A Good Works Translation from the Latin

Festus' Breviarium is a compact late antique summary of Roman expansion and frontier war addressed to Valens.

The whole work belongs on the Scythian shelf because its short imperial geography includes Dacia beyond the Danube, Scythia as a province, Thrace, Goths, Sarmatians, Pontus, Bosporus, Armenia, Colchis, Albania, Iberia, Persia, Mesopotamia, Julian, Jovian, and the eastern frontier.

The English below is a complete Good Works Translation from the Latin source text printed below.

Translation

Section 1

Your Clemency has ordered that a brief account be made. I will gladly obey the command, since the ability to speak more broadly is lacking to me. Following the custom of calculators, who express huge sums of money by shorter signs, I shall mark out deeds, not declaim them. Receive, then, what has been said briefly so that it may be counted still more briefly, so that, glorious Prince, you may seem not so much to read the aged antiquity of the Roman people and the deeds of old time as to number them.

Section 2

From the founding of the city to the rise of your Eternity, when you more prosperously received by lot the Roman empire, one thousand one hundred seventeen years are counted, as follows. Under kings, two hundred forty-three; under consuls, four hundred sixty-seven; under emperors, four hundred seven. Seven kings in number reigned at Rome for two hundred forty-three years. Romulus reigned thirty-seven years; senators, one by one for five days each, one year; Numa Pompilius reigned forty-three years; Tullus Hostilius reigned thirty-two; Ancus Marcius twenty-four; Tarquinius Priscus reigned thirty-seven; Servius Tullius reigned forty-four; Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was driven from the kingdom in his twenty-fifth year.

Afterward there were consuls from Junius Brutus and Publicola down to Pansa and Marcus Hirtius, nine hundred sixteen in number, besides those who by some lot were substituted in the same year, through four hundred sixty-seven years. For forty-nine years consuls were lacking at Rome: under the decemvirs for two years, under military tribunes for forty-three years. Rome was without magistrates for four years. From Octavian Caesar Augustus to Jovian there were forty-four emperors, through four hundred seven years.

Section 3

Under these three kinds of rule, that is, royal, consular, and imperial, I will briefly show how far Rome advanced. Under seven kings, through two hundred forty-three years, Roman rule advanced no farther than Portus and Ostia, within the eighteenth mile from the gates of the city of Rome, since it was still small and founded by shepherds, while neighboring cities pressed around it.

Under consuls, among whom there were sometimes dictators too, through four hundred sixty-seven years altogether, Italy was occupied as far as beyond the Po. Africa was subdued; the Spains were added; the Gauls and Britains were made tributary. Then the Illyrians, Istrians, Liburnians, and Dalmatians were subdued; passage was made to Achaea; the Macedonians were subjected; war was made with Dardani, Moesi, and Thracians; and the Romans came even as far as the Danube. In Asia, after Antiochus was driven out, the Romans first set foot; after Mithridates was defeated, the kingdom of Pontus was first occupied, and Lesser Armenia, which the same man had held, was obtained by arms. The Roman army came into Mesopotamia; a treaty was begun with the Parthians; war was waged against the Cordueni, Saracens, and Arabs; all Judaea was conquered; Cilicians and Syrians came under the power of the Roman people. The kings of Egypt were allies.

Under the emperors, through four hundred seven years, although the fortune of the commonwealth was divided and many princes ruled, the Maritime Alps, Cottian Alps, Raetiae, Noricae, Pannoniae, and Moesiae were nevertheless added to the Roman city; every shore of the Danube was reduced into provinces. All Pontus, Greater Armenia, the whole East with Mesopotamia, Assyria, Arabia, and Egypt passed under the laws of Roman rule.

Section 4

In what order the Roman commonwealth obtained each province is shown as follows. Sicily was made the first of the provinces. After Hiero, king of the Sicilians, was defeated, the consul Marcellus obtained it. Then it was ruled by praetors; afterward it was entrusted to governors; now it is administered by men of consular rank.

Metellus defeated Sardinia and Corsica, and triumphed over the Sardinians, who often rebelled. The administration of these islands had been joined to him; afterward each had its own praetors; now each is ruled by its own governor.

Roman standards were sent into Africa for the defense of the Sicilians. Africa rebelled three times. At last, after Carthage was destroyed by Scipio Africanus, it was made a province; now it is under proconsuls. Numidia was held by friendly kings, but war was declared against Jugurtha because he had killed Adherbal and Hiempsal, sons of King Micipsa; after he was worn down by the consul Metellus and captured by Marius, Numidia came under the power of the Roman people.

The Mauretanias were held by King Bocchus. But when all Africa was subdued, King Juba held the Moors; defeated by Julius Caesar in the cause of civil war, he took his own life by his own hand. Thus the Mauretanias began to be ours. Through all Africa six provinces were made: Africa itself, where Carthage is, proconsular; Numidia, consular; Byzacium, consular; Tripolis and the two Mauretanias, that is Sitifensis and Caesariensis, governed by presidents.

Section 5

We first carried aid to the Spaniards against the Africans through the Scipios. We restrained the Lusitanians rebelling in Spain through Decimus Brutus, and came as far as Gades at the Ocean sea. Later Sulla was sent with an army against the Spaniards in disturbance and defeated them. The Celtiberians in Spain often rebelled, but, when the younger Scipio was sent, they were subdued with the destruction of Numantia. Almost all the Spains, on the occasion of the Sertorian war, were received in surrender through Metellus and Pompey; afterward, with Pompey's command prolonged for five years, they were thoroughly subdued by him. At the end also, by Octavian Caesar Augustus, the Cantabri and Astures, who trusted in the mountains and resisted, were destroyed.

Now there are six provinces through all the Spains: Tarraconensis, Carthaginensis, Lusitania, Gallaecia, and Baetica. Across the strait too, on the soil of Africa, there is a province of the Spains, which is called Tingitan Mauretania. Of these, Baetica and Lusitania are consular; the rest are governed by presidents.

Section 6

The Roman people had very grave wars with the Gauls. The Gauls held even that part of Italy in which Mediolanum now is, as far as the river Rubicon, trusting so much in their strength that they attacked Rome itself in war. After Roman armies had been cut down at the river Allia, they entered the walls of the city and besieged the Capitol, to whose citadel six hundred nobles and senators had fled; they redeemed themselves from siege by one thousand pounds of gold. Afterward Camillus, who was in exile, gathered a multitude from the fields, crushed the Gauls returning from victory, and carried back the gold and the standards which the Gauls had taken.

Many consuls, praetors, and dictators fought with the Gauls with varying outcome. Marius drove the Gauls from Italy and, after crossing the Alps, fought successfully against them. Gaius Caesar, with ten legions, each of which had four thousand Italian soldiers, subdued the Gauls from the Alps to the Rhine through eight years. He fought with the barbarians placed beyond the Rhine; he crossed into Britain; in the tenth year he made the Gauls and Britains tributary. In Gaul, with Aquitania and the Britains, there are eighteen provinces: the Maritime Alps, Narbonensis, Viennensis, Novempopulana, the two Aquitanias, the two Lugdunenses, the Graian Alps, Maxima Sequanorum, the two Germanies, the two Belgicas; in Britain, Maxima Caesariensis, Flavia, Britannia Prima, and Britannia Secunda.

Section 7

We entered Illyricum gradually from the seacoast. The consul Laevinus was the first to enter the Adriatic and Ionian Sea and obtained the maritime cities. Crete was made a province through the proconsul Metellus, who was called Creticus. When the Greeks fled to our protection, we came to Achaea. The Athenians sought our aid against Philip, king of the Macedonians. Achaea was free for a long time under friendship with us. At last, after Roman envoys were violated at Corinth, all Achaea was obtained through Lucius Mummius the proconsul when Corinth was captured.

The Epirotes, who once, with King Pyrrhus, had presumed even to cross into Italy, were defeated. The Thessalians, together with the regions of the Achaeans and Macedonians, were added to us. Macedonia rebelled three times, under Philip, under Perseus, and under Pseudophilip. Flamininus crushed Philip, Paullus crushed Perseus, Metellus crushed Pseudophilip; by their triumphs Macedonia too was joined to the Roman people.

