12-23-2013, 01:52 PM
Like David, it was from reading words written nearly 1700 years ago that made me really think. Those words were written in person by Ammianus Marcellinus, a one-time Tribune in the Roman army serving under the Emperor's Constantius II, Julian, Jovian and possibly Valentinian & Valens. When you read his work you begin to get a grasp of 'him' as a person, mainly I think because in many cases he was speaking as an eye witness to the events he described. His narrative of being inside Amida when it was besieged and then his escape when it fell to the Sasanids is both informative and in some respects quite chilling in the telling.
Of course some of the things Ammianus revels in we consider totally aborrent today, the slaying of every man, woman, child and animal in a town by the Romans during one campaign described in glowing terms comes to mind. Yet, we know that he was a product of his age, and as such we perhaps can, if not forgive, then at least understand why they did what they did.
Of course some of the things Ammianus revels in we consider totally aborrent today, the slaying of every man, woman, child and animal in a town by the Romans during one campaign described in glowing terms comes to mind. Yet, we know that he was a product of his age, and as such we perhaps can, if not forgive, then at least understand why they did what they did.
Adrian Coombs-Hoar
