FESTUS

BREVIARIUM OF THE ACCOMPLISHMENTS

OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE
Introduction
In the fall of 2000, I suggested to my student, Jennifer Meka, the
collaborative production of a translation into English -- the first,
to my knowledge -- of Festus' late 4th-century A.D.
Breviarium.1Ms. Meka agreed, and, after some initial
reservations, I decided to take as our text the edition of Carl
Wagener rather than either of the more recent ones of Eadie and
Arnaud-Lindet or the older one of Foerster.2 The initial phase of
this project involved my rough, literal rendering into English of
chapters I-XVII, and Ms. Meka's of XVIII--XXX. We next
worked through the Breviarium from its beginning, with an eye
to regularizing our treatment of certain words and phrases. My
colleagues David Coffta, David Dietz, and Madeleine Kaufman
offered advice and assistance on several matters. After a series
of intermediate versions, I decided on the final form our work
would take. I also compiled an index of personal names. The
idiosyncrasies and shortcomings of the translation and index
should, therefore, be laid at my door.
Our translation attempts to stay as close to the Latin of
Wagener's edition as possible. Thus, when that text prints Roman
numerals, we render them as Arabic numbers; when it prints
Latin words for numbers, we employ English words. We retain
names of individuals as Wagener printed them, even when that
means writing "Sylla" for "Sulla" or, at XI.2, the obviously
incorrect "Mummius" for Gnaeus Manlius Vulso. However,
some names have been anglicized, some not. The index that
follows our translation should eliminate any resultant confusion.
Likewise, when dealing with the names of peoples as opposed to
places, we try to mirror Festus' uses of adjectives as opposed to
abstract nouns. Names of peoples are usually, though not always,
anglicized -- so Sicilii are Sicilians, but Albanii become Albanii
rather than Albanians. Imperator, princeps, and prases are

transliterated rather than translated. Rarely, Festus' spelling of a

place name has been altered -- e.g., Rhodope for Rhodopa. Dicio
we render "sway," amicitia "good offices," and fides
"protection." We have tried to reproduce Festus' syntax, even
where, as in XXV.2 and XXVIII.3, for example, this required
convoluted English. Our translation employs Wagener's
numbering system and prints in bold face within brackets the
pagination of his edition.
Special thanks is due to Michael DiMaio of Salve Regina
University, who agreed to include our translation in the De
Imperatoribus Romanis Historical Source Index and who saw to
the technical matters necessary to bring this about.
Thomas M. Banchich
Canisius College
Buffalo, New York
Notes
1

There have been several published translations of Festus into

French: Nicolas Auguste Dubois' (Paris: C. L. F. Panckoucke,
1843), Dsir Nisard's (Paris: F. Didot, 1860), and, most
recently, the Bud edition of Marie-Pierre Arnaud-Lindet,
Abrg des hauts faits du peuple romain (Paris: Les Belles
Lettres, 1994). Dubois, p. 11, mentions a German translation by
F. Ficker, though it is unclear whether this was actually
published, and Reinhart Herzog (see below), p. 207, cites the
German version of F. Hoffman, included with translations into
German of M. Valerius Messalla Corvinus and Lucius Ampelius
(Stuttgart: 1830). Vincentio Belprato's rendering (Florence:
Bernardo Giunti, 1550) was perhaps the first Italian Festus.
Michael H. Dodgeon and Samuel N. C. Lieu's The Roman
Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars (AD 226-263) (London
and New York: Routledge, 1991), included English translations
of those portions of the Breviarium relevant to its concerns.
On Festus and his work, see, The Prosopography of the Later
Roman Empire (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971),
Vol. I, pp. 334-335, s.v. FESTUS 3; Barry Baldwin, The Oxford
Dictionary of Byzantium (Oxford: Oxford University Press,

1991), Vol. II, pp. 783-784; Michael von Albrecht, A History of

Roman Literature (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1997), Vol. II, pp. 13771378; and, especially, Reinhart Herzog, Restauration und
Erneuerzung, Handbuch der latinischen Literatur der Antike,
Vol. V (Munich: Beck'sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1989), pp.
207-210. See, too, the introduction to the edition and
commentary of John W. Eadie, The Breviarium of Festus
(London: Althone Press, 1967).
2

Festi Breviarium Rerum Gestarum Populi Romani (Bibliotheca

Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum; Leipzig: G.
Freytag/Prague: R. Tempsky, 1886). Other noteworthy editions
are those of Wendolin Foerster (Vienna: A. Hoelder, 1874),
Eadie (supra, n. 1) -- on which, see the reviews of T. D. Barnes,
Journal of Roman Studies 58 (1968), pp. 263-265, and Alan
Cameron, Classical Review N.S. 19 (1969), pp. 305-307 , and
Arnaud-Lindet (supra, n. 1), reviewed by Michael Winterbottom,
Classical Review N.S. 45 (1995), pp. 264-265.
*****
I. Your Clemency enjoined that a summary be made. To be sure,
I, in whom the facility of broader discourse is lacking, shall
comply happily with what has been enjoined. And, having
followed the fashion of accountants, who express immense sums
through fewer numbers, I shall indicate, not explicate, past
events. Receive, therefore, what has been succinctly summed up
in very concise sayings, so you may seem, most glorious
Princeps, not so much to recite as to enumerate to yourself the
years and duration of the state and the events of yore.
II. From the foundation of the city to the rise of Your Perpetuity,
by which Rome has been allotted a very prosperous imperium of
brothers, are reckoned 1,117 years. Thus, under kings are
reckoned 243 years; under consuls, 467 years; under
imperatores, 407 years. 2. For 243 years, kings, seven in
number, reigned in Rome. Romulus reigned 37 years; senators
for five days and one year; Numa Pompilius reigned 43 years;
Tullus Hostilius reigned 44 years; Ancus Marcius reigned 24
years; Priscus Tarquinius reigned 38 years; Servius Tullius