The Illyrians, who had brought aid to the Macedonians, we defeated on the same occasion through Lucius Anicius the praetor, and received them into surrender with King Gentius. Curio the proconsul subdued the Dardani and Moesi and was the first of Roman commanders to come as far as the Danube. Under Julius and Octavian Augustus a road was made through the Julian Alps; after all the Alpine peoples were defeated, the provinces of the Norici were added. When Batho, king of the Pannonians, was subdued, the Pannonias came into our power. After the Amantini between the Save and Drava were overthrown, the Sava region and the places of the Second Pannonians were obtained.

Section 8

The Marcomanni and Quadi were driven from the places of Valeria, which are between the Danube and the Drava; and the frontier between Romans and barbarians was established from Augusta Vindelicorum through Noricum, the Pannonias, and Moesia. Trajan defeated the Dacians under King Decibalus and made Dacia beyond the Danube, on barbarian soil, a province. It had a circuit of one million paces. But under Emperor Gallienus it was lost; and through Aurelian, after the Romans had been transferred from there, two Dacias were made in the regions of Moesia and Dardania.

Illyricum has seventeen provinces: the two Noricums, the two Pannonias, Valeria, Savia, Dalmatia, Moesia, and the two Dacias. In the diocese of Macedonia there are seven: Macedonia, Thessalia, Achaia, the two Epiri, Praevalis, and Crete.

Section 9

The Romans crossed into the Thraces on the occasion of the Macedonian war. The Thracians were the fiercest of all peoples. In the regions of the Thracians the Scordisci also lived, a race equally cruel and clever. Many things about the savageries of the peoples named above are remembered in a legendary way: that they sometimes sacrificed captives of enemies to their gods, and that they were accustomed to drink human blood in the bones of heads. Often a Roman army was cut down by them. Marcus Didius checked the wandering Thracians; Marcus Drusus held them within their own borders; Marcus Minucius devastated them on the ice of the river Hebrus. Through the proconsul Appius Claudius those who lived in Rhodope were defeated. The Roman fleet had earlier obtained the maritime cities of Europe.

Marcus Lucullus was the first to fight through Thrace with the Bessi, and he defeated Thrace itself, the head of the people. He subdued the Haemimontani and Eumolpias, which is now called Philippopolis; he brought Uscudama, which is now named Hadrianopolis, into our power; he captured Cabyle. He occupied the cities set above Pontus: Apollonia, Calathus, Parthenopolis, Tomi, and Ister. Reaching as far as the Danube, he showed Roman arms to the Scythians. Thus six provinces of the Thraces were acquired into the power of the commonwealth: Thrace, Haemimontus, Lower Moesia, Scythia, Rhodope, and Europe, in which now the second citadel of the Roman world, Constantinople, is established.

Section 10

Now I will explain the eastern parts, the whole Orient, and the provinces placed beneath the neighboring sun, which victors prepared for your sceptres, so that the zeal of your Clemency, which you have for extending them, may be stirred more strongly. Asia became known to the Romans through alliance with King Attalus, and, left by the will of Attalus, we possessed it by hereditary right. Yet, so that the Roman people should have nothing not won by force, it was claimed by us in arms from Antiochus, very great king of the Syrians. On the same occasion Lydia also, ancient seat of kingdoms, Caria, the Hellespont, and the Phrygias came joined by surrender into the power of the Roman people. We used the Rhodians and the peoples of the islands first as most hostile, afterward as very faithful helpers. Thus Rhodes and the islands at first acted freely; afterward, gently invited by the Romans, they came into the habit of obedience, and under Prince Vespasian were made the province of the Islands.

Section 11

Pamphylia, Lycia, Phrygia, Pisidia, Caria, and Isauria were obtained by the proconsul Servilius, sent to the pirate war. We received Bithynia by the will of King Nicomedes when he died. We invaded Gallograecia, that is Galatia, for the Galatians are from the Gauls, as the name sounds, because they had furnished aid to Antiochus against the Romans. The proconsul Manlius pursued the Galatians; when they fled partly to Olympus and partly to Mount Magaba, now called Modiacus, he drove them from the heights down to the plains, defeated them, and reduced them to lasting peace. Afterward Deiotarus the tetrarch held Galatia with our permission. At last, under Octavian Caesar Augustus, Galatia was reduced into the form of a province, and Lollius was the first to govern it as propraetor.

The Cappadocians first sought our alliance under King Ariarathes through envoys. Afterward Ariobarzanes, king of the Cappadocians, was driven out by Mithridates and restored by Roman arms. The Cappadocians were always among our auxiliaries, and they honored Roman majesty in such a way that, in honor of Caesar Augustus, Mazaca, the greatest city of Cappadocia, was called Caesarea. Finally, when under Emperor Claudius Caesar Archelaus had come from Cappadocia to Rome and had been detained there for a long time until he died, Cappadocia passed into the appearance of a province.

Pontus received the form of a province through Pompey after Mithridates, king of Pontus, was defeated. Pylaemenes, king of Paphlagonia and friend of the Roman people, held Paphlagonia. Often driven from it, he was restored to the kingdom by us. When he died, a province was imposed on the Paphlagonians.

Section 12

How Roman possession advanced beyond the ridges of Mount Taurus will be shown while preserving the order of places rather than times. Antiochus, very powerful king of Syria, brought a fearsome war upon the Roman people. He had three hundred thousand armed men; he also arranged his battle line with scythed chariots and elephants. Defeated by the consul Scipio, brother of Scipio Africanus, in Asia near Magnesia, he received peace and was allowed to reign within Mount Taurus. His sons kept the kingdom of Syria under the clientship of the Roman people. When they died, we gained possession of the provinces of the Syrians.

Servilius the proconsul, sent to the war against brigands, subdued the Cilicians and Isaurians, who had joined themselves to pirates and sea-robbers, and was the first to establish a road through Mount Taurus. He triumphed over the Cilicians and Isaurians and was surnamed Isauricus.

Section 13

Cyprus, famous for wealth, tempted the poverty of the Roman people to occupy it. King Ptolemy, an ally, ruled it, but there was such poverty of the Roman treasury and such great fame of Cypriot riches that, by a law carried through Publius Clodius, tribune of the people, Cyprus was ordered to be confiscated. When this message was received, the Cypriot king took poison, so that he would lose his life before his riches. Cato brought the Cypriot wealth to Rome in ships; thus we gained the right over that island more greedily than justly.

We received Cyrene, with the other cities of Libyan Pentapolis, by the generosity of the earlier Ptolemy. We received Libya by the final judgment of King Apion. All Egypt had been under friendly kings; but when Cleopatra was defeated with Antony, Egypt received the form of a province in the time of Octavian Caesar Augustus, and Cornelius Gallus, a Roman judge, was the first to govern among the Alexandrians.

Section 14

Roman arms were first sent beyond Taurus through the borders of the Armenias under Lucius Lucullus. The phylarchs of the Saracens in Osroene were overcome and yielded. In Mesopotamia Nisibis was captured by the same Lucullus. Afterward the same places were obtained by arms through Pompey. Syria and Phoenicia were recovered in the war from Tigranes, king of the Armenians. Arabs and Jews in Palestine were defeated.

At last, under Prince Trajan, the diadem was taken from the king of Greater Armenia, and through Trajan Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Arabia were made provinces; the eastern frontier was established above the bank of the river Tigris. But Hadrian, who succeeded Trajan and envied his glory, of his own accord returned Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, and wished the Euphrates to be the middle boundary between Persians and Romans.

Afterward, however, under the two Antonines, Marcus and Verus, and Severus Pertinax and the other Roman princes, who fought against the Parthians with varying outcome, Mesopotamia was lost four times and recovered four times. In Diocletian's time, after the Romans were defeated in the first clash but King Narseus was overcome in the second, his wife and daughters captured and preserved with the highest guard of chastity, peace was made and Mesopotamia was restored. The frontier was reformed above the bank of the Tigris in such a way that we obtained power over five peoples established beyond the Tigris. This condition of treaty endured and was preserved until the time of the Divine Constantine.

