罗马帝国衰亡史 Vol. 2 · Chapter 25 · Part 7

Chapter XXV: Reigns Of Jovian And Valentinian, Division Of The Empire.—Part VII. 第二十五章 约维安与瓦伦提尼安在位时期，帝国分治——第七节

The mind of Valentinian, who then resided at Treves, was deeply affected by the calamities of Illyricum; but the lateness of the season suspended the execution of his designs till the ensuing spring. He marched in person, with a considerable part of the forces of Gaul, from the banks of the Moselle: and to the suppliant ambassadors of the Sarmatians, who met him on the way, he returned a doubtful answer, that, as soon as he reached the scene of action, he should examine, and pronounce. When he arrived at Sirmium, he gave audience to the deputies of the Illyrian provinces; who loudly congratulated their own felicity under the auspicious government of Probus, his Prætorian præfect. 151 Valentinian, who was flattered by these demonstrations of their loyalty and gratitude, imprudently asked the deputy of Epirus, a Cynic philosopher of intrepid sincerity, 152 whether he was freely sent by the wishes of the province. “With tears and groans am I sent,” replied Iphicles, “by a reluctant people.” The emperor paused: but the impunity of his ministers established the pernicious maxim, that they might oppress his subjects, without injuring his service. A strict inquiry into their conduct would have relieved the public discontent. The severe condemnation of the murder of Gabinius, was the only measure which could restore the confidence of the Germans, and vindicate the honor of the Roman name. But the haughty monarch was incapable of the magnanimity which dares to acknowledge a fault. He forgot the provocation, remembered only the injury, and advanced into the country of the Quadi with an insatiate thirst of blood and revenge. The extreme devastation, and promiscuous massacre, of a savage war, were justified, in the eyes of the emperor, and perhaps in those of the world, by the cruel equity of retaliation: 153 and such was the discipline of the Romans, and the consternation of the enemy, that Valentinian repassed the Danube without the loss of a single man. As he had resolved to complete the destruction of the Quadi by a second campaign, he fixed his winter quarters at Bregetio, on the Danube, near the Hungarian city of Presburg. While the operations of war were suspended by the severity of the weather, the Quadi made an humble attempt to deprecate the wrath of their conqueror; and, at the earnest persuasion of Equitius, their ambassadors were introduced into the Imperial council. They approached the throne with bended bodies and dejected countenances; and without daring to complain of the murder of their king, they affirmed, with solemn oaths, that the late invasion was the crime of some irregular robbers, which the public council of the nation condemned and abhorred. The answer of the emperor left them but little to hope from