reigned 44 years; Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was expelled in

the twenty-fourth year of his reign. 3. From Brutus and
Publicola to Pansa and Hirtius there were 916 consuls, beyond
those who were those chosen as replacements in the same year
by some allotment, through four hundred and sixty-seven years.
For nine years, consuls were lacking in Rome, thus: for two
years Rome was under decemvirs, for three years under military
tribunes, and for four years without magistrates. 4. From
Octavian Caesar Augustus to Jovian, there were imperatores, 43
in number, through 407 years.
[2] III. Therefore, how much Rome has advanced under these
three types of rule -- that is, regnal, consular, and imperial -- I
shall briefly sketch. Under seven kings through 243 years,
Roman imperium did not advance beyond Portus and Ostia,
within 18 miles from the gates of the city of Rome, seeing that
she was as yet small and founded by shepherds, while
neighboring cities were hemming her in. 2. At the same time,
through 467 years under consuls, among whom there sometimes
were dictators, too, Italy was occupied as far as beyond the Po,
Africa was subjugated, the Spains added, and Gaul and Britain
made tributaries. As for Illyricum, Histri, Libyrni, and Dalmatae
were mastered; it passed to Achaea; Macedonians were
subjugated; with Dardanians, Moesians, and Thracians it warred;
and it reached all the way to the Danube. 3. After Antiochus had
been expelled, Romans first set foot in Asia; when Mithridates
had been conquered, his kingdom was occupied; Armenia
Minor, which he likewise had held, was obtained by arms; a
Roman army reached Mesopotamia; a treaty was initiated with
the Parthians; against Carduenians and Saracens and Arabs it
warred; all of Judaea was conquered; Cilicia and Syria came into
the power of the Roman people. Egypt's kings became allies. 4.
Moreover, under the imperatores, through 407 years, while many
principes were directing the diverse fortune of the state, the
Maritime Alps, Cottian, Raetian, and Norican Alps, the
Pannonias, and the Moesias accrued to the Roman world, and
the entire bank of the Danube was reduced to provinces. All
Pontus, Armenia Major, all Oriens, with Mesopotamia, Assyria,
Arabia, and Egypt, passed under the jurisdiction of Roman
imperium.

IV. Moreover, in what order the Roman state acquired individual

provinces is described below. Sicily was made first of the
provinces. When Hiero, King of the Sicilians, had been defeated,
Marcellus obtained her. Then directed by praetors, she afterward
was committed to praesides; now she is administered by
consulars. [3] 2. Metellus conquered Sardinia and Corsica; he
celebrated a triumph over the Sardinians; the Sardinians have
often rebelled. There had come to be a joint administration of
these islands; afterward praetors held them; now they are ruled
individually by praesides. 3. Roman arms were sent across to
Africa for the defense of the Sicilians. Thrice Africa rebelled; in
the end, after Carthage had been destroyed by Sicipio Africanus,
she was made a province; now she functions under proconsuls.
4. Numidia used to be held by friendly kings, but war was
declared against Jugurtha because of the murder of Adherbal and
Hiempsal, sons of King Micipsa; and after he had been worn
down by the consul Metellus and captured by Marius, Numidia
came into the power of the Roman people. The Mauretanias
were obtained from Bocchus. But, with all Africa subjugated,
King Juba was still holding the Moors -- he who, after he had
been conquered by Augustus Caesar in the course of the civil
war, voluntarily committed suicide. 5. Thus did the Mauretanias
begin to be ours and six provinces were made through all Africa;
Africa itself, where Carthage is, is proconsular, Numdia
consular, Byzacium consular, Tripolis and the two Mauritanias -that is, Sitifensis and Caesariensisare praesidal.
V. Through Scipio we first bore aid to Spaniards against the
Africans. We obtained the rebelling Lusitanians in Spain through
Decimus Brutus and we attained the sea from Gades to Ocean.
Afterward, Sylla, having been dispatched against the Spaniards,
who were in an uproar, conquered them. 2. The Celtiberians in
Spain often rebelled, but, when Scipio the Younger had been
dispatched, they were, with the destruction of Numantia,
subjugated. Nearly all Spain was brought under sway through
Metellus and Pompey on the occasion of the Sertorian War;
afterward, when his imperium had been extended for five years,
they were subdued by Pompey. 3. Ultimately, too, the
Cantabrians and Asturians, who, relying on the mountains, were
resisting, were destroyed by Octavian Caesar Augustus. 4. And
now through all Spain there are six provinces: Tarraconensis,
Carthaginensis, Lusitania, Gallaecia, Baetica, also across the