Section 15

I know now, renowned prince, where your attention turns. You are certainly asking how often the arms of Babylon and the Romans were brought together, and with what changes of fortune arrows contended with javelins. I will briefly enumerate the outcomes of the wars. You will find that the enemies rejoiced in theft in a few cases, but that Roman victories always stood approved by true courage.

First, King Arsaces of the Parthians, driven back by Lucius Sulla the proconsul, sent an embassy, sought the friendship of the Roman people, and obtained it. Lucius Lucullus pursued Mithridates, stripped of the kingdom of Pontus, into Armenia. Tigranes, king of the Armenians, with seventeen thousand five hundred mailed cavalry and one hundred twenty thousand archers, he defeated with eighteen thousand Romans. He stormed Tigranocerta, the greatest city of Armenia, and obtained Madena, a rich region of the Armenians. From there he descended through Melitene to Mesopotamia and captured Nisibis with the king's brother. Preparing to move against the Persians, he received a successor.

Section 16

Gnaeus Pompey, of tested good fortune, was sent to the Mithridatic war. Attacking Mithridates in Lesser Armenia in a night battle, he overcame him; after forty-two thousand of the enemy had been killed, he took his camp. Mithridates fled with his wife and two companions into the Bosporus; there, despairing of his affairs, he drank poison, and, when the force of the poison did too little, he obtained from his own soldier that he be killed by the sword.

Pompey pursued Tigranes, king of the Armenians and helper of Mithridates. Tigranes surrendered himself to him near Artaxata, offering his diadem. Mesopotamia, the Syrians, and some part of Phoenicia were recovered from him, and he was permitted to reign within Greater Armenia. The same Pompey set Aristarchus as king over the Bosporans and Colchians. He fought with the Albanians; after defeating Orodes, king of the Albanians, three times, he gave him peace. He received Iberia with King Artoces into surrender. He defeated the Saracens and Arabs. Having captured Judaea, he obtained Jerusalem. He made a treaty with the Persians. Returning, near Antioch, he consecrated the grove of Daphne to Apollo, delighted by the pleasantness of the place and the abundance of waters, after adding woodland.

Section 17

Marcus Crassus the consul was sent against the rebelling Parthians. When peace was asked of him by an embassy sent from the Parthians, he said he would answer near Ctesiphon. He crossed the Euphrates at Zeugma and, led by a certain deserter Abgarus, descended into an unknown loneliness of plains. There, while columns of archers surrounded him on every side under Silaces and Surena, royal commanders, the army was encircled and overwhelmed by force of missiles. Crassus himself, drawn into a conference against the resistance of the tribunes, when he could almost have been taken alive, had escaped; but while seeking flight he was killed. His head, cut off with his right hand, was carried to the king and held in such mockery that molten gold was poured into his throat, so that, since he burned with desire for plunder and refused to grant peace to the king when asked, even the remains of the dead man might be burned by the flame of gold.

Gaius Cassius, quaestor of Crassus, a vigorous man, gathered the remnants of the scattered army. Against the Persians breaking into Syria, he fought three times with the greatest admiration, and, after they had been thrown back beyond the Euphrates, devastated them.

Section 18

The Parthians, with Labienus as leader, who had belonged to the Pompeian party and after defeat had fled to the Persians, broke into Syria and occupied the whole province. But Publius Ventidius Bassus, meeting the Parthians who had invaded Syria under Labienus' leadership on Mount Taurus, put them to flight with few men, killed Labienus, pursued the Parthians, and laid them low to destruction. In that encounter he killed the son of the Parthian king on the same day on which Crassus had been defeated, lest the death of a Roman commander ever be left unavenged. Ventidius was the first to triumph over the Parthians.

Marcus Antony entered Media, now called Medena, and brought war upon the Parthians. In the first battles he defeated them, but afterward, after two legions had been lost, when he was pressed by famine, plague, and storms, he barely recalled his army through Armenia while the Parthians followed. He was struck by such terror moment by moment that he asked to be struck by his own gladiator, lest he come alive into the power of the enemy.

Section 19

Under Octavian Caesar Augustus, Armenia conspired with the Parthians. Claudius Caesar, grandson of Augustus, was sent to the East with an army. Since he easily settled everything by the majesty of the Roman name, and the Armenians, who at that time were stronger than the Parthians, surrendered to him, Claudius Caesar set judges over the named peoples according to the arrangement of Pompey. A certain Donnes, whom Arsaces had set over the Parthians, pretending betrayal, offered him a little book in which written treasures were contained. When the Roman commander was reading it rather attentively, Donnes attacked and wounded him with a knife. The striker was pierced by the soldiers; Gaius, returning into Syria from the wound, died.

The Parthians, admitted to make satisfaction for the crime, then for the first time gave hostages to Octavian Caesar Augustus and returned the standards taken under Crassus. When the peoples of the East had been pacified, Caesar Augustus was also the first to receive an embassy of the Indians.

Section 20

Nero, the most disgraceful emperor whom the Roman commonwealth endured, lost the two Armenias. Then two Roman legions, sent under the yoke by the Parthians, polluted their military oaths with the utmost disgrace of the Roman name.

Trajan, who after Augustus moved the arms of the Roman commonwealth, recovered Armenia from the Parthians. Removing the diadem, he took the kingdom away from the king of Greater Armenia. He gave a king to the Albanians; he received the Iberians, Bosporans, and Colchians into the alliance of Roman dominion; he occupied the places of the Osroeni and Arabs. He obtained the Cordueni and Marcomedi. He received and held Anthemusia, the best region of Persia, Seleucia, Ctesiphon, and Babylonia; after Alexander he came as far as the borders of India. On the Red Sea he established a fleet. He made provinces of Armenia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia, which, situated between the Tigris and Euphrates, is made fruitful by watering rivers like Egypt.

It is certain that Hadrian envied Trajan's glory because he succeeded him in empire. He, by withdrawing the armies of his own will, yielded Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria, and wished the Euphrates to be the middle boundary between Romans and Parthians.

Section 21

The two Antonines, Marcus and Verus, the one father-in-law, the other son-in-law, both Augusti, first held the empire of the world with equal power. Of these, the younger Antoninus set out for the Parthian expedition and successfully performed many great things against the Persians. He captured Seleucia, a city of Assyria, with four hundred thousand enemies, and triumphed over the Parthians with great glory together with his father-in-law.

Septimius Severus, an African by nation and a very vigorous emperor, defeated the Parthians with great energy, destroyed the Adiabeni, obtained the inner Arabs, and made Arabia a province. From this he gained surnames from his victories, for he was called Parthicus, Adiabenicus, and Arabicus.

Antoninus Bassianus, surnamed Caracalla, son of Emperor Severus, while preparing an expedition against the Persians, died a swift death in Osroene near Edessa and was buried there.

Section 22

Aurelius Alexander, born as if by some fate for the destruction of the Persian people, took up the steering of the Roman empire while very young. He gloriously defeated Xerxes, the most noble king of the Persians. This Alexander had Ulpian the jurist as master of records. At Rome he triumphed over the Parthians in a spectacle-worthy procession.

Under Augustus Gordian, the Parthians, rebelling because of confidence in his youth, were battered in huge battles. Returning as victor from Persia, he was killed by the treachery of Philip, who was prefect of the praetorium. The soldiers built him a tomb at the twentieth milestone from the camp Circesium, which still stands, and carried his funeral rites to Rome with the greatest reverence.

Section 23

It is wearisome to recount the fortune of Valerian, an unlucky prince. He took up the empire with Gallienus: the army made Valerian emperor, the senate made Gallienus. In Mesopotamia, fighting against the Persians, he was overcome by Sapor, king of the Persians, and, captured, grew old in the disgrace of servitude.

