initio mundi usque ad nunc a sincero fidei religionisque tramite offusis errorum nebulis lubrica hominum corda perturbat, postquam Christianis imperatoribus summam regiae potestatis in meliora uertentibus Ecclesiam Christi zelo idololatriae persequi destitit, aliud machinamentum, quo per eosdem Christianos imperatores Christi Ecclesiam uexaret, inuenit.

[¶2] So Arius, the author of a new error, and the rest of his disciples found ready access and an easy way into intimacy with the emperor Constantius. Constantius was persuaded to believe in certain grades within God; and he who had gone out through the door from the error of idolatry was led back into its bosom, as though through a back door, while he sought gods within God.

> Latin: 3 fit igitur Arrio, noui erroris auctori, ceterisque discipulis ipsius ad familiaritatem Constantii imperatoris promptus aditus et facilis uia. suadetur Constantio, ut quosdam in Deo gradus credat, et qui per ianuam ab errore idololatriae fuerat egressus, rursum in sinum eius, dum in Deo deos quaerit, tamquam per pseudothyrum inducitur.

*Note: Arius died in 336, the year before Constantius became emperor; it was his followers, led by Eusebius of Nicomedia, who won Constantius’s favour.*

[¶3] So, with perverse zeal, a deluded power was armed, and under the name of piety the force of persecution was set in motion. A contest arose over a new choice of name, so that the churches should belong to the Arians rather than to the catholics.

> Latin: 4 peruerso igitur zelo potestas armatur inlusa et sub nomine pietatis uis persecutionis agitatur. de noua nominis electione contenditur, ut Arrianorum potius ecclesiae quam catholicorum sint.

[¶4] There followed a terrible earthquake, which levelled very many cities of the east to the ground. Constantine, while making war on his brother Constans, exposed himself to dangers with reckless insolence and was killed by his brother’s generals.

> Latin: 5 sequitur terrae motus horribilis, qui plurimas orientis urbes solo strauit. Constantinus dum Constantem fratrem bello insectatur, incauta petulantia periculis sese offerens, a ducibus eius occisus est.

[¶5] Constans fought nine battles, with little success, against the Persians and Shapur, who had laid waste Mesopotamia. At the last, forced by the mutiny and indiscipline of his soldiers to join battle at night, he lost a victory all but won, and was defeated besides.

> Latin: 6 Constans aduersus Persas et Saporem, qui Mesopotamiam uastauerat, nouem proeliis parum prospere decertauit. nouissime seditione atque intemperantia militum nocte adoriri pugnam coactus, patratam paene uictoriam insuper uictus amisit.

*Note: Orosius confuses the brothers: it was Constantius II, ruler of the East, who fought Shapur II, and he who lost the night battle at Singara (344 or 348). Constans ruled the West.*

[¶6] Afterwards, when he had given himself up to intolerable vices and was buying the favour of the soldiers at the cost of the provincials’ suffering, he was killed through the treachery of Magnentius in a town called Helena, close to Spain.

> Latin: 7 post cum se intolerandis uitiis dedisset ac poena prouincialium fauorem militum compararet, Magnentii dolis in oppido, cui Helena nomen est, in proximo Hispaniae interfectus est.

*Note: Helena is Elne (Castrum Helenae), near Perpignan at the foot of the eastern Pyrenees; Constans was killed there in 350.*

[¶7] For Magnentius had seized the imperial power at Autun, and at once extended it through Gaul, Africa and Italy.

> Latin: 8 Magnentius enim apud Augustodunum arripuit imperium, quod continuo per Galliam Africam Italiamque porrexit.

[¶8] In Illyricum, meanwhile, the soldiers made Vetranio, a man of great age, emperor for themselves — a man simple by nature and pleasant to all, but one who had never learned even the first elements of letters.

> Latin: 9 in Illyrico autem Vetranionem, aetate grandaeuum, imperatorem sibi milites creauerunt, uirum natura simplicem cunctisque iucundum, sed qui ne prima quidem umquam litterarum elementa didicisset.

[¶9] And so, while the old emperor was practising — at times unwillingly — his first letters and the syllables of words, he was ordered by Constantius, who was then preparing war against Magnentius, burning to avenge his brother, to lay down the imperial power; and, casting off the purple along with his letters and content with the leisure of a private man, he dismissed palace and school together.

> Latin: 10 itaque cum primas litteras litterarumque syllabas imperator senex interdum inuitus meditaretur, a Constantio, qui tunc in Magnentium ultione fratris accensus bellum parabat, deponere iussus imperium, abiciens cum litteris purpuras contentusque priuatis feriis, palatium simul scholamque dimisit.

[¶10] Next, at Rome, Nepotianus, the son of Constantine’s sister, relying on a band of gladiators, seized the imperial power; and since he was wicked, and hated by all on that account, he was crushed by the generals of Magnentius.

> Latin: 11 Nepotianus deinde Romae, Constantini sororis filius, gladiatorum manu fretus inuasit imperium: qui deinde cum inprobus ac per hoc inuisus cunctis esset, a Magnentianis ducibus oppressus est.

[¶11] There followed that terrible war between Constantius and Magnentius, fought at the city of Mursa, in which the great destruction of Roman strength did harm even to later times.

> Latin: 12 sequitur bellum illud horribile inter Constantium Magnentiumque apud Mursam urbem gestum, in quo multa Romanorum uirium profligatio etiam in posterum nocuit.

[¶12] Magnentius, however, was defeated and fled, and not long afterwards killed himself with his own hand at Lyon. His brother Decentius too, whom he had set over the Gallic provinces as Caesar, ended his life with a noose at Sens.

> Latin: 13 Magnentius tamen uictus aufugit ac non multo post apud Lugdunum propria se manu interfecit. Decentius quoque frater eiusdem, quem Caesarem Galliis praefecerat, apud Senonas laqueo uitam finiuit.

[¶13] Constantius at once chose Gallus, his uncle’s son, as Caesar; and when he in turn behaved cruelly and tyrannically, Constantius killed him shortly after he had made him. Silvanus too, who was gaping after revolution throughout the Gallic provinces, he had promptly surrounded and crushed.

> Latin: 14 continuo Constantius Gallum, patrui filium, Caesarem legit: quem rursus crudeliter ac tyrannice agentem paulo post quam crearat occidit. Siluanum quoque, per Gallias rebus nouis inhiantem, mature circumueniendum opprimendumque curauit.

[¶14] So, Silvanus having been killed, he made his cousin Julian, the brother of Gallus, Caesar and sent him to the Gallic provinces; and Julian Caesar most vigorously restored to their former state the Gallic provinces, which had been overthrown and oppressed by the enemy, routed a great multitude of the Alamanni with small forces, and bound the Germans back behind the Rhine.

> Latin: 15 igitur Siluano interfecto Iulianum patruelem suum, Galli fratrem, Caesarem creatum misit ad Gallias; itaque Iulianus Caesar euersas oppressasque ab hoste Gallias strenuissime in integrum restituit, Alamannorum paruis copiis magnam multitudinem fudit, Rheno Germanos reuinxit.

[¶15] Elated by these successes, he usurped the dignity of Augustus, and soon, overrunning Italy and Illyricum, deprived Constantius, who was occupied with battles against the Parthians, of a part of his realm.

> Latin: 16 his elatus successibus fastigium usurpauit Augusti et mox Italiam Illyricumque peruadens Constantium Parthicis proeliis occupatum regni parte priuauit.

*Note: Orosius calls the Sasanian Persians Parthians, after the Arsacid dynasty they had overthrown in 224.*

[¶16] Constantius, on learning of Julian’s crime, abandoned his expedition against the Parthians, and while returning to civil war died on the way, between Cilicia and Cappadocia.

> Latin: 17 Constantius Iuliani scelere comperto dimissa expeditione Parthorum dum ad ciuile bellum reuertitur, in itinere inter Ciliciam Cappadociamque defunctus est.

[¶17] Thus he who, having torn apart the peace and unity of the catholic faith and armed Christians against Christians, had rent the limbs of the Church in what I may call a civil war, wore out, spent and used up the whole time of his restless reign and the most troubled span of his life in civil wars, stirred up even by his own kinsmen and blood relations.

> Latin: 18 ita ille qui discissa pace et unitate fidei catholicae Christianos aduersum Christianos armans ciuili, ut ita dicam, bello Ecclesiae membra dilacerauerat, totum inquieti tempus imperii molestissimumque spatium uitae suae bellis ciuilibus etiam per propinquos et consanguineos excitatis exercuit exegit expendit.

## 164. Book 7 · Chapter 30

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/164/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/164/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1116 from the founding of the City, Julian, long a Caesar, but afterwards the thirty-sixth from Augustus to take control of the state, held the supreme power alone for one year and eight months.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MCXVI Iulianus dudum Caesar, post autem tricesimus sextus ab Augusto rerum potitus anno uno et mensibus octo imperii summam solus obtinuit.

[¶1] He attacked the Christian religion by cunning rather than by power, striving to entice men with honours rather than to compel them with torments to deny the faith of Christ and take up the worship of idols.

> Latin: 2 Christianam religionem arte potius quam potestate insectatus, ut negaretur fides Christi et idolorum cultus susciperetur, honoribus magis prouocare quam tormentis cogere studuit.

[¶2] Yet by an open edict he ordered that no Christian should be a professor teaching the liberal studies. But nevertheless, as we have learned from our elders, nearly all of them everywhere embraced the terms of the decree and chose to abandon their office rather than their faith.

> Latin: 3 aperto tamen praecepit edicto, ne quis Christianus docendorum liberalium studiorum professor esset. sed tamen, sicut a maioribus nostris compertum habemus, omnes ubique propemodum praecepti condiciones amplexati officium quam fidem deserere maluerunt.

[¶3] Julian, moreover, preparing war against the Parthians, as he dragged with him the Roman forces, drawn together from every side, to their appointed destruction, vowed the blood of the Christians to his gods, intending to persecute the churches openly if he were able to win the victory.

> Latin: 4 Iulianus autem bellum aduersum Parthos parans cum Romanas uires contractas undique ad destinatam secum traheret perditionem, Christianorum sanguinem dis suis uouit, palam persecuturus ecclesias, si uictoriam potuisset adipisci.

[¶4] For he even ordered an amphitheatre to be built at Jerusalem, in which, on his return from the Parthians, he might throw bishops, monks and all the saints of that place to beasts made more savage still by art, and watch them being torn to pieces.

> Latin: 5 nam et amphitheatrum Hierosolymis extrui iussit, in quo reuersus a Parthis episcopos monachos omnesque eius loci sanctos bestiis etiam arte saeuioribus obiceret spectaretque laniandos.

[¶5] And so, after he had moved his camp from Ctesiphon, he was led into the desert by the guile of a certain deserter; and when the army was perishing, worn out by the force of thirst and the heat of the sun and the toil of the sands besides, the emperor, anxious at so great a danger, while wandering too incautiously over the wastes of the desert, was struck by the lance of an enemy horseman who met him, and died. Thus the merciful God brought ungodly counsels to nothing by the death of the ungodly man.

> Latin: 6 itaque postquam a Ctesiphonte castra mouit, dolo cuiusdam transfugae in deserta perductus, cum ui sitis et ardore solis atque insuper labore harenarum confectus periret exercitus, imperator tanto rerum periculo anxius dum per uasta deserti incautius euagatur, ab obuio quodam hostium equite conto ictus interiit. sic misericors Deus impia consilia impii morte dissoluit.

## 165. Book 7 · Chapter 31

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/165/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/165/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1117 from the founding of the City, Jovian, the thirty-seventh, was made emperor by the army at a moment of the gravest crisis; and since, trapped by the unfavourable ground and hemmed in by the enemy, he could find no means of escape, he concluded a treaty with Shapur, king of the Persians — less than honourable, as some think, but necessary enough;

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MCXVII Iouianus tricesimus septimus imperator in summo rerum discrimine ab exercitu creatus cum et locorum iniquitate captus et hostibus circumsaeptus nullam euadendi facultatem nancisceretur, foedus cum Sapore Persarum rege, etsi parum ut putant dignum, satis tamen necessarium pepigit:

[¶1] for, in order to deliver the Roman army safe and unharmed not only from the attacks of the enemy but also from the dangers of the terrain, he ceded to the Persians the town of Nisibis and part of upper Mesopotamia.

> Latin: 2 quippe, ut tutum et incolumem Romanum exercitum non solum ab incursu hostium uerum etiam a locorum periculo liberaret, Nisibi oppidum et partem superioris Mesopotamiae Persis concessit.

[¶2] Then, while he was making his way through Galatia on his return to Illyricum, he retired to sleep in a certain new bedchamber, and, overcome and suffocated by the heat of the coals and the fumes from the walls lately plastered with lime, he ended his life in only the eighth month after he had begun to reign.

> Latin: 3 inde dum ad Illyricum rediens per Galatiam iter agit, cum in cubiculum quoddam nouum sese cubitum recepisset, calore prunarum et nidore parietum nuper calce inlitorum adgrauatus et suffocatus, octauo demum mense quam imperare coeperat uitam finiuit.

## 166. Book 7 · Chapter 32

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/166/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/166/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1118 from the founding of the City, Valentinian, the thirty-eighth, was made emperor at Nicaea by consent of the soldiers, and remained in that office for eleven years.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MCXVIII Valentinianus tricesimus octauus apud Nicaeam consensu militum imperator creatus est mansitque in eo annis undecim.

[¶1] When, as a Christian of undiminished faith, he was serving under the military oath as tribune of the Scutarii under Julian Augustus, he was ordered by that sacrilegious emperor either to sacrifice to idols or to leave the service; and, knowing in faith that the judgements of God are heavier and his promises better, he departed of his own accord.

> Latin: 2 qui cum Christianus integra fide sacramentum militiae gereret sub Iuliano Augusto tribunus scutariorum, iussus ab imperatore sacrilego aut immolare idolis aut militia excedere, fideliter sciens et grauiora Dei esse iudicia et meliora promissa, sponte discessit.

[¶2] So, after a short interval, Julian having been killed and Jovian soon dead, he who had lost his tribunate for the name of Christ received the empire, by Christ’s repayment, in the place of his persecutor.

> Latin: 3 ita parua interiecta mora Iuliano interfecto ac mox Iouiano mortuo qui pro nomine Christi amiserat tribunatum, retribuente Christo in locum persecutoris sui accepit imperium:

[¶3] He afterwards made his brother Valens a partner in the empire, and killed the tyrant Procopius and later many of his followers.

> Latin: 4 qui postea fratrem suum Valentem participem fecit imperii, Procopium tyrannum pluresque postea satellites eius occidit.