strait in the soil of African land is a province of the Spains,

which [4] is named Tingimauritania. Of these, Baetica and
Lusitania are consular, the others praesidal.
VI. With the Gauls the Roman people had the gravest wars. For
the Gauls also used to hold the part of Italy in which
Mediolanum now is as far as to the Rubicon River, trusting in a
number of men so great that in a war they assailed Rome herself,
and, when the Roman armies had been destroyed, entered the
walls of the city and besieged the Capitolium, to the citadel of
which 600 most noble senators had fled: it was these who
ransomed themselves from the siege with 1000 pounds of gold.
Afterward, Camillus, who was in exile, with a multitude
gathered from the fields, defeated the Gauls as they were
returning with victory; the gold and standards which the Gauls
had taken he brought back. 2. Many consuls, praetors, and
dictators contended with the Gauls with varied result. Marius
drove the Gauls from Italy; when the Alps had been crossed, he
battled successfully against them. 3. C. Caesar, with ten legions
which had 3,000 Italian soldiers each, over nine years
subjugated the Gauls from the Alps as far as to the Rhine, battled
with barbarians settled beyond the Rhine, crossed to Britain,
and, in the tenth year, made the Gauls and Britains tributaries. 4.
There are in Gaul, Aquitania, and the Britains eighteen
provinces: the Maritime Alps, the province of Viennensis,
Narbonensis, Novempopulana, two Aquitanias, the Graiean
Alps, Maxima Sequanorum, two Germanies, two Belgicas, two
Lugdunenses; in Brittania, Maxima Caesariensis, Flavia
Caesariensis, Brittania Prima, and Brittania Secunda.
VII. From the shore of the sea, we gradually moved on
Illyricum. The consul Laevinus, having first entered the Adriatic
and the Ionian Sea, obtained the coastal cities. Crete was made a
province by the proconsul Metellus, who was called "Creticus."
2. When Greeks were seeking succor in our protection, we came
to Achaea. The Athenians sought our aid against Philip, King of
the Macedonians. For a while Achaea was free under our good
offices; finally, when ambassadors of the Romans had been done
violence at Corinth, after Corinth had been captured by the
proconsul Lucius Mummius, all Achaea was obtained. 3. The
Epirotes, who once with Pyrrhus [5] the king had even presumed
to cross to Italy, and the Thessalians, when they had been

conquered, were added together with our territories of Achaea

and Macedon. 4. Macedonia thrice rebelled -- under Philip,
under Perseus, under Pseudo-Philip. Flamininus defeated Philip,
Paulus Perseus, Metellus Pseudo-Philip, by whose triumphs
Macedonia was joined to the Roman people. 5. The Illyrians,
who had borne aid to the Macedonians, we conquered on that
same occasion through Lucius Ancius, a praetor, and we
received them, with King Gentius, in capitulation. Curio, a
proconsul, subjugated the Dardanians and Moesiacians and was
the first commander of Romans to penetrate all the way to the
Danube. 6. Under Julius Octavian Caesar Augustus, a road was
made through the Julian Alps; when all the Alpini had been
conquered, the provinces of the Norici were added. After Batho,
King of the Pannonians, had been subdued, the Pannonias came
under our sway. After the Amantians between the Save and
Drave had been laid low, the area adjoining the Save and
environs of Pannonia Secunda were obtained.
VIII. The Marcomanni and Quadi were driven from the environs
of Valeria, which are between the Danube and Drave, and a
frontier between Romans and barbarians was established from
Augusta Vindelicum through Noricum, Paennonia, and Moesia.
2. Trajan conquered the Dacians, under King Decibalus, and
made Dacia, across the Danube in the soil of barbary, a province
which in circumference had ten times 100,000 paces; but it was
lost under Imperator Gallienus, and, after Romans had been
transferred from there by Aurelian, two Dacias were made in the
regions of Moesia and Dardania. 3. Illyricus has 18 provinces:
two of Noricas, two of Pannonias, Valeria, Savia, Dalmatia,
Moesia Superior, Dardania, two of Dacias, and in the Macedonic
diocese are seven provinces: Macedonia, Thessaly, Achaea, two
Epiruses, Praevalis, and Crete.
IX. It was run across to Thrace on the occasion of the
Macedonian War. The Thracians were the most savage of all
races. The Scordisci, equally cruel and cunning, also used to
dwell in the environs of Thrace. Many tales are told about the
savagery of their divinatory rites, that to their own gods they
sometimes made sacrifices of prisoners, that [6] they were
accustomed to drink human blood in skulls. 2. A Roman army
was often destroyed by them. Marcus Didius checked the
wandering Thracians, Marcus Drusus confined them within their

own borders, Minucius annihilated them in the ice of the Hebrus

River. Through Appius Claudius, a proconsul, those who used to
inhabit Rhodope were conquered. Earlier a Roman fleet obtained
the coastal cities of Europe. Through Thrace, Marcus Lucullus
first clashed with the Bessi. 3. The head of our race conquered
Thrace herself. He subjugated the Haemimontani, Eumolpiada -which is now called Philippopolis -- , Uscudama -- which
presently is called Hadrianopolis -- he brought under our sway,
he took Cabyle. He occupied cities situated above Pontus:
Apollonia, Calathum, Parthenopolis, Tomi, and Hister; reaching
all the way to the Danube, he displayed Roman arms to the
Scythians. 4. Thus were the six provinces of Thrace added to the
sway of our state: Thrace, Haemimontus, Moesia Inferior,
Scythia, Rhodope, and Europa, in which now have been
established the secondary defenses of the Roman world.
X. Now the Eastern parts and the entire Oriens and the provinces
simply located in the vicinity, which have furnished authors for
your scepters, I shall explicate, so that the interest of Your
Clemency, which you have in these same being preserved, may
be more amply aroused. 2. Asia became known to the Romans
through the partnership of King Attalus, and we took possession
of it by the law of inheritance, when it had been bequeathed in
Attalus' will. Nevertheless, lest the Roman people should hold
anything not obtained by strength, it was delivered by means of
arms by us from Antiochus, the Syrians' greatest king. 3. On the
same occasion, Lydia, ancient seat of kings, Caria, Hellespontus,
and Phrygia came under the power of the Roman people. 4.
Having contended with Rhodes and the peoples of the islands, at
first extremely hostile, we afterward began to employ these
same as most trustworthy assistants. Thus, at first, Rhodes and
the islands were conducting affairs independently; afterward,
when the Romans kindly invited them, they attained to the status
of dependent and, under Princeps Vespasian, the province of the
Islands was created.
XI. The proconsul Servilius, who had been dispatched to a pirate
war, obtained Pamphylia, Lycia, and Pisidia. Bithynia [7] we
attained through the will of the late King Nicomedes. 2.
Gallograecia -- that is Galatia (and indeed, as the name echoes,
"Galatians" is from "Gauls") -- we invaded because it had
supplied aid to Antiochus against the Romans. Mummius, a