Under Gallienus, after Mesopotamia was invaded, the Persians began also to claim Syria for themselves, unless, shameful to say, Odenathus, a decurion of Palmyra, had resisted fiercely with a gathered band of Syrian rustics. After routing the Persians several times, he not only defended our frontier, but even, as avenger of the Roman empire, remarkable to tell, penetrated to Ctesiphon.

Section 24

Zenobia, wife of Odenathus, was added to the glory of Emperor Aurelian. After her husband's death she held the empire of the East under female rule. Aurelian defeated her near Immae, not far from Antioch, though she trusted in many thousands of mailed cavalry and archers; when she was captured, he led her before his chariot at Rome in triumph.

The victory of Emperor Carus over the Persians seemed too bold to the power above, and this too must be believed to have belonged to the judgment of heavenly indignation. For he entered Persia and ravaged it as if no one resisted. He captured Coche and Ctesiphon, the noblest cities of the Persians. When, as conqueror of the whole people, he had camp above the Tigris, he died by a stroke of lightning.

Section 25

Under Prince Diocletian the pomp of victory over the Persians is known. Maximian Caesar, in the first clash, although he fought sharply with few men against an innumerable multitude, was beaten and withdrew. He was received by Diocletian with such indignation that, wearing the purple, he ran before Diocletian's carriage for several miles. When he had scarcely obtained permission, after an army had been repaired from the frontier troops of Dacia, to seek again the outcome of Mars, the emperor himself in Greater Armenia scouted the enemy with two horsemen. Coming upon the enemy camp with twenty-five thousand soldiers, he suddenly attacked innumerable Persian columns and cut them down to destruction. Narseus, king of the Persians, escaped; his wife and daughters were captured and preserved with the greatest guard of chastity. In admiration for this, the Persians confessed the Romans to be superior not only in arms but also in morals. They surrendered Mesopotamia with the five regions beyond the Tigris, and, after peace was made, they remained in loyalty down to our memory.

Section 26

Constantine, lord of affairs, at the end of his life prepared an expedition against the Persians. Since the peoples throughout the whole world had been pacified, and after his very recent and more glorious victory over the Goths, he was descending upon the Persians with all his columns. At his arrival, the kingdoms of Babylonia trembled so greatly that many embassies of Persians met him, promising that they would do what was commanded. Yet they did not deserve pardon for the frequent breakouts which they had attempted through the East under Caesar Constantius.

Section 27

Constantius fought against the Persians with outcome varied and difficult rather than prosperous. Besides light clashes of those keeping watch on the frontier, battle was contested in sharper line nine times through his commanders; he himself was present in seven true and serious fights. But in the battles of Sisarena, Singarena, and again Singarena, with Constantius present, and also Sicgarena, and when Amida was captured, the commonwealth received a grave wound under that prince.

Nisibis was besieged three times by the Persians, but the enemy was affected by greater loss while besieging it. At Narasara, however, where Narseus was killed, we departed superior. In the night battle in the Elean field near Singara, where Constantius was present, the result of all the campaigns would have been balanced if the emperor himself, with places and night opposing him, could have recalled by speech the soldiers, stirred by fierceness, from the untimely time of fighting. Yet they, unconquered in strength, unexpectedly finding help of water against thirst, attacked the camp of the Persians as evening was already falling, broke the fortifications, and occupied it. After the king had been put to flight, while they were breathing from battle and gaped at the waters found by lamps set out, they were overwhelmed by a cloud of arrows, since foolishly, by the lights they had lit through the night, they themselves supplied more certain aim for blows against them.

Section 28

Julian, a prince of tested good fortune against foreign enemies, lacked measure against the Persians. For with immense preparation, as ruler of the whole world, he moved hostile standards against the Persians and brought in by the Euphrates a fleet equipped with supplies. Vigorous in the beginning, he received many Persian towns and forts in surrender or captured them by hand. When he already had camp opposite Ctesiphon on the bank where the Tigris and Euphrates are mingled, and had held field games through the day to remove anxiety from the enemy, in the middle of the night he suddenly transported soldiers placed on ships to the farther bank. Striving up a steep ascent, which would have been difficult even by day and with no one hindering, they seized the Persians with sudden terror. With the columns of the whole people turned, the victors would have entered the open gates of Ctesiphon if the occasion for plunder had not been greater for them than the care for victory.

Having gained such glory, when his companions warned him about return, he trusted his own purpose more. After burning the ships, led by a deserter who had put himself forward to deceive him, he followed shortcuts of the road into Madena, retracing a road on the right opposite bank of the Tigris with the flank of the soldiers exposed. While he wandered too carelessly through the column, dust was stirred up and he was snatched from the sight of his own men. An enemy horseman who met him struck him with a lance through the loins, and he was wounded down to the groin. Amid an outpouring of too much blood, after he had restored the order of his own men, though wounded, and had addressed them at length, he breathed out his lingering spirit.

Section 29

Jovian received an army superior in battles but confused by the sudden death of the lost emperor. Since supplies were failing, the road in return threatened to be very long, and the Persians by frequent attacks, now from the front, now from the rear, and also attacking the flanks of the middle, delayed the march of the column, several days were consumed. So great was reverence for the Roman name that the first speech of peace was held by the Persians, and the army worn out by hunger was allowed to be led back. Conditions damaging to the Roman commonwealth were imposed, which had never happened before, so that Nisibis and part of Mesopotamia were handed over. Jovian, more desirous of rule than of glory and new to empire, agreed to them.

Section 30

With how great a voice from now on, unconquered Prince, must your renowned deeds be sounded? Though unequal to the effort of speaking and heavier with age, I will prepare myself for them. Only let the happiness granted by the nod of God, in whom you believe, and bestowed by the friendly divine power to whom you have been entrusted, remain, so that to this immense palm over the Goths the Babylonian palm of peace also may be added for you.

Colophon

This Good Works Translation was made from the Latin text of Festus, Breviarium rerum gestarum populi Romani.

The English translation is independently derived from the Latin. No modern English translation was used as the base text.

Compiled for the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

🌲

Source Text: Latin

### Section 1

Brevem fieri Clementia tua praecepit. Parebo libens praeceptis; quippe cui desit facultas latius eloquendi: ac morem secutus calculatorum, qui ingentes summas aeris brevioribus exprimunt; res gestas signabo, non eloquar. Accipe ergo, quo breviter dicta brevius computentur; ut annosam vetustatem populi Romani, ac prisci facta temporis, non tam legere tibi, gloriose Princeps, quam numerare videaris.

### Section 2

Ab urbe igitur condita in ortum Perennitatis vestrae, quo prosperius factum Romanum imperium sortitus es, anni numerantur mille centum decem et septem, sic. Sub regibus, ducenti quadraginta tres: sub consulibus, quadringenti sexaginta septem: sub imperatoribus, quadringenti septem. Regnaverunt Romae per annos ducentos quadraginta tres, reges numero septem. Romulus regnavit annos triginta septem: senatores, per quinos dies singuli, annum unum: Numa Pompilius regnavit annos quadraginta tres: Tullus Hostilius regnavit annos triginta duos: Ancus Marcius annos viginti quattuor: Tarquinius Priscus regnavit annos triginta septem: Servius Tullius regnavit annos quadraginta quattuor: Lucius Tarquinius Superbus regno expulsus est anno vicesimo quinto. Consules deinde fuerunt a Iunio Bruto et Publicola in Pansam et Marcum Hirtium, numero DCCCCXVI; praeter eos, qui in eumdem annum sorte aliqua sunt subrogati, per annos quadringentos sexaginta septem. Quadraginta novem annis Romae consules defuerunt: sub decemviris, annis duobus; sub tribunis militum, annis quadraginta tribus. Sine magistratibus Roma fuit annis quattuor. Imperatores ab Octaviano Caesare Augusto usque ad Iovianum fuerunt numero quadraginta quattuor, per annos quadringentos septem.