*Note: Procopius rose against Valens in the East (365–366) and was defeated and executed by Valens, not by Valentinian.*

[¶4] An earthquake throughout the whole world also so stirred up and shook the sea that, as the sea poured back over the neighbouring parts of the low-lying lands, very many cities of the islands are reported to have been shaken, undermined and destroyed.

> Latin: 5 terrae motus per totum orbem factus ita turbatum quoque pelagus excussit, ut per uicinas terrarum campestrium partes refuso mari plurimae insularum urbes concussae et subrutae perisse referantur.

[¶5] Valens, baptized and persuaded by the bishop Eudoxius, a champion of the Arian doctrine, fell away into a most savage heresy; but he long concealed his malignant hostility, and did not join power to will so long as he was held in check by the authority of his brother while he lived.

> Latin: 6 Valens ab Eudoxio episcopo, Arriani dogmatis assertore, et baptizatus et persuasus, in saeuissimam haeresim declinauit; sed malignam insectationem diu texit nec uoluntati potestatem admiscuit, quoad uiuentis fratris auctoritate conpressus est.

[¶6] For he considered, in regard to him, how great a force for avenging the faith could be exerted as emperor by one who once, as a soldier, had shown such constancy in keeping it.

> Latin: 7 contemplabatur enim de eo, quantam uim in ulciscenda fide imperator posset exerere, qui tantam constantiam pro retinenda quondam miles habuisset.

[¶7] In the third year of their reign Gratian, the son of Valentinian, was made emperor. In the same year, at Arras, real wool fell from the clouds mingled with rain.

> Latin: 8 Horum anno imperii tertio Gratianus Valentiniani filius imperator est factus. eodem anno apud Atrebatas uera lana de nubibus pluuiae mixta defluxit.

[¶8] Moreover Athanaric, king of the Goths, persecuted the Christians among his people most cruelly, and raised very many barbarians, slain for their faith, to the crown of martyrdom; very many of them, however, fled for the confession of Christ to Roman soil, not fearfully, as if to enemies, but confidently, because they went to brothers.

> Latin: 9 Praeterea Athanaricus rex Gothorum Christianos in gente sua crudelissime persecutus, plurimos barbarorum ob fidem interfectos ad coronam martyrii sublimauit, quorum tamen plurimi in Romanum solum non trepidi, uelut ad hostes, sed certi, quia ad fratres, pro Christi confessione fugerunt.

[¶9] Valentinian crushed the Saxons — a nation living on the shores of the Ocean and in impassable marshes, terrible for its courage and agility — on the very borders of the Franks, as they were planning, with a great mass of men, an inroad dangerous to the Roman frontiers.

> Latin: 10 Valentinianus Saxones, gentem in oceani litoribus et paludibus inuiis sitam, uirtute atque agilitate terribilem, periculosam Romanis finibus eruptionem magna mole meditantes in ipsis Francorum finibus oppressit.

[¶10] There appeared also the new name of a new enemy, the Burgundians, who, it is said, more than eighty thousand strong in arms, settled on the bank of the river Rhine.

> Latin: 11 Burgundionum quoque nouorum hostium nouum nomen, qui plus quam octoginta milia, ut ferunt, armatorum ripae Rheni fluminis insederunt.

[¶11] They say that these, once posted in camps by Drusus and Tiberius, the adopted sons of Caesar, after inner Germany had been subdued, grew together into a great nation, and so took their very name from their work, because people commonly call the dwellings set up at frequent intervals along the frontier burgi; and that their band is very strong and destructive is witnessed to this day by the Gallic provinces, where they remain in possession of the land they have seized —

> Latin: 12 hos quondam subacta interiore Germania a Druso et Tiberio, adoptiuis filiis Caesaris, per castra dispositos in magnam coaluisse gentem atque ita etiam nomen ex opere praesumpsisse, quia crebra per limitem habitacula constituta burgos uulgo uocant, eorumque esse praeualidam et perniciosam manum Galliae hodieque testes sunt, in quibus praesumpta possessione consistunt;

*Note: The derivation of the Burgundians’ name from burgi is folk etymology. Drusus and Tiberius were Augustus’s stepsons; only Tiberius was adopted, in AD 4, long after Drusus’s death.*

[¶12] although by the providence of God they have all now become Christians of the catholic faith, and, having received our clergy, to whom they are obedient, they live gently, mildly and harmlessly, treating the Gauls not as their subjects but truly as Christian brothers.

> Latin: 13 quamuis prouidentia Dei Christiani omnes modo facti catholica fide nostrisque clericis, quibus oboedirent, receptis blande mansuete innocenterque uiuant, non quasi cum subiectis Gallis sed uere cum fratribus Christianis.

[¶13] In the eleventh year of his reign, when the Sarmatians had spread themselves through the Pannonian provinces and were laying them waste, Valentinian, while preparing war against them, was choked at the town of Brigetio by a sudden effusion of blood, which in Greek is called apoplexy, and died.

> Latin: 14 Anno autem undecimo imperii sui Valentinianus, cum Sarmatae sese per Pannonias diffudissent easque uastarent, bellum in eos parans apud Brigitionem oppidum subita effusione sanguinis, quod Graece apoplexis uocatur, suffocatus et mortuus est.

[¶14] After him his son Gratian held the empire of the west, his uncle Valens being established in the regions of the east; and he made his brother Valentinian, still quite a small boy, a partner in the empire.

> Latin: 15 Post quem Gratianus filius occidentis imperium tenuit, Valente patruo in orientis partibus constituto; Valentinianum etiam, fratrem suum paruum admodum, socium creauit imperii.

## 167. Book 7 · Chapter 33

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/167/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/167/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1128 from the founding of the City, Valens, the thirty-ninth, held the imperial power for four years after the death of Valentinian, the one man before whom he might have blushed for his ungodly conduct. Immediately, with the unbridled audacity of licence, he passed a law that monks — that is, Christians who, laying aside the manifold business of worldly affairs, give themselves wholly to the single work of faith — should be compelled to military service.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MCXXVIII Valens tricesimus nonus imperium quattuor annis Valentiniano mortuo tenuit, cui soli, cum impie ageret, potuisset erubescere. ilico uelut effrenata libertatis audacia legem dedit, ut monachi, hoc est Christiani qui ad unum fidei opus dimissa saecularium rerum multimoda actione se redigunt, ad militiam cogerentur.

[¶1] At that time a great multitude of monks dwelling there had filled those vast solitudes of Egypt and its outspread sands, which human society had never known because of their thirst and barrenness and their most dangerous abundance of serpents.

> Latin: 2 uastas illas tunc Aegypti solitudines harenasque diffusas, quas propter sitim ac sterilitatem periculosissimamque serpentum abundantiam conuersatio humana non nosset, magna habitantium monachorum multitudo compleuerat.

[¶2] Here tribunes and soldiers were sent, to drag away the holy and true soldiers of God under a new name for persecution. Many companies of saints were slain there.

> Latin: 3 huc tribuni et milites missi, qui sanctos ac ueros milites Dei alio nomine persecutionis abstraherent. interfecta sunt ibi agmina multa sanctorum.

[¶3] As for what was done everywhere, throughout the various provinces, by these and similar orders against the catholic churches and the peoples of the right faith, let it suffice that it is made clear enough by my very choice to keep silent.

> Latin: 4 quae autem per diuersas ubique prouincias his similibusque iussis aduersus ecclesias catholicas et rectae fidei populos gesta sint, satis significatum ipsa reticendi electione sufficiat.

[¶4] Meanwhile in the regions of Africa, Firmus, rousing the Moorish nations and setting himself up as king, laid waste Africa and Mauretania; he took Caesarea, the most famous city of Mauretania, by treachery, then filled it with slaughter and fire and gave it to the barbarians as plunder.

> Latin: 5 Interea in Africae partibus Firmus sese excitatis Maurorum gentibus regem constituens Africam Mauretaniamque uastauit; Caesaream urbem nobilissimam Mauretaniae dolo captam, deinde caedibus incendiisque conpletam barbaris in praedam dedit.

[¶5] So Count Theodosius, father of the Theodosius who afterwards ruled the empire, was sent by Valentinian; he broke the scattered Moorish nations in many battles, and drove Firmus himself, crushed and overwhelmed, to his death.

> Latin: 6 igitur comes Theodosius, Theodosii qui post imperio praefuit pater, a Valentiniano missus effusas Maurorum gentes multis proeliis fregit, ipsum Firmum afflictum et oppressum coegit ad mortem.

[¶6] Afterwards, when with most experienced foresight he had restored the whole of Africa, together with Mauretania, to a better state than before, he was ordered to be killed at the goading of envy, which crept stealthily upon him; whereupon he chose first to be baptized at Carthage for the remission of sins; and after he had obtained the sacrament of Christ which he had sought, secure now, after a glorious life in the world, of eternal life as well, he willingly offered his throat to the executioner.

> Latin: 7 post cum experientissima prouidentia totam cum Mauretania Africam meliorem pristinis reddidisset, instimulante et obrepente inuidia iussus interfici, apud Carthaginem baptizari in remissionem peccatorum praeoptauit ac postquam sacramentum Christi quod quaesierat adsecutus est, post gloriosam saeculi uitam etiam de uitae aeternitate securus percussori iugulum ultro praebuit.

[¶7] Meanwhile the emperor Gratian, still quite a young man, seeing an incalculable multitude of enemies poured into the Roman frontiers, relying on the power of Christ, threw himself upon the enemy with a far unequal number of soldiers, and forthwith, at Argentaria, a town of the Gallic provinces, brought a most fearsome war to an end with incredible good fortune. For more than thirty thousand Alamanni are said to have been killed in that battle with very slight loss to the Romans.

> Latin: 8 Gratianus interea imperator admodum iuuenis cum inaestimabilem multitudinem hostium Romanis infusam finibus cerneret, fretus Christi potentia, longe inpari militum numero sese in hostem dedit et continuo apud Argentariam, oppidum Galliarum, formidulosissimum bellum incredibili felicitate confecit. nam plus quam triginta milia Alamannorum minimo Romanorum detrimento in eo proelio interfecta narrantur.

[¶8] In the thirteenth year of the reign of Valens, however — that is, a short time after Valens had carried out the mangling of churches and the slaughter of saints throughout the whole east — that root of our miseries sent up at once a most abundant growth of shoots.

> Latin: 9 Tertio decimo autem anno imperii Valentis, hoc est paruo tempore postea quam Valens per totum orientem ecclesiarum lacerationes sanctorumque caedes egerat, radix illa miseriarum nostrarum copiosissimas simul frutices germinauit.

[¶9] For the nation of the Huns, long shut away behind inaccessible mountains, seized by a sudden frenzy, blazed out against the Goths, and, throwing them into confusion everywhere, drove them from their ancient homes. The Goths, fleeing across the Danube, were received by Valens without any treaty agreement, and did not even hand over their arms to the Romans, which would have made it safer to trust the barbarians.

> Latin: 10 siquidem gens Hunorum, diu inaccessis seclusa montibus, repentina rabie percita exarsit in Gothos eosque passim conturbatos ab antiquis sedibus expulit. Gothi transito Danuuio fugientes, a Valente sine ulla foederis pactione suscepti ne arma quidem, quo tutius barbaris crederetur, tradidere Romanis.

[¶10] Then, driven by hunger and injuries through the intolerable greed of the general Maximus, they rose up in arms, defeated the army of Valens, and poured through Thrace, throwing everything into confusion with slaughter, fire and plunder.

> Latin: 11 deinde propter intolerabilem auaritiam Maximi ducis fame et iniuriis adacti in arma surgentes, uicto Valentis exercitu per Thraciam sese, miscentes simul omnia caedibus incendiis rapinisque, fuderunt.

[¶11] Valens, setting out from Antioch, as he was being drawn to the final lot of that unhappy war, goaded by a late repentance for his very great sin, ordered the bishops and the other saints to be recalled from exile.

> Latin: 12 Valens egressus de Antiochia cum ultima infelicis belli sorte traheretur, sera peccati maximi paenitentia stimulatus episcopos ceterosque sanctos reuocari de exiliis imperauit.

[¶12] And so, in the fifteenth year of his reign, he fought that lamentable war in Thrace with the Goths, who were by then most thoroughly equipped through the training of their strength and an abundance of supplies. There, at the very first onset of the Goths, the squadrons of the Roman cavalry were thrown into confusion and deserted the infantry, leaving them without protection.

> Latin: 13 Itaque quinto decimo imperii sui anno lacrimabile illud bellum in Thracia cum Gothis iam tunc exercitatione uirium rerumque abundantia instructissimis gessit. ubi primo statim impetu Gothorum perturbatae Romanorum equitum turmae nuda peditum deseruere praesidia.

*Note: The battle of Adrianople, 9 August 378.*

[¶13] Soon the legions of infantry, surrounded on every side by the enemy cavalry, were first overwhelmed by clouds of arrows; then, when, maddened by fear, they were driven scattered over pathless ground, they were utterly cut to pieces and perished by the swords and lances of their pursuers.

> Latin: 14 mox legiones peditum undique equitatu hostium cinctae ac primum nubibus sagittarum obrutae, deinde, cum amentes metu sparsim per deuia cogerentur, funditus caesae gladiis insequentum contisque perierunt.

[¶14] The emperor himself, wounded by an arrow and turned to flight, was carried with difficulty into the hut of a certain small farmstead and lay hidden there; caught by the pursuing enemy, he was burned to death when fire was set beneath it; and, so that the testimony of his punishment and of the divine indignation might stand the more as a terrible example to posterity, he was even denied a common burial.

> Latin: 15 ipse imperator cum sagitta saucius uersusque in fugam aegre in cuiusdam uillulae casam deportatus lateret, ab insequentibus hostibus deprehensus, subiecto igne consumptus est et, quo magis testimonium punitionis eius et diuinae indignationis terribili posteris esset exemplo, etiam communi caruit sepultura.

[¶15] Let the obstinacy and wretchedness of the pagans console itself — but in this alone: that in Christian times and under Christian kings so many disasters, heaped up at once, weighed down the bowed neck of the commonwealth: provinces overthrown, an army destroyed, an emperor burned. This is truly a great thing for our grief, and all the more wretched for being so new.

> Latin: 16 Consoletur se, sed in hoc solo, peruicacia miseriaque gentilium, quia temporibus et regibus Christianis tantae simul congestae clades pressam reipublicae onerauere ceruicem: euersae prouinciae, deletus exercitus, imperator incensus. magnum reuera hoc est ad nostrum dolorem magisque miserum quo magis nouum.

