Τριακοσίους ἑξήκοντά μοι δοὺς στρατιώτας εἰς τὸ τῶν Κελτῶν ἔθνος ἀνατετραμμένον ἔστειλε, μεσοῦντος ἤδη τοῦ χειμῶνος, οὐκ ἄρχοντα μᾶλλον τῶν ἐκεῖσε στρατοπέδων ἢ τοῖς ἐκεῖσε στρατηγοῖς ὑπακούοντα.[463] ἐγέγραπτο γὰρ αὐτοῖς καὶ ἐνετέταλτο διαρρήδην οὐ τοὺς πολεμίους μᾶλλον ἢ ἐμὲ παραφυλάττειν, ὡς ἂν μὴ νεώτερόν τι πράξαιμι. τούτων δὲ ὃν ἔφην τρόπον γενομένων, περὶ τὰς τροπὰς τὰς θερινὰς [278] ἐπιτρέπει μοι βαδίζειν εἰς τὰ στρατόπεδα τὸ σχῆμα καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα περιοίσοντι τὴν ἑαυτοῦ· καὶ γάρ τοι καὶ τοῦτο εἴρητο καὶ ἐγέγραπτο, ὅτι τοῖς Γάλλοις οὐ βασιλέα δίδωσιν, ἀλλὰ τὸν τὴν ἑαυτοῦ πρὸς ἐκείνους εἰκόνα κομιοῦντα.
(Constantius gave me three hundred and sixty soldiers, and in the middle of the winter[464] despatched me into Gaul, which was then in a state of great disorder; and I was sent not as commander of the garrisons there but rather as a subordinate of the generals there stationed. For letters had been sent them and express orders given that they were to watch me as vigilantly as they did the enemy, for far I should attempt to cause a revolt. And when all this had happened in the manner I have described, about the summer solstice he allowed me to join the army and to carry about with me his dress and image. And indeed he had both said and written that he was not giving the Gauls a king but one who should convey to them his image.)
Οὐ κακῶς δέ, ὡς ἀκηκόατε, τοῦ πρώτου στρατηγηθέντος ἐνιαυτοῦ καὶ πραχθέντος σπουδαίου, πρὸς τὰ χειμάδια [B] πάλιν ἐπανελθὼν εἰς τὸν ἔσχατον κατέστην κίνδυνον. οὔτε γὰρ ἀθροίζειν ἐξῆν μοι στρατόπεδον· ἕτερος γὰρ ἦν ὁ τούτου κύριος· αὐτός τε ξὺν ὀλίγοις ἀποκεκλεισμένος, εἶτα παρὰ τῶν πλησίον πόλεων αἰτηθεὶς ἐπικουρίαν, ὧν εἶχον τὸ πλεῖστον ἐκείνοις δούς, αὐτὸς[465] ἀπελείφθην μόνος. ἐκεῖνα μὲν οὖν οὕτως ἐπράχθη τότε. ὡς δὲ καὶ ὁ τῶν στρατοπέδων ἄρχων ἐν ὑποψίᾳ γενόμενος αὐτῷ παρῃρέθη καὶ ἀπηλλάγη τῆς ἀρχῆς, [C] οὐ σφόδρα ἐπιτήδειος δόξας, ἔγωγε ἐνομίσθην ἥκιστα σπουδαῖος καὶ δεινὸς στρατηγός, ἅτε πρᾷον ἐμαυτὸν παρασχὼν καὶ μέτριον. οὐ [pg 268] γὰρ ᾤμην δεῖν ζυγομαχεῖν οὐδὲ παραστρατηγεῖν, εἰ μή πού τι τῶν λίαν ἐπικινδένων ἑώρων ἢ δέον γενέσθαι παρορώμενον ἢ καὶ τὴν ἀρχὴν μὴ δέον γενέσθαι γιγνόμενον. ἅπαξ δὲ καὶ δεύτερον οὐ καθηκόντως μοί τινων χρησαμένων, [D] ἐμαυτὸν ᾠήθην χρῆναι τιμᾶν τῇ σιωπῇ, καὶ τοῦ λοιποῦ τὴν χλανίδα περιέφερον καὶ τὴν εἰκόνα· τούτων γὰρ τὸ τηνικαῦτα διενοούμην ἀποπεφάνθαι κύριος.
