Philological and Historical Commentary on Ammianus Marcellinus XXIX PDF
Preview Philological and Historical Commentary on Ammianus Marcellinus XXIX
Philological and Historical Commentary on Ammianus Marcellinus XXIX Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/am Philological and Historical Commentary on Ammianus Marcellinus XXIX By J.denBoeft J.W.Drijvers D.denHengst H.C.Teitler LEIDEN•BOSTON 2013 LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData PhilologicalandHistoricalCommentaryonAmmianusMarcellinusXXIX/byJ.denBoeft,J.W. Drijvers,D.denHengst,H.C.Teitler. pagescm Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-90-04-26153-2(hardback:acid-freepaper)1.AmmianusMarcellinus.Rerumgestarum libri.Liber29.2.Rome–History–Empire,284-476–Historiography.I.Boeft,J.den.II.Drijvers,Jan Willem.III.Hengst,Daniëlden.IV.Teitler,H.C. PA6205.P4772014 937'.08–dc23 2013035798 Thispublicationhasbeentypesetinthemultilingual“Brill”typeface.Withover5,100characters coveringLatin,IPA,Greek,andCyrillic,thistypefaceisespeciallysuitableforuseinthehumanities. Formoreinformation,pleaseseewww.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISBN978-90-04-26153-2(hardback) ISBN978-90-04-26787-9(e-book) Copyright2013byKoninklijkeBrillNV,Leiden,TheNetherlands. KoninklijkeBrillNVincorporatestheimprintsBrill,GlobalOriental,HoteiPublishing, IDCPublishersandMartinusNijhoffPublishers. Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,translated,storedin aretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical, photocopying,recordingorotherwise,withoutpriorwrittenpermissionfromthepublisher. AuthorizationtophotocopyitemsforinternalorpersonaluseisgrantedbyKoninklijkeBrillNV providedthattheappropriatefeesarepaiddirectlytoTheCopyrightClearanceCenter, 222RosewoodDrive,Suite910,Danvers,MA01923,USA. Feesaresubjecttochange. Thisbookisprintedonacid-freepaper. CONTENTS Preface.................................................................. vii Introduction............................................................ ix Chronology ............................................................. xiii Legenda................................................................. xix CommentaryonChapter1.............................................. 1 CommentaryonChapter2 ............................................. 73 CommentaryonChapter3 ............................................. 117 CommentaryonChapter4 ............................................. 135 CommentaryonChapter5 ............................................. 149 CommentaryonChapter6 ............................................. 221 Bibliography ............................................................ 251 Indices.................................................................. 271 Maps.................................................................... 299 PREFACE ThisisthefourthbookdedicatedtothereignsofthePannonianemperors Valentinian I and Valens. Just as he did in the previous books Ammianus alternatesbetweenaffairsinthewesternandtheeasternpartoftheRoman Empire. A large part of the book is taken up by the trials in Antioch on chargesofconspiracyagainstValens.Ammianusalsodealsextensivelywith therevoltofFirmusinAfricaanditssuppressionbyTheodosiustheElder. ShorteraccountsaregivenofValentinian’scruelty,hisattempttocapture theAlamannickingMacrianusandtheraidsoftheQuadiandSarmatae. Wewouldliketothankfriendsandcolleaguesfortheirhelpandadvice, InesvandeWeteringforthecorrectionofourEnglish,andthestaffofthe FondationHardtatVandoeuvreswhereoneofusenjoyedafruitfulperiod ofstudy.ThanksarealsoduetoErikGoosmannwhogavethedraftsofthe mapstheirfinalform.AsusualourpublisherKoninklijkeBrillpreparedthe publicationofthisvolumewithprofessionalcare. J.denBoeft J.W.Drijvers D.denHengst H.C.Teitler INTRODUCTION Whereas Book 28 is the most Roman book of the ResGestae, with half of itspagesdevotedtoeventsinRome,thepresentbookonlycontainsabrief descriptionofthetermofofficeofonepraefectusurbi. After a succinct summary of military actions in Armenia Ammianus reports that in the autumn (of the year 371) the emperor Valens returned toAntioch,whichfromthenonwardsformsthebackdroptoalongseriesof legalproceedings,interrogationsundertorture,courthearingsandsevere sentences. All these actions concern a wide-ranging conspiracy of promi- nent aristocrats and philosophers against Valens. Many of these men suf- feredcapitalpunishment,oftenonflimsyevidence.Thereaderisreminded of the comparable number of cases against Roman aristocrats and their subordinatesdescribedinthefirstchapterofBook28.Thereare,however, some differences, the most important of which is the part played by the twoemperors.In28.1Valentinianisnotinvolved;heisabsentnotonlyin ageographicalsense,becauseheisresidinginGaul,butalsoasregardsthe actual proceedings. He gave an entirely free hand to Maximinus, vicarius urbisRomae,amanwhomAmmianusutterlydespised.IncontrastValens inAntiochcontinuallydirectsthecourseofjustice,whichisgraduallydete- riorating into a course of total injustice. Ammianus does not deny Valens the right to defend himself against intrigues and conspiracies, the less so because the emperor had indeed more than once been the target of an assault, but he vents his indignation at the systematic increase of injus- tice, inspired by avaritia: the properties of the condemned landed up in the public treasury or, even worse, in the possession of the emperor and hiscourtiers.Theothermainaspectinwhichthetwochaptersdifferfrom eachotherconcernsmagicalpractices:in28.1theseareoftenreferredto,but precisedetailsarewell-nighabsent;the‘piècederésistance’of29.1isafull descriptionoftheuseofameticulouslypreparedinstrumentduringases- sionofdivinatorymagic,inwhichthenameofValens’successorwassought andfound. Thesecondchaptercontinuesinthesamevein,butnowasinistercou- ple of delatores takes centre stage and, moreover, the scene expands: the armofinjusticereachesmuchfurther,theentireeasternpartoftheEmpire gets involved. The tone of the author’s report becomes more aggressive and develops into one of his “Leitmotive”: an emperor’s life has been
Description:The list of books you might like