proconsul, pursued the Galatians and, when some of them fled

toward Olympus, some toward Mount Magaba (which now is
called Modiacus), forced them from the heights to the plains,
and, after they had been conquered, reduced them to perpetual
peace. Afterward, Deiotarus the Tetrarch controlled Galatia with
our permission. In the end, under Octavian Caesar Augustus,
Galatia was reduced to the status of a province and Lollius, a
propraetor, first administered her. 3. The Cappadocians first
sought our partnership under King Epafrax, and, afterward,
Ariobarzanes, King of Cappadocia, who had been expelled by
Mithridates, was restored by Roman arms. The Cappadocians
always were among our assistants and so nurtured the Roman
majesty that Mazaca, the greatest city in Cappadocia, was named
Caesarea in honor of Caesar Augustus. Ultimately, under
Imperator Claudius Caesar, when Archelaus, King of the
Cappadocians, had come to Rome and, having been detained
there a long while, gone to his rest, Cappadocia changed to the
status of a province. 4. Pontus, after Mithridates, King of Pontus,
had been conquered by Pompey, received the form of a province.
King Palamenes, a friend of the Roman people, controlled
Paphlagonia. Having often been driven thence from his
kingdom, he was restored by us and, with his death, the legal
status of a province was imposed on Paphlagonia.
XII. In what manner Roman control spread beyond the heights
of Mount Taurus will be demonstrated through a consecutive
arrangement of locations rather than of times. 2. Antiochus, the
most powerful king of Syria, waged a formidable war on the
Roman people. He had 300,000 armed men, and also drew up a
battle line of scythed chariots and elephants. After he had been
conquered in Asia at Magnesia by the consul Scipio, brother of
Scipio Africanus, when a peace had been agreed upon, he was
allowed to reign beyond the Taurus. His sons retained the rule of
Syria under the patronage of the Roman people. When these had
died, we acquired the provinces of the Syrias. 3. Servilius, a
proconsul, having been dispatched to a bandit war, subjugated he
Cilicians and the Isaurians, who had allied themselves with
pirates and seagoing marauders, and first established a road
through Mount Taurus; and he celebrated a triumph over the
Cilicians and Isuarians and thus received the cognomen
"Isauricus."

XIII. Cyprus, renowned for riches, seduced the poverty of the

Roman people [8] in order to be occupied. A federate king was
ruling her, but so great was the poverty of Roman finances and
so immense the report of the wealth of Cyprus that, after a law
had been issued, Cyprus was ordered confiscated. When this
announcement had been received, the Cyprian king took poison
in order to forfeit his life before his riches. Cato transported the
Cyprian wealth to Rome by means of ships. Thus, more
avariciously than justly, did we attain jurisdiction of the island.
2. Cyrene, together with the other cities of Lydia's Pentapolis,
were obtained through the liberality of an older Ptolemy. We
acquired Libya after the mastery of King Appion had been
suppressed. 3. All Egypt had been subject to friendly kings, but,
when Cleopatra, together with Antony, had been conquered, in
the times of Octavian Caesar Augustus she took the form of a
province and first among the Alexandrians Cornelius Gallus, a
Roman judge, took charge.
XIV. Through the confines of Armenia, under Lucius Lucullus,
Roman arms were first sent across the Taurus. The Phylarchs of
the Saracens, after they had been defeated, withdrew to
Osrhoene. In Mesopotamia, Nisibis was captured by the same
Lucullus. 2. Afterward, through Pompey, these same locations
were obtained by arms. Syria and Phoenicia were received in a
war with Tigranes, King of the Armenians. Arabs and Judaeans
were conquered in Palestine. 3. In the end, under the Princeps
Trajan the crown of the King of Armenia Major was offered, and
through Trajan Armenia, Mesopotamia, Assyria, and Arabia
were made provinces and an eastern frontier was established
above the banks of the Tigris. 4. But Hadrian, who succeeded
Trajan, envying Trajan's glory, returned Armenia, Mesopotamia,
and Assyria of his own volition and wanted the Euphrates to be a
median between Persians and Romans. 5. But afterward, under
the two Antonines,Marcus and Verus, and under Severus,
Pertinax, and other Roman principes who battled against the
Parthians with varied result, Mesopotamia was four times lost
and four times regained. 6. In the times of Diocletian, after the
Romans had been defeated in an initial encounter, when,
however, King Narses, had been overcome in a second
engagement and his wife and daughters had been captured and
cared for with the utmost concern for their chastity, when peace
had been made, Mesopotamia was restored and the frontier

