Ammianus Marcellinus Quotes

Ammianus Marcellinus was born between 325 and 330 in the Greek-speaking East, possibly at Antioch on the Orontes. He was a fourth-century Roman soldier and historian. He wrote the penultimate major historical account surviving from Antiquity. His work chronicled in Latin the history of Rome from 96 to 378, although only the sections covering the period 353–378 are extant. Ammianus served as a soldier in the army of Constantius II in Gaul and Persia. He was "a former soldier and a Greek", he tells us, and his enrollment among the elite protectores domestici shows that he was of noble birth. He entered the army at an early age, when Constantius II was emperor of the East, and was sent to serve under Ursicinus, governor of Nisibis in Mesopotamia, and magister militum.