This history covers, more or less, the third quarter of the
4th century AD. At this time the Roman Empire was still
intact but was well on the path towards splitting into West and East. Ammianus
Marcellinus was directly involved in much of the history he writes, and
although because of this he is not entirely disinterested, he does furnish us
with a great deal of detail, and his moments of bias generally seem to be quite
minor.
One thing I liked, which was more down to the
translators/editors than the author himself, was that the bits omitted were
made clear. Very often in history (particularly with Polybius, whose work is
something of a patchwork of missing and extant pieces) the constraints of publishing
mean much is omitted, but this is the first time I’ve ever seen it made plain
what wasn’t in. It’s actually very helpful, and the majority are things which
would be of little or no interest to me.
It’s hard to know with this sort of work how much ease of
reading is down to the author and how much to the translator, but I found it
easy to read.
Most of the book is concerned with the reigns of Constans
and Julian, who is clearly admired by Ammianus. However, the author does not
let his fondness for the Apostate prevent him from criticising him on numerous
counts. Indeed, he’s a fair and balanced judge, it seems to me. Later,
Valentinian (mostly criticised by the author) is praised for his work defending
the empire. After each emperor’s demise a concise look at his achievements,
virtues and vices follows, and there’s always a sound mixture of praise and
censure.
Ammianus also appears well-informed about the military
situation both regarding Gaul and the Eastern provinces
(where the majority of warfare occurs at this period in history).
In short, the book is entertaining, intelligent, balanced
and well worth reading. It covers perhaps the final time that the Roman
Empire is fully cohesive, before it starts to part ways into West
and East on a permanent basis.
Thaddeus
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