1. Livy, History, 1.23.10, 2.6.10, 2.60.4, 3.58.4, 5.37.1-5.37.3, 5.43.6, 6.25.4, 7.1.9, 7.8.4, 7.23.2, 7.34.6, 7.34.10, 7.35.5, 7.35.8, 7.35.12, 7.37.3, 9.18.11-9.18.12, 10.29.7, 21.1.2, 22.25.14, 22.29.7, 23.5.9, 23.13.4, 23.24.6, 23.33.4, 23.43.7, 26.9.9, 27.33.11, 28.12.3, 29.29.5, 29.29.9, 30.30.3, 30.30.5, 30.30.18-30.30.23, 33.4.4, 33.37.1, 40.40.1, 44.1.10-44.1.12, 45.41.8-45.41.12 (1st cent. BCE - missingth cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •fortuna, unpredictable Found in books: Davies (2004) 119, 120, 122, 123, 269| 44.1.10. orsus a parricidio Persei perpetrato in fratrem, cogitato in parentem, adiecit post scelere partum regnum veneficia, caedes, latrocinio nefando petitum Eumenen, iniurias in populum Romanum, direptiones sociarum urbium contra foedus; ea omnia quam diis quoque invisa essent, sensurum in exitu rerum suarum: 44.1.11. favere enim pietati fideique deos, per quae populus Romanus ad tantum fastigii venerit. 44.1.12. vires deinde populi Romani, iam terrarum orbem conplectentis, cum viribus Macedoniae, exercitus cum exercitibus conparavit: quanto maiores Philippi Antiochique opes non maioribus copiis fractas esse? 45.41.8. postquam omnia secundo navium cursu in Italiam pervenerunt neque erat, quod ultra precarer, illud optavi, ut, cum ex summo retro volvi fortuna consuesset, mutationem eius domus mea potius quam res publica sentiret. 45.41.9. itaque defunctam esse fortunam publicam mea tam insigni calamitate spero, quod triumphus meus, velut ad ludibrium casuum humanorum, duobus funeribus liberorum meorum est interpositus. 45.41.10. et cum ego et Perseus nunc nobilia maxime sortis mortalium exempla spectemur, illi, qui ante se captivos captivus ipse duci liberos vidit, incolumes tamen eos habet: 45.41.11. ego, qui de illo triumphavi, ab alterius funere filii currum escendi, alterum rediens ex Capitolio prope iam expirantem inveni; neque ex tanta stirpe liberum superest, qui L. Aemili Pauli nomen ferat. 45.41.12. duos enim tamquam ex magna progenie liberorum in adoptionem datos Cornelia et Fabia gens habent: Paulus in domo praeter senem nemo superest. sed hanc cladem domus meae vestra felicitas et secunda fortuna publica consolatur.” | |
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2. Ammianus Marcellinus, History, 14.9.6, 14.11.12, 14.11.19, 14.11.29-14.11.30, 14.11.34, 15.5.1, 17.12.4, 17.13.5, 17.13.7, 17.13.11, 18.6.6, 20.4.13, 20.10.1, 21.5.13, 21.16.14, 21.16.21, 22.1.1, 23.5.19, 25.5.8, 25.9.7, 26.8.13, 26.9.9, 28.2.7, 29.1.15-29.1.16, 29.2.20, 31.1.1, 31.10.7, 31.13.19 (4th cent. CE - 4th cent. CE) Tagged with subjects: •fortuna, unpredictable Found in books: Davies (2004) 269, 281 | 14.9.6. And when, being acquainted with the law, he persistently called for his accuser and the usual formalities, Caesar, being informed of his demand and regarding his freedom of speech as arrogance, ordered that he be tortured as a reckless traducer. And when he had been so disembowelled that he had no parts left to torture, calling on Heaven for justice and smiling sardonically, he remained unshaken, with stout heart, neither deigning to accuse himself nor anyone else; and at last, without having admitted his guilt or been convicted, he was condemned to death along with his abject associate. And he was led off to execution unafraid, railing at the wickedness of the times and imitating the ancient stoic Zeno, who, after being tortured for a long time, to induce him to give false witness, tore his tongue from its roots and hurled it with its blood and spittle into the eyes of the king of Cyprus, who was putting him to the question. 14.11.12. And since, when the fates lay hands upon men, their senses are apt to be dulled and blunted, Gallus was roused by these blandishments to the hope of a better destiny, and leaving Antioch under the lead of an unpropitious power, he proceeded to go straight from the smoke into the fire, as the old proverb has it; and entering Constantinople as if in the height of prosperity and security, he exhibited horse-races and crowned Thorax the charioteer as victor. 