| Keywords |
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| ID |
5858 |
| Text |
Historiarum adversum paganos libri VII (417 - 418) Orosius |
| Quotation |
1 Igitur Romani status agitur semper alterna mutatio et uelut forma Oceani maris, quae omni die dispar nunc succiduis per VII dies attollitur incrementis nunc insequentibus totidem diebus naturali damno et defectu interiore subducitur. 2 Vt enim de proximis ordiar, Cimbris Tigurinisque uincentibus cum apud Rhodanum flumen Romanus exercitus periit, artissimas Roma sensit angustias; refusa continuo clade Cimbrorum, magnis elata prouectibus priorum oblita defectuum est. 3 Hanc deinde recentissimae prosperitatis iactantiam Italicum bellum et dilaceratio Syllana castigat. Rursus post hanc domesticam intestinamque perniciem, qua usque ad medullas paene euiscerata et exesa est, paribus propemodum spatiis temporum non solum reparata, uerum etiam extenta est, cum Lucullus Asiam, Pompeius Hispaniam, Caesar Galliam perdomuit Romanumque imperium usque ad extremos propemodum terrae terminos propagatum est. 4 Hanc nunc amplissimam dilatationem uastissima ruina consequitur. apud Parthos enim consul Romanus occiditur exercitusque deletur, atrocissimum illud Pompei atque Caesaris bellum ciuile conseritur et inter haec Roma ipsa repentino correpta incendio concrematur. |
| Translation |
1. Rome’s place in the world was, therefore, always changing, like the
Ocean’s swell which is different every day. For seven days it rises steadily
and then falls back for the same number of days, being absorbed into itself
with a loss that is part of its nature 2. To put what I have just described in
order, a Roman army perished at the hands of the Cimbri and Tigurini by
the river Rhône, causing a great panic at Rome. But when the threat of
the Cimbri receded, immediately she was overjoyed at her great successes
and forgot her previous failings. 3. The Italian War and Sulla’s depredations
were her punishment for this boasting about her recent good fortune.
Yet after this internecine domestic turmoil that ate her away and eviscerated
her down almost to the very marrow of her bones, in an almost equal
space of time she was not only restored to her old state, but even extended
her boundaries. Lucullus took Asia; Pompey, Spain; and Caesar, Gaul; and
the Roman Empire was extended almost to the furthest ends of the earth.
4. Great disaster followed on from this great expansion. A Roman consul
was killed and a Roman army wiped out in Parthia. The seeds of a horrendous
civil war between Pompey and Caesar were sown and, while these
events were happening, Rome herself was suddenly seized by a great fire
and reduced to ashes. |
| Quotation source |
Lib. 6, Cap. 14, 1-4 (Vol. II, pp. 202-3, trans. Fear, p. 291) |
| Temporal Coverage |
-113 - -53 |
| Associated use case(s) |
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| Comment |
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