[¶16] But what does this contribute to the consolation of the pagans, who see plainly that in these things too it was the persecutor of the churches who was punished? The one God has handed down one faith and has spread one Church throughout the whole world: this he looks upon, this he loves, this he defends. Under whatever name anyone may cover himself, if he is not joined to it he is a stranger, if he attacks it he is an enemy.

> Latin: 17 sed quid hoc ad consolationem proficit paganorum, qui palam peruident et in his quoque persecutorem ecclesiarum fuisse punitum? unus Deus unam fidem tradidit, unam ecclesiam toto orbe diffudit: hanc aspicit, hanc diligit, hanc defendit; quolibet se quisquis nomine tegat, si huic non sociatur, alienus, si hanc inpugnat, inimicus est.

[¶17] Let the pagans console themselves, as much as they like, with the punishments of Jews and heretics, provided only that they confess — above all from this proof, the death of Valens — both that there is one God and that he is no respecter of persons.

> Latin: 18 consolentur se gentiles, in quantum uolunt, Iudaeorum haereticorumque suppliciis, tantum et unum Deum esse et eundem personarum acceptorem non esse uel ex hac potissimum Valentis extincti probatione fateantur.

[¶18] The Goths had earlier asked, as suppliants, through envoys, that bishops be sent to them from whom they might learn the rule of the Christian faith. The emperor Valens, with deadly depravity, sent teachers of the Arian doctrine. The Goths held fast to what they received as the first rudiments of the faith. And so, by the just judgement of God, they themselves burned alive the man on whose account they too, even when dead, will burn for the vice of their error.

> Latin: 19 Gothi antea per legatos supplices poposcerunt, ut illis episcopi, a quibus regulam Christianae fidei discerent, mitterentur. Valens imperator exitiabili prauitate doctores Arriani dogmatis misit. Gothi primae fidei rudimento quod accepere tenuerunt. itaque iusto iudicio Dei ipsi eum uiuum incenderunt, qui propter eum etiam mortui uitio erroris arsuri sunt.

## 168. Book 7 · Chapter 34

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/168/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/168/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1132 from the founding of the City, Gratian, the fortieth from Augustus, held the imperial power for six years after the death of Valens, although he had already been reigning for a long time before, with his uncle Valens and with his brother Valentinian.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MCXXXII Gratianus quadragesimus ab Augusto post mortem Valentis sex annis imperium tenuit, quamuis iamdudum antea cum patruo Valente et cum Valentiniano fratre regnaret.

[¶1] Seeing the state of the commonwealth afflicted and all but collapsed, with the same foresight with which Nerva had once chosen the Spaniard Trajan, by whom the commonwealth was restored, he too chose Theodosius, likewise a Spaniard, and, out of the necessity of restoring the commonwealth, clothed him with the purple at Sirmium and set him over the empire of the east and of Thrace together —

> Latin: 2 qui cum adflictum ac paene conlapsum reipublicae statum uideret, eadem prouisione, qua quondam legerat Nerua Hispanum uirum Traianum, per quem respublica reparata est, legit et ipse Theodosium aeque Hispanum uirum et restituendae reipublicae necessitate apud Sirmium purpura induit orientisque et Thraciae simul praefecit imperio,

[¶2] with this the more perfect judgement, in that, while Theodosius was Trajan’s equal in all the virtues of human life, in the sacrament of faith and the worship of religion he surpassed him beyond all comparison; for the one was a persecutor of the Church, the other its propagator.

> Latin: 3 in hoc perfectiore iudicio, quia, cum in omnibus humanae uitae uirtutibus iste par fuerit, in fidei sacramento religionisque cultu sine ulla comparatione praecessit; siquidem ille persecutor, hic propagator Ecclesiae.

[¶3] So to the one not even a single son of his own was granted, in whom he might rejoice as his successor; whereas the glorious offspring of the other rules over east and west alike through successive generations down to the present.

> Latin: 4 ita illi ne unus quidem proprius filius, quo successore gauderet, indultus est; huius autem orienti simul atque occidenti per succiduas usque ad nunc generationes gloriosa propago dominatur.

[¶4] And so Theodosius believed that the commonwealth, afflicted by the wrath of God, was to be restored by the mercy of God. Placing all his confidence in the help of Christ, he attacked without hesitation those very great Scythian nations — dreaded by all our forebears and avoided even by the great Alexander, as Pompeius and Cornelius have testified, but now, with the Roman army destroyed, superbly equipped with Roman horses and arms — that is, the Alans, the Huns and the Goths; and he defeated them in many great battles.

> Latin: 5 itaque Theodosius adflictam rempublicam ira Dei reparandam credidit misericordia Dei; omnem fiduciam sui ad opem Christi conferens maximas illas Scythicas gentes formidatasque cunctis maioribus, Alexandro quoque illi Magno, sicut Pompeius Corneliusque testati sunt, euitatas, nunc autem extincto Romano exercitu Romanis equis armisque instructissimas, hoc est Alanos Hunos et Gothos, incunctanter adgressus magnis multisque proeliis uicit.

*Note: Pompeius Trogus and Cornelius Tacitus, the pair named at 7.27.1.*

[¶5] He entered the city of Constantinople as victor, and, so as not to wear down the small remnant of the Roman army by continual fighting, struck a treaty with Athanaric, king of the Goths.

> Latin: 6 urbem Constantinopolim uictor intrauit et ne paruam ipsam Romani exercitus manum adsidue bellando detereret, foedus cum Athanarico Gothorum rege percussit.

[¶6] Athanaric, however, died as soon as he came to Constantinople. All the nations of the Goths, on the death of their king, beholding the courage and kindness of Theodosius, gave themselves up to the Roman Empire.

> Latin: 7 Athanaricus autem continuo ut Constantinopolim uenit, diem obiit. uniuersae Gothorum gentes rege defuncto aspicientes uirtutem benignitatemque Theodosii Romano sese imperio dediderunt.

[¶7] In those same days, too, the Persians — who, after Julian had been killed and other emperors often defeated, and now Valens too had been put to flight, were belching out the surfeit of their most recent victory in crude insults — of their own accord sent envoys to Theodosius at Constantinople and as suppliants begged for peace; and a treaty was then struck, which the whole east enjoys in the greatest tranquillity to this day.

> Latin: 8 in isdem etiam diebus Persae, qui Iuliano interfecto aliisque imperatoribus saepe uictis, nunc etiam Valente in fugam acto recentissimae uictoriae satietatem cruda insultatione ructabant, ultro Constantinopolim ad Theodosium misere legatos pacemque supplices poposcerunt; ictumque tunc foedus est, quo uniuersus oriens usque ad nunc tranquillissime fruitur.

[¶8] Meanwhile, when Theodosius in the east had subdued the barbarian nations and at last freed the Thracian provinces from the enemy, and had made his son Arcadius a partner in the empire, Maximus — a man energetic indeed and upright, and worthy of the rank of Augustus, had he not risen through tyranny against the faith of his oath — was made emperor by the army in Britain, almost against his will, and crossed over into Gaul.

> Latin: 9 interea cum Theodosius in oriente subactis barbarorum gentibus Thracias tandem ab hoste liberas reddidisset et Arcadium filium suum consortem fecisset imperii, Maximus, uir quidem strenuus et probus atque Augusto dignus nisi contra sacramenti fidem per tyrannidem emersisset, in Britannia inuitus propemodum ab exercitu imperator creatus in Galliam transiit:

[¶9] There he trapped by guile and killed Gratian Augustus, who was terrified by the sudden invasion and was planning to cross into Italy, and drove his brother Valentinian Augustus out of Italy. Valentinian, fleeing to the east, was received by Theodosius with a father’s devotion, and was soon even restored to the empire.

> Latin: 10 ubi Gratianum Augustum subita incursione perterritum atque in Italiam transire meditantem dolis circumuentum interfecit fratremque eius Valentinianum Augustum Italia expulit. Valentinianus in orientem refugiens a Theodosio paterna pietate susceptus, mox etiam imperio restitutus est.

## 169. Book 7 · Chapter 35

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/169/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/169/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1138 from the founding of the City, Theodosius, the forty-first, after Gratian had been killed by Maximus, obtained the empire of the Roman world and remained in it for eleven years, having already reigned for six years in the eastern regions while Gratian was alive.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MCXXXVIII Theodosius quadragesimus primus interfecto per Maximum Gratiano imperium Romani orbis obtinuit mansitque in eo annis undecim, cum iam in orientis partibus sex annis Gratiano uiuente regnasset.

[¶1] So, moved to civil war by just and necessary causes — since, of the two brothers who were Augusti, the blood of the one who had been killed demanded vengeance, and the misery of the other, in exile, pleaded for his restoration — he placed his hope in God, and hurled himself against the tyrant Maximus, superior in faith alone (for in every comparison of warlike equipment he was far inferior).

> Latin: 2 itaque iustis necessariisque causis ad bellum ciuile permotus, cum e duobus Augustis fratribus et ultionem unius interfecti sanguis exigeret et restitutionem miseria alterius exulantis oraret, posuit in Deo spem suam seseque aduersus Maximum tyrannum sola fide maior - nam longe minor uniuersa apparatus bellici conparatione - proripuit.

[¶2] Maximus had then settled himself at Aquileia as a spectator of his own victory. His count Andragathius was directing the conduct of the war; and when, with very large forces of soldiers and with a strategy surpassing even the strength of those great forces, he had fortified all the approaches through the Alps and along the rivers to an incredible degree, by the ineffable judgement of God, while preparing to forestall and overwhelm the unwary enemy by a naval expedition, he of his own accord abandoned the very barriers he had built.

> Latin: 3 Aquileiae tunc Maximus uictoriae suae spectator insederat. Andragathius comes eius summam belli administrabat: qui cum largissimis militum copiis ipsamque magnarum copiarum fortitudinem praecellente consilio omnes incredibiliter Alpium ac fluminum aditus communisset, ineffabili iudicio Dei, dum nauali expeditione incautum hostem praeuenire et obruere parat, sponte eadem quae obstruxerat claustra deseruit.

[¶3] Thus Theodosius, with no one perceiving it — not to say resisting — crossed the empty Alps, and, arriving unexpectedly at Aquileia, without trickery and without a struggle shut in, captured and killed that great enemy Maximus, a savage man who was exacting tribute and pay even from the most monstrous nations of the Germans by the mere terror of his name.

> Latin: 4 ita Theodosius nemine sentiente, ut non dicam repugnante, uacuas transmisit Alpes atque Aquileiam inprouisus adueniens hostem illum magnum, Maximum, trucem et ab inmanissimis quoque Germanorum gentibus tributa ac stipendia solo terrore nominis exigentem, sine dolo et sine controuersia clausit cepit occidit.

[¶4] Valentinian, restored, took possession of the empire of Italy. Count Andragathius, on learning of the death of Maximus, threw himself headlong from his ship into the waves and was drowned. Theodosius received a bloodless victory, God bringing it about.

> Latin: 5 Valentinianus recepto Italiae potitus imperio est. Andragathius comes cognita Maximi nece praecipitem sese e naui in undas dedit ac suffocatus est. Theodosius incruentam uictoriam Deo procurante suscepit.

[¶5] See how, under Christian kings and in Christian times, civil wars are brought to an end when they cannot be avoided. Victory was reached, the city was broken into, the tyrant was seized. And that is a small thing. See: elsewhere a hostile army was defeated, and the tyrant’s count, more ferocious than the tyrant himself, was driven to his death; such great snares were undone and evaded, such great preparations brought to nothing;

> Latin: 6 Ecce regibus et temporibus Christianis qualiter bella ciuilia, cum uitari nequeunt, transiguntur. ad uictoriam peruentum est, inrupta est ciuitas, correptus tyrannus. et hoc parum est. ecce parte alia uictus hostilis exercitus atque ipso tyranno truculentior comes tyranni ad mortem coactus, tantae dissolutae elusaeque insidiae, tanti apparatus exinaniti sunt:

[¶6] and yet no one laid traps, no one drew up a battle line, no one, finally — if one may say so — drew a sword from its sheath. A most fearful war was concluded without bloodshed up to the victory, and, in the victory, with the death of two men.

> Latin: 7 et tamen nullus dolos struxit, nullus aciem disposuit, postremo nullus, si dici licet, gladium de uagina extulit. formidulosissimum bellum sine sanguine usque ad uictoriam et in uictoria duorum morte confectum est.

[¶7] And lest anyone think this happened by chance — so that the power of God, by which all things are both ordered and judged, being declared by the open display of its testimony, may the more compel the minds of those who clamour against us either to confusion or to faith — I state a thing both unknown to all and known to all:

> Latin: 8 et, ne hoc quisquam casu factum putet, quo magis potentia Dei, qua et dispensantur et iudicantur uniuersa, propalato sui testimonio declarata obstrepentium mentes uel ad confusionem uel ad fidem cogat, dico rem et ignotam omnibus et omnibus notam:

[¶8] after this war, in which Maximus was killed, many wars, both foreign and civil, have certainly befallen Theodosius and his son Honorius down to the present, as we all acknowledge; and yet nearly all of them, right up to this very day, have been laid to rest with no bloodshed or very little, and indeed with the fruit of a simple and holy victory.

> Latin: 9 post hoc bellum, quo Maximus interfectus est, multa utique, sicut omnes recognoscimus, Theodosium filiumque eius Honorium usque ad nunc et externa bella et ciuilia consecuta sunt, et tamen omnia paene usque in hodiernum diem et quidem cum fructu simplicis sanctaeque uictoriae uel nullo uel minimo sanguine quieuerunt.

[¶9] So the younger Valentinian, restored to his kingdom, after the destruction of Maximus and of his son Victor, whom Maximus had left as emperor over the Gauls, himself crossed into Gaul; and there, while he was living in peace in a tranquil commonwealth, he was strangled at Vienne, as they say, through the treachery of his count Arbogast, and was hung up by a noose, so that he might be thought to have brought about his own death of his own free will.

> Latin: 10 Igitur Valentinianus iunior regno restitutus extincto Maximo eiusque filio Victore, quem imperatorem Gallis Maximus reliquerat, ipse in Galliam transiit: ubi cum tranquilla republica in pace ageret, apud Viennam dolo Arbogastis comitis sui, ut ferunt, strangulatus atque, ut uoluntariam sibi consciuisse mortem putaretur, laqueo suspensus est.

[¶10] On the death of Valentinian Augustus, Arbogast soon dared to make Eugenius a tyrant, choosing a man on whom to impose the title of emperor, while he himself, a barbarian, excessive in spirit, counsel, might, daring and power, was to wield the imperial authority. He gathered from every side countless and unconquered forces, relying either on the garrisons of the Romans or on the auxiliaries of the barbarians — in the one case through his power, in the other through kinship.

