Page:Roman History of Ammianus Marcellinus.djvu/508

 theirs, is deposed from his authority if under his government the state meets with any disaster in war; or if the earth fails to produce a good crop; in the same way as the Egyptians are accustomed to attribute calamities of that kind to their rulers. The chief priest among the Burgundians is called "the Sinistus." But he is irremovable and not exposed to any such dangers as the kings.

15. Taking advantage of this favourable opportunity, Theodosius, the commander of the cavalry, passed through the Tyrol and attacked the Allemanni, who, out of fear of the Burgundians, had dispersed into their villages. He slew a great number, and took some prisoners, whom by the emperor's command he sent to Italy, where some fertile districts around the Po were assigned to them, which they still inhabit as tributaries.

VI
1. Let us now migrate, as it were, to another quarter of the world, and proceed to relate the distresses of Tripoli, a province of Africa; distresses which, in my opinion, even Justice herself must have lamented, and which burst out rapidly like flames. I will now give an account both of them and of their causes.

2. The Asturians are barbarians lying on the frontier of this province, a people always in readiness for rapid invasions, accustomed to live on plunder and bloodshed; and who, after having been quiet for a while, now relapsed into their natural state of disquiet, alleging the following as the serious cause for their movements.

3. One of their countrymen, by name Stachao, while freely traversing our territories, as in time of peace, did some things forbidden by the laws; the most flagrant of his illegal acts being that he endeavoured, by every kind of deceit and intrigue, to betray the province, as was shown by the most, undeniable evidence, for which crime he was burnt to death.

4. To avenge his death, the Asturians, claiming him as their clansman, and affirming that he had been unjustly condemned, burst forth from their own territory like so many mad wild beasts during the reign of Jovian, but