his clemency or compassion. He reviled, in the most intemperate language, their baseness, their ingratitude, their insolence. His eyes, his voice, his color, his gestures, expressed the violence of his ungoverned fury; and while his whole frame was agitated with convulsive passion, a large blood vessel suddenly burst in his body; and Valentinian fell speechless into the arms of his attendants. Their pious care immediately concealed his situation from the crowd; but, in a few minutes, the emperor of the West expired in an agony of pain, retaining his senses till the last; and struggling, without success, to declare his intentions to the generals and ministers, who surrounded the royal couch. Valentinian was about fifty-four years of age; and he wanted only one hundred days to accomplish the twelve years of his reign. 154
瓦伦提尼安当时驻跸特里尔，伊利里库姆的惨祸令他忧心如焚；然而时值岁暮，他只得把出兵的打算搁置到来年开春。他亲率高卢的相当一部分兵力，从摩泽尔河畔挥师东进。萨尔马提亚人的使节沿途拦驾求情，他却只给了一个模棱两可的答复：待他抵达用兵之地，自会查明真相，再作裁断。抵达西尔米乌姆后，他接见了伊利里库姆各行省的代表；这些人高声颂扬本地的福祉，说他们在禁卫军长官普罗布斯的贤明治理下何等有幸。151这一番忠顺与感激的表白正中瓦伦提尼安下怀；他一时得意忘形，竟问起伊庇鲁斯的那位代表——一位耿直敢言、无所畏惧的犬儒派哲人 152 ——此来是否真出于本省的公意。“我是含着眼泪、带着哀叹被派来的，”伊菲克勒斯答道，“派我来的百姓，心里满是不情愿。”皇帝为之语塞。然而他终究没有追究臣僚之罪，这一姑息反倒立下了一条贻害无穷的成规：只要不损及皇帝的利益，官吏便可肆意鱼肉子民。倘若严加查办这些人的行径，本可平息民间的怨愤；而严惩杀害加比尼乌斯的凶手，更是唯一能重获日耳曼人信任、挽回罗马声誉的办法。可惜这位刚愎自负的君主，胸中没有那种敢于认错的恢弘气度。他把自己招衅在先一事忘得一干二净，念念不忘的只是所受的损害；于是挥师直入夸迪人的疆土，嗜血复仇之念贪求无厌。这是一场野蛮的战争，所过之处焚掠殆尽，不分良莠一概屠戮；然而在皇帝眼中——或许在世人眼中亦然——冤冤相报、以牙还牙的酷烈“公道”足以为这一切开脱。153罗马军纪如此严整，敌人又如此惊惶，以致瓦伦提尼安回渡多瑙河时，竟未折损一兵一卒。他既已决意再发一役、彻底剿灭夸迪人，便把冬营设在多瑙河畔的布雷格提奥，靠近匈牙利城市普雷斯堡。严寒使战事暂告停顿，夸迪人趁机低声下气，想平息征服者的怒火；经埃奎提乌斯再三劝说，他们的使节终获引见，得以入御前会议陈情。他们弯腰俯身、面带沮丧地趋近御座，连自家国王遭戕害一事也不敢申诉，只是郑重起誓，声称近来那场入侵乃是一伙散兵游勇般的盗匪所为，全族的公议对此既谴责又痛恨。皇帝的答复，几乎不给他们留下半点指望宽仁怜悯的余地。他破口大骂，言辞粗暴到了极点，痛斥他们卑劣、忘恩、无礼。他的眼神、嗓音、脸色、手势，无不流露出那股无从遏制的暴怒；正当他浑身因激愤而痉挛抽搐之际，体内一根大血管骤然破裂，瓦伦提尼安顿时不能言语，瘫倒在侍从怀中。侍从们忠心护主，当即将他的情形瞒住众人；然而不过片刻，这位西部皇帝便在剧痛中咽了气。他至死神志清明，苦苦挣扎着想把自己的意愿交代给环立榻前的将领与诸司大臣，却终究未能出口。瓦伦提尼安享年约五十四岁；他在位差一百天便满十二年。154
The polygamy of Valentinian is seriously attested by an ecclesiastical historian. 155 “The empress Severa (I relate the fable) admitted into her familiar society the lovely Justina, the daughter of an Italian governor: her admiration of those naked charms, which she had often seen in the bath, was expressed with such lavish and imprudent praise, that the emperor was tempted to introduce a second wife into his bed; and his public edict extended to all the subjects of the empire the same domestic privilege which he had assumed for himself.” But we may be assured, from the evidence of reason as well as history, that the two marriages of Valentinian, with Severa, and with Justina, were successively contracted; and that he used the ancient permission of divorce, which was still allowed by the laws, though it was condemned by the church. Severa was the mother of Gratian, who seemed to unite every claim which could entitle him to the undoubted succession of the Western empire. He was the eldest son of