above the banks of the Tigris was reformed, so that we attained

sway over five peoples settled beyond the Tigris. The terms of
this treaty, having been preserved, endured to the time of the
Divine Constantine.
[9]XV. Now I know, Renowned Princeps, where your intent is
heading. You assuredly seek to know how often the arms of
Babylonia and Rome were joined and in what places spears
contended with arrows. The outcomes of wars I shall briefly
enumerate. In a few, you will discover the enemy, as a result of
stealth, to have rejoiced; however, you will judge the Romans
always to have been revealed victors as a result of genuine
courage. 2. First, Arsaces, King of the Parthians, after a
delegation had been dispatched, asked and obtained from Lucius
Sylla the good offices of the Roman people. 3. Lucius Lucullus
pursued to Armenia Mithridates, who had been deprived of the
rule of Pontus. The same man, with 18,000 Romans, conquered
Tigranes, the Armenians' king, with 7,000 armored horsemen
and 2,000 archers. He subdued Tigranocerta, the greatest city of
Armenia. He obtained Madaena, a rich region of Armenia, he
descended through Melitene to Mesopotamia, and took Nisibis,
along with the king's brother. After he had prepared to march
against Persia, he accepted a successor.
XVI. Cn. Pompey, of proven good fortune, after he had been
dispatched to a Mithridatic War, having attacked Mithridates in
Armenia Minor, prevailed in a night battle and, when forty-two
thousand of the enemy had been killed, he occupied his camp.
Mithridates, with his wife and two companions, fled to the
Bosphorus and when, in desperation of his affairs, he drank
poison, and when the poison.s strength did not prove sufficient,
he commanded that he be run through with a sword by one of his
own soldiers. 2. Pompey pursued Tigranes, King of the
Armenians, Mithridates' supporter; the latter, after the crown had
been offered, gave himself up near Artaxata. By him were
received Mesopotamia, Syria, and a considerable part of
Phoenicia; and he also was allowed to reign within Armenia
Major. 3. Likewise, Pompey imposed a king, Aristarchus, on the
Bosphorians and Colchians; fought with the Albani; granted
peace to Orhodes, King of the Albani, after he had thrice been
defeated; received in surrender Hiberia, with King Atrax; and
defeated Saracens and Arabs. After Judea had been captured, he

obtained Jerusalem and made a treaty with the Persians. 4.

Returning to Antioch, he, delighted [10] by the loveliness of the
place and its abundance of waters, consecrated the grove
belonging to Daphne, with a wood added on.
XVII. Marcus Crassus, a consul, was dispatched against
rebelling Parthians. He, when he was asked for peace by a
legation dispatched from Persia, said that he would respond at
Ctesiphon. He crossed the Euphrates at Zeugma, and, having
been guided by a deserter, a certain Mazzarus, descended into an
remote wilderness of plains. 2. There the army was surrounded
by formations of archers flying around them from all sides, with
Silas and Surenas, the King's prefects, and was overwhelmed by
the impact of the missles. Crassus himself -- when, after he had
been enticed to a parlay, he was nearly captured alive -- had
escaped while his tribunes resisted, and, seeking flight, was
killed. 3. His severed head, with his right hand, were borne to
the king and then maintained for sport, so that molten gold might
be poured into his throat: to wit, in order that he who, burning
with lust for plunder, after he had been asked by the king to
grant peace, had declined, flames of gold might consume his
remains even after he perished. 4. Lucius Cassius, Crassus'
quaestor, a vigorous man, gathered the remains of the scattered
army. Against the Persians, who were rushing toward Syria, he
thrice contended in most admirable fashion and, after they had
been repelled across the Euphrates, he ravaged them.
XVIII. The Parthians, with Labienus, who had been of the
Pompeian faction and, having been defeated, had fled to Persia,
commander, rushed toward Syria and occupied the whole
province. 2. On Mount Caper, P. Ventidius Bassus, with a few
men, engaged the Parthians who had invaded Syria with
Labenius in command, escaped, killed Labienus, and, pursuing
the Persians, cast them into utter destruction. In this engagement,
he killed Pacorus, the king's son, on the same day on which
Crassus had been defeated, lest the death of a Roman
commander ever be left unavenged. 3. Ventidius first celebrated
a triumph over the Persians. M. Antony, having invaded Media,
which now is called Madena, waged war against the Parthians
and defeated them in initial battles. Afterward, after two legions
had been lost, when he was being overwhelmed with famine,
pestilence, and tempests, he barely withdrew the army through

Armenia, with the Persians in pursuit, shocked with so much

terror as a result of how times had changed that he contemplated
being run through by one of his own gladiators, lest he come
alive in the enemies' power.
[11] XIX. Under Octavian Caesar Augustus, Armenia conspired
with Parthia. 2. Claudius Caesar, grandson of Augustus, when he
been dispatched to Oriens with an army, when he had settled
everything for the benefit of the majesty of the Roman name,
and the Armenians, who, with the Parthians, were then the
stronger at the time, had surrendered themselves to him,
Claudius Caesar appointed to the aforementioned peoples judges
on the basis of Pompey's settlement. 3. A certain Donnes, whom
Arsaces had put in command of the Parthians, through an
orchestrated treachery, offered a book in which treasures were
contained, inscribed. While the Roman imperator was reading
very intently, having attacked with a knife, he wounded
Claudius. The assassin was indeed killed by soldiers. Claudius,
after he had returned to Syria, died from the wound. 4. The
Persians, for satisfaction of such an outrage, having been granted
an audience, then first gave hostages to Octavian Caesar
Augustus and returned the standards taken under Crassus. When
the peoples of Oriens had been pacified, Augustus Caesar also
first received a legation of Indians.
XX. Nero, the vilest imperator the Roman state has endured, lost
Armenia. Then two Roman legions, having been sent under the
yoke by the Persians, defiled with the utmost infamy the military
oaths of the Roman army. 2. Trajan, who, after Augustus, set in
motion the muscle of the Roman state, regained Armenia from
the Parthians, and, after the crown had been offered, abolished
the kingdom of Armenia Major. He gave a king to the Albani;
received Hiberians, Bosphorians, and Colchians into the
protection of Roman sway; occupied localities of the
Oshroenians and Arabs; obtained the Carduenians and
Marcomedians; received and maintained Anthemusia -- Persia's
finest region -- , Seleucia, Ctesiphon, and Babylon; and, after
Alexander, even reached the ends of India. He established a fleet
in the Red Sea. He made provinces Armenia, Assyria, and
Mesopotamia, which, situated between the Tigris and Euphrates,
is made equal to Egypt in fecundity by the flooding rivers. [12]
3. It is certain that Hadrian envied Trajan's glory. His successor