(Now when, as you have heard, the first campaign was ended that year and great advantage gained, I returned to winter quarters,[466] and there I was exposed to the utmost danger. For I was not even allowed to assemble the troops; this power was entrusted to another, while I was quartered apart with only a few soldiers, and then, since the neighbouring towns begged for my assistance, I assigned to them the greater part of the force that I had, and so I myself was left isolated. This then was the condition of affairs at that time. And when the commander-in-chief[467] of the forces fell under the suspicions of Constantius and was deprived by him of his command and superseded, I in my turn was thought to be by no means capable or talented as a general, merely because I had shown myself mild and moderate. For I thought I ought not to fight against my yoke or interfere with the general in command except when in some very dangerous undertaking I saw either that something was being overlooked, or that something was being attempted that ought never to have been attempted at all. But after certain persons had treated me with disrespect on one or two occasions, I decided that for the future I ought to show my own self-respect by keeping silence, and henceforth I contented myself with parading the imperial robe and the image. For I thought that to these at any rate I had been given a right.)
Ἐξ ὧν ὁ Κωνστάντιος νομίσας ὀλίγον[468] μὲν ἐπιδώσειν, οὐκ εἰς τοσοῦτον δὲ μεταβολῆς ἥξειν τὰ τῶν Κελτῶν πράγματα, δίδωσί μοι τῶν στρατοπέδων τὴν ἡγεμονίαν ἦρος ἀρχῇ. καὶ στρατεύω μὲν ἀκμάζοντος τοῦ σίτου, πολλῶν πάνυ Γερμανῶν [279] περὶ τὰς πεπορθημένας ἐν Κελτοῖς πόλεις ἀδεῶς κατοικούντων. τὸ μὲν οὖν πλῆθος τῶν πόλεων πέντε που καὶ τεσσαράκοντά ἐστι, τείχη τὰ διηρπασμένα δίχα τῶν πύργων καὶ τῶν ἐλασσόνων φρουρίων. ἧς δ᾽ ἐνέμοντο γῆς ἐπὶ τάδε τοῦ Ῥήνου πάσης οἱ βάρβαροι τὸ μέγεθος ὁπόσον ἀπὸ τῶν πηγῶν αὐτῶν ἀρχόμενος ἄχρι τοῦ Ὠκεανοῦ περιλαμβάνει· τριακόσια δὲ ἀπεῖχον τῆς ᾐόνος τοῦ Ῥήνου στάδια οἱ πρὸς ἡμᾶς οἰκοῦντες ἔσχατοι, τριπλάσιον δὲ ἦν ἔτι τούτου πλάτος τὸ καταλειφθὲν ἔρημον [B] ὑπὸ τῆς λεηλασίας, ἔνθα οὐδὲ νέμειν ἐξῆν τοῖς Κελτοῖς τὰ βοσκήματα, καὶ πόλεις τινὲς ἔρημοι τῶν ἐνοικούντων, αἷς οὔπω παρῴκουν οἱ βάρβαροι. ἐν τούτοις οὖσαν καταλαβὼν ἐγὼ τὴν Γαλατίαν πόλιν τε ἀνέλαβον τὴν [pg 270] Ἀγριππίναν ἐπὶ τῇ Ῥήνῳ, πρὸ μηνῶν ἑαλωκυῖάν που δέκα, καὶ τεῖχος Ἀργέντορα πλησίον πρὸς ταῖς ὑπωρείαις αὐτοῦ τοῦ Βοσέγου, καὶ ἐμαχεσάμην οὐκ ἀκλεῶς. [C] ἴσως καὶ εἰς ὑμᾶς ἀφίκετο ἡ τοιαύτη μάχη. ἔνθα τῶν θεῶν δόντων μοι τὸν βασιλέα τῶν πολεμίων αἰχμάλωτον, οὐκ ἐφθόνησα τοῦ κατορθώματος Κωνσταντίῳ. καίτοι εἰ μὴ θριαμβεύειν ἐξῆν, ἀποσφάττειν τὸν πολέμιον κύριος ἦν, καὶ μέντοι διὰ πάσης αὐτὸν ἄγων τῆς Κελτίδος ταῖς πόλεσιν ἐπιδεικνύειν καὶ ὥσπερ ἐντρυφᾶν τοῦ Χνοδομαρίου [D] ταῖς συμφοραῖς. τούτων οὐδὲν ᾠήθην δεῖν πράττειν, ἀλλὰ πρὸς τὸν Κωνστάντιον αὐτὸν εὐθέως ἀπέπεμψα, τότε ἀπὸ τῶν Κουάδων καὶ Σαυροματῶν ἐπανιόντα, συνέβη τοίνυν, ἐμοῦ μὲν ἀγωνισαμένου, ἐκείνου δὲ ὁδεύσαντος μόνον καὶ φιλίως ἐντυχόντος τοῖς παροικοῦσι τὸν Ἴστρον ἔθνεσιν, οὐχ ἡμᾶς, ἀλλ᾽ ἐκεῖνον θριαμβεῦσαι.