a monarch whose glorious reign had confirmed the free and honorable choice of his fellow-soldiers. Before he had attained the ninth year of his age, the royal youth received from the hands of his indulgent father the purple robe and diadem, with the title of Augustus; the election was solemnly ratified by the consent and applause of the armies of Gaul; 156 and the name of Gratian was added to the names of Valentinian and Valens, in all the legal transactions of the Roman government. By his marriage with the granddaughter of Constantine, the son of Valentinian acquired all the hereditary rights of the Flavian family; which, in a series of three Imperial generations, were sanctified by time, religion, and the reverence of the people. At the death of his father, the royal youth was in the seventeenth year of his age; and his virtues already justified the favorable opinion of the army and the people. But Gratian resided, without apprehension, in the palace of Treves; whilst, at the distance of many hundred miles, Valentinian suddenly expired in the camp of Bregetio. The passions, which had been so long suppressed by the presence of a master, immediately revived in the Imperial council; and the ambitious design of reigning in the name of an infant, was artfully executed by Mellobaudes and Equitius, who commanded the attachment of the Illyrian and Italian bands. They contrived the most honorable pretences to remove the popular leaders, and the troops of Gaul, who might have asserted the claims of the lawful successor; they suggested the necessity of extinguishing the hopes of foreign and domestic enemies, by a bold and decisive measure. The empress Justina, who had been left in a palace about one hundred miles from Bregetio, was respectively invited to appear in the camp, with the son of the deceased emperor. On the sixth day after the death of Valentinian, the infant prince of the same name, who was only four years old, was shown, in the arms of his mother, to the legions; and solemnly invested, by military acclamation, with the titles and ensigns of supreme power. The impending dangers of a civil war were seasonably prevented by the wise and moderate conduct of the emperor Gratian. He cheerfully accepted the choice of the army; declared that he should always consider the son of Justina as a brother, not as a rival; and advised the empress, with her son Valentinian to fix their residence at Milan, in the fair and peaceful province of Italy; while he assumed the more arduous command of the countries beyond the Alps. Gratian dissembled his resentment till he could safely punish, or disgrace, the authors of the conspiracy; and though he uniformly behaved with tenderness and regard to his infant colleague, he gradually confounded, in the administration of the Western empire, the office of a guardian with the authority of a sovereign. The government of the Roman world was exercised in the united names of Valens and his two nephews; but the feeble emperor of the East, who succeeded to the rank of his elder brother, never obtained any weight or influence in the councils of the West. 157