14.11.19. And thus with the way opened by the sad decree of fate, by which it was ordained that he should be stripped of life and rank, he hurried by the most direct way and with relays of horses and came to Petobio, a town of Noricum. There all the secret plots were revealed and Count Barbatio suddenly made his appearance—he had commanded the household troops under Gallus—accompanied by Apodemius, of the secret service, The agentes in rebus constituted the imperial secret service under the direction of the magister officiorum. These were the original frumentarii, who at first had charge of the grain supply of the troops, but towards the beginning of the second century A.D. became secret police agents. It was Diocletian who changed the name frumentarii to agentes in rebus. and at the head of soldiers whom Constantius had chosen because they were under obligation to him for favours and could not, he felt sure, be influenced by bribes or any feeling of pity. 14.11.29. Raised to the highest rank in Fortune’s gift, he experienced her fickle changes, which make sport of mortals, now lifting some to the stars, now plunging them in the depths of Cocytus. But although instances of this are innumerable, I shall make cursory mention of only a few. 14.11.30. It was this mutable and fickle Fortune that changed the Sicilian Agathocles from a potter to a king, and Dionysius, once the terror of nations, to the head of an elementary school, at Corinth. 14.11.34. But if anyone should desire to know all these instances, varied and constantly occurring as they are, he will be mad enough to think of searching out the number of the sands and the weight of the mountains. 15.5.1. Now there arises in this afflicted state of affairs a storm of new calamities, with no less mischief to the provinces; and it would have destroyed everything at once, had not Fortune, arbitress of human chances, brought to an end with speedy issue a most formidable uprising. 17.12.4. And so, when the spring equinox was past, the emperor mustered a strong force of soldiers and set out under the guidance of a more propitious fortune; and although the river Ister was in flood since the masses of snow and ice were now melted, having come to the most suitable place, he crossed it on a bridge built over the decks of ships and invaded the savages’ lands with intent to lay them waste. They were outwitted by his rapid march, and on seeing already at their throats the troops of a fighting army, which they supposed could not yet be assembled owing to the time of year, they ventured neither to take breath nor make a stand, but to avoid unlooked-for destruction all took to precipitate flight. 17.13.5. So, at the emperor’s request, they came with their native arrogance to their bank of the river, not, as the event proved, intending to do what they were bidden, but in order not to appear to have feared the presence of the soldiers; and there they stood defiantly, thus giving the impression that they had come there to reject any orders that might be given. 17.13.7. But they, wavering in uncertainty of mind, were distracted different ways, and with mingled craft and fury they thought both of entreaties and of battle; and preparing to sally out on our men where we lay near to them, they purposely threw forward their shields a long way, so that by advancing step by step to recover them they might without any show of treachery gain ground by stealth. 17.13.11. And amid their varied torments not a single man asked for pardon or threw down his weapon, or even prayed for a speedy death, but they tightly grasped their weapons, although defeated, and thought it less shameful to be overcome by an enemy’s strength than by the judgement of their own conscience, That is, to be overcome by a superior force rather than yield voluntarily. while sometimes they were heard to mutter that what befell them was due to fortune, not to their deserts. Thus in the course of half an hour the decision of this battle was reached, and so many savages met a sudden death that the victory alone showed that there had been a fight. 18.6.6. This was devised by the mischievous moulders of the empire with the idea that, if the Persians were baffled and returned to their own country, the glorious deed would be attributed to the ability of the new leader; but if Fortune proved unfavourable, Ursicinus would be accused as a traitor to his country. 20.4.13. And in order to treat with greater honour those who were going far away, he invited their officers to dinner and bade them make any request that was in their minds. And since they were so liberally entertained, they departed anxious and filled with twofold sorrow: because an unkindly fortune was depriving them both of a mild ruler and of the lands of their birth. But though possessed by this sorrow, they were apparently consoled and remained quiet in their quarters. 