> Latin: 11 mortuo Valentiniano Augusto Arbogastes Eugenium tyrannum mox creare ausus est legitque hominem, cui titulum imperatoris inponeret; ipse acturus imperium uir barbarus, animo consilio manu audacia potentiaque nimius, contraxit undique innumeras inuictasque copias, uel Romanorum praesidiis uel auxiliis barbarorum alibi potestate alibi cognatione subnixus.

[¶11] There is no need to spin out in words a story known even to the eyes of very many, which those who witnessed it know better. That Theodosius always emerged as victor through the power of God and not through confidence in man, this Arbogast is the chief proof in both respects: for both then, when he served Theodosius, he himself, with the slenderest forces, captured Maximus, equipped though Maximus was with such great defences; and now, when he overflowed against that same Theodosius with the gathered strength of the Gauls and the Franks, relying above all on the worship of idols as well, he nevertheless went down with great ease.

> Latin: 12 historiam notam etiam oculis plurimorum, quam melius qui spectauere nouerunt, dilatari uerbis non opus est. potentia Dei non fiducia hominis uictorem semper extitisse Theodosium, Arbogastes iste praecipuum in utroque documentum est, qui et tunc, cum Theodosio paruit, tantis instructum praesidiis Maximum ipse minimus cepit et nunc, cum aduersus eundem Theodosium collectis Gallorum Francorumque uiribus exundauit, nixus etiam praecipuo cultu idolorum, magna tamen facilitate succubuit.

[¶12] Eugenius and Arbogast had deployed their battle lines in good order on the plains; they had seized the narrow flanks of the Alps and the unavoidable passes, cunningly sending ambushes ahead — so that, even had they been unequal in numbers and strength, they were victors by the disposition of the war alone.

> Latin: 13 Eugenius atque Arbogastes instructas acies campis expedierant, arta Alpium latera atque ineuitabiles transitus praemissis callide insidiis occuparant, etiamsi numero ac uiribus inpares forent, sola tamen belli dispositione uictores.

*Note: The battle of the Frigidus (the Vipava valley, in modern Slovenia), 5–6 September 394.*

[¶13] But Theodosius, stationed on the heights of the Alps, without food or sleep, knowing that he was forsaken by his own men, not knowing that he was hemmed in by the enemy’s, prayed alone to the Lord Christ alone, who could do all things, his body stretched on the ground, his mind fixed on heaven.

> Latin: 14 at uero Theodosius in summis Alpibus constitutus expers cibi ac somni, sciens quod destitutus suis, nesciens quod clausus alienis, Dominum Christum solus solum, qui posset omnia, corpore humi fusus, mente caelo fixus orabat.

[¶14] Then, after he had passed a sleepless night in unbroken prayer, and had left pools of tears, almost as witnesses, which he had paid down as the price of heavenly protection, he confidently took up arms alone, knowing that he was not alone. With the sign of the cross he gave the signal for battle, and threw himself into the fight — sure to be victor, even should no one follow.

> Latin: 15 dehinc postquam insomnem noctem precum continuatione transegit et testes propemodum quas in pretium praesidii caelestis adpenderat lacrimarum lacunas reliquit, fiducialiter arma corripuit solus, sciens se esse non solum. signo crucis signum proelio dedit ac se in bellum, etiamsi nemo sequeretur, uictor futurus, inmisit.

[¶15] The first way of deliverance was Arbitio, a count of the enemy’s party: having caught the unsuspecting emperor in an ambush laid around him, he turned to reverence for the Augustus before him, and not only freed him from danger but also furnished him with help.

> Latin: 16 prima salutis uia extitit Arbitio, hostilium partium comes: qui cum ignarum imperatorem circumpositis excepisset insidiis, conuersus ad reuerentiam praesentis Augusti, non solum periculo liberauit uerum etiam instruxit auxilio.

[¶16] But when they had come within the space where the fighting would be joined, at once a great and ineffable whirlwind rushed into the faces of the enemy. The javelins hurled by our men were carried through the air, and, borne beyond the measure of a human throw across the great void, were scarcely allowed to fall anywhere before they struck home.

> Latin: 17 at ubi ad contigua miscendae pugnae spatia peruentum est, continuo magnus ille et ineffabilis turbo uentorum in ora hostium ruit. ferebantur per aera spicula missa nostrorum atque ultra mensuram humani iactus per magnum inane portata nusquam propemodum cadere, priusquam inpingerent, sinebantur.

[¶17] Moreover, the unceasing whirlwind now beat back the faces and breasts of the enemy, dashing their shields heavily against them; now shut them in, choking them with their shields pressed stubbornly upon them; now laid them bare, tearing their shields violently away; now drove them ceaselessly backward, their shields set against them; and the very weapons which they themselves had hurled with force were caught by the blast of the wind, turned about and driven back, and pierced their own throwers to their misfortune.

> Latin: 18 porro autem turbo continuus ora pectoraque hostium nunc inlisis grauiter scutis euerberabat, nunc inpressis pertinaciter obstructa claudebat, nunc auulsis uiolenter destituta nudabat, nunc oppositis iugiter in terga trudebat; tela etiam, quae ipsi uehementer intorserant, excepta uenti impetu supinato ac retrorsum coacta ipsos infeliciter configebant.

[¶18] The fear of human conscience looked to its own safety: for at once, after a small band of their men had been routed, the hostile army threw itself down before the victorious Theodosius. Eugenius was captured and killed; Arbogast struck himself down with his own hand. Thus here too a civil war was quenched by the blood of two men — apart from those ten thousand Goths, sent ahead by Theodosius, whom Arbogast is said to have utterly destroyed: to lose these was surely a gain, and to be defeated, a victory.

> Latin: 19 prospexit sibi humanae conscientiae pauor, nam continuo sese parua suorum manu fusa uictori Theodosio hostilis prostrauit exercitus; Eugenius captus atque interfectus est; Arbogastes sua se manu perculit. ita et hic duorum sanguine bellum ciuile restinctum est, absque illis decem milibus Gothorum, quos praemissos a Theodosio Arbogastes delesse funditus fertur: quos utique perdidisse lucrum et uinci uincere fuit.

[¶19] I do not taunt our detractors. Let them bring forward one single war since the founding of the City undertaken from so holy a necessity, concluded with such divine good fortune, laid to rest with such merciful kindness, in which neither the battle exacted heavy slaughter nor the victory a bloody vengeance — and perhaps I shall grant that these things may seem not to have been granted to the faith of a Christian commander;

> Latin: 20 non insulto obtrectatoribus nostris. unum aliquod ab initio urbis conditae bellum proferant tam pia necessitate susceptum, tam diuina felicitate confectum, tam clementi benignitate sopitum, ubi nec pugna grauem caedem nec uictoria cruentam exegerit ultionem, et fortasse concedam, ut non haec fidei Christiani ducis concessa uideantur;

[¶20] although I need not labour to prove this, since one of their own, a poet of the first rank indeed but a most stubborn pagan, bore witness both to God and to the man in verses of this kind, where he says: “O too beloved of God! For you the sky does battle, and the winds, sworn allies, come at the sound of your trumpets.”

> Latin: 21 quamuis ego hoc testimonio non laborem, quando unus ex ipsis, poeta quidem eximius sed paganus peruicacissimus, huiusmodi uersibus et Deo et homini testimonium tulit, quibus ait: O nimium dilecte Deo! tibi militat aether, Et coniurati ueniunt ad classica uenti.

*Note: Claudian, Panegyric on the Third Consulship of Honorius 96–98, abridged. Claudian addresses the young Honorius, not Theodosius; Augustine quotes the same lines (City of God 5.26).*

[¶21] So judgement was given from heaven between a side that, even without human protection, humbly hoped in God alone, and a side that most arrogantly presumed upon its own strength and upon idols.

> Latin: 22 Ita caelitus iudicatum est inter partem etiam sine praesidio hominum de solo Deo humiliter sperantem et partem adrogantissime de uiribus suis et de idolis praesumentem.

[¶22] Theodosius, however, having set the commonwealth in order and brought it to peace, died while staying at Milan.

> Latin: 23 Theodosius autem conposita tranquillataque republica apud Mediolanium constitutus diem obiit.

## 170. Book 7 · Chapter 36

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/170/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/170/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1149 from the founding of the City, Arcadius Augustus, whose son Theodosius now rules the east, and his brother Honorius Augustus, on whom the commonwealth now rests, in the forty-second place began to hold a common empire, with only their seats divided. Arcadius lived for twelve years after his father’s death, and at his death handed over the supreme power to his son Theodosius, then still quite a small child.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MCXLVIIII Arcadius Augustus, cuius nunc filius Theodosius orientem regit, et Honorius Augustus frater eius, cui nunc respublica innititur, quadragensimo secundo loco commune imperium diuisis tantum sedibus tenere coeperunt; uixitque Arcadius post patris excessum annis duodecim imperiique summam Theodosio filio paruo admodum moriens tradidit.

[¶1] Meanwhile Count Gildo, who was in command in Africa at the beginning of their reign, as soon as he learned that Theodosius had died, either — as some report — moved by a kind of envy, attempted to join Africa to the territories of the eastern empire,

> Latin: 2 interea Gildo comes, qui in initio regni eorum Africae praeerat, simul ut defunctum Theodosium comperit, siue (ut quidam ferunt) quadam permotus inuidia Africam orientalis imperii partibus iungere molitus est,

[¶2] or — as another opinion has it — judging that there would be very little hope in the little boys (especially since, apart from these, hardly anyone left before as a small child in the empire had easily come through to the maturity of manhood, and these are almost the only ones to be found whom the protection of Christ has brought forward, though divided and left without support, because of their father’s outstanding faith and their own), dared to cut Africa off from its fellowship with the commonwealth and usurp it for himself, content rather with a tribal chieftain’s licence than puffed up by the ambition of aspiring to kingship.

> Latin: 3 siue (ut alia tradit opinio) minimam in paruulis spem fore arbitratus - praesertim cum absque his non facile antea quisquam pusillus in imperio relictus ad maturitatem uirilis aetatis euaserit istique propemodum soli inueniantur, quos ob egregiam patris ac suam fidem et diuisos et destitutos Christi tutela prouexerit - Africam excerptam a societate reipublicae sibi usurpare ausus est, gentili magis licentia contentus quam ambitu regiae affectationis inflatus.

[¶3] He had a brother, Mascezel, who, shuddering at his brother’s revolutionary schemes, returned to Italy, leaving his two young sons with the army in Africa. Gildo, regarding both his brother’s absence and his nephews’ presence with suspicion, trapped the young men by guile and killed them.

> Latin: 4 huic Mascezel frater fuit, qui nouarum rerum molitiones in fratre perhorrescens, relictis apud Africanam militiam duobus filiis adulescentibus in Italiam rediit. Gildo, et absentiam fratris et praesentiam filiorum eius suspectam habens, adulescentes dolo circumuentos interfecit.

[¶4] Against him, now to be pursued in war as a public enemy, his brother Mascezel was sent, whom the fresh grief of his own bereavement promised would be a fit man to take care of the commonwealth. So Mascezel, knowing already from the time of Theodosius how much, in the most desperate circumstances, a man’s prayer through faith in Christ could obtain from the mercy of God, went to the island of Capraria, and from there took with him certain holy servants of God, moved by his entreaties. With them, continuing day and night in prayers, fasts and psalms, he earned victory without war and vengeance without slaughter.

> Latin: 5 ad hunc iam ut hostem bello insequendum Mascezel frater missus est, quem idoneum procurandae reipublicae fore propriae orbitatis recens dolor pollicebatur. igitur Mascezel, iam inde a Theodosio sciens, quantum in rebus desperatissimis oratio hominis per fidem Christi a clementia Dei impetraret, Caprariam insulam adiit, unde secum sanctos seruos Dei aliquot permotos precibus suis sumpsit: cum his orationibus ieiuniis psalmis dies noctesque continuans sine bello uictoriam meruit ac sine caede uindictam.

*Note: Capraria is Capraia, a small island off the Tuscan coast, then home to a community of monks.*

[¶5] Ardalio is the name of a river which flows between the cities of Theveste and Ammaedara. There he had pitched his camp with a small band — that is, with five thousand soldiers, as they say — against seventy thousand of the enemy; and when, after some delay, he wished to leave the spot and pass through the narrows of the valley lying before him,

> Latin: 6 Ardalio fluminis nomen est, quod fluit inter Theuesten et Ammederam ciuitates; ubi cum parua manu, hoc est cum quinque milibus (ut aiunt) militum, contra septuaginta milia hostium castra metatus, cum interiecta mora excedere loco oppositasque praeiacentis uallis angustias transgredi uellet,

[¶6] as night came on, he seemed to see in a dream the blessed Ambrose, bishop of Milan, who had died shortly before, making a sign with his hand and, striking his staff three times on the ground, saying: “Here, here, here.” By shrewd conjecture he understood that by the merit of its herald it promised victory, by the word it signified the place, and by the number the day.

> Latin: 7 incurrente nocte beatum Ambrosium episcopum Mediolani paulo ante defunctum per somnium sibi uidere uisus est significantem manu et inpacto ad humum ter baculo dicentem: hic, hic, hic. quod ille prudenti coniectura intellexit merito adnuntiantis fidem uictoriae, uerbo locum, numero diem significare.

[¶7] He held his ground, and at last on the third day, after a night spent in watching with prayers and hymns, he went forth from the very mysteries of the heavenly sacraments against the enemy who surrounded him;

> Latin: 8 substitit ac tertio demum die post noctem orationibus hymnisque peruigilem ab ipsis caelestium sacramentorum mysteriis in hostem circumfusum processit;

[¶8] and while he was addressing pious words of peace to those who had met him first, he struck with his sword on the arm a certain standard-bearer who was insolently resisting and on the point of starting the battle, and forced him, his hand disabled by the wound itself, to lower his banner forward.

> Latin: 9 et cum ad eos, qui primi occurrerant, pia pacis uerba iactaret, signiferum quendam insolenter obsistentem et iamiamque pugnam excitantem gladio percussit in bracchio eumque manu debilem ipso uulnere coegit pronum inclinare uexillum.

[¶9] At this sight the remaining cohorts, thinking that the foremost were already surrendering, vied with one another to give themselves up to Mascezel, turning their standards about. The barbarians, a great multitude of whom Gildo had brought to the war, left without support by the defection of the soldiers, fled in all directions.

> Latin: 10 quo uiso reliquae cohortes deditionem iam fieri priorum existimantes certatim sese ad Mascezelem signis tradidere conuersis. barbari, quorum magnam multitudinem Gildo ad bellum deduxerat, defectu militum destituti in diuersa fugerunt.