瓦伦提尼安一夫多妻之说，竟有一位教会史家郑重其事地为之作证。155“皇后塞维拉（这段无稽之谈，我姑妄述之）把貌美的尤斯蒂娜——一位意大利总督之女——引为闺中密友。她时常在浴中见到尤斯蒂娜的裸体，惊叹其姿色之美，赞不绝口，措辞既奢又不知检点，竟引得皇帝动了心，要把这第二位妻子纳入枕席；随后他更颁下公开敕令，把自己揽到手的这项齐家特权，推广给帝国的全体臣民。”但无论凭情理还是凭史实，我们都可断定：瓦伦提尼安与塞维拉、与尤斯蒂娜的这两桩婚姻，乃是先后缔结、而非同时并存的；他不过是援用了古来准许离异的旧例——此例律法仍予认可，教会却加以谴责罢了。塞维拉是格拉提安之母。凡足以使他无可争议地继承西部帝国的种种资格，格拉提安似乎无不兼备。他乃是一位君主的长子，而这位君主光辉的治绩，早已印证当年袍泽推举他即位的抉择既出于自愿，又足称荣耀。这位少年皇子还不满九岁，便从慈父手中接过紫袍与冠冕，并获授奥古斯都尊号；高卢诸军亦一致赞同、欢声雷动，郑重认可了这一推举。156自此，罗马政府一应公文法令，凡署瓦伦提尼安与瓦伦斯之名处，都添上了格拉提安的名字。瓦伦提尼安之子迎娶君士坦丁的孙女，从而承袭了弗拉维安家族的全部世袭权利。这一家族相承已历三代帝王，其世袭之权早为岁月、宗教与万民的敬仰所神化。父皇驾崩之时，这位少年正当十七岁；他的德行已足以不负军队与民众对他的厚望。其时格拉提安正安居特里尔宫中，毫无戒备；而在数百英里之外，瓦伦提尼安却在布雷格提奥的营中猝然离世。主上健在时，众人的野心久遭压抑；主上一去，这些野心便在御前会议中骤然复燃。梅洛包德斯与埃奎提乌斯素得伊利里库姆与意大利各支军队的拥戴，二人巧施手段，图谋假一名幼儿之名而行统治之实。他们编造出种种冠冕堂皇的借口，把那些深孚众望的将领连同高卢军队一并调离——这些人本可出面维护合法继承者的权利；又鼓吹说，必须采取一项大胆而果决的举措，以断绝内外敌人的觊觎之望。皇后尤斯蒂娜此前留在离布雷格提奥约百英里的一处行宫；如今众人恭请她携先帝之子一同来到营中。瓦伦提尼安死后第六天，那位与他同名、年仅四岁的幼子，由母亲抱在怀中，展示于诸军团之前；将士欢呼拥立，庄严地把至高权力的名号与徽记加于他身。一场内战的危险迫在眉睫，幸得格拉提安皇帝明智克制、处置得宜，方才及时化解。他欣然接受了军队的抉择，并声明自己始终会把尤斯蒂娜之子视为兄弟，而非争位的对手；又劝皇后携其子瓦伦提尼安移居米兰，安顿在意大利这片富庶太平的行省；他自己则担起阿尔卑斯山以北诸地更为艰巨的统辖之责。格拉提安不动声色，把心头的愤恨隐忍不发，只待时机成熟，能稳妥地惩处或黜辱这场阴谋的主使者。尽管他对这位年幼的共治者始终温厚有加、礼遇不衰，但在治理西部帝国之际，他渐渐把监护人的职分与君主的权柄混而为一了。罗马天下的政令，名义上以瓦伦斯及其两位侄儿共同颁行；然而这位懦弱的东部皇帝，虽承继了兄长的尊位，却始终未能在西部的决策中赢得半分分量或影响。157
The house of Valentinian 瓦伦提尼安的家系 THE HOUSE OF VALENTINIAN 瓦伦提尼安的家系 COUNT GRATIAN 格拉提安伯爵 of Cibalis, in Pannonia — from an obscure condition, by matchless strength and dexterity, to the commands of Africa and Britain 潘诺尼亚奇巴利斯人——出身微贱，凭一身无双的膂力与灵巧， 一路擢升，先后统领阿非利加与不列颠的军队 VALENTINIAN 瓦伦提尼安 43 summoned, without guilt and without intrigue, to assume, in the forty-third year of his age, the absolute government of the Roman empire; solemnly invested with the diadem and the purple at Nice 既非因罪获谴，也未曾玩弄权术，在四十三岁这年受命执掌罗马 帝国至高无上的统治权；在尼西亚郑重受膺冠冕与紫袍 VALENS 瓦伦斯 30 thirty days after his own elevation, in one of the suburbs of Constantinople, Valentinian bestowed on his brother the title of Augustus 就在他自己登基三十天后，在君士坦丁堡的一处近郊，瓦伦提尼安 把奥古斯都的尊号授予了兄弟瓦伦斯 the polygamy of Valentinian 一夫多妻之说 (I relate the fable) 「这段无稽之谈，我姑妄述之」 successively 先后缔结 SEVERA 塞维拉 JUSTINA 尤斯蒂娜 GRATIAN 格拉提安 9 17 before he had attained the ninth year of his age he received the purple robe and diadem, with the title of Augustus; the election solemnly ratified by the armies of Gaul; at his father’s death he was in the seventeenth year of his age. By his marriage with the granddaughter of Constantine he acquired all the hereditary rights of the Flavian family 他还不满九岁，便接过紫袍与冠冕，并获授奥古斯都尊号；高卢诸军 郑重认可了这一推举。父皇驾崩之时，他正当十七岁。