### Section 3

Sub his igitur tribus imperandi generibus, hoc est regio, consulari, et imperatorio, quantum Roma profecerit, breviter indicabo. Sub regibus septem, per annos ducentos quadraginta tres, non amplius quam usque Portum atque Ostiam, intra octavum decimum milliarium a portis urbis Romae, utpote adhuc parvae, et a pastoribus conditae, cum finitimae earn circum civitates premerent, Romanum processit imperium. Sub consulibus, inter quos nonnumquam et dictatores fuerunt, per annos simul quadringentos sexaginta septem, usque trans Padum Italia occupata est: Africa subacta, Hispaniae accesserunt; Galliae et Britanniae tributariae factae sunt. Deinde Illyrici, Istrii, Liburni, Dalmatae, domiti sunt: ad Achaiam transitum est: Macedones subacti: cum Dardanis, Moesis, et Thracibus bellatum est: etiam ad Danuvium usque perventum. In Asia, expulso Antiocho, primum pedem posuerunt Romani: Mithridate victo; primum Ponti regnum occupatum est; et Armenia minor, quam idem tenuerat, armis obtenta est: in Mesopotamiam Romanus pervenit exercitus: cum Parthis foedus initum est; contra Corduenos, ac Saracenos, et Arabas bellatum est; Iudaea omnis devicta est: Cilices, et Syri in potestatem populi Romani devenerunt. Aegypti reges foederati erant. Sub imperatoribus vero per annos quadringentos septem, cum divisa reipublicae fortuna multi principes imperarent; accesserunt tamen Romanae urbi Alpes Maritimae, Alpes Cottiae, Rhaetiae, Noricae: Pannoniae, Moesiae; et omnis ora Danuvii in provincias est redacta: Pontus omnis, Armenia maior, Oriens totus cum Mesopotamia, Assyria, Arabia, et Aegypto, sub imperii Romani iura transivit.

### Section 4

Quo autem ordine singulas provincias Romana respublica adsecuta sit, ostenditur ita. Prima provinciarum Sicilia facta est. Eam, victo Hierone, Siculorum rege, Marcellus consul obtinuit. Deinde a praetoribus recta est; postea commissa est praesidibus: nunc a consularibus administratur. Sardiniam et Corsicam Metellus vicit: qui et triumphavit de Sardis, qui rebellavere saepe. Iunctaque illi administrado harum insularum fuerat: post quaelibet suos praetores habuit: nunc singulae a suis praesidibus reguntur. In Africam propter defensionem Siculorum Romana transmissa sunt signa. Ter Africa rebellavit: ad extremum, deleta per Africanum Scipionem Carthagine, provincia facta est: nunc sub proconsulibus agit. Numidia ab amicis regibus tenebatur: sed Iugurthae, ob necatos Adherbalem et Hiempsalem, Micipsae regis filios, bellum indictum est: et eo per Metellum consulem attrito, per Marium capto, in populi Romani potestatem Numidia pervenit. Mauretaniae a Boccho Rege obtentae sunt. Sed subacta omni Africa, Mauros Iuba rex tenebat; qui in causa belli civilis ab Iulio Caesare victus, mortem sibi propria manu conscivit. Ita Mauretaniae nostrae esse coeperunt: ac per omnem Africam sex provinciae factae sunt: ipsa, ubi Carthago est, proconsularis; Numidia, consularis; Byzacium, consularis; Tripolis et Mauritaniae duae; hoc est Sitifensis, et Caesariensis, sunt praesidales.

### Section 5

Hispanis primum auxilium adversus Afros per Scipiones tulimus. Rebellantes Lusitanos in Hispania per Decimum Brutum continuimus; et usque Gades ad Oceanum mare pervenimus. Post ad Hispanos tumultuantes (?) Sylla cum exercitu missus, eos vicit. Celtiberi in Hispania saepe rebellavere: sed, misso iuniore Scipione, cum excidio Numantiae subacti sunt. Omnes prope Hispaniae, occasione belli Sertoriani, per Metellum, et Pompeium in deditionem acceptae sunt: postea, prorogato in quinquennium imperio, a Pompeio perdomitae sunt. Ad extremum quoque ab Octaviano Caesare Augusto Cantabri et Astures, qui freti montibus resistebant, deleti sunt. Ac per omnes Hispanias sex nunc sunt provinciae: Tarraconensis, Carthaginensis, Lusitania, Gallaecia, Baetica. Trans fretum etiam in solo terrae Africae, provincia Hispaniarum est, quae Tingitanica Mauretania cognominatur. Ex his Baetica et Lusitania consulares; ceterae praesidales sunt.

### Section 6

Cum Gallis gravissima bella populus Romanus habuit. Galli enim etiam illam partem Italiae, in qua nunc Mediolanum est, usque ad Rubiconem fluvium tenebant; in tantum viribus freti, ut Romam ipsam bello peterent; et, caesis exercitibus Romanis apud Alliam fluvium, moenia urbis intrarent; Capitoliumque obsiderent; ad cuius arcem sexcenti nobiles, et senatores confugerant, qui mille auri pondo se ab obsidione redemerunt. Postea Gallos victoria remeantes, Camillus, qui in exilio erat, collecta de agris multitudine, oppressit; et aurum ac signa, quae Galli ceperant, reportavit. Cum Gallis multi consules, praetores, ac dictatores eventu vario conflixerunt. Marius Gallos de Italia expulit, et transcensis Alpibus, feliciter adversus eos pugnavit. Caius Caesar cum decem legionibus, quae quaterna millia militum Italorum habuerant, per annos octo ab Alpibus ad Rhenum usque Gallias subegit: cum barbaris ultra Rhenum positis conflixit: in Britanniam transivit; decimo anno Gallias, et Britannias tributarias fecit. Sunt in Gallia cum Aquitania, et Britanniis, decem et octo provinciae: Alpes Maritimae, provincia Narbonensis, Viennensis, Novempopulana, Aquitaniae duae, Lugdunenses duae, Alpes Graiae, Maxima Sequanorum, Germanicae duae, Belgicae duae: in Britannia, Maxima Caesariensis, Flavia, Britannia prima, Britannia secunda.

### Section 7

In lllyricum ab ora maritima paulatim ingressi sumus. Laevinus consul Hadriaticum, atque Ionium mare primus ingressus, maritimas obtinuit civitates. Creta per Metellum proconsulem, qui Creticus dictus est, provincia facta est. Graecis in fidem nostram confugientibus, ad Achaiam accessimus. Athenienses adversus Philippum, Macedonum Regem, auxilium nostrum petierunt. Libera diu sub amicitiis nostris Achaia fuit: ad extremum legatis Romanorum apud Corinthum violatis, per Lucium Mummium proconsulem capta Corintho, Achaia omnis obtenta est. Epirotae, qui aliquando cum rege Pyrrho, etiam ad Italiam transire praesumserant, victi sunt. Thessali, simul cum Achivorum, et Macedonum regionibus, nobis accesserunt. Macedonia ter rebellavit; sub Philippo, sub Perseo, et sub Pseudophilippo. Philippum Flamininus, Perseum Paullus, Pseudophilippum Metellus oppressit: quorum triumphis Macedonia quoque populo Romano adiuncta est. Illyricos, qui Macedonibus auxilium tulerant, ex eadem occasione per Lucium Anicium Praetorem vicimus; et eos cum rege Gentio in deditionem accepimus. Dardanos et Moesos Curio proconsul subegit; et primus Romanorum ducum ad Danuvium usque pervenit. Sub (?) Iulio et Octaviano Augusto per Alpes Iulias iter factum est: Alpinis omnibus victis, Noricorum provinciae accesserunt. Bathone Pannoniorum rege subacto, in ditionem nostram Pannoniae venerunt. Amantinis inter Savum et Dravum prostratis, regio Savensis ac Secundorum Pannoniorum loca obtenta sunt.