[¶10] Gildo himself attempted flight and seized a ship; but when he had put out to sea, he was brought back to Africa, and a few days later died by strangling.

> Latin: 11 Gildo et ipse fugam molitus arrepta naui ut in altum prouectus ac deinde reuocatus in Africam est, post aliquot dies strangulatus interiit.

[¶11] In relating such great miracles we should run the risk of seeming to lie with presumptuous shamelessness, were it not that the knowledge of those who were present still outruns our voice. No snares were laid, no bribery used; seventy thousand of the enemy were conquered almost without a battle; the defeated man fled for a time, lest the angry victor should dare too much; he was carried off to another place, so that the brother should not know of the killing of the man by whose death he was avenged.

> Latin: 12 periclitaremur sub tantorum miraculorum relatu quasi praesumpta mentiendi inpudentia, nisi adhuc uocem nostram conscientia eorum, qui interfuere, praecurreret. nullae aguntur insidiae, nulla corruptio; septuaginta milia hostium uincuntur paene sine pugna; fugit uictus ad tempus, ne plus audeat uictor iratus; transportatur in diuersum locum, ut nesciat frater occidi, quo uindicatur occiso.

[¶12] Yet this same Mascezel, elated by the insolence of success, setting aside the fellowship of the saints with whom he had formerly conquered while fighting for God, even dared to violate a church, and did not hesitate to drag certain persons out of it. Punishment followed the sacrilegious man. For, while the very men whom he had dragged from the church to punishment survived and exulted over him, after some time he alone was punished; and he proved in himself alone that the divine judgement is always watchful in both directions, since he was helped when he hoped and slain when he scorned.

> Latin: 13 sane idem Mascezel elatus rerum secundarum insolentia, posthabito sanctorum consortio, cum quibus antea Deo militans uicerat, etiam ecclesiam temerare ausus est atque ex ea quosdam non dubitauit extrahere. secuta est poena sacrilegum. nam isdem superstitibus atque insultantibus, quos ab ecclesia ad poenam protraxerat, post aliquantum tempus solus ipse punitus est probauitque in se uno, ad utrumque semper diuinum uigilare iudicium, quando et, cum sperauit, adiutus et, cum contempsit, occisus est.

## 171. Book 7 · Chapter 37

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/171/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/171/#p-N

[¶0] Meanwhile, the elder emperor Theodosius had committed the care and training of his infant sons, and of each palace, to the most powerful men, one to each — that is, to Rufinus that of the eastern court, to Stilicho that of the western empire. What each of them did, or tried to do, the end of each has shown: for, the one aspiring to the height of royal power for himself, the other for his son, so that, with affairs suddenly thrown into confusion, the necessity of the commonwealth might cover the crime of their ambition, the one let the barbarian nations in, the other fostered them.

> Latin: 1 Interea cum a Theodosio imperatore seniore singulis potissimis infantum cura et disciplina utriusque palatii commissa esset, hoc est Rufino orientalis aulae, Stiliconi occidentalis imperii, quid uterque egerit, quidue agere conatus sit, exitus utriusque docuit, cum alius sibi, alius filio suo affectans regale fastigium, ut rebus repente turbatis necessitas reipublicae scelus ambitus tegeret, barbaras gentes ille inmisit, hic fouit.

[¶1] I say nothing of King Alaric and his Goths, often defeated, often hemmed in, and always let go. I say nothing of those unhappy events at Pollentia, when the supreme command of the war was entrusted to a barbarian and pagan general, namely Saul, by whose wickedness the most venerable days and holy Easter were profaned, and the enemy, who was withdrawing out of religious scruple, was forced to fight; when indeed — the judgement of God showing in a short time both what his favour can do and what his vengeance demanded — we conquered as we fought, and as conquerors were conquered.

> Latin: 2 taceo de Alarico rege cum Gothis suis saepe uicto, saepe concluso semperque dimisso. taceo de infelicibus illis apud Pollentiam gestis, cum barbaro et pagano duci, hoc est Sauli, belli summa commissa est, cuius inprobitate reuerentissimi dies et sanctum pascha uiolatum est cedentique hosti propter religionem, ut pugnaret, extortum est: cum quidem, ostendente in breui iudicio Dei et quid fauor eius possit et quid ultio exigeret, pugnantes uicimus, uictores uicti sumus.

*Note: Pollentia (Pollenzo, in Piedmont) was fought against Alaric on Easter Day 402; Saul, an Alan, commanded in Stilicho’s army.*

[¶2] I say nothing of the frequent mutual mangling of the barbarians among themselves, when two wedges of the Goths, and then the Alans and the Huns, ravaged one another with various slaughters.

> Latin: 3 taceo de ipsorum inter se barbarorum crebris dilacerationibus, cum se inuicem Gothorum cunei duo, deinde Alani atque Huni uariis caedibus populabantur.

[¶3] Radagaisus, by far the most savage of all enemies, past and present, flooded the whole of Italy with a sudden onslaught. For they say there were more than two hundred thousand Goths among his people.

> Latin: 4 Radagaisus, omnium antiquorum praesentiumque hostium longe immanissimus, repentino impetu totam inundauit Italiam. nam fuisse in populo eius plus quam ducenta milia Gothorum ferunt.

[¶4] Besides this incredible multitude and untamed valour, he was a pagan and a Scythian, who, as is the custom of the barbarians of such nations, had vowed to pour out all the blood of the Roman race as a drink-offering to his gods.

> Latin: 5 hic supra hanc incredibilem multitudinem indomitamque uirtutem paganus et Scytha erat, qui, ut mos est barbaris huiusmodi gentibus, omnem Romani generis sanguinem dis suis propinare deuouerat.

[¶5] So, as he was threatening the citadels of Rome, all the pagans in the City flocked together, saying that the enemy was powerful not only through his abundance of strength but above all through the protection of the gods, whereas the City was forsaken and would soon perish precisely because it had lost its gods and its sacred rites.

> Latin: 6 hoc igitur Romanis arcibus imminente fit omnium paganorum in urbe concursus, hostem esse cum utique copia uirium tum maxime praesidio deorum potentem, urbem autem ideo destitutam et mature perituram, quia deos et sacra perdiderit.

[¶6] Loud complaints were raised everywhere, and at once there was talk of restoring the rites and celebrating them; blasphemies seethed throughout the City; the name of Christ was commonly loaded with reproaches as though it were a plague upon the present times.

> Latin: 7 magnis querellis ubique agitur et continuo de repetendis sacris celebrandisque tractatur, feruent tota urbe blasphemiae, uulgo nomen Christi tamquam lues aliqua praesentium temporum probris ingrauatur.

[¶7] And so it came about by the ineffable judgement of God — since in a mixed people grace was owed to the godly and punishment to the ungodly, and it was right that enemies should be let loose who would chastise a City, in most of its people unpersuadable and contrary, with scourges harsher than usual, but not such as would destroy all without distinction in unrestrained slaughter — that two peoples of the Goths, with their two most powerful kings, were then running riot through the Roman provinces:

> Latin: 8 Itaque ineffabili iudicio Dei factum est, uti, quoniam in permixto populo piis gratia, poena impiis debebatur oportebatque permitti hostes, qui insuadibilem in plurimis et contradicentem ciuitatem seuerioribus solito flagris coarguerent, non tamen eos, qui indiscrete cunctos intemperata caede delerent - duo tunc Gothorum populi cum duobus potentissimis regibus suis per Romanas prouincias bacchabantur:

[¶8] one of these kings a Christian, and nearer to being a Roman, and, as events showed, gentle in slaughter through the fear of God; the other a pagan, a barbarian and truly a Scythian, who in slaughter loved not so much glory or plunder as, with insatiable cruelty, slaughter itself; and he, already received into the bosom of Italy, was shaking with terror Rome, which trembled at his nearness.

> Latin: 9 quorum unus Christianus propiorque Romano et, ut res docuit, timore Dei mitis in caede, alius paganus barbarus et uere Scytha, qui non tantum gloriam aut praedam quantum inexsaturabili crudelitate ipsam caedem amaret in caede, et hic iam sinu receptus Italiae Romam e proximo trementem terrore quassabat.

[¶9] So, if the power of vengeance had been granted to him — whom the Romans thought especially to be feared for this reason, that he was courting the favour of the gods with the homage of sacrifices — not only would a more immoderate slaughter have blazed up without the fruit of amendment, but the last error would have grown worse than the first; for, had they fallen into the hands of a pagan and idolater, there would have been not only an undoubting conviction among the remaining pagans that the worship of idols should be restored, but also a dangerous confusion among the Christians, as the latter would have been terrified by the precedent and the former confirmed by the example.

> Latin: 10 itaque si huic ultionis potestas permitteretur, quem Romani ob hoc praecipue timendum arbitrabantur, quia fauorem deorum sacrificiorum obsequiis inuitaret, et immoderatior caedes sine fructu emendationis arsisset et error nouissimus peior priore creuisset; quandoquidem in pagani et idololatrae manus incidisse, non solum paganis residuis de instaurando cultu idolorum esset indubitata persuasio sed etiam Christianis periculosa confusio, cum et hi terrerentur praeiudicio et illi confirmarentur exemplo.

[¶10] For this reason God, the just steward of the human race, willed that the pagan enemy should perish and permitted the Christian to prevail, so that the pagan and blaspheming Romans might be confounded by the destruction of the one and punished by the inroad of the other — especially since the continence of the emperor Honorius, admirable in a ruler, and his most holy faith deserved no small measure of divine mercy.

> Latin: 11 quamobrem iustus dispensator humani generis Deus perire paganum hostem uoluit et Christianum praeualere permisit, ut pagani blasphemantesque Romani et illo confunderentur perdito et hoc punirentur immisso; maxime cum imperatoris Honorii admiranda in rege continentia et sanctissima fides non parum diuinae misericordiae mereretur.

[¶11] Against that most savage enemy Radagaisus, indeed, the minds of other enemies were granted to us, inclined to give help with their forces. Uldin and Sarus, leaders of the Huns and of the Goths, came to the aid of the Romans; but God did not allow what was a work of his own power to seem the strength of men, and least of all of enemies.

> Latin: 12 conceduntur quidem aduersus immanissimum illum hostem Radagaisum aliorum hostium cum copiis suis inclinati ad auxilium animi. adsunt Uldin et Sarus, Hunorum et Gothorum duces, praesidio Romanorum; sed non sinit Deus rem potentiae suae uirtutem hominum ac maxime hostium uideri.

[¶12] He drove Radagaisus, terrified by heaven, into the mountains of Faesulae, and shut up his two hundred thousand men — according to those who give the most sparing figure — destitute of counsel and of food, on the dry and rugged ridge of a mountain, with fear pressing on them from every side; and the hosts for which Italy had lately seemed too narrow he thrust, in their hope of hiding, onto one small summit.

> Latin: 13 conterritum diuinitus Radagaisum in Faesulanos montes cogit eiusque - secundum eos qui parcissime referunt - ducenta milia hominum inopum consilii et cibi in arido et aspero montis iugo, urguente undique timore concludit agminaque, quibus dudum angusta uidebatur Italia, latendi spe in unum ac paruum uerticem trudit.

*Note: The Roman commander against Radagaisus (406) was Stilicho, whom Orosius leaves unnamed.*

[¶13] Why should I linger over many words? No battle line was drawn up for war; no fury or fear brought on the uncertainties of a fight; no slaughter was done, no blood was shed; nor, finally, were the losses of battle offset by the outcome of victory — a thing usually counted as good fortune. While our men ate, drank and played, those enemies, so many and so monstrous, were worn out by hunger, thirst and exhaustion.

> Latin: 14 quid multis morer? non disposita in bellum acies fuit, non furor timorque incerta pugnae praetulit; non caedes acta, non sanguis effusus est, non postremo - quod felicitatis loco deputari solet - damna pugnae euentu compensata uictoriae: edentibus bibentibus ludentibusque nostris tanti illi tamque immanes hostes esurientes sitientes languentesque confecti sunt.

[¶14] This would be a small thing, were the Romans not to know that the man they feared had been captured and subjugated, and to look down upon that idolater of theirs, whose sacrifices they pretended to fear more than his arms, conquered without a battle and bound beneath the yoke and in chains. So King Radagaisus, alone seizing on a hope of flight, secretly deserted his men and fell into the hands of ours; by them he was captured, held for a short while, and then put to death.

> Latin: 15 parum hoc est, nisi captum et subiugatum sciant, quem timuere Romani, illumque idololatram suum, cuius sacrificia se magis pertimescere quam arma fingebant, sine proelio uictum ac uinctum sub iugo catenisque despiciant. igitur rex Radagaisus solus spem fugae sumens clam suos deseruit atque in nostros incidit: a quibus captus et paulisper retentus ac deinde interfectus est.

[¶15] Such indeed is said to have been the multitude of Gothic captives that droves of men were sold everywhere for a single gold piece each, like the cheapest cattle. But God allowed nothing of that people to survive. For at once all who were bought died, so that what their wicked purchasers had not spent shamefully on their prices, they spent mercifully on their burials.

> Latin: 16 tanta uero multitudo captiuorum Gothorum fuisse fertur, ut uilissimorum pecudum modo singulis aureis passim greges hominum uenderentur. sed nihil superesse Deus de eodem populo sinit. nam ilico cunctis qui emebantur morientibus quod improbi emptores eorum non impenderunt turpiter pretiis, expenderunt misericorditer sepulturis.

[¶16] So ungrateful Rome — which, just as it now felt the indirect mercy of God the judge, given not to pardon but to restrain the presumption of idolatry, so was soon to suffer the wrath of God, though not in full, because of the devout remembrance of the saints living and dead, in case it might perhaps be confounded and repent and learn faith through experience — was granted a short respite, for a time, from the onslaught of Alaric, a king and an enemy, but a Christian.

> Latin: 17 igitur ingrata Roma, quae sicut nunc sensit non ad remittendam sed ad reprimendam idololatriae praesumptionem iudicis Dei obliquam misericordiam, ita continuo propter uiuorum mortuorumque sanctorum piam recordationem Dei iram passura non plenam, si forte confusa paeniteat et per experientiam fidem discat, ab incursu Alarici regis et hostis sed Christiani aliquantulo ad tempus spatio differtur.

## 172. Book 7 · Chapter 38

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/172/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/172/#p-N

[¶0] Meanwhile Count Stilicho, sprung from the race of the Vandals, an unwarlike, greedy, treacherous and crafty people, thinking it of little account that he held command under an emperor, was striving by any means to put in the emperor’s place his son Eucherius, who, as most report, had been planning a persecution of the Christians ever since he was a boy and a private person.