他迎娶君士坦丁 的孙女，从而承袭了弗拉维安家族的全部世袭权利 VALENTINIAN II 瓦伦提尼安二世 6 4 “On the sixth day after the death of Valentinian, the infant prince of the same name, who was only four years old, was shown, in the arms of his mother, to the legions” 「瓦伦提尼安死后第六天，那位与他同名、年仅四岁的幼子， 由母亲抱在怀中，展示于诸军团之前」 AT BREGETIO, ON THE DANUBE 在多瑙河畔的布雷格提奥 while his whole frame was agitated with convulsive passion, in the audience of the Quadi ambassadors, a large blood vessel suddenly burst in his body — “Valentinian was about fifty-four years of age; and he wanted only one hundred days to accomplish the twelve years of his reign.” 正当他接见夸迪使节、浑身因激愤而痉挛抽搐之际， 体内一根大血管骤然破裂——「瓦伦提尼安享年约 五十四岁；他在位差一百天便满十二年。」 GRATIAN 格拉提安 he assumed the more arduous command of the countries beyond the Alps; his residence at Treves; he declared that he should always consider the son of Justina as a brother, not as a rival 他担起阿尔卑斯山以北诸地更为艰巨的统辖之责，驻跸特里尔； 并声明始终会把尤斯蒂娜之子「视为兄弟，而非争位的对手」 VALENTINIAN II, WITH JUSTINA 瓦伦提尼安二世与尤斯蒂娜 their residence fixed at Milan, in the fair and peaceful province of Italy 移居米兰，安顿在意大利这片富庶太平的行省 VALENS 瓦伦斯 the government of the Roman world was exercised in the united names of Valens and his two nephews; but he never obtained any weight or influence in the councils of the West 罗马天下的政令，名义上以瓦伦斯及其两位 侄儿共同颁行；然而他始终未能在西部的 决策中赢得半分分量
Fig. 25.10 — The house of Valentinian. At Bregetio a blood vessel burst in the emperor's fury — one hundred days short of twelve years of reign; six days later the four-year-old Valentinian II was shown, in the arms of his mother, to the legions, and Gratian accepted the son of Justina "as a brother, not as a rival." 图25.10——瓦伦提尼安的家系。在布雷格提奥，盛怒之下的皇帝血管骤裂——「他在位差一百天便满十二年」；六天之后，年仅四岁的瓦伦提尼安二世「由母亲抱在怀中，展示于诸军团之前」，格拉提安则声明将尤斯蒂娜之子「视为兄弟，而非争位的对手」。

Notes 注释

151 ↩
Ammianus, (xxx. 5,) who acknowledges the merit, has censured, with becoming asperity, the oppressive administration of Petronius Probus. When Jerom translated and continued the Chronicle of Eusebius, (A. D. 380; see Tillemont, Mém. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 53, 626,) he expressed the truth, or at least the public opinion of his country, in the following words: “Probus P. P. Illyrici inquissimus tributorum exactionibus, ante provincias quas regebat, quam a Barbaris vastarentur, erasit.” (Chron. edit. Scaliger, p. 187. Animadvers p. 259.) The Saint afterwards formed an intimate and tender friendship with the widow of Probus; and the name of Count Equitius with less propriety, but without much injustice, has been substituted in the text.
阿米阿努斯（xxx. 5）一面承认佩特罗尼乌斯·普罗布斯的才干，一面又以恰如其分的严厉口吻，谴责了他横征暴敛的施政。哲罗姆在翻译并续写优西比乌的《编年史》时（公元 380 年；参看 Tillemont, Mém. Eccles. tom. xii. p. 53, 626），以下面这番话道出了实情，至少道出了本国的公论：“Probus P. P. Illyrici inquissimus tributorum exactionibus, ante provincias quas regebat, quam a Barbaris vastarentur, erasit.”（Chron. edit. Scaliger, p. 187. Animadvers p. 259.）这位圣徒后来与普罗布斯的遗孀结下了亲密而温存的情谊；正文中改用“埃奎提乌斯伯爵”之名，虽不甚贴切，倒也无甚冤枉。
152 ↩
Julian (Orat. vi. p. 198) represents his friend Iphicles, as a man of virtue and merit, who had made himself ridiculous and unhappy by adopting the extravagant dress and manners of the Cynics.