(After that, Constantius, thinking that there would be some improvement, but not that so great a transformation would take place in the affairs of Gaul, handed over to me in the beginning of spring[469] the command of all the forces. And when the grain was ripe I took the field; for a great number of Germans had settled themselves with impunity near the towns they had sacked in Gaul. Now the number of the towns whose walls had been dismantled was about forty-five, without counting citadels and smaller forts. And the barbarians then controlled on our side of the Rhine the whole country that extends from its sources to the Ocean. Moreover those who were settled nearest to us were as much as three hundred stades from the banks of the Rhine, and a district three times as wide as that had been left a desert by their raids; so that the Gauls could not even pasture their cattle there. Then too there were certain cities deserted by their inhabitants, near which the barbarians were not yet encamped. This then was the condition of Gaul when I took it over. I recovered the city of Agrippina[470] on the Rhine which had been taken about ten months earlier, and also the neighbouring fort of Argentoratum,[471] near the foot-hills of the Vosges mountains, and there I engaged the enemy not ingloriously. It may be that the fame of that battle has reached even your ears. There though the gods gave into my hands as prisoner of war the king[472] of the enemy, I did not begrudge Constantius the glory of that success. And yet though I was not allowed to triumph for it, I had it in my power to slay my enemy, and moreover I could have led him through the whole of Gaul and exhibited him to the cities, and thus have luxuriated as it were in the misfortunes of Chnodomar. I thought it my duty to do none of these things, but sent him at once to Constantius who was returning from the country of the Quadi and the Sarmatians. So it came about that, though I had done all the fighting and he had only travelled in those parts and held friendly intercourse with the tribes who dwell on the borders of the Danube, it was not I but he who triumphed.)