20.10.1. Julian, however, being now happier in his lofty station and in the confidence which the soldiers felt in him, in order not to become lukewarm or be accused of negligence and sloth, after sending envoys to Constantius set out for the frontier of Second Germany, and, thoroughly equipped with all the material that the business in hand demanded, drew near to the city of Tricensima. Modern Kellen; cf. xviii. 2, 4, note. 21.5.13. After taking these precautions, as the greatness of the enterprise demanded, Julian, knowing by experience the value of anticipating and outstripping an adversary in troublous times, Cf. 5, 1, above; xxvi. 7, 4; Sallust, Cat. xliii. 4, maximum bonum in celeritate putabat. having given written Cf. Suet. Galba , 6, 2. The tessera was a square tablet on which the watchword (see xiv. 2, 15) or an order, was written; in xxiii. 2, 2, expeditionalis tessera is used for an order to march. order for a march into Pannonia, advanced his camp and his standards, and unhesitatingly temere usually means rashly, without consideration, but here the word seems to be used in a good, or at least in a neutral, sense. committed himself to whatever Fortune might offer. 21.16.14. Heraclitus the Ephesian The weeping philosopher, as Democritus was the laughing philosopher ; cf. Juvenal, x. 33 ff. He flourished about 535-475 B.C. also agrees with this, when he reminds us that the weak and cowardly have sometimes, through the mutability of fortune, been victorious over eminent men; but that the most conspicuous praise is won, when high-placed power sending, as it were, under the yoke the inclination to harm, to be angry, and to show cruelty, on the citadel of a spirit victorious over itself has raised a glorious trophy. 21.16.21. And as he sat in the carriage that bore the remains, samples of the soldiers’ rations ( probae, as they themselves call them) were presented to him, as they commonly are to emperors, The emperors took pains to see that the soldiers were well fed. Cf. Spartianus, Hadr. 11, 1; Lampridius, Alex. Sev. xv. 5. and the public courier-horses were shown to him, and the people thronged about him in the customary manner. These and similar things foretold imperial power for the said Jovianus, but of an empty and shadowy kind, since he was merely the director of a funeral procession. 22.1.1. While Fortune’s mutable phases were causing these occurrences in a different part of the world, Julian in the midst of his many occupations in Illyricum was constantly prying into the entrails of victims and watching the flight of birds, in his eagerness to foreknow the result of events; but he was perplexed by ambiguous and obscure predictions and continued to be uncertain of the future. 23.5.19. Everywhere shall I, with the help of the eternal deity, be by your side, as emperor, as leader, and as fellow horseman, antesigus et conturmalis seems to imply playing the part now of a leader of the infantry and now of the cavalry. and (as I think) under favourable auspices. But if fickle fortune should overthrow me in any battle, I shall be content with having sacrificed myself for the Roman world, after the example of the Curtii Cf. Livy, vii. 6, 1 ff. and Mucii Cf. Livy, ii. 12. of old and the noble family of the Decii. See xvi. 10, 3. We must wipe out a most mischievous nation, on whose sword-blades the blood of our kinsmen is not yet dry. 25.5.8. When this had been done as described, as if by the blind decree of fortune, the standard-bearer of the Joviani, Legions so named by Diocletian, who was called Jovius. formerly commanded by Varronianus, who was at odds with the new emperor even when he was still a private citizen, just as he had been a persistent critic of his father, fearing danger from an enemy who had now risen above the ordinary rank, deserted to the Persians. And as soon as he had the opportunity of telling what he knew to Sapor, who was already drawing near, he informed the king that the man whom he feared was dead, and that an excited throng of camp-followers had chosen a mere shadow of imperial power in the person of Jovian, up to that time one of the bodyguard, and a slothful, weak man. On hearing this news, for which he had always longed with anxious prayers, the king, elated by the unexpected good fortune, added a corps of the royal cavalry to the army opposed to us and hastened on, ordering an attack upon the rear of our army. 25.9.7. You are here justly censured, O Fortune of the Roman world! that, when storms shattered our country, you did snatch the helm from the hands of an experienced steersman and entrust it to an untried consummando = inconsummato unfinished. youth, who, since he was known during his previous life for no brilliant deeds in that field, cannot be justly either blamed or praised. 