### Section 8

Marcomanni et Quadi, de locis Valeriae, quae sunt inter Danuvium et Dravum, pulsi sunt: et limes inter Romanos ac barbaros ab Augusta Vindelicorum per Noricum, Pannonias ac Moesiam, est constitutus. Traianus Dacos sub rege Decibalo vicit; et Daciam trans Danuvium in solo barbarico provinciam fecit, quae in circuitu decies centena millia passuum habuit; sed sub Gallieno imperatore amissa est; et per Aurelianum, translatis exinde Romanis, duae Daciae in regionibus Moesiae, ac Dardaniae factae sunt. Provincias habet Illyricus septem et decem: Noricorum duas, Pannoniarum duas, Valeriam, Saviam, Dalmatiam, Moesiam, Daciarum duas. Et in Dioecesi Macedoniae sunt septem: Macedonia, Thessalia, Achaia, Epiri duae, Praevalis, et Creta.

### Section 9

In Thracias Macedonici belli occasione transcursum est. Saevissimi omnium gentium Thraces fuerunt. In Thracium regionibus etiam Scordisci habitaverunt, pariter crudele et callidum genus. Multa de saevitiis praedictorum fabulose memorantur; quod hostium captivos diis suis aliquando litaverint; quodque humanum sanguinem in ossibus capitum potare sint soliti. Saepe per eos Romanus est caesus exercitus. Marcus Didius vagantes Thracas repressit: Marcus Drusus intra fines proprios continuit: Marcus Minutius in Hebri fluminis glacie vastavit. Per Appium Claudium proconsulem hi, qui Rhodopen incolebant, victi sunt. Europae maritimas urbes antea Romana classis obtinuit. Marcus Lucullus per Thracias cum Bessis primus pugnavit; ipsamque caput gentis Thraciam vicit: Haemimontanos subegit, et Eumolpiadem, quae nunc Philippopolis dicitur; Uscudamam, quae modo Hadrianopolis nominatur, in ditionem nostram redegit: Cabylen cepit. Supra Pontum positas civitates occupavit, Apolloniam, Calathum, Parthenopolim, Tomos, Istrum; ad Danuvium usque perveniens, Romana Scythis arma monstravit. Ita in ditionem reipublicae sex Thraciarum provinciae sunt acquisitae: Thracia, Haemimontus, Moesia inferior, Scythia, Rhodope, Europa; in qua nunc secundae arces Romani orbis sunt constitutae, Constantinopolis.

### Section 10

Nunc Eoas partes, totumque Orientem, ac positas sub vicino sole provincias, qui victores sceptris tuis paraverint, explicabo; quo studium clementiae tuae, quod in iisdem propagandis habes, amplius incitetur. Asia societate Attali regis nota Romanis est; eamque Attali testamento relictam hereditario iure possedimus. Ne quid tamen populus Romanus non viribus partum haberet; armis per nos ab Antiocho, Syriarum rege maximo, est vindicata. Eadem occasione etiam Lydia, sedes antiqua regnorum, Caria, Hellespontus, ac Phrygiae in potestatem populi Romani iuncta deditione venerunt. Rhodiis, et insularum populis primum infestissimis, post iisdem fidelissimis auxiliatoribus usi sumus. Ita Rhodus, et insulae primum libere agebant: postea in consuetudinem parendi Romanis, clementer provocantibus, pervenerunt; et sub Vespasiano principe, Insularum provincia facta est.

### Section 11

Pamphyliam, Lyciam, Phrygiam, Pisidiam, Cariam, Isauriam Servilius proconsul, ad bellum piratarum missus, obtinuit. Bithyniam defuncti regis Nicomedis testamento sumus adsecuti. Gallograeciam, id est, Galatiam, (sunt enim, ut nomen resonat, ex Gallis Galatae) quod Antiocho contra Romanos auxilium praebuissent, invasimus. Manlius proconsul Galatas persecutus est; et confugientes partim in Olympum, partim in Magabam montem, qui nunc Modiacus dicitur, de arduis eos in plana detrusit; victosque in perpetuam, pacem redegit. Postea Galatiam Deiotarus tetrarches, nobis permittentibus, tenuit. Ad extremum sub Octaviano Caesare Augusto Galatia in formam provinciae redacta est, et eam primus Lollius pro praetore administravit. Cappadoces primo societatem nostram sub Ariarathe rege per legatos petiverunt: posteaque Ariobarzanes rex Cappadocum a Mithridate expulsus, Romanorum armis restitutus est; semperque in auxilia nostra fuere Cappadoces, et ita maiestatem coluere Romanam, ut in honorem Augusti Caesaris Mazaca, civitas Cappadociae maxima, Caesarea nuncuparetur. Postremo, cum sub imperatore Claudio Caesare Archelaus ex Cappadocia Romam venisset, ibique diu detentus occubuisset, in provinciae speciem Cappadocia migravit. Pontus, per Pompeium victo Mithridate rege Pontico, formam provinciae accepit. Paphlagoniam Pylaemenes rex, amicus populi Romani, tenuit. Saepe ex ea pulsus, regno a nobis est restitutus: quo mortuo, provincia Paphlagonibus imposita est.

### Section 12

Ultra iuga Tauri montis, quem admodum Romana perrexerit possessio, consequenti locorum magis, quam temporum servata digestione, monstrabitur. Antiochus, Syriae rex potentissimus, bellum formidabile populo Romano intulit. Trecenta millia armatorum habuit: falcatis etiam curribus, et elephantis aciem instruxit; a Scipione consule, fratre Scipionis Africani, in Asia apud Magnesiam victus, pace accepta, intra Taurum montem regnare permissus est. Eius filii sub clientela populi Romani regnum Syriae retinuerunt: quibus defunctis, Syriarum provinciis potiti sumus. Cilices, et Isauros, qui piratis et praedonibus maritimis se iunxerant, Servilius proconsul, ad praedonum bellum missus, subegit, et viam per Taurum montem primus instituit; isque de Cilicibus et Isauris triumphavit; atque Isauricus est cognominatus.

### Section 13

Cyprus, famosa divitiis, paupertatem populi Romani, ut occuparetur, sollicitavit. Eam rex foederatus Ptolemaeus regebat: sed tanta fuit penuria aerarii Romani, et tam ingens fama opum Cypriarum, ut lege lata per Publium Clodium, tribunum plebis, Cyprus confiscari iuberetur. Quo accepto nuntio, rex Cyprius venenum sumpsit; quo vitam prius, quam divitias, amitteret. Cato Cyprias opes Romam navibus advexit; ita ius eius insulae, avarias magis, quam iustius, sumus adsecuti. Cyrenas, cum ceteris civitatibus Libyae Pentapolis, Ptolemaei antiquioris liberalitate suscepimus. Libyam supremo Apionis regis arbitrio sumus adsecuti. Aegyptus omnis sub amicis regibus fuerat; sed victa cum Antonio Cleopatra, provinciae formam Octaviani Caesaris Augusti tempore accepit: et primum apud Alexandrinos Cornelius Gallus, Romanus iudex, administravit.

### Section 14

Per confinia Armeniarum primum sub Lucio Lucullo Romana trans Taurum transmissa sunt arma. Phylarchi Saracenorum in Osroene superati cessere. In Mesopotamia ab eodem Lucullo Nisibis capta est. Postea per Pompeium eadem loca armis obtenta sunt. Syriae et Phoenice, bello a Tigrane, Armeniorum rege, receptae sunt. Arabes et Iudaei in Palaestina victi sunt. Ad extremum sub Traiano principe, regi maioris Armeniae diadema sublatum est, et per Traianum Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, et Arabia, provinciae factae sunt; ac limes Orientalis supra ripam fluminis Tigridis institutus est. Sed Hadrianus, qui successit Traiano eius invidens gloriae, sponte sua Armeniam, Mesopotamiam et Assyriam reddidit, ac medium inter Persas et Romanos Euphratem esse voluit. Sed postea sub Antoninis duobus, Marco et Vero, et Severo Pertinace, ceterisque principibus Romanis, qui adversus Parthos eventu vario dimicaverunt, quater amissa, quater recepta Mesopotamia est: ac Diocletiani temporibus, victis prima congressione Romanis, secundo autem conflictu superato rege Narseo, uxore eius ac filiabus captis, et cum summa pudicitiae custodia reservatis, pace facta, Mesopotamia est restituta: et supra ripam Tigridis limes est reformatus; ita ut quinque gentium trans Tigridem constitutarum ditionem adsequeremur: quae conditio foederis in tempus divi Constantini conservata duravit.