> Latin: 1 Interea comes Stilico, Vandalorum inbellis auarae perfidae et dolosae gentis genere editus, parui pendens quod sub imperatore imperabat, Eucherium filium suum, sicut a plerisque traditur, iam inde Christianorum persecutionem a puero priuatoque meditantem, in imperium quoquo modo substituere nitebatur.

[¶1] For this reason, while cherishing by a secret treaty Alaric and the whole nation of the Goths — who were humbly and sincerely begging for the best of peace and any place at all to settle — and publicly denying them the means both of war and of peace, he kept them in reserve to wear down and to terrify the commonwealth.

> Latin: 2 quamobrem Alaricum cunctamque Gothorum gentem, pro pace optima et quibuscumque sedibus suppliciter ac simpliciter orantem, occulto foedere fouens, publice autem et belli et pacis copia negata, ad terendam terrendamque rempublicam reseruauit.

[¶2] Moreover, other nations, irresistible in their numbers and strength, by whom the Gallic and Spanish provinces are now oppressed — that is, the Alans, the Suebi and the Vandals, together with the Burgundians, driven on by the same movement — he roused, actively soliciting them to take up arms, once the fear of the Roman name had been wiped away.

> Latin: 3 praeterea gentes alias copiis uiribusque intolerabiles, quibus nunc Galliarum Hispaniarumque prouinciae premuntur, hoc est Alanorum Sueborum Vandalorum ipsoque simul motu inpulsorum Burgundionum, ultro in arma sollicitans, deterso semel Romani nominis metu suscitauit.

*Note: The charge that Stilicho invited the Vandals, Alans and Suebi is generally rejected; it reflects the hostility to him after his fall in 408.*

[¶3] He wanted them meanwhile to batter the banks of the Rhine and pound upon the Gallic provinces, hoping, wretched man, that under this pressure of necessity he could wrest the empire from his son-in-law for his son, and that the barbarian nations could be as easily suppressed as stirred up.

> Latin: 4 eas interim ripas Rheni quatere et pulsare Gallias uoluit, sperans miser sub hac necessitatis circumstantia, quia et extorquere imperium genero posset in filium et barbarae gentes tam facile comprimi quam commoueri ualerent.

[¶4] And so, when this stage-play of such great crimes was laid bare to the emperor Honorius and the Roman army, the army rose up most justly and Stilicho was killed — he who, to clothe a single boy in purple, had given up the blood of the whole human race;

> Latin: 5 itaque ubi imperatori Honorio exercituique Romano haec tantorum scelerum scaena patefacta est, commoto iustissime exercitu occisus est Stilico, qui ut unum puerum purpura indueret, totius generis humani sanguinem dedidit;

[¶5] Eucherius was killed, who, to win for himself the favour of the pagans, was threatening to consecrate the beginnings of his reign by restoring the temples and overthrowing the churches; and with them a few accomplices in such great schemes were punished. Thus with the least trouble and the punishment of a few, the churches of Christ, together with their devout emperor, were both set free and avenged.

> Latin: 6 occisus Eucherius, qui ad conciliandum sibi fauorem paganorum restitutione templorum et euersione ecclesiarum inbuturum se regni primordia minabatur, paucique cum isdem satellites tantarum molitionum puniti sunt. ita minimo negotio paucorumque poena ecclesiae Christi cum imperatore religioso et liberatae sunt et uindicatae.

[¶6] And so, after such great increases of blasphemy, and with no repentance, that final punishment, long held suspended, overtook the City.

> Latin: 7 Itaque post haec tanta augmenta blasphemiarum nullamque paenitentiam ultima illa diuque suspensa urbem poena consequitur.

## 173. Book 7 · Chapter 39

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/173/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/173/#p-N

[¶0] Alaric arrived; he besieged, threw into confusion and broke into trembling Rome — having first given orders, however, that any who had fled to holy places, and especially to the basilicas of the holy apostles Peter and Paul, should above all be left inviolate and safe, and then that, as far as they could, though greedy for plunder, they should refrain from blood.

> Latin: 1 adest Alaricus, trepidam Romam obsidet turbat inrumpit, dato tamen praecepto prius, ut si qui in sancta loca praecipueque in sanctorum apostolorum Petri et Pauli basilicas confugissent, hos inprimis inuiolatos securosque esse sinerent, tum deinde in quantum possent praedae inhiantes a sanguine temperarent.

[¶1] It happened too — so that this breaking into the City might be the more clearly proved to have been brought about by the indignation of God rather than by the strength of the enemy — that the blessed Innocent, bishop of the city of Rome, like righteous Lot withdrawn from Sodom, was then at Ravenna by the hidden providence of God, and did not see the destruction of a sinful people.

> Latin: 2 accidit quoque, quo magis illa urbis inruptio indignatione Dei acta quam hostis fortitudine probaretur, ut beatus Innocentius, Romanae urbis episcopus, tamquam iustus Loth subtractus a Sodomis occulta prouidentia Dei apud Rauennam tunc positus, peccatoris populi non uideret excidium.

[¶2] As the barbarians were rushing about the City, it chanced that one of the Goths, a man of power and a Christian, found in a certain church building a virgin consecrated to God, now advanced in years; and when he courteously asked her for gold and silver,

> Latin: 3 discurrentibus per urbem barbaris forte unus Gothorum idemque potens et Christianus sacram Deo uirginem iam aetate prouectam, in quadam ecclesiastica domo reperit, cumque ab ea aurum argentumque honeste exposceret,

[¶3] she, with faithful steadfastness, promised that she had a great deal of it with her and would bring it out at once; and she brought it out. And when she saw the barbarian astonished, as the treasures were laid out, at their size, weight and beauty, and even at the unfamiliar character of the vessels, the virgin of Christ said to the barbarian:

> Latin: 4 illa fideli constantia esse apud se plurimum et mox proferendum spopondit ac protulit, cumque expositis opibus attonitum barbarum magnitudine pondere pulchritudine, ignota etiam uasorum qualitate intellegeret, uirgo Christi ad barbarum ait:

[¶4] “These are the sacred vessels of the apostle Peter. Take them, if you dare; the deed will be yours to answer for. As for me, since I cannot defend them, I dare not keep them.”

> Latin: 5 haec Petri apostoli sacra ministeria sunt. praesume, si audes; de facto tu uideris. ego quia defendere nequeo, tenere non audeo.

[¶5] The barbarian, moved to reverence for religion by the fear of God and by the faith of the virgin, reported these things to Alaric by a messenger; and Alaric at once ordered all the vessels to be carried back, just as they were, to the basilica of the apostle,

> Latin: 6 barbarus uero ad reuerentiam religionis timore Dei et fide uirginis motus ad Alaricum haec per nuntium rettulit: qui continuo reportari ad apostoli basilicam uniuersa ut erant uasa imperauit,

[¶6] and the virgin too, and with her all the Christians who might join themselves to her, to be escorted there under protection. That house, so they say, was far from the holy places, with half the City lying between.

> Latin: 7 uirginem etiam simulque omnes qui se adiungerent Christianos eodem cum defensione deduci. ea domus a sanctis sedibus longe ut ferunt et medio interiectu urbis aberat.

[¶7] And so, to the great wonder of all who watched, the gold and silver vessels were distributed one to each person, raised above their heads, and carried openly; the holy procession was guarded on every side by swords drawn in its defence;

> Latin: 8 itaque magno spectaculo omnium disposita per singulos singula et super capita elata palam aurea atque argentea uasa portantur; exertis undique ad defensionem gladiis pia pompa munitur;

[¶8] a hymn to God was sung publicly, Romans and barbarians singing it together; the trumpet of salvation sounded far and wide amid the sack of the City, and summoned and roused all, even those hiding in secret places;

> Latin: 9 hymnum Deo Romanis barbarisque concinentibus publice canitur; personat late in excidio urbis salutis tuba omnesque etiam in abditis latentes inuitat ac pulsat;

[¶9] from every side they ran together to the vessels of Peter, the vessels of Christ; very many pagans too mingled with the Christians, by profession if not by faith, and in this way nevertheless escaped for a time — the more to be confounded; and the more abundantly the Romans flocked together as fugitives, the more eagerly the barbarians poured around them as their defenders.

> Latin: 10 concurrunt undique ad uasa Petri uasa Christi, plurimi etiam pagani Christianis professione etsi non fide admiscentur et per hoc tamen ad tempus, quo magis confundantur, euadunt; quanto copiosius adgregantur Romani confugientes, tanto auidius circumfunduntur barbari defensores.

[¶10] O holy and ineffable discernment of the divine judgement! O that holy and saving river, which, rising in a small house, as it flowed along its blessed channel towards the dwelling places of the saints, swept wandering and imperilled souls into the bosom of salvation with a holy rapacity!

> Latin: 11 o sacra et ineffabilis diuini iudicii discretio! o sanctum istud et salutare flumen, quod parua exortum domo, dum beato alueo in sanctorum sedes tendit, oberrantes periclitantesque animas in salutis sinum pia rapacitate peruexit!

[¶11] O that glorious trumpet of the Christian warfare, which, summoning all alike to life with its sweetest melody, left without excuse for death those whom, in their disobedience, it did not rouse to salvation!

> Latin: 12 o praeclara illa Christianae militiae tuba, quae generaliter cunctos dulcissimo ad uitam modulamine inuitans, quos ad salutem inoboedientes non suscitauit, inexcusabiles reliquit ad mortem.

[¶12] This mystery, which lay in the carrying of the vessels, the singing of hymns and the leading of the people, was, I believe, like a great sieve, through which, out of the gathered people of Rome, as from a great heap of grain, the living grains flowed out through every hole of their hiding places from the whole circuit of the City, moved either by opportunity or by truth;

> Latin: 13 mysterium hoc, quod in transferendis uasis, dicendis hymnis, ducendis populis fuit, tamquam magnum cribrum fuisse arbitror, per quod ex congregatione populi Romani tamquam ex magna massa frumenti per omnia ex uniuerso ambitu ciuitatis latebrarum foramina effluxere grana uiua siue occasione siue ueritate commota;

[¶13] yet all that believed in present salvation were received from the granary of the Lord’s preparation, while the rest, like dung and like chaff, already judged by their very unbelief or disobedience, were left for extermination and burning. Who could weigh these things with the wonder they deserve? Who could proclaim them with worthy praise?

> Latin: 14 omnia tamen de praesenti salute credentia ex horreo dominicae praeparationis accepta sunt, reliqua uero uelut stercora et uelut paleae, ipsa uel incredulitate uel inoboedientia praeiudicata, ad exterminium atque incendium remanserunt. quis haec perpendere plenis miraculis, quis praedicare dignis laudibus queat?

[¶14] On the third day after they had entered the City, the barbarians departed of their own accord, having indeed set fire to a certain number of buildings, but not even so great a fire as chance had caused in the year 700 from its founding.

> Latin: 15 Tertia die barbari quam ingressi urbem fuerant sponte discedunt, facto quidem aliquantarum aedium incendio sed ne tanto quidem quantum septingentesimo conditionis eius anno casus effecerat.

[¶15] For if I recall the conflagration that Nero, its own emperor, put on as a spectacle, then beyond doubt this fire, which the anger of the conqueror has now brought, will bear no comparison with that which the wantonness of the prince had kindled.

> Latin: 16 nam si exhibitam Neronis imperatoris sui spectaculis inflammationem recenseam, procul dubio nulla conparatione aequiperabitur secundum id, quod excitauerat lasciuia principis, hoc, quod nunc intulit ira uictoris.

[¶16] Nor indeed ought I, in a comparison of this kind, to mention the Gauls, who for almost the space of a whole year held without a break the trampled ashes of the burned and overthrown City.

> Latin: 17 neque uero Gallorum meminisse in huiusmodi conlatione debeo, qui continuo paene anni spatio incensae euersaeque urbis adtritos cineres possederunt.

[¶17] And lest anyone should perhaps doubt that the enemy had been permitted to do this for the chastisement of a proud, wanton and blasphemous City, at that same time the most famous places of the City, which the enemy had been unable to set alight, were destroyed by lightning.

> Latin: 18 et ne quisquam forte dubitaret ad correptionem superbae lasciuae et blasphemae ciuitatis hostibus fuisse permissum, eodem tempore clarissima urbis loca fulminibus diruta sunt, quae inflammari ab hostibus nequiuerunt.

## 174. Book 7 · Chapter 40

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/174/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/174/#p-N

[¶0] So it was in the year 1164 from the founding of the City that the breaking into the City by Alaric took place; and although the memory of the event is fresh, yet if anyone sees the multitude of the Roman people itself and hears its voice, he will think that nothing happened — as they themselves even admit — unless perhaps he is informed by some ruins from the fire that still remain.

> Latin: 1 Anno itaque ab urbe condita MCLXIIII inruptio urbis per Alaricum facta est: cuius rei quamuis recens memoria sit, tamen si quis ipsius populi Romani et multitudinem uideat et uocem audiat, nihil factum, sicut etiam ipsi fatentur, arbitrabitur, nisi aliquantis adhuc existentibus ex incendio ruinis forte doceatur.

[¶1] In that breaking-in Placidia, daughter of the prince Theodosius and sister of the emperors Arcadius and Honorius, was captured by Athaulf, a kinsman of Alaric, and taken as his wife — as though Rome, by divine judgement, had handed her over as a special pledge and hostage; and so, joined in marriage to a most powerful barbarian king, she was of great benefit to the commonwealth.

> Latin: 2 in ea inruptione Placidia, Theodosii principis filia, Arcadii et Honorii imperatorum soror, ab Athaulfo, Alarici propinquo, capta atque in uxorem adsumpta, quasi eam diuino iudicio uelut speciale pignus obsidem Roma tradiderit, ita iuncta potentissimo barbari regis coniugio multo reipublicae commodo fuit.

*Note: Galla Placidia was taken by Alaric’s Goths in 410; she married Athaulf only in January 414, at Narbonne.*

[¶2] Meanwhile, two years before the breaking into Rome, the nations roused by Stilicho, as I said — the Alans, the Suebi and the Vandals, and many others with them — trampled the Franks, crossed the Rhine, invaded the Gallic provinces and in a headlong onslaught reached as far as the Pyrenees; checked for a time by that barrier, they poured back through the surrounding provinces.

> Latin: 3 Interea ante biennium Romanae inruptionis excitatae per Stiliconem gentes Alanorum, ut dixi, Sueborum Vandalorum multaeque cum his aliae Francos proterunt, Rhenum transeunt, Gallias inuadunt directoque impetu Pyrenaeum usque perueniunt: cuius obice ad tempus repulsae, per circumiacentes prouincias refunduntur.