26.8.13. By this victory Procopius was elated, beyond what is lawful for mortals, and forgetting that any happy man, if Fortune’s wheel turns, may before evening become most wretched, he ordered the house of Arbitio, full of priceless furniture, to be completely stripped. Hitherto he had spared it as if it were his own, believing that the man was on his side; but he had been incensed because he had summoned Arbitio several times to come to him and Arbitio had put him off, pleading the infirmities of age and illness. 26.9.9. The greater part of the night had passed. The moon, brightly shining from its evening rise until dawn, increased the fear of Procopius; and since on all sides the opportunity for escape was cut off and he was completely at a loss, he began, as is usual in extreme necessity, to rail at Fortune as cruel and oppressive; and so, overwhelmed as he was by many anxieties, he was suddenly tightly bound by his companions and at daybreak was taken to the camp and handed over to the emperor, silent and terror- stricken. He was at once beheaded, and so put an end to the rising storm of civil strife and war. His fate was like that of Perpenna Perperna is the better form; cf. Liv., Epit. 96; Vell. ii. 30, 1; Plutarch, Sert. 26, has Perpenna. of old, who after killing Sertorius at table, for a short time was in possession of the rule, but was dragged from the thickets where he had hidden himself, brought before Pompey, and by his order put to death. 28.2.7. They on bended knees begged that the Romans, whose fortune consistent trustworthiness had raised to skies, should not, regardless of their security, be led astray by a perverse error, and, treading their promises under foot, enter upon an unworthy undertaking. 29.1.15. And because that man does not seem less deceitful who knowingly passes over what has been done, than one who invents things that never happened, I do not deny—and in fact there is no doubt about it—that Valens’ life, not only often before through secret conspiracies, but also on this occasion, was plunged into extreme danger, and that a sword was almost driven into his throat by the soldiers; it was thrust away and turned aside by the hand of Fate only because she had destined him to suffer lamentable disasters in Thrace. Cf. xxxi. 13. 29.1.16. For when he was quietly sleeping after midday in a wooded spot between Antioch and Seleucia, he was attacked by Sallustius, then one of the targeteers; but although at other times many men often eagerly made plots against his life, he escaped them all, since the limits of life assigned him at his very birth curbed these monstrous attempts. 29.2.20. After these various deeds of injustice which have already been mentioned, and the marks of torture shamefully branded upon the bodies of such free men as bad survived, the never-closing eye of Justice, the eternal witness and avenger of all things, was watchfully attentive. For the last curses of the murdered, moving the eternal godhead through the just ground of their complaints, had kindled the firebrands of Bellona; so that the truth of the oracle was confirmed, which had predicted that no crimes would go unpunished. 31.1.1. Meanwhile Fortune’s rapid wheel, which is always interchanging adversity and prosperity, armed Bellona in the company of her attendant Furies, and transferred to the Orient melancholy events, the coming of which was foreshadowed by the clear testimony of omens and portents. 31.10.7. Accordingly, while Nannienus Cf. xxviii. 5, 1, where he is called Nannenus. weighed the changeable events of fortune and hence believed that they ought to act deliberately, Mallobaudes, carried away (as usual) by his strong eagerness for battle and impatient of postponement, was tormented with longing to go against the foe. 31.13.19. The annals record no such massacre of a battle except the one at Cannae, although the Romans more than once, deceived by trickery due to an adverse breeze of Fortune, yielded for a time to illsuccess in their wars, and although the storied dirges of the Greeks have mourned over many a contest. |
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