in imperium, after the armies had been recalled, he surrendered

Armenia, Mesopotamia, and Assyria on his own initiative and
willed that the Euphrates be a median between Romans and
Persians.
XXI. Two Antonines, Marcus and Verus, that is, father-in-law
and son-in-law, simultaneously Augusti, first held the imperium
of the world with an equivalent power. But of them, Antoninus
the Younger, having set out on a Parthian campaign, felicitously
accomplished many and momentous things against the Persians.
He took Seleucia, a city in Assyria, together with 40,000 of the
enemy, and with immense glory he celebrated a triumph over the
Persians. 2. Severus, by birth African, was a most active
imperator. He quickly conquered the Parthians, annihilated the
Aziabeni, gained control the Arabs of the interior, and made a
province in Arabia. Titles were obtained by this man for these
victories: for he was given the titles "Aziabenicus," "Parthicus,"
and "Arabicus." 3. Antoninus, with the cognomen Caracalla, son
of Imperator Severus, preparing an expedition against the
Persians, died a fitting death at Osrhoene, near Edessa, and was
buried in the same spot.
XXII. Aurelius Alexander, born as if by some destiny for the
destruction of the Persian race, took the helm of the Roman
imperium while still a youth. He gloriously conquered Xerxes,
noblest king of the Persians. He had Ulpian, the jurisconsult, as
Master of the Secretariat. At Rome, he celebrated with
remarkable pomp a triumph over the Persians. 2. Under Gordian,
a princeps active through the assurance of youth, the rebelling
Parthians were beaten in great battles. Returning from Persia a
victor, he was killed by the treachery of Philip, who was his
Praetorian Prefect. Twenty miles from Circensium the troops
built for him a tumulus, which now exists, and they escorted his
remains to Rome with the greatest deference of respect.
XXIII. It is disgusting to report the fate of the unfortunate
princeps Valerian. After the army had made Valerian [13]
Imperator, and the Senate Gallienus, Valerian, having contended
against the Persians in Mesopotamia, was defeated by Sapor,
King of the Persians, and, having been captured, wasted away in
shameful servitude. 2. Under Gallienus, when Mesopotamia had
been invaded, the Persians would have begun to claim Syria for

themselves, except that - it is shameful to relate -- Odenathus, a

Palmyrene decurion, by means of a conscripted force of Syrian
peasants, had resisted sharply and, after the Perisans had several
times been scattered, not only defended our border but also -what is astonishing to say -- had, avenger of Roman imperium,
penetrated to Ctesiphon.
XXIV. Zenobia, Odenathus' wife, added to the glory of
Imperator Aurelian. For, after her husbands death, she was
holding the imperium of Oriens by means of a feminine sway.
Aurelian defeated her, relying on many thousands of armored
horsemen and archers, at Immae, not far from Antioch, and led
her captive before his chariot in a triumph at Rome. 2. Imperator
Carus' victory over the Persians seemed too mighty to the
Celestial Divinity. For it must be believed to have led to the
jealousy of heavenly indignation. For, after he had entered
Persia, he devastated it as if no one opposed him and took Coche
and Ctesiphon, the noblest cities of the Persians. While, victor
over the entire race, he was occupying an encampment beyond
the Tigris, he died, having been struck by a bolt of lightning.
XXV. Under Princeps Diocletian, there was observed a
procession of victory over the Persians. Maximianus Caesar,
who had been repulsed in an initial engagement, when he had
battled fiercely with a few men against a countless multitude,
withdrew and was received with such great disdain by
Diocletian that, garbed in purple, he ran several miles before his
chariot. 2. And when he had with difficulty gained that, after his
army had been revived from the frontier troops of Dacia, he
might seek a resolution on the battlefield, in Armenia Major, he
himself, with two horsemen, reconnoitered against the enemy
and, having fallen suddenly with twenty-five thousand soldiers
upon the enemy encampments, after he had attacked countless
formations of Persians, he utterly annihilated them. 3. The King
of the Persians, Narses, fled; his wife and daughters were
captured and kept with the utmost concern for their chastity. In
admiration for this, the Persians admitted that the Romans were
superior not only in arms but also in behavior. They returned
Mesopotamia, along with the Transtigritanian regions. The peace
made endured to the benefit of the state to our own memory.

[14] XXVI. In the final portion of his life, Constantine, master

of affairs, prepared an expedition against Persia. For, more
glorious since the races throughout the world had been pacified
and the recent victory over the Goths, he was descending on
Persia with all his formations. 2. During his approach, the court
at Babylonia was so frightened that a supplicant delegation of
Persians hastened to him and promised that they would obey his
commands, but, in return for the constant raids which they had
attempted throughout Oriens under Constantius Caesar, did not
gain a pardon.
XXVII. Constantius fought against the Persians with uneven and
more troublesome result. In addition to minor encounters of
sentries on the border, an engagement to a harsher Mars was
fought nine times, seven times through his commanders, he
himself present twice. 2. To be sure, at the battles of Sisara,
Singara, and Singara again with Constantius present, and of
Sicgara and also Constantina, and, when Amida was captured,
the state received a serious wound while he was princeps.
Moreover, Nisibis was thrice besieged by the Persians, but,
while involved in the siege, the enemy incurred its own, greater
loss. 3. Moreover, at Narasara, where Narses was killed, we
departed winners. Indeed, in a night battle at Eleia, near Singara,
where Constantius was present, the outcome of all the
campaigns would have been offset if the imperator himself, in
adverse locations and at night, had not been able, by addressing
them, to recall the soldiers, who had been aroused to fury, from
the inopportune timing of the battle. Nevertheless, unconquered
in strength -- an unforeseen reserve against a shortage of water -, when evening was now falling, after they had attacked the
encampment of the Persians and, when the wall had been
breached, occupied it, and, after the king had fled, when,
recovering from battle, with torches held before them, they
gazed with eagerness on the water that had been obtained, they
were buried by a cloud of arrows, since they themselves
thoughtlessly supplied flaming torches to direct the hits more
accurately through the night toward themselves.
XXVIII. To Princeps Julian, of proven good fortune against
external enemies, due measure against Persia was lacking. For
he, with immense provision, in as much as he was sovereign of
the entire world, set hostile standards against the Parthians, and

sailed through the Euphrates a fleet furnished with supplies.

