The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus

Ammianus Marcellinus · c. 390s CE primary

passage 31 of 416 · C.D. YONGE, M.A. > BOOK XIV. (30/30)

in brief

This passage notes, via a Juvenal reference, that Pompey’s fate became an example of how human wishes and efforts are overturned by Fortune and even lead to the loss of a defeated leader’s head.

[30] The fate of Pompey served also as an instance to Juvenal in his satire on the vanity of human wishes.

Provida Pompeio diderat Campania febres Optandas, sed multæ urbes et publica vota Vicerunt; igitur Fortuna ipsius et urbis Servatum victo caput abstulit.

Sat. X. 283, &c.

[31] Spartacus was the celebrated leader of the slaves in the Servile War.

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topics: ambition and the love of glory · fortune and the turn of the wheel

The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus · Ammianus Marcellinus · 390–395