### Section 15

Scio nunc, inclite princeps, quo tua vergat intentio. Requiris profecto, quoties Babyloniae et Romanorum arma collata sint, et quibus vicibus sagittis pila contenderint. Breviter eventus enumerabo bellorum. Furto hostes in paucis invenies esse laetatos; vera autem virtute semper Romanas probatas extitisse victorias. Primum a Lucio Sulla proconsule Arsaces rex Parthorum propulsatus, missa legatione, amicitiam populi Romani rogavit, ac meruit. Lucius Lucullus Mithridatem, regno Ponti exutum, ad Armeniam prosecutus, est. Tigranem, Armeniorum regem, cum decem septem millibus quingentis clibanariis, et centum viginti millibus sagittariorum, ipse cum decem et octo millibus Romanorum vicit. Tigranocertam, maximam Armeniae civitatem, expugnavit; et Madenam, opimam Armeniorum regionem, obtinuit. Inde per Melitenam ad Mesopotamiam descendit: Nisibim cum fratre regis cepit. Tendere in Persas paratus successorem accepit.

### Section 16

Cn. Pompeius, expertae felicitatis, ad Mithridaticum bellum missus, Mithridatem in Armenia minore nocturno adgressus praelio, superavit: caesis duobus et quadraginta millibus hostium, castra eius invasit. Mithridates enim cum uxore et duobus comitibus in Bosporum fugit; ubi desperatione rerum suarum venenum hausit; et cum parum ageret vis veneni, a milite suo, ut ferro perimeretur, impetravit. Pompeius auxiliatorem Mithridatis Tigranem, Armeniorum regem, persecutus est: ille se ei, oblato diademate, apud Artaxata dedidit. Receptae sunt ab eo Mesopotamia, Syriae, et aliquanta pars Phoenices; atque intra Armeniam maiorem regnare permissus est. Idem Pompeius Bosporanis et Colchis Aristarcum regem imposuit: cum Albanis conflixit: Orhodi, Albanorum regi, ter victo, pacem dedit. Iberiam cum Artoce rege in deditionem accepit. Saracenos et Arabas vicit. Iudaea capta, Hierosolymam obtinuit. Cum Persis foedus fecit. Rediens, apud Antiochiam Daphensem lucum, delectatus loci amoenitate et aquarum abundantia, addito nemore, Apollini consecravit.

### Section 17

Marcus Crassus consul adversus Parthos rebellantes missus est. Is cum pacem, missa a Parthis legatione, rogaretur, apud Ctesiphontem responsurum se ait. Apud Zeugma traiecit Euphratem; et a transfuga quodam Abgaro inductus, ad ignotam camporum solitudinem descendit. Ibi undique circumvallantibus sagittariorum agminibus cum Silate, et Surena praefectis regiis, est cinctus exercitus, et vi telorum obrutus. Ipse Crassus, ad colloquium sollicitatus repugnantibus tribunis, cum vivus paene capi posset, evaserat: et dum fugam petit, occisus est. Caput eius cum dextera manu resectum, ad regem perlatum est; atque ita ludibrio habitum, ut faucibus eius aurum liquefactum infunderetur: Scilicet ut, qui ardens cupiditate praedandi pacem regi dare rogatus abnuerat, etiam mortui eius reliquias auri flamma combureret. Gaius Cassius, quaestor Crassi, vir strenuus, reliquias fusi collegit exercitus. Contra Persas in Syriam irrumpentes, ter cum summa admiratione conflixit; eosque, trans Euphratem reiectos, vastavit.

### Section 18

Parthi, Labieno duce, qui Pompeianarum partium fuerat, et victus ad Persas confugerat, in Syriam irrupere, ac totam provinciam occupaverunt. Sed Publius Ventidius Bassus Parthos, qui ducente Labieno Syriam invaserant, occurrens in Tauro monte, cum paucis fugavit, Labienum occidit, persecutus est Parthos, et ad internecionem stravit: qua congressione Parthorum regis filium eadem die, qua Crassus victus fuerat, ne aliquando Romani ducis mors inulta relinqueretur, occidit. Ventidius de Parthis primus triumphavit. Marcus Antonius Mediam ingressus, quae nunc Medena appellatur, bellum Parthis intulit, et primis eos proeliis vicit: verum post, duabus legionibus amissis, cum fame, pestilentia, tempestatibusque premeretur, vix per Armeniam, Parthis insequentibus, revocavit exercitum; tanto per momenta temporum terrore perculsus, ut a gladiatore suo percuti postularet, ne vivus veniret in hostium potestatem.

### Section 19

Sub Octaviano Caesare Augusto Armenia cum Parthis conspiravit. Claudius Caesar, nepos Augusti, cum exercitu missus ad Orientem, cum per maiestatem Romani nominis facile cuncta sedasset, atque ei se Armenii, qui tunc temporis validiores erant Parthis, dedidissent, iudicesque ex instituto Pompeii praedictis gentibus Claudius Caesar praeficeret; Donnes quidam, quem Parthis Arsaces praeposuerat, proditione simulata, libellum, in quo scripti thesauri continerentur, illi obtulit: quem cum imperator Romanus legeret attentius, cultro eum aggressus Donnes vulneravit. Percussor quidem a militibus confossus est; Caius ex vulnere, regressus in Syriam, obiit. Parthi ad satisfactionem facinoris admissi, obsides tunc primum Octaviano Caesari Augusto dederunt, et erepta sub Crasso signa retulerunt. Pacatis gentibus Orientis, Augustus Caesar etiam Indorum legationem primus accepit.

### Section 20

Nero, quem turpissimum imperatorem Romana est passa respublica, amisit Armenias duas. Tunc Romanae legiones duae sub iugum a Parthis missae, extremo dedecore Romani nominis, exercitus sacramenta foedarunt. Traianus, qui post Augustum Romanae reipublicae movit lacertos, Armeniam recepit a Parthis: sublato diademate, regi Armeniae maioris regnum ademit. Albanis regem dedit: Iberos, Bosporanos, Colchos in fidem Romanae ditionis accepit: Osroenorum loca et Arabum occupavit. Corduenos, et Marcomedos obtinuit. Antemusium, optimam Persidis regionem, Seleuciamque, et Ctesiphontem ac Babyloniam accepit, et tenuit; usque ad Indiae fines post Alexandrum accessit. In mari rubro classem instituit. Provincias fecit Armeniam, Assyriam, et Mesopotamiam, quae inter Tigridem atque Euphratem sita, irriguis amnibus, instar Aegypti, fecundatur. Hadrianum gloriae Traiani certum est invidisse, quia ei successit in imperio. Hic, sponte propria reductis exercitibus, Armeniam, Mesopotamiam, et Assyriam concessit; et inter Romanos ac Parthos medium Euphratem esse voluit.

### Section 21

Antonini duo, Marcus et Verus, ille socer, hic gener, pariter Augusti, imperium orbis aequata primum potestate tenuerunt. Sed ex his Antoninus iunior ad expeditionem Parthicam profectus est; multaque et ingentia adversus Persas feliciter gessit. Seleuciam, Assyriae urbem, cum quadringentis millibus hostium cepit: ingenti gloria de Parthis cum socero triumphavit. Septimius Severus, natione Afer, acerrimus imperator, Parthos strenuissime vicit, Adiabenos delevit, Arabas interiores obtinuit, et Arabiam provinciam fecit; hinc cognomina ei a victoriis acquisita sunt: nam Parthicus, Adiabenicus, et Arabicus dictus est. Antoninus Bassianus, cognomento Caracalla, filius Severi imperatoris, expeditionem in Persas parans, in Osroena apud Edessam propera morte obiit, et ibidem sepultas est.