Relentless in his advance, he either took control of many of the
Persians' cities and bases which had surrendered or took them by
force. 2. When he had made camp opposite Ctesiphon on the
banks of the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates and was
holding daily competitions [15] in order to reduce the enemy's
attentiveness, in the middle of the night he rapidly transferred to
the opposite bank soldiers who had been loaded on ships. These,
distinguishing themselves through hardships which would have
been difficult to surmount even in daylight and with no
opposition, threw the Persians into confusion by means of
unexpected fright and, when the units of the entire race had been
turned about, the victorious soldiery would have entered the
open gates of Ctesiphon, if the opportunity for plunder had not
been greater than the concern for victory. 3. Having obtained
such great glory, when he was warned by his staff concerning his
return, he gave his own plan more credence and, after the ships
had been burnt, when, having been led on a route toward
Madenea by a deserter who had delivered himself for the
purpose of deceiving him, he pursued shortcuts, again traversing
a route along the right bank of the Tigris, with his soldiers' flank
exposed, when he wandered too incautiously through the
formations and when his own men's sight had been snatched
away as a result dust that had been stirred up, he was wounded,
pierced through the abdomen near the groin with a lance by a
cavalryman of the enemy who had encountered him. Amidst an
effusion of much blood, after he, though injured, had restored
the ranks of his men, having said many things to his friends, he
breathed out his lingering soul.
XXIX. Jovian received an army superior in battles but confused
by the sudden death of the departed imperator. When supplies
were deficient and a very long road loomed ahead on the return,
the Persians, by swift assaults now from the front, now from the
rear, and also attacking the flanks of the middle, delayed the
march of the formation. After several days had been consumed,
so great was the reverence of the Roman name that a discussion
about peace was held first by the Persians, and the army,
weakened by famine, was allowed to be withdrawn, after -- what
had never happened before -- conditions inimical to the Roman
state had been imposed, with the result that Nisibis and part of
Mesopotamia was surrendered, things in which, unskilled in

imperium, Jovian, more desirous of rule than of glory,

acquiesced,
XXX. How much, in turn, must your deeds, Invincible Princeps,
be broadcast with a lofty voice. I, though unequal to the task of
speaking and rather burdened by age, shall ready myself for
these matters. May the felicity now vouchsafed by God's
command and granted by the friendly Divinity in which you
trust and by which you are trusted endure, so that for you the
palm of a peace of Babylonia, too, may accrue to this
momentous one concerning the Goths.
*****
Index of Names of Individuals
Forms of names as they appear in the translation are listed
alphabetically. Where entries on individuals occur in Simon
Hornblower and Antony Spawforth's Oxford Classical
Dictionary (3rd ed.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996),
those names are printed in bold face and, where there are
multiple OCD listings for the same name, they are followed in
parentheses by OCD numbers. If an OCD entry is not under the
form of the name used by Festus, the full name, with the portion
used as the heading of the OCD article given in bold face,
follows. References to the Realencyclopaedie of August
Friedrich von Pauly, Georg Wissowa, and Wilhelm Kroll
(Stuttgart: Alfred Druckenmueller Verlag, 1893 - ) appear for
individuals not included in the OCD, again with the name used
for the RE article given in bold face, followed by RE volume
numbers, column numbers, and, where appropriate, the
parenthetical numbers used in the RE to designate particular
individuals of the same name. So Adherbal is Adherbal number
4 in Volume I.1 of the Realencylopaedie, column 359; Alexander
will be found in the OCD under Aurelius; and Antiochus in the
OCD as Antiochus number 3. Each entry concludes with
references to where in the Breviarium each name appears.
Adherbal (4), RE I.1, col. 359, IV.4.
Alexander, Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander, XXII.1.

Ancius, Lucius Anicius Gallus (15), RE I.2, cols. 2197-2198,

VII.5.
Antiochus (3), III.3: X.2; XI.2; XII.2.
Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (1) Caracalla, XXI.3.
Antoninus, Marcus Aurelius, XIV.5; XXI.1.
Antoninus, Lucius Verus, XIV.5; XXI.1.
Antony, Marcus Antonius (2) XIII.3; XVIII.3.
Appion, Ptolemaios (29) Apion, RE XXIII.2, cols. 1737-1738,
XIII.2.
Archelaus (5) XI.3.
Ariobarzanes I, XI.3.
Aristarchus (20), RE II.1, col. 861, XVI.3.
Arsaces. Festus substitutes the dynastic name "Arsaces" for
Phraates IV, XV.2; XIX.3.
Atrax, Artokes, RE Supplementband I, col. 146, XVI.3.
Attalus III, X.2.
Aurelian VIII.2; XXIV.1.
Batho, Bato (1), VII.6.
Bocchus I, IV.4.
Brutus, Lucius Iunius Brutus, II.3.
Brutus, Decimus Iunius Brutus Callaicus, V.1.
Caesar, Gaius Julius, Gaius Iulius Caesar (1), VI.3.
Camillus, Marcus Furius Camillus, VI.2.
Caracalla. See Antoninus.
Carus, Marcus Aurelius, XXIV.2.
Cassius, Lucius (Festus mistake for Gaius Cassius Longinus
[1]), XVII.4.
Cato, Marcus Porcius Cato (2) Uticensis, XIII.1.
Claudius, Appius Claudius Pulcher, IX.2.
Claudius, Marcus Claudius Marcellus (1), IV.1.
Claudius, Gaius Iulius Caesar (2), XIX.2, 3.
Cleopatra VII, XIII.2.
Constantine I, XIV.6, XXVI.1.
Constantius II, XXVI.2; XXVII.1, 2, 3.
Cornelius Gallus, Gaius Cornelius Gallus, XIII.3.
Crassus, Marcus Licinius Crasus (1), XVIII.1, 2; XVIII.2;
XIX.4.
Curio, Gaius Scribonius Curio (1), VII.5.
Decibalus, Decebalus, VIII.2.
Deiotarus, XI.2.
Didius, Marcus. Probably a mistake for Titus Didius (5), RE V,
cols. 407-410, IX.2.