*Note: The crossing of the Rhine is usually dated to 31 December 406, more than three and a half years before the sack of August 410.*

[¶3] While they were running riot through the Gallic provinces, in the British provinces Gratian, a townsman of that island, was made tyrant and was killed. In his place Constantine, from the lowest ranks of the army, was chosen solely for the hope his name inspired, without any merit of valour; and as soon as he had seized the imperial power he crossed into the Gallic provinces. There, often deceived by the barbarians with treaties that could not be relied on, he was rather a detriment to the commonwealth.

> Latin: 4 His per Gallias bacchantibus apud Britannias Gratianus, municeps eiusdem insulae, tyrannus creatur et occiditur. huius loco Constantinus ex infima militia propter solam spem nominis sine merito uirtutis eligitur: qui continuo, ut inuasit imperium, in Gallias transiit. ibi saepe a barbaris incertis foederibus inlusus, detrimento magis reipublicae fuit.

*Note: Gratian had himself been preceded by another usurper in Britain, Marcus (406–407). The Constantine raised in 407 is known as Constantine III.*

[¶4] He sent governors into the Spanish provinces; and when the provinces had obediently received them, two brothers, young, noble and wealthy, Didymus and Verinianus, undertook — not indeed to assume a tyranny against the tyrant, but — to defend themselves and their country for the lawful emperor against the tyrant and the barbarians. This became clear from the very course of what they did.

> Latin: 5 misit in Hispanias iudices: quos cum prouinciae oboedienter accepissent, duo fratres iuuenes nobiles et locupletes Didymus et Verinianus non assumere aduersus tyrannum quidem tyrannidem sed imperatori iusto aduersus tyrannum et barbaros tueri sese patriamque suam moliti sunt. quod ipso gestae rei ordine patuit.

[¶5] For no one seizes a tyranny unless it has been hastily brought to ripeness in secret and is then armed in public, its whole aim being to be seen with diadem and purple assumed before it is known of; but these men, over a very long time, gathering only their own slaves from their own estates and feeding them at their household’s expense, without concealing their purpose and without disturbing anyone, made their way to the barriers of the Pyrenees.

> Latin: 6 nam tyrannidem nemo nisi celeriter maturatam secrete inuadit et publice armat, cuius summa est assumpto diademate ac purpura uideri antequam sciri; hi uero plurimo tempore seruulos tantum suos ex propriis praediis colligentes ac uernaculis alentes sumptibus nec dissimulato proposito absque cuiusquam inquietudine ad Pyrenaei claustra tendebant.

[¶6] Against them Constantine sent into the Spanish provinces his son Constans — oh, the pity of it! — made Caesar from a monk, together with certain barbarians who, once received into alliance and enlisted in the army, were called Honoriaci. This was the first stroke of ruin for the Spanish provinces.

> Latin: 7 aduersus hos Constantinus Constantem filium suum, - pro dolor! - ex monacho Caesarem factum, cum barbaris quibusdam, qui quondam in foedus recepti atque in militiam allecti Honoriaci uocabantur, in Hispanias misit. hinc apud Hispanias prima mali labes.

[¶7] For after those brothers had been killed, who were striving to guard the Pyrenean Alps with a private force, these barbarians were first given licence to plunder the plains of Palencia, as a kind of reward for victory, and then were entrusted with the guarding of that mountain and its passes, the faithful and useful guard of the country folk having been removed.

> Latin: 8 nam interfectis illis fratribus, qui tutari priuato praesidio Pyrenaei Alpes moliebantur, his barbaris quasi in pretium uictoriae primum praedandi in Palentinis campis licentia data, dehinc supra dicti montis claustrorumque eius cura permissa est remota rusticanorum fideli et utili custodia.

[¶8] So the Honoriaci, having tasted plunder and been enticed by its abundance, in order that their crime might the more go unpunished and they themselves be allowed more licence for crime, betrayed the guard of the Pyrenees, laid the passes open, let loose all the nations which were roaming through the Gallic provinces into the Spanish provinces, and joined themselves to them;

> Latin: 9 igitur Honoriaci inbuti praeda et inlecti abundantia, quo magis scelus inpunitum foret atque ipsi sceleri plus liceret, prodita Pyrenaei custodia claustrisque patefactis cunctas gentes, quae per Gallias uagabantur, Hispaniarum prouinciis inmittunt isdemque ipsi adiunguntur:

[¶9] where, after carrying out great and bloody raids for some time, and after heavy devastation of property and people — of which they themselves now repent — they cast lots, divided up the land, and remain in possession of it to this day.

> Latin: 10 ubi actis aliquamdiu magnis cruentisque discursibus, post graues rerum atque hominum uastationes, de quibus ipsos quoque modo paenitet, habita sorte et distributa usque ad nunc possessione consistunt.

## 175. Book 7 · Chapter 41

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/175/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/175/#p-N

[¶0] I should now have ample opportunity to say much about matters of this kind, were it not that, in all men alike, the secret conscience within each one’s mind speaks for itself.

> Latin: 1 Multa nunc mihi de huiuscemodi rebus loquendi facultas foret, si non secundum omnes homines apud unius cuiusque mentem conscientia secreta loqueretur.

[¶1] The Spanish provinces were broken into and suffered slaughter and devastation — nothing new, indeed: for what they have now endured from the barbarians for those two years in which the hostile sword raged, they had once suffered from the Romans for two hundred years, and had borne also under the emperor Gallienus for almost twelve years, while the Germans laid them waste.

> Latin: 2 inruptae sunt Hispaniae, caedes uastationesque passae sunt: nihil quidem nouum, hoc enim nunc per biennium illud, quo hostilis gladius saeuiit, sustinuere a barbaris, quod per ducentos quondam annos passae fuerant a Romanis, quod etiam sub Gallieno imperatore per annos propemodum duodecim Germanis euertentibus exceperunt.

[¶2] Yet who is there who, conscious of his own deeds and those of his people, or even of his thoughts, and fearing the judgements of God, would not confess that he has suffered all things justly, or even borne but little? Or he who does not understand himself and does not fear God — how has he not suffered these things justly, and those but small?

> Latin: 3 uerumtamen quis non se, qui sui suorumque actuum uel etiam cogitationum conscius iudicia Dei metuit, iuste omnia passum uel etiam parua sustinuisse fateatur? aut qui se non intellegit Deumque non metuit, quomodo non iuste ista et quidem parua sustinuit?

[¶3] This being so, the mercy of God, with the same loving kindness with which he had long ago foretold it, nevertheless provided that, according to his Gospel, in which he ceaselessly admonished, “When they persecute you in one city, flee to another,” whoever wished to leave and go away might use the barbarians themselves as hired servants and protectors.

> Latin: 4 quae cum ita sint, illud tamen clementia Dei eadem pietate, qua dudum praedixerat, procurauit, ut secundum euangelium suum, quo incessabiliter commonebat: cum uos persecuti fuerint in una ciuitate, fugite in aliam, quisque egredi atque abire uellet, ipsis barbaris mercennariis ministris ac defensoribus uteretur.

*Note: Matthew 10:23.*

[¶4] This they then offered of their own accord; and those who could have taken everything, killing everyone, asked only for a small payment as the wage for their service and for the loads they carried. And this was indeed done by very many.

> Latin: 5 hoc tunc ipsi ultro offerebant; et qui auferre omnia interfectis omnibus poterant, particulam stipendii ob mercedem seruitii sui et transuecti oneris flagitabant. et hoc quidem a plurimis factum est.

[¶5] But those who did not believe the Gospel of God, being contumacious — or, if they did not even hear it, doubly contumacious — did not give place to wrath, and were justly overtaken and crushed by the wrath that came upon them.

> Latin: 6 qui autem non crediderunt euangelio Dei quasi contumaces, uel si etiam non audierunt dupliciter contumaces, non dederunt locum irae, iuste a superueniente ira conprehensi et oppressi sunt.

[¶6] And yet soon after this the barbarians, cursing their swords, turned to the plough, and now cherish the remaining Romans as allies and friends, so that there are now found among them certain Romans who would rather endure poverty with freedom among the barbarians than the anxiety of paying tribute among the Romans.

> Latin: 7 quamquam et post hoc quoque continuo barbari exsecrati gladios suos ad aratra conuersi sunt residuosque Romanos ut socios modo et amicos fouent, ut inueniantur iam inter eos quidam Romani, qui malint inter barbaros pauperem libertatem, quam inter Romanos tributariam sollicitudinem sustinere.

[¶7] And yet, if the barbarians had been let into the Roman frontiers for this reason alone — that throughout east and west the churches of Christ are commonly filled with Huns, Suebi, Vandals and Burgundians, and with diverse and countless peoples of believers — the mercy of God would seem worthy to be praised and exalted, since, even if with our own undoing, such great nations would be receiving the knowledge of the truth, which they surely could not have found except by this occasion.

> Latin: 8 quamquam si ob hoc solum barbari Romanis finibus inmissi forent, quod uulgo per orientem et occidentem ecclesiae Christi Hunis Suebis Vandalis et Burgundionibus diuersisque innumeris credentium populis replentur, laudanda et adtollenda misericordia Dei uideretur, quandoquidem, etsi cum labefactione nostri, tantae gentes agnitionem ueritatis acciperent, quam inuenire utique nisi hac occasione non possent.

[¶8] For what loss is it to a Christian who longs for eternal life to be withdrawn from this world at any time and in any manner? And what gain is it to a pagan, hardened against the faith in the midst of Christians, if he draws out his day a little longer, since he must die at some time, and his conversion is despaired of?

> Latin: 9 quid enim damni est Christiano ad uitam aeternam inhianti, huic saeculo quolibet tempore et quoquo pacto abstrahi? quid autem lucri est pagano in medio Christianorum aduersus fidem obdurato, si paulo diutius diem protrahat, quandoque morituro, cui desperata conuersio est?

[¶9] And since the judgements of God are ineffable, and we can neither know them all nor explain those we know, I would put it briefly thus: that the chastisement of God the judge, in whatever way it comes, is justly borne by those who know, and justly borne by those who do not know.

> Latin: 10 Et quia ineffabilia sunt iudicia Dei, quae nec scire omnia nec explicare quae scimus possumus, breuiter expresserim, correptionem iudicis Dei, quoquo pacto accidat, iuste sustinere qui sciunt, iuste sustinere qui nesciunt.

## 176. Book 7 · Chapter 42

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/176/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/176/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1165 from the founding of the City, the emperor Honorius, seeing that nothing could be done against the barbarians while so many tyrants stood against him, ordered the tyrants themselves to be destroyed first. The supreme command of this war was entrusted to Count Constantius.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MCLXV Honorius imperator, uidens tot oppositis tyrannis nihil aduersus barbaros agi posse, ipsos prius tyrannos deleri iubet. Constantio comiti huius belli summa commissa est.

[¶1] Then at last the commonwealth felt both what advantage it had at length gained in a Roman general and what ruin it had endured up to then, subjected for so long to barbarian counts.

> Latin: 2 sensit tunc demum respublica et quam utilitatem in Romano tandem duce receperit et quam eatenus perniciem per longa tempora barbaris comitibus subiecta tolerarit.

[¶2] So Count Constantius set out for Gaul with an army, and at the city of Arles shut in, captured and killed the emperor Constantine.

> Latin: 3 igitur Constantius comes in Galliam cum exercitu profectus, Constantinum imperatorem apud Arelatem ciuitatem clausit cepit occidit.

*Note: Constantine III surrendered at Arles in 411 and was put to death on his way to Ravenna.*

[¶3] From here on — to speak of the catalogue of tyrants as briefly as I can — Constans, the son of Constantine, was killed at Vienne by his count Gerontius, a man more worthless than upright, who put a certain Maximus in his place. Gerontius himself, however, was killed by his own soldiers.

> Latin: 4 Iam hinc, ut de catalogo tyrannorum quam breuissime loquar, Constantem Constantini filium Gerontius comes suus, uir nequam magis quam probus, apud Viennam interfecit atque in eius locum Maximum quendam substituit. ipse uero Gerontius a suis militibus occisus est.

[¶4] Maximus, stripped of the purple and forsaken by the Gallic soldiers, who were taken across to Africa and then recalled to Italy, now lives in want, an exile among the barbarians in Spain.

> Latin: 5 Maximus exutus purpura destitutusque a militibus Gallicanis, qui in Africam traiecti, deinde in Italiam reuocati sunt, nunc inter barbaros in Hispania egens exulat.

[¶5] Afterwards Jovinus, a man of the highest nobility in the Gallic provinces, fell as soon as he rose up to tyranny. His brother Sebastianus chose only this: to die a tyrant; for he was killed as soon as he was made.

> Latin: 6 Iouinus postea uir Galliarum nobilissimus in tyrannidem mox ut adsurrexit et cecidit. Sebastianus frater eiusdem hoc solum, ut tyrannus moreretur, elegit: nam continuo ut creatus occisus est.

[¶6] What shall I say of the most unhappy Attalus, for whom it was an honour to be killed among tyrants and a gain to die? In him Alaric — making an emperor, unmaking him, remaking him and discarding him again, all of it done almost faster than it can be told — laughed at a farce and watched a stage-play of empire;

> Latin: 7 quid de infelicissimo Attalo loquar, cui occidi inter tyrannos honor et mori lucrum fuit? in hoc Alaricus imperatore facto infecto refecto ac defecto, citius his omnibus actis paene quam dictis, mimum risit et ludum spectauit imperii;

[¶7] nor is it any wonder that the wretched man was rightly made sport of in this pageant, since that shadowy consul of his, Tertullus, dared to say in the senate house: “I shall speak to you, conscript fathers, as consul and pontiff — the one I hold, the other I hope for”; hoping from one who himself had no hope, and cursed indeed, because he had put his hope in man.

> Latin: 8 nec mirum si iure hac pompa miser lusus est, cuius ille umbratilis consul Tertullus ausus est in curia dicere: loquar uobis, patres conscripti, consul et pontifex, quorum alterum teneo, alterum spero, sperans ab eo qui spem non habebat et maledictus utique, quia spem suam posuerat in homine.

*Note: Jeremiah 17:5: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man.”*

[¶8] Attalus, then, like an empty phantom of empire, was carried along with the Goths as far as the Spanish provinces; departing from there by ship with uncertain designs, he was captured at sea and brought to Count Constantius, then presented to the emperor Honorius, and, with his hand cut off, was left alive.

> Latin: 9 Attalus itaque tamquam inane imperii simulacrum cum Gothis usque ad Hispanias portatus est, unde discedens naui incerta moliens in mari captus et ad Constantium comitem deductus, deinde imperatori Honorio exhibitus truncata manu uitae relictus est.