Τὸ δὴ μετὰ τοῦτο δεύτερος ἐνιαυτὸς καὶ πρίτος, καὶ πάντες μὲν ἀπελήλαντο τῆς Γαλατίας οἱ βάρβαροι, πλεῖσται δὲ ἀνελήφθησαν τῶν πόλεων, παμπληθεῖς δὲ ἀπὸ τῆς Βρεττανίδος ναῦς ἀνήχθησαν. ἑξακοσίων νηῶν ἀνήγαγον στόλον, [280] ὧν τὰς τετρακοσίας ἐν οὐδὲ ὅλοις μησὶ δέκα ναυπηγησάμενος πάσας εἰσήγαγον εἰς τὸν Ῥῆνον, ἔργον οὐ μικρὸν διὰ τοὺς ἐπικειμένους καὶ παροικοῦντας πλησίον βαρβάρους. ὁ γοῦν Φλωρέντιος οὕτως ᾤετο τοῦτο ἀδύνατον, ὥστε ἀργύρου δισχιλίας [pg 272] λίτρας ὑπέσχετο μισθὸν ἀποτίσειν τοῖς βαρβάροις ὑπὲρ τῆς παρόδου, καὶ ὁ Κωνστάντιος ὑπὲρ τούτου μαθών· ἐκοινώσατο γὰρ αὐτῷ περὶ τῆς δόσεως· [B] ἐπέστειλε πρός με τὸ αὐτὸ πράττειν[473] κελεύσας, εἰ μὴ παντάπασιν αἰσχρόν μοι φανείη. πῶς δὲ οὐκ ἦν αἰσχρόν, ὅπου Κωνσταντίῳ τοιοῦτον ἐφάνη, λίαν εἰωθότι θεραπεύειν τοὺς βαρβάρους; ἐδόθη μὴν αὐτοῖς οὐδέν· ἀλλ᾽ ἐπ᾽ αὐτοὺς στρατεύσας, ἀμυνόντων μοι καὶ παρεστώτων τῶν θεῶν, ὑπεδεξάμην μὲν μοῖραν τοῦ Σαλίων ἔθνους, Χαμάβους δὲ ἐξήλασα, πολλὰς βοῦς καὶ γύναια μετὰ παιδαρίων συλλαβών. οὕτω δὲ πάντας ἐφόβησα καὶ παρεσκεύασα καταπτῆξαι τὴν ἐμὴν ἔφοδον, [C] ὥστε παραχρῆμα λαβεῖν ὁμήρους καὶ τῇ σιτοπομπίᾳ παρασχεῖν ἀσφαλῆ κομιδήν.
(Then followed the second and third years of that campaign, and by that time all the barbarians had been driven out of Gaul, most of the towns had been recovered, and a whole fleet of many ships had arrived from Britain. I had collected a fleet of six hundred ships, four hundred of which I had had built in less than ten months, and I brought them all into the Rhine, no slight achievement, on account of the neighbouring barbarians who kept attacking me. At least it seemed so impossible to Florentius that he had promised to pay the barbarians a fee of two thousand pounds weight of silver in return for a passage. Constantius when he learned this—for Florentius had informed him about the proposed payment—wrote to me to carry out the agreement, unless I thought it absolutely disgraceful. But how could it fail to be disgraceful when it seemed so even to Constantius, who was only too much in the habit of trying to conciliate the barbarians? However, no payment was made to them. Instead I marched against them, and since the gods protected me and were present to aid, I received the submission of part of the Salian tribe, and drove out the Chamavi and took many cattle and women and children. And I so terrified them all, and made them tremble at my approach that I immediately received hostages from them and secured a safe passage for my food supplies.)
Μακρόν ἐστι πάντα ἀπαριθμεῖσθαι καὶ τὰ καθ᾽ ἕκαστον γράφειν, ὅσα ἐν ἐνιαυτοῖς ἔπραξα τέτταρσι· τὰ κεφάλαια δέ· τρίτον ἐπεραιώθην καῖσαρ ἔτι τὸν Ῥῆνον· δισμυρίους ἀπῄτησα παρὰ τῶν βαρβάρων ὑπὲρ τὸν Ῥῆνον ὄντας αἰχμαλώτους· ἐκ δυοῖν ἀγώνοιν καὶ μιᾶς πολιορκίας χιλίους ἐξελὼν ἐζώγρησα, οὐ τὴν ἄχρηστον ἡλικίαν, ἄνδρας δὲ ἡβῶντας· [D] ἔπεμψα τῷ Κωνσταντίῳ τέτταρας ἀριθμοὺς τῶν κρατίστων πεζῶν, τρεῖς ἄλλους τῶν ἐλαττόνων, ἱππέων τάγματα δύο τὰ ἐντιμότατα· πόλεις ἀνέλαβον νῦν μὲν δὴ τῶν θεῶν ἐθελόντων πάσας, τότε δὲ ἀνειλήφειν ἐλάττους ὀλίγῳ τῶν τεσσαράκοντα. μάρτυρας καλῶ τὸν Δία καὶ πάντας θεοὺς πολιούχους τε καὶ ὁμογνίους ὑπὲρ τῆς ἐμῆς προαιρέσεως εἰς αὐτὸν καὶ πίστεως, ὅτι τοιοῦτος [pg 274] γέγονα