The Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus

namely, that when it was urged that any debtor was in such absolute want as to be unable to pay anything, he used to pronounce sentence of death on him.

9. But some princes do these and other similar actions with the more lofty arrogance, because they never allow their friends any opportunity of setting them right in any mistake they make, either in a plan or in its execution; while they terrify their enemies by the greatness of their power. There can be no question of mistake or error raised before men who consider whatever they choose to do to be in itself the greatest of virtues.

VIII.

§ 1. Valentinian having left Amiens, and being on his way to Treves in great haste, received the disastrous intelligence that Britain was reduced by the ravages of the united barbarians to the lowest extremity of distress; that Nectaridus, the count of the sea-coast, had been slain in battle, and the duke Fullofaudes had been taken prisoner by the enemy in an ambuscade.

2. This news struck him with great consternation, and he immediately sent Severus, the count of the domestic guards, to put an end to all these disasters if he could find a desirable opportunity. Severus was soon recalled, and Jovinus, who then went to that country, sent forward Provertuides with great expedition to ask for the aid of a powerful army; for they both affirmed that the imminence of the danger required such a reinforcement.

3. Last of all, on account of the many formidable reports which a continual stream of messengers brought from that island, Theodosius was appointed to proceed thither, and ordered to make great haste. He was an officer already distinguished for his prowess in war, and having collected a numerous force of cavalry and infantry, he proceeded to assume the command in full confidence.

4. And since when I was compiling my account of the acts of the emperor Constantine, I explained as well as I could the movement of the sea in those parts at its ebb and flow, and the situation of Britain, I look upon it as superfluous to return to what has been once described; as the Ulysses of Homer when among the Phæacians hesitated to repeat his adventures by reason of the sufferings they brought to mind.

5. It will be sufficient here to mention that at that time the Picts, who were divided into two nations, the Dicalidones and the Vecturiones, and likewise the Attacotti, a very warlike people, and the Scots were all roving over different parts of the country and committing great ravages. While the Franks and the Saxons who are on the frontiers of the Gauls were ravaging their country wherever they could effect an entrance by sea or land, plundering and burning, and murdering all the prisoners they could take.

6. To put a stop to these evils, if a favourable fortune should afford an opportunity, the new and energetic general repaired to that island situated at the extreme corner of the earth; and when he had reached the coast of Boulogne, which is separated from the opposite coast by a very narrow strait of the sea, which there rises and falls in a strange manner, being raised by violent tides, and then again sinking to a perfect level like a plain, without doing any injury to the sailors. From Boulogne he crossed the strait in a leisurely manner, and reached Richborough, a very tranquil station on the opposite coast.