### Section 22

Aurelius Alexander, quasi fato quodam in exitium Persicae gentis natus, iuvenis admodum Romani gubernacula suscepit imperii. Ipse Persarum regem nobilissimum Xerxem gloriose vicit. Hic Alexander scriniorum magistrum habuit Ulpianum iurisconsultum. De Parthis Romae pompa spectabili triumphavit. Sub Gordiano Augusto, eius ex iuventutis fiducia rebellantes Parthi, ingentibus proeliis contusi sunt: isque de Perside rediens victor, fraude Philippi, qui praefectus praetorii erat, occisus est. Milites ei tumulum in vicesimo milliario a Circensio castro, quod et nunc extat, aedificaverunt; atque exequias eius Romam cum maxima reverentia deduxerunt.

### Section 23

Valeriani, infausti principis, fortunam taedet referre. Is cum Gallieno suscepit imperium: Cum Valerianum exercitus, Gallienum senatus imperatorem fecit, in Mesopotamia adversus Persas congressus, a Sapore, Persarum Rege, superatus est: et captus in dedecore servitutis consenuit. Sub Gallieno Mesopotamia invasa, etiam Syriam sibi Persae coeperunt vindicare: nisi, quod turpe dictu est, Odenathus, decurio Palmyrenus, collecta Syrorum agrestium manu, acriter restitisset: et fusis aliquoties Persis, non modo nostrum limitem defendisset; sed etiam ad Ctesiphontem Romani ultor imperii, quod mirum est dictu, penetrasset.

### Section 24

Aureliani imperatoris gloriae Zenobia, Odenathi uxor, accessit. Ea enim post mortem mariti foeminea ditione Orientis tenebat imperium: quam Aurelianus, multis clibanariorum et sagittariorum millibus fretam, apud Immas haud procul ab Antiochia vicit, et captam Romam triumphans ante currum duxit. Cari imperatoris victoria de Persis nimium audax superno numini visa, eadem ad iudicium caelestis indignationis pertinuisse credenda est. Is enim ingressus Persidem, quasi nullo obsistente, vastavit: Cochen et Ctesiphontem, urbes Persarum nobilissimas, cepit: cum victor totius gentis castra supra Tigridem haberet, fulminis ictu interiit.

### Section 25

Sub Diocletiano principe pompa victoriae de Persis nota est. Maximianus Caesar, prima congressione, cum contra innumeram multitudinem cum paucis acriter dimicasset, pulsus recessit. Hic tanta indignatione a Diocletiano exceptus est, ut ante carpentum eius per aliquot millia passuum cucurrerit purpuratus: et cum vix impetrasset, ut reparato de limitaneis Daciae exercitu, eventum Martis repeteret, in Armenia maiore ipse imperator cura duobus equitibus exploravit hostes: et cum viginti quinque millibus militum superveniens castris hostilibus, subito innumera Persarum agmina adgressus est, et ad internecionem cecidit. Rex Persarum Narseus effugit; uxor eius, et filiae captae sunt; et cum maxima pudicitiae custodia reservatae. Pro qua admiratione Persae non modo armis, sed etiam moribus, superiores esse Romanos confessi sunt: Mesopotamiam cum Transtigritanis quinque regionibus dediderunt: paceque facta, usque ad nostram memoriam in fide perdurarunt.

### Section 26

Constantinus, rerum dominus, extremo vitae suae tempore, expeditionem paravit in Persas: toto enim orbe pacatis gentibus, et recenti de Gothis gloriosior victoria, cunctis in Persas descendebat agminibus. Sub cuius adventum Babyloniae in tantum regna trepidaverunt, ut multiplex ad eum legatio occurreret Persarum, qui facturos se imperata promitterent. Nec tamen pro assiduis eruptionibus, quas sub Constantio Caesare per Orientem tentaverant, veniam meruerunt.

### Section 27

Constantius in Persas vario, ac difficili magis, quam prospero, pugnavit eventu. Praeter leves excubantium in limite congressiones, acriori acie novies decertatum est per duces eius; septies ipse praesens adfuit veris, et gravibus pugnis: verum pugnis Sisaruena, Singarena et iterum Singarena, praesente Constantio, ac Sicgarena, Constantiensi quoque, et cum Amida capta est, grave sub eo principe respublica vulnus accepit. Ter autem est a Persis obsessa Nisibis; sed maiore suo detrimento, dum obsideret, hostis affectus est. Narasarensi autem, ubi Narseus occiditur, superiores discessimus. Nocturna vero in agro Eliensi prope Singaram pugna, ubi praesens Constantius adfuit, omnium expeditionum compensatus fuisset eventus, si, locis ac nocte adversantibus, percitos ferocia milites, ab intempestivo pugnandi tempore imperator ipse alloquendo revocare potuisset: qui tamen invicti viribus, improvisis adversos sitim aquarum subsidiis, incumbente iam vespere, castra Persarum adgressi, ruptis munitionibus, occupaverunt; fugatoque rege, cum a proelio respirantes, praetentis luminibus repertae inhiarent aquae, nimbo sagittarum obruti sunt; cum stolide, ad dirigendos certius in se ictus, lumina ipsi per noctem accensa praeberent.

### Section 28

Iuliano, in externos hostes expertae felicitatis principi, adversus Persas modus defuit. Is enim cum ingenti apparatu, utpote totius orbis regnator, infesta in Persas signa commovit; instructam commeatibus classem per Euphratem invexit. Strenuus in ingressu multa Persarum oppida, et castella aut suscepit dedita, aut manu cepit. Cum contra Ctesiphontem, in Tigridis et Euphratis ripa iam mixtim castra haberet; ludosque campestres, ut hosti sollicitudinem demeret, per diem agitasset, noctis in medio impositos navibus milites in ulteriorem ripam repente transvexit: qui ardua nitentes, qua difficilis etiam per diem, et nullo prohibente, fuisset ascensus, Persas terrore subito occuparunt; versisque agminibus totius gentis, apertas Ctesiphontis portas victores intrassent, nisi maior eis praedandi occasio fuisset, quam cura victoriae. Tantam adeptus gloriam, cum de reditu a comitibus admoneretur, intentioni suae magis credidit: et exustis navibus, cum a transfuga, qui se ad fallendum obiecerat, inductus viae in Madaenam compendia sectaretur, dextrum adversa Tigridis ripa, nudato militum latere, iter relegens, dum incautius per agmen errat, excito pulvere ereptus e suorum conspectu, ab hostium obvio equite, conto per ilia ictus, inguinum tenus vulneratus est. Inter efusionem nimii sanguinis cum suorum ordinem, licet saucius, instaurasset; cunctantem animam, multis suos allocutus, efflavit.

### Section 29

Iovianus proeliis superiorem, sed confusum subita morte amissi imperatoris, suscepit exercitum. Cum commeatus deficerent, et via in reditu prolixior immineret, et Persae crebris incursionibus nunc a fronte, nunc a tergo, mediorum quoque latera incursantes, iter agminis morarentur; consumptis aliquot diebus, tanta reverentia Romani nominis fuit, ut a Persis primus de pace sermo haberetur; ac reduci confectus inedia exercitus sineretur; conditionibus, quod nunquam antea accidit, dispendiosis Romanae reipublicae impositis; ut Nisibis, et pars Mesopotamiae traderentur: quibus, cupidior regni, quam gloriae, Iovianus, imperio rudis, acquievit.

### Section 30

Quam magno deinceps ore tua, o Princeps invicte, facta inclita sunt personanda? Quibus me licet imparem dicendi nisu, et aevo graviorem, parabo. Maneat modo concessa Dei nutu, cui credis, et ab amico, cui creditus es, numine indulta felicitas, ut ad hanc ingentem de Gothis, etiam Babylonicae tibi palma pacis accedat.

Source Colophon

The Latin source body was extracted from the local Festus source text and copied for this translation pass at Tulku/Tools/scythian/sources/expansion_bench_2026-05-11/festus_breviarium_latin_source_manual78.txt.

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