περὶ αὐτόν, οἷον ἂν εἱλόμην ἐγὼ υἱὸν περὶ ἐμὲ γενέσθαι. [281] τετίμηκα μὲν οὖν αὐτὸν ὡς οὐδεὶς καισάρων οὐδένα τῶν ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοκρατόρων. οὐδὲν γοῦν εἰς τὴν τήμερον ὑπὲρ ἐκείνων ἐγκαλεῖ μοι, καὶ ταῦτα παρρησιασαμένῳ πρὸς αὐτόν, ἀλλὰ γελοίους αἰτίας ὀργῆς ἀναπλάττει. Λουππικῖνον, φησί, καὶ τρεῖς ἄλλους ἀνθρώπους κατέσχες· οὓς εἰ καὶ κτείνας ἤμην ἐπιβουλεύσαντας ἔμοιγε φανερῶς, ἐχρῆν τὴν ὑπὲρ τῶν παθόντων ὀργὴν ἀφεῖναι τῆς ὁμονοίας ἕνεκα. τούτους δὲ οὐδὲν ἄχαρι διαθεὶς ὡς [B] ταραχώδεις φύσει καὶ πολεμοποιοὺς κατέσχον, πολλὰ πάνυ δαπανῶν εἰς αὐτοὺς ἐκ τῶν δημοσίων, ἀφελόμενος δ᾽[474] οὐδὲν τῶν ὑπαρχόντων ἐκείνοις. ὁρᾶτε, πῶς ἐπεξιέναι τούτοις ὁ Κωνστάντιος νομοθετεῖ. ὁ γὰρ χαλεπαίνων ὑπὲρ τῶν προσηκόντων μηδὲν ἆρ᾽ οὐκ ὀνειδίζει μοι καὶ κατεγελᾷ τῆς μωρίας, ὅτι τον φονέα πατρός, ἀδελφῶν, ἀνεψιῶν, ἁπάσης ὡς ἔπος εἰπεῖν τῆς κοινῆς ἡμῶν ἑστίας καὶ συγγενείας τὸν δήμιον εἰς τοῦτο ἐθεράπευσα; [C] σκοπεῖτε δὲ ὅπως καὶ γενόμενος αὐτοκράτωρ ἔτι φεραπευτικῶς αὐτῷ προσηνέχθην ἐξ ὧν ἐπέστειλα.
(It would take too long to enumerate everything and to write down every detail of the task that I accomplished within four years. But to sum it all up: Three times, while I was still Caesar, I crossed the Rhine; one thousand persons who were held as captives on the further side of the Rhine I demanded and received back; in two battles and one siege I took captive ten thousand prisoners, and those not of unserviceable age but men in the prime of life; I sent to Constantius four levies of excellent infantry, three more of infantry not so good, and two very distinguished squadrons of cavalry. I have now with the help of the gods recovered all the towns, and by that time I had already recovered almost forty. I call Zeus and all the gods who protect cities and our race to bear witness as to my behaviour towards Constantius and my loyalty to him, and that I behaved to him as I would have chosen that my own son should behave to me.[475] I have paid him more honour than any Caesar has paid to any Emperor in the past. Indeed, to this very day he has no accusation to bring against me on that score, though I have been entirely frank in my dealings with him, but he invents absurd pretexts for his resentment. He says, “You have detained Lupicinus and three other men.” And supposing I had even put them to death after they had openly plotted against me, he ought for the sake of keeping peace to have renounced his resentment at their fate. But I did those men not the least injury, and I detained them because they are by nature quarrelsome and mischief-makers. And though I am spending large sums of the public money on them, I have robbed them of none of their property. Observe how Constantius really lays down the law that I ought to proceed to extremities with such men! For by his anger on behalf of men who are not related to him at all, does he not rebuke and ridicule me for my folly in having served so faithfully the murderer of my father, my brothers, my cousins; the executioner as it were of his and my whole family and kindred? Consider too with what deference I have continued to treat him even since I became Emperor, as is shown in my letters.)