Page:Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus.djvu/437

 arms, not with the view of seizing what does not belong to it, but with the hope of recovering its ancestral possessions and hereditary dignities."

17. All were propitiated by this conciliatory speech, and those who had come with the intention of fighting now readily lowered their standards and eagles, and of their own accord came over to him; instead of uttering their fearful yells, they unanimously saluted Procopius emperor, and escorted him to his camp, calling Jupiter to witness, after their military fashion, that Procopius should prove invincible.

VIII
1. Another fortunate circumstance occurred to swell the prosperity of the rebels. A tribune named Rumitalca, who had joined the partisans of Procopius, having been intrusted with the guard of the palace, digested a plan, and after mingling with the soldiers, passed over by sea to the town formerly known as Drepanum, but now as Helenopolis, and thence marched upon Nicaea, and made himself master of it before any one dreamt of such a step.

2.  Valens sent Vadomarius, who had formerly been duke and king of the Allemanni, with a body of troops experienced in that kind of work, to besiege Nicaea, and proceeded himself to Nicomedia; and passing on from that city, he pressed the siege of Chalcedon with all his might; but the citizens poured reproaches on him from the walls, calling him Sabaiarius, or beer-drinker. Now Sabai is a drink made of barley or other grain, and is used only by poor people in Illyricum.

3. At last, being worn out by the scarcity of supplies and the exceeding obstinacy of the garrison, he was preparing to raise the siege, when the garrison who were shut up in Nicaea suddenly opened the gates and issued forth, destroying a great portion of the works of the besiegers, and under the command of the faithful Rumitalca hastened on eagerly in the hope of cutting off Valens, who had not yet quitted the suburb of Chalcedon. And they would have succeeded in their attempt if he had not learnt the imminence of his danger from some rumour, and eluded the enemy who were pressing on his track, by