Diocletian XIV.6; XXV.1.

Donnes, RE V.2, col. 1548, XIX.3.
Drusus, Marcus Livius Drusus (1), IX.2.
Epafrax. A probable error for Ariarathes IV Eusebius, XI.3.
Flamininus, Titus Quinctius Flamininus, VII.4
Gallienus, Publius Licinius Egnatius Gallienus, VIII.2; XXII.1,
2.
Gentius, Genthios, RE VII.1, cols. 1198-1201, VII.5.
Gordian III, XXII.2.
Hadrian, XIV.4; XX.3.
Hiempsal (1), RE VIII.2, cols. 1393-1394, IV.4.
Hiero (2), IV.1.
Hirtius, Aulus, II.3.
Hostilius, Tullus, II.2.
Jovian, II.4; XXIX.1.
Juba (2), IV.4.
Jugurtha, IV.4.
Julian, XXVIII.1.
Labienus, Quintus, XVIII.1, 2.
Laevinus, Marcus Valerius Laevinus, VII.1.
Lollius, Marcus, XI.2.
Lucullus, Lucius Licinius Lucullus (2), XIV.1; XV.3.
Lucullus, Marcus Terentius Varro Lucullus, IX.2.
Marcellus. See "Claudius."
Marcius, Ancus II.2.
Marius (1) Gaius, IV.4; VI.2.
Maximianus, Gaius Galerius Valerius Maximianus, XXV.1.
Mazzarus, See Abgar (2), RE I.1, col. 94, XVIII.1.
Metellus, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Creticus, VII.1
Metellus, Marcus Caecilius Metellus, IV.2.
Metellus, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Numidicus, IV.4.
Metellus, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Pius, V.2.
Metellus, Quintus Caecilius Metellus Macedonicus, VII.4.
Micipsa, RE XV.2, cols. 1522-1524, IV.4.
Minucius, Marcus Minucius Rufus (2), IX.2.
Mithridates VI Eupator Dionysus, III.3; XI.3,4; XV.3; XVI.1.
Mummius (An error for Gnaeus Manlius Vulso), XI.2.
Mummius, Lucius, VII.2.
Narses (1), RE XVI.2, cols. 1756-1757, XIV.6; XXV.3:
XXVII.3.
Nero, XX.1.
Nicomedes IV, XI.1.

Numa Pompilius, II.2.

Octavian, Augustus, II.4; IV.4; V.3; VII.6; XI.2, 3; XIII.3;
XIX.1, 2, 4.
Odenathus, Septimius Odaenathus, XXIII.2; XXIV.1.
Orhodes, Orodes (4), RE XVIII.1, col. 1143, XVI.3.
Pacorus, Pakoros (1), RE XVIII.2, cols. 2437-2438, XVIII.2.
Palamenes, Pylaimenes (1), RE XXIII.2, col. 2107, XI.4.
Pansa, Gaius Vibius Pansa Caetronianus, II.3.
Paulus, Lucius Aemilius Paullus (2), VII.4
Perseus (2), VII.4.
Philip V (3), VII.2, 4.
Pompey, Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus (1), V.2; XI.4; XIV.2;
XVI.1, 2, 3; XIX.2.
Pseudo-Philip, Andriscus, VII.4.
Ptolemy VIII Euergetes II, XIII.2.
Publicola, Publius Valerius Poplicula, II.3.
Pyrrhus, VII.3.
Romulus, II.2.
Sapor, XXIII.1.
Scipio Africanus, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus the Elder,
XII.2.
Scipio, Publius Cornelius Scipio Aemilianus Africanus
Numatianus, IV.3; V.2.
Scipio. Probably Publius Cornelius Scipio (1), V.1.
Scipio, Lucius Cornelius Scipio Asiagenes, XII.2.
Servilius, Publius Servilius Vatia Isauricus, XI.1; XII.3.
Servius. See Tullius.
Severus, Lucius Septimius Severus, XXI.2.
Silas, Silaces, RE IIIA.1, col. 1, XVII.2.
Sylla, Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, V.1; XV.2.
Surenas, XVII.2.
Tarquinius, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, II.2.
Tarquinius, Lucius Tarquinius Priscus, II.2.
Tigranes, XIV.2 XV.3; XVI.2.
Trajan, VIII.2; XIV.3, 4; XX.2.
Tullius, Servius, II.2.
Ulpian, Domitius Ulpianus, XXII.1.
Valerian, Publius Licinius Valerianus, XXIII.1.
Ventidius, Publius Ventidius Bassus, XVIII.2, 3.
Xerxes, Artaxerxes (6) Ardashir, XXII.1.
Zenobia, XXIV.1.