尤利安（Orat. vi. p. 198）把自己的朋友伊菲克勒斯描绘成一位有德有才之士，只因效仿犬儒派那身怪异的装束与作派，才落得既可笑又不幸。
153 ↩
Ammian. xxx. v. Jerom, who exaggerates the misfortune of Valentinian, refuses him even this last consolation of revenge. Genitali vastato solo et inultam patriam derelinquens, (tom. i. p. 26.)
阿米阿努斯 xxx. v。哲罗姆则夸大瓦伦提尼安的不幸，连复仇这一点最后的慰藉也不肯给他：Genitali vastato solo et inultam patriam derelinquens（tom. i. p. 26）。
154 ↩
See, on the death of Valentinian, Ammianus, (xxx. 6,) Zosimus, (l. iv. p. 221,) Victor, (in Epitom.,) Socrates, (l. iv. c. 31,) and Jerom, (in Chron. p. 187, and tom. i. p. 26, ad Heliodor.) There is much variety of circumstances among them; and Ammianus is so eloquent, that he writes nonsense.
关于瓦伦提尼安之死，可参看阿米阿努斯（xxx. 6）、佐西莫斯（l. iv. p. 221）、维克托（见《略传》）、苏格拉底（l. iv. c. 31）以及哲罗姆（in Chron. p. 187，及 tom. i. p. 26, ad Heliodor.）。诸家所载情节颇多出入；而阿米阿努斯辞藻华丽到了近乎胡言乱语的地步。
155 ↩
Socrates (l. iv. c. 31) is the only original witness of this foolish story, so repugnant to the laws and manners of the Romans, that it scarcely deserved the formal and elaborate dissertation of M. Bonamy, (Mém. de l’Académie, tom. xxx. p. 394-405.) Yet I would preserve the natural circumstance of the bath; instead of following Zosimus who represents Justina as an old woman, the widow of Magnentius.
苏格拉底（l. iv. c. 31）是这则荒唐故事唯一的原始见证。此说与罗马的律法风俗如此格格不入，实在不值得博纳米先生郑重其事地写下那篇长篇考辨（Mém. de l’Académie, tom. xxx. p. 394-405）。不过其中沐浴一节，我倒愿意保留其自然本色，而不愿追随佐西莫斯——他把尤斯蒂娜说成一个上了年纪的妇人、马格嫩提乌斯的遗孀。
156 ↩
Ammianus (xxvii. 6) describes the form of this military election, and august investiture. Valentinian does not appear to have consulted, or even informed, the senate of Rome.
阿米阿努斯（xxvii. 6）描述了这场军事推举以及授予奥古斯都尊号之典礼的仪节。瓦伦提尼安似乎既未征询、甚至也未知会罗马元老院。
157 ↩
Ammianus, xxx. 10. Zosimus, l. iv. p. 222, 223. Tillemont has proved (Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 707-709) that Gratian reigned in Italy, Africa, and Illyricum. I have endeavored to express his authority over his brother’s dominions, as he used it, in an ambiguous style.
阿米阿努斯 xxx. 10。佐西莫斯 l. iv. p. 222, 223。蒂耶蒙已经证明（Hist. des Empereurs, tom. v. p. 707-709），格拉提安实际统治着意大利、阿非利加与伊利里库姆。至于他对其弟辖境所行使的权力究竟如何，我则力求以一种含糊的笔法表达，一如他当年行使这权力时那般模棱。