[¶9] Heraclianus, meanwhile, sent as count of Africa, while that same Attalus bore the shadow of empire, vigorously defended Africa against the governors sent by him, and obtained the consulship;

> Latin: 10 Heraclianus interea Africae comes missus, cum idem Attalus umbram gestaret imperii, Africam strenue aduersum iudices ab eo missos tutatus, consulatum adsecutus est;

[¶10] puffed up with pride by this, he chose as his son-in-law Sabinus, his household officer, a man of shrewd talent and skilful industry, who might have been called wise had he applied the powers of his mind to peaceful pursuits;

> Latin: 11 quo elatus supercilio Sabinum domesticum suum, uirum ingenio callidum industriaque sollertem et sapientem nominandum si animi uires tranquillis studiis adcommodauisset, generum allegit;

[¶11] together with him, while lying under suspicion of certain dangerous designs, he made those suspicions true; and, having held back the African grain supply for some time contrary to custom, he at last set out for Rome himself with an immense fleet of ships, one truly incredible enough for our times.

> Latin: 12 cum quo quorundam periculorum suspiciones dum patitur fecit atque, aliquamdiu Africana annona extra ordinem detenta, ipse tandem cum inmensa, certe temporibus nostris satis incredibili classe nauium Romam contendit.

[¶12] For he is said to have had at that time 3,700 ships — a number which the histories report that not even Xerxes, that famous king of the Persians, nor Alexander the Great, nor any other king ever had.

> Latin: 13 nam habuisse tunc tria milia septingentas naues dicitur, quem numerum ne apud Xerxen quidem praeclarum illum Persarum regem et Alexandrum Magnum uel quemquam alium regum fuisse historiae ferunt.

[¶13] As soon as he had landed on the shore, making for the City with a column of soldiers, he was terrified by the encounter with Count Marinus and turned to flight; seizing a ship, he returned alone to Carthage, and there was at once killed by a band of soldiers. His son-in-law Sabinus fled to Constantinople, from where, after some time, he was brought back and condemned to exile.

> Latin: 14 is simul ut cum agmine militum ad urbem pergens litore egressus est, occursu comitis Marini territus et in fugam uersus, arrepta naui solus Carthaginem rediit atque ibi continuo militari manu interfectus est. Sabinus gener eius Constantinopolim fugit, unde post aliquantum temporis retractus exilioque damnatus est.

[¶14] This whole catalogue, as I said, of open tyrants or disobedient generals the emperor Honorius won by his excellent religion and good fortune, and Count Constantius carried through with great energy and speed —

> Latin: 15 Hunc omnem catalogum, ut dixi, uel manifestorum tyrannorum uel inoboedientium ducum optima Honorius imperator religione et felicitate meruit, magna Constantius comes industria et celeritate confecit:

[¶15] deservedly indeed, because in these days, at the command of Honorius and with the help of Constantius, peace and unity were restored to the catholic Church throughout all Africa, and the body of Christ, which we are, was healed, its rent made whole again; the carrying out of the sacred decree having been laid upon the tribune Marcellinus, a man exceedingly prudent and industrious, and most eager for every good study.

> Latin: 16 merito sane, quia in his diebus praecipiente Honorio et adiuuante Constantio pax et unitas per uniuersam Africam Ecclesiae catholicae reddita est et corpus Christi, quod nos sumus, redintegrata discissione sanatum est, imposita exsecutione sacri praecepti Marcellino tribuno, uiro inprimis prudenti et industrio omniumque bonorum studiorum appetentissimo.

*Note: The Conference of Carthage (411), at which Marcellinus presided, ruled against the Donatists, whom Orosius does not name.*

[¶16] Him Count Marinus killed at Carthage — whether goaded by zeal or corrupted by gold is uncertain; and Marinus was at once recalled from Africa, made a private man, and dismissed either to punishment or to the repentance of his own conscience.

> Latin: 17 quem Marinus comes apud Carthaginem - incertum zelo stimulatus an auro corruptus - occidit: qui continuo reuocatus ex Africa factusque priuatus uel ad poenam uel ad paenitentiam conscientiae suae dimissus est.

## 177. Book 7 · Chapter 43

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/177/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/orosius-historiae/177/#p-N

[¶0] In the year 1168 from the founding of the City, Count Constantius, stationed at Arles, a city of Gaul, with great energy in the conduct of affairs drove the Goths from Narbonne and forced them to go off into Spain, chiefly by forbidding and cutting off all traffic of ships and the use of foreign trade.

> Latin: 1 Anno ab urbe condita MCLXVIII Constantius comes apud Arelatem Galliae urbem consistens, magna rerum gerendarum industria Gothos a Narbona expulit atque abire in Hispaniam coegit interdicto praecipue atque intercluso omni commeatu nauium et peregrinorum usu commerciorum.

[¶1] At that time King Athaulf ruled over the peoples of the Goths; after the breaking into the City and the death of Alaric he had succeeded Alaric in the kingship, having taken as his wife, as I said, the captive Placidia, the emperor’s sister.

> Latin: 2 Gothorum tunc populis Athaulfus rex praeerat: qui post inruptionem urbis ac mortem Alarici Placidia, ut dixi, captiua sorore imperatoris in uxorem adsumpta Alarico in regnum successerat.

[¶2] He, as was often heard and as was proved by his final end, being an earnest enough follower of peace, preferred to serve the emperor Honorius faithfully and to spend the strength of the Goths in defending the Roman commonwealth.

> Latin: 3 is, ut saepe auditum atque ultimo exitu eius probatum est, satis studiose sectator pacis militare fideliter Honorio imperatori ac pro defendenda Romana republica inpendere uires Gothorum praeoptauit.

[¶3] For I myself, too, heard a certain man of Narbonne, who had held a distinguished military post under Theodosius, and was moreover devout, prudent and serious, relate to the most blessed presbyter Jerome at Bethlehem, a town of Palestine, that he had been on very intimate terms with Athaulf at Narbonne, and had often learned from him, with solemn assurance, what Athaulf — a man great beyond measure in spirit, strength and intellect — was in the habit of saying:

> Latin: 4 nam ego quoque ipse uirum quendam Narbonensem inlustris sub Theodosio militiae, etiam religiosum prudentemque et grauem, apud Bethleem oppidum Palaestinae beatissimo Hieronymo presbytero referentem audiui, se familiarissimum Athaulfo apud Narbonam fuisse ac de eo saepe sub testificatione didicisse, quod ille, cum esset animo uiribus ingenioque nimius, referre solitus esset:

[¶4] that at first he had ardently longed to blot out the Roman name and to make all the Roman soil an empire of the Goths, and to call it so, so that — to use the common speech — what had been Romania should be Gothia, and Athaulf should now become what Caesar Augustus had once been;

> Latin: 5 se inprimis ardenter inhiasse, ut oblitterato Romano nomine Romanum omne solum Gothorum imperium et faceret et uocaret essetque, ut uulgariter loquar, Gothia quod Romania fuisset et fieret nunc Athaulfus quod quondam Caesar Augustus,

[¶5] but that when he had proved by long experience that the Goths could in no way obey laws, because of their unbridled barbarism, and that the laws of the commonwealth ought not to be done away with, since without them a commonwealth is not a commonwealth, he had chosen at least to seek for himself the glory of restoring the Roman name to its full strength and increasing it by the might of the Goths, and to be held by posterity as the author of Rome’s restoration, since he had not been able to be its transformer.

> Latin: 6 at ubi multa experientia probauisset neque Gothos ullo modo parere legibus posse propter effrenatam barbariem neque reipublicae interdici leges oportere, sine quibus respublica non est respublica, elegisse saltim, ut gloriam sibi de restituendo in integrum augendoque Romano nomine Gothorum uiribus quaereret habereturque apud posteros Romanae restitutionis auctor, postquam esse non potuerat immutator.

[¶6] For this reason he strove to abstain from war, for this reason to long for peace, being guided towards all the works of good government above all by the persuasion and counsel of his wife Placidia, a woman truly of the keenest intelligence and of sound enough religion.

> Latin: 7 ob hoc abstinere a bello, ob hoc inhiare paci nitebatur, praecipue Placidiae uxoris suae, feminae sane ingenio acerrimae et religione satis probae, ad omnia bonarum ordinationum opera persuasu et consilio temperatus.

[¶7] And while he was pressing most earnestly to seek and to offer this same peace, he was killed at Barcelona, a city of Spain, through the treachery of his own men, as it is said.

> Latin: 8 cumque eidem paci petendae atque offerendae studiosissime insisteret, apud Barcinonam Hispaniae urbem dolo suorum, ut fertur, occisus est.

[¶8] After him Sigeric was made king by the Goths; and although he too, by the judgement of God, was inclined towards peace, he was nonetheless killed by his own men.

> Latin: 9 Post hunc Segericus rex a Gothis creatus cum itidem iudicio Dei ad pacem pronus esset, nihilominus a suis interfectus est.

[¶9] Then Wallia succeeded to the kingship, chosen by the Goths for this purpose, to break the peace, but ordained by God for this, to confirm it.

> Latin: 10 Deinde Vallia successit in regnum ad hoc electus a Gothis, ut pacem infringeret, ad hoc ordinatus a Deo, ut pacem confirmaret.

[¶10] He, then — terrified above all by the judgement of God, because in the year before a great band of Goths, equipped with arms and ships, had attempted to cross into Africa and, caught by a storm twelve miles out in the strait of Cadiz, had perished in a pitiable end;

> Latin: 11 hic igitur - territus maxime iudicio Dei, quia cum magna superiore abhinc anno Gothorum manus instructa armis nauigiisque transire in Africam moliretur, in duodecim milibus passuum Gaditani freti tempestate correpta, miserabili exitu perierat,

*Note: The strait of Cadiz (fretum Gaditanum) is the Strait of Gibraltar.*

[¶11] mindful also of that disaster suffered under Alaric, when the Goths, attempting to cross into Sicily, were pitiably swept away and drowned in the sight of their own people — concluded a most favourable peace with the emperor Honorius, giving hostages of the highest rank; he restored to her brother Placidia, the emperor’s sister, whom he had kept with him in honour and propriety;

> Latin: 12 memor etiam illius acceptae sub Alarico cladis, cum in Siciliam Gothi transire conati, in conspectu suorum miserabiliter arrepti et demersi sunt - pacem optimam cum Honorio imperatore, datis lectissimis obsidibus pepigit; Placidiam imperatoris sororem honorifice apud se honesteque habitam fratri reddidit;

[¶12] and he offered his own danger for the security of Rome, undertaking to fight against the other nations which had settled throughout the Spanish provinces — fighting on his own account, but conquering for the Romans.

> Latin: 13 Romanae securitati periculum suum obtulit, ut aduersus ceteras gentes, quae per Hispanias consedissent, sibi pugnaret et Romanis uinceret.

[¶13] And the other kings, too, of the Alans, the Vandals and the Suebi had bargained with us on the same terms, sending word to the emperor Honorius: “Be at peace with all, and receive hostages from all; we fight among ourselves, we perish at our own cost, we conquer for you — and with undying gain to your commonwealth, if both sides of us perish.”

> Latin: 14 quamuis et ceteri Alanorum Vandalorum Sueborumque reges eodem nobiscum placito depecti forent mandantes imperatori Honorio: "tu cum omnibus pacem habe omniumque obsides accipe; nos nobis confligimus, nobis perimus, tibi uincimus, immortali uero quaestu reipublicae tuae, si utrique pereamus."

[¶14] Who would believe these things, if the facts did not show them? And so now, every day, we learn from frequent and reliable reports that wars between the nations are being waged in the Spanish provinces, and that the barbarians are making slaughter of one another; and they say that Wallia, king of the Goths, is above all pressing on to bring about peace.

> Latin: 15 quis haec crederet, nisi res doceret? itaque nunc cottidie apud Hispanias geri bella gentium et agi strages ex alterutro barbarorum crebris certisque nuntiis discimus, praecipue Valliam Gothorum regem insistere patrandae paci ferunt.

[¶15] On this account I would grant, after a fashion, that the Christian times may be censured freely — if anyone can show that anything has been done with like good fortune from the creation of the world until now.

> Latin: 16 ex quo utcumque concesserim, ut licenter Christiana tempora reprehendantur, si quid a conditione mundi usque ad nunc simili factum felicitate doceatur.

[¶16] We have made plain, I think, and have shown, scarcely more by word than by pointing a finger, that countless wars have been laid to rest, a great many tyrants destroyed, and the most savage nations checked, confined, made subject and brought to nothing, with the least bloodshed, without any contest, and almost without slaughter.

> Latin: 17 manifestauimus, ut arbitror, atque ostendimus non magis uerbo paene quam digito innumera bella sopita, plurimos extinctos tyrannos, conpressas coangustatas addictas exinanitasque immanissimas gentes minimo sanguine, nullo certamine ac paene sine caede.

[¶17] It remains only for our detractors to repent of their schemes, to blush before the truth, and to believe, fear, love and follow the true and only God, who can do all things — all of whose works, even those they think evil, they have learned to be good.

> Latin: 18 superest ut obtrectatores nostros molitionum suarum paeniteat ueritatique erubescant Deumque uerum et solum, qui potest omnia, credant timeant diligant et sequantur, cuius omnia, et quae mala putant, bona esse didicerunt.

[¶18] With the help of Christ, and as you instructed me, most blessed father Augustine, I have set out, from the beginning of the world to the present day — that is, over 5,618 years — the passions and the punishments of sinful men, the conflicts of the world and the judgements of God, as briefly and as simply as I could; yet I have set the Christian times apart from that confusion of unbelief, because the grace of Christ is more present in them.

> Latin: 19 Explicui adiuuante Christo secundum praeceptum tuum, beatissime pater Augustine, ab initio mundi usque in praesentem diem, hoc est per annos quinque milia sescentos decem et octo, cupiditates et punitiones hominum peccatorum, conflictationes saeculi et iudicia Dei quam breuissime et quam simplicissime potui, Christianis tamen temporibus propter praesentem magis Christi gratiam ab illa incredulitatis confusione discretis.

[¶19] So now I enjoy the sure fruit of my obedience, the only one I ought to have desired. As for the quality of these little works, that is for you to see, who commanded them: if you publish them, they must be counted yours; if you destroy them, they will have been judged by you.

> Latin: 20 ita iam ego certo et solo, quem concupiscere debui, oboedientiae meae fructu fruor; de qualitate autem opusculorum tu uideris qui praecepisti, tibi adiudicanda si